Entries tagged with: Crystal Castles

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Sufjan Stevens w/ Clogs @ BAM in February (more by Kyle Dean Reinford)
Sufjan Stevens

We are extremely excited to announce the addition of Sufjan Stevens to the ATP-curated Saturday lineup. Stevens, who will be releasing Run Rabbit Run (a re-arrangement of his 2001 album Enjoy Your Rabbit) in October, has not played a US show in over two years, and this is sure to be a special performance. [ATP NY]
Sufjan is one of the most recent additions to ATP NY, running September 11th-13th in Monticello, NY. It'll be his first show in a while, though over the past year Sufjan has made appearances joining St. Vincent at BAM, The Welcome Wagon at St. Paul's Lutheran and the Clogs with My Brightest Diamond (which you can see above) again at BAM .

Sufjan will be joined on the Saturday bill by new additions Shellac, Circulatory System and Grouper (who we previously announced).

On the Sunday, the Flaming Lips-curated bill has added Crystal Castles, who has been touring North America and Europe. They're also on the schedule for All Points West on August 1st.

Other Sunday additions are Super Furry Animals (who are also playing Maxwell's and Highline Ballroom), Boris, Low Lows and Oneida, the latter of which will perform a special set, described below...

"Oneida presents the Ocropolis" - where Oneida will transport the impetus, spirit and community of their multidisciplinary studio/performance space, The Ocropolis, to ATP for a full day of improvisation, collaboration, and recording, combined with the astounding Mighty Robot Visuals light crew.
Limited tickets for the fest are still on sale. Ongoing coverage of ATP NY and related NYC-area shows HERE. Full lineup so far below...

Continue reading "ATP NY adds Sufjan Stevens, Boris, Shellac, Crystal Castles & more - full updated lineup"

"Woah just watched crystal castles at sonar, sound was awful throughout kept cutting out so at te end alice started trashing the stage..." - Little Boots

Crystal Castles @ Coachella 2009 (more by Darren Kim)
Crystal Castles

"Toronto synth-rockers Crystal Castles were involved in a melee with security while onstage in Barcelona early Sunday morning. Their show, part of the Sonar festival, had been marred by technical issues. At some point during the set singer Alice Glass went into the crowd and punched a security guard. She then climbed back on stage, and pulled out the kick drum and appeared to be about to heave it when a sound technician grabbed her. And that's when her bandmate Ethan Kath jumped in and rushed to her aid." [National Post]
Videos below...

Continue reading "Crystal Castles fight w/ security @ the Sonar Festival (video) "

Lollapalooza

"Though promoters around the country report strong early ticket sales for festivals and summer tours, the recession is causing jitters. This year Coachella, which has the most glamorous reputation of all American festivals, began selling tickets on layaway, and 18 percent of its customers took that option, Mr. Tollett said.

The proliferation of big festivals, like Bonnaroo near Nashville and Lollapalooza in Chicago, has not been without casualties. This year Langerado in Miami shut down, citing the economy. The Pemberton Festival in British Columbia is on hiatus after only one year, although its promoter, Live Nation, said the problem was permit delays." [NY Times]

With all the leaks of bands playing Lollapalooza this year, there are almost no surprises in the official lineup announcement, except maybe the Animal Collective DJ set... The whole thing below...

Continue reading "Lollapalooza 2009 - the official & complete lineup"

photos by Darren Kim

Morrissey

"Coachella exists in two time zones: the event itself and its digital afterlife. The second zone, on cameras and blogs and Twitter and video-sharing sites, comes a heartbeat after the first, like a rockabilly slap-back echo. In its 10th year now, Coachella has been the music festival for the most technologically advanced teenagers-to-young-professionals, sniffing around the alternative mainstream. Even when the music doesn't present an argument they haven't heard before, they're controlling their own media representation of it; the act of listening is almost immediately contextualized into their own lives." [NY Times]
More pictures from Coachella Day One, below...

