8/23/2011

The Jim Jones Revue

NEW ALBUM 'BURNING YOUR HOUSE DOWN'

OUT NOW THROUGH PUNK ROCK BLUES RECORDS

PRODUCED BY JIM SCLAVUNOS (GRINDERMAN/BAD SEEDS)

US/CANADIAN TOUR STARTS SEPTEMBER 1ST

DO NOT MISS!

STREAM THE ALBUM ON BROOKLYN VEGAN:

http://www.brooklynvegan.com/archives/2011/08/the_jim_jones_r_2.html

The Jim Jones Revue's new album, Burning Your House Down, was released through Punk Rock Blues Records on August 16th. Produced by Jim Sclavunos (Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds/Grinderman), Burning Your House Down captures the roar of an untamed band at the top of their game. With the microphone shredding wail of the incomparable Jim Jones at the helm, fearlessly spurred by Rupert Orton’s six-string maelstrom, Elliot Mortimer’s savaged ivories and the jackhammer rhythm section of drummer Nick Jones and bassist Gavin Jay, The Jim Jones Revue swing like a giant ball and chain. In the last few years, they have swiftly progressed from their earliest shows in the dive bars of East London to staking their claim as an unstoppable force in today’s rock 'n' roll scene. Nominated for two MOJO Honours List Awards in 2010 (Best Newcomer) and 2011 (Best Live Act), this band is, quite simply, one of the best out there.

US/CANADIAN TOUR DATES:

September 1st - Vancouver, BC - The Biltmore Cabaret
September 3rd - Portland, OR - Doug Fir Lounge
September 4th - Seattle, WA - Bumbershoot Festival
September 7th - San Francisco, CA - Independent
September 8th - Los Angeles, CA - Echo
September 10th - Brooklyn, NY - Music Hall of Williamsburg
September 11th - Allston, MA - Brighton Music Hall
September 12th - Montreal, QC - Casa del Popolo
September 13th - Toronto, ON - Horseshoe Tavern
September 14th - Chicago, IL - Schuba’s Tavern
September 16th - Philadelphia, PA - The Blockley Pourhouse
September 17th - Washington, DC - Black Cat
September 18th - Hoboken, NJ - Maxwell’s

Read more / Permalink

8/21/2011

Cups Magazine (1991-1999)

CUPS MAGAZINE was a free monthly magazine that I was the editor of in the 1990s. We basically did whatever we wanted to do, and it was very fun pissing off people. We got to interview many people like Martin Amis and Mary Gaitskill. Many of the interviews that I did, and have included on The Portable Infinite, first appeared in CUPS. Regular contributors were William T. Vollmann, Dave Eggers, and D. Strauss. We started it in San Francisco and then moved to NYC in 1995. This issue above featured Vincent Gallo. He agreed to be in the magazine only if we would put him on the cover. I have found a bunch of back issues and correspondence. We were once sued for plagiarism. A story by a writer appeared in CUPS. It was by some teacher and the student claimed that she had been ripped off. We settled out of court. Many people who were frequently in the magazine, like Ronald Sukenick, David Markson, Gilbert Sorrentino, and Allen Ginsberg, are all dead now.

Read more / Permalink

8/19/2011

WIRE uk tour 2011

Wire Announces Huge UK Tour for November

Live Album on Pinkflag Will Be Sold as Exclusive Merchandise

photo: Angel Ceballos

Download: "Two Minutes" via Pitchfork

Watch: "Adapt" via YouTube

After spending the first half of 2011 on an extensive world-tour in support of Red Bark Tree, Wire's Colin Newman, Graham Lewis, Robert Grey and live guitarist Matt Simms have decided to head back on the road in the UK. Twice as long and covering several cities the band hasn't played since the 70's, the November tour will be a fitting wrap-up to a whirlwind year for the punk legends.

To accompany the tour, Wire's label, Pinkflag, will be releasing a live album (all formats) of a prestigious show from earlier in the year. The album will be available as exclusive merchandise on the tour and will only be released to shops once the dates are finished.

Support for all shows will be provided by the highly acclaimed American duo Talk Normal, who are just putting the finishing touches on their debut album.

