Tag: Empires

No comments

2014: A Year In Pictures

  By , ,

A year of rock n’ roll, in pictures, including two shows from late December 2013, which I shot after I posted last years’ Year in Pictures.

Tonight I’m headed out to dance the New Year in with Erasure (!); have fun and be safe, y’all, and I’ll see you on the other side.

The Districts, Brooklyn Bowl, Brooklyn, NY, Dec. 30, 2013

The Felice Brothers, Brooklyn Bowl, Brooklyn, NY, Dec. 30, 2013

Team Spirit, Irving Plaza, New York, NY, Dec. 31, 2013

Andrew W.K., Irving Plaza, New York, NY, Dec. 31, 2013

Fadeaway Friends Benefit 001, NGHBRS, Maxwell’s, Hoboken, NJ, Jan. 10, 2014

Fadeaway Friends Benefit 001, States and Kingdoms, Maxwell’s, Hoboken, NJ, Jan. 10, 2014

Fadeaway Friends Benefit 001, Frank Iero, Maxwell’s, Hoboken, NJ, Jan. 10, 2014

Fadeaway Friends Benefit 001, The Gay Blades, Maxwell’s, Hoboken, NJ, Jan. 10, 2014

Fadeaway Friends Benefit 002, Fred Mascharino, St. Vitus, Brooklyn, NY, Jan. 18, 2014

Fadeaway Friends Benefit 002, States and Kingdoms, St. Vitus, Brooklyn, NY, Jan. 18, 2014

Fadeaway Friends Benefit 002, Geoff Rickley, St. Vitus, Brooklyn, … Continue reading

No comments

Postcards from the Pit: Margot and the Nuclear So and So’s / Empires / Kate Myers, Bowery Ballroom, 5/3/14

  By

Kate Myers: beautiful voice; flashes of songwriting brilliance; not a terrible way to spend half an hour.

Empires: The scrappy little band of my heart (Midwest division) has at long last come out of hibernation – their new record, Orphan, is due June 17 – and I’m pleased to report their garage rock grit is intact, but they’ve added some grown-up polish and flair. Their set was 100% new tunes – bold move! – so I was briefly concerned I had missed a record, somewhere along the line, but ultimately I didn’t really care because all of the songs were awesome. My final assessment: they are the aural equivalent of sex hair.

They’re back in New York on June 18 at the Mercury Lounge, and, special notice to Columbus, Ohio: They’re playing the Afterparty of the Fashion Meets Music Festival in your town, August 29-31, 2014.

Margot and the Nuclear So and So’s: They drift more towards the Eagles country-rock end of the spectrum; I gave them three songs, as I do for anyone, and when I decided I wasn’t feeling it I got off the rail so people … Continue reading

No comments

Video: Empires, How Good Does It Feel

  By ,

Empires, scrappy little band of my heart (Chicago division), is getting ready to release a new record, to be called Orphan.

As a preview, they’ve put out the video below, for How Good Does It Feel. The edges are a little less jagged than they usually are, but the propulsive energy is still there and Sean van Vleet’s voice is still the perfect seductive blend of silk and whiskey.
 
Empires – How Good Does it Feel Live From the BasementEmpires - How Good Does it Feel Live From the Basement
Watch this video on YouTube
 
In other Empires news, they will be headed out on tour of the Midwest starting in February:
empwintertour
 
For further updates: see their Facebook and/or Twitter pages!

Continue reading

5 Comments

Empires: Live in Chicago

  By ,

Empires, scrappy little band of my heart (North American division) have made a live album. Recorded last September at Lincoln Hall in Chicago, it showcases Empires in all of their grimy, bluesy glory.

Check it out:

 
Surrenderer (Live) by empires
 
Hello Lover (Live) by empires
 
We Lost Magic (Live) by empires

 

DON’T FORGET TO TAKE THE NTSIB READER SURVEY!

Continue reading

6 Comments

Empires: Garage Hymns

  By ,

I’ve been writing about a lot of dreamy electronic music and chill folk rock lately, but now I’m ready to push the pendulum the other way.

