Happy Record Store Day!

Happy Record Store Day to all! Every year this day comes around and to celebrate, bands and record stores around the country team up and offer exclusive vinyl releases and in store performances. It's a day to celebrate, and if there's one place with a plentiful amount of record stores taking part in the today, it's NYC. Here's a list of the stores I'll be definitely hitting up today.

Academy Records
96 N 6th St. Brooklyn, NY

Generation Records
210 Thompson St. New York, NY

Bleecker Street Records
239 Bleecker St. New York, NY

Earwax Records
218 Bedford Ave. Brooklyn, NY

SoundFix Records
110 Bedford Ave. Brooklyn, NY

To find stores in your area head to the Record Store Day's list of participating venues. Get out and support your local record. Fuck Best Buy, fuck Target, fuck Walmart, fuck Circuit City... oh wait. Independent records stores care about the music they sell, they do it because they love it. So whether you buy vinyl or CDs, go out and show your appreciation to your local record stores.

Recommendations... Again Damnit

Some more crap I like lately, you should like it too.

Iron Chic - Demo
I'm just gonna say it now, you need this. Just download it now. Remember Latterman? Yea me too, they fucking ruled and they're not a band anymore. Life sucks, move on, as they have. Iron Chic is another chapter of that featuring members of Latterman and the also awesome Small Arms Dealer. Shout along songs that are almost nostalgic in a sense but not in a cheesy way at all. It's just some great pop punk anthems. These guys are gonna make some great records in the future. Listen to the demo, and listen often. I love it more and more every time.

Download from If You Make It


Get Bent - Demo
Some killer dudes from Ridgewood, Queens (gotta support the locals). Some more rough catchy as hell pop punk with some interesting guitar work as well. Sing alongs like woah. Another band we'll hopefully see a lot more from in the future.

Download from If You Make It





These album downloads were once again made available from the awesome site If You Make It and the respective artists. Check out the Pink Couch Sessions on If You Make It for some great exclusive performances by some of the best artists out there right now. Support your local DIY music scene and go see these bands when they play. If they have shit, buy it.

Bridge & Tunnel @ Generation Records

The increasingly great (and my number 5 LP of the year!) Bridge & Tunnel will be making a special appearance at Generation Records in Greenwich Village next month. Generation shows are always awesome and special in some way, even when they get absurdly cramped and you can't see much (anybody catch the Fucked Up show there?). Cheeky will be opening the show which kicks off at 8pm on Wednesday Jan 28th. Free as long as you bring a can of food to donate (bring more than one if you're awesome).

Can't make this? Bridge & Tunnel will also be performing a month
later on Feb 28th at Matchless in scenic Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Cheap Pabst, Bridge & Tunnel and a 5 minute walk home? You bet I'll be there.

Details:
January 28th at Generation Records
210 Thompson Street
Greenwich Village, NYC
trains to West 4th St Station

February 28th at Bar Matchless
Manhattan Ave & Driggs Ave
Greenpoint, Brooklyn
train to Nassua Ave
train to Bedford Ave

Reviving more than just a tour

Odds are you already know of The Revival Tour going on this fall featuring Chuck Ragan (Hot Water Music), Ben Nichols (Lucero) and Tim Barry (Avail). Odds are you know it's going to be an incredible show to experience as these three are some of the most influential song writers in contemporary punk music and what really is punk rock but folk music with fast drums and distorted powerchords?

Well the fine gents making up The Revival Tour figured it's not enough to just provide us all with a sure to be memorable performance, but we should have some music to take home with us. Chuck and his wife recently pressed a CD called "Revival Road" on their own Ten Four Records. The disc features songs from Chuck, Ben and Tim and will be available every night of the tour. Vinyl you ask? Duh of course vinyl is going to be available. Vinyl Collective and Side One Dummy will have the record available on vinyl and you'll also be able to grab it at the later dates of the tour. There are 500 pressed on brown vinyl with Kraft paper silkscreened jackets and 1,000 printed on white vinyl with black paper silkscreened jackets. You can currently pre-order either individually or a special package of both for $25 from the good folks at Vinyl Collective. Yea, I got the package of both. As if I had a choice? Details of the NYC date can be found below.


