Diplo at Pier 94 - 12/30/12 (via Chris Neil)

Diplo, who was just in NYC opening for Afrojack at Pier 94 on December 30 (pictured above, video below), will be doing an interesting run of shows this month. On January 20, the super producer will set out to play four cities in one day. He'll begin at 6 PM in Baltimore's Ottobar, then make it to Philly's Sound Garden Hall at 9:30, Atlantic City's Mixx @ Borgata Resort at 12:30 AM, and finally he'll end in NYC at The Westway at 3:30 AM. Tickets for the NYC show are on sale now. The flyer for the shows is below.

In related news, Diplo's Major Lazer project will release its new album, Free the Universe, on February 19 via Mad Decent/Downtown. The album features guest spots from Santigold, Amber Coffman (Dirty Projectors), Ezra Koenig (Vampire Weekend), Wyclef Jean, Flux Pavillion, and others. You can check out the cover art, tracklist, and video for the song with Flux Pavillion, "Jah No Partial," below.

Continue reading "Diplo played Pier 94, playing 4 cities in 1 night; Major Lazer releasing a new LP (videos)"

by Bill Pearis

Armed with backup singers, Passion Pit played Saturday Night Live last night (10/13), performing "Take a Walk" and "Carried Away" both from the band's Gossamer LP. SNL has notoriously wonky sound, but PP did a pretty good job. Christina Applegate hosted, her first time doing so since Married with Children was still on the air.

Passion Pit are currently on tour and while they won't be hitting NYC this time around, their tourmates Hollerado will play Mercury Lounge on November 7.

Next week (10/20), set your DVRs (or, y'know, don't) as Bruno Mars will not only perform but also host SNL. Video of both Passion Pit performances are below, along with the "Tech Talk" sketch, probably the funniest bit of last night's show.

Continue reading "Passion Pit played 'SNL' (video)"

Grizzly Bear are on the cover of the new issue of NY Magazine, which makes two weeks in a row that Brooklyn was prominently featured.

Despite making it into Billboard's Top 10 with their new album, Shields, the band still aren't making a lot of money.

Check out pictures from the show they just played in Chicago with Lower Dens.

And speaking of Brooklyn, get ready for Brooklyn Bowl Las Vegas.

"The Artwork of Robert Pollard & Tobin Sprout" is opening in Brooklyn soon. Meanwhile check out our recent Guided by Voices pictures from both Austin and the Deluna Fest in Florida.

Crystal Castles and HEALTH play Roseland on Wednesday (10/3). We're giving away tickets here and on our Facebook too.

Also on Wednesday, M83 plays Hammerstein Ballroom and we're giving away tickets to that on Facebook too. Tickets are also still on sale.

Another Facebook contest: win tickets to see Raveonettes and Melody's Echo Chamber at Webster Hall on Friday (10/5).

The Compact Disc turns 30 years old today. The first CD pressed in America was Bruce Springsteen's Born in the USA (though Billy Joe's 52nd Street came out in Japan before that). What was the first CD you bought?

Speaking of Bruce Springsteen, Kenny's Castaways, where he used to play is hosting their final show tonight.

Producer and TV On the Radio member Dave Sitek has launched Federal Prism, "a new record label where Sitek will personally record, mix, produce, and release a series of limited edition 12-inch vinyl picture discs with a uniquely curator-driven perspective. The vinyl will be limited to 500 numbered copies each with a jacket personally hand silkscreened by Sitek."

Federal Prism's first release is "Destroyer" by Telepathe. "The b-side of the vinyl will feature a remix by Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor with Alessandro Cortini and Atticus Ross. Sitek adds, "I told Trent I was starting my own label and would love to have him remix something on the first release. I sent him the session and before he actually said 'YES', he sent back this mighty dark space that he, Alessandro and Atticus had built for me! I was shocked and am certain I will have to keep ripping them off for years!"" It's on sale now.

Speaking of Trent Reznor, he says his his band How To Destroy Angels, have "formally partnered with Columbia Records for our next series of releases. The first of these will be available in November and it's called An Omen EP."

Scary: Ryan Adams revealed via Twitter: "Recording a track with my new pal @deadmau5 today. Sounds like BladeRunner starring Don Henley."

More scary: As if it wasn't bad enough that Bruno Mars has been announced as the host of the 10/20 episode of SNL, they're letting him be the musical performer for that episode too!

But here's some good news: Now That's What I Call Music 83 will reportedly be the last in the series.

more stuff below...

