The Mountain Goats

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 23rd ²⁰⁰⁹

The Mountain Goats is the musical project of singer-songwriter and guitarist John Darnielle. The New Yorker magazine referred to him as “America’s best non-hip-hop lyricist”. In its June 2006 issue, Paste magazine named Darnielle one of the “100 Best Living Songwriters”. Darnielle’s lyrics are literate and filled with imagery that reference classic literature, religion and mythologies, pop culture, art and history. Others are vague references to his stepfather, and with the 2005 album The Sunset Tree Darnielle finally offers a more intimate account of his experience as an abused child.

Darnielle began performing under the name the Mountain Goats in 1991 in Claremont, California, where he attended Pitzer College and worked as a psychiatric nurse. The band’s name, the Mountain Goats, is a reference to the Screamin' Jay Hawkins song "Yellow Coat". Darnielle released his first album, Taboo VI: The Homecoming, on Shrimper Records. Many of his first recordings and performances featured Darnielle accompanied by members of the all-girl reggae band, The Casual Girls, who became known as The Bright Mountain Choir. One of this group’s members, Rachel Ware, continued to accompany Darnielle on bass, both live and in studio, until 1995.

Highly prolific, since the early 90s Darnielle has released over a dozen Mountain Goats albums, 6 full-length cassettes, various 7” singles, 10” and 12” EP’s and has contributed to compilations and label samplers too numerous to mention.

Recommended If You Like:

Okkervil River, John Vanderslice, Neutral Milk Hotel

Record Label: 4AD

Listen at: www.myspace.com/themountaingoats

Appearing at The Social on November 23rd 2009

8pm doors $17.00ADV $20.00DOS 18+ Welcome

Stellastarr*

Monday, November 16th ²⁰⁰⁹

While attending Brooklyn's Pratt Institute of the Arts in the late '90s, vocalist/guitarist Shawn Christensen, bassist Amanda Tannen, and drummer Arthur Kremer befriended one another for what would eventually become a musical journey. The threesome had barely grasped the beauty of their respective instruments, so forming the band Ghistor was an interesting move. It was a work in progress and a bond in the making, however short-lived. Christensen, Tannen, and Kremer eventually graduated and tried the corporate thing for a while. They reconnected in spring 2000 with former Charlotte's Funeral guitarist and Philly native Michael Jurin to form the indie rock outfit stellastarr*. A deal with Tiswas followed by 2002 and their EP Somewhere Across Forever appeared the next spring. After much acclaim from the media for the eponymously titled debut full-length, the group returned in 2005 with the follow-up effort Harmonies For The Haunted. In 2009 stellastarr* released Civilized on their own Bloated Wife Records.

Recommended If You Like:

The Bravery, Interpol, The Raveonettes

Record Label: Bloatedwife

Listen at: www.myspace.com/stellastarr

Appearing at The Social with So Help Me Rifle, and Drink Up Buttercup

7pm doors $13.00ADV $15.00DOS All Ages Welcome

Jay Brannan

WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 21^{st 2009}

Jay Brannan is a Texas born singer, actor, and songwriter. After finding homes all over the country to live in, and briefly attending University of Cincinnati’s acting school, he decided to plant his feet down in New York City. He played the role of Ceth in “Shortbus”, an indie film directed by John Cameron Mitchell. Relatively new to the music world, he has released several songs on iTunes and on his myspace page, has become extremely popular thanks to his YouTube profile, and has been keen on maintaining a self-produced, low-key website.

His songs hold many of the same universal themes other artists acclaim to, but with a more fresh, realistic, sometimes vulgar, understanding. This has made him a hero to other gay men and general audiences alike.

