Pelican @ Bowery Ballroom, July 24, 2007

Here is the last of the pictures from the MTV Urge Nights show at the Bowery Ballroom last Tuesday. Pelican was the headliner and played a long, sweaty set. The band is touring behind their latest release, City of Echoes, which was released on Hydrahead in June. Aside for a nasty review from Pitchfork, the new CD is getting great reviews.

The band puts on a great live show -- they are certainly worth checking out next time they come through town. (Unfortunately, I am not familiar enough with their music to attempt to put together a set list.)





Links:
Pelican's Official Website
Pelican's MySpace page

Earth @ Bowery Ballroom, July 24, 2007

Earth was the second band to play @ the Bowery Ballroom last Tuesday. The band played a nice, long set of low-fi drone music. I suspect many of the tracks played are from Earth's forthcoming CD THE BEE MADE HONEY IN THE LIONS SKULL (which is due out on Southern Lord later this year). I snagged a set list from Don McGreevy and here are the tracks listed:

- Carrion Crow
- Hung From Moon
- Ouroboros (or Coda)
- The Driver
- Bees
- Engine of Runes

Earth Onstage @ Bowery Ballroom
Don McGreevy (w/Adrienne Davies in the background)
Dylan Carlson
Dylan Carlson

Priestbird @ Bowery Ballroom, July 24, 2007

Priestbird kicked off the Urge Nights ambient metal show at the Bowery Ballroom last Tuesday. The band was formerly know as Tarantula AD and their sound has evolved quite a bit since the name change. The songs were mostly instrumental in the psychedelic vein of early Pink Floyd or Hawkwind. The song structures were ambitious and the sound was rich and full. I would imagine it to be quite the experience to catch these guys in a small room.

The band has a new CD, In Your Time, out on Kemando Records.

Saunder Jurriaans
Gregory Rogove
Danny Bensi & Saunder Jurriaans
Tomorrow is the last night of the tour with Pelican and the band is then playing some dates with Helmet next month.

Here are the band's upcoming tour dates:

Jul 30 2007 8:00P Cat's Cradle Carrboro, North Carolina
Aug 27 2007 8:00P Ravari Room w/ HELMET Columbus, Ohio
Aug 28 2007 8:00P Peabody's w/ HELMET Cleveland, Ohio
Aug 29 2007 8:00P The Magic Stick w/ HELMET Detroit, Michigan
Aug 30 2007 8:00P The Vogue w/ HELMET Indianapolis, Indiana

Check out Season of the Sun from the new Priestbird CD.

Links:
Priestbird's Main Website
Priestbird's MySpace page

Urge Nights Presents Pelican at Bowery Ballroom on July 24th

Pelican bring their hypnotizing live show to New York City as part of URGE Nights – an extension of MTV Networks’ digital music service URGE.


With songs that graze in the range of ambient metal while remaining boldly instrumental, Pelican have refined their sound and reach new heights on their third full-length, City of Echoes, which features, more melodic musical peaks and valleys.

“There is epic music and there is epic music. Chicago instrumental quartet Pelican is proudly guilty of producing the latter, penning tunes so ambitious and triumphant that your everyday life seems insignificant in comparison”. - XLR8R

This special performance is presented by MTV Networks’ URGE digital music service, as part of URGE Nights -- a concert series connecting music lovers with both emerging and acclaimed artists in a variety of musical styles and settings. URGE is available for free download at http://www.urge.com.

Featuring original and exclusive music programming, first-rate editorial and innovative music-discovery features, URGE is an immersive entertainment experience for music fans to connect with their favorite artists and discover new ones. Leveraging the music programming expertise of MTV, VH1 and CMT, URGE celebrates all music, from Afro-beat to zydeco. URGE offers subscription and a la carte access to nearly 3 million songs across all music genres.

Pelican is playing with Earth (Dylan Carlson rules) and Priestbird. This is a great lineup and tickets are only $15.

Doors open at 8PM and the Bowery Ballroom is located at:

6 Delancey Street
New York, NY

Links:
Urge (link)
Bowery Ballroom (link)

Pelican (link)
Earth (link)
Priestbird (link)

Urge Releases Exclusive 4-Song EP of Klaxons Live @ Studio B, Brooklyn

Urge, who sponsored The Klaxons at Studio B this past April, just released an exclusive four song live EP from the show through Urge (obviously). I am listening to the EP now and the songs sound great. The tracks on the EP are Gravity’s Rainbow, Golden Skans, Atlantis to Interzone, and Magick.

Here is a link to the tracks on Urge(link). I was an iPod bigot for the longest time but now that I have sat down and checked out Urge, it is a pretty cool program. Check it out and see what you think...

