Featured Music:
01. PS I Love You – “Death Dreams” (excerpt), “First Contact” (excerpt)
02. Patrick Watson – “Lighthouse” (excerpt), “Into Giants” (excerpt)
03. OFF! – “Cracked”, “Jet Black Girls”
04. Screaming Females – “Rotten Apple”, “High”, “It’s Nice”, “Red Hand”

Audiography Episode 037 – “Screaming Females”
Written and Produced by Len Comaratta, Alex Young, Chris Coplan, Michael Roffman, Adam Kivel, Gilles Le Blanc, Bryant Kitching and Nick Freed.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

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Today, A.V. Club shared another entry in its ongoing Undercover series, in which 25 bands cover 25 songs from a list of reader-submited suggestions. This time around, however, Screaming Females stopped by to perform their own cover, one that wasn’t exactly on the list: Sheryl Crow’s “If It Makes You Happy”. “I think Sheryl Crow is the only band that we can all agree on,” Marissa Paternoster confessed with a smirk. “That’s not true.” The band strikes hard into the late ’90s anthem and Paternoster’s vocals on the chorus slap some grime on what was already Crow’s grimiest song. Check it out below.

This September, Chicago’s Riot Fest returns for its seventh installment with a few adjustments and another formidable lineup headed by punk’s most sacred veterans and elite. Shifting ahead a month earlier, this year’s edition kicks off at Chicago’s Congress Theatre on Friday, September 14th and continues at Humboldt Park for the remainder of the weekend. The lineup is headlined by Elvis Costello, Iggy and the Stooges, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Rise Against, Descendents, and The Offspring.

Other notable acts include GWAR, Coheed and Cambria, Built to Spill, The Gaslight Anthem, The Promise Ring, Alkaline Trio, Gogol Bordello, Dropkick Murphys, Fishbone, Screaming Females, NOFX, and many more listed at our Festival Outlook.

Early bird tickets are currently onsale for $36 for a two-day pass and $90 for a three-day pass. Visit the festival’s website for complete details. Also, stay tuned for more additions to the lineup.

Raleigh, NC’s Hopscotch Music Festival returns for a third year on September 6-8th, complete with 175 bands over 15 venues across the downtown area. This year’s bill is topped by Built to Spill, The Jesus and Mary Chain, The Roots, Yo La Tengo, and The Mountain Goats, the latter of which will feature an exclusive all-covers heavy metal set by frontman John Darnielle on piano.

Also appearing on the lineup are Liars, Dan Deacon, Sun O))), Danny Brown, Death Grips, Zola Jesus, Lambchop, Screaming Females, Colin Stetson, Wye Oak, Thee Oh Sees, Baroness, Deerhoof, Damien Jurado, Flosstradamus, Hundred Waters, Pop. 1280, Nerves Junior, Laurel Halo, Zeus, Escort, Pallbearer, Young Magic, Cities Aviv, Oneida, Samantha Crain, Glenn Jones, The Spits, among many others currently listed in the event’s Festival Outlook page.

Tickets are currently on sale via the festival’s website.

Featured Music:
01. Screaming Females – “Rotten Apple” (excerpt), “It All Means Nothing” (excerpt)
02. The Mars Volta – “Imago” (excerpt), “Empty Vessels Make the Loudest Sound” (excerpt)
03. Clark – “Secret” (excerpt), “The Pining, pt 1” (excerpt)
04. De La Soul – “Pushin’ Aside, Pushin’ Along” (excerpt), “Pop Life” (excerpt)
05. Georgia Anne Muldrow – “Seed “ (excerpt), “Best Love “ (excerpt)
06. Bear In Heaven – “Idle Heart”, “Noon Moon”, “Sweetness and Sickness”

Audiography Episode 032 – “Jon Philpot (of Bear In Heaven)”
Written and Produced by Len Comaratta, Alex Young, Liz Landry, Adam Kivel, Lainna Fader, Bryant Kitching, David DiLillo, Ryan Staskel, Nick Freed, Mike Madden, and Amy Splitt.

[powerpress]

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Your album Ugly is already being heralded as one of the best albums of the year.

Dougherty: Is it? I hope so.

Everything I’ve been reading online, everyone is loving it, and I’m loving it as well. It definitely seems to represent an expansion of your sound, building upon what you’ve done on your previous albums. I’m assuming that this is going to carry over to the live aspect as well.

Dougherty: Live, we’ve always kind of tried to do the same thing, which is have fun every night. I don’t think too much is going to change with what we do live. I think the only thing that has changed with what we do live is… at different parts of our career, we’ve had moments where we either like playing more improvised, longer versions of songs or just go in and just play a straight-ahead set. We kind of go through phases of melding all the songs together into one noisy thing or doing distinct pop songs, but I don’t think too much is going to change with our live sound.

Production-wise, this album definitely builds upon what you did on Power Move and Castle Talk, making your sound sharper, a little heavier and more confident. You’ve always been very involved with your music’s production. Steve Albini aside, what did you hope to accomplish with this album? Did you have most of it planned out prior to entering the studio, or did you let it happen more organically once you guys began recording?

Dougherty: We definitely had this record planned out before we went into the studio. We did more pre-production for this record than anything we’ve ever done. We demoed all the songs two or three times–let Marissa have a lot of time with the songs to kind of try different guitar overdubs and different vocal arrangements, you know, harmonies and this and that and doubling. So, by the time we went in there, we had a really good idea of what was working and not working for each of the songs.

Some of the songs we did a couple different times at different tempos to get an idea of what would feel good on the recording as opposed to playing live, because sometimes songs will feel better faster or slower live, but then you hear them recorded, and you realize they come across better at a different tempo. So, we did all that ahead of time, so by the time we got to the studio, we didn’t have to play to a click track or metronome. We didn’t have to really worry about what we were doing, and it actually ended up working particularly well with the way Albini works, because he wanted us to list exactly all the overdubs that we were considering doing ahead of time and then determine which ones had similar sounds, and it really helped the recording process move along quickly. It allowed him to excel at what he does.

I think our working styles ended up working together very, very well. We had a great time working with him. I know people have been harping on this thing I said where I didn’t want to talk about Steve Albini. I have no problem talking about Steve Albini. At that point in a particular interview someone had asked like three questions about Steve Albini, and I was like, “I don’t really know what the guy eats for breakfast.” That was kind of a little bit more of where I was going. Our comments as far as that were really like we don’t care to talk about the rumors of whether Steve’s a good guy or a bad guy. To us, he was a great engineer who we had a ton of fun with.

I was more interested in why you chose to work with him, because you guys have been so involved with your own production in years past that I didn’t think you needed to have an additional hand, and I was just wondering what you were trying to get with this new album, what sound you were trying to develop.

Dougherty: I think that… I mean, obviously, Albini’s records sound amazing particularly for loud rock bands, even though that’s not his sole area of expertise. He did a great Joanna Newsome record, which is obviously not a power trio kind of record. It’s always been within reach. For years now, we’ve been talking about the next record, whether it be Power Move or Castle Talk, whether we should go do it with someone like Albini. And really, it’s been within our grasp. There’s not many engineers and studios out there that have recorded such amazing records that are within our grasp, not only financially, but communications-wise. I wouldn’t know how to get in touch with somebody like Rick Rubin or Brendan O’Brien, Butch Vig or somebody like that.

But you can call up their studio, and someone answers the phone, and it might be Steve Albini. You call the studio, and their rates are reasonable. And I think that all of that stuff not only makes it a possibility, but you really know where they’re coming from, which is that they care about making good records for bands that don’t have the connections to the huge music industry, to big crazy expensive studios. And I think part of that… we were hoping going in that we had a little bit of a mutual understanding as far as ideologies go. I think it was on multiple levels.

We walked in there, and we were laughing at the same jokes; we’re telling stories about different eras of punk rock but not too far off from each other and also very diligent and ready to make a really good-sounding record. So, I think that it actually ended up everything we could hope for, in that we’ve always been involved with how our records came out and how they were recorded. That was no different this time around except we just had an even better studio and a world-class engineer.

The songs on this album seem to distill over 50 years of guitar, garage, and punk rock into one cohesive album. I even hear surf elements in “High” and “Expire”. Where do you all draw your inspiration from? Because it’s one thing for critics to cite Dinosaur Jr. and Fugazi, but as individuals, who did you look up to while learning your craft? I know it’s deeper than the early 90s.

Dougherty: I think about this stuff all the time. I think that we have pretty diverse influences as far as the individual members of our band, and now we’re together so often that we end up kind of transferring bands; everybody knows what bands the other people listen to but going back thinking about in high school, I was listening to some awful nu-metal. But at the same time, really what I was delving into more often was jazz and world music, free-jazz, freaked-out stuff like Sun Ra. Stuff like that. People may listen to our music now and think Dinosaur Jr. and Fugazi, which I understand; I get those references. But for me, I’m trying to think about what Fela Kuti’s drummer might play to this beat if he was in this band. What kind of beat would he play?

Man, if you had Tony Allen playing with you guys, that would be awesome.

Dougherty: I’m gonna pass the phone off to Marissa, so she can give her input.

This is your longest album, clocking in at just under an hour–almost double what you’ve done before. And “Doom 84” alone is over seven minutes long. When it comes to crafting your songs and choosing what to include on your album, what is your process?

Paternoster: We had a lot of songs ready to record when we went to the studio. I think we went in there originally with the intent of keeping a few of them for splits or 7”, so when it came down to it, we just kind of decided that they all had a space on the record. I think it was too difficult for us to edit out what might be perceived as the extraneous songs. It is a long record, I know. I feel like people are always kind of pressing us to either, when we’re playing live, to play for longer. I know that a lot of reviews of our other records would always be like this record is only a half-hour long, a brisk record or something. And now everyone’s critique is that this record is long. So, it’s kind of like a superficial observation–the length of this record. Yeah, that’s true, and we did take that into account. I think all of the songs have worth in them, have a spot on the album. If for some reason the length of the record is a burden to the listener, they should just get up and take a break.

