As mentioned, acclaimed ensemble Kronos Quartet are celebrating their ruby anniversary this year with the "Kronos at 40" mini-festival within Lincon Center Out of Doors' 2013 slate. In addition to that, Kronos Quartet will be performing with the Brooklyn Youth Chorus' Concert Chorus and Young Men's Ensemble on May 7 at Roulette in downtown Brooklyn. It will include commissioned works by Julia Wolfe (World Premiere), Aleksandra Vrebalov (New York premiere), the Arcade Fire's Richard Reed Parry (New York premiere), Bryce Dessner and Shara Worden. The event is a BYC benefit and tickets are on sale now. For those with deeper pockets there's a gala reception before the show you can buy tickets to as well.

Brooklyn Youth Chorus, who just performed at Crossing Brooklyn Ferry, is in its 21st season and will be a part of the 2013 Bang on a Can Marathon which happens June 16 at 3 Spruce St. which is near City Hall in downtown Manhattan. The nine-hour event, part of the 2013 River to River Festival, also includes appearances by Asphalt Orchestra, Bang on a Can All-Stars, Maya Beiser with the Provenance Project Band, Brooklyn Youth Chorus, Le Cabaret Contemporain, David Cossin & Ben Reimer, Peter Evans, Monica Germino, Hotel Elefant, Yungchen Llamo & Anton Batagov, NYU Steel Pan Ensemble, NYU Contemporary Music Ensemble, Talea Ensemble, Talk Normal, TILT Brass, Shara Worden, and more. Full new press release below.

Watch Glen Hansard, Richard Reed Parry, Little Scream, Shara Worden, Bryce Dessner and the Brooklyn Youth Chorus play Leonard Cohen's "Passing Through" recently at the MusicNOW 2013 fest in Ohio, in the video below....

Continue reading "Brooklyn Youth Chorus playing stuff by Arcade Fire/National members w/ Kronos Quartet & in Bang on a Can Marathon"

Arcade Fire at MSG in 2010 (more by Jonathan Bayer)

Rumors have been floating around for a while that Arcade Fire have teamed up with fellow indie superstar James Murphy to work on their upcoming fourth studio album (expected to be out in 2013), and now Arcade Fire Tube is pointing to a confirmation in Music Week that they are in fact working together. Markus Dravs, who produced the last two Arcade Fire albums, is working on this one as well. In the article, Arcade Fire's manager Scott Rodger is quoted saying:

They're in with James Murphy on three or so songs, plus Markus Dravs who is a long-time collaborator. They write too many songs - that's a good problem to have. There's around 35 songs with Arcade Fire, two albums'-worth for sure.

Continue reading "confirmed: James Murphy is working on new Arcade Fire LP"

The Grammy Nominations were just announced. At this point it should be no surprise that this year's list contains names like Jack White, The Black Keys, Gotye, Adele, Foster the People, Florence and the Machine, M.I.A. (she got nominated for a video), and "fun" alongside all the major pop stars. And I guess Bjork is a given in the "Alternative Music Album" category any time she comes out with an album (this is like her 12th or 13th nomination).

Mumford and Sons are naturally on there along with fellow rising pop folk band The Lumineers. Indie Grammy pioneers Arcade Fire also snuck in there again for "Best Song Written For Visual Media."

EDM is huger than ever so of course hot EDM artists like Skrillex, Deadmau5, Diplo, AVICII, Swedish House Mafia, and Steve Aoki are well represented. UPDATE: As is AL WALSER.

Classics and current stadium artists that were busy in 2012 all got their nods too: Paul McCartney, Coldplay, Bruce Springsteen, Jay-Z, Kanye West, etc. (though Bieber and Nicki Minaj got snubbed).

Most funny is probably the metal category which is as out of touch as ever with Anthrax competing against Iron Maiden, Megadeth and Marilyn Manson (what year is it again?).

Personally, real opinions of the Grammys overall, I'm excited to see Frank Ocean SIX TIMES, Miguel FIVE TIMES, Alabama Shakes THREE TIMES, and I'm glad they didn't forget about Fiona Apple who is up for "Best Alternative Music Album" against Bjork, Gotye (one of three nominations), M83, and Tom Waits (who has won in the past).

The Grammys air February 10, 2013 on CBS. Check out the full list of nominations, which also includes Jimmy Cliff, Toots and the Maytals, Hugh Masekela, Tenacious D, Jim Gaffigan, Jimmy Fallon, and Tegan and Sara, HERE.

