photos by dailybeatz, words by Andrew Frisicano

Hopefully all goes well with the HARD NYC show at Governors Island's South Island Field this Saturday (7/24). The show, which still has tickets on sale, will be happening despite the cancellation of its sister HARD LA show. The disappointing HARD LA cancellation came right after the disappointing lukewarm critical reaction to Maya (though Metacritic rates it as 69/100, so not so bad overall actually).

MIA, who is also playing the Virgin FreeFest this year, is on a lineup that includes Die Antwoord (who play the next night at MHOW) and Sleigh Bells, who just played Pitchfork Fest's third day.

A full list of who's at HARD NYC, with set times, and more pictures and some palpably sweaty videos of Sleigh Bells at the Pitchfork Festival (on the stage and in the crowd) are below...

Continue reading "Sleigh Bells played P4K (pics), playing HARD NYC (set times)"

DOWNLOAD: Flying Lotus - 3 non-album tracks (ZIP)

Flying Lotus (DJ & laptop whiz Steven Ellison) will be at LPR on Tuesday, March 30th for a show with kode9 presented by Wordless Music. Tickets are on sale.

That's part of a larger string of dates (including Coachella in April) that lead up to his new album, Cosmogramma, which comes out May 4th on Warp.

The spirit of his famed aunt, Alice Coltrane permeates the record, notably in the powerful collaborations with relative Ravi Coltrane, bass virtuoso Thundercat and the brilliant harp prodigy, Rebekah Raff.

Certainly these are further reaches into a musical space that Flying Lotus had hitherto been exploring, however other collaborators such as Erykah Badu and Outkast string arranger Miguel Atwood-Ferguson and guest vocalists Thom Yorke and a returning Laura Darlington (featured on Los Angeles' epic closing track 'Inifinitum') help deliver Cosmogramma to dizzying new heights. [Warp]

The label has put up three recent non-album tracks from Flying Lotus, which you can grab above.

He'll also be at SXSW for the Warp showcase Wednesday, March 17th at the Phoenix with labelmates Hudson Mohawke, Born Ruffians, Nice Nice, Pivot and Eskmo. Nice Nice (Portland's Jason Buehler and Mark Shiraz) are getting their record Extra Wow released by the label on April 6th. The trippy video for their song "Everything Falling Apart" and tour dates are below.

All tour dates, streaming tracks from the file above and the new album, and artwork and tracklist are below..

Continue reading "Flying Lotus - new record & tour dates - Coachella, LPR w/ Kode9, the Warp showcase @ SXSW w/ Nice Nice & more"

DOWNLOAD: Surkin - Hoes Get Down (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Gorillaz - El Manana (TTC Remix, prod. by Para One) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Para One - Midnight Swim (Surkin Drowning Mix) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Bobmo - Legally Dead for 4'31 (YOUSENDIT MP3)

Crystal Castles @ Mercury Lounge, NYC - Mar 26, 2008 (Ryan Muir / Metromix)

Digitalism @ Webster Hall, NYC - Mar 22, 2008 (Madaes)

We're in the last week of March dance madness. Despite it seeming like every good deejay is down in Miami for WMC the line-up in New York this weekend is surprisingly awesome.

Thursday night (March 27) New York's Cut celebrate their 3-year anniversary bringing French electro label Institubes here to host the Paris Terror Club at Studio B. Cut has done a lot over the past 3 years to bring some of the top dance music talent to New York. You can check out a short video about them and what they do here.

Last August's Paris Terror Club party at Studio B was great. Thursday's should be no different as Para One and Surkin are back again with the addition of label-mate Bobmo.

Para One is a great producer out of France. He got people moving with his album 'Epiphanie' in 2006, specifically with the smash hit ' Dundun-Dun'. He's done production for French rap act TTC in the meantime, as well crafted a beautiful soundtrack (a great departure from his dancefloor jams) for the French film 'La Naisssance Des Pieuvres'. No stranger to manipulating beats, expect a clean set full of knob-twisting from Para One that will leave you with no option but to get down.

Surkin and Bobmo are two very young, successful deejays out of France. At ages 22 and 17, each of them has already produced some great tracks. Bobmo recently followed up last year's 'Let's Go Bobmo EP' (featuring the B-more/electro hit 'To the Bobmobile') with his '3000% Yes EP' which has more of an electro-ravey feel (be sure to check out the great track 'Legally Dead for 4'31'). Surkin's 'Ghetto Obsession' and 'Radio Fireworks', as well as his countless remixes have been devastating dancefloors over the past year. In the meantime he's been working on his follow-up, the 'Next of Kin EP' due out on Institubes shortly. The cover art features a black knight printed on a silver foil pattern, designed by Gaspirator who you might know better as Gaspard Auge (the moustached half of Justice). The EP features equally impressive tracks:

A1 White Knight Two
A2 Kid Gloves
B1 Next Of Kin (as heard in Justice's XMAS mix)
B2 Next Of Kin (Todd Edwards' re-kindled Mix)

$10 advance tickets available here, $15 tickets at the door, AND.....we have three pairs of tickets to give away courtesy of Cut & Finger on the Pulse (who are coordinating this contest and who are celebrating a birthday of their own this weekend). To win a pair of tickets, be one of the first 3 people to email them now (subject: cut).

More events, flyers, & whatnot, below.....

Continue reading "the week in Dance w/ Showtrotta (03/27/08)"