I have no problem with the length; I just noticed that a lot of people were talking about it. Looking over your past recording history, a seven-minute song is a rarity, and I was just curious, did that happen because you were just jamming out in the studio and you didn’t want to stop?

Paternoster: Do you mean why that song in particular is that length? We wrote the song before we recorded it, and it was that length. When we talked about arranging it and making references to other bands that we think sound like that particular song… a lot of them write really long songs. And we were talking about Sleep and Witch.

You’ve done acoustic tracks before like “Deluxe” on Castle Talk. I love “It’s Nice”, the song that you have ending the album, especially how it lets the listener focus on your voice. The strings are kind of cool, too. Regarding the “ill-fated” piano track that you were trying to work on–that you left off the album–do you think you’ll ever revisit that and maybe try to develop something out of it?

Paternoster: The pictures of me playing piano… this photographer came in one day to take pictures, and it was almost this odd day where we were done tracking, and I was just singing. We were trying out this staccato piano thing, which would have… if you really want to know the nitty-gritty, the details… it was going to be on the intro to the song “Rotten Apple”. It was literally like four measures of just me playing A on the piano. It was really like the most boring thing ever, and then it got cut.

So, I take it that you’re not going to try and develop that? (laughs)

Paternoster: No. No, I don’t think we’ll ever revisit that particular part, but perhaps the piano will find its way onto a future recording. We archived that moment by taking many a photograph of me playing that piano.

I also live in a college town with very few venues and a big house show scene. Are you still actively involved with the New Brunswick house scene?

Paternoster: Yeah, I went to a couple shows while we were home for the past two weeks. And then helping a feminist collective in New Brunswick organize this annual festival called C.L.I.T. Fest. It’s the word “clit” serving as an acronym (I didn’t name it) for Combating Lady Inequality Together. It’s like a radical feminist music festival that’s been running for like eight years; it started in 2004 in Minneapolis, and it moves from city to city.

What’s the New Brunswick scene like right now?

Paternoster: Pretty much the way it was when we found it, still in basements.

Is being near New York a plus or a minus? Does it help your scene or overshadow it?

Paternoster: It’s a definite plus. I mean, I don’t think the house shows in New Brunswick suffer at all because New York is in close proximity. In fact, a lot of those bands in New York seem pretty keen on coming to New Brunswick to play.

I have a question for Mike regarding his bass playing.

Paternoster: Did you want me to ask him the question and then tell you the answer? We’re in traffic now, actually. (passes phone to “King” Mike Abbate)

Abbate: Hey, this is illegal, so if a cop comes up, I’m gonna put the phone down real fast ok. (laughing in background)

Ok. Your bass playing doesn’t sound like a typical bass role. It’s a bit crunchier this time, but I think that I hear you riffing it up more than just playing or walking the rhythm in sync with the drums. Is your approach on bass different than on a traditional role? Because I’m thinking I am hearing you play bass differently than a traditional bass player would.

Abbate: Yeah, I guess you’re right about that. I’ve only ever played bass (aside from getting high with my friends and fucking around); I’ve only ever played bass with Marissa. And Marissa, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, has a very unconventional guitar-playing style, so I can’t just be… I can’t do what most other bass players (mouths bass sounds). I have to play riffs or else it doesn’t work.

Photography by Heather Kaplan.

Photo by Shaun Regan

Two of music’s most ferocious outfits, Bay Area hardcore band Ceremony and Jersey power punk trio Screaming Females will join forces in June for a string of U.S. tour dates. Their travels together begin at Austin’s Chaos in Tejas festival on June 1st, and they’ll make their up the East coast, with the final show slated for June 13th in Hamden, Connecticut.

Ceremony will be supporting their Matador Records debut, Zoo, while Screaming Females will showcase their equally stellar new LP, Ugly, which is out today on Don Giovanni Records.

See both bands full tour schedules below, along with their respective new music videos.

Ceremony 2012 Tour Dates:
04/06 – Portland, OR @ Branx
04/07 – Seattle, WA @ The Vera Project
04/13 – Chicago, IL @ Subterranean
04/14 – Milwaukee, WI @ Borg Ward
04/20 – Cambridge, MA @ The Democracy Center
04/21 – Philadelphia, PA @ The Barbary
04/22 – Washington, DC @ RAS Hall
04/23 – New York, NY @ Terminal 5 ^
04/23 – New York, NY @ Mercury Lounge
05/27 – Oakland, CA @ The New Parish
05/28 – Santa Barbara, CA @ Velvet Jones #
05/29 – Phoenix, AZ @ Rhythm Room #
05/30 - Albuquerque, NM @ Launchpad #
05/31 – Oklahoma City, OK @ Conservatory
06/01 – Austin, TX @ Beauty Ballroom (Chaos in Tejas) %*
06/03 – Austin, TX @ The Mohawk (Chaos in Tejas) &
06/05 - Gainesville, FL @ The Backyard *
06/06 – Orlando, FL @ Backbooth *
06/07 – Atlnata, GA @ Drunken Unicorn *
06/09 – Washington, DC @ St. Stephens Church *
06/11 – Wilkes-Barre, PA @ Redwood Art Space *
06/13 – Hamden, CT @ The Space *
06/17 – Cleveland, OH @ Grog Shop
06/19 – Minneapolis, MN @ 7th Street Entry
06/20 – Omaha, NE @ Sokol Underground
06/21 – Denver, CO @ Marquis Theater
08/07-11 – Oslo, NO @ Oya Festival 

^ = w/ Refused
# = w/ Royal Headache
% = w/ No Age
* = w/ Screaming Females
& = w/ Iceage

Screaming Females 2012 Tour Dates:
04/05 – Hoboken, NJ @ Maxwell’s (record release show)
04/06 – Brooklyn, NY @ Bell House
04/07 – Philadelphia, PA @ Pilam’s Human Barbecue
04/08 – Washington DC @ Black Cat Backstage
04/09 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Mr Roboto Project
04/10 – Cleveland, OH @ Beachland Tavern
04/11 – Bloomington, IN @ The Bishop
04/12 – Chicago, IL @ Subterranean
04/13 – Madison, WI @ UW Madison
04/14 – Omaha, NE @ The Sandbox
04/15 – Denver, CO @ Marquis Theater
04/17 – Boise, ID @ The Crux
04/18 – Seattle, WA @ The Rendezvous
04/19 – Bellingham, WA @ JINX Art Space
04/20 – Portland, OR @ The Know
04/21 – Olympia, WA @ Timberland Library
04/23 – Oakland, CA @ 1234 Go! Records
04/24 – San Francisco, CA @ Bottom of the Hill
04/25 – San Jose, CA @ Streetlight Records
04/25 – San Jose, CA @ The Blank Club
04/26 – Los Angeles, CA @ Center for the Arts, Eagle Rock ^
04/27 – San Pedro, CA @ Ballet School ^
04/28 – San Diego @ Che Cafe +^
04/28 – San Diego, CA @ Bar Pink ^
04/29 – Pomona, CA @ VLHS +^
04/30 – Fullerton, CA @ Continental Room ^
05/01 – Phoenix, AZ @ Trunk Space
05/02 – Las Cruces, NM @ The Trainyard $
05/04 – Austin, TX @ Red 7 $
05/05 – Dallas, TX @ Queen City Hall
05/06 – Nashville, TN @ The End
05/07 – Athens, GA @ Caledonia Lounge
05/09 – Richmond, VA @ Strange Matter
05/10 – Baltimore, MD @ Golden West Cafe
06/01 - Austin, TX @ Beauty Ballroom (Chaos in Tejas) %*
06/05 - Gainesville, FL @ The Backyard *
06/06 – Orlando, FL @ Backbooth *
06/07 – Atlnata, GA @ Drunken Unicorn *
06/09 – Washington, DC @ St. Stephens Church *
06/11 – Wilkes-Barre, PA @ Redwood Art Space *
06/13 – Hamden, CT @ The Space *
07/05-07 – Trencin, SK @ Pohoda Festival

^ = w/ Toys That Kill
+ = w/ Japanther
$ = w/ Tragedy
% = w/ No Age
* = w/ Ceremony

An easy note of comparison for Paternoster’s delivery would be Sleater-Kinney’s Corrin Tucker, but to say that this is a direct copy would be a disservice. At best she’s a descendant, having found her singular delivery. It’s not all vibrato (though when she rips into it, her voice crackles), instead diving into twists of nasal dissonance or dipping low to growl out a few words for effect, all in a single line. In the chorus to “Rotten Apple”, Paternoster sounds like she’s having a solo call-and-response session, insisting “I’m a rotten apple” in a low grumble and then yelping the same line right back, the sneering punk taking turns with the bravado rock star.

Produced by Steve Albini, the instrumental portion of Screaming Females’ sound remains relatively similar to their past albums, swathes of Dinosaur Jr.-style guitar riffage blending with stitches of insistent punk rhythms. While the energy level is the lifeblood of the disc (and of the band’s live shows, as anyone who’s seen them can attest), there’s a strong amount of restraint in the production. On the insistent, snaking “High”, King Mike’s snap-crackle-and-pop bass and Paternoster’s absolutely shredded guitar solo steal the day, but the song builds to a climax on interlocking grooves and washed-out screams rather than a concussive break.

Album opener and lead single “It All Means Nothing” sets the stage for the shadowy tone of the lyrical content. Paternoster’s huge guitar hook kick-starts the track, followed by lines about striving to “Splinter your bones/Going for broke,” all leading to the nihilism of the song’s title. The desperation of the lyrics, though, doesn’t come through as directly in the music. Some songs come through that late ’80s college rock filter a little stronger than others, and this is definitely one of those, sunny washes of J. Mascis guitar thriving over shuddering drums. On the other hand, the talk of lost love on “Extinction” is equally matched by the vocal squeals and shadowy bass, the band loping into dark territory with some serious swagger.

