Zola Jesus at Guggenheim (more by Amanda Hatfield)

Just like Cold Cave (who are playing Northside), Zola Jesus is going from the Guggenheim back to something more conventional this summer. She and A$AP Rocky are the latest batch of artists added to the Catalpa Festival which is happening on Randall's Island on July 28th and 29th. Tickets are still available.

In other news, A$AP Rocky appeared on 106 and Park yesterday (5/22). Check out that appearance and the full festival lineup below.

Continue reading "Asap Rocky & Zola Jesus added to Catalpa Fest lineup"

by Andrew Sacher

DOWNLOAD: Azealia Banks - Jumanji (MP3)

Azealia Banks at Coachella 2012 (more by David Andrako)

Azealia Banks, who recently canceled a bunch of summer shows due to "recording commitments," has now added more shows to her summer schedule. Most of those are in Europe, but she was just added to the Hot 97 Summer Jam lineup which goes down in East Rutherford, NJ at MetLife Stadium on June 3. The rest of the lineup includes Nicki MInaj, Rick Ross, 2 Chainz, Waka Flocka Flame, Young Jeezy, J. Cole, Wale, and more. Tickets for the fest are available. The full lineup is listed below.

UPDATE: She actually plays the Summer Jam pre-show in the parking lot with the even more impressive lineup of Pusha T, Big K.R.I.T., A$AP Rocky, Schoolboy Q, Kendrick Lamar, and Fred the Godson. Your Summer Jam ticket gets you into the pre-show.

In addition to her fickle live schedule, Azealia Banks continues to move around her schedule of releases as well. As of right now, she's planning to get her delayed 1991 EP out on May 29 digitally and June 12 physically via Interscope. The cover art for that EP is below. She'll follow it with the Fantastic mixtape, which is due out on July 4, and includes her recently dropped track, "Jumanji," which was produced by Hudson Mohawke and Nick Hook. Grab that track above or stream it below. Finally, her debut full length, Broke With Expensive Taste, which is presumably the album she's been working on with Paul Epworth, is due out in September.

In other news, fresh off her feud with Iggy Azalea (who plays SOBs TONIGHT [5/17]), she's taken a stab at Lil Kim, who refused to collaborate with Azealia because Lil Kim wanted to write her own verse. Azealia had written it for her and insisted, "Everybody knows Lil Kim doesn't write her own raps." We already know that Kim's got beef with Nicki Minaj. Azealia, however, seems down with Nicki and would possibly collaborate with her, but thinks she should ditch the "ugly wigs and ugly costumes." Maybe they'll meet up when they both play Summer Jam next month. On the other hand, Azealia Banks has collaborated with Missy Elliot and Rye Rye on a remix of M.I.A.'s "Bad Girls." Look for that soon.

A list of all dates, Hot 97 Summer Jam lineup, 1991 cover art, and the "Jumanji" stream are below...

Continue reading "Azealia Banks added to Hot 97 Summer Jam lineup, prepping EP, mixtape, and LP"

by Andrew Sacher

A$AP Rocky at Coachella 2012 (more by David Andrako)

As mentioned, the Bamboozle festival goes down in Asbury Park this weekend (May 18-20). The festival, which has a continuing history of booking some of the lamest pop punk bands around, like Boys Like Girls, The All American Rejects, and Never Shout Never, has a few interesting/odd inclusions this year. For one, Bon Jovi is one of the headliners. Not only could they probably sell out an Asbury Park show without the rest of the Bamboozle lineup, but do any pop punkers want to see them anyway? Or did mom just need somewhere to be while her kids were seeing The Maine?

The other two headliners don't exactly fit the Bamboozle stereotype either: brostep tycoon Skrillex and grunge torchbearers Foo Fighters. But what's most interesting to us is within this odd mix of mall punk and Grammy Awards Winners, there's actually a handful of acts that we'd love to see, including many of our favorite new rappers, and some emo/pop punk forefathers that knew the difference between throwing a little melody into their punk and straightening their hair. If you do plan on making the trek to NJ this weekend, here's some recommendations of who to check out at the fest:

On Friday (5/18), bounce music party-starter Big Freedia, former Odd Future member Casey Veggies (who actually deserves to exist without that prefix), and Kreayshawn play the Beach Party Stage. Meanwhile, Anamanaguchi will be at the Temple of Boozle Stage. You can also catch Big Freedia in NYC on Thursday (5/17) at Santos before Bamboozle. Tickets are still available.

