photos by Autumn Andel

The Treasure Island Music Festival went down over two days on a small island in the San Francisco Bay, juggling two stages and acts that ranged from Death From Above 1979 to Cut Copy to St Vincent. The bands and sets were staggered so that changeovers allowed for the audience to see all of each band which, on day 1, included appearances from Death From Above 1979, Geographer, Aloe Blacc, The Naked & The Famous, Shabazz Palaces, YACHT (who play NYC in December), Battles, Dizzee Rascal, Chromeo, Buraka Som Sistema, Flying Lotus, Cut Copy, and Empire of The Sun...

"Sometimes a performance impresses you simply because of its natural and flawless flow. This was Chromeo on Saturday [10/15 at Treasure Island Music Festival]. The Montreal duo known for creating modern 80s-inspired electro-synth pop got one of the largest crowds of the day moving immediately as they opened with "Fancy Footwork." The hits kept coming with classics like "Don't Turn the Lights Off," "Bonafied Lovin," "Tenderoni" and set closer "Night by Night." Chromeo over the years has cemented themselves as one of the more fun and original acts in electronic music, Saturday was no disappointment whatsoever."
-[SF Station on the highlights at TIMF]

Belated pictures from day 1 of the Treasure Island Music Festival (which happened on 10/15) continue, more YACHT and Chromeo included, below...

Continue reading "Treasure Island Music Fest 2011 -- day 1 in pics (Chromeo, DFA1979, Shabazz Palaces, YACHT, Cut Copy & more)"

photos by Tim Griffin

Arcade Fire / The Walkmen

The 10th annual Austin City Limits festival came to a close on Sunday with a headlining set by Arcade Fire (who also taped an edition of Austin City Limits the TV show one day earlier). It was a rough year for some attendees. I'm talking about smokers. Austin Statesman posted the following before the weekend:

We welcome all the people and music artists attending this year's Austin City Limits Music Festival. It's a special year for the music festival, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary. The talent this year is incredible, with headliners Kanye West, Stevie Wonder and Arcade Fire, as well as local favorites such as Asleep at the Wheel.

Before we get this party started, we must advise attendees that the Austin Parks Department has banned smoking at all Austin parks, greenbelts, trails and golf courses. That includes Zilker Park, site of the festival.

We realize that a smoking ban might be an inconvenience for some. But it is necessary to keep everyone safe. So please have fun at the events, which run today through Sunday, but leave the cigarettes, cigars, pipes -- or whatever else one might be smoking -- behind. (The ban also prohibits wood or charcoal grilling in Zilker and other parks.)

Smoking was allowed at previous ACL festivals, but this year is different. This year, Central Texas is dealing with wildfires that have killed two people, destroyed about 1,500 homes and burned tens of thousands of acres in Bastrop County, Steiner Ranch, Pflugerville and other Central Texas communities. In Austin, city firefighters responded to 469 brush fires from January through July. Cigarettes caused about a fourth of those fires, officials said. [Austin Statesman]

Continue reading "Austin City Limits 2011 -- Day 3 in pics (Arcade Fire, Walkmen, DFA1979, Manu Chao & more)"

photos by Ryan Muir, words by Andrew Frisicano

Rick Ross / DFA1979

One Hanson Place, the cavernous ground-floor space of the Williamsburgh Savings Bank Tower, served as the venue for a free-if-you-could-get-in Vice-sponsored concert on Thursday. As expected, the Weeknd didn't appear (he canceled the week before). Instead, the main attractions were Rick Ross, Death From Above 1979, a half dozen other bands, free beer and liquor and the Art Deco interior itself. A second stage in the basement--located inside a room-sized vault, with giant metallic doors at its entrance--featured acts like Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Anamanaguchi, Hanni El Khatib, Total Slacker and the Men. A-Trak was supposed to play, but cancelled after the sudden passing of his friend DJ Mehdi.

