This could absolutely revolutionize the entire Williamsburg busking scene. Forever. Q TV now has a feature entitled “How To” With Q that features indie-bands and acts showing you how to play their songs on guitar. Thus far, the show has featured the likes of Vampire Weekend (”A Punk”), The National (”Fake Empire,” “Slow Show”), Tegan & Sara (”Walking With A Ghost”) and Sondre Lerche’s bizarrely quirky 13-minute description of  “To Be Surprised”. The old dude near Union Square that covers “Landslide” every night is never going to know what hit him. Check out the  “A Punk” video above, the video for “Fake Empire” and “Slow Show” below. Also: practice your scales, man.
(Via: Stereogum)

Last night I was asked to witness an intimate performance by Washington DC-based folk artist Vandaveer at Ditmas Park’s Sycamore. The small basement of the lounge designed by Norwegian architect Ole Sondresen (who also designed The National’s studio, who as rumor has it, is also affiliated with Sycamore), was the ideal setting for the Kentucky-born musician.

The name Vandaveer actually refers to the performing pseudonym of singer/songwriter Mark Charles Heidinger, accompanied on this tour by back-up vocalist Rose Guerin. The ambiance of Sycamore’s performance space was akin to a combination of a sauna mixed with the hull of an old sail boat. It was both warming and slightly church-like (the seats were set up similar to pews as Mark pointed out), while at the same time a bit claustrophobic. This would have more to do with the candle lighting and flowers strewn about than the actual size of the room — it was almost funeral-esque.

Again, this was perfect for Vandaveer’s simple-yet-endearing formula of strong craftmanship with the honest tone of a seasoned musician. His upcoming album Divide & Conquer is already out in France, Switzerland and Belgium on Alter K. Records/Discograph, which will be preceded by a limited edition 7-inch Supply and Demand Records will be putting out.

Big concert, and currently, every mag large and small in New York is raving about how amazing it was. I had to come out to check out what was in store, as the lineup read like a who’s who of upper-echelon indie rock, crowned by Byrne, plus Sharon Jones!?!? Of course, when you pack this many acts into a night something has to give, and each artist performed four songs or less, sort of bite-sized micro-sets.

The highlights of the night were the David Byrne tunes from the Dark Was The Night comps over the years (including “Knotty Pine” w/ Dirty Projectors, “”Dreamworld: Marco de Canavezes” w/ Bon Iver, “Waters of March” w/ Feist and “Don’t Fence Me In” w/ drummer crew) which sounded amazing, the latter three evoking his African-cribbing heyday, an alternate version of “Flume” featuring Shara Worden (My Brightest Diamond), “Train Song,” Feist’s Vashti Bunyan cover from the compilation, and the finale where everyone came out at once to do “This Land Is Your Land” which got Sharon Jones REMIXED. I’m not usually one for venues this large, but the sound was incredibly crisp and clear. Lots of collabs, lots of memorable moments. I’ll let the other reviewers recount them to you:

BrooklynVegan
Stereogum
Rolling Stone
Happy Genius Heroes
PAPER mag
Metro Distortion
Quiet Color
Second Doubles
New York Rock Market
Music Mix, Entertainment Weekly
Black Raptor [w/ video]

Google Blog Search: Dark Was The Night

NPR is supposed to have video of the entire concert shortly.

We were only allowed to shoot for the first song of each act (ugh). Here’s what I came up with.

[Dirty Projectors w/ David Byrne]

[John Carlin of Dark Was The Night and Red Hot]

[My Brightest Diamond]

[The National.]

[Dave Sitek]

[David Byrne]

[intermission]

[Bon Iver]

[Feist]

[Sharon Jones]

[everyone]

Look who decides to make a cameo – Annie Clark (St. Vincent)!

The line-up for San Francisco’s second annual Outside Lands Music & Arts festival has been announced. The three-day festival will take place in late August at the Golden Gate park, and headliners include Pearl Jam, Beastie Boys, M.I.A. Dave Matthews Band, and… Tom Jones. (If that’s not enough to make you want to go by itself, than we don’t know what to tell you.)

The festival runs from August 28-30, and along with it’s diverse line up, the event offers some of the best food and wine in the California region, as well as providing various eco-friendly options — like recycling and a solar powered cell phone charging station — for concert-goers.

Along with the aforementioned headliners, other acts on the roster include Modest Mouse, TV on the Radio, Mastodon, Built To Spill, Atmosphere, Deerhunter, Portugal. The Man and Matt and Kim, among a whole bunch more. Tickets for the Outside Lands Music & Arts festival go on sale this Sunday, April 19, at 10 a.m. Some of the proceeds for each ticket sold also go to a good cause, helping benefit San Francisco’s Recreation and Park Department.

Outside Lands Music & Arts Festival Line-up
Pearl Jam
Dave Matthews Band
Beastie Boys
Incubus
Black Eyed Peas
M.I.A
Jason Mraz
Ween
The Mars Volta
Thievery Corporation
Modest Mouse
Band of Horses
TV on the Radio
Dead Weather
Atmosphere
Tom Jones
Silversun Pickups
The National
Q-Tip
Brett Dennen
Built To Spill
Mastodon
Raphael Saadiq
Calexico
Os Mutantes
Midnite
JJ Grey & Mofro
Kinky
Deerhunter
Lila Downs
Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue
The Dodos
Bettye LaVette
Dengue Fever
Heartless Bastards
The Dirtbombs
Lenka
Akron/Family
John Vanderslice
Matt and Kim
Portugal. The Man
The Morning Benders
The Duke Spirit
Zee Avi
Blind Pilot
SambaDa
Ryan Bingham
West Indian Girl
Extra Golden

Featured on The National-curated Dark Was the Night AIDS benefit compilation is the lovely “So Far Around the Bend”. We haven’t heard much from The National since their incredible Boxer LP in 2007, but “So Far” is the perfect place to catch up.

Matt Berninger’s token baritone hums like before, bright piano and light horns instantly gratify in their familiarity, and as always (my favorite indie-rock drummer) Bryan Devendorf beats along like a heartbeat giving the track its life. Berninger shows his mastery of poetics as he weaves peculiar imagery and blunt statements into one another seamlessly. The song is about a “serious lady living off a teacup full of cherries,” she’s “praying for Pavement to get back together.” She’s supposed to go somewhere, but will not be leaving New York City. This perfectly serene song makes me miss this woman I never knew, and Berninger’s nostalgic undertone makes me miss a place I’ve never been.

The National – “So Far Around The Bend”

Grizzly Bear and Final Fantasy brought the utmost maturity to indie rock this weekend, when they performed alongside the Brooklyn Philharmonic at The Brooklyn Academy of Music. Aside from debuting several songs from their upcoming May 26 Warp release, Veckatimest, Grizzly Bear were also joined by Bryce and Aaron Dessner of the National, as well as composer Nico Muhly and received a standing ovation after the final encore — their rendition of Gerry Goffin and Carole King’s “He Hit Me (It Felt Like a Kiss)”. And because Tripwire photographer Erez Avissar was there to catch it all, we can also tell you that the guys spent time with their folks backstage after the show and lead singer Ed Droste is starting to look a lot like Eugene Mirman’s bastard brother. Here is what Erez saw.