Continue reading "Coachella 2009 - Day 1 in Pictures "

Vega

our deepest apologies to anyone who was expecting (respectively) to enjoy themselves at a dance show last night and instead felt the cold sting of a series of bullshit moves. The situation was unfortunately out of our hands but we greatly appreciate everyone who was looking forward to seeing us and especially to the people at Granada & C3 entertainment who worked with us empathetically amidst the long winded accusations. Though we can't change what CC apparently thinks of us and Granada, we at-least deserve an opportunity to defend our side of the story. Our explanation goes as follows:

Shortly after playing our set in Austin, Crystal Castles asked if they could use our guitar which we gladly agreed too. Shortly after the set the crew packed our gear and helped us load out. An FX pedal they used during their set was packed into our guitar cab (unbeknownst to us). Upon arriving back at my apartment we found it and immediately got ahold of their sound engineer offering to return it promptly. We were told to bring it to Dallas. The next day we arrive at the Granada in Dallas only to be asked to leave the premises by personal request of Crystal Castles via Tom Windish of Windish Agency. We handed the pedal to a sound guy and packed our shit without so much as an explanation for CC Party. Considering we were thrown out of the press pit during the show by their management, accused of mindfully drinking their booze, botching our guest list, and contentiously commenting this to our manager, the fact that they still have the nerve to accuse us of theft is flat out insulting. Do they truly think we'd stupid enough to compromise our reputation as a band, and ruin a rapport with a band we were initially honored to play with for a goofy FX pedal? Treating gigs like these flippantly is just something we don't do. That would be flat out moronic. We still have great admiration for Crystal Castles as artists and in all honesty they seemed very nice in Austin. But the lack of intervention to the arrogance of their management leaves me somewhat disappointed. Granada has already begun working out refunds and compensation. I commend their compassion for the fanbase they've built in Dallas. It's unfortunate that can't be said about the other party involved. I did a radio interview today explaining this shit storm (if things haven't already been made Crystal Clear) (MP3).

-Alan

Read more about the cancelled Crystal Castles show on Gorilla Vs Bear.

Sounds like all "Alan" Palomo aka "VEGA" stole is someone's name.

Crystal Castles @ MHOW in Brooklyn (more by Ryan Muir)
Crystal Castles

Crystal Castles were supposed to play a show at the Granada Theater in Dallas last night (4/14). According to the band's manager:

"After witnessing the CC soundcheck, the owner of the club was afraid that CC would "blow up the soundsystem" and the show was cancelled, after three hours of arguing."
But according to the club......

Continue reading "Crystal Castles (who cancelled last night) vs. Dallas, Texas "

by Andrew Frisicano

Osheaga Festival

The 4th edition of the Osheaga Music and Arts Festival will take place in Montreal's Parc Jean-Drapeau on August 1st and 2nd. Osheaga is proud to announce that the headliners for this year's edition are the multi-platinum selling band Coldplay on Saturday, August 1st and hip-hop pioneers Beastie Boys on Sunday, August 2nd....Osheaga is one of only two North American festival appearances that Coldplay will make this year.
The other North American festival is All Points West, which takes place the same weekend in NJ, and also has the Beastie Boys, Lykke Li, Arctic Monkeys, Crystal Castles, the Ting Tings, Elbow, and Kitty Daisy and Lewis in common with the Canadians.

Also playing the Osheaga Fest will be The Roots (who played APW last year, and...), who, because of their Jimmy Fallon gig, are mostly sticking to NYC-area gigs this year. They will also play the outdoor fest of their own in Philly over the summer.

This year will mark the fourth year for the Osheaga Festival. BV Mike was there last year: Day 1 and Day 2, and in 2007 too. The 2008 festival was also when Iggy & the Stooges - with Mike Watt - got their equipment stolen.

Tickets for the festival go on sale Friday, April 3rd at noon. More info and full (initial?) line-up below...

Continue reading "Osheaga Festival (in Montreal) - 2009 linuep announced"

All Points West

Following last year's inaugural event, festival producers began work immediately on resolving concerns expressed by fans in attendance. They have worked closely with their partners at NJ Transit to improve light-rail service and capacity. As an added value for 2009, festival goers who choose to travel to the site utilizing the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail line can ride for free throughout the weekend with their ALL POINTS WEST festival ticket. Additionally, based on the popularity of the ferry as a mode of transportation from lower Manhattan to Liberty State Park, the frequency and size of the ferryboats will increase at a reduced price for festival attendees.... The producers have also worked with their partners at Liberty State Park to improve the fan experience in the beer gardens. This year's areas will be larger, have shorter lines, and feature shade tents, views of the stages and food concessions...
The second annual ALL POINTS WEST MUSIC & ARTS FESTIVAL returns to Liberty State Park in Jersey City, New Jersey Friday, July 31, Saturday, August 1 and Sunday, August 2. Like last year, bands will play on three stages, except "the Queen of the Valley stage has been changed to a Coachella-like tent creating an environment that will showcase comedy, DJs, electronic acts and bands."