Even in the darker corners, though, there lies an undeniable strength. Just before kicking into another slick guitar solo on “Rotten Apple”, a light, harmonized guitar and rim-clacking percussion bridge sets the tone for some of the darkest lines on the album: “Heaven forgive me, heaven forgot me/Hell is within me, hell’s all around me now,” Paternoster cracks. On that same track, though, she repeats that she’ll never let the object of her desire go.

The ska-like skipping of “Expire” and the headbanging psyche-rock of “Doom 84″ sound almost nothing alike, but Paternoster’s roar and the tight punk sensibilities of Mike and drummer Jarrett Dougherty keep the album together, delivering a unified voice through a diverse set of sounds. Uncertainty, lost love, and loss in general are all important themes of the album, but Paternoster’s voice is so assertive, so emotionally evocative that it’s not about wallowing in the darkness. Indie rock albums with this uniquely developed a voice don’t come around often, especially not when it’s this much fun.

Essential Tracks: “High”, “Rotten Apple”, and “Doom 84″

If you’ve been living under the proverbial rock this past week, you might have missed the return of several big names: Best Coast, Japandroids, and Sigur Rós. All solid offerings that should keep you satiated until next week. Enjoy.

A-Trak feat. Juicy J and Danny Brown – “Piss Test”

It seems like it’s impossible to go a week without a Danny Brown spot coming in on our Top Ten MP3s list. This time he pops up on A-Trak’s cut from the upcoming Fool’s Gold Records compilation, Loosies. “Blunt and a blunt and a motherfuckin’ blunt,” Brown drops in his yowl, the A-Trak production wobbling on drug-addled electronics and a smacking beat. Three 6 Mafia’s Juicy J throws in a verse too, and the whole thing sounds like a totally reasonable complaint against drug testing.

[soundcloud width="500"]http://soundcloud.com/foolsgoldrecs/a-trak-feat-juicy-j-danny[/soundcloud]

Best Coast – The Only Place

It’s really starting to look like Bethany Cosentino is going to have another summer on lockdown after dominating 2010 with Crazy For You. Best Coast’s Jon Brion produced sophomore effort The Only Place (due May 15, via the appropriate Mexican Summer label), and the title track/lead single is our first taste of what was promised to be a more mature, bigger sounding disc. While the lyrics on this track are same old Cosentino (“We have fun, we have fun/We have fun when we please” rhymed with talk about staring at trees), the guitars aren’t as fuzzy and everything sounds a lot more present. This kind of warm jubilance should prove just as successful as the last album.

The Flaming Lips and Bon Iver – “Ashes in the Air”

Never the ones to shy away from releasing something totally bonkers, Wayne Coyne and his pals in The Flaming Lips have decided that some copies of their upcoming Record Store Day effort, The Flaming Lips and Heady Fwends, will include their collaborators’ blood pressed into the vinyl. While those Fwends include a random assortment ranging from Biz Markie to Lightning Bolt, the pairing of the Lips with Justin Vernon (aka Bon Iver) on “Ashes in the Air” just sounds right. The Lips’ ultimately spacey psychedelia (washes of phaser synths and talk of “robot dogs”) mixes with Vernon’s heavily effected falsetto for a six minute-long drift in a weird sea.

[soundcloud width="500"]http://soundcloud.com/surfingelectrode/the-flaming-lips-with-bon-iver[/soundcloud]

Ghost Beach – “Faded”

Josh Ocean and Eric “Doc” Mendelsohn (former members of TV/TV) have only been working together under the name Ghost Beach for a short while, but their busy, rich take on electro-pop is garnering some serious attention. New track “Faded” features some sugary pop vocals and a wall of sound that’ll keep you wrapped into the New Yorkers sliced and chopped electroworld. Fans of psych-friendly electro acts like Passion Pit should find something to look forward to here.

[soundcloud width="500"]http://soundcloud.com/crazyheartrecords/faded[/soundcloud]

Japandroids – “The House That Heaven Built”

Vancouver noise-rock duo Japandroids returned home to record their forthcoming sophomore LP, Celebration Rock (due in June via Polyvinyl Record Co.). David Prowse’s shattering drumming and Brian King’s aching arena guitar riffs are the main attraction, but the rampant, raging shouting vocals are a blast. In an interview with Pitchfork, King explained the vocal choice, saying that they “were in the studio just screaming out as if we were in the audience at our own show.” That live energy is undeniable, and the song rages on like a giant fist pump.

[soundcloud width="500"]http://soundcloud.com/polyvinyl-records/7-the-house-that-heaven-built[/soundcloud]

The Men – “A Minor”

Brooklyn rockers The Men are steadily rising among the ranks of the indie world. After a spot in our Cosigns bash down at SXSW and an upcoming spot in the Pitchfork Music Festival, it seems like an eight minute long epic rocker would seem to be in order. And here it is, “A Minor”, a rambling jam that switches from psychedelic groove to galloping rampager, complete with scorching guitar solo and a heartily smacked cow bell. The track will be featured on Sacred Bones’ Todo Muere Volume 2 compilation for record day, but this one is too good to wait around for.

[soundcloud width="500"]http://soundcloud.com/sacredbones/the-men-a-minor/s-3Znci[/soundcloud]

Moonface – “Headed For the Door”

Spencer Krug always has a lot on his plate, and the newest side dish added to the mix is his new album under the Moonface moniker. Working with Finnish rockers Sinaii, the disc is appropriately titled With Sinaii:Heartbreaking Bravery (due April 17th via Jagjaguwar), and the newest cut is the smoldering, ashen “Headed for the Door”. Epic, distorted toms and blurry synths linger for almost eight minutes, the storm cloud shadowing Krug’s almost stream of consciousness spoken word rambling about “a black crow or a vampire bat.” The whole thing is an ominous mass, a lowslung weariness driven out on pounding rhythm.

[soundcloud width="500"]http://soundcloud.com/jagjaguwar/moonface-headed-for-the-door[/soundcloud]

Regina Spektor – “Don’t Leave Me (Ne Me Quitte Pas)”

Indie darling Regina Spektor is back after a four year absence with What We Saw From the Cheap Seats, her sixth LP due out on May 29th from Sire/ Warner Bros. Records. The second preview of the disc, “Don’t Leave Me (Ne Me Quitte Pas)” is an adorable blend of French and English, island-y plinks, rich horns, and a swanky rhythm. “If you are a deity of any sort, then please don’t go,” Spektor coos, the track looking closely at the uncertainties of modern life in the busy city, trying to latch onto something important.

[soundcloud width="500"]http://soundcloud.com/reginaspektor/dont-leave-me-ne-me-quitte-pas[/soundcloud]

Screaming Females – “Expire”

New Brunswick, New Jersey indie punk trio and CoSigns standout Screaming Females are set to make some waves with their upcoming LP, the Steve Albini-produced Ugly. As an early listen, the slinky guitar and snappy rhythm of “Expire” are a snarling treat. “I want you to tell me to expire,” guitarist/vocalist Marissa Paternoster caterwauls, a sneer seemingly plastered on her face, the melody daring you to not dance along.

Screaming Females – “Expire”

Sigur Rós – “Ekki Mukk”

Fans of Sigur Rós have been waiting for a new record with baited breath. While Jonsi’s solo material was certainly a crowd-pleaser, there’s really nothing quite like the real thing. Four years past their last full-length, everyone’s favorite Icelandic post-rockers are back, with Valtari due in the UK on May 28th. The vinyl crackle that opens early taste “Ekki Mukk” warm things up like a hug from an old friend, enrapturing piano and birdcall-like vocal effects moving along underneath Jónsi’s floating, sparkling voice. This is Sigur Rós back at their epic, emotive best, a star-gazing work of shivering beauty.

[soundcloud width="500"]http://soundcloud.com/sigur-ros/ekki-mukk[/soundcloud]

CoSigns alum Screaming Females release their new, Steve Albini-produced LP, Ugly, on April 3rd via Don Giovanni Records. You’ve already heard the lead single, “It Means Nothing”; now check out another fericous number called “Expire” (via Stereogum). It sort of sounds like an Arctic Monkeys Humbug-era track.

Screaming Females – “Expire”

A picture tells a thousand words, right? They also help capture a thousand bands, and for an event like Austin, TX’s South by Southwest, a camera isn’t an added incentive, it’s a necessity. Last week, several of our photographers hit the bustling streets and furious venues, capturing the talent both young and old. For reference, you should know that a day at SXSW begins at 10 a.m. and doesn’t stop until sometime between the hours of two or six in the morning. Yeah, that’s a lot of footage. So, if you couldn’t make it down to Texas, take a short visual trip below. We’ve even included previous galleries for our CoSigns event and our official SXSW showcase.

CoSigns – The Beauty Bar – Wednesday

Who: Future Unlimited, Princeton, The Henry Clay People, Mikal Cronin, Bleached, Mr. Dream, The Men, Screaming Females, Titus Andronicus, and Cloud Nothings.

Photographers: Heather Kaplan and Michael Roffman

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Consequence of Sound – The Jr. – Wednesday

Who: Miracles of Modern Science, Hey Marseilles, Ezra Furman, Emily Wells, Thomas Dolby, and Free Energy.

Photographers: Heather Kaplan and Michael Roffman

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The Rest of the Mess – Tuesday to Saturday

Who: Best Coast, Chairlift, Escort, Grimes, Jimmy Cliff, Mr. Muthafukin’ eXquire, Purity Ring, Schlomo, The Shins, Talib Kweli & Friends, Teengirl Fantasy, Vivian Girls, The Drums, Zeus, et al.

