Tag Archives: highline ballroom

THE BIRTHDAY MASSACRE

The Birthday Massacre will be partying at the Highline Ballroom on September 10 (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Highline Ballroom
431 West 16th St. between Ninth & Tenth Aves.
Friday, September 10, $12-$15, 7:00
212-414-5994
www.highlineballroom.com
www.myspace.com/thebirthdaymassacre

Chibi, Rainbow, M. Falcore, Rhim, O.E., and Owen, better known as the Birthday Massacre, will be at the Highline Ballroom on September 10 celebrating the impending release of their latest album, PINS AND NEEDLES (Metropolis, September 14). On the new record, the Toronto-based band rocks harder and louder than ever, letting loose with big-sounding power pop on such anthemic tracks as “Pale” and “Control,” heavy synths melding with blasting guitars over and under Chibi’s sly vocals. Tunes such as “Midnight,” “Sleepwalking,” and “Pins and Needles” threaten to explode at any moment — and then do. TBM also knows how to rock out live; just don’t be put off by the gothic metal makeup, black costumes, black hair, tattoos, and demonic signage. At heart, they’re just a bunch of pussycats. Well, maybe. To get a feel for what you’re in for, check out their video for the album’s first single, “In the Dark”; don’t say we didn’t warn you. Twitch the Ripper and Black Tape for a Blue Girl open the show.

FRANZ NICOLAY

Franz Nicolay will be playing various different types of shows all over town in September (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Thursday, September 2, Highline Ballroom, 431 West 16th St., $10-$12, 8:00
Wednesday, September 15, the Tank, 354 West 45th St., 7:00
Sunday, September 26, Vivo in Vivo, 215 East Fourth St., $25, 8:00
www.myspace.com/franznicolay
www.sinkingshipproductions.com

In a recent interview with novelist Peter Bognanni for InDigest magazine, Brooklyn musician Franz Nicolay mentioned “restlessness” as one of the reasons why he never stays too long in one band and keeps trying new things. He is one restless dude, because over the last ten years or so he’s been part of the art collective Anti-Social Music, the World/Inferno Friendship Society, Against Me!, Guignol, and, most famously, the Hold Steady. He plays the piano, accordion, guitar, mandolin, saw, and harmonica. He wears funky hats and has a weird mustache. And he makes a lot of great music. His solo work has included the January 2009 full-length MAJOR GENERAL and the October 2009 EP ST. SEBASTIAN OF THE SHORT STAGE, and he and Guignol teamed up with Philly’s Mischief Brew on the outstanding FIGHT DIRTY, packing them in at Shea Stadium (the tiny Brooklyn club) for a great night of Gypsy punk last December. This month, Nicolay will be all over the place, celebrating the upcoming release of LUCK AND COURAGE (October 12, Team Science/Sabot), a terrific concept album about a nation of two that we’ve been listening to a lot more than we have the last few Hold Steady records. Influenced by Kurt Vonnegut, Cormac McCarthy, and Nicole Krauss, the literary-minded Nicolay, who also writes short stories for InDigest and participates in the Bushwick Book Club mash-up of books and music, called in lots of his friends to contribute to LUCK AND COURAGE, including drummer Brian Viglione from the Dresden Dolls, bassist Yula Be’eri from the World/Inferno Friendship Society, and pianist Maria Sonevytsky from the Debutante Hour, in addition to Gutbucket saxophonist Ken Thomson, Demander guitarist Jared Scott, Son Volt pedal steel guitarist Mark Spencer, Lazarus Quartet trumpeter Ben Holmes, and Pearl and the Beard cellist Emily Hope Price. Nicolay & Major General will be at the Highline Ballroom on September 2 with Eddie the Gun and Yula Be’eri; Nicolay will then be doing Talking Heads covers with puppets at the Tank’s Puppet Playlist on September 15 before playing a solo gig September 16 at the wine salon Vivo in Vivo. And who knows what’s next…

PLAYBOY ROCK THE RABBIT

Elizabeth Harper and Class Actress are part of sexy triple bill at Highline Ballroom (photo by Bek Andersen )

Highline Ballroom
431 West 16th St. between Ninth & Tenth Aves.
Wednesday, August 25, $12-$15, 8:00
212-414-5994
www.highlineballroom.com
www.playboy.com

