photos by Jonathan Bernstein

Beacon at Mercury Lounge - 5/4/13

Brooklyn electronic pop duo Beacon released their new album, The Ways We Separate, last week (4/30) and celebrated it with a release show on Saturday (5/4) at Mercury Lounge, a one-off before their mini spring tour, which begins later this month. Support at the show came from Braille (aka Praveen Sharma aka 1/2 of Sepalcure) and Montreal's Solar Year. Pictures from the show are in this post.

Solar Year next plays NYC as an opener for the previously discussed Actress show at Cameo on June 6. That show is also with Gobby, who you can see sooner opening for Majical Cloudz at Glasslands (5/21) (tickets) and at UNO's free Red Bull Music Academy showcase on May 28 at Le Baron. Tickets for the Actress, Solar Year, Gobby show at Cameo are still available.

More pictures from Mercury Lounge, a stream of "Drive" from Beacon's new LP, and a list of all remaining dates, below...

Continue reading "Beacon, Braille & Solar Year played Mercury Lounge (pics)"

DOWNLOAD: Tiger & Woods - "A Golden Bear mix" (MP3)

Tiger & Woods at Movement 2012 (via Sidewalk Hustle)

Production duo Tiger & Woods will be in NYC TONIGHT (4/26) at Highline Ballroom for a FIXED + Let's Play House party with The Dead Rose Music Company, Canyons, and FIXED regulars JDH & Dave P. Tickets for tonight's show are still available. You can download the duo's brand new mix, "A Golden Bear mix," at the top of this post, or stream it below.

FIXED is also throwing a party at Highline Ballroom on May 31 with Verboten which features sets from Azari & III and Jozif. Tickets for that one are on sale now.

They've also got one happening on June 28 at Glasslands with a live set by Dutonic and Mighty Mouse. Tickets for that show are on sale now.

French house DJ Fred Falke, who released the funky Part IV back in 2011, will come to Williamsburg dance club Output on May 2 for an 'Input' party with Foals (DJ), Chrome Sparks and Jorge Bonjour. Tickets for that show are on sale now.

Trus'me at Mutek 2009 (more by Zach Dilgard)

Neon Indian will also be DJing an 'Input' party at Output (5/9) the following week. The rest of that lineup includes UK producer Trus'me (whose new album, Treat Me Right, can be streamed at XLR8R), Optimo, and Tanner Caldwell. Tickets for that show are on sale now.

Actress, whose very good R.I.P. LP came out last year, was supposed to play Cameo Gallery in Brooklyn a few months after its release, but never made it here. Now he's planning on returning to the venue on June 6 for a show with Gobby and Solar Year. Tickets for that show are on sale now. Show flyer below.

Dave Harrington (of Nicolas Jaar's live band and their collaborative project, Darkside) will also be playing a Cameo show on May 25. Benoit and Sergio are on the bill too. Tickets for that show are on sale now.

Classix

As mentioned, The Presets and Dragonette are going on a tour this year which hits NYC on May 8 at Terminal 5. Since we last spoke, LA dance duo Classixx have been added to that tour. Tickets for the Terminal 5 show are still available.

After that tour ends, Classixx will play their own show in NYC on June 15 at Le Poisson Rouge with Headband and Hooligan. Tickets for that show are on sale now. Classixx's new album, Hanging Gardens, will be out on May 14 via Innovative Leisure, and the duo have recently revealed one of its tracks, "All You're Waiting For," which features vocals from DFA's Nancy Whang (who they've played with before). You can stream that, along with two other album tracks, "Borderline" (ft. Jesse Kivel of Kisses) and "Holding On," below.

French producer Onra, who released the Deep in the Night EP on Fool's Gold last year, will be coming to NYC for a show on May 21 at Le Poisson Rouge before heading to Montreal for Mutek. Tickets for the LPR show are on sale now.

Brooklyn disco collective Midnight Magic will play a hometown show on May 18 at Music Hall of Williamsburg with Slow Knights and Spank DJs Sean B and Will Automagic. Tickets for that show are on sale now.

Germany's Ellen Allien, who put a new album out this year, will return to NYC for a show on May 24 at a TBA location. The bill also includes Camea, Thomas Muller, and Safety Scissors. Tickets are on sale now and you can find out the location by RSVPing to resolute.bpitch@gmail.com.

