Danny Brown at Roseland, October 2012 (more by Brook Bobbins)

Detroit's Danny Brown is set to head out on a West Coast tour after SXSW with Baauer, and has just announced that he'll be playing a string of North American dates with Kitty (formerly Kitty Pryde) after that. A performance at Bottom Lounge on April 25 is included in his schedule. Tickets for the Chicago show go on sale this Saturday (3/9) at noon CST.

Danny also recently shared a new track, called "#Hottest MC," which will appear on his forthcoming LP Old. It was produced by Harry Fraud, and you can take a listen to it at the bottom of this post.

All Danny Brown tour dates and that song stream are below...

Continue reading "Danny Brown playing Bottom Lounge with Kitty in April"

Divine Fits @ NYC's Webster Hall earlier on tour (more by Amanda Hatfield)

today in Chicago
* R. Kelly, Tamia @ Arie Crown Theater
* Nneka, Patrick Gemkow @ Lincoln Hall
* Heligoats, Squares, The Gunshy @ Hideout
* The Presets, Yacht, American Royalty @ Metro
* Daughter, Choir of Young Believers @ Schubas
* Savoir Adore, Royal Canoe, Santah @ Township
* The Singleman Affair, Piney Gar @ The Burlington
* Divine Fits, Cold Cave @ Logan Square Auditorium
* Twerps, Alex Bleeker & the Freaks, Bare Mutants @ Empty Bottle
* Del the Funky Homosapien, Bukue One, The B.E.A.T., Impolite Society, DJ Zac Hendrix @ Reggie's

R. Kelly plays his first of two shows at the Arie Crown Theater tonight.

Nneka is here to play Lincoln Hall.

Santah plays a record release show at Township tonight with Savoir Adore and Royal Canoe.

Danny Brown has a new NSFW video for "Wit It." Check it out below.

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

Follow bvChicago on Instagram.

What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Thursday?"

A$AP Rocky @ Pitchfork Festival 2012 (more by Fred Pessaro // BBG)

A$AP Rocky and the A$AP Mob are slated to head out on the LongLiveA$AP tour in late-September, which features Danny Brown and Schoolboy Q. All three acts hit Chicago earlier this month to perform at the 2012 Pitchfork Music Festival. That tour will reach Chicago on October 11 for a show at the Congress Theater. Tickets for that show are not on sale yet, but check Ticketfly for updates.

In related news, Rocky was arrested in NYC last week after a brawl with some photographers, which caused him to miss his scheduled performance on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. Brawls are kind of his thing.

All LongLiveA$AP dates are listed below...

Continue reading "A$AP Rocky touring w/ Danny Brown & Schoolboy Q, playing the Congress Theater"

photos by Chase Turner

Corin Roddick (of Purity Ring) @ Bottom Lounge on 7.14.2012

After the 2012 Pitchfork Music Festival wound down on Saturday night (7/14), with closing sets from Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Grimes, Tumblr kept things going with a party at the Bottom Lounge featuring DJ sets from Danny Brown, SKYWLKR, Corin Roddick (of Purity Ring), and LOL Boys.

Chase ventured over after the festival and you can check out more of his pictures below...

Continue reading "Danny Brown, SKYWLKR, Corin Roddick & LOL Boys DJ'd a Pitchfork Fest afterparty @ Bottom Lounge (pics)"

photos by Chase Turner and James Richards IV, words by Parker Langvardt

Wild Flag / Sleigh Bells

Day 2 of the 2012 Pitchfork Music Festival happened on Saturday (7/14) with sets from Grimes, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Hot Chip, Sleigh Bells, Nicolas Jaar and more. We've already got pictures of day 2 up on BrooklynVegan, and here's another set of pics for BV Chicago.

I began my Saturday at the Blue Stage for The Atlas Moth, whose bluesy doom was an appropriate fit for the grey weather we had early on at the fest. Vocalist and guitarist Stavros Giannopoulos flashed a friendly peace sign that contrasted the aggression of his high, crackling scream. The interweaving riffs of the three guitarists give a lively edge to the band's slow, doomy rhythms. They were later joined by Chicago jazz trumpeter Jaimie Branch, who previously lent her skills to a track on The Atlas Moth's 2011 album An Ache For the Distances, and de facto Chicago rock saxophonist Bruce Lamont of Yakuza and Bloodiest. Lamont also performed with The Atlas Moth at SXSW 2012, and just last week contributed to The Black Lips' performances at The Empty Bottle and West Fest.