Recommended If You Like:

Chris Garneau, Scott Matthew, John LaMonica

Record Label: Great Depression

Listen at: www.myspace.com/jaybrannan

Appearing at The Social Wednesday October 21st

8pm doors $10.00 18+ Welcome

David Bazan

TUESDAY OCTOBER 13th ²⁰⁰⁹

The son of a pastor, David Bazan wasn't introduced to secular music until his early youth, an experience that helped fuel the Christian-influenced songwriting of his first project, Pedro The Lion. Bazan formed the band in 1995, mixing first-person narratives and nuanced indie rock with contributions from a rotating cast of musicians. Based in Seattle, the group released four albums, beginning with 1998's It's Hard To Find a Friend and concluding with 2004's Achilles Heel. Bazan stopped using the name in early 2006, but his musical aspirations continued with several other outfits.

Shortly after dropping the Pedro The Lion moniker, Bazan joined Nick Peterson and Starflyer 59's Frank Lenz to form the electronic pop outfit Headphones. He also began recording his own solo material, and 2006 saw the release of a solo EP entitled Fewer Moving Parts. The ten-track album featured five songs, each one given a full instrumentation effort as well as an acoustic rendition. Bazan even altered the songs' names depending on their arrangements. Named one of the Top 100 Living Songwriters by Paste Magazine, he spent the early portion of 2006 on tour in Europe with the Undertow Orchestra, an outfit featuring Vic Chesnutt Will Johnson, and Mark Eitzel. He headed to North America later that summer, supporting his EP's release with a tour alongside Micah P. Hinson. Three years later, Bazan released his full-length solo debut, Curse Your B, on the Barsuk label.

Recommended If You Like:

Damien Jurado, Pedro The Lion, Jeremy Enigk

Record Label: Barsuk

Listen at: www.myspace.com/davidbazan

Appearing at The Social with Say Hi

8pm doors $12.00adv $14.00dos All Ages

Frightened Rabbit

TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 29th  ²⁰⁰⁹

Playing clever but purposefully naïve pop in the manner of the Vaselines,the Twilight Sad, and the Clean, Frightened Rabbit sound a good bit bolder than their moniker would suggest, though it suits their lively but nervous musical personality. Frightened Rabbit was founded in Glasgow, Scotland, in 2004, when guitarist Scott Hutchison and his brother Grant, a percussionist who -- like his sibling -- prefers to keep his last name a secret, began recording demos of songs they had written. Encouraged by friends and family, the brothers added a second guitarist, their friend Billy, and the trio began making the rounds of Glasgow's pubs and music venues. Slowly but surely gaining a reputation for their work, Frightened Rabbit began work on their first album, initially planning to record at the home studio where they'd done their original demos but eventually opting to record at Glasgow's Diving Bell Studio with Marcus Mackay instead. 

Frightened Rabbit released Sing The Greys through their own label, Hits the Fan Records, in mid-2006. Reviews were enthusiastic, and Universal picked up the disc for distribution in the U.K. and the U.S. The group's reputation enjoyed a considerable boost in America after they played a well-received showcase at the 2007 South by Southwest Music Conference in Austin, TX, and the U.S. release of Sings only increased Frightened Rabbit's popularity. The band's sophomore release, Midnight Organ Flight, arrived in April 2008.

 

Recommended If You Like:

The Vaselines, The Long Winters, The Clean

Record Label: Fat Cat

Listen at: www.myspace.com/frightenedrabbit

 

Appearing at The Social with The Twilight Sad and We Were Promised Jetpacks

8pm doors $12.00 18+ Welcome

Fountain of Wayne

SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 19th  ²⁰⁰⁹

Although Fountains of Wayne didn't enjoy mainstream attention until the release of "Stacy's Mom" in 2003, the band had already established itself as one of America's strongest power pop acts. Based in New Jersey, the group first appeared in 1996 with a mix of British-influenced songcraft, lo-fi production, and wry lyrics about dead-end jobs and biker boyfriends. Fountains of Wayne expanded their lineup and embraced a more polished sound during the following years, eventually hitting gold with 2003's Welcome Interstate Managers. While the album proved to be something of a fluke success, the band continued releasing well-crafted records throughout the subsequent years. Meanwhile, co-founder Adam Schlesinger enjoyed a separate career as a producer and ghostwriter for other artists. 

