Category: Live music

Live: Alison Krauss – September 12, 2018 – South Bend, IN

Alison Krauss‘ South Bend stop on her current tour was supposed to be at the Morris Theatre.  That was changed, however, when a piece of the ceiling inside the Morris fell to the floor days earlier and the venue was closed for repairs.  Her show (like Ringo Starr‘s before her) was moved to South Bend’s Century Center.

My wife and I arrived there with our tickets for “main floor left center” seats in row W, seats 12 and 13.  What we found in the ad hoc seating area was chaos.  All “main floor” seats were set up in the far rear stage left corner of the room.  Five different docents each told us different information on where our seats were located.  We were told to sit in the “mezzanine” seats at one point, and then told all “main floor” seats were across the room and to sit wherever we could find a seat.  The “main floor” seats were listed by row, however (written in pencil that was hard to see, no less), and row W stopped at seat #10.  Seats 12 and 13 didn’t exist.  I asked if more chairs were available and was told they had enough seats for all tickets sold.  This turned out to be more misinformation, because as more and more people showed up with no idea where to sit, docents started bringing out more chairs.  One row of seats moved all their seats to the left by two spots either by suggestion of a docent or just for the hell of it.  People were still confused about where to sit within seven minutes of the start of Ms. Krauss’ set.

Ms. Krauss did put on a fine show, so all was well once she took the stage.  She and her band, which featured members of Union Station and the Cox Family Singers, performed a lot of spiritual hymns, bluegrass classics, and some of her more popular love songs.

Starting with a cover of Roger Miller‘s “River in the Rain,” Ms. Krauss’ amazing voice immediately filled the room.  Her cover of Willie Nelson‘s “I Never Cared for You” was heartbreaking, and “Ghost in This House” was perfect now that pumpkin spice is all the rage and Halloween decorations are going up again.

Her cover of Little Milton‘s “Let Your Loss Be Your Lesson” was a blast and the traditional “Down to the River to Pray” was inspiring.  The cover of the Carter Family‘s “Keep on the Sunny Side” was a fun highlight, and the closer of “It Is Well with My Soul” was divine.

Go see her if you can.  Goofy seating is worth the headache for the lovely song craft you’ll hear.

Keep your mind open.

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Deap Vally announces fall U.S. west coast tour.

Rock goddesses Deap Vally are playing a bunch of west coast tour dates this fall.  Don’t miss them.  Don’t miss them ever.  They embarrass anyone who has to play after them, or before them, or any other time really.

Keep your mind open.

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Protomartyr announces fall North American tour with Preoccupations.

Protomartyr Announce Fall Co-Headline Tour With Preoccupations
“The four-song EP from the Michigan post-punk band features Kelley Deal of the Breeders and some of the most pointed and impactful songwriting of their career.” – Pitchfork, on “Consolation E.P.”

“Political, environmental, epistemological, social, familial and individual anxieties fuel the latest songs by Protomartyr, a band from Detroit that has been reclaiming the jagged, muscular dissonances of post-punk for 21st-century America.” – The New York Times, on Relatives In Descent

“Brooding and abrasive, the Detroit post-punk group’s new LP isn’t for the faint of heart – but beauty lies in its 12 knotty, pummeling tunes.” – Entertainment Weekly, on Relatives In Descent
In support of this summer’s “Consolation E.P.” and last year’s Relatives In Descent (both out on Domino Recording Co), Protomartyr will hit the road with Preoccupations this fall for a slew of tour dates across North America. The co-headline tour kicks off in Toronto on Fri. Nov. 23rd at Lee’s Palace, taking the two bands over to the east coast, back through the midwest, and down the west coast before wrapping up in Los Angeles on Wed. Dec. 19th at the Regent. A full list of tour dates are below, and tickets go on-sale this Friday at 10am local time.