Playboy’s annual Rock the Rabbit puts together hot bands with cool designers (or is that cool bands with hot designers?) who join forces to create special-edition T-shirts for Playboy. All summer long, Rock the Rabbit bands and Playboy playmates have been showing off the new tees at the Ibiza Rocks Hotel, with concerts featuring such bands as LCD Soundsystem, Maximo Park, Florence and the Machine, Calvin Harris, Soulwax, Bombay Bicycle Club, and Dizzee Rascal. But you don’t have to head to the party island of Ibiza to join in the fun. On August 25, playmates Lauren Anderson (Miss July 2002) and Shannon James (Miss May 2007) will host a Rock the Rabbit evening at the Highline Ballroom, with a stellar musical lineup that includes Ha Ha Tonka, Class Actress, and Bear Hands. The four-piece Ozark band Ha Ha Tonka investigates the South’s “horrific past” while celebrating its reputation for “enormous hospitality” on gospel-tinged pop songs such as “Hold My Feet to the Fire” and “The Outpouring.” Brooklyn singer Elizabeth Harper unleashes sexy hooks in such synth-pop numbers as “Journal of Ardency,” “Adolescent Heart,” and “Let Me Take You Out.” And Brooklyn quartet Bear Hands are rising stars in the indie scene, scoring success with their recent three-song EP WHAT A DRAG and having recently played at the Whitney.

RACHID TAHA

Rachid Taha wows ’em at SummerStage back in 2008 (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Highline Ballroom
431 West 16th St.
Sunday, June 13, 8:00
Tickets: $20
www.myspace.com/taharachid
www.highlineballroom.com

Algerian star Rachid Taha defies categorization, playing an exciting mix of North African instruments, power pop, French cabaret, punk, techno, and raï folk to create his own intriguing sound. As evidenced by his July 2008 performance at SummerStage, in which he was deluged with love from an adoring fan base who knew the words to every one of his songs, he is an ultracool, hip, compelling melding of Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, Serge Gainsbourg, Charles Aznavour, and Frank Sinatra. He arrives at the Highline Ballroom on June 13 touring behind his latest album, the solid if overly melodramatic BONJOUR (Knitting Factory, June 2010), which features such tunes as “Je T’Aime Mon Amour,” “Mabrouk Aalik,” and “It’s an Arabian Song” GlobeSonic DJ Fabian Alsultany opens the show.

GOREVETTE

Gorevette will drive into the Highline Ballroom with its lustful garage punk

Highline Ballroom
431 West 16th St. between Ninth & Tenth Aves.
Wednesday, March 24, $20, 7:00
212-414-5994
www.highlineballroom.com
www.myspace.com/gorevette

“I wanna be like Nikki Corvette,” the Donnas declared on their 1998 song “Gimmie My Radio.” A dozen years later, the Donnas find themselves on the same inspired bill as the Detroit rock-and-roller, who has teamed up with Amy Gore of the Gore Gore Girls to form Gorevette. Along with GGG bassist Lianna Castillo and Powertrane drummer Al King, Gorevette melds 1970s punk with 1990s garage rock on their debut EP, LUSTFULLY YOURS (Strange Girl, January 2010), consisting of seven songs that would make the Runaways jealous. The tunes fly by on a smooth sonic wave, from the Ramones-like “Baby Let’s Rock,” the shortest song on the album at 1:59, to the cool title track, the longest number at a mere 2:39. Radio Birdman’s Deniz Tek adds a stirring guitar solo to album opener “Nothings Gonna Stop Me,” a 1960s girl-group sound drives “Honey Don’t You Know?,” pretty background vocals lift “Fake It,” and harder-edged guitars power “Brand New Lover” and “Candy Man.” Gorevette will pull into the Highline Ballroom on March 24, playing with the Donnas and New York City indie band Russian Vogue.

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Also this week, the Black Lips and Box Elders are at the Bowery Ballroom on March 24, Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School of Medicine, Witch Hunt, and Disaster Strikes are at the Brooklyn Masonic Temple on March 25, the Ruby Suns and Toro y Moi are at Brooklyn Bowl on March 26, Love Is All is at Maxwell’s on March 27 with Crystal Stilts and Beachniks and at the Knitting Factory on March 28 with Beach Fossils and the Beets, and Vivian Girls and German Measles are at Brooklyn Bowl on March 28.

