Deerhunter at Austin Psych Fest 2013 (more by Tim Griffin)

Governors Ball is less than a month away, and the fest has now released the daily schedule. They've done a pretty good job with not too many giant conflicts -- though there's a few like Grizzly Bear vs Beirut, Bloc Party vs The xx, Erykah Badu vs Beach House, and Nas vs Guns N Roses. Check out the daily line-ups across their four stages below.

Continue reading "Governors Ball announces set times"

Bumbershoot is returning to Seattle this year from August 31 to September 2 at Seattle Center. This year's lineup was just announced, and it includes Death Cab for Cutie performing Transatlanticism (in case The Postal Service reuniting wasn't enough Ben Gibbard nostalgia for you), Kendrick Lamar, MGMT, The Breeders, The Zombies, Alt-J, Deerhunter, Baroness, Crystal Castles, Gary Numan, Joey Bada$$, Eric Burdon, Bob Mould, David Bazan, Charli XCX, Redd Kross, The Men and more.

Tickets (3-day passes, 2-day passes, and single day tickets) for the festival are on sale now.

Full lineup below...

Continue reading "Bumbershoot 2013 lineup & tix (Death Cab for Cutie, MGMT, Kendrick Lamar, Breeders, Zombies, Alt-J, Deerhunter & more)"

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)"

Mykki Blanco at Official BV SXSW 2013 Showcase (more by Amanda Hatfield)

NYC rapper Mykki Blanco is on a tour now, which includes a previously mentioned hometown show on April 2 at Bowery Ballroom. Since we first posted that show, openers were announced -- DJ MikeQ, Rizzla, and Ian Isiah -- and tickets are still available. The tour also hits the Ivy League circuit with stops in Princeton, NJ for a Princeton University show at Terrace Club and New Haven, CT for a Yale University show at Toad's Place. All tour dates are listed below.

Mykki's Yale show is with Pictureplane, who he also shared a bill with at the BrooklynVegan Official SXSW showcase (pics of that are HERE and HERE), along with Beat Culture and Physical Therapy. Pictureplane is also heading out as a support act on the second leg of Crystal Castles' upcoming tour.

Meanwhile, Doldrums, who also played a BrooklynVegan show at SXSW this year opens the first leg of Crystal Castles' tour. His tour also hits NYC for shows on April 13 at 285 Kent with Arbutus labelmate Sean Nicholas Savage (listen to a track below) and on May 8 at Mercury Lounge. Tickets for the 285 Kent show and the Mercury show are still available.

All Mykki Blanco, Pictureplane, Crystal Castles, and Doldrums dates are listed, along with a stream of Mykki's free mixtape and that Sean Nicholas Savage track, below...

Continue reading "Mykki Blanco on tour, Pictureplane playing with him before Crystal Castles tour (dates)"

Nick Cave @ SXSW 2013 (more by Tim Griffin)

One of the Grand Dammes of the music festival world Glastonbury 2013 will happen June 28 - 30 in the UK town of the same name. (They skipped last year.) Announced acts include The Rolling Stones, Phoenix, Arctic Monkeys, Primal Scream, Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, Vampire Weekend, Elvis Costello, Kenny Rogers (!), Portishead, Foals, Tame Impala, Alt-J, Billy Bragg, PiL, Smashing Pumpkins, Chic, Cat Power, The Horrors, Rodriguez, Palma Violets, Savages, Crystal Castles and a whole lot more.

No word on tickets yet. You can check out the full line-up on the flyer below.

Continue reading "Rolling Stones, Phoenix, Nick Cave, The xx, Primal Scream, Chic, Alt-J, Foals and many more playing Glastonbury 2013"

Grimes aboard the SS Coachella 2012 (more by Greg Cristman)

Names like Grimes, Stars, Woods of Ypres (RIP), Crystal Castles, Metric and Leonard Cohen sit side-by-side with names like Justin Bieber, Carly Rae Jebsen, Celine Dion and Drake as part of the 2013 nominees for the Juno Awards, Canada's answer to the Grammys.

