Apparently FREEWilliamsburg simply can’t get enough of Zach Condon this morning. Last night, beloved indie-folk group Beirut played their second sold out show at Music Hall of Williamsburg with opening band Woom.

The cherubic Zach Condon thrilled his fans with his blaring trumpet and amazing voice. Condon sheepishly admitted to having caught a summer cold– which must be absolutely disgusting considering it feels as if you have a perma-fever in this tropical green house weather. Had Condon not pointed out that he was sick, I doubt the audience would have noticed, save for Condon’s giggles when he tried to push his voice on The Gulag Orkestar. Beirut closed the night with a surprise quasi-second encore of their throwback Carousels.

Check out pictures from the night in the gallery below!

Last night women’s fashion and lifestyle website StyleCaster bolstered its Indie cred by co-hosting a free Beach Fossils show with music website Death + Taxes at Santos Party House.

A more aggressive spin on the lo-fi genre while still maintaining its approachable simplicity, Beach Fossils riled the crowd. A barefoot John Pena lost his mind on the bass– pacing and spinning all over the stage– while lead singer Dustin Payseur howled into his microphone… And that’s when the crowd surfing began… at 10PM… on a Tuesday night… at a fashion event. (Who saw that one coming?) The set ended with Payseur himself leaping onto the crowd, surfing until his song ended when the human pillars supporting him crumbled to the ground.

This weekend Beach Fossils launches into an extensive tour playing alongside Here We Go Magic, Bear in Heaven, and Warpaint throughout the summer. Click here for dates and check out pictures from the night in the gallery below!

On Tuesday, June 29th the jazz and blues group Ethan Lipton & His Orchestra are releasing their full length album Honker. To celebrate their release, Ethan Lipton is giving away a pair of tickets to their show at Union Hall this Wednesday to one lucky winner. To enter, just tweet at FREEWilliamsburg (@freedubya) the following message:

I love @freedubya but would love them more if they gave me free tickets!

The winner will be announced Tuesday evening via Twitter. For everyone else (winners included) you can download two Ethan Lipton songs “You Were Right + It’s OK” and “When You Die” featuring Matt Berninger of The National!

If you don’t win the Wednesday tickets, don’t fret as there are two other FREE shows Ethan Lipton & His Orchestra will be playing in New York:

Tuesday, June 29th  at The Living Room, 7PM (two sets)

Wednesday, June 30th at Union Hall, 8PM (two sets)

Thursday, July 1st at Rockwood Music Hall, 8PM (two sets)

Last night FREEWilliamsburg hosted its Northside Showcase at Brooklyn Bowl featuring Keepaway, Hooray for Earth, Oh Land, Glass Ghost and The Babies! Thanks so much to everyone who came out to celebrate Northside with FREEWilliamsburg and hope you had as much fun as we all did!

Woods and Vivian Girls side project The Babies kicked off jam packed night with their retro-pop and lo-fi sound. Duo Glass Ghost played an engrossing and mildly ambient set and even poked of their sound juxtaposed with the bowling alley setting.

The gorgeous Oh Land danced around on stage in a Christopher Kane for Topshop crocodile printed crop top and a wolf hat (worn especially for the occasion) and enchanted the audience with her catchy electronic drum hooks.

Hooray for Earth (who were recently touring with Indie sweethearts The Pains of Being Pure at Heart and lo-fi Surfer Blood) launched into a killer set that rocked plain and simple. To close the night, Keepaway fresh from opening for Yeasayer at the Gone to Governor’s showcase played an upbeat set of dance fusion music and teased the crowd with the opening beats of their single, “Yellow Wings”– smirking, “Not yeetttt!”

To learn more about the bands that played last night, read their respective FREEWilliamsburg interviews here: Keepaway, Hooray for Earth, Oh Land, Glass Ghost and The Babies. Also, be sure to check out pictures from the night in the gallery below!

Saturday night, Cantora Records hosted their Northside Festival showcase at Brooklyn Bowl with performances by Brahms, Savoir Adore, Tony Castles and Gordon Voidwell.

From behind a plexi-glass podium, lead singer Cale Parks (who twirled his drum sticks like a smoother version of the wedding band drummer on YouTube) commanded the stage with a collected presence and captivated the audience that could not help but start dancing along. As their show continued, Brahms incorporated a light show. Although the extra stimulus was fun, Brahms’ show would have been just as strong without the added bells and whistles as their infectious energy and dance rock.

Indie pop band Savoir Adore played one their best shows Saturday night and have been adding to their repertoire with fun hooks and singalong lyrics. The crowd was especially excited to hear Savoir’s rock ballad, “TCP”– a rock opera for the Hansel and Gretel fable– and their new song, “Loveliest Creature.”

Check out pictures of Brahms and Savoir Adore along with Tony Castles and Gordon Voidwell in the gallery below!

