Tonight!! Thursday, July 28Walt Mink @ Bell House * Gowanus, Brooklyn * $12Walt Mink were a band in the 90's who were good at making music but had bad luck with record labels so nobody has ever heard of them. It's kind of like Husker Du (who shared their alma mater) or Smashing Pumpkins or Archers of Loaf - basically, fast-paced 90's alternative/indie rock but towards the pop punk end of the spectrum.
::details::Controlled Bleeding, David Grubbs, Ryan Sawyer (Stars Like Fleas)+C Spencer Yeh+Nate Wooley @ Death By Audio * Williamsburg, Brooklyn * $7This is an amazing line-up of experimental musicians. David Grubbs was in Squirrel Bait, Gastr Del Sol and Red Krayola so he basically rules 80's and 90's experimental rock. Controlled Bleeding are perhaps a little more straightforwardly punky and the trio of Ryan Sawyer, C Spencer Yeh and Nate Wooley is an avant-garde supergroup.
[controlled video] [grubbs video] [rs+csy+nw video] ::details::Shilpa Ray (solo) @ Shea Stadium * Bushwick, BrooklynShilpa Ray is one badass lady. She sings like a very drunk Janis Joplin and dances like an overly excited four year old and hates everyone but most of all, herself (or so her lyrics and stage banter would have you believe).
[video] ::details::Tomorrow!! Friday, July 29Fucked Up, Cro-Mags, Screaming Females, Pissed Jeans @ House of Vans * Greenpoint, Brooklyn * Free with RSVP, currently at capacity!How can I possibly explain how good this line-up is? Even major music festivals rarely boast four bands of this caliber.
Fucked Up are a band of punk superheros who have reinvented the entire genre of hardcore. Cro-Mags are old school.
Screaming Females may be the best
rock and roll band on earth right now, with legendary guitar hero and screaming female Marissa Paternoster at the helm.
Pissed Jeans are a vitrolic, self-destructive punk/noise band. Their frontman is one of the better, and more captivating, self-debasing performer (in the vein of Iggy Pop) to emerge in recent years.
[fucked up video] [cro-video] [screaming video] [pissed video] ::details::Other ShowsBlack Lips @ Bowery Ballroom (sold out!)
[deets]Dez Cadena (Black Flag, Misfits) @ South Paw (West Memphis Three benefit!)
[deets]Eels @ Music Hall of Williamsburg ($30)
[deets]Saturday, July 30Gang Gang Dance @ South Street Seaport * Financial District, Manhattan * Free!Gang Gang Dance's experimental dub, pan-ethnic tribal trance music is amazing. Yeah, that description maybe sounds a little horrible, but they've got club dance smarts and mystique and their "world music" elements are genuine and tasteful and never about co-opting shit.
[video] ::details::Bells @ Bruar Falls * Williamsburg, Brooklyn * $10Bells are a post-rock/math-rock sort of instrumental band who know how to be loud and aggressive but also sometimes ecstatic. They are ex-Jawbox and ex-Oxford Collapse and they are as good as that sort of family tree would have you believe.
::details::Other ShowsGary War @ Cake Shop ($8)
[deets]Ill Fits (mems Amazing Baby, MGMT), Sundelles @ Cameo Gallery ($10)
[deets]So So Glos @ Knitting Factory ($10)
[deets]Eels @ Music Hall of Williamsburg ($30)
[deets]Sunday, July 31Jeff the Brotherhood @ Rockaway Beach * Rockaway, Queens * Free!You gotta go to Rockaway for this (the farthestest reaches of New York, out past JFK) but it's
JEFF for FREE. Jeff are bringing rock and roll back.
[video] ::details::Yvette, Liquor Store, Dinowalrus, So So Glos (DJ Set) @ Shea Stadium * Bushwick, BrooklynYvette are a heavy band I heard some time ago, kind of experimental and screaming and lots of rhythm-led stuff, if I recall correctly. Liquor Store are a blue color punk/rock band who kind of look like they're on meth (but they play too well for that to be true, probably) and put on a goddamn show. They're most like the proto-punk garage rockers (e.g. MC5) but a little lighter on their feet.
Dinowalrus play experimental, psychedelic, baggy rock that you can dance to. They will make you want to do drugs, but in a fun way.
