photos by Dana (distortion) Yavin

M83 / The Black Keys / Refused

"Coachella's new dueling weekends have unwittingly started a bitter turf war between those at the festival now and those who plan to come next week.

In years past, if you were the socially adept, party-minded type, you could pretty much bank on the fact that all the cool kids in your social satellite system would be somewhere on the Empire Polo Field, in line for Spicy Pie pizza, or wearing next-to-nothing at the Ace pool party.

This year, however, a text bearing the age-old Coachella rallying cry, "Dude! VIP lounge, now. Shots!" has a 50% chance of being met with the reply, "Dude. I'm coming next weekend. Too bad for you cuz it's so cold there right now."" [LA Times]

After sets by Jimmy Cliff, Madness, Kendrick Lamar, Jimmy Cliff, Arctic Monkeys, EMA, Ximena Sarinana, Gary Clark Jr, Death Grips, and many more, night fell and the massive crowds at Coachella's first of two Fridays were treated to sets by Pulp (setlist & video HERE), Mazzy Star (more on their set in a second), Refused (more on their set HERE), The Black Keys (setlist below), M83, Amon Tobin (more about him HERE), and others (that we didn't get pictures of).

Our first set of Coachella Friday pics is HERE. The rest, along with the Black Keys setlist, below...

Continue reading "Coachella 2012 Day 1 pics (part 2) -- Pulp, Mazzy Star, Refused, Black Keys, M83 & Amon Tobin)"

Amon Tobin at Brooklyn Masonic Temple in 2011 (more by Greg Cristman)

[The] 'Amon Tobin' [boxset] is a strictly limited edition release and will come in the form of a beautiful high quality bolt fastened mechanical 'press'. Packed inside are 6 x 10" vinyl, 7 x CD, 2 x DVD and several posters. Most of the material is unreleased, almost none of it has ever been available on a physical format before. It includes new music, unreleased dub plates and a wealth of archive material, Amon Tobin's earliest audio experiments (never been played in public before), film and television score work, unreleased score work, deleted bootlegs, 'ISAM: Live' show DVD, 'ISAM: Live' audio album, remixes, cover versions and re-interpretations of the ISAM album, remixes Amon has produced for others, a recording of the (November 2010) Royal Albert Hall orchestrations of Amon Tobin and more!

As detailed above, Amon Tobin is releasing a limited edition career spanning boxset of rarities and material from the live 'ISAM" shows, due out on May 21 via Ninja Tune. You can preorder at his website.

Amon Tobin is scheduled to play Coachella this April, and after that he'll kick off 'a new look ISAM Live' with some European shows in the spring and a full North American tour in September and October. That tour hits the NYC area on September 13 at Wellmont Theatre in Montclair, NJ and September 14 at Hammerstein Ballroom. Artist presale tickets (which include a purchase of the boxset) for the entire tour is on sale now. Tickets for the Wellmont show go on sale Friday, 3/9 at noon. Ticketmaster tickets for the Hammerstein show are not available yet.

Check out the promo video for the boxset and ISAM Live 2012, along with all dates below...

Continue reading "Amon Tobin releasing box set, bringing 'a new look ISAM' on the road (2012 tour dates)"

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)"

photos by Diana Wong

"One needn't be among the electronic music faithful to take away positive feelings toward Moogfest, Asheville's yearly electronic mecca. Since migrating from a single-night event in New York City to what was arguably the cradle of electronic music innovation after being settled by Robert Moog, Moogfest has been as edifying as it is entertaining. Few festivals defy their attendees to completely reassess how they listen to music in the way that a weekend at Moogfest does. The gray matter-frying, booty-shaking synth jams raged until early morning all across downtown Asheville, but oftentimes the lessons in musical futurology were just as fulfilling." [Yes Weekly]

Moog Fest 2011 continued on Saturday, 10/29, in North Carolina, this time featuring appearances from Crystal Castles, The Flaming Lips, Amon Tobin, Suicide, Battles, St. Vincent, Toro Y Moi, and many, many others, but no YACHT, who were forced to cancel their appearance due to flight problems in Mexico. Pictures from some of the artists on that second day are in this post (first photo set HERE), and continue below...

