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"

The 10th Anniversary ACL Festival line-up is on the books. Stevie Wonder, Arcade Fire, Kanye West, Coldplay, My Morning Jacket, Fleet Foxes, Alison Krauss and Union Station, Nas & Damian "Jr Gong" Marley and Cee Lo top the bill of the over 130 bands. Bright Eyes, Social Distortion, Empire of the Sun, Santigold, Pretty Lights, TV On The Radio, Skrillex, Big Boi and Randy Newman are also on tap to rock September 16-18.

Continue reading "Austin City Limits 2011 festival lineup is here, tickets on sale"

The Outside Lands Festival, which runs from 8/12 - 8/14 in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, released their 2011 lineup in April (and now it's May, so consider this a catch up post). Tickets are on sale.

This year's fest will appearances from The Shins, Muse, Arcade Fire, Arctic Monkeys, The Black Keys, Phish (two sets), !!!, Erykah Badu, Big Audio Dynamite (who played Coachella and are also playing Lollapalooza), Girl Talk and many more. The full lineup is below.

Continue reading "Outside Lands 2011 lineup"

photos by Tim Griffin

Win and Will Butler are currently visiting their birth state for a few shows. Last night (5/3), Arcade Fire and Texas band Explosions In The Sky played to a roughly-5000 capacity crowd at The Backyard at Bee Cave in Austin. Arcade Fire, who co-headlined Coachella just a few weeks ago, also played the other night with Okkervil River in Dallas, and they do it again with EITS in The Woodlands tonight, near Houston where Win grew up, a fact that has not gotten past the locals....

"Yes, we're all excited that Arcade Fire is playing the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion Wednesday night. And, yes, it's exciting that lead singer Win Butler spent his "formative years" growing up in that community which makes this -- to borrow a title from a beloved U2 anthem -- A Sort of Homecoming.

But it's time all of the greater Houston area suck on the bitter pill of reality for a moment and come to grips with a very real truth: Arcade Fire is not a band from The Woodlands.

It is not even a Texas band. It is not even an American band and anyone saying anything to the contrary must also accept the equally preposterous notion that country icon Willie Nelson hails from Vancouver, Wash., or that Madonna is British."
[says CultureMap Houston]

Continue reading "Arcade Fire & Explosions in the Sky played 'The Backyard' in Austin, Texas (Win's home state, sort of) -- pics & setlist"

Morgan Frew really wants this painting to get in the hands of the Arcade Fire...

Please help us get this painting to Win and Régine!

This is a painting of Win and Régine from the band Arcade Fire. We want to give it to them on their tour next week. Now we have just 3 days to get in touch. Please help by spreading the word!

Who: Morgan Frew, a painter who studied at Pratt Institute and teaches at Drury University & Missouri State University.

What: "Win and Régine," 40" x 32", oil on linen, 2009.

When: April 20th or April 21st.

Where: Kansas City, MO or St. Louis, MO.

Why: Just to say thanks.

It looks like the above-pictured limited edition "BIG STAR - Third - Test Pressing Edition - Box Set" (1 In Every 300 Sets Will Contain Actual Test Pressings From The 70s.) is the most expensive/most bid on item right now on Ebay from this past Saturday's Record Store Day. People are trying to get $200 for them, which is a bargain compared to how much someone wants for one of the Arcade Fire Coachella balls (note: if you recognize their eBay item description, that's because it's copy & pasted right out of the BV post).

the inside of the ball (via Paul Tao, thx Hiro!)

Ok, first of all, the correct term for them is "ball" and not "balloon" as I earlier referred to them, and this is how it happened, as described by a member of the Creators Project team...

"I never expected to be watching Arcade Fire play from backstage, but when the production team called for "all hands on deck," no one could argue. There to assist with the grand finale--launching some 2,000 LED-enhanced blow-up beach balls into the crowd--we were all giddy at the prospect of taking part in their performance. The idea for the visual spectacle, developed by director Chris Milk (who the band previously worked with on "The Wilderness Downtown"), was to release these balls in time for Arcade Fire's encore and use the embedded LEDs and IR transmitters to light paint all over the audience.

A crane positioned at the top of the stage was set up to let the balls drop during the band's last song, "Wake Up," and our job was to throw them into the crowd and make sure they stayed there. There was also a giant cage to the right of the stage filled with hundreds more that we were responsible for tossing into the audience, which proved to be no easy task given that they were an unwieldy two or three feet in diameter. When the the balls finally did drop, the entire place turned into an epic ball pit, with these giant balls flying all over the place, changing colors all the while from red to blue to orange to pink. (My apologies to the people in the front who may have been pummeled in the face with a beach ball or two--my bad!). Standing on stage and taking it all in, it certainly was a sight to behold.