Schlesinger first crossed paths with songwriter Chris Collingwood in 1986, while both were studying at Massachusetts' Williams College. Sharing a mutual affection for melodic British pop, the two formed a series of short-lived bands before recording an LP under the name Pinwheel. The duo split up after legal hassles blocked the album's release, with Schlesinger resurfacing as part of the indie pop band Ivy and Collingwood joining a Boston-based country group named the Mercy Buckets. The two musicians eventually reunited in 1996 as Fountains of Wayne, christening their band after a lawn ornament store in Wayne, NJ. Atlantic Records issued the duo's acclaimed self-titled LP that same year, and Schlesinger helped expand the band's profile by authoring the title song to the movie That Thing You Do! 

 

Recommended If You Like:

Weezer, They Might Be Giants, The Lemonheads

Record Label: Virgin Records

Listen at: www.myspace.com/fountainsofwayne

 

Appearing at The Social on September 19th 2009

9pm doors $17.00ADV $20.00DOS 18+ Welcome

Lee "Scratch" Perry

FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 04th  ²⁰⁰⁹

Some call him a genius, others claim he's certifiably insane, a madman. Truth is, he's both, but more importantly, Lee Perry is a towering figure in reggae -- a producer, mixer, and songwriter who, along with King Tubby, helped shape the sound of dub and made reggae music such a powerful part of the pop music world. Along with producing some of the most influential acts (Bob Marley and The Wailers and the Congos to name but two) in reggae history, Perry's approach to production and dub mixing was breathtakingly innovative and audacious -- no one else sounds like him -- and while many claim that King Tubby invented dub, there are just as many who would argue that no one experimented with it or took it further than did Lee Perry.

 

Recommended If You Like:

Augustus Pablo, King Tubby, The Upsetters

Record Label: Upsetter

Listen at: www.myspace.com/leescratchperry

 

Appearing at The Social on September 4th 2009

9pm doors $20.00ADV $25.00DOS 18+ Welcome

Four Year Strong

SUNDAY AUGUST 09th  ²⁰⁰⁹

Alan Day (Vocals/Guitar), Dan O’Conner (Vocals/Guitar), Joe Weiss (Bass), Josh Lyford (Synth), and Jake Massucco (Drums) are Four Year Strong. At first, this may not raise eyebrows or drop jaws, but it is only a matter of time. Bringing a unique blend of brutal breakdowns and soaring choruses, Four Year Strong have cut their teeth into the Worcester hardcore scene and thirst for more. Their music incites a riot like nothing seen before, leaving live crowds and CD listeners alike simultaneously blown away, and fired up. 

Their influences range from Lifetime to Saves the Day, Gorilla Biscuits to New Found Glory. “We just play exactly what we want to hear,” describes Dan, explaining their combination of hardcore and pop-punk. Sharing an average age of 20 years old, the five guys of Four Year Strong have already self-released an EP, making themselves known on the Smartpunk Top 100 sales and Purevolume’s “most played” charts. The band built their own stage sets, booked their own tours, and made music the way they want it to be made

 

Recommended If You Like:

Lifetime, Gorilla Biscuits, Saves The Day

Record Label: Decaydance

Listen at: www.myspace.com/fouryearstrong

 

Appearing at The Social with Set Your Goals, Polar Bear Club, Drive A, and Fireworks

6pm doors $12.00ADV $14.00DOS All Ages Welcome

The Fiery Furnaces & White Rabbits

Sunday August 23rd 2009

The Fiery Furnaces are an inventive and often challengingly experimental rock group from Brooklyn, New York. Originally from Oak Park, Illinois — a suburb of Chicago — they consist of the brother and sister team of Matthew Friedberger and Eleanor Friedberger, and are currently joined by Jason Loewenstein (Sebadoh), Bob D'amico and Michael Goodman when playing live on tour.. 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

White Rabbits come to New York via the arid plains of the Mid West. Although they have been in NYC for just over a year, they have managed to catch the attention of Say Hey Records and producer Chris Zane (Shy Child, Asobi Seksu, Les Savy Fav).

