by Andrew Sacher

Barcelona producer John Talabot released ƒIN, his first album released under that name, this week via Permanent Vacation. It's easy to want to compare the album to fellow Barcelonians Delorean, whose singer Ekhi Lopetegi provides lead vocals on the track "Journeys," and those comparisons definitely have some accuracy to them. Both Talabot and Delorean go for polyrhythmic house music, but while Delorean pulls from tropical disco, John Talabot's sound is much darker and subdued. The album opener, "Depak Ine," uses a similar vocal clip to Delorean's "Real Love," but when placed upon Talabot's stark backdrop, it comes off sounding most like the ghostly vocal samples in witch house.

The album is largely made up of impressive instrumentals, but its most memorable moments do come from the songs with lead vocals, like "Destiny," which features contributions from Pional, who has releases on the label Hivern, which Talabot runs. "Destiny" is a low-range indie pop song which covers similar ground to recent work by Matthew Dear and Nicolas Jaar. Pional also appears on the album's closing track, "So Will Be Now," which is fronted by more ghostly pitch-shifted vocals, but they're brought far closer to the forefront than the reverb-coated clips that come in earlier on the album. You can stream both of the Pional-featuring songs below, along with the album artwork and tracklist.

John Talabot's got a few upcoming shows including a FIXED show in NYC with Permanent Vacation labelmate Tensnake happening on March 18 at Le Poisson Rouge. Tickets are on sale now. UPDATE: John Talabot cancelled.

All dates, streams, album art and tracklist below...

Continue reading "John Talabot released ƒIN, playing LPR with Tensnake"

Please join WFMU for a evening of delicious al fresco entertainment and broadcasting on Memorial Day!

DJ/Rupture, DJ Trent, and the Friends of the High Line team up next Monday, May 31st from 7-10pm to bring you a solar-powered broadcast from The High Line, the most beautiful public space in New York: disused elevated railroad tracks that rise 30 feet above the meatpacking district, transformed into magnificent viewing platforms for the greatest city in the world, Jersey City, and its close cousin Manhattan.

Featuring a live set of interstellar 8-bit crunk by Minusbaby + live stargazing (with telescopes!) by the Amateur Astronomers' Association. And, of course, the best sounds from this and other dimensions from DJ/rupture and Trent.

Join the fun in person - for free! - on the High Line under the Standard Hotel between 12th and 13th Streets (map) - or play along at home on 91.1fm or WFMU.org. Powered by the sun with the help of Solar 1.

The above flyer and description are for the event Monday in NYC.

Before then, the annual Primavera Sound music festival is going down in Barcelona over the weekend and, like in the past, WFMU is there broadcasting...

We'll be carrying full sets this Friday from Noon to 11pm, and Saturday from 1pm to Midnight, and the lineup resembles a who's who of WFMU Heavy Hitters like Pavement, Sic Alps, Liquid Liquid, Van Dyke Parks, Ganglians, the Slits, Marc Almond, Gary Numan, the Clean, Mission of Burma, the New Pornographers, and more!

Mission of Burma kicks things off at 12:10pm EST. Links to stream are at WFMU's site. The full schedule and a few more DJ/rupture tour dates below...

Continue reading "WFMU is streaming Primavera Sound performances, broadcasting from the High Line on Memorial Day"

photos by Zach Dilgard

Grace Jones

"Late of the Pier played a 20 minute shmeh set and crystal castles had no sound. crookers were better than usual and orbitol were awesome. grace jones is fucking mad and fucked up the schedule. Fever Ray is a shamanic wonder." [The Naked Smiles Club]

Grace Jones has shows coming up in both NYC and LA. The 2009 Sonar Festival took place June 18-20 in Barcelona. More pictures from that weekend in Spain, below...

Continue reading "Sonar 2009 in pictures"

wavves in sumi and watercolor on bristol (danyellsaysyes)

"But things declined quickly from there, as between songs, Nathan began ineptly mocking the crowd ("Ooooooh, I'm on ecstasy!"), going off at length about his preference for California over Spain, and eventually telling them the festival was "one of the coolest things we've been part of in a while," dripping with sarcasm. Finally, fed up with Nathan's petulant behavior, Ryan ran out from behind his drumkit and poured a full cup of beer over Nathan's head. The act would be met with their most enthusiastic applause of the evening." [Pitchfork]

WAVVES has US shows in NYC & Chicago coming up.

Bloc Party singer Kele Okereke claims he was left with severe facial bruising and a split lip following what he alleges was a racist attack by Sex Pistols singer John Lydon [aka Johnny Rotten]. The incident occurred on Saturday evening at the Summercase festival in Barcelona while the bands were socialising backstage.

In an official statement released by Okereke, who is of Nigerian descent, the singer says he approached Lydon and asked him about the possibility of a reunion for Public Image Ltd, the band Lydon formed following the Sex Pistols demise in 1978. In Okereke's words, Lydon became "intimidating and aggressive while his entourage responded with a racist tirade, including the statement, 'your problem is your black attitude'." An assault allegedly ensued in which three people attacked Okereke.

Several other bands witnessed the incident, with members of the band Foals and Kaiser Chiefs singer Ricky Wilson intervening on the Bloc Party singer's behalf. Both have confirmed to the Guardian that the incident occurred but could not confirm or deny reports that the assault was racially motivated. Following his involvement, Foals singer Yannis Philippakis was arrested. He is expected to make a statement shortly.... [The Guardian] (thx J M)