LA Fest FYF Fest is celebrating 10 years this year, and will take over Los Angeles State Historic Park on August 24 & 25. Check out the massive lineup in the poster above, and in alphabetical order below...

Continue reading "FYF Fest 2013 Lineup (My Bloody Valentine included)"

Lollapalooza 2012 (more by James Richards IV)

After it was already confirmed that Phoenix, Vampire Weekend, The Postal Service, The National, The Killers, and Mumford and Sons were playing Lollapalooza 2013, a pretty promising leak came which appeared to potentially reveal the rest of the lineup, and it turns out that leak was real.

In addition to the previously mentioned artists, Lollapalooza will include Nine Inch Nails, Queens of the Stone Age, Kendrick Lamar, Grizzly Bear, The Cure, New Order, Baroness, Beach House, Cat Power, Death Grips, Jessie Ware, Father John Misty, DIIV, Wavves, Alt-J, Hot Chip, Disclosure, Baauer, Palma Violets, Angel Haze, Band of Horses, Crystal Castles and many others.

Lollapalooza goes down in Chicago from August 2 - 4 in Grant Park. Single day passes go on sale Wednesday (4/3) at 10 AM.

Full day-by-day lineup below...

Continue reading "Lollapalooza 2013 lineup announced (Nine Inch Nails, Queens of the Stone Age, Phoenix, Vampire Weekend, Postal Service, Cure, New Order, Kendrick Lamar & more)"

Charles Bradley at Firefly 2012 (more by Dana (distortion) Yavin)

As mentioned, soul crooner Charles Bradley returns to the "New Releases" portion of the record shelves with Victim of Love, his new LP out via Daptone on April 2 (the same day someone is playing a "private showcase" at Pianos). Stream that LP in full below courtesy of Rolling Stone, and check out a video for "Strictly Reserved for You" below.

Don't forget, that silky smooth voice will bless the hallowed halls of the legendary Apollo Theater on May 16, part of a larger tour for the funky badass. Tickets for the show are still available.

Charles will be playing Europe after his North American dates are done. His current tour schedule and a flyer for a release party at Pianos is below.

Continue reading "Charles Bradley streaming new LP in full, releases video, expands tour"

Charles Bradley at Firefly 2012 (more by Dana (distortion) Yavin)

As mentioned, soul singer Charles Bradley will release his new album, Victim of Love, on April 2 via Daptone Records, and is set to support it with a tour that hits NYC on May 16 at the Apollo Theater. When we first mentioned that show back in January, there was no ticket info, and now there finally is: Tickets go on Ticketmaster/Fan Club presale today (2/21) at 10 AM (password: "CBRAD") and general sale begins Saturday (2/23) at noon. We're also giving away a pair of tickets to the Apollo Theater show, and details on how you can enter to win are below.

Charles' tour has been expanded a bit since we last spoke, and it now also includes a trip to Austin for SXSW, where he will play the first ever DapTone Records Super Soul Revue SXSW showcase on March 14 at ACL Live at the Moody Theater with Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, The Budos Band, Menahan Street Band, The Sugarman 3, and The Como Mamas.

The flyer for the SXSW show, an updated list of dates, contest details, and a stream of "Strictly Reserved For You" from Charles' new album, below...

Continue reading "tickets on sale for the Charles Bradley Apollo Theater show (plus, you can win a pair!); Daptone coming to SXSW"

Charles Bradley at Firefly Music Fest 2012 (more by Dana (distortion) Yavin)

As we've mentioned before, Charles Bradley, whose second album for Daptone is out in April, used to spend time as James Brown tribute act, Black Velvet. And still does occasionally. Black Velvet play Brooklyn Bowl on Wednesday (2/13) back by Jimmy Hill & The Allstarz Band and The Gold Magnolias. Tickets are still available.

UPDATE (2/12): The Black Velvet show is cancelled. Bummer!

Meanwhile, still no word on tickets to Bradley's scheduled NYC show at The Apollo on May 16. He still has it listed in his tour dates but the Harlem venue doesn't have it on its online calendar as of this posting.

