The 2013 ACL Festival happens in Austin, TX on two consecutive weekends: October 4 - 6 and October 11 - 13. Weekend passes are on sale now and the full line-up is below...

Continue reading "2013 ACL Music Fest lineup announced (Depeche Mode, The Cure, Atoms for Peace, The National, Vampire Weekend + more)"

Do you agree with Four Tet? Listen below..

Continue reading "Atoms for Peace remixed Four Tet (listen)"

Atoms for Peace's Thom Yorke and Nigel Godrich fielded questions from teenage girls about dating and love in the new installment of Rookie Magazine's "Ask a Grown Man" video series. Their answers are pretty honest and insightful and you can watch them give that advice below.

Atoms for Peace play Barclays Center in September.

Continue reading "watch Thom Yorke & Nigel Godrich give advice to teenage girls about love and dating"

Governors Ball 2012 (more by Amanda Hatfield)

Though Guns N Roses being announced as the third headliner and related "YOLO" Facebook messages were the most discussed and controversial topics when one of NYC festival Governors Ball's promoters hopped in a Reddit chat yesterday (4/3), we also learned that: Miguel dropped off the festival; the promoters were trying to land Atoms for Peace (whose tour instead brings them to NYC for a Barclays Center show on 9/27); Cut Copy and Kendrick Lamar are playing at the same time on the Saturday of the fest, and there are unannounced afterparties. "Stay tuned for epic shows at Brooklyn Bowl, MHOW, Gramercy, Glasslands, and Irving Plaza." That quote and more over at Reddit.

Governors Ball goes down on Randall's Island from June 7 - 9 and also includes a number of other artists like Kanye West, Nas, Grizzly Bear, The xx, Feist, Beach House, Animal Collective, Erykah Badu, Death from Above 1979, Crystal Castles, Best Coast, Dirty Projectors, DInosaur Jr., Japandroids, Alt-J, Deerhunter, Fucked Up, and many more. 3-Day passes are still available and tickets for individual days are now on Friday (4/5) at 11 AM.

Meanwhile you can catch Guns N Roses tribute band, Mr. Brownstone (no stranger to the pages of BrooklynVegan) at Brooklyn Bowl on May 18 (tickets).

We recently gave you a list of artists we're excited to see at the festival, and though that list already included Deerhunter, we're even more excited to see them after their recent Fallon performance. If you missed the awesomeness of that (which also included debuting their new single, Monomania), you can watch the video below.

Continue reading "Governors Ball plan afterparties, Miguel not playing, Kendrick & Cut Copy competing set times & more we learned on Reddit"

Atoms for Peace @ Le Poisson Rouge last week (more by PSquared Photography)

While Thom and Nigel seemed to have fun doing Atoms for Peace as a singing DJ duo last week, they've just announced dates as a band with Flea, Joey Waronker and Mauro Refosco rounding out the line-up. There's a stop in NYC at Barclays Center on September 27. No word on when tickets go on sale just yet but you can keep checking Ticketmaster.

UPDATE 1: Tickets go on sale Thursday (3/21) at noon via WASTE.

UPDATE 2: General ticket on-sale happens Saturday (3/23) at noon via Ticketmaster.

Dates are listed below.

Continue reading "Atoms for Peace announce full-band tour dates"

photos by PSquared Photography

Atoms for Peace @ Le Poisson Rouge, 3/14/2013

"It's something we've talked about doing for ages, and we finally got our shit together," explains Yorke. "We've basically just cut everything up into its constituent parts. We'll try to re-cut the tunes live, mixing in loads of other bits and pieces and collaging stuff together.

At the same time as manning the machinery, Yorke will be adding his own live vocals and guitar to the mix. "I sing - but I felt kind of weird about that to begin with, because it's quite this weird mixture," he says. "It's like fucking karaoke or something! But it's not, because it's all this other stuff as well, and I have my own machines, like a drum machine and a vocal looper. It's interesting - singing, trying to remember words and programming a drum machine at the same exact time. It's kind of tricky."

