The Bowery Presents

Music Hall of Williamsburg upcoming shows

School of Seven Bells
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Like many bands before them, School of Seven Bells were born as the result of a late-night revelation. Benjamin Curtis connected with sisters Alejandra and Claudia Deheza in 2004 while their bands—Secret Machines and On-Air Library!, respectively—were on tour. While watching PBS at 3am, Alejandra caught a show about the School of Seven Bells: a mythical South American pickpocket academy that may or may not have existed in the ‘80s. The idea of seven minds working as one appealed to her, as did the phrase’s cryptic musicality, and a creative spark ignited.

By the end of 2006, Curtis and the Deheza sisters had completely disappeared into School of Seven Bells. From the outset, it was clear that the trio’s music transcended the usual genre restrictions. Early recordings popped up on Sonic Cathedral, Table of Elements, and Suicide Squeeze, then Blonde Redhead tapped School of Seven Bells for a tour. Remixes came from Cocteau Twins’ Robin Guthrie and Prefuse 73, whose “Class of 73 Bells,” a re-imagining of SVIIB’s “Iamundernodisguise,” ended up on his 2007 album Preparations (Warp).

School of Seven Bells’ music is full of tensions—Curtis’ gentle guitars wrap around jagged beats; silky vocals hide behind grumpy, alien synthesizers—but the resulting songs are effortlessly cohesive, and insidiously catchy. Elements of dream-pop, Afrobeat, IDM, and 4AD’s gauzier moments provide a constantly shifting frame for the Dehezas’ lyrics, which they write as mysterious missives between the School’s imaginary seven members. On their Ghostly debut, Alpinisms, we get the impression that the three seasoned musicians have taken up full-time residence in a dizzying fantasy world; they move freely within the realm of pickpockets and dreamers, composing a soundtrack according to their own odd, beautiful logic.
The xx
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The xx arrive with their brilliant debut single ‘Crystalised’ – released on 20th April 2009 on Young Turks.

The xx are a London quartet, featuring the dual lead vocals of Romy Madley-Croft and Oliver Sim (who also play lead and bass guitar respectively), Baria Quereshi (keyboards and guitar) and Jamie Smith (beats, MPC sampler).

All 19 years old, The xx are childhood friends who formed while attending the Elliot School – the south west London comp whose alumni also includes such acclaimed boundary-pushers as Burial, Four Tet and Hot Chip.

Bonding over a shared love of stripped back anti-folk and mid-90s R&B, The xx’s unique sound befits a wide range of influences that include everything from Aaliyaah to Cocorosie, Rhianna to The Cure, Missy Elliot to the Chromatics, The Kills to Ginuwine, The Pixies to Mariah Carey and Justin Timberlake to Tracey & The Plastics.

These influences combine via beautiful, hushed vocal duets and a brilliantly inventive use of samplers and low-end frequencies to produce the stark, sweet melancholic pop of this debut single. Available on 7” vinyl, ‘Crystalised’ also features a cover of band favourite Aaliyah’s ‘Hot Like Fire’ on the b-side that further expands The xx’s hauntingly soulful sound. Both tracks are produced by the band themselves and engineered by Cocadisco’s Rodaidh McDonald.

Meanwhile, The xx are currently putting the finishing touches to their debut album, due for release later in 2009. Due for release on XL Recordings imprint Young Turks (Holy Fuck, Young Turks), this will be the first ever album to be recorded in XL’s in house studio.
Phantogram
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Phantogram’s music sounds like it’s made by a band from the city. Electronic loops, hip-hop beats, shoegaze, soul, pop — each finds its way into their songs. Unexpectedly, the band doesn’t live and work in a major urban center, but rather calls the town of Saratoga Springs, NY (population 26,186) home. Despite the cultural influence of local Skidmore College (where fellow beat-experimenters Ratatat formed) and a relatively small scene of adventurous musicians and listeners, Saratoga isn’t exactly teeming with fans of J. Dilla, My Bloody Valentine or Serge Gainsbourg. But Josh Carter and Sarah Barthel, the duo that make up Phantogram and who grew up in the even smaller nearby municipality of Greenwich, have flourished in Saratoga. In fact, the town itself isn’t rural enough for their taste — they drive almost every day another 45 minutes into upstate farmland to a barn they call Harmony Lodge to write and record. Serving as their homemade studio/practice space/think-tank/bat-cave, the barn is equipped with various samplers, tapes, records, synths, drums, and both percussive and stringed instruments. It’s there that Phantogram allows their natural surroundings and metropolitan influences to meld together creating beautiful, beat-driven dreamlike pop songs.
Depreciation Guild.
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The Depreciation Guild is: Kurt, Christoph, Anton

Brooklyn-based 3-piece The Depreciation Guild have been making underground waves to match those created by their fuzzed-out, reverb-drenched melodies.

Artfully combining progressive and retro chic, the trio draws influence from shoegaze guitar walls, dreampop highs, and the rigidity of electronic rhythms, while creating a sound that is a bit different from both, dreamily reinventing their musical heritage.

The pieces may seem disparate, but they weave together masterfully. One part stems from the utilization of a 8-bit Nintendo soundcard: painstakingly self-taught by frontman Kurt Feldman, the modified entertainment system is used to compose a crushing backdrop of rhythmic, synthetic elements. Yet its use is tasteful, seamlessly blending with guitars, drums and hushed vocals to create the band’s layered sound.

Along with Kurt on vocals, guitar and soundchips, the Depreciation Guild is comprised of twin brothers Christoph Hochheim (guitar, vocals) and Anton Hochheim (live drums).

Following their premiere full-length In Her Gentle Jaws, self-released in December ‘07 exclusively as a free download (www.inhergentlejaws.com), the album has already found its way to over 90,000 hard drives. The stir across the internet, as well as in their own backyard, is testament to some breathtaking songwriting and arranging. A musical piece to be heard as a whole saturated in color, and drifting into dream.

2008 highlights for the band included headlining the annual Geekfest in Mexico, and playing American Eagle’s New American Music Union festival in Pittsburgh, sharing a stage with the likes of Bob Dylan and The Raconteurs.
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