In related new, Soul Rebels will take over Brooklyn Bowl for the three nights following (2/14 - 2/16). The group, who were recently the house band at the NFL Honors Awards Show, will have guest Karl Denson plus openers Royal Surprise with them on 2/14; guests Pedrito Maritnez and Maurice Brown plus openers The Slide Brothers on 2/15; and John Medeski and Igmar Thomas plus openers Alecia Chakour Band on 2/16. Tickets to all three shows are still available.

Video of Bradley as Black Velvet at Hiro Ballroom last year is below.

Continue reading "Charles Bradley doing "Black Velvet" James Brown tribute at Brooklyn Bowl; Soul Rebels doing three-night run there too"

by Andrew Sacher

Charles Bradley at Firefly Music Fest 2012 (more by Dana (distortion) Yavin)

Soul singer Charles Bradley is set to release Victim of Love on April 2 via Daptone Records, the followup to his 2011 debut, No Time For Dreaming. Like his first album, the first single from the new one, "Strictly Reserved For You," delivers a slice of '70s-era soul with the kind of authenticity that sounds like no time has passed since that era. You can stream that track, and check out the album's cover art and tracklist below.

Charles will be supporting the new record on a tour with His Extraordinaires that hits NYC on May 16 at the Apollo Theater. Tickets for that show are not on sale yet but you can check ticketmaster for updates.

A list of all tour dates, song stream, cover art, and tracklist below...

Continue reading "Charles Bradley reveals single off new album, announces tour, playing Apollo Theater (dates, stream)"

photos by Adela Loconte

Afghan Whigs / Jose Gonzalez / The Dirtbombs @ ATP NY 9/22/2012

...Outside, The Dirtbombs continue the revivalist flavour with a polished set of neo-garage rock, although sadly they don't tackle any of the techno tracks they covered on their most recent album Party Store -- we'd rather like to have seen a live guitar version of 'Strings of Life'. After their raucous set, The Antlers' downbeat sounds aren't exactly what TheVine is in the market for, and we decide that this is a fine moment to sample what the Venezuelan arepas truck has to offer for dinner.

Chavez were supposed to be playing next, but they've cancelled for reasons unclear and been replaced by, um, JEFF The Brotherhood, which isn't so much bait-and-switch as bait-and-whack-over-the-head-with-a-sledgehammer-then-run-away-laughing. Ugh. Happily, Mark Lanegan is on hand inside to rescue proceedings. His set is heavy on material from Blues Funeral, with only 'Hit the City' and a storming 'Methamphetamine Blues' (featuring a guest appearance from Greg Dulli) representing his earlier records, but even though we're not huge fans of the hard rock sounds of his latest LP, he's still great -- after all, with a voice like his, Lanegan could sing the phone book and still sound arrestingly good.

José Gonzalez? Well, you know what you're going to get -- quiet acoustic music and a couple of studiously offbeat cover versions. Quite why he's headlining the second stage tonight is unclear -- he hasn't released an album in five years, for Chrissakes -- and while his set is perfectly competent, it's not exactly inspiring. The same, sadly, can be said about The Afghan Whigs, although in fairness I've never been counted amongst their fanbase and thus is perhaps not best placed to judge the merits of their 90-minute headline set this evening. So we'll just say that it wasn't for us, but that the band's hardcore fans -- of which many, many are here -- seem to lap their set up with glee. [The Vine]

Afghan Whigs will return to NYC for shows at Terminal 5 on October 5 and Music Hall of Williamsburg on October 6. The T5 show is sold out but tickets for the MHOW show are available.

More pictures below...

Continue reading "ATP NYC -- day 2 pics (Afghan Whigs, JEFF the Brotherhood, Mark Lanegan, Jose Gonzalez + more)"

The Greg Dulli-curated ATP NY is this weekend (9/21 - 9/23) and organizers just released the schedule which you can check out below. Music (and comedy on Friday) happens on two stages with films, talks and bingo taking place on the Queen of Hearts boat which is docked just nearby. If you're wondering, Frank Ocean is at 11:45 PM on Friday. Also, Chavez dropped and and have been replaced by JEFF the Brotherhood (Sat. 9/22 7 PM).