WIRE ON TOUR WITH TALK NORMAL

Nov 15: HMV Institute, Birmingham, UK
Nov 16: Manchester 3, Manchester, UK
Nov 17: Liquid Rooms, Edinburgh, UK
Nov 18: The Arches, Glasgow, UK
Nov 19: Academy 2, Newcastle, UK
Nov 20: Brudenell Social Club, Leeds, UK
Nov 22: Concorde 2, Brighton, UK
Nov 23: XOYO, London, UK
Nov 25: Academy 2, Liverpool, UK
Nov 26: Whelans, Dublin, Eire
Nov 29: Thekla, Bristol, UK
Nov 30: Phoenix, Exeter, UK
Dec 01: The Globe, Cardiff, UK
Dec 02: Academy 2, Oxford, UK
Dec 03: The Plug, Sheffield, UK

Wire

Wire Twitter

Read more / Permalink

Serge Gainsbourg @ Cinefamily

FREE SNEAK PREVIEW:
Gainsbourg: A Heroic Life
(plus live set by Paris Loves L.A.!)
Friday, August 26th | 8:00pm

NOTE: This show is free (first-come, first-serve). To help us track attendance and limit waiting line size, you must pre-register for "first-come, first-serve" admission. One registration per person. All current Cinefamily members get first entry. Your registration does not guarantee you a seat. Early arrival is highly recommended. Doors will open 30 min. before showtime. No one will be admitted after the film has begun.

Co-presented by Cinespia & Light In The Attic Records

Serge Gainsbourg's documented antics are so colorful that a movie of his life would have to double down on the "ooh la la" to convey it properly. Thankfully, renowned comic book artist Joann Sfar's film, based on his own bestselling graphic novel, does just that. Gainsbourg: A Heroic Life is a pastiche of the women, musical genres and historical periods in the life of Serge (Eric Elmosnino, in a César Award-winning performance) as he tries to stay relevant in the fickle world of European pop music. Sfar deftly weaves the specter of Serge's alter ego “Gainsbarre” into the colorful, Gitanes-fueled cavalcade of French music personalities waltzing in and out of the frame -- everyone from the giant music hall singer Fréhel to the explicit, Britney Spears-esque Bambou, with everyone from Boris Vian to Juliette Greco, Brigitte Bardot, France Gall and Birkin in-between. A quintessential time capsule of 1960’s Paris, Gainsbourg: A Heroic Life is a sensual delight. DJ Andy Votel (Finders Keepers Records) will be here to spin tunes before and after the film -- plus, the party features a live set by Paris Loves L.A.!

WATCH THE TRAILER FOR "GAINSBOURG: A HEROIC LIFE"!

Tickets - free admission (first-come, first-serve w/ pre-registration)

SPECIAL 5-DAY ENGAGEMENT:
Gainsbourg And His Girls
(director Pascal Forneri in person, Saturday, August 27th!)
August 27th & August 30th-September 2nd

Co-presented by Cinespia

The Captain had Tennille, Buckingham had Nicks -- and Gainsbourg had Birkin, Bardot, Deneuve, Karina, Hardy, Gall, Greco, Adjani, Faithfull, Paradis, Barbara, Bambou, Dalida, etc. The CD collection of people who have sung the songs of Serge over the years could comprise a whopping 4-disc set of 98 tracks, with easily over 90% of them by women. Gainsbourg's been called a scoundrel, pervert and misogynist, yet female singers in France felt it a seminal moment in their career to sing a song penned by the rogue. For the breezy, hip-shaking feature documentary Gainsbourg And His Girls, writers Didier Varrod and Pascal Forner raided the archives of INA (Institute Nationale Audio-Visuel), where pretty much all of nationally-owned French TV from the early ‘60s and onwards is held. And boy, was nationally-owned French TV ever cool! Comprised entirely of luxurious file footage, the interviews of Serge throughout his career in display are substantive, and at times conducted by other artists like Françoise Hardy or Jane Birkin. This is an essential deep look at the artist who most Americans only know of through his sly, seductive provocateur mask. Director Pascal Forneri will be here at the Cinefamily for a Q&A after the film on opening night: Saturday, August 27th! Join us for the L.A. premiere of this fantastic new documentary!
Dir. Pascal Forneri, 2010, digital presentation, 105 min.

WATCH SERGE GAINSBOURG & BRIGITTE BARDOT PERFORM "COMIC STRIP"!

Tickets - $10/free for members

Read more / Permalink

8/18/2011

Smith Westerns survive stage collapse in Belgium

Stage collapse during Smith Westerns show in Belgium kills at least 3

Christopher Borrelli Tribune staff reporter

9:18 p.m. CDT, August 18, 2011

HASSELT, Belgium - At least three concertgoers were killed and many more injured when a stage at the open-air Pukkelpop Festival in Belgium collapsed Thursday during a set by Chicago band Smith Westerns.

