The Bowery Presents

The Mercury Lounge upcoming shows

Wye Oak
10:30
Pomegranates
9:30

Winter Gloves
8:30

Venue:
The Mercury Lounge
Date:
Wed 5/13
Notes:
21+
Doors: 8:15 PM / Show: 8:15 PM
$10
Tickets
Wye Oak
official website
myspace
The droll tone and fleeting sweetness of a Yo La Tengo are cut into the more deeply textural concerns of shoegaze in the Baltimore group’s work. It’s an interesting alignment, given the contrast in senses of humor. But Wye Oak successfully shed tonnage from the latter without losing potency.

Wye Oak (formerly known as Monarch) are Jenn Wasner and Andy Stack. Jenn & Andy have been playing music together and apart in Baltimore, MD, and chose their name from the honorary state tree of Maryland. If Children is the culmination of many months of recording, polishing and perfecting to achieve what Any Given Tuesday best described as, “. … . mingling in a room full of shoegaze, alt-country, folk, and noise, shaking hands, kissing cheeks, and making friends with everyone.” If Children is an exuberant debut – noisy and restrained in turn, Wye Oak describe their philosophy: “We’d like to think that if a song is good enough, it’ll stand on its own regardless of how much noise you pile on top. On the other hand, we do like noise.” Listen, and we think you will have to agree!



"String arrangements, absolutely magnetic bass, guitar whorls, and vocal trades and harmonies grow vertically like they've been bumped up with an aural fertilizer. And standing on top of it--say, the rolling and building feedback-lacquered peaks of 'Warning' or the gentle, hopeful ascension of 'I Don't Feel Young'--is exhilarating."

- Baltimore City Paper
Pomegranates
myspace
Last year saw the release of Pomegranates' critically-acclaimed debut full length, Everything is Alive. This album showcased the creative potential of this Cincinnati-based foursome and placed the band squarely in the rarely referenced category of "bands to keep an eye on."

It didn't take long after that album hit streets before the band caught the ear of music aficionados and taste makers across the country. KEXP, WOXY, and numerous other independent and college stations nation-wide fell for the bands quirky pop stylings, helping Pomegranates reach #20 most added for their first week on CMJ's charts. The blog circuit jumped on board as well, allowing Pomegranates to charm their way to #11 on Elbo.ws blog aggregate. The live circuit responded, too. Artists such as French Kicks and Islands took notice of Pomegranates' dynamic live set, inviting them out on the road, a place this burgeoning band has found a fast home.

Somehow during the busyness of the year, these self-professed art-pop denizens found time to hunker down and record a brand new full length, Everybody, Come Outside!. ECO! shows a marked improvement creatively and sonically from its predecessor, channeling influences that range from Talking Heads and Brian Eno, to French Kicks and Fela Kuti. For this album the quartet determined to tell a story where each song would unravel a bit more of an unusual tale of a character who leaves home only to be abducted by a time traveler.

Unlike their debut, Pomegranates tracked the majority of ECO! separately, which allowed the band to capture their vision as closely as they could. Pomegranates then enlisted the help of TJ Lipple (Aloha, MGMT, Headlights, Minus Story) and others to mix and master the record. The result? An album equal parts dreamy and otherworldly, with hints of a story that is one giant dose of magical.
Winter Gloves
official website
myspace
Winter Gloves began as one guy's way of figuring out how to plug himself into life in the big city. It was a single microphone and minimal equipment gathered into Charles F's downtown Montreal apartment to piece together all the distances he'd covered since growing up in rural Quebec. The jarring shift of such a transition seemed to peek through every chance it could, a constant inspiration as much as frustration that was drafted in the band's self-released Let Me Drive EP of mainly demo tracks. Today, Winter Gloves is Charles F (lead singer/songwriter/wurlitzer), Pat Sayers (drums), Vincent Chalifour (synths) and Jean-Michel Pigeon (guitar/glockenspiel). With only a handful of live shows behind them at the beginning of the 2008, Winter Gloves was already receiving invitations to join bands like Tokyo Police Club on a series of sold-out tour dates. Such well-attended shows helped spread what was becoming the wildfire of the earlier EP demo tracks that spiked on top 10 lists with record downloads after being made available on iTunes, and lead to top pick coverage at both major annual music festivals in Canada, Canadian Music Week and NXNE. After the Canadian release of the band’s full length in the Fall of 2008, the band continued on the same foot as things had started with dates alongside Tokyo Police Club and a slot at Toronto’s Virgin Festival before hitting the road across Canada with Vancouver’s You Say Party! We Say Die! and Quebec’s Beast. Reactions to the album and these shows immediately secured showcase opportunities at International conferences, invitations for further touring and secured spots on “Best of 2008” yearend lists including “Best New Artist” from iTunes Canada. The about a girl LP is ten songs driven by the sounds of keyboards and drums, all wrapped up in a constant buzz of bass and gritty synths.
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