Tyler Ramsey (Band of Horses) - Photos & Live Review, Joe's Pub, NYC 10-10-11

DOWNLOAD: Tyler Ramsey - "All Through the Night" (from Fuel/Friends Chapel Session)

Tyler Ramsey played a solo headlining show at Joe's Pub this past Monday, touring behind his recently released third solo disc The Valley Wind (Fat Possum). It was an intimate evening as Tyler's plaintive vocals established the atmosphere and he alternated between acoustic and electric guitar, occasionally utilizing some reverb and taped backing instrumentation. The show ran for just over 60 minutes, with one encore, and Tyler played material from all three of his solo discs and ended the evening with a cover of Jules Shear's "All Through the Night".



I found Tyler's stage banter rather charming as, I "see" him as someone who has played some big venues with Band of Horses, he seemed truly surprised and grateful for the number of people that showed up and the warm welcome he received.



It is worth mentioning that the setting at the newly renovated and reopened Joe's Pub added to the performance. While I always thought the club had great sound, the renovations opened up the sight lines and the lighting seems so much better. Given that all seats have a close proximity to the stage, Tyler's performance held the audience mesmerized (...and quiet, which was a nice change from some shows I've seen at other venues).

Tyler Ramsey's new disc, The Valley Wind, came out September 27th on Fat Possum. The disc is available for via Fat Possum’s webstore and iTunes and iTunes version comes with a bonus track of Ramsey covering Jules Shear’s “All Through The Night” (live version posted above).

Tyler Ramsey Upcoming Tour Dates:
10/13 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Club Café
10/15 – Staunton, VA @ Mockingbird
10/19 – Decatur, GA @ Eddie’s Attic
10/22 - Los Angeles, CA @ Bootleg Bar
10/23 - Santa Cruz, CA @ The Crepe Place
10/24 - Portland, OR @ The Bunk Bar
10/25 - Seattle, WA @ Fremont Abbey

Links:
Tyler Ramsey

Black Francis Plays Solo Shows at Joe's Pub on September 3rd and 4th

DOWNLOAD: Black Francis - "All In My Mind" (from New Tales To Tall - A Tribute to Love and Rockets)

Black Francis released Nonstoperotik (Cooking Vinyl) earlier this year and the BBC said that this disc was "[s]urely set to be one of the Pixies main man’s strongest solo albums."

The Pixies are out on the road in August and Black Francis is playing a few one-off solo shows between dates. He is playing solo acoustic sets two nights at Joe's Pub on Sept. 3rd and 4th which leads up to The Pixies show at the Tower Theater in Philadelphia on Sept. 7th. Tickets for the shows at Joe's Pub are $25 each and the shows are at 9:30PM each night.



Links:
Black Francis

Zigmat: Live Photos from May 1st Show at Joe's Pub

Zigmat played a stripped-down late night set last Saturday at Joe's Pub. The somewhat bittersweet performance was dedicated to Zigmat drummer Daniel Duggins who recently suffered a massive stroke. Daniel has been playing with Zigmat for the past two years and all proceeds from the show went to the Duggins family.

[Note: It isn't too late to donate to Daniel's recovery - PayPal contributions can be sent to dandugginsfund@gmail.com]



Zigmat's debut full-length, Sound of Machines, came out last year and Blogcritics describes the disc as "fus[ing] electronic beats and disparate styles to blur the lines between genres, creating a sound totally unique to Zigmat. I can only imagine that the band would be amazing in concert." The show at Joe's Pub was amazing and the band is now off to Spain next month to play the Sonar Festival.

Upcoming Tour Dates:
June 19, 2010 -- Sonar, Barcelona, ES
June 25, 2010 -- Café la Palma, Madrid, ES

Links:
Zigmat

Zigmat Plays a Benefit Show Tonight at Joe's Pub (electro-rock)

DOWNLOAD: Zigmat - Light of the Moon

Brooklyn electro-rock band Zigmat are playing a benefit show tonight at Joe's Pub. This is the band's final US show before they head to Spain for the Sonar Festival.