"Electronic Album of the Year" nominee Grimes is most likely stoked to be named in the company of some of her favorite artists of 2011 (namely, Beiber & Taylor Swift). Her competition in that category is pretty stiff: Purity Ring, TRUST, Crystal Castles and Daphni. Meanwhile, I'm guessing Justin Bieber is stoked to not be mentioned anywhere near his arch enemy Patrick Carney, even though Carney has backed off a bit and is now known as himself again on Twitter.

The 2013 Juno Awards will be given out on April 21. Nominee list below...

Continue reading "Grimes, Justin Beiber, Metric, Leonard Cohen, The Weeknd, Crystal Castles and Drake among the 2013 Juno nominees"

Primavera Sound have announced their 2013 lineup, set to go down on May 22-26 in Barcelona, Spain. The announcement came via an animated video and artists performing include Phoenix, The Postal Service, Blur, Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, My Bloody Valentine, Tame Impala, Wu-Tang Clan, Dead Can Dance, Grizzly Bear, The Knife, and loads more. Current lineup is below along with the flyer and video...

Continue reading "Primavera Sound 2013 line-up announced"

Governors Ball, which started as a small NYC festival on Governors Island and moved to the larger Randall's Island last year, keeps getting bigger and bigger. This year's fest takes place June 7th, 8th & 9th, and tickets go on sale Friday. Check out the full lineup, in list, video and flyer format - one unannounced headliner included, below...

Continue reading "Governors Ball 2013 lineup (Kanye West, Kings of Leon, Grizzly Bear, xx, Cut Copy, Kendrick, Anco, Beach House & MUCH MORE)"

UK bass duo Disclosure, last here in October, will be back in March -- not for SXSW but the 2013 Ultra Music Festival in Miami which takes place over two weekends (3/15 - 17 and 3/22 - 24). The festival also features appearances from Tiësto, David Guetta, Armin van Buuren and Avicii, Hot Chip, Crystal Castles, Calvin Harris, Carl Cox, Fatboy Slim, and more. Disclosure is only playing the first weekend. Full "Phase 1" line-up is below, with more to be announced later.

While in North America, the duo will also make time for two shows in NYC: March 20 at Music Hall of Williamsburg and March 21 at Bowery Ballroom. Tickets to both shows go on sale Friday (1/18) at noon.

Disclosure are currently experiencing success in their home country as single "Latch" is sitting in the UK Top 20. You can stream it below.

Continue reading "Disclosure playing two NYC shows after Ultra Music Festival in Miami (line-up announced)"

Today Pitchfork posted the first half (well, first 30 albums) of their Top 50 Albums of 2012 list. There are some surprises on it, like Peaking Lights and Sharon Van Etten, who seemed more likely to end up on their Honorable Mentions list due to their relatively lower scores and the fact that most of the albums on this list were awarded Best New Music throughout the year. Cat Power and Hot Chip also make it, both of whose new albums seemed to have received less love from Pitchfork than previous releases by those artists. A Rustie Essential Mix also makes the list even though his actual album which came out last year didn't make their 2011 list. And of course the expected ones end up there too like Purity Ring, Julia Holter, Schoolboy Q, Miguel, and more. The remaining 20 will be revealed tomorrow (Friday, 12/21).

Check out their 50-30 picks below...

Continue reading "30 of Pitchfork's Top 50 Albums of 2012"

by Bill Pearis

Doldrums @ MHOW, September 2012 (more by Amanda Hatfield)

Airick Woodhead has come a long in the last 12 months with Doldrums, having started as a one-man elecronics project and quickly expanding it into an actual band that gained more form as the months went on. By the time CMJ rolled around, Doldrums was a fully realized endeavor on stage and one of the more entertaining sets I saw that week. As mentioned before, Doldrums' debut album, Lesser Evil, will be out February 26 on Montreal label Arbutus Records. It's a terrific record that I think is gonna turn a lot of heads. You may remember that Grimes jumped the gun and named it her favorite album of this year. You can check out the video for Lesser Evil's "She is the Wave," below and stream "Egypt," the first official single from the album, as well which is available in EP form right now.