Listening to new music that, “can’t be defined by conventional music genres” can often be a taxing chore– like brushing your teeth after a night of binge drinking. The music feels foreign and you’re stimulated by so many elements that you can’t even figure out if you’re enjoying this listening experience. Although duo Glass Ghost combines diverse genres together, their music feels interesting and provocative on the first listen allowing you to immediately dissect and delve deeper into their sound.

Glass Ghost backs lead singer Eliot Krimsky‘s dynamic falsetto with rich and big sounds inspired by hip hop, R&B, electronic, and swelling rock. Most would assume the juxtaposed fragile voice and rich music would compete with (or detract from) one another but in Glass Ghost’s case, the sound surprisingly becomes even bigger– each complementing and completing the other.

Glass Ghost will be playing the FREEWilliamsburg Northside Festival showcase at Brooklyn Bowl this Sunday, June 27th along with The Babies, Oh Land, Hooray for Earth and Keepaway! Click here for more details and check out the interview with Glass Ghost drummer Mike Johnson below!

FREEWilliamsburg: Your songs are packed with so many different variables– a dynamic and expansive falsetto, elements of hip hop and R&B, and a variety of electronic and percussive instruments– it’s nearly impossible for an outside listener to synthesize. How would you describe your music?

Mike Johnson: Well, when it’s working well, I feel like there’s a nice absence of fear in our music. And we’ve played together so much that we don’t have to worry too much about the more fundamental aspects of how our music are working and we can kind of play around a little. I heard someone describe a J Dilla jam as, “The Cosby Slop.” I guess I’m interested creating a kind of slop, probably not a Cosby slop though. We take the songs pretty seriously though too. We really try to respect each song and kind of let it be it’s own world. And we try to figure out where it comes from and what it’s about.

(more…)

Saturday night post-goth Nika Roza Danilova (otherwise known as Zola Jesus) is playing a full-band show this Saturday night at Glasslands. Zola Jesus will be playing along with Effi Briest, Nice Face and Amen Dunes for their full-band formation debut!

One lucky Free Williamsburg reader will receive a pair of tickets to this show just by tweeting the following at Free Williamsburg:

@freedubya Zola Jesus’ Stridulum cover makes me want a sundae

The winner will be announced on Friday at noon via Twitter! Even if you don’t win, check out the show at Glasslands ($10 advance, $12 at the door) starting at 9PM!

This Saturday night, The Phenomenal Handclap Band is kicking off their North American tour with a show at Music Hall. With an orchestral approach to electro and disco music, The Phenomenal Handclap Band is a suiting groovy soundtrack for your Saturday night– as if the name alone wasn’t…?

With that said, the very attractive eight-piece is sharing a pair of tickets with a lucky Free Williamsburg reader. If you want to enter the drawing, re-Tweet the following to Free Williamsburg:

I love @freedubya and free Handclap tix!

The ticket winner will be notified on Friday at noon. For those of you who don’t win, sorry… You can buy tickets here for the Music Hall’s Saturday show for $15 here.

Saturday night Engine Room Recordings is celebrating the release of Robbers on High Street‘s 7″ vinyl single “Electric Eye.” Marking a definitive move for the band’s sound, Electric Eye showcases Robbers’ newfound English rock sound.

As a part of the celebration, Engine Room is giving away a pair of tickets to Saturday’s Knitting Factory show with Robbers on High Street, The Bloodsugars, and Israel Darling. To sweeten the deal, Engine Room is throwing in a copy of the 7″ for you too! Enter the drawing by Tweeting the following at Free Williamsburg:

@freedubya I’ll steal those Robbers’ tix if I don’t win!

The winner will be Tweeted back at Friday at noon! If you don’t hear back from Freedubya, you can still snag tickets to Saturday’s Knitting Factory show for $8 here. And if you miss out on the show this Saturday, you can download the Electric Eye 7″ digitally on June 22nd.

Last night School of Seven Bells played their first of two shows at Mercury Lounge with openers Maus Haus.

Named for after a pickpocketing “school” in South America (and a scene in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2: The Secret of the Ooze) that tests students by stealing from mannequins decorated with bells, SVIIB takes a new approach to dream pop and shoe gaze. Comprised of Secret Machines’ Benjamin Curtis and On!Air!Library!’s twin sisters Alejandra and Claudia Deheza, School of Seven Bells writes thoughtfully crafted and arranged electronic songs with tribal touches.

Even though there was a deterring rain, SVIIB packed in a sold out Mercury Lounge. Despite a slow start due to a funky keyboard sound check, SVIIB was welcomed with applause and Alejandra seemed eager to move on with the show. Guitarist Benjamin Curtis swayed and kicked in a little peddle fortress while Alejandra and Claudia remained the constant vocals. With barely any mid-show banter, SVIIB move quickly through their set from one eerie rock song to the next.

School of Seven Bells will be playing a second show at Mercury Lounge tonight with Arp Line and Warm Ghost. Tickets are available here for $12. SVIIB is also releasing a new album Disconnect from Desire on July 13th.