Protomartyr Tour Dates:
Fri. Nov. 23 – Toronto, ON @ Lee’s Palace * ^
Sat. Nov. 24 – Ottawa, ON @ 27 Club * ^
Mon. Nov. 26 – Boston, MA @ Brighton Music Hall * ^
Wed. Nov. 28 – Brooklyn, NY @ Warsaw * ^
Thu. Nov. 29 – Washington, DC @ Union Stage * ^
Fri. Nov. 30 – Philadelphia, PA @ The Foundry * ^
Sat. Dec. 01 – Columbus, OH @ The Basement * ^
Mon. Dec. 03 – Buffalo, NY @ Mohawk Place * ^
Tue. Dec. 04 – Ann Arbor, MI @ Blind Pig * ^
Thu. Dec. 06 – Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall * ^
Fri. Dec. 07 – Omaha, NE @ Waiting Room * ^
Sat. Dec. 08 – Kansas City, MO @ Record Bar * ^
Mon. Dec. 10 – Denver, CO @ Bluebird *
Wed. Dec. 12 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Metro Music Hall *
Thu. Dec. 13 – Boise, ID @ Olympic *
Fri. Dec. 14 – Portland, OR @ Mississippi Studios *
Sat. Dec. 15 – Vancouver, BC @ Venue *
Sun. Dec. 16 – Seattle, WA @ Crocodile *
Tue. Dec. 18 – San Francisco, CA @ Independent *
Wed. Dec. 19 – Los Angeles, CA @ Regent *

* = w/ Preoccupations
^ = w/ Rattle

Download album art & hi-res images of Protomartyr – http://pitchperfectpr.com/protomartyr/

Purchase “Consolation E.P.”:
Domino Mart – https://protomartyr.dominomart.com/
iTunes – http://smarturl.it/ConsolationEPDL

Purchase Relatives In Descent:
Domino Mart – https://protomartyr.dominomart.com/
iTunes – http://smarturl.it/RIDDownload
Protomartyr Online:
https://www.facebook.com/protomartyr
https://soundcloud.com/protomartyr
http://pitchperfectpr.com/protomartyr/
https://protomartyr.bandcamp.com/
http://www.dominorecordco.us/artists/protomartyr/

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The Beths’ first U.S. tour is now underway.

The Beths Announce Fall U.S. Dates
& Kick Off World Tour.Watch The New Video For “Little Death”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuzlZWvTU2I

[“Little Death” video still]

“The debut from Auckland indie rockers is just really impressive—hook-filled songs filled with energy and attitude, written with depth and played masterfully.” – Pitchfork

“A wonderful little record that never lets up, piling on unassumingly buzzy fun until you start realizing you might be in the presence of a true power-pop monument.” – Rolling Stone

“The New Zealand band has two gears: The first is a more classically pop-oriented retro sound, like a ’60s girl group doing the shimmy-shimmy-cocoa-pop but with guitars and a shoegaze influence. The second is a caffeinated ’90s alterna-rock head rush, with Superchunk-level riffs and Velocity Girl vocals courtesy of singer-guitarist Elizabeth Stokes.” – The A.V. Club

“Few bands make angst sound as joyous as the Beths do on their debut LP. As its title suggests, the album is full of songs of both regret and self-doubt, but the group deliver them with some of the strongest power-pop this side of Weezer’s Blue Album.” – Bandcamp Daily

The Beths kick off their world tour this week in support of their acclaimed debut album, Future Me Hates Me (out now on Carpark). Beginning in Australia and New Zealand, The Beths will continue onto the U.S. at the end of September and play many cities for the first time ever. They will then head to Europe through mid-November to round out the year.To mark the beginning of their world tour, The Beths share the new video for “Little Death” via NPR Music. “We made this video while we were on tour,” says Elizabeth Stokes. “[The director] Norwood hit us up saying ‘I made videos for Superchunk in the 90s, let me make a Super 8 video for you guys when you’re in LA.’ So we spent a day larking about and scratching on film and then he edited it up. It’s difficult to tell, but if you look closely you can see there is some green screen footage and special effects added afterwards.”

Watch “Little Death” Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuzlZWvTU2I