Photographers: Harley Brown, Heather Kaplan, Jeremy D. Larson, and Michael Roffman

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Stay tuned for our last piece of coverage: Top 10 CoSigns at South by Southwest!

Parties and Showcases

Incan Abraham – 9:00 p.m. @ Hype Hotel

Photo by Harley Brown

A little nepotism led me to Incan Abraham, who was also playing at Hype Hotel on Tuesday night, when I learned we had a mutual friend. After actually listening to last year’s hypnotic Ancient Vacation, I wanted to see their laissez-faire Local Natives vibe in action. The foursome played with refreshing enthusiasm, layering synthesizers with more organic drums, nesting Teddy Cafaro’s voice—which at times uncannily but also unsurprisingly mimicked Yeasayer’s Chris Keating—in humid polyrhythms. Smoke and low orange and purple lighting added to the totality of the experience, making Incan Abraham an act I would get lost in again. – Harley Brown

Mr. Muthafuckin’ eXquire –  10:00 p.m. @ Mohawk Patio

Photo by Michael Roffman

Spittin’ rhymes is one thing, but bringing a party is another beast altogether. Brooklyn’s Mr. Muthafuckin’ eXquire brought both to Pitchfork’s Tuesday showcase at the Mohawk – and then some. After moody electronic sets from Teengirl Fantasy and Schlomo, patrons flocking about the close-pocketed venue sprang to life during the Brooklyn rapper’s set. His crew sprayed bottle after bottle of water, invited more members on-stage, seemingly laughed together at inside jokes, and jumped to and from the stage, all while attendees held up their hands and screamed along to random verses, mostly from tracks off last year’s Lost in Translation mixtape.”What’s yo’ favorite part of the pussy,” he asked a dazed white spectator, caught in the madness. He didn’t wait too long for answer, screaming back: “It’s all good!” When he dove into the crowd towards the end, his crew joined along, and, well, it felt less hip-hop and far more punk rock. -Michael Roffman

UCB Comedy presents: The Best Damn Stand-up  -  10:30 p.m @ Esther’s Follies

Photo by Michael Roffman

Tucked away in the cubby that is Esther’s Follies, Upright Citizens Brigade hosted one hell of a lineup for well over two hours, featuring Chris Gethard, Eliza Skinner, Gabe Liedman, Kyle Kinane, Jenny Slate, Joe Wengert, Ron White, and Pete Holmes. From top to bottom it was a stellar night, though some highlights included: Gethard’s quirky brand of hyper-literate, pseudo-stonerish afterthoughts, which involved a digression on his mother being raped by Willem Dafoe (“I am the Green Goblin hate baby!”) and the choice of commercials during Biography’s I Survived series; Skinner’s manic yet whimsical analysis of cat ladies vs. dog guys; Kinane’s Carlin-like brand of crude humor, specifically his thoughts on being 35 and finally living by himself; and Pete Holmes, who told the best off-hand joke involving BBQ that Austin, TX will ever receive.

White’s appearance was a surprise, and that was sort of the delight of it all, though his cutting lines are always witty in the moment. Slate’s shocker-fueled routine, alongside Liedman, was commendable, though she belongs on film rather than the stage. (She also is Gilda Radner resurrected.) Holmes, however, essentially shanked everyone’s sides with his stream-of-consciousness-styled comedy. In addition to his thoughts on Austin’s eateries, Holmes skipped to and from several topics, all of which included his thoughts on wanting to fuck/be Ryan Gosling, wearing a boot for six months, his rogue’s gallery of celebrity doppelgängers (e.g. David Duchovny, fat Val Kilmer), and a random old joke about Ruby Tuesday. “I’m like the ol’ crotchety neighbor of this entire festival,” he stated. Hardly. He’s just the funniest. -Michael Roffman

Delta Spirit – 1:00 a.m. @ Hype Hotel

Photo by Harley Brown

When I noticed that the “Special Guest” headlining The Syndicate’s Conflict of Interest-curated Hype Hotel was from Long Beach, CA, I knew it was Delta Spirit. Even though I’ve seen them before and I will definitely see them again, I wanted to be among the first audiences to see them perform Delta Spirit at SXSW. As usual, they didn’t disappoint: Matt Vasquez and co. blasted through “Bushwick Blues” at warp speed, and new songs like “Empty House” and “Money Saves”, backed by a wall of hot, flashing lightbulbs. Vasquez throws his back and neck veins into every performance, but being back onstage seemed to be a homecoming of sorts. He got visibly choked up at several points and doubled over with emotion (or exhaustion) after encoring with “California”, eschewing the audience’s request for one more song. – Harley Brown

Read on for Wednesday’s coverage of SXSW including Mobb Deep, Killer Mike & El-P, Free Energy, Trash Talk and more.

CoSigns – The Beauty Bar – 12 p.m. – 6 p.m.

Who: Future Unlimited, Princeton, The Henry Clay People, Mikal Cronin, Bleached, Mr. Dream, The Men, Screaming Females, Titus Andronicus, and Cloud Nothings.

Photos: Heather Kaplan and Michael Roffman

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Consequence of Sound – The Jr. – 8 p.m. – 2 a.m.

Who: Miracles of Modern Science, Hey Marseilles, Ezra Furman, Emily Wells, Thomas Dolby, and Free Energy.

Photos: Heather Kaplan and Michael Roffman

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Parties/Showcases

Jonathan Meiburg – 2:oo p.m. @ Hype Hotel (MOKB/Songs by Toad party)

A solo set from Shearwater’s Jonathan Meiburg marked the second act of Hype Hotel’s Wednesday day party. The Hotel’s shimmering, scattered spotlight caught Meiburg’s head in a sort of beatific light—a gorgeous repose similar to a religious Renaissance painting. However, instead of holding up a crucifix or delicately outstretched hand, Meiburg wielded the best tool he has: an electric guitar. That guitar’s sound, along with his spine-tingling vocal wail, cut through the meat-locker-temperature air of the Hype Hotel. Tracks like “Dread Sovereign” from Shearwater’s latest record, Animal Joy, loomed menacingly and beautifully. “Run the Banner Down” was maudlin and reflective. For his last song, he eased into a 10-minute-plus vamp based around a single, delay-heavy guitar loop, which created a gorgeous drone that the entire audience got blissfully lost in. – Paul de Revere

The Twilight Sad – 3:oo p.m. @ Hype Hotel (MOKB/Songs by Toad party)

Photo by Paul de Revere

Despite sound problems throughout their set, Scottish shoegaze band The Twilight Sad gave a performance that was nothing less than punishing and beautifully punctuated with skeletal drum machine, what little of it the band could seemingly hear, and wall-of-shoegaze-sound guitars just two steps away from heavy metal. They squealed up to a start like an old locomotive with “Reflection of the Television” off 2009’s Forget the Night Ahead. The band, however, seemed to favor tracks from their debut, Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters, delivering stunning live arrangements of “Cold Days from the Birdhouse”, with a chilling, quiet opening followed by megaton slams of distortion, and “That Summer, at Home I Had Become the Invisible Boy”, with the haunting refrain of “The kids are on fire/In the bedroom.” – Paul de Revere

The Allah-Las – 10:40 p.m. @ 512 Bar (Innovative Leisure Showcase)

Photo by Harley Brown

As soon as The Allah-Las took the 512 stage in bolo ties, Ray-Bans, and skinny orange pants, I knew their self-described surf Topanga had to be good. I didn’t realize they were going to take me back in time to the previously undiscovered intersection of Austin Powers and The Surfaris. In addition to their fashion sense, the California-based band was groovy in all the right ways, riffing just hard enough to keep their “perfect mixture of the sands, the seas, the streets, and cities of the Golden State” from being too saccharine. After an album’s worth of flawlessly executed material, I was disappointed to find that the 45” of their only two available songs has already sold out, but at least it means they’re getting the recognition they deserve. - Harley Brown

Tycho – 11:25 @ Club de Ville (Ghostly International Showcase)

Photo by Harley Brown

The recording and performing moniker of San Francisco-based artist and designer Scott Hansen, who also goes by ISO50, Tycho embodies his “search for efficiency.” Even though Hansen and his two band members play the sort of progressive electronica more associated with trippy meanderings than minimalism, Tycho’s crystalline blips and driving beat are airtight. At Club de Ville on Wednesday night, tracks like “Hours” and audience favorite “A Walk”’s keyboard crescendos undulated in conjunction with Hansen’s drum and synthesizer beats, almost comforting in its symmetry. I closed my eyes to let the most affecting moments wash over me, but given that Hansen is a mesmerizing artist (I could stare at Dive‘s album art all day), I wish the band had done more to visually engage the audience. – Harley Brown

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G-Side 8:30 p.m. @ Lustre Pearl (Life or Death PR Showcase)

Photo by Jeremy D. Larson

Alabama Rap duo G-Side continued their 10-show SXSW run with something akin to a musical blitzkrieg, only less hostile and with more laser lights. The sweet mojo was all in the details, be it the ultra-catchy introductory interludes with the backup singers or the pair’s mere stage presence (more engaging than menacing thanks to crack lyrical displays and primo showmanship). The pair demonstrated a tried and true hip-hop dichotomy, with Yung Clova the menacing anchor to ST 2 Lettaz’s sweat-soaked dance and stage-diving act. The highlight of the show, though, saw ST 2 Lettaz bring his brother and sister onstage for a few verses, transforming their set into a rousing family affair light on the drama and heavy on displays of anarchical dissent. Bringing your siblings onstage may hurt the street cred of some rap outfits, but it only made G-Side appear that much more willing to go all out in order to stand above their peers and to deliver something as earnest and personable as it was boomin’ and bass-tastic. – Chris Coplan

Action Bronson – 9:45 p.m. @ Lustre Pearl (Life or Death PR Showcase)