As originally planned, the band was going to be premiering three new songs tonight. Unfortunately, the band's drummer had a massive stroke earlier this week so vocalist Monica Rodriguez and bassist Stephen Yonkin will be performing acoustically and all proceeds from the show will be donated to the drummer's family.

Tonight's show starts at midnight at tickets are $12.

Links:
Zigmat

Sing Me To Sleep - Tanya Donelly, Jenny Owen Youngs, and Julie Peel perform at Joe’s Pub on June 13th to Launch New Children’s Charity CD

American Laundromat Records (ALR) is hosting a CD release party at Joe's Pub on June 13th to celebrate the release of ALR’s new charity CD Sing Me To Sleep - Indie Lullabies. The show features performances from Tanya Donelly, Jenny Owen Youngs, and Julie Peel, along with face-painting, balloons, crafts and more.

Sing Me To Sleep - Indie Lullabies features whimsical adaptations of popular songs and lullabies by various independent artists, including: Stars, Tanya Donelly, Neil Halstead, Dean & Britta, Telekinesis, and many more. American Laundromat’s goal with this album is not only to raise awareness and support for The Valerie Fund, but also to provide something of beauty for indie music appreciators to share with their kids.

100% of proceeds from the sale of Sing Me To Sleep are donated to The Valerie Fund, a NYC-based charity that supports the comprehensive care of children with cancer and blood disorders. Established in 1976 in memory of nine-year-old Valerie Goldstein, The Valerie Fund Children’s Centers, located at 7 major hospitals, comprise one of the nation’s largest networks of health care facilities for children with cancer and blood disorders.

This is an all-ages matinee show that runs from 12:00PM - 2:30PM. Tickets are $20 for adults and $12 for children under 12.

Rock/Funk Band KiNDERGARTEN Play Rockwood Music Hall on March 4th

DOWNLOAD: KiNDERGARTEN - "Man on the Stairs"
DOWNLOAD: KiNDERGARTEN - "Just a Little (Shook)"

Earlier this month, rock/funk band KiNDERGARTEN released their second disc, Small (click the band's photo to go to iTunes). The band is playing a free show next Thursday night, March 4th, at Rockwood Music Hall. The show is 21+ and KiNDERGARTEN go on at 10PM.

Small, which is the follow-up to KiNDERGARTEN’s debut album River of Slime (2007), is a collection of 12 hook-heavy songs that the band has been performing live for at about a year prior their recording. The lyrics focus on dark themes relating to the end of the world, the growing role of machines in our society, and the recession. This isn't as dark as it sounds though as KiNDERGARTEN mixes ‘70s funk and ‘80s rock with influences that range from Lou Reed and David Bowie to Earth Wind and Fire and Michael Jackson. There is a review of the new disc posted to iTunes where the reviewer says "This album is going to be classic...I've danced, smiled, cried and at least once got pretty scared while listening".

Links:
KiNDERGARTEN

My Cousin, The Emperor - A Long Way Home CD Review (Country R&B)

My Cousin, The Emperor is the latest project of North Carolina-to-Brooklyn transplant singer/songwriter Jason Reischel.

In My Cousin, The Emperor, Jason has joined forces with guitarist Terry Quire, bassist Chris Gogan and drummer Alex Wyatt and the band has their debut CD coming out on October 20th. This disc caught my ear right away as the band captures some musical styles that are atypical to indie alt-country. The disc starts with some 'Country R&B' tunes that are stylistically similar to work from Jools Holland and similar artists. From there, Jason Reischel takes the band into reverb-heavy melancholy that is very comparable to songs from artists like Chris Isaak and Roy Orbison. One of the real standout tracks on the disc is "Regalo La Flor" which is an old-school Sun Studio's style rockabilly rave-up. All-in-all, the stylistic changes across this disc keep it fresh after repeated listening.

The first three cuts from this forthcoming disc are streaming on the band's MySpace page (link below) and these tracks are good representation of the overall disc. "A Long Way From Home" and "Broken Bottle Blues No. 2" are different takes on the band's 'Country R&B' sound and "Montevideo" is a slice of Roy Orbison/Dion-style melancholia.

