Music Snobbery

that dog. @ Music Hall of Williamsburg

that dog. drummer Tony Maxwell said it best tonight, "What is this? Fucking 90s nostalgia week." Indeed it is. We have Afghan Whigs and Stone Roses both playing their first shows in over a decade, and now, 90s alternative rock super heroes that dog. played their first show in New York in 15 years.

When I write about these reunions, I make the headline, "This Week In Random Reunions". It seems fitting for this band. It slipped under my radar when they got back together last year in Los Angeles. Maybe I've got blinders on, but I didn't think there was much of a groundswell of voices calling for a reunion. Let's face it, that dog. weren't the most popular of the 90s alterna-bands that road in on the wave of the Pixies success. They didn't have a radio hit, but had some popular songs that made its way onto 120 Minutes. I had all but forgotten about them.

So I gave the show a chance, being that I never saw them back in the day. Anna Waronker took a quick survey on who had seen them before vs. who's seeing them now for the first time. The first timers won out ... thus you have your reason why you are seeing more random reunions -- there's a whole new group of fans out there willing to shell out money for tickets, merch and reissues.

Tonight's show did what I thought it would, re-introduce their catalogue to a new fan base as best they could. I have another catch phrase I write on here, "Back and better than ever". Tonight was like, "Back! And it's a work in progress." The first half of the show was pretty shaky, they look lost and disjointed at times, and the vocals didn't have much punch. Around when they trotted out Punk Rock Girl and Long Island, that's when the energy in the room lifted and band became more comfortable on stage.

The setlist. The show clocked in at about an hour and 25 minutes:

• Grunge Couple
• Old Timer
• Ms. Wrong
• Silently
• Being With You
• Lip Gloss
• In the Back of My Mind
• She Looks At Me
• Zodiac
• Punk Rock Girl
• Long Island
• Retreat From the Sun
• Did You Ever
• Gagged and Tied
• annie.
• He's Kissing Christian
• angel.
• Encore: Never Say Never
• Minneapolis
• Michael Jordan
• Hawthorne
• This Boy

Plenty of shouts from the crowd on what that dog. should play tonight. Minneapolis was top on my list of what they should play. It wasn't like they had anything to promote like a new album, so they were able to please all the fans. When they played Never Say Never, it reminded me of the video where Anna is wearing a low-cut sweater, leopard print bra and short shorts. You look at her on stage tonight wearing a loose fitting shirt and she's a mom with her baby in the balcony. Oh, how the times have changed the rock chicks of the 90s.

I joke about the passage of time, because, one day two decades from now, all the new bands we listen to today will outgrow the scene, start families and loose the glow of being young, good-looking and playing trendy music to 20-somethings in Brooklyn. Seeing the members of that dog. joke around on stage and laugh off their problems with remembering the music gave me a smile as well. Recapturing the magic of two decades ago isn't as easy as it looks, aye kids?

In all, it's good for that dog. to get back into things. I was trying to think of bands from today that sound like them, and I couldn't think of it -- the aggressive female vocals in the Liz Phair motif, with the stripped down punk via pop guitar chords. Add in Petra Haden's violin and you've got the that dog. sound. They didn't mention anything tonight about the future of new material or further dates, but I like to see them take a crack at some new tunes.

I give the show a slightly into the positive outcome. Like I said, not the tightest of performances, but the show made me remember all the bands in that era that soundtrack my high school and college years. Then I drove home and cried because now I'm old and boring.

So any other DGC bands want to get back together. Come on, The Sundays. Get it together!

The School Hit The Seaside on "Never Thought I'd See the Day"

School's almost out for summer, but The School aren't waiting to hit the beach. They've released their second album, Reading Too Much Into Things Like Everything, on Elefant Records, which you can purchase at your digital download or online store of choice for a real copy. To celebrate, the band hit the beach for some wholesome fun for their latest video, "Never Thought I'd See the Day" -- some bumper cars, bowling, carnival rides and cheery organ-based pop tunage.

MS MR Unleash "Hurricane" -- Opening for Marina & The Diamonds

First off, they need to fire their photographer -- they cut off their heads.

In any event, enigmatic Brooklyn duo MS MR have quickly joined the buzz band ranks with their debut single, Hurricane. The song manages to wipe away your doubts that nothing exciting is happening in the five boroughs. It's a slow, sexy jam with beauty and darkness wrestling for your soul. It's a winner.

Before you loose yourself in Hurricane, they play next Friday at Glasslands with Xylos, then head out on tour with my girl Marina Diamandis and her backing Diamonds for their July tour.

