Radiohead @ Roseland Ballroom in 2011 (more by Bao Nguyen)

Coachella which is taking place over the course of two weekends this year (April 13-15 and 20-22) revealed their 2012 lineup. Last week, Azealia Banks was the first artist confirmed, and earlier today they confirmed The Weeknd (maybe he found a band?), and before that, Jimmy Cliff, Breakbot, and Housse De Racket. The reunited Pulp then announced itself. The full lineup also includes headliners The Black Keys, Radiohead, Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg, not to mention, as predicted, the reunited At the Drive In and the reunited Mazzy Star (!), and Madness and Refused (!) and Jeff Mangum and many, many more that you can see below...

Continue reading "Coachella 2012 lineup announced (two weekends worth)"

The above pictures is a screen shot from the Virgin Freefest lineup announcement video that they posted to YouTube. The girl behind the words exclaims, "James Murphy solo!" as she reads her piece of the September 10th free MD festival lineup. The full lineup, video, poster and press release is below...

Continue reading "Virgin FreeFest announces 2011 lineup (includes "James Murphy solo" and many more)"

Giant and very-varied Labor Day Weekend electro festival Electric Zoo returns to Randall's Island on September 2-4 and just announced 14 more artists to its already big lineup which is split across four stages (times three days).

The fest this year features performances by big names like Moby (DJ set), Rusko, MSTRKRFT, Richie Hawtin as Plastikman, Chromeo, Boys Noize, Calvin Harris and Diplo. The lineup also includes smaller but familiar and exciting names like Daedelus, SebastiAn (Live), SBTRKT, Nicolas Jaar (Live), and many more. The whole thing is listed below.

SBTRKT meanwhile has dates coming up in July.

SebastiAn, who has had singles floating around for a few years now, and more recently a film score, finally released his first proper full length Total on May 30 via Ed Banger. The album is 22 songs of Daft Punk-esque aggressive French House and features vocal contributions from Mayer Hawthorne and M.I.A.. Check out a soundcloud stream of the M.I.A.-featured "C.T.F.O." (which stands for chill the fuck out) and the full tracklist also below.

More tour dates for Diplo, Chromeo and Rusko, along with the EZ lineup, and stuff, below...

Continue reading "Electric Zoo expands lineup (SBTRKT, Nicolas Jaar, MSTRKRFT, MANY more), SebastiAn released 'Total' on Ed Banger"

today in NYC
* Darlene Love in NJ
* James Fei @ The Stone
* Food Stamps @ Bruar Falls
* Aaron Neville @ City Winery
* Yelawolf, Young Chris @ SOB's
* Matt Willson Christmas Trio @ Barbes
* As Tall As Lions @ Highline Ballroom
* Chairlift, Acrylics @ Knitting Factory
* Bastard Lovechild of Rock n Roll @ Arlene's Grocery
* Joan La Barbara, Shahzad Ismaily, Marina Rosenfeld @ The Stone
* Talib Kweli presents Bun B, Homeboy Sandman, K-Salaam @ Brooklyn Bowl
* Big Boi, Dave 1 of Chromeo (DJ Set), LA Riots, The Knocks @ Terminal 5
* Tijuana Panthers, Le Sphinxx, The Magick Report, Ah Moskva @ Cake Shop
* Copycat is Coming to Town: A tribute to Rankin Bass @ Otto's Shrunken Head
* Favourite Sons, Web Dating, Gaming Commission, Lady Lamb the Beekeeper @ Mercury Lounge
* American Babies, Hoots & Hellmouth, Sean Walsh & The National Reserve, Nick Cucci @ Bowery Electric

Dave 1 has replaced Calvin Harris on the Terminal 5 bill tonight. Calvin got stuck in the UK due to bad weather.

Tonight is not the first time Yelawolf and Big Boi performed in NYC on the same night this year.

What else?