Arcade Fire @ Guastavino's in NYC - 10/4 (photo via markarnoldy)

Arcade Fire's trip to NYC last week wasn't limited to their Partners in Health panel & performance at Eyebeam Art + Technology Center. They also performed at a Partners in Health event later that night (10/4) at Guastavino's, where they played a new song. Watch below...

Continue reading "Arcade Fire played a new song @ Guastavino's (video)"

So, apparently Arcade Fire are in town for The 2012 Feast Conference. What is The Feast Conference?

The Feast Conference gathers remarkable entrepreneurs, radicals, doers and thinkers that bring their talents to the table to make life better. Our attendees don't just sit back. They'll be rolling up their sleeves at roundtables this October to respond to challenges issued by visionary speakers who dare to ask the question, "What does the world need now?"

Continue reading "Watch Arcade Fire perform after the 'Partners in Health' panel at 'The Feast' (video)"

by Dominick Mastrangelo

Grimes / Feist and check / Fucked Up at 2012 Polaris Gala

As you may have heard, Feist took home the 2012 Polaris Music Prize on Monday at Toronto's Masonic Temple. The Calgary native won the $30,000 prize for last year's Arts & Crafts release, Metals, beating out an incredibly strong shortlist which included Grimes, Drake (who was in Toronto but did not attend the gala), Handsome Furs, and 2009 winners, Fucked Up.

The three-hour gala featured performances by seven of the 10 shortlist nominees as the jury deliberated elsewhere in the building trying to decide on a winner.

Upon hearing her name announced by Jeremy Gara and Tim Kingsbury of last year's winners, Arcade Fire, the camera-shy Feist initially crawled under her table. "This is my worst nightmare," she told gala host Graham Lawrence, referencing her dislike of public speaking. "You'd think from a lifetime of terrible speeches I would remember at one point to write something down, but I never do because it seems presumptuous to prepare."

The performances were all top notch, with Grimes the most head-turning, opting for a male pole dancer instead of her usual two female dancers. Kathleen Edwards brought in a children's choir for her performance and then delivered a very heartfelt speech afterward where she thanked Polaris founder Steve Jordan for "creating a vehicle for those of us who don't want to march in the shit parade."

The last performance of the evening went to Feist and she was joined by Snowblink, Aurora as well as Broken Social Scene alum Andrew Whiteman and Charles Spearin, who's been handling mutli-instrumentalist duties on her current tour. Cold Specks (who will be here in November), Cadence Weapon and Yamantaka // Sonic Titan also performed. More pictures from the Gala are below.

Continue reading "Grimes, Fucked Up, Cadence Weapon and more played the Polaris Music Prize 2012 Gala along with winner Feist (pics)"

words by Kelly Pratt, new photos by Bryan Murray

If you're just joining us, also check out part 1 and part 2. Part 3 begins here...

Kelly Pratt @ Pop Montreal (more by Dominick Mastrangelo)

Chicago, Toronto, Montreal, Boston, on to NY

On this tour, we are exceptionally lucky to be playing some of North America's most beautiful theaters. The Chicago Theatre is perhaps my favorite. Built in the early 1920's, it was initially used primarily as a movie theater. In 1986, it was massively restored and repurposed as a music venue. I find myself thinking of a memorable collection of photographs that document a number of abandoned theaters across the US. Many of these are beautiful rooms, but because of a variety of reasons (including urban population shifts and the rise of home video in the 1980's) they were deserted and are in various states of decay today. The shows in Chicago and Toronto go very well. We are at a point now where we can perform the show without having to concentrate on every little detail, thereby allowing us to focus more on the overall musical and visual impact (and the beautiful venues we are playing in).

We arrive in Montreal the morning after Toronto to play the Eglise St-Jean-Baptiste as part of the Pop Montreal festival. The church is majestically cavernous: there are huge chandeliers and two imposing organs. I head over to the Arcade Fire studio where David has just finished rehearsing some covers for the halftime show of the their yearly charity basketball game POP vs. Jock. As I walk in Regine is practicing some jock jams on organ for the in-game entertainment.

Halftime show (more by Dominick Mastrangelo)

During our sound check DB suggests that Daniel use one of the organs for the St. Vincent encore, "The Party," and also that, during that song, we put all the horns in the crowd. Luckily we have front-of-house engineer Pete Keppler on tour. He manages to make us sound great no matter what venue we are in, or what new ideas we throw into the mix. In Montreal we get what might be our best audience response yet, setting the bar very high for the rest of the tour.

