Featuring the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, My Bloody Valentine, Devendra Banhart, The Cure, Lykke Li, Antony and the Johnsons and Peter Bjorn and John.


[Yeah Yeah Yeahs]

[My Bloody Valentine]

[Devendra Banhart]

[The Cure]

[Lykke Li]

[Antony And The Johnsons]

[Peter Bjorn And John]

ATP are also giving event goers a special deal on tickets for this years Nightmare Before Christmas party — man, we love recession-specials. Attendees have the opportunity to purchase an early bird special for the event. Everyone who purchases a ticket for seven days until 9 a.m. on April 24 (or until the ticket allotment runs out) will get 20 euros off of their ticket.

As someone who greatly enjoyed the shimmering, pedal-damaged bombast of High Expectations/Low Results, this album feels a bit flat and lacking anything truly dynamic, but with full realization that puts me in the minority, it’s not out of line to say that Faunts’ brand of synth-bedecked electro-pop is head and shoulders above that of their peers. And in that regard, even if old guard fans aren’t happy with the results, Feel.Love.Thinking.Of. is a rousing success that should land them at the top of their newly chosen heap.

Friendly Fire Recordings

Thank the shoegaze gods, even those of us not lucky enough to be in California around Coachella-time this year will still have a chance to see My Bloody Valentine — they’ll be playing a handful of shows out west after they finish up at the festival.

It’s a limited run, but they are making some appearances in cities that they didn’t the last time they hit U.S. soil.

My Bloody Valentine tour dates
04.18.09 – Indio, CA (Coachella)
04.21.09 – Austin, TX (Austin Music Hall)
04.22.09 – Dallas, TX (The Palladium)
04.24.09 – Denver, CO (The Fillmore Auditorium)
04.27.09 – Seattle, WA (WaMu Theater at Qwest Field)
05.28.09 & 05.29.09 – Barcelona, Spain (Primavera Sound Festival)

The funny thing about Hopewell is that they have been sorely overlooked by those who like the psychedelic, dreamy pop being made by bands like Animal Collective, Dungen or to a lesser degree, Dirty Projectors, mainly because they brewed their cred in upstate New York versus Manhattan or Brooklyn. But that might change with the release of Good Good Desperation in May.

Hopewell was founded by Jason Russo, of Hopewell Junction who, at 19, joined Mercury Rev for a world tour before setting out on his own with a band named after his hometown. As their press release states, they do claim to be “purveyors of the new psych-rock scene,” boasting a resume that has seen them open for My Bloody Valentine on their recent reunion tour, work in the past with producer Dave Fridmann (Flaming Lips, MGMT), record a Peel Session live at Abbey Road Studio, and playing Reading and Leeds Festivals.

With Good Good Desperation — out May 5 on Tee Pee Records — Hopewell’s journey continues down their own noisy path. In between tours and throughout 2008 they set out to make a record that more captured their live sound. It was during this time that Jonathan Donahue invited the band to play a 30-minute segment of music on his WDST Woodstock radio program in upstate New York. For this show the group composed a structured improvisational piece, a composition loosely dubbed “The Opus”, which would become the progenitor for many of the songs on the album to come. Immersed in heavy doses of bands like This Heat, Pink Floyd, Roxy Music and early tribal Jane’s Addiction, Hopewell booked time in Brooklyn studios Seizures Palace and Seaside Lounge (Akron/Family, Psychic Ills). The result of which is Good Good Desperation.

Hopewell will also be releasing the 7-inch single version of the single “Good Good Good Desperation” (yes, there is an extra “good”) today on Tee Pee Records, and will be celebrating with a record release show this Friday at Glasslands in Brooklyn and further down in TX at SxSW.