Photo by Jeremy D. Larson

Where G-Side’s set represented the warm glow of community, Queens rapper Action Bronson took to the stage like a man alone in misery. It should be noted that Bronson’s set was delivered with gusto, and that the 315-pound MC never skipped a lyric, resulting in a performance that more than did its part to rock crowds and break necks. Once more, though, the details spun the whole picture, with Bronson seemingly removed from the sea of cronies and underlings that huddled around him and stopping songs prematurely on the slightest of whims. Even the way Bronson lit up a cigarette purveyed a sense of tense annoyance, with songs a distraction between each puff. And yet, despite the copious amounts of ‘tude and mood swings, Bronson’s set matched the intrigue and exhilaration of watching and waiting to see a caged lion go berserk. Now, imagine the kind of shows he could deliver if he ever decided to smile. – Chris Coplan

Jacques Green – 10:25 p.m. @ Lustre Pearl (Life or Death PR Showcase)

There was a notable displacement of mass from Action Bronson’s set to Jacques Green’s, and a notable increase in pretty-boy vibes. In black patent leather boots, an Yves Saint Laurent t-shirt, and gold chain necklaces (no, the really long and thin ones) — the Montreal producer stood alone on the side of the stage, undulated with his knees together, and spun the hell out of some deep house/jungle/R&B jams. He integrated shadowy samples of Ciara, Araab Muzik, and I’m sure many others into grad-school club hits that balanced fun and flair and was totally danceable. Two things: I find it pretty suave when a DJ packs up his shit as he’s closing out his last song, as Green did ( though I’m probably the only one), and it was a fine coincidence that I noticed the totally Target Collection area rugs on the stage during his set. – Jeremy D. Larson

Wavves – 11:35 p.m. @ Lustre Pearl (Life or Death PR Showcase)

Photo by Jeremy D. Larson

Wavves are good — they are always good, only it seemed obligatory for them to perform tonight. A handful of new songs that didn’t really stick and a handful of old songs that have peeled off made for a serviceable set that went mostly appreciated by the increasingly inebriated bros at The Lustre Pearl. However, they can still hang their whole set on the gem “Post Acid” — a song that will probably always stick. - Jeremy D. Larson

Trash Talk – 12:15 a.m. @ Lustre Pearl (Life or Death PR Showcase)

Photo by Jeremy D. Larson

“My ribs may be broken” said frontman Lee Spielman before note one. Even in an evening filled with rap posses 15-deep, this was the most nonsensical, superfluous thing said on stage that night. Because you’d think that if your ribs were broken you’d maybe mark a bit on stage — take care of your health and your broken ribs. But a hardcore punk Trash Talk show is not the place for a comforting, experience. Or maybe it is? When the audience opened up a circle pit that repurposed about 70% of the floor space — it was easily 40 feet in diameter — the pit became as much of the show as the band was. And because this was my first Trash Talk show and I don’t often find myself being swallowed into a chugging punch-fest, I just gawked in pure joy at the riotous violence.

Photo by Jeremy D. Larson

The crowd and Trash Talk became a giant anarchist expurgation of emotions (mostly anger, and mostly in good fun) which I found to be extremely comforting. The polite, unspoken rules of public performance were shattered over and over again, as Spielman front-flipped into the audience, let fans scream whole verses to songs, made everyone sit down on the ground, told the pit to “go to the back of the audience and fuck those people’s shit up”, and even allowed himself to be fucking tackled off of the stage and into a small group of people into the audience without, like, getting mad about it. It was a relief to know that this kind of uncontrolled hysteria still exists, and that it was born from only heaviest of music. “Yeah, I broke my ribs” he said, later on. He probably mean that he broke more of them. - Jeremy D. Larson

Mobb Deep/Prodigy – 12:40 a.m. @ Lustre Pearl (Life or Death PR Showcase)

The general feeling of the crowd during the obviously tight Mobb Deep set was, “Oh my god Havoc, Prodigy, and Big Noyd are on a stage and they’re — oh man, they just did ‘Survival of the Fittest’ I can’t believe that I’m actually watching this. Oh my god they just did ‘Shook Ones’. I just saw Mobb Deep do ‘Shook Ones’” But even in the hazy awe of the reunion, they didn’t miss a single beat as they went through their greatest hits. A momentous occasion for the nostalgia, and unequivocal proof of Mobb Deep’s tenacity and influence on the whole genre. - Jeremy D. Larson

Killer Mike/El-P/SL Jones – 1:15 a.m. @ Lustre Pearl (Life or Death PR Showcase)

Photo by Jeremy D. Larson

I was unclear as to whether this was going to be a full premiere of his forthcoming El-P-produced album R.A.P Game front to back. It wasn’t, but that was probably for the better, as the waning crowd at the Life or Death PR Showcase were showing signs of fatigue at the late hour. But, man, Killer Mike. I had never seen him before, but as with every other act of the night, he commanded the crowd with confidence, ridiculous skill, and off-the-cuff humor (in rousing speech about what defines R.A.P. (Rebellious African People’s) music, he yelled, “I make the music that makes you want to punch a reindeer in the face!”). Sure enough, El-P showed up and they both dropped a new track together, which was of course on fire. Killer Mike’s stage presence is like the perfect combination eXquire and Action Bronson — lyrics that come through the teeth with enough energy to get everyone screaming “Grind Time Rap Game!” at 2:00 a.m. - Jeremy D. Larson

Free Energy – The Jr. (Consequence of Sound Showcase) - 1:30 a.m.

Photo by Michael Roffman

It would be fair to say that true rock ‘n’ roll folklore is purely incidental. Most authors would agree that you can’t expect that sort of magic on-stage, you just have to let it happen. An hour and a half into Thursday morning, Philadelphia’s own Free Energy sparked up something pretty extraordinary at The Jr. (formerly Emo’s, Jr.), framing exactly who they are: an honest to god American rock ‘n’ roll band. But, first, some context…

Prior to their set, Thomas Dolby, whose setup went 25 minutes over the mark, bled his performance into Free Energy’s time slot, essentially nixing the band’s original bracket for sound check, which pushed everything back by about 30-35 minutes. Given that all the bars must close by two a.m. and Free Energy couldn’t start ’til about half past one, well, you do the math.

That didn’t matter, though. What could have been a shitshow turned into one of the most invigorating sets in recent memory. Frontman Paul Sprangers, now sporting a shorter, cleaner ‘do, paced the stage after a slightly awkward soundcheck, only to throw out a smile and the warm embrace of fuzzy, balmy ’70s rock. “One a.m., gotta keep it rockin’,” he stated coquettishly.

Photo by Michael Roffman

This mentality isn’t too much of a surprise. After all, it was only this past week that Sprangers told us, “I kinda like the idea that rock is dead because I can prove the point that when you put love and care into something– even if it’s a dead, shitty form where fuckin’ Nickelback or whatever is considered rock– it can be resurrected.” Big words, but he put ‘em to action.

With such a late start, the most die-hard of fans stuck around – swimming somewhere between 40-50 patrons, altogether – which explains why a setlist featuring only two “oldies” eked out and worked. Intimate doesn’t even begin to explain it. When Sprangers sang the chorus to “Free Energy”, screaming, “This is all we’ve got tonight/We are young and still alive/Now the time is on our side,” it truly summed up everyone’s feelings in the room. In other words, shit happens, this is still pretty great, and let’s enjoy this.

Working from an arsenal of new material off their forthcoming sophomore LP, Love Sign, the Philadelphia rockers previewed an array of tracks that, according to a setlist, read something like: “Back”, the previously released “Electric Fever”, “Hailey”, “Hey Tonight”, and “Hangin’”. Hardly any of them strayed too far from what sold the band to millions of youthful rockers back in 2010, but they make it work. “Back” could have slid into Stuck on Nothing with ease, “Electric Fever” blossoms on-stage via Scott Wells’ stadium rock tendencies, “Hey Tonight” felt like a genius coagulation of early Cars and (strangely enough) U2, while top notch addition “Hailey” dipped into Jackson Browne and especially the best moments of Tom Petty.

Photo by Heather Kaplan

Minutes before the clock struck two in the morning, Sprangers asked the crowd if they wanted to hear more new material (the group had two more new songs planned for the original setlist), or an oldie. Several screamed out past hits, but “Something in Common” stuck. Here’s the thing: It wasn’t like they didn’t want to hear new material, it’s hard to believe anyone would have balked at hearing a new track. Instead, everyone wanted one last chance to sing along, dance, and just rock out. That feels cheesy even writing that line, but it’s the honest to god truth, and fuck it, that feels good. -Michael Roffman

As previously announced, Consequence of Sound will set up shop at the Beauty Bar in Austin, Texas on Wednesday, March 14th for the first annual CoSigns day party. Presented by Louisville, Kentucky’s Forecastle Festival, the six-hour long event will feature 10 bands playing two stages. Today, we’re proud to reveal the full lineup, as well as a number of the other goodies we have planned.

Titus Andronicus and Cloud Nothings will serve as headliners and they’ll be joined by The Men, Screaming Females, Mikal Cronin, The Henry Clay People, Princeton, Mr. Dream, Bleached, and Future Unlimited. For more on each band and the set times, scroll below.

CoSigns will also serve as the kick-off party for Consequence of Sound’s long-awaited mobile app. Attendees of the party will receive free access to all the app’s premium features for 30 days. In addition, everyone who downloads the app will automatically be entered to win a pair of VIP passes to Forecastle Festival 2012, or one of 100 Kingston Wi-Drives pre-loaded with music.

At CoSigns, we’ll also be exploring the 10th Anniversary of Forecastle with exclusive promotions and ticket giveaways. This year’s festival, set for July 13-15th in Louisville, will feature My Morning Jacket as both headliner and curator.

If that weren’t enough, our sponsor Kingston Technology will be on hand to showcase many of its exciting new products with demos and exclusive giveaways.