Continue reading "Moogfest 2011 - Day 2 in pics (Amon Tobin, Suicide, CANT, Kode9, Toro y Moi & more)"

Philip Glass at Bang on a Can in June (more by Andrew Frisicano)

Philip Glass and Laurie Anderson are headlining the NYC Film-Makers Co-op Benefit at Santos Party House on November 16. Other artists performing include David Barton's band Liquid Blonde, Little Annie, Transgendered Jesus, the Love Butchers, and possibly more to be announced. Tickets for the show are on sale now.

Meanwhile, the New York Philharmonic and Philip Glass Ensemble are performing Glass's music for the 1982 film Koyaanisqatsi: A Life Out Of Balance TONIGHT (11/2) and Thursday (11/3) at Avery Fisher Hall. This will mark the first time that the New York Philharmonic have ever performed Philip Glass's music. Tickets for both shows are still available but are almost sold out so act quickly. A trailer video is below.

In other news, Beck (who recently worked with Stephen Malkmus and Thurston Moore) is working on a Philip Glass tribute remix album with producerHector Castillo. The album will feature contributions from Beck, Bjork, Lou Reed, Memory Tapes, Tyondai Braxton (ex-Battles), Amon Tobin, Roger Waters, Cornelius, and potentially more to be announced. No release date has been announced yet.

Speaking of Lou Reed, you can still stream the album he made with Metallica, "Lulu", over at loureedmetallica.com (if you dare!).

NY Philharmonic video below...

Continue reading "Laurie Anderson playing benefit w/ Philip Glass (whose work is being performed & remixed elsewhere too)"

Amon Tobin last night @ BK Masonic Temple (more by Greg Cristman)

I was actually listening to ISAM on Spotify when I just learned that Amon Tobin will be DJing at Southpaw in Brooklyn tonight (10/26) after the sold out show at Masonic Temple.

In other surprise Brooklyn DJ show news, Matthewdavid and Dam-Funk will be at Union Pool tonight.

photos by Greg Cristman

Amon Tobin @ Brooklyn Masonic Temple

Nightclub lasers and lights are one thing. These days, electronic music visuals are on a whole other level. Artists have upped the production ante on their live shows, taking the DJ set out of the club and into the venue...

But perhaps the most ambitious of this year's traveling visual circuses is Amon Tobin's ISAM, a fully HD, 3-D mapping experience that brings Tobin's experimental electronic album of the same name to subtly stunning life.

"Comparisons could be made to Deadmau5 and Daft Punk, who make electronic music and surround themselves with technology as they perform," says Tobin, who brings the "ISAM Live" show to the Congress Theater on Friday. "But unlike that, ISAM doesn't focus on making people dance. It's not a DJ set where you're raving; it's a much more cinematic experience, and is more closely guided by a narrative, how the visuals and music work together."

The show features a shape-shifting DJ booth/art installation. Washes of color, shapes and video images stream over the structure, triggered by Tobin in a storyboard mapped to the music in real time...

"Whether people are into my stuff or not, they come to the show and have an awesome experience regardless," he says. "And then the hope is that there'll be some people who get more curious about the record itself." -[Chicago Sun Times]

Amon Tobin brought his ISAM live performance/light show to Brooklyn Masonic Temple last night (10/25), the first of THREE sold out dates at the venue. Emika supports Tobin on all three nights, but won't join him at MoogFest 2011 in North Carolina, his last US date before heading overseas to play the UK. All dates and more pictures and some video from the impressive Brooklyn spectacle, below...

