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Unless otherwise noted, all tickets are available through
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and the Wonder Box Office, open 2 hours before doors open, show nights
only.
Day of show tickets are available 2 hours prior to doors opening at the
Wonder Box Office, located on street level. All tickets subject to $2
surcharge. Sales based on availability.
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Note: The cheapest way to buy advance tickets is at the
Wonder Box Office, open show nights only.
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02/09/2012 • 9pm (doors open at 8pm).
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All Ages. $13.00 advance. $15.00 day of show.
YACHT: Portland, Ore.'s Yacht began as a side project of the irrepressible electro-pop duo the Blow. But Jona Bechtolt's pleasure cruiser quickly outpaced the winds of his other act, as Yacht refined its low-slung, party-ready brand of indie dance on records for States Rights, Marriage and finally DFA. Yacht's first album, Super Warren MMIV, was a collection of blippy instrumentals that suggested a kind of computer-aided needlepoint, bristling with nubby LEDs and analog synths as soft as cashmere. After Mega, which contorted the material into a more tangled shape, Claire L. Evans came on board and steered Yacht into deeper, fresher waters where acoustic instruments and sung melodies intermingled with electronic dazzle. After touring with LCD Soundsystem, the band signed to DFA and released 2009's See Mystery Lights, their most fully realized effort yet, fusing quirky sound design with crack songwriting and offering Hot Chip some stiff competition for the 21st century electro-pop throne.
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02/11/2012 • 8pm (doors open at 7pm).
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Buy Tickets
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21 & Over. $15.00 advance. $15.00 day of show.
VIP Tickets $35 includes balcony
seat & priority bar service!
To Benefit Ethos Music: Now in its 5th year, Cover Your Hearts is a show filled with so much sheer fun that you'll almost forget that it's a fundraiser. Local indie-pop-shoegazers Charmparticles created Cover Your Hearts as a way to sneak philanthropy into the local rock scene and to raise money for the non-profit music educators at ETHOS MUSIC. Raising money for the kids at Ethos is it's own reward, but of course, hearing some of Portland's best musicians in a room covering their favorite guilty-pleasure love songs is pretty awesome, too.
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02/16/2012 • 9pm (doors open at 8pm).
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21 & Over.
The Coup: The Coup
Born in Chicago and raised in East Oakland's Funktown neighborhood, Boots became a teenage community organizer, but later switched from a clipboard to the microphone, forming the Coup with rapper E-Roc. Pam the Funkstress, the first female DJ star in the famously competitive Bay Area turntablist scene, later signed on.
As a producer and lyricist, Boots Riley has crafted critically acclaimed albums for The Coup that have graced the year-end Top 10 lists of Rolling Stone, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, and more. They have also received "Album of the Year" honors from The Washington Post, Time Out New York, while Billboard Magazine declared the group "the best hip-hop act of the past decade." Born in Chicago and raised in East Oakland's Funktown neighborhood, Boots became a teenage community organizer. From his history of student organizing in Oakland's public schools, serving on the central committee for the Progressive Labor Party, being the President of Youth InCar (Youth International Committee Against Racism), organizing to build California's Anti-Racist Farm Workers' Union, to developing "guerrilla hip hop concerts" (mobile concerts on flatbed trucks), Boots Riley has been an integral part of the progressive struggle for radical change through culture.
Buck 65
Richard Terfry, better known as Buck 65, is a Canadian hip hop artist, MC and turntablist. However he has recently moved away from hip hop in a stylistic context, and is moving closer to blues, country, rock, folk and avant-garde genres. That said, his new direction is seemingly still underpinned by an extensive background in abstract hip hop, his trademark rhyme-phrasing and lyrical aspiration evident in the altered timbre vocal delivery displayed in his more recent releases. Buck 65 has also introduced his style as crap, a mixture between country and rap.
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02/17/2012 • 9pm (doors open at 8pm).
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All Ages. $15.00 advance. $15.00 day of show.
Asteroids Galaxy Tour: Denmark's finest, The Asteroids Galaxy Tour, will be coming across the pond to play some U.S. shows in October, including stops in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles for Filter's Culture Collide Festival.
