Kanye West in Sweden in 2011 (more)

NYC festival Governors Ball is totally sold out of regular tickets, but if you weren't able to get yours and still want to go, there are still a few options. From now until Monday (5/27) at 11:59 PM, you can enter the Governors Ball Ticket Lottery. Entering the lottery gives you a chance to be selected to purchase either a 3-day pass or a single day ticket. More details on how the lottery works below.

DoNYC is also giving away VIP passes and tickets to every after party, so you can also head to their site to enter that contest too.

Ticket lottery details and festival set times below...

Continue reading "sold-out Governors Ball offers last chance on tickets via lottery"

Deerhunter at Austin Psych Fest 2013 (more by Tim Griffin)

Governors Ball is less than a month away, and the fest has now released the daily schedule. They've done a pretty good job with not too many giant conflicts -- though there's a few like Grizzly Bear vs Beirut, Bloc Party vs The xx, Erykah Badu vs Beach House, and Nas vs Guns N Roses. Check out the daily line-ups across their four stages below.

Continue reading "Governors Ball announces set times"

Bumbershoot is returning to Seattle this year from August 31 to September 2 at Seattle Center. This year's lineup was just announced, and it includes Death Cab for Cutie performing Transatlanticism (in case The Postal Service reuniting wasn't enough Ben Gibbard nostalgia for you), Kendrick Lamar, MGMT, The Breeders, The Zombies, Alt-J, Deerhunter, Baroness, Crystal Castles, Gary Numan, Joey Bada$$, Eric Burdon, Bob Mould, David Bazan, Charli XCX, Redd Kross, The Men and more.

Tickets (3-day passes, 2-day passes, and single day tickets) for the festival are on sale now.

Full lineup below...

Continue reading "Bumbershoot 2013 lineup & tix (Death Cab for Cutie, MGMT, Kendrick Lamar, Breeders, Zombies, Alt-J, Deerhunter & more)"

photos by Wei Shi

Passion Pit / Alt-J / Purity Ring & Danny Brown / crowd

Coachella 2013 is currently going down in Indio, CA for its second weekend after kicking off this past Friday (4/19). We've already posted pics of day 1 (HERE and HERE), day 2 (HERE) and day 3 (HERE) from weekend 1, and now we've got pictures of day 1 from weekend 2 in this post. This time around we caught sets by Passion Pit, Earl Sweatshirt, Polica, Youth Lagoon, Purity Ring, (who were joined by Danny Brown, whose new album they appear on), Foals, Modest Mouse, Alt-J and more.

Check out more pictures from 4/19, along with a "Coachellavated" video of the festival filmed from the top of director Chris Crutchfield's head and a video of Passion Pit's full set from weekend 1, below...

Continue reading "Coachella Day 1 Weekend 2 in pics (Passion Pit, Polica, Earl Sweatshirt, Youth Lagoon, Purity Ring, Modest Mouse & more)"

Alt-J on 'Conan'

Alt-J, who rolled through NYC about a month ago, are currently on the West Coast for the two-weekend marathon known as Coachella (weekend 2 starts today). In between appearances in Indio, the band stopped by Conan to play their single "Breezeblocks" and you can watch that below.

Meanwhile, the UK act also recently got the grilled-with-gifts treatment from Vancouver notable Nardwuar. You can watch that interaction below as well too.

Continue reading "Alt-J played 'Conan' and got interviewed by Nardwuar (video)"

Lollapalooza 2012 (more by James Richards IV)

After it was already confirmed that Phoenix, Vampire Weekend, The Postal Service, The National, The Killers, and Mumford and Sons were playing Lollapalooza 2013, a pretty promising leak came which appeared to potentially reveal the rest of the lineup, and it turns out that leak was real.

In addition to the previously mentioned artists, Lollapalooza will include Nine Inch Nails, Queens of the Stone Age, Kendrick Lamar, Grizzly Bear, The Cure, New Order, Baroness, Beach House, Cat Power, Death Grips, Jessie Ware, Father John Misty, DIIV, Wavves, Alt-J, Hot Chip, Disclosure, Baauer, Palma Violets, Angel Haze, Band of Horses, Crystal Castles and many others.

Lollapalooza goes down in Chicago from August 2 - 4 in Grant Park. Single day passes go on sale Wednesday (4/3) at 10 AM.

Full day-by-day lineup below...

