BRAIDS Streams New LP and Announces More Tour Dates

Canadian foursome BRAIDS have announced their debut LP, Native Speaker, can be streamed online. Here’s the link:  http://hypem.com/#!/artist/Braids

They have also adjusted their tour schedule to add more dates and will be playing with a variety of bands.  Tour dates are as follows:

01-21 Ottawa, ON – Mavericks
01-22 Quebec, QC – Le Cercle
01-27 Laval, QC – Studio Theatre Maison Des Arts
01-28 Kingston, ON – The Grad Club
01-30 Cincinnati, OH – MOTR Pub
01-31 Louisville, KY – Zanzabar
02-01 St. Louis, MO – The Old Rock House
02-02 Norman, OK – Opolis
02-04 Dallas, TX – Club Dada *$
02-05 Austin, TX – The Mohawk *$
02-07 Atlanta, GA – The Masquerade *$
02-08 Tallahassee, FL – Club Downunder *$
02-09 West Columbia, SC – New Brookland Tavern *$
02-11 Washington, DC – Rock and Roll Hotel *$
02-12 Brooklyn, NY – Knitting Factory *$
02-13 Philadelphia, PA – Kung Fu Necktie *$
02-16 New York, NY – Mercury Lounge *$
02-17 Allston, MA – Brighton Music Hall *$
02-18 Montreal, Quebec – Il Motore *$
02-19 Toronto, ON – El Mocambo *$
02-21 Columbus, OH – Skully’s Music Diner *$
02-22 Urbana, IL – Canopy Club *$
02-23 Iowa City, IA – Gabe’s *$
02-24 Minneapolis, MN – 7th Street Entry *$
02-25 Madison, WI – Der Rathskellar (University of Wisconsin) *$
02-26 Chicago, IL – Subterranean *$
03-01 Seattle, WA – Chop Suey *
03-02 Portland, OR – Holocene *
03-03 Arcata, CA – Jambalaya *$
03-04 San Francisco, CA – Rickshaw Stop *
03-05 Los Angeles, CA – Troubadour *
03-10 Costa Mesa, CA – Detroit Bar %
03-11 San Diego, CA – Casbah %
03-12 Las Vegas, NV – Neon Reverb Festival %
03-14 Santa Fe, NM – Corazon %
03-21 Tempe, AZ – Sail Inn !~
03-26 Kennewick, WA – The Red Room !~
03-28 Vancouver, BC – Biltmore Cabaret !
04-06 Bloomington, IN – The Bishop !
04-13 Baltimore, MD – Talking Head !

* Baths
$ Star Slinger
% Asobi Seksu
! Toro Y Moi
~ Cloud Nothings

Empress Hotel Announces Tour

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Empress Hotel, a band composed of a pair of brothers and a bunch of good friends, are about to embark on a tour that passes through SXSW. The tour promotes their new EP via Park the Van, and as you can hear in “Bells Ring“, the bands sound is very inspired in 70’s pop and maybe even Prince, Roxy Music or Ace. The band is made up of Patrick Hodgkins on bass, Leo DeJesus on keys and percussion, Julie Williams on keys, Micah McKee on lead vocals and guitar, Ryan Rogers on guitar and Eric Rogers on drums. Make sure to check them out when they go on tour below.

Jan 21 – BottleTree Cafe – Birmingham, AL
Jan 27 – Lola’s Saloon –  Fort Worth, TX
Jan 28 – Ghost Room – Austin, TX
Jan 29 – Artmosphere – Lafayette, LA
Feb 19 – Blue Nile (Krewe du Vieux) w/ Big History and Booty Trove-New Orleans, LA
Feb 22 – 5 Spot – Nashville, TN
Feb 23 – Tea Bazaar – Charlottesville, VA
Feb 24 – Pianos – NY, NY
Feb 25 – Rock Shop – Brooklyn, NY
Mar 2 – Iota Club and Cafe – Arlington, VA (DC Area)
Mar 3 – Black Cat – Boone, NC
Mar 5 – Alabama Music Box – Mobile, AL
Mar 16-20 – SXSW 2011 – Austin, TX

Alexander Ebert (of the Magnetic Zeros) to Release Debut

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Alexander Ebert, member of the hippie band Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, is set to release his debut album called Alexander. But this isnt your typical solo album. Ebert explains “I wanted to be able to build an album basically with my hands, like building a house by myself.”, and that is exactly what he did. This album is completely produced, written and performed by Ebert. He plays all of the instruments in the songs as well as singing them. To make matters even more interesting, Ebert cites childhood songs such as Patty Cake and Disney tunes as sources of inspiration for this record. Make sure to check it out when its released March 1st via Community Music. Peek at the album cover above and the tracklist for Alexander below.

