JoyCut (Italian Experimental Rock) Play Bar Matchless on Friday, 10/17 and Trash Bar (CMJ) on 10/23

Bologna, Italy's JoyCut have an intriguing dark-wave/post-rock sound and a dynamic live show to go along with the music. The trio played Mercury Lounge earlier this year on their first proper US tour and the two drummers sat face to face with a guy with 'machines', both a conductor and author, in between them. According to the band's bio, "JoyCut produce a mesmerizing and conceptual sound based on dilated and biting electro sound."

The band is back in town for shows at Bar Matchless on Friday, 10/17 and Trash Bar (as part of CMJ), on Thursday, 10/23.



Fall Tour Dates:
10.13 - Wilmington, DE · Oddity Bar
10.14 - Philadelphia, PA · Johnny Brenda's
10.15 - Boston, MA · O'Brien's
10.16 - Hamden, CT · The Space
10.17 - Brooklyn, NY · Bar Matchless (Headling - 11PM, Cover is $8)
10.18 - Spring City, PA · Chaplin's
10.19 - Asbury Park, NJ · The Saint
10.21 - Montreal, CA · L'Esco
10.23 - Brooklyn, NY · Trash Bar (CMJ) (Playing at 11PM with Tuscon garage-punk act Prom Body closing out the night with a set starting at 11:45PM; Cover is $7)
10.25 - York, PA · The Depot
10.26 - Pittsburgh, PA · Howler's
10.27 - Cincinnati, OH · MOTR
10.29 - Nashville, TN · Springwater Super Club
10.30 - Paducah, KY · Maiden Alley Cinema
10.31 - Louisville, KY · Haymarket Whiskey Bar
11.01 - St. Louis, MO · Cicero's
11.02 - Wichita, KS · John Barleycorn's
11.03 - Oklahoma City, OK · Conservatory
11.04 - Houston, TX · Mango's
11.05 - Austin, TX · Holy Mountain
11.07 - New Orleans, LA · Beat Nik
11.08 - Birmingham, AL · Trim Tab Brewery
11.10 - Bloomington, IN · The Back Door
11.11 - Chicago, IL · Elbo Room
11.13 - Toronto, CA · The Silver Dollar

Links:
JoyCut

Slim Wray (Brooklyn Garage Rock Duo) Play Thursday Night Residency During August at Trash Bar

I've been listening to garage rock duo Slim Wray's forthcoming debut CD, Sack Lunch (out Nov. 2nd), and am wildly impressed. While it is easy to compare every garage rock duo to The White Stripes, what I've heard of the new disc so far sounds like the bombast of bands like Gas Huffer and Jon Spencer's Blues Explosion crossed with fuzzed-out guitar hooks of bands like The Sonics and Flat Duo Jets.

Slim Wray is playing a series of Thursday night residencies at Trash Bar in Williamsburg during the month of August. Shows are August 15, 22nd and 29th and cover is $7 (which includes the well/PBR open bar 8PM happy hour). This Thursday (Aug. 15th), Slim Wray is playing at 9PM and other bands on the bill are The Outros (Midnight), No Small Children (11PM), Black Bear Tribe (10PM) and Isaac and Michael (8PM).



Slim Wray is a party of two that isn’t afraid to get dirty. A brotherhood based on an extensive history together in the New York City music scene, Chris Moran (drums/backing vocals) and Ryan Houser, aka “Howzr” (vocals/ guitar) have not only developed a tight musical chemistry, but have fine-tuned the art of bombastic, irreverent rock 'n roll. Running on thunderous drums and gritty, fuzz-fueled guitar riffs, Brooklyn’s Slim Wray welcomes their single “Bear” off their forthcoming album Sack Lunch. The single attacks with a rousing introduction and swiftly transforms into a plain good time, featuring slamming guitar chords, growling vocals, and infectious “woo hoo’s!”

Links:
Slim Wray

The Mayor of Bad News Plays Trash Bar on Monday, Oct. 24th

Don't Paint Your Kitchen Red by The Mayor of Bad News

The Mayor of Bad News, a gleefully off-kilter Brooklyn lo-fi duo, is playing The Trash Bar this Monday, Oct. 24.

I can't find a bio or website for the band (though, there are some free downloads on Bandcamp and Soundcloud) so here is the write-up on the band from a show at the beginning of the year at Pete's Candy Store: "The Mayor of Bad News consists of brothers Max and Sam Seeger: Max writes songs dealing with love, haunted houses, revenge and fainting, for which he sings and plays acoustic guitar; Sam plays guitar solos against his will. Their influences include but are not limited to Coast to Coast AM with George Noory."