Good Good Desperation track list
Side A
01. Preamble (pt II)
02. Island
03. Good Good Good Desperation
04. Worried Mind
05. Realms of Gold
Side B
01. 10,000 Black Masses (pt I)
02. Stranger
03. Seen the Light
04. Over the Mountain
05. Bury Me Standing

Hopewell tour dates
03.13.09 – Brooklyn, NY (Glasslands)
03.18.09 – SXSW Tee Pee Records Day Party (Skoot Inn)
03.20.09 – SXSW Day Party (Spiderhouse)
03.20.09 – SXSW Day Party (Guero’s)
03.21.09 – SXSW Live Music Capitol Day Party
03.21.09 – SXSW Showcase (Beauty Bar)

Many musicians try different sounds, vibes and configurations before hitting on one that seems to ring true. Josh Thomas had been through a couple of different bands prior to landing on the post-shoe gaze freak-out that is Kansas City’s High Diving Ponies.

There was Bodisartha, the Nirvana/Mudhoney alterna-grunge band that released two albums. Then came The Spidermums, a band the released a few EPs and got a mention in Pitchfork for their cover of The Amps’ “Bragging Party” that appeared on a compilation with Deerhunter. “Pitchfork is always looking for a reason to write about Deerhunter so I guess that’s how I wound up on there.”

But with High Diving Ponies, Josh says he wants to go in a entirely different direction. That’s one of the reasons his previous band is no more. “Bodisartha was too heavily associated with the Nirvana and the music I was making wasn’t fitting into that mold anymore. I just wanted to do something different.” Hence, High Diving Ponies.

The band pieced together with members of KC bluescore band The Factory Workers (Justin Brooks on drums and Al Amador on bass) along with friends Steve Williams on cello and Kyle Pugh on guitar. Although Thomas said he had the songs written before putting together the band, High Diving Ponies is not a one-man band. “We’ve come up with a lot just fucking around at practice. These guys bring out things I would have never thought of. The next record will be a totally collaborative effort.”

Thomas sights My Bloody Valentine, The Flaming Lips, Vivian Girls, Boo and Boo Too and The Beatles as music favorites that lead to the creation of HDP and a sound he affectionately calls “danger pop.” It is a swirling dream of effects, acoustic/electric guitars and vocals that sound like they were recorded in a room a thousand years wide. Traditional song craft, melody and structure stand hand in hand with anarchy and chaos. The three songs on the band’s MySpace page (“Muppets”, “Meatheads” and “I Smell Like Smoke”) are a step in the right, unsettling direction.

An album is in the works but Josh is taking his time with the release. “Hopefully it will be out this summer,” he said. “We’re almost done recording it but I want to sit on it a month and then go back and listen to it and make sure we still think it sounds right. There’s no rush to release it.” When it is released it will be on Circle View/Chomp Womp. And he will go the old school route: it will be DIY cds with spray painted covers — and if they can get the plates done cheap enough, Josh says he’d like to do vinyl, a limited run of about 300.

Though he considers him part of the “Chomp Womp Family”, a collective made up of Kansas City/ Lawrence, Kansas bands Baby Birds Don’t Drink Milk (previously featured in Notes From Middle America), Rooftop Vigilantes and many others, he stops short at calling himself part of the KC music community. “It’s not really a good scene,” he said. “There are no good radio stations, no good zines but there are some good venues. Maybe it is a good scene. I don’t know, I’m not part of it. I’m doing my own thing.”

If doing his own thing consists of surrounding himself with great musicians making strange, dreamy, at times violent and always thought-provoking music, it’s ok if he’s not part of a conventional scene. He knows what he wants to do, he’s good at it and that’s scene enough.

High Diving Ponies – “Muppets”

Many musicians try different sounds, vibes and configurations before hitting on one that seems to ring true. Josh Thomas had been through a couple of different bands prior to landing on the post-shoe gaze freak-out that is Kansas City’s High Diving Ponies.

There was Bodisartha, the Nirvana/Mudhoney alterna-grunge band that released two albums. Then came The Spidermums, a band the released a few EPs and got a mention in Pitchfork for their cover of The Amps’ “Bragging Party” that appeared on a compilation with Deerhunter. “Pitchfork is always looking for a reason to write about Deerhunter so I guess that’s how I wound up on there.”

