Talking To Walls Celebrate New Record On The LES

Talking To Walls: March 13 @ The Local 269, New York, NY

Talking To Walls recently released their new record, We Were Not So Tall. In celebration, they've taken to the road for their Too Many 'atts Tour. That tour brought them to this city I call home.

Saturday, I went down to The Local 269, during The Great New York Monsoon of 2010, to catch Nat (Webb, guitar/vocals), Matt (Krupa, drums), Matt (Miklos, bass/vocals) and the cat called Brian (Kelly, vocals/guitar) rock out a big set on a tiny stage. A little NYC downpour can't stop good rock 'n' roll! Oh sure, they were soggy but that didn't dampen their spirits. They all seemed to be in exceptionally good moods. When bands have fun on stage, it's contagious. Me being windblown and damp, I needed that contagiousness. It didn't take long to have me smiling and singing along. Lucky for them, they were playing loud enough that they didn't have to hear me singing along off key.

They promised quirky old broads such as myself a good time (without dialing an 800 number or a per minute charge) and that's just what I got. But, I've got a bone to pick with those Walls, they played a wee bit of "Paradise City" ... teases! I'm putting in my request for the full song, complete with one or more of them breaking into the Axl snake dance, the next time they roll through town. Bonus points if bike shorts and a bandana are involved. But, remember guys, I have a camera!

I'd give you a set list but I forgot to get it. Just know they played a fine selection of songs which were all really good ... wish you were here postcard worthy good! I had a great time. Talking To Walls are an incredibly fun band to catch live. If you haven't had the experience, you're missing out on a whole helluva lot of fun.

www.talkingtowalls.com
www.myspace.com/talkingtowalls
www.facebook.com/talkingtowalls
www.twitter.com/talkingtowalls

Around New York ... March 15 - March 21, 2010

Upcoming shows in the New York area ...

March 15 -- Hockey / The Postelles / The Constellations at Bowery Ballroom
www.boweryballroom.com
March 15 -- Two Hours Traffic / Steel Phantoms / The Law / Julian Berntzen at The Studio at Webster Hall
www.websterhall.com
March 15 -- Kate Miller-Heidke at Joe's Pub
www.joespub.com
March 17 -- Mr. North / Audio Fiction / Suddyn at Mercury Lounge
www.mercuryloungenyc.com
March 17 -- Hot Chelle Rae / Black Gold / Reece at Highline Ballroom
www.highlineballroom.com
March 17 -- The Juggs at Pianos
www.pianosnyc.com
March 18 -- Doppleganger (pictured) / Dead Sparrows / The Bali Shag Vipers / Des Roar at Glasslands Gallery
www.glasslands.com
March 18 -- Amos Lee / Cary Ann Hearst at The Bell House
www.thebellhouseny.com
March 18 -- Inner Princess / PM Edition / Balls To The Wall at Cake Shop
cake-shop.com
March 19 -- Lisa Bianco & The Fury at Spike Hill
www.spikehill.com
March 19 -- Michael Tarbox / Henry Wolfe at Union Hall
www.unionhallny.com

Photos: Matt Jasper @ The Local 269

Matt Jasper: March 13 @ The Local 269, New York, NY

The third act to take the stage at The Local 269 during The Great Monsoon of 2010, was Matt Jasper who I believe put the shindig together. Jasper was low key in comparison to the blistering electrified set by tour mates Talking To Walls. Low key isn't a bad thing. Unfortunately, during his set, band members and fans for the late show started piling in and were rather loud. It was rather distracting to me and I'd imagine annoying and frustrating for Jasper. He just released a new record, Bored Games, so check that out. Check out a few photos from his set below.

mattjasper.com
myspace.com/jasper
twitter.com/mattjasper

Photos: Chris Moschetti @ The Local 269

Chris Moschetti: March 13 @ The Local 269, New York, NY

It's Saturday night, there's a monsoon, the subway is acting extra special funky and there I was trying to make my way to the LES. I finally made it to The Local 269, my destination for the evening, looking like a windblown soggy mess. That's okay though, everyone else looked similar.

There were three acts on the early show bill. The first of the night was Chris Moschetti. Now, when I first saw him I thought, oh great, he's wearing a Mr. Rogers sweater and looks a wee bit dorky, in that cute little brother sort of way. I thought to myself, I'm probably not going to like him. Well, I was wrong. Besides, how can you not like a guy who covers Nancy Sinatra and Johnny Cash? If I ever see Moschetti playing "These Boots Are Made For Walkin'" again, I expect to see him break out into The Pony at the very least! At any rate, it was a good set and he had a terrific sense of humor. Check out a few photos from his set below.