CRACKER / CAMPER VAN BEETHOVEN

Cracker and Camper Van Beethoven will mix things up at the Highline on January 15 (photo by Danny Clinch)

Highline Ballroom
431 West 16th St. between Ninth & Tenth Aves.
Friday, January 15, $22-$25, 8:30
212-414-5994
www.myspace.com/crackerhatesmyspace
www.highlineballroom.com

David Lowery will be doing double duty on January 15 as he brings both Cracker and Camper Van Beethoven to the Highline Ballroom. Cracker, the Virginia-based band that has scored such hits as “Teen Angst,” “Low,” “Get Off This,” and one of the great live songs of all time, “Euro-Trash Girl,” will be featuring songs from their latest album, the excellent SUNRISE IN THE LAND OF MILK AND HONEY (429 Records, September 2009). Although the disc is filled with Lowery’s trademark ironic sense of humor and cofounder Johnny Hickman’s infectious guitar hooks, the songs were written for the first time as a group, with drummer Frank Funaro and bassist Sal Maida pitching in. Harking back to the sound of the late 1970s and early 1980s, the foursome packs quite a punch on such fine tunage as “Show Me How This Thing Works,” “Hand Me My Inhaler,” and the instant Cracker classic “Turn on Tune in Drop Out with Me,” getting help from such friends as Counting Crows leader Adam Duritz, Drive-By Trucker Patterson Hood, and X man John Doe along the way. Opening up will be Lowery’s seminal country folk punk outfit, CVB, whose current incarnation consists of longtime members Victor Krummenacher on bass, Greg Lisher on guitar, and Jonathan Segel on violin and other instruments, with Funaro sitting behind the drum kit. CVB is responsible for such critical cuts as “Take the Skinheads Bowling,” “New Roman Times,” “Might Makes Right,” and “Joe Stalin’s Cadillac,” with Lowery getting more specifically political than he does with Cracker. This is one of those don’t-miss shows you’ll regret not going to, so we hope to see you there.

Johnny Hickman and David Lowery have a blast at Cracker / Camper Van Beethoven show at the Highline Ballroom (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Update: Grizzly-bearded David Lowery did double duty at the Highline Ballroom on January 15, first playing a 100-minute set with Camper Van Beethoven, followed by another two hours with Cracker. The first set was a rousing look back at the history of seminal indie rockers CVB, dominated by Lowery’s politically tinged lyrics and Jonathan Segel’s virtuosic violin playing. Along with such favorites as “Take the Skinheads Bowling,” “Eye of Fatima,” and “Joe Stalin’s Cadillac,” the band covered the Clash’s “White Riot,” Black Flag’s “Wasted,” and the Status Quo’s “Pictures of Matchstick Men,” which was an MTV hit for them more than twenty years ago. After a break, Lowery returned with Cracker for a more amiable, freewheeling set as he told long stories about a grandmother requesting “the song about the whore” (“Eurotrash Girl”), performing “Yalla Yalla” in Iraq, and claiming that “Merry Christmas, Emily” was one of the only Christmas songs about a Jew. Guitarist and cofounder Johnny Hickman, looking resplendent in a dazzling white suit, led the way on “Lonesome Johnny Blues” and Bob Dylan’s “The Man in Me.” The night ended with members of both bands jamming through an extended take on the Pink Floyd acid instrumental “Interstellar Overdrive.” (For a slideshow and the setlist, go here.)

AU REVOIR SIMONE

Au Revoir Simone headlines trio of Brooklyn bands at the Highline Ballroom

Highline Ballroom
431 West 16th St. between Ninth & Tenth Aves.
Thursday, January 7, $15-$20, 7:00
212-414-5994
www.highlineballroom.com
www.myspace.com/aurevoirsimone

In 2007, Heather D’Angelo, Erika Foster, and Annie Hart delighted us with THE BIRD OF MUSIC, but their follow-up, the brand-new, stripped-down STILL NIGHT, STILL LIGHT (Our Secret Record Company, May 2009), took them to the next level. Through twelve intimate songs, the three keyboardists sing about love and loss, backed primarily by a drum machine (and some live drumming by Ben McConnell and Otto Hauser on a few songs). “I’m moving on / I hope you’re coming with me / ’cause I’m not strong / without you,” they sing on the gently pulsating “Shadows,” which beats like an aching heart. On the stark “The Last One,” they declare, “I’m the one to forget / the one you won’t regret / So let me go.” And as clear as “Take Me as I Am” and the mostly instrumental “Only You Can Make You Happy” are, “Trace a Line” is more mysterious in sound and lyrics as they sing, “We’re making room for alibis / when something tells me telling lies / is only ever trying to be true.” STILL NIGHT, STILL LIGHT is a gorgeous, infectious record, another beautiful collection of heartfelt songs by one of Brooklyn’s best minimalist groups. Au Revoir Simone will be playing the Highline Ballroom on January 7 with fellow Brooklynites Class Actress and up-and-coming solo artist Alexa Wilding.