Tanlines kicked off the upstairs with songs that were aided by the high-vaulted ceilings and the reverb-heavy acoustics. Death from Above 1979 didn't fare as well; their songs already sound blown out and distorted on record, and the live show sacrifices any remaining fidelity for raw power. That said, both Sebastien Grainger and Jesse Keeler--one in white, one in black--put on spirited performances, thrashing around, with Sebastien at one point crawling along the bank teller windows into the crowd.

Rick Ross took the stage around 1am, after a brief intro set from Maybach Music Group rapper Stalley. The boss's set of about 35 minutes sped through songs that included "John," "9 Piece," "Hustin", "BMF", "MC Hammer," DJ Khaled's "All I Do Is Win" and "I'm On One," Waka's "O Let's Do It," and "Tupac Back" and "Ima Boss" (both Meek Mill's songs I think technically), at least for a chorus or two. Directly in front of the stage, where Ross' verses and exhortations were crystal clear, you could really get a sense of his imposing presence (DJ seemed genuinely afraid after starting one song too soon) and his ability to queue up any tune and make it totally his.

The amount of people upstairs was comfortable and not-overpacked; the downstairs, then, could be described as sadly under-attended. Unknown Mortal Orchestra had the benefit of playing before the main-stage acts started and sounded great. Hanni El Khatib, who played as a two-piece, shuffled out grungy, Americana-influenced rock, but to an audience of only about 50. One of the most pleasant surprise for me was Anamanaguchi, who I haven't seen in a few years. The quartet has molded themselves into an impressive instrumental outfit--with their NES as a less-dominant member--as they navigated their songs' post-rock-inspired swoops and climaxes with skill.

The Men closed the night with a post-2am set for the stragglers that hadn't yet succumbed to the hazards of the open bar. On my way downstairs I passed a handful of people doubled over, getting carried out by the EMTs. Downstairs wasn't much safer: at one point, a mic stand went flying into the crowd landing squarely on someone's head (hope you're alright dude).

More pictures from most of the night below...

Continue reading "pics from the Vice party in a bank (Death From Above 1979, Rick Ross, Anamanaguchi, Tanlines & more)"

DFA1979 fans @ Lollapalooza 2011 (more by Grant MacAllister)

The Weeknd was playing and then not playing and now it's this:

Following years of hard work, arm wrestling over domain names, and a little bit of high-tech stuff that we can't even begin to understand, we're proud to announce that VICE.COM is here. We've combined VBS.TV and Viceland.com to create super content one-stop-shop for all the videos and words you've come to expect from VICE.

Being that we're VICE, we decided to throw a party to celebrate our new URL with our best friends, like you and Rick Ross. RSVP is now open, details and flier below. Space will be limited.

Full Frontal VICE | The Official Launch of VICE.COM | Presented by boinc

Thursday, September 15th | 9:00PM - 3:00AM
Skylight One Hanson | One Hanson Place, Brooklyn

Performances by:
Rick Ross | A Trak | Death From Above 1979

And More Bands
Tanlines
Unknown Mortal Orchestra
The Men
Hanni El Khatib
Anamanaguchi
Total Slacker

And DJs
Nick Zinner
Black Lips
The New York Night Train
Lemonade
True Panther
Greenie

Complimentary Svedka and Grolsch | Invitation is non-transferable. 21+ and Photo ID required

words by Zach Pollack, photos by Grant MacAllister

a member of Cee-Lo's band

Day two of Lollapalooza 2011 began with a slight drizzle over Grant Park, but it didn't deter the determined early festival-goers from moving about the grounds. After a long Friday, I began Saturday over at the Sony Stage with an extremely tight set from Phantogram. What I assumed was a simple setup from listening to their albums, was actually a complex live rig which kept the trio extremely busy. How many times have you seen an electronic-tinged band who just cue samples all set? Phantogram are not that.

Up next on my schedule were Chicago hometown act Maps & Atlases (which unfortunately meant I missed Friendly Fires). Maps & Atlases drew a very large crowd to the Google+ Stage, which has my favorite area of the whole fest. There's no other stage opposing it, it's a bit smaller than most, and massive trees block out much of the blistering sun. What's not to like?

