The Cribs Announce North American June Tour; "In The Belly Of The Brazen Bull" Out May 15th

After sold out UK and US Spring Tours, culminating with a packed house at Music Hall Of Williamsburg, The Cribs will be returning to North America this June.  The band will be playing a string of headlining dates, starting on the East Coast and making their way across the country.  Tickets are on sale now, head over to The Cribs website to grab your tickets while they last. In The Belly Of The Brazen Bull is the fifth studio album from Wakefield trio The Cribs. The recording process for this album saw the band split their time between Abbey Road in London, Steve Albini’s EAR studio in Chicago, and David Fridmann’s Tarbox Road studio in Upstate New York.

Tour Dates:

06/05 - Johnny Brendas - Philadelphia, PA 06/06 - Irving Plaza - New York, NY 06/07 - Black Cat - Washington DC 06/08 - Motorco Music Hall - Durham, NC 06/09 - Masquerade: Hell Stage - Atlanta, GA 06/11 - Fitzgerald's: Upstairs - Houston, TX 06/12 - The Parish - Austin, TX 06/15 - El Rey Theater - LA 06/16 - Great American Music Hall - San Francisco, CA 06/18 - Venue - Vancouver CA

Faces on Film Announces June Dates with Marissa Nadler

Faces on Film's Mike Fiore announced he will be going back on the road with frequent collaborator and touring partner, Marissa Nadler, this June.  Beginning June 1st in Somerville, MA the pair will travel south and make stops in Washington, DC, Philadelphia and New York before the run is over.  Head to Faces on Film's website for the full list of dates. Fiore and Nadler most recently collaborated on a session for Weathervane Music's Shaking Through series.  The session was curated by Nadler and features the previously unreleased track, "Waiting for G.A." and a gorgeous behind the scenes video of the making of the session.  Check it out, here.

Faces on Film on tour with Marissa Nadler:

June 1 / Arts at the Armory / Somerville, MA

June 2 / Cafe 9 / New Haven , CT

June 13 / Johnny Brenda's / Philadelphia, PA

June 14 / DC9 / Washington, DC

June 15 / Union Hall / Brooklyn, NY

June 16 / Joe's Pub / New York, NY

MGMT and ††† Perform South American Shows, Including Lolla Chile and Quilmes Rock in Buenos Aires

MGMT and ††† performed at this year's Lollapalooza Chile and Quilmes Rock in Buenos Aires, Argentina.  These shows marked only the 6th and 7th live shows for ††† ever, and the band's first outside of the US.  MGMT also played the Estereo Picnic festival in Bogota, Columbia and are currently playing shows in Mexico and will play Indie Fest in Puerto Rico before wrapping up their first shows of 2012. Check out pictures from the road from MGMT here, and from ††† here.

The Cribs Play US for the First Time in Two Years; In The Belly Of The Brazen Bull is Out May 15

The Cribs, whose fifth album, In The Belly Of The Brazen Bull, comes out in the US on May 15 on Wichita (May 7 in the UK), are in the middle of a two-week North American headlining tour that began in Portland, OR and will wrap up in Boston, MA on Saturday, 14.  View the video for the album's first single, "Come On, Be A No-One," featuring live footage from a handful of small shows they played earlier this year in the UK here, and catch them on the road if you can.  All tour dates are listed here.

Mission of Burma Announce New Album Title & Release Date; Premiere New Track, "Dust Devil"

Mission of Burma today announced that their upcoming LP will be called Unsound, and its release date is set for July 9, 2012.  Pitchfork.com exclusively premiered a stream of album track, "Dust Devil," which you can listen to HERE. The band has 3 dates coming up in Missouri in April, as well as an appearance at Territorios Seville in Spain this May.  The Missouri dates are the band's first in that state in more than 10 years.  Visit their tour dates page for full info.

Faces on Film's Shaking Through Session Out Today

Earlier this year, Faces on Film traveled to Philadelphia to record a Shaking Through session with Weathervane Music, which was produced by Weathervane Music's Brian McTear and curated by frequent Faces on Film collaborator, Marissa Nadler. The session, featuring the previously unreleased track "Waiting for G.A." is out today, and you can check it out HERE. Follow the link to view behind the scenes footage and photographs from the session, and to download the hauntingly beautiful version of this new song. See Faces on Film live this Thursday, March 22nd when the band plays TT The Bear's in Cambridge.  Get tickets HERE. Also on the bill are Marconi, The Needy Visions and Babydriver.

The Fenway Recordings Sessions Announces MTV Hive's 'Live in Boston' Series Featuring Cloud Nothings on 3/25

The Fenway Recordings Sessions is excited to announce a new collaboration with MTV Hive which will launch this Sunday, March 25 at Brighton Music Hall with Cleveland indie rockers Cloud Nothings.  'Live in Boston' is an expansion of MTV Hive's NYC-based series, 'Live from Webster Hall,' and will feature a live stream of Cloud Nothings' set, which will begin at 11pm.  Also on the bill are A Classic Education and Dirty Dishes. Tickets are available here. The 'Live from Webster Hall' series has previously featured The Black Keys, The National, St. Vincent and Theophilus London.