A heavy storm hit just as the band began playing. The band was able to get off stage before the collapse and was unhurt, according to frontman Cullen Omori's Twitter feed.

Later in the day, he said in a statement that the band had finished its first song when the stage began shaking. They assumed it was "a storm passing through… We were about to play the next one when out tour manager yelled at me to run off the stage. Right then (a metal bar that holds up the tent) collapsed 1 foot in front of" guitarist Max Kakacek.

"Amid the chaos it was hard to tell exactly what had happened," the statement continued, "but after the rescue teams started coming in it became clear that there were severe injuries and we are now being told there are reports of multiple deaths. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families who lost loved ones in today's tragedy."

More more festival-goers were injured, when a brief burst of high winds and heavy rain flattened tents, uprooted trees, pulled the roof off a stage and brought down giant screens, officials said.

"It was frightening. It looked terrible. All the structures collapsed," said Brinnie Gardner, 20, of Aukland, New Zealand, who is on a tour of Europe with a friend. "There was panic. It was crazy."

One was killed on the festival grounds and another on a campsite, Hilde Claes, mayor of the eastern Belgian city of Hasselt told a news conference. The local fire service later said a third person had died.

Hugo Simons, Hasselt's head of emergency medical planning, told VRT radio that 11 had been severely injured and 60 had sustained light injuries as a result of the storm.

Video from the site showed stage equipment dangling in high winds as rain-soaked concertgoers at the music festival ran for cover. Trees and branches all around the area were downed, evidence of the sudden ferocity of the winds.

Ambulances ferried the seriously injured to nearby hospitals. Some of those lightly injured were being treated at a local sports complex. More than 20 ambulances were dispatched to the festival ground.

Images of the disaster showed fallen lighting scaffolds. Dutch NOS television reporter Rick Hoogkamp, who was attending the concert Thursday, said several tents collapsed. An AP reporter saw concession stands blown down and a large food tent spread across the ground.

One of those who watched a tent collapse was Laura Elegeert, 17, of Saint-Nicolas, Belgium.

"It was utter confusion, mass panic," Elegeert said. "People were trying to get out of this tent that collapsed by using their pocket knives and cutting holes in the fabric."

Two cranes were brought in to try to lift the large tent late Thursday, but the ground appeared too swamped for them to reach the area.

Chokri Mahassine, the organizer of the festival, said, "We have for now put the festival on hold until we understand the situation completely."

Reported attendance for the three-day sold-out event, which started Thursday in Hasselt, about 50 miles east of Brussels, was estimated at 60,000. It was the second major stage collapse at a pop concert in the past week; five people (including one Chicagoan) were killed last Saturday when a stage at the Indiana State Fair collapsed just before a concert from the country band Sugarland.

The Smith Westerns were "shaken but safe," said Daniel Gill, their publicist. He added that it was their first date on a two-week European tour and most of their equipment was destroyed, "though, of course, that's kind of an afterthought at the moment."

The three-day Pukkelpop festival was set to have featured rapper Eminem and bands Foo Fighters and The Offspring.

The festival was suspended and organizers were meeting to decide whether to proceed Friday and Saturday as planned.

-- (Reuters, Associated Press, and Tribune wires contributed to this report)

Read more / Permalink

8/17/2011

Foxygen "Teenage Alien Blues"

At THE WOODS in Portland, OR

Read more / Permalink

Alessi's Ark + Laura Marling tour

In the meantime, stream Time Travel in its entirety on the Alessi’s Ark Facebook page, before its US release Sept. 27.

Haw River, NC (August 17, 2011) – British songwriter Alessi’s Ark will support Laura Marling on her fall US tour. Alessi’s album Time Travel will be released 9/13 via Bella Union.

Stream Time Travel in its entirety here:

https://www.facebook.com/alessisarkofficial

Having been associated with Marling for quite some time via their mutual involvement in the Sunday evening London “Communion” gigs organized by Mumford & Sons’ Ben Lovett, Alessi and Marling will bring the US version of their successful European run to the United States for a string of major-market dates.

While Mumford’s success is certainly the sun around which the artists in this particular London scene have continued to orbit, in the past several years Alessi’s Ark, Marling, Noah and the Whale, Peggy Sue, The Vaccines and several other artists whose teeth were cut in the scene have blasted off successful careers of their own, spreading the inclusiveness and songwriting-centric ethos of Lovett’s informal collective.