I then attempted to head back towards Music Unlimited for Fitz and The Tantrums, but that didn't seem to be in the cards due to some unexpected foot traffic. Instead I ate and then headed to the oposite side of the grounds to catch the Black Lips at Playstation. The crowd was enormous for the garage-rockers who usually play to a quarter as many people. A few songs in they pulled out "Family Tree," the opening track to their great Mark Ronson-produced album Arabia Mountain. In typical Black Lips fashion, singer/guitarist Cole Alexander threw up on stage without missing as much as a note, and almost all over the Lollapalooza film crew!

From there things just got more and more massive. I caught Death From Above 1979 for the second time this week, and it was just as thrilling and brutal. Kicking things off with the Y.A.W.I.A.M. staple "Turn It Out," the massive beyond massive crowd went completely insane. Not needing to see the full set, I rushed across the complex to catch a bit of Big Audio Dynamite. The reunited group opened with "Medicine Show," and continued to awe the crowd with "A Party." From there I ran to Google+ to catch the tail end of The Drums.

I walked in just as they were speaking about the release of their forthcoming record Portamento (coming out in the US on Frenchkiss). They then played its single, "Money." The band has definitely matured since I last saw them and they sounded super full live. Just to make my legs die a little bit more, I rushed back over towards Sony and Music Unlimited to catch Local Natives. As mentioned, it was the largest crowd the band had ever played to. Opening with "Camera Talk," as per usual, their live sound even surpassed their great recordings. Towards the end of their set, across the way at Unlimited, things started to fall into place for Cee Lo's set.

His band of attractive studio musicians took the stage sans Green around 6:30PM, and jumped into a short intro track. Complete with matching Gwar-like kinky warrior outfits (strange choice), Cee Lo and his band played to a massive audience, many of whom were camped out to see Eminem on the same stage. I left early, before the booing...

"The soul singer scored a huge crowd, but holding its attention seemed to be another matter. Dressed in shoulder pads topped with huge spikes and a chunky neck chain, Cee-Lo channeled his inner-dungeon master/Billy Idol; he even played an R&B-flavored cover of the 80s star's "Flesh for Fantasy." But the set was anything but smooth: Between tunes, which included Cee-Lo's own "Satisfied," "Bright Lights Bigger City," and Gnarls Barkley's smash "Crazy," he turned the spotlight to his DJ, who inexplicably spun Lenny Kravitz, Nirvana and Depeche Mode - a move that inspired boos from the crowd. "Don't you dare let this wonderful outfit go to waste," he said, palpably annoyed. But the irritation may have worked in his favor (and sent a subliminal message to his fans): On his closer, the Motown-inflected kiss-off "Fuck You," his voice sounded richer than it had all night. " [Rolling Stone]

Li and her amazingly talented band were a perfect fit for the stage, and drew as many people as would fit in the area. They started things off with the haunting Wounded Rhymes track "Jerome," and continued in that fashion with "I Follow Rivers", "Sadness Is A Blessing" and other songs as My Morning Jacket started to set up for their headlining set over at Bud Light.

Jim James and Co. kicked off a two hour long set at 8PM. It spanned their entire catalog with crowd favorites like "Off the Record," "Touch Me I'm Going To Scream," "One Big Holiday," and much more. Songs were extended with jam sections, brass solos, etc. Their stage setup was absolutely massive, as was the lighting. That said, I snuck away back to the smaller Google+ to check out some of Beirut who was closing out that stage.

Zach Condon and band played mostly older songs in the more intimate setting, and though tight, I was craving some more My Morning Jacket and so headed back to finish off the night with Jim James.

Friday pictures HERE. Sunday on the way. B.A.D. pics HERE. More pictures from Saturday, Dom included, below...

Continue reading "Lollapalooza 2011 -- Day 2 pics & review (My Morning Jacket, Beirut, Cee-Lo, DFA1979, Lykke Li, Maps & Atlases & more)"

Treasure Island Music Festival is returning to San Francisco, CA on October 15 and 16. The lineup includes Cut Copy, Beach House, The Hold Steady, Flying Lotus, Death From Above 1979, YACHT, Shabazz Palaces, The Antlers, St. Vincent, and many others. 2-Day passes go on sale Wednesday (7/27) 10 AM and single day tickets on Friday (7/29) at 10 AM.