The Fenway Recordings Sessions Adds to Spring 2012 Lineup

  The Fenway Recordings Sessions is excited to announce three new additions to its spring 2012 lineup. BLACK BOX REVELATION on Monday, March 5 at Great Scott, ALCOHOLIC FAITH MISSION on Saturday, April 28 for the series’ first ever show at TT the Bear’s, and LE BLORR on Monday, May 21 at Great Scott. The full lineup follows below.

 

On March 5th, Belgian garage rock band Black Box Revelation will play Fenway Recordings Session #155 at Great Scott as a part of their winter/spring 2012 tour. Boston noise rockers the New Highway Hymnal will support on this show. Black Box Revelation was formed by vocalist and guitarist Jan Paternoster and drummer Dries Van Dijck in 2005, and since forming, they released Set Your Head On Fire (2007) and second album Silver Threats (2010), both on T Tunes before releasing My Perception (2011) on Merovee Records in the US and PIAS in Europe. For My Perception, the band worked with musician/producer Alain Johannes of Queens of the Stone Age to create a record that has received wide acclaim. AltSounds' Nuno Saque Ferreira calls the band's style "a cross between R&B-inflected garage-band rock that takes its cues from mid-’60s Stones and The Kinks to the most gut-bucket, electric delta blues evocative of Led Zeppelin…a musical revelation that can’t be boxed into a single category," while the UK's Rock Sound praises their "scuzzy guitars, crashing drums, unabashed energy and depth of soul." iHeartRadio recently named My Perception’s "Bitter" #1 on its "New! Discover & Uncover Top 20 Rock Chart". Black Box Revelation have toured with dEUS, The Raveonettes, Eagles Of Death Metal, Iggy Pop, Dead Weather, Jane’s Addiction, Meat Puppets and others.

 

Next up, Alcoholic Faith Mission will play Fenway Recordings Session #164 at TT the Bear’s on April 28th. The band will be supporting their fourth album, Ask Me This, which was released in Europe and Asia on Feb. 24, and on which they collaborated for the first time with producer Tom McFall (R.E.M., Weezer, Stars). The album will be out in the US and Canada March 27. Formed in 2006 by friends Thorben Seierø Jensen and Sune Sølund, Alcoholic Faith Mission released their debut album, Misery Loves Company via Cope Records just six months into the project, and since then have released 421 Wyeth Avenue and Let This Be The Night We Care, gaining additional members Kristine Permild, Gustav Rasmussen, Anders Hjord and Morten Hyldahl to create the collective as it is today. Over their career, Alcoholic Faith Mission have toured extensively, playing European festivals including Roskilde in Denmark, Peace & Love and SIESTA! in Sweden and Positivus in Latvia, as well as CMJ, Canadian Music Week and SXSW in North America. Lithium Magazine’s Myles LaCavera has described AFM as having a “refreshing approach to indie, attacking from unsuspecting angles, sneaking up behind you, and is frustratingly indefinable,” and MTV, Brooklyn Vegan, Esquire and The New York Times have all highlighted the band as a “standout act.”

 

Finally, New York’s Le Blorr will perform Fenway Recordings Session #170 at Great Scott on May 21st. Boston based psychadelic blues rock band Sand Reckoner will support. The eccentric duo of Chris “Cookie Sugarhips” Hess and Adam “Hot Damn Sweet Huckleberry” Winn make up Le Blorr, which for the uninitiated, stands for Bastard Love Child of Rock and Roll. Self-proclaimed producers of “booty shakin’ rock ‘n roll,” Hess and Winn describe their sound as “psychedelic rock n' roll with a sense of grit and beauty that captures the hearts of their listeners.” The band self-released their Bim Bom EP in October 2010, earning praise from Consequence of Sound’s E. N. May, who observed, “Le Blorr have figured out a way to cram every corner of rock into their sound. Influences from Zeppelin to T. Rex and relative new comers The Black Angels are thrown into a dirty rock stew that holds nothing back. On the EP, it’s all tied together by Bossanova interludes that piece together a story of forbidden love. Ambitious much?” Of the band’s video for “Boy You Need Jesus,” Filter Magazine notes that “from torch carrying to book burning, Le Blorr bring a good dose of ‘je ne sais quoi’...and we like it.” 2012 looks to be a breakout year for the duo, as they have appearances lined up for SXSW, Identity Festival, Black Water Festival, Miami Art Basel and Bamboozle before hitting Great Scott in May.