Tickets are still available to all three days which can be gotten online or at Other Music. Peruse the full schedule below, perhaps while listening to the ATP mixtape that Greg Dulli made for us.

Continue reading "ATP NY 2012: full schedule"

photos by Dana (distortion) Yavin

Modest Mouse / Lupe Fiasco

The Firefly Music Festival continued in Dover, DE on Saturday (7/21) with sets from Modest Mouse, Polica, Cults, Charles Bradley, Lupe Fiasco, Cake, The Killers, and more. Passion Pit were scheduled to play that day, but unfortunately the Delware festival was one of the dates that the band had to cancel. They were replaced by Yeasayer at the last minute, who played at the same time as Lupe Fiasco (and we unfortunately missed).

The festival has already announced they'll be back next year. Pre-sale for 2013 general admission tickets go on sale Wednesday (7/25) at noon.

Pics of day 1 are HERE, pics of Death Cab for Cutie's set from day 3 are HERE (the rest from day 3 coming soon) and more of day 2 are below...

Continue reading "Firefly Music Fest day 2 in pics (Modest Mouse, Polica, Cults, Charles Bradley, Lupe Fiasco, Cake & The Killers)"

photos by Chris La Putt

Neko Case / Charles Bradley, World Financial Center 7/12/2012

Yesterday (7/12) was the second day of the Lowdown Hudson Blues Festival at World Financial Center Plaza. Thursday's show was diverse, featuring Canadian treasure Neko Case, badass showman Charles Bradley and the tap dancing cabaret roots sounds of He's My Brother She's My Sister.

More pictures from the show are in this post. and pictures from Day 1 of the fest are here. And while he didn't review this show for us, Dave "Shirtless" Hill was there and, by the looks of his instragrams, he owned this one too:

More pictures and Neko Case and Charles Bradley tour dates below...

Continue reading "Neko Case, Charles Bradley & He's My Brother She's My Sister played Lowdown Hudson Blues Fest; Dave Hill was there too"

That didn't take long. Last night we posted it as a rumor. Today it is confirmed (removal of Louis CK included):

ATP Concerts today announce the relocation of this September's New Jersey based I'll Be Your Mirror festival event to Pier 36 in Manhattan, New York.

Pier 36 was the intended home for I'll Be Your Mirror beginning in 2013 - but due to unavoidable logistical concerns (along with a lack of available fan accommodations in Asbury Park), ATP has decided to move there for this year's event.

New additions to the festival today include: Philip Glass & Tyondai Braxton, Janeane Garofalo, Lightning Bolt, Lee Ranaldo, Chavez, Kurt Braunohler, Afterhours, Joseph Arthur, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, The Album Leaf, The Psychic Paramount, Braids, Tall Firs, Blanck Mass, Endless Boogie, Demdike Stare and DJ Jonathan Toubin with more to be added to all three days - see below for more info on the new additions...

Some artists who are unable to play the new location - the following statement comes from Louis CK's management:

"Louis CK who was originally scheduled for the Asbury Park event will not be performing at ATP in Manhattan due to scheduling conflicts. Check louisck.com for info about his tour schedule."

Sharon Van Etten, Reigning Sound and Factory Floor will also not be available to perform. All other previously announced artists will perform as originally scheduled.

"We hope that the new venue will make for an incredible event and open up many other accommodation options to fans who were unable to find rooms in Asbury Park," comments ATP's Barry Hogan. "We sincerely apologise to those inconvenienced by the move and hope that any problems caused may be minimised by the relatively small distance between the two locations. Anyone who is unable to attend due to the move or due to the cancellation of Louis CK can claim a full refund by contacting their ticket agent between now and July 31st."

Pier 36 is a new indoor venue sitting on the edge of the East River between the Manhattan & Williamsburg Bridges - it's outside area boasts glorious views of Brooklyn and the Statue of Liberty.

The Saturday night of this year's festival will be headlined by The Afghan Whigs (who have reunited after a 13 year hiatus) and curated by their frontman Greg Dulli, with ATP curating the Friday and Sunday nights.