Speaking of St. Vincent, if you haven't already, check out her new track at StrangeMercy.com. The full album is out September 13th via 4AD. More info and tour dates HERE. Still no info on tickets for her Met show.

Full Treasure Island lineup below...

Continue reading "Treasure Island Fest announces 2011 lineup, includes St. Vincent (who recently released a new song)"

photos by Vincent Cornelli

"Yes it's balls hot out, but still looking fwd to the outdoor Death from Above 1979 show tonight. Flaming asteroids couldn't keep me away." - Alex Navarro

"Dying from heat at Death From Above 1979 @ Williamsburg Waterfront at East River State Park" - Dave Surgan

"Seeing Death From Above 1979 at Williamsburg Waterfront. Yeah, no big deal, not like it's 103 degrees outside with 114 Heat Index. Nope." - Brendan Hilliard

DFA1979 in Williamsburg

Despite the heatwave, Death From Above 1979 played their first reunion show in NYC at Williamsburg Waterfront on Friday (7/22) with The Drums. DFA1979's 17-song set (encore included) consisted of almost the entire You're a Woman, I'm a Machine LP and Heads Up EP, and a couple b-sides. The Drums played most of their debut, and a bunch of songs off their upcoming LP Portamento too.

DFA1979 first announced their plans to be a band again at the beginning of the year and have since then also played SXSW, Coachella, and Sasquatch.

More pictures from the Brooklyn show and DFA's setlist below...

Continue reading "DFA1979 & the Drums played a hot Williamsburg Waterfront (pics, setlist)"

The Drums at Bonnaroo in June (more by Dana (Distortion) Yavin)

The Drums will release their sophomore LP Portamento on September 12 via Island. One week prior, they'll release the album's lead single "Money," which you can stream below.

The Drums have a few international shows scheduled through September, including a new one in Brooklyn. The Drums will open for Death From Above 1979 @ Williamsburg Waterfront on July 22. Tickets are still on sale. Both bands will also play Lollapalooza in August.

All tour dates, album art, tracklist, and song stream below...

Continue reading "The Drums reveal new album, song & UK dates, opening for Death From Above 1979 in Brooklyn"

photos by Josh Darr

Robyn / Death From Above 1979

The four-day, sold out Sasquatch Music Festival is underway in Gorge, Washington this Memorial Day Weekend. Maybe you're listening to it online? Here are some pictures from the first two days, with more from Day 2 HERE (and Day 3 and 4 coming soon). They continue below...

Continue reading "Sasquatch 2011 in pics (Day 1, part of Day 2)"

Death From Above 1979 at Coachella (more by David Andrako)

Lets pray that riot police won't be deployed when Death From Above 1979 play their NYC reunion show on the banks of the East River, at Williamsburg Waterfront on 7/22. Tickets go on sale on Friday (5/20) at noon. Openers TBA.

The NYC date is one of a few the band has scheduled for the summer, and a rare non-festival appearance for the band who will also swing by Sasquatch, Osheaga, Lollapalooza, and the recently announced Austin City Limits.

All tour dates are below along with some video of the now infamous incident at SXSW.

Continue reading "Death From Above 1979 playing Brooklyn & other dates"

The 10th Anniversary ACL Festival line-up is on the books. Stevie Wonder, Arcade Fire, Kanye West, Coldplay, My Morning Jacket, Fleet Foxes, Alison Krauss and Union Station, Nas & Damian "Jr Gong" Marley and Cee Lo top the bill of the over 130 bands. Bright Eyes, Social Distortion, Empire of the Sun, Santigold, Pretty Lights, TV On The Radio, Skrillex, Big Boi and Randy Newman are also on tap to rock September 16-18.

Continue reading "Austin City Limits 2011 festival lineup is here, tickets on sale"

Lollapalooza last year (more by Josh Darr)

Lollapalooza celebrates its 20th anniversary this year with some huge names on its just-announced lineup. See it in full below.