Big Boi @ NYU in September (more by Lauren Monaco)

Hip-hop heavyweight Big Boi brought the house down [the other night at Moogfest] with a set of Outkast hits and stand-out tunes from his hot new album, Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty. Highlights of the set included "Rosa Parks," "Ms. Jackson," "So Fresh, So Clean," "Shutterbug" and "General Patton." A powerful live rendition of "Follow Us" featured Kyle Lucas of Vonnegutt singing the hook. And during "The Way You Move," Big Boi invited a group of ladies on stage to dance as he rapped the refrain: "I like the way you move / I love way you move."

While his Outkast collaborator Andre 3000 was missed, Big Boi was backed by a ferocious posse of live musicians and singers that included a drummer, guitarist, horn section and super hot female bass player wearing knee high black leather boots. He was also armed with a gang of choreographed backup dancers and hype-men that added to the visual spectacle.

During the live rendition of "Daddy Fat Sax," the sound turned distressingly towards metal-rap for a moment, but mostly Big Boi rode a deeply funky and danceable Dirty South groove. [Mountain Xpress]

Big Boi will co-headline a pre-Christmas show with a Calvin Harris DJ set at NYC's Terminal 5 on December 22nd. Openers will be LA Riots and The Knocks (who just opened for Die Antwoord at Gramercy). Tickets ($45 advance general admission / $50 day of show general admission / $100 VIP admission includes 4 hour open bar) will go on sale Friday at noon.

Big Boi's last NYC shows were at Brooklyn Bowl and NYU.

Shout Out Out Out also played Moogfest in North Carolina over the weekend and will be in NYC this week.

HEALTH @ Williamsburg Waterfront in July (more by Bao Nguyen)

tonight in NYC
* DANCE
* Sam Roberts Band @ Gramercy
* Lebowski Fest @ Brooklyn Bowl
* Tiesto @ Hammerstein Ballroom
* U2, Muse @ Giants Stadium
* Phoenix @ Apple Store Soho
* Marianne Faithfull @ Town Hall
* Norah Jones @ (Le) Poisson Rouge
* Sing For China tour @ Bennett Media Studio
* Porcupine Tree, King's X @ Terminal 5
* Wavves, Ganglians @ Santos Party House
* The Rifles, Useless Keys @ Mercury Lounge
* HEALTH, Pictureplane, Tanlines @ Bowery Ballroom
* Still Flyin, German Measles, Excalibrah @ Bruar Falls
* Polvo, Falcatross, Soldiers of Fortune @ The Bell House
* Japandroids, Mt. St. Helen's Vietnam Band @ Mercury Lounge
* Essie Jain, Tom Brosseau, Tim Williams, Angela Correa @ Cake Shop
* New Languages Fest w/ Little Women, Robbins/Pavone/Sorey, Jackson Moore Septet @ McCarren Hall
* Sam Hilmer & Arrington De Dionyso, Charlie Looker, Br'er, Daniel Carter, Total Bolsheviks @ Death By Audio
* Spectacle with Elvis Costello & guests Levon Helm, Allen Toussaint, Richard Thompson, Nick Lowe @ Apollo Theatre

U2's massive 360 Tour is again at Giants Stadium with Muse. Pictures from last night's show are HERE.

Maze co-curator and Zs member Sam Hilmer performs in a duo with Old Time Relijun and K Recs' Arrington De Dionyso at Death By Audio. Also on the bill are Charlie Looker, Br'er, Daniel Carter and Total Bolsheviks.

Spectacle: Elvis Costello is at the Apollo with guests Levon Helm, Allen Toussaint, Richard Thompson and Nick Lowe.

New Languages Festival starts its second weekend with music from Little Women, Robbins/Pavone/Sorey and Jackson Moore Septet at McCarren Hall.

Polvo follows up its impromptu Brooklyn Bowl show this summer with a gig at The Bell House. Falcatross and Soldiers of Fortune open. Fan Ryan Adams was at the opening of his new gallery exhibition last night. That is also now open for public viewing.