The Revival Tour
f/ Chuck Ragan, Ben Nichols, Tim Barry and special guest Frank Turner
Monday Oct 13th
8:00
The Blender Theater at Gramercy
127 E 23rd St. Manhattan, NYC

subway:
6 train to 23rd St
R/W trains to 23rd St
L train to 3rd Ave

NYC + Craft Beer = oh shit...

Beer. Anyone who knows a damn thing about me knows how much I like beer of all dimensions and qualities. I will spend $10+ on a single 120z bottle of Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA. I will also have no problem whatsoever riffling through all my pants for change to cough up $2.50 for a 40 of Colt 45.

It's NY Craft Beer Week and it couldn't have come at a better time of the year. Summer is ending. Fall is starting. The weather is becoming more and more bearable throughout the days and nights. So what better time to get some friends together for a good ol' fashion bar crawl?

It's a pretty simple idea. Purchase your $19 ticket for the night online (I assume you print it out?) and check out the event's website to see what bars in what neighborhoods are participating. Each bar has about 3 beers selected for the event week and will provide 8oz glasses (pictured above) to sample each one in. 8oz may seem small, but figure it's 3 beers per bar, and about 8 bars per neighborhood and you're not limited to just one neighborhood for the evening! Next weekend I'll be taking part in the Greenpoint bar crawl (excited to check out the Hop Obama from Sixpoint Brewery at Black Rabbit) which depending on how drunk we get, will trickle down to the Williamsburg bars participating as well. Check out the list of beers available at this week's celebration.

Greenpoint Bars participating:
The Mark Bar
1025 Manhattan Ave
t.b.d.
224 Franklin St
Van Gogh's Radio Lounge
147 Franklin St
Black Rabbit
91 Greenpoint Ave
The Diamond
43 Franklin St
The Gutter Bar
200 N 14th St

Sounds of the NYC underground

For the past few weeks MSG Network has been broadcasting a show called NYC Sound Tracks which put 16 NYC subway musicians up against each other and based on viewer votes, they'd narrow it down to one finalist. I've seen a few episodes of it (now that I finally have cable at my apartment) and it's been a real cool show. I've even recognized some of the musicians (bearded flute dude, Boradway-Lafayette station on the B train, sup brother).

This weekend's episode will be the final for this season and it's been narrowed down to either Dorian Spencer or Gibran Soul to be crowned the official (according to MSG viewers atleast) Best NYC Subway Artist. It'll air at 8pm this Sunday on MSG Network. Here's a video with a snippet from the show.

Duuuuude I'm sooo...

Fucked Up will giving a special performance tomorrow (9/12) evening in Manhattan at the ever excellent Generation Records. They'll go on at 8PM and if you wanna go you better email fuckedup@matadorrecords.com reaaaaaaaaaaaally fuckin' fast cause space is absurdly limited. It's at a record store people... I'll be there with camera in hand. Now if only my Mac was working so I could actually upload the photos... Regardless, if you live in New York and you happen to actually enjoy good music, I highly recommend you make an attempt to email that address with your name to ensure you'll get in. I ain't promising you will though (I'm all set so screw ya'll). Their next LP "The Chemistry Of Common Life" is due out next month on Matador Records.

deets:
Fucked Up
8pm
Generation Records
210 Thompson St
Greenwich Village, NYC

A, C, E, B, D, V or F trains to W 4th St.
1 or 2 trains to Houston St.
R or W trains to 8th St.
PATH train to 9th St.
fuck Manhattan buses...

To Serve, Protect and Beat The Shit Out Of You If We Feel Like It

As a cyclist in this city, you put up with a lot. Joggers running against traffic in the BIKE lane, not many bike lanes to begin with, moronic and careless drivers who think bikes are supposed to ride on the sidewalk (it's ILLEGAL numbnuts) and occasionally yes, police officers with nothing better to do than give you a hard time (gawd forbid they go patrol some neighborhoods that need it). I've had my share of cops messing with me for stupid nonsense. But NOTHING I or anyone I know has ever experienced in NYC, Philly, Baltimore and wherever the hell else I or my friends have biked compares to what happened at Friday's Critical Mass in midtown Manhattan.



