It takes a special kind of
cojones to name yourself after a specifically populated and contested area of New York City when you clearly hail from Austin, Texas (and get away with it). That being said, it takes a double kind of special to make lo-fi sound fun and sprightly instead of lazy and sloppy. There you go, two reasons why
Harlem made a significant buzz at SXSW last year. Now they are prepping their second album for an early April release, and they sound just as lazily precise as they did before.
More on that name thing, from them:
although far better choices for band names were available, the two decided to strip the word of all social and historical reference and use it to move their version of derivative pop from the small basements of friends houses to the slightly larger basements of shitty nightclubs. like the remake of the movie cat people with natassja kinski, the songs they wrote would turn into feral cats that use peoples brains as litter boxes (incidentally the scene where kinski turns into a panther is so f*cking awesome.)
Ha!
Good thing they share a namesake with now-defunct Harlem Shakes, a compulsory half-brain dead click led us to their Myspace. "Friendly Ghost" is a delicious trickling track full of scuzzy goodness. Check these guys out on tour (including more SXSW shows) or pick up
Hippies, their second LP, on Matador Records, 4/6. -
joe
Tour Dates For Harlem
3/13 Aquarium Drunkard party, Red Eyed Fly, Austin, 3pm
3/16 House Of Guys, 1907 Rio Grande, Austin, (with The Beets, Fungi Girls, Air Waves)
3/18 Red 7, Austin (official SXSW event with Bad Sports, Pierced Arrows, Ravonettes)
3/19 Levi's Fader Fort, Austin, 2:15 pm
3/19 Spin Party, Stubbs (indoors), Austin, 3:40pm
4/1 Mohawk, Austin (record release bash)
4/13 -One Eyed Jacks, New Orleans, LA
4/14 Bottletree, Birmingham, AL
4/15 The Earl, Atlanta, GA
4/16 JJ's Bohemia, Chattanooga, TN
4/17 Night Light, Chapel Hill, NC
4/19 DC 9, Washington DC
4/20 Golden West, Baltimore, MD
4/21 Kung Fu Necktie, Philadelphia, PA
4/22 Mercury Lounge, NYC, NY (early show)
4/23 Market Hotel, Brooklyn, NY
4/24- Maxwell's, Hoboken, NJ (with Titus Andronicus)
4/25 Great Scott, Allston, MA
4/27 Green Room, Montreal, Quebec
4/28 Legendary Horseshoe Tavern, Toronto, Ontario
4/29 Now That's Class, Cleveland, OH
4.30 Majestic Cafe, Detroit, MI
5/01- Empty Bottle, Chicago, IL
5/02- Mad Planet, Milwaukee, WI (with Jail)
5/04- 7th Street Entry, Minneapolis, MN
5/05 Vaudeville Mews, Des Moines, IA
5/06 Waiting Room, Lincoln, NE
5/07 Riot Room, Kansas City, MO (with Gil Mantera)
5/08- Firebird, St. Louis, MO
5/10 The Summit, Columbus, OH
5/11 Southgate House, Newport, KY
5/12 Zanzibar, Louisville, KY
5/13 The End, Nashville, TN
5/14 Hi Tone, Memphis, TN
5/15 City Tavern, Dallas, TX
* * * * * * * * * * * *
MP3:"Friendly Ghost" (Hippies)
Harlem on Myspace