Meanwhile, we got Airick to give us his Top 10 of 2012. He prefaces his list with this:

Driving alone at night is the best time to listen to music. Me and my car, Sheeba, have been through alot, and here are the records that have soundtracked our year; some good stuff coming out of the neighbourhood and from across the pond. Of course, i should be giving a honorable mention to my FAVORITE driving records of all time : Robyn, Sean Nicholas Savage, Elvis Presley, Yo! Majesty, Nancy Sinatra - but just for the sake of this being a year end list lets go with the new shit.

Continue reading "Doldrums released 'Egypt' EP and readies debut LP (streams), lists his Top 10 records of 2012"

The Faint at Webster Hall in 2009 (more by Tim Griffin)

The Faint are currently on tour celebrating the 10th anniversary of their album Danse Macabre. The party hits NYC on Friday (12/7) at Terminal 5 with Toronto's Trust and Icky Blossoms opening the show. Tickets are still available.

If you've read the site over the last week or so, you probably know we've been asking a lot of bands and artists to contribute year-end Top 10s (like Animal Collective who play Terminal 5 twice this week), and here we've got ones from both The Faint and Trust. The Faint did a collective list of favorite LPs and were only able to whittle it down to 12, including albums by Liars, Actress, Twin Shadow, Grimes (who did a list for us too) as well as both of their current tourmates. Check out the full list below.

As for Trust, main man Robert Alfons lists his 10 favorite tracks of 2012 and the top three spots all go to the same artist. Any guesses who? Don't forget that Trust will DJ late night at Glasslands on Friday (12/7) after their T5 show. Black Marble will play live and tickets are still available.

The Faint and Trust's 2012 Top 10 lists are below.

Continue reading "The Faint and Trust list their Favorite Music of 2012; on tour, playing Terminal 5 this week"

Long-running UK music weekly NME has just published their Year-End issue and have named Tame Impala's Lonerism as album of the year, with Grimes, Frank Ocean, Crystal Castles and Alt-J rounding out the Top 5. Tame Impala offshoot Pond comes in at #7. Check out the entire Top 50 list below.

As mentioned before, Tame Impala just announced a 2013 tour, and will play Terminal 5 in NYC on February 19. Tickets for that show go on sale Friday (11/30) at noon.

NME's Top 50 LPs of 2012 are listed below.

Continue reading "NME Top 50 Albums of 2012; Tame Impala 'Lonerism' gets #1"

photos by Wei Shi

Crystal Castles / HEALTH at Hollywood Paladium, 10/21/2012

...it was not until the lights dimmed and the first thrum of new single "Plague" began to hum out of the stage speakers that the crowd came alive with an energy that would not dim until the house lights came up again at the end of the night.

Ethan Kath and Alice Glass took the stage mechanically, and Kath settled behind the stage setup that would remain his post for much of the show.

Glass, the dark-eyed, bright-haired singer whose mysterious appearance, demeanor, and back story has inspired a cultish following, clutched the mic stand and crouched on the stage as if in a trance, until she hoisted herself up and began singing the opening lines of the song.

And from there, the energy level of the show skyrocketed. During songs, Glass would cross over the barrier between the photo pit and the audience and crowd surf, as the band's tour manager and venue staff frantically tried to keep up with her. - [Neon Tommy]

Continue reading "Crystal Castles & HEALTH played Hollywood Paladium (pics)"

photos by Greg Cristman

Crystal Castles @ Roseland Ballroom - 10/3/12

Crystal Castles and HEALTH brought their tour with HEALTH to NYC for a show at Roseland Ballroom on Wednesday (10/3) (but not Capitol Theatre last night [10/4]). The tour is in support of Crystal Castle's new album, III, which is due out digitally on November 5.

