7th Street freeze-out

 

The Acute, the East Village-based duo, released a new video a few weeks back ... check out "NYLA" (and enjoy some winter flashbacks on Seventh Street!) ... you can find the band on Instagram here ... and Bandcamp here... hopefully we'll see them live in Tompkins Square Park one of these days...

Sweetness and light

 

The video for the new tropical-punk single by Pinc Louds is now available ... in the clip for "Tamarindo," Claudi returns to her Puerto Rican homeland where she chases chickens, serenades horses, meets a miniature version of herself and learns the secret to never growing up: tamarind syrup. The song bursts with the unbridled joy that you'd expect from anything related to Pinc Louds. 

The single, from the band's forthcoming release, officially drops on April 9. And you can see Claudi perform tomorrow afternoon at the East Village Flea... and the full band will be in Tompkins Square Park on April 10 at 2 p.m.

The 'Sweet' hereafter

Japanese Breakfast (aka Michelle Zauner) released a single earlier this month... ahead of a new record out on June 4... the video, an homage to "The X-Files," is for "Be Sweet" ...

Back to nature

 

From the recently released On All Fours, the second record by the South London-based Goat Girl... this is "Badibaba" ... one of the catchiest songs you'll ever hear about environmental catastrophe.

Friday I'm in love

Was flipping through magazines at Ink on A (66 Avenue A) the other day... came across the March issue of Mojo, essentially a tribute to the Cure... including the band's 30 greatest songs... No. 1 on the magazine's list? "A Forest" from 1980 ...

 

Good pick, though not my No. 1. This is all really subjective ... I'd put "The Catepillar" atop the list ... (No.  10 at Mojo)...

  

 "Six Different Ways" would be in there (didn't even rate a mention in Mojo)...

   

... and "Primary" (No. 16 in Mojo)...

  .

.. and "In-Between Days" ... (No. 2 in Mojo)...

 

... and one that didn't make the list..."Cut Here"...

 

When Charles the dog blasted Daft Punk on 2nd Avenue in a video directed by Spike Jonze

Earlier this week, the French electronic duo Daft Punk announced that they were calling it quits after 28 years of creating music together. 

EVG reader David reminds us of the 1996 video for the band's "Da Funk" release ... Spike Jonze directed the 5-minute clip, titled "Big City Nights," which follows Charles, an anthropomorphic dog with a boombox (with a broken volume knob) playing Daft Punk's "Da Funk" as he hobbles along Second Avenue. 

The video concludes outside the now-closed Nightengale Lounge on Second Avenue at 13th Street. You might spot a few more familiar locales along the way...

The 'Mouse' that roared

 

The Acute, the East Village-based duo, released a new video earlier this month... check out "La Souris Politique (The Political Mouse)" above... and you can find the band on Instagram here ... and Bandcamp here.

The big 'Hurt'

 

It's just Feb. 19, yet some folks have said that the new record (Collapsed in Sunbeams) by UK-based singer-songwriter Arlo Parks will be one of the year's best. It's that good.

The video here is for a previously released single called "Hurt."

Come out to 'Play'

 

Missed this single when it came out back in the fall — the UK-based duo Nova Twins with "Play Fair."

The band recently announced "Nova Twins Presents Voices For The Unheard," a new compilation album they'vee curated to spotlight underrepresented POC artists from the rock and alternative scene. 

Junior achievement

 

Today, Seattle's KEXP is streaming its 9th annual International Clash Day (until 10 p.m. NYC time!) ... The radio station is celebrating the band and the messages of anti-fascism, anti-racism and pro-inclusion that they champion in their music. 

Aside from playing music by the Clash and other projects by its members, the station has been highlighting the many musicians who were so influential to the band (and many other artists). 

One example... Junior Murvin, the Jamaican musician best known for the single "Police and Thieves" — co-written with Lee "Scratch" Perry — in 1976. The Clash covered the song on their self-titled 1977 debut. 

 As Conseuqence of Sound previously noted, Murvin's Police and Thieves record "is a must-own album for any Clash fan with a taste for reggae." 

