April 23th, 9pm, $12 (Friday! Friday! Friday!)
@ Maxwell's
1039 Washington Street, Hoboken, NJ
Tickets on sale now on Ticketweb.com
It's back and better than ever! If your Friday night requires massive amounts of rocking then look no further than the ladies to the right. The colossal New York rock-trio Vivian Girls will take the stage on April 23rd for their first headlining show at Maxwell's. Following in the path paved by Moby in 2008 and Crystal Stilts in 2009, I'm proud to have Vivian Girls play for you fine people of the tri-state area.
As the New York Times Magazine writes about them: "The Vivian Girls’s sound — not to mention their turbulent passage through Brooklyn’s independent-music hype machine — is a lot like the Vin Diesel film franchise: fast and furious. The female trio’s 2008 debut exploded with unvarnished punk and heat while nodding to more nuanced song craft."
LA Weekly said of their second album, Everything Goes Wrong, "they twine their voices together to create an eerie doubling effect instead of making traditional harmonies. Tracks like 'The End' contrast the Vivian Girls' sweetly serene singing with a jangling, clanging blur of punky guitar."
If you follow this site with somewhat regularity, you have become familiar with Australia's The Grates. Even since Patience plucked me from the crowd to sing to me that night in 2006 at Mercury Lounge (with Corinne Bailey Rae and The Guillemots on the bill), we've been good buddies.
Last year, Pae, John and Alana toured to their legions of fans back in the home country in support of their second album, Teeth Lost, Hearts Won. Then, the three temporarily relocated to Brooklyn for a change of scenery and to tour the U.S. with Those Darlins. Currently, they are writing, demoing and planning out their third album.
Sure, they may be superstars back in Oz. They've toured with some big names (Passion Pit, We Are Scientists, The Go! Team) and at some big festivals (Big Day Out, Splendor in the Grass), but there's one thing they haven't done -- play in the Garden State. So Maxwell's will mark they're New Jersey debut. Will they overcome the vicious Jersey stereotypes? Get lost from the Lincoln Tunnel? Laugh at some of our funny accents? We shall find out.
Starting the night is a great new band based in my old stomping grounds of Philadelphia, Reading Rainbow. I've been presenting/promoting shows for two years and I have yet to book a Philly band. So when it came time to think of opening acts, I turned to the locals to see what band would be ripe for rocking. The voters at Deli Magazine spoke in their 2009 poll, and they anointed the duo of Rob and Sarah as the best. Good enough for me.
After checking out their tunes, it was a no-brainer to have them come up. Reading Rainbow play short, intense Velvet Underground psych-rock tunes with exuberance and style. They do this with just a guitar and a basic drum kit.
As for that name, let's just say that their myspace page is named LevarFuckingBurton. As they told Deli Mag: It’s obviously taken from the T.V. show, but we thought it would be funny/interesting to take it out of context. So it’s not only nostalgic for 80’s childhood, it has a redefined meaning that sounds pretty mystical. But we’d understand if people think it’s dumb, band names aren’t that big of a deal in the end anyway!
going to be in town from toronto! where's the afterparty??
Posted by: tim | April 20, 2010 at 09:39 PM
Good Luck tonight Chris!
A big happy birthday from all of Lucky Soul
Posted by: Andrew | April 23, 2010 at 05:36 AM