Watch “You Wouldn’t Like Me” Video:
https://youtu.be/CV3Bjx-vPTg

Watch “Great No One” Lyric Video:
https://youtu.be/qQYhM48H5zs

Watch “Happy Unhappy” Video:
https://youtu.be/ct8AwQwlbNA

Watch “Future Me Hates Me” Video:
https://youtu.be/iVImwSb4EYU
 
The Beths Tour Dates:
Wed. Sep. 12 – Auckland, NZ @ Neck of the Woods
Thu. Sep. 13 – Auckland, NZ @ Neck of the Woods
Fri. Sep. 14 – Wellington, NZ @ Meow
Thu. Sep. 20 – Dunedin, NZ @ Captain Cook Hotel
Fri. Sep. 21 – Christchurch, NZ @ Blue Smoke
Sat. Sep. 22 – Queenstown, NZ @ Sherwood
Fri. Sep. 28 – Los Angeles @ The Roxy
Sat. Sep. 29 – San Francisco, CA @ The Independent
Mon. Oct. 1 – Portland, OR @ Doug Fir
Tue. Oct. 2 – Seattle, WA @ Timbre
Fri. Oct. 5 – Chicago, IL @ Beat Kitchen
Sat. Oct. 6 – Lansing, MI @ Mac’s Bar
Sun. Oct. 7 – Columbus, OH @ Rumba Cafe
Mon. Oct. 8 – Cleveland, OH @ Beachland Tavern
Tue. Oct. 9 – Buffalo, NY @ 9th Ward at Babeville
Wed. Oct. 10 – Boston, MA @ Atwood’s Tavern
Fri. Oct. 12 – Brooklyn, NY @ Alphaville (SOLD OUT)
Sat. Oct. 13 – Philadelphia, PA @ Everybody Hits
Sun. Oct. 14 – Washington, DC @ Songbyrd
Tue. Oct. 16 – Nashville, TN @ Fond Object Records
Wed. Oct. 17 – Atlanta, GA @ Drunken Unicorn
Fri. Oct. 19 – San Antonio, TX @ 502 Bar *
Sat. Oct. 20 – Austin, TX @ Stubb’s BBQ *
Sun. Oct. 21 – Fort Worth, TX @ MASS (Main At South Side) *
Thu. Oct. 25 – Prague, CZ @ Klub 007
Fri. Oct. 26 – Krakow, PO @ Klub RE
Sat. Oct. 27 – Berlin, DE @ Arkaoda
Sun. Oct. 28 – Cologne, DE @ Hangende Garten von Ehrenfeld
Tue. Oct. 30 – Paard, NL @ The Hague
Wed. Oct. 31 – Paris, FR @ Le 1999
Thu. Nov. 1 – Angers, FR @ Jokers Pub
Fri. Nov. 2 – Bordeaux, FR @ El Chicho
Sat. Nov. 3 – Rennes, FR @ 1988 Club
Mon. Nov. 5 – Bristol, UK @ Exchange
Tue. Nov. 6 – Manchester, UK @ Mancunia Studio (SOLD OUT)
Wed. Nov. 7 – Glasgow, UK @ Broadcast
Thu. Nov. 8 – Leicester, UK @ Duffy’s Bar
Fri. Nov. 9 – Bournemouth, UK @ The Anvil
Sat. Nov. 10 – Brighton, UK @ East Street Tap
Sun. Nov. 11 – London, UK @ Sebright Arms (SOLD OUT)
Mon. Nov. 12 – Brussels, BE @ Chaff
* w/ Flint Eastwood

[Future Me Hates Me artwork]

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Black Belt Eagle Scout’s North American tour starts today.

BLACK BELT EAGLE SCOUT SHARES NEW SINGLE, “JUST LIE DOWN,”
AND ANNOUNCES NORTH AMERICAN TOUR

LISTEN HERE

photo credit – Jason Quigley
“The electric guitar that starts ‘Soft Stud’ bristles with a coarse riff. The tone is brittle and blunt, rattling from the amplifier as it wordlessly confesses deep frustration. But Katherine Paul’s voice, which glides over the guitar, is an elegant curve, all practiced and gathered.” — Pitchfork

“You’ll hear echoes of early Hole here, but you’ll also hear a powerful new voice grappling with her heritage and her sense of place. ‘Soft Stud’ is a great track, and the crazy part is that it’s not even my favorite track on the album” — Vulture‘s Best New Songs of the Week

“‘Soft Stud’ expresses the complexity of queer desire, layering intimate
lyrics and clean melodies over fuzzy guitar.” — NPR‘s All Songs Considered

“[‘Soft Stud’] . . .  feels surprisingly compact, tight nerves and circuitous guitars
and muddy drums building and breaking.” — Stereogum

“Sludgy guitars clash compellingly with Paul’s rich, yearning vocals, which eventually
dissolve into a chaotic and cathartic instrumental outro.” — Consequence of Sound

“…a sprawling, yet intimate six-minute odyssey on which
Paul pairs tender lyrics with transcendent, seeking instrumentation.” — Paste