Another secret dance show is happening in NYC on July 26 with Tiga, Martyn, and Bordello. This one's a Blkmarket show, and tickets are on sale now. Stay tuned for info on the location.

Wedidit collective member Groundislava is playing Glasslands on May 30 with Fur and Time Wharp. Tickets for that show are on sale now.

DJ Rashad, DJ Spinn, Soulja Man, J-Cush, Durban, and TCJ are playing 285 Kent on May 24, the day after Rashad & Spinn play a Red Bull show. Tickets for the 285 Kent show are on sale now.

Eamon Harkin and Justin Carter's Brooklyn dance party Mister Sunday Night will be returning to Gowanus Grove this summer for weekly parties beginning May 12. More details and ticket info at their website.

Of course these are only a few of the upcoming dance shows in NYC. We've also recently mentioned shows by Nina Kraviz, Emika, Disclosure & TNGHT, and The Field. Plus, the Mad Decent Block Party is coming up, and there's going to be tons of dance music during the Red Bull Music Academy NYC onslaught, which happens from April 28 to May 31. What else?

Classixx song streams, the Tiger & Woods mix, and Actress show flyer below...

Continue reading "upcoming dance shows in NYC: Classixx, Actress, DJ Rashad, Tiger & Woods, Fred Falke, Trus'me, Ellen Allien, Martyn, more"

Today Pitchfork posted the first half (well, first 30 albums) of their Top 50 Albums of 2012 list. There are some surprises on it, like Peaking Lights and Sharon Van Etten, who seemed more likely to end up on their Honorable Mentions list due to their relatively lower scores and the fact that most of the albums on this list were awarded Best New Music throughout the year. Cat Power and Hot Chip also make it, both of whose new albums seemed to have received less love from Pitchfork than previous releases by those artists. A Rustie Essential Mix also makes the list even though his actual album which came out last year didn't make their 2011 list. And of course the expected ones end up there too like Purity Ring, Julia Holter, Schoolboy Q, Miguel, and more. The remaining 20 will be revealed tomorrow (Friday, 12/21).

Check out their 50-30 picks below...

Continue reading "30 of Pitchfork's Top 50 Albums of 2012"

by Andrew Sacher

FACT is still one of the best sources for cutting edge electronic music, and I always look forward to their top 50 albums of the year list, which they've just published for 2012. As usual, it doesn't only contain electronic albums.

This year's list has a good deal of indie rap (Haleek Maul, Schoolboy Q, Le1f, Main Attrakionz, Spaceghostpurrp) and it's the only non-metal list I've seen so far with Black Breath's Sentenced to Life (!). And of course, to compliment the dancefloor records, it's got its fair share of electronic-tinged indie pop, forward thinking R&B, and outsider experimental music.

Check out the full list below.

Continue reading "FACT's Top 50 Albums of 2012"

The Faint at Webster Hall in 2009 (more by Tim Griffin)

The Faint are currently on tour celebrating the 10th anniversary of their album Danse Macabre. The party hits NYC on Friday (12/7) at Terminal 5 with Toronto's Trust and Icky Blossoms opening the show. Tickets are still available.

If you've read the site over the last week or so, you probably know we've been asking a lot of bands and artists to contribute year-end Top 10s (like Animal Collective who play Terminal 5 twice this week), and here we've got ones from both The Faint and Trust. The Faint did a collective list of favorite LPs and were only able to whittle it down to 12, including albums by Liars, Actress, Twin Shadow, Grimes (who did a list for us too) as well as both of their current tourmates. Check out the full list below.

As for Trust, main man Robert Alfons lists his 10 favorite tracks of 2012 and the top three spots all go to the same artist. Any guesses who? Don't forget that Trust will DJ late night at Glasslands on Friday (12/7) after their T5 show. Black Marble will play live and tickets are still available.

The Faint and Trust's 2012 Top 10 lists are below.

Continue reading "The Faint and Trust list their Favorite Music of 2012; on tour, playing Terminal 5 this week"

As mentioned, Animal Collective are playing two nights at Terminal 5 (12/4-5) to make up for their cancelled Williamsburg Park show. The first night (12/4) is with Traxman, and no opener has been announced yet for the second night. Tickets for both shows are still available and a portion of the proceeds will go to The American Red Cross to help Hurricane Sandy relief.