The festival has obviously changed over the years. What started out as a farewell tour for Jane's Addiction with a 'touring festival' lineup that included the Rollins Band, Nine Inch Nails, Butthole Surfers, and Souxsie & The Banshees, has turned into a one-weekend Chicago festival that Lady Gaga co-headlined last year. As leaked a while ago, Foo Fighters, Muse and Eminem all play this year, as will Coldplay, Cee Lo Green, and My Morning Jacket along with the reunited Cars and the continuing-to-be-reunited Big Audio Dynamite and Death From Above 1979, and a bunch of other bands which may or may not be worth the ticket price depending on how you feel about the headliners and generally seeing bands in big, hot, outdoor crowded parks (Lollapalooza happens in Chicago's Grant Park from August 5th - 7th).

Full 2011 Lineup and a couple of videos (one from 1991, one from 2010), below...

Continue reading "Lollapalooza 2011 lineup announced"

photos by David Andrako

DFA1979

"While it was kind of a running joke that the gnarled dance-punk band was one of the biggest reunions at this year's Coachella (Death From Above 2005 jokes abounded), the band reasserted what made them such a strange and compelling commodity in the first place.

Lacerating bass, Grainger's falsetto wails and a relentless rhythmic urgency both hearkened back to the mid-'00 dance punk craze, yet reminded the audience that their palpable violence set them apart from their more trend-minded peers.

"Romantic Rights" and "Blood on Our Hands" rode slithery, distortion-tangled bass lines over the kind of four-on-the-floor that bassist Jesse F. Keeler would explore more thoroughly in his disco aegis MSTRKRFT.The audience seemed simultaneously enthralled and a bit confused."
[LA Times]

Coachella 2011 concluded on Sunday with a big headlining set by Kanye West. I already posted some pictures from that one, but a more proper set is also in this post which also includes our full set of pictures from the California festival's final day (day one pics HERE, day two HERE).

Bon Iver's Justin Vernon who played Friday night with Gayngs, made two guest appearances on Sunday, first with the National earlier in the day and then with Kanye West during one of the most high profile sets of the weekend.

The other big set of Sunday was by the Strokes who weren't afraid to play the hits. Their full setlist is below.

The Strokes

PJ Harvey (who arrives in NYC this week) played her headlining set on the "Outdoor Theatre." It overlapped with both The Strokes and Kanye...

"Backed by a nimble three piece band, Harvey, with the Strokes audible from the nearby main stage during the silences between songs, delivered the most emotionally intense performance I witnessed at this year's Coachella, singing songs of violence, war, love and lust (mostly from her harrowing new Let England Shake), before a crowd of rabid supporters...." [SPIN]

More pictures from Sunday, below...

Continue reading "Coachella 2011 Day 3 in pics (The Strokes, DFA1979, PJ Harvey, The National, CSS, MEN, Nas, OFF! & more)"

Death From Above 1979 did in fact play a 1am SXSW show on Saturday night, and it happened at Beauty Bar. Things got a little chaotic though thanks to the venue being small and there being an alley in the back where people could watch/listen from behind a fence. According to one attendant...

"The show began on a good vibe: fans were excited and dancing on both sides of the fence. I was standing by the front barricade watching the band and was only aware there was a problem when bassist Jesse F. Keeler addressed the crowd: "Hey guys, if you break down the fence, they're going to have to stop the show. Please don't break down the fence. It's not a sound barrier."

One song later, the fence was down. Only a few people rushed in. Many just stood still, watching as security took charge. When the band was informed, Keeler's band mate Sebastien Grainger told the crowd: "Alright, they're going to try and shut this s--- down, but we're going to keep on playing. How you guys doing? Welcome, welcome to the party.""