Alessi Laurent-Marke’s debut US full-length release Time Travel has been obsessively hailed in the UK. It will be released in the US on September 27^th on Bella Union Records. Standout tracks “Wire,” “On the Plains” and her imaginative rendering of Lesley Gore’s “Maybe I Know” stand out on an album of breathy, soulful folk.

“A precious mix of childlike insouciance and adolescent anxiety… the songs have a deftness that defies her years” NME – 8/10

“Reverb-laden memoirs such as Blanket and Stalemate mine a rich source of melodic fuel… The understated arrangements suggest you’re listening to a woman with impeccable taste, while her exquisitely resigned cover of Lesley Gore’s Maybe I Know confirms it” MOJO – 4 Stars ****

“As precocious as Laura Marling, the 12 songs reveal a talent that’s on the verge of becoming something special… Beautiful and beguiling, the album gets under your skin” The Guardian – 4 Stars ****

Alessi’s Ark on Tour (supporting Laura Marling on all dates)

9/17 San Francisco Bimbos 265

9/18 San Francisco Masonic Temple

9/20 Los Angeles The Troubadour

9/22 Chicago Lincoln Hall

9/23 Toronto The Great Hall

9/24 Montreal Corona

9/25 Boston Brighton Music Hall

9/27 Washington DC Sixth & I Historic Synagogue

9/28 NYC Webster Hall

Stream Time Travel in its entirety here:

https://www.facebook.com/alessisarkofficial

Read more / Permalink

8/15/2011

Little Dragon @ the Roxy

Little Dragon plays at the Roxy tonight August 15th.

Read more / Permalink

8/13/2011

Brite Futures

BriteFuturesLogo

We have some exciting news from Brite Futures! They have a new album coming out on 11/1/11 and they just released a sneak peak track for your listening pleasure!

Fans can download the new track, "Baby Rain" from the band's website or at the link below:
https://www.facebook.com/#!/BriteFutures?sk=app_243248579031223

The new album from Seattle's fun-loving quartet Brite Futures, is a youthful swaggering mix of synth-happy pop, rock, funk, disco, and New Wave that the band likes to describe as "punk rock Abba disco Osmonds with chainsaws." It challenges the notion that irresistible pop can only be peddled by solo artists propped up by big-name songwriters and major labels. It's game on in Fall 2011 for these pop, indie-minded twenty-somethings when the band releases their new album mixed by Eliot James (Two Door Cinema Club, Kaiser Chiefs) later this year.

You can check out Brite Futures interview for their upcoming performance at Seattle's Bumbershoot Music Festival!

http://bumbershoot.org/bumberdiaries/

Brite Futures Photo Credit Angel Ceballos

Brite Futures Photo Credit Angel Ceballos

Read more / Permalink

Erykah Badu @ Outside Lands

Read more / Permalink

8/09/2011

Alessi's Ark TIME TRAVEL

Follow Alessi's Ark Online:  

PRE-ORDER TIME TRAVEL AT THE US BELLA UNION  STORE.

"Oh, by now, I must have grown", Alessi  Laurent-Marke croons beautifully, four songs into her stunning sophomore album Time Travel. And hasn't  she just - not yet 21 but already a seasoned pro, having recorded her debut album  aged just 17, with members of Bright Eyes, and touring with the likes of Laura Marling,  Mumford & Sons and Brighton cult faves the Willkommen Collective. Time Travel is the first Alessi's Ark album since signing to Bella Union,  where her acutely melodic and exquisitely tender folk-pop charms haven't just grown;  they've blossomed into something extraordinarily mature.

The 12-track Time Travel keeps  alternating between anxiety and joy, between childlike wishes and grown-up truths  - how change can force us apart but also signify growth. "Run" acknowledges that  you must let friends go, "to chase their dreams, even if  it takes them away from you". "Wire" imagines a man who knows he hasn't chased  his dreams, and time is running out. The album's one cover version, Lesley Gore's  1965 smash "Maybe I Know," is a classic from the '60s girl-group glory days of teen  angst disguised as sweet and innocent pop. "On the surface,  the song is very pretty but the lyrics are very sad and dark." STREET DATE: 9/27/11

"... the  songs have a deftness that defies her years - 8/10"  - NME 

"The understated arrangements suggest  you're listening to a woman with impeccable taste...4 Stars" - MOJO

Click HERE to visit the Alessi's Ark Facebook  page and stream the entire Time Travel album now.