Like Amanda Palmer, Animal Collective just spoke to us about their top 10 things of 2012, some of which were albums, like the one by their tourmates Micachu & The Shapes and the new Madlib-produced Georgia Anne Muldrow album, whereas other things on the list were restaurants they had memorable dinners at and British sketch comedy shows. You can check out the whole thing below.

Continue reading "Animal Collective's collective 2012 year-end list"

Bummer news: tonight's Actress show at Cameo has been canceled "due to Visa issues" and "will be rescheduled to a later date. For those who purchased advanced tickets, you will receive an email with the option for a refund within the next few days. New date will be announced soon."

Meanwhile, Werkhaus reports:

Moiré (soon to be releasing on Werkdiscs) & ACTRESS have been secretly working on a score, invited by Tate Collective and the infamous immersive theatre co Punchdrunk, to collaborate as part of a live event with art, performance art and music this Saturday, 22nd Sept. Punchdrunk have in turn choreographed a live performance to the score. A first for us!

Continue reading "Actress cancels Brooklyn show, secretly working on a score with Moire"

Moogfest 2011 (more by Diana Wong)

Moogfest, which is becoming one of the most intriguing US music festivals, is returning to Asheville, NC this year on October 26 and 27. Like in past years, the festival includes some legends like Thomas Dolby and GZA performing Liquid Swords (like he is in NYC and other cities), some of our favorite newcomers like Julia Holter, Trust, and Disclosure, electronic heavy hitters like Orbital, Four Tet, Squarepusher, Richie Hawtin, Mouse on Mars, and Prefuse 73 with Teebs, in addition to a diverse list of other artists like Killer Mike, El-P, The Magnetic Fields, Explosions in the Sky, Primus, Santigold, Divine Fits, Actress, Pantha Du Prince, Bear in Heaven, and more. Tickets for this year's fest go on sale Friday (8/10) at noon. The initial lineup is listed below.

Orbital, who released their new album, Wonky, this year, which featured a track with Zola Jesus, have a few other North American dates this year (still none in NYC though).

For Divine Fits, the new band featuring Britt Daniel (Spoon), Dan Boeckner (Wolf Parade/Handsome Furs), and Sam Brown (New Bomb Turks), who recently made their live debut in Austin, Moogfest is one of the few shows they've got scheduled this year, including the Chicago show they played last night (8/5) and an upcoming NYC show.

Moogfest 2012 lineup is listed below.

Continue reading "Moogfest 2012 lineup (GZA, Magnetic Fields, Explosions in the Sky, Primus, Santigold, Julia Holter, Disclosure, Orbital, Four Tet, Divine Fits, Killer Mike & more)"

by Andrew Sacher

UK producer Actress (aka Darren Cunningham) released his great new album, R.I.P., this past April on Damon Albarn's Honest Jon's label. At a quick glance, R.I.P. seems like a pretty minimal IDM record, but a little more time spent with it shows that there's quite a lot going on beneath the subdued exterior. The first two tracks veer towards the chilled, ambient spectrum, but once the album dives into the aquatic synths of "Holy Water," the first of many unexpected turns are taken. Actress experiments with the deep headphone dance music of tracks like "Marble Plexus" and "The Lord's Graffiti,", the gorgeous piano playing of "Jardin," the distorted sub-bass of "Shadow From Tartarus," and the addictive synth lines of "IWAAD." The whole thing is a great listen, and if you've yet to hear it you can stream it via a spotify widget below.

Actress will be in NYC for a show at Cameo Gallery on September 20. Tickets for that show are on sale now. It's the only show we're currently aware of besides a London show with Evian Christ (who will also be in North America this summer).

A list of all currently known dates and the spotify stream below...

Continue reading "Actress released an LP, playing Brooklyn show"

by Andrew Sacher

Teengirl Fantasy's Tracer artwork

Brooklyn duo Teengirl Fantasy have been having a pretty solid year. Back in January, they inked a deal with R&S Records (James Blake, Lone) who are putting out their killer new single, "Motif," on vinyl on June 25 and digitally on July 9. That single comes with the b-side "Eternal" and an Actress remix of "Motif." Check out the video for "Motif" below.

Now, the duo have just announced the release of their sophomore LP, Tracer, which will be out on August 21 via R&S/True Panther. They've roped in some pretty impressive guests for the album, including Panda Bear, Romanthony (aka the voice of Daft Punk's "One More Time"), Laurel Halo, and Kelela. The album won't include "Motif," but it will include "Eternal." The full tracklist is below along with a teaser video and that's the cover art above.

