Maxwell's Adds More Shows: Mission of Burma, Freedy Johnson & Others, Terre T. Live Broadcast, & More

Mission of Burma, "Nu Disco," at one of Yo La Tengo's Hanukkah shows at Maxwell's in 2010. See the latest shows added to the Maxwell's schedule below.

Maxwell's in Hoboken continues to go out with a bang, adding more shows as it heads into its last week and a half in existence. (Get tickets to the shows here.) Just added to the lineup:

• Wed., July 24th: Freedy Johnston, the Health & Happiness Show (led by former Bongo James Mastro), Anton Fier, and others (8 p.m.)
• Sat., July 27th: WFMU's Cherry Blossom Clinic hosted by Terre T.—live remote broadcast starring Hackamore Brick (3 p.m.)
• Sun., July 28th: Mission of Burma (9 p.m.)
• Mon., July 29th: Bern and The Brights, Secret Islands, and Val Emmich (8:30 p.m.)
• Wed., July 31st: Closing Night Block Party (DJ music) (4 p.m.)

The Wednesday show is billed on the website as "Bar None Records Presents A Night Of Folks and Fondue feat. Freedy Johnston, The Health and Happiness Show and Chris Stamey with Gene Holder and Anton Fier plus a host of special guests." That should be a great one, and it's only $15.

 The Maxwell's website shows a dwindling number of remaining concerts... and a photo of a sad puppy underneath "Upcoming Shows."

No show has been announced for the night of the 31st, though NJ.com says that the final show will feature the first band to play the club, called "a," as well as the classic bands that grew out of "a": The Bongos and The Individuals.

Maxwell's has been hosting a number of sold-out shows in the last few weeks as it counts down to the end. We were fortunate to attend several of these concerts, all great stuff, featuring acts of wildly varying styles: garage-rock masters The Fleshtones, Mott the Hoople frontman Ian Hunter, singer-songwriter Rachael Yamagata, and Glen Rock punk rockers Titus Andronicus (on the first gig of their three-night run). Podcast Party be at at least five more shows at the club at 1039 Washington St.

Maxwell's to Rise Again in Jersey City?

Amid the sad news of Maxwell's closing, there is hope that it may live on (in some sense) in a nearby location. Various sources have reported that co-owner Todd Abramson is actively looking to open a club elsewhere in New Jersey, with Jersey City (next to Hoboken) as the most likely location. Particular attention has focused on the under-renovation White Eagle Hall, which is about a half mile from the Grove Street PATH station.

We hope that plan works out. Stay tuned for details.

Garbage Returns to NYC with Terminal 5 Show

It took more than a decade and a half, but I finally saw Garbage live on Friday night at Terminal 5. Not my favorite venue, but Shirley Manson and the band put on a great show that included plenty of tunes from their catalog of albums spanning 17 years.


Garbage performing "Only Happy When It Rains" at Terminal 5. This and following video via Hellspawn3000.

The band kicked things off with "Push It" and rocked hard during most of the show, which ran close to two hours. (See set list below.) Things slowed down a bit only for a couple of more mellow tunes, such as "The Trick is to Keep Breathing" and "Cup of Coffee" (which Manson called the most depressing song in the Garbage catalog).

Manson looks great, and mentioned several times how glad they were to be back in New York, playing at the beginning of the last leg of their North American tour to support their latest album, last year's "Not Your Kind of People." (They opened this stint at Montclair's Wellmont Theatre on Wednesday night.)

No doubt she and the other band members appreciated that, in a world where there's a hot new band becoming the next "it" thing practically every week, Garbage was able to get fans out to see them on tour despite the band being on hiatus for seven years—an eternity in the modern pop music landscape.

There were a couple of false starts on songs, which Manson blamed on technical problems, but other than that Garbage performed like a well-oiled machine. Manson didn't hit the higher notes like she does on their records, which may be a result of age and vocal wear and tear, or maybe she never hit those notes live anyway. Nevertheless, it didn't detract from what was a fine show.