Black Belt Eagle Scout (aka Portland-based Katherine Paul) is an indigenous queer musician whose debut album, Mother of My Children, is about “grief and love for people, but also about being a native person in what is the United States today.” Mother of My Children is out September 14th via Saddle Creek. Paul will tour North America surrounding its release (all dates are below). After sharing lead single, “Soft Stud,” Black Belt Eagle Scout now presents “Just Lie Down.”
“I started working on the guitar line for this song at the end of a five year stay at a big duplex I was renting in Portland. This had been the longest period of time I had ever lived anywhere that wasn’t my parents’ home. I was being kicked out of the place because the landlord wanted to renovate and hike up the rent.  This was the case for a lot of Portlanders at that time (and still is) as the city was on a steep course of gentrification. 
My life shifted and I ended up moving in with people I had never met to a smaller, but comfy situation in a different part of town. There was a Corgi named Dayton involved. The room in this house is where I worked on the majority of the songs for Mother of My Children, staying up late and turning up my guitar amp volume when I could. I was in a new place and the feeling of ‘home’ was never really present when I lived there. It was a really disconnected time in my life thus warranting the initial bits and pieces of ‘Just Lie Down.’ 
So many things didn’t feel foundational and at times I felt like I was losing it. I remember thinking, ‘You aren’t yourself right now. What is wrong with you? Why are you acting like this? What even is this?’ and that’s where most of the questioning lyrics in the song came from. I like to find some sort of resolution in my songs be it a feeling I get from playing it, a certain part of the song that has lyrics that reflect it, something. My resolution in this song is when I sing the lyrics, ‘Just lie down, head on the ground, sky looks blue, just like you.’ To me, it was a simple poem you could say to yourself that means even though you are sad, even though there seems like there is no hope, look up and see what is above you. The sky is still blue and beautiful. Hopefully you will see that beauty and move forward.”
Paul grew up in a small Indian reservation, the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community, surrounded by family focused on native drumming, singing, and arts. From an early age, Paul was singing and dancing at powwows with one of her strongest memories at her family’s own powwow, called the All My Relations Powwow. Paul reminisces, “When I was younger, my only form of music was through the songs my ancestors taught the generations of my family. Singing in our language is a spiritual process and it carries on through me in how I create music today.” With the support of her family and a handful of bootleg Hole and Nirvana VHS tapes, Paul taught herself how to play guitar and drums as a teenager. In 2007, she moved to Portland, Oregon to attend college and get involved with the Rock’n’Roll Camp for Girls eventually diving deep into the city’s music scene playing guitar and drums in bands while evolving her artistry into what would later become Black Belt Eagle Scout.
Listen to Black Belt Eagle Scout’s “Just Lie Down” –
https://BBES.lnk.to/MOMC

Listen To “Soft Stud” –
https://youtu.be/LXsfiYigeg4

Black Belt Eagle Scout Tour Dates:
Fri. Aug. 31 – Columbus, OH @ Wexner Arts Center #
Sat. Sep. 1 – Detroit, MI @ Deluxx Fluxx *
Sun. Sep. 2 – Chicago, IL @ Beat Kitchen ^
Tue. Sep. 4 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Spirit Lodge #
Wed. Sep. 5 – Boston, MA @ Brighton Music Hall #
Thu. Sep. 6 – New York City, NY @ Bowery Ballroom #
Fri. Sep. 7 – Philadelphia, PA @ PhilaMOCA #
Sat. Sep. 8 – Richmond, VA @ The Camel #
Sun. Sep. 9 – Washington, DC @ Black Cat (Backstage) #
Tue. Sep. 11 – Durham, NC @ The Pinhook #
Wed. Sep. 12 – Atlanta, GA @ Drunken Unicorn #
Thu. Sep. 13 – Tampa, FL @ Crowbar #
Fri. Sep. 14 – Tallahassee, FL @ The Wilbury #
Sat. Sep. 15 – New Orleans, LA @ Gasa Gasa #
Mon. Sep. 17 – Austin, TX @ Barracuda #
Tue. Sep. 18 – Ft. Worth, TX @ Main at South Side #
Wed. Sep. 19 – Norman, OK @ Opolis #
Thu. Sep. 20 – Lawrence, KS @ Bottleneck #
Fri. Sep. 21 – St. Louis, MO @ Off-Broadway #
Sat. Sep. 22 – Davenport, IA @ Village Theater #
Mon. Sep. 24 – Lexington, KY @ The Burl #
Wed. Sep. 26 – Omaha, NE @ Reverb $
Fri. Sep. 28 – Denver, CO @ Hi-Dive $
Sat. Sep. 29 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Diabolical Records $
Sun. Sep. 30 – Boise, ID @ Funky Taco $
Wed. Oct. 3 – Spokane, WA @ The Bartlett $

* = with Varsity
^ = with Shortly
# = with Saintseneca
$ = with Guerrilla Toss

Pre-order Mother of My Children —

Mother of My Children cover art
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Thom Yorke’s “Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes” solo tour starts November 23rd.

