BrooklynRocks Top 10 List for 2009

Happy New Year Everyone!

Here is my top 10 list (in no particular order):

1) Kati O'Toole - On Ashland (Snow Ghost Music)
2) Sunn O))) - Monoliths & Dimensions (Southern Lord)
3) White Wizzard - High Speed GTO (Earache)
4) Red Collar - Pilgrim (Self-Released)
5) The Besties - Home Free (Hugpatch)
6) Oceano - Depths (Earache)
7) Evergreen Terrace - Almost Home (Metal Blade)
8) Mystery of Two - That's The World Over (Exit Stencil)
9) Absu - Self-Titled (Candlelight)
10) La Coka Nostra - A Brand You Can Trust (Suburban Noize Records)

Mystery Of Two Play The Charleston on Thursday (10/1) and Piano's on Saturday (10/3)

DOWNLOAD: Mystery of Two - "Repeat It" (MP3)

You have to love a band that can capture the proto-punk urgency of bands like Television, Pere Ubu and early Talking Heads and create music that sounds fresh and alive. Cleveland's Mystery of Two is touring behind their recently released self-titled second disc (Exit Stencil Recordings) and are in town for two shows this week.

The first show is Thursday night at The Charleston (Why doesn't The Charleston have a decent website?? Someone other than me might want to know cover charge, set time, etc.).

The second show is at Piano's on Saturday night with Exit Stencil label mates HotChaCha. Cover is $10 -- HotChaCha goes on at 10PM and Mystery of Two play at Midnight.

Mystery of Two - CMJ Festival, Spike Hill, Brooklyn, NY 10-21-08


Here is Mystery of Two's upcoming tour dates:

Oct. 01, 2009, 8:00PM, The Charleston, Brooklyn, New York
Oct. 02, 2009, 8:00PM, Asbury Lanes w/ HotChaCha Asbury Park, New Jersey
Oct. 03, 2009, 8:00PM, Piano’s w/ HotChaCha, New York, New York
Oct. 04, 2009, 2:00PM, Ruintown w/ HotChaCha (Skate Board Party & BBQ), Baltimore, Maryland
Oct. 05, 2009, 9:00PM, HMAC w/ HotChaCha, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
Oct. 06, 2009, 8:00PM, The Velvet Lounge w/ HotChaCha, Washington, Washington DC
Oct. 07, 2009, 8:00PM, The Boot w/ HotChaCha, Norfolk, Virginia
Oct. 08, 2009, 10:00PM, The Tin Roof w/ HotChaCha, Charleston, South Carolina
Oct. 09, 2009, 9:00PM, The Caledonia w/ HotChaCha, Athens, Georgia
Oct. 24, 2009, 8:00PM, CMJ Showcase @ The Charleston, Brooklyn, New York

Links:
Mystery of Two's MySpace Profile

Exit Stencil CMJ Showcase: Live Video from Mystery of Two, HotChaCha and The Dreadful Yawns

Cleveland-based record label Exit Stencil Recordings had a showcase at Spike Hill on the first night of CMJ. I missed Spanish Prisoners who opened the show but I was able to film some of Mystery of Two, HotChaCha and The Dreadful Yawns' live set.



All of the bands were great but Mystery of Two's updated take on 70's punk (sort of a Television meets the Talking Heads sound) was the highlight of the evening.

Check out Exit Stencil's website for vinyl and CD releases from all of these bands.

Most of the Exit Stencil bands aren't playing outside of the Cleveland area for the remainder of the year but HotChaCha will be back in NYC this month for a show at Annex on November 21st.

Links:
Mystery of Two
HotChaCha
The Dreadful Yawns

Exit Stencil Showcase at Spike Hill's Tomorrow Night: My Pick for CMJ Day 1

I told myself that I wasn't going to do CMJ this year...Oh well, I guess some resolutions are meant to be broken. Tomorrow night, Exit Stencil Recordings is doing a showcase at Spike Hill in Williamsburg with some great bands from the Cleveland area.


Here are some details, videos, mp3s, etc. on the bands that are playing:

8pm - Spanish Prisoners: "...one of those squirrelly artists that runs le gamut from a weird freak folk (with spry banjo, dobro, accordion, Wurlitzer, Neil Young-ish harmonica, etc.) to an even more skewed inversion of rough-hewn, '70s influenced indie-rock. No wonder he once backed Daniel Johnston; they've both got a nice artistic screw loose." -
The Big Takeover

Spanish Prisoners backing Daniel Johnston @ Highline Ballroom, Feb '08



9pm - Mystery of Two: "Not quite post-punk, not quite New Wave, this
Cleveland trio nonetheless shares traits with both (angular guitar parts,
occasional synth bleeps), but adds other components Sonic Youth noise
and Feelies guitar drive to come up with something less derivative.
Occasionally the embers ignite into conflagration, which is when the band
rises above the rabble." - Creative Loafing

"Desolate" - Mystery of Two

10pm - HotChaCha: "This all-girl Cleveland foursome packs a helluva
punch, with loud, edgy pop/rock and no apologies. The tracks are huge and
in your face and frontwoman Jovana Batkovic¹s vocals are spot-on with any
other female lead in the business." - Slug Magazine

"J'accuse" - HotChaCha

11pm - The Dreadful Yawns: "Folk rock with a shade of psych, The Dreadful
Yawns swathe the genre with more boy-girl singing adorableness than the
Mommas & The Poppas on a Corey Haim-sized prescription drug binge."
-Verbicide Magazine

"Kill Me Now" - The Dreadful Yawns

12am - Home and Garden: Classic Cleveland avant-rock featuring a rare on
stage performance by both original Pere Ubu member's, Scott Krause and
Tony Maimone!

Cleveland's Mystery of Two Play Shows In Brooklyn Tonight and Tomorrow

Cleveland's Mystery of Two is in town this weekend for two shows in Brooklyn. Tonight's show is at Spike Hill (184 Bedford Ave, Williamsburg) and tomorrow night's show is at Tommy's Tavern (1041 Manhattan Ave, Greenpoint).

Mystery of Two has a 70's art-punk feel to their music and the closest points of comparison would be Rocket From the Tombs/early-Pere Ubu or Television. Singer Ryan Weitzel has a similar vocal style to Pere Ubu's David Thomas and the band's music has some of the same free-form, wall-of-sound elements of both Ubu and Television. There are a number of live and studio tracks streaming on the band's MySpace page. All of the tracks are well worth a listen - good starting points are "Desolate", "Corner" and a punked-up cover of Canned Heat's "Going Up The Country".

Links:
Exit Stencil Recordings