Neon Trees - “Sleeping With A Friend” + New Album

Neon Trees have released the first single, “Sleeping With A Friend”, from their upcoming album.  Pop Psychology is scheduled to be released on Tuesday, April 22 via Island Def Jam.  Check out the track below.

If you haven’t seen them live, they will be hitting road this spring headlining a North American tour.  Keep an eye out for the announcement of those dates.  The first time I’d heard of Neon Trees was back in 2009 and they were playing a small stage supporting a band I’d gone to see.  Since then, they’ve blown up into a huge multi-platinum group.  Even Mom knows “Everybody Talks”...of course, it was everywhere.

Pop Psychology was recorded throughout 2013 in Cabo San Lucas, Los Angeles, and Provo and was produced and mixed by Tim Pagnotta, who also produced the band's smash hits "Animal" and "Everybody Talks". The new album continues Neon Trees' exploration of new wave, smart pop, and dance music, resulting in their most refined album to date. Pop Psychology boasts infectious alternative synth pop ready for the radio, shower, car and dance floor. 

Tyler Glenn says of Pop Psychology, "The album is so special to me personally because it basically started from a place where I was broken and uninterested in anything to do with music. I had reached a breaking point. For me this record is a celebration, a cry for help, an admission of self doubt, and a revelation of self acceptance.  At the very least, it's a pop record, and to me the purest example of the sound of Neon Trees." 

Neon Trees will kick off 2014 by storming the airwaves with several confirmed television appearances. On Thursday, January 16th, the band will return to Late Night with Jimmy Fallon followed by a performance the next morning on TODAY. On January 22nd, they'll return to The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. This spring Neon Trees will hit the road for a massive headlining North American tour. Dates to be announced shortly.

Neon Trees is Tyler Glenn (lead vocals, keys) Chris Allen (guitars), Branden Campbell (bass), and Elaine Bradley (drums, vocals). 

Francis Harris - “You Can Always Leave”

Francis Harris is scheduled to release his album Minutes of Sleep on February 24 via Scissor and Thread.  He recently released a video for the first single.  The clip was directed by Kenneth James Gibson.  Check out the video below.

2012 marked a pivotal year for the Brooklyn-based producer Francis Harris in which his true potential as a composer, producer and Scissor and Thread label head was revealed. With years of DJing at the world's top clubs and over fifty electronic dance music releases as Adultnapper, Sycophant Slags and lightbluemover to his credit, one might think he had reached the pinnacle of his career, or at least firmly established his niche.  It was then that Harris dropped his Adultnapper alias, stepping to the fore under his given name with his first full length, Leland, an album conceived as a requiem to his father. Francis recently announced the second LP under his real name called Minutes of Sleep, set for a February 24th 2014 on Scissor and Thread. 

The first single "You Can Always Leave" -- featuring trumpet from No Regular Play's Greg Paulus -- was given a gorgeous 8mm video treatment, with the crackling tactile elements of film adding depth to the chilly track. Noisey premiered the Kenneth James Gibson-directed video today, and it can be seen on YouTube here. It's "a haunting, hypnotic electro track from the Brooklyn-based producer that sounds like a cold blast smacking you in the face. The swirling beats of the deeply personal track swallow you up, offering the ideal soundtrack for trudging through the blustery streets."  Previously, Terre Thaemlitz recently provided a hypnotic remix of the track under her DJ Sprinkles name as well. 

On Minutes of Sleep, Francis continues to grapple with the subjects of memory, loss and profound grief that suffused his acclaimed debut Leland. Writing this time in tribute to his mother who sadly passed the following year, he revisits deeply personal territory on with newfound perspective, heightened confidence and a markedly refined approach, yielding a noticeably matured and eloquent statement which transcends sorrowful brooding and rumination. It was through recording Leland that Harris first broke from his decade long preoccupation with solitary electronic music production.

Tracklist:

• Hems
• Dangerdream
• Radiofreeze
• Lean Back
• You Can Always Leave
• Me To Drift
• What She Had
• Blues News
• New Rain
• Minutes of Sleep
• Dangerdream (How Che Guevara's Death and Bob Dylan's Life Militarized Brigate Rosse remix by Terre Thaemlitz)

Upcoming: Sweet Soubrette at Pianos on 1/20 + New Album

Brooklyn based Sweet Soubrette will be taking the stage at Pianos on Monday, January 20 at 9PM.  It will cost you $8.  See below for more details.

Sweet Soubrette is scheduled to release her new album Burning City on January 21.

Sweet Soubrette

Roth Bart Baron/Mad4Groove/Kotorino/Serena Jost

Monday, January 20

Pianos

158 Ludlow Street

New York, Ny

Doors: 6:30PM 

Tickets: $8

21+

Sweet Soubrette's dark, edgy love songs feature the songwriting, vocals and ukulele of Ellia Bisker (recipient of four ASCAP Plus Awards for her songwriting), along with a talented backing band of bass, drums, piano, strings, and horns. Bisker honed her performance chops playing ukulele in the Bindlestiff Family Cirkus, and the glittery eyelashes she wears onstage hint at her vaudevillean origins. Bisker’s songs explore troubled love and the mysteries of existence. She is also a regular participant in a literary songwriting series, the Bushwick Book Club, which has inspired a number of book-themed songs, including the title track of the band’s new album, Burning City (based on the novel Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut). 

