Tickets to see Gold Panda at Webster Hall go on sale today at noon.

Tickets to see Savages at Webster Hall go on sale today at noon.

Tickets to see Austra and DIANA at Webster Hall go on sale today at noon. Tickets to the Music Hall of Williamsburg show are still available.

Tickets to see CSS and Io Echo at Bowery Ballroom go on sale today at noon. Tickets to the Brooklyn Bowl show also go on sale today at noon.

Tickets to see Donnie & Joe Emerson at Mercury Lounge go on sale today at noon.

Tickets to see She & Him and Camera Obscura twice at Central Park Summerstage go on sale today at noon.

Tickets to see RX Bandits play The Resignation at Best Buy Theatre go on sale today at noon.

Tickets to see Future Bible Heroes (sans Stephin Merritt) at Bowery Ballroom go on sale today at noon. Tickets to The Bell House show are still available.

Tickets to see Smith Westerns at Music Hall of Williamsburg go on sale today at noon.

Tickets to see Marijuana Deathsquads at Mercury Lounge go on sale today at noon. Tickets to the Glasslands show are still available.

Chris Isaak is playing The Capitol Theatre on July 13. Tickets for that show go on sale today at noon.

Body Language and Avan Lava are playing Bowery Ballroom on August 1. Tickets for that show go on sale today at noon.

Tickets for the Superhumanoids show at Mercury Lounge go on sale today at noon. Tickets to their Cameo Gallery show also go on sale today at noon.

Tickets for the Jimmy Eat World show at Central Park Summerstage go on sale today at noon.

Dicky Betts and Great Southern, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Dirty Dozen Brass Band and Beverly McClellan are playing Rock The Blues Summer Jam 2012 at The Capitol Theatre on July 26. Tickets for that go on sale today at noon.

Brooklyn's Body Language, whose billboard in Times Square you may have seen earlier this year when your relatives were visiting, will release their sophomore album, The Grammar LP, in July. Dipping into that early-'80s netherworld where new wave and R&B comingled, it will make head-bobbing summertime listening. The album's first single is "What's the Point?" and we've got the premiere of its video in this post. You can watch below.

Body Language have a couple appearances lined up here in Brooklyn, DJing Friday (4/19) at Brooklyn Bowl as part of French Horn Rebellion's residency there. Tickets are still available. They'll also play Glasslands on May 5 for a Cinco de Mayo party with Pegasus Warning and #1 Kid. Tickets are still available for that one too.

The new video and all dates in list format below...

Continue reading "Body Language releasing new LP, made a new video, playing shows (dates)"

French Horn Rebellion have just announced a "Party Ensemble Residency" that will happen on four consecutive Fridays from April 19 - May 10 at Brooklyn Bowl and each one features a different set of collaborators. April 19 features '80s pop icon Jody Watley (who features on their "Cold Enough" single), plus Body Language DJ set and Ernesto of Penguin Prison; April 26 is billed as "Savoiring the Night" and if you note the spelling you might make guesses as to who the "special guests" might be; May 3 features a live set from Auto Body, plus help from Le Tigre's JD Samson (who guests on "Girls"), plus Ernesto again and a DJ set from Dirty Grand; and the final Friday (5/10) is with Nancy Whang (LCD/Juan Maclean), JPatt of the Knocks and Ernesto. All four shows feature FHR with their full band The Great Apes and tickets are on sale now. Flyer for the residency is below.

Two new remixes of "Girls" (feat. JD Samson and Fat Tony) were released today (by FM Attack and Rogue Vogue) were released today and you can stream them below, along with their recent Love is Dangerous EP and a few other FHR tracks. The band are also heading to SXSW and playing other shows after it, and all tour dates are listed below.

Continue reading "French Horn Rebellion release new remixes (stream); announce NYC residency w/ Jody Watley, Nancy Whang ++ more"

photos by Amanda Hatfield

Flatbush Zombies / flips / Gordon Voidwell

Hardcore punk rockers Cerebal Ballsy performed Saturday with a ferocity that commanded the seemingly peaceful crowd into a mosh pit. Later in the evening, the atmosphere switched into a groovy hipster paradise for all to enjoy as Erykah Badu jammed. The next day, Janelle Monae put on a performance with enough energy to power Manhattan. The performers were awesome - all of them - but they were merely a reflection of the movement known as Afropunk and the people of it.

The crowd was multi-everything - multi-cultural, multi-colored, multi-faceted, and multi-fashioned. - [Allhiphip.com]

Our first set of Day 2 pictures is here, and you can see pics from Day 1 here and here. More pics from Day 2 are below.