Links:
The Klaxons' Main Website (link)
Pictures & Review from April 13th show at Studio B (link)

The Klaxons @ Studio B, Brooklyn, NY April 13th, 2007

MTV Urge Nights sponsored The Klaxons at Studio B last Friday night. I haven't seen a crowd this ready to party since the closing shows at CBGB. The show was sold out and the club was at capacity.


The crowd started pogoing and dancing from the minute the band hit the stage up until the last song. With that many people moving, the temperature rose quickly and that jacket (in the above picture) didn't last long.


As I have heard The Klaxons' music described as "new rave" so I was expecting their live show to sound something like the Happy Monday's. This wasn't the case at all. Below is part of an interview that Urge did with singer/keyboardist James Righton:

URGE: What does the phrase "new rave" mean to you?

Righton: Jaime [Reynolds] invented the term for the band, just as a joke. Then NME got ahold of it, and what the NME says suddenly becomes gospel. So it spread. It's a misrepresentation of the music and misleading in a lot of ways.

URGE: So you're saying you don't take 10 ecstasy pills a day and wear a Dr. Seuss hat to bed?

Righton: No, no. [Laughs.] It's not happening. It's funny, because as soon as it got talked about, we tried to distance ourselves from it. I don't think any band likes a tag, let alone one that conjures up images that we probably don't adhere to.

URGE: What are the differences between the first generation of rave and what you're doing?

Righton: The differences are musical: We don't use electronics, we don't use 303s, we don't use any of that. We're a live band, an organic band, and that allows for human failures and elements. We don't go onstage dressed in neon out of our minds, either. Not every night.





If The Klaxons truely believe the world will end in 2012, they obviously aim to have some fun over the next five years. The new album's final song, "Four Horsemen Of 2012," references the final year of the Mayan Calendar, when some, including Klaxons (Reynolds, Righton and guitarist Simon Taylor-Davis), believe the world will end. But reveling in our worldly demise is cause for a party, according to Righton: "Celebrating that we all are going to die is great! Every gig, we give out the address to Simon's house, that's where the barbeque is going to happen on New Year's Eve 2012."

URGE: Do you really believe that the world is going to end in 2012?

Righton: Of course we do. We're going to design T-shirts that say "12 12 12." Then watches that say "countdown to apocalypse." They're not going to tell the time, just the countdown. You're all invited to Simon's barbeque, as well.

New Interview with the Klaxons Posted to Urge.com

MTV has a new download service Urge that looks more than capable of giving iTunes a run for its money. The site has a 14 day free trial so check it out.

MTV Urge Nights are sponsoring the Klaxons at Studio B in Greenpoint this Friday night (and there are still tickets left) and just posted an interview with the band to Urge.com.

Below are some excerpts from the interview and a link to the full text is below.

URGE: What was the first gig you ever played as Klaxons like?

James Righton: We started the band on November 4, 2005, booked a gig for November 11th and so had to learn to play something quickly. The venue was located in the center of London in a small basement, and when we turned up we found out that the main act had pulled out, so we were suddenly playing our first gig as a headliner with literally three or four songs. Within the first two or three minutes of the set, every instrument fell apart, everything broke, and it was the most punk thing most people in London had seen in a long time.

URGE: Do you really believe that the world is going to end in 2012?

Righton: Of course we do. We're going to design T-shirts that say "12 12 12." Then watches that say "countdown to apocalypse." They're not going to tell the time, just the countdown. You're all invited to Simon's barbeque, as well.

The rest of the interview is available here (link)

Klaxons Play Studio B in Brooklyn Friday April 13th

I was surprised to see there are still tickets available for the Klaxon's show next Friday at Studio B. The band is playing Bowery Ballroom this Tuesday and tickets for this show sold out fairly quickly. The band also drew a strong crowd as headliners on the just completed NME tour in the UK so I wouldn't count on getting tickets day-of-show for this one.

For anyone not familiar with the Klaxons' music, Wikipedia notes that "HMV describes Klaxons as "acid-rave sci-fi punk-funk", while their MySpace page touts 'Psychedelic / Progressive / Pop'. Though the band's sound is decidedly art rock, they draw upon some less common influences (notably the rave culture of the 1990s, which they appropriate and redefine in a post-modern fashion). This is perhaps most evident in their cover of novelty rave hit "The Bouncer" by Kicks Like a Mule and 'Not Over Yet' by Grace." The Klaxons were recently named the Best New Band at Shockwaves NME Awards and just released their full-length debut Myths of the Near Future on Polydor Records. The new CD and the band's live show have been getting great reviews and many of the band's UK show in May are already sold out.

The show at Studio B is part of MTV Urge Nights and should be a fun night. Bonde Do Role from Brazil and Surkin from France are also on the bill. Tickets are only $10 in advance and $12 at the door. Advance tickets are available at Other Music (in the East Village) and at www.igetrvng.com.

Links:
Klaxons Main Website (link)
Klaxons MySpace Page (link)
Studio B, Brooklyn (link)