DOWNLOAD: Purity Ring - "Belispeak" (MP3)

As mentioned, Purity Ring are heading out on tour with Neon Indian in September and October, culminating in a CMJ show at Webster Hall on October 21. Tickets are still available for what is now Neon Indian's next NY show now that the Quiksilver thing is cancelled (well, unless you count DJing).

Purity Ring will also play a Windish Agency CMJ Showcase that same night (10/21) at Mercury Lounge with Drop the Lime, Small Black, We Barbarians, High Highs, Gauntlet Hair, Electric Guest, and Cuckoo Chaos. Tickets for the showcase go on sale Thursday (9/1) at noon with an AmEx presale starting Wednesday (8/31) at noon (you can also try to get in with a CMJ badge). All tour dates are listed below.

Purity Ring are set to release a split 7" with fellow Canadians Braids on October 11 via Fat Possum. Grab Purity Ring's contribution, "Belispeak," above and check out the artwork, which is above too.

Speaking of Braids and We Barbarians, Braids are going on tour with Pepper Rabbit, but before they do Pepper Rabbit will play their own show with We Barbarians and ANR at Mercury Lounge on August 31. Tickets are still available. Braids play Mercury Lounge a week later. Tickets are still on sale.

Updated Purity Ring tour dates below...

Continue reading "Purity Ring schedules a CMJ show w/ We Barbarians & others, releasing split w/ BRAIDS (MP3 & updated dates)"

James Blake @ SXSW 2011 (more by Dominick Mastrangelo)

today in NYC
* Reggie Watts Radio Play
* Peter Garland @ The Stone
* Big Terrific @ Cameo Gallery
* Paul Simon @ Beacon Theatre
* Mandingo Ambassadors @ Barbes
* The Growlers, Ba Babes @ Maxwell's
* Vaz, Dead Rider, Bbigpigg @ Cake Shop
* The Steven Lugerner Septet @ Barbes
* James Blake DJ set @ Tammany Hall
* Yo La Tengo, The Baxx Sisis @ The Bell House
* James Blake, Active Child @ Bowery Ballroom
* Phosphorescent, Family Band @ Brooklyn Bowl
* Brenn, The Stationary Set @ Rockwood Music Hall
* Chris Thile, Michael Daves @ Rockwood Music Hall
* Deftones, Dillinger Escape Plan @ Starland Ballroom
* Velnias, Ruin Lust, Lonesummer, Ithi @ The Acheron
* Sleigh Bells, CSS, Mr. Dream, Seagull @ Webster Hall
* Princeton, High Highs, NewVillager, Ivana XL @ Glasslands
* Drop the Lime, Cubic Zirconia @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
* Malajube, Deleted Scenes, Pretty & Nice, Bozmo @ The Rock Shop
* Destruction, Heathen, Warbeast, No Remission @ Highline Ballroom
* Manchester Orchestra, Cage The Elephant, O'Brother @ Terminal 5
* New York Funk Exchange Rocks Off Concert Cruise on The Halfmoon
* Kill to Kill, Gross Relations, Raccoon Fighter, The Horehound @ Don Pedro
* D. Charles Speer & The Helix, Zachary Cale Band, Gray Goods @ Union Pool
* Robot Princess, Trachtenberg Family Slideshow Players, Meshach Jackson @ Pianos
* Dinosaur Feathers, The Armchairs, Ball of Flame Shoot Fire, Horses Mouth @ DBA
* Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr., Generationals, People Get Ready, Phil & The Osophers @ Mercury Lounge
* MATA fest w/ Corey Dargel, Angleica Negron, Dither, Cantori NY, Chris Danforth and the Danforths, Florent Ghys @ Le Poisson Rouge
* Prince Rama, Pikachu-Makoto (members of mems Acid Mothers Temple, Afrirampo), Quiet Hooves, Bubbly Mommy Gun, Mugu Guymen @ Monster Island Basement

James Blake is here.

Paul McCartney's son James McCartney is not here (or just not feeling well) (Rockwood Music Hall show cancelled).

Someone billed as "McQueen & Hall & Oates" is playing Rockwood tonight though. I'm not sure who it is, but if this tweet was meant to be a hint, than don't get your hopes up I guess. That said, I have no idea.

Oh and tickets are back on sale for the Chris Thile shows happening at Rockwood tonight and tomorrow.