Continue reading "Lollapalooza 2013 lineup announced (Nine Inch Nails, Queens of the Stone Age, Phoenix, Vampire Weekend, Postal Service, Cure, New Order, Kendrick Lamar & more)"

Nick Cave @ SXSW 2013 (more by Tim Griffin)

One of the Grand Dammes of the music festival world Glastonbury 2013 will happen June 28 - 30 in the UK town of the same name. (They skipped last year.) Announced acts include The Rolling Stones, Phoenix, Arctic Monkeys, Primal Scream, Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, Vampire Weekend, Elvis Costello, Kenny Rogers (!), Portishead, Foals, Tame Impala, Alt-J, Billy Bragg, PiL, Smashing Pumpkins, Chic, Cat Power, The Horrors, Rodriguez, Palma Violets, Savages, Crystal Castles and a whole lot more.

No word on tickets yet. You can check out the full line-up on the flyer below.

Continue reading "Rolling Stones, Phoenix, Nick Cave, The xx, Primal Scream, Chic, Alt-J, Foals and many more playing Glastonbury 2013"

photos by Amanda Hatfield

Alt-J / Hundred Waters

Alt-J's tour with Hundred Waters hit NYC for two big sold out shows over the weekend. We already posted pictures, videos, and the setlist from Friday's (3/22) Webster Hall show and in this post we've got pictures, the setlist and videos from the Terminal 5 show in this post. Their set was basically the same at T5 as the Webster show, but this time they also worked in a cover of "A Real Hero" by College and Electric Youth (which was on the Drive soundtrack).

More below...

Continue reading "Alt-J and Hundred Waters @ Terminal 5 (pics, video, setlist)"

photos by PSquared Photography

Alt-J at Webster Hall - 3/22/13

Alt-J brought their tour with Hundred Waters through NYC for their biggest shows here yet this past weekend (both sold out). First, they played Webster Hall on Friday (3/22), and pictures from that show are in this post, and then they hit Terminal 5 on Sunday (pictures from that one coming soon). In between those two dates, Hundred Waters stopped by Glasslands on Saturday for their own show here too.

At Webster Hall, Alt-J played most of their 2012 debut, An Awesome Wave, and also included the track, "Buffalo," which they contributed to the soundtrack for Silver Linings Playbook (the recorded version features guest vocals from Mountain Man). More pictures, the setlist, and videos from Webster Hall (unfortunately none of Hundred Waters) below...

Continue reading "Alt-J played 2 big NYC shows w/ Hundred Waters (Webster Hall pics, videos & setlist)"

photos by Sarah Frankie Linder

Alt-J / Dawes @ The Parish, Austin, 3/11/2013

Alt-J have had quite a run in the last 12 months, going from relative obscurity to Mercury Prize winners and playing increasingly big venues both in their UK home and in North American (and elsewhere). This is their first SXSW, and the band got into Austin early to play the Rocket Fuel party at The Parish during the Interactive portion of the fest on Monday (3/11). AV Club favorites Dawes opened along with Welsh shoegazers Man Without Country. We missed the latter, but luckily they'll be playing the official BV showcase on Friday (3/15, 9:20 PM) at Maggie Mae's Rooftop.

Alt-J play two shows in NYC next week (Webster Hall and Terminal 5), both of which are sold-out. More pics from the Parish are below.

Continue reading "Alt-J and Dawes played the Rocket Fuel party at The Parish during SXSW (pics)"

Osheaga Festival is returning to Montreal's Parc Jean-Drapeau from August 2-4. This year's lineup includes The Cure, Mumford and Sons, Phoenix, New Order, Vampire Weekend, Kendrick Lamar, Hot Chip, Alt-J, Beach House, Explosions in the Sky, Big Boi, Baauer, Father John Misty, Disclosure, Frightened Rabbit, Angel Haze, Jessie Ware, DIIV, Guards, and many more.

3-Day passes go on sale Friday (3/15) at noon. There are still over 20 artists TBA, but you can browse the complete initial lineup below...

Continue reading "Osheaga Festival 2013 lineup & tickets (The Cure, Phoenix, Vampire Weekend, Kendrick Lamar, New Order and more)"

Weird Al and Bonarroo phone bank (including Mike Birbiglia and Eugene Mirman...

With help from Eugene Mirman, Chris Gethard, Mike Birbiglia, Portugal. The Man and more, Weird Al just began announcing the 2013 Bonnaroo line-up on the Bonnaroo YouTube page which happens June 13 - 16 in Manchester, TN. Weird Al just announced Pretty Lights, Wilco, A$AP Rocky, and The xx, and over the next hour, more artists will be announced. We'll update this post as more announcements come.

