Surfer Blood

Howler

This Weekend In New York: The Gories, Black Dice, And Real Estate Go Beyond Brooklyn

In Waste Of Paint, our writer/artist team of Jamie Peck and Debbie Allen will review goings-on about town in words and images. Remember when you had to drive an hour to a town you'd never been to just to see whatever D.I.Y. shit was going down in your state that weekend? You'd bitch about it at the ... More >>

Live: The Drums Bring A Dance Party To Both Sides Of The River

​The Drums Bowery Ballroom/Music Hall of Williamsburg November 2/3 Better than: Staying home wondering why 30 Rock isn't on but Whitney is. When I was a little kid, my parents used to have dinner parties that would always devolve into dancing by the second half of the evening. I'd sneak dow ... More >>

CMJ Announces Second Round Of Performers: J Mascis, Zomby, Kendrick Lamar, And More

Surfer Blood, who once upon a time was "just some band." ​ Last month the CMJ Music Marathon—coming to the city's music venues from October 18 through 22—announced the first batch of artists that would be playing next month's industry confab; that list included (among others) Neon ... More >>

Live: Weezer And The Flaming Lips Share And Share Alike At The PNC Arts Center

By Nick Minichino Weezer/Flaming Lips w/Yeasayer PNC Bank Arts Center Thursday, July 28 Better than: Not seeing Bush at the Bowery Ballroom. It's extremely easy to forget the advantages of an large-scale concert if you've gone, say, a decade eschewing such shows. Massive venues with lawn seatin ... More >>

Live: Guided By Voices Reconfigure Time And Space

Guided By Voices w/Wavves, Surfer Blood McCarren Park Saturday, June 18, 2011 Better than: Just hearing the show without seeing it, which is what everyone who lives on my street got to do anyway. It's long been gospel that you can't tell Robert Pollard anything. Attempts by well-meaning biz type ... More >>

Q & A: Chunklet's Henry Owings On The Indie Cred Test, Not Being A Hipster, And Paying Tribute To Jerry Fuchs

Ian Cone​The 100 Biggest Assholes in Rock Issue, The Shit List Issue, The Overrated, The Rock Bible--Chunklet mastermind Henry Owings redefined the 'zine aesthetic with his deliciously wisecracking, ass-chewing tongue, dumping on everyone and their mother while taking a little bit of time to e ... More >>

Surfer Blood+And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead

Announcing the 2011 Village Voice and Frank 151 SXSW Party, Featuring the Wu-Tang Clan, Yelawolf, Wild Flag, Fishbone, and More

Rocky Business at the Mercury Lounge last week. Photo by Nate "Igor" Smith.​With three weeks to go and counting, we figured we might as well make it official: please join us in welcoming the 2011 Village Voice SXSW party, presented in concert with Frank 151, and starring the Wu-Tang Clan, Fish ... More >>

CMJ Day Three: Maximum Balloon Deal With Dance-Music Bias At Pitchfork's #Offline Festival

Electronic musicians are people too. Pic by Puja.​Maximum Balloon Brooklyn Bowl Thursday, October 21 Last night, Pitchfork kicked off their #Offline Festival -- a three-day, anti-CMJ stint at Brooklyn Bowl. For many, this is a neatly packaged delivery of the bigger buzz bands of 2010, featuri ... More >>

Five Reasons You Should Attend Quiet Color's Destined-To-Be-Bonkers "Anti-CMJ" Loftspace Blowout With Sisters and Special Guests Tonight

1. Last year, the Quiet Color show at the Market Hotel had the two major breakout bands from CMJ 2009--Surfer Blood and Sleigh Bells. "We do pride ourselves as being slightly ahead of the curve," says Quiet Color founder/editor-in-chief Alex Pellerano. "Not to be pretentious about it, but it was ... More >>

CMJ Day Two: Surfer Blood And The Drums Stand Triumphant At Webster Hall

The Drums, willing to pretend they're paying Madison Square Garden themselves. Photos by Nick, more below.​The Drums/Surfer Blood/The Young Friends/The Dewars Webster Hall Wednesday, October 20 Better Than: There were how many performances yesterday? It had to be better than the vast majority ... More >>

Devo+the Drums

Your CMJ 2010 Panels, Cynically Summarized: Day 1 (Tuesday)

​It begins. Tonight scores of idealistic youngsters will descend on the clubs of New York City for CMJ 2010, vying to find, amid this year's slate of thousands of challengers, this year's Surfer Blood, Sleigh Bells, or, uh, Black Kids. The official showcase schedule is here. Have at it. But le ... More >>

Is Kingmaking At CMJ A Real Thing Or An Act of Futility? Our Critics Discuss

Titus Andronicus play Webster Hall during last year's CMJ. Photo by Rebecca Smeyne​Ah, the first day of CMJ: a moment of optimism, possibility, and prophecy. Even now every website and publication with any kind of music-related bent is scrambling to post guides and predictions, links to MySpac ... More >>

Q&A: What Is CMJ For In 2010?