The band is touring in support of their latest release The Golden Age EP, which features new cuts like "Fantasy Friend Forever," "Runner," "One Giant Freak For Mankind," and a cover of Men Without Hats' "Safety Dance." TAGT is also making an acoustic version of their hit "The Golden Age," used earlier this year as part of Heineken's "The Entrance" global ad campaign, available for free.
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02/25/2012 • 9pm (doors open at 8pm).
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21 & Over. $10.00 advance. $12.00 day of show.
Portland Cello Project plays tribute to the 20th Anniversary of the mega-heavy and highly influential Pantera album, Vulgar Display of Power.
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03/05/2012 • 8pm (doors open at 7pm).
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All Ages. $20.00 advance. $23.00 day of show.
Andrew WK: "I'm trying to make the most exciting music possible."--Andrew W.K.
Age 4 Born in California and raised in Michigan, Andrew W.K. begins classical piano lessons. Encouraged by his parents, he continues to play piano throughout his young life, eventually taking up the drums in his teens and playing in numerous Detroit punk and metal bands.
Age 17 Begins recording solo material.
Age 18 Moves to New York City. Early recordings are circulated among record labels with the help of friends.
Age 20 Andrew plays dozens of shows up and down the East Coast, equipped only with a CD player, keyboard and microphone. Girls Own Juice, a debut EP culled from the early solo recordings, is released on Bulb Records.
Age 21 A second EP, Party Til You Puke, is released, also on Bulb. Andrew plays another series of one-man shows--including two support slots for Foo Fighters and a Belgian arts festival--before returning to New York to focus on forming a band. Members are assembled: Guitarist Jimmy Coup, formerly of Minnesota's Coup de Grace, drummer Donald "D.T." Tardy, late of Obituary, bassist Gregg R., and guitarists E. Payne and Sergeant Frank. The crew moves to Florida. Andrew signs to Island Records.
Age 22 Andrew W.K.'s debut album, I Get Wet, is recorded in Michigan, Los Angeles, New York City, Colorado, Minnesota, Florida. On October 29th, Mercury UK releases the "Party Hard" single, which enters the British charts at 14 as Andrew plays a series of sold out shows and appears on the cover of NME (twice!).
March 26, 2002 I Get Wet is released in the U.S. "This record is about 'not stopping' in every sense of the word, and every aspect of life, and it was created with determination that reflected that. Whatever you do in life, if you go full bore you're bound to get wet--with blood, sweat, urine, semen or girls' lubricant. This record is about cutting in to the heart of existence and getting wet. But it's also about having no fear, experiencing intense emotions--from passionate feelings of love and excitement to the most anger filled, hateful rages, and everything in between--embracing life and other people, and coming together as a party in celebration of possibilities, potential and opportunity. It's an explosion of human life."
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03/07/2012 • 8pm (doors open at 7pm).
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All Ages. $24.00 advance. $24.00 day of show.
Punch Brothers: Bio
Collecting five singular abilities and viewpoints into one musical force, Punch Brothers featuring Chris Thile have established their place among the most dynamic and talented presences across the full range of contemporary music-making. As performing and recording artists, composers and interpreters, technicians and stylists, they continue to push the boundaries of possibility while maintaining an unerring devotion to the basic audience experience.
In the 2009-10 season, the band visits a long list of venues including Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall (where they debuted in Zankel Hall in 2007), the Somerville Theater in Boston, Old Town School in Chicago, the Herbst Theater in San Francisco, UMS Ann Arbor, Duke University, the University of Wisconsin in Madison, and many others. They have performed recently in nearly every conceivable format and space, from small clubs (they have a regular series at the Living Room in New York and have played frequently at Largo in Los Angeles) to concert halls (Benaroya Hall in Seattle, Sheldon Hall in St. Louis, Mondavi Center in Davis, Pabst Theater in Milwaukee, the Allen Room in New York, in addition to Carnegie) to festivals of all kinds (Ravinia, Aspen, Telluride, Spoleto, Savannah, Chamber Music Northwest). Their shows include an unpredictable mix of original songs written by the band, the 4-movement chamber suite The Blind Leaving the Blind (composed by Thile), traditional bluegrass and folk tunes, arrangements of Bach and Mozart, and covers of Radiohead, The Beatles, The Band, The White Stripes, The Strokes, and multiple other sources.