More details on the items above will be posted at the apwfestival.com. The entire lineup (it's good!) and ticket info, below...

Continue reading "All Point West - 2009 festival dates & lineup (Tool, My Bloody Valentine, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Beastie Boys, Coldplay)"

Crystal Castles @ MHOW - New Years Eve (more by Ryan Muir)
Crystal Castles

Al Green @ the Wellmont Theater - Nov 2008 (more by Eric M Townsend)
Al Green

Superfly Productions and A.C. Entertainment are excited to announce the initial lineup for the 2009 Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival. The eighth annual four-day camping and music festival will be held on June 11 - 14 on the same beautiful 700-acre farm in Manchester, Tennessee, 60 miles south of Nashville. Every year Bonnaroo seeks to make history by offering unique and exclusive performances by rock's greatest legends as well as its most significant newcomers. A full list of confirmed acts follows, and more will be announced in the coming weeks. The final Bonnaroo 2009 lineup will total over 120 bands and over 20 comedians performing on 13 stages over four days. Tickets go on sale exclusively through www.bonnaroo.com on Saturday, February 7 at 12:00 PM Eastern.
As rumored, Bruce Springsteen (who just played the Superbowl Halftime show) and Phish (who just had some trouble selling tickets to other shows) are headlining this year's Bonnaroo. Nine Inch Nails (who played Lollapalooza last year), Beastie Boys, David Byrne (who has two shows coming up at Radio City), Wilco, Al Green, Erykah Badu, TV on the Radio, Yeah Yeah Yeahs (who are also playing Coachella), Andrew Bird (who just played Carnegie Hall), The Decemberists, Bon Iver, Animal Collective (who are very popular right now), Neko Case, Jenny Lewis, Santogold, Grizzly Bear (who have a new album coming out), St. Vincent, Ted Leo, Crystal Castles, and many others are also on the bill according to the now-officially announced initial lineup.

Coachella announced their initial lineup less than a week earlier.

Metallica played Bonnaroo in 2008. Metallica played NY & NJ this past weekend.

Full (initial) 2009 Bonnaroo lineup below...

Continue reading "Bonnaroo announces initial 2009 lineup (Bruce Springsteen, Phish, Beastie Boys, NIN, Wilco, Animal Collective...)"

Coachella

Headliners Paul McCartney, The Killers and The Cure are among the 130-plus acts set for the tenth COACHELLA VALLEY MUSIC & ARTS FESTIVAL (APRIL 17, 18 AND 19) at the beautiful Empire Polo Club in Indio, CA, the same grounds where the COACHELLA VALLEY MUSIC & ARTS FESTIVAL debuted in 1999. Other artists confirmed for America's most critically acclaimed music festival include Morrissey, Amy Winehouse, Franz Ferdinand, My Bloody Valentine, Leonard Cohen, Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band, Thievery Corporation, Yeah Yeah Yeahs (the complete line-up is listed below).

Paul McCartneyThis marks the first ever U.S. festival appearance for McCartney who is currently supporting his latest release ELECTRIC ARGUMENTS.

"I have heard that Coachella is one of the greatest festivals in the world. I'm really excited to get out there and rock!" McCartney says.

Tickets for COACHELLA go on sale Friday, January 30 at 9:00 AM (PT) at all Ticketmaster locations.

Throbbing Gristle and the rest of the full (real) line-up (as of 1/30) is below:

Continue reading "Coachella 2009 - OFFICIAL lineup announced (My Bloody Valentine, Leonard Cohen, Paul McCartney, Morrissey, The Cure, Antony, Amy Winehouse...) - tix on sale"

Coachella 2008 (more by Ryan Muir)
Coachella

"It is the start of a new year and that means we're slouching towards Southern California's biggest music festivals, starting with Coachella in the middle of April. And the internet is simply ablaze with line-up rumors. But this year, much like last, crazed fans have taken things a step further on the festival's message board, going as far as to contact bands directly for confirmation.

