Lou Reed's Metal Machine Trio To Play NYC

Back in July of 1975, Lou Reed released the double album Metal Machine Music. Reed is now revisiting the concept of that work with his Metal Machine Trio. On Thursday, April 23 and Friday, April 24 at Blender Theater at Gramercy, Reed (guitar/electronics), along with Ulrich Krieger (tenor sax/live-electronics) and Sarth Calhoun (live processing/Fingerboard Continuum) will be performing A Deep Night of Noise. You're not going to get the typical "Sweet Jane," "Walk On The Wild Side," "White Light/White Heat" or other legendary songs that made him a music icon. These will be improvised non-vocal shows. Fans of Lou Reed and avant-garde works should enjoy these gigs.

Tickets for both shows can be purchased HERE and it should be noted that they're half-price with a valid student ID when purchased at Blender Theater at Gramercy or Irving Plaza.

Download samples of "Night 1" and "Night 2" from The Creation of the Universe for an idea of what you'll be hearing at these gigs if you're not already in the know!

www.loureed.com

On Sale Dates For George Wein's FOLK FESTIVAL 50 & George Wein's JAZZ FESTIVAL 55

I mentioned in an earlier post that dates for folk and jazz festivals in Newport had been announced by music impresario George Wein. Today, ticket sale dates have been announced for George Wein's FOLK FESTIVAL 50, which will take place July 31 – August 2, and George Wein's JAZZ FESTIVAL 55, which will take place August 7 – 9, in Newport, RI.

Tickets for FOLK FESTIVAL 50 go on sale Wednesday, May 6, at 10:00 am at www.folkfestival50.com.

Confirmed artists for FOLK FESTIVAL 50 are festival co-founder Pete Seeger, The Decemberists, Arlo Guthrie, Fleet Foxes, Joan Baez, Neko Case, Judy Collins, Campbell Brothers, The Avett Brothers, Josh Ritter, Gillian Welch, Del McCoury, Iron & Wine, Tao Rodriguez Seeger, Balfa Toujours, Elvis Perkins in Dearland, Tim Eriksen & Shape Note Singers, Langhorne Slim, Ben Kweller and Low Anthem.

Tickets for JAZZ FESTIVAL 55 will go on sale Thursday, April 23, at 10:00 am at www.jazzfestival55.com.

Confirmed artist for JAZZ FESTIVAL 55 include Tony Bennett, Branford Marsalis, Etta James, Esperanza Spalding, Dave Brubeck Quartet, Vijay Iyer Trio, Cedar Walton with Lew Tabackin & Curtis Fuller, Christian McBride Group, Roy Haynes Quintet, Joshua Redman Double Trio, Hiromi, The Bad Plus joined by Wendy Lewis, Michel Camilo, Joe Lovano, Rudresh Mahanthappa, Miguel Zenon, Brian Blade & the Fellowship Band and the Rodriguez Brothers.

www.folkfestival50.com
www.jazzfestival55.com

Hill Country Revue To Release Make A Move

Southern blues rock band Hill Country Revue, Cody Dickinson (guitar/drums/piano/washboard), Chris Chew (bass/vocals), Ed "Hot" Cleveland (drums), Daniel Coburn (vocals/harp) and Kirk Smithhart (guitar/vocals) will release their debut studio album, Make A Move on May 12.

Download "Alice Mae" from the upcoming album.

Track Listing

• Alice Mae
• Hill Country Revue
• Dirty Shirt
• You Can Make
• Let Me Love You
• Let’s Talk About Me And You
• Georgia Women
• Highway Blues
• Ramblin’
• Growing Up In Mississippi

www.hillcountryrevue.com
www.myspace.com/hillcountryrevue

Better Than Ezra Set To Release Paper Empire

Fans of Better Than Ezra have new music to look forward to. The band, Kevin Griffin (vocals, guitar), Tom Drummond (bass) and Michael Jerome (drums) will release their new album Paper Empire on May 12.

For those in the New York area, Better Than Ezra will be at Irving Plaza on June 19.

Download the single "Absolutely Still" from the upcoming album.

www.betterthanezra.com
www.myspace.com/betterthanezra

Metric Releases Fantasies

Toronto based band Metric released their forth studio album, Fantasies, on March 14. Check out the album stream below.

Download "Help I'm Alive (The Twelves Remix)".

Metric is also on the road and will be making a stop in the New York area on June 17 at Terminal 5.

www.ilovemetric.com
www.myspace.com/metric

Audio Fiction To Play Pianos, April 18

www.audiofictionband.com
www.myspace.com/audiofictionband
www.pianosnyc.com

On Sale Dates For The Week of April 12

Tickets go on sale this week for upcoming shows in the New York Area.