Continue reading "more pics from 2012 Afro Punk Fest Day 2"

photos by Gretchen Robinette

Janelle Monáe / TV on the Radio / Pharrell at Afro-Punk Fest 8/26/2012

Slamming together categories -- and, when appropriate, bodies -- is the ever-expanding mission of the annual Afro-Punk Festival, which returned last weekend to Commodore Barry Park in Fort Greene, Brooklyn.

It was an event summed up in action by one of its returning headliners, Janelle Monáe. She's an indefatigable song-and-dance bandleader who gleefully draws on African-American showmen like Michael Jackson, Jimi Hendrix, James Brown and even Cab Calloway as her lyrics dip into science fiction. Her finale, "Come Alive (War of the Roses)," had a jitterbug-ready beat while Ms. Monáe crowd-surfed like a punk-rocker: off the stage, into the audience and back onstage for a few more snappy steps. - [NY Times]

Continue reading "Afro-Punk Festival 2012 in pictures: day 2 (Janelle Monae, TV on the Radio, Reggie Watts, Toro Y Moi and more)"

Rain Machine at BAM in 2010 (more by Vincent Cornelli)

As mentioned, the free Afropunk Festival returns to Brooklyn's Commodore Barry Park on August 25-26. You can check out the full schedule for the fest at the bottom of this post. On the Saturday (8/25), the Green Stage will be headlined by Erykah Badu and the Red Stage by Das Racist. On the Sunday (8/26), the Green Stage will be headlined by TV on the Radio following sets by Toro y Moi and Reggie Watts and the Red Stage will be headlined by Janelle Monae.

Speaking of TV on the Radio, Kyp Malone's solo project Rain Machine has a NYC show coming up, that will take place soon after Afropunk at Union Pool on September 1 with Soft Location and Slowdance. No other Rain Machine dates to report at the moment.

Sinkane, who also plays Afropunk Fest, continues his residency at Zebulon tonight (8/20).

2012 Afropunk Fest schedule is below.

Continue reading "the Afropunk Festival 2012 schedule & a Rain Machine show"

TV on the Radio at Catalpa 2012 (more by Toby Tenebaum)

As mentioned, the free Afro-Punk Festival is returning to Brooklyn's Commodore Barry Park on August 25-26. Since then, the lineup has been expanded, and now joining the initial announcement of Erykah Badu, Janelle Monae, Toro y Moi, Das Racist, Reggie Watts, and more is TV on the Radio (who will be headlining), Sinkane, Alice Smith, Flatbush Zombies, Radkey, Joe Jordan Experiment (JJX), and Purple Ferdinand.. Plus, the following DJs have been added: The Supasonics, Grits and Biscuits, DJ Pete Smoke Les, Stack-Aly, Roofeeo and VENUS X GHE20GOTH1K.

There will also be a Bites & Beats Food Truck Festival, an Afro-Punk Spinthrift Market, a motorcycle show, and a Nike Battle For the Streets Skate Competition, hosted by Alex Corporan and Billy Rohan. More details on these are below.

The updated lineup, flier and an Afro-Punk exclusive film, I Am Other, are below.

Continue reading "Afro-Punk Festival expands lineup (TV on the Radio, Sinkane, Alice Smith, food trucks, art vendors, bike show & more)"

The 2012 Afro-Punk Festival is returning to Brooklyn's Commodore Barry Park on August 25-26 at Commodore Berry Park in Brooklyn. The initial line-up includes Erykah Badu, Gym Class Heroes, Janelle Monae, Das Racist, Skindred, Toro Y Moi, Reggie Watts, Spank Rock, Ninjasonik, The Memorials, Bad Rabbits, Gordon Voidwell, The London Souls, Cerebral Ballzy, Phony People, and Body Language, with more to be announced. The Afropunk Festival is free and open to the public.

Additionally, the fest, now in its eighth year, will also feature "the largest street skate and BMX competition in NYC will return this year with the nation's top amateur skaters and BMX riders in a competition to be judged by top professionals in both sports." Last year's Afro-Punk Fest was cancelled due to Hurricane Irene. Let's hope for better weather this year.

Continue reading "Afro-Punk Fest 2012 line-up announced: Erykah Badu, Janelle Monae, Das Racist, Toro Y Moi, Reggie Watts and more"

Just like in 2010 and 2011, Internet Week NY HQ will be home to stages, a classroom, lounges curated by Design Within Reach, installations from Ivan Toth Depeña in collaboration with Jared Schiffman's "Spatial Media" class at NYU's ITP, and more. With 20,000 more square feet of Digital Playground as well as Conference Theater--Internet Week HQ at 82 Mercer is poised to be the best yet.