Tickets are on sale now via ATPfestival.com priced at $199 for the Weekend, with Day Passes also newly available priced at $60 for Friday & $75 for Saturday/Sunday.

Full information on the additions to all three days of the line-up...

Friday will feature both music and comedy - we can now announce a musical headliner for Friday, as esteemed composer PHILIP GLASS teams up with TYONDAI BRAXTON (former Battles frontman) for a completely unprecedented live collaboration. Other stellar additions to the day's musical line-up are LIGHTNING BOLT - one of the world's most unmissable live acts, and LEE RANALDO of Sonic Youth. Joining the Friday on the Comedy stage is none other than standup/actress JANEANE GAROFALO, newcomer KURT BRAUNOHLER, with more to be confirmed. Friday tickets cost $60.

Saturday, headlined by THE AFGHAN WHIGS and featuring a stellar list of artists chosen by the Whigs' frontman Greg Dulli, has three new artists. First up are alternative rock band CHAVEZ, who returned to the live arena in the last few years to much acclaim, and they're joined by Italy's AFTERHOURS (past collaborators with Greg Dulli) and Ohio based singer/songwriter JOSEPH ARTHUR. They join the previously announced Saturday line-up of The Afghan Whigs, The Roots, José González, Mark Lanegan Band, Dirty Three, The Antlers, The Dirtbombs, Scrawl, Emeralds, Vetiver, Charles Bradley And The Extraordinaires and DJ Questlove with more to be confirmed. Tickets for this day cost $75.

Sunday will be headlined by one of the incomparable live shows from legendary Canadian post-rock pioneers GODSPEED YOU! BLACK EMPEROR. Also newly confirmed are Canada's fantastic BRAIDS, Britain's DEMDIKE STARE and BLANCK MASS (feat Benjamin Power of F**k Buttons), intense New York post-rock from THE PSYCHIC PARAMOUNT, a return ATP performance from THE ALBUM LEAF, cult rock quartet ENDLESS BOOGIE, alt folk duo TALL FIRS, and DJ JONATHAN TOUBIN. They join the previously announced Sunday line-up of The Make-Up, Hot Snakes, The Magic Band, Autolux, Thee Oh Sees, I Break Horses and Quintron And Miss Pussycat (moving to this day from Saturday) with more to be confirmed. Sunday tickets cost $75.

As well as the live music line-up and comedy on the Friday, our friends at The Criterion Collection will return to run the Cinema across the weekend. All three days feature DJs and other activities to be confirmed in the months ahead. Each day runs from noon-midnight.

Continue reading "confirmed: ATP moves from Asbury Park to NYC, adds artists"

WHEN: Wednesday, July 11 and Thursday, July 12, 2012
TIME: 6:00 p.m. - 9:30 p.m. EST
WHERE: World Financial Center Plaza
220 Vesey Street (West Street and North End Avenue)
WEB: www.worldfinancialcenter.com/arts-events
COST: FREE - No tickets or reservations required
PRESENTER: Brookfield Office Properties

photos by Chris Graham and Rae Graham

Jack White/The Roots

The one galvanizing main-stage performance at the Sasquatch festival this year was Jack White's weapons-grade electric guitar soloing on Saturday. Otherwise, it was by the book in the best possible sense. Thousands of people gathered peacefully and everything was on schedule.

The festival, which ended Monday with a performance by Beck, featured dozens of live rock, rap, electronic music and comedy acts packing five stages for four days over the sunny Memorial Day weekend...

...Oakland's Tune-Yards mesmerized at the Bigfoot Stage Saturday. Leader Merrill Garbus faced the full yellow sun and belted out powerful melodies in her alto voice that seemed beamed in from African radio. She used looping pedals to blend the vocals with drums and modified ukulele, which she also played live. But her bassist and jazz horn players sent the music through the roof, chipping in on junkyard percussion -- dented pieces of metal hit with drum sticks. [Seattle Times]

Continue reading "Sasquatch 2012 in pics - Day 2, Part 1 (Jack White, The Roots, tUnE-yArDs, Purity Ring, Alabama Shakes, Kurt Vile and more)"

photos by Chris La Putt

Hall & Oates & Peelander-Z - in Prospect Park (5/20/2012)