Lead by dual vocalists, Greg Roberts (Guitar / Vox) and Steve Patterson (Piano / Vox), the 6 piece is rounded out by Alex Even (Guitar / Vox), Adam Russell (Bass), Matt “The Duck” Clark (Drums) and Jamie Levinson (Drums). With a certain joie de vive, playfulness and charm White Rabbits thematically evoke ?the more decadent and bygone era of days spent on the green, old cinemas “Tourist Trap”, tragic mothers “Navy Wives”, and restrained, but no less awkward domestic disputes, with the first single, “The Plot.”

 

Recommended If You Like:

Frogeyes, Of Montreal, Destroyer, Marnie Stern

Record Label: Rough Trade / TBD

Listen at: www.myspace.com/thefieryfurnaces  www.myspace.com/whiterabbits

 

Appearing at The Social August 23rd 2009

9pm doors $13.00adv / $15.00dos  18+ welcome

Emery

FRIDAY AUGUST 05th  ²⁰⁰⁹

Like From Autumn To Ashes, Nora, and Hopesfall, Emery combines an alternative pop/rock foundation with elements of screamo and melodic hardcore. A Christian theme also runs throughout the band's music, which often examines the contrasts between Heaven/Hell, melody/brutality, and conventional singing/guttural screaming. 

 

Recommended If You Like:

Anberlin, Hopesfall, Glassjaw

Record Label: Tooth and Nail

Listen at: www.myspace.com/emery

 

Appearing at The Social with Maylene and The Sons of Disaster, Closure in Moscow, Secret & Whisper, Kiros

6pm doors $15.00 All Ages Welcome

K'Naan

FRIDAY JULY 24th  ²⁰⁰⁹

Born in Mogadishu, Somalia.  K'naan spent his childhood in the district of Wardhiigleey ("The River of Blood") and lived there during the Somalia Civil War, which began in 1991. His aunt, Magool, was one of Somalia's most famous singers. K'naan's grandfather, Haji Mohammed, was a poet. K'naan is also a Muslim. His name, K'naan, means "traveller" in the Somali language.

K'naan's father, Abdi, left the country, along with many other intellectuals to settle in New York City and work as a cab driver. He mailed money home to his family (As mentioned in "If Rap Gets Jealous). As the civil war continued and the situation in Somalia continued to deteriorate, K'naan's mother, Marian Mohamed, petitioned the United States embassy for an exit visa. In 1991, on the last day the US embassy remained open as the government of Mohamed Siad Barre collapsed their visa was approved, and they boarded the last commercial flight out of the country.

They joined relatives in Harlem, New York City, before moving to the Toronto, Ontario neighbourhood of Rexdale, where there was a large Somali Canadian community. His family still lives there. In his new country, K'naan began learning English, some through hip hop albums by artists like Nas and Rakim. Despite speaking no English, the young K'naan taught himself hip hop and rap diction, copying the lyrics and style phonetically. He then also began rapping. He dropped out of school in grade ten to travel for a time, rapping at open mic events, and eventually returned to Toronto.

 

Recommended If You Like:

Sage Francis, Mos Def, Talib Kweli

Record Label: A&M

Listen at: www.myspace.com/iamknaan

 

Appearing at The Social

9pm doors $13.00ADV / $15.00DOS 18+ Welcome

CKY

WEDNESDAY JULY 29th  ²⁰⁰⁹ 

CKY (short for “Camp Kill Yourself”) is a 4-piece rock band consisting of Deron Miller (vocals, guitar, bass), Chad I Ginsburg (guitar, vocals, bass), Jess Margera (drums), and Matt “Dice” Deis (bass). Deron and Chad both played bass on all 4 of their albums, but Matt will take over when they do their next album and has now taken over for their live shows. They share their name with a series of skate videos produced by Bam Margera, who is the brother of the drummer. CKY’s music has been featured in the four CKY videos and Jackass, and the track Quite Bitter Beings from their album Volume 1 also featured on the video game Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3

 

Recommended If You Like:

Gnarkill, Clutch, Andrew W.K.