Upcoming Releases

Rooney will release their new record, Eureka on June 8. The record will be released on their own California Dreaming Records.

Los Angeles quartet Rooney are very proud to announce the release of their new album, EUREKA. Produced and crafted entirely by the band, EUREKA will be released June 8th on California Dreaming Records through Warner Music Group's Independent Label Group. The follow-up to Rooney's two critically acclaimed albums - ROONEY & CALLING THE WORLD - EUREKA sees the band not only showcasing their most inventive and original material to date, but also seeking innovative and self-motivated ways to develop in a new climate, playing a vital role in the future of the music industry.

Taking control of their music brings Rooney back to their roots. Formed in 1999, the band began self-producing and promoting EPs with endless shows on The Sunset Strip and along the way garnered a massive fan base in their hometown of Los Angeles and beyond. Among those fans was Geffen Records, who signed the band and released their first two albums.

www.rooney-band.com
www.myspace.com/rooney

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Canadian band Stars will release their fifth full-length record, The Five Ghosts, on June 22. The record will be released on their own Soft Revolution Records.

'We have never written an album with this much cohesion and unity' says vocalist Amy Millan , 'It is the first time we've had the luxury of being together in a huge room writing songs off the floor. The Five Ghosts is quintessential STARS.'

The Five Ghosts is the band's follow-up to their 2007 release, In Our Bedroom After The War and also sees STARS returning to producer Tom McFall, who recorded their breakthrough, Set Yourself On Fire (2005). Recorded in Montreal, The Five Ghosts, in true STARS form, was written by all five members, Amy Millan, Evan Cranley, Torquil Campbell, Patty McGee and Chris Seligman. The album features a special guest appearance by Toronto singer-songwriter and Broken Social Scene member Andrew Whiteman.

The first single from Five Ghosts is the infectiously melodic pop tune "Fixed" featuring Millan on vocals and will be available on iTunes soon.

This summer, STARS will embark on a U.S. tour where they will play The Five Ghosts in it's entirety, along with fan chosen selections from their catalogue "Take Me To The Riot", "Ageless Beauty" and "Your Ex-Lover Is Dead" Details on dates and tickets will be announced through the band's web site, www.youarestars.com.

www.youarestars.com
www.myspace.com/stars

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Brooklyn band Suckers will release their full-length Wild Smile on June 8 on Frenchkiss Records.

Brooklyn four-piece SUCKERS will be releasing their debut full-length, Wild Smile, on June 8through NYC tastemaker label Frenchkiss Records (Les Savy Fav, The Dodos, Local Natives, The Antlers and more). The album was recorded, produced and mixed in NYC by Chris Zane(Passion Pit/Walkmen), except for "It Gets Your Body Movin'" (produced by Anand Wilder and Chris Moore) and "Save Your Love For Me" (Chris Moore), and was mastered by Joe Laporta(Vampire Weekend). SUCKERS will also be joining labelmates Local Natives for tour dates in May – scroll down for dates.

The first single from the album, yet to be announced, will be released in April. In the meantime, check out the SUCKERS’ cover of The Raveonettes track "Boys Who Rape (Should All Be Destroyed)" from their album In and Out of Control (out now on VICE Music).

SUCKERS took a different approach. Says multi-instrumentalist Pan, the band’s mysterious one-monikered member: “"The original version is super fuzzy, so our first instinct was NO FUZZ. We wanted to keep the poppy aspects of the original, but make as much of our own as we could... after messing around with it for a while, it turned into this weird 50's kinda dark Doo-Wop thing that reminds me of Twin Peaks for some reason (which actually ended up working well with the subject matter on a completely different level)."

www.myspace.com/suckers

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Dr. Dog will release their new record, Shame, Shame on April 6. They'll make a couple of late night television appearances in support of the release. They'll be on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon on April 6, and Jimmy Kimmel Live! on April 28.

Already praised for "continuing the upward rise-and higher education-of Dr. Dog" SHAME SHAME has been hailed by Filter Magazine for its "addictive pop-rock singles" that "points back to the days of 2005's Easy Beat, when the band's highly-prized live sound was captured."