 

Radiohead front man Thom Yorke has announced a bunch of U.S. tour dates this fall to promote and play his solo material.  Joining him will be producer (and frequent Radiohead collaborator) Nigel Godrich and visual artist Tarik Barri. Oliver Coates, a London-based cellist, will be the opening act.

The dates are as follows:

November 2018
23rd  Electric Factory – Philadelphia, PA
24th  Wang Theatre-Boch Center – Boston, MA
26th  Kings Theatre – Brooklyn, NY
27th  Kings Theatre – Brooklyn, NY
30th  John F Kennedy Center For The Performing Arts Concert Hall – Washington, DC

December 2018
1st  Keybank State Theatre – Cleveland, OH
2nd  Masonic Temple Cathedral Theatre – Detroit, MI
4th  Chicago Theatre – Chicago, IL
5th  Riverside Theater – Milwaukee, WI
6th  Northrop at the University of Minnesota – Minneapolis, MN
8th  Stifel Theatre – St. Louis, MO
9th  Arvest Bank Theatre at The Midland – Kansas City, MO
11th  Paramount Theatre – Denver, CO
13th  The Union – Salt Lake City, UT
15th  Bill Graham Civic Auditorium – San Francisco, CA
17th  The Observatory, North Park – San Diego, CA
19th  Orpheum Theatre – Los Angeles, CA
20th  Orpheum Theatre – Los Angeles, CA
22nd  The Chelsea at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas – Las Vegas, NV

Tickets will surely sell out for most, if not all, of these shows.  Don’t wait too long to score some.

Keep your mind open.

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Live: The Flaming Lips and Le Bucherettes – August 16, 2018 – Clyde Theatre – Ft. Wayne, Indiana

It was a grey night.  Rain had been falling.  My wife was on the phone with her boss and trying to sort out work drama that had been bothering both of them for a week.  She and the whole Ft. Wayne area, it seemed, needed a boost of love and fun.  They got it from the Flaming Lips and Le Bucherettes at Ft. Wayne’s Clyde Theatre on August 16th.

My wife had never been to a Flaming Lips show.  All I told her was that it would be wild and there would be balloons and confetti.  I didn’t want to spoil anything for her.

We walked in just at the start of Le Bucherettes’ set.  I’d heard of them somewhere before and made a note to check out their stuff, and this was my first full exposure to their work.  It was a wild mix of psychedelia and art punk fronted by a wild Latina (Le Bucherettes hail from Mexico) who seemed to be the child of Iggy Pop and Poly Styrene after they’d had sex in an Aztec temple.  They threw down a wild set that even had Wayne Coyne from the Flaming Lips crouching at stage right to take photos of them.  My wife and I thought they needed to play next year’s Levitation Music Festival in Austin.  They’d fit in perfectly there, and we picked up their last album at the merch table not long after their set.

Le Bucherettes

The beginning of the Flaming Lips’ set began with their cover of “Also Sprach Zarathustra” and then “Race for the Prize” off The Soft Bulletin, which included the following (of course):

My wife was already grinning by this point, and the grin never left her face the entire night.  She laughed in disbelief at the giant inflatable robot that stood at center stage over Wayne Coyne during “Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots” – which Coyne described as a song not just about a young, female Japanese karate master fighting evil robots, but more about “Your friend who tells you they’re going to do something impossible, but they don’t know it’s impossible, and instead of you telling them it’s impossible, you tell them…Yoshimi you won’t let those robots defeat me.”

“Fight Test” is always a welcome addition to their sets, and the “Golden Throat” microphone version of the national anthem was a weird treat.  This show was the first time I heard “The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song” as well as “The Castle,” which Wayne Coyne described as a sad song, but it doesn’t feel overwhelmingly sad when he sings it.  It still sounds hopeful to me.