At the forefront of this year's rumor mill are scores of potential summer blockbuster acts, including Animal Collective, Basement Jaxx, the Black Keys, Blur, Britney Spears, Four Tet, Glasvegas, José González, Keane, Morrissey, N.A.S.A, Neil Young, Outkast, the Pretenders, the Prodigy, the Replacements, the Smiths, the Thermals and the White Stripes. And among the purportedly confirmed artists, who have been reached through Myspace or other means, are some pretty sizable LA locals like No Age, Peanut Butter Wolf, the Airborne Toxic Event and Flying Lotus." [LAIST]

Speaking of the Airborne Toxic Event, they sold out their Bowery Ballroom show and added another one on March 8th (three days earlier). They also just so happen to be the band playing David Letterman tonight (1/12).

Fleet Foxes are another one of those listed as confirmed. They're also confirmed to play SNL next week.

Also confirmed are Los Campesinos! who are playing a show at Sound Fix Records this week.

All confirmed and rumored Coachella artists (according to LAist) below...

Continue reading "Coachella 2009 rumored & confirmed artists (Fleet Foxes, Hold Steady, No Age, Girl Talk, the Bug...)"

photos by Ryan Muir

Crystal Castles

Crystal Castles made three two NYC appearances on New Years Eve. The first two were shows at Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn, and third was an even later DJ gig they were supposed to DJ at Supreme Trading later on, but reportedly didn't show up (see comments). More pictures from the second show at MHOW, and some video, below...

Continue reading "Crystal Castles @ MHOW (New Years Eve late show) - pics"

Akron Family

Gothamist: So you're curating this New Year's Eve show. What does curating a concert entail?

Miles Seaton of Akron/Family: Oh, man, you should ask my girlfriend; she's a curator. The Knitting Factory wanted us to get all the bands together for this last night at the club, and it's been a lot of back-and-forth during a really busy time for us and the club. But it means the opportunity to have Dirty Projectors and Deerhoof play, and also our friend Greg Davis and our other friends like Megafaun play. And also, to keep an eye on what the night looks like for people and the pacing of the night.

How is this going to work in terms of set times? Are people going to have to choose between Deerhoof, Dirty Projectors and Akron/Family?

You know, that's the thing that curating would normally entail but we haven't really had a chance to communicate with the club a lot about the production end of things. So I can't answer that, to be honest with you. But I imagine they'll try to stagger it a bit, you know; start one show on the hour and another show on the half hour. And we also just got two of the guys from Oneida to play; they call themselves Groover's Paradise.

also on New Years Eve in NYC....
* Crystal Castles are DJing a party in Brooklyn after their two shows @ MHOW
* Matthew Dear & Drop the Lime @ LePoissonRouge - doors @ 2AM
* The Bunker will go for 18 hours (10-4PM) @ Public Assembly
* The Damned have cancelled their show @ Blender Theater
* Knitting Factory's final Manhattan show flyer above
* Shilpa Ray & Wild Yaks are playing @ Monkeytown
* These are Powers are playing Cake Shop
* party @ Surreal Estate
* EVERYTHING ELSE

P.S. I think the special guest at Santos Party House recently played Market Hotel

Crystal Castles @ NYU (more by Bao Nguyen)
Crystal Castles

Music Hall of Williamsburg has also added a late-night NYC show on New Years Eve, except unlike Mercury Lounge and Bowery Ballroom, Music Hall's show will be the same band that played the club earlier that night. Tickets for the 2 AM Crystal Castles show go on Am Ex presale at noon.

Layered illusionLayered illusion

Tickets are on sale (@ noon) for the Planned Parenthood benefit Regina Spektor is playing at Bowery Ballroom.

Tickets are on sale (@ noon) for the Crystal Castles New Years Eve show at Music Hall of Williamsburg.

Tickets are on sale (@ noon) for the Blonde Redhead New Years Eve show at Terminal 5.

"Great seats" were released this week for My Morning Jacket at MSG on New Years Eve.

Tickets are still on sale for the show A Place to Bury Strangers are playing at Mercury Lounge on New Years Eve.