And did we mention it’s all free to attend? All you have to do is RSVP below. However, please note that an RSVP does not guarantee entry. If you want to get in, get there early. Seriously.

Also, you must be 21+ to attend CoSigns.

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Set times…

11:30 am – Doors
12:00 – Future Unlimited (I)
12:30 – Princeton (O)
01:00 – The Henry Clay People (I)
01:30 – Mikal Cronin (0)
02:00 – Bleached (I)
02:30 – Mr. Dream (O)
03:00 – The Men (I)
03:30 – Screaming Females (O)
04:00 – Titus Andronicus (I)
04:45 – Cloud Nothings (O)

I = Indoor stage; O = Outdoor stage

Meet the talent…

Listen to our Spotify Playlist.

The festivities will be headlined by Titus Andronicus and Cloud Nothings, two of the strongest acts in garage punk today. The former is currently recording the follow up to their sophomore LP The Monitor, which we ranked as the 5th best album in 2010. That same year, the band took home the honors as our Live Act of the Year. As for Cloud Nothings, they’re fresh off the release of Attack on Memory, which is one of the best records we’ve heard in 2012 so far.

We’re just as excited for the rest of the bill, especially since three of New York’s best new bands will be showcased. No less than a year removed from their album of the year-contending Leave Home, The Men will debut their brand new and equally solid LP, Open Your Heart. Screaming Females will support their own new album, the Steve Albini-produced Ugly. And Mr. Dream, who rocked our CMJ 2011 party, will return for another stellar set.

California is also well represented at our party; psych-rocker Mikal Cronin will showcase tracks from his self-titled debut, which we ranked as the 43rd best album of 2011, and The Henry Clay People will show why their live show is one of the most highly regarded around. Plus, Princeton will support their acclaimed new album, Remembrance of Things to Come, and Bleached will play standout tracks like “Electric Chair” and “Screeching Through the Past”.

Opening our party is Nashville synth-pop duo Future Unlimited, whose debut single “Golden” is one of our favorites of the year so far.

About Forecastle Festival…

The Forecastle Festival is a port-of-call where the world gathers to experience the best in Music, Art and Activism. A celebration of sights, sounds, and sustainability, Forecastle connects travelers North, South, East, and West. Merging entertainment with education, Forecastle inspires a voyage of personal growth and global change. Since 2002, the Festival has featured over 450 bands, 100 visual artists, and 150 environmental and outdoor recreational organizations.

This year’s edition marks the festival’s 10th anniversary and My Morning Jacket will serve as both headliners and curators.  The three-day event will take place July 13-15th, 2012, at Louisville’s scenic, award-winning Waterfront Park. Full festival details, including the complete line up of headliners, along with over 75 bands performing on multiple stages, will be announced in the coming weeks. Separately ticketed late-night after-parties will also take place on the historical steamboat, the Belle of Louisville and at the newly renovated Ice House. For more information, visit the festival’s website.

About Kingston Technology…

Kingston Technology Company, Inc. is the world’s largest independent manufacturer of memory products. Kingston designs, manufactures and distributes memory products for desktops, laptops, servers, printers, and Flash memory products for PDAs, mobile phones, digital cameras, and MP3 players. To learn more about their exciting products, visit Kingston’s website.

About Knuckle Rumbler…

Knuckle Rumbler is independent booking, promotions, and branding agency based out Austin, Texas. We plan, promote, and produce some of the biggest concerts, most creative events, and most influential campaigns for the hard to reach 21 – 40 year old taste maker demographic.

Knuckle Rumbler is dedicated to making each experience unique and beneficial, whether its producing local fundraisers to working with Grammy nominated artists to jump starting blogs. We never do the same event twice. For more information, visit Knuckle Rumbler’s website.

Depending on one’s allergies, cats can bring people together. (Case in point: our own Alex Young’s incredible future celeb cat, Zooey. She could charm any living room. Srsly.) However, in Screaming Females’ new video for “It All Means Nothing”, the fluffy furballs tear the band apart - though, not on purpose. It’s Screaming Females’ Marissa Paternoster that goes overboard, leaving all sorts of bloody madness to ensue. Fans of the splatter horror genre should appreciate this one. See the action unfurl like a ball of yarn by watching the video below (via Paste).

The band’s latest album, Ugly, hits stores on April 3rd via Don Giovanni Records. In support of the release, they’ve just announced a whole bunch of new tour dates, which you can find out mapped below.

Screaming Females 2012 Tour Dates:
03/04 – Asbury Park, NJ @ Stone Pony !
03/05 – Baltimore, MD @ Ottobar !
03/06 – Richmond, VA @ Strange Matter !
03/07 – Nashville, TN @ Freakin’ Weekend !
03/09 – Athens, GA @ Caledonia Lounge !
03/10 – Atlanta, GA @ The Basement !
03/11 – New Orleans, LA @ House of Blues !
03/12 – Houston, TX @ Warehouse Live Studio !
03/14-15 – Austin, TX @ South by Southwest
04/05 – Hoboken, NJ @ Maxwell’s (record release show)
04/06 – Brooklyn, NY @ Bell House
04/07 – Philadelphia, PA @ Pilam’s Human Barbecue
04/08 – Washington DC @ Black Cat Backstage
04/09 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Mr Roboto Project
04/10 – Cleveland, OH @ Beachland Tavern
04/11 – Bloomington, IN @ The Bishop
04/12 – Chicago, IL @ Subterranean
04/15 – Denver, CO @ Marquis Theater
04/17 – Boise, ID @ The Crux
04/18 – Seattle, WA @ The Rendezvous
04/19 – Bellingham, WA @ JINX Art Space
04/23 – Oakland, CA @ 1234 Go! Records
04/24 – San Francisco, CA @ Bottom of the Hill
04/26 – Los Angeles, CA @ Center for the Arts, Eagle Rock
04/28 – San Diego @ Che Cafe
04/28 – San Diego, CA @ Bar Pink
04/29 – Pomona, CA @ VLHS
05/02 – Las Cruces, NM @ The Trainyard $
05/04 – Austin, TX @ Red 7 $
05/31-06/03 - Austin, TX @ Chaos in Tejas

! = w/ Titus Andronicus
$ = w/ Tragedy

New Brunswick punk outfit Screaming Females recently stopped by NPR for a Tiny Desk Concert performance of “It All Means Nothing”, the lead single from their upcoming Steve Albini-produced fifth LP, Ugly. Now, the album version is available for streaming below (via RollingStone.com). As the live acoustic preview indicated (you can re-watch it below), the album version is centered around a thick, vintage-y guitar sound and frontwoman Marissa Paternoster’s jagged yet captivating vocal performance.

Here’s the NPR Tiny Desk performance:

Ugly is in stores on April 3rd via Don Giovanni Records.

Ugly Tracklist:
01. It All Means Nothing
02. Rotten Apple
03. Extinction
04. Red Hand
05. 5 High
06. Expire
07. Crow’s Nest
08. Tell Me No
09. Leave It All Up to Me
10. Doom 84
11. Help Me
12. Something Ugly
13. Slow Birth
14. It’s Nice

Screaming Females 2012 Tour Dates:
02/11 – Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg (Don Giovanni Records showcase)
02/12 – New York, NY @ Generation Records
02/13 – Cambridge, MA @ Lorem Ipsum Books
02/14 – Northampton, MA @ Feeding Tube Records
02/15 – Philadelphia, PA @ Long In The Tooth Records
02/16 – Richmond, VA @ Steady Sounds
02/17 – Asheville, NC @ Harvest Records
02/18 – Nashville, TN @ Grimey’s
02/19 – Chicago, IL @ Permanent Records
03/13-18 – Austin, TX @ South by Southwest
04/23 – Oakland, CA @ 1-2-3-4 Go! Records

New Brunswick, New Jersey’s own Screaming Females will return on April 3rd with their Steve Albini-produced fifth LP, Ugly. Recorded in Chicago at Albini’s Electrical Audio studios, the end result spans 14 tracks and bills itself as the “perfect combination of raw energy and honed musicianship.”

As an early taste, check out a performance of the album opener and lead single, “It All Means Nothing”, from the band’s recent NPR Tiny Desk Concert. The 7″ single, backed by live version of the Castle Talk track ”A New Kid” from a session recorded at WFMU, will be available exclusively during the band’s week-long run of record store performances in February.

Ugly is out April 3rd via Don Giovanni Records.

Ugly Tracklist:
01. It All Means Nothing
02. Rotten Apple
03. Extinction
04. Red Hand
05. 5 High
06. Expire
07. Crow’s Nest
08. Tell Me No
09. Leave It All Up to Me
10. Doom 84
11. Help Me
12. Something Ugly
13. Slow Birth
14. It’s Nice

Screaming Females 2012 Tour Dates:
02/11 – Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg (Don Giovanni Records showcase)
02/12 – New York, NY @ Generation Records
02/13 – Cambridge, MA @ Lorem Ipsum Books
02/14 – Northampton, MA @ Feeding Tube Records
02/15 – Philadelphia, PA @ Long In The Tooth Records
02/16 – Richmond, VA @ Steady Sounds
02/17 – Asheville, NC @ Harvest Records
02/18 – Nashville, TN @ Grimey’s
02/19 – Chicago, IL @ Permanent Records
03/13-18 – Austin, TX @ South by Southwest 

The music portion of South by Southwest 2012 runs March 13-18th in Austin Texas. Today, the festival revealed another batch of 2012 acts, with Built to Spill, The Magnetic Fields, Stars, Metric, Thomas Dolby, and Delta Spirit leading the way.

Other newly confirmed notables include Lee Fields and the Expressions, Talib Kweli, Grimes, The Big Pink, Oh Land, Screaming Females, Dan Mangan, Gross Magic, Ganglians, Daughter, The War on Drugs, Blood Orange, Bleached, Suckers, Spector, Miracles of Modern Science, Ear Pwr, Beach Fossils, Prince Rama, Zeus, and Zorch. For all the latest lineup news and updates, be sure to bookmark our South by Southwest page on Festival Outlook.