Unlike Chris (who took these pictures), I didn't get to the Nethermead until 5pm, but what I saw was consistent with reports that the second day of GoogaMooga was free of a lot of the kinks experienced on Saturday. Lines were shorter on Sunday, there was more food, there were maybe a few less people, and everyone just generally seemed to be having a great time. Conversations on the first day were all about how long you had to wait to get something. Conversations on the second day seemed to be more about how much better things were, and how awesome it was to hear Hall & Oates play 80 minutes of hits in a huge park on a beautiful day to thousands of people, many of whom were dancing and singing along. Sure there were still lines for popular items, but nothing like the day before, and there were a lot less of them (would you agree?).

Other highlights of Sunday's free but ticketed event included a memorable performance by colorful punks Peelander-Z (whose red member can be seen flying over a porta-potty in one of the pictures above), a rocking set of Led Zeppelin tunes by Lez Zeppelin, soul by both Charles Bradley and Fitz & the Tantrums, another hour ExtraMooga Q&A session by the extremely entertaining, even to vegans, Anthony Bourdain who went into detail on his opinions of vegetarians at the request of one audience member (Anthony appears live in Brooklyn again at BAM on June 9), and an ExtraMooga night-closing Big Gay Ice Cream Dance Party complete with a DJ, alien dancer things, drag queens, free ice and ice cream, and scantily clad stilt workers (also ExtraMooga only).

The plan seems to be to bring GoogaMooga back in 2013 (hopefully next time with more vegan options), so stay tuned. More pictures from Sunday in Prospect Park, below...

Continue reading "GoogaMooga day 2 in pics (Hall & Oates, Peelander-Z, Fitz, Patton Oswalt, Tom Colicchio, Charles Bradley & more)"

"The Festival will feature two stages of music per day, both located in the Nethermead Meadow. More artists to be announced. Performances start at noon and end at 8:30 pm on Saturday. Performances start at noon and end at 7:30 pm on Sunday." Announced music lineup for the two day Prospect Park food and music festival, below...

Continue reading "GoogaMooga music lineup announced (and updated)"

Al Green at Outside Lands 2010 (more by Vincent Cornelli)

Legendary soul crooner Al Green has a growing set of live shows laid out for him throughout 2012. Those now include a NYC show at Beacon Theater on August 22nd with Charles Bradley. Tickets go on sale Friday 3/30 at 9AM and will set you back anywhere from $55 to $135. All dates are listed below.

Joining Al Green at Beacon will be the also awesome Charles Bradley, who will also embark on a tour of his own in April. Bradley's future schedule includes a few stops at festivals like Newport Folk Fest in July and Mountain Jam in Hunter, NY on June 2nd. At Mountain Jam he'll be joined by names like The Roots, Ben Folds Five, James Murphy, Dawes, Givers, Mariachi El Bronx and many more across four stages and over the festival's four days. Full lineup below.

Bradley also has other NYC-area dates coming up including a free show at the World Financial Center in July and ATP in NJ. All dates are listed below....

Continue reading "Al Green playing Beacon Theater & other dates; Charles Bradley opening, touring, playing Mountain Jam (lineup)"

Neko Case in Long Island in 2011 (more by Greg Cristman)

READS THE PRESS RELEASE:

BUDDY GUY, NEKO CASE TO HEADLINE FREE OUTDOOR BLUES FESTIVAL ON HUDSON RIVER WATERFRONT, JULY 11-12

Second annual Lowdown Hudson Blues Festival, NYC's only free summer blues festival, returns with stellar lineup of living legends and groundbreaking new stars

Brookfield Office Properties today announced that Chicago blues legend Buddy Guy, fresh from jamming with President Obama at an all-star concert at the White House last month, will join celebrated chanteuse Neko Case to headline a free two-day blues music festival in Lower Manhattan on July 11th and 12th.