On Saturday (5/19), the Zumiez Stage will be graced by '90s greats Hot Water Music (who play Gramercy on 5/21-22) and The Promise Ring (who play Irving on 5/20). You can also catch some solid hip hop sets at the Beach Party Stage from A$AP Rocky, Action Bronson, Mr. Muthafuckin' eXquire and Iggy Azalea (who plays SOBs on Thursday (5/17)). Blink-182 were also supposed to play on Saturday but they had to cancel their May dates due to illness and were replaced by My Chemical Romance.

On Sunday (5/20), fellow Jersey punks The Gaslight Anthem (who will preview new material at their sold out MHOW show TONIGHT (5/16)) and The Bouncing Souls (who celebrate their new record at Webster Hall on June 9) will be at the fest. Catch the Gaslight Anthem on Main Stage and the Souls on Zumiez Stage. Star Slinger will also play the Temple of the Boozle stage.

And last, literally last, but not least, well maybe least, and defintely WTF, this year's Paramount Stage will be closed down by none other than comedy legend Andrew Dice Clay who plays after fellow 80s & 90s entertainers Dramarama (who also play the afterparty at Stone Pony) who play after 1996 hit makers Spacehog (who you can also catch at Brooklyn Bowl Thursday).

Tickets for the festival are still available.

Did we leave anyone good out? Check out the set times below...

Continue reading "A guide to Bamboozle's wtf lineup: (Big Freedia, Skrillex, A$AP Rocky, Bon Jovi, Hot Water Music, Mr. MFN eXquire, Promise Ring, Bouncing Souls, Action Bronson & more) "

We just posted about Austra who's coming back to North America (including 9/19 at Music Hall of Williamsburg) after a tour of Europe. She's also one of many artists playing the 2012 Osheaga Festival in Montreal which happens August 3 - 5. Tickets are still available for the three-day event.

In addition to Austra, Osheaga plays host to The Black Keys, Snoop Dogg, Justice, Metric (who play Radio City Music Hall soon), Sigur Ros (who play Prospect Park and are streaming their new LP), Florence & The Machine (who plays Jones Beach this summer), The Weeknd, Passion Pit (who play Governor's Ball soon), The Jesus & Mary Chain, MGMT, Santigold (who just played Irving), Zola Jesus (who just played the Guggenheim) and many many more.

Full Osheaga lineup is below.

Continue reading "Justice, Metric, The Black Keys, Sigur Ros and more playing Montreal's Osheaga Festival in August "

Nas @ Rock the Bells (more by Dana (distortion) Yavin)

That didn't take long. We just announced the intitial lineup. Check out the almost-full thing below...

Continue reading "Rock the Bells 2012 full lineup (Nas, Kendrick Lamar, ASAP Rocky, Dipset, Schoolboy Q, Missy Elliot, Wiz Khalifa, much more)"

photos by David Andrako

"Did y'all peep my Lil boob out with tha pastie today at coachella ?!? That was my Lil Kim moment !" - AZEALIA BANKS

hologram Biggie w/ Black Lips / Azealia Banks / ASAP Rocky @ Coachella Saturday

"For a certain breed of diehard Coachella fan, once is just not enough. And since 2012 is the first year that the epic desert music and arts festival is being mounted twice in Indio, California, it was inevitable that some of the most obsessed would find a way to attend both three-day weekends.

"The Monday after the first one, I was kind of licking my wounds and I said, 'Hey, let's go again! I'm down. I get paid on Friday. It can happen," 28-year-old Carlos Morales, from Fullerton, California, told Rolling Stone yesterday. "Radiohead was a big part of it. They were amazing, and I really wanted to see them again."