The performance will also feature dynamic visuals designed by Dutch artist Tarik Barri. "That's fucking bonkers," says Yorke. "It's not like anything else." - [Rolling Stone]

Thom Yorke and Nigel Godrich debuted their new Atoms for Peace "singing DJ" configuration at Le Poisson Rouge last night (3/15), celebrating the release of new album Amok. Following sets from Arca and Holly Herndon, Atoms for Peace went on around 1AM and did 12 songs from the new Amok and Thom Yorke's Eraser with those "bonkers" projections. Once their official set ended, the night turned into a dance party with Yorke and Godrich spinning tunes like De La Soul's "A Rollerskating Jam Named 'Saturdays.'" Not bad for a school night.

More pics from Le Poisson Rouge, plus Atoms for Peace's setlist, are below.

Continue reading "Thom and Nigel's Atoms for Peace played Le Poisson Rouge (pics, setlist)"

Atoms for Peace at Roseland Ballroom in 2010 (more by Bao Nguyen)

Thom Yorke's group Atoms for Peace, who have a DJ gig in NYC coming up, made a video for "Ingenue" off of their new album, Amok. It was directed by Garth Jennings, who did Radiohead's "Lotus Flower" -- plus a zillion other cool videos and Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy -- and you can check it out below.

Continue reading "watch Atoms for Peace's new video for "Ingenue""

As mentioned, Thom Yorke and Nigel Godrich of Atoms for Peace took to the internets today to do a Reddit interview, which you can see HERE. When asked if they knew their album leaked, they said "Oh did it? How nice," and when asked a followup question about how they feel about it, they said, "Well.. unsurprised?" Those responses themselves are pretty "unsurprising," considering this is Thom Yorke, whose other band Radiohead has been using album leaks to their advantages for over a decade. (Thom also did a BBC interview today, which is archived HERE.)

Plus, we now know Atoms for Peace were about to let us hear it anyway, because they've just made the entire new album, AMOK, available at their website, http://amok.atomsforpeace.info. The stream comes along with a visualizer, and any site that links to AFP's site gets added to that visualizer (the site's currently down but will probably be back up later today). You can also listen to the album its entirety below...

Continue reading "stream Atoms for Peace's new album, 'AMOK'"

As you may be aware, Thom Yorke's Atoms for Peace project drops their debut album, Amok, next week (2/26) via XL. Maybe you've already heard it? You can ask Thom how he feels about leaks and file sharing -- as well as less controversial subjects (what toothpaste does he use?) -- when he participates in a reddit Ask Me Anything interview at 17:30 GMT (that's 12:30 EST).

At the same time, Yorke will be interviewed live on BBC 6Music during Steve Lemacq's show. You can tune in here.

Thom and Nigel Godrich will be DJing "with live vocals" at Le Poisson Rouge on March 14 which is, surprise, sold out.

Cover art for Amok and streams of two songs, "Default" and "Judge Jury and Executioner" below...

Continue reading "Atoms for Peace's Thom Yorke & Nigel Godrich doing a Reddit "Ask Me Anything" interview today (BBC 6Music interview too)"

Tickets for The Postal Service (with Jenny Lewis and Laura Burhenn in tow) show at Barclays Center go on sale today at 10 AM.

Jenny Lewis will also contribute vocals to two previously unheard Postal Service songs -- "Turn Around" and "A Tattered Line of String" -- that will be included on the 10th Anniversary edition of the duo's sole album, Give Up, due out April 9 via Sub Pop. The bonus disc also contains remixes and Iron & Wine's cover of "Such Great Heights." Tracklisting is below.

Other tickets on sale:

Tickets for the Johnny Marr show at Irving Plaza go on sale today at 10 AM. Tickets for his MHOW show go on sale at noon.

Tickets for The Hives headlining show at Irving Plaza during their tour with Pink go on sale today at 10 AM.

Tickets for the Foxygen show at Knitting Factory go on sale today at 10 AM. Tickets for their Mercury Lounge show go on sale at noon.

Tickets for the Presidents of the United States of America show at Irving Plaza playing their self titled debut in its entirety, with support from Eternal Summers, go on Live Nation/Music Geeks presale today at 10 AM (anyone know the password?). General sale starts Saturday at 10 AM.