Other artists playing include Passion Pit, Kendrick Lamar, David Byrne and St. Vincent, Jim James, Big K.R.I.T., Billy Idol, Grizzly Bear, Japandroids, Foals, Wild Nothing, Deap Vally, Killer Mike, Lord Huron, Divine Fits, Nas, Beach House, The Gaslight Anthem, Local Natives, Dirty Projectors, Baroness, The National, The Vaccines, Holy Ghost, Death Grips, R. Kelly, Alt-J, Purity Ring, Cat Power, Wu-Tang Clan, Bjork, Tame Impala, Animal Collective, The Tallest Man on Earth, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Paul McCartney, Earl Sweatshirt, Four Tet, Father John Misty, Swans, A-Trak, Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti, Cults, AraabMuzik, DIIV, Charli XCX, Matthew E. White, Frank Turner, JEFF the Brotherhood, Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit, Calexico, Two Gallants, and more.

Tickets for the festival go on sale Saturday (2/23) at noon EST.

There's also now a video of Daniel Tosh announcing the initial lineup, which you can watch, along with the current list of announced names, below...

Continue reading "Bonnaroo 2013 lineup announcement underway"

Says the PR

On the heels of a highly successful, critically acclaimed sold-out 2012 festival, the Sasquatch! Music Festival unveils its 2013 lineup, which once again features 4 days of music. The festival, hailed as "a model of well-paced programming...in a four-day schedule as efficient and natural feeling as an expertly built algorithm" by NPR Music while Wired notes, "leave the landscape out of it and Sasquatch! has a lineup to kill for," runs May 24-27 (Memorial Day Weekend) at The
Gorge, the internationally acclaimed concert venue carved in the basalt cliffs high above the Columbia River Gorge in Quincy, WA.

Continue reading "Sasquatch! Music Festival 2013 lineup is here"

Hundred Waters at BV CMJ 2012 (more by Dominick Mastrangelo)

Art pop collective Hundred Waters just wrapped up a tour with Freelance Whales, which culminated in two NYC area shows last week (MHOW on 1/29, and The Space in CT on 1/30). The tour also included another NYC area show earlier on at Maxwell's (1/15). Did anyone go to those? If so, how were they?

Hundred Waters were also just added to the previously announced Alt-J tour, which hits NYC on March 22 at Webster Hall and March 24 at Terminal 5, both of which are sold out. Hundred Waters will also be in Austin soon for SXSW. All upcoming Hundred Waters dates are listed below. Meanwhile, Alt-J will return to NYC in June for Governors Ball.

The band also just made a new video for "Boreal," which appeared on their self titled debut, which came out in February, 2012 and was then reissued in August on Skrillex's OWSLA label. That video and the list of all dates (via Pitchfork) below...

Continue reading "Hundred Waters have a new video, added to Alt-J tour (dates)"

by Andrew Sacher and Bill Pearis

Governors Ball 2012 (more by Amanda Hatfield)

As mentioned, NYC music festival Governors Ball keeps growing and its returning this year for it's largest and most exciting festival yet on Randall's Island from June 7 - 9. Early bird 3-day passes go on sale today (1/25) at noon at $190, and once they sell out, they become $205 and then $220. According to the festival's website, single day tickets may or may not become available so if you'd like to go, they advise you purchase a 3-day pass.

The lineup has tons of great names this year and if you're going, we're sure you've got a bunch of stuff lined up to see already, and while you're making your wish list, here's our list of ten bands that we're excited to see at the festival, that you might not want to miss.

Kanye West is one of the headliners, and any chance to catch him in the NYC area is one to take advantage of. It's pretty amazing how far he's come and with seven albums under his belt (including Watch the Throne and Cruel Summer), he's got more than enough material for a hits-filled set, which he tends to do. And there's no telling what else he might do, like break out some snow monster masks or something.

A newer, but no less exciting rapper, Kendrick Lamar, will be there too. He turned the rap world on its head with last year's good kid, m.A.A.d. city, and us New Yorkers only got our chance to see him before its release. So now that we know all the words to his record, we pretty much can't wait to see him perform songs off of it at Governors Ball.

The term "supergroup" doesn't always mean the group is "super," just that the members are all known for other projects. But in the case of Divine Fits, featuring the songwriting talents of Spoon's Britt Daniel and Handsome Furs' Dan Boeckner, it was two great tastes that taste great together. And as a band, Divine Fits were pretty much amazing live right out of the gate, and their danceable vibe is festival-ready.