Sharing the bill at Monday's show is: Cannabis (11PM), Columbus Priority Mail (10PM) and Portmanteaux (9PM). The Mayor of Bad News go on at 8PM which is also the start of The Trash Bar's hour-long open bar. Cover is $7.

Movers & Shakers: Boston Roots Rock Band Plays The Trash Bar on May 25th

Boston's Movers & Shakers plays a style of roots-rock that falls somewhere between the roots/garage rock of bands like the Del Fuegos and Del-Lords and the whiskey-soaked, bluesy swagger of Paul Westerbeg's Grandpaboy project. Singer/guitarist Matt Price gave a quote last year to the Boston Globe that perfectly describes the band's music: "All of us [in the band] grew up listening to punk rock. We were teenagers who got into punk, and it was very much a change-your-life moment. But my mom was, and is, a huge Bruce Springsteen and Tom Petty fan, so even when I was younger and listening to loud music, I was always also listening to American rock ’n’ roll.’’

Movers & Shakers are headlining a show at The Trash Bar on May 25th and cover is $7. Movers & Shakers are scheduled to take the stage at 12AM and they are sharing the bill with Counter Riot (11PM), Red Bedlam (10PM), We Buy Gold (9PM) and At a Distance (8PM).



Links:
Movers & Shakers

House of Thieves Plays the Trash Bar on Sunday, Nov. 28th

DOWNLOAD: House of Thieves - "Hans Fritz" (download requires Facebook/Twitter post)

Experimental/prog-rock band House of Thieves are playing the Trash Bar on November 28th along with Broken Glow and The Enth.

"House of Thieves runs the musical gamut. Providing listeners with a diverse spread of different musical influences, from progressive dual guitar shredding, to dub reggae influenced delay-drenched riffs,and gritty power chord driven anthemic choruses ( a la "Hans Fritz"). The band not only refuses to be confined by generic constructs within the band as a whole, but within individual songs; the dance breakdown in "Hans Fritz" is just one of many examples of a band that takes pride in offering listeners a more diverse song structure than Verse-Chorus-Verse-Chorus. All the members are veteran musicians and bring a confident, aggressive, almost frightening energy to their live performance."

Cover is $6 and there is open bar from 8-9PM.

Links:
House of Thieves

Boom Chick (Frank Hoier's new project) Releases Debut Disc on Nov. 30th // Upcoming Shows in Brooklyn

Frank Hoier got a lot of notice back in '08 for his disc Lovers & Dollars, which which NPR called a "memorable collection of Americana songs." He has now teamed up with designer-turned-drummer Moselle Spiller and formed the blues/garage rock band Boom Chick.

At just one year old, Boom Chick's first year was packed with countless sweaty loft parties, constant creation in the industrial Red Hook neighborhood they call home, and hard-charging tours of both European capitals and the grand expanses of the good ol’ US of A. Now Boom Chick is finally ready to unleash their living, breathing sound upon the world.

Boom Chick’s ecstatic debut Show Pony (out November 30th) is shot through with all the love and bones you can pack onto two-inch tape, and revels in Frank & Moselle’s myriad influences, from their shared love of atomic 50's rock n’ roll, dirty Delta blues, reverb-laced surf rock and 60’s girl group melodies, to the bright torches they carry for the classic catalogs of Chess & Sun Records.



Boom Chick have a couple of upcoming shows scheduled around Brooklyn:

Nov. 12 -- Spike Hills
Nov. 18 -- Pete's Candy Store
Nov. 21 -- Trash Bar

Links:
Boom Chick

My Pet Dragon Play CMJ Showcase at Trash Bar on Oct. 21st

DOWNLOAD: My Pet Dragon - "Flow"

My Pet Dragon plays well-crafted alt-rock and vocalist/songwriter Todd Michaelsen has a tenor voice that falls somewhere between Thom Yorke and Muse's Matthew Bellamy.

The band just released a new single "Flow" (which is backed by a cover of Pearl Jam's "Release") and the disc includes four remixes of “Flow” by Karsh Kale, Randolph Correia, Big Will and Mercury Rev’s Carlos Anthony Molina.

My Pet Dragon are playing a CMJ Showcase at Trash Bar in Brooklyn on Thursday, Oct. 21st. My Pet Dragon goes on at 8PM - stay for Murder Mystery who play at 11PM.



