The Field at Pitchfork Fest 2012 (more by Chase Turner)

The Field (aka Stockholm electronic musician Alex Willner) is set to come over to North America for Montreal's Mutek festival this year, which he plays on May 29. Then, he'll stop in NYC for a show the next day at Glasslands (5/30) before heading to Austin for Chaos in Tejas on June 2. Tickets for the Glasslands show are on sale now. Those are his only North American dates that we're aware of at the moment, but he does also play the Yeah Yeah Yeahs-curated ATP in the UK on May 4.

Tickets for Mutek are still available too. That festival runs from May 29 to June 2, and you can check out the day-by-day schedule HERE.

The Field has been doing some interesting official remixes this year, including one of Tame Impala's "Mind Mischief," which is out now, and another less-expected one of At the Drive-In's "One Armed Scissor," which comes out on 12" vinyl on May 13 via Transgressive. You can stream both of those remixes below...

Continue reading "The Field playing Glasslands after Mutek, remixed Tame Impala and At the Drive-In (streams)"

by Bill Pearis and Andrew Sacher

Ex Cops DJing at Other Music, RSD 2012 (more)

We're about a week out from Record Store Day 2013. When it began in 2008, RSD was a celebration of brick-and-mortar stores in the face of digital downloads, offering up exclusive releases to get people out to stores. It's blown up considerably since then, with hundreds of RSD-only releases. (Many of which fall into the hands of folks who turn it around on Ebay that same day, but what can you do?) While it is a mob scene these days, there is no doubt it helps what record stores there are left -- though not enough, as Record Store Day will be the last day for Williamsburg's Sound Fix. Participating stores around the country are listed here.

There are always some pretty cool exclusives too, items that may have never seen the light of day without RSD. With that in mind we've gone through the list of North American RSD exclusives to highlight a few things to keep an eye out. This isn't comprehensive, just stuff we wanna get. What records are you trying to get this year?

We've written about the Sacred Bones comp, the Astralwerks comp, Old 97s, Frightened Rabbit, Austra, Sonny & the Sunsets, and Titus Andronicus Check out our new list below...

Continue reading "a guide to Record Store Day 2013"

The Mars Volta at ACL in 2008 (more by Kyle Dean Reinford)

The Mars Volta, who have been on hiatus since the release of 2012's Noctourniquet, have officially called it quits, Prefix reports. Cedric Bixler-Zavala dropped the news via a series of tweets , including "Thank u 2 all VOLTA fans u deserved more especially after the way u rooted for us on this album. I tried my hardest to keep it going But Bosnian Rainbows was what we all got instead. I can't sit here and pretend any more. I no longer am a member of Mars Volta."

Cedric has a solo release on the way, and as discussed his former partner in crime, Omar Rodriguez Lopez is working with his band, Bosnian Rainbows, who will have their debut album out this year and are going on a tour in February which hits NYC for the previously mentioned Highline Ballroom show on February 19 with Marriages. Tickets for that show are still available. Since we last spoke, the band revealed a track from their album, "Torn Maps," which you can stream below.

Cedric and Omar joined forces again last year to bring back their old band, At the Drive-In. That reunion never brought the band to NYC, but it did bring them to Austin, Coachella, Lollapalooza and other places.

In related news, At the Drive-In's other half, Sparta, have returned from their hiatus and are in the studio working on the followup to 2006's Threes.

Bosnian Rainbows song stream below...

Continue reading "The Mars Volta break up; Cedric working on solo material; Omar streaming new Bosnian Rainbows track"

Fun Fun Fun Fest 2012 (more by Glen Brown)

Sorry for the late post of this. Graham actually did send us this last year, but we forgot to post it!

We posted many year-end lists from artists and other people in the music world as 2012 came to a close (browse our "Best of 2012" tag) and this one comes from Fun Fun Fun Fest/Transmission Events booker Graham Williams who gave us a list of the "best stuff of 2012." A few albums make the list, as do some live shows in Austin and a certain reunited group that Graham booked at this year's FFF Fest.

You can check out the full list below...

Continue reading "Graham Williams' (FFF Fest/Transmission) Best Stuff of 2012"

photos by @griffinshot - Tim Griffin

I've been hounded for the last few weeks to do a 'best of' post for the shows I've been to and the pictures I've taken in 2012. After several false starts, I decided to just walk through chronologically and try and do justice to all of the wonderful shows without missing too much. Frankly I should be concentrating on posting all of the stuff I shot that never made it live instead of this (woops), but that is next on my list.