Nice little display of how much you care about serving and protecting there officer. And to top it off, the kid got arrested and the cop denied it all! Police drunk on power is a huge problem in this city and I really start to wonder what it's going to take before something is done about it. You'd think the Shawn Bell murder would have? But no, that just proved that you could blast 50+ rounds into an unarmed person and walk away if you have a badge. So really, what is it gonna take in this city?

back again

Well it seems I've once again taken a long absence from writing. Laziness? Maybe. Lack of events to write about? Hardly. Distraction from third parties? OK that's it. I wanted to write about Renegade Craft Fair, a review of The Loved Ones at McCarren Pool, NYC Bubble Battle and Brooklyn Kickball. But those things are long past. Well I suppose I can still do a overdue review of Renegade. And if you so please, here's some pictures from The Loved Ones at McCarren Pool. And I go to the kickball games every week so that's still fresh. Ok so I guess I was just lookin for an excuse there with that "long past" nonsense. But alas, ever onward. It's NYC, it's summer, things are happening and if I think it doesn't suck I'll have some words on it here. First thing's first...


Tomorrow night is indeed one of the most anticipated nights of this summer for myself and anyone else who knows a damn thing about good music. Hot Water Music, Thursday and Paint It Black (or as I like to call it, the Time Capsule Show) will be performing together at Terminal 5 in midtown Manhattan. Unusual location for a show of this type, but hey they have fresh (I wish free) empanadas on the third floor balcony and beers are actually sensibly priced for that part of the city. However also that night, Alkaline Trio is headlining Irving Plaza with American Steel and Dillinger 4 supporting. Now I used to love Alkaline Trio, I really did and still love all those records and have even found songs I can appreciate on Crimson and Good Mourning. But to say they're even a shadow of the band who released Goddamnit and Maybe I'll Catch Fire would be a goddamn lie. I propose Alkaline Trio's bus be stopped and searched at the Lincoln Tunnel. And held for several hours forcing them to miss load in and soundcheck. American Steel and Dillinger 4 will have no choice but to come up to Terminal 5 and join the Hot Water/Thursday/Paint It Black show. I think it's a great idea yes? No? Who wants to help make it happen? More importantly who else is gonna be Lost & Found in Greenpoint Bklyn before the show gettin the day started right?

Nicole Atkins & The East River

Nicole Atkins plays pop music. Really great pop music. Not of the radio variety and not of the super pretentious variety. Just really great pop music taking hints from the greatest of the 60s pop and R&B singers and crafting it into a contemporary sound which isn't quite her own, but who cares because she does it so well. Her new album "Neptune City" on Columbia Records explores her varied influences while showcasing a strong songwriter coming into her own in this world of often vapid and redundant pop music. Catchy, upbeats tunes ("Brooklyn's On Fire") twirl around with torchy ballads ("The Way It Is") on this record with theatrical balance. So with all this knowledge, doesn't she sound like someone you'd like to see perform live? Perhaps even... for FREE? Well New York City, you can. She will be playing a free show at Socrates Sculpture Park in Long Island City, Queens on Tuesday June 17th at 7:30pm. Full details below.

Nicole Atkins (7:30)
Salt & Samovar (6:30)
Socrates Sculpture Park
32-01 Vernon Blvd (intersection of Vernon & Broadway)
Long Island City, NY 11106
N/W train to Broadway (in Queens, dur)

Just blow with a large group of strangers

Summer is upon us and the good folks at Newmindspace are ready again to satiate your hunger for something ridiculous and fun in large numbers. They give to us once again, the NYC Bubble Battle. It feels like just yesterday that the NYC Pillow Fight occurred in Union Square (yeah that was in March... oh, spring 08 where hath thee gone?). But this is surely not to disappoint. No location has been announced just yet, though previously it's been held at Astor Place and I think that is quite the suitable battle ground. I expect to see some double barrel bubble guns and semi automatic sub-bubble assault rifles here. Full details have yet to be announced including info on an after party, but I'll be sure to post as soon as it does. But for now, jot this down:

Newmindspace presents:
NYC Bubble Battle
Saturday, Jun 21st
6:15pm - 7:15pm
Somewhere in Manhattan?