Open from May 14-17, attendees can expect to be a part of the ever-changing digital landscape in New York--hearing from industry luminaries and innovators across two stages and a classroom on the second floor of 82 Mercer. On the ground floor, Internet Week NY will host large-scale ticketed conferences with partners like App Nation.

A full schedule of all Internet Week goings on is available at their site but the musical portion of the conference kicks off tonight with an invite-only party at IWNY HQ (82 Mercer, 8-11pm) featuring Wild Belle and MNDR before moving to an after-party at Tribeca Grand later on for a performance from Rye Rye with DJ sets from Blaqstarr, Blu Jemz, Night People, and Kaviar Disco Club. Saturday (5/19) will feature a performances from Vacationer, Magic Wands and Body Language (who will also DJ) at Santos Party House.

Passes for the week are still available in varying levels but we're also giving away TWO Insider Passes, which gets you into all of the above and much more. Details on how to win these passes are below.

That kickoff party tonight will be the first NYC performance of Chicago's Wild Belle, who we profiled earlier this year on BV Chicago. The band also recently did their first BBC session last week, which will air in June. Stream their Keep You 12" below.

Internet Week 2012 closes with the Webby Awards which will be streamable in full. Patton Oswalt will host the evening.

A Wild Belle stream and details on how you can win and insider pass is below.

Continue reading "It's Internet Week - win passes, Wild Belle's NY debut included"

South Street Seaport concert (more by Chris La Putt)

The initial lineup of this year's free NYC concerts at the South Street Seaport is announced. The shows are part of the River to River Festival and some of them are also part of the Friday night Seaport Music Festival (which sadly doesn't host as many shows as it used to). Check out the list below...

Continue reading "South Street Seaport (Pier 17) shows announced (initial lineup)"

Ralf, who also showed up as the surprise special guest on Sunday at PS1, hasn't tweeted yet today, but if and when he does, it will probably say "Tonight, Tour de France." And when that's over, so is the entire 8-night MoMA run, but then there's an afterparty. Flyer below...

Continue reading "Tonight, Tour de France @ MoMA; afterparty @ Bowery Hotel"

Caveman at BV-SXSW DJ-Space Ducks show more by Ryan Barkan)

The Brooklyn Museum is hosting the Audiophile Concert Series with one show happening each month in April, May, and June. The series was curated by Shirley Braha of Weird Vibes/NY Noise and is made up of exclusively Brooklyn bands/artists. The first show is Oneohtrix Point Never and Body Language on April 19, then NewVillager and Caveman on May 17, and lastly, Tanlines Lemonade and Small Black on June 21. Tickets for all three shows are on sale now. UPDATE: It says Tanlines on the ticket site, but they're not playing, Lemonade is instead.

Oneohtrix Point Never and Caveman are both playing the Dessner brother-curated Crossing Brooklyn Ferry festival on May 5. Tickets for that day are still on sale.

Meanwhile Oneohtrx opens for Black Dice in Brooklyn this weekend, at a show that just went on sale. He's also on the bill of a show happening at Public Assembly in August.

Some videos from the bands below...

Continue reading "Caveman, Lemonade, Oneohtrix & others playing 'Audiophile' shows @ Brooklyn Museum"

DOWNLOAD: Body Language - Holiday (Savoir Adore Remix) (MP3)

today in NYC
* Whiplash @ UCB
* Brain Cloud @ Barbes
* Hot Tub @ Littlefield
* Common @ Highline Ballroom
* Marianne Faithfull @ City Winery
* Wale, Meek Mill @ Best Buy Theater
* Body Language (DJ set) @ Brooklyn Bowl
* Puss n Boots Christmas Spectacular @ Bell House
* Matisyahu, Aunt Martha @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
* Reverend Vince Anderson & His Love Choir @ Union Pool
* Dan Neustadt plays songs from the REM catologue @ Knitting Factory
* Belikos, Pants Velour, The Canon Logic, Escape Directors @ Pianos
* Rachel Cox, Pat Sullivan, Stephanie Rabins, Brian Osborne @ Zebulon
* Dear Lions, The Sanctuaries, Your 33 Black Angels, Sam Bay @ Cake Shop
* Woods, Alex Bleeker & The Freaks, Steve Gunn, Tide Eyed (DJ Set) @ Glasslands
* Teddy Kumpel Loopestra, Steve Broderick, The Vanity Belles, Stephanie White & The Philth Harmonic, Derek James, Jay Stolar, Morgan Karr, Abby Ahmad, Martin Rivas, The Vanity Belles, Emily Kinney, Jeep Rosenberg, Tiff Randol @ Rockwood Music Hall
* Wolf!, Tony Scherr Trio with Anton Fier and Rob Jost, Chris Riffle, The Goodnoise @ The Living Room

Death By Audio is closed from 12/19 to 1/3.

