McCarren Pool Party Thing on Waterfront Now

The beloved Sunday music festivals once held in Greenpoint/Williamsburg's one-time community pool, McCarren pool, are back! The concert series will still be hosted by Jelly NYC but transported to the East River State Park on the Williamsburg Waterfront. They keep the "pool" label even though the event will be devoid of any actual pools. Sorry. The time for drinking away Sunday hangovers amid indie-rock jams, sunshine and all while scoping walking American Apparel ads is upon us once again. Rock and or Roll. Give it up for Jelly though, they have managed to pack the bill with some of indie rocks biggest names, Grizzly Bear, Deerhunter, Girl Talk, No Age, Beach House, Dirty Projectors - I mean, these could be more of a gong show than that MGMT disaster last summer. Click the image for a larger view or after the jump for the full line up.

First line up -- July 12: 
Mission of Burma, 
Fucked Up, 
Ponytail
, Jemina Pearl

Check the full schedule after the jump...

July 12: 
Mission of Burma, 
Fucked Up, 
Ponytail
, Jemina Pearl

July 19: 
Dirty Projectors
, Magnolia Electric Co., White Denim

July 26: ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead, Black Lips
, HEALTH, 
Grupo Fantasmo

August 2: Deerhunter, No Age, Dan Deacon

 (Round Robin show)

August 9: 
Simian Mobile Disco (DJ set)
, Fiery Furnaces
, Dark Meat, 
The Netherlands

August 16: Del the Funky Homosapien, 
Gravy Train!!!
, DD/MM/YYYY, Kenan Bell



August 23: 
Girl Talk
, Max Tundra
, Wiz Khalifa

August 30: Grizzly Bear
, Beach House

No Age Keeps Busy, New EP and More

[mp3] Holy Fuck: "Lovely Allen" (No Age remix)

L.A. noise-punkers No Age, specifically Randy Randall on guitar and Dean Spunt on vocals/drums, are not for lack of work. Aside from readying to embark on a massive tour with Deerhunter and Dan Deacon (dates T.B.A.), No Age is preparing to release a still-untitled EP on Sub Pop later this fall. Randall and Spunt are ready to record a follow up to last year's highly acclaimed Nouns, which found its way on to many a Best Of 2008 list -- i.e. Paste, Rolling Stone, GVB, Vince's and Matt's. Reporting via P4K. Head there for more on No Age and their myriad of musical and theatrical pursuits. Also check out the Holy Fuck remix Matt posted yesterday above.

Deerhunter: New EP + MP3

[MP3]

Deerhunter- "Rainwater Cassette Exchange"

From P4k:
Everyone has been posting on the new Deerhunter EP, Rainwater Cassette Exchange which drops June 9 via Kranky. Well, we are posting it too so deal with it. Dig the MP3 above. Happy Friday.

Lotus Plaza

Lotus Plaza "White Out"

After some burgers, beers, and a random Pavement sighting (Mark Ibold), contributor Mike Bailey and I hashed it out about the records that are doing it for us (Dan Auerbach) and those that really aren't (Lonely Dear). Lotus Plaza has Mike (and other bloggers) fairly jazzed. While I haven't heard the record yet, I can defintely say that this track from Deerhunter guitarist Lockett Pundt's side project bodes really well for the LP The Floodlight Collective due March 24 (Kranky). While I enjoyed the Deerhunter record quite a bit, the Atlas Sound record didn't thrill me as much. It seems Lotus Plaza may soon become the Deerhunter side-project of choice around here.

Featured Releases This Week

Just wanted to take a quick second to post on some nice under-the-radar releases this week. Most notably, the newest posthumous release from noted downtown NY artist Arthur Russell. While relatively unknown during his time, Russell produced several groundbreaking records in the worlds of electronica and disco. Russell's newest release, Love is Overtaking Me, draws from his acoustic/folk background and showcases his wonderful songwriting. The songs echo the feel of his home state, Iowa, as he sings lonesomely of lost love and cornfields.

Also released is the striking and highly autumnal new record from Larkin Grimm. While we may have just gotten into her, Grimm's record, Parplar, has quickly found it's way into regular rotation. It's much more eclectic than your traditional folk/singer songwriter record, yet it doesn't stray too far into the "freaky" world that people seem to have grown quickly tired of. Grimm's voice is fantastic, but still has enough of that backwoods grit to make it believable and interesting. Definitely recommended.

Other records released today are the aforementioned debut Exposion from White Denim as well as Ryan Adams' follow up to Easy Tiger, Cadinology. Further records we recommend are the new Hank Williams collection, Deerhunter's excellent Microcastle and the new Bloc Party record Intimacy.

