Posted: July 2nd, 2008 | Author: justin | Filed under: FRICTION, events, folk, nyc, pop, psych | No Comments »
Thanks to everyone who made it out to FRICTION at Cake Shop on Sunday night. Many thanks to Crystal Stilts, Tickley Feather, Rings, PWRFL Power, and Anicet DJ for putting on such a great show. We loved the vibe of the night and venue, so keep an eye out for future shows at the shop. For now, you can catch FRICTION (as announced on Monday) at The Mercury Lounge with Crystal Antlers, Chairlift, and Religious Knives on July 8th. Photos from Sunday night are up on our Flickr page.
Posted: June 30th, 2008 | Author: justin | Filed under: FRICTION, events, noise, nyc, psych, synth | No Comments »
GET HYPE! Long Beach California’s Crystal Antlers bring their pummeling live show to the East Coast for this installment of FRICTION at The Mercury Lounge on July 8th. With an explosive build-up of noise and melody blended with raw vocals and twisting riffs, this quintet has mastered the art of thrash. Brooklyn synthfolk darlings Chairlift (who’s debut LP, Does You Inspire You is about to drop) and borough-mates Religious Knives (Resin recently reviewed here), best known to dish out delicious plates of noise, round out this bill.
This will be the last of what seemed like a crazy string of shows every other week since the beginning of May, as FRICTION returns to its once a month schedule for the remainder of the summer. Advance tickets are on sale now, doors at 7:30pm.
Long Beach’s
CRYSTAL ANTLERS have mastered the art of thrash, that combustible build-up of noise and melody that so many others have tried to harness, only to fail in a miserable pool of fuzzy annoyance. Blending messy, raspy vocals with pummeling drums, writhing riffs and strident organs, the band produce a kaleidoscopic tornado of inflection that’s so right-this-very-moment. [Orange County Weekly]
[MP3]: “A Thousand Eyes”
CHAIRLIFT digs deep for its inspiration. The groups
Daylight Savings EP, while tethered to a solid core of hook-laden, keyboard driven indie-rock, opens its arms wide to encompass stabs of psychedelia and winsomely quirky, oh-so-slight vocals which evoke Kate Bush as much as Regina Spektor. The trio knows how to skirt the edge of pretension with out falling over, and makes a chirpy, joyously brainy noise in the process. [The Onion]
[MP3]: “Evident Utensil”
The animal musk of The Velvet Underground spiral drones intermingles with the decadent perfume of a David Lynch noir to devastating effect, this is death disco in the best tradition of Public Image Ltd, and when
RELIGIOUS KNIVES decide it is the moment to finish us off the only thing we’ll regret is having to abandon this spectral chamber which they call home. [20jazzfunkgreats]
[MP3]: “The Sun”
In part with:
Posted: June 27th, 2008 | Author: justin | Filed under: FRICTION, events, nyc, pop, psych, surf | No Comments »
With a lineup that’s a little bit Philly and a lot of New York, FRICTION returns to its roots in Manhattan with a cast of “local” acts this Sunday at Cake Shop. Crystal Stilts, who have recently been buzzing in NYC, bring their unique brand of of moody, catchy, and upbeat surf-inspired tunes to the Shop. Mischevious outsider-folkie PWRFL Power, Paw Track signees Rings, and Philadelphia’s mysterious Tickley Feather, with her lo-fi blend of psychy bedroom pop, round out the lineup. Anicet spins between sets.
Tickets are only seven bucks and available at the doors, which open at 8pm. Full show details here. GET HYPE!
[MP3]: Crystal Stilts ”Bright Night Nursery”
Crystal Stilts, eMusic Select; 2008
Posted: June 19th, 2008 | Author: justin | Filed under: folk, psych | No Comments »
One of the songs I posted in the mid-year mixtape the other day was from the mysterious Pakistan-born Portlander Ilyas Ahmed. In 2005 he released a string highly acclaimed and impressive privately pressed CD-Rs including Between Two Skies and Towards The Night, which were each remastered and released in limited runs of 50 by Digitalis.
I’m probably the last person you’ll find toting around some sort of obsure, psychedelic folk music in my earthy hemp bag, ESPECIALLY if the shit is near impossible to find. In fact, a few months ago I was dragged to a way sold out “folk night” in Santa Monica for some dude who hitchhiked on trains from Portland (I might be exaggerating). He was making a “rare live performance” and it was SO important that the king of folk freakdom himself, Devendra Banhart, was there for this exclusive pants wetting set. I made it through the opening act, but about halfway through the first song of the guy’s name I can’t remember, I had my fill. As soon as that dude put down his guitar and the seated crowd began to clap, I made a bee-line for the door. My mind was quickly taken away from the show when I spotted a beautiful green Gretch hanging on the wall of the guitar shop. It was love at first sight.
I don’t know what it is about Ilyas Ahmed’s music that makes it stand out from the rest and given my track record I should very well despise it, but I don’t. On his first proper full-length, The Vertigo Of Dawn, Ahmed delivers with a remarkably beautiful record. Ahmed’s unintelligible mournful vocals swirl through delicately plucked guitar strings, floating like a light fog and interacting on a level that’s nearly hypnotic. The dark and moody, Eastern-tinged “Under the Singing Sea,” provides an enhanced sense of solitude, best saved for, perhaps…woozy late night meditation.
The Vertigo Of Dawn is out now in, you guessed it, a limited pressing on Time-Lag Records. I think the magic number this time was 750 and it’s already sold out. Happy searching – it’s worth the effort.