Punch Brothers first came together, though nameless at the time, for the making of the 2006 album How to Grow A Woman from the Ground, which earned them a Grammy® nomination for the song "The Eleventh Reel" and contains an eclectic mix of covers and original songs. Following that experience, the band began touring and eventually adopted the name Punch Brothers (from the Mark Twain story "Punch, Brothers, Punch!") before releasing their second album, Punch, on Nonesuch in 2008. Punch comprises music written collectively by Punch Brothers alongside Thile's The Blind Leaving the Blind, a 40-minute quintet that was premiered at Carnegie Hall's Zankel Hall and performed across the US and UK. Their next album will be released on Nonesuch in Spring 2010.
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03/17/2012 • 9pm (doors open at 8pm).
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21 & Over. $13.00 day of show.
KMRIA: Portland based Pogues tribute band - featuring members of The Decemberists, Eels and Norway Rats - hit the stage at the Wonder once again for St. Patrick's Day.
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03/20/2012 • 9pm (doors open at 8pm).
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All Ages. $20.00 advance.
Skream + Benga: SKREAM: Ollie Jones had the good fortune to be working at the Big Apple record store when he first started making beats at age 15 and armed with a cracked copy of the Fruity Loops music-making software. Big Apple was at the center of the early development of U.K. garage's dark, half-speed offshoot dubstep before it was even called dubstep, and it was at Big Apple that Jones, who recorded as Skream, met fellow beatsmiths Benga and Hatcha. Hatcha was a DJ at the seminal club Forward and was only too happy to debut the dubplates of both Skream and Benga's early recordings. Their music took the tension and release formula of dance music, removed the release and layered in more tension instead. With slow and pounding basslines and wobbly treble they were creating a kind of music that summoned and summed up feelings of urban paranoia, but in an enjoyable way. Emphasizing the sub-bass made them popular with clubbers, but they were also popular with bloggers. Championed and spread by word of mouth on the Internet Skream went straight from being a name in Croydon to being known around the world. When the owner of Big Apple founded a label to give a home to the albums of dubstep artists, Skream was one of those who released material on it, including his breakout classic track "Midnight Request Line." His first full-length album, Skream!, was released in 2006 on the Tempa label.
BENGA: One of the major names in the world of dubstep, producer Benga was born Beni Uthman in East London. His parents eventually moved to the suburb of Croydon, where a young Benga would fiddle with his radio every night, looking for pirate radio stations and taking in all sorts of fringe music. He first began making tracks on his PlayStation game system, then graduated to digital audio workstation Fruity Loops when his parents bought him a computer. Hearing the dark work of 2-step producer Wookie inspired him to join part of the grime/garage scene that would eventually evolve into dubstep. Hanging out at the Big Apple Records store in Croydon introduced him to fellow dubstep producer Skream. When the store began its own label, Benga released his debut 12", "Skank," in late 2002. A co-production with Skream called "The Judgement" appeared on Big Apple in early 2003, and then Benga began his own label -- Benga Beats -- and released the three-track 12" Benga Beats, Vol. 1 in 2004. A couple 12"s for the Planet Mu label landed before Benga Beats released his full-length debut, Newstep, in 2006. By now radio DJs and tastemakers like Mary Anne Hobbs and François K were singing his praises, putting Benga in the company of dubstep's favorite, Burial. In 2007 he moved to the Tempa label and issued the singles "Crunked Up" and "Night," the latter a collaboration with Coki. Both tracks ended up on his 2008 album, Diary of an Afro Warrior.
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03/23/2012 • 9pm (doors open at 8pm).
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21 & Over. $17.00 advance. $19.00 day of show.
