nyctaper posts

The Deli Magazine is presenting four nights of concerts in three different venues next week that encompass some of the bands who were selected in their Best of NYC poll at the end of the year. The Festival is being organized by Deli and After The Jump, the blogger cooperative that added nyctaper as a member in January.

Here is the complete schedule:

Wednesday 05.06
(sponsored by BMI)
@ Southpaw
11:10 Lowry
10:30 Elizabeth & the Catapult
9:40 The King Left
8:50 April Smith
8:10 KaiserCartel
7:30 Mia Riddle

Saturday 05.09 [BUY TICKETS]
@ Joe’s Pub
9:30 The Lisps FUTURITY
FUTURITY is an original indie-rock musical by Brooklyn band The Lisps. A theatrically staged song cycle, FUTURITY tells the story of a Union soldier in the Civil War who is an aspiring science fiction writer. The work fuses traditional Americana, found text, experimental music, and The Lisps own brand of quirky co-ed pop.

Friday 05.08 [BUY TICKETS]
@ The Bell House
12:00 Crystal Stilts
11:00 Blank Dogs
10:00 Religious Knives
9:00 Dinowalrus

Sunday 05.10 [BUY TICKETS]
@ The Bell House
(sponsored by ASCAP)
10.00 Chairlift
9.00 TBA
8.10 The Secret Life of Sofia
7.20 Takka Takka
6.30 TBA

Today Bjork announced that the long-awaited 2-DVD set Voltaic would be released on June 23. The 2-DVD set will include highlights from one concert performances (Paris), a performance in-studio (London) and two bonus CDs. The complete tracklists are available at the bjork.com Voltaic Special page [here]. The package will be released by Nonesuch Records in the US.

NYC will experience Bjork’s first live performance since the conclusion of the Volta tour in August 2008. In a special benefit concert presented by Stereogum, B will collaborate with the Dirty Projectors at the Housing Works Bookstore on May 8. The show has long been sold out, but we are pleased to report that nyctaper will be there. Here are the official details:

In a never before seen or heard collaboration with The Dirty Projectors, Bjork will perform a suite of new music composed for her by David Longstreth of The Dirty Projectors. The suite, written for five voices, will pair Bjork with the Projectors (Dave Longstreth, Amber Coffman, Angel Deradoorian, and Haley Dekle).
In 2008, the Dirty Projectors covered Bjork’s “Hyperballad” for a Stereogum tribute CD, a track-by-track covers project that also includes Liars, No Age, High Places, and members of Grizzly Bear, among others. Housing Works Board Member and Stereogum Senior Writer Brandon Stosuy, who knew of Bjork and David Longstreth’s admiration for each other’s work, approached the artists about performing together at Housing Works. It is their first collaboration.

A month ago, we previewed the new CD from the outstanding Ontario chamber-pop band The Rest, Everyone All At Once. This week, the album officially dropped and the rave reviews have begun to arrive. Today, “Walk on Water” [download here] received the award for “Song of the Day” at NPR. NPR.org writer Jessica Suarez, who may or may not have read our similarly written review, had this to say about The Rest:

The title of The Rest’s recent sophomore album, Everyone All at Once, suggests such an overload, but each track contains plenty of breathing room without sacrificing the lush textures of a large ensemble. Part of it is the band’s tendency to expand outward, as in the five-minute stunner “Walk on Water (Auspicious Beginnings).”
Beginning with organ, piano and cello, this pocket orchestra provides a nice bed for singer Adam Bentley’s artfully unsteady vocals. All of which builds up to a Pet Sounds-influenced bridge that brims with interlocking percussion, wet reverb and falsetto harmonies. Later explosions and pauses hint at Arcade Fire-esque bombast, but they’re not as dramatic. Take, for example, the way Bentley’s worried lament “Oh God, she knows / She knows, she knows, she knows” comes in response to his partner finding out what detergent he uses. The title’s a bit misleading, but the “auspicious beginnings” part sounds about right.

We are also happy to report that The Rest will be coming to the US for the first time, for both a La Blogotheque “Take Away” session and their first US live show. The “Take Away” session was discussed by lead singer Adam Bentley’s on the “Exchanging Emails” feature of the London Ontario blog Burgeoning Metropolis.

The first live show in the U.S. by the Rest will be part of the NYCTaper Presents show on June 19, 2009 at a yet unannounced Brooklyn venue. Many more details to follow regarding that special event.

We are happy to notify our readers about another of Johnny Leather’s series of benefit concerts.