The interactive visual performance, entitled Summer Into Dust continues online. Those lucky few who managed to catch a ball can log on to the accompanying website and continue the experience. Each ball comes with a URL where fans can locate a user manual online and connect their ball to a greater community"

Continue reading "inside the Creators Project Arcade Fire Coachella beach balls & the continuation of the experience online..."

photos by David Andrako

Big Audio Dynamite

As you know, Arcade Fire played a light-up beach ball-filled headlining show on Saturday, and Odd Future made their presence known to crowd members, security and those watching Lil B, but other exciting stuff, like the reunited Big Audio Dynamite killing it (and bringing some to tears), happened too. The only unfortunate part of BAD's set was that Wire, who people keep reporting was "underattended," were on at the same time. Wire was also up against the very popular Mumford & Sons who played before Animal Collective who played before Arcade Fire.

Animal Collective got their usual mixed reaction thanks in part to their usual choice of playing whatever they want no matter how big the crowd and who's on before and after them. Anonymous | April 17, 2011 6:32 AM said, "fuck animal collective. people went to the festival to have fun [,not] to have images of cum projected for an hour while the boring drones. they had the deadest crowd i've seen on the main stage so far." Anonymous | April 17, 2011 8:25 AM basically agrees and said, "AC should have never been allowed on that stage in that time slot. The worst." Anonymous | April 17, 2011 1:33 PM says, "guys AC just sucks, this ain't no new mystery.... it's almost as if they try extra hard just to be that terrible and make the crowd feel like a bunch of tools for giving them money... They're prob just a social experiment by banksy anyway." But Anonymous | April 17, 2011 3:22 PM asks, "so AC sucks for trying to make innovative, artistically rewarding music instead of god-awful corporate college-rock like arcade fire? every song is like, the same four chords played over and over and over again."

Mumford & Sons went on after Bright Eyes who went on after Broken Social Scene who went on after Erykah Badu aka Erica Abi Wright aka Loretta Brown aka Annie aka Analog Girl in the Digital World aka Medulla Oblongata, etc. (she was great despite technical difficulties).

Erykah Badu

Neko Case helped make the New Pornographers shine under hot sun. Empire of the Suns won best costumes of the day. Phoenix New Times says...

"Also, I suppose yesterday was the "Fuck Arizona" day at Coachella -- Jenny & Johnny, Bright Eyes and One Day as a Lion all had sets during the day. I actually saw someone wearing a Sound Strike t-shirt on Friday. Wearing that shirt to a music festival is doing about as much as de la Rocha and Oberst are collectively doing to combat SB 1070."

Continue reading "Coachella 2011 Day 2 in pics (Big Audio Dynamite, BSS, Animal Collective, Erykah Badu, Bright Eyes, Mumford & Sons, more)"

"If you'd told us in 2002 that we'd be headlining Coachella w/ Animal Collective playing before us I would have told you, you were full of shit" - Win Butler

Arcade Fire headlined the main Coachella Stage Saturday night (their third and biggest time playing the annual California fest), and as if their sound and crowd size and setlist wasn't impressive and massive enough, a surprise came during "Wake Up," their last pre-encore song. Courtesy of Creators Project, who promised something big via a press release earlier in the day, lots of white balloons descended upon the crowd. But they weren't just any balloons. Honestly I don't know how they worked, but they lit up and changed colors as you can see in the pictures above above and below. And they stayed lit up during the four-song encore that helped close out the second of three hot days of Coachella 2011.

More pictures from their set (more coming from David later too), and some videos and Arcade Fire's full setlist, below...

Continue reading "Arcade Fire headlined Coachella, it was awesome, there were light up balloons! (pics, video, setlist)"

most of the words & photos by Dominick Mastrangelo

They played for over 3.5 hours before the sun set on LCD Soundsystem in a cascade of white balloons dropping from the Madison Square Garden ceiling in NYC Saturday night. I wished they played even longer. Everyone I talked to agreed.

But James Murphy and co. gave everything at Madison Square Garden last night (4/2). And the sold-out arena crowd gave in return. For two months - through the initial on-line ticket debacle, the addition of four T5 shows to make up for it, constant hype, and lots of guessing at what guests might turn up (sadly there was no Daft Punk) - it all made this final act in the drama, The Long Goodbye, even more of an event.