I don't think Rock Shop is closed, but they don't have any more shows scheduled until 1/5.

Savoir Adore, who opened for Oh Land last week, remixed Body Language who DJ at Brooklyn Bowl tonight and who open for Matt & Kim at Hammerstein Ballroom on New Year's Eve. You can listen to the remix below (or download it above).

Matisyahu's beard will not be present at Music Hall of Williamsburg tonight.

SLAYER CHRISTMAS LIGHTS 2011 video below...

What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Monday?"

by Andrew Sacher

DOWNLOAD: Keep Shelly in Athens - "Our Own Dream" (Blackbird Blackbird Remix)
DOWNLOAD: Keep Shelly in Athens - "Our Own Dream" (MP3)

Keep Shelly in Athens at FFF Fest (more by Tim Griffin)

Greek duo Keep Shelly in Athens made their way over to North America earlier this month for Fun Fun Fun Fest where they played their first-ever US show in the early afternoon at Auditorium Shores. They then played their 2nd US show later that night downtown as part of one of the afterparties.

They've since been on a short tour with Body Language that hits Bowery Ballroom on November 18. Tickets are still on sale and we're also giving away a pair. Details on how to enter to win them are below.

We're also premiering Blackbird Blackbird's remix of KSIA's "Our Own Dream," off the 12" EP of the same name which came out on November 5 via Forest Family. You can download their remix and the original at the top of this post and check out the EP's artwork and tracklist at the bottom. Like most of KSIA's work, "Our Own Dream" is a dreamy piece of downtempo. On their remix, Blackbird Blackbird replace the song's swaying beat with a 4/4 headknocker and fill it out with synths that can't help but remind me of LCD Soundsystem's "Dance Yrself Clean."

Speaking of Body Language, you can catch them again after the Keep Shelly in Athens tour when they open for Matt & Kim and Super Mash Brothers at their New Year's Eve show at Hammerstein Ballroom. Tickets are still on sale.

All dates, artwork and tracklist below...

Continue reading "Keep Shelly in Athens are on tour now (win tix to Bowery!), were remixed by Blackbird Blackbird (MP3 premiere)"

by Bill Pearis

Forest Fire

Thursday, we're in the thick of it now and maybe some of us are already frazzled. Which might explain why this picks post is shorter than yesterday's. Also, we're starting to see a lot of the same bands, so see this as a reminder as to what's happening where. This isn't comprehensive, just what I personally recommend. I've tried to include set times at the bottom of this post for all parties mentioned.

Hopefully you're going to stop by the BV Day Party at Kniting Factory which has Yellow Ostrich, Still Corners, Hundred Visions, Forest Fire, BOBBY, Main Attrakionz and the just added We Were Promised Jetpacks. Yellow Ostrich kicks things off at 12:30, hope you can make it down. There's free PBR & HobNob Wine too for those over 21.

Miracle Fortress

You can make a day of it in Williamsburg, and we wouldn't grudge you for venue hopping. Public Assembly's got the Pop Montreal party today, with Miracle Fortress, Pat Jordache, Teen Daze, Tops, Tonstartssbandht, and Touchy Mob... plus food courtesy Mile End. Maybe some Montreal-style bagels?

Radical Dads

Over at Bruar Falls it's the Camper's Rule Records party, with Radical Dads (if you're from out of town, one of my favorite new local bands), plus Fort Lean, Backords, Beat People, Easter Vomit, Yanqui, and Moonmen On the Moon, Man. Plus, you're running out of chances to hang out at Bruar Falls... it closes at the end of the month.

The Suzan

And at The Woods, there's a cool afternoon/early-evening party being thrown by the folks at all-girl-drummer zine Tom Tom, with a great line-up of bands that, yes, all feature ladies behind the kit. There's Baybee Teeth, Coasting, TEEN, The Suzan, Pearl & the Beard, Brute Heart and Satellite Sky. $5 cover for this one. Let's hope the sound has improved from last year's CMJ-week shows, which was a joke.