Over the last few years, Dr. Dog has gone on to catch the attention of many. From the praise in RollingStone, The New York Times, NPR, People Magazine and more, to the adoration from artists like Jack White, Beck, Jeff Tweedy, Kanye West and Lou Reed, and to selling out 1500 capacity venues in major markets worldwide, what started in the basement of a farm house in Pennsylvania with a 4 track has developed into an inventive, magnificently realized, and absolutely irresistible band who shows no sign of slowing down.

www.myspace.com/drdog
www.drdogmusic.com

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Minus The Bear will release their new record, Omni, on May 4 via Dangerbird Records. If you head on over to their website www.omnithealbum.com, they're offering up the first single, "My Time" for free download.

Produced by Grammy Award winning producer Joe Chiccarelli (The White Stripes, My Morning Jacket), OMNI is the follow up to the band's critically acclaimed albums MENOS EL OSO, PLANET OF ICE and HIGHLY REFINED PIRATES. These releases saw Minus the Bear winning over legions of fans and critics with a sound that is uniquely their own. With a growing fan-base (one that has generated more than 13 million plays on MySpace), Minus the Bear have continually captivated concertgoers with non-stop world wide touring and stage stealing performances at festivals such as Coachella, Bonnaroo, Soundwave and more.

www.myspace.com/minusthebear
www.minusthebear.com

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Bullet For My Valentine are releasing their third record, Fever, on April 27. The single, "Your Betrayal" from the upcoming release, was the #1 most added track on alternative radio.

Fever was produced by Don Gilmore (Linkin Park, Good Charlotte) and recorded in both Wales and Los Angeles. Fever is the follow up to 2008’s Scream Aim Fire which has sold over one million copies worldwide and debuted at #4 on The Billboard album chart.

Bullet For My Valentine have just wrapped up shooting 2 videos in support of their upcoming album and have revamped and launched a new website www.bulletformyvalentine.com, which is a one stop shop for anything Bullet! Stay tuned and check back to the site for updates and announcements!

Bullet For My Valentine are vocalist/guitarist Matt Tuck, guitarist Michael Paget, bassistJason James and drummer Michael Thomas.

www.BulletForMyValentine.com

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Surprise Me Mr. Davis will release their seven song EP, That Man Eats Morning For Breakfast, On April 13. A limited edition CD of the record will be sold exclusively through the band's website and at their shows.

THAT MAN EATS MORNING FOR BREAKFAST, also known to fans as the "demo sessions," took a circuitous route from seed to market. Nathan Moore explains: "I was on my way with Marc Friedman to Montreal where we were going to record in Brad and Andrew Barr's new studio. Unfortunately, I got turned away at the border. We soon found ourselves back in Burlington, Vermont drinking in a bar. Brett Hughes, a local musician there, was like 'just come into my barn studio and do it.' So Brad and Andrew came down this way and we ended up recording there all week at Brett's house. We got all these tracks done and then we went back into another studio and tried to work them up even bigger, but we started to feel that we were exceeding our initial ideas by trying to make them too big. In the end we reverted back to the original demos. They had the raw spirit and energy we were trying to capture. So now it is finally seeing the light of day."

www.surprisememrdavis.com

MP3: Wakey!Wakey! - "Twenty-Two"

Wakey!Wakey! have a new record out, Almost Everything I Wish I'd Said The Last Time I Saw You... via Family Records. Grab the track "Twenty-Two" from the album below.

“I was a scrawny, dopey kid—the worst athlete on the face of the planet,” says Wakey!Wakey! frontman Mike Grubbs. “You know tee ball? I got to first base one time.”

Good thing Grubbs had a burgundy baby grand to wail on instead, the centerpiece of a Partridge-like music room that also housed a French horn, clarinet, violin and autoharp. Grubbs started climbing scales and chords here when he was 5. Back then, his mother—a longtime piano teacher and choir director—would ask the kids to sight read songs before they could even think of eating cereal. And homework, why, that was something you did simply to score more bench time.

“For every subject done,” he says, “I could play the piano for an hour. It was almost like video games for me.” The games got a bit more complicated in high school, as Grubbs stumbled upon the songbooks of Billy Joel and Elton John. Not to mention the arena-ready anthems of Led Zeppelin. That unholy trinity, combined with the three B’s—Bach, Beethoven and Brahms—was enough to steer Grubbs away from the church music he was forced to focus on from an early age.

“One of my main influences now is the fact that I didn’t have someone teach me proper jazz or rock playing,” explains Grubbs. “I had no idea how to put a song together; no one telling me, ‘Hey, you should check out Gershwin,’ but it was all so fascinating to me. So I found my own style by experimenting with what works and what doesn’t.”