As with the Wellmont show, Garbage was joined onstage by Marissa Paternoster of Screaming Females for a cover of "Because the Night," which the two bands recorded as a single for next month's Record Store Day. Paternoster's voice was a good contrast, but not an unwelcome one, to Manson's, and Manson let Paternoster bask in the limelight by performing several blazing guitar solos, even walking to the back of the stage while Marissa played her licks.

The show ended with guitarist Duke Erickson performing a solo rendition of "Thank You Honey Bun," an old-timey sounding tune that I'm not familiar with (and which was definitely a contrast with Garbage's set).

The stage for opening act IO Echo featured Japanese shoji screens and a paper fan in front of the bass drum, but the sound was more goth than Asian. The band's Facebook page uses the term "Pastel Doom," which seems to fit.

Singer Ioanna Gika spun around the stage in kimono for most of the set, and though I didn't hear any Asian influence in the music, the aforementioned Facebook page describes their music as "Made with both organic and synthesized instruments from the far east. Japanese koto harps, one passed down to me from my grandmother + Chinese Violins + Pastel Romance."

I didn't hear any harps or violins but I liked their sound. After playing a number of shows at the recent SXSW, IO Echo seems to have a gained lot of new fans. Although their first full-length album doesn't come out for a couple of weeks (their set Friday night was only 25 minutes), their EP sold out at Terminal 5.

Setlist: Garbage at Terminal 5, March 22nd (via Setlist.fm)
Push It
Queer
Automatic Systematic Habit
Hammering in My Head
Blood for Poppies
Special
Why Do You Love Me
#1 Crush
I Think I'm Paranoid
The One
The Trick Is to Keep Breathing
Cherry Lips
Cup of Coffee
Stupid Girl
Only Happy When It Rains
Vow
Beloved Freak
   
Encore:
Because the Night (cover of Bruce Springsteen/Patti Smith tune), with Marissa Paternoster of Screaming Females
When I Grow Up
You Look So Fine
Thank You Honey Bun (Duke Erikson solo performance)

Photos: Screaming Females Launch "Ugly" Tour at Maxwell's

Screaming Females launched the tour for their new album, "Ugly," with an album release party at Maxwell's Thursday night. The band played a one-hour set that emphasized the new record (which came out on Tuesday on Don Giovanni Records).

Screaming Females: King Mike, Jarrett Dougherty, and Marissa Paternoster (left to right). (Click photo to enlarge.)

Despite the critical acclaim and higher profile Screaming Females have gotten recently, the show wasn't sold out. The band did draw an enthusiastic, good-sized crowd, with a randomly appearing mosh pit that sometimes pushed people in the front row onto the stage.

No one seemed to get hurt in the moshing, although one guy briefly surfed the crowd—never a good idea in a club with a low ceiling—and his foot kicked a hanging light, which then turned around and focused on the crowd. A few minutes later a fan jumped up and tapped the light to direct it back toward the stage, and it happened to end up shining right on Marissa Paternoster. So things worked out OK after all.

You can stream "Ugly" here, and read Jim Kot's review of the album (he calls it the band's best yet).

Screaming Females upcoming tour dates:
April 6th: Bell House, Brooklyn
April 7th: Pi Lam (Human BBQ), Philadelphia
April 8th: The Black Cat, Washington, D.C.

A few photos from last night (click to enlarge):

Jarrett Dougherty, and Marissa Paternoster.

Stream New Screaming Females Album, "Ugly"; Watch New Garbage Video & Chat

The Screaming Females are back and screaming with their new album "Ugly," and you can stream it in its entirety at Spin.com. The album drops today, and the New Brunswick, New Jersey band is heading out on tour to support "Ugly."


Video for "It All Means Nothing," the first song on "Ugly."

It all starts with a record release show this Thursday at Maxwell's in Hoboken, a venue the band is quite familiar with. Tickets for the show are still available and are only $10 in advance/$12 day of show. Marvin Berry and The New Sound and Lost Weekend open the show. They play Bell House in Brooklyn the next night.

Garbage Releases "Blood for Poppies;" Chats with Fans: Shirley Manson and company put out the video for their first U.S. single today, and had a web chat with fans on Ustream. You can find both below.

"Not Your Kind of People," the first Garbage album in five years, will be released on May 15th.





