hooves on the turf

Excellent news from the Yeasayer camp: a two-legged North American tour later this year, one I’ve been restlessly waiting for, that’ll see the band as headliners for the first time. The dates that concern us are Dec 5th & 6th at Music Hall of Williamsburg.

The band’s manager Sir James Winnie promises: “brand new songs not heard on previous N. American tours; a repaired voice for the son of Cricket, Anand Wilder; new stage design incorporating projectors, lcd grids, and possibly a weather balloon.”

Also later this year will come an artifact that’ll be a pleasure to possess: All Hour Cymbals in LP format, pressed on 180 gram black vinyl. And hopefully next year we’ll have our hands on the follow-up album, scheduled to be recorded in early 2009. Apparently Sir Winnie has heard the demos and finds them to be “mind slaying”. Sounds great to us!

Previously: Yeasayer at Brooklyn Masonic Temple - photos. 
All dates after the jump.

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Sikamor Rooney: NYC
Yea Big + Kid Static: Eatchyo Samwich
Bark Bark Bark: One Thing Stands
Yea Big + Kid Static: Tour Mash-Up (w/ The Mae-Shi, Bark Bark Bark)
Amanda Palmer: Leeds United 
Natalie Portman’s Shaved Head: Me + Yr Daughter
The Photo Atlas: The Walls Have Eyes
Six Organs of Admittance: 1,000 Birds
Loren Connors: Airs no. 4 

Sikamor Rooney’s record release party for the new self-titled is at Mercury Lounge; they’re also playing Union Pool on August 30, but tonight they’ll be joined by Natalie Portman’s Shaved Head and The Gay Blades // Amanda Palmer of The Dresden Dolls is playing a solo show in the otherworldly Spiegeltent (watching Devotchka there a few years ago was really a charming experience) // Bark Bark Bark (whose live setup includes members of the Mae-Shi) is playing with Yea Big + Kid Static at Cake Shop, where you can also catch a free, early show with Scott Allbright and his Poor Bailey upstairs at the cafe. 

Amanda Palmer does a one-time (sadly) adult version of Feist’s Sesame Street appearance:

Continued after the jump.

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Hospitality: Betty Wang
Overlord: Oh My Mechanical Heart
Pure Horsehair: The Sun Is the Source
Tapes ‘n Tapes: Insistor 
Luke Temple: Saturday People
The Depreciation Guild: Butterfly Kisses
Mates of State: My Only Offer
Diamond Jackie: Nocturne In A Minor
Longwave: It’s True
Backwords: I Need an Ocean
Elika: Nowhere
The Homophones: Everyone’s Dead
The Darts: Inside Out
Shock Cinema: Oddfellow
Helicopters: White Lily No Soul
Magic Bullets: Yesterday’s Seen Better Days (this mp3 here only for a week)
Gang: Rat Poison
Takka Takka: Silence
Tift Merrit: Keep You Happy

My favorite line-up today is at Cake Shop: Hospitality songs are a fresh source of quirky and dorky merrymaking (the best kind?), and Overlord just makes my head bob incessantly. Also, they’re both from Brooklyn–of course I’m biased. They’ll be playing with Claymation Velociraptor and Elika. Ooo, an update:

Brooklyn-based indie pop group overlord will release its first track from the forthcoming album “In Soviet Russia, My Heart Breaks You” at Cake Shop on Thursday August 7th. All attendees will be given a copy of the single in limited edition Too-Clever-by-Half ™ packaging.

This is the first show of the overlord Singles Series, in which a new track will be released at a show each month until the album is finished.

Fantastic idea. I like it!

When a band records in someone’s apartment, it should always warrant a listen, especially if one of the songs is titled “Nocturne in A Minor”, as is the case with Diamond Jackie, whose homemade songs, incidentally, sound to me like they’d be perfect for action movies. While listening to the boozy track, you have to imagine, in slow motion, vehicles sequentially blowing up in large balls of flame; somewhere else, someone’s teeth flying out of his mouth amongst splattering blood, and a hot, powerhouse woman (like Uma Thurman, but I’m sure we all prefer someone else) walking away from it all cooly, knowing very well the kind of trouble she can brew. Seriously, if you go to Lit to see the band, try it out. They’re playing with The Darts and Shock Cinema.