Before Grubbs could tap his true voice through a string of buzz-stirring Wakey!Wakey! releases on Family Records (two live LPs, a free collection of covers and last spring’s War Sweater EP), the following dues were paid: a totally ‘90s bar gig aimed at pint-slamming college kids; a rock band best described by its beard quotient and Black Crowes nods (Satellite Kid); and two touring musicals (Brigadoon, Camelot). “I’m a tall, skinny straight guy who can sing,” says Grubbs. “That’s basically gold in the musical theater business because there’s none of us.”

Speaking of standing out, Wakey!Wakey! made their presence known over the past couple years by finding a perfect balance between crowd-pleasing pop and art-damaged indie rock. It’s something Grubbs learned from New York’s anti-folk scene and its founding father, Lach. (The Lower East Side icon mentored Grubbs, which isn’t a surprise—Lach shunned the piano the second he heard the Sex Pistols.) “To come from such a repressed musical environment and then hear someone like Regina Spektor perform with such abandon—shouting and hitting her stool with a drum stick—was priceless.”

Nowadays, Grubbs is the crazy one, slapping his piano around and singing like his life depends on it while conducting a rich backdrop of sweeping strings, heavenly harmonies, and enough delicate details to make Wakey!Wakey!’s first proper LP feel like an Oscar-nominated film soundtrack. Which is ironic to say the least. After all, One Tree Hill creator Mark Schwahn loved a Wakey!Wakey! set so much he tapped their sun-stroked “War Sweater” track for season 6’s finale and recruited Grubbs for a recurring role. That’d be the tale of a bartender/musician named, err, Grubbs—a strangely familiar life story hinted at in such standout Wakey!Wakey! songs as “Almost Everything,” “Twenty-Two,” and “Got It All Wrong.”

“We set out to make an album this time,” explains Grubbs. “I realize that’s not where people say this business is headed these days, but there’s something about translating a year’s worth of experience into ten songs and letting that tell the story. I feel lucky to have the chance to do that on my own terms."

MP3 Grab: "Twenty-Two"

www.wakeywakeymusic.com
www.myspace.com/wakeywakeymusic
twitter.com/WakeyWakey
thefamilyrecords.com/wakeywakey

Caitlin Krisko & The Broadcast To Play SXSW

New Yorkers and fellow music lovers, are you going down to SXSW? Well, if you are, our very own resident soul mama, Caitlin Krisko along with her band The Broadcast will be there! They'll be at Lovejoys on Saturday, March 20. Head on over and check them out if you're down there. She puts on a fun show. Oh, and if you haven't already checked it out, give her record Over The Undercover a spin.

March 20 @ 5:00 PM
The Wanduta Showcase
Lovejoys
204 Neches St.
Austin, TX
www.myspace.com/lovejoys

www.CaitlinKrisko.com
www.myspace.com/caitlinkrisko

The MuseBox Presents MSBS - Pre-SXSW Showcase In NYC, Monday, 3/15

Monday, March 15, The MuseBox is hosting a pre-SXSW showcase at The Studio at Webster Hall. It's FREE! What are you waiting for? RSVP and go enjoy some music before heading down to Austin!

The Studio At Webster Hall
125 East 11th Street, New York, NY 10003

8:00PM – Julian Berntzen – Norway - www.myspace.com/julianberntzen
9:00PM – The Law – United Kingdom - www.myspace.com/upthelaw
10:00PM – Steel Phantoms – United States - www.myspace.com/weresteelphantoms
11:00PM – Two Hours Traffic – Canada - www.myspace.com/twohourstraffic

Photos: April Smith & The Great Picture Show At Mercury Lounge

April Smith And The Great Picture Show: March 10 @ Mercury Lounge, New York, NY

April Smith And The Great Picture Show released Songs For A Sinking Ship a couple of weeks ago. I recommend picking it up by the way. Last night they took to the stage of Mercury Lounge for the record release party. The room was packed with dancing, sing-a-long fans who came to have a good time. Smith, a fun gal to watch perform, was the perfect hostess. She is effervescent with a dash of sauce and along with her band put on a spot on performance. Check out photos from the set below.

MP3 Grab: "Colors" and "Movie Loves A Screen"

www.aprilsmithmusic.com
www.myspace.com/aprilsmithmusic
twitter.com/aprilsmithmusic