Tickets for a single Coachella weekend are hard enough to come by; in recent years, they've typically sold out within days of going on sale, which sparked the motivation for festival organizers Goldenvoice Productions to add an identical second weekend this year. About six percent of festivalgoers who bought tickets online directly from the promoter managed to pick up tickets for both weekends, said Coachella co-founder Paul Tollett. Resales are harder to measure, but last-minute impulse buyers for the second weekend were rewarded with some tickets being sold at below face value.

Alison Swing, 21, of Long Beach, bought her second set of tickets "from a friend of a friend of a friend" and got a $100 discount from the cover price, she said with a laugh. "It was nerve-wracking spending the money," Swing admitted, "but I wanted to go back so bad. I'll deal with it after." [Rolling Stone]

You saw the pictures from Friday, a video of the Black Keys performing with John Fogerty, video from a Friday night party that Thom Yorke DJ'd, and Radiohead's setlist from Saturday. Here are the pictures from Saturday, 4/21/2012, Record Store Day, the 2nd day of the 2nd weekend of Coachella 2012.

As you can see in the above picture, The Black Lips paid tribute (if you want to call it that) to hologram Tupac (who should be making another appearance with Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg tonight) with their own hologram (actually a cut out) of Biggie Smalls. St. Vincent joined Andrew Bird on stage to help perform "Lusitania." Azealia Banks, in a different looking outfit than last week, apparently suffered a wardrobe malfunction. A$AP Rocky was joined by Master P, Romeo, No Limit and many other friends on stage in the Gobi tent, as he and Radiohead simultaneously closed out the night once again.

More pictures from all of Saturday, and a video from ASAP's guest-filled set, below...

Continue reading "Coachella 2012 Week 2 - Day 2 pics (Radiohead, ASAP Rocky, Azealia Banks, Feist, Firehose, Grace Potter, Squeeze & more)"

photos by Dana (distortion) Yavin

Buzzcocks / Bon Iver / Squeeze

"The earlier part of the afternoon felt a little sleepy. People waking up late after Friday, taking their time getting to the festival, and the earliest bands on the bill usually have a gentler style of music anyway. That all changed, for us at least, with the arrival of the Buzzcocks, those spiky, rapid-fire elder statesmen of melodic British punk, on stage in the Gobi tent.

Founders Pete Shelley and Steve Diggle look older now -- it's been 35 years or so since they launched the band --but their voices are strong, their rapid-fire guitar riffing still delivers an electric current to the brain. And, bonus for fans on Saturday, the short length of many of their songs meant you got a whole lot of Buzzcocks packed into a 55-minute set." [Orange County Register]

You saw our pictures of Friday HERE and HERE, and St. Vincent and Radiohead from Saturday. The rest of Saturday, below...

Continue reading "Coachella 2012 Day 2 pics -- Buzzcocks, Squeeze, fIREHOSE, Godspeed, Bon Iver, Feist, Shins, Flying Lotus, SBTRKT, more"

photos by Dana (distortion) Yavin

Buzzcocks / Bon Iver / Squeeze

"The earlier part of the afternoon felt a little sleepy. People waking up late after Friday, taking their time getting to the festival, and the earliest bands on the bill usually have a gentler style of music anyway. That all changed, for us at least, with the arrival of the Buzzcocks, those spiky, rapid-fire elder statesmen of melodic British punk, on stage in the Gobi tent.

Founders Pete Shelley and Steve Diggle look older now -- it's been 35 years or so since they launched the band --but their voices are strong, their rapid-fire guitar riffing still delivers an electric current to the brain. And, bonus for fans on Saturday, the short length of many of their songs meant you got a whole lot of Buzzcocks packed into a 55-minute set." [Orange County Register]

You saw our pictures of Friday HERE and HERE, and St. Vincent and Radiohead from Saturday. The rest of Saturday, below...

