Artist: The Sights

Recommended Show: SATURDAY, MAY 12, 2012 ONEIDA & SIGHTINGS @ 285 KENT AVENUE 285 Kent Ave Brooklyn, NY 11211 $10, 8PM You can never go wrong with seeing noise rockers Oneida , especially when a band as awesome as Sightings is opening. Hollis Brown @ Pier 40 Virtual Boy @ Brooklyn Bowl John Brown's Body @ Maxwell's The Budos Band @ The Bell House Bird Courage @ Open Road Rooftop Naam, Hull, & [...]

Over six months on from the last proper Barn Owl release, aftershocks from 2011's drone monument Lost in the Glare are still reverberating. When I last spoke with the ever-prolific duo of Evan Caminiti and Jon Porras, they clarified that it was merely a coincidence that so many solo and side projects were being released at the same time. An auspicious release schedule is once again in the air this Spring, as both members are set to drop solo records within a few weeks of each other. Jon Porras' Black [...]

I found my way to the Temple of the Triad God by way of Friendship Bracelet 's Ian Paul Roger Nelson. Nelson, who is releasing TG's album NXB on the UUU Tapes imprint, entranced me by declaring that he could only reveal limited information on the artist behind these sounds. His name apparently is Vinh Ngan, and he is half Vietnamese and half Chinese. Many of his tracks feature him speaking a combination of Cantonese, French, and Vietnamese over samples that draw in everything from Opera to R&B. "I Never Told You" is the one track that [...]

"I did my first #HB cover TODAY!!!!" Rihanna excitedly tweeted following her beach-side photo shoot for the fashion magazine on Sunday (Apr. 22). The "Princess Of China" video vixen arrived midday at the Malibu canyon ranch where she posed in two gorgeous gowns. Reportedly, RiRi's session went well into the night, with the fashion mag moving last week's Coachella performer to several locations across the sprawling property. Get a peek at Rihanna's cover spread for Harper's Bazaar and tell us if you're as amped as she [...]

Deep Thuds is the debut release from Spacin' , a new group led by Jason Killinger of Birds of Maya . The Birds of Maya nexus has already spun off Mike Polizze's closely-watched Purling Hiss project, and Spacin' channels another aspect of the group's preoccupation with stoned, freewheeling jams. Philly-based Richie Records has been at the forefront of cataloging the riches of the city's rock elite, and their fixation on alternately poppy and depressive murk-rock spans from local wunderkind Kurt Vile to forgotten thrashers of the past like Violent Students (the subject of [...]

One Direction has already conquered North America — with a Billboard #1 debut , an upcoming treatment on Glee , and an SNL gig — so, next stop Australia! With so much going on, the fivesome was able to steal some downtime while down under and enjoyed an afternoon of fishing, boating and relaxation on Sydney Harbour. Liam Payne and Louis Tomlinson even tried their best at catching some waves at Manly Beach. (Guess that threat of a [...]

Dianna Agron was spotted — or should we say striped — leaving her hotel in New York City on Monday (Apr. 9). The Glee starlet headed out on the town in a stylish red-and-white dress, blazer and chunky scarf the night before the hit musical show's Spring debut. While Gleeks watched the red carpet beauty's character Quinn return to McKinley High in a wheelchair Tuesday night after surviving a serious car crash (guess she didn't get the message from Justin Bieber to never text while driving ), the photogenic actress [...]

Rihanna traded in the all-denim look she was seen wearing around Sydney Harbour on Monday (Apr. 9) for an all-black pantsuit for the Australian premiere of Battleship . RiRi's around-the-world promo tour for the action flick has given us the opportunity to see the pop star in quite the range of ensembles, from a pants-less outfit in London to silk "pajamas" in Japan. But this simple, classic look is by far and away our favorite from the Barbadian beauty to date. Check out the "Birthday Cake" singer's sharp look and [...]

This weekend, nothing like a noise show to clear out your SXSW hangover or remind you of why local scenes will always be more important than contrived "showcases." Friend of VR Jeff Conklin of East Village Radio presents the latest in his Avant Ghetto series, anchored by out-of-towners Wretched Worst and Form A Log (who have a forthcoming LP on Spectrum Spools) and featuring local heroes Opponents and High School Confidential (Mr. Matthews fromTelecult Powers). Flier below and details at Facebook . Words: Max Burke

Journalistic shorthand often requires inventing easy categories. One of the most notorious and ill-conceived of the modern era is "the Brooklyn scene." This monolithic tag is applied to all kinds of bands, and although you could accurately state that there are certain bands who have affinities or connections with each other in Brooklyn, this is true to an extent in all local scenes. Crucially, bands that hop from blog pages to trendy labels in the blink of an eye and are given the "Brooklyn" designation represent just a tiny sliver of the musical diversity in the borough and NYC at [...]