Video streaming by Ustream

New Tunes: Dum Dum Girls "Coming Down" Video; Songs from Garbage, Japandroids, & More

Some great new tunes have come out this week, from bands including Dum Dum Girls, Garbage, Japandroids, and Silversun Pickups. First off is the video of "Coming Down" by the Dum Dum Girls, directed by the band's own bass player, Malia James (who is also a photographer/videographer/writer/who knows what else).

The video uses a shortened, four-minute version of the song, which ran six-and-a-half minutes on DDG's "Only in Dreams" album from late last year. (Related: see photos from the February Dum Dum Girls show at Maxwell's.)

Here's all the new stuff:

* Dum Dum Girls, "Coming Down" video:



* Garbage's "Battle in Me" video (U.K. single). (Via Consequence of Sound, which also features the track listing.):



* Japandroids have a new single, "The House That Heaven Built." You can listen to it at their website. Also: the band is playing Bowery Ballroom on June 27th; get tickets here this Friday at 12 Noon.

* Stereogum as posted a new song download by Screaming Females, "Expire." At the link you can also find their live dates; they're kicking off their tour with an album release show at Maxwell's on April 5th.

* Silversun Pickups are out with a new song, "Bloody Mary (Nerve Endings)," which you can listen to at the link or listen to below (for some reason, SoundCloud embeds aren't working for me).



* Crocodiles, the band fronted by Brandon Welchez (husband of Dum Dum Girls frontwoman Dee Dee), is preparing a new album and has a new video of its own: an album teaser that sends up those old Time-Life Records collections of the past. (Via NME.)

NYC Concerts on Sale Fri.: The Black Keys with Arctic Monkeys; Gomez; M83; Neon Indian; More

Tickets for lots of great early-2012 concerts in New York are going on sale this Friday, Sept. 9th at Noon. The biggest of these is the recently announced show featuring The Black Keys with the Arctic Monkeys at Madison Square Garden, which takes place on March 12th.


Video for "Lonely Boy," the first single off the new Black Keys album.

The Garden is not the ideal place to see a concert, but The Black Keys have certainly gotten popular enough to fill arenas, especially with the release (today) of their much-anticipated new album "El Camino."

Here's a look at some of the most popular or interesting shows going on sale this Friday:
Wed., Jan. 4, 2012: Elizabeth & the Catapult with Misty Boyce, Mercury Lounge
Wed. & Thurs., Jan. 11 & 12: The Pierces, Mercury Lounge
Sat., Feb. 11: Don Giovanni Records Show featuring the Screaming Females, Laura Stevenson and the Cans, and others
Sat., Mon., & Thurs., March 3, 5, & 8: Bombay Bicycle Club, Music Hall of Williamsburg (March 3); Bowery Ballroom (March 5); Maxwell's (March 8)
Sun., March 11: Gomez, Bowery Ballroom
Mon., March 12: The Black Keys with Arctic Monkeys, Madison Square Garden
Fri., April 6: The War on Drugs, Music Hall of Williamsburg
Fri. & Sat., May 4 & 5: Andrew Bird, Beacon Theatre
Thurs., May 10: M83 with I Break Horses, Terminal 5
Sat., May 12: Neon Indian, Terminal 5

There are of course many big concerts coming up that are already on sale, one of the most popular being the slate of shows The National is doing at the Beacon Theatre starting next week. The shows run every night from Dec. 12th to the 17th, and each features openers who are appealing in their own right, including Sharon Van Etten, The War on Drugs, and Wye Oak.

The National's shows in New York have always sold out quickly, so it seems that the band is trying to address the problem with six consecutive shows. If you've wanted to see The National live in New York, this is your best chance in a few years.

Get your credit card out and get ready to see some great live music to start off the new year.

Live Shows Saturday: Screaming Females, Bear Hands, Jaymay, & More

Screaming Females headlines at Bowery Ballroom on Saturday.

Saturday is a good night to see some indie rock in the NYC area. Here are a few of the highlights:

• Screaming Females from New Brunswick, NJ play Bowery Ballroom in a show starting at 9 p.m. Also on the bill are Shellshag, Underground Railroad To Candyland, and Hilly Eye (featuring singer and guitarist Amy Klein from Titus Andronicus). If you like female rockers, this show should be a good one. And it'll get you in the mood for the upcoming shows by Throwing Muses and Wild Flag.
  