Ben Harper and Charlie Musselwhite are playing Beacon Theatre on May 3. Tickets for that show go on sale today at 10 AM.

As mentioned, Thom Yorke and Nigel Godrich are doing an Atoms for Peace DJ set in NYC on March 14. When we first mentioned the show, the venue was TBA, and we now know it's happening at Le Poisson Rouge.

Continue reading "tix on sale: Postal Service, Johnny Marr, Hives, Foxygen, Presidents of the United States of America, & Ben Harper"

Thom Yorke w/ Radiohead at Coachella 2012 (more by David Andrako)

Thom Yorke tweeted that he and Radiohead producer/Atoms for Peace bandmate/Ultraista member Nigel Godrich will be "out and about with two turnables and a microphone" this winter, with dates set in London, Berlin, and NY on March 14. Special guests and venues TBA. The last time Thom and Nigel DJed in NYC, they performed three previously unreleased Atoms for Peace songs with Thom singing live.

Thom recently made a mix for Dazed & Confused Magazine, which included previously unreleased Radiohead, Atoms for Peace, and Thom Yorke material. You can stream that mix and check out the tracklist below. Atoms for Peace's new album, Amok, will be out on February 26 via XL.

Stream, tracklist, and a list of all dates below...

Continue reading "Thom Yorke & Nigel Godrich will be DJing with live vocals at select dates, NYC included"

Atoms for Peace at Roseland Ballroom in 2010 (more by Bao Nguyen)

Thom Yorke's Atoms for Peace project will release their new album, Amok on February 26 via XL and they just revealed a new song/video clip from that album, "Judge Jury and Executioner." It will be available on iTunes tonight at midnight UK time or available for free if you pre-order the album.

Video below...

Continue reading "listen to a new Atoms for Peace single"

Ultraista in LA in October (more by Debi Del Grande)

Ultraista (the project of Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich, Walt Mink/Beck drummer Joey Waronker, and singer Laura Bettinson) has announced some January dates with production wizard Prefuse 73. No word yet on an official tour announcement, but the announced shows include on in NYC happening on January 28 at Music Hall of Williamsburg. Tickets for that show go on sale Friday (12/14) at noon. All known dates are listed below.

In other Radiohead-related news, Thom Yorke recently revealed the details for his upcoming Atoms for Peace album (titled Amok, due out February 25). NME has since reported that their track, "What The Eyeballs Did," which was the b-side to the "Default" single can be downloaded for free at the Atoms for Peace website if you "scroll all the way over to the right and click on the dial of the clock tower."

All dates are listed below...

Continue reading "Ultraista touring w/ Prefuse 73 in January (dates)"

In Thom's words:

So finally I can tell you the Atoms for Peace record is coming out on the 25th February, it's called Amok.

The front will look like theez..

Continued below:

Continue reading "Thom Yorke reveals Atoms For Peace album details"

Sigur Ros at Prospect Park in July (more by Amanda Hatfield)

As we just posted, Sigur Ros are heading out on their biggest, most-ambitious tour of their career next year, including Madison Square Garden on March 25. The tour wraps up on the West Coast in April, with convenient availability during Coachella 2013's two weekends (4/12-14, 4/19-21). Hmmmm.

Who else do you think might be playing this year?

Per Consequence of Sound, two acts have confirmed their slots on the 2013 fest in interviews. They are EDM artists Kill the Noise and Paul Kalkbrenner. For various reasons, CoS also speculates that Atoms For Peace, Local Natives, Passion Pit, Tegan and Sara, and Wu-Tang Clan all might be playing.

Sigur Ros's full list of international tour dates is below.

Continue reading "Sigur Ros playing Coachella 2013? Who else?"

Thom Yorke at The Wooly - 9/7/12 (via non_equivalents)

Thom Yorke came to NYC over the weekend and DJed a Fashion Week party for Rag & Bone (whose co-designer Marcus Wainwright is a friend of Thom's) at The Wooly on Friday (9/7). A picture of Thom during his set at the Belvedere Vodka-sponsored party is above. Aziz Ansari was in attendance too.

