Last night I trekked out to Brooklyn to catch former Blips artist The Weather Underground play their first ever New York show at Park Slope’s Union Hall. Performing for a crowd of barely 30 people they impressed the hell out of me playing the room like it was a sold out club three or four time its size.

The band ran through selections from their three self-released EPs as well as sneaking in a cover of Dear Prudence to close their set. If you missed them last night, fear not as they are at the Mercury Lounge tonight at 9:30 - so go and see them. Here’s the band doing Neal Cassady…

If you’re not in New York they’ll be working their way back to the West Coast over the next couple of weeks including stops in Chicago, Denver, San Fran as well as spending a couple of days at High Sierra. Don’t miss ‘em when they hit your town.

You have to love a band that thinks outside the box when it comes to promoting a new release. Example A  = indie-popsters the Annuals. The band which recently released their brand new EP - Wet Zoo - have announced an interesting contest to coincide with it and their upcoming tour.

For each stop on their June run the band will be giving away not only a pair of tickets to their show, but will also throw in either passes or an animal adoption at the city’s local zoo or aquarium. Two runners-up will receive a copy of the album. Enter away and good luck!

If a winning a trip to the zoo isn’t your thing, then maybe one of these recently announced tours will be for you…

• Former BtN artist Okkervil River lines up a fall run in support of their September release (begins: 09/12)
• Nostalgia alert: 1960s rockers The Zombies hit the road this July (begins: 07/03)
• alt.roots-rockers Calexico will keep busy through the end of October (begins: 06/20)
• The band with the best reference to font style New Times Viking bring their fuzz rock to a town near you (begins: 06/07)
• Canadian art-rockers Wolf Parade put together a summer tour (begins: 07/07)
• The SoCo Music Experience will bring a rotating roster of acts - including MGMT, The Black Keys & The Roots - to selects cities

Finally, a couple weeks back we featured The Weather Underground as a Blips artists. Well, the L.A. based band recently announced they’d be embarking on their first national tour that will keep them on the road for the next month. We’re hoping to hit one of the two New York dates, but if you’re headed to Bonnaroo be sure to check them out Thursday night around 9 PM at the ‘Troo Music Lounge and let us know what you think.

The Brew

[Photo by Ashley Plante]

Website / MySpace

When the nominees for the New Groove Award were read at the recent Jammy Awards, Massachusetts’ The Brew got the biggest ovation from the crowd. After listening to their new album, Back To The Woods, I can understand why people are so into their music. The Brew has spent the last five years developing a unique songwriting style that combines flashy changes, beautiful lyrics and hooks you just can’t get out of your head. They also know how to kick out the jams behind Dave Drouin’s soaring guitar leads. 2008 looks to be the year that The Brew breaks into the bigtime. You can check ‘em out at moe.down or pretty much any decent sized city in the Northeast over the next few months. Keep your eyes on these guys, they are the real deal. - Scott Bernstein

READ ON for more on Pete Francis, Idan Reichel and the Weather Underground…