Continue reading "DFA1979 played Beauty Bar Saturday, chaos ensued, police rode their horses into people, etc.."

by BBG

The recently reunited Death from Above 1979 have posted rehearsal footage of "Little Girl" from their LP You're a Woman I'm a Machine. While that's fascinating enough, what's more fascinating is the way that video ends... an all black screen that reads "3/19/2011 1:00AM", a date and time that happens to fall right during SXSW. One question is whether they really mean 3/19 at 1am (Friday night) or actually mean 3/20 at 1am (Saturday night)? They probably mean Saturday night, especially since I doubt they're advertising the MSTRKRFT SXSW show that happens Friday night at the same time. Is DFA1979 cooking up a comeback show for Austin? No concrete answers.

Assuming it is Saturday night at SXSW, and that it is a show, then it's unfortunately at the same time that their old label Vice is having their annual late night party which this year will feature an awesome lineup of Odd Future, OFF!, and Thee Oh Sees. That is, unless it's happening at the Vice party, though nobody I asked at Vice seemed to know anything about it. Vice's party starts at 12 midnight and RSVP is currently open.

Vice's Official showcase goes down two days earlier (3/17) at Club Deville with Davila 666, OFF!, Black Lips, and a special guest headliner who I'm willing to bet is the Raveonettes (who will be in Texas and are signed to Vice). Vice is also involved in the noisey.com show featuring exclusive performances from Bun B and Ariel Pink that goes down in Austin one night later.

All DFA1979 dates, a Vice flyer and the mysterious video, below...

Continue reading "DFA1979 post mysterious video, Vice announce SXSW shows"

Big names and regulars aside, there are a few bands I want to highlight on the just-announced Sasquatch lineup: Wolf Parade ("indefinite hiatus" rumors be damned), The Flaming Lips (performing "The Soft Bulletin"), Death From Above 1979 (now three reunion shows total), Guided By Voices (they're not done yet), and... Archers of Loaf (!). The full lineup of the fest that goes down in Gorge, Washington in May (Memorial Day Weekend), is below...

Continue reading "Sasquatch 2011 lineup announced (Archers of Loaf, Guided By Voices, Wolf Parade, DFA 1979 & "The Soft Bulletin" included)"

Sebastien Grainger @ Mercury Lounge in 2008 (more by Gabi Porter)

FEBRUARY 4TH, 2011

SOME WORDS

It's been 5 years since Death From Above 1979 played a show, 10 years since Jesse played me the first demos & 11 years since we sat in his parents basement and played so loud we knocked the china off the shelves upstairs. 11 seems to be a YES number for me. Though I am usually a pretty rational guy, if I have something on my mind and I see an 11 somewhere, I know I'm on the right path. It's one of my last remaining superstitions. 2011 has a nice ring to it & if you're so inclined, it may be the last year ever! So why not say YES? Why not say YES to Coachella? Why not say YES to playing the music we designed to be an undeniable source of power? Why not say YES to stirring up a writhing pit of sweaty humans? YES to riots! YES to heavy music! YES instead of maybe, and YES to make death your adviser and remind yourself always, that this is not a dress rehearsal. This is the big show.

Jesse and I have decided that what we can do together should not be denied.
Together again, as was always the intention, as a collaboration.
The collision of two different worlds.
As this all takes shape, we will reveal it to you.
All of it happening, as it always has, in our own way.
Thank you all for sharing in our excitement!

Yes.
SEBASTIEN

by Ryan Barkan

Gogol Bordello @ Irving Plaza (more by Jefferson)

The second edition of this controversial new feature is back. "It's Not Selling Out Anymore" (or is it?)...

Aggressive racing game, Motorstorm, was one of the most successful titles for the Playstation 3 in 2007 (selling over three million copies world wide). It was only natural then, that Sony Computer Entertainment would get a sequel out in 2008. Enter Motorstorm: Pacific Rift. The game recently hit shelves in the US at end of October and in the UK this past week. The TV spot announcing the new game brilliantly matched Motorstorm's crazy, edgy style of racing on tracks in exotic locations with the "authentic energy" of Gogol Bordello's "Wonderlust King." Watch the video of the commercial below. Gogol Bordello tour dates are HERE.