The Cribs to Release New LP, Announce US Tour, Premiere "Chi- Town" On Spin

The Cribs are set to release In the Belly of the Brazen Bull on May 8th with Wichita Recordings. This will be the band’s fifth album following 2009’s UK Top Ten album, Ignore the Ignorant. The Cribs, returning to their three-piece status, recorded in New York with Dave Fridmann of Tarbox Road at the helm, in London’s storied Abbey Road, and in Chicago with Steve Albini. In April, The Cribs will kick off their North American Tour in Portland. After wrapping up in Boston, the band will head to the UK in May. You can download “Chi-Town,” track #7 from the forthcoming LP, here.

The Fenway Recordings Sessions Announces Winter 2012 Lineup: Mission of Burma, Other Lives, EMA & WU LYF

The Fenway Recordings Sessions is excited to announce its winter 2012 lineup, which includes the series’ 150th event; a weekend of back-to-back shows at Brighton Music Hall with Mission of Burma, on January 20th and 21st.  Also coming up, Other Lives will play at Great Scott on February 16th, EMA will play at Brighton Music Hall on March 15th, and Wu Lyf will play at Brighton Music Hall on April 28th.
The Fenway Recordings Session will celebrate its milestone 150th session with two blistering shows from one of Boston’s most legendary acts, Mission of Burma.  Cited as an influence by such seminal bands as Nirvana, Sonic Youth, the Pixies, R.E.M. and Superchunk, Mission of Burma’s music continues to inspire young artists today, three decades and two career phases after the release of the Signals, Calls and Marches EP on Ace of Hearts records in 1981.  
Mission of Burma is Roger Miller on guitar, Clint Conley on bass, Peter Prescott on drums, and Bob Weston in the role of live tape loop manipulator and producer, which Martin Swope initially held in the first part of the band’s career.  Originally formed in 1979, Mission of Burma put out the aforementioned EP Signals, Calls and Marches and a also full-length album, Vs.  Only a few years into their career however, the band was forced to call it quits when Miller developed a severe case of tinnitus due to the extremely loud volume of their shows.  Then, after a more than two-decade hiatus, the band reunited in 2002 for what were supposed to be a few one off shows. From there, Mission of Burma went on to form the extremely unexpected and critically acclaimed second phase of their career, in which the band has recorded and released more material then they did in the first phase.  ONoffON, The Obliterati, and The Sound The Speed The Light were all released on Matador Records, and the band are currently working on their next studio album.  The band, who have said they will continue playing and making music for as long as it makes sense, continue to play select shows throughout the country and have appeared at such festivals as Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago, Primavera Sound in Barcelona and Fun Fun Fun Fest in Austin.  
Mission of Burma will receive support from Boston’s Viva Viva on the 20th and Shepherdess on the 21st.  Viva Viva, recent winners of the Boston Music Award for Rock Artist of the Year, are influenced by 60’s and 70’s rock and strive to take those influences to craft their own uniquely infectious tunes.  Boston Phoenix Music Editor Michael Marotta praises their live performances, saying, “the legend of Viva Viva has grown exponentially on the shoulders of explosive live performances.”  Viva Viva maintain a solid rock ‘n’ roll foundation, but add their own flair with gritty vocals and rich guitar, adding a bite to typical Boston rock.
Jamaica Plain-based Shepherdess is the latest project of Hilken Mancini of Punk Rock Aerobics. The trio has been active around the Boston DIY scene for quite some time, taking part in the JP Music Festival and other local shows. Marc Hirsh of the Boston Globe praises the group, saying they blend “sometimes sweet material with an indie rock attack to winning effect.”  Their inherent talent and hard work landed the group an opportunity to open for Wild Flag at Brighton Music Hall this past March, and since this show, Shepherdess has garnered quite a following in Boston.
Following Mission of Burma, the Stillwater, OK based band Other Lives will play Great Scott for Session #151.  After releasing their successful self titled debut in 2009, Other Lives followed up with Tamer Animals, a critically acclaimed album released in May of this year on TBD Records.  The Guardian has called the band cinematic, saying their music is, “remarkable stuff that you suspect will ultimately reach a far wider audience.”  Comprised of Jesse Tabish on vocals, piano, and guitar, Josh Onstott on bass, organ, and backing vocals, Jenny Hsu on cello, piano, and backing vocals, Colby Owens on drums, and Jonathon Mooney on piano, violin, and guitar, they write lush, intricate music, which has been described by Pitchfork as “lovingly crafted,” “organic,” and “rarely forced.”
Other Lives recently wrapped up a fall UK headlining tour, and will play several west coast shows before heading East for another brief headlining tour.  They have toured with the likes of Bon Iver, S. Carey, and The Rosebuds, and it was just announced that they will open for Radiohead on the first stretch of that band’s 2012 North American tour in February and March.   
Next, on March 15th, EMA will stop by the Brighton Music Hall for Session #152.  The solo project of Erica M. Alfredson, formerly of the eletro folk duo Gowns, EMA has been seemingly everywhere this year.  She released her highly personal and highly acclaimed debut album,Past Life Martyred Saints, in June on Souterrain transmissions, which Pitchfork has described as “a fiercely individual record, made by a musician with a fearless and courageous approach to her art.”  Among other 2011 highlights, EMA contributed a track to Spin’s 20th anniversary tribute to Nirvana’s album, Nevermind (offering her take on “Endless Nameless”) and completed her own Take Away Show on the Paris music blog, La Blogotheque.  View it HERE.  Rolling Stone Magazine named EMA an “Artist to Watch,” calling her music a mix of, “slow-boil acoustic intensity, blasts of fuzz, and stick-in-your-head alt-rock melodies.”  Look for Past Life Martyred Saints on the Best Of 2011 lists, where it will surely land, and see her live when she comes by the Fenway Recordings Sessions in March.  
Finally, on April 28th, Manchester, UK natives Wu Lyf (World Unite / Lucifer Youth Foundation) will play Brighton Music Hall for Fenway Recordings Sessions #153.  Notoriously elusive, Wu Lyf is known as much for eschewing the media as it is for its unique, self described heavy pop, intense live shows and the singular vocal style of lead singer, Ellery Roberts.  To that end, Roberts was quoted in a DrownedinSound.com live review as saying, “we let our music do the talking.”  Formed in 2008, Wu Lyf is comprised of Jeau” Joe Manning on drums and piano, “Lung” Tom McClung on vocals, bass, and guitar, Roberts on vocals and organ, and “Evnse” Evan Kati on vocals, guitar, and harmonica.  In June of this year, the band released its debut album, Go tell Fire to the Mountain, which was self-produced in Manchester’s Saint Peter’s church.  Despite interest from established record labels, the band self-released Go tell… on its own L Y F imprint.
Described as the “cult band of the moment in England” by Rolling Stone magazine Italy, a June NME feature on the band proclaimed, “Wu Lyf are Fucking Amazing,” and their debut album earned Best New Music and an 8.4 review on Pitchfork.  That blog’s review called the album, “a stunning lockstep of drum rolls, tart guitar chords, and a maddening chant for raising beers and clenched fists…life-affirming music.”  Tickets for Wu Lyf go on sale Saturday, December 17th at 12 noon. 