Japandroids and Mt. St. Helen's Vietnam Band play a sold-out show at Mercury Lounge. Then they play another at the venue on Sunday before coming back for a run of CMJ shows (as part of their seemingly endless tour) in October.

Pictureplane (aka Travis Egedy) just put out a new record, Dark Rift, on Love Pump United. He's opening dates most of HEALTH's September tour, which includes a show at Bowery Ballroom with Tanlines tonight.

Porcupine Tree's current tour stops at Terminal 5 tonight for a show with King's X.

Wavves is in town with new drummer Zach Hill. They play Santos Party House with Ganglians. Tomorrow it's at Market Hotel.

Tiesto, whose new album is full of "indie" stars, kicks off a three-night run at Hammerstein Ballroom tonight.

Phoenix play Apple Store Soho before their two-night Rumsey Playfield run this weekend.

Marianne Faithfull plays Town Hall (with a band composed of veterans like Marc Ribot and others).

Hellbastard play Europa tomorrow.

Rorschach play Asbury Park tonight, and Santos Party House tomorrow. Check out our interview with Charles Maggio.

Julian Plenti is at The Guggenheim tomorrow.

The Dodos' new video for "Fables" is posted below.

Calvin Harris presents Humanthesizer, "the first human synth," below.

What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Thursday?"

DOWNLOAD: The Glass - DJ mix for Sirius XM Radio (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Yes Giantess -You Were Young (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Passion Pit - Sleepyhead (Bo Flex Giantess Remix) (MP3)

I have a lengthy review of Electric Zoo coming shortly. In the meantime, here's what's going on this week, starting with tonight (Thursday, 9/10)....

Continue reading "the week in dance w/ Showtrotta (part 1) (The Glass, Glass Candy, Alan Braxe, Calvin Harris, The Twelves & more)"

That above picture is the cover for the forthcoming Tegan & Sara album, Sainthood, due out October 27th on Vapor Records. The record is being produced by Chris Walla (of Death Cab and many producing credits) and Howard Redekopp (who's worked with New Pornographers, Mother Mother, and others) - interesting in that they've both worked on past Tegan & Sara individually.

The pair (Tegan and Sara) have a few shows scheduled at the moment. Two of those will happen at NYC's Town Hall on October 30th and 31st (Mischief Night and Halloween). Tickets go on sale Friday at 10am.

Tiestoremixed Tegan & Sara's track "Back in your Head" in 2007. Now the three have collaborated again on "I Feel it in My Bones," a song that'll be included on Tiesto's new album, Kaleidoscope, out October 20th on Ultra Records. That song is streaming on his MySpace. Also guesting on the Tiesto album will be Jónsi of Sigur Rós, Kele Okereke of Bloc Party, Emily Haines of Metric, and others. Full tracklist is below.

Tiesto is going on a pretty big tour that kicks off with three nights at Hammerstein Ballroom in NYC. Tickets for those shows (9/24-9/26) are on sale now. All dates, the Tegan & Sara album back cover and tracklist, and more, below...

Continue reading "Tegan & Sara - new album, 2 Town Hall shows, & collab. w/ Tiesto who is touring (dates) & playing 3 NYC shows"

by Ryan Barkan

Miller Chili or mojitos anyone?

Phone wars 2009 - Verizon vs. AT&T. It is always a battle when these two giants square off with their :60 second spots in tow to prove which company provides the best cellular service and coverage. In recent years, Verizon has enlisted the likes of AC/DC and The Killers. Included in the deal with the Aussie rockers was the right to exclusively offer the band's music digitally. On the other side, AT&T has hammered home their phone offerings and 5-bar messages with a spot including a track from Lupe Fiasco featuring Jill Scott, "Daydreamin", one with Mates Of State, and an Amos Lee commercial, among others. Both have recently gone to the licensing well again to soundtrack new technology and coverage, but with different strategies.

Verizon's new "Hub" decided to go the synergy route, using one of the most popular mainstream tunes of the last year, Jason Mraz's "I'm Yours", in multiple spots showcasing the company's new phone technology.