While Gogol did not make the in-game soundrack, David Bowie, Clutch, Megadeth, The Hives, Simian Mobile Disco, Death From Above 1979, and more all made the cut. Eight of the forty-five songs are exclusive to the game including a remix by Diplo of Nirvana's "Swap Meet" *.

Speaking of exclusives, The Ramones' classic jam "Sheena Is A Punk Rocker" was covered by Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore and singer Jemina Pearl (from the now defunct Be Your Own Pet). Their version exclusively premiered in this past week's episode of Gossip Girl. Love & Rockets made the episode too...though not as an exclusive.

Other Notable Licensing News:

On the tube, One Tree Hill had songs by Ra Ra Riot and Margot & the Nuclear So-So's; 90210 had Florence & The Machine, The Raconteurs, and The Bravery; Grey's Anatomy had The Bird And The Bee, Whitest Boy Alive, and Brett Dennon.

M83's "You, Appearing" provides a solemn background to a French commercial for Douleurs' "Pain Without Borders" commercial. Watch the video below. M83 is currently on a tour of the US (and in NYC this week).

Cadbury's new "Favourites" commercial features the song "Stars and Sons" by Canadian supergroup Broken Social Scene. Watch the video below. Pics from the band's recent show at the Brooklyn Masonic Temple can be seen HERE.

Supreme continues its love for musical collaborations with the announcement of a Bad Brains x Supreme collection. The line consists of a couple hoodies, a t-shirt, and two different styles of Vans shoes. Bad Brains have been busy lately playing shows in Austin, NYC and elsewhere.

Vans recently released its fourth Iron Maiden tribute shoe, this time featuring the artwork from the Powerslave album. The Sk8-Hi and slip on models are available at the vans online store as well as local distributors.

Videos below...

Continue reading "It's Not Selling Out Anymore -- This Week in Music Licensing"

Photos by Gabi Porter

Once it's out there, there's no turning back -- and that's a good thing for Sebastien Grainger & the Mountains.

The band has been touring extensively for the past two years with, as Grainger says, "very little material out there." That changed this week when the debut album Sebastien Grainger & the Mountains was finally released.

"I'm excited just for the people to have the songs in their heads," said Grainger, former drummer/vocalist of dance-punk duo Death From Above 1979. "And for when we go out to play them, for people to know what we're doing and know what the songs are ... But it has been a special trajectory to have the opportunity to play for a substantial amount of people without having that advantage. It's going to be interesting to see what the next phase is once people know the record."

Continue reading "Sebastien Grainger @ Mercury Lounge (CMJ), NYC - pics"

by BrooklynVegan Mike

"I was like, 'this is a fucking heavy record'."

Sebastien Grainger @ Osheaga - Aug 3, 2008 (crazytvdreams)

Sebastien Grainger, Canadian drummer and vocalist of the too short-lived DFA79 (not to be confused with France's Sebastien Tellier who just came through NYC last week), has emerged since the duo's split with an upcoming Saddle Creek record..

Best known for his contributions as singer and drummer for Canadian dance-punk duo Death From Above 1979, whose decadently catchy anthems took the world by storm with the release of their breakthrough record You're a Woman, I'm a Machine in 2004, Sebastien Grainger is soon to be even better known to the world as a singer and songwriter of sophisticated distinction via his new solo works. Fans of his prior music will likely be surprised by his new direction: delicately layered ruminations rich with energetic arrangements and deep melodic undercurrents. With his first full-length album Sebastien Grainger & The Mountains he further expands upon the well-received melodic endeavors of his digital EP American Names.

--

The obvious first question would be the timeline. It's been a couple years [since DFA 1979], so what has occurred in that time?

Continue reading "an interview w/ (Saddle Creek's) Sebastien Grainger (DFA79)"

DOWNLOAD: Justice - D.A.N.C.E (mstrkrft REMIX) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Death From Above 1979 - Sexy Results (MSTRKRFT Edition) (MP3)

"it seems like kids are actually buyin this fake shit"

MSTRKRFT (CRED)

I found this while researching the other JFK/MSTRKFRFT post we just did....

Continue reading "MSTRKFRFT's JFK on techno artists "playing live""