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)"

DOWNLOAD: The Stepkids - "Shadows on Behalf" (MP3)

Relive the glory days before Fat Beats closed up shop at the Fat Beats Pop-Up Store, open in celebration of Record Store Day on 4/16. Kicking off at noon and lasting until 11PM, Fat Beats will open up their DUMBO Warehouse (110 Bridge St. 3rd Floor) with fellow groove devotees WaxPoetics and host performances from CSC Funk Band (performing Gang Starr material!), The Stepkids, Chico Mann, The Phenomenal Handclap Band, Neek the Exotic & Large Professor, DJ Center, Mista Sinista, !llmind, Amir, Eternia, Danny Dann the Beat Mann, Masta Ace, Maticulous, Kev Brown & Kaimbr, Ray West, "and many surprise guests". Oh, and it's FREE.

If you miss it, Fat Beats will be hosting a monthly pop-up shop/event at the same location. Check the updated fatbeats.com for updates.

Stepkids recently dropped the new Shadows On Behalf 12" via Stones Throw; download one track from the 12" above, stream another below. The band is on board for several Brooklyn dates in the coming weeks, including April 15th at 525 Waverley Ave, April 21 at Brooklyn Bowl with Delorean ("Limited Admissions at Doors"), and 6/4 at Bell House with Dennis Coffey/The Dirtbombs (tickets). All tour dates, and streams of the 12" are below.

Continue reading "Fat Beats & WaxPoetics opening Record Store Day DUMBO pop-up store w/ live performances by the Stepkids & more"

DOWNLOAD: Animal Collective - Summertime Clothes (Dam-Funk Remix) MP3

Dam-Funk @ American Museum of Natural History (more by Rod Mickens)

LA Times: How did you end up hooking up with Animal Collective to remix "Summertime Clothes?"

Dam-Funk: Animal Collective's manager reached out to me because the group wanted to collaborate with me. I dug their material and we agreed to do something. I studied their song, I didn't just chop it up and put effects on it -- I studied it hard, and shaped it around the vocal to take them to the dance floor, but still have something that you could ride around with your girl and listen to. I understood that the band's fans are sensitive to the source material. It's like Prince -- if someone remixed Prince back in the day, I would've been waiting with baited breath.

I was pleased that the majority of people seemed to like it. When I saw Animal Collective at the Troubadour, one of them told me that he couldn't stop listening to it on repeat, and that meant a lot to me. I really respect those dudes and wanted to get down with them. For lack of a better description, they sort of remind me of Talking Heads, how they were into expanding their sound and collaborating with George Clinton. I love that aspect of collaborating with different types of artists. Nite Jewel has become a good buddy of mine, because we like those same type of chords. No matter what type of genre, if it's beautiful music, that's what we'll lean towards.

That Dam-Funk Animal Collective remix is posted above. The L.A. DJ, whose named is pronounced "Dame," (short for his real name Damon) will open for AC at both of their Prospect Park shows on August 14th and 15th. It's unclear exactly whether these shows should be classified as "DJ", or "live", or a mix of both, but a show Dam played in an LA museum earlier this month definitely leaned toward the live side of things, as you can see in the two videos below.

The LA museum show is not to be confused with the NYC museum show, which took place in May.

The Stones Throw DJ also spins (I think) at the My Favorite Things party this Tuesday, June 23rd at APT. Other DJs on the bill include Dirk Rumpff, Tyler Askew and Big Bang.

Dam will also be at the Cubic Zirconia record release party at Santos on Thursday, July 2nd. He'll be spinning (definitely a DJ set this time) with DJ Assault, Kool Hersh and Mike 2600. Live sets that night include Cubic Zirconia, Head Automatica and Chico Mann. Advance tickets for that night are on sale (poster below).

Dam-Funk's debut LP, Toeachizown, will be seeing a late summer/early fall release on Stones Throw Records. The DJ discusses his new record, with a preview video for it, some other videos with all dates, below...

Continue reading "Dam-Funk dates - APT Tuesday, Santos, 2 Prospect Park shows w/ Animal Collective who he remixed (MP3)"