Nada Surf: Though they practice restraint by not letting the vocals and guitars explode with the edgy energy that's clearly present, Nada Surf's songs are tightly wound balls of nervous electrons, constantly moving, buzzing and colliding. The hushed vocals and swarming guitars build an added anxiousness that make it impossible to turn away once you let yourself become engulfed in their music.
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03/24/2012 • 9pm (doors open at 8pm).
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Buy Tickets
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All Ages. $17.00 advance. $20.00 day of show.
Lucero: Adding a Southern flavor to their love of the indie folk-pop of Ida, Memphis alt-country rockers Lucero have suffered the turbulence that comes with the indie scene, but their story of perseverance and survival is triumphant, so much so that director Aaron Goldman made a film about it. Formed by leader Ben Nichols in the late '90s, Lucero took their name from the Spanish word meaning "bright star." After releasing a single on the Landmark label, Lucero -- rounded out by drummer Roy Berry, bassist John C. Stubblefield and guitarist Brian Venable -- signed with the alternative country label Madjack for their 2001 self-titled debut. Momentum started to build with their 2002 release, Tennessee. With critics picking up on their rock and Replacements edge, a decision was made to sign with the more diverse label Tiger Style. The 2003 release That Much Further West earned them positive reviews and a spot on Rolling Stone's Hot List. Things seemed to be going well, but as the album was catching indie fire, Tiger Style announced they were closing shop.
The band formed its own label, Liberty & Lament, through a deal with East West and worked on its next album with famed musician/producer Jim Dickinson. Released in spring of 2005, Nobody's Darlings featured the most Southern-fried sounds from the band yet. Mixing archival footage along with footage shot during the recording of the album, Goldman premiered his Lucero documentary Dreaming in America in September of 2005. A month later the film was released on DVD and CD/DVD featuring 13 rare live bonus tracks. The out of print effort The Attic Tapes (originally released prior to their 2001 Madjack debut) was reissued in April 2006 with bonus early demo and rare 7" tracks, which preceded the release of Lucero's next studio effort, September's Rebels, Rogues & Sworn Brothers. Supporting tour dates through the fall followed with openers Rocky Votolato and William Elliott Whitmore. The year 2009 saw the release of Nichols' solo EP The Last Pale Light in the West along with the band's album 1372 Overton Park. ~ David Jeffries, Rovi
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03/25/2012 • 7:30pm (doors open at 6:30pm).
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All Ages. $16.99 advance. $20.00 day of show.
Say Anything: "With great power comes great responsibility." Surely a meaningful quote, but who can take credit for it? Thomas Jefferson? Sigmund Freud? Socrates? Nope. Spider-Man. It goes to show how something sort of profound can spring from an unlikely source. Any reluctant underachiever can make a difference: nerdy dude who gets bit by a mutant spider or awkward bipolar kid in a vaguely "indie" punk-pop band. That is the premise behind the band and the new self titled record Say Anything - we are in danger and any one of us has the power to save us. It's a fitting concept for a cult-favorite band who, on November 3rd, will release a definitive artistic statement aimed at the masses.
Like the origin of any unlikely hero, Say Anything was forged from conflict: a feisty young punk band from Hollywood formed during the birth of "hipster" elitism, always out of place. In that day any group of rich kids with a penchant for the Velvet Underground and enough five o'clock shadow could be paid millions of dollars to be walking billboards for "anti-culture" consumerism. Say Anything shunted pretension, choosing initially to play sincere and nervous rock music and opening locally for the touring bands they closely identified with (The Weakerthans, Rilo Kiley, The Promise Ring). A few years passed and songwriter Max Bemis continued to feel alienated from the collegiate "scene;" He witnessed young rebels devolve into the counter-culture clichés they sought to avoid in the first place, "reverse psychology" victims of homogenized humanity. By identifying this mass-marketed "hip" lie, Bemis found his "arch villain" and, imbued with purpose, Say Anything's music became a new monster - as theatrically pop-based as it was angular and dark. Influenced by bands like Fugazi, The Who, Botch and Smashing Pumpkins, Say Anything dually expressed its irreverence through sing along punk and almost awkwardly confessional Woody Allen-esque lyrics.