People camped on line several hours early to get a coveted spot up front on the floor and most of the crowd adhered to the black and white dress code. Those who didn't stuck out.

From where I was in the middle of the front GA section nobody stopped dancing, or singing along or smiling the entire night. (Save for, like at all four Terminal 5 shows, the couple of awkward, yet brief and deserved intermissions.) Every turn to scan the Garden saw people full-on, in the groove dancing; not just some barely-registered shuffling back and forth. Honestly, everyone who was there should take a bow because they were fantastic. During the first break, video footage was shown of an interviewer talking to fans outside the venue, Aziz Ansari included.

And no, there was no Daft Punk, but there was Arcade Fire singing joyously along on "North American Scum" (the third set's highlight) and an appearance by Reggie Watts who also played with the band at three of the four Terminal 5 shows. The boys choir featuring members of Mr. Dream was there, as were the two female backup singers, and the horn section that included Kelly Pratt and Colin Stetson. Original LCD guitarist Phil Mossman was back and featured a few times in addition to LCD band members
Nancy Whang, Tyler Pope, Pat Mahoney, Matt Thornley, Gavin Russom, and David Scott Stone. Liquid Liquid opened the show like they did at the first two Terminal 5 shows. Shit Robot, who opened the second two T5 shows, again made an appearance during the show. Shit Robot and Juan Maclean, for one song, were alien vocalists in mysterious cardboard-looking spaceships that were set up in seats behind the stage (pictures and video below).

Pitchfork streamed the whole show for those who couldn't be there - you could see the cameras all over the place, including on the shoulders of cameramen walking through the GA crowd. Filmmaker Lance Bangs was seen dancing in the crowd and working backstage on the video of the show, and yes the clouds made it to the two screens that were hanging on the sides of the stage.

LCD started with "Dance Yrself Clean" and "Drunk Girls" followed. The first set was breathtaking and included "Daft Punk is Playing in My House." After an intermission, the band tackled most of 45:33. Watts came out for "Part 2" and Murphy spent most of the middle set off in the background letting the band tackle the instrumentals.

The first encore featured a cathartic and riveting "Someone Great" as well as "Losing My Edge" and "Home." For me that block was the highlight. During "Losing My Edge," the video screens featured images of some of the influential bands mentioned. When I looked up I saw The Sonics.

Their Harry Nilsson cover of "Jump Into The Fire" was part of the final 3-song encore. Murphy, his voice sounding a bit hoarse, paused between songs to thank everyone who came out and everyone who helped put the show together. "Three songs left," "two songs left," and then after saying "this is our last song", and a bit more banter including an admission to his family who was in the audience that he was wearing his dad's watch (as you can hear in the video below), he led the band into their final (ever) number, "New York, I Love You But You're Bringing Me Down." It started slow with Murphy even laughing and pausing 'for dramatic effect' but by the end of the raucous outro the crowd was in a frenzy, only for the band to launch back in and cue the balloon drop. As the crowd was preoccupied with balloons of various size descending upon them, the entire band slipped off stage, almost completely unnoticed, and into history.

VIDEO OF THE ENTIRE SHOW (from the stream), and lots more pictures and the full setlist, below...

Continue reading "LCD Soundsystem played their final show @ MSG w/ Liquid Liquid (and Arcade Fire) -- pics, setlist, video of entire show"

DOWNLOAD: Black Dub - Last Time (live) (MP3)

Black Dub

It was the official Canadian music-industry consecration of Arcade Fire at this year's edition of the Juno Awards, with the Montreal alt-rockers nabbing four trophies, more than any other artist. Arcade Fire won album of the year for "The Suburbs", group of the year, songwriter of the year ( for "Ready to Start", "We Used To Wait", and "Sprawl II"), and alternative album (also for "The Suburbs").

The Juno Awards, Canada's music awards, were doled out at a ceremony at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto Sunday (3/27) night, with the show broadcast live on the CTV Network.

The multiple wins for Arcade Fire follow the ultra-hot outfit's recent win for best album at the Grammy Awards, a win that took many by surprise. Shortly after the Grammys, Arcade Fire also won for best international group and international album at the Brit Awards in London.

... Canadian pop star Justin Bieber also won two Junos, for pop album (for "My World 2.0") and the Juno Fan Choice Award. Bieber was in Rotterdam Sunday, on tour, and accepted his awards via pre-taped video acceptance speeches.