June 1: Glasslands -- Brooklyn
July 10: The Fonda Theatre -- Los Angeles
July 11: The Fillmore -- San Francisco
July 13: Aladdin Theatre -- Portland
July 14: Showbox at the Market -- Seattle
July 15: Commodore Ballroom -- Vancouver
July 18: The Summit Music Hall -- Denver
July 21: Park West -- Chicago
July 14: 9:30 Club -- Washington D.C.
July 16: Webster Hall -- New York
July 17: Theatre of the Living Arts -- Philadelphia

Enough business, let's ride the Hurricane.

Magmana Playing Residency at Rock Shop -- Listen to Watch the Ball

Take Joan Tick of The Phenomenal Handclap Band and add Caleb Lindskoog of Silver State and you have Magmana. In the spirit of Sinatra and Hazlewood or Campbell and Lanegan, the couple offer a modern take on the back and forth between lovers, friends and spaces in-between.

They will debut their musical back and forth tonight at Brooklyn's Rock Shop, which will serve as their first of three dates.

• May 23 with Sam Jayne (of Love as Laughter)
• May 30 with Ram's Head Lady Slipper (Brendan Fitzpatrick solo) and Strange Shapes
• June 6 with Little Horns and Ex-Cops

One song that they would like you to hear is the shape-shifting "Watch the Ball". It goes from lo-fi dance pop to dream pop to Fleetwood Mac-like guitar breaks to warped out space jams. All the way through you have the boy-girl harmonies from Tick and Lindskoog. Take a listen below:

Today is World Goth Day -- Hug Your Local Goth

The Drums, Crocodiles and Hospitality Heading Up 4Knots Festival 2012

The Village Voice promised it would be back, and it would. Their second go around with their new and improved free music festival is set for July 14th back at South Street Seaport. Unlike the Great GoogaMooga, there will be no epic, never-ending lines -- just epic free music in a mall setting. The good news is Crocodiles, Hospitality, Bleached and Nick Waterhouse are booked to play so far, with more to be announced. The bad news is The Drums are the headliners. Le sigh. Just not a fan of their one-note, un-inspired tunes, BUT I will give their set the benefit of the doubt since I've never seen them live.

Let's look on the bright side of the bands I give the stamp of approval. Looking forward to San Francisco soul pop virtuoso Nick Waterhouse. He just released his debut album, Time's All Gone, and he's ready to bring his groove on to the East Coast.

Then, psyched for Bleached, since I missed them when they opened up for Veronica Falls. Bleaches is the sibling duo of Jennifer and Jessica Clavin (formly from the defunct Mika Mako). They played straight-up unfiltred, raw garage rock. So far they've released a trio of 7" on the Art Fag, Ooga Booga and Suicide Squeeze labels. One of those beauties is called "Think of You"

UPDATE: This just into the mail box, more acts have been added. The big name being Archers of Loaf for all you mid-90s indie pop kids who are now soccer moms and dads. The other acts being Team Spirit (never seen), Doldrums (never seen) and Devin (seen with Ty Segall)

TV Girl Embarking on First U.S. Tour

San Diego big beat, dream poppers TV Girl have been languishing too long in the Golden State for too long. So it's great news that the duo will head out on their first cross-country U.S. tour. We all pray that the van does not break down. That's why they started a KickStarter campaign to get a decent van.

No Northeast dates yet, but they are in the works.

• May 26: Sophia's Thai Kitchen --  Davis, CA
• May 27: SF Popfest Day 3 @ Hemlock Tavern --  San Francisco
• May 28: Soda Bar --  San Diego
• June 2: Portals Traveling Showcase @ Space 15 Twenty --  Los Angeles
• June 14: Club Dada --  Dallas
• June 15: Dan's Silver Leaf --  Denton, TX
• June 16: Lambert's --  Austin
• June 17: Warehouse Live --  Houston
• June 19: Georgia Theatre --  Athens
• June 20: Radio Room --  Greenville, SC
• June 22: The Well --  Knoxville, TN
• June 23: King's Barcade --  Raleigh, NC
• June 24: The EARL --  Atlanta
• June 26: New World Brewery --  Tampa
• June 27: Will's Pub --  Orlando
• June 28: Respectable Street --  West Palm Beach, FL
• June 29: The Stage --  Miami
• June 30: Green Room --  Ft. Lauderdale, FL
• July 1: Soho Miami Beach House --  Miami
• July 2: Loosey's --  Gainesville, FL
• July 3: Alabama Music Box --  Mobile, AL
• July 13: Bootleg Theater --  Los Angeles

You can still download their two EPs for free over at their facebook page. I even heard "Benny & the Jets" playing at Whole Foods. That means they are legit. Also, they created a mixtape via Greedhead Music that you listen to at bandcamp or download at Stereogum.

Here's one of the songs you can hear on their EP, it's called "Baby You Were There"

Summer Camp Releasing Always EP on July 10th, New Song "Life"

I'm always down with new material from talented bands. Summer Camp isn't waiting to put out another album to get new music out there. On July 10th, the duo of Elizabeth Sankey and Jeremy Warmsley will release, Always, a five-song EP of new tunes.