Add the event to your Facebook.

Get Loved at McCarren Pool this month

Usually when someone writes about an upcoming show, it's because of the killer headliner (see three posts down...). And it's not that I don't dig The Hold Steady, they're a solid band. But this is all about The Loved Ones. They first caught my attention in the summer of 06 while I was in Baltimore with my old band recording an album with Brian McTernan, who recorded their first EP and LP. They stopped by the studio while coming through town on tour and were really killer guys. So I checked their tunes out and was super into it. It was that solid, catchy punk rock that while many bands do well, they just do much better. Gritty yet melodic vocals, hook laden guitars and driving drum beats. Nothing outrageous, just something concrete and excellently executed. Their second LP "Build And Burn" brought more of a pop and at times folky element to the songwriting and they really started to shine through with their full potential without sacrificing anything fans of the first two records loved about them. So why did I mention The Hold Steady at first? Oh yeah. Well, The Loved Ones will be opening for them at McCarren Park Pool on June 29th. Like I said, it's not that I don't dig The Hold Steady. I just think The Loved Ones are far better. There will also be a special song performed during The Loved Ones' set. What is it? Well, you'll just have to go to the show (hint: Chuck will be proud!). Details are below.

JellyNYC Presents:
The Hold Steady
The Loved Ones
J Roddy & The Business
Sun June 29 at 2pm
McCarren Park Pool
780 Lorimer St.
Brooklyn, NY 11222

L train to Bedford Ave or Lorimer St.
G train to Nassau Ave or Metropolitan Ave
also accessible from B61, B48 and B43 bus lines.

1998 NJ basements come to 2008 NYC

Hot Water Music. Thursday. Paint It Black. When was the last time you could have seen these three bands together? OK maybe Paint It Black woulda been Lifetime or Kid Dynamite, but you get the idea. On July 12th these three bands will be playing together at Terminal 5 here in NYC. After being disappointed by the lack of a Hot Water reunion show back in December when they started playing again, it can safely be said that this makes up for it tenfold. Missing this show should not even be an option. It's a Saturday night. It's reasonably priced. And well, Hot Water Music is playing. That right there is reason enough for anyone with ears to attend this. If somehow you're not familiar with these bands, check out their Myspace pages below:

Hot Water Music
Thursday
Paint It Black

Get on your bikes and ride

I know I've been MIA since February. Whups. Anyway I wanted to share with all none of my readers the awesomeness of Great Used Bikes.com. I needed to upgrade from my old 3 speed cruiser (click that link, I'm selling it) to a more suitable bike for interborough travel. I ended up landing a lovely 10 speed Schwinn World Sport road bike for only $200 from GreatUsedBikes.com. I actually just got it this morning, and have been loving the hell outta it. I highly recommend them if you're looking for a good reliable bike at a good price. They are extremely helpful and informative and even deliver right to your apartment. Check out the site, great selection of road bikes and cruisers and all affordable. That being said, who's up for a ride to Coney Island?

NYC Pillow Fight 08!

Yup, that's right. I'm sure you've seen it popping up on your news feed on Facebook. Maybe wondering what the hell it's all about? Well, it's simple. PILLOW FIGHT!!! Saturday March 22 is International Pillow Fight Day. Why is this awesome? Cause it's a pillow fight between you and thousands of other people. This year it is taking place in Boston, Budapest, Chicago, Copenhagen, London, Paris, Shanghai, Vancouver, Washington DC and of course right here in New York City (hosted here by Newmindspace). There's no reason for not attending this unless you don't have arms. Even then, just come and get whacked with pillows. It's happening on March 22nd, the first offical day of Spring in Union Sq from 3PM til 4PM. Grab a pillow, hop on the subway and come relive those carefree elementary school years with a bunch of strangers. For you fellow social network nerds you can check out the Facebook event listing here. Be there or be lame.