The next day we all head to Boston for a day off. Most of us end up getting tickets to see Grizzly Bear at the Orpheum where we are playing the following night. [Like at Radio City] Their set draws heavily from their new album, which takes them further into psychedelic territory. The visuals are particularly breathtaking, accentuated by 12 or so hanging lanterns that rise and sink throughout the show. A few late games of pool later we head back to the hotel to rest.

After another very fun show we depart Boston for a day off in NY. First Beacon Theatre show tonight!

---

Beacon Theater tonight is their first of three NYC shows on the tour. Tickets are available for tonight and tomorrow at Beacon Theater, and for the Saturday show at Williamsburg Park.

The photos you see above are from other recent BrooklynVegan posts. An original set that accompanies this post, by Bryan Murray, can be seen below...

Continue reading "On the Road with David Byrne & St. Vincent (part 3)"

photos by Dominick Mastrangelo

Win Butler schooling on the bball court

POP Montreal continued on Saturday (9/22) and BV photographer Dominick Mastrangelo was on the scene and got shots of The Sadies, "Shut Up and Eat Your Ballads" (Leif Vollebek and friends Michael Feuerstack, Laurel Sprengelmeyer of Little Scream, and Brad Barr covering Tom Waits), and Rags to Radio. He also stopped by the Pop vs. Jock basketball game which saw members of Arcade Fire and The Strokes playing basketball with other celebrities like actor Martin Starr (Freaks & Geeks, Party Down), pro basketball player Luke Bonner, and more.

David Byrne, who played a POP Montreal show with St. Vincent a day earlier (9/21) (they start their NYC-run of three shows tonight), performed at the game's halftime show. During his set, he was joined by Arcade Fire's Win and Will Butler and The Strokes' Nikolai Fraiture to perform covers of ? and the Mysterians' "96 Tears" and KC and the Sunshine Band's "That's the Way (I Like It)." You can watch a video of the latter below.

More pictures from Friday (9/21) are HERE. Pics from Sunday (9/23) are coming soon and more from Saturday are below.

Continue reading "POP Montreal Saturday pics -- The Sadies, Pop vs Jock (where Arcade Fire & Strokes members & David Byrne played) & more"

Mick Jagger hosts and performs on Saturday Night Live this weekend. The above screen shot is from one of the two promo videos you can watch below...

Continue reading "watch Mick Jagger promo this week's SNL with Arcade Fire & Foo Fighters (that Jeff Beck is also playing)"

by Bill Pearis

The 37th season of Saturday Night Live comes to a close next weekend (May 19) where Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger will pull double duty as both host and musical guest. Before you plan your bathroom breaks you might be interested to learn that Mick's backing band will include both Foo Fighters and Arcade Fire. Though we're still eight days from the live telecast, Jann Wenner has already give the SNL season finale five stars.

Meanwhile, this week's SNL has Will Ferrell and Usher.

What songs Mick will do is anyone's guess, but Will (brother of Win) Butler and other members of the Arcade Fire (as Phi Slamma Jamma) may have been getting some practice with a cover of the Stones' "The Last Time" at last weekend's Crossing Brooklyn Ferry festival.

Last year, Mick released the debut album by his new group SuperHeavy that also includes Joss Stone, Damian Marley and the Eurythmics' Dave Stewart. The video for SuperHeavy's single "Miracle Worker" is below.

Continue reading "Mick Jagger hosting and performing on SNL season finale with Foo Fighters & Arcade Fire"

photos by David Andrako

Beirut

The inaugural, Dessner-curated Crossing Brooklyn Ferry festival concluded on Saturday night (May 5) with performances from Beirut, Atlas Sound, My Brightest Diamond, Caveman and more.

There were whispers there'd be an unannounced set from The National, but the secret guest Phi Slamma Jamma was actually Arcade Fire's Will Butler, Jeremy Gara, Tim Kingsbury, and Richard Reed Parry who performed a bunch of covers (Ramones, R.E.M., Devo, Beatles and the Stones, among others) to cap out the Fest.

Night Two pictures HERE. Night one HERE. Lots of pictures from all of Saturday night's performers (including Sufjan), plus video of Atlas Sound (who also kept busy in others ways while in town), Caveman, Beirut and Phi Slamma Jamma performing a song each, below...

Continue reading "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry night 3 pics (Beirut, Sufjan, Arcade Fire, Atlas Sound, My Brightest Diamond, Cavemen & more)"

"Colin Stetson was crazy good at Glasslands. Like putting Ornette Coleman under a powerful microscope and throwing him off the jazz deep end." - Liam A

Colin Stetson at SXSW 2011 (more by Ryan Barkan)

Colin Stetson and Arcade Fire's Sarah Neufeld are wrapping up a tour together that hit Glasslands Tuesday night (4/3). A video from the show is below.