Thom also, as discussed many times, did an Atoms for Peace DJ set for the final installment of this summer's Warm Up at MoMA PS1 with AFP bandmate and Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich. Atoms for Peace just announced that their new album will come out next year, and to open their set, Thom and Nigel performed three new tracks that will presumably end up on that album with Thom singing live. You can watch videos of two of those new songs, and listen to audio of the third below. After the short unexpected live performance, Thom returned to the boards for the remainder of the show and spun a variety of tunes (everything from Talking Heads to Azealia Banks).

Thom Yorke & Nigel @ MoMA PS1 - 9/8/12 (via rebeccataylorny)

The rest of the lineup at Warm Up was great too. Despite a crazy storm, the show went on, opening with a set by Justin Strauss. Then Maria Minerva, who also did a Fashion Week show, just released new album, Will Happiness Find Me (stream it), and who now lives in Brooklyn (after moving from Estonia to London), played a live set. You can catch her in NYC again at Glasslands on Friday (9/14) with Father Finger and Octo Octa (tickets).

Up next was Holy Other, finally making his NYC debut, after having to cancel shows last summer due to illness. The elusive producer, who in a recent interview with Stereogum said he was "going to feel naked" performing outdoors during the day, played material off his excellent recently released debut LP, Held, and 2011's With U EP as well. A video from his set is below. The MoMA PS1 show fell in the middle of his tour with Amon Tobin, which hits the NYC area on Thursday (9/13) at Wellmont Theatre (tickets) and Friday (9/14) at Hammerstein Ballroom (tickets).

Before Thom Yorke and Nigel Godrich finally took the stage, we were graced with one more set, this time by Scottish producer Rustie, who played Webster Hall with Flosstradamus and Brenmar the night before (9/7). He dropped bass heavy tunes that got the crowd going pretty wild. A couple videos from his Webster Hall show are below (unfortunately, the sound cuts out about halfway through).

Check out all those videos below...

Continue reading "Thom Yorke DJed for fashion, sang new Atoms for Peace songs @ MoMA PS1; Rustie, Holy Other, Maria Minerva played too"

Atoms for Peace at Roseland Ballroom in 2010 (more by Bao Nguyen)

Yesterday we mentioned that Thom Yorke's Atoms for Peace project (which also includes Nigel Godrich and Flea) dropped their new single, "Default," on iTunes and that the single for the track will be out on September 10 via XL. You can now listen to that song below. Thom also announced that he plans to release a full length album with the project in 2013. Here's what he said today:

You may have heard that I have a new project called Atoms for Peace.

The name comes from some shows of The Eraser that happened a couple of years ago with Mauro, Joey, Nigel and Flea.

We got a big buzz from them and discovered loads of energy from transforming the music from electronic to live, and so afterwards, we carried on for a few days in the studio and decided to make it a loose, on-going thing.
Immersed in the area between the two...electronic and live.

The first tune we'd like you to hear is Default
A 12" vinyl version will follow next month and an album will eventually follow that next year.
Thom

As mentioned, Atoms for Peace will DJ Warm Up at MoMA PS1 on Saturday (9/8) with Holy Other, Maria Minerva, Rustie, and Justin Strauss. Advance tickets for that show are sold out but a limited number will be available at the door starting at noon.

In related news, Radiohead performed at the Moody Theater in Austin this past March for an episode of Austin City Limits. Last night (9/6), it aired on a screen in Austin's Republic Square Park for the first installament of ACL in the Park. The performance will air on PBS stations for the 38th season of Austin City Limits on October 6. Other performances which will air this season include Bon Iver (10/13) and The Shins (10/27).

Listen to Atoms for Peace's "Default" below.

Continue reading "Atoms for Peace reveal album info (you can now listen to the single); Radiohead's ACL episode will air in October"

Atoms for Peace at Roseland Ballroom in 2010 (more by Bao Nguyen)

Thom Yorke's Atoms for Peace project (with Flea and Nigel Godrich), who released a single over the summer, just resurfaced with another new single today (9/6) called "Default." The song is on iTunes and it will be officially released on September 10 via XL. The cover art for the single is below.