More pictures from the Roseland show are below.

Continue reading "Crystal Castles and HEALTH played Roseland Ballroom (pics)"

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"

DOWNLOAD: Crystal Castles - Wrath of God (MP3)

Crystal Castles 'III' artwork

Crystal Castles' third album finally has a cover, which you can see above, and a title which is...wait for it... III. The album wil be out digitally on November 5 and one day later for physical formats (11/6).The Canadian duo have also released a new track from it titled "Wrath of God" and you can download it above and stream it below. There is also a video for "Plague" and you can watch that below as well.

As posted previously, Crystal Castles launch their North American tour this week and will be in NYC on October 3 at Roseland with Health. Tickets to that show are still avaialable but if you'd like to go for free we're giving away two pairs. Details on how to enter to win are at the bottom of this post.

On the West Coast, Crystal Castles will be touring with Toronto's Kontravoid, who play NYC TONIGHT (11/26, midnight) at the WIERD party at Home Sweet Home, which is also their US live debut. You can stream some Konatravoid tracks below.

A few new dates have been added to the Crystal Castles tour, and an updated tour schedule, video and song streams are below...

Continue reading "Crystal Castles reveal album info, new track & video (win tix to their Roseland show); Kontravoid making US debut tonight"

DOWNLOAD: Crystal Castles - Plague (MP3)

Crystal Castles are set to release a new album in September. The still-untitled LP was self-produced in Warsaw, Poland and is currently being mixed in London. The first new track from it, "Plague," dropped yesterday and you can download it above or stream it at the bottom of this post.

Crystal Castles have announced a tour with with HEALTH including a NYC show happening October 3 at Roseland. Tickets for that go on sale Friday, July 27 at 10AM. All dates are listed below.

Also below are a couple other streams, including a HEALTH remix of Crystal Castles' "Suffocation" and the "Andy After Dark Bootleg Remix" of Crystal Castles vs. HEALTH - "Crimewave."

Continue reading "Crystal Castles releasing new LP in September (MP3); touring this fall with HEALTH (dates) including Roseland"

by Andrew Sacher

Squarepusher

Back in May, drill & bass master Squarepusher announced a North American tour which included a TBA NYC show set to happen on October 30. Well it turns out the NYC show will actually be on November 1 and it happens at Terminal 5 with a great list of openers; Bonobo (DJ), Holy Fuck, and Mount Kimbie. Tickets for that show go on sale Friday (6/29) at noon with an AmEx presale starting today (6/27) at noon. All Squarepusher dates are listed below.

Squarepusher released his new album, Ufabulum, in May and it's a pretty solid one. It opens with "4001," which is just about the only song that sounds like classic Squarepusher, and is then followed by, "Unreal Square," which brings in a bit of brostep bass wobble. The rest of the album sees Squarepusher diving into nutty jazz fusion and unstoppable breakbeats. You can stream three of its tracks below.

Speaking of Mount Kimbie, they've signed to Warp, the label which Squarepusher also calls home, and currently at work on their second album which will be released on the label. The Terminal 5 show appears to be their only announced North American date at the moment.

Holy Fuck and Bonobo will be in NY even sooner for Camp Bisco, which goes down from July 12-14 at Indian Lookout Country Club in Mariaville, NY. They'll be joining a lineup which includes Tycho, Simian Mobile Disco, Skrillex, Amon Tobin ISAM, Big Boi, Crystal Castles, Yacht, Mr. Muthafuckin' eXquire, Shigeto, FaltyDL, Thundercat, and more. Tickets for the festival are still available. The full lineup is listed below.

In related news, You can also catch Holy Fuck frontman Brian Borcherdt in NYC right after Bisco with his new project, Dusted, who play Glasslands on July 15. Tickets for that show are still available.

A list of all dates and song streams below...

