photos by Dana (distortion) Yavin

Swans @ Paramount Theater

You saw pictures from Friday and Portishead from Saturday (and Portishead Sunday). Here are the rest from that 2nd day in Asbury Park. They continue below...

Continue reading "I'll Be Your Mirror 2011 -- pics from ATP Saturday (Swans, Ultramagnetic MCs, Battles, Beak, Horrors & more)"

words by Bill Pearis, photos by Amanda Hatfield

At one point during Anika's set at Le Poisson Rouge last night (9/27), someone in the audience starting chanting "A! N! I! K! A!" in hopes, I think, of getting a reaction. But Anika's detached cool was unflappable. She didn't say a single word to the audience. Not a "Hello," "Thank you," or "Good night." Which is exactly what everyone wanted from her  given the icy post-punk sound of last year's debut album.

Her band, featuring the rhythm section of BEAK> plus a guitarist and keyboard player, were similarly understated but delivered 100% on that minimalist, dub-heavy sound. The drummer had a three-piece kit, plus what looked like a Mattel Synsonics drum pad sitting on top of his snare. They played the entirety of Anika's debut, plus a few new covers, including The Crystals' infamous single "He Hit Me (It Felt Like a Kiss)" and an absolutely killer version of Chromatics' "In the City" which was one of the night's highlights. Also awesome: "Yang Yang" (a Yoko Ono cover), "No One's There" and, especially, "Masters of War" (a Bob Dylan cover). She closed the show with a 1-song encore of her cover of "He Needs Me" from Popeye (listen below). She also did "Love Buzz" which is a Shocking Blue song that was also covered by Nirvana. The full setlist is below.

Sound at Le Poisson Rouge was good if not loud enough. But I feel if ever a show shoulda been at a burned-out Bushwick warehouse it was this one. Anika's music screams for that kind of urban decay locale (though her chic black dress did not), what with all the police sirens wailing in the background. Maybe Glasslands, where Anika will be playing next Thursday (Oct. 6, with Slowdance and Ducktails) will come a little closer to that vibe. Tickets are on-sale now. Anika plays All Tomorrow's Parties this weekend. She also had a Maxwell's show scheduled at some point, but that's cancelled. After the Glasslands show will head out on a short North American tour. All dates are at the bottom of this post.

Slowdance opened at Le Poisson Rouge as well and their sound was pretty well attenuated to Anika's.  Quay Quinn-Settel sang in French half the time and the band mine early-'80s bands like New Order and the B-52's. You can download their just-released EP, Light & Color, for free from their website. I missed first act (and Anika's Stones Throw labelmate) Bryant K but Amanda was on-hand to take pictures.

Anika's setlist, video and more pictures from the whole show, below...

Continue reading "Anika played Le Poisson Rouge (pics, video & setlist), adds Glasslands show & other dates"

DOWNLOAD: SBTRKT - "Wildfire" (Drumma Boy remix ft. Shabazz Palaces) (MP3)

Back in June, we announced the killer initial lineup for Moogfest 2011 (October 28, 29, 30). That lineup just got even better with additions including TV on the Radio, Special Disco Version featuring James Murphy and Pat Mahoney, St. Vincent, SBTRKT, Flying Lotus, YACHT, John Maus, Araabmuzik Baths, Zomby, Active Child and more. It was also announced that Brian Eno, part of the initial lineup, will be presenting Brian Eno's 77 Million Paintings and "Illustrated Talks" as part of this year's fest.

The initial announcement also included Suicide, Tangerine Dream, Hans-Joachim Roedelius, Austra, M83, Little Dragon, Passion Pit, Toro y Moi, Moby (full band), The Flaming Lips, Battles, CANT, Brandt Brauer Frick (who will be on a US tour that hits Glasslands), and more.