  
• On the other end of the female musician spectrum is Long Island native Jamie Seerman, who performs under the name Jaymay, and is playing at Bowery Electric in a show that starts at 7:30.  The show also features Lou-is and My Cousin The Emperor. I first heard of her more than five years ago when WFUV played her funny, quirky pop song "See Green, Sea Blue." Although she's appeared on some of the late-night TV shows and had a song or two featured in popular TV programs, she's stayed below the radar.
  
  
• Indie rockers Bear Hands play Maxwell's in Hoboken Saturday with Grandchildren. Showtime is set for 9 p.m. Bear Hands has gained a following over the last few years while opening for acts like MGMT and Vampire Weekend. Their debut full-length is 2010's "Burning Bush Supper Club."

Free on Saturday: Ted Leo and The Screaming Females at the Seaport

Ted Leo and the Screaming Females play the Seaport Saturday, a week before the big 4 Knots Festival.

Ted Leo & the Pharmacists play a free show tomorrow at South Street Seaport's Pier 17 that's billed as a kickoff show for next Saturday's all-day 4 Knots Festival, also at Pier 17. New Brunswick, NJ's Screaming Females are also on the bill with Ted Leo. The show starts at 6 p.m. (See the Village Voice's story on the 4 Knots kickoff show.)

You can get to Pier 17 by taking the 2, 3, 4, 5, J, Z, or M trains to Fulton Street or the A or C to Broadway-Nassau. (See map and directions.)

The 4 Knots Festival is the free shindig that's replacing the Siren Festival, which was held on Coney Island for the last 10 years. Like the Siren Festival, 4 Knots is presented by the Voice, as well as the Seaport Music Festival.

Speaking of 10 years, Ted Leo & the Pharmacists have been around for a decade (and have played many free shows in that time, including the Siren Festival), and for their appearance Saturday they'll be playing their first album, "The Tyranny of Distance," in its entirety. The Voice looks back at some of Ted Leo's 10 years of free NYC shows, with videos. (Below is an amateur video of Leo doing "Little Daw" from the 2010 Siren show, which I attended.)



The 4 Knots Festival takes place from 1 to 8 p.m. and features The Black Angels, Titus Andronicus, Davila 666, Oberhofer, Eleanor Friedberger (of Fiery Furnaces), and Mr. Dream. While the Siren Festival featured two stages, I'm not sure if that will be the case with 4 Knots. Which may be just as well, since you won't have to choose between two acts you really want to see that are playing at the same time.

Music News: Screaming Females Interview, More on Corin Tucker, LimeWire Shutdown Ordered, Sony Pulls Plug on Cassette Walkman

"Castle Talk," the new Screaming Females album.

Some random notes on music and technology from all over:

* New Brunswick, NJ's Screaming Females were featured on public radio the other day. There was an interview with singer Marissa Paternoster, who talked about her own musical roots and the thriving underground music scene in New Brunswick. You can stream a couple of Screaming Females songs at the link. I have just missed seeing the band a few times now, most recently Saturday when they played a CMJ showcase with Corin Tucker.

* Speaking of Tucker, I've written a couple of times about the former Sleater-Kinney member and her new band. You can read more about Corin Tucker and her work in a couple of recent articles, one in the Village Voice and another in the Philadelphia Inquirer. Among other things, you'll learn about the songs she wrote for the "Twilight" movies (that didn't get used).

* A U.S. federal judge ordered the shutdown of the LimeWire file-sharing service Tuesday, granting the request made by the music industry. The judge said that LimeWire engaged in a "massive scale of infringement" and that record companies have suffered "irreparable harm." One article points out that it's not clear if LimeWire is required to just stop distributing new software, or disable software currently in use.

* Sony has announced it will stop selling the Walkman portable cassette player in Japan in June. Folks in the U.S. can will still be able to buy the iconic music player, though; Sony says it will keep manufacturing the units in China for the U.S. and other markets.