Continue reading "Coachella 2012 Day 2 pics -- Buzzcocks, Squeeze, fIREHOSE, Godspeed, Bon Iver, Feist, Shins, Flying Lotus, SBTRKT, more"

A$AP Rocky @ Irving Plaza in February (more by Ryan Muir)

A$AP Mob ended their set at the annual Vice Kills Texas party late Saturday night by coming off the stage to confront a crowd-member who'd been throwing PBR tall boys at the group. Earlier in the show, with BV's Andrew Frisicano in attendance, they called out the audience for tossing objectsat them, at one point spitting on the crowd in the direction of the suspected thrower.

At times, A$AP Rocky seemed to be trying to diffuse the situation...until the group rushed off the stage to end the show (when they did, Rocky was in the midst of saying, "if one more person..."). Most of the crowd scattered away from the fray. The cops cleared the venue after that and at least one audience member left with a bag of ice on his head and blood all over his face and t-shirt.

Trash Talk played the show earlier in the night. Fidlar never got to play their 3am set.

The group has something of a history of ending shows with violence. They did something similar at last year's CMJ.

UPDATE: Video below...

Continue reading "late night SXSW Vice party ends with A$AP Mob attacking audience members"

The press release say:

The 2012 Pitchfork Music Festival returns to Chicago's Union Park Friday, July 13 - Sunday, July 15! Seven years in, this independently run three-day event has consistently proven to be one of the most welcoming, comfortable, reasonably priced and rewarding weekends of music around.

A tremendously focused and thoughtfully curated event, the Pitchfork Music Festival has historically introduced emerging bands while also honoring a great number of already beloved and internationally renowned acts. This year continues with that high standard and welcomes Vampire Weekend, Feist, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Hot Chip, AraabMUZIK, A$AP Rocky, The Field, Liturgy, Kendrick Lamar, Grimes, Cloud Nothings, Tim Hecker, and Willis Earl Beal! But this is only the beginning! There are more than 30 acts to still be announced.

Additionally, we are excited to announce that the Pitchfork Music Festival will not be raising ticket prices in 2012! Our goal has always been to create an affordable atmosphere with music at its focus, and do so in a way that is sustainable and exciting. So why raise ticket prices if you don't need to, right? Tickets for the 2012 Pitchfork Music Festival go on sale Friday, March 9 at 12 PM CST, with single-day tickets for $45 and a limited number of three-day passes for $110! Based on years past, three-day passes will sell out very quickly. Tickets will be available on the festival website.

In addition to its musical offerings, the Pitchfork Music Festival also features a wide array of other activities for its 50,000 attendees of all ages from 45 states and 26 countries to easily enjoy. With 50 individual vendors, as well as specialty fairs, the fest not only supports local businesses and economy, but also promotes the Chicago arts community as a whole.

Continue reading "Pitchfork Music Fest 2012 initial lineup announced"

photos by Ryan Muir, words by Andrew Sacher

"ASAP Rocky show @ Irving Plaza was CRAZY!!!" - Atiba Newsome

"ASAP ROCKY KILLED IRVING PLAZA!!!!" - Vic Damone

"Shout out to Jim e stack bun b waka flocka and da homie school boy" - AsapTwelvyy

A$AP Rocky brought the A$AP Mob tour to Irving Plaza last night (2/1). He brought out a number of guests like Bun B, Waka Flocka, and ScHoolboy Q, and Danny Brown opened the show, along with Flatbush Zombies and G-Eazy. More pictures and a video from this show are below.

One day earlier, A$AP Rocky appeared on The Angie Martinez Show on Hot 97. He was shocked when during his interview, Rakim, who Rocky's mother named him after, joined Rocky and Martinez on the show. A video of this interview is below too.

The Irving Plaza afterparty went down at The Studio at Webster Hall where a very tall Jim E Stack DJ'd in celebration of his new release. Did any of the advertised special guests show up?

ScHoolboy Q also showed up at the recent Danny Brown show in LA.

More pictures and videos from the NYC show below...

Continue reading "ASAP Rocky played Irving Plaza w/ special guests Danny Brown, Bun B, Waka Flocka & ScHoolboy Q (pics, video)"

by BBG

Black Milk at Fun Fun Fun Fest (more by BBG)

How appropo that the king of dry snares and booming kicks Black Milk will hit the road for a 25-date tour entitled the "Claps and Slaps". The MC's trek kicks off in late February with J. Pinder and A.Dd+ and includes a stop in NYC at Knitting Factory on February 29th. Tickets are on sale. All dates are listed below.