[MP3]: Ilyas Ahmed ”Moon Falling”
The Vertigo Of Dawn, Time Lag; 2008
Vertigo Of Dawn Track Listing:
A1 Golden Universe
A2 Under The Singing Sea
A3 Behind Our Eyes
A4 Phantom Sky
B1 Moon Falling
B2 Unveiled Nightmare
B3 Return To Ours
B4 Light Grows Thin
Posted: June 13th, 2008 | Author: justin | Filed under: pop, psych | No Comments »
Bewildered, I woke up to this song as my trained rolled into 30th Street Station in Philadelphia late last night/early this morning. As I struggled to focus my sleepy eyes on the platform station sign to determine my exact location I heard deadpan vocals singing catchy a ditty about “black rice” or at least that’s all I could make out at that point. I pulled myself together, snatched up my bags and exited the train. After I made my way up the stairs, gradually coming out of my grogginess, patting my pockets to make sure I didn’t leave anything behind, I checked my iPod and saw that I was listening to “Black Rice” by Calgary, CA troupe, Women.
It was a fitting song for the night. I had just returned to Philly after meeting up with friends for dinner and drinks in “the big city.” For the first time in a long time, I was finally able to properly catch up with some of those closest to me in a dark and chill little room over refreshing beers as the warm sun threw its last rays of the day on the brownstone facade outside. The summery and breezy “Black Rice” couldn’t have introduced itself in a better way, or on a better night.
[MP3]: Women ”Black Rice”
Women, Flemish Eye; Out July 8, 2008
Posted: June 10th, 2008 | Author: justin | Filed under: FRICTION, nyc, philly, psych, rock | No Comments »
Not to be confused with Crystal Castles, Crystal Stilts, or Twin Crystals, Long Beach, CA’s Crystal Antlers are set to leave the fair-weathered West Coast for possibly more hot and humid pastures. Following a few solo tour dates in the American Southwest, the chaotic five-piece will hook up with the Fuck Yeah Tour (Matt & Kim, Team Robespierre, The Death Set, Dan Deacon and more) in Tennessee and join the travelling schizo party until it brings havoc to the East Coast in early July.
Upon reaching our muggy coast, Crystal Antlers will play two New York City dates including FRICTION at The Mercury Lounge on July 8th and a loft party on the 12th, along with a balcony party TBA in Philly on July 11th. Expect these guys to bring an epic rock sound with a side of freaky funk and loads of fuzz soaked energy to the stage. Boasting psychedelic organ drones, slicing wiry guitars, throaty vocals, soul-tinged basslines, and a drummer dubbed “Sexual Chocolate” this is one live act not to miss. Grab “Vexation” below and be sure to catch Crystal Antlers as they storm through the U.S. this summer.
[MP3]: Crystal Antlers ”Vexation”
EP, Self-Released; 2008
Crystal Antlers East Coast Tour Dates (Full U.S. Tour):
7.4.08 – Sky Lab / Columbus, OH (Fuck Yeah Tour)
7.5.08 – The Grog Shop / Cleveland, OH (Fuck Yeah Tour)
7.6.08 – Sound Lab / Buffalo, NY (Fuck Yeah Tour)
7.8.08 – The Mercury Lounge / New York, NY (FRICTION)
7.10.08 – Tinder Box / Brattleboro, VT (Fuck Yeah Tour)
7.11.08 – Balcony Party / Philadelphia, PA (Fuck Yeah Afterparty)
7.12.08 – Loft Party / New York, NY (Fuck Yeah Afterparty)
Posted: June 3rd, 2008 | Author: justin | Filed under: FRICTION, dub, events, music, post-punk, psych | No Comments »
GET HYPE! Southend, UK’s These New Puritans are bringing their trance-inducing post-punk across the pond in their first U.S. tour, which includes a stop in Brooklyn to play FRICTION at Music Hall of Williamsburg! The show also marks the quartet’s New York City debut. Two of Brooklyn’s most ambitious bands, the futuristic psych trio School of Seven Bells and the mystical dub wielding Effi Briest, round out the bill. Brooklyn, by way of DC, by way of France, Anicet, spins between sets.
Tix available now / Doors @ 8pm / flyer, mp3s & more below
Balancing staccato rhythms and itchy guitars with a neat line in woozy, trance-like synthesisers,
THESE NEW PURITANS have an oblique lyrical bent that’s all their own. [Uncut]
[MP3]: “Elvis”
SCHOOL OF SEVEN BELLS, founded by ex-Secret Machines guitarist Ben Curtis and featuring twin-sister singers Alejandra and Claudia Deheza, slipped easily between epochs – medieval polyphony, laptop sorcery, the rhythmic turmoil of Public Image Ltd.’s 1981 album, Flowers of Romance – with smart hooks and the Dehezas’ alluring vocals, liberally greased with reverb. [Rolling Stone]
[MP3]: “Chain”
There’s sorcery afoot in
EFFI BRIEST‘S primitive droning psychedelia and hypnotic post-punk clatter. Like Yeasayer, Dirty Projectors, and MGMT, Effi Briest are reason to celebrate the casting-off of New York’s skinny jeaned shackles. They’re a willfully wonky NYC troupe making music that’s way off the typical spectrum of CBGB heritage-punk. Signed to Loog in the UK, fans of The Horrors’ occult will find plenty to enjoy in their strange incantations. [NME]
[MP3]: “Mirror Rim”
In part with:
