Eyes wide shut

 

Local band Skorts (an EVG Bands we like alum) debuted a new video this week. Check out "Burden."

Skorts is our tour this fall, with a European leg coming up later in the year.

Bands we like: Puzzled Panther (plus Crazy & the Brains and Nabihah Iqbal)

Photos by Stacie Joy 

We finally got to see Puzzled Panther live last Sunday ... after hearing about them for the past 18 months or so. 

The NYC band was part of the latest Show Brain show in Tompkins Square Park. 

Victoria Espinoza and Kay Bontempo started PP as a duo. They continued to add firepower to their punky dance-floor tapestry with the addition of drummer Brian Chase, moonlighting from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs... and Eugene Hütz of Gogol Bordello, who signed PP to his Casa Gogol label. 

Hütz described last Sunday's set as a "psychosleaze spectacle," which is pretty accurate. 

Also with the band now: Ty from Genre Is Death and bassist Rob Mellinger, doing double duty this day from another band on the bill, Crazy & the Brains. 

Here are a few scenes from the inspired set featuring songs from their two EPs as well as a cover of the Velvet Underground's "Venus in Furs" and Sonic Youth's "Dirty Boots."

Puzzled Panther is off to Europe now for a tour. You can keep tabs on them via Instagram. 

It was an inspired afternoon of music with Bubbles, 95 Bulls, and Grace Begere. 

Crazy & the Brains, who got their start in the East Village, tore it up...

And there was headliner Nabihah Iqbal, who also played a sold-out show this past Monday at Night Club 101 on Avenue A, and delivered an atmospheric, genre-blurring set...

Faces in the crowd included Ty and Taylor from Genre Is Death, currently working on a new record...

... and East Village resident Alli Walls, lead singer of Skorts...

We're not sure if there's one last Show Brain show this year in Tompkins. Regardless, thanks to SB founder Ozzie for bringing so much music to the park this spring and summer.

Whisper to a 'Sting'

 

NYC band Puzzled Panther will be headlining the next (and last for 2025) Show Brain show in Tompkins Square Park on Sept. 7. 

The video here is for "Sting of Iodine (Panacea)" from the recently released EP Fits of Serenity (Casa Gogol Records).

A 'Rough' patch

 

95 Bulls are first up tomorrow afternoon for Day 1 of the free Show Brain Festival in Tompkins Square Park. 

The above video is for "It Was Rough."

Dreamin’ slow in a burnin’ world

 

Here's another video from EVG bands-we-like alum Dead Tooth... the single is "Chuckin' and Wingin' it." 

The song is on the Queens-based band's recently released debut record. 

You can find the record on Bandcamp. 

And today is Bandcamp Friday, where the platform waives its revenue share and passes the funds directly to artists and labels.

All and 'Some'

 

Avishag Cohen Rodrigues, part of the cumgirl8 collective, also has a promising solo career. 

You can see for yourself tomorrow afternoon as Cohen Rodrigues is part of the free Show Brain show in Tompkins Square Park. 

The video here is for her latest single, "Some Are."

A 'Life' of its own

 

Brooklyn's Water From Your Eyes have a new LP, It's a Beautiful Place, out on Aug. 22 via Matador Records. 

Ahead of that, they've been releasing several tracks, including (above) "Life Signs." 

You can see them live on Oct. 10 at Bowery Ballroom.

Bands we like: Dead Tooth

Photos on July 13 by Stacie Joy 

This past Sunday, Dead Tooth was part of an afternoon of free music via Show Brain in Tompkins Square Park. 

Usually a five-piece, the Queens-based Dead Tooth played as a power trio, led by lead vocalist-guitarist Zach James...

... including special guest Ozzie, founder of Show Brain (on the left), joining the band on drums this day...

Meanwhile, Dead Tooth's debut record is out today on Trash Casual. 

As our friends at Magnet noted: "Dead Tooth has essentially fashioned its own subgenre: 'rodeo core,' a sound that borrows from post-punk, goth, hardcore and (in an oddly peripheral sense) country music." (They also once opened for GWAR.) 

Here are portraits of other bands from the day, starting with Jasno...

SORRYNOTSORRY...

... and Pinc Louds...

And to Tilt — sorry that we missed you!

Some good 'Shit'

 

Dead Tooth is part of the free afternoon of music in Tompkins Square Park on Sunday via Show Brain.

The local band will release its debut record next Friday, July 18. 

Check out the above video for "You Never Do Shit" and see them live this weekend.

Andy Boay's new record inspired by and crafted in the East Village

Photo by Valerie Kamen 

East Village-based musician Andy White, who performs under the name Andy Boay, is set to release a new LP tomorrow (July 11).

White crafted the avant-pop record — titled You Took That Walk for the Two of Us — over the past two years in a small office space he rents inside the New York Center for Creativity and Dance (NYCCD) on the NW corner of Avenue A and 10th Street (the former Boys Club), a multi-use rehearsal and studio building operated by the Joyce Theater Foundation. 

"The album was born over the time that I came to call the East Village my beloved neighborhood," he told EVG. "I will always associate these recordings with late nights at the NYCCD studio building, and listening to demos while walking around Tompkins at dusk." 

The one-sheet for the new releases suggests the following RIYL: Arthur Russell, Spacemen 3 and Roy Montgomery. You can hear for yourself.

He also filmed a video inside the NYCCD. Check out "One & One" below.

   

White's music career began as a teenager in Orlando, Fla. He played in the duo Tonstartssbandht with his brother Edwin and also spent six years playing guitar in the touring band for Mac DeMarco. 