Black Milk is one half of Black & Brown, which also includes Danny Brown. The also-Detroit MC (Black Milk is from there too) recently played the Echoplex in LA and will play Santos Party House in March. He ALSO is opening for ASAP Rocky at the sold out Irving Plaza show Wednesday (2/1). Danny, who also has a run of dates coming up with Childish Gambino, was announced on that one after the show sold out. Maybe he'll also stop by the afterparty.

Stream Black & Brown EP below alongside a video and all tour dates...

Continue reading "Black Milk schedules US tour; Danny Brown opening for ASAP Rocky at Irving Plaza (dates)"

The A$AP Mob is kicking off their tour this week, which brings them to NYC on February 1 at Irving Plaza. That show is now sold out.

That same night, New Orleans DJ/producerJim-E Stack (pictured above) is having a release party for his Come Between EP at The Studio at Webster Hall (2/1) with Azizaman and Mess Kid. The flier (pictured below) also mentions there will be "$PECIAAL GUEZT APPARANCES." Tickets for the Studio show are on sale now. You can stream the whole Jim-E Stack EP, and the Jim-E Stack Bootleg version of ASAP Rocky's "Purple Swag" (cover art above), below. Also down there streaming: a Sonic Router mix Jim-E made that also includes a track by ASAP Rocky.

--
A$AP Rocky at Creators Project in 2011 (more by Ryan Barkan)

In related news, Kendrick Lamar associate (aka Black Hippy member) ScHoolboy Q just made a video for "Hands on the Wheel," which features A$AP Rocky, off of ScHoolboy Q's most recent mixtape, Habits & Contradictions. Watch that below.

Speaking of the Studio at Webster Hall, upcoming shows there include Cloud Nothings this Thursday (1/26) and (A$AP Rocky collaborators) Main Attrakionz on 3/5.

Continue reading "Jim-E Stack streaming new EP, celebrating @ The Studio (with "$PECIAAL GUEZT APPARANCES")"

When we first mentioned the lineup for this year's Bamboozle, which is taking place from May 18-20 in Asbury Park, NJ, it only included Bon Jovi, Foo Fighters, Skrillex, Blink 182, Incubus, and Mac Miller. The generally lame festival has since revealed more artists including a surprising number of not-lame artists like the reunited Promise Ring (their first East Coast date announced, hopefully an NYC show to come?), Hot Water Music, Bouncing Souls, A$AP Rocky, Action Bronson, and Murphy's Law. Take that, Warped Tour.

Tickets for Bamboozle are on sale now. Updated lineup below...

Continue reading "The Promise Ring playing Bamboozle (Hot Water Music, Bouncing Souls, ASAP Rocky & Action Bronson too)"

DOWNLOAD: Smoke DZA - "Less Smoking More Rapping" (MP3)

Smoke DZA/SpaceGhostPurrp

SpaceGhostPurrp and Smoke DZA are teaming up for an NYC show this month at Highline Ballroom on January 23 with support from Joey Bad@$$, Jay Muthafuckin Steez & G.R.A.M.Z. Tickets are on sale now. The show flier is below.

Both Kushed n Purrp have already kicked off the new year with new tracks. DZA dropped "Less Smoking More Rapping," which you can grab above and SpaceGhostPurrp put a stream on YouTube of "Sucka D&#*$)*#))#(#&#)cck 4 2012," the "followup" (if you will) to "Suck A Dick 4 2011." Listen to that below.

SpaceGhostPurrp also recently produced a track for A$AP Rocky, who is heading out on tour with the A$AP Mob and hitting NYC's Irving Plaza on February 1. Tickets are still available.

Smoke DZA released a free EP on Christmas Eve called SweetBabyKushedGod. It features verses by Domo Genesis, ASAP Rocky, Danny Brown, Freeway, Action Bronson, and more, and production by Lex Luger, Flying Lotus, 183rd, Kenny Beats, A-Foe and Maki.