Cloud Nothings started on the cheerier end of their 2012 album Attack On Memory opening with "Fall In" and following with "Stay Useless". The rain began after "Separation," and it was down-pouring by the noisy bridge of "Wasted Days" a couple songs later. The stage hands covered the floor monitors with tarps before the PA system was shut off entirely, leaving the band jamming at stage volume. When frontman Dylan Baldi went to sing and found his mic off, the crowd took over the chant of "I thought I would be more than this" before Cloud Nothings closed out their set. They seemed disappointed, but great set nonetheless.

The sky had cleared by the time Bradford Cox took the stage as Atlas Sound, decked out in a straw hat, white face paint and a harmonica hanging angularly from his neck. Like most Atlas Sound shows, it was just Bradford and his acoustic guitar on stage, but he creates layers of sound with the loop and effect pedals that he runs it through.

The rain picked up again for Liturgy, who have disintegrated from a black metal quartet into a guitar duo backed by programmed drums. This was not the kind of set that you casually walked away from; it either captivated or repelled. The bizarre electronic drum tones might have fit better with dance music, but instead followed chunky, mechanical rhythms which usually synced up well, but lacked the dynamics that used to be provided by live drummer Greg Fox.. At one point, frontman Hunter Hunt Hendrix gave a solo vocal performance that involved him looping his voice into a strange, twisted chant, which stood in contrast to the howling and yelping scream he produced during the rest of the set.

The sun made its final return by the time Flying Lotus began his set. He spun bits of A$AP Rocky, a sped up Schoolboy Q, and the beat to "Niggas in Paris," mixed with pieces of his own abstract recordings. He was joined mid-set by rapper and Brainfeeder label mate Azizi Gibson, who also played the Brainfeeder showcase that night.

After a long set up and some volume issues with the PA, Nicolas Jaar and his live band began creating a swell of noise before settling into a cool electronic R&B groove. Though some of the band's mics were too quiet, the set was still enjoyable.

Back at the Blue Stage, Schoolboy Q walked on stage and yelled "Pitchfork, what it fuckin' do?" He later made a comment about being faded, a mental state fans might have expected from the lyrics of "Hands On the Wheel," which was heard during both his and Flying Lotus' sets. Many of his songs work in a party setting, but there is a dark sense to it. He made sure to keep the energy up, jumping and yelling more aggressively than heard in his recordings.

Hardcore fans of Godspeed You! Black Emperor had camped out in front of the Green Stage for a couple hours prior to their set, though it was still possible to get a good spot, about as far back as the sound booth, fifteen or so minutes before they began. The proximity of the stages made it easy to catch any artist for an acceptable amount of time, yet there was very little bleeding of sound between stages.

Godspeed spent the first several minutes of their set focusing on one note, working intently on expanding it slowly by creating noise that inched up toward harmonizing notes. After a careful build, the strings broke out into a dark Eastern European melody. When the first song ended, the silence was eerie, like a cease-fire in a war zone. The often sepia imagery projected behind them reinforced the seriousness of their set, at one point showing sped up smoke stacks spewing vapor and particles into the atmosphere. Having seen their other project Thee Silver Mount Zion Memorial Orchestra earlier this year, the instrumental Godspeed seemed to be more apocalyptic and bleak. Both bands are very critical in a post-modern way, but the lyrics in Silver Mount Zion provide a sense of hope, in that there are other humans aware of the world's problems. Godspeed You! Black Emperor is more like the soundtrack to the human race destroying itself.

Pics from day 1 are HERE. More from day 2 are below...

Continue reading "#P4K Festival 2012 pics & review (part 4) - Grimes, Nicolas Jaar, Psychic Paramount, Liturgy, Youth Lagoon, Danny Brown & more"

DJ sets from Danny Brown & Skywlkr, Corin Roddick (of Purity Ring) and LOL Boys. You can RSVP HERE.

The Atlas Moth @ BV-SXSW 2012 (more by Greg Cristman)

The Atlas Moth, Danny Brown, Dirty Projectors, Clams Casino, Flying Lotus, Iceage, The Men, Olivia Tremor Control, Purity Ring, Schoolboy Q, and Sleigh Bells were all just added to the lineup of Pitchfork Festival 2012, taking place in Chicago's Union Park from July 13-15. Three-day passes are now sold out, however single-day tickets are still available.

20+ acts are still TBA. Current lineup below..

Continue reading "The Atlas Moth, Danny Brown, Dirty Projectors & more added to Pitchfork Festival 2012"

Danny Brown at Echoplex in LA in January (more by Nathanel Turner)

As seen on BrooklynVegan, Childish Gambino (aka Donald Glover) recently fractured his foot and has posponed a bunch of dates on his current tour with Danny Brown. This includes their show at the Riv, which was supposed to take place on March 30 and has now been rescheduled to May 9. All tickets will be honored.

An updated list of tour dates can be found below.

Continue reading "Childish Gambino & Danny Brown reschedule show @ the Riv"