Luckily, I have some Empires – scrappy little band of my heart, North American division – to listen to. Garage Hymns is their latest record, out earlier this year, and it is just what I need to clear out the cobwebs.

Some sample tunes, with annotations:
 
Can’t Steal Your Heart Away: A perfect evocation of a particular kind of party, specifically, the kind that ends with people playing Bad Decision Bingo. And so wryly observed that it fills me with longing for nights that end with fries drenched in cheddar cheese and mornings that start with strong tea.
 
Can’t Steal Your Heart Away by Empires
 
Night Is Young: This one will always evoke the lights of Times Square blinking while I study for the bar, for me, but there’s other things in there, too. Like, I … Continue reading

No comments

Tour Alert: Colour Revolt / Empires

  By ,

Empires, of Chicago (and yes, still the Scrappy Little Band of My Heart) are teaming up with Colour Revolt, of Oxford, Mississippi and visiting some cities  this fall. I can’t get to their Brooklyn show – law school is once again interfering with my rock and roll lifestyle – but I encourage all y’all to go and check them out.

As enticement, I give you some video. First up, there’s Empires, with Spit The Dark, from Howl, the first song they wrote as a band:

http://vimeo.com/7093690

 

And then Colour Revolt, with Eight Years, from their new record The Cradle. It’s the story of eight years playing together – the highs, the lows, the sublime, and the totally, grossly ridiculous:

Colour Revolt "8 Years"Colour Revolt "8 Years"
Watch this video on YouTube

Continue reading

No comments

Postcards from the Pit: Empires / The Constant / Follower, 6/17/2011

  By , , ,

Empires, still the scrappy little band of my heart, won’t be on the cover of Rolling Stone this year. They are, however, on tour right now and may very well be coming to a tiny club near you sometime soon. And if you can make it out to see them, you should. I had the pleasure of catching up with them and also some promising local bands last Friday night.

The first opener was Follower, who are so new that this show was actually their second show ever. If the two songs I was able to hear were a reasonable representative sample, they play like a much more experienced band – tight, focused and powerful. Here is one of the three decent pictures I managed to take of them:

IMG_9163Follower

 

Next was The Constant, who are poppier than Follower and Empires, but yet are still definitely rock and roll, and also significantly grittier live than they are online:

IMG_9180 Continue reading

No comments

Video Grab Bag: Panic! at the Disco, Christina Perri, Industries of the Blind and Empires

  By ,

This video for Ready to Go (Get Me Out of My Mind), Panic! at the Disco‘s second single off of their new record Vices & Virtues, just came out yesterday, and, you guys, I really just love it so much. Not only is it a great song (turn it up!), but the video is beautifully shot and lit AND there is fabulous choreography. There are also fun costumes, because the whole thing is a visual tribute to musicals, including Grease, Mary Poppins and Singin’ in the Rain. Oh and also SOMEONE GETS SHOT OUT OF A CANNON. It is just delicious.

 

Panic! At The Disco: Ready To Go [OFFICIAL VIDEO]Panic! At The Disco: Ready To Go [OFFICIAL VIDEO]
Watch this video on YouTube

 

Continuing with the movie theme, this is the lyric video for Arms, from the upcoming lovestrong by Christina Perri, which features words “projected” onto old-fashioned movie screens. I’ve already confessed to typography nerdery; what I especially like about this one is the way the letters shuffle and jump and sometimes arrive as snarled little knots that then expand into words and phrases.

 

Christina Perri – Arms [Official … Continue reading

No comments

Update On: Empires

  By

Empires, still the scrappy little band of my heart, has progressed to ROUND TWO of the Rolling Stone cover contest. That means it’s time to vote them into round three, which you can do here. Voting on this round lasts until APRIL 14. They’ve also uploaded two new songs created special for the contest, Night is Young and Hard Times, which you can also listen to at that link.

Meanwhile, here they are talking about how they became a band, “home video” style:


Watch this video on YouTube

Continue reading