In related news, a video was recently posted of A$AP Rocky working in the studio with Theophilus London (who was previously spotted in the studio with AraabMuzik). Nah Right says that the "track called "Big Spender" which will presumably appear on [Theophilus's] upcoming Lovers Holiday II: Rose Island." Theophilus previewed some of that new material at Lincoln Hall in Chicago over the weekend, and is presumably doing the same now at other shows on his tour that hits Webster Hall on 2/9 (a NYC show that Phony Ppl is now opening).

Action Bronson also has a new track ("CONTEMPORARY MAN" Produced by Party Supplies).

Flier and songs below...

Continue reading "a Smoke DZA & SpaceGhostPurrp show, new releases & related hip hop news"

DOWNLOAD: A$AP Rocky - "Pretty Flacko" (MP3)

ASAP Rocky at Creators Project in October (more by Ryan Barkan)

Last month/year, we announced that A$AP Rocky (who is on BBC's 'Sound of 2012' list) is playing a NYC show on February 1 at Irving Plaza before he heads out on tour with Drake and Kendrick Lamar. Tickets for that show are on sale now.

It turns out that the show is part of an A$AP Mob (which A$AP Rocky is a part of) North American tour. According to their blog, more dates are coming soon, but all currently announced dates for this tour are listed below.

Yesterday, the A$AP Mob posted a new A$AP Rocky track to their blog called "Pretty Flacko." The track was produced by Spaceghostpurrp. You can download it above and stream it below.

All dates and stream below...

Continue reading "A$AP Mob (including Rocky) announce more dates, new song"

Friends (more by Amanda Hatfield)

The BBC's list of 15 bands who will make up the "Sound of 2012" is below...

Continue reading "BBC lists the 'Sound of 2012' (Friends included)"

Bone Thugs at Fader Fort SXSW 2010 (more by P. Nick Curran)

Bone Thugs-n-Harmony announced on their blog over the summer that they're planning a new album for 2012 and it will be the last album with all 5 members of the group. They reiterated those facts in a November video interview that you can watch below. Krayzie Bone has also stated that he will again be touring with the group, after announcing his departure this past April.

Though a full tour hasn't been announced yet, the group are starting to reveal some dates in January and February including an NYC show on February 7 at Gramercy Theatre. Tickets for that show go on sale on Wednesday (12/28) at 10 AM. All currently known dates are listed below.

Maybe Bone Thugs can get ASAP Rocky to guest on their new album. ASAP recently told DJ Booth that he "really wanna' work with Bone Thugs-n-Harmony, though. My brother was killed when I was 13, but he influenced the sh*t out of me. I grew up on Bone Thugs; my mom listens to those guys and blasts the music. I wanna' tell those guys that their music influenced me." ASAP also just announced a NYC show.

Bone Thugs dates and interview below...

Continue reading "Bone Thugs-n-Harmony working on new album, announce some shows (dates)"

A$AP Rocky at Creators Project in October (more by Ryan Barkan)

A$AP Rocky, who says he never even heard of Aesop Rock until "people started asking him that," is going on a tour in February and March with Drake and Kendrick Lamar. That tour doesn't include any NYC dates but A$AP Rocky will play his own show at Irving Plaza on February 1. Tickets for that show go on sale Friday (12/30) at 10 AM.

In October, A$AP Rocky signed a $3 million record deal with Sony/RCA's Polo Grounds Music, and as Pitchfork points out, that's $1 million more than Drake's deal with Young Money was. He then released his LiveLoveA$AP mixtape which you can grab for free (it was one of Heems' favorite albums of 2011). He's now planning a proper release of the album for early 2012. Check out an interview at HipHopDX for more info on that and lots of other stuff.

All dates and another video interview below...

Continue reading "A$AP Rocky adds NYC show to tour; mixtape still free"

To quote Pitchfork: "The Weeknd's follow-up to House of Balloons and Thursday is here. Grab the nine-track Echoes of Silence-- featuring a cover of Michael Jackson's "Dirty Diana" and production from Clams Casino-- for free over on the-weeknd.com or here,"

House of Balloons, the first mixtape, was #1 on a list of albums that Heems from Das Racist submitted to Pitchfork. Check out Heems' full list of 'Top Albums of 2011' below...