Also, as announced last week, Bruce Springsteen will serve as next year’s Keynote Speaker.

Registration for SXSW 2012 is now ongoing, with various types of badges to chose from. Click here for all the details.

One of the major pitfalls of being a punk band and dedicating yourself to the DIY ethos is that sometimes when you self-release, the album eventually fades into the great null of out-of-print records. That was the sad truth for New Brunswick, NJ’s own Screaming Females, but it’s something they’ll remedy this October by reissuing their first two records on vinyl. Also, another pitfall is having to buy a lot of gel for your mohawk.

Baby Teeth, self-released by the band in 2006, and What If Someone Is Watching Their T.V.?, also self-released in 2007 before being reissued in 2009 by Don Giovanni Records, will return to the aisles October 4th. This should make some fans happy as both LPs have long been out of print and were only available at the band’s early shows. The band is offering a free live 7″ with all pre-orders, which will be available shortly (stay tuned to their blog for more info).

In addition to the reissues, the band will be on tour in North America through most of the fall, kicking off with a gig in Washington, DC on October 6th. Check out both album tracklists and their tour schedule below.

Baby Teeth Tracklist:
01. Foul Mouth
02. Electric Pilgrim
03. Jonah
04. Angelo’s Song
05. The Bearded Lady
06. Henry’s Embryo
07. Dinosaurs
08. Sports
09. Bus Driver Man
10. Baby Jesus

What If Someone Is Watching Their T.V.? Tracklist:
01. Theme Song
02. The Real Mothers
03. Humanity Arranged
04. Starve the Beat
05. Little Anne
06. Fun
07. Limbs
08. Pedro
09. Mothership
10. Boyfriend

Screaming Females 2011 Tour Dates:
08/18 – Richmond, VA @ The Bike Lot #
09/08 – Brussels, BE @ Suffragettes Not Dead
09/09 – London, UK @ The Lexington
09/10 – Manchester, UK @ Islington Mill
09/11 – Bristol, UK @ The Croft
09/12 – Leeds, UK @ Brudenell Social Club
09/13 – Norwich, UK @ Norwich Arts Centre
09/15 – Tilburg, NL @ Incubate Festival
09/16 – Oostende, BE @ Leffingeleuren Festival
09/17 -Nijmegen, NL @ Merleyn
09/18 – Koeln, DE @ Tsunami
09/19 – Berlin, DE @ Westgermany
09/20 – Warsaw, PL @ Cafe Kulturalna
09/21 – Krakow, PL @ Piekny Pies
09/22 – Vienna, AT @ Arena
09/23 – Zagreb, HR @ Tvornic
09/24 – Graz, AT @ Steirischer Herbst
10/06 – Washington, DC @ Black Cat Backstage *
10/07 – Philadelphia, PA @ The Barbary *
10/08 – New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom *
10/11 – Portland, ME @ SPACE Gallery *
10/12 – Cambridge, MA @ Middle East (Upstairs) *
10/13 – Easthampton, MA @ Flywheel *
10/14 – Buffalo, NY @ Mohawk Place *
10/16 – Cleveland, OH @ Beachland Tavern *
10/18 – Grand Rapids, MI @ DAAC *
10/19 – Chicago, IL @ Schubas Tavern *
10/20 – Milwaukee, WI @ Linneman’s Riverwest Inn *
10/21 – Minneapolis, MN @ Triple Rock *
10/24 – Bloomington, IN @ The Bishop *
10/25 – Carbondale, IL @ Hangar 9 *
10/26 – Nashville, TN @ The End *
10/27 – Chattanooga, TN @ JJ’s Bohemia *
10/29 – Gainesville, FL @ The Fest
10/31 – Chael Hill, NC @ Nightlight
11/02 – Harrisonburg, VA @ Blue Nile
11/03 – Baltimore, MD @ Golden West
11/06 – New Brunswick, NJ @ Court Tavern (early show)
11/06 – New Brunswick, NJ @ Court Tavern (late show)

# = w/ Zero Boys, Ceremony
* = w/ Underground Railroad to Candyland

The band’s headlining shows begin May 31st in Millvale, PA’s Mr. Smalls, then wind through some larger venues in Philadelphia, D.C., New York and Boston. The four piece then make their way to the Midwest for a series of mid-June performances, including stops in Cleveland, Detroit, Chicago, and Milwaukee. Screaming Females and Lemuria will provide support throughout the trek.

Along with the touring plans, the band will release a brand new two-song 7″ single on June 14th via Sabot Productions, which was recorded with new drummer Jay Weinberg at Smart Studios in Madison. The vinyl and digital download contain songs called “Russian Spies” and “Occult Enemies”.

As previously reported, the band is also set to release Total Clarity on May 23rd via Fat Wreck Chords. The 15-track disc is a collection of demos and unreleased songs from the Searching For A Former Clarity sessions. The tracklist can be found below.

Also, don’t forget to set your TiVo.

Total Clarity Tracklist:
01. Miami
02. The Shaker
03. Justin
04. Exhaustion & Disgust
05. Unprotected Sex With Multiple Partners
06. The Energizer
07. Violence
08. The Mover
09. How Low
10. Joy
11. Holy Shit
12. Lost And Searching In America
13. Problems
14. Money Changes Everything
15. Total Clarity

Against Me! 2011 Tour Dates:
05/20 – Louisville, KY @ Krazy-fest
05/27 – Seattle, WA @ Sasquatch Music Festival
05/29 – Hartford, CT @ B.O.M.B. Festival
05/31 – Millvale, PA @ Mr. Smalls  *
06/01 – Philadelphia, PA @ Trocadero  *
06/02 – Washington, DC @ Black Cat  *
06/03 – Townson, MD @ Recher Theatre  *
06/04 – Allentown, PA @ Crocodile Rock  *
06/07 – New York, NY @ Webster Hall  *
06/08 – New Haven, CT @ Toad’s Place  *
06/09 – Boston, MA @ Paradise  *
06/10 – Burlington, VT @ Higher Ground  *
06/11 – Northampton, MA @ Pearl Street  *
06/12 – Rochester, NY @ Water Street Music Hall  *
06/14 – Cleveland, OH @ House of Blues  *
06/15 – Detroit, MI @ St. Andrews Hall  *
06/16 – Grand Rapids, MI @ Intersection  *
06/17 – Chicago, IL @ Metro  *
06/18 – Milwaukee, WI @ The Rave  *
06/20 – Fargo, ND @ The Venue  *
06/21 – Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue  *
06/24 – Dallas, TX @ Gexa Energy Pavilion  #
06/25 – Houston, TX @ The Showgrounds at Sam Houston  #
06/26 – San Antonio, TX @ AT&T Center  #
06/29 – Las Cruces, NM @ NMSU Intramural Field  #
06/30 – Las Vegas, NV @ Union Plaza Parking Lot  #
07/01 – Pomona, CA @ Pomona Fairplex  #
07/02 – San Francisco, CA @ Shoreline Amphitheatre #
07/03 – Ventura, CA @ Seaside Park  #
07/06 – Kansas City, MO @ Sandstone Amphitheatre #
07/07 – Indianapolis, IA @ Verizon Wireless Music Center  #
07/27 – Virginia Beach, VA @ Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre #
07/28 – Charlotte, NC @ Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre #
07/29 – Orlando, FL @ Central Florida Fairgrounds  #
07/30 – West Palm Beach, FL @ Cruzan Amphitheatre  #
07/31 – St. Petersburg, FL @ Vinoy Park  #
08/01 – Atlanta, GA @ Lakewood Amphitheatre  #
08/02 – Cincinnati, OH @ Riverbend Music Center  #
08/03 – St. Louis, MO @ Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre #
08/04 – Omaha, NE @ Westfair Amphitheatre  #
08/05 – Denver, CO @ Invesco Field  #
08/06 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Utah State Fairgrounds #
08/07 – Phoenix, AZ @ Cricket Pavilion  #
08/09 – San Diego, CA @ Cricket Amphitheatre  #
08/10 – Los Angeles, CA @ Home Depot Center  #
08/11 – Sacramento, CA @ Sleep Train Amphitheater  #
08/12 – Boise, ID @ Idaho Center Amphitheater  #
08/13 – Seattle, WA @ Gorge Amphitheatre  #
08/14 – Portland, OR @ Washington County Fairgrounds #
08/19 – Richmond, VA @ Best Friends Day Festival at The Canal Club

* = w/ Screaming Females and Lemuria
# = 2011 Vans Warped Tour

On top of the already announced bill, with acts like Surfer Blood, The Blow, Four Tet, Salem, Greg Dulli, Bayside!, and much, much more, new additions to the event include (deep breath…) Phoenix, Neon Indian, GZA, Beach Fossils, Freddie Gibbs, The Corin Tucker Band, Pharohe Monch, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Avey Tare, Casxio, Elizabeth and the Catapult, Fenech-Soler, Francis and the Lights, Mimicking Birds, The Mynabirds, Reni Lane, Saint Motel, Savoir Adore, Screaming Females, Slow Animals, Tape Deck Mountain, Vanaprasta, White Arrows, and Wild Nothing.

As always, stay tuned to our CMJ Festival Outlook page for more announcements as they’re made. CMJ 2010 goes down from October 19-23 in New York, New York. Grab your uber expensive passes here.

Noun is Screaming Females’ polar opposite, showcasing intricate studio work and lower-key instrumentation in the form of a much mellower and more melodic sound compared to the high-pitched shrieking and guitar shredding found in Screaming Females. Holy Hell draws a heavy focus on its keyboards and organs, putting its guitar and drum parts on the back burner. Of course Paternoster has had complete control over this project, writing each and every track by herself. However, a number of other individuals helped re-create the final sound shown on Holy Hell, including drum work by Angela Boylan (Cheeky), Miranda Taylor (Hunchback, Black Wine, Full of Fancy), and Jarrett Dougherty (Screaming Females) with King Mike (Screaming Females) lending a hand on bass. Even her mom helped by designing the albums final cover art! How cool is that?

