Monotonix, Arbouretum & more tonight
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.
Cake Shop: Dave Heumann’s vision for his band Arbouretum was for the songs to “evoke natural forms and movements as opposed to architectural constructions with rigid forms and linear progressions”. They’re playing with label mates Pontiak, with whom they share a split LP titled Kale, and American Buffalo.
Union Hall: Brooklyn resident Todd Goldstein’s Arms was selected by The Guardian earlier this year as a “new band of the day”, with Paul Lester writing, “Meet the new Conor Oberst/Bill Callahan,” which I found to be somewhat mutually exclusive no? I asked Todd what he thought of it: “I liked that Guardian comment! I’m not much of an Oberst fan, myself, but I see what they’re getting at–my music has a tendency to be pretty heartstring-tugging as well, though I like to think his lyrics tend to get a little clunky. The Bill Callahan part makes up for it, though. His lyrics are some of my favorites–so dark and misanthropic, but funny and weirdly sensitive at the core. So yeah, I’m down with that comparison. Though, in my nerd-dreams, I’d be the next Brian eno/Scott walker, I know that’s too much to hope for.” Arms is playing with Chicago’s Speck Mountain, who did a session with Daytrotter last month.
Europa: Bushwick’s Bad Credit No Credit plays with some of my favorite instruments, namely horns, accordian, and a flute. I asked singer Carrie-Ann about the increased tendency to feature such unrockly instruments. Says she, “I think it’s great people are branching out and embracing these instrumentations which, to me, are actually quite traditional–we all listened to a lot of Benny Goodman and Billie Holiday and such growing up, so to juxtapose that with our modern attitudes and sensibilities feels like a natural step to me.” They’re playing with The Shivers, who are presently working on a song for a 7″ they’ll be splitting with friends Deer Tick. Say Jo and Keith about their recent adventures, “Just played a great garden party in Greenpoint, called the Harvest Fest, in a Sweedish fella named Gustav’s backyard garden… right after an amazing performance by a guy named Marquis, who played the violin and sang, the FDNY showed up… I guess there were there because of a call. It was a strange night.” At Europa they’ll perform as a duo (with some new gear!). Conrad Keeley (of …And You Will Know Us by Trail of Dead) was supposed to play as well, but he’s had to cancel at the last minute due to the attention his band requires of him on the last day of their mixing.
Mercury Lounge: Every Good Boy, The Royal Chains, Baby Teardrops (download free album), Jounce // The Annex: Dogshow, Eastern Midwestern, Shannon Corey, Simon C.F. Yu // Spiegeltent: The Citizens Band // Santos Party House: A.R.E Weapons // Highline Ballroom: Sons and Daughters, Benjy Ferree
Monotonix: Ride
Knyfe Hyts: Smoke the Milk
Bad Credit No Credit: Dry
The Shivers: Remain in the Pain Zone
Arms: Kids a Flame
Dogshow: Pink Elephants
Arbouretum: Underneath the Arches
Every Good Boy: Stairmaster
Speck Mountain: Blood Is Clean
American Buffalo: Train Tracks
A.R.E Weapons: Rock ‘n’ Roll Is Killing My Life
Benjy Ferree: In the Countryside