“The Castle”

Coyne then put on rainbow wings and jumped on a light-up unicorn that was pulled through the audience while he sang “There Should Be Unicorns,” which took on a near deep-house beat and feel live.  It’s cool on Oczy Mlody, but it’s better live.

They busted out “She Don’t Use Jelly,” which was well-received by the crowd (and was one I’d hoped they’d play), and “The Captain” after that.  There was a small temporary stage in the middle of the crowd, and I figured it was for when Coyne stepped into a giant plastic sphere and crowd surfed to it during their cover of “Space Oddity.”  I’d seen him do it at the inaugural Middle Waves Music Festival two years earlier.  I was right, and my wife, a big Bowie fan, nearly cried when she realized what song was coming.

They wrapped up the set with “How??”, “Are You a Hypnotist?”, “The W.A.N.D.”, and “A Spoonful Weighs a Ton” before coming back for “Do You Realize?”

“That made me happy,” my wife said afterwards.  “I needed that.”

We all did.  Thanks, Flaming Lips.

Keep your mind open.

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Caroline Rose adds more U.S. tour dates for November.

CAROLINE ROSE EXPANDS NORTH AMERICAN TOUR
WITH HEADLINE DATES IN NOVEMBER

LONER OUT NOW VIA NEW WEST

Photo Credit: Matt Hogan

Caroline Rose has expanded her fall tour to include a set of headline dates in November. Since the release of her new album, LONER, via New West this past February, Rose has spent most of the year on the road playing sold out headline shows and opening for acts, including Mitski, Guster, and Maggie Rogers. Now, she’s gearing up for a set of dates supporting Rainbow Kitten Surprise before setting out on a headline tour with performances in New York, Boston, Toronto, Chicago, Philadelphia, Washington DC, and more. By the end of 2018, Rose will have played over 100 shows in the U.S. alone.

At the same time, critical praise for LONER has continued to flourish. The album landed on over a dozen mid-year highlight lists, including NPR Music’s “40 Favorite Albums of 2018 (So Far)” and Vinyl Me, Please’s “Best Albums of 2018 So Far.” After crediting Rose with putting on one of the best shows at SXSW, Rolling Stone recently published a profile on her, saying:

“Her music has a spaced-out intelligence, an impish energy, plenty of venom and jokes. Her perspective on the world snaps, because it’s light on its feet and has sensitive skin. Even if the structural circumstances suck… Rose can have a precise sort of play with it, criticizing the whole enterprise with a slicing one-liner.”

Rose’s knack for energetic performances and stage banter will be on full display this fall. All dates are below and new dates are in bold.

Stream Caroline Rose’s LONER

Watch/Listen/Share:
“Bikini” Video
“Soul No. 5” video
“Money” video
“Getting To Me”

Caroline Rose Tour Dates:
Sat. Sep. 15- Sun. Sep. 16 – Burlington, VT @ Grand Point North Festival
Wed. Sep. 19 – Rochester, NY @ Abilene Bar and Lounge
Thu. Sep. 20 – Lancaster, PA @ Tello 360
Fri. Sep. 21 – Asheville, NC @ The Grey Eagle
Sat. Sep. 22 – Sun. Sep. 23 – Franklin, TN @ Pilgrimage Festival
Mon. Sep. 24 – Charlottesville, VA @ The Jefferson *
Tue. Sep. 25 – Norfolk, VA @ Norva Theater *
Thu. Sep. 27 – Richmond, VA @ The National *
Fri. Sep. 28 – Port Chester, NY @ The Capitol Theatre *
Sat. Sep. 29 – Baltimore, MD @ Rams Head *
Mon. Oct. 1 – Buffalo, NY @ Town Ballroom *
Tue. Oct. 2 – Montreal, QC @ Corona Theatre *
Sat. Oct. 6 – Providence, RI @ The Strand *
Mon. Oct. 8 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Mr. Smalls *
Thu. Oct. 11 – Lexington, KY @ Manchester Music Hall *
Fri. Oct. 12 – Cincinnati, OH @ Bogart’s *
Sat. Oct. 13 – Indianapolis, IN @ Deluxe at Old National Centre *
Mon. Oct. 15 – Grand Rapids, MI @ Elevation at The Intersection *
Wed. Oct. 17 – Bloomington, IL @ The Castle Theater *
Sat. Oct. 20 – Fayetteville, AR @ George’s Majestic Lounge *
Sun. Oct. 21 – Tulsa, OK @ Cain’s Ballroom *
Tue. Oct. 23 – Oxford, MS @ Lyric Theatre *
Thu. Nov. 1 – Cambridge, MA @ The Sinclair
Fri. Nov. 2 – Hamden, CT @ Space Ballroom
Sat. Nov. 3 – New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
Tue. Nov. 6 – Toronto, ON @ Velvet Underground
Wed. Nov. 7 – Ferndale, MI @ The Loving Touch
Thu. Nov. 8 – Chicago, IL @ Lincoln Hall
Fri. Nov. 9 – Iowa City, IA @ The Mill
Sat. Nov. 10 – St. Paul, MN @ Turf Club
Tue. Nov. 13 – Louisville, KY @ Zanzabar
Wed. Nov. 14 – Columbus, OH @ Rumba Cafe
Thu. Nov. 16 – Philadelphia, PA @ Underground Arts
Fri. Nov. 17 – Washington, DC @ Rock & Roll Hotel