Count the dotsTickets are on sale (@ noon) for the upcoming Devotchka show @ Webster Hall

Tickets are on sale (@ noon) for Femi Kuti's headlining show at Webster Hall and don't forget he's playing GlobalFest too.

Tickets are on sale (@ noon) for the show The Sword are are playing at Bowery Ballroom.

Tickets are still on sale (@ noon) for the show School of Seven Bells are playing at Mercury Lounge.

Tickets also are now/still on sale for NYC shows by Steve Winwood, Richard Cheese, BB King & Buddy Guy, Kings of Leon, Stella, Electric Six & Local H, and Bishop Allen.

DOWNLOAD: Crystal Castles - Crimewave (Kilowatt Remix) (MP3)

Crystal Castles @ Webster Hall (more by Chona Kasinger)
Crystal Castles

Add Crystal Castles to the list of bands making "under plays" at Music Hall of Williamsburg this year...

some 2008 shows @ Music Hall of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY
Jun 19 - Modest Mouse
Aug 07 - Trey Anastasio
Oct 07 - Franz Ferdinand
Oct 31 - MGMT
Dec 12 - Bon Iver (sold out)
Dec 16 - Of Montreal (tickets on sale Thursday)
Dec 31 - Crystal Castles (ticket onsale TBD)
It was also just announced that A Place to Bury Strangers are playing Mercury Lounge on New Years Eve. Tickets for that one are now on sale.

A video of Crystal Castle's new Toshiba commercial HERE. More Webster Hall pics HERE. A few more CC dates (though not really) below...

Continue reading "Crystal Castles are playing Brooklyn on New Years Eve"

This weekly post was really just meant to be an (arguably) interesting news roundup of where (mostly BV-covered) music and musicians are showing up besides in our stereos/computers/headphones/players/etc. Like all news, it might be positive, negative or neither depending on your point of view. Whether or not an artist is "selling out" by licensing their song to a particular product advertisement and/or TV show is always going to be a valid issue/argument/debate, but I removed "It's Not Selling Out Anymore" from the post title because, lighthearted or not, I think it was making this post into something it's not. Most importantly, I didn't want the title to be misconstrued as an official BrooklynVegan position on anything. There will always be (arguably) cringe-worthy examples of licensing (see Of Montreal + Outback Steakhouse) and licensing-related broken (fan's) hearts (see The Moldy Peaches + Atlantis resorts), but a lot of licensing news (as you can see below), is (arguably) pretty neutral. Are there any Modest Mouse fans offended that a Modest Mouse song appears in a snowboarding video game? I doubt it. Does it bother anyone that Stars of the Lid gave a song to the Environmental Defense Fund? Probably only people that are anti-polar bear... That's all I wanted to say.... I won't write intros to these posts after this week (please try to keep the conspiracy theories to a minimum!), so without further ado... it's "This Week in Music Licensing"...

by Ryan Barkan

Battles @ Irving Plaza (more by Bao Nguyen)
Battles @ irving Plaza

42 Below likes to do things because they can, like make Vodka and wear white suits. The New Zealand spirit maker just launched a campaign and website around the brand's mantra, "Because We Can" - living by your own rules and following your dreams. Pretty deep. The web-based campaign consists of five short films and a user-generated video contest.

Each of the five short films have a few things in common - men in all white suits, left-of-center creative, art installations, cool music, and no relation whatsoever to Vodka. Carpet Cupcake uses Battles' 2007 jam "Atlas". Two different Boards Of Canada songs are used in Beach Dolls and Car Wrap. Domino artist Four Tet provides the sonic background to Mountain Rainbow, a spot where the white suit men create a huge arch of colored plastic chairs on top of a snowy mountain. South African electronic artist Felix Laband is used in Crate UFO.

Do you have a "because I can attitude"? Do you also like to make your own videos? Do you want to win some money for doing those things ($4200)? If so, you can head to the campaign's website to find out more about the contest.

Other Notable Licensing News:

Tokyo Police ClubTokyo Police Club think it is "really cool and really awesome" that they made a cameo on Sunday night's (11/16) episode of Desperate Housewives. They entered a "battle of the bands" contest, performed "In A Cave", and had two of their song titles ("Shoulders And Arms" and "Cut Cut Paste") featured on the club walls as faux band posters. Even more, two band members have lines in the dialogue. Stereogum has the video. In semi-related news, TPC's Graham Wright just released a solo EP online as a free and/or pay download.