The Brooklyn-based Sweet Soubrette has been described as “indie rock meets cabaret” (Worcester Magazine), “dark vaudeville-pop” (Philadelphia Inquirer) and “one part circus performer, one part poet, third part rock star” (CultureMob). The Deli Magazine praises Sweet Soubrette as "one of New York's most intriguing songwriting forces...rock star command and intelligently crafted music." Time Out New York says "Sweet Soubrette's style comes with a pinch of Regina Spektor quirk and a spoonful of old-timey burlesque.” Sweet Soubrette plays frequently in NYC, has appeared in festivals including CMJ, the New York Uke Fest, the Berkshire Fringe, the Tinderbox Music Festival, the Ladybug Festival, the Paris Uke Fest, and Hudson Water Music, and has toured in the Northeastern U.S., Italy, and France. 

Metric - “Lost Kitten”

Last month, Metric released a video for their song, “Lost Kitten”.  The track is from their album Synthetica.  Check out the clip below.

Today marks the much-anticipated premiere of our new video for the song "Lost Kitten", in which director Sammy Rawal leads us on an unusual search for home. Shot over two days in Mexico City, the clip features acclaimed ballroom dancer/actor Sheldon McIntosh (otherwise known as Tynomi Banks, the name he goes by when performing in drag), and showcases Rawal's hyper-stylized use of bold color and unique choreography.  

In Rawal's reimagining of the archetypal heroic journey, Sheldon embarks on a mysterious pilgrimage through Mexico City and into the canal maze of Xochimilco on a flat-bottomed trajinera in search of his house mother, an “angel" in his memories. Upon reaching his destination, Sheldon delivers an epic vogueing performance (!) to celebrate his spiritual reunion with the maternal. His massive on-screen presence is only amplified by his bold attire: sequined jacket and kitten heels.   

The shoot itself proved as colorful as the concept. Airport troubles delayed Sheldon's arrival to within hours of when filming was scheduled to begin.  A striking figure at 6 foot 2, Sheldon's choice of travel wear was a pair of high heeled boots which had him towering above the local community as he attempted to navigate the busy pedestrian streets.  "As he walked through the city, Sheldon was literally parting the huge crowd that had gathered, everybody was staring at him in amazement," recalls Rawal.  "He was a bit apprehensive at first about how the local community would react to him, but that feeling quickly disappeared as people started cheering and shouting 'El Guapo!' (The Handsome One), smiling and waving from their passing cars."

The Melodic To Play (le) poisson rouge on 1/16

The Melodic are schedule to play (le) poisson rouge on Thursday, January 16 at 10PM.  It will cost you $15.  See below for details.

The Melodic released their debut album Effra Parade this past November.

The Melodic

Johnny Flynn

Thursday, January 16

(le) poisson rouge

158 Bleecker Street

New York, NY

Doors: 10PM

Tickets: $18

18+

Toy To Play Two NY Shows This Week

Toy will be taking the stage twice in New York.  They will be over in Brooklyn at Glasslands on Thursday, January 9 at 8:30PM and on the LES at Mercury Lounge on Friday, January 10 at 10:30.  See below for details on both shows.

Toy released their album, Join The Dots, this past December.

Toy

Feathers / Young Boys

Thursday, January 9

Glasslands

289 Kent Avenue

Brooklyn, NY

Doors: 8:30PM

Tickets: $12

21+

and

Toy

Spires

Friday, January 10

Mercury Lounge

217 E Houston Street

New York, NY

Doors: 10:30PM

Tickets: $12

21+

As with their debut, Join The Dots was recorded mostly live with Dan Carey at the helm, although increased studio time has enabled the band to experiment more with Carey's laboratory of effects and pre-amps, and embellish the tracks with overdubs. The album is both a companion to and extension of the electric blueprint plotted out on TOY, filled as it is with increasingly unpredictable, illuminating sonic ideas and songs that shift and transform with seemingly effortless intricacy.

 

The band admit to enjoying playing late at night to people in altered states, and in turn the tracks are frequently altered: instrumental sections in particular are structured freely, enabling the band to exploit the bleed and feedback of each venue to produce endless variations of the same songs. 

TOY are: Tom Dougall (vocals / guitar), Dominic O'Dair (guitars), Maxim Barron (bass / vocals), Alejandra Diez (synths / modulations) & Charlie Salvidge (drums / vocals).

Swear and Shake - “Fire”

Swear and Shake recently released a video for the track “Fire”.  The clip was directed by Michael Oshins.  Check it out below.

Out With The Old, In With The New! My Year In Review...Or Something

In a few hours, 2013 will come to an end.  For the last couple of weeks I’ve been intending to post this and that but, I just never got around to it. Procrastination? Laziness? Who knows?  Most of my blogging year has been one long ‘I’ll get around to it,’  shoulder shrug kind of thing. Heck, several times, I even considered just quitting.  But hey, I celebrated QNYC’s fifth anniversary this year so, quitting seemed silly. Five years is a long time in the field of random blogs.