Surfer Blood at CMJ last year, before they were Webster Hall type of guys. Photo by Rebecca Smeyne.​Last week, we spoke with CMJ Showcase Director Matt McDonald about the upcoming music festival and Pitchfork's #Offline-led incursion upon it. Below, read the second half of our conversation, wh ... More >>

Why Pitchfork Is Challenging CMJ With Their #Offline Festival

Screaming Females at CMJ, last year. Photo by Rebecca Smeyne.​In case there was any doubt, it's now official: next week's Pitchfork-sponsored #Offline Festival will have no CMJ affiliation whatsoever. "This is purely a Pitchfork event," a representative for the website told us yesterday: "just ... More >>

'CMJ: PS I Love You+Soft Reeds+Dear Comrade'

RAPPER’S DELIGHT

CMJ kicks off with a hip-hop reunion

CMJ 2010 Announces 700 More Artists: Phoenix, GZA, Francis and the Lights, Screaming Females, Franz Nicolay, and More

Our hero, Screaming Females frontlady Marissa Paternoster, at Siren. Photo by Rebecca Smeyne.​The second round of artists announcements is out, and it's the big one--count on newly installed acts Phoenix, GZA, Screaming Females, Extra Lens, Francis and the Lights, et al, to be your headliners, ... More >>

CMJ 2010 Initial Line-Up Announced: Surfer Blood, Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Ghostface Killah, the Blow, Salem, and More

Surfer Blood play Cake Shop during last year's CMJ. Photo by Rebecca Smeyne.​Hey, remember last year, when we predicted that the stresses of Surfer Blood's twelve different CMJ shows would cause the band to self-destruct? Um, that's not at all what happened. Instead, the Florida band rode thei ... More >>

Drake's Thank Me Later Goes Platinum

According to Drake, anyway. In reality, he seems stuck around the 850,000 mark--close, maybe even inevitably close, but not there yet. Should he finally limp across that line (at the rate he's selling, it'll take another three weeks), he'll be just the second rapper--after Eminem--to sell a millio ... More >>

The Fake Retirement of Ted Leo

Rumors aside, the mod-punk icon still gives a fuck. Maybe too much of one.

SIREN SERENADE

We're the best! We rule! Yay, us!

Siren Festival 2010 Line-Up Additions: Ponytail, Dom, Holy Fuck, Apache Beat

The tenth-anniversary line-up of the our Siren Festival is already stacked. Matt & Kim, Ted Leo, Surfer Blood, Pains of Being Pure at Heart, the Night Marchers, Screaming Females, Earl Greyhound, Wye Oak, Cymbals Eat Guitars, Harlem. But as of this morning, there're four new names to add to that l ... More >>

We Are Scientists Playing Siren Festival 2010 After-Party at the Music Hall of Williamsburg

photo by Dan Monick Continuing along with Siren Fest's tenth-anniversary theme of rehosting past performers, Brooklyn-based We Are Scientists (Siren Festival, class of 2007) have been tapped to play the Music Hall of Williamsburg after-party on Saturday, July 17. Tickets go on sale tomorrow at noon ... More >>

New Siren Festival Additions!: The Night Marchers, Cymbals Eat Guitars, Earl Greyhound, Wye Oak, and Screaming Females

​If the ace, tenth-anniversary themed line-up of our very own Siren Festival--featuring Matt & Kim, Ted Leo, Surfer Blood, Pains of Being Pure at Heart, and Harlem--wasn't convincing you, how about some new additions? San Diego ex-Hot Snakes guitar slingers The Night Marchers, the tiny firebra ... More >>

Summer Guide: Kelis Tries For A Rebound

With her new album Flesh Tone, the "Milkshake" singer tries on some club-pop

Week in Review: May Day

Salute. Photo by Sam Horine.​In the week we finally got to unleash the initial Siren Festival details on the world (July 17! 10th anniversary! Matt & Kim, Ted Leo, Surfer Blood, Pains of Being Pure at Heart, and Harlem! Totally free!), we celebrated Cinco De Mayo like Anna Wintour, Pharrell, a ... More >>

Announcing the Siren Festival 2010 Tenth Anniversary Line-Up: Matt & Kim, Ted Leo, Surfer Blood, Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Harlem

Paul Antonson This year, we proudly celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Siren Festival. In the history of the our free Coney Island corndog bonanza, no band has ever played Siren twice. This was a conscious decision on behalf of our fearless festival founder and organizer (who we've kindly rewar ... More >>

Presenting The Ultimate Record Store Day Guide: See Some Music, Buy Some Music, Or Make Your Own

​It's that special time of the year again: Record Store Day, which is like Teacher Appreciation Day for independent record stores. Saturday, to celebrate their tenacity, among other things, record stores around the city are holding performances, releasing exclusives, and offering once-in-a-blu ... More >>

Superchunk Talks With Us About Their Last Show Ever, Which Will Never Happen

After chatting backstage at the Village Voice Media SXSW party with Surfer Blood (who told us about their Twittering philosophy), and Pains of Being Pure at Heart (who recounted an innocently embarrassing incident involving a condom), we cornered Merge Records honchos/Superchunk leaders Mac McCaug ... More >>

Surfer Blood Explain Their Twittering Philosophy Backstage at the Village Voice SXSW Party

Supposed to be a "secret" who's in charge, but all we had to do is ask. The answer is. . . in the video. "A lot of the things I Twitter are the things I hear other dudes say," the Surfer Blood with the password explains. To wit, this gem: "Anyone remember the frozen Han Solo toy? All you could re ... More >>

CHICK FACTOR

The guys of Girls play with actual girls

The Village Voice SXSW Party Was Really Spectacular And We're Not Just Saying That Because These People Employ Us

photo by S. Taylor Not a clunker in the bunch of this year's VVM SXSW afternoon party at La Zona Rosa: Surfer Blood, the Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Superchunk, the xx. Surfer Blood, who'd by now lost count which number show this was, opened--and they are, as we later discovered, the nicest kids ... More >>

The Ventures