On the tube, Gossip Girl featured three tracks from the new Kings Of Leon album, Only By The Night; One Tree Hill for the second week in a row used a song by Margot & the Nuclear So-So's and also had a song by Earlimart; 90210 went with Kanye West, and Stereolab; CSI Miami used both Jenny Lewis and Bloc Party; NUMB3RS had Cold War Kids; Privileged used CSS; Grey's Anatomy had The Coral Sea. All this week Letterman is featuring cover bands.

Nissan'snew Canadian commercial "Morning Light" goes singer-songwriter with Alexi Murdoch's "Breathe". Nice song but I think they could have found a similar style track with a better lyrical match. Watch the video here.

Crystal CastlesToshiba's UK agency breaks the broadcast mold a bit with a commercial featuring Matrix-esque cinematography while using the Crystal Castles song "Air War". Watch the video below.

Stars Of The Lid hit NYC's (le) Poisson Rouge on Friday 11/21; I wonder if they will play the serenely spatial "A Meaningful Moment Through A Meaningless Process", a song used by the Environmental Defense Fund to help fight global warming. The web commercial was released at the end of August. The powerful Polar Bear spot can be seen below.

What do 2008 Mercury Prize winning band Elbow and Electronic Arts have to do with each other? Elbow's song "Grounds For Divorce" is the soundtrack to the commercial announcing EA's new first person shooter, Left 4 Dead; the game hits shelves this upcoming week. Video is below.

Ubisoft Montreal just released Shaun White Snowboarding in North America. The game's soundtrack is a good mix of classic (Bob Dylan, Heart, Blue Öyster Cult, Living Colour, Run DMC, Harry Nilsson) and modern (Modest Mouse, MGMT, The Ting Tings, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club) bands. Check out the full soundtrack at Wikipedia. Bob Dylan plays NYC this Friday night (11/21).

Interesting downloadable content (DLC) was made available this week via Xbox Live and Playstation Network for both Guitar Hero World Tour and Rock Band 2: GH got both a Jimi Hendrix and Smashing Pumpkins three song pack and RB2 fans can now play the entire Foo Fighters album The Colour and the Shape.

Videos below...

Continue reading "This Week in Music Licensing (Crystal Castles, Stars of the Lid, Elbow, Battles, Tokyo Police Club, and more) "

WhoMadeWho @ Webster Hall (more by Chona Kasinger)
WhoMadeWho

Last Thursday night (10/23) I headed over to Webster Hall. Lymbyc System, a duo from Brooklyn and Texas, opened. When they initially emerged and positioned themselves opposite each other - one behind drums, the other behind keyboards and various electronics, I thought I was tripping. With similarly thin builds and curly brown hair glowing under Webster's green light it was almost like looking at 2 people mirroring each other. The next 40 minutes or so of atmospheric, shoegazey jams which at times reminded me vaguely of M83 (minus the full band) and sometimes even Radiohead, perfectly suited my initial hallucinogenic impression.

After Lymbyc System my new favorite band (there, I said it), Whomadewho, took the stage. As much as I enjoyed their set the night prior at Mercury Lounge, the sparsely filled room was not ideal for dancing. While many would argue that Webster Hall isn't either, the crowd enthusiastically danced along to the Danish trio's funk meets disco meets rock beats. Definite highlight of the show: the crowd suddenly going absolutely crazy - jumping up and down, and singing along when the band broke into "Satisfaction".

Fujiya & Miyagi followed and played an equally tight set as their one at Mercury Wednesday night. Unfortunately the crowd at Webster seemed a bit less appreciative as F&M's performance fell on a number of deaf ears, evidenced by the constant, faint murmur of people talking throughout the show...such a shame.

Unfortunately things spiraled down from there, at least for me. After hearing people near me going on and on (I don't remember how long set-up took between sets, but suffice to say it was too long) about how great Crystal Castles are, I was honestly hoping they were right and worth the wait. Unfortunately, my Webster Hall neighbors were only right about one thing - the hell that was going to break loose when Crystal Castles started. It was absolute mayhem that I could've handled had I not been running around all week for CMJ.