AT&T meanwhile went with different tunes for each of the new 5-bar spots, matching songs with each commercial's creative direction. In "Backpackers", the sentimental "Falling in Love in a Coffeeshop" by Landon Pigg tells the story of two lovers who met on a brief European backpacking trip. However, because of the quality of the service and technology, they not only can stay in touch with great coverage but end up together again with a touching beachfront reunion. Another boxing themed spot brings to mind Rocky with "Gonna Fly Now." Eighties rockers Journey power this commercial for the symphony. Lastly, an inspirational spot based on Venice, CA, store Tom's Shoes. The store has one premise -- each pair of shoes bought equals one free pair for a child in need. The commercial uses an instrumental version of James Blunt's "Same Mistake." Watch that spot here.

Other Notable Commercial Licensing News:

An instant classic commercial from Heineken -- the beer company celebrates responsible drinking (title is called "Let A Stranger Drive You Home") with the help from Biz Markie's "Just A Friend". Watch the spot below.

Beer maker Miller went with San Fran's The Dodos as the music for their new Miller Chill commercial. Watch it below.

"Daylight," a track by Matt & Kim, provides the vibe in a new commercial for Bacardi Mojitos. See it below.

continued below...

Continue reading "This week in Music Licensing (De La Soul, the Dodos, Passion Pit, Black Lips, Matt & Kim, Mates of State & more...) "

DOWNLOAD: 2020 Soundsystem vs. The Glass - Won't Bother Me (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Silver City - Shiver (2020 Soundsystem live version) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: AC Slater - Rock It Out (MP3)

Classixx @ the Studio @ Webster Hall - March 10, 2009 (CRED)

I was out of town last weekend and unfortunately missed all the awesome acts that came through New York. I managed to make it out Tuesday night for the Scion party, but was feeling tired and not too into it. You already know how I feel about Hearts Revolution and nothing about their performance on Tuesday changed that. I caught some of Classixx's set before I left, which started off with some mellow, almost loungey disco before quickly working up to some very danceable tracks from the likes of Holy Ghost, Mylo, Sebastien Tellier, Ce Ce Peniston, and Alan Braxe & Fred Falke. Tuesday night helped take the edge off, but I am really, really looking forward to a lot that's happening this weekend. Friday night (3/13) there is way too much good stuff going on.

Starting early in the evening (9pm) Four Tet & Jon Hopkins along with Mapei will be performing at One Step Beyond at the Musuem of Natural History:

Continue reading "the week in Dance w/ Showtrotta (Calvin Harris & more)"

Scottish DJ Calvin Harris feels very let down by British Airways after the airline lost his suitcase in the recent baggage chaos at London’s Heathrow airport insisting the compensation he was offered was "nothing significant". The Acceptable In The 80s star lost a bag when returning from America last month, and it contained a computer laptop storing most of his new album. Heathrow’s new Terminal 5 building was immediately plunged into chaos on its opening day when problems with new baggage-handling systems left over 15,000 passengers without their luggage. And although Harris’ bag was eventually found, everything in it was ruined.He says, "They lost my laptop at Terminal 5 but when they found it everything came back mouldy. My clothes were sodden, my music was damp, it sounded s**t. [Times Square Gossip]

Calvin Harris played a show at Bowery Ballroom in NYC last night (April 28, 2008) (how was it?) and one at the Coachella music festival two days before that.

Harris, who looks like a kid who's been swept out of his living-room studio into the bright lights, writes songs that are simple and maddeningly catchy, and he has a nose for dynamic arrangements, often adding live bass on top of synthesized beats to push the sound over the top.

His deep, deadpan voice matched the mock seriousness of his words as he sang about such matters as his preference in girls (there are few not included) and his choice for their outfits ("Please make sure, baby, you've got some colors in there"). Similarly, his crowd-stirring antics were simultaneously send-up and celebration.