Click the player below to watch  the video for "Wire" from Time Travel now.

alessisark.com   |  us.bellaunion.com

Read more / Permalink

8/08/2011

Outside Lands highlights

LITTLE DRAGON

!!! CHK CHK CHK

FOSTER THE PEOPLE

TORO Y MOI

Plus nThe Joy Formidable, Phantogram, Tamaryn, MGMT, Big Audio Dynamite, The Shins, Best Coast, The Vaccines, Vetiver Arctic Monkeys, Black Keys, Tune-Yards, Junip, Griuplove, John Fogarty, Decembrists, Arcade Fire.

Read more / Permalink

8/06/2011

Surfer Blood @ US Open

Surfer Blood is playing today in Huntington Beach at 430pm.

Read more / Permalink

8/05/2011

Surfer Blood @ US Open of Surfing

Surfer Blood will be playing the US Open of Surfing tomorrow, August 6th, 530pm.

Read more / Permalink

MGMT @ US Open of Surfing

MGMT is playing the US Open of Surfing tomorrow, August 6th.

MGMT photos by Alexander Laurence

Read more / Permalink

Devo @ The Grove

DEVO are playing at the Grove tonight, August 5th.

Read more / Permalink

8/03/2011

Angel Ceballos: the latest and greatest

CRAFT SPELLS

NOSAJ THING

MEAT PUPPETS

THOUSANDS

BRAIDS

BLACK BOX REVELATION

THE GREENHORNES

BEACH FOSSILS

ALL 2011 PHOTOS by Angel Ceballos

Read more / Permalink

8/01/2011

The Black Angels us tour 2011

The Black Angels Announce Fall Tour

The Black Angels are excited to announce a fall headlining tour in support of their latest release, Phosphene Dream, out now on Blue Horizon. The tour kicks off in Houston, TX on October 13th and concludes in Nashville, TN on November 5th. Tickets go on-sale on August 5th. The New York Times recently caught the band headlining 4Knots Festival, noting the Black Angels "play psychedelic rock as if the 1960s never ended, and they are absolute masters of it."

It has been a busy summer for the Black Angels, with appearances at Bonnaroo and Fuji Rock in Japan, on MTV's 120 Minutes and NPR's World Cafe, and an Australian tour. The band also hosted their ever-growing Austin Psych Fest for its fourth and highest attended year yet. This tour follows an incredibly successful spring headlining tour, selling out over 20 of the dates. Earlier, the Black Angels set out on co-headlining tour with Black Mountain in support of Phosphene Dream, which BBC declared "rock album of the year, if anyone's counting."

Phosphene Dream marks a huge leap forward for The Black Angels. It was produced and mixed by Dave Sardy (Oasis, Wolfmother) in Los Angeles, a far stretch from the cozy Austin studios that delivered their first two records. This new one presents a fresh take on the neo-Psychedelic movement they've been at the forefront of for years.

The Black Angels Fall US Tour:

08/06 - Kanrocksas - Kansas City, KS

08/27 - Whitewater Ampitheater - New Braunsfels, TX

09/24 - El Cosmico - Marfa, TX

10/13 - Fitzgerald's Upstairs - Houston, TX #

10/14 - The Prophet Bar - Dallas, TX #

10/16 - Old Rock House - St. Louis, MO #

10/17 - Fine Line Music Cafe - Minneapolis, MN #

10/19 - Newport Music Hall - Columbus, OH #

10/20 - Metro - Chicago, IL #

10/21 - Headliners - Louisville, KY #

10/22 - Southgate House - Newport, KY #

10/24 - Lee's Palace - Toronto, ON #

10/25 - Cabaret Mile End - Montreal, QC #

10/26 - Middle East Downstairs - Cambridge, MA #

10/27 - Union Transfer - Philadelphia, PA #

10/29 - Music Hall of Williamsburg - Brooklyn, NY @

10/30 - Music Hall of Williamsburg - Brooklyn, NY #

10/31 - Music Hall of Williamsburg - Brooklyn, NY &

11/01 - The Ottobar - Baltimore, MD #

11/02 - Ziggy's - Winston-Salem, NC #

11/04 - The Masquerade (Hell Stage) - Atlanta, GA #

11/05 - Exit / In - Nashville, TN #

# with Dead Meadow & Spindrift

% with Dead Meadow

@ with Special Guest (TBD) & Spindrift

& with Psychic Ills, Exit Music

http://www.theblackangels.com/

https://www.facebook.com/theblackangels.tx

http://twitter.com/_theblackangels

http://www.myspace.com/theblackangels

The Black Angels Announce Fall Tour

Read more / Permalink

Maps & Atlases @ Troubadour

Maps & Atlases are playing tonight at the Troubadour, August 1st.

Read more / Permalink