Crystal Castles @ Webster Hall (more by Chona Kasinger)
Crystal Castles

I quickly cut through the crowd until I was over near a much calmer section on the side and watched, baffled, as everyone went apeshit to Crystal Castles 8 bit beats which for me were rendered completely unenjoyable due to vocalist Alice Glass' screaming over them. I was hoping it would get better, but even when they played "Courtship Dating" (one of their tracks that I like) I couldn't get into it.

continued below....

Continue reading "the Thursday night in Dance w/ Showtrotta"

by Showtrotta

DOWNLOAD: The Whip - Trash (South Central remix) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Esau Mwamwaya and Radioclit - The Very Best Mixtape (ZIP)
DOWNLOAD: The Whip - Divebomb (FFS remix) (MP3)

Shout Out Out Out
Shout Out Out Out

It's CMJ time again. In a city where there are almost always some good acts passing through it's hard to understand what exactly the big deal is about the CMJ Music Marathon. Then you realize there will be "over 1,000 artists, in more than 65 venues in 5 days" and you have yet to even look at the schedule! Get crackin', run around, and get down! While last year's marathon (which featured Simian Mobile Disco, the Black Ghosts, MSTRKRFT, and Justice to name a few) will be hard to top in terms of dance music, this year's is by no means shabby.

What looks good to me on the official schedule is here (though note that the Little Boots Annex show is actually on Thursday). Explanations & more info is below. Also, be sure to read the official CMJ schedule carefully, as typically late night dj events will often be listed under the following day (ie: a Tuesday night dj set starting at 1am will actually be listed on CMJ's schedule under Wednesday)....

Continue reading "the CMJ week in Dance w/ Showtrotta "

DOWNLOAD: Crystal Castles - Air War (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Fujiya & Miyagi - In One Ear & Out The Other (MP3)

Fujiya & Miyagi
Fujiya and Miyagi

Fujiya & Miyagi and Crystal Castles each have upcoming U.S. shows scheduled, and although they're not actually touring together, they will intersect for one massive dance show with Denmark's Who Made Who at Webster Hall in NYC on October 23rd. Tickets for that show are on sale at noon. Fujiya & Miyagi are also playing a smaller show at Mercury Lounge one day earlier. Their new album "Lightbulbs" is out September 16th via Deaf, Dumb + Blind Recordings. All dates below...

Continue reading "Crystal Castles and Fujiya & Miyagi - 2008 Tour Dates"

DOWNLOAD: Women - Black Rice (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Women - Group Transport Hall (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Parenthetical Girls - A Song For Ellie Green (MP3)

Women @ Sled Island 2008 (more by Rae Holtsabum)
Women

"Recorded by label-mate Chad VanGaalen and the band members, the 10 song (2 of them above), self-titled album by Women is an explosion out of the gates for this young band. Sometimes light and spacious, at other times eerie and dense with an ominous weight, this debut flirts with the noisy beauty of the Velvet Underground and effortlessly toys with the intricacy and playfulness of Deerhoof as crude percussion beats out a pulsing tattoo of clatter."
* WomEn recently played Sled Island
* WomAn play Death By Audio tonight (July 17)
* Parenthetical Girls release Entanglements Sept 9 (MP3 above)
* Girls play Market Hotel tonight
* Girls play Glasslands w/ Crystal Stilts Saturday
* Vivian Girls are playing AAS w/ Sex Vid Friday
* Vivian Girls are going on tour w/ Crystal Stilts
* Crystal Stilts recently played Southpaw
* Crystal Antlers just played a bunch of NYC shows
* Crystal Skulls are now (some of) Fleet Foxes
* Crystal Castles recently played Studio B and Glastonbury

Glastonbury 2008 (BBC)
Glastonbury

Check out the videos of Crystal Castles live at Glatonbury below. In case you were wondering what all the fuss is about....

Continue reading "Crystal Castles @ Glastonbury 2008 (videos)"

DOWNLOAD: Crookers at Gatecrasher (07/05/2008) (zSHARE MP3)

DJ Spun
DJ Spun

Hopefully you found some dancing to do these past two nights. If not there's no shortage of dance events tonight through Sunday. Here's what's going on tonight...

Continue reading "Friday night in Dance w/ Showtrotta (Crystal Castles DJ, etc)"