As mentioned, Atoms for Peace is DJing at the final installment of this summer's Warm Up at MoMA PS1 on Saturday (9/8) with the very impressive lineup of Holy Other, Maria Minerva, Rustie, and Justin Strauss. Advance tickets for that show are sold out but there will be a limited amount available at the door starting Saturday (9/8) at noon.

Speaking of Nigel Godrich (who also produces Radiohead), his new band Ultraista has a few shows scheduled, including one in NYC on October 24 at Le Poisson Rouge. Tickets for that show are still available.

Atoms for Peace cover art below.

Continue reading "Atoms for Peace has a new single; their DJ set at the final Warm Up is this weekend"

photos by Tim Griffin

Other Lives at Rock Werchter 2012

Other Lives, who recently played Rock Werchter in Belgium (pictures in this post), are currently making their way around Europe, and eventually to Japan and, after taking a 2 month break, the band will head out on a fall tour of the US and Canada with Copenhagen's Indians. That tour brings them to NYC for shows at Bowery Ballroom on November 28 and Music Hall of WIlliamsburg on November 29. Tickets for both NYC shows go on sale Friday (7/20) at noon with an AmEx presale starting Wednesday (7/18) at noon. All dates are listed below.

Meanwhile, Indians will be in North America even sooner for a previously discussed short run of dates that brings him to NYC for a show at Glasslands on July 26 with Milagres and Zulu Pearls. Tickets for that show are on sale now. Indians recently released a new single, "I Am Haunted," which you can download below in exchange for an email address. If you missed it, two other Indians tracks -- "Magic Kids" and "New" -- are streaming HERE.

In other Other Lives news, a remix of their song, "Tamer Animals," by Thom Yorke's Atoms for Peace project with Flea and Nigel Goodrich appears as a b-side to the new Atoms for Peace single. The a-side is a remix of Atoms for Peace's own song, "Other Side." You can stream the Other Lives remix below, where you'll also find the single's artwork. The single comes out on limited edition white vinyl on July 30 (sold out) and regular vinyl on August 6 via Modeselektor's Monkeytown label for their 50WEAPONS series. You can order the regular vinyl issue here. As mentioned, Thom Yorke will do an Atoms for Peace DJ set at the final installation of this summer's Warm Up series at MoMA PS1 on September 8 with Rustie, Holy Other, Maria Minerva, and Justin Strauss.

We also just mentioned that Thom Yorke will appear on the new Flying Lotus album.

In more related news, Nigel Godrich's band Ultraista announced their self titled debut LP today. It comes out October 2 via Temporary Residence. The cover art, tracklist and a video for "Static Light" are below. Live dates TBA.

A list of all Other Lives and Indians dates, more pics of Other Lives from Rock Werchter, the Atoms for Peace remix, the Indians MP3, and Ultraista album info below...

Continue reading "Other Lives remixed by Atoms for Peace, going on tour w/ Indians (dates, MP3s & live pics); Ultraista announces debut LP"

by Andrew Sacher

Manchester producer Holy Other released one of the finest EPs of 2011 with the With U EP, and he just announced that he'll follow it with his debut full length this year, which is titled Held. The album's out August 28 via Tri Angle, who also released his EP. The first taste is a new track titled "Love Some1" which is rooted in the same type of Burialesque bass, snaps, and pitch shifted vocals that made his EP so great, and this track is no exception. Stream it below, along with the album's tracklist.

Holy Other was supposed to make his way over to the states last year but had to cancel due to illness and never ended up doing so. Now he's once again got plans to head over to our side of the Atlantic, and assuming all goes well, he'll make his US live debut at PS1's Warm Up on September 8. That one's the final show of the series and it's got an especially stacked lineup with Thom Yorke's Atmos for Peace (DJ), Rustie (who we've written about HERE), Maria Minerva (who we've written about HERE and HERE) and Justin Strauss. Tickets for Warm Up go on sale June 18.

All dates are listed below along with the song stream and album tracklist...

Continue reading "Holy Other releasing debut LP (stream a track), playing shows"

Warm Up 2011 at MoMA PS1 (more by Erez Avissar)

The Warm Up summer concert series is returning to MoMA PS1 this summer for another run of dance parties from forward thinking electronic musicians every Saturday from July 7 through September 8 in PS1's outdoor courtyard. For the first time, advance tickets for Warm Up will be available this year. They go on sale June 18.

