The Bowery Presents

The Mercury Lounge upcoming shows

Takka Takka
11:30

La Strada
10:30
Frances
9:30
Five O'Clock Heroes
8:30
Josh Mease
7:30

Venue:
The Mercury Lounge
Date:
Sat 1/16
Notes:
21+
Doors: 7:30 PM / Show: 7:30 PM
$10
Tickets
Takka Takka
official website
myspace
Signed to Ernest Jennings Record Co. the band released their debut LP, We Feel Safer At Night, as a deluxe edition including three songs from their 2007 EP, Talk Faster. Although they’re loved and held close by their neighborhood and fellow musician community, it seems the rest of the country is again tilting their heads towards the streets and stages of Brooklyn with Takka Takka’s recent Daytrotter recorded studio sessions and a spot on the movie mix, Nick and Nora’s Infinite Soundtrack.

Their debut album, Migrations, was released during the hot days of July but is the perfect album for new listeners to pick up and discover during the Fall when Mother Nature slowly sheds the burdens of the past year and prepares herself for hibernation, meditation and renewal, for this is what Levine intended both on an artistic and personal level. Describing the completed album, he said, “Sometimes this record is about existing in a place you don’t belong. Conversely, it is about where you came from and how you got there, sometimes [this record] is about a band experimenting with sound and form, trying to honestly say things in song it has never said before.” This might seem like a lot for a band to try to convey on their first go, but Takka Takka has been working towards this since there early days playing shows in Williamsburg in friends’ basements.

Produced in part by Sean Greenhalgh (also known as the drummer of Clap Your Hands and Say Yeah), the final product features guest performances by some of the brightest and most beloved on the Brooklyn scene with Bryan Devendorf of The National, Lee Sargent of Clap Your Hands and Say Yeah, Olga Bell of Bell, and Charles Burst all lending their individual talents. 2008 might be slowly winding down, but Takka Takka is too busy to notice and Brooklyn is too proud of their latest loves to care.
La Strada
official website
myspace
La Strada has managed to create an impressive fanbase for themselves very early on, due to their uncanny ability to funnel the romance of old-world instrumentation through new world amplification. With soaring vocal harmonies, accordion, and string-driven melodies revved up on rock and roll, La Strada transports you to the hills of the Balkans, a street corner in Paris, and back home beneath a Brooklyn skyline. Frontman, songwriter, and former aspiring astronaut, James Craft, was born in France, and has also lived in Northern California and Romania - as a result, the band's folk ballads and fiery anthems are infused with a sense of great distance, invoking both nostalgia and awe.

after much anticipation from fans and press alike, La Strada announces 2/24/09 as the release date for their self titled EP. The 6 song collection has captured the energy and intricate melodies of the band's live performances, which have already garnered them an accomplished following. From the show stopping "Starling" to the inspiring and driving melodies of "Flying" and "The Sun Song", the band's introduction to the world is sure to please.
Frances
official website
myspace
Frances is coed sextet from New York. Their debut full-length, All the While, carries on the great tradition of pop music that plays with itself, taking the fun parts and discarding the dumb ones, flirting with chaos but always returning to a gloriously catchy, melodic center. It's resolutely childlike, fanciful stuff (toy instruments abound, as do sing-sung lyrics about stagecoaches and telephones made of paper cups and string); but then, Frances are correspondingly serious in their execution, employing whiplash-inducing chord changes, bizarre stylistic touchstones (Van Dyke Parks' pop oddities, classic AM-radio rock, a little Stravinsky, a little Sondheim), and darker moments that hint at something terrifying lurking behind the swooning strings and oom-pah horns. Frances is Stephanie Skaff (vocals, sundries), Brian Betancourt (guitar, sundries), Nick Anderson (bass), Julia Tepper (vocals, violin, sundries), Tlacael Esparza (drums), and Paul Hogan (vocals, keyboards).
FIVE O\'CLOCK HEROES
official website
myspace

Two parts British and two parts American, the Five O'clock Heroes 'sound, although influenced by, is clearly not limited to the New York City rock scene. They keep it simple with the standard bass, drums and guitars, with melodic vocals to back it up. There are a range of influences in their songs, anywhere from Motown to New Wave (Elvis Costello, The Jam and The Police), and all done with the sole intention of giving the people a memorable tune.
Josh Mease
official website
myspace
Josh Mease, originally from Houston, Texas, lives in Brooklyn, where he can often be found exploring the abandoned corners of the city, finding peaceful solace in cemeteries, empty swimming pools, and abandoned waterfronts. His debut LP, Wilderness, is the result of these wanderings. Each song evokes a scene from an imaginary world. The album takes us from the front porch summer swing sing-along “Days Like This” to the day-glo world of “White Diamonds” and ends with the ambient and beautifully strange “Tall Trees.” Mease also shows a talent for love songs. “I See You,” a duet featuring Jess Martins (Via Audio), is a lovely campfire stargazer about finding your other half – and “Eleanor” evokes silent movie imagery from the past. The topics of each song are diverse, but the theme remains that world of Mease’s mind where the music and listener are safe from the daily hustle.
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