Deerhunter have been promising a new album for 2013 and while they haven't revealed any formal plans for it, we're hoping to hear some of the new material at Governors Ball. Plus, though we've seen side projects like Atlas Sound, Lotus Plaza, and Moon Diagrams in NYC recently, we haven't gotten an actual Deerhunter show since 2011.

Death from Above 1979 have played NYC a couple of times since reuniting in 2011, and whether you've caught them or not, it's a treat that they have another one on the horizon.

UK art rockers Alt-J became infinitely bigger since first coming to the US last May, and they've got the kind of songs that would sound great on a big outdoor stage. The band have been on tour constantly and we've seen their onstage confidence grow leaps over the visits they've already had here. They should be primed and ready for big crowds by the summer.

Japandroids have already come to NYC a few times in the past year (and those liars said it'd be a while before they came back!) and anyone who has seen them knows every Japandroids show is destined to be a wild time. The band is always nuts on stage and so is the crowd, so it's the kind of thing that will be a killer time at an outdoor festival.

Another band, like Alt-J, that have also had a pretty significant and quick rise since first catching our attention, is Polica, who will be at this year's Governors Ball. Their mix of indie pop and R&B is endlessly catchy and the dueling drummers are a thrill to watch live. Whether you're already a fan or not, they'd be a great band to catch.

Unlike many of the bands on the Governors Ball line-up, it's been a couple years since Australia's Cut Copy have played North America and absence makes the heart grow fonder. CC seem to write their songs with giant crowds in mind and show no shame in working the crowd into a frenzy.

Most of the artists on this list are artists we've been fans of for a while, but festivals are also always good places to discover new artists, and one new group we're excited to see at Governors Ball is Vancouver's Bear Mountain. Last year, they released their debut album, XO, which combined club-ready dance tracks, arena sized atmospherics, and an indie pop sensibility in the songwriting. It's a pretty great mix and sounds like it will be totally fun live. You can stream the album in its entirety below.

Continue reading "Ten Bands We're Excited to See at Governors Ball 2013 (which goes on sale today)"

Click it for the bigger poster.

Governors Ball, which started as a small NYC festival on Governors Island and moved to the larger Randall's Island last year, keeps getting bigger and bigger. This year's fest takes place June 7th, 8th & 9th, and tickets go on sale Friday. Check out the full lineup, in list, video and flyer format - one unannounced headliner included, below...

Continue reading "Governors Ball 2013 lineup (Kanye West, Kings of Leon, Grizzly Bear, xx, Cut Copy, Kendrick, Anco, Beach House & MUCH MORE)"

Alt-J at Mercury Lounge in May (more by Dominick Mastrangelo)

Big day for award nominations. The Oscars announced theirs this morning and the Brit Awards just wrapped up their ceremony for 2013 nominations, with Emeli Sandé grabbing four and Mumford & Sons and Alt-J each getting three. All three of those artists were nominated for British Album of the Year, a list that also included Paloma Faith and Plan B. If you don't know, The Brits are basically the UK's equivalent of the Grammys, though nominees are all British apart from a few "International" awards.

Jessie Ware, Muse, and Adele each got two nominations, and single-digit noms went to Bat for Lashes, The xx, Richard Hawley and The Vaccines.

Mumford & Sons have two nights at Barclays Center in February and Alt-J will swing though town in March.

The entire 2013 Brit Awards nominees list is below.

Continue reading "2013 Brit Award nominees announced (Emeli Sandé, Mumford and Alt-J lead the pack)"

Brooklyn Bowl during a Deer Tick show (more by Tracy Allison)

As you probably know, we've been posting a bunch of year-end lists from artists this year, and we've also posted a few from venue guys like Josh Moore and Johnny Beach from Bowery Presents, Jack "Skippy" McFadden of Emo's in Austin, and Andy Bodor from Cake Shop. Now we've got a top 10 albums list from Brooklyn Bowl talent buyer (aka booker) Adam Geringer-Dunn. You can see Adam's full list below.

Brooklyn Bowl is where Lucero (who gave us two year-end lists) are beginning their New Year's Eve run. The country punks will play a two-night stand at the Brooklyn venue on Friday (12/28) with Nude Beach and Saturday (12/29) with Hollis Brown. Tickets for night 1, night 2, or both nights are still available, and we're also giving away a 2-day pass. Details on how to enter to win are below. Lucero also play NYE at Wellmont Theatre with The Hold Steady, which is one of many New Year's Eve options in the NYC area.