I meant to write a lot more this year.  I meant to do more photography.  I meant to go to more shows.  Yeah, that last one I really meant to do considering I blog about music! Off the top of my head I think I went to four or five, no six shows. I feel great shame, no, not really.  But, I feel like there should be some sort of shame or guilt or something!  

The shows:

John Michael Rouchell - One word, “Holler”.  John Michael, who released The Separation EP not long before this show, always puts on a good show.

Newport Folk Festival - It was sold out.  It was a day longer.  I got rained on.  I fell in love with the adorable Milk Carton Kids. I stood in the ladies room line with Nicki Bluhm (who did a great set by the way). I sat on the wall and said hey to several people...mostly really friendly, bearded dudes in bands. I got a grand kick out of Frank Turner, Michael Kiwanuka and several others.  I finally broke my Avett Brothers photography curse. And, I still don’t understand that which was Jim James’ set.

Newport Jazz Festival - I wanted to enjoy Natalie Cole (childhood sentimental stuff and whatnot) but,...we’ll leave it at that.  I meant to be more active photography wise but it didn’t work out that way.  I enjoyed Jon Batiste...everyone did.  I barely got to see any of the Dirty Dozen Brass Band’s set.  I enjoyed the sets of Gregory Porter and Dee Alexander. Robert Glasper brought his Experiment to the festival and it was weird, trippy, weird (yeah, I said that twice) and fun.  Wayne Shorter celebrated being 80 years young. 

Jazz In The Valley - More music by water but this time in Poughkeepsie, NY.  It was drizzly and muggy but had a nice river view.  Denise Thimes put on a great set though I couldn’t get a good photo of her to save myself.

U.S. Royalty - I hadn’t seen them since what, 2011?  They played stuff from their upcoming album Blue Sunshine...looking forward to that release.  They left it all up on the floor and exhausted me in the process just like rock ‘n’ roll should.

Jake Lewis and the Clergy - It was the first time I’d seen them.  Crammed into a tight space by the front door, they played a good set.  I got to catch up with my pal Katie who was drumming.  I had some wonderfully non-stingy drinks and a nice plate of fries. 

The records:

Wow, I liked a lot of stuff.  Some of it new, some of it just new to me.  Off the top of my head, I can only think of one release that I got kind of giddy over, pre-ordered even… That was the deluxe reissue of Wings Over America...yeah, y’all know my weak spot!

I spent a lot of time listening to He’s My Brother, She’s My Sister.  Yeah, I know their album, Nobody Dances In This Town, came out in late 2012 but I listened to it a lot and I mean A LOT this year.

I spent a ridiculous amount of time listening to Swear and Shake’s song, “The Light”.  

I fell in lust with Great Peacock’s self-title EP...still loving “Take Me To The Mountain”.

Mission South released Migration, Vol. 2...still grooving hard on that one.  And, I loved their video for the track “Peaches.”  I really need to make it out to see one of their shows!

Those Darlins - “Oh God” from their latest album Blur The Line.  This song was on repeat from the moment I got a hold of it.  Actually, a few songs from this album have spent time on repeat.

Nico Vega covered “Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)”.  Not my favorite song but, I do dig their version.  It's a perfect fit for Aja's voice.  I’m looking forward to their upcoming record.  I haven’t seen them play in a while; I must rectify that.

Def Leppard released Viva! Hysteria.  I meant to write about this record but I couldn’t get excited about it.  I wanted to, but, I just couldn’t.  I realized that I would have rather have had a ‘Viva! High ‘n’ Dry’ or ‘Viva! Pyromania’ or even ‘Viva! On Through The Night’...then again, maybe not.  It’s not that I dislike Hysteria, it’s just not my favorite ‘back in the day’ Def Lep album.  So, as a result, a live track by track of it really didn’t work for me.  I’ll probably be hunted down and beheaded by angry Def Leppard fans but vocally, I had to check and see if I was still listening to Def Lep on a couple of tracks.  I thought I’d accidentally switched to AC/DC only to realize it wasn’t Brian Johnson I was hearing but Joe Elliott!  

I just realized that I can’t think of one major ‘mainstream’ album that caught my ear.  I'm sure there must be one but, I can't think of it.

There are a lot more records that caught my ear this year, however, I think my first paragraph pretty much sums things up.  I meant to put this post together earlier this month but, I just now sat down to do it...

I hope 2014 brings great things for everyone.  May you have much happiness, good health and lots of love.  Be safe my friends.

Happy New Year!

LaNita

Quirky NY Chick

Merry Christmas! Season’s Greetings!

Happy Christmas!  May you have a wonderful holiday filled with family, friends and lots of joy.

Peace & Happiness,

LaNita
Quirky NY Chick

Blouse - “A Feeling Like This”

Blouse released their sophomore album Imperium this Fall.  Recently, they released a video for the second single off the record, “A Feeling Like This".  Check out the Angus Borsos directed clip below.