Quirky, experimental pop with a nice lo-fi layer on top. And it’s completely free.
God damn Brooklyn, you guys are good people.
Check out Slam Donahue’s new mixtape, Big House Nice Dreams, below. I don’t know how these guys haven’t caught on yet.
Wednesday, 5/9/12
Needless to say, our filming had to be postponed to a later date. Bummer, ‘cause we were really looking forward to it. But we were able to get a much earlier start on our journey. We made it to our hotel in Chambersburg, PA, with enough time to swim in the pool a bit and go to Ruby Tuesday’s. This was so exciting for us!! Living in NY, we don’t get to see chain restaurants a lot because we mostly avoid the overpriced ones in Times Square, and even those of us who do have a car often don’t have the energy to drive out more in the direction of Long Island. Ah, Shrimp Fondue and a Strawberry Sangria…
Thursday, 5/10/12
Thursday night we kicked off our weekend Goat grazing with an appearance at the Acoustic Coffeehouse in Johnson City, TN. I have to say, this was one of the most fun nights I’ve had at a show in a long time!! I don’t have any pictures from performance because so much was happening I didn’t even think of having someone snap any. Co-band leader Ryan Dunn dubbed the Acoustic Coffeehouse “the Wild West of Coffee Shops.” And I think he’s right! If you’re looking for a good time with folks of all walks, go to the Acoustic Coffeehouse. (They also serve food and have lots of beers on tap.)
We had some friends from different places come out and see us – two that surprised us, and one with flowers for me fresh from his garden.. J
Good to see old friends! This is me & Joe Clark. Thanks Larry, Joe, & Tommy T!
We had some folks who were really grooving to our songs. The Acoustic Coffeehouse has a very interactive crowd, they’re right there with you and they become an integral part of the night. There was even an artist who expressed his support for us in a drawing of a beautiful Goat. Thank you Epifanio!! (*At the suggestion of the artist, we’re hopefully getting a hi-res digital version of this awesome drawing soon, so stay tuned on our website/FB/social networks for the final product.)
We ended up back at our hotel at almost 2am (surprisingly later than we normally get in while on tour since we’re usually so exhausted). Great first night of playing!!
Friday, 5/11/12
Next day: Knoxville. Preservation Pub is an awesome venue located right in Market Square, one of the coolest areas in the city. This place has 3 floors, the third being a balcony bar. Very cool. We played on the second floor, also known as the “Speakeasy.”
Our drummer Andy Wilmoth came over from Nashville and joined us. He’s the best. (This is him, to the right.) A modest combination of djembe, bass drum, and snare that he provided fleshed out our otherwise acoustic sound for this tour, really nicely. Thanks Andy!
The Preservation Pub is a really great time, and has some really great listeners. We so enjoyed playing for and meeting everyone!!
Saturday, 5/12/12
Last stop before NYC: Wytheville, VA! We played at the Wohlfahrt Haus Dinner Theatre, out back in their Matterhorn Lounge & Bier Garten. The Wohlfahrt Haus is full of great times, great people, and so much talent. This show went so well! Thank you so much to all of the people who helped make this show possible.
It was a magical night with lots of love and support coming at us from all directions. The overcast sky held out for us and we were able to play the whole show outside. Here are some photos of the night. (2nd photo here taken by David Manley.)
A sign made & hand-painted by our good friend Larry was brought from a garden on his beautiful farm property, to sit at the front of the stage during our performance. It contains a line in “Tunnel Vision,” a song I wrote for our first album.
Larry graciously offered us spare rooms at his house at Flat Rock Farm to crash on Saturday night. It’s a place where we’d love to stay for a week. This is actually the very farm where we filmed our music video, “Stream of Conscience.” The project would not have happened as amazingly or run as smoothly as it did, were it not for the folks at the Wohlfahrt Haus & the community at large. We were given full access of any costume pieces or props that we needed to borrow, had so much help from many talented actors at the theatre, and felt so welcomed with open arms the entire time we were there. We felt that same warmth in our return this past Saturday. Wytheville and Bland, VA are just filled with GOOD PEOPLE.
After tons of fun (and some spirits), we slept soundly for a few hours amidst chirping crickets and without cell phone reception. The Farm is literally “off the map.”
So 2/3 Goat’s May 2012 tour weekend was… A smash! We had tons of fun, met some great people, and saw some old friends too.
**TOUR TIP #3: Do You. We’re all different in our own way. Embrace what is unique about you, and capitalize on it. That’s what we try to do as 2/3 Goat, every show, every tour, and everything else we do. Like this cow to the left that we saw at Flat Rock Farm, you may be a different color than the rest of the herd. You may want different things. If you want a drink from the creek, don’t be afraid to go out and get it! Whatever your dream is, go and get it – and do it without compromising yourself. Others will eventually look up to you.
