Ironminds Weblog

2002-09-26T10:38:00.000-04:00

It's been a while, pals, but we've been busy with all sorts of weirdness. Soon there will be more to report, but for now, mark your calendars: Friday, November 22 at Luxx -- a great night of music with The Drennons, Bello Lamb and Alex Guerra. That's all for now.

2002-05-30T10:32:00.000-04:00

There's a new club opening just a few blocks from our apartment in Park Slope next week, and we're putting together some nice shows there:

Southpaw
125 5th Avenue between St. John's and Sterling
Directions: Take the N, R, Q, W, 1, 2, 4, 5 to Atlantic Ave./Pacific St., Brooklyn
Doors at 7:30.
Advance tickets for all shows are available on Ticketweb.

Southpaw
June 14: Mendoza Line + Champale (acoustic) + The IO's
June 20: Elk City + Ari Vais (record release party)
June 21: Secret Machines + The Holy Ghost + Kimone
June 27: The Boggs + DriverX
June 28: Mink Lungs + Grand Mal + Jimi Shields and Suzanne Thorpe

2002-05-15T20:13:00.000-04:00

We’ve got a truly great Ironminds show at charming Brooklyn venue Lillie’s on Thursday night. Local favorite Amy Allison is playing on a bill with three excellent touring acts: John Vanderslice, Denison Witmer and Kimone.

The Voice says that John Vanderslice "is San Fran’s unsung pop guru; amazingly psychedelic indie-pop, richly layered with swelling string parts, adroit quirky-guitar, syrupy organ-drones, horns, hook-heavy candy vocals, trippy electronic bleep and blurp loops, and witty lyrics. Better than most of the Elephant 6 stuff, as ingenious and, at times, rockin’ as a Built to Spill number, his tunes have something very classy and epic about them -- like an indie-rock Queen (the band)."

Philadelphia Weekly says that Denison Witmer "is a promising young singer/songwriter with a sad, unflinching eye for confessional detail and a patient, creep up on you brand of understatement."

The Boston Phoenix says that Kimone "play magisterial, mysterious, slow-build guitar rock with elegant, modestly arranged trimmings."

The fun starts at 8:30 p.m. Advance tix are still available at Ticketweb, or you can just show up on Thursday. Hope to see you there.

2002-05-02T11:58:00.000-04:00

We went to see the Liars and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs at Mercury Lounge last night and were pleasantly surprised. These are two bands that deserve a lot of the attention they've been getting.

OK, on with the Ironminds shows: We've got an excellent lineup waiting for you on Sunday at Northsix. Televised Execution, tincantelephone and The Winter Olympics are playing. Doors at 8. Cover's just $8.

Now for the requisite bios:

Televised Execution (T.V.X.) is Dreiky Caprice and Nick Forte. Yes, they've been in other bands before (Crash Worship, Rorshac, Computer Cougar, The Turn-Offs...) T.V.X. is, however, the band of today. Guitar driven, vocal driven, beat driven. The result is distilled grooves and manic simplicity. Music to break your neck to.

An aggressive and dynamic mix of indie-rock guitar ingenuity, dream-pop beauty and post-punk angular energy, tincantelephone's style will at times recall Pacific Northwest guitar-poppers Built to Spill or Modest Mouse while at others reveal the influence of 1970s proto-punks Television. With Elvis Costello/Joe Jackson-esque vocals layered over creatively tuned guitars that shimmer and chime, tincantelephone has been said to fill the void left by such bands as Pavement, Polvo and My Bloody Valentine.

A huge hit at their debut during the NY Metropolis Music Festival, the Winter Olympics feature a three-way songwriting attack that recalls the trident in the old Seattle Mariners logo in both sharpness and power, never hesitating to harmonize or cut you like Voltron. Think of the Monkees getting beaten up by Kim Gordon. Think of a bloodied, wrathful Carpenters.

OK, thank you.

2002-04-29T18:37:00.000-04:00

Thursday night was a great time all around. The Io's were dreamily brilliant, Tartufi came all the way from San Francisco to dazzle the crowd with some lovely punk, and Crowns on 45 rocked the night away. Thanks to everybody for coming out. Hope to see you Sunday at Northsix.

2002-04-22T11:15:00.000-04:00

Get ready to bounce around Thursday night at Galapagos. There will be an Ironminds night of music featuring Crowns on 45, Tartufi and The Io's. Now for some promo blurbs:

Washington City Paper says Crowns on 45 "are punk in the way punk should be: tousled, catchy and in-your-face." NYRock.com says that Crowns on 45 have combined "the sneer of punk, the tickle of '80s synth pop, and the attitude of downtown New York City," and are "so catchy I find myself humming them in the bathroom at work."

The San Francisco Bay Guardian named the all-girl band Tartufi one of the Top 10 local live shows in 2001. San Francisco promoter and reviewer Shani Heckma says that Tartufi plays songs that are "solid and dance-able, thick with new wave influences."

Centered around a mutual love and respect for 80s new wave and 90s power-pop grit, Chris Punsalan and Autumn Proemm formed the Io's in 1999. Chris's well-developed songwriting and crooning capabilities joined with Autumn's angelic, heartfelt harmonies are something to behold.

The fun starts at 8:30. Cover is $7. Hope to see you there.

2002-04-08T09:35:00.000-04:00

We just got back from a relaxing mini-vacation in the lovely North Fork of Long Island. We ate something like 17 bowls of clam chowder (both New England and Manhattan), and took day trips driving around the Hamptons and marveling at the architectural atrocities. Now, back at home, it is FREEZING, because THERE IS NO HEAT and our LANDLORD SEEMS TO BE IGNORING US. We will write again soon when we get warm.