Clint Conley to Play Christmas Cavalcade

On December 15th, Clint Conley of Mission of Burma will be performing a few songs with Jeff Conolly for the Christmas Cavalcade at Johnny D's in Sommerville. The Christmas Cavalcade is an annual concert benefitting the Sommerville homeless coalition, and for a suggested cover of $20, you can catch a slew of awesome performers and donate to a great cause.

Upcoming Mission of Burma Shows in Boston and New York

Mission of Burma are coming back to New York.  On January 19, 2012, the band will be at the Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn for one show, with support from Minneapolis based Howler and New Jersey's The Static Jacks. They will then make their first appearance in Boston since January 2010, with shows at Brighton Music Hall on January 20 and 21, 2012. Also, Berklee's student-run label Heavy Rotation Records will feature a solo performance by Roger Miller at the Berklee Performance Center this Saturday, December 3.

Follow the links below to get your tickets.

Dec. 03, 2011 :: Roger Miller @ Berklee Performance Center :: Tickets

Jan. 19, 2012 :: Mission of Burma @ Music Hall of Williamsburg :: Pre-Sale

Jan. 20, 2012 :: Mission of Burma @ Brighton Music Hall :: Tickets

Jan. 21, 2012 :: Mission of Burma @ Brighton Music Hall :: Tickets

 

††† (Crosses) Announce Two Shows in South America for 2012

In the spring of 2012, ††† (Crosses) will be playing two shows in Chile and Argentina. The shows include appearances at Lollapalooza Chile and Quilmes Rock 2012. They will be the bands first shows in South America. See the dates below: March 31st, 2012 :: Santiago, Chile :: Lollapalooza Chile @ Parque O'Higgins :: Tickets

April 3rd, 2012 :: Buenos Aires, Argentina :: Quilmes Rock 2012 @ Estadio River Plate :: Tickets

MGMT Announce Shows in South America for 2012

In the spring of 2012, MGMT will be playing a short string of shows in Chile, Brazil, and Argentina. The shows include appearances at Lollapalooza and Quilmes Rock 2012. The dates are as follows: March 31st, 2012 :: Santiago, Chile :: Lollapalooza Chile @ Parque O'Higgins :: Tickets

April 3rd, 2012 :: Buenos Aires, Argentina :: Quilmes Rock 2012 @ Estadio River Plate :: Tickets

April 7th :: Sao Paulo, Brazil :: Lollapalooza Brazil @ Jockey Club :: Tickets