The 2012 schedule includes Thom Yorke's Atoms for Peace (DJ), Jamie xx, Danny Brown, Just Blaze, Maria Minerva, Shlohmo, Evian Christ, Howse, Nguzunguzu, Baio, Holy Other, Rustie, Matthew Dear (DJ), Lemonade, Slava, TRUST, Light Asylum, Sepalcure, Floating Points, Jacques Greene and many more.

More info and the full schedule below...

Continue reading "PS1's 2012 'Warm Up' lineup announced (Thom Yorke, Jamie xx, Danny Brown, Maria Minerva, Evian Christ, Trust & more)"

Atoms For Peace @ Roseland 2010 (more by Bao Nguyen)

"After the opening of the Stanley Donwood exhibition at Subliminal Projects Gallery an afterparty was scheduled at MOCA in LA with Gonjasuffi, Ana Caldaron, as well as Thom Yorke and Nigel Godrich (Nigel: "We're Djing at Mike D's bash"). The two under the name Atoms For Peace played 5 new songs with Thom Yorke vocals. And it all points out to tracks from the highly anticipated Atoms For Peace album.

Atoms For Peace is live band of Thom Yorke, which includes Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich and Red Hot Chili Pepper bassist Flea. A new album was in the works, but till today there was no sign of new material." [At Easeweb]

A couple of videos from the set, a recently-gone viral video of Carrie Manolakos covering "Creep" at Le Poisson Rouge, and a video of little kids reviewing Radiohead, below...

Continue reading "Thom Yorke & Nigel Godrich debut new songs in Atoms For Peace DJ Set"

photos by Rachel Carr

Devo

"An aggregate 225,000 people bought tickets to see a [Coachella] roster headlined by Jay-Z, Muse and Gorillaz during the April 16-18 event at the Empire Polo Grounds in Indio.

The previous attendance record was set in 2007, when the headliners included a reunited Rage Against the Machine. Final figures are still being tallied, but AEG Live CEO Randy Phillips said the gross will exceed $20 million.

Phillips said the future looked bleak for AEG Live's nascent All Points West festival, which took place in 2008 and 2009 across the Hudson River from lower Manhattan at Liberty State Park in Jersey City, N.J.

"We're probably going to kill it," said Phillips. "As beautiful as (the site) is, it's very hard to get New Yorkers to cross that river. All Points West is an experiment that just didn't work." [Reuters]

The 2010 edition of Coachella actually began excactly one week ago today, and we already posted full picture sets from: DAY ONE, DAY TWO and DAY THREE. Now here is one last group that contains unposted outtakes from all three...

Continue reading "more photos from Coachella, more confirmation that All Points West is not happening"

photos by Rachel Carr, words by Daiana Feuer

Gorillaz Clash

The third and final round of the Coachella Music & Arts Festival was funky, and not just because the port-a-potties reeked. Keeping a loose theme every day (see Friday & Saturday), Sunday focused on relentless rhythm and groovy basslines. The absolute golden moment belonged to Yo La Tengo's blistering final song. Rhythm that revels in repetition + guitar that tries to destroy itself = wee mind blown. Sometimes the moodiest things are the most uplifting.

Thom Yorke brought his dancing shoes, his favorite Flea, and Nigel Godrich. His band Atoms For Peace played almost every song off The Eraser, many of which featured strong world rhythm sections. When Yorke didn't have a guitar in hand, he danced, whirled, and punched the air like he was rehearsing a scene from Fame. We wanted a high kick, but it didn't arrive. King Khan & The Shrines, on the other hand, featured legs flying all over the place, DJ Lance Rock and Yo Gabba Gabba characters, burning money, as well as a visit from the police-who crept on stage to snap pictures. Probably the first time Khan runs into cops and doesn't leave wearing cuffs. Sunny Day Real Estate had the audience offering bids to buy property, and Phoenix had people choking on dinner as they tried to dance and eat at the same time.