Canadian rock icon Neil Young was voted artist of the year, which led him to quip on stage: "What year is this?" Young was also given, as previously announced, the Allan Waters Humanitarian Award and his moving acceptance speech was one of the highlights of the night. On Saturday night, in a non-broadcast ceremony, Young also won for adult alternative album for "Le Noise". Daniel Lanois also won as producer of the year for both "Le Noise" and his own project, the self-titled Black Dub album. -[Variety]

Lanois will head back out on the road with his Black Dub project in May and June. The newly announced set of dates inclues a NYC show at Webster Hall on 6/15 with Rocco DeLuca. Tickets go on AmEx presale at noon on Wed (3/30) with regular sale hitting on Friday.

All dates, all Junow winners and some videos below...

Continue reading "Daniel Lanois won a Juno (like Bieber & Arcade Fire), Black Dub announces tour dates"

Maybe you heard about or saw record exec Steve Stoute's letter in the NY Times on Sunday. In it, he slams the Grammys for giving awards to bands nobody ever heard of and brought up the "coincidence" of Arcade Fire performing right before and after they won Album of the Year.

Arcade Fire's manager has responded, in the form of a letter to industry analyst Bob Lefsetz, and this is what he said:

Bob

Arcade Fire had the final slot on the Grammys as the ratings are low at the end of the broadcast. It really is that simple. We were one of the least known acts on the bill for a network audience. Don't you think I wanted a better slot for the band?
The reason we got a second song was also simple. No big plot. We had no guarantee of air time, but it was simply to play out the end credits of the show, if we're even had that much. The show never runs like clockwork to an exact time so the end is always loose. As it happened, the broadcast was covered by sponsors messages and the end credits.
For the Grammys international broadcast our main performance, along with that of Mumford and Sons and the Avett Brothers was completely cut from the show. Our end title performance was bastardised because they cut out ads/sponsor messages completely. It was a bit of a farce. You'd think we'd be given a little more after the fact.

Arcade Fire deserved the win this year. They made the best album. If the award was names "Album Sales Of The Year" award, there would be no discussion. Stoutes letter was nice piece of self publicity. Did he see Kanye's tweets when we won and the praise he gave us?? He needs to tune in. Eminem made a big selling album but it was far from being his best work. Katy Perry made a big pop record that simply didn't have weight or credibility. Gaga's repackage, great album but it was a repackage of the main release. I think everyone felt it was going to be Lady Antebellum's moment having won 5 out of 6 awards to that point. We all felt that way too.

I'm proud of this band and what they have achieved. We didn't lobby any organisation for this nor did the band play the game. We paid our own overhead to do the event, thus the lack of on stage gimmicks. No label picked up the tab.

Arcade Fire are now one of the biggest live acts in the world. It's not all about record sales. It's about making great records and it's about building a loyal fan base. Ther band make great albums, they're not a radio driven singles band. On top of that, they own their own masters and copyrights and are in complete control of their own destiny. Things couldn't be better.

Excuse any typos as I'm on my blackberry

Best regards
Scott Rodger

Continue reading "a letter from Arcade Fire's manager (in reaction to Steve Stoute's Open Letter to The Grammys)"

To quote Gothamist:

Following the Arcade Fire's win at the Grammys, it seemed like half the nation was asking: Who Is Arcade Fire? What started off as a post on BrooklynVegan, grew into its own Tumblr account, and by last night the band themselves caught wind of the meme. At the Brit Awards--while accepting one of their awards (they took home trophies for Best International Album and Best International Group)--Win Butler said, "We're called Arcade Fire--check it out on Google."

Continue reading "Arcade Fire win Brits (Bieber too), acknowledge meme"

Bonnaroo (June 9-12 in Manchester Tennessee) has announced the 2011 lineup (slightly early), and like the rumored Lollapalooza lineup, Eminem is among the headliners. Bonnaroo also has Grammy winners Arcade Fire and the Black Keys, in addition to Lil Wayne, Mumford & Sons, the Strokes, The Decemberists, Florence & the Machine, Girl Talk, Beirut (haven't seen them in a while), and many more. Full list below...

Continue reading "Bonnaroo 2011 lineup is here"

"who is this arcade fire band?" - Erik

"Am I the only one who doesn't know who "Arcade Fire" is?????" - Reisa

Arcade Fire just won "Album of the Year" at the Grammys. WEIRD.

P.S. The Black Keys won best alt-album.

Video below...

Continue reading "Who is this Arcade Fire? (Album of the Year Grammy winners) "