1. Let’s Win!
2. Awake My Body
3. Truth
4. In The Twilight
5. Bad Bad Love
6. Old Friend
7. A Million Years
8. Remember Our Heart
9. Glimpses
10. Let’s Make A Deal To Not Make A Deal

Vincent Moon & Efterklang Want YOU (Yes, You) To Host A Screening Of “An Island”

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News about An Island trickled into the blogosphere in small doses: in November 2010, Efterklang and Vincent Moon announced that they were working on a film together, to be premiered in February 2011; in December we were told that Efterklang will bring An Island with them on their 2011 European tour.

Now, Efterklang and Vincent Moon are welcoming all of their listeners and followers to host their own premiere screenings of An Island- people can sign up to host a screening, to be held between February 1st and March 31st.

Efterklang and Vincent Moon call these screenings Private-Public Screenings, and the rules are very simple:
•    The screenings need to have free entrance.
•    The screenings need to be public.
•    The screenings need to have a minimum capacity of 5 people.
•    The screenings need to be verified by Efterklang & Vincent Moon, and only screenings that are featured onwww.anisland.cc are official Private Public Screenings.

An Island is an unconventional mixture of performance film and abstract documentary- about both a band and an island. Last summer, French filmmaker Vincent Moon and Efterklang’s 8 piece-live band met up on an island off the Danish coast. The objective was to shoot a film: a film with the same length as an album, and a film full of performances, experiments, and collaborations. Over an intense period of 4 days, Efterklang collaborated with more than 200 local musicians, creating new performances and interpretations of songs from their album Magic Chairs- filmed in its entirety by Moon.

For an updated list of the current and future Official Screenings and Private-Public Screenings of An Island, visit: http://anisland.cc/home/attend-a-screening/

Be sure to check out the third teaser for An Island here:

Fergus & Geronimo- “Unlearn”

Unlearn

Fergus & Geronimo, believe it or not, is not a 1970s sitcom. Fergus & Geronimo is a duo of Jason Kelly and Andrew Savage with collaborations from others and when they perform live, they often do with a large groups of people. Yes, Fergus & Geronimo is a side project but Fergus Geronimo hopes you do not simply see them as a halfhearted attempt. Sorry, I just really think it is fun to type Fergus & Geronimo.

It is 2011 and I do not believe garage rock is still relevant; was garage rock ever relevant though? Anyways, Fergus & Geronimo fill the whole album of Unlearn with a stripped down unapologetic garage rock sound. At times, certain songs may peak your interest, most notably, “Where The Walls Are Made Of Grass”, which may take the award for Laziest Sounding Western Song Ever. Unfortunately, the past winner of this award was Natalie Cole for this great little number.

There is not much to write about this album actually. It is alright. If you want something new and fresh, do not bother even listening to it. The album becomes a bore after the second song and you have heard an album like this a hundred times. Unlearn brings nothing new to the table. As if lack of innovation was not enough, sometimes the musicianship is just sloppy. The anthem, “Wanna Know What I Would Do If I Was You”, is sluggishly sung. The vocals are almost as bad as Bill Murray in Lost In Translation. Sometimes it is nice to have relaxed vocals and at times even imperfect ones but Fergus & Geronimo sound like that drunken asshole that is always at the bar on karaoke night. As a listener of this album I feel similar to a mistreated girlfriend. I just wish Fergus & Geronimo would show that they care about me and put some passion into what they were giving me. I just want attention. I just want to know that they care. Instead, we are left with an uninspired lazy album. We are left with Fergus & Geronimo sitting on the couch and sipping a beer on Saturday night– forcing us to look for another lover that actually will show that they care.