Here is the rundown of the bands playing the Sunday All-Day Show of NYC Popfest! In case you’re not familiar, we’ve included MP3s for you to download.
Details
Venue: The Rock Shop
Age: 18+
Tickets: $ 12 ADVANCED / $12 DAY OF SHOW
4:30 THE HAIRS (NYC)
Brooklyn’s the Hairs remind me of something you’d find on a Blue Tongue cassette in the mid ’90s. Or, to update the reference — Knight School-er Kevin Alvir’s brief home-recorded pop songs sound like a twee Wavves, a less punked-up but still snotty Cloud Nothings … or to go back again, an extremely polite Happy Flowers. The self-penned bio helps, too: “The Hairs is a pop band led by Kevin (words & gtr). Alex comes around and plays some bass sometimes. The Hairs is cool.” Alex being Alex Naidus of Pains Of Being Pure At Heart, another touchstone, but this stuff is sillier, as you’ll note before listening via playfully naive song titles like “Duh! x 12,” “Vikings, Pirates, & Dudes,” “Houseplant Song,” or this one, “Balding College Girls.” – Stereogum
http://www.myspace.com/thehairsmakemusic
5:15 KIDS ON A CRIME SPREE (CA)
“[NYC Popfest] also marks the NYC debut of Kids on a Crime Spree, the band from Mario Hernandez, formerly of Ciao Bella and From Bubblegum to Sky (who played Popfest in ’08). Kids’ debut album, We Love You So Bad, is out May 31 on Slumberland (a word I have typed more than “indiepop” in this post) and is up there with my favorite things Mario has done over the last 20 years. ’60s melodies meet bubblegum vocals in a smoky haze of feedback, distortion and handclaps. It’s real good.” – Bill Pearis
Download “Sweet Tooth” (MP3)
http://www.myspace.com/kidsonacrimespree
6:00 PERSIAN RUGS (CANADA)
Persian Rugs bring two known faces, Ian and Ali, who used to be in perhaps the best Canadian indiepop band of these times: The Airfields. This is their new project and they don’t disappoint! Joining them are Matt on drums and Kaye on vocals. Their shiny and luminous guitars over dreamy girl vocals recall the halcyon days of indiepop, of obscure acts like Girl of My Best Friend or Friends of the Family, or even some bright moments of Sarah Records. Bouncy and catchy, “Always All” is already a favorite single this year. Just pure pop bliss!! Can’t miss it.
Download “Always All” (MP3)
http://www.facebook.com/persianrugsmusic
6:45 SILVER SWANS (CA)
Summer Fiction is new indie band from Philadelphia led by singer/songwriter Bill Ricchini. The songs on the self-titled debut record were written to flow into one another and feel of a certain whole piece of work, yet ranging stylistically from late 60s baroque pop to torch songs to folk rock ballads to old time waltzes to country duets. The album loosely follows a young girl’s coming of age but reads like the journal entries of the guys who fall for her throughout her life. And yes, there are more than a few lyrical references to make-up, lipstick and mascara. We’ll let you interpret that for yourself.
Downlaod “Secrets” (MP3)
http://www.myspace.com/silverswansofficial
http://www.facebook.com/silverswans
7:30 PROCEDURE CLUB (CT)
The Procedure Club is a collaborative “bedroom-pop” project founded by Andrea and Polish emigré Adam Malec in New Haven, Connecticut in 2008. The two began recording as a natural progression from their boredom with living in poverty in New Haven, sharing musical tastes in shoegaze and pop bands of the 80s and 90s, such as Black Tambourine, and The Jesus and Mary Chain, as well as a common admiration for Baroque artists such as Purcell and Bach. Out of this god-forsaken alliance comes Procedure Club, in which Adam and Andrea have combined melodic song structures with heavily reverbed vocals, stuttering mechanical drum beats, dirty bass, synths, and alternately washed-out and jangly guitars.
Download “Feel Sorry For Me” (MP3)
http://www.myspace.com/procedureclub
8:15 PANDA RIOT (IL)
Brian Cook and Rebecca Scott formed Panda Riot while creating a soundtrack for a documentary about marine biology, they decided to form a band based on the sound inspired by the underwater and airplane shots in the documentary. They describe themselves as having a “blissful, swirl-pop, sing-along sonar aesthetic.”
Download “Motown Glass” (MP3)
http://www.pandariot.com/handmade/main.html
9:00 THE MOTIFS (AUSTRALIA)
The Motifs is an indiepop band fronted by Alexis H, from Melbourne, Australia. They make perfectly understated pop songs with guitars, glockenspiels, Casiotone keyboards and handclaps.
Download “Backwards (CT 370 Mix)” (MP3)
http://www.myspace.com/themotifs
9:45 FAN MODINE (NC)
Fan Modine is the work of artist Gordon Zacharias.
Gordon has also lent his talents to bluegrass outfit Jim and Jennie, the New Orleans duo Hercules, the Essex Green and Joe Pernice for his Big Tobacco effort.
Upon first arriving in New York, Gordon released “Slow Road to Tiny Empire” as a limited edition 12” vinyl album on his own Phovsho label, selling store to store to independents such as Other Music and Etherea. Soon after Rykodisc re-released “Slow Road to Tiny Empire” on compact disc worldwide – prompting Magnet to declare Gordon “an elliptical and underrated genius. ” CMJ concurred hailing “Slow Road” as “the sort of stuff from which pixie dust is made.”
Download “Julu Road” (MP3)
NYC Popfest 2011 