Continue reading "3rd Weeknd mixtape released; Heems likes the 1st one a lot"

XXLMag and Hennessy are teaming up to present Kendrick Lamar at S.O.B.'s TONIGHT (12/19). The show will also a feature of showcase of artists from XXLMag's The Break, "the spot where new MCs get to show and prove their skills." The Break showcase will include Mr. Muthafuckin eXquire (who also plays Highline Ballroom with Action Bronson soon), Emilio Rojas, Phile Ade, and King Mez. Doors open at 8 PM and Hennessy is serving free drinks, You must be 21+ to enter, but you might have to be on list. Kendrick, the venue and XXL don't make that 100% clear. The show flier is below.

In February Kendrick is heading out on tour with Drake, who will meanwhile be in NYC (and on TV) on New Year's Eve (you can try to see it live via that link). As previously mentioned, ASAP Rocky was also chosen for Drake's tour (which was originally supposed to happen in the fall). All of those dates and a video of ASAP talking about Drake, Kendrick, Odd Future and other stuff, below...

Continue reading "Kendrick Lamar in NYC for Hennessy event, going on tour w/ Drake & A$AP Rocky (dates)"

ASAP Rocky last week @ Creators Project (more by Ryan Barkan)

Someone who attended Fader Fort on Friday told me about this on the street Saturday night. Not much reported about it, but Ozone Mag has a description that matches almost exactly what I heard:

"Eye witnesses tell Ozone Magazine exclusively that rapper ASAP Rocky threw quite a fit after being dissatisfied with what stage he was performing at during the Fader Fort in NYC. The artist and his crew were upset that they were performing at a smaller stage which lead to them flipping over drums. When a stage hand for Fader Fort entered the stage to try and remove the drums he was jumped by members of ASAP Rocky's crew. The entire stage was trashed and the stage hand had to leave in an ambulance. For obvious reasons, ASAP Rocky ended the show early. A statement from his camp has not been released."

UPDATE: It seems that ASAP has ended other shows in a similar manner, so maybe it was a planned dramatic ending that this time went too far?

A video of ASAP performing at FADER before the fight broke out, below...

Continue reading "ASAP Rocky & crew reportedly trash Fader Fort, send crew member to hospital..."

photos by Ryan Barkan

ASAP Rocky

One, two, and now three. It continues below...

Continue reading "one last set of pics from the 2011 NYC Creators Project"

words & photos by BBG

Hopefully, there weren't masses that headed to DUMBO on Saturday (10/15) expecting a few Mozz-a-repa stands, a sausage & pepper cart, and a dealer selling his collection of "tobacco" pipes while looking for the live music. The Creators Project had much more to offer. It celebrated the different facets of creativity within art, music, and theater while showcasing live music alongside interactive sculpture to create a wholly different "festival" environment.

The musical portion was limited to two live stages and a third "DJ" stage which also housed a few exhibits. One live stage was located under an archway beneath the Manhattan Bridge. The other was in the "Tobacco Warehouse", a brick structure that has also hosted the Brooklyn Hip Hop Festival. The shows were free, though you needed to RSVP (and even then you needed a confirmation that you were accepted).

I kicked off my afternoon at the Tobacco Warehouse stage with Teen Daze whose laptop knob-twiddling didn't make for much of a live event. After a few songs I moved on to my first band of the day, Brooklyn's Chairlift. Caroline Polachek is the clear focus of the band's sound, with her vocals pushed to the front and the electronic-pop complementing her lilting voice. Their sunny and simple compositions were sugar-y, well executed and a good way to ease into the day, but not particularly memorable. The next performance would bring about an abrupt change.