You can catch Teengirl Fantasy at a local show this weekend when they open for fellow Brooklynites/True Panther labelmates Lemonade at the previously discussed Music Hall of Williamsburg show on Saturday (6/2), which also serves as the NYC debut for Elite Gymnastics. Tickets for that show are still available. All TF dates are listed below.

Speaking of Laurel Halo, she put out her own (excellent) new album, Quarantine, in Europe this week and it will see a US release next week. You can stream that album in full below.

Videos, streams, tracklist and a list of all Teengirl Fantasy dates below...

Continue reading "Teengirl Fantasy releasing 'Tracer' LP feat. Panda Bear, Laurel Halo, Romananthony & more"

Lindstrom

Lindstrom will be releasing a 12" of remixes from his Six Cups of Rebel LP on June 25 with remixes from Oneohtrix Point Never (who plays Ecstatic Summer), Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti, and Mark McGuire (of Emeralds). Have a listen to Oneohtrix Point Never's take on "Call Me Anytime" below.

Lindstrom is currently on a tour which brings him to NYC on Friday (5/25) for the previously discussed Webster Hall show with Simian Mobile Disco (tickets). That tour will also bring him to Detroit's Movement Electronic Music Festival this weekend where he'll play alongside Public Enemy, Actress, SBTRKT, Major Lazer, Gold Panda, Nina Kraviz, Matias Aguayo, FaltyDL, AraabMUZIK and more. Tickets for the fest are on sale now. The full lineup is listed below.

Speaking of electronic music festivals, Mutek goes down in Montreal from May 30 - June 3. The Mutek lineup includes Kode9, Nicolas Jaar, Clark, Blondes, Apparat, Shlohmo, Shackleton, Stephen O'Malley & Tim Hecker, Biosphere & Lustmord, and more. The full lineup is listed below.

In related news, as mentioned, Apparat will come to NYC after Mutek for a show at Gramercy Theater on May 31. It's since been announced that Sleepyhead will open that show. Tickets for that show are still available and we're also giving away a pair. Contest details below, along with a list of all dates, song stream, and those festival lineups.

Continue reading "Lindstrom releasing remixes 12", touring (dates); Movement Fest & Mutek coming soon (lineups); Apparat adds opener (win tix)"

by Andrew Frisicano

Julia Holter @ Le Poisson Rouge in March (more by by Amanda Hatfield)

Unsound Festival New York, the Poland-based series of avant-leaning, ambient and experimental music, kicks off five nights in NYC with two events tonight (4/18): instrumental Warsaw band Baaba scores animations at BAM, while Julia Holter, Julia Kent and Jenny Hval playing a sold-out show at Issue Project Room.

Check out the festival's full schedule, which includes several free shows such as LXMP and Peaking Lights at Lincoln Center's David Rubenstein Atrium on Thursday 19th (both have amazing songs on the comp below). Issue Project Room hosts free day sets Saturday and Sunday (though only tickets for Saturday appear to still be available).

Dark ambient musician and repeat Unsound artist Lustmord recently spoke with Resident Advisor about the experience of seeing someone play a laptop live...

If somebody said "an ambient musician" was playing live in town this evening, I wouldn't exactly rush out, you know? I'd rather stay home and read a book. [laughs]

[he then goes on to describe how seeing Kraftwerk live changed his mind]

I hadn't seen them live for a long time, and they played in LA--four middle aged guys on laptops, how boring is that? But, fucking hell, it was one of the best gigs I've ever seen. That's when I really thought, yeah, you can stand there with your laptop and do your thing as long as you got the fucking sound.

Inner Tube were set to play Le Poisson Rouge on Friday, but have been replaced by Mark McGuire (solo). And:

a visual program has been added to Bass Mutations on April 21, showing the ways in which visual artists have helped shape the way we imagine bass music. Curated by "Big Up Magazine" Editor-In-Chief Katya Guseva in collaboration with Dave Q from Dub War NYC, it will take place in a movie theatre adjacent to the dancefloor at the venue for the night, IndieScreen. Live audio from Bass Mutations performers such as 2562, Teeth, Sepalcure, Distal, Throwing Snow and Nguzunguzu will provide the soundtrack.

Continue reading "Unsound Festival (Lustmord, Demdike Stare, Actress, Julia Holter) begins; listen to a mix"