King Khan Gabba Gabba

Not every Julian Casablancas song captivated, but his band delightfully binged on rhythms. Each musician had a personal backbeat player supporting each fill. The drummer plus his sidekick especially sounded great. Matt & Kim's ebullient smiles inspired chaos in the audience, as usual. Mayer Hawthorne and the County revived Motown soulful brassiness and covered Biz Markie's "Just a Friend." The Big Pink played some new songs from next year's album, reaching out for Depeche Mode with a drummer in a pink bathing suit. Electro sweet popper Little Boots forgot her pants as well, wearing a sparkly shirt and knickers, and played with the lasers on stage. Charlotte Gainsbourg inaugurated her "first tour, first everything" with a feminine "Candy-O" sensibility, sometimes in French. Florence & the Machine rounds out the great lady performances of the day, and brought on Nathan Willett of Cold War Kids.

All clad in white, France's DJ ego-powers Club 75 demonstrated the ability to cooperate together with just a few elbows thrown. Cassius, Justice, Busy P, and DJ Mehdi still use CD's (so old school), and took turns passing on the headphones between them and finishing each other's remix sentences, trading places at each station. Backstage security bobbed along while staying tough. When it was their turn, Rusko turned the Sahara tent into a mechazoid robot battle and Orbital live-produced virtual reality anthems for Satan wearing Matrix miner lights around their heads. Infected Mushroom instructed on the benefits of "Becoming Insane" flanked by two mushrooms with red eyes.

The Middle East should not be confused with The Soft Pack, formerly The Muslims. The former may be from Australia but it sounds like a back porch band from Woodstock, and the latter offers a "Parasite" infestation that's as pure as sunshine and a neat drum set up that packs a giant tom punch. What appears as regular rock on headphones reveals its brilliance when experienced live. One of the strangest live moments of the festival belongs to Sly Stone, who played four hours late and on the wrong stage. He bitched, he slurred, he cursed, lay down, walked off, stopped songs and good grief, made a total mess of himself. But that's rock and roll.

Sly Stone made history look unable to get past its youthful drug phase, but Jonsi, Pavement, and Spoon come from a music scene that did a little bit less cocaine. Jonsi repped the awesomeness of Sigur Rós and great hats. Steve Patterson of White Rabbits joined Britt Daniels and the rest of Spoon to add percussion on "I Turn My Camera On". Spoon's tour-mate Bradford Cox (who played earlier in the day in Deerhunter) also joined Spoon on stage, like he did on their recent Kimmel appearance. Pavement ran through the hits during one of their first U.S. shows since reuniting. "That's the 90's in a nutshell," said Stephen Malkmus after the angsty "Unfair"...

"...Pavement, the iconic slacker band of the '90s, who took the main stage against what turned out to be one of the fest's chief attractions, the finally wildly popular French dance-rock band Phoenix, who wowed possibly the biggest crowd of the entire fest ... while Pavement played to a field half-full of true believers rather than the massive throngs many expected, and thought the band deserved.

No matter, though. Pavement still delivered a set that vindicated the group of prior crimes -- namely a Coachella performance near the end of their career so notoriously bad, many in attendance point to it as the moment the band decided to break up.

This night, however, they were tight, they were loud, and they sounded large on that vast field -- an odd statement, given the fact that in their heyday they were far more known for being introspectively small rather than arena-ready..." [The OC Register]

Virtual Snoop Dogg introduced the Gorillaz set, but Blur's Damon Albarn appeared in the flesh, with a few special guests including Paul Simonon, Mick Jones, De La Soul-who kicked their own old school jams earlier in the day-and Little Dragon's Yukimi. One unique rhythm transcended the next, showing the mutability of hip hop and dance music. And then that was it, suddenly. The festival ended and tens of thousands of people started wondering where they left their car keys...

Radiohead Peppers For Peace

Daiana's Weekend Top 10:
1. Yo La Tengo's last song
2. Little Dragon's Yukimi
3. Gossip leading a revolution
4. Thom Yorke dancing to African rhythms
5. PiL giving a history lesson
6. Sly Stone wigging out
7. Bouncing penises + fat people in undies (Die Antwoord + Major Lazer)
8. Devo putting on the hats that ushered in modern pop culture for "Whip It"
9. John Waters corrupting many young minds
10. The Gorrilaz lyric: "Super fast jellyfish going super fast. You can't even see him but you wanna eat him."

