Nashville’s Jake and Jamin Orrall, aka JEFF The Brotherhood, formerly of Be Your Own Pet, play a satisfyingly straightforward, minimal style of psychedelic rock ‘n’ roll that now and again reminds me of a cleaner-cut power-popping Misfits (it’s in the vocals cadences). You get some of that in this Brad Holland-directed video for “U Got The Look.” They recently did a number of dates with Ted Leo — he’s a fan, which makes sense — and are set to do some shows with Shonen Knife. Heavy Days is out on their own Infinity Cat Recordings.

Read More...

For Iggy Pop’s most recent curious career turn, he’s doing a poppy duet with his granddaughter (just kidding) ex-Be Your Own Pet vocalist Jemina Pearl. The track’s “I Hate People” from her forthcoming solo debut Break It Up. It may very well be the happiest forced-rhyme sing-song about hating people you’ll hear all year.

Read More...

After being ousted from McCarren Park when the city decided to spent $50MM to restore The Pool as an actual pool, Jelly NYC found a new home for their free summer show series in the upscale hipster haven that is Williamsburg at the East River State Park (aka the Williamsburg Waterfront). It’s just an eight-week stay; next year the Parties will need to find a new home again. But for one more set of Sundays, at least, the Burg’s sense of indie-cultural entitlement will be rooted in boozy reality.

The long-awaited lineup was recently announced and looks great, and yesterday people finally got to give the grounds a test run and Tweet their sentiments. I was stuck in traffic returning to the city and missed the fun, but some 6,000 people made it on time, including our photographer Natasha Ryan and the NYT‘s Ben Sisario, who talked up the “postcard-perfect view of midtown Manhattan,” along with some of the drawbacks of a show like this being held on State property (bands were warned that excessive swearing could threaten future shows; the Slip N Slide was deemed too dangerous; etc.). Aside from the State’s Campaign To Limit Fun, everyone I’ve talked to had positive reviews and thought it compared favorably to McCarren, if lacking some of that space’s unique charms. Gothamist has a photo gallery that covers the layout, and we have a gallery that covers the bands and attending bros that made it to yesterday’s summer kickoff.

The ex-Be Your Own Pet vocalist has been busy with Sonic Youth (and vice versa), but she found the time to post three new, poppy solo tracks at MySpace. Folks who attended her live solo debut at the Music Hall Of Williamsburg should’ve heard the cocaine-fueled “Heartbeats” (not a Knife cover), the “funky” “Ecstatic Appeal,” and “Nashville Shores” if they weren’t busy Tweeting, but not in this crisp studio setting. Like her hero Karen O, Pearl’s going for a cleaner dance-floor thing. Because that’s what you do when you turn 21. Listen.

Those of you afraid Jemina Pearl’s post-Be Your Own Pet “legacy” would be capped by her cover of “Sheena Is a Punk Rocker” with the ever grim Thurston Moore should likely stop worrying about things like that, but can also rest assured the gal has more Karen O stage antics (+ Karen O hair), pop punk up her sleeve, and leather pants on her legs. Pearl played her first post-BYOP live show over the weekend at the Music Hall Of Williamsburg, opening for the Fluid. The song “So Sick!” comes with some it’s-good-to-be-back stage banter.

Read More...

On this week’s Gossip Girl, Jenny Humphrey threw a guerrilla fashion show at a charity event honoring Lilly and Bart Bass. The soundtrack: Thurston Moore and Jemina Pearl (of now defunct Be Your Own Pet) covering “Sheena Is a Punk Rocker,” which they recorded specifically for the scene. (Seems like only yesterday Sonic Youth were on Gilmore Girls.) Watch it here then check out the last video in this recap to see the most realistic coffee cup on TV. (Via P4K.)

Kevin Shields wasn’t the only one doing interviews at ATP. After his Don’t Look Back set, looking back on Psychic Hearts, Thurston Moore sat with a Rolling Stone film crew to offer his thoughts on the ATP Festival past and present. Predictable topic, but the video interview is interesting mostly because it’s Thurston and everything Thurston says and does I find fascinating (and also because he somehow looks younger than me). But also! He nonchalantly drops an interesting bit when asked about his plans for the rest of his time at Kutsher’s:

Read More...

Before Be Your Own Pet made a video for the banned-in-the-USA tune “Becky,” we told you the Tennessee punks were calling it quits after their UK tour. It’s now after their UK tour. They are no longer. While drying your tears, you can watch footage of Jemina & Co. giving it their all this past Tuesday (8/26) at Dingwalls in London. The guys take off their shirts. The audience comes on stage. Jemina does that Karen O hand on the hip thing a lot. A good time was had. Any guesses what they played last?

Read More...

As reported, Be Your Own Pet called it quits and are headed to the UK for their final tour. But don’t worry — they’re like 10 years old, will have other bands someday even beyond their current side projects. Before the final burst of poppy punk and that last bow, the Tennessee quartet’s also finished a Marvin Scott Jarrett-directed video for banned track “Becky.” The plot: A night of muted revenge and murder at the movies, Jemina & Co. doing their thing on the screen and in the theater.

Read More...

Sad news for fans of the young TN punkers. This comes via BYOP’s MySpace (hat tip to reader John P. for the link):

To all of our fans,

We are sad to bring you the news that our upcoming shows in the UK (dates below) are going to be our last as a band. We thank you for all your love and support these past few years – its been a blast but the time has come for the 4 of us to go our separate ways.

22 August: Reading Festival – Reading, UK
23 August: Leeds Festival – West Yorkshire, UK
25 August: Carling Academy 2 – Liverpool, UK
26 August: Dingwalls – London, UK

It hasn’t always been smooth sailing for the Jemina & Co., with the censorship and Universal’s misguided marketing and whatnot, but still we definitely didn’t see this one coming. So UK kids, you only have a few more chances to have Jemina push you around. Disappointment aside, at least it is safe to think we’ll hear more from ‘em in some form: they all have side projects (Turbo Fruits, Deluxin, etc.) and they’re a bit closer in age to food fights than the AARP (or, ATP) circuit. Looking forward to what’s next.