On Sale Wednesday, April 15, 2009

June 25 -- Dinosaur Jr. at Music Hall of Williamsburg
www.MusicHallofWilliamsburg.com
July 2 -- Jay Reatard at Music Hall of Williamsburg
www.MusicHallofWilliamsburg.com

On Sale Thursday, April 16, 2009

May 30 -- Mercury Landing / Caitlin Krisko at Mercury Lounge
www.MercuryLoungeNYC.com
June 14 -- Telekinesis at Mercury Lounge
www.MercuryLoungeNYC.com

On Sale Friday, April 17, 2009

May 11 -- The Thermals (pictured) at Music Hall of Williamsburg
www.MusicHallofWilliamsburg.com
June 25 -- 311 and Ziggy Marley at Central Park SummerStage
www.summerstage.org
June 27 -- Pansy Division at Mercury Lounge
www.MercuryLoungeNYC.com
July 9 -- Matisyahu / Umphrey's McGee at Central Park SummerStage
www.summerstage.org
July 29 -- Yes with Special Guest Asia at Wellmont Theatre
www.WellmontTheatre.com
August 5 -- Gov't Mule at Wellmont Theatre
www.WellmontTheatre.com
September 24 -- Marianne Faithful at Town Hall
www.the-townhall-nyc.org

On Sale Saturday, April 18, 2009

June 19 -- Better Than Ezra at The Fillmore New York at Irving Plaza
www.irvingplaza.com

Record Store Day

This Saturday, April 18, is Record Store Day! Once a year, independently owned record stores and artists join together to celebrate the art known as music. There are hundreds of artists making appearances and or performing, DJ's spinning tunes, meet and greets, special releases and all kinds of stuff.

Real record stores are sadly a dying breed so it's important to support your local indie shops. These are the places where the staff knows and loves music. A good deal of these shops you can still get your hands on vinyl. You try going to Best Buy to dig through vinyl while sitting on the floor. What's that? They don't have vinyl? How about non-bestselling CD's older than five years old? No? Oh yeah, silly me what am I thinking?! Go ask your local indie store. If they don't have it, they'll order it if it's in print and if all else fails someone in that store can likely tell you where to find it.

Here's a list of shops in the NYC area that are participating. For additional participants, shops in other states and more information, visit www.recordstoreday.com.

Academy Record Annex (Brooklyn, NY)
www.academyannex.com/

Basement Mix Records (Brooklyn, NY)
www.basementmixx.com/

Black Star Music & Video (New York, NY)
www.blackstarvideo.com/

Bleecker Street Records (New York, NY)
www.bleeckerstreetrecords.com/store/bleecker.html

Downtown Music Gallery (New York, NY)
downtownmusicgallery.com/

Earwax Records (Brooklyn, NY)

Etherea (New York, NY)
www.ethereanyc.blogspot.com

Fat Beats (New York, NY)
www.fatbeats.com/

Generation Records (New York, NY)

Halcyon The Shop (Brooklyn, NY)
www.halcyonline.com/

Hall of Fame Music (Jamaica, NY)
www.hfmstores.com/

Harmony Records (Bronx, NY)
www.myspace.com/harmonyrecords

J&R Music World (New York, NY)
www.jr.com/

Kim's Video & Music (New York, NY)

Majors Records & Video (Staten Island, NY)

Other Music (New York, NY)
www.othermusic.com/

Rebel Rebel (New York, NY)

Record Express (Brooklyn, NY)

Rock and Soul (New York, NY)

Sound Fix (Brooklyn, NY)
www.soundfixrecords.com

ResidentBand Features Overnight Lows "The Breaks"

The good folks over at ResidentBand have a new episode out. It features the band Overnight Lows performing "The Breaks." Check it out!

ResidentBand - Episode 018 - Overnight Lows

www.residentband.tv
www.myspace.com/residentbandtv
www.overnightlows.com
www.myspace.com/overnightlows

Around New York ... April 13 - April 19, 2009

Upcoming shows in the New York area ...

April 13 -- The Cliks / Plushgun at Mercury Lounge
www.mercuryloungenyc.com
April 16 -- Middle Distance Runner (pictured) / The Stationary Set At The Annex
www.theannexnyc.com
April 16 -- Findlay Brown / Mia Riddle at Union Hall
www.highlineballroom.com
April 16 -- Shawn Mullins at Highline Ballroom
www.highlineballroom.com

April 17 -- Plain White T's at Blender Theatre
www.blendertheater.com
April 17 -- Young Love / Jump Into The Gospel at Webster Hall
www.websterhall.com
April 18 -- Puppetbox / Hadron the Collider at Red Star Bar
www.redstarny.com
April 18 -- The Appleseed Cast / An Horse at Mercury Lounge
www.mercuryloungenyc.com
April 18 -- Audio Fiction (pictured) / A.L.X. / Blip Blip Bleep at Pianos
www.pianosnyc.com
April 18 -- Lucinda Black Bear / Kaiser Cartel / Winterpills at The Bell House
www.thebellhouseny.com