1. Life
2. Always
3. City
4. Hunt
5. Outside

One of the new tracks is called "Life", a slow-burner of a tune with some delicate piano parts that leads into a rave-up. You can listen to it below:

Queen Kwong @ Pianos

A small hurricane touched down at Pianos last night, in the form of L.A. upstart Queen Kwong. A quick 20-25 minute set from the guitarist is all it took to leave a strong impression. She snarls, screams, grinds away on her guitar, spits, sneers and thrashes her head around in a fury of emotion. Maybe the Queen is the King of the new L.A. rock set?

QK (real name Carre Callaway) got her big break in 2009 when she opened up for Nine Inch Nails. Like her mentor Trent Reznor, she expends all her energy on stage and through her fierce attitude in her songs. Her music has a savage edge. It fells like she's saying "Fuck You" in every song, while her performance on stage is like "Fuck this, let's rock." When she let's loose, you almost have to step back. Then when she quiets down, you want to lean in to hear what she has to say. Then those deep, gnarly basslines gives her music a sinister edge.

Her live show is where the juice is at. Carre is a wicked guitar player -- loud, wild, but under control. As you can see in the photos, she looses herself in the music. During her set, she announced that was feeling sick, then proceeded to throw water into the crowd from the bottle she was drinking from. No worries, I'm not a germaphobe ... I think. In the end, there was tremendous output from her band.

She'll be working on her new material for a debut album this year, and maybe setting fire to some other NYC venues as well.

Two Wounded Birds Announce Debut Album, June 24th Release Date

The soundtrack to your summer is here in the form of Two Wounded Birds eagerly anitcipated debut album. Their self-titled LP will drop on June 24th in the U.S. on Holiday Friends Recording Company, the label run by Jacob Graham of The Drums.

The UK outfit take those throwback 60s garage/surf rock sounds and filter them a hard-driving pop-rock perspective. Thinking of a beach party thrown by the Ravenoettes and the Ramones.

A couple of previously released songs make the final cut of the album, Together Forever and Night Patrol. Here's the tracklisting:

• Together Forever
• My Lonesome
• To Be Young
• It’s Not Up To You
• Daddy’s Junk
• Night Patrol
• The Last Supper
• I’m No Saviour
• If Only We Remain
• No Goodbye’s
• The Outer World
• Growing

Here's a song from the album, that's yours for the taking, "To Be Young"

Tashaki Miyaki Cover Father John Misty's Hollywood Forever Cemetery Sings

L.A. duo Tashaki Miyaki already put their spin on The Everly Brothers' "All I Have To Do Is Dream" and "I Wonder If I Care As Much". Now, they have set their sights on former Fleet Foxes' drummer J. Tillman/Father John Misty breakout hit, "Hollywood Forever Cemetery." It's yours for free below.

Here's the original. JJR plays two sold out show in NYC this weekend, Friday at Mercury Lounge and Saturday at Knitting Factory:

Smoke Fairies Put Finishing Touches on New Album, Blood Speaks

Now that Jessica and Katherine are done supporting Jack White on a few U.K. dates, they can get into the business of releasing their latest album. Smoke Fairies have set next Monday, the 21st, for the release of their sophomore album, Blood Speaks, in the UK. The Gothic folk songstresses are known for their dark, grinding, soulful tunes and haunting vocals. For the new album, they've let the guitars run loose.

This is the tracklisting:

1. Let Me Know
2. Awake
3. The Three of Us
4. Daylight
5. Blood Speaks
6. Take Me Down When You Go
7. Feel It Coming Near
8. Hideaway
9. Version of the Future
10. Film Reel

Here's the first video from the new album. It's for the song, The Three of Us:

Starlight Girls, Apollo Run, Lucius and Others Playing The Deli's NYC B.E.A.F.

The Deli Magazine assembles a who's who of new artists for their annual B.E.A.F. (Best of Emerging Artists Fest) festival. From May 23-26, Brooklyn Bowl, Spike Hill, Public Assembly and Cameo Gallery will host these next big things.

In the past, the Deli's annual list of Best New NYC Bands included Grizzly Bear, We Are Scientists, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Vampire Weekend, A Place to Bury Strangers, Crystal Stilts, Yeasayer and Au Revoir Simone. This year they are calling upon Lucius, Caged Animals, Zambri and my buddies Starlight Girls to play this year.

You see the full four-day schedule over at The Deli's website.

Perfect chance for you to check out the latest videos from local gals, Starlight Girls. It's called Flutterby. a sinister, orchestral pop tune. They will playing the Saturday night of the festival at Cameo Gallery.