Now both musicians will team up as part of the "Alone Together" tour - An Evening of Solo Works - with Gregory Rogove (Devendra Banhart, Priestbird, Megapuss) and Billy Martin (Medeski Martin & Wood), though Colin Stetson will NOT be on the first few dates of the tour that stars in Brooklyn at Littlefield on Saturday (4/7) and also hits Le Poisson Rouge on April 10. Tickets for the Littlefield show (no Stetson) and the LPR show (no Stetson) are on sale now.

To quote a tour description:

Neufeld will present her unique and vibrant solo violin pieces, Martin will perform his impressive array of spontaneous percussion/drum set compositions, Stetson will perform his spell-binding solo bass saxophone work, and Rogove will play his minimalist, solo piano pieces, from his recently released PIANA album (Knitting Factory Records).

Continue reading "Arcade Fire's Sarah Neufeld played Glasslands w/ Colin Stetson, playing more NYC shows & other dates"

by Andrew Frisicano

Bruce Springsteen @ Moody Theater/ACL Live/SXSW 2012 (via)

On Thursday night (3/15), Bruce Springsteen played Austin's Moody Theater with a packed lineup of guests. He brought out the show's opener Alejandro Escovedo, as well as Jimmy Cliff, Eric Burdon of the Animals, Tom Morello, and Régine Chassagne and Win and Will Butler from the Arcade Fire, the Low Anthem and Joe Ely. Check out a video of the set-closing cover of "This Land Is Your Land."

That show was in addition to the SXSW keynote speech, which he gave earlier in the day and which you can see below and stream at NPR.

Like the Apollo Theatre gig on March 9th, the show's capacity was quite a bit less than Bruce's usual stadium-sized tour dates, which start Sunday, March 18th.

You can see Alejandro Escovedo several more time at SXSW, including today (3/16) at the Jackalope.

Videos and set list from SXSW below...

Continue reading "Bruce Springsteen played w/ Arcade Fire & others, gave the keynote speech @ SXSW (video, setlist)"

Dave Mutaine picks his candidate (more by Dana (Distortion) Yavin)

Megadeth is currently on the road with Motorhead as part of Gigantour. The show came to The Theater at Madison Square Garden in NYC, and even more recently to the Aragon Ballroom in Chicago. Right before that they stopped in Canada and that's where MusicRadar caught up with frontman Dave Mustaine. Here's part of their chat:

Speaking of news, you were a correspondent for MTV during the 1992 presidential election. What's your take on US politics in 2012?

Dave: "I'm just hoping that whatever is in the White House next year is a Republican. I can't bear to watch what's happened to our great country. Everybody's got their head in the sand. Everybody in the industry is like, 'Oh, Obama's doing such a great job...' I don't think so. Not from what I see.

"Looking at the Republican candidates, I've got to tell you, I was floored the other day to see that Mitt Romney's five boys have a $100 million trust fund. Where does a guy make that much money? So there's some questions there. And watching Newt Gingrich, I was pretty excited for a while, but now he's just gone back to being that person that everybody said he was - that angry little man. I still like him, but I don't think I'd vote for him.

"Ron Paul... you know, I heard somebody say he was like insecticide - 98 percent of it's inert gases, but it's the two percent that's left that will kill you. What that means is that he'll make total sense for a while, and then he'll say something so way out that it negates everything else. I like the guy because he knows how to excite the youth of America and fill them in on some things. But when he says that we're like the Taliban... I'm sorry, Congressman Paul, but I'm nothing like the Taliban.

"Earlier in the election, I was completely oblivious as to who Rick Santorum was, but when the dude went home to be with his daughter when she was sick, that was very commendable. Also, just watching how he hasn't gotten into doing these horrible, horrible attack ads like Mitt Romney's done against Newt Gingrich, and then the volume at which Newt has gone back at Romney... You know, I think Santorum has some presidential qualities, and I'm hoping that if it does come down to it, we'll see a Republican in the White House... and that it's Rick Santorum."

Good thing there was no Megadeth in Obama's Spotify playlist which contains some of what you would expect like Wilco, Bruce Springsteen and Arcade Fire, and at least one "whoah!" aka a fairly small band from Portland who are signed to Knitting Factory Records and that is AgesandAges. Congrats to them! (though of course it should be noted that, to be more specific, the Spotify playlist "features picks by the campaign staff--including a few of President Obama's favorites." Check out the whole thing on Spotify.