The pictures aren't meant to be exhaustive or all-inclusive of what was the best (I'm certain I've missed many things; I'm not even touching festival stuff, and I went to BELGIUM!), but here we go. Personally 2012 was quite the roller-coaster, and every show was a wonderful escape. Some of the shots may or may not be my best work - but if it's in here, then the show, band or bands there, venue and everyone else involved were some of my favorites for 2012 (at least up until November). Loved Gary Clark Jr. and Esperanza Spalding too, but since they are recent you'd find them easily enough.

Have at it. Pictures below. Apologies to anyone I've left out.

Continue reading "Tim's picks of his pics for 2012"

photos by James Richards IV

At the Drive-In/Sigur Ros at Lollapalooza - 8/5/12

Lollapalooza wrapped up in Chicago's Grant Park on Sunday (8/5) after two previous days of music in the park. Luckily the weather was much better than Saturday.

Jack White was one of the headliners on Saturday., We weren't able to get pictures this time (see Firefly instead), but you can check out his Lolla setlist HERE and pictures and video of a surprise in-store that took place at Chicago's Reckless Records earlier in the day HERE. Other bands on Sunday included the reunited At the Drive-In, Sigur Ros, The Walkmen, Justice, Polica, Toro y Moi, The Gaslight Anthem (setlist and a video of their entire set HERE) and many more.

More pictures of day 1 are HERE. More pictures of day 2 are HERE. More from day 3 are below...

Continue reading "Lollapalooza 2012 day 3 in pics (At the Drive-In, Sigur Ros, Justice, Toro y Moi, Polica, Gary Clark Jr & more)"

photos by Dana (distortion) Yavin

dolphin rider / Wild Flag / At the Drive-In

"Weekend one of Coachella 2012 not only confirmed rock fans' rabid appetite for live music but reminded the music industry that the past is a lot closer than it used to be. There were no rock acts from the 1960s or early '70s on the bill. The look back was dedicated to Coachella's continuing affection for reuniting British bands from the late '70s and early '80s--this year, it was Buzzcocks, James, Madness, Pulp and Squeeze. Other reuniting bands on the bill included American alt-rock bands Firehose, Mazzy Star and At the Drive-In; and Refused, a punk group from Sweden that hadn't been heard from since 1998. One could argue that the "appearance" by the late Shakur was an admission that to become a musical force again, West Coast rap needs a resurrection. Though the beats conceived and developed by Dr. Dre, Shakur, Snoop Dogg and others are now woven into rock and pop's vocabulary, rap had little presence at Coachella 2012, save for the ingenuity of the late Sunday-night oldies show.

And if there was any doubt that electronic dance music is a dominating force, even if it's still underappreciated by the mainstream, Swedish House Mafia and Justice played the main stage. The big tent dedicated to dance music was rarely less than filled to a boisterous overflow." [Wall Street Journal]

You already saw pictures from Friday and Saturday, video of an idiot falling off a wooden structure, watched Frank Ocean's set, and Azealia Banks's. The Weeknd's too. You saw Refused's setlist and some videos. You already know what At The Drive-In played on Sunday, and streamed their set in full after you were done watching Real Estate's and M83's, not to mention parts of Bon Iver's and Andrew Bird's. You're already well aware that Dr. Dre & Snoop Dogg and many special guests headlined on Sunday, and you even saw the pictures of them and watched the Tupac hologram video. Now here are the rest of the Sunday pictures, and they continue, below....

Continue reading "Coachella 2012 Day 3 pics -- ATDI, Wild Flag, Justice, Hives, Weeknd, Fitz, Company Flow, Florence & the Machine & more)"

photos by Dana (distortion) Yavin

At the Drive-In @ Coachella

Missed all the At The Drive-In reunion shows so far? Missed the Coachella Youtube stream too? Well, now you can watch the entire performance, along with pictures from their Coachella set and the setlist (if you haven't seen it already), below...

Continue reading "watch At The Drive-In's entire Coachella (week one) set (video, pics & setlist)"

Portugal. The Man @ Lollapalooza 2011 (more by Grant MacAllister)

today in Chicago
* The Fray, Jessie Baylin @ the Riv
* Joe Firstman, Ernie Halter @ SPACE
* Ari Herstand, Briar Rabbit @ Schubas
* Trust, Valis, Dear Recipient @ Empty Bottle
* Cheer Up Moon Cat, Capelle @ Double Door
* The Flabby Hoffman Jamboree @ Stage Bar
* Death Cab For Cutie, Low @ Chicago Theatre (Night 2)
* Thymme Jones, Dag Juhlin, Susan Voelz, Daniel Lutz @ Hideout
* Portugal. The Man, The Lonely Forest, Minor Characters @ the Vic
* Summer Girlfriends, Bigcolour, Magic Milk, Swimsuit Addition @ Lincoln Hall
* Lipreader, Brick Mower, The Please & Thank Yous, Meat Wave @ Township

JC Brooks & the Uptown Sound have a great new video for "Sister Ray Charles." Check it out below.