Of course it's hard to deny the allure of the Lower East Side, what with five or so clubs all within a block or two of each other, making for very easy show-hopping. The two best are on the same Ludlow Block. At Cake Shop, NYC Taper has indie rawkers Mr. Dream, the widescreen pop of Savoir Adore, the dreamy/dusty sounds of Widowspeak, superior psych group White Fence, the dark anthemecism of Hoop Dreams, plus Prussia and Teletextile.

And at Pianos,I Guess I'm Floating and Tell All Your Friends PR have two floors of fun, with a few Canadians (Grimes, Parlovr, Doldrums), one Australian (Little Red), dance music (Beat Connection, Body Language) and lots more. Full schedule is below.

Okay, those are my daytime choices of choice. Flyers and set times, some for shows not mentioned above, are below.

Continue reading "CMJ 2011 - Bill's Thursday daytime picks (BV day party, Miracle Fortress & other Canadians, Radical Dads, The Suzan & more)"

DOWNLOAD: Jessica 6 - Prisoner of Love (w/ Antony) (MP3)

Download "Prisoner of Love" from the forthcoming Jessica 6 album above (Antony and Nomi Ruiz together again). "See The Light" will be released by Peacefrog on 6/6.

Jessica 6, who oddly played an in-store in a Sephora earlier today (5/6), play Tammany Hall along with DJ JD Samson (Le Tigre) and Body Language tonight (as mentioned earlier in What's Going on Friday). Flyer and other dates below...

Continue reading "Antony on a new Jessica 6 track (MP3), Tammany Hall tonight "

photos by Chris Doss

PUBLIC ASSEMBLY - FRONT ROOM
8:00pm Aarnio
9:00pm Class Actress
10:00pm Lemonade
11:00pm Javelin
12:00pm Penguin Prison
1:00am Azari & III
2:15am The Knocks
3:15am Punches

PUBLIC ASSEMBLY - BACK ROOM
8:00pm Free Magic
8:45pm Lloydski & Blu Jemz
9:25pm Michna
10:15pm oOoOO
11:15am Falty DL
12:15am Treasure Fingers
1:15am Tittsworth
2:15am Star Eyes
3:10am Dave P

MUSIC HALL OF WILLIAMSBURG
8:00pm Boody B & Marcus Price
8:30pm The Glass
9:15pm Body Language
10:05pm FHR
10:55-11:30pm BRAHMS
11:40am CREEP
12:30am Cubic Zirconia
1:15am Kid Sister
2:00am Sinden
3:00am Kingdom

Continue reading "the 2010 Brooklyn Electronic Music Festival in pics"

It's a little bit later this year, but the third annual The Brooklyn Electronic Music Festival will take place across two venues in Williamsburg on December 18th: Music Hall of Williamsburg and Public Assembly (if you didn't know, they are right next door to each other). The "fest" will feature acts from across the digital spectrum ("emerging and established bands, DJ's and producers from the Boroughs and beyond") including Sinden, Kid Sister, Javelin, Tittsworth, Class Actress, Brahms, Lemonade, and many others, with more to be announced.

Tickets are currently on "Super Limited Reduced Price Advance" sale.

Lemonade meanwhile is out on tour with their True Panther labelmate Delorean. Two NYC shows happen very soon and both are still on sale.

Initial BEMF lineup and two videos from last year below...

Continue reading "Brooklyn Electronic Music Fest returning (in 2 venues), Lemonade on tour w/ Delorean (dates) "

photos by Andrew St. Clair, words by Patricia Scull

Dan Black @ Bowery Ballroom

Dan Black headlined Bowery Ballroom on Thursday night (9/10), one night before he played a pair of Fashion's Night Out events. Dan returns to play a dancey BMI & SPIN CMJ showcase at Highline Ballroom on on October 19th, eleven days after he is scheduled to play Austin City Limits 2010. Also playing that CMJ show are The Golden Filter, Neon Hitch, Boy Crisis, Body Language, and The Chain Gang of 1974. Tickets are on sale for those who don't have and/or want to chance getting in with a CMJ badge.

Pictures and a review of the Bowery Ballroom show, continue below...

Continue reading "Dan Black played Bowery Ballroom (pics), playing CMJ (tix) "

photos by Chris La Putt

There's not much you can say against the laser harp. At the Highline Ballroom on Tuesday night a beam of green light shot up from the floor, then fanned out into eight individual rays. The tiny synth-pop singer Little Boots, wearing a gold lamé gown and face mask, played the melody of her song "Earthquake" by moving her hand among the streams of light; each time she blocked one, it triggered a synthesizer pitch, and she could alter its tone by lowering or raising her hand on each beam.