Justin Vernon & My Morning Jacket before the Grammys (by dariusjagjag)

Someone from Jagjaguwar tweeted the above picture not long before Justin Vernon shouted out "Jagjaguwar" to end his acceptance speech at the Grammys pre-show this evening (2/12).

Bon Iver won "Best Alternative Music Album", beating out Radiohead, My Morning Jacket, Foster the People & Death Cab Cab For Cutie. Other pre-telecast winners include Adele, Foo Fighters (who beat Mastodon, The Decemberists and TV on the Radio), Skrillex (who won three already and beat Cut Copy, Robyn, Deadmau5 and others), Kanye West (who also won three already), The Civil Wars (who won two already and beat Fleet Foxes), Levon Helm, Alison Krauss, Tinariwen, Louis CK, Cee-Lo, and Booker T Jones who won "Best Pop Instrumental Album" for the 2nd time, and nervously thanked Biz Markie, Questlove, Gabriel Roth (of Daptone Records), Matt Berninger (of the National), and Lou Reed.

Arcade Fire also won another Grammy already (for Best Recording Package).

A Numero Group Syl Johnson release was up for two Grammys but lost in both categories.

And that was just all the stuff they don't show on TV. The regular show with all the big awards (and possibly more for Bon Iver) starts at 8pm EST, Whitney Houston tribute included.

UPDATES:
* Jack Black makes "indie cred" joke that includes "Bon Iver" while introducing Foo Fighters
* Denise from PS22 in Adele commercial

photos by David Andrako

Ecstatic Music Festival Day 3 -- 02/08/12

The 2012 Ecstatic Music Festival, which hosted Sxip Shirey and friends one night earlier, continued at Merkin Hall last night with performances by Richard Reed Parry (of the Arcade Fire and Bell Orchestre), Son Lux (aka Ryan Lott), and yMusic, along with special guests Bryce and Aaron Dessner (of the National). As advertised, this happened:

"[Richard Reed Parry] takes on the role of composer, presenting a series of works for yMusic and its members utilizing the organic processes of the human body -- heartbeats and breathing -- to articulate the works' progress. Son Lux will likewise have his yMusic compositions (from their debut album, Beautiful Mechanical) performed, and will also present new arrangements from his album We Are Rising ("shamefully good," Seattle Post-Intelligencer), which used yMusic as source material for its electronic compositions. Parry and Lott will also each write new works that incorporate each other into the process, as vocalists, instrumentalists, or even as providers of source material for the new compositions.

This Will Destroy You play the Ecstatic show tonight (2/9), or more specifically:

"The unique, "brilliant" (Boston Globe), self-conducted string orchestra A Far Cry joins forces with post-rock powerhouse This Will Destroy You and renowned composer Christopher Tignor, with his band, Slow Six, for an evening of music that is large-scale in every sense."

Pictures from last night with a video that was made before the show, below...

Continue reading "Richard Reed Parry, Son Lux, yMusic & Dessners got 'Ecstatic' @ Merkin Concert Hall (pics) "

Colin Stetson at SXSW 2011 (more by Ryan Barkan)

Sax monarch Colin Stetson is heading out on a North American tour this spring. Most of the dates will be supported by Sarah Neufeld, who Stetson has played with in Bell Orchestre (with Richard Parry), and who is also a member of Arcade Fire and sometimes The Luyas. The tour will bring the two musicians to NYC on April 3 at Glasslands. Tickets for that show are on sale now. All dates are listed below.

Towards the end of last year, Colin Stetson made a video for "Those Who Didn't Run," off the EP of the same name. The video was directed by Isaac Gale, who has worked with Colin in the past, in addition to working on many Doomtree-related videos (Doomtree are on tour too). You can watch that video below.

Speaking of the Arcade Fire, if you missed it, you can watch their entire recent episode of Austin City Limits online. Time will tell if they support Obama again in the upcoming election.

All Colin Stetson dates and the video below...