Since opening up my call to artists who are not attending SXSW, I've been inundated with an array of great new music. As the clock ticks away at SXSW, I've attempting to listen to and sift through all this material as fast as possible. In the next few days I'll have some more elaborate and well-defined features, but for this go-around I wanted to shine the spotlight on some artists who have a minimal Internet presence beyond a Bandcamp or Soundcloud page, and whose sound should have much wider appeal. Underground music has reached a critical mass of outlets and [...]

Rhyton - Stone Colored from Thrill Jockey Records on Vimeo . A week doesn't seem to pass without the announcement of a new group formed from disparate members of incestuous experimental music operators, with the results running the spectrum from profound to dull. An improvisational sensibility is de rigeur and the end product suggests a glimpse at greatness, rather than a cohesive statement. It was such a delight, then, to hear the self-titled debut from Rhyton , released in January on Thrill Jockey . The trio of Dave Shuford (D. Charles Speer & The [...]

It's hard to create truly confounding and mysterious music in the age of information, and yet here we have Thought Broadcast. Inspired by "bands whose atonality and libidinal force were free from any purpose" and currently based in San Francisco, Thought Broadcast is defined by recordings as paranoid as they are restrained. Instrumentation slides in and out of time, mistake becomes intention, things are being said, but anything discernable is just out of earshot. The recently released Up-Maker 73 on Phaserprone acts as a perfect introduction to the project's music and philosophy - [...]

SPEAK!, the Odd Future affiliated, Juicy J collaborator and Kreayshawn co-writer who you may have not heard from yet linked with DJ Erok to shoot "Sight + Sound" at MCF Studios in Pomana, CA for one of SPEAK!'s latest tracks, "Mexican Jacket (Indian Flute)." lol. Hit the jump for the video. "Filmed by DJ Erok, the Inside Out Boy rapper touches on an erratic set of themes while demonstrating a unique set of lyrical talents. The aforementioned album, which came out last November, features a number of tracks from Odd Future's production duo The Super 3, [...]

In 2008, Aaron Dilloway released a cassette and CDR titled Modern Jester through his label Hanson . Primarily featuring the sounds of crude 8-track loops treated with tape delays, the editions were identical, save for a re-imagining/speed-doubling of the sort-of-bonus first track on the CDR. Dilloway was clearly unable to close the book on Modern Jester during the four years following its initial release (the grainy photo of the rubber masked man has become somewhat of a calling card for Hanson), and now in 2012 we are graced with a 2xLP bearing that same name. However, [...]

I learned a great many things today. The first one being that it is actually possible to be locked inside your own apartment building. Sometime after that I learned about a dude named Liam Betson who has been releasing music under the moniker Liam the Younger for quite some time now. I know I can't be the only one who missed out on After the Graveyard or Clear Skies Over Black River - as both albums have recently been re-released Underwater Peoples and Liam's own label, A Learning Computer . [...]

When I first came across the music of Dylan Ettinger , he was what you could call a New Age Outlaw. His compositions often possessed a rich, textured ambiance, that was often more tense than meditative. Ettinger's pop potential first made itself know on last year's 73, "The Lion Of Judah." "Wintermute", the lead single from Ettinger's upcoming double LP Lifetime of Romance, continues to build on the dark wave ambiance, this time with a rhythm that is ripe for the goth dance club, and a Robert Smith-esque vocal line. The video itself is intriguing and nightmarish. [...]

The dance floor can be a ripe space to work through your shit. Those who know the healing power of body motion can attest to this, and will often preach it as gospel. Alex Gray ( Heat Wave , Deep Magic , Dreamcolour , Sun Araw ) and Cameron Stallones (Sun Araw, Magic Lantern , WHERES YR CHILD ) clearly fall somewhere within this camp. Their hour long disco mix, "Open", which was originally concocted for dublab, will cover your toast in extended, buttery grooves. Perhaps Stallones and Gray aim to raise awareness about the [...]

Erik Luebs of Magical Mistakes may reside in a small village in southwest Japan, but the sounds on his brand new Special Friends EP shimmer as brightly as any bustling metropolis on a Friday night. This track -a collaborative effort with Mutual Benefit 's Jordan Lee - takes your typical electronic sheen and stretches it taught around tight percussive fills. The effect both pumps you up and manages to soothe your brain before the sheen flys away and "Supermoon Crashed" moves into almost-traditional folk territory. Luebs flashy electronic beats give way to thick strings and [...]

Before he made a name for himself as the man behind Wooden Wand, a revolving member of Vanishing Voice, and one of the most prolific players in the so-called "New Weird America" movement, James Jackson Toth apparently instigated some pretty wild basement sessions while studying at Purchase College in the mid-'90s. Toth was only 18 years old at the time, and the project, Golden Calves, combined a cast of characters both real and imaginary, many a half-remembered night of non-stop jamming, and Toth's own solo acoustic balladry, which he occasionally overdubbed onto the group sessions. The "band's" first album, [...]