[yvideo] [liquor video] [dinovideo] ::details::Tuesday, August 2Sugarhill Gang @ Tappan Park * Staten Island * Free!Even Sugarhill Gang are not worth the trek to Staten Island. Sugarhill Gang are rap's first real breakthrough act, one of the first rap acts to be put on vinyl and receive proper, national distribution. They stole a bunch of shit from legit MCs and got credit because no one else had recorded it yet. But for all they're plagiarizing wannabes, you can't deny their importance in the history of contemporary pop.
::details::Other ShowsEttes,
Heavy Cream @ Mercury Lounge ($10)
[deets]Sufjan Stevens @ Prospect Park (sold out!)
[deets]Death Cab for Cutie, Frightened Rabbit @ Williamsburg Waterfront (sold out!)
[deets]C Spencer Yeh @ The Stone
[deets]Wednesday, August 3Big Audio Dynamite (Mick Jones of the Clash), HR (Bad Brains), Andy Rourke (The Smiths) (DJ set) @ Brooklyn Bowl * Williamsburg, Brooklyn * Sold out!It's the dude from the Clash, the dude from Bad Brains and the dude from the Smiths. If you don't know who those bands are, you are beyond my help.
[bad video] [hr video] ::details::Other ShowsEttes,
Heavy Cream @ Knitting Factory ($10)
[deets]Sufjan Stevens @ Prospect Park ($45)
[deets]Andrew W.K. @ Santos Party House ($13/$15)
[deets]Frightened Rabbit @ Music Hall of Williamsburg ($25)
[deets]The long view...August4
Pygmy Shrews, So So Glos @ Shea Stadium
Anni Rossi, Dinowalrus @ Bruar Falls ($7)
5
Vaz @ Death By Audio ($7)
6
Cold Cave @ Bowery Ballroom
Crystal Antlers @ Glasslands ($10)
Total Slacker,
Darlings, Beets @ Shea Stadium
7
Mission of Burma @ South Street Seaport (free!)
Friendly Fires,
Cults @ Central Park (free!)
8
The Kills,
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart,
A Place to Bury Strangers @ Terminal 5
9
The Kills,
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart,
A Place to Bury Strangers @ Terminal 5
11
Memory Tapes, Bell @ Glasslands ($12)
MV+EE @ Shea Stadium
Nas, Damian Marley @ Central Park ($45)
12
Sonic Youth, Wild Flag (ex-Sleater-Kinney), Kurt Vile @ Williamsburg Waterfront ($40)
21
Rakim, EPMD @ Central Park (free!)
Jeff the Brotherhood (not headlining) @ Le Poisson Rouge ($18)
22
Deerhunter, Eleanor Friedberger (
Fiery Furnaces) @ Webster Hall
23
Deerhunter, Eleanor Friedberger (
Fiery Furnaces) @ Webster Hall
24
Cold Crush Brothers @ East River Park (free!)
25
Wavves @ East River Park (free!)
27
Male Bonding @ Glasslands ($10/$12)
John Zorn @ The Stone
29
Male Bonding @ Mercury Lounge
September3
Weekend, Talk Normal, Brown Recluse @ Glasslands ($10/$12)
6
Les Savy Fav @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
8
TV on the Radio @ Williamsburg Waterfront ($48)
12
Blondie @ Highline Ballroom
13
Blondie @ Highline Ballroom
Peter Hook (Joy Division) @ Irving Plaza
20
Deerhoof, White Suns @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
23
The Descendents @ Roseland Ballroom
27
Swans @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
29
Marnie Stern, No Joy @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
Ty Segall, The Babies @ Bowery Ballroom
30
X @ Irving Plaza
October1
X @ Irving Plaza
3
Shellac @ Bell House ($17/$19)
4
The Horrors @ Webster Hall
15
Wild Flag (ex-Sleater-Kinney) @ Bell House
18
Wild Flag (ex-Sleater-Kinney) @ Bowery Ballroom
21
Dum Dum Girls, Crocodiles @ Bowery Ballroom
Jonathan Richmond (Modern Lovers) @ Bell House ($15)
22
The Damned @ Irving Plaza
CSS, The Men @ Webster Hall
Jonathan Richmond (Modern Lovers) @ Bell House ($15)
29
Jeff Mangum (Neutral Milk Hotel) @ Town Hall (sold out!)