Continue reading "Squarepusher adds T5 date to tour (dates); Mount Kimbie signed to Warp; Bonobo and Holy Fuck playing Camp Bisco"

After teasing us with lineup addictions day by day over the past few days, the full lineup of Austin City Limits 2012 is finally here. Check it out below....

Continue reading "Austin City Limits Festival -- 2012 lineup "

photos by Diana Wong

"One needn't be among the electronic music faithful to take away positive feelings toward Moogfest, Asheville's yearly electronic mecca. Since migrating from a single-night event in New York City to what was arguably the cradle of electronic music innovation after being settled by Robert Moog, Moogfest has been as edifying as it is entertaining. Few festivals defy their attendees to completely reassess how they listen to music in the way that a weekend at Moogfest does. The gray matter-frying, booty-shaking synth jams raged until early morning all across downtown Asheville, but oftentimes the lessons in musical futurology were just as fulfilling." [Yes Weekly]

Continue reading "Moogfest 2011 - Day 2 in pics (Amon Tobin, Suicide, CANT, Kode9, Toro y Moi & more)"

photos by Bryan Bruchman

The Rapture

The Rapture, Crystal Castles & A-Trak played a show at DCTV firehouse in Chinatown on Saturday night (10/22). Here are some pictures from the dance party (hopefully you danced with that lineup!). They continue below...

Continue reading "The Rapture, Crystal Castles & A-Trak played a SPIN/Ray-Ban CMJ party @ DCTV (pics)"

photos by Chris La Putt

Crystal Castles @ Terminal 5 in March

Happening now:

The New York Photo Festival's Fall invitational presents a selection of images that capture the powerful relationship between photography and music in all its forms, be it solo musicians, bands, rock concerts, grand operatic productions, or intimate one-on-one sessions.

From Herman Leonard's jazz portraits, which defined an era of cool, to Pennie Smith's explosive shot of Paul Simonon smashing his bass. From Mapplethorpe's intimate portraits of Patti Smith, to the iconic photography of Anton Corbijn and Laura Levine, photography has long been instrumental in how we experience music.

Strip away the music, and what you have is an image that defines a moment, an emotion. An image that tells a story.

The photographs selected for "Audio/Visual" capture the unique relationship between photography and music - be it solo musicians, bands, rock concerts, grand operatic productions, or intimate one-on-one sessions.

"Audio/Visual: An exhibition of music photography" will feature over 100 photographs by 70 artists - on view at the famed gallery and event space The PowerHouse Arena in Dumbo (Brooklyn), from October 19 to November 3.

Continue reading "music photography exhibition now @ Powerhouse Arena, Chris La Putt's Crystal Castles pic included (here's the full set)"

photos by Tim Griffin

As you may have heard, SPIN is throwing a Ray Ban-sponsored party in NYC Saturday night with the giant lineup that is the Rapture, Crystal Castles and A-Trak. They're giving away tickets through various methods. One of those is right here on BrooklynVegan. For instructions on how you can enter to win a pair (if you're 21+), see below.

The Rapture were just on a tour that brought them to La Zona Rosa in Austin on 10/12. Here are some pictures from that show too. More of them with the contest details, below...

Continue reading "The Rapture played La Zona Rosa (pics), playing SPIN party Saturday w/ Crystal Castles & A-Trak (win tix!)"

Crystal Castles @ Coachella 2011 (more by David Andrako)

September 15th
Smoke & Mirrors :: Powered by RCRD LBL
CRYSTAL CASTLES (LIVE)
with House Of House & More TBA

Doors: 9pm
No Cover/RSVP Only
Good Units (Beneath the Hudson Hotel)
Decor by Adam Aleksander
Brought to you by BING.

Smoke & Mirrors brings big names to small rooms. Be prepared to get lost in the music and enjoy some smoky surprises.

This event is free with RSVP. Come early, stay late.

We will be cutting off RSVPs once the demand is wildly out of control. This is a small room for big talent. Once the room is filled, all others will be turned away.