Continue reading "ALSO: Grizzly Bear on cover of New York; CDs turned 30; Dave Sitek's new label, Trent Reznor, Ryan Adams, Deadmau5, more"

"The VMAs unite us as a people, a shitty, shitty people. #VMAs" - Dave Hill

Tyler's mom & Wavves @ the Video Music Awards (via Hipster Runoff)

Bon Iver (Justin Vernon) has posted his thoughts on last night's VMAs. This is what he said:

"there are great moments in awards shows. bruno mars sounded really good doing 'valerie' for amy winehouse. i don't think anyone is bummed that adele is killing everything. her voice was real and focused when i went thru and watched highlights from tonight. kanye and jay z are always murdering. beyonce is pregnant. yes this is awesome as shit, culturally speaking. but can i just ask, the reader, us, we ... as non-rhetorically as possible: don't we seem dumb? didn't MTV lose the fight against themselves? Didn't Rock'n'Roll STOP? Why are the lights so bright? isn't our talent as artists enough? Why do we try SO hard? Does a moonman mean what it did back then? Should we feel pumped when we get one? Should our mom's cry? I am not even thinking about it that hard. I will close my eyes in 90 seconds and have total peace... But, seriously. Why are we waving around so much? Why do we NEED this shit so bad? Why don't we just have MUSIC? DO music? soul? I don't know. I don't mean to criticize. Anyone. Actually. Except for MTV. You might have had a very large opportunity to be stabilize your self as a global presence of culture and art about 15 years ago and you fucked the dog. Sorry. Im with my girls on this one. Its becoming increasingly clear as I think about it more and more, that the dollars, if they ARE apart of why you are doing something... they are apart of why you are doing something. that's fucked to me. that's the absence of spirit, glue, fabric of what makes us a person. it distracts us from what we could be doing: WORK. on EARTH. Better say this: Forget what I say. If you even read this, you'll probably say to yourself, who is this ass saying shit? It doesn't matter what i say. it doesn't matter, it doesn't matter. But this one last thought: What would Bill Hicks say?"
- JV

If you missed the show, or didn't read about it already, Odd Future's Tyler, The Creator won Best New Artist, Adele (as Justin points out) is a good singer, (so is) Beyonce (but more impotantly, she) is pregnant, Lady Gaga does a great Ralph Macchio, and Justin Bieber loves God and Jesus....

Continue reading "Bon Iver's Justin Vernon discusses the MTV VMAs (where Odd Future won, Tyler's mom got excited, etc)"

Janelle Monae @ Terminal 5 (more by Matthew Eisman)

As performing with Prince and a Grammy performance have recently shown, Janelle Monae is definitely moving upward. It wouldn't be surprising if Of Montreal, who she has opened for on tour in the past, eventually open for her. That won't be happening any time in the near future though, as Janelle will head out on tour with Bruno Mars in May, who she recently performed with at the Grammys.

The tour, which they're calling the 'Hooligans in Wondaland' tour, kicks off at NYC's Roseland Ballroom on May 4 with opener Plan B (who like Arcade Fire, recently took home a Brit, and not long ago played a sold out show at Bowery Ballroom). Tickets go on sale Saturday at 10am.

All tour dates, poster, and video below...

Continue reading "Janelle Monae touring w/ Bruno Mars & Plan B (dates)"

DOWNLOAD: Lykke Li - I Follow Rivers (I Follow You Tyler, The Creator Mix) (MP3)

I'm not gay, I just wanna boogie to some Marvin
(What you think of Hayley Williams?) Fuck her, Wolf Haley robbin' 'em
I'll crash that fuckin' airplane that faggot nigga B.o.B is in
And stab Bruno Mars in his goddamn esophagus
And won't stop until the cops come in...

...They say success is the best revenge
So I beat DeShay up with the stack of magazines I'm in
Oh, not again, another critic writin' report
I'm stabbin' any bloggin' faggot hipster with a Pitchfork
[Tyler the Creator's "Yonkers" lyrics]

Tyler The Creator's second album GOBLIN will be released in April through XL Recordings. Two tracks, "Yonkers" and "Sandwitches" are on iTunes now. Tyler also has a new video for "Yonkers" that was directed by Wolf Haley (aka himself). You can watch it below (some of the lyrics are above - you can sing along).

Odd Future (The group Tyler is also a part of) is on tour now and plays Santos Party House tonight (2/15), and Jimmy Fallon on Wednesday (Tyler included).

Continue reading "Tyler the Creator signs to XL, is Wolf Haley, has popular new video, remixed Lykke Li (plays Santos tonight)"