Continue reading "Colin Stetson schedules shows w/ Sarah Neufeld (dates)"

Arcade Fire @ Obama Staff Ball (more by Bao Nguyen)

A list of celebrities, reportedly created by Obama's campaign, sent out on December 5, and acquired by the Tennessean (PDF HERE), is being passed around the internet. The list, heavily populated with people who we already know support Obama, is supposedly a wishlist of people the Obama administration hopes to get public support from again in this upcoming election. Among the names on the list: Arcade Fire, Vampire Weekend, Wilco Regina Spektor, Janelle Monae, The Roots, Jay-Z, will.i.am, Jessica Alba, Laila Ali, Marc Anthony, India.Arie, Sara Bareilles, Jigga, Chelsea Clinton, George Clooney, Bradley Cooper, Soundgarden singer Chris Cornell, Fergie, America Ferrera, Jamie Foxx, Whoopi Goldberg, Al Green, Josh Groban, Neil Patrick Harris, Anne Hathaway, Jack Johnson, the Jonas Brothers, Jewel, Mila Kunis, Blake Lively, Ricky Martin, "Glee" star Lea Michele, Sarah Jessica Parker, Chris Pine, B.o.B, the Band Perry, Train, and Kate Walsh.

Speaking of Regina Spektor, who has played the White House, she has a benefit show coming up at Lincoln Center in NYC and is playing some shows with Tom Petty including one in Austin. All of her dates are listed below.

Speaking of Wilco, they're currently out on the road with White Denim who played a warm-up show at Hotel Vegas in Austin before leaving. All Wilco dates are listed below.

Speaking of Obama, he delivers a State of The Union speech this Tuesday.

Speaking of politicians, Stephen Colbert was spotted singing along at the Jeff Mangum show at BAM on Saturday night.

Continue reading "Arcade Fire, Vampire Weekend, Wilco Regina Spektor & others on Obama wishlist"

Daedelus @ LPR in 2010 (more by Chris Doss)

today in NYC
* ASSSCAT 3000 @ UCB
* Butch Morris @ Zebulon
* Daedelus, Braille @ Drom
* Slick Rick @ Tammany Hall
* Mike Birbiglia @ Union Hall
* MV & EE, High Lodge @ Zebulon
* Christopher Cross @ City Winery
* Dr. Lonnie Smith @ Jazz Standard
* Daniel Kitson @ St. Ann's Warehouse
* Hot Soup: stand-up comedy @ UCB East
* Guy Klucevsek, Alan Bern @ The Stone
* Comedy Night @ The Knit w/ Hannibal Buress
* Highlife, Little Women, Rachel Mason @ Union Pool
* Darn Dog, Hooves, Jacobins, Saw Palmetto @ Death By Audio
* Nat Baldwin, Florent Ghys, Doug Balliet @ The Manhattan Inn
* Dave Dreiwitz's Crescent Moon, The Bendy Effect, Wolf @ Cameo
* Draize, Ruin Lust, Consumption, Gang Signs, Nailed Shut @ The Acheron
* Aeroplane Pageant, First Nature, Desert Stars, Thunder & Lightning @ Glasslands
* Oh! You Pretty Things: David Bowie + Elvis Presley Birthday @ Le Poisson Rouge
* Party Lights, The Jay Vons, The Naked Heroes, The Living Kills @ Mercury Lounge
* NY Guitar Festival w/ Nels Cline, Vic Juris, Mary Halvorson, Gilad Hekselman, Steve Cardenas, Anthony Wilson, David Binney, Joel Harrison String Choir, Scott Colley, Chris Potter @ Rockwood Music Hall
* Continental Reunion w/ Murphy's Law, Two Man Advantage, Honor Among Thieves, Sea Monster, The Waldos, Lenny Kaye, CJ Ramone, TBA (The Bullys Anonymous), Triggers All Stars, Electric Frankenstein, Suicide King, The Independents, Heap, Charm School, Curtis Suburban, Furious George @ The Continental

The Golden Globes are on tonight.

The 9th episode of Austin City Limits' 37th season was filmed while Arcade Fire was in town to play the Austin City Limits Festival this year. It aired yesterday. If you missed it, you can watch the whole thing below...

What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Sunday?"

photos by Tim Griffin

Arcade Fire / The Walkmen

The 10th annual Austin City Limits festival came to a close on Sunday with a headlining set by Arcade Fire (who also taped an edition of Austin City Limits the TV show one day earlier). It was a rough year for some attendees. I'm talking about smokers. Austin Statesman posted the following before the weekend:

We welcome all the people and music artists attending this year's Austin City Limits Music Festival. It's a special year for the music festival, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary. The talent this year is incredible, with headliners Kanye West, Stevie Wonder and Arcade Fire, as well as local favorites such as Asleep at the Wheel.

Before we get this party started, we must advise attendees that the Austin Parks Department has banned smoking at all Austin parks, greenbelts, trails and golf courses. That includes Zilker Park, site of the festival.

