Steve Gunn, Ezra Furman, Snapped Ankles & more added!
RSVP NOW for the return of free BV shows at Cheer Up Charlies: Thursday, March 17 & Friday, March 18 -- noon-7pm each day. Here is the full lineup (and set times below):
Everybody who RSVPs will automatically be entered to win a copy of our excluive transparent red vinyl variant of the new Fontaines D.C. record (out 4/22), AND $50 more to spend in the BV shop on anything you want!
We are once again partnering on our 'Lost Weekend' shows with TX promoters Resound Presents (fka Margin Walker and Transmission Presents) and M For Montreal. Thanks also to our sponsors Rambler, Mayawell, and Hornitos Ranch Water. Drink responsibly!
SET TIMES:
THURSDAY, 3/17, OUTSIDE
12:15 Teenage Halloween
Asbury Park indie-punks Teenage Halloween released one of our favorite debut albums in recent memory with their 2020 self-titled debut LP for Don Giovanni, an album that tells stories of growing up as a queer person in the New Jersey suburbs over a seamless fusion of heartland rock, folk punk, emo, skate punk, and more. They followed it this year with two equally great new songs on a split with The Homeless Gospel Choir, and they reall yknow how to bring these songs to life on stage.
1:05 Cassandra Jenkins
Cassandra Jenkins’ sophomore album An Overview on Phenomenal Nature (Ba Da Bing) was one of the most widely and deservedly acclaimed albums of 2021, pulling from folk music, sophisti-pop, spoken word, and more and coming out with some of the most emotionally resonant, boundary-pushing indie music in recent memory. She’s also an arresting performer with an ace live band, and we can’t wait to see what stops she pulls in Austin this week.
1:55 Surfbort
One of the hardest working, most constantly gigging bands in NYC and SXSW legends at this point, Surfbort have earned a reputation of their wild live show led by charismatic firebrand Dani Miller. You may have seen them in Oscar-nominated film The Sound of Metal and, after a record on Julian Casablancas' Cult Records, Surfbort released 2021's Keep On Truckin' which they made with producer and songwriter Linda Perry.
2:45 Yard Act
UK band Yard Act put a fresh, fun spin on shouty, poppy post-punk with their recently released debut album, The Overload, that more than anything recalls the mid-'00s heyday of Franz Ferdinand, Art Brut, and Arctic Monkeys. Later this year they'll open for Jack White on part of his UK tour.
3:35 We Were Promised Jetpacks
Long-running Scottish indie rockers We Were Promised Jetpacks emerged out of the same scene as Fat Cat labelmates Frightened Rabbit and The Twilight Sad, and like both of those bands, they’ve become masters of melancholic, widescreen indie rock. They’re still pushing forward today, having released Enjoy the View in September of last year.
4:40 Sasami
Sasami said in a recent NY Times interview that the goal for her new album Squeeze was to “appropriate white, male music,” specifically metal, which she did by incorporating metal musicians (including members of Barishi and Megadeth) and also by making some of the most truly heavy rock music she’s ever made. But the album also features more indie rock-friendly guests like Hand Habits and King Tuff, and it has a lighter side that recalls stuff like Liz Phair and Sheryl Crow. It’s extremely ’90s on both ends, and Sasami knows a thing or two about keeping that decade alive.
5:45 Claud
Claud, aka Brooklyn songwriter Claud Mintz, became the first signee to Phoebe Bridgers' Saddest Factory label in October of 2020, and they released their debut LP, Super Monster, last year. It's a great introduction to their idiosyncratic bedroom pop style, which they've honed on tours with Bleachers, girl in red, Girlpool, and more.
THURSDAY, 3/17, INSIDE
12:30 Le Ren
Montreal-based singer-songwriter Le Ren, aka Lauren Spear, released her debut album, Leftovers, last year via Secretly Canadian. The record, which featured Big Thief's Buck Meek, is a great showcase for her delicate, expertly crafted folk and made Jeff Tweedy's Best of 2021 list.
1:20 TEKE::TEKE
Montreal-based group TEKE::TEKE got their start as a one-off tribute to Japanese guitarist Takeshi Terauchi but soon became a proper band, incorporating, lounge, soundtrack music, shoegaze, punk, trip hop and more. They've released records on Sub Pop and Kill Rock Stars are quite the party live.
2:10 Just Mustard
Irish band Just Mustard have a hazy, dubby, electronic-inflected sound that falls somewhere between shoegaze and trip hop but does so in a very modern context. The band's second album, Heart Under, is out in May via Partisan and they'll soon be on tour with Fontaines D.C.
3:00 Ada Lea
Montreal singer-songwriter Ada Lea released a gorgeous, intimate new album, one hand on the steering wheel the other sewing a garden via Saddle Creek last year, and her shows supporting it have been as beautiful as the album, with the focus on her lush melodies and soaring voice.
3:50 Luna Li
Toronto artist and multi-instrumentalist Luna Li went viral with her pandemic social media jams, and she's now released her debut LP, Duality, which features beabadoobee and Jay Som, amid its enticing dream pop. She already proved her live prowess supporting Japanese Breakfast on tour ahead of its release, so her shows supporting the album should be a treat.
4:40 Water From Your Eyes
Brooklyn duo Water From Your Eyes -- aka Nate Amos and Rachel Brown -- are hard to pidgeonhole. Their 2021 album Structure encorporates elements of '60s baroque pop, dark and glitchy electronica, skronky math rock, and sweeping orchestral soundtracks into their unique sound.