Holy Hell will be put out by Don Giovanni early this summer, who is also holding a special two-night showcase/mini-festival at New York’s Mercury Lounge in support of both Noun and Screaming Females. This will be the first ever live performance by Noun taking place on April 25th, with Screaming Females performing the previous night. Look below for a full list of dates as well as a stream of the album’s catchy garage rock influenced title track.

Check Out:
“Holy Hell”

Noun 2010 Tour Dates:
04/25 – New York, NY @ Mercury Lounge

Screaming Females 2010 Tour Dates:
04/04 – Atlanta, GA @ Masquerade *
04/05 – Carrboro, NC @ Cat’s Cradle *
04/06 – Geenville, NC @ Tipsy
04/07 – Richmond, VA @ Gallery Five
04/08 – Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club *
04/09 – New York, NY @ The Fillmore (Irving Plaza) *
04/10 – Boston, MA @ Paradise Rock Club *
04/24 – New York, NY @ Mercury Lounge

* = w/ Ted Leo and the Pharmacists

Coupled with the already thriving New York City concert scene, the influx of young talent with the already established indie stars, there’s bound to be something for everyone at all hours of the day. That’s a good thing and a bad thing. For every act you’re pining to see, there’s another four or five right behind ‘em. So much like any music festival, you gotta make choices. But that’s why you come to CoS, right? Our solution? We’re going to break it down (and possibly build it up, maybe) for you. The focus? Not on which acts you need to check out — because that would take away from the whole experience of “discovering — but rather an easy-to-define set of parameters. And, well, maybe one show to check out. Shall we?

Local New York Bands That Have Toured Extensively and Should Have Been Seen By Now:

Pretty self-explanatory, we give to you some acts that have been on your radar and have played every venue in New York (from Glasslands to a friend’s loft to that abandoned place above the gas station) but only now will you get your chance to see what all the fuss is about. Why you missed them could have been for any reason, you might have lived outside of New York is a good example.

• Suckers — If you have missed them, when they opened for countless bands, or during their July residency at Pianos, now is your time to get on board with this new age psychedelic rockers. Similar to Yeasayer, the band distills a world of influence into a swirling hypnotic tune that will keep you up all night.
  10/21 – IAMSOUND CMJ Showcase @ Bowery Poetry Club

• Darlings — One of L Magazine’s “8 NYC Band You Need to Hear” this band combines sunny pop songs in a deluge of noise and rawness. Their live shows are chaotic blasts of fun with enough noise and melody to please the whole family.
  10/24 – Impose/Famous Class Afternoon BBQ @ Don Pedro’s

• Real Estate — Another band that is making their name in New York through extensive touring and people are finally starting to take notice. The New Jersey natives have been mentioned as a band to watch by Stereogum and their hazy music, invoking a shimmering nostalgia sounds great live.
  10/21 – Oh My Rockness Showcase @ Santos Party House (w/ Cymbals Eat Guitar, Free Energy, Deastro and Beach Fossils)

• Ambulance LTD — Considered to be the next best thing and part of the early 2000 New York music revival. The band mixed some timeless pop with shoegaze that alleviated any tension. After struggling with TVT Records bankruptcy and legal proceedings, the band is back and to pick up where they left off.
  10/22 @ Mercury Lounge (w/ Hockey)

British Invasion:

This list was pretty spectacular when CMJ was first announced. However, due to visa issues, neither Mercury award winner Speech Debelle, First Aid Kit, nor VV Brown will be playing. That said, there is going to be plenty of talent from across the pond to choose from.

• The xx — This band’s popularity has skyrocketed this year. Numerous accolades, and cheering, this is the hyped band to see. Playing later in the year with Friendly Fires, the band has their own sold-out headlining show at the Bowery Ballroom, this will be one in demand show.
  10/21 – Mercury Lounge

• Golden Silvers – This uptempo band wears their heart on their sleeve — get ready to dance and have some fun. Not a lot of USA dates this year, so this may be one of your only chances to catch this band.
  10/20 – NME Showcase @ BLVD

• Pete and the Pirates — Hailing from Reading, Pete and the Pirates are pretty guitar heavy with some nice angular riffs. Expect a lot of energy.
  10/24 – Brooklyn Vegan and Bowery Presents Day Show @ Piano’s

• Fanfarlo — Plenty of people love this band, which is reminiscent of Arcade Fire with its orchestral flair and mix of impassioned music.
  10/20 – Brooklyn Vegan Showcase @ Music Hall of Williamsburg (w/ The Antlers)

Something New, Something Different, Plenty of Hype:

These are bands currently getting a lot of hype. Coming into the shows expect plenty of strange sounds, some interesting influences and be ready to judge which band will blow up.

• YACHT — This band, from DFA Records, is nothing less than fantastic. The silky smooth disco, the seemingly endless array of danceable beats, this band has been getting plenty of heights and as part of the DFA showcase (with a DJ set by Special Disco Version aka James Murphy and Pat Mahoney) this show will be a blast.
  10/22 – DFA Party @ Brooklyn Bowl

• Screaming Females — This Jersey outfit’s recent resume includes a tour with The Dead Weather and numerous dates in New York. Loud and dynamic and sure to be making plenty of noise, the Screaming Females might not be for everyone, but many people rave about their live performance.
  10/24 – The Onion A/V Club Afternoon Showcase @ Knitting Factory Brooklyn

• Surfer Blood — Floridian band with some well honed tunes. Recently been getting plenty of buzz with good shows and music that seems familiar (noisy rock infused with pop) but adds a touch more craft and subtlety to let the band stand out.
  10/20 – Panache Showcase @ Santos Party House (w/ Heavy Trash)

• Lemonade — Here we have another band that will make you dance your ass off. They have been making the rounds and have plenty of love and support behind them.
  10/23 – True Panther Showcase @ Flamboyan Theater

• Free Energy — DFA Records’ other buzzed band. This band plays more of a pop-rock angle with some bouncy choruses that are not filtered through noise and distortion.
  10/20 – Stereogum CMJ Showcase @ The Studio at Webster Hall

• Hockey — Hockey blew up earlier in the year and even played Lollapalooza. If you have yet to catch them, here’s another chance and see what all the fuss is about.
  10/22 – @ Mercury Lounge (w/ Ambulance LTD)

• The Antlers — They released an album that was raved about and put forth some steady and rocking music.
  10/21 – @ Sound Fix Records (Free Show)

• Neon Indian — This one man act has recently had the hype machine behind him on full blast. Picture some videogame sounds and some spiraling loops and you have a nice recipe for fun.
  10/24 – Topman/Jelly NYC Showcase @ Roots Studio (RSVP) (w/ The Almighty Defenders)

Tried and True Staples:

Bigger acts that you should see and would go see anyway.

• Atlas Sound — Bradford Cox just released his latest work, Logos, and his live show should be as good as his music.

• Rain Machine — Not truly a known commodity as a band but Rain Machine is Kyp Malone’s (of TV on the Radio) solo effort.
  10/24 – @ Bowery Ballroom

• School of Seven Bells — Another band that had plenty of attention last year and have grown in popularity. And deservedly so.
  10/23 – @ Music Hall of Williamsburg (w/ The xx)

• Portugal. The Man — Portugal. The Man has been around for awhile and its charming music is getting more and more attention. Easily one of CMJ’s bigger acts.
  10/23 – @ Bowery Ballroom

Insert Austin Powers Reference About Gold Here:

That’s right, it is all about the gold. From 24K to gold plated there are plenty of bands to fill Fort Knox. I already named one Gold band, and here are a few more and it is not even a comprehensive list.

• Golden Triangle — Combining some tribal funk and no-wave sensibilities, this is one lo-fi trip.
  10/24 – Subpop/Hardly Art Showcase @ Mercury Lounge (w/ Obits, Pissed Jeans, and Dum Dum Girls)

• Golden Filter — Another dance act for you to enjoy. This duo had their song “Solid Gold” remixed many times over.
  10/24 – Windish CMJ showcase @ Santos Party House (w/ Midnight Juggernaut)

• Solid Gold — Plenty of synths and plenty of fun. This band is sure to dazzle and delight fans.
  10/23 – @ Brooklyn Bowl (w/ Chromeo and Amazing Baby)

Wow! That’s a lot of bands and that’s not even mentioning acts like A-Trak, Obits, the Dum Dum Girls, Violens, or Holiday Shores. So, which bands are you excited to see?

Today, organizers gave us a taste of what will be included in this fun, this in the form of the first batch of the 1,200 artists scheduled to perform at 75 of city’s venues between from October 20th and 24th. Among them are Atlas Sound, The Temper Trap, The Very Best, Pissed Jeans, and múm. Crystal Antlers, Cymbals Eat Guitars, Das Racist, Pitbull, Broadcast, and Japandroids are all also confirmed, as are The Budos Band, Malajube, Suckers, Screaming Females, Local Natives, Margret Cho, and Zac Brown Band.

“CMJ prides itself on musically taking chances by striving to present the most innovative and cutting-edge new music,” said CMJ Music Marathon Founder and Executive Producer Joanne Abbot Green. “As has been the case for 29 years, CMJ curates the best in new artists for fans and music business tastemakers to enjoy. As with each festival, we look for ways on how to make the experience more exciting for our attendees from around the world.”

Registration for this year’s Marathon is currently ongoing at cmj.com. As of now, Five-day passes are priced at $475 ($285 for students), while VIP passes can be had for $750.

Additional artist announcements will be made in the weeks ahead. Stay up to date on all official, confirmed, and rumored acts at our CMJ Music Marathon Outlook page.