"Earthquake" isn't much of a song, but that was a beautiful display. It made you feel light. "I'm basically obsessed with lasers," she admitted, chattily, when the song was done...

...And at two points in the show, putting on a cape and hood and getting behind a red synthesizer, she evoked another great future monger from the past: Sun Ra. This sort of thing has a history. There's a lot out there besides Auto-Tune. [NY Times]

Continue reading "Little Boots played a laser Harp @ Highline Ballroom in NYC w/ Class Actress & Body Language (pics)"

DOWNLOAD: Dragonette - Pick Up The Phone (Van She remix) (MP3)

Little Boots @ Bowery Ballroom in September (more by Chris La Putt)

Little Boots has announced openers and additional dates on her upcoming North American tour. That includes Coachella and the previously announced NYC show on March 2nd at Highline Ballroom. Opening that will be Body Language, JDH & Dave P of FIXED and Fan Death (the latter of which open more dates on the tour) UPDATE: Fan Death cancelled their appearance on this tour. Tickets are still on sale and we have a pair to give away. Details are below.

The show coincides with the US release of Little Boots' debut album, Hands, on Elektra Records, which comes almost a year after its UK release.

Besides Vancouver band Fan Death (who have videos posted below), Class Actress and Dragonette (who have a remix above) also open shows on the tour. Of those mentioned, Body Language, Class Actress and Fan Death will be at SXSW.

Class Actress (Brooklyn's Elizabeth Harper and band) just released their debut EP, Journal of Ardency, on Terrible Records (co-run by Chris Taylor from Grizzly Bear). She recently played a Glasslands release party for that album, and plays again tonight (2/9) with Yeasayer and Javelin at MHOW. More tour dates are below.

Contest info and tour dates for all the bands are below...

Continue reading "Little Boots playing shows w/ Fan Death, Body Language, Class Actress & Dragonette - updated 2010 tour dates"

DOWNLOAD: Crystal Fighters - I Love London (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Crystal Fighters - I Love London (Douster remix) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: CRYSTAL FIGHTERS - KITSUNE 1 HR RADIO MIX (MP3)

Crystal Fighters looking sexy in the woods

Crystal Fighters - 2009 NYC Tour Dates
Thursday Nov 19 @ Santos Party House
Friday Nov 20 @ Glasslands w/ Tanlines & Lemonade
Saturday Nov 21 @ Le Poisson Rouge w/ Little Dragon & Body Language

Continue reading "Crystal Fighters (their name) are here from the UK/Spain - MP3s, videos, 3 NYC shows, other 2009 tour dates"

photos by Ryan Muir

Eleanor Jackson has been ill for a while, and it's concentrated mostly in her lungs which obviously makes the fact that she's singing through it rather incredible. She's had to cancel a few of La Roux's gigs, but they went on last night. She said that it was an abbreviated setlist and apologized profusely. Meanwhile, her set is apparently usually forty-five minutes, but last night was close to forty. How abbreviated!

She was a complete trooper and sounded absolutely wonderful though, and thank you to Cherrytree Records for bringing her over and allowing me to see her live. I can't wait for her to come back in February. [The Music Box]

Continue reading "La Roux fought sickness to play Highline Ballroom w/ Body Language - pics & setlist"

photos by Sara Skolnick

"Best Fwends is made up of Anthony Davis and Dustin Pilkington both out of Forth Worth, a city known for basically being considered Dallas, Texas by people who don't live there. By all accounts, it's a pretty boring place which explains how two people were basically able to lock themselves into a room and create electronic music fast as hell on what sounds like toy keyboards and microphones. If you've only heard their releases Alphabetically Arranged or Not-So-Alphabetically Arranged, then you're really unprepared for the live show.

Dustin, the redhead, seems to lead most of the songs and dances while Anthony seems to be the more introverted of the two. There is a large amount of staged elements found in their sets, such as the song "Hail", a thrash metal emulation which involved them taking on the mantle of metal singers throwing up the goat on each chant of "Hail!" then becoming almost monkish as they fold their hands into prayer during an instrumental section of the song, as following a dark faith, they close their eyes and stride in a circle through the audience to end up back where they began in time for the song's end." [King of the gigabitches]

Continue reading "Best Fwends, Das Racist, Body Language & Nature Boy Jim Kelly @ the Studio @ Webster Hall - pics "