Continue reading "Amon Tobin brought his ISAM show to Brooklyn Masonic Temple (night 1 pics & video)"

"The ISAM tour will feature a stunning 25' x 14' x 8' multi-dimensional/ shape shifting 3-D art installation surrounding Tobin and enveloping him and the audience in a beyond 3-D experience. A fantastic visual journey to accompany ISAM"

If you missed out on tickets for the other two shows, you still have one more chance to get your ISAM on because Amon Tobin has added a THIRD show at Brooklyn Masonic Temple. The new date is October 27th and tickets go on sale Saturday at noon.

Continue reading "Amon Tobin adds 3rd Brooklyn show"

As mentioned, Amon Tobin will bring the live audio/visual performance of his new album ISAM on a short tour which includes October 25 at Brooklyn Masonic Temple. Amon just added a second show at the same venue happening on October 26. Tickets are on sale for the 10/25 show and the 10/26 show now. Updated dates below...

Continue reading "Amon Tobin adds 2nd Brooklyn show --- updated tour dates"

Decibel Festival is returning to Seattle, WA for its eighth edition on September 28 through October 2. The festival takes place in several Seattle venues, now including The Paramont Theater, The Showbox Market, The Crcodile, and Red Wildlife Refuge, in addition to many others. Artists performing include Amon Tobin, Moby (DJ set), Bonobo (DJ set), Holy Fuck, Ladytron, Zomby, Matthewdavid, oOoOO, Araabmuzik and many others. Tickets for the festival are on sale now.

Amon Tobin will be presenting his ISAM audio/visual performance at the festival like he does on his tour that hits Brooklyn on October 25.

The last we heard from Zomby, he was playing a TBA NYC show on July 14 (tonight). He's not doing that anymore, but he is coming to NYC this month for a private event (we're working on announcing details of that soon). His myspace now lists the NYC show as October 1 which is supposedly happening too. Venue is still TBA. More dates below.

Bonobo will also DJ a Rocks Off Concert Cruise on September 16. Tickets are on sale now. More dates below.

Full Decibel lineup and all tour dates below...

Continue reading "Decibel Fest lineup announced, Zomby not in NYC tonight"

Amon Tobin recently premiered his live ISAM audio/visual performance at Mutek in Montreal. ISAM is Amon's most recent LP, which came out earlier this year. Amon Tobin will do his first North American tour of the album this fall. The tour includes a stop at Moogfest and one in NYC on October 25 at Brooklyn Masonic Temple. Tickets are on sale now.

As seen in Montreal and pointed out by Wordless Music, who are co-presenting the NYC show with BOOM Collective:

"Amon Tobin's ISAM [is] an all-new, highly ambitious, large-scale live audio/visual experience, with a stunning 25' x 14' x 8' multi-dimensional/shape-shifting 3-D art installation that combines projection mapping, custom software, and reactive/generative audio manipulated in real time to envelope the audience in a fantastic visual journey to accompany the music of ISAM."

All tour dates and the trailer for ISAM's live tour below...

Continue reading "Amon Tobin bringing ISAM audio/visual experience to Brooklyn & other places (2011 dates)"

Modeselektion @ Mutek - 6/2/11

Modeselektor brought their curated "Modeselektion" night to the Mutek festival in Montreal last night (6/2) with Siriusmo, FaltyDL, and Jacques Greene. As previously mentioned, they'll do the same tonight (6/3) at Webster Hall with Siriusmo, ANSTAM and KRSN. Admission is $5 with RSVP if you arrive before midnight. Check out a video from Modeselektor's set last night, with tonight's flyer, below.