My Cousin, The Emperor's next live show is a CD release party at Joe's Pub on October 16th.

Links:
My Cousin, The Emperor's MySpace Profile

Cheyenne - "The Whale" CD Release Show @ Joe's Pub, NYC 12/08/07

Cheyenne held their CD release party for "The Whale" last month at Joe's Pub. While the show started incredibly late (the early show was delayed due to a fire alarm which then pushed the start time of Cheyenne's set to 12:30AM), Cheyenne played to a full house.

The new songs sounded great -- there are three live songs on the video below -- and this is the first time at Joe's Pub that I have seen people get up to dance. The band played for a solid hour and barely had time to leave the stage before the crowd started cheering for an encore. If it were up to the audience, I think they would have had the band play all night.

Cheyenne - Live @ Joe's Pub, NYC 12-08-07


Cheyenne's new CD "The Whale" is available from Data Panic Distribution, iTunes, and eMusic. The band's next show is at Piano's on March 1st and this show kicks off the start of a Midwest tour.

Links:
Cheyenne's Website
Cheyenne's MySpace Page

Cheyenne CD Release Party at Joe's Pub Tomorrow (12/8/07) + Beau Jennings Releases Xmas Song

Cheyenne's CD Release Party for "The Whale" is tomorrow night at Joe's Pub. The show starts at 11:30PM and tickets are only $10. Cheyenne just finished a 3-week residency at Piano's last month and drew a good sized crowd at each show so I would recommend getting tickets in advance.

If you haven't heard Cheyenne, here is a link to the title track from the new CD, "The Whale". In keeping with the holiday spirit, frontman Beau Jennings and friends just issued a pretty funny Christmas single entitled "All My Friends Are Snowmen".

Below are some pictures from the second night of the band's residency at Piano's.







Links:
Cheyenne's Website
Cheyenne's MySpace Page

Cheyenne @ Piano's, NYC 11/10/07

Cheyenne played the second night of their Piano's residency last Saturday night. The band sounds great live and I am looking forward to hearing their new CD, The Whale, which will be released in early December.

I did an interview with Beau after the show and I will be posting the interview along with pictures from the show in the next few days. In the meantime, below is a two song video clip from the show.



Links:
Cheyenne's MySpace page
Cheyenne's Website

Ari Gold - An Exclusive Interview

On Tuesday, I had the pleasure of speaking with R&B/Dance artist Ari Gold. He has a new CD, Transport Systems, coming out next month. He is holding a CD release party at Joe's Pub on September 4th.

The first single from Transport Systems, Where the Music Takes You, is streaming on Ari's MySpace page. This is an incredibly catchy tune which features Sasha Allen on backing vocals. When I spoke to Ari, we found that we have a mutual love and respect for the work of Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis and you can hear some of this influence in the new single. Taking this influence one step further, Ari covers the Jam/Lewis penned track (released by the Human League in the 80's) "Human" on the new release.

The CD release party on the 4th should be a lot of fun. Special guests are planned and tickets are only $18 in advance and $20 at the door.

Here is a direct link to an MP3 of the interview I did with Ari and here is a link to the RSS feed.

Links:
Ari Gold's MySpace page
Ari Gold's Website

The Kin Headline Joe's Pub on Thursday, July 12th

I have been a big fan of The Kin since seeing them live at Bowery Ballroom earlier this year. I would expect the band to be fabulous in such an intimate venue. Tickets are only $15 are the show starts at 9:30PM.


I have written at length about the band so I won't rehash any old ground (links to older posts are below). I just ran across links to an in-depth intereview the band did with Joe's Pub (link) and the band performing Great Divide live on Fearless TV (link).

Links:
The Kin's Main Website (link)
Joe's Pub (link)
-------------------------------------------------------
Pictures and Review from June 28th show at Luna Lounge (link)
Pictures and Review from April 28th show at Bowery Ballroom show (link)