John Maus

No one outcrazys John Maus. After the crew cleared the stage of seemingly every piece of gear, the very unassuming Maus came on to plug his Roland SP-404 sampler into the DI and his microphone into an echo pedal. With the hit of his sampler, Maus kicked off his set by bouncing left and right and jumping around. Veins bulged in his neck and face as he began to scream, sing, whimper and all but cry into his microphone during his vocal parts. Even if I had no interest in his recorded material (which I do, and tons of it), I would, as I'm sure any passerby would, still find the maniacal John Maus live (almost freak) show absolutely enthralling. Catch him again this week at 285 Kent.

After 3+ songs from Clams Casino on the laptop which was about as exciting as it sounds (dramatic key-stroke!), A$AP Rocky opened his set by explaining that people are saying he is the "biggest thing to hip hop since the Wu-Tang Clan". I'd like to meet these people. Regardless of how over/correctly hyped A$AP is, he and his crew (which included an appearance from Spaceghostpurrp) were particularly high energy - stage-diving, inciting mosh-pits, and hopping around on stage. The crowd didn't move with the same enthusiasm though. Despite calls for more participation, the crew didn't ignite similar energy in the crowd.

After a visit to see Four Tet (another knob-twiddling set), I cruised over to see Bradford Cox do a one-man Atlas Sound. I prefer Atlas Sound in full band mode to Bradford solo, but his set was fresh change to the mostly electronic vibe of the day. Cox's voice coupled with the Bridge backdrop and the Manhattan skyline was particularly impressive.

Company Flow

Up next was Company Flow, my main motivation for being there since I missed their recent reunion shows at ATP and Santos Party House.

It had been around 14 years since I saw Company Flow on tour with Organized Konfusion, the former celebrating their seminal Funcrusher Plus and the latter promoting what may be their final effort, The Equinox. That summer in 1997, Co-Flow sounded so alien to everything else in the era; primitive, noisy beats made with crude synths and harsh scratches were complemented by abstract and double-time rhymes. Lead by a white redhead-ed MC (a rarity in the era), Company Flow was truly unique in their time.

Company Flow were massive to me in that certain, early-backpacker Rawkus era, the blast-off point for El-P's noisy and dystopian blueprint at Definitive Jux. So it pains me to say that the primitive Company Flow sound hasn't aged so well live; El-P still has a good stage presence as always, but unfortunately the rawness of the tracks just now come across as simplistic in comparison to his sleeker production. It was good to see the crew though, and with Pharoahe Monch in tow, much like that night in DC in 1997.

After Co-Flow, I caught a bit of Florence & The Machine before calling it an evening meaning I also missed the abbreviated Justice DJ set. Though cops shut down Jusice early and a vocal minority of DUMBO residents complained about the takeover of their neighborhood streets, the complaints were minor leagues compared to the impressive spectacle that descended on art galleries, parks, storefronts, and even an archway underneath the Manhattan Bridge.

We're splitting this into multiple parts, so stay tuned for the rest. Meanwhile, more pictures of everything I saw, below...

Continue reading "Creators Project in DUMBO in pics & review -- part 1 (Company Flow, John Maus, A$AP Rocky, Chairlift & more)"

A press release reads:

The much buzzed about rapper A$AP Rocky has signed with Polo Grounds Music/RCA Records, it was announced today by Bryan Leach, President of Polo Grounds Music, Inc. and Peter Edge, Chief Executive Officer, RCA Music Group.

"I feel great about the new deal; I believe it was destined and with a label like Polo Grounds & RCA behind me I don't see anything stopping us," says A$AP Rocky. "I wanted go with the right partner that can help get a bigger platform to get me and my A$AP crew's music and movement out. I expect to be in the same league as today's most relevant artists, and there are just some things you can't do on your own. The plan is to not only release great music, culture, and style for myself and A$AP worldwide, but to also be the next major artist/exec in the business and make great business men out of my brothers."...

...A$AP Rocky will perform at Vice magazine's Creators Project on Saturday, October 15 and the Fader Fort showcase during the CMJ Festival on Saturday, October 22. A$AP Rocky has also been tapped to join Drake's "Club Paradise" tour this fall.

Continue reading "ASAP Rocky gets a big record contract, playing Creators Project & Fader Fort, touring w/ Drake"