--

Owen Pallett, Local Natives, Miike Snow, and Yann Tiersen also played the fest Sunday. Gary Numan was among those who couldn't. Reviews & pictures from Day One, HERE and Day Two, HERE. Setlists (Thom Yorke and Pavement), pictures, and videos from Day Three, below...

Continue reading "Coachella 2010 - Day Three in pics, video & review (the Thom Yorke & Pavement setlists included) "

Flea night 1 (looked the same night 2) @ Roseland (more by Bao Nguyen)

"An underground fire caused chaos in midtown Tuesday afternoon, sending flames into the streets, shutting down Broadway shows, and leaving hundreds of tourists without a place to stay. At about 4:30 pm a transformer fire burnt three 13,000 volt cables, causing a three-alarm fire. Over a 130 firefighters rushed to the scene to put out the flames. Amazingly, there were no reports of injuries. Among the four buildings that had to be evacuated was the Novotel Hotel after high levels of carbon monoxide were detected in the basement. FDNY Deputy Chief Jay Jonas told WPIX that the levels reached as high as 700 parts per million, which is enough to "kill someone with just a few breaths." Tuesday night's performance of Jersey Boys was also canceled due to the fire." [Huffington Post]

Jersey Boys is right next door to Roseland Ballroom where Atoms For Peace did end up playing their second of two NYC shows last night (4/6). It almost didn't happen. There was at least an hour or two where the venue wasn't sure if they were going to have to postpone it. 52st street was closed and it was madness around the venue - even after the show the street was still closed (people were herded out along the sidewalk as cops made sure that nobody hopped the barrier and went into the street). To get in to the show, which ended up opening hours late, people had to enter through the 53rd Street back door. Ironically, all tickets were will call to keep away scalpers. That meant thousands of people had to start checking in not long before the opener was originally scheduled to start. Some people waited hours, but luckily set times ended up being pushed back an hour. I missed Flying Lotus who played while many people were still stuck on the street. Thom Yorke, Flea, Joey Waronker, Mauro Refosco and Nigel Godrich (aka Atoms for Peace) took the stage to an extremely packed house at 10:03.

Not one for many words, Thom Yorke (and band) immediately started playing his solo album The Eraser from start to finish. I was anticipating some funny commentary from Thom on the craziness that preceded their set, but all we got was a quick (not an exact quote) "interesting afternoon, huh?" after the 2nd song (which i think he followed with something like, "my friend texted me and said he was drinking all day and tired and that I should hurry up and start playing"). After the nine song album, the band left the stage and Thom came back and did three songs solo (guitar and piano) including Kid A's "Everything In It's Right Place" which got the loudest cheers of the night. It was one of a few Radiohead songs in the setlist (they also played "Fog" and "Paperback Writer") (there were no Red Hot Chili Peppers songs) (but it would have been kind of awesome if they actually did play one). Thom's other solo song was a cover of Mark Mulcahy's "All the Best" which he recorded for that recent tribute album. He reportedly never performed that one live before which was also true about the new song he played at the first show (but not play again at this one).

Like the night before, the full band came back for the last four songs. Relatively speaking, Thom started to get more talkative at that point, but the banter was basically limited to naming the song they were about to play and mentioning that we might be able to buy the recent single (from which they played both songs again to close the show). Speaking of buying, the ticket price was expensive, $40 t-shirts are a disgrace, it was a major pain getting in (not anyone's fault), and the whole show was only about 80-85 minutes (Wilco's recent shows in NJ were each longer than both nights of Thom combined - I know, they have much more material). Those details were definitely all a little off-putting, but the show itself was great. Watching and listening to Thom perform is definitely something special. Throw in Flea on bass and you have two very dynamic (and talented) characters sharing a stage in what felt like a rare treat complete with a super tight supporting band and colorful light show.

Pictures from the first night HERE. Videos from the show, of the line, of the manhole exploding, and the full setlist below...

Continue reading "Atoms for Peace played (almost didn't) Roseland Ballroom again - night 2 setlist & videos (of the NYC show, line & fire)"