Mutek kicked off on June 1st and runs through Sunday. Not many reports have come out of there yet (those who were at Modeselektor last night may not even be in bed yet), but Exclaim! has this report from the opening night set by headliner Amon Tobin:

Montreal's Metropolis was the venue for the world premiere of Amon Tobin's much-anticipated large-scale stage show. The curtain pulled back, revealing a strange structure consisting of stacked white cubes with one large block in the centre. Behind the frosted glass of the largest cube, you could just about make out the silhouetted form of Amon Tobin in his trademark baseball cap. The music started, in synch with huge projections mapped over the top of the stage set: plumes of smoke, crumbling rocks, the cosmos, flickering stars, futuristic cities. Nebulae formed and dissolved, reforming in time with the music, and at times, the projections made it appear as if the whole structure was shaking. A couple of songs into the set, the "frosted" glass, which turned out was also a projection, gave way to reveal Tobin at the controls of a kind of cubist spaceship. During "Lost & Found," the set was transformed with glowing embers that pulsed with every beat, giving way to Tron-like green grids. Having played only ISAM material, Tobin treated the crowd to an encore that lasted nearly as long as the main set, featuring a fluid set of reinterpretations of older tracks, such as "Four Ton Mantis," threaded together with heavy and dynamic new pieces. Despite perhaps being too long, it was an incredibly ambitious visual performance that went off without a hitch and proved to be one hell of a way to launch MUTEK 2011.

For a better picture, check out the videos from Amon's show below.

Sun Araw also played Mutek last night (6/2), and are now on their way to NYC for a bunch of shows including their own curated dance party tonight (6/3) Coco66. As previously mentioned, Sun Araw's Cameron Stallone will DJ Coco66 for the NYC debut of Sun Araw's WHERE'S YR CHILD party. Video and graphical flyer below. Sun Araw play their first live show in NYC Saturday (6/4) at 285 Kent with M Geddes Gengras, D'Eon, and Matthewdavid (who DJ'd Cameo last night). All dates, including Maxwell's and a new LA show, are listed below.

Sun Araw's forthcoming full length Ancient Romans comes out August 23 via Sun Ark/Drag City. The album, pictured above, will be available as a CD and double LP on white vinyl. Sun Araw is also releasing Night Gallery, a split with Eternal Tapestry, on July 19 via Thrill Jockey.

Updated dates, videos, flyers and stuff, below...

Continue reading "Mutek is underway, Amon Tobin put on a visual supershow, Modeselektor & Sun Araw & friends are now in NYC"

Sun Araw

"Seeing Sun Araw live feels as much like a dream as reality, and high energy never came easy. It felt a bit like drowning in codeine syrup, you struggle at first, and then eventually realize it feels better to be in the syrup than out of it.

Cameron really pulls out the tropical nature of SoCal in his music, and almost gives you the impression of sleepwalking through a luau. This is especially strange because he originally hails from Austin, TX, which is anything but tropical.

His music feels a bit like you're searching for some sort of hidden revelation amongst some ancient ruins on a desert island, among many other conjurations your mind will develop while being sunk into the vibes." [Sub-Radar]

LA's Sun Araw (aka Cameron Stallone) will kick of a FULL BAND tour of the East Coast on June 2nd at the Mutek Festival in Montreal, followed by a string of dates, a few in the NYC-area included. On June 3rd Stallone will DJ Coco66. The occasion is the NYC debut of Sun Araw's own LA-based party WHERES YR CHILD - "A dub/italo/dance party rooted in the traditions of cosmic LA." Sex Worker/Psychic Reality, and Todd Pendu are all also on that bill and tickets are on sale. The following day (6/4), the Sun Araw Band will play live for the first time in NYC (Sun Araw has only played solo in the past), in Brooklyn at 285 Kent with M Geddes Gengras, Matthewdavid, and D'Eon. Then after a quick trip down to Baltimore to play Ottobar, Hoboken club Maxwell's will host the band on 6/7 with M. Geddes Gengras and Deep Magic (tickets). All dates are listed below.

Sun Araw will be previewing material from a forthcoming LP entitled Ancient Romans, and the band currently has multiple releases up for sale at their webstore, including a pair of recent cassette releases Sadistic Candle and Hold The Phone. For those of you who are curious as to what Hold The Phone is like, here's a preview.

