My Velcroe is California’s Colorado native Emily Blong, a graphic designer who after the discovery of Reason—a pretty expansive music-making software—decided to add music to her list of creative outlets. She was in town last week to play a show at Pianos, telling us pre-show, “I’m very excited as I haven’t played in New York for a couple of years; I have a brand new label, Broken Velcroe, and a new album out, Prophets of the Broken Velcroe, that I’ll be promoting… I have been staying with my friends Chris and Eric from Pela. Already in one day I’ve had a fantastic trip. On the plane here I befriended Gary Baseman of whom I’m a big fan, and he drew me a picture, and then my dear friend Chris took me out on the town, and then we sang and danced on the rooftop in Carrol Gardens as the sun came up over the city.”
For these two videos, we went back to that very rooftop, where we chatted and Emily sang with her Omnichord and Casiotone. Sadly, though, Sunday morning was really too early for a recreation of the dancing. But, you can hear all about the near-disaster Pianos show, amongst other things, in the second video, after the song.
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Download “Klara” | This was my first time seeing Olof Arnalds as a frontwoman–all previous performances being that of Mum, when she stood in one corner or the other, trading guitar for violin, violin for melodica, melodica for bells, and basically immersing herself in the beautiful clutter that used to be Mum (I still love them, but now they’re a different sort of clumsy). So I was pleasantly surprised that as a frontwoman Olof Arnalds is quite chatty, and those of us who found the expression “tuning this is a bitch” in her soft-spoken, thick Icelandic accent charmingly hilarious must just be forgiven (I’m sure it’ll be less funny the second time anyway, so don’t fret). She started with what sounded like would be the intro track of her new album, and I suppose it was gutsy of her to not only speak over it, explaining what instruments would be implemented in the recording, how this would come in and that, but also kicking the whole thing off with a request to sing along, adding, “Now this is where it gets louder, so you have to be louder too”.
All pictures, and story continued, after the jump.
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Pianos: Jezebel hosts a free show featuring Dark Dark Dark, who’s also playing Deitch Studios tomorrow and the day after. The band set sail with seven rafts that were part of The Swimming Cities of Switchback Sea project, leaving Troy, NY on Friday, and reaching Long Island City, Queens, where the fleet has docked at said studios. It’ll remain stationed there as part of an exhibition. Dark Dark Dark’s promising album, The Snow Magic, comes out October 28th, and they’re playing tonight with Action Lives, Jared Glenn, and Alex Diaz. This event is followed by a DJ set from Sammy Bananas.
More bands and all mp3 links after the jump.
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Woah, what an impressive Tuesday we have here!
Le Poisson Rouge: Yes, you may say that one-time Mum touring member Olof Arnalds is indeed somewhat of a Joanna Newsom in Icelandic. Except, instead of being “freak folk”, her solo work is freakishly folk, compared to the decidedly contemporary sound we get from most Icelandic bands in the indie landscape, including Mum. But who knew Icelandic folk could be so damn lovely. I’m not sure how Arnalds did at South Streeat Seaport this past Sunday when she played the East Village Radio Festival, since that doesn’t seem like the ideal venue for her, but Le Poisson Rouge should pretty much be perfect. She plays an early show that’ll also feature a set from Skuli Sverrisson, with whom she has worked in the past. Meanwhile, Atlanta-based Deerhunter is playing a late show, and one that is not part of the tour scheduled for later this year with BARR, Knyfe Hyts and Vivian Girls.
More bands and all mp3 links after the jump.
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I will avoid paraphrasing Zizek wherever possible, since there’s no way that won’t involve butchering of words, so I resort, inevitably, to a somewhat trashier retelling, which begins with one of my favorite feminist columnists, Katha Pollit, seated right in front of me–only I realized much later that it was she, and that she was married to Steven Lukes, who was there to promote his “Big Ideas / Small Books” title Moral Relativism, as was Slavoj Zizek to promote his “Big Ideas / Small Books” title Violence.
Continued after the jump.
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Death by Audio: Israel’s Monotonix was formed “with the mission of redefining the rock show”, so they should perhaps be expected to kick some butt at Death by Audio. They told us, “New York is one of our favorite cities to play. After doing two support shows for Silver Jews for a more ’settled’ audience [Music Hall & Bowery the last two nights], we are very excited to do the organic thing and go back to a place like Death by Audio”. How about the tour? “Tour has been great, we just flew in from the west coast where the shows were really wild and fun, and we are happy to be back in our van driving down the east coast.” They’ll be joined by Knyfe Hyts, who’ll be touring a few cities with Deerhunter later this year, and Shellshag.
More bands & all mp3 links after the jump.
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If you’re in the mood to judge, Slavoj Zizek can be cut and diced in a million ways, like why the hell would he get his hands dirty in corporate advertising while waving a big, red, bleeding Communist flag, though I actually find this mingling of boundaries pretty sweet. And though you may or may not agree with the stuff that comes out of the mouth of this vociferous modern-day philosopher from Slovenia, he sure as hell is fascinating, and in that arena he’s got very little competition, especially from his peers. In short, the world is a better place when a man with a brain on fire decides to devote a documentary to the theme, The Pervert’s Guide to Cinema.
Continue reading about the event after the jump.
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Music Hall of Williamsburg: My favorite of the bands playing tonight is probably New York’s Chief. Though it’s increasingly difficult to be excited about a band with a traditional setup and twinkly guitars, Chief has kind of a soothing influence and the voice is a definite strength. Recently returned from a short tour in UK, which included the 02 Wireless Festival in London, and a co-headlining gig at the Troubadour in LA with Dawes, the band’s preparing to record a full-length debut. About tonight, says Mike Moonves, “We’re really excited to be back in New York playing this gig. Music Hall of Williamsburg is my favorite venue in the city, so to finally play there is a blessing.” Joining them are The Pigeon Detectives, who I saw chilling on the sidewalk this morning, and The Black Hollies.
More bands & all mp3 links after the jump.
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Death by Audio: As you’ll see in the picture after the jump, Brooklyn’s City Center makes music with percussion and lots of cables. Says one-man-band Fred, “It sounds like rattle rattle rattle sparrkkkkk wheeeerrrrrr,” which of course sounds kind of fabulous. He’s playing with old friend Hawnay Troof, who he insists is the one of the “party starters of our generation”, and whose record release is the occasion for the party tonight. Joining them are Vivian Girls, Urxed, and special guest(s). Urxed is mainly Robert Barber, who also plays in High Places, which Fred claims is quite possibly his favorite band after The Grateful Dead and Joy Division(!).
More bands and all mp3 links after the jump.
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