Adam Geringer-Dunn's year-end list and contest details below...

Continue reading "Adam Geringer-Dunn's (from Brooklyn Bowl) top 10 albums of 2012 +++ a chance to win a 2-day pass to Lucero"

"My Morning Jacket was formed in 1998 in Louisville, Kentucky by singer, songwriter and guitarist Jim James (real name: James Olliges Jr). The original line-up also included three members of the Shelbyville emo-punk band Winter Death Club; namely John McQuade (later known as Johnny Quaid - guitar and vocals), Tom Blankenship (later known as Two Tone Tommy - bass) and J. Roberts (later known as J. Glenn - drums)." [Wikipedia]

MMJ bassist Tom Blankenship (who also recently helped out with Brooklyn Rock Lottery) gave us his list of Top 10 LPs of 2012. While it includes year-end list mainstays Frank Ocean and Alt-J, there are some surprises as well. You can check out his year-end picks below.

Continue reading "My Morning Jacket's Tom Blankenship lists his Top 10 albums of 2012"

Alt-J at Mercury Lounge in May (more by Dominick Mastrangelo)

As mentioned, UK year end list regulars Alt-J are touring North America in 2013. Throughout the year, they've quickly made the move up from Mercury Lounge to Bowery Ballroom and now their previously discussed Webster Hall show (3/22) is already sold out. The band have just announced another NYC show for that tour, happening at the even larger Terminal 5 on March 24. Tickets for that show go on sale Wednesday (12/19) at noon.

An updated list of dates and the video for "Fitzpleasure," below...

Continue reading "Alt-J add Terminal 5 show to 2013 tour (updated dates)"

Jeff of Passion Pit in Austin in September (more by Tim Griffin)

Passion Pit do a great job of combining pop songwriting and forward-thinking electronic music trends, so when we reached out to their members for a list of their favorite albums of the year, it makes sense that the list has a pretty even split of both of things. The list comes from bassist Jeff Apruzzese and includes the knob-turning greatness of Todd Terje, Disclosure, TNGHT, Scuba, and more, combined with the pop sensibilities of Alt-J, Tame Impala, Alabama Shakes, and more. You can check out Jeff's whole list below.

As mentioned, Passion Pit will come to NYC for their largest headlining show here yet on February 8 at Madison Square Garden with Matt & Kim. Tickets for that show are still available.

A list of all Passion Pit dates and Jeff's 2012 Top 10 are below.

Continue reading "Jeff from Passion Pit lists his top 10 albums of 2012 + updated tour dates"

Frank Ocean at Angel Orensanz, Sept 2012 (more by Fred Pessaro // BBG)

BBC Music has announced their Top 25 records of 2012. Like lists from MOJO, Q, and Uncut, it's got familiar names like Frank Ocean, Baroness, Swans and Grizzly Bear... but if you're expecting a UK indie act to top their list, you might be surprised at the Beeb's #1 choice. Check out the entire list below.

Continue reading "BBC Music's Top 25 albums of 2012"

Japandroids at Pitchfork, July 2012 (more by Fred Pessaro // BBG)

NPR Music have announced their "50 favorite" albums of 2012, which includes names like Pallbearer, Andy Stott, Cat Power, Fiona Apple, Death Grips, and Swans. (No Grimes, though.) The list is also deep with hip hop, with shouts to Homeboy Sandman, Kendrick Lamar, Killer Mike and many others. Much like Q magazine did, NPR opted to list them alphabetically instead of one better than the next. Check out the full list below.

Japandroids also made the list, and the band played the first of two shows at Webster Hall last night (12/4). The band continues their stay at the venue tonight and tickets are still available.

Continue reading "NPR Music's Top 50 LPs of 2012"

Alt-J at Mercury Lounge in May (more by Dominick Mastrangelo)

Fueled by their Mercury Prize win this year, UK group Alt-J have had a pretty stellar year, having gone from playing a half-full Mercury Lounge back in May to sell-out Bowery Ballroom show in September. The band have just announced their biggest North American tour yet, including a stop in NYC at Webster Hall on March 22. Tickets to that show go on sale Friday (12/7) at noon with an AmEx presale beginning Thursday (12/6) at noon.

All Alt-J tour dates are listed below, along with a Bowery Presents Live video of the band performing an acoustic version of "Matilda" plus the Betatraxx remix of "Fitzpleasure."

Continue reading "Alt-J announce 2013 tour, Webster Hall included (dates)"