* = with Rainbow Kitten Surprise

Praise for LONER:

“[LONER is] a wonderful, rollicking beast.” – MOJO

“Loner is a thrillingly odd take on pop, braiding her sardonic lyrics with off-kilter songs that groove and groan.” – Boston Globe

“Rose has a newly loosed imagination and a flair for exaggerating the absurdities we’re living with, and the way she’s put them to use is a timely gift.” — NPR Music

“With its mix of sunny melodies and acerbic wit, the material from her newly released LP, Loner, was frenetic and freewheeling.” – Rolling Stone

“In an era of endless, ear-numbing streams, LONER grabs your chin and commands your eyes.”
— Consequence of Sound

“Rose is a fascinating person, and from DIY production trickery to her multi-role star turns in her videos, LONER represents her at her best.” — Stereogum “Artist to Watch”

“an often wickedly funny and winningly sardonic indie-pop act with lots of surprising musical moves on her new album, Loner.” – Philadelphia Inquirer

“With her newly honed interest in producing, Caroline Rose has made an unwaveringly entertaining album filled to the brim with songs that are at once contemplative and coax the listener to get out of their seat and dance.” — Rookie

“Rose is a joy to behold . . . LONER whacks the listener swiftly upside the head with our red-clad protagonist’s winning charisma, leaving ya dizzy and begging for more.” — Under The Radar

“…a punchier, studio-powered pop sound, packed with danceable beats, prominent synths, big choruses and plenty of swagger. She remains unafraid of singing about serious subjects (capitalism, sexism, death, etc.) but on LONER, she delivers them through a bold, candy-colored filter that’s always intriguing and often irresistible.” — Paste

Download hi-res press images and cover art

Official Website | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter

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Shopping announce fall tour dates for North America.

Shopping To Return Stateside For Fall North American Tour
In Support Of The Official Body, Out Now On FatCat Records

Playing Hopscotch, OctFest, Basilica Soundscape, And More
(photo credit: Matthew Williams)

 

“Wiry and urgent, ‘The Official Body’ offers vibrant, chaotic catharsis at an ideal moment.” — Rolling Stone

 

“‘The Official Body’ has such an expansive and warm soul that it forces you reconsider all the wiry clichés associated with post-punk.” — Pitchfork

“…Shopping have opted for one of the most revolutionary forces of all: fun.” — NPR Music 

 

“The 10 tracks here are audacious, funky, and have that element of outsider-cool leftover from the heyday of influences like Delta 5, Gang of Four and ESG.” — Paste

Having wrapped up a short North American tour of the west coast this past summer, which included a triumphant performance at San Francisco Pride to a crowd of nearly 50,000, Shopping – the London/Glasgow-based trio of Rachel Aggs (guitar, vocals), Billy Easter (bass, vocals) and Andrew Milk (drums, vocals) – are thrilled to announce they’ll return stateside next month in support of their most recent album, The Official Body, out now on FatCat Records. Including stops at Hopscotch Music Festival, OctFest, and Basilica Soundscape, the tour will kick off in Philadelphia on Thu. Sep. 6th at PhilMOCA. A full list of dates are below, with tickets on-sale now.
Shopping Tour Dates:
Sat. Aug. 11 – London, UK @ Oslo Hackney
Thu. Aug. 30 – Dorset, UK @ End Of The Road
Fri. Aug. 31 – Baignade Interdite @ Rivières, FR
Thu. Sep. 6 – Philadelphia, PA @ PhilMOCA
Fri. Sep. 7 – Raleigh, NC @ Hopscotch Music Festival *
Sat. Sep. 8 – Washington, DC @ Rock & Roll Hotel #
Sun. Sep. 9 – New York, NY @ OctFest %
Tue. Sep. 11 – Toronto, ON @ The Garrison
Wed. Sep. 12 – Montreal, QC @ Bar Le Ritz
Thu. Sep. 13 – Allston, MA @ Great Scott
Fri. Sep. 14 – Sun. Sep. 16 – Hudson, NY @ Basically Soundscape &