HOLD THE PHONE is mustard and ketchup on a deviled egg.
HOLD THE PHONE is your dad whistling at a 16-year-old girl.
HOLD THE PHONE is yin all dressed up in yang clothes.
HOLD THE PHONE is Woodstock yelling at Snoopy.
HOLD THE PHONE is Cameron Stallones and Barret Avner.
HOLD THE PHONE is two boys talkin'.

Are we clear? If not, head to their store and stream samples from the cassettes and other releases.

Matthewdavid, who will play the 6/4 285 Kent show, is also on board to support Gaslamp Killer at Knitting Factory on 5/28 (tickets). Matthewdavid recently released a collaborative cassette with Sun Araw, which is now sold out. They also played a show together at the Smell in LA last night (5/5). LA Record helped promote it by having the two artists compile a mixtape of YouTube videos.

Annual electro festival Mutek goes down in Montreal this year from June 1-5, and features multiple notables like Amon Tobin, Four Tet, ARP, Sun Araw and dozens of others. Tickets are currently on sale. The lineup is below. We haven't been since 2009 and miss it.

And you can prepare for the fun TONIGHT (5/6) in NYC! Public Assembly will host "The Bunker: Mutek BK Preview" with performances from Akufen, Stephen Beaupre, Vincent Lemieux, Kangding Ray, Safety Scissors, and Sutekh in two rooms starting at 10PM. Tickets are still available.

Dates, the Mutek 2011 lineup and more, below...

Continue reading "Mutek is coming & so is Sun Araw (dates, festival lineup, Matthewdavid & the Bunker tonight too)"

More information as I get it, but Santos Party House was just shut down for some reason (not necessarily for good), and tonight's sold out Ninja Tune anniversary celebration is moving to BLVD at 199 Bowery as of 10:30pm. Doors were at 10 - it's a late one, complete with Amon Tobin, Kid Koala, DJ Food & DK, Poirier Toddla T & Serocee, DJ Kentaro, and Eskmo all on the bill.

This comes exactly six days after another music venue, Coco66, was shut down in Brooklyn in the middle of a show.

UPDATE: drugs were the reason

The Ninja Tune XX box set contains the following stuff which is 100% exclusive to the set and unavailable anywhere else in the world:

- 2 x CDs + 6 x 7"s featuring new tracks from Mr Scruff, Toddla T, Kid Koala, Wagon Christ, Jaga Jazzist, King Geedorah, DJ Food, Kyle Hall, The Heavy, The Qemists, King Cannibal, Blockhead and unreleased archive tracks from The Cinematic Orchestra and Roots Manuva AND new remixes from Modeselektor, Cut Chemist, Zomby, Scuba, Dorian Concept, EL-P, The Bug, King Jammy, Matthew Herbert, Rustie, Prefuse 73, cLOUDDEAD, 808 State, The Orb, Tom Middleton, Gold Panda, JME, Alix Perez, Joe Goddard (Hot Chip), Doomed (Richard Russell) and Roots Manuva. See tracklists [HERE>].

The Cinematic Orchestra were scheduled to play the Guggenheim Museum in NYC tonight, Friday, September 3rd, BUT: "Due to unforeseen medical reasons, The Cinematic Orchestra show has been canceled. The band express their deepest regret over the situation and hope to perform in New York in the new year." Hopefully those medical reasons aren't too serious and we do in fact see them in 2011.

Meanwhile, Ninja Tune is celebrating 20 years, and in addition to the box set, that means parties. Tickets are on sale now for an October 28th show at Santos Party House with sets by Amon Tobin, Kid Koala, DJ Food & DK, Poirier Toddla T & Serocee, DJ Kentaro, and Eskmo.

Two days later, almost the same lineup plays Echo/Echoplex in LA, though they also get Cut Chemist

Eskmo is one of Ninja Tune's newest signings. Check out a video along with 10 streaming tracks from the box set, info on a new book, and more, below...

Continue reading "Cinematic Orchestra on Ninja Tune XX box set, but not in NYC tonight (or on the XX party lineups -- Santos show on sale)"