The idea of a "star-making" performance might be obsolete in this multiple-platform era, but one of Coachella's charms is the possibility that a great discovery might always be just one stage away. For a lot of people, Calvin Harris was the find of 2008 Day 2. [LA Times]

In other laptop-related news, DJ Never Forget of Finger on the Pulse recently had his laptop stolen from him after he finished deejaying at a Tokyo Police Club afterparty at Hugs in Williamsburg, but then miraculously the laptop was returned the next morning. The guy who had the laptop said that two guys came up to him on the street outside Hugs and said something like, "Do you want a laptop?" He took it and only realized who it belonged to (someone he knew) the next day when a MySpace message was sent out reporting it stolen.

Matthew Dear's harddrive story didn't have as happy of an ending, but Matthew Dear is still deejaying. He played the One Step Beyond party at the Museum of Natural History in Manhattan on Friday night.

Last time Calvin Harris was in NYC he played Mercury Lounge. Calvin's short U.S. tour is now over. The video for "Acceptable in the 80s" is below...

Continue reading "Calvin Harris lost his laptop @ Terminal 5, played Bowery"

DOWNLOAD: the Bloody Beetroots - NLLR mix (zSHARE MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Felix Cartal - NLLR mix (zSHARE MP3)

Kavinsky (CRED)

As I mentioned last week, after a string of disappointing deejay sets I've been reluctant to allow myself to get too excited even when acts I've previously been amazed by come to town. I did a pretty good job of staying calm leading up to Kavinsky's set at Studio B on Saturday. Firstly, I have to give props to Jen Lasher for spinning a set that was much more interesting than many more well-known DJ sets I've seen recently. She covered quite a lot of ground in terms of dance music, and she wasn't afraid to drop a few oddballs and pop songs in there either. She took a relatively tame and sparse midnight Studio B crowd and whipped them into a dancing frenzy by the time Kavinsky took the decks at 2.

When that finally happened I found myself desperately hoping his set would be good and thankfully it was! He started off well, playing Mr. Oizo's remix of "Merrymaking at My Place" by Calvin Harris (who makes his way back to NYC this Monday), and D.I.M.'s remix of "My People" by The Presets a few songs in. He also played some electro that was less recent, but worked well despite this because of his timing, choices, and good mixing. About a half an hour or so in, something shifted, and Kavinsky's set went from good, to one of the most fun sets I've ever gotten down to. It was the perfect mix of classic dance tracks, brand new electro (he played the two new SebastiAn tracks which are perfect for the floor and a loud system), old electro, and random-ness (Phil Collins - Sussudio?!). He kept "the B"'s floor the most packed I've seen it in a while until a little after 4. It was easily one of the best sets I've witnessed this year. You can read my more detailed review here and stream a playlist I made of close to 20 of the tracks Kavinsky dropped at the B that night.

This weekend is another one full of dance. Get ready to start making decisions. Here is what is happening on Thursday (April 24, 2008) alone!.....

Continue reading "the week in Dance w/ Showtrotta (last week & tonight)"

DOWNLOAD: Calvin Harris - Merrymaking at My Place (Kissy Sell Out Remix) (MP3)

Although Calvin Harris will be visiting Miami at the end of March, it's not until he comes back to the United States for Coachella at the end of April that hey'll play a few shows in California and NYC. Tickets are on sale for an April 28th show at Bowery Ballroom. Last time he was here it was Mercury Lounge. All dates and videos below.....

Continue reading "Calvin Harris - 2008 Tour Dates (Miami/CA/Coachella/NYC)"

Dizzee Rascal & Annie Mac (BBC Radio 1)

Dizzee Rascal & Annie Clark (St Vincent) are playing the Plug Awards at Terminal 5 on March 6th. Dizzee is also playing Southpaw on March 11th, SXSW not long after that, and Philly on MAY 9th. I assume more dates will be announced soon. In the meantime watch this video of Dizzee Rascal & Annie Mac (BBC Radio 1)....