* = w/ Miguel, Belle & Sebastian, MC50 and more
# = w/ No Age
% = w/ The Flaming Lips, Nile Rodgers & CHIC, Girlpool and more
& = w/ Efrim Manuel Menuck, Grouper, Stephen O’Malley’s Un Vide Dans Le Ciel and more

 

Watch/Listen/Share:
Stream The Official Body via Spotify – https://spoti.fi/2KkcdKW
“The Hype” video – https://youtu.be/JnAm6AphanY
“Wild Child” video – https://youtu.be/GWvzFYTPrRw
“Suddenly Gone” video – https://youtu.be/GVcZGVVhfkU

 

Purchase The Official Body:
via Bandcamp – http://bit.ly/2kZQL6Z
via iTunes – http://apple.co/2iBSknm
via FatCat Shop – http://bit.ly/2C3DGO8

Download hi-res album art and press images of Shopping – 
www.pitchperfectpr.com/shopping/

Shopping online:
facebook.com/weareshopping

twitter.com/SH0PP1NG
soundcloud.com/shoppingband

fat-cat.co.uk/artist/shopping

pitchperfectpr.com/shopping

Keep your mind open.

[There’s no need to shop around for other blogs.  Subscribe to this one.]

Live: My Bloody Valentine and Martha’s Vineyard Ferries – Riviera Theatre – Chicago, IL – July 28, 2018

The second of two sold-out shows for My Bloody Valentine at Chicago’s Riviera Theatre was added when the first sold out in minutes.  I was surprised the second didn’t sell out as fast, but happy that I got a ticket to what I was sure was going to be a face-melting experience.

Opening up for MBV were Martha’s Vineyard Ferries – a sort of shoegaze / garage punk band with bits of doom flavor sprinkled in now and then.  I expected something a bit more psychedelic with a name like that, but they were “honored” to be opening for My Bloody Valentine and their enthusiasm came through in their set.

Martha’s Vineyard Ferries

The stacks of amplifiers for MBV were tall and numerous.  A woman behind me said her friend had come to the first show and told her, “It was louder than Dinosaur, Jr.”  Her friend was right.  It was louder than them and probably five more bands combined.

My Bloody Valentine

Opening with “I Only Said,” the four of them powered through with walls of distortion and reverb.  Vocals were barely audible at times, and usually incomprehensible.  You don’t go to a MBV show to hear crisp vocals, however, not even on the two new songs they played.  You go to experience the raw energy that comes at you like a pounding surf on a rocky beach.

Of course “Only Shallow” was a big crowd favorite (and as heavy-hitting as you imagine), but “What You Want,” “Nothing Much to See,” and, naturally, “Soon” were big wallops to your chest, too.  A friend of mine held my hands in hers after “Who Sees You,” and we noticed our hands were trembling.  She patted her chest and said, “Wow!  Intense!”

“My ears are hurting!” was the cry of a guy to my left after they finished “Wonder 2.”  I saw a lot of people without earplugs.  I pitied them.  Many of us were in near-meditative states by the time they got to “Feed Me with Your Kiss” and the audio avalanche that closed the show – “You Make Me Realize.”  The bridge in that was a couple minutes of cymbals and guitar noise that almost reached the point of punishment before breaking back into the power chords.  It left us all dumfounded.

As we were walking out, a woman behind me told her boyfriend he should’ve put in his earplugs for the finale.  He said, “I could feel my chest vibrating.  I thought, ‘Am I having a heart attack?  Is this how it ends?'”

“Not a bad way to go,” I said.

“That’s true,” he said.

True, indeed.  A My Bloody Valentine show isn’t for everyone, but it is something everyone should experience.

Keep your mind open.

[You can be my valentine by subscribing.]