But with High Diving Ponies, Josh says he wants to go in a entirely different direction. That’s one of the reasons his previous band is no more. “Bodisartha was too heavily associated with the Nirvana and the music I was making wasn’t fitting into that mold anymore. I just wanted to do something different.” Hence, High Diving Ponies.

The band pieced together with members of KC bluescore band The Factory Workers (Justin Brooks on drums and Al Amador on bass) along with friends Steve Williams on cello and Kyle Pugh on guitar. Although Thomas said he had the songs written before putting together the band, High Diving Ponies is not a one-man band. “We’ve come up with a lot just fucking around at practice. These guys bring out things I would have never thought of. The next record will be a totally collaborative effort.”

Thomas sights My Bloody Valentine, The Flaming Lips, Vivian Girls, Boo and Boo Too and The Beatles as music favorites that lead to the creation of HDP and a sound he affectionately calls “danger pop.” It is a swirling dream of effects, acoustic/electric guitars and vocals that sound like they were recorded in a room a thousand years wide. Traditional song craft, melody and structure stand hand in hand with anarchy and chaos. The three songs on the band’s MySpace page (“Muppets”, “Meatheads” and “I Smell Like Smoke”) are a step in the right, unsettling direction.

An album is in the works but Josh is taking his time with the release. “Hopefully it will be out this summer,” he said. “We’re almost done recording it but I want to sit on it a month and then go back and listen to it and make sure we still think it sounds right. There’s no rush to release it.” When it is released it will be on Circle View/Chomp Womp. And he will go the old school route: it will be DIY cds with spray painted covers — and if they can get the plates done cheap enough, Josh says he’d like to do vinyl, a limited run of about 300.

Though he considers him part of the “Chomp Womp Family”, a collective made up of Kansas City/ Lawrence, Kansas bands Baby Birds Don’t Drink Milk (previously featured in Notes From Middle America), Rooftop Vigilantes and many others, he stops short at calling himself part of the KC music community. “It’s not really a good scene,” he said. “There are no good radio stations, no good zines but there are some good venues. Maybe it is a good scene. I don’t know, I’m not part of it. I’m doing my own thing.”

If doing his own thing consists of surrounding himself with great musicians making strange, dreamy, at times violent and always thought-provoking music, it’s ok if he’s not part of a conventional scene. He knows what he wants to do, he’s good at it and that’s scene enough.

High Diving Ponies – “Muppets”

With no rhyme or reason, our editorial staff chooses the top 10 biggest music-related news stories of 2008. Coming in at #6: the My Bloody Valentine reunion.

Chances are if you’re a moody 30-something who wore slanted bangs before “emo” made it cool and thinks shoegaze was born and died with the release of Loveless, then undoubtedly My Bloody Valentine’s reunion at this year’s All Tomorrow’s Parties New York installment was your biggest news story of the year.

First reported on The Daily Swarm, with rumors swirling of the reunion, speculation was they would land at Coachella instead.

Is the long wait finally over? My Bloody Valentine, the legendary sonic sculptors of feedback and tremelo who helped define the shoegaze movement only to disband after releasing just two full length albums, is set to make its first live appearance in more than a decade at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, CA in April, 2008. According to sources in the United States and the United Kingdom who are familiar with the negotiations, the band is close to signing a deal that will see a reunited My Bloody Valentine headline Coachella, scheduled for April 25–27, before embarking on a world tour sometime later in 2008.

Of course that rumor was kind of correct. The band was reuniting and coming to the States, but as updated by NME, Coachella founder and organizer Paul Tollett explained why the legendary shoegazers will not be performing at the Coachella Festival this year.

“I was hanging out with (My Bloody Valentine frontman) Kevin (Shields) over at the Led Zeppelin (reunion concert in December), and he said it was just too early,” Tollett said. “Coachella’s in April and I don’t think they’ll be ready yet.”

Instead, as The Daily Swarm broke, they would be playing and curating the New York installment of ATP. And all it cost lucky waiting fans was $225. Oh, and another $450 – $1050 for accommodations. Hey, MBV never claimed to be a band of the people.

You can read how it all played out here.