Til next time,
Annalyse
2/3 Goat
twothirdsgoat.com – Like us on Facebook – Follow us on Twitter
Nick Africano has got the sultry sound that you’ve been looking for.
“Bring Me Water” is nothing but crashing piano, Africano’s powerful voice, and some serious gospel/soul revival that will have you up on your feet in no time. I love the story-telling, revelations and everything in between.
Nick Africano is prepping to release his album, The Butterfly Bull, in only a matter of days. The intensity you hear during “Bring Me Water” is no short burst of energy, that culminated expression of emotion is just waiting to be heard through the rest of his album in even more tales and collaborations.
Grab his first single below and be sure to watch the first installation of The Making of The Butterfly Bull.
Rough around the edges, loose at the seams, this is all I can really summon up when describing Brooklyn’s The Micks.
They’ve got thrashing, noisy guitars interlaced with shouting vocals and certainly enough lo-fi to create a nice hazy layer overtop. Their brand new single, “A,” is some fine garage-rock that’s filled to the brim with high school angst. Also available is their other track, “Catskill Mountains,” which is refreshingly different, and I think shows another side of the four-piece.
Grab the two songs below, I’m hoping more is to come soon.
Catskill Mountains – The Micks
Right-click and enjoy.
Back in NYC now… It was a whirlwind of a week. Here’s a map of all our travels for our April 2012 tour:
4/18: WASHINGTON, DC!
Our nation’s capitol has some great venues. Here’s the one we played at this time around: The Wonderland Ballroom. Very cool joint, with a bar & food on the first floor, and on the second floor there’s a music venue. The first act of the night was Oh! My Blackbird, a really talented folk trio from NYC.
Then 2/3 Goat took the stage. We got a pretty great crowd out, especially considering our out-of-townness and all. Thanks to everyone who came and supported!!
4/19: DAY OFF! – RICHMOND, VA
We awoke the morning of Thursday the 19th to a hunger that could only be quenched by a little joint called the International House of Pancakes. Luckily, there was one closeby.
Our friends, the Kennedys, moved to Richmond, VA about a year ago from NYC. After breakfast, we ventured a couple hours south of DC to visit them there, see their new house, and their new gorgeous dog, Greta.
What a glorious day off it was. The weather was perfect! We spent it at Belle Isle and Greta swam in the James River.
Then grill, and bonfire!! And, of course, rehearsal.
Thanks Brendan & Meghann Kennedy for accommodating us in your beautiful house and your beautiful town!!
4/20: CHARLESTON, WV!
It was 2/3 Goat’s second time playing at Capitol Roasters Café in Charleston. Such a cozy venue right in the heart of downtown. Aside from our crowd, a few Friday nighters who were out and about rolled in thanks to the open-air feel of the giant windows at Capitol Roasters.
4/21 & 4/22: THE PURPLE FIDDLE in THOMAS, WV!
We had a great time at the Fiddle, as we always do. The Purple Fiddle is a regular stop for 2/3 Goat. We’ve played on their stage about 6 or 7 times in the last year and a half. What keeps us coming back? The Music is always great, but the venue is also on the main strip of the town of Thomas, a small town nestled in the heart of the West Virginia mountains, at an elevation of 3,035 feet. With such a quiet, relaxed vibe, Thomas was the perfect place to wrap up our tour before heading back to the big bad City.
…AND IT’S BACK HOME…..
Directly after the second afternoon show we played, we hopped in the car and started our journey back – a drive that would usually be a painless 7 hours, especially on a Sunday. But this Earth Day definitely reminded us of the power of the big, beautiful Lady that it celebrates every year. A huge rainstorm kept us company the entire ride back. It was basically a nor’easter, but with rain. (Thomas was expecting snow though; we just missed that…:(..)
2/3 Goat’s April tour was a success, and it’s all thanks to our awesome, supportive fans. It’s always an adventure too, being on the road. We’re back in NYC now, but the coming months will provide more stories I am sure. We’ll see you in May!
**TOUR TIP#2: Earlier in this post, you saw that we did some rehearsing in Richmond. Although I’m the first to say time off is great, it’s always best to be prepared when you’re on tour (and off, really). As the sign below reminded us in a gas station during our travels, you never know what circumstances you might come across.