Watch At The Drive-In's full Coachella set. Are you headed to Lollapalooza to see them?

Jack White's debut solo LP, Blunderbuss, is streaming on iTunes.

Follow @bvChicago on Twitter, "Like" us on Facebook.

What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Tuesday?"

UPDATE: COACHELLA HAPPENED (Coachella setlist at the link)

Cedric & friend @ Coachella (via alpha_q_up23)

At the Drive-In setlist from Capri in Marfa, TX (via Kindform)

After reunion shows in Austin and Dallas, At The Drive-In kept the Coachella warm up going with shows in Marfa (setlist pictured above) and at Tricky Falls in El Paso on Friday. El Paso Times says:

The 1,200-member crowd was packed in so tightly on the floor (the balcony was off-limits to all but friends and family) that it was hard to see well or fully enjoy what was going down on stage.
The sound mix, at least from my spot on the floor behind the sound board, tended to be bottom-heavy and muffled at times, making it hard occasionally to understand what Bixler Zavala said and difficult to distinguish Rodriguez Lopez's loopy guitar squiggles.

Speaking of Rodriguez, he did seem, as others have said, disengaged. The lefty guitarist wasn't the commanding presence he is with TMV (then again, Ward's been a frontman for the last 10 years). Instead, he quietly lurked around his third of the stage while the others seemed to interact more.
He didn't seem to really get into it until the last third of the set. I didn't see him smile until the set was almost over. Then again, I didn't see too many smiles up there. They were too focused. Bixler Zavala has suggested on Twitter that the guitarist is dealing with the death of his mother last month. If you've ever lost a parent you love, you can empathize.

While it was distracting and made you wonder at times, it didn't detract from what was going on onstage. As the sound mix improved, Rodriguez Lopez's sinewy guitar figures emerged on moodier songs, like "Quarantined" and "198d," which point to the direction he and Bixler Zavala would take with the more experimental TMV.
The performance itself, which the band recorded, sounded like a grizzly emerging from a long hibernation. ATDI isn't fully awake just yet, but you could hear the band shaking off the slumber as the set progressed.

UPDATE: COACHELLA HAPPENED

Continue reading "At The Drive-In streaming live from Coachella tonight, played Marfa & El Paso (setlists)"

by @griffinshot - Tim Griffin

From the At The Drive-In Twitter Account

As suspected, the points marked on the image of Texas are now all accounted for, as At The Drive-In announced their hometown El Paso show happening at Tricky Falls on Friday, April 13th.. Hopefully you were paying attention to the BVAustin twitter (or the band's or some other twitter) when the show was announced at 1PM, because if so, you might have a ticket to the gig which is now sold out.

The new El Paso show happens one day after the Marfa show. Both remaining TX shows happen before Coachella.

ATDI played Dallas last night, and Austin the night before that.

Lollapalooza (more by Grant MacAllister)

Chicago Sun Times reports:

Lollapalooza has revealed its official 2012 list of performers -- a typically wide-ranging smorgasbord of genres and styles topped by nearly a dozen mainstage headliners: the Red Hot Chili Peppers, freshly reunited bands Black Sabbath and At the Drive-In, the Black Keys, Jack White, Florence + The Machine, the Shins and Passion Pit, plus spotlighted electronic music including Swedish house titan Avicii, French dance duo Justice and DJ-producer Bassnectar.

The annual music festival is scheduled for Aug. 3-5 in Chicago's Grant Park.

Rumored lineups have circulated widely, as they usually do, and Lollapalooza itself stoked the speculation in recent weeks via a series of CTA and online advertisements that seemed to hint at who would be playing.

The ads featured lyrics from such acts as Sigur Ros, Santigold, Jack White, Kimbra, Twin Shadow, the Weeknd, Bloc Party and more -- all bands that wound up on the bill.

Continue reading "Lollapalooza 2012 lineup (Jack White, At The Drive-In, Sigur Ros, Black Keys, RHCP, Afghan Whigs, M83, Weeknd, SBTRKT, Black Sabbath & more)"

As seen on BrooklynVegan, this year's Lolla lineup includes everthing hinted on the #LOLLA ads, and much more....

Continue reading "Lollapalooza 2012 lineup announced (Black Sabbath, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Shins, Passion Pit, JC Brooks, much more)"

At The Drive-In @ Red 7 (more by Tim Griffin)

A few videos people took at last night's show...

Continue reading "video from At The Drive-In's Austin reunion show"

photos by Tim Griffin

Cedric Bixler-Zavala of At The Drive In @ RED 7 on 4/9

As you know from a post with the setlist last night which was followed up this morning with a set of pictures on BV Austin, At The Drive-In played a show! As it says on BV Austin:

After an opening set by Zechs Marquise, At the Drive-In played their first show since 2001 (as it said on the show poster) at Red 7 in Austin last night (4/9). It was also the first in a series of pre-Coachella warm up shows that continue in Dallas (tonight) and then Marfa.