Record Label: Volcom Entertainment

Listen at: www.myspace.com/CKY

 

Appearing at The Social with ASG and Graveyard

6pm doors $15.00ADV / $17.00DOS All Ages Welcome

Ace Enders & A Million Different People

SUNDAY JULY 19th  ²⁰⁰⁹ 

Ace Enders was the front man of Jersey’s well known rock outfit The Early November. The band was a part of west coast indie label Drive-thru records and an essential part of the independent scene. As a part of T.E.N. Ace released records “For All of This,” “The Room Is Too Cold,” and controversial triple disc “The Mother the Mechanic the Path” not to mention a successful record for his solo project I Can Make A Mess Like Nobody’s Business. After collectively selling nearly 450,000 records over the past few years, the band went their separate ways in the summer of 2007. Summer 2008, Ace Enders recently finished a 3 month tour with Angels and Airwaves and is about to embark on a summer-long tour with Cute is What We Aim For. Earlier this year he completed a new record with producer Mark Weinberg (Matt Nathanson, Elliot Yamin) slated for release in March on Drive-thru and Vagrant Records. In addition he completed his record “The Secret Wars” finally fulfilling a long time goal of his to give away a full length record for free. The record is available right on fuse.tv for download now! Currently being billed as “Ace Enders and a Million Different People.”

 

Recommended If You Like:

The Early November, The Starting Line, Manchester Orchestra

Record Label: Drive-Thru

Listen at: www.myspace.com/aceendersandamilliondifferentpeople

 

Appearing at The Social with Person L, The Gay Blades, The Dangerous Summer, and School Boy Humor

6pm doors $12.00 All Ages Welcome

The Avett Brothers

FRIDAY JULY 17th  ²⁰⁰⁹ 

North Carolina's Avett Brothers play acoustic music that has roots in traditional folk and bluegrass, but also captures the high spirits and no-boundaries attitude of rock & roll -- which is appropriate, since rock is where Scott Avett and Seth Avett cut their teeth as musicians. 

 

Recommended If You Like:

Felice Brothers, Wilco, Old Crow Medicine Show

Record Label: Ramseur

Listen at: www.myspace.com/theavettbrothers

 

Appearing at House Of Blues July 17th 2009

With Matt Butcher & The Revolvers

7:30pm doors All Ages Welcome $23.25 Advance / $26.25 Day of Show

The Starlight Mints

THURSDAY JULY 2nd  ²⁰⁰⁹ 

Starlight Mints -- vocalist/guitarist Allan Vest, keyboardist Marian Love Nunez, bassist Javier Gonzales, drummer Andy Nunez, and guitarist Matt Goad -- began jamming together in the '90s as a seven-person band complete with orchestra, giving birth to their own funky brand of heavily instrumental -- think cello, violin, triangle, and sound effects -- surrealistically worded pop sound. Vest's nasally yet skillful voice is like a cross between Pixie legend Frank Black's tenor and Violent Femmes frontman Gordon Gano's cracking throat.

 

Recommended If You Like:

Pavement, The Flaming Lips, Pizzicato Five

Record Label: Barsuk

Listen at: www.myspace.com/starlightmints

 

Appearing at The Social July 2nd 2009

With The Evangelicals and The Pauses

9pm doors 18+ $10.00 Advance / $12.00 Day of Show

Pop Off: The Death of a Party

WEDNESDAY JUNE 24st  ²⁰⁰⁹ 

Urban Dictionary definition.

pop off
	(v.) To lose one's cool; become really pissed off. The idiom is in reference to a pressure cap popping off, usually resulting in a nasty burn or imminent explosion. Thus, the person who caused the pop off is about to get told or be destroyed, depending on the nature and severity of the inflammatory incident.