Cementing its status as one of the city's premiere free summer festivals, the second annual Lowdown Hudson Blues Festival will return to the spectacular outdoor plaza at the World Financial Center with full headlining sets from Buddy Guy and, in her first concert of 2012, Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Neko Case. The two-day free concert will also feature an exceptional lineup of renowned blues acts and rising stars like John Mayall, Charles Bradley and the Extraordinaires, He's My Brother She's My Sister, and Quinn Sullivan.

Full Lowdown Hudson Blues Fest lineup by day with more info, below....

Continue reading "Neko Case, Buddy Guy, Charles Bradley, others playing free outdoor fest @ World Financial Center"

The Newport Festivals Foundation continues to celebrate the festival's historic past by featuring emerging young artists alongside some of folk music's most venerable names. This year's festival features: My Morning Jacket, Jackson Browne, Conor Oberst, Iron & Wine, Patty Griffin, Guthrie Family Reunion, Dawes, The Head & The Heart, Deer Tick, Punch Brothers, City & Colour, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, The Tallest Man on Earth, tUnE-yArDs, Tom Morello, Trampled by Turtles, Gary Clark, Jr., Alabama Shakes, Blind Pilot, Of Monsters and Men, original music from: Jay Farrar; Will Johnson; Anders Parker; & Yim Yames set to the lyrics of Woody Guthrie, Sharon Van Etten, First Aid Kit, Sara Watkins, Charles Bradley & His Extraordinaires, Brown Bird, Jonny Corndawg, Jonathan Wilson, Spirit Family Reunion, Deep Dark Woods, Carl Broemel, Ben Sollee, Robert Ellis, Frank Fairfield, The Apache Relay, Spider John Koerner & His Rag Tag Boys, Joel Rafael, Joe Fletcher & The Wrong Reasons, Elizabeth Mitchell, honeyhoney, Sleepy Man Banjo Boys, The Kossoy Sisters, The Berklee City Music Choir and very special guests to be announced.

They say:

ATP are very pleased to confirm our return to Asbury Park, New Jersey USA with a new I'll Be Your Mirror event, the Saturday night of which will be headlined by The Afghan Whigs (who have reunited after a 13 year hiatus) and curated by their frontman Greg Dulli. Formed in 1986, the bands career from then until 2001 saw them release six critically acclaimed albums during their career. Fusing classic rock with grunge-era distortion and a heavy soul influence, The Afghan Whigs were one of the most renowned live bands of their time and ATP is excited to be a part of this long awaited reformation.

We are also very excited to present Grammy Award winner LOUIS C.K. (handpicked by Greg Dulli) who will be making a rare festival appearance, the fantastic THE ROOTS, JOSE GONZALEZ, a show from the reformed THE MAKE-UP and many others, see below for full line-up confirmed so far.

After previous years in upstate New York, ATP moved to the iconic Asbury Park waterfront in 2011 for a hugely successful I'll Be Your Mirror event co-curated and headlined by Portishead, and we are very happy to return to this very special location in September. The Convention Hall has seen the likes of Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, The Doors and Rolling Stones grace its stage and the Paramount Theatre has welcomed stars such as Tony Bennett who often insists on playing a song with all the electrics turned off to demonstrate the amazing acoustics of the room. Once again the ATP experience will be taking over the boardwalk, with the main shows taking place at the Convention Hall and Paramount Theatre, and other events happening at the Berkeley hotel (former home of Johnny Cash).

As well as the live music line-up of 35+ acts across the weekend, Friday will feature a Comedy stage, and we're very pleased to announce that our friends at The Criterion Collection will return to run the Cinema across the weekend. All three days feature DJs and other activities to be confirmed in the months ahead. Performances take place indoors with great soundsystems, so you have no need to worry about the weather, and Asbury Park is easily accessible via public transport from nearby cities.

Continue reading "ATP I'll Be Your Mirror NJ -- initial 2012 lineup (Louis CK, Make-Up, Mark Lanegan, Dirty Three, Hot Snakes, Antlers, Roots, more!)"

