First of all, thanks to everyone who came out to our party on Saturday night at Motor City Bar. We hung out till 4am, met a lot of great people and gave away some exclusive mixtapes that were compiled by myself and Dana Distortion. We're hoping to make the party/mixtape giveaway a tradition so we'll keep you posted on future events. Secondly, we have coverage of last week's shows, including
Sloan @ the Bowery Ballroom, and
the English Beat @ Irving Plaza which will be posted shortly, so be on the lookout for that.
And...
Happy Fourth of July! There aren't too many things going on this week, but for the ones that are, it's still pretty awesome. Here's what's going on that we feel particularly nostalgic about...
The Bouncing Souls @ Highline Ballroom
7/6 performing
the Good, the Bad, and the Argyle and
Maniacal Laughter
7/7 performing
the Bouncing Souls and
Hopeless Romantic
7/8 performing
How I Spent My Summer Vacation and
Anchors Aweigh
7/9 performing The Gold Record and Ghosts on the Boardwalk
I still have fond memories of being in high school and taking the subway down to St. Marks Place after school, hanging out with friends in front of
Freaks (a store that pretty much exclusively sold band t-shirts), buying CD's at
Sounds and going to amazing shows at
Coney Island High. Freaks no longer exists, I think Sounds may still be around, but Coney Island High is long defunct. What a difference fifteen years makes. But one band I remember always listening to around that time period was
the Bouncing Souls.
In specific, the Bouncing Souls' first three albums (
The Good, The Bad & The Argyle,
Maniacal Laughter, and
The Bouncing Souls) are just fucking cake. Their live shows, which were notorious for sounding like shit but being fun as hell, were bonding experiences for the hoards of fans clamoring to make their way onto the stage, if only to sing one line from "Born To Lose." I actually really loved
Hopeless Romantic too, but it was clear the band were leaving behind the sloppy, careless punk attitude of their previous records. Everything after those albums, I admittedly didn't ever really give a chance to. Maybe I should...
The Bouncing Souls originally played all eight of their albums for the
Home For the Holidays festival that took place in Asbury Park back in December, and have decided to take the concept on the road, playing four dates in various cities. The tour hits New York City this week, where they will play all eight albums at the Highline Ballroom (two albums per night), from 7/6-7/9.
Tickets are understandably sold out for the first three nights, but you can still pick up a pair for the last and final night. Should be a fun fucking time, good luck getting in.
Ted Leo (performing The Tyranny of Distance)
@ South Street Seaport - Saturday, July 9th
Ted Leo in recent years has become one of the more present figures in indie rock, especially when it comes to him playing free shows in the New York City area. It almost goes without saying that if there are free festivals happening in NYC, Ted Leo will be on the lineup for at least 80% of them. Not that anyone is complaining...
Though most of his recent shows have found Ted Leo playing sans his backing band, you'll be able to catch
Ted Leo & the Pharmacists playing their 10-year old album,
The Tyranny of Distance, in its entirety for
FREE this Saturday at the South Street Seaport. The show, which will serve as a kick-off for the Village Voice's
4Knots Festival (which replaces the previously mentioned Siren Fest), starts at 6pm and will feature an opening set by one of my favorite contemporary bands,
the Screaming Females. Do make it out to this... it's going be incredible.
That's pretty much all I could find this week, but the week after that is pretty ridiculous, including shows by the recently reunited
Cibo Matto,
Patti Smith,
Animal Collective & more. Summer in New York City is pretty much unbeatable.