He plays an album release show at Union Pool in Brooklyn tomorrow evening.

Suburban Speed at Baker Falls

Photos by Stacie Joy 

We dropped by Baker Falls this past Thursday, where EVG fave Suburban Speed (below) opened a night of music at the Allen Street venue between Houston and Stanton.

Carson Walsh (vocals, guitar, sax), Seth Sosebee (bass, keyboards), and Dalton Patton (drums, theremin) comprise the Brooklyn-based band.

Suburban Speed plays an unconventional, quirky punk noir that feels tailor-made for a hot summer night's drive through nowhere, chasing ghosts along empty roads...

They are also a good fit for the fever-dream mansion vibe of Baker Falls...

We had to leave before we could see Fine Mess, a new band featuring (in the middle below) Julia Pierce of TDA and Dustin Dollin, an Australian skateboarding legend.

You can catch both Fine Mess and Suburban Speed Saturday night at Alphaville in Bushwick.

Baker Falls is at 192 Allen St. (as of January). Check out their calendar of bands, open mics and other events. They are also open during the day for coffee service.

'Tell' it like it is

 

Brooklyn's Big Girl is one of the bands on the bill this Sunday afternoon (June 29, 2-6 p.m.) in another free Show Brain-sponsored show in Tompkins Square Park.

The video here is for "I Can't Tell" from their EP Dye.

A band to know: Bec Lauder & the Noise

 

Last week, Bec Lauder & The Noise, a band said to be born in the East Village, released "Give It." The song — a rhythmic, retro-tinged pop track with a subtle funk groove — is the first single from their debut album, The Vessel, out Aug. 22.

As you'll see, the video was filmed on Astor Place, as well as along Third and Fourth avenues, and features dancers for the Brooklyn Nets. 

On May 11, during the first 2025 Show Brain show in Tompkins Square Park, we had a chance to see the band, featuring Bec Lauder (vocals/guitar/bass), Maggie Bishop (drums/vocals), and Soph Shreds (guitar/bass). 

Pics by Stacie Joy...

You can follow the band on Instragram for updates.

'Girl' trouble

 

The local band Homade just released a new music video ... swinging hard with the sludgy pummel of "New Girl" above.

Follow @homade.nyc for updates about live shows, etc. 

'Fun' was the plan

 

The debut record from Brooklyn’s queer femme punk band SHAGGO has a June 6 release date. (The record-release show is June 12 at Trans-Pecos in Ridgewood.) 

Tbe above video is for the band's single "I Wanted Fun."

Bands we like: Pop Music Fever Dream (PMFD)

Photos by Stacie Joy 

We’ve seen Pop Music Fever Dream (PMFD) several times, including last August as part of a Show Brain bill in Tompkins Square Park. 

And each time, we weren't sure what we might be in for. This held true again on April 25 at Night Club 101 on Avenue A, where PMFD opened the night as part of the record release show for Um, Jennifer? 

PMFD — vocalist-guitarist Tim Seeberger, guitarist Nicole Harwayne, bassist Carmen Castillo and drummer Violette Grim — took the stage in full clownface, a tribute to horrorcore rap duo Insane Clown Posse and Juggalo culture. The night was intended as an homage, complete with the spirit — if not the presence — of Faygo, the soda closely associated with ICP performances. 

When asked about the missing Faygo, the band explained they couldn't find any but assured that "the Faygo was there in spirit."

The sold-out crowd was then swept into PMFD's unrelenting punk fury and no-wave dissonance.

PMFD's last show until July is Saturday night at The Broadway as part of a 10-year-anniversary show for Radio Free Brooklyn. Find ticket info here. 

We'll leave you with the band's most recent video, "Elegy for a Memory."

 

'Star' power

 

On Tuesday, The Slackers released a new single, "My Last Star," a collaboration with and tribute to Greg Lee. The co-lead singer of stalwart L.A. ska group Hepcat died in March 2024 after a brain aneurysm. He was 53. 

As you'll see in the above clip, the NYC-based band filmed parts of the video in the East Village, including the stage at Otto's Shrunken Head on 14th Street.

H/T Jill!

Crossing 'Delancey'

 

Um, Jennifer?, your new favorite "trans slut rock" duo (Eli Scarpati and Fig Regan), releases its debut record, Um Comma Jennifer Question Mark, today. 

The video here for the insanely catchy "Delancey" includes cameos from Tompkins Square Park.

Tonight's record release show at Night Club 101 on Avenue A is sold out. Um, Jennifer? will also play the Mercury Lounge on May 25. 

Be 'Afraid'

 

Torture and the Desert Spiders, "a left-field garage project based around the songwriting" of the Brooklyn-based Anna Kunz, has several shows coming up in the neighborhood, including Wednesday at Mercury Lounge and a residency at Baker Falls (April 22 and 29). Check them out.

The video here is for the track "Sinéad, I'm Afraid."

Star's Revenge (and friends)

Photo and reporting by Stacie Joy 

From left on 2nd Street: Olive Faber and Emily Green 

This past Thursday night, Star's Revenge — Olive Faber and Emily Green — held a record release party at Berlin on Avenue A for the duo's latest single, "Me and My Friends." Joining them on the bill were Talli Sow and EVG faves Genre Is Death. 

"The Berlin show was the best Star's show yet — bringing a bunch of friends under one roof is what it's all about," Faber, who has played drums for Sunflower Bean, told us. "Our next show is April 16 at Mercury Lounge, and we're planning something really special for summer."

You can check out the band's music — spare, off-kilter indie pop that sticks with you — on all the usual streaming platforms. You can follow them on Instagram here.

Star's Revenge with friends...