by Andrew Frisicano

Hercules & Love Affair @ MHOW in August (more by Sara Skolnick)

Hercules & Love Affair's Andy Butler was one of the many DJs at the Electric Zoo Festival that happened over Labor Day weekend. At the fest he was billed as himself, but on September 26th he'll be DJing as H&LA at MoMA MiXX, a new series of dance parties at the museum.

MoMA MiXX uniquely pairs together major artists with world-renowned musicians or DJs, with each featured performer spinning a set of music that night. The Agnes Gund Garden Lobby will be transformed into a dance floor, and MoMA's Donald B. and Catherine C. Marron Atrium will serve as a lounge area complete with bars. The money raised benefits the exhibition programming for The Museum of Modern Art and P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center.

Opening up the first night will be DJ sets by Justin Carter and Eamon Harkin (of the Mister Saturday Night series among other things). The paired artists are Mickalene Thomas and Derrick Adams. Tickets are on sale, though they're not cheap...

Tickets for each event are $75 per person (or $200 for the first three events), and include an open bar.

The next two events in the series are planned for January and April 2010.

Also on the way, the museum is hosting Between Worlds, an evening-length "pop spectacle" performance by Fischerspooner on November 1st. Tickets TBA. (MoMA is also still running Looking at Music: Side 2, and will be showing a Spike Jonze retrospective with No Age in October.)

Hercules & Love Affair played two live shows in NYC in August. At them, they debuted their new current (but probably not permanent) lineup of Shaun Wright, Aerea Negrot, Kim Ann Foxman, Mark Pistel and Andy Butler.

In the past, Hercules & Love Affair's lineup prominently featured singer Nomi Ruiz. More recently, she's been playing with Jessica 6. They opened for CocoRosie's return-to-NYC show at the beginning of September. Coming up, they're opening for Japanese psych rock band Yura Yura Teikoku at the Music Hall of Williamsburg on September 18th. Then the next night (Sept. 19th), they play as part of the New Languages Festival, which runs for six nights (starting Thursday, Sept. 17th) on two weekends at McCarren Hall in Brooklyn (on 98 Bayard St, an address that might sound familiar). Tickets are available at the door only.

For Japan's Yura Yura Teikoku, the MHOW is one of three upcoming US dates they have scheduled. The other two are opening for Yo La Tengo on Tuesday (9/15) and Wednesday in Vermont and Boston. Their new album "Hollow Me", which includes their recent EP "Beautiful", is out September 14, 2009 on DFA's Death From Abroad label (which helps explain the Jessica 6 connection). Album tracklist and NYC show flyer below.

The whole lineup for the jazz-based New Languages Festival, which "attempts to provide a panoramic view of 21st century jazz in New York City," is pretty diverse and spectacular. It includes Akoya Afrobeat, which matches the sound of Fela Kuti almost note for note (and integrates some of his songs into their rep), drummer Mike Pride's From Bacteria to Boys combo (who recorded a live session for WFMU in April), a set led by noted improviser and avant-jazz composer Tim Berne, and an opening night performance by Darcy James Argue's Secret Society, whose debut, Infernal Machines, came out in May on New Amsterdam Records.

The full schedule of shows and all tour dates are below...

Continue reading "Herc & Love Affair/Fischerspooner playing MoMA, Jessica 6 playing w/ Yura Yura Teikoku & New Languages Fest (lineup)"

DOWNLOAD: Pharrell (Fluokids) live set (MP3) (via)

Pharrell (Fluokids), Das Glow, & Guillame (Fluokids) @ La Scala Paris

FIXED TONIGHT WITH BOOKA SHADE

The Fixed Fellas have given us 2 pairs of tix to offer up to you lucky kids to see Berlin's least minimal minimal-tranceologists live tonight at Studio B. Email BVCONTESTS@HOTMAIL.COM (subject: Booka) with your best description of Booka Shade's music by 5 pm for a chance to win. Include your full name for list, and we'll email back two winners.

My People Don't Dance No More party at the Vault at Element tomorrow night is now FREE if you rock the cycling theme: a helmet, a little cycling hat, a jersey...spandex on a case by case basis. Prince Language will be our special guest DJ and will be rocking the disco bike party theme.

Check the Early Week in Dance for a full rundown of the weekend in NYC, or if you're going to a festival in the US this weekend, be sure and represent - check out some of the amazing dance bands.

MUSIC

• Palms Out Sounds' Sample Wednesday featuring Daft Punk's "inspirations" is not a bad listen in preparation for next Thursday
• DFA's Death From Abroad label launches this month with releases from Altz + Mock & Toof (upcoming releases from Bo'Tox and Gucci Soundsystem) (check Myspace for samples)
• Swing by Electric Zoo for a ton of Herve and other Switch-y fidget house tracks and remixes
• Mr. Nagy has a Cobblestone Jazz live set up at Devil in the Details

NEWS

• FACT Magazine's Contemporary Fix is now updated regularly and is a fantastic read
• More FACT Magazine: Bang Gang Deejay's label profile article
• One more FACT: Herve interview
• Ewan Pearson is putting out a 2 CD compilation of his remixes as "Piece Work" on !K7 in September
• If you have been listening to dance music since at least the turn of the century, you probably have a Global Underground compilation hidden away somewhere for posterity's sake. The GU label finally takes it digital only with their next release "Digitized"

-David