Until Next Month,
Annalyse
2/3 Goat – Facebook – Tw: @TwoThirdsGoat
Denver, Colorado’s Pictureplane is packing up a UHaul and moving himself to Brooklyn, NY (which is cool for me) but maybe not for his CO pals. Nevertheless, he’s doing a couple tour dates on his little journey and bringing along fellow “Denver weirdos, Alphabets.”
Alphabets make some kind of fusion of what I’d call digi-electro-jungle-rave and on their newest release “JeanJets“ they combine that with various airplane (jet) noises. I’m kind of into it and I feel like seeing these guys in any kind of club/warehouse/non-traditional dance arena, would be extremely fun.
Check out JeanJets below:
Pictureplane Midwest Dates:
APRIL 27TH CHICAGO LOFT PARTY
Annalyse McCoy of 2/3 Goat here…we’re a metrobilly band based in NYC. In this, our first blog entry, I’ll take a second to catch you up on us.
We formed around the beginning of 2009, one of our first public performances being in MR King Productions’ Singer-Songwriter competition held at Don’t Tell Mama’s in midtown Manhattan. We took home the prize that night, which led us to performing at Tainted Blue Studios in their monthly Artists Loft Series, a podcast featuring new and up & coming New York City artists. We kept up with Tainted Blue, later recorded our first EP there, and after months of playing NYC venues such as The Bitter End, Sullivan Hall, and Banjo Jim’s, we started touring down the east coast.
The Music led us to Nashville, where we started playing at venues such as Mercy Lounge & The Basement every 3-4 months. We recorded our second album there (also an EP) at Welcome to 1979 Studios, an all-analog studio run by tape-machine refurbisher and all-around analog genius Chris Mara.
At about the same time, with the help of Visualanties Productions, we shot a Music Video of the title track of this soon-to-be album, Stream of Conscience. We had raised funds on Kickstarter for this project. We could not have accomplished this project without our amazing fans! The song has to do with our stance against mountaintop removal coal mining, a devastative practice occurring in my hometown of Inez, KY, and surrounding areas of Central Appalachia. To find out more about mountaintop removal, you can Click Here.
The album Stream of Conscience and our music video both debuted on AOL Music’s homepage in November 2011 (see our website), and got some great press from the likes of The Huffington Post, Greenpeace’s blog, and Stated Magazine. For more great press, you can view our Facebook page.
And so here we are, about to begin our first mini-tour of 2012!! Thursday night, we had a sendoff show at Arlene’s Grocery, with Buffalo Trace Bourbon sponsoring. It rocked!
(Thanks Jennifer Marie, for this photo.)
After spending about 6 months of 2011 on the road, we’ve decided to consolidate and make our out-of-town stints shorter for now. This makes it easier for us, especially when we travel in one of these:
Honda Civic, 2002
For now…
Okay… so we don’t travel with the full band in this, it would be impossible!! When we tour, a lot of times we scale it down to three musicians: Me (lead singer, mandolinist), Ryan Dunn (other lead singer, guitar player), and Ryan Guerra (master fiddler).
This week we will be out and about at The Wonderland Ballroom in Washington, DC (Wednesday!) and various venues throughout West Virginia!! (Black Bear Burritos in Morgantown, WV, tomorrow night!!)
A look at our April tour schedule:
Stay tuned for adventures in the week ahead!
Annalyse McCoy
2/3 Goat - Like us on Facebook - Follow us on Twitter: @TwoThirdsGoat
Top photo of 2/3 Goat: Mike Bradley, Visualanties.com
Hey all,
The kind folks here at What’s Protocol? have asked me to keep a diary of sorts of my current tour of Germany. I’ll be trying to post every other day when I’m able to get to a wifi set up.
For starters, I just slept for 12 hours after being awake for 30 hours. I think I’m back on track and ready for our first show tonight in Bielefeld. We had rehearsal yesterday and the band sounded pretty good for not having played together in 4 months!
Ok, well that’s all for now. Thanks for reading and I’ll talk to you soon!
A beautiful direction that the Brooklyn group, Preludes, have recently taken. “Dresden” is the brother and sister duo’s latest single which is full of slow-churning adorable melodies with a dream-pop glaze overtop. I’m always a big fan of boy/girl vocals and that push pull feeling.
Grab the track and name your price, enjoy.
I really like how the vocals are up front and present in Oh! My Blackbird’s single, “No Exit.” Off of their recently released album, Dare Me, you hear the trio play a beautifully stripped down song mainly showcasing their harmonies while simultaneously adding complimenting instruments ever so lightly into the mix. I dig the subtleties y’all.
Check out Brooklyn’s latest up-an-comers that are bringing a richly acoustic sound to the table.
Right-click and enjoy.