5:30 Enumclaw
Tacoma, WA band Enumclaw had to wait to make their live debut because of the pandemic, but they've been making up for lost time more recently, touring with Nothing and appearing on the lineups of Levitation and THING. They also signed to Luminelle, and continue releasing more appealing, grungy singles, most recently "2002."
FRIDAY, 3/18, OUTSIDE
12:15 Steve Gunn
A real musician's musician, Steve Gunn spent time in Kurt Vile & The Violators and has collaborated with everyone from Michael Chapman and Ryley Walker to Kim Gordon and Angel Olsen, and he's been a well-established solo artist for over a decade. Steve's most recent album is 2021's terrific Other You, which was his third for Matador. His live shows are where his songs, and nuanced guitar style, really blossom.
1:05 Wednesday
With a wall of guitars that connect the dots between shoegaze and J Mascis’ guitar heroism, and the yearning, folky vocals of singer/guitarist Karly Hartzman, Wednesday wrote an excellent indie rock album that checks so many boxes: Twin Plagues, one of our favorites of 2021. It’s warm and earthy, but it’s also loud and distorted and really rocks, and in a live setting, they can sound genuinely explosive.
1:55 Aeon Station (3/4 of The Wrens)
After years of waiting for Charles Bissel to finish the new Wrens album, Kevin Whelan decided to release his songs on his own as Aeon Station. The album, Observatory, came out earlier this year on Sub Pop and features contributions from fellow Wrens members Jerry McDonald and Greg Whelan, and captures much of the same spirit that The Meadowlands did 18 years ago. Jerry and Greg also play the live band, meaning this is 3/4ths of The Wrens, and Kevin played a few of his old band's songs at their live debut in NYC earlier this month.
2:45 Katy Kirby
Nashville musician and songwriter Katy Kirby released her debut LP for Keeled Scales, Cool Dry Place, last year. It's full of lovely folk-inflected indie rock that sounds even more sublime live than on record, especially the soaring title track, and she's supported on tour recently with the likes of Waxahatchee and illuminati hotties, among others.
3:35 The Range
Domino-signed Vermont electronic musician The Range (aka James Hinton) released one of our favorite 2016 albums with Potential, and he finally returned this year with new single “Bicameral,” a skittering, upbeat, and very catchy song that makes the six-year gap feel like nothing. It has us excited for more new music from The Range, and maybe he’ll preview some of that at SXSW, where he’ll be doing live sets that feature James hopping between samplers, keyboards, and live drums.
4:40 Snapped Ankles
There's nobody else quite like London's Snapped Ankles who claim to live in the trees, fashion instruments out of logs and driftwood, and make a manic brand of motorik, danceable post-punk. Think: The Fall, LCD Soundsystem, and Neu! but led by Dr. Seuss' The Lorax. Their fantastic live show can whip unsuspecting crowds into a frenzy.
5:45 Self Esteem
After a decade as one half of great indie-folk duo Slow Club, Rebecca Lucy Taylor had to do something different. Very different. She reinvented herself as Self Esteem, her solo project that mixes brutal honesty and dark humor with millennium-era big pop production. Self Esteem's live show has fun with this dichotomy, bringing backup singers and choreography to anthemic tales of trauma and self doubt.
FRIDAY, 3/18, INSIDE
12:30 Begonia
Winnipeg, Manitoba artist Alexa Dirks has been making soulful indie pop as Begonia for the better part of a decade. Her 2019 debut album, Fear, is a great showcase for her powerful voice and it made the longlist for the 2020 Polaris Music Prize. She's working on the follow-up as we speak.
1:20 TBD (last minute cancellation)
2:10 Living Hour
Canadian band Living Hour are known for atmospheric, swelling post-rock dreampop -- like on 2019's Softer Faces -- but their shows at NYC's New Colossus Festival found the band showing off a louder side as well. Their performance will offer a taste of what's to come with their next record.
3:00 King Hannah
Liverpool duo King Hannah are unapologetic about their '90s influences (PJ Harvey, Mazzy Star, Portishead, Smog) but they use them with incredible style and attitude -- and great songs -- on their excellent just-released debut album, I'm Not Sorry, I'm Just Being Me. Hannah Merrick's brings smoky cool while guitarist Craig Whittle builds the perfect atmosphere for her incredible voice. At their recent U.S. live debut in Brooklyn, the crowd was hanging on Hannah's every word.
3:50 Ezra Furman
Ezra Furman is a veteran of BrooklynVegan day parties, having graced our stages at SXSW and CMJ before over the years. We love having Ezra on our shows as she's a true performer, who entertains just as much talking to the crowd as with her wonderful, emotion-packed songs. Having recently signed to ANTI-, we are also looking forward to hearing some new songs in addition to old favorites.
4:40 JayWood
Winnipeg musician & songwriter Jeremy Haywood-Smith records genre-defying music as Jaywood. However you classify it, his new single "God is a Reptile" is catchy stuff and after his SXSW appearances he'll be on tour with Captured Tracks labelmate Molly Burch.
5:30 ME REX
UK band ME REX released one of the most unique indie rock albums in recent memory with 2021's Megabear -- a 52-track song cycle with songs that range from 30-60 seconds that’s intended to be shuffled and sound cohesive in any order -- and they’ve become one of the more prolific bands around too. They already followed that album with the new EP Pterodactyl in February and will have a second EP of 2022, Plesiosaur, out in May. Comparisons can be made to Frightened Rabbit and Los Campesinos! (the latter of whom called them one of the most “outstanding UK guitar bands in recent years”), but ME REX have their own vibe and really bring something new to the indie rock table.
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RSVP NOW. See you at Cheer Up Charlies!
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