Continue reading "Dizzee Rascal also playing Brooklyn & Philly"

Calvin Harris @ Mercury Lounge, NYC - Sep 12, 2007 (CRED)

Calvin Harris is as charismatic as he is tall. At 6'5", that's a fair amount of charm. This was Calvin's U.S. debut, his album I Created Disco hit our stores the day before -- though it was obvious nearly everyone at the Mercury Lounge was well-versed with the songs and ready to dance. He didn't disappoint the crowd. [Sound Bites]

Music Snobbery also has a review. More on Calvin Harris in this week's Week in Dance.

Adam Kesher @ Knitting Factory, NYC - Sept 10, 2007 (CRED)

Those of you who missed Adam Kesher's NYC debut on Monday night are going to have to wait through a long, cold Adam Kesher-less winter as the band heads into the studio to complete their debut LP upon their return to France on Thursday.

La Decadanse isn't one of you:

I'll cut to the chase. Having only heard Adam Kesher's cover of Para One's "Dun-dundun", I thought it'd be a fun gig to drop by and wasn't expecting much as I admittedly don't frequent venues to see bands. Instead I was awed, absolutely starstruck, completely floored, stupified even! The songs, the actual performance and showmanship which included some heavy fancy footwork and instrument rotations... it just all coalesced into a supercharged set that left the room, which wasn't even packed to capacity, dense with energy.

Their new songs incorporate everything from hip-hop beats, to harmonized and glistening pop vocals, to shredding punk riffs, a cowbell, and of course, a dancey swagger. The boys head home to France on Thursday, but will be laying down a DJ set tonight at the Calvin Harris Afterparty at Happy Ending. Buy them a drink ask them to come back sooner.

Speaking of Calvin Harris, the UK dance sensation has been in town hustling the press circuit in anticipation of his sold out US debut at the Mercury Lounge tonight. I'm looking forward to seeing how the album translates live and I imagine the infectious grooves will have all the girls dancing like crazy. Haven't heard it yet? AOL is streaming the whole thing this week.

I finally got my hands on a copy of Underworld's new album Oblivion With Bells and I couldn't be more excited to see Rick and Karl rip Summerstage apart on Friday night. From even before I heard the first bassline, I haven't been able to shake comparisons to my first encounter with Underworld, 1993's "debut" dubnobasswithmyheadman. The minute I saw the album artwork I've associated the album to that other chaotically black and white designed disc. I don't think the comparison stops at the visual elements. The album is decidedly dark and distinctly Underworld, with pulsing rhythms and conceptually poetic lyrics, but some tracks delve into more atmospheric and funky melodic soundscapes that remind me of the album progression and urban feel of their earlier disc. Stay tuned for an interview with Karl next week: we'll get into all that. The latest tour dates are at their site.

Simian Mobile Disco bring their mobile live rave and light live show back to NYC this weekend on Saturday night at Gramercy Theater. If you missed their stellar Studio B gig, get to this one. It will be a good musical benchmark for next weekend's Chemical Brother's double header: one indoors midtown, one outdoors pool. The pool show also features Ladytron. All CB tour dates in a previous post, and don't forget SMD will be at CMJ too.

Larry Tee is gonna be busy this month. He's launching TWO new parties this weekend at Sugarland (221 N. 9th St in Williamsburg). Clever readers will note that 221 N. 9th is indeed the old Capone's and its not all going to the boys. While Fridays are the aptly named "BOYQUAKE," Saturday is the more mixed Happy Birthday Club.

Time Out also catches up with Larry as he is launching the multi-day Dance Music Invasion 2007 in just a few weeks on October 3 - 6. Ferry Corsten, Erick Morillo, and Christopher Just are the only confirmed artists. Stay tuned to the official website for more news.

Diplo and Switch are going out on tour together, they hit Studio B for Meanred's Korupt night on Saturday Sept. 29th (rescheduled from Sept 08th). Pitchfork sat down with Diplo to discuss the tour, his work with Switch, and his Pitchfork Mix (MP3), very cool that he gives Drop the Lime a shout out.