We realize that a smoking ban might be an inconvenience for some. But it is necessary to keep everyone safe. So please have fun at the events, which run today through Sunday, but leave the cigarettes, cigars, pipes -- or whatever else one might be smoking -- behind. (The ban also prohibits wood or charcoal grilling in Zilker and other parks.)

Smoking was allowed at previous ACL festivals, but this year is different. This year, Central Texas is dealing with wildfires that have killed two people, destroyed about 1,500 homes and burned tens of thousands of acres in Bastrop County, Steiner Ranch, Pflugerville and other Central Texas communities. In Austin, city firefighters responded to 469 brush fires from January through July. Cigarettes caused about a fourth of those fires, officials said. [Austin Statesman]

Continue reading "Austin City Limits 2011 -- Day 3 in pics (Arcade Fire, Walkmen, DFA1979, Manu Chao & more)"

Arcade Fire @ ACL Live on Saturday (more by Tim Griffin)

"There's only going to be one outcome of the Polaris Music Prize gala on Monday night: either the Arcade Fire wins or the Arcade Fire loses.

If the acclaimed Montreal ensemble wins, it will be the first time in the award's six-year history that the Polaris grand jury's choice of victor lines up with mainstream tastes. The album for which the Arcade Fire is nominated this year, The Suburbs, hit No. 1 in a number of countries on both sides of the Atlantic when it was released in August of last year, including Canada, the U.S. and the U.K., and it's already got Album of the Year honours at the Grammy Awards and the Juno Awards to its credit. It represents one of those rare moments when critical acclaim, massive popularity and the approval of music-industry insiders are not mutually exclusive but have united in a perfect storm of near-universal acceptance.

If the Arcade Fire loses, expect Polaris foes to get their knives out again and accuse the award of being an exclusive, anti-populist, indier-than-thou club for arty obscurantists with little commercial appeal."
[Toronto Sun]

Other nominees this year were Austra, Destroyer, Timber Timbre, The Weeknd, and Braids who are co-headlining the BrooklynVegan official CMJ showcase at MHOW this year (tickets are on sale).

photos by Tim Griffin

Arcade Fire / The Antlers

Rain showers fired up crowds for the second day of the Austin City Limits Music Festival, even as much of the excitement Saturday was for headliner Stevie Wonder, who had fans claiming spots by the main stage throughout the afternoon.

Out-of-towners might not have understood the joyful reaction -- which included singing and dancing -- that rain got throughout Zilker Park. "I say, 'God bless the rain,' and we need it," said Austin photographer Greg Davis, who for the fifth year was selling his photos in the fest's art market. "It's bad for business but great for the community."

Some people used shelters put up for extra protection from the sun to escape the intermittent showers, while others didn't let a little water keep them from staking out spots early around the stage where Motown legend Wonder was to perform. The periphery filled so quickly that by the time R&B singer Cee Lo Green took the stage at 6 p.m., several hundred fans had planted chairs in nondesignated areas, causing security to ask them to move so the expected throng of people would have space to approach the stage.

"Our whole plan today has been to scope out a spot so that we don't have to fight the crowds," said Joelle Barnes of Austin, who along with her husband, James, were among the people asked to move their chairs. Although Barnes and her husband had enjoyed Alison Krauss and Union Station, Cee Lo and other performers they had seen on Saturday, the day was all about Wonder. "He's a legend -- you can't argue with that," James Barnes said. "This is such a rare opportunity"... [Austin360]

Pics from Day One HERE. Day Three streaming online today (9/18). More Day Two pictures below...

Continue reading "ACL 2011 -- Day 2 in pics (Antlers, Phosphorescent, Aloe Blacc, Twin Shadow, Arcade Fire TV taping & more)"

DOWNLOAD: Austra - "Spellwork" (MNDR Nighttime Remix) (MP3)

Austra at Santos (more by Vincent Cornelli)

2011's short list of nominees for Canada's Polaris Music Prize were announced. They include a mix of indie veterans, grammy-winners, a sax player who has played with those grammy winners, and some new kids on the block like the super buzzy The Weeknd whose resume includes working with Drake. Full nominee list is below.

One of the artists, Austra, will release a remix EP to follow-up their latest release Feel it Break. The remix collection, entitled SPARKLE will be released digitally on July 26th and on wax on August 23rd. The release features remix contributions from MNDR, Mark Pistel, and Planningtorock with the digital collection having an additional four bonus remixes. Preorder it at Domino, and download/stream one track, "Spellwork (MNDR Nighttime Remix)" above/below.

Reminder, look for Austra to play a FREE show on July 14th supporting tUnE-yArDs at Pier 54 in NYC. They'll also be on hand to support Cold Cave at Bowery Ballroom on August 6th (tickets). Cold Cave also plays NYC next week, at Knitting Factory with Cult of Youth on July 12th (tickets).