New Vivian Girls - "Blind Spot" - mp3

Vivian Girls "Blind Spot" - mp3
We wrote last week about how great the debut record from the Vivian Girls is. Here today is another mp3 to leave you all with for the weekend. Vivian Girls have also announced more tour dates over the next several months, highlighted by shows in New York at Santos Party House with Jay Reatard on October 26 and the Bowery Ballroom on November 8 with Deerhunter and Times New Viking. All dates after the jump.

Indiana is currently a battleground state. So make sure to get out the vote. Tell them Jeff Tweedy sent you.

VIVIAN GIRLS

Fri-Sep-26 Memphis, TN GONER FEST
Sat-Sep-27 St. Louis, MO The Stable#
Sun-Sep-28 Atlanta, GA The Earl#
Mon-Sep-29 Knoxville, TN The Pilot Light#
Tue-Sep-30 Charlottesville, VA Outback Lodge
Wed-Oct-01 Baltimore, MD Ottobar#
Fri-Oct-03 New York, NY Rocks Off Concert Cruise%
Sat-Oct-04 Annandale-on-Hudson, NY Bard College
Sat-Oct-11 Queens, NY Silent Barn / CD Release Party!
Sun-Oct-12 Boston, MA Great Scott $
Mon-Oct-13 Danbury, CT Heirloom Arts Theatre $
Wed-Oct-15 New York, NY Bowery Ballroom $
Thu-Oct-16 Brooklyn, NY Market Hotel $
Fri-Oct-17 Baltimore, MD Sonar $
Sat-Oct-18 Philadelphia, PA The Barbary $
Sun-Oct-19 Washington, DC Rock And Roll Hotel $
Sun-Oct-26 New York, NYC Santo's Party House !
Sat-Nov-08 New York, NY Bowery Ballroom &@
Mon-Nov-10 Boston, MA Paradise &@
Sun-Nov-16 Los Angeles, CA Echoplex
Mon-Nov-17 San Diego, CA Casbah
Tue-Nov-18 Los Angeles, CA The Smell
Thu-Nov-20 San Francisco, CA Bottom Of The Hill
Sat-Nov-22 Portland, OR Backspace
Sun-Nov-23 Seattle, WA Nectar Lounge
Fri-Nov-28 Philadelphia, PA Johnny Brenda's +
Sun-Nov-30 New York, NY Bowery Ballroom +

# = with TYVEK
% = with DARK MEAT
$ = w/ F***ED UP
& = w/ Deerhunter
@ = w/ Times New Viking
! = w/ Jay Reatard
+ = w/ King Khan

Vivian Girls
Vivian Girls - S/T (In The Red)
Street Date: Oct. 7, 2008
01. All The Time
02. Such a Joke
03. Wild Eyes
04. Going Insane
05. Tell The World
06. Where Do You Run To
07. Damaged
08. No
09. Never See Me Again

Stark's Wednesday Round-up - mp3s

Deerhunter "Game of Diamonds" mp3
So we had a nice release week this week with the Walkmen, Lykke Li, Byrne/Eno, and the new Deerhunter (which is awesome) to name a few. Here are a few other things from the past, present, and future that y'all might enjoy. A few Stark editors are moving this week, so things are a bit slow.

Department of Eagles
Department of Eagles "No One Else Does it Like You" - mp3
Although this band seems to have been fiddling with things for awhile now (I began reading about them over a year ago) the project seems to finally come to fruition as the LP In Ear Park is set for release on October 7th. Recorded by Grizzly Bear's Chris Taylor - this is definitely one to check out.

Ezra Furman and the Harpoons
MYSPACE
Ezra and co. (and all of us) are waiting for their new record Inside the Human Body (Minty Fresh) to drop, but they have been throwing new tunes up on their myspace for the past few weeks. Highly suggest heading over there and checking out a few. Keep your eye out for Stark's interview with Ezra coming up soon.

Bark Hide and Horn
Bark Hide and Horn "This Abdomen has Flown" mp3
New on the indie/americana/folk/rock etc scene, this Portland based group just released their new record National Road. It's fresh sounding and pushes the limits of what can be a pretty stale genre these days. Strangely enough it's a concept record based on the life former National Geographic editor Melville Bell Grosvenor conveyed through his photos during his tenure at the magazine. Yeah, it's worth checking out.

Modern Lovers
I don't know how I've missed this album in all of my years of listening. In an email exchange, contributing writer Mike Bailey put it best "The Modern Lovers one and only CD is a must own - incredible. In my opinion, it's the only CD you need from Jonathan Richmon. I think his solo stuff blows." It's super cheap at the Amazon mp3 store. Get it now.