More cool bands are playing, continue after the jump.

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The Loom: Song for the Winter Sun
Gunfight: All You Need
Emanuel and the Fear: Dear Friend
Merrady: California
Hexa: Masked
The Vanguard: Rio
U.S. Girls: Prove It All Right
Flaming Fire: Natural Light Catastrophe
Leo My Ego: Hipster Girl
Beluga: Disco Show
Buckets of Bile: Birthday
Ric Leichtung: O Lightning
Les Sans Culottes: La Semaine A Deux Jeudis
Soulwax: You Can’t Always Get What You Need (The Rolling Stones remix)
French Kicks: Also Ran
Headlights: Cherry Tulips
Does It Offend You, Yeah?: We Are Rockstars

There’s a lot of new music that leaps at the opportunity of stylization as we all toss and turn around what “originality” may mean to us after having to bear the back-breaking weight of grand inheritance. Personally I enjoy the Dan Deacons and the Ninjasoniks, and all of that madness from Baltimore, but within the framework of older traditions, it’s always interesting to hear how newer bands are finding their voices. Emanuel And The Fear, The Loom, and Merrady are showcasing some of this at Rehab. Emanuel and his 10-piece band have kind of a celebratory vibe; with the EP At Last Light, The Loom has found itself with all its warmth and sincerity, though our hard-at-work NYC Taper insists the live shows are even better–download his recording of a previous The Loom show; and Ms. Merrady Phipps has a gorgeous voice, though for now we have only hints of what she will do with it eventually. They are all playing with The Vanguard tonight.

Many more cool bands are playing, continue after the jump.

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Fiasco: Oh You Horny Monster
Ninjasonik vs. The Death Set: Negative Thinking (About Tight Pants)
Bat Attack: Hope Is Big
The So So Glos: From Her Beacon Hand, Glos
Drug Rug: Day I Die
Flobots: Handlebars
The Homosexuals: Heart in Exile
Sam Champion: Be Mine Everyone
Apollo Sunshine: 666: The Coming Of The New World Government 
Dinowalrus: BEAD 
Shwa: Chop Chop

Tuesday isn’t a night darling to many, and tonight’s unfamiliar names may give the impression of crap-band night, but Market Hotel promises fantastic fun. The incredibly charged Fiasco are playing, and you can download a previous show from the diligent NYC Taper. This on the band’s myspace:

Known for their chaotic live shows and technical proficiency, they’ve been described as a mix of punk, noise, and math rock, and have traveled to Austin for SXSW and as far as Bosnia for the Sarajevo Film Festival. However, their favorite places to play are people’s houses. 

Continued after the jump.

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The fabulous Yeasayer is playing a ticketed, non-free sold out show at Summer Stage. They’re playing with Plants and Animals and headliners The National // The Almighty King Khan & BBQ Show plays at Santos Party House (see pictures from Sunday’s McCarren Pool show), with K-Holes, which includes former members of Black Lips // Chicago’s DJ duo Flosstradamus, presenting themselves for the purpose of “everyone having a cool as time“, will play Santos Party House late night.

Apollo Sunshine, I Am The Bison, Digital Santa at Union Pool // I’ve no idea who this Young Love is, but he seems to have a lot of myspace fans; playing with Soft, and The GoStation at Rebel // Bright Lights, The Faintest Ideas, Young Untold and The Specific Heats at Cake Shop.

Today’s tiny playlist
The Faintest Ideas: Nosebleeders on the Track
The National: Fake Empire 
Yeasayer: 2080 
Flosstradamus: CYOA (remix of Heartsrevolution)
King Khan and the Shrines: Welfare Bread
Apollo Sunshine: 666: The Coming Of The New World Government