Concert Calendar: Sept. 21 to Sept. 27

Moderat (Modeselektor + Apparat) played MHOW last year

It's a great week to catch live music in New York (assuming you've got tickets)!

Tuesday, Sept. 21

7 pm: Pavement plays Central Park, Sold Out!

7:30 pm: Laurie Anderson performs "Delusion" at BAM, $20

Related post here.

7:30 Wavves, Christmas Island, The Babies play Music Hall of Williamsburg, $15

8 pm: Ra Ra Riot, Phantogram play at Bowery Ballroom, Sold Out!
Related post here.

8 pm: Jenny and Johnny, Love as Laughter play Maxwell's, $17

Rest of the week after the jump.

Ra Ra Riot Do Daytrotter, Four New York Shows This Week

Continuing a slew of sweet Daytrotter sessions, Ra Ra Riot stopped by for their third performance on the site. Timely enough, as BrooklynVegan notes, the band will be in town for two Bowery Ballroom and two Music Hall of Williamsburg.

I first saw the band almost exactly three years ago, and have seen them a couple times since, and it's wonderful to see the city embrace them. I do, however, need to hear their new album, The Orchard.

MP3: Ra Ra Riot - Boy
Official Site: Ra Ra Riot

Sufjan's Asthmatic Kitty vs. Amazon And The Demise Of The Album

The Guardian reports (via Pitchfork) that Asthmatic Kitty is urging fans to buy Sufjan Steven's new album, The Age of Adz, which comes out Oct. 12 - and to avoid Amazon. The online retail giant has been known to offer discounts for albums, which of course cuts into the label and band's cut.

"So you might wonder why we'd 'allow' Amazon to sell it for lower than that. There are several reasons why, but mostly? It's because we believe in you. We trust you and in your ability to make your own choice," writes the label.

The problem is, when given the choice, people tend to not pay for an album at all. In a perfect world, sales of albums would be enough for bands (and labels) to live off of, but they're pretty much loss-leaders now, and just a way of promoting the tour, which is where bands actually make a profit. Sufjan's a bit bigger than that, and his albums sales should be pretty significant, but it's still very unusual for the label to essentially circumvent the idea of lower pricing as a promotional tool.

Sufjan plays at the Beacon Theater on Nov. 14 and 15. Both dates are very sold out, presumably, but tickets should be available from a third party.

Last Night's Action: Pavement, Phoenix, Superchunk, the Walkmen, Chromeo

As Pitchfork notes, there was a lot of indie-ness on late night television last night. Pavement appeared on the Colbert Report. Phoenix did Jimmy Kimmel. Superchunk played two tracks on Jimmy Fallon. The Walkmen performed on Carson Daly, and Chromeo played Letterman.

For those without TVs (or working antennae), the videos are streamable in the above link.

Below, my favorite of the bunch, Phoenix's great "1901."

Punching Out: The Shank Returns

Photo: PropertyShark

The Shank returns to its original spot. [Sound of the City]

New Nicole Atkins: "Vultures." [Stereogum]

Hold Steady do "POV," playing Beacon Theater on Oct. 7. [Pitchfork]

Some details on "Google Music." [Billboard]

Leonard Skinner dies. [NY Times via Gawker]

Music today from Seefeel - "Polyfusion" (their new album is out now).

Nick Zinner Speaking At Union Square Tonight

Nick Zinner of Yeah Yeah Yeahs will be appearing at Barnes & Noble on the northern side of Union Square at 7 pm. He'll be talking about his new book of photos, Please Take Me Off the Guest List, out in October. Zinner also talked to NY Mag's Daily Intel last week, where he dished on food, panhandlers and being a New Yorker.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs next play on Wednesday, Sept. 22, at Secret Robot Project, according to their MySpace.

Sound Fix For Sale

Happier times, sort of.

Uh oh. Just when we thought record stores were making a comeback, Sound Fix, the Williamsburg record store at North 11th and Berry Street, has a for-sale listing on Craigslist. Asking price is $250,000. "I'm just testing the waters," owner James Bradley told the Village Voice. "I'm working two jobs these days and it's a bit much. That's all."

Sound Fix moved a couple blocks to Berry Street after being at North 11th and Bedford Avenue since 2004. They hosted live music in an adjacent bar and lounge at the old space, but shows were eventually closed down. When I spoke with Bradley a couple years back, he was determined to keep live music in the neighborhood, and Sound Fix continues to host free in-stores in its new location.

Hopefully, Bradley will find someone who cares about music as much as he does, or better yet, he'll find a way to hold on to the store. Support local record stores! (And bands!)

Tricky Does Daft Punk's "Technologic" on New Album

There's a full stream of Tricky's new album, Mixed Race (via Pitchfork) available today, and track two, "Kingston Logic," sounds rather familiar. Yep, Tricky totally pulled a Ted Leo and covered everyone's favorite French robots.

Here's "Technologic," in comparison.

Insound Popping Up in Soho

Photo: 201 Mulberry, PropertyShark

The Real Deal reports that online music store InSound will open a three-day brick-and-mortar shop at 201 Mulberry Street, known as the Open House Gallery. From he store will sell "turntables, silk-screened posters, T-shirts, headphones, vinyl and music accessories" and DJs will spin in the 4,500-square-foot space.

This is a nice reversal of current record store trends (Virgin Megastore on Union Square is now a Nordstrom, Duane Reade and, soon, a Citibank; Tower Records is a gym), and it's too bad the store will only be around for a few days. Pop-ups have become pretty popular in the wake of the real estate crash and subsequent surge in retail space vacancies, and landlords have been known to donate space to art groups, but music efforts usually have some sort of retail component.

I'll probably stop by the place and snap some photos when it goes up, stay tuned.

Mergers and Acquisitions: BMG Rights Management Buys Evergreen

Dow Jones reports that BMG Rights Management, a European joint venture that isn't part of Sony, has purchased Evergreen Copyright, which holds the rights to likes of Michael Jackson, Eric Clapton and Nick Drake. The company apparently has a lot of deals in the works, with 70 smaller deals in the U.S. alone, as the music industry continues to fragment.

BMG may even go after EMI's publishing business, if the troubled major label ever gets split, although chief Hartwig Masuch said it "wouldn't necessarily need EMI's entire publishing business, but would be happy with Western European assets."

Gotta love the kicker here: "Still, the Gibson Les Paul electric guitar in his office suggests the rock 'n' roll spirit hasn't entirely vanished." Eh, if it hasn't vanished, it's at least gone digital.

Is The Economy Really This Bad?

Spotted in Chelsea.

Weekend Linkage: Pavement, Of Montreal, Creators Project and more

Happy Monday! Here's what we missed over the weekend.

Pavement played the Williamsburg Waterfront. [NY Times]

Of Montreal and Janelle Monae played Terminal 5, twice. [BrooklynVegan]

Creators Project finishes in Beijing. [NME]

Gaga speaks out against "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." [Reuters]

Andy Kessler leaves the Drums. [Prefix]

Bono's nonprofit gets flack for press blitz. [NY Post]