2002-03-31T12:37:00.000-05:00

Yes, Linkin Park is definitely more innovative than the Strokes. This is simply the most delicious piece of criticism we've read in weeks.

If you wanna have a good time Tuesday, stop by Luxx for an Ironminds night of music that will be delightfully all over the place. There will be much frolicking and dancing and all-around happiness, we promise.

Some promo blurbs if you're still not convinced.

A huge hit at their debut during the NY Metropolis Music Festival, the Winter Olympics feature a three-way songwriting attack that recalls the trident in the old Seattle Mariners logo in both sharpness and power, never hesitating to harmonize or cut you like Voltron. Think of the Monkees getting beaten up by Kim Gordon. Think of a bloodied, wrathful Carpenters.

Mz. PakMan are a bunch of raucous, hilarious trash punks featuring some of the top comix gals in the city. You can expect these ladies to be all dolled up, ready to create some raw, garage-y sing-alongy noise, with crowd-pleasing songs like Psycho Kitty, Barnyard Animal and Skankville.

The countrified rock boys in the Damnwells are quickly becoming one of New York’s most buzzed about bands. Digital City says that “The Damnwells are the kind of band that every boy envies and every girl dreams of. They play rock 'n' roll the way it is meant to be played, while constantly evolving their craft. The band plays compelling alterna-pop buoyed by twangy, hypnotic guitar and hook-laden choruses.” The NY Post urges to you to catch them while you can, “before they become the next Strokes.” Or the next Linkin Park.

2002-03-29T09:59:00.000-05:00

Hmm ... what if Daniel Handler or Dave Eggers decided to open a nightclub in San Francisco?

Having done this, I have to say that this is required reading for bands, bookers and promoters.

2002-03-26T18:29:00.000-05:00

Oh, somebody at EA Sports is going to pay. Today we played NBA Live 2002 on our Playstation 2. Our beloved Dallas Mavericks were 24-0 and playing the juggernaut Lakers. The score was tied at 127-127 at the end of regulation. We were headed to overtime … and then the stupid game malfunctioned. Somehow, the Lakers were declared the victor. That is to say, THERE WAS NO OVERTIME. I know his hands are pretty full, but Rod Thorn better look into this.

2002-03-24T11:59:00.000-05:00

Fuck Missouri! Fuck Texas!

We got the new Radio 4 CD a couple days ago and are greatly enjoying it. These Brooklyn boys are excellent.

Oh, man, we are full of meat right now. On Friday we went to Peter Luger, where we had bacon as an appetizer (!) and gorged on the finest steak we've ever had. Then yesterday we hosted a Southwest-food-theme dinner party. We made chili with 7+ pounds of beef. We will write more when we come out of our food coma.

2002-03-21T09:28:00.000-05:00

Go Missouri! Go Texas!

Does anybody want to buy a pretty-looking iMac? We've got one for sale: It's like new, blue. 400Mhz/G3 Processor. Original box/materials/software. 10GB hard drive, CD-Rom/.v90 Modem, Ethernet (DSL/cable ready) and all the other fixins. $700 or best offer. E-mail us if you're interested.

2002-03-20T12:52:00.000-05:00

A new dish we've discovered: Pasta with red sauce, anchovies and turkey pastrami. Trust us, this is good. Oh, and did you know that there's a difference between turkey pastrami and pastrami turkey? I'm sure your butcher will happily explain. I'm not quite sure I can.

2002-03-20T12:41:00.000-05:00

So if you're wondering why the Ironminds Weblog has been relocated, here's a simple answer: We are unfortunately having problems with the Web-hosting company that acquired our former Web-hosting company. This has been a painful process that has involved sporadic service and silly secret words and unsatisfactory technical support, and we've had enough. We're going to temporarily take down Ironminds soon. (Actually, we've already requested that our account be shut down, but things take time, you know.) And this is now the permanent home for the Ironminds Weblog.

Don't worry, the Ironminds archives will be back soon. If anybody is interested in donating hosting services for Ironminds, please let us know.

2002-03-19T23:53:00.000-05:00

We cleaned out a bunch of boxes today and then took about two dozen books to the neighborhood used bookstore. The nice man at the store bought pretty much everything we had, but he said he couldn’t purchase Kurt Andersen’s Turn of the Century: "We had so many of those, we had to sell them outside." Ouch.

One nice thing about cleaning is that you discover things you didn’t pay attention to the first time around. For example, Sorry About Dresden (AKA Conor Oberst’s brother’s band) is amazing. How we missed this CD when it first got sent to us, we have no idea. We understand all too well The Convenience of Indecision.

2002-03-17T13:17:00.000-05:00

Do you have suggestions, gossip or anything else you want to share? Drop us a line.

Bands: If you are interested in performing in our future events, send your CDs and other material attn: Andy Wang to 668 President St. #4, Brooklyn, NY 11215.

Hello, friends. Much has changed since last we spoke. There's been this huge music festival. James Morrow is in Australia. David Gallagher has become even more of a Web celebrity.

As for us, we've become pretty obsessed with promoting music events and are planning many more. So this Weblog will largely exist as a self-promotional tool. For example: on Tuesday, April 2, there will be a show at Luxx featuring the Winter Olympics, the new band that includes the lovely and talented Darby Saxbe. There will be more information about this show soon.

An old pal has written a great book called Brush With the Law. You should check it out. We'll probably be writing more about this later.

Things that we're currently fans of include Netflix, Saddle Creek and The Shield. All three are featured prominently in the latest issue of Time. Draw whatever conclusions you want.