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03/26/2012 • 8pm (doors open at 7:30pm).
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All Ages. $20.00 advance. $22.00 day of show.
The Ting Tings: Glitzy and sassy with a DIY spin, the Ting Tings are for hipsters who aren't ashamed to unfold their arms, clap along and bust a move. Based at Islington Mill, a former cotton spinning mill near Manchester turned art and recording space, the Brit twosome of Katie White and Jules De Martino started playing off-the-cuff performances for their friends. Word spread, and their impromptu sessions became the hottest ticket in Manchester. Major labels quickly took notice, and they were signed to Columbia Records. Even before releasing their debut album, We Started Nothing, in May 2008, the Ting Tings got a boost of exposure from an iTunes ad featuring the song "Shut Up and Let Me Go." With White providing a feisty bite of snotty shouts and sharp guitar and De Martino offering an inventive mix of chopped beats and quirky effects, the two unite a sound that draws from indie party bands such as Bloc Party and CSS while taking cues from garage rock groups like the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and the Kills.
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03/31/2012 • 9pm (doors open at 8pm).
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21 & Over. $21.00 advance. $23.00 day of show.
Donavon Frankenreiter: When Donavon Frankenreiter was 10 years old, he got his first surfboard. Six years later, he picked up his first guitar. It was the beginning of a wildly creative journey: His improvisational twin obsessions have carried him around the globe and into his fans' hearts. As Frankenreiter prepares to release his fourth album, Glow, this fall, the 37-year-old singer/songwriter/pro surfer admits he still thrives on simply taking the plunge.
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04/06/2012 • 9pm (doors open at 8pm).
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All Ages. $14.00 advance. $16.00 day of show.
Cults: Not to be confused with The Cult (or any other hard-rocking outfit, as the headbanging cover of their debut album so artfully suggests), indie-popsters Cults prefer their rock 'n' roll retro, in the fuzzed-out vein of guy-gal pairs like The Raveonettes and The Kills. The duo of Brian Oblivion and Madeline Follin had a fairly rapid rise to blogosphere fame after posting a few of their songs online; Columbia soon came knocking, and the release of first official single "Go Outside" further heightened the buzz. The NYU film students quickly put their full focus on music, and Cults' self-titled debut album appeared in the summer of 2011.
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04/07/2012 • 9pm (doors open at 8pm).
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All Ages. $10.00 advance. $10.00 day of show.
Housse de Racket: ntroducing France's latest exciting export! Pierre Leroux and Victor Le Masne, aka Parisian duo Housse de Racket, has joined the ranks of label extraordinaire Kitsuné to release its superb second album, "Alesia".
Pierre and Victor both grew up in the suburb of Chaville, situated between Versailles and Paris. They avoided each other at school, but clicked at the local music conservatory as teenagers. Starting out as in-demand session musicians-for-hire with local bands Air and Phoenix, plus touring band members behind Chilly Gonzales, Alex Gopher and Stardust singer Benjamin Diamond, the boys were simultaneously making their first steps as Housse de Racket. Fast forward to the close of 2008 and the duo's debut album Forty Love sees the light of day. Hungry to conquer the world, Housse tour the album relentlessly, playing over 200 live shows from Lisbon to Tokyo via Berlin and Beijing.
New album Alesia looks set to establish the band as a force to be reckoned with. Having written a batch of new tunes Pierre and Victor met with Philippe Zdar, the respected Parisian producer and one half of Cassius, to play him some demos. Zdar has just completed the final mixes of Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix. Possibly a pitfall, joked the band, who don't want to be lazily lumped in with their pals, "but who better than Phoenix's producer to keep us away from the sound of Phoenix?" Highly enthusiastic, Zdar follows the album's creation from start to finish, getting increasingly involved, in between his sessions with The Rapture, stimulating the boys' curiosity at every opportunity, widening their musical scope, encouraging them to break every rule they have set themselves. As the ideas for the album take shape, Housse's endless touring away from their native France gives the album an unusual thread: of their homeland seen from afar. Resulting in multiple references to their own culture: Chateau andAlesia (French history), Empire (cinema's auteur theory), Les Hommes Et Les Femmes (the French outlook on relationships).