According to show promoter Transmission Entertainment, the surprise gig sold out in 11 minutes after being announced via Twitter the other day. In addition to all those packed inside, there were many listening from the alley outside. Though some complained that Omar Rodriguez Lopez seemed a bit out of it (update: his mother recently passed away), the band was generally high energy with Cedric hanging from the rafters of the newly refurbished club, and the crowd going insane.

Continue reading "more pics of At The Drive-In's Austin reunion show @ Red 7"

photos by @griffinshot - Tim Griffin

Cedric Bixler-Zavala of At The Drive In @ RED 7 on 4/9

After an opening set by Zechs Marquise, At the Drive-In played their first show since 2001 (as it said on the show poster) at Red 7 in Austin last night (4/9). It was also the first in a series of pre-Coachella warm up shows that continue in Dallas (tonight) and then Marfa.

According to show promoter Transmission Entertainment, the surprise gig sold out in 11 minutes after being announced via Twitter the other day. In addition to all those packed inside, there were many listening from the alley outside. Though some complained that Omar Rodriguez Lopez seemed a bit out of it (update: his mother recently passed away), the band was generally high energy with Cedric hanging from the rafters of the newly refurbished club, and the crowd going insane. If you haven't seen it already, take a look at the setlist, along with more pictures from the Austin reunion show, below....

Continue reading "At The Drive-In played their first show since 2001 @ Red 7 (pics/setlist)"

photos by Tim Griffin

Cedric going wild @ Red 7 -- 4/9/2012

At the Drive-In are playing their first reunion show, and first in a series of Texas, pre-Coachella warm up shows, at Red 7 in Austin right now (4/10).

UPDATE: This show happened. More pictures HERE and HERE.

Follow BVAustin on Twitter and Instagram for more of the action. Check out a picture of the setlist below...

Continue reading "At the Drive-In are playing Austin now (here's a setlist pic)"

As promised, a Dallas show was announced. It happens April 10th (tomorrow) at Trees and tickets are on sale.

Meanwhile, Austin TONIGHT!

It looks like At The Drive-In, who play Red 7 in Austin Monday night (tonight, 4/9), and the Capri in Marfa on 4/12, aren't done announcing pre-Coachella TX warm up shows. Keep an eye on their twitter today (Monday, 4/9) at 1PM Central Time. Dallas and El Paso here they come?

--

Walk away from the internet for an hour... and this happens!

At The Drive-In now have two Texas show scheduled before Coachella, one in Marfa, and one at Red 7 in Austin on MONDAY (4/9). Who got tix?

Hopefully you took that hint seriously and were quicker on the draw than we were because At The Drive-In did in fact add an April 12th pre-Coachella warm up show in Marfa, Texas... which is now sold out.

Feist is also playing a sold out show at Marfa Ballroom this month.

...along with the Quarantined lyric "A single spark can start a spectral fire ...." Was it a hint? An April Fools Joke? Just an ode to their home state? A tip on avoiding wildfires? What does it mean?!?!

Cedric was in El Paso that day.

At The Drive-In play Coachella later this month, and though some overseas dates were announced, there are still no other U.S. shows announced.

--

In other reunited bands playing Coachella news, Refused just played surprise show in Sweden. Check out video HERE.

Radiohead @ Roseland Ballroom in 2011 (more by Bao Nguyen)

Coachella which is taking place over the course of two weekends this year (April 13-15 and 20-22) revealed their 2012 lineup. Last week, Azealia Banks was the first artist confirmed, and earlier today they confirmed The Weeknd (maybe he found a band?), and before that, Jimmy Cliff, Breakbot, and Housse De Racket. The reunited Pulp then announced itself. The full lineup also includes headliners The Black Keys, Radiohead, Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg, not to mention, as predicted, the reunited At the Drive In and the reunited Mazzy Star (!), and Madness and Refused (!) and Jeff Mangum and many, many more that you can see below...

Continue reading "Coachella 2012 lineup announced (two weekends worth)"

"ATTENTION! To whom it may concern: AT THE DRIVE-IN will be breaking their 11 year silence THIS STATION IS ...NOW...OPERATIONAL"

Well we can't say for sure, but now that the El Paso band are back together (!!!!!), it definitely seems like a strong possibility that Coachella is in the cards for At The Drive-In. UPDATE: It's true!

As far as Austin goes, here's hoping for at least one regular show in addition to any festivals too. And if they do play an Austin festival, please let it be a headlining slot at Fun Fun Fun Fest.