NYCTAPER Shares Pela's ATJ Fest 2008 Set

A fab recording of the band's 60 minute whirlwind.

Download each & every track here.

Visit Pela at their official site.

MP3: Pela - Good Foot On A Bad Doorstep

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Pela: Live Video From ATJ Fest 2008

Here's the first of many clips from this year's celebration. Enjoy 'Cavalry' below.


MP3: Pela - Lonesome Hearts (CWL Mix)

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Pela Covers The Pixies In NYC

Another fab moment from last week's gig. Catch Pela on 6/21 @ ATJ Fest '08.


MP3: Pela - Good Foot On A Bad Doorstep

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Pela Unleashes New Tune In NYC

Enjoy 'Juarez' below. Read my review of the Bowery gig here. MP3 at bottom.


MP3: Pela - Lonesome Hearts (Cassettes Won't Listen Remix)

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Pela @ Bowery: Cavalries In The Desert

Over the course of the last twenty four months, I've seen so many Pela gigs that I've honestly lost count of the grand total. Whereas all of those shows focused on their out of print EP, Exit Columbia Street, and their debut full length, Anytown Graffiti, last night's emphasis was placed upon a handful of their new selections. Pela's latest tunes introduce keys & saxophone into the melting pot. Additionally, frontman Billy McCarthy even tackles one song entirely a capella (the result was nothing short of dandy). The band's sophomore record is due out sometime before Christmas 2008. Enjoy two photographs of BM below.

Visit Pela at their MySpace page. Download an Anytown Graffiti track at bottom of post.

MP3: Pela - Lost To The Lonesome

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The World Of B-Sides & Rarities, #660

Pela - Good Foot On A Bad Doorstep

View Pela's upcoming tour dates here.

Visit the band at their MySpace page.

MP3: Pela - Good Foot On A Bad Doorstep

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Pela Reschedules US Shows

Frontman Billy McCarthy has fully recovered from his recent accident. New dates are as follows, MP3 at bottom of post.

5/19 - Rock & Roll Hotel: Washington, DC
5/20 - Beachland Tavern: Cleveland, OH
5/21 - Schubas: Chicago, IL
5/26 - Sasquatch Festival: George, WA
5/27 - Doug Fir: Portland, OR
5/28 - Bottom Of The Hill: San Fran, CA
5/29 - Spaceland: Los Angeles, CA

Visit Pela on MySpace.

MP3: Pela - Lost To The Lonesome

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Pela Cancels Remainder Of US Tour Due To Injury

The Brooklyn 4-piece shares the painful news on their official blog: *We are writing to you as our van heads back to New York. Billy has already returned to New York via plane, and is preparing for surgery. During last night's show at Schuba's in Chicago, Billy [frontman] fell off the stage, landing on a broken pint glass. This happened during the triumphant finale of the set; the stage was crowded with people dancing and singing to 'Cavalry', while a strobe light turned their vision into a cut screen movie. His left hand has a gash on the palm, and a deep slice in his pinky finger which also cut tendons. We regrettably must announce that Schuba's was the last night of the tour. We promise to make up each and every show as soon as possible and apologize to everyone who purchased tickets. Arrangements are being made with all of the clubs on how best to handle the situation.* Get well soon, Billy! Send him well wishes here.

MP3: Pela - Trouble With River Cities

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Pela Unleashes Four Part Miniseries

Ahh, tomfoolery! Here's video #1 from 'There's No Off Switch On This Thing Tour' entitled 'Le Duel'. The 3 subsequent clips will be released every other day throughout the week.


MP3: Pela - Lost To The Lonesome

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Pela Releases Fan-Created Video

Watch Anytown Graffiti's '7th & 17th' below. View Pela's forthcoming tour dates here.


MP3: Pela - Lonesome Hearts (Cassettes Won't Listen Remix)

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Pela Sits Down For Q&A With The Deli

The Brooklyn 4-piece answers a range of inquiries.

Most notably: Scrubs, Rainer Maria & Bowery Presents.

Read the full piece at The Deli's official site.

View Pela's 2008 tour dates here.

MP3: Pela - Lost To The Lonesome

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Pela Announces '08 Tour

All gigs below. Tix for most shows go on sale tomorrow.

2/27: Music Hall Of Williamsburg, Brooklyn
2/29: Schubas, Chicago
3/01: 400 Bar, Minneapolis
3/04: High Dive, Seattle
3/05: Doug Fir, Portland
3/07: Bottom Of The Hill, San Francisco
3/08: Spaceland, Los Angeles
3/10: Hi Dive, Denver

MP3: Pela - Lost To The Lonesome

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Pela Gives Studio Update, Titles LP2

It will be called...

Rise Ye Sunken Ships

Tentative release date is June of '08.

The record is being recorded @ Gigantic Studios in NYC.

Learn more, courtesy of Pela's studio blog, here.

MP3: Pela - Lost To The Lonesome

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The World Of B-Sides & Rarities, #263

Pela - Live On KEXP

Setlist:
Tenement Teeth
Song Writes Itself
Lost To The Lonesome
Philly
Raining In Darling

Photo courtesy of Jinners.