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04/11/2012 • 8pm (doors open at 7:30pm).
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21 & Over. $17.00 advance. $20.00 day of show.
Kasabian: Taking their name from Charles Manson's getaway driver Linda Kasabian and their musical manifesto from electro-rockers the Lo-Fidelity Allstars, Kasabian brought a dose of squatters-rights polemic to the charts when their debut self-titled album reached No. 4 in the U.K. in September 2004. Add an apprenticeship on the East Midlands nosebleed techno scene and, in singer Tom Meighan, a Liam-esque way with a soundbite -- "The Stones, the Roses, Oasis, we're in that line" -- and it's clear these Leicester aggro-merchants may yet cause as much mayhem as their recreational idols the Happy Mondays.
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04/18/2012 • 9pm (doors open at 8pm).
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All Ages. $18.00 advance. $20.00 day of show.
SBTRKT: The enigmatic masked producer known as SBTRKT appeared on the scene in 2009 with two independently released 12-inches, and praise for his soulful blending of atmospheric house, syncopated dubstep and warped garage spread quickly throughout the international electronic community. Soon revealed to be the moniker of UK broken beat mainstay Aaron Jerome, SBTRKT was later commissioned for remixes by the likes of Basement Jaxx and drafted for collaborations with Sinden, Sampha and Jessie Ware to name a few. Last June, Young Turks released his eponymous debut full-length.
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04/27/2012 • 9pm (doors open at 8pm).
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All Ages. $18.00 advance. $20.00 day of show.
Ben Kweller: My name is Ben Kweller. I was born in San Francisco, CA on June 16th, 1981. I grew up in Greenville, TX. My whole life I have loved music. My dad taught me how to play the drums when I was 7. I wrote my first song on the piano when I was 9. I got my first guitar on my 11th Birthday. It was a Red Fender Stratocaster that was made in Mexico. Soon after learning how to play guitar I formed the bands Mirage, Fox Glove and Digitalis. When we were teenagers, John Kent and I formed the group Radish. Eventually we left High School to pursue Rock and Roll for good.
From floors to fancy hotels, we got to see a lot of the world. We played Reading Festival, we saw the Eiffel Tower. We played guitar with Joe Strummer and hung with Brian Wilson. We walked away with countless stories and memories. Radish made 4 albums - Hello, Dizzy, Restraining Bolt and Discount Fireworks. Discount Fireworks was never publicly released. When I was 19 I moved to New York City with my girlfriend Liz Smith. We lived in a small apartment on Smith St. in Brooklyn. In that apartment I wrote many songs. I recorded them on my computer and made a CD called Freak Out... It's Ben Kweller. Thats when my solo career officially began. I played in the city as much as possible. One acoustic guitar, one keyboard and a microphone (and harmonica, glockenspiel, shakers, and whatever else I could find). before each show I would make a big sign out of glitter and markers bearing my name, Sometimes just write "BK". I'd walk on stage with it and set it up behind me as my back drop. after that I would play my music which people later called, "Anti-Folk".
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05/04/2012 • 9pm (doors open at 8pm).
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21 & Over. $18.00 advance. $20.00 day of show.
Brian Jonestown Massacre: The Brian Jonestown Massacre is a neo-psychedelic rock band. The group was founded by Anton Newcombe, Matt Hollywood, Ricky Maymi, Patrick Straczek and Travis Threlkel in the early 1990s in San Francisco, California. Their sound is heavily influenced by the psychedelic sounds of the 1960s, but also carries influences from shoegaze, jangle pop, garage rock, and lo-fi sonorities.
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05/05/2012 • 9pm (doors open at 8pm).
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Buy Tickets
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21 & Over. $14.00 advance. $16.00 day of show.