Heading out to Austin this weekend for the Austin City Limits Festival? Grizzly Bear and Art Brut not your thing? Can't decide between M.I.A. and LCD Soundsystem? Well, maybe see M.I.A. in the day, and then check out LCD Soundsystem at night - Friday night at Red 7. Or see LCD Soundsystem twice. UPDATE: Thanks commenters for bringing up the fact that the "LCD Soundsystem" set is only a DJ set.

More Austin party details, and NYC event listings, below....

Continue reading "the week in Dance w/ David Bruno (09/12/07)"

DOWNLOAD: Calvin Harris - Acceptable in the 80s (MP3)

Daft Punk @ Keyspan Park, Coney Island, NYC - Aug 9, 2007 *

* photo by Phillip Angert

Daft Punk: What an incredible celebration of the power of electronic music. I can't say I've ever seen so many people dancing and smiling in New York. Whatever your background, whatever your experience with dance music, I think we all we were on the same page on Thursday night. I dance often, and I haven't danced that hard in a long time. You all know that dance music is awesome, but dance music with Robots, Pyramids, Tron visuals, and Kraftwerkian pagentry is sublime. In related news,

Daft Punk will in late November release a live album chronicling the June 14 Paris stop on its first tour in a decade, Billboard.com can reveal. The as-yet-untitled Capitol set will be available in a single CD edition plus a two-disc set which features the show's encore. As of now, no live DVD companion is in the works, according to the group.

And don't miss the screening of Daft Punk' movie Electroma at the Landmark Sunshine Theatre in NYC this weekend.

If big-time dance concerts are your bag (they should be after Daft Punk), you've got plenty to look forward to in the coming month.
The only thing getting me over my Daft-over is Underworld in Central Park on September 14th. Underworld, in conjunction with their Tomato design collective, take the visual music experience to a completely different level.

Underworld are busy prepping their new album, Oblivion With Bells, for an October release. Prefix has the full tracklist, and a list of some their friends who helped whittle it down to eleven. Earplug previewed the album in their latest issue:

Musically, Hyde cites Germany's techno scene as a major motivator, specifically name-checking Ricardo Villalobos, Mathew Jonson, and the Kompakt label, among others.

Karl & Rick have consistently been amazing at twisting contemporary sonic influences into something completely futuristic and amazingly poetic. Check out an awesome live video of Underworld playing "Mo Move" for Moscow.

The Chemical Brothers are another duo adept at channelling "the sound of now" into something uniquely their own. Two big NYC-area shows coming up, including the recently annonunced gig with Ladytron at McCarren Pool on Sept 22 (tix). If you haven't picked up their fantastic We are The Night album. Do it again. Lots of Chems goodies at their Astralwerks site, including an interview series and remix competition for their next single "Salmon Dance." Check out this video of Tom Chemical explaining why some tracks are more fun to play live than others (while Ed Chemical thinks about taking a crap).

Chicago readers, I'm DJing in your fair city this Friday night.

MORE NEWS

• Calvin Harris is probably the Arctic Monkeys of UK indie dance, and is also some serious fun. ABC News checks up on his Merrymaking home invasion fiasco this Friday. His I Created Disco album is out on Almost Gold in the US on September 4, and he plays the Mercury Lounge in NYC on September 12 (tix), and The Echo in LA two days later.
• Its been a tough summer in Ibiza this year
• Pitchfork points out Ewan Pearson is up next for the stellar Fabric mix series, also seems to think Ibiza is in in Greece
• Jas & James of Simian Mobile Disco take a dig at blog house - "I've been finding that I've been going on all the blogs and all that kind of stuff, which is not a good way of getting music because you get all the same shit that everyone else gets", and a dig at blog rock - "I'm sure everyone picks up the same stuff like Tapes 'n Tapes and all that nonsense" on PF's Guest List. It was also recently announced that SMD are playing CMJ, which is not to be confused with their upcoming show at NYC's Gramercy Theatre.

-David