Good for You’s Good For Me presents
A Benefit for Hearing-Impaired
Shilpa Ray & Her Happy Hookers11pm
Depreciation Guild 10pm
Hooray For Earth 9pm
Kino 8pm

Wednesday April 22nd @ Bell House
149 7th Street between 2nd & 3rd Avenues, Brooklyn, NY
Doors: 7:30
$10

Shilpa Ray & Her Happy Hookers – “Filthy & Free” mp3

Depreciation Guild – “Butterfly Kisses” mp3

Hooray For Earth – “Take Care” mp3

Kino – “Won’t Do” mp3

[photo by no3rdw]

In June of 2007, The Mountain Goats organized and appeared at Zoop — a two-day Benefit/Festival at the Farm Sanctuary in Watkins Glen, NY. The Farm Sanctuary is a national non-profit group that rescues farm animals and engages in animal rights advocacy and education. The weekend has become legendary among Mountain Goats fans as perhaps the most enjoyable and original shows ever performed, and the benefit was a resounding success in its efforts to assist the Farm Sanctuary.

Amidst the recent tour, John Darnielle posted in the Mountain Goats forum that there would be a special announcement regarding a Zoop “sequel” when the tour was completed (April 6). We have learned that there will be a Zoop 2, and we have unofficial dates — but we won’t spoil the surprise. Watch the band’s main page for the announcement “soon”.

This is one of my favorite concert flyers ever, from one of my favorite new bands. Astoria’s El Jezel will perform at an NYCTaper Presents show in June that we are not yet ready to completely formally announce. However, in the meantime you can catch this excellent indie-pop trio at the Bowery Poetry Club on April 4, 2009.

The flyer above features a beautiful photo of an underground station in Glasgow, which would be appropriate for the holiday celebrated on April 4 (the day of this show). Tartan Day is the day of the Scottish-American parade in NYC. We are not sure if the band will wear kilts at this gig, although the wearing of kilts and other Tartan gear is encouraged by the show’s promoters!

The Rest are a seven-piece chamber pop band from Ontario Canada who have released what we believe will be a sleeper pick for one of the best albums of the year. Everyone All At Once was released online on March 10 (general release is April 21) and our files have not left our player in the last week. The band writes earnest songs that musically contain passages of both quiet harmony and lush orchestration. Lead vocalist Adam Bentley sings with understated strength with enough vulnerability to prevent the songs from becoming pretentious — as does much contemporary chamber pop. The song performed live in the youtube clip embedded above is called “Phonetically, Phonetically” and it appears on the new CD.

The stand-out track on the CD and the one we have played over and over again is entitled “Walk on Water” and is offered as a free mp3 download.

The Rest – Walk on Water MP3 [HERE]

The Rest have never performed live in the United States, and NYCTaper Presents has offered the band a spot at one of our upcoming shows — if the logistics can be worked out, they will appear in NYC in June.

Purchase Everyone All At Once [HERE] and help them get to the U.S.!

The Feelies announced a short while ago that they have committed to perform the complete Crazy Rhythms album from start to finish at the NY version of the All Tomorrow’s Parties Festival.

The ATP Festival takes place from September 11 through September 13 in Monticello NY. The complete line-up (thus far) for this event is posted [here].

nyctaper recorded The Feelies three times last year, on July 1 at Maxwell’s, July 4 at Battery Park, and again on September 20, 2009 at Music Hall.

Read Howard Wolfson’s recent interview with Glenn Mercer [here].

[photo by Matt – courtesy of The Music Slut – more here]

Fresh off the triumphant Hospice CD release show, The Antlers are full of exciting news. Today it was announced that they will perform a “lounge act” set for WOXY. They have also added a new NYC gig, at Mercury Lounge on April 2. There will also be a larger venue opening slot in April that we are not at liberty to announce yet. was announced today as Music Hall of Williamsburg on April 7 (opening for Here We Go Magic).

The Antlers tour continues tonight in Chapel Hill, NC. See the rest of the dates on their myspace page, which includes SXSW shows.

There are still tickets available for this excellent lineup at the Music Hall of Williamsburg on Saturday night. We saw Crystal Stilts open for Love Is All at Bowery in December, and they very nearly got called back for an encore. We saw Women three times at CMJ in October, and captured one of their Cake Shop shows. And of course, the Blank Dogs set from the lo-fi extravaganza at Market Hotel in early February was one of our favorite shows thus far this year.

Sadly, nyctaper can not make this show, but we will have a correspondent on the scene — can’t wait to hear that capture.