Delta Spirit: Delta Spirit combine an enchanting array of Brit pop, pub rock and bluesy Americana. With influences that run from the Beatles and Bob Dylan to the Strokes and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, the San Diego quintet plays rowdy romps alongside acoustic lullabies, piano ballads and rootsy, harmonica-driven melodies. Bassist Jon Jameson and drummer Brandon Young played together in the emo band Noise Ratchet before joining forces with vocalist Matthew Vasquez, guitarist Sean Walker and multi-instrumentalist Kelly Winrich to form Delta Spirit in 2005. After obtaining a significant underground following while touring with like-minded indie rockers Dr. Dog, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah and Cold War Kids, Delta Spirit opted to self-release their debut, Ode to Sunshine, in 2007; it would be re-released in 2008 by Rounder Records.
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05/10/2012 • 8pm (doors open at 7pm).
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All Ages. $18.00 advance. $20.00 day of show.
Yann Tiersen: With his whimsical, melancholy music, Yann Tiersen has become a sought-after composer, not only for his soundtrack work, but in his own right. Borrowing from French folk music, chanson, musette waltz, and street music, as well as rock, avant-garde, and classical and minimalist influences, Tiersen's deceptively simple style has been likened to Chopin, Erik Satie, Philip Glass, and Michael Nyman. The Paris-based composer became popular outside his native country for his score to Jean-Pierre Jeunet's Amélie, but like most seemingly overnight successes, he had been working for years before the film's success brought him international acclaim.
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05/25/2012 • 9pm (doors open at 8pm).
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21 & Over. $18.00 advance. $20.00 day of show.
Spiritualized: Formed from the ashes of the trance-rockers Spacemen 3, singer/guitarist Jason Pierce's group Spiritualized did not break away from his prior band's trademark hypnotic minimalism; instead, they perfected it. Drawing on the continued influence of the Velvet Underground, LaMonte Young and Steve Reich, Spiritualized staked out a common ground between minimalism and lush symphonics -- while powered by simple, repetitious motifs, their songs simultaneously blossomed into rich, shimmering sonic panoramas inspired by the majestic studio wizardry of Phil Spector and Brian Wilson. Such seeming contradictions were essential to the group's alchemy: while the infamous Spacemen 3 tag of 'taking drugs to make music to take drugs to' remained a cornerstone of their craft, at the same time Spiritualized's very name acknowledged the existence of other forces, further reflected in their heavy debt to gospel and soul music as well as an affinity for mantras and devotional hymns.
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05/30/2012 • 9pm (doors open at 8pm).
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All Ages. $22.00 advance. $25.00 day of show.
Mogwai: "The cosmic post-rock band Mogwai were formed in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1996 by guitarist/vocalist Stuart Braithwaite, guitarist Dominic Aitchison, and drummer Martin Bulloch, longtime friends with the goal of creating "serious guitar music." Toward that end they added another guitarist, John Cummings, before debuting in March 1996 with the single "Tuner," a rarity in the Mogwai discography for its prominent vocals; the follow-up, a split single with Dweeb titled "Angels vs. Aliens," landed in the Top Ten on the British indie charts. Following appearances on a series of compilations, Mogwai returned later in the year with the 7" "Summer"; after another early-1997 single, "New Paths to Helicon," they issued Ten Rapid, a collection of their earliest material.
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Artists that have appeared at Wonder Ballroom
include:
Peeping Tom, The Raconteurs, Eagles of Death Metal, Lady Gaga, Squeeze,
Fountains of Wayne, Blitzen Trapper, Breeders, Colin Meloy, Daniel Johnston,
Deerhoof, The Eels, The Gutter Twins, Ingrid Michaelson, Jamie Lidell,
Kate Nash, The Kooks, Ladytron, Blonde Redhead, The Melvins, Melissa Ferrick,
The Mountain Goats, The Old 97s, Pinback, Reverend Horton Heat, Silver
Jews, Stars, Stereophonics, Tom Morello, Tiger Army, Was (Not Was), The
Zombies, Roky Erickson, Viva Voce, Mason Jennings, Vagabond Opera, Devotchka,
El-p, Lyrics Born, Meat Puppets, Dead Prez, Dashboard Confessional, Rogue
Wave, Architecture in Helsinki, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Dengue Fever,
Sparklehorse, and many more.
Check back often. More events are on the way!
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