And:

Midway through a widely bootlegged 1979 show at the Palladium [now an NYU dorm on 14th Street!] in New York City, Strummer tries to make that very point. "You ought to hear Junior Murvin doing that tune," Joe said after "Police and Thieves." "He can sing in a voice as high as this roof."

8 is enough

Local synth-pop group Hennessey released a new single today ... check out "8 Men" in the above video...

Mind the 'Store'

 

New York-based trio Palberta have a new release out this week... Palberta5000 is the band's fifth record. 

The video here is for "Corner Store." 

You can read a interview with the band, who have drawn comparisons to Captain Beefheart and the Raincoats, among others, at NPR.

RIP Sylvain Sylvain

 

As you may have heard, Sylvain Sylvain, co-founder and guitarist of the New York Dolls, died Wednesday of cancer. He was 69. 

An appreciation via Jem Aswad at Variety:

While singer David Johansen was a classic Jaggeresque frontman and Johnny Thunders oozed degenerate charisma and played snarling lead guitar, Sylvain was the group's foundation, bringing textured riffs and rhythmic power that underpinned the songs' melodies and meshed with the bass and drums. The twang of his Gretsch guitar countered Thunders' blistering, distorted leads and gave the group a melodic bedrock.

Sylvain previously lived in the East Village, starting in 1967. 

Johansen is now the only surviving member of the original lineup, seen in the above video with "Stranded in the Jungle" from 1973.

'Five Years' to start the New Year

 

A televised version of "Five Years" by David Bowie from 1972... from "The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars." 

Bowie was born on this day in 1947. (And he died on Jan. 10, 2016.)

Year in review

 

This week local singer-songwriter Fiona Silver released a video for her latest single — the aptly named "2020." 

Silver wrote the song and also directed the video. As she explained: 

"I wanted to make a video that reflected some of the themes of [2020] — protests, police brutality, environmental issues, financial insecurity, and of course the COVID-19 pandemic, combined with the incredible perseverance of spirit I found from people coming together, supporting each other, and celebrating life in the face of fear. It's been a wild year..." 

Her band features Guy Fiumarelli on guitar, Steve Salerno on bass, Brian Duke on drums and Gregg Foreman on keys.

To 2021!

Hello again

 

One last Christmas song for the season... and one we aren't tired of — the recently released "Hello Santa Claus" by the local band Pom Pom Squad.

RIP Sam Jayne

 

Sam Jayne, the talented singer-songwriter of Love as Laughter and Lync, has died. He was 46. 

According to his friends and multiple media outlets, he had been missing since Dec. 7. There was a frantic social-media-driven search for him. Police found him in his car on Tuesday. An NYPD spokesperson told Pitchfork that a preliminary investigation didn't show any "signs of criminality." (Update: His family created a website in his memory. According to his family, he died of an undiagnosed heart condition.)

Jayne had been bartending at Daddy's and Clem's in Williamsburg. 

This Brooklyn Vegan post has tributes from his many peers in the music business. The above video is for the Love as Laughter track "Coconut Flakes" from 2007.

Gleaming the 'Cube'

 

The prolific John Dwyer and his merry band of Osees are releasing an epic live set titled Live at the Henry Miller Library Big Sur... which you can stream next Saturday, Dec. 19. (Details here.) 

Ahead of that they've released a view tracks from the show, including "Gelatinous Cube."

P.S.

Save Our Stages

News break

 

Local duo the Acute (you may have seen them play this year in Tompkins Square Park) recently released an EP titled Infinidy ... the above video is for "Newsical," the first track from the record. 

BTW this is the final Bandcamp Friday of the year, in which the platform foregoes its revenue and gives the bands all the $$$ from the day's sales.

A slice of 'Life'

 

Last weekend, after an ill-advised doomscroll, I was feeling a little down... walking along Avenue A, a cyclist went by with a speaker attached to his messenger bag. This song by the Damned was playing... which I hadn't heard in years. A fleeting moment that lifted my mood. From the under-appreciated Strawberries LP from 1982, this is "Life Goes On."