"Superfly Presents and A.C. Entertainment are excited to announce the initial lineup for the 2012 Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival. The 11th annual four-day camping and music festival will be held on June 7 - 10 on the same beautiful 700-acre farm in Manchester, Tennessee, 60 miles south of Nashville. A full list of confirmed acts follows, and more will be announced in the coming weeks. The final Bonnaroo 2012 lineup will total over 125 bands and over 20 comedians performing on 13 stages over four days.Tickets for the event will go on sale on this Saturday, February 18, 2012 at 12 noon EST exclusively at bonnaroo.com."

Continue reading "Bonnaroo 2012 lineup announced"

Charles Bradley in Fort Greene Park in 2011 (more by BBG)

Before Charles Bradley released his excellent debut LP on Daptone Records last year, he performed under the name Black Velvet as a James Brown impersonator. On January 28 at Hiro Ballroom in NYC, he'll bring back the Black Velvet moniker for a James Brown tribute show with Jimmy Hill & The Allstarz Band. Tickets for that show are on sale now. The flier for the show is below.

Charles Bradley just played New Year's Eve at MHOW with Budos Band. Check out a video of them performing together at 12:01 AM, January 1, 2012, below.

More tour dates are down there too...

Continue reading "Charles Bradley played New Year's Eve, playing James Brown tribute as 'Black Velvet' (and other dates)"

We already posted Pitchfork's and SPIN's, so... here's Rolling Stone's top 50 albums of 2011. It's got tons of big sellers and major label players taking high spots like Adele, Jay-Z and Kanye West, Paul Simon, and Lady Gaga, but then something unexpected like tUnE-yArDs places at #13. There are also some odd inclusions like Wavves' Life Sux EP and then some albums you could only find on a Rolling Stone list like SuperHeavy (the supergroup featuring Mick Jagger, Joss Stone, Damian Marley, and others). They also give shots to Little Dragon, Josh T Pearson, Das Racist, Wild Flag, and many more. Check out the full list below...

Continue reading "Rolling Stone's Top Albums of 2011"

photos by Ryan Barkan

Charles Bradley @ Bowery Ballroom

If we didn't mention it before, Charles Bradley is in fact playing Music Hall of Williamsburg on New Year's Eve along with The Budos Band. Tickets are still on sale. Charles is also heading out on the road in early 2012. Dates are scheduled around North America and Australia, and they're all listed below.

Saturday night, 12/3, two days after appearing on WNYC, Charles played a sold out show at Bowery Ballroom with Rodriquez. More pictures from that show, also below...

Continue reading "Charles Bradley played Bowery Ballroom w/ Rodriguez (pics), playing NYE w/ Budos Band & other dates"

The Budos Band in Prospect Park (more by David Andrako)

Lee Fields & The Expressions are headlining a benefit show at Brooklyn Bowl on Monday night (9/26). Tickets can be had for as low as $15 and as much as $100. Proceeds support NYC's non-religious suicide hotline run by Samaritans of NY. Corey Glover (Living Colour), Danielia Cotton, and The Smyrk are also on the bill. It's one of only three upcoming shows right now for Lee. The other two are in Chicago and Michigan and are listed below.

Other upcoming Daptone-related shows include the previously-mentioned Charles Bradley show at Bowery Ballroom in December (tickets), and the not-yet mentioned Budos Band show at Music Hall of Williamsburg on New Year's Eve (with "very special guests to be announced"). Tickets are on sale.

One thing I can assure you is that the MHOW NYE special guest is not Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings who are due to announce another NYC show of their own soon. Meanwhile they have scattered tour dates scheduled, some with My Morning Jacket. All dates for all of them, below...

Continue reading "Lee Fields playing a benefit @ Brooklyn Bowl, Budos Band & special guests playing NYE @ Music Hall (and other dates)"

Charles Bradley at Fort Greene Park in July (more by BBG)

If James Brown was Soul Brother #1, then one of the artists vying for that #2 spot is Charles Bradley, the Brooklyn soul crooner with as many on stage moves as his jacket has rhinestones. Bradley will spend most of the fall either touring the US (hitting Austin City Limits and the POPPED! Music Festival) or abroad in the EU, but will return to play Bowery Ballroom on December 3rd. Tickets are on sale. Full tour schedule is below alongside some recent video.

Continue reading "Charles Bradley playing Bowery Ballroom & other dates"