Braids, also nominated, recently announced a ton of tour dates.

Austra song stream and dates and the Polaris Music Prize nominees are below.

Continue reading "Polaris nominees announced, Austra releasing remix EP"

photos by Dana (Distortion) Yavin & Graeme Flegenheimer

Primus

Arcade Fire

Two New York men who got arrested here Friday never made it to Bonnaroo. That's because law officers allegedly found they were carrying over a pound of cocaine, 1,000 ecstasy pills, marijuana, and drug paraphernalia.

Alberto R. Almonte, 40, and Joseph Cruz, 29, both of the Bronx, N.Y., are charged with possession of drugs for sale and possession of drug paraphernalia. Almonte is also charged with speeding.

According to the Tennessee Highway Patrol, it was around 2 p.m. Friday when Trooper Matilda Mahaney clocked a 2006 Chevrolet Impala doing 83 in a 55 mile-per-hour zone on Highway 111 in Putnam County.

The trooper stopped the car "and discovered that the two occupants were enroute to Bonnaroo in Manchester," says a news release from the THP. [Herald Citizen]

Continue reading "Bonnaroo 2011 -- Day 2 in pics (Arcade Fire, My Morning Jacket, NOFX, Grace Potter, Lil Wayne, Primus & more)"

David Byrne at Prospect Park in 2009 (more by Chris La Putt)

David Byrne is releasing Ride, Rise, Roar on DVD and Blu-Ray this Tuesday (5/31) via Eagle Rock Entertainment. It's a documentary shot during his '08/'09 tour. The film, directed by David Hillman Curtis, consists of rehearsals, interviews, and live footage of the tour which included performances of Talking Heads classics in addition to material penned by Byrne and Brian Eno for their 2008 album Everything That Happens Will Happen. The film originally premiered at SXSW 2010. Watch the trailer below.

Sean Penn as Cheyenne

Byrne recently teamed up with Will Oldham (who just released a single for charity) to record original music for the film This Must Be the Place, named after the Talking Heads song of the same name. The film was directed by Pablo Sorrentino and is Sorrentino's first film to be shot in English. The film stars Sean Penn as a rock musician named Cheyenne. His character fronts the band Cheyenne and the Fellows, named after Siouxsie and the Banshees, and his appearance was inspired by Robert Smith of The Cure (as you can tell in the above picture).

According to a Consequence of Sound interview with Will Oldham, David Byrne was asked to write music for a demo that Cheyenne and the Fellows would record in the movie, and the script said that the music from the demo is reminiscent of Prince Billy...

"He was required to make up music for this band in addition to scoring the movie. So, he remembered that we had met [at a BBQ at Bjork's house] and wrote me, "Listen I was hired to make music that sounded like you which sounds kind of like a silly task." I replied with, "Well they hired you so why don't we make music that sounds like us" so that's what we did and we wrote four or five songs together for this fictional band."

Arcade Fire (who covered the song "This Must Be the Place" as a B-side to the "Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)" single) are releasing a deluxe edition of The Suburbs August 2 via Merge. The release will consist of the DVD Scenes From The Suburbs (directed by Spike Jonze), an 80-page booklet featuring stills from the film, behind the scenes photos from the film's production, and lyrics, an extended version of "Wasted Hours," and two new tracks; "Culture War" and "Speaking In Tongues" feat. David Byrne. Listen to the David Byrne collaboration below.

--

Speaking of Merge Records, Merge artist East River Pipe tweeted, last night... "met David Byrne [at the Anna Calvi] show tonight! Pretty cool, huh!?!?!" Even cooler is that David Byrne was checking out Anna! Maybe Brian Eno suggested he check her out. We have pictures from the Bowery Ballroom show coming soon.

---

David Byrne is also featured on Red Hot Organization's Red Hot + Rio 2, the sequel to 1996's Red Hot + Rio (which Byrne was also featured on). As we previously mentioned, the compilation brings Brazilian musicians and contemporary indie artists together to record a modern tribute to the late '60s Brazilian Tropicalia movement. Other artists on the compilation include Beirut, Devendra Banhart, of Montreal, Javelin, Beck, and more. The album will be released June 28 in partnership with Entertainment One Music.

Videos and songs and stuff below..

Continue reading "David Byrne wrote songs w/ Will Oldham (for 'This Must Be the Place') & Arcade Fire (for 'Suburbs' deluxe edition) & stuff"