 

With Fishdicks and Hardersauce, Rocksteady Soundsystem, VJ Jay, and Etoile Boutique slingin' the best in handmade and vintage textiles. Enter through the alley past Planet Pizza on Washington Street.

Recommended If You Like:

Mikey from The Spitvalves in 2009, 

Record Label: 

Listen at: www.myspace.com/popoffparty

18+ 9PM Doors $3

John Vanderslice & The Tallest Man On Earth

SUNDAY JUNE 21st  ²⁰⁰⁹ 

“Growing up in Florida and Georgia before moving to Potomac, MD, at the age of 11, indie rock innovator John Vanderslice grew up listening to a mix of Led Zeppelin, Creedence Clearwater Revival, the Kinks, and Southern rock, which instilled an eclectic musical vocabulary. Forced into piano lessons as a child, he eventually picked up the guitar in the eighth grade and formed several bands during his teen years. His songwriting added influences from David Bowie, the Beatles, Bob Dylan, King Crimson, XTC, and early Genesis, culminating in his five-year tenure with the much-heralded experimental pop band MK Ultra. Their collaboration produced three well-received albums and resulted in an opening spot on two Sunny Day Real Estate American tours.

Vanderslice also started Tiny Telephone, a small recording studio, in 1997. Boasting a variety of respected and experienced house engineers, Tiny Telephone gained a reputation as an affordable recording outlet for San Francisco’s indie rock community. It also produced Vanderslice’s solo debut, Mass Suicide Occult Figurines, in 2000. The album drew a substantial amount of critical praise for its meticulously crafted pop-perfect sound. The prolific Vanderslice issued the Time Travel Is Lonely and Life and Death of an American Fourtracker LPs over the next two years, and solidified his reputation as a literate, ever-curious songwriter and sonic technician.

As he experimented with character-driven themes, he recorded the brilliantly convoluted Cellar Door in 2004 and Pixel Revolt in 2005, and after a series of tours, in July 2007 Barsuk Records released Emerald City, yet another highly conceptual and artistic endeavor, followed by Romanian Names in 2009.” —Matt Fink, allmusic.com

 

Recommended If You Like:

Pedro The Lion, Olivia Tremor Control, Beulah

Record Label: Barsuk

Listen at: www.myspace.com/johnvanderslice

 

Appearing at The Social With

The Tallest Man On Earth

18+ 8PM Doors $12

Richard Cheese & Lounge Against The Machine

SATURDAY JUNE 13th  ²⁰⁰⁹ 

Cheese's uncensored and "swankified" covers of Nine Inch Nail's' "Closer" and Nirvana's "Rape Me" quickly found favor with morning shock jocks on the radio and novelty music fans in the record stores. The CNN cable network and The Los Angeles Times profiled him and he soon landed a gig as co-host and bandleader on MTV's Say What Karaoke series. His second album, Tuxicity appeared in 2002 and featured swinging covers of Van Halen's "Hot for Teacher" and Sir Mix-A-Lot's "Baby Got Back".

 

Recommended If You Like:

Weird Al Yankovic, Ween, Me First & The Gimme Gimmes

Record Label: Converge Records

Listen at: www.myspace.com/richardcheese

 

Appearing at The Plaza Theatre 

8pm doors 18+ $35.00 

SPECIALS: There will be 50 meet & greet tickets which also guarantee a set in the first 50 seats for $55 

Chuck Ragan  (Hot Water Music)

FRIDAY JUNE 12th  ²⁰⁰⁹ 

With his emotional and gravel-coated bellow, vocalist/guitarist Chuck Ragan made a name for himself as one-fourth of the much loved Gainesville post-hardcore outfit Hot Water Music before releasing his first solo album in 2007. His newest release is titled "Feast or Famine" which debuted on SideOneDummy Records.

 

Recommended If You Like:

Hot Water Music, The Draft, Lucero

Record Label: SideOneDummy

Listen at: www.myspace.com/chuckragan

 

Appearing at The Social With

Christina Wagner

18+ 9PM Doors $12