Links:
My Pet Dragon

Ex Norwegian Play the Trash Bar on Tuesday, July 14th

BUY: Ex Norwegian: "Dance Trance Pants" (c'mon, everyone has 13 cents)

Ex Norwegian (who hail from Miami Beach) just put out their debut CD Standby this past May (on Dying Van Gogh Records) and they are currently in the midst of an East Coast tour.

I've listened to a few cuts from Standby and the band's influences seem to be T. Rex, George Harrison, The Byrds, power-pop and god knows what else. Pajiba seems to have had a similar take on this CD as they said "Somehow, all of these disparate influences come together to create 33 minutes of bliss...Ex Norwegian has accomplished something rare—especially rare among debut albums—with Standby: they’ve put out a record whose whole is much greater than the sum of its parts."

Check out the mid-70's T. Rex vibe on the video for "Dance Trance Pants".



Ex Norwegian plays the Trash Bar tomorrow night and, like most Trash Bar shows, there is open bar (PBR + Well) from 8 - 9PM and cover is $6.

Here is the schedule for tomorrow night's show:
12:00 - THE HELLBLINKI SEXTET
11:00 - EX NORWEGIAN
10:00 - MY PET DRAGON
9:00 - MATERIALIZER
8:00 - JDS

Links:
Ex Norwegian's MySpace Profile

Automatic Children Play Trash Bar Tomorrow Night, Dec. 10th

Automatic Children are premiering new material from their forthcoming CD at their show tomorrow night at Trash Bar. The band have said that they will play seven of the ten songs from the upcoming disc.

This upcoming CD follows Automatic Children's debut EP, "It's Not Me, It's You", which was released late last year (see review). In addition to the new disc, the band have announced plans to release a limited edition vinyl 7" of "Solitude" and "Coming Over Me".

On the bill tomorrow night with Automatic Children are Emergency Party, the Monte Vista and In India. Automatic Children take the stage at 9PM and tickets are $6.00.

Here is a live video from Automatic Children's show at Rockwood Music Hall last January

Links:
Automatic Children's MySpace profile

Karen Rockower (guitar/vox from Bugs in the Dark) Plays Solo Show at Trash Bar

Karen Rockower is playing a solo set next Wednesday (July 23rd) at Trash Bar in Brooklyn. Karen has been debuting new material at her recent solo shows and Wednesday's show will be the premier of the song "Dog".

Cover is $6 and Quiet Loudly and Werewolves are also on the bill.

Links:
The Trash Bar
Karen Rockower's Website
Bugs in the Dark's Website

Frauke Plays Trash Bar in Williamsburg on Wednesday, May 9th

How can you say no to Frauke, a low $6 cover and open bar for an hour (8PM - 9PM)



Frauke is playing with nuh-uh and the Trash Bar is located at 256 Grand Street in Williamsburg.

Links:
Frauke's Main Website (link)

Frauke - CD/EP Review

Frauke is "interesting"; I have listened to their EP (which is streaming on the band's website) a few times and I am still not quite sure what to make of them. Frauke are a three piece (bass, guitar and drums) which play Ween-inspired lo-fi music that is oddly compelling. The band's musical style ranges from a post-punk 80's sound to a track (sung by the female Frauke) that could pass for low-fi Blondie song (aside for the lyrics about chicks with di*ks and beat downs). I haven't made out all of the lyrical themes but they seem to range from sluts to the yeti. The EP gets interesting/bizarre when the band tells bad jokes in pseudo-German accents for about 10 minutes. Obviously these guys have interesting day jobs and/or good drugs.

Frauke's website describes them as:

Frauke is formed by Frauke, Frauke, and Frauke. Frauke met Frauke in Germany, and Frauke introduce Frauke to Frauke in Germany. Frauke is a she. Frauke wants you to dance, stop dancing. Frauke wants to play love songs for you but they are songs of hate. Look at Frauke, look away from Frauke. Frauke loves the suit that is covered in blood and and is left alone in the snow so that a child may come across it and weep. Frauke sees pain in child's eyes. does frauke feel emotion? Frauke does not feel. The owl laments, stops lamenting, for it fears Frauke.

All-in-all, I think this is one of those bands that you have to see live to actually figure out what they are all about. I would suspect that they will either shake the earth or be mad-drunk. Either state could make for an interesting show.

Frauke plays the Trash Bar in Brooklyn on May 9th.

Links:
Frauke's Main Website (link)
Frauke's MySpace page (link)