The Bowery Presents

The Mercury Lounge upcoming shows

Foreign Born
10:30
Free Energy
9:30

CLOVERS
8:30
Linfinity
7:30

Venue:
The Mercury Lounge
Date:
Thu 3/11
Notes:
21+
Doors: 7:30 PM / Show: 7:30 PM
$12
Tickets
Linfinity
official website
myspace
It always begins with that lightbulb.

A concept, an idea....born. When Dylan Von Wagner started Linfinity in 2007, the moniker he used to name his project went from mere concept to actual fruition when he recorded an EP with a few friends at The Walkmen's studio, Marcata, in Harlem.

From there, he used this model vision to quarantine a band later that year. St Ives (a vinyl only label) by the Swanson brothers [Secretly Canadian] found interest in this concept and released a full album of demos "Live at Marcata," - a solo acoustic endeavor by Von Wagner full of pure, new, melodic vignettes.

Into the fold came Bassist Nick Hundley, Drummer Russ Lemkin, Guitarist Josh Collins, Megan Berson Violin/Viola, and Omer Shemesh on keys. After assessing the sound of Von Wagner's original ideas, they began to push and tread to find the right direction as a collective.

With some slight experimentation in the line up, Linfinity began to carve out a sound and in the summer of 2008 cut their First EP, "Songs of The Weeping Willow".

Recorded at a barn in New Paltz, NY with Kevin McMahon [The Felice brothers, Titus Andronicus}, the five song EP is snapshots of a troubled time over the recent passing of a family member giving gravity to the formation.

Masterpiece completed, the band decided to put it up for free online and continued to paint the downtown NYC scene with their bombastic, thrilling live shows.

In 2009, with a strong fan base established and shows packed, the band decided once again to capitalize on the sincere interest from the music community at large to record their debut record.

The most recent Linfinity opus was completed at Excello Recordings in Brooklyn, New York. It was recorded with producer Josh Hager, and later mixed in submarine-turned-studio in the Atlantic ocean.
Foreign Born
official website
myspace
After spending the post-collegiate summer of 2003 getting drunk at other people's weddings, Lewis Pesacov and Matt Popieluch decided it was high time to start yet another band. The two met while attending San Francisco State University and had been playing together for a handful of years in various incarnations.
After playing a few shows, Lewis and Matt went down to LA to clean up their rough demos with Lewis' longtime friend Ariel Rechtshaid, who suggested they re-record the demos with himself on bass and Garrett Ray on drums. The results were promising enough for Lewis and Matt to quit their menial jobs and move down to LA that spring where the current line-up of Foreign Born was, yes, born.
The band released their 'In the Remote Woods' EP on Startime International in the summer of 2005, followed by the limited edition 'Loud Times in the Valley' EP on local LA label Grand Gallop, and is planning to release their first proper full-length, 'On the Wing Now' this August on Steve Aoki's Dim Mak Records.
Foreign Born produced and recorded 'On The Wing Now' themselves before signing with Dim Mak, trading on the experience and accumulated recording gear of bassist Ariel Rechtshaid, who has produced albums for We Are Scientists and the Blood Arm, among others, as well as the arrangement skills of guitarist Lewis Pesacov, who has a degree in Composition. The band pressed the original version of the finished album themselves with hand-screened covers on recycled materials and hit the road for the fall of 2006.
Touring in support of their just-finished album, Foreign Born found themselves on the road at home and abroad with We Are Scientists, Giant Drag, Rogue Wave and the Cold War Kids. For both of their tours in the fall of 2006, they navigated the US and Canada in a borrowed van powered by vegetable oil, finding their fuel behind the nation's finer roadside dining establishments. At home they've shared bills with The Futureheads, The Walkmen, and Grizzly Bear, whose guitarist Ed Droste called Foreign Born his 'favorite new band' in a recent Pitchfork feature.
Their sound is a dark, acoustic, psychedelic mixture of influences that range from Roy Orbison and John Lennon to the Fall, Primal Scream, Jesus & Mary Chain and Brian Eno; the varying tastes and backgrounds of the individual members informing their arrangements. Guitarist Pesacov's formal education keeps the compositions tight and strongly constructed, while singer Matt Popieluch tends to do quite the opposite, with winning results. Although it is usually Matt and Lewis who come up with the songs' foundations, bassist Ariel Rechtshaid and drummer Garrett Ray play an equally important role in shaping the songs' structure and arrangement.
Having just signed with Dim Mak, Foreign Born is excited to release 'On the Wing Now' and is already looking forward to their next album, having amassed enough material to fill another disc. During the touring and recording lulls, the band busies itself with multiple side projects, including Lewis' African-themed Fool's Gold, and Matt's Big Search, Ceramic Isles, and occasional sideman duty for Cass McCombs.
Foreign Born will be on the road supporting 'On the Wing Now' throughout the summer of 2007 and looks forward to making a new album in 2008.
Free Energy
myspace
Free Energy is a Philadelphia, PA band which includes Scott Wells, Paul Sprangers, Evan Wells, Geoff Bucknam, and Nick Shuminksy. Wells and Sprangers were both in now-defunct Hockey Night. Free Energy weaves melodic, hook-laden rock tunes with a heavy dose of bombastic glam and classic dust.

Where the similarly hook-tastic Hockey Night was highly reminiscent of Pavement and Truman’s Water, Free Energy shares more similarities with the heroes of old: Thin Lizzy, Cheap Trick, Boston, Fleetwood Mac,Bruce Springsteen, La Dusseldorf and pretty much every other rock band from the canon of classic rock radio. Free Energy could be grouped in a small, but growing 70s glam revival along with Portland, OR-based contemporaries, The Nice Boys.

Via blog posts on both Hockey Night and Free Energy Myspace pages, they promised “more news, shows, a limited DFA 7” single, videos, a mockumentary, recipes, safety tips, sound legal advice, sure bets, and where to go for the best deals.”

Free Energy is signed to DFA Records. James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem produced Free Energy’s upcoming record STUCK ON NOTHING, which will be released later this winter.
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