Speaking of CANT (aka Chris Taylor of Grizzly Bear), he revealed the song "Believe" from his upcoming debut LP yesterday. Stream the track below. The album comes out September 13 on Chris' own Terrible Records. He's also got an upcoming tour surrounding Moogfest which includes a show on October 25 at Bowery Ballroom. Tickets are still on sale.

Speaking of SBTRKT and Little Dragon, Drumma Boy remixed the SBTRKT song with Little Dragon's Yukimi Nagano on lead vocals. Shabazz Palaces is also featured on the remix (compare that to Drake's version). Grab the track above via Gorilla vs Bear. Shabazz wrote on Facebook today, "Besides the release of Black Up, I don't think I've seen one article on here create such a surge of activity as this Wildfire Remix has. Amazing."

Sampha, who sings live with SBTRKT and on his album, also recently released his own song, "Indecision." Stream the track below. Moogfest is one of the stops on SBTRKT's recently announced US tour that also hits Bowery Ballroom on October 31 (with Araabmuzik) and Music Hall of Williamsburg on November 1. Tickets for both shows are still on sale.

Little Dragon plays a BV-presented Record Release show at Music Hall of WIlliamsburg TONIGHT (8/16). The show is sold out, but if you don't have tickets you can catch them in NYC again on their headlining tour which hits Terminal 5 on October 14. Tickets are still on sale.

Song streams and full Moogfest lineup below...

Continue reading "updated Moogfest lineup, new CANT & a Shabazz Palaces/Drumma Boy SBTRKT/Little Dragon remix (MP3s)"

All Tomorrow's Parties returns to the USA this September in the new location of Asbury Park, N.J. bringing an I'll Be Your Mirror event to the iconic waterfront. For the inaugural U.S. I'll Be Your Mirror, Portishead will curate and headline their firrst East Coast shows since 1998 on the Saturday & Sunday.

As well as Day Tickets, ATP have to date been selling two types of weekend pass - "Three Day Jeff Mangum" passes that include Jeff Mangum's Friday show and guarantee access to one of the Portishead shows (as well as everything else at the festival) and "Three Day Portishead" passes that do not give access to Jeff's Friday show but give guaranteed access to both Portishead shows as well as the rest of the festival. Today we announce a third type of weekend pass...

Portishead have invited Jeff to play an extra show on the Sunday night of the festival. Therefore this week we release new "Three Day Jeff Mangum Sunday Passes" - these give access to all three days of the festival to passholders who will see Jeff Mangum on the Sunday night and are guaranteed to see one of the two Portishead shows. The original Three Day passes for the event are now called "Three Day Jeff Mangum Friday Passes."

That means Jeff is playing Asbury Park three times, twice during the actual festival (see above), and, as you know, once on Monday (10/3) at Paramount Theatre (the day after ATP and not actually part of the fest itself). The Monday show has been sold out for a while now, but ATP are releasing a few more tickets for it. "To buy email feedback@atpfestival.com with JEFF MONDAY TICKETS in subject line, and tell us how many tickets you want. We will respond as soon as possible. Payments must be made by Paypal." A Hawk and a Hacksaw (ft. Neutral Milk Hotel's Jeremy Barnes) open the show.

ATP NJ has a few other lineup additions including Thinking Fellers Union Local 282 (they first reunited to play the Animal Collective ATP that recently happened in the UK), avant guitar hero Marc Ribot, avant sax hero Colin Stetson, avant comedian Reggie Watts, and others. Also: "Today we are also very pleased to announce that in conjunction with The Jonathan Levine Gallery, renowned artist SHEPARD FAIREY (who has created the art for this event and will also DJ) will be presenting an exhibition of his art over the weekend entitled Revolutions: The Album Cover Art of Shepard Fairey. More details of the exhibition will be confirmed soon."

The updated lineup is below, along with updated Jeff Mangum tour dates (he added a few other shows recently too)...

Continue reading "ATP NJ adds another Jeff Mangum show, a new kind of pass & some more bands to the lineup"