MP3: Pela - Live On KEXP

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The World Of B-Sides & Rarities, #218

Pela - Live On WOXY

Setlist:
Waiting On The Stairs
Drop Me Off
The Trouble With River Cities
Philadelphia

MP3: Pela - Live On WOXY

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Pela Announces Last Minute Pre-CMJ Hometown Gig

Here's alll the dirt, direct from the band's official site: *This show is a surprise for everyone in our neighborhood at a restaurant called Trout (used to be Gravy) on Smith Street. Every once in a while we put together a show in the neighborhood because there aren’t any proper music venues. It is also a way for us to say thank you to everyone that comes out to support us so often. Once the restaurant closes we will make our own venue! Starts around Midnight (tomorrow night, 10/12) and goes until they throw us out.*

Check out my review of Pela's first-ever headlining gig at Mercury Lounge here.

MP3: Pela - Trouble With River Cities

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Pela Covers The Pixies

Check out Pela tackling 'Holiday Song' from last week's (acoustic) visit to Seattle's Easy Street Records, below. Enjoy a Pela MP3 at bottom. Head to Pela's MySpace via this link.


MP3: Pela - Lost To The Lonesome

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BrakesBrakesBrakes & Pela & Electric Soft Parade @ Mercury Lounge: Three Is A Magic Number

It's not very often (in fact, it's almost never) that I attend a gig with intentions of seeing every band on the bill. Last night was the anomaly. With a strong desire to finally encounter BrakesBrakesBrakes in the flesh, a perpetual love for Brooklyn-based Pela, and an intense curiosity to check out one of Thom Yorke's favorite modern bands, Electric Soft Parade, I had no choice but to stay for the entirety of the evening.

Brighton natives, Electric Soft Parade, opened the show with their unique and adoring blend of mid-'90s Britpop and straight-up indie, alongside hints of atmospheric post-rock. For a reference point, attempt to imagine Super Furry Animals, The Strokes, Badly Drawn Boy, Doves and Damon Albarn all trapped in the same room working on a charity single. Good pick, Thom. Learn more about ESP here on the band's MySpace page.

MP3: Electric Soft Parade - If That's The Case, Then I Don't Know

Second on the bill was Pela. The last time I saw the quartet was at their record release show, also at Mercury Lounge, for, Anytown Graffiti, roughly a month and a half ago (review here). The energy that the band brought to Houston Street that evening in April was met, if not surpassed, with last night's remarkable hour-long set. Highlighting the majority of their debut, the sold-out crowd was insatiable, shouting and pleading for the band to keep playing well past their slotted set time (much to the chagrin of BrakesBrakesBrakes' tour manager). The group will be traveling endlessly for the second half of the year. Keep up to date on all things Pela here on their official site.

MP3: Pela - Lonesome Hearts (Cassettes Won't Listen remix)

Closing out the evening was the folk-punk sounds of BrakesBrakesBrakes. It's worth noting that two members of ESP are also in BrakesBrakesBrakes; much kudos to the White brothers for working double duty all tour long! Quite impressive (and presumably exhausting). BrakesBrakesBrakes is a particularly difficult act to describe. For every tongue-in-cheek sixty second (or under) track, the band has an equally exciting selection of full-length tunes ranging in topic from spring chickens to American politics to name-dropping hipsters. Last night's set was the perfect combination of the band's debut LP, Give Blood, and their sophomore release, The Beatific Visions. For some reason, I am eager to describe BrakesBrakesBrakes as a sort of unmasked version of (my beloved) Clinic, if the Liverpool rockers removed their surgical outfits, threw on a pair of jeans and picked up an acoustic guitar. Both bands achieve the rare feat of perfected randomness. Learn more about BBB here on their label (World's Fair)'s site. Setlist & MP3 below.

Setlist: Hi How Are You?/Hold Me In The River/Margarita/Ring A Ding Ding/On Your Side/Spring Chicken/Pick Up The Phone/I Can't Stand/Cheney (x2)/All Night Disco/Shut Us Down/What's In It For Me?/Beatific Visions/Cease + Desist/Porcupine Or Pineapple/NY Pie/No Return/Jackson/Huevos Rancheros (x2)

MP3: BrakesBrakesBrakes - Ring A Ding Ding

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Pela Gets Gay Bashed & Threatened In CT

What the hell is going on? First A Brief Smile and now this, courtesy of Pela's MySpace bulletin:

*Hey everyone. We just played at Sweet Jane's in Hartford on Friday. We're telling you about this to let you all know of our experience and to give you some fair warning of the people you will encounter at this venue. We had a fine experience up until we got done playing. About 2/3 into the show the owner came up and yelled at us to turn down. Mind you we had already been respectful and had our stage volume well below what it normally is. Besides it's the soundman's job to deal with volume issues.

When loading the equipment out we apologized to the owner and he slammed the door behind him. We went in to grab the rest of our equipment and the owner proceeded to say -'you loser faggots get the fuck out of my club before we kick your asses'. This aggression and the derogatory statements continued with the owner's friends joining in and threatening to fight us. All the while the promoter woman, Natalie tried to intervene. Only after it cooled down and we had security making sure we left quickly.

We figured that anyone in our extended community that might have to deal with people like that can at least get a fair warning and ultimately question whether they'd like to walk into a place that promotes those ideals. If anyone would like to let these people know how they feel you can contact one of the owners who is responsible for the derogatory statements.- russ@sweetjaneshartford.com.

xo-Pela*

MP3: Pela - Lost To The Lonesome

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Pela, Panda Bear & Muggabears Square Off In Deli's Magazine's Artist Of The Month

Who are you pulling for?

The full list of May nominees are as follows: Pela, Panda Bear, The Muggabears, Aa, Battles, Foreign Islands, Gold Streets and PG 16.

Vote for your favorite here.

Currently, The Muggabears are out in front with over 29 percent of the vote.

MP3: The Muggabears - The Goth Tarts

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