We're giving away tix for the Ben Sollee shows happening at Rockwood tomorrow and the next day, via Facebook.

check out This Week in Indie

We're giving away tix on Facebook to tonight's Drop the Lime gig.

We're also giving away tix to the upcoming School of Seven Bells, Sun Airway, White Lies show at Terminal 5 on Facebook.

Floor appeared on Fox TV's Red Eye. Video below...

Steve Earle performed a song from his new album live on SiriusXM. Video below...

What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Wednesday?"

by BBG

Symbolism?

In case you somehow missed the crush of commercials on cable television, MTV has a new and possibly NSFW show called Skins based on a UK series about teens, sex, drugs, mental health and family. Skins, whose demographic seems to be "hip teens" who like nudity (read: teens) and pervy would-be pedophiles, will be celebrated at a FREE NYC party at the tail end of this week.

Rusko, Sleigh Bells, Klever, Drop the Lime, and Kill the Noise will perform at an undisclosed NYC location on January 14th. The party jumps off at 10PM and you must be 16 to get in ("16 to party, 21 to drink."). More details, and directions on how to get in are on the Facebook invite though even with an RSVP, "ENTRY BASED ON CAPACITY AND IS NOT GUARANTEED."

Sleigh Bells' "Kids" is the theme song to Skins, which premieres on Jan 17th. And the show is Sleigh Bells' only U.S. appearance in the coming months. The duo will spend the rest of January into February in Europe. All dates are listed below.

'Skins' party DJ Rusko went on a HARD Fest tour over the summer with Crystal Castles, Sinden & Destructo, though he wasn't on the bill when the tour hit NYC's Terminal 5 in August. Rusko won't be there either when Crystal Castles and Destructo play the same NYC venue on March 18th, 2011 (also a HARD show), and Rusko won't be there when HARD and Destructo return to Terminal 5, one night later, for a March 19th show with Simian Mobile Disco, Skream and Benga, and Fake Blood. Tickets are on sale. It's a "HARD Weekend" (flyer below).

Before then, Simian Mobile Disco are going on tour with Juan Maclean and Blondes (dates below). After then, Crystal Castles, Simian Mobile Disco AND RUSKO (and many others) will play the Ultra Music Festival in Florida (Friday, March 25, Saturday, March 26 and Sunday, March 27, 2011 in downtown Miami's Bicentennial Park). Currently announced lineup at the link.

All SMD & Sleigh Bells tour dates, flyers and some videos below....

Continue reading "Skins is coming... (MTV party Friday w/ Sleigh Bells & Rusko) + a HARD Simian Mobile Disco gig, Ultra Music Fest, other dates"

Esser & Datarock on stage together (rugbarn)

Hopefully you made it out Thursday & Friday. I did not, so we're heading right into what's happening this weekend:

Continue reading "the week in Dance w/ Showtrotta (part 2)"

DOWNLOAD: Justin Miller DFA Mix for Viva Radio (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Schmami - Eurolax mix (MP3)

Drop the Lime & live band @ Summerstage - Aug 8, 2009 (more by Sara Skolnick)

Last week in dance was great, more specifically Saturday. Unfortunately I missed Canyons at Dark Disco in the Park, but arrived just in time for Drop the Lime's live set, which was amazing. As much as I first loved the heavy bass champion's sound when I first started seeing him deejay back in '07, lately his (and the other Trouble & Bass deejays') sets have been a little too bass-heavy for me (I think I'm getting old!). However, the live set on Saturday was the perfect balance of heavy bass, awesome live drums, and great vocals. There is something about adding live elements to dance music that just can't be touched, and Drop the Lime's live act is no exception.

Boys Noize @ Summerstage - Aug 8, 2009 (more by Sara Skolnick)

I was in an excellent mood after Drop the Lime's set and it only got better as Boys Noize took the stage. From the get-go it was clear that it was going to be a great set. It included loads of new tracks and any predictability I had witnessed in some of his prior sets was gone. Check out some video of Boys Noize dropping one of his & Erol Alkan's new tracks "Waves" below:

While there aren't any discos in the park this week, there is still plenty going on dance-wise, starting with Thursday (8/13):

Continue reading "the week in Dance w/ Showtrotta (part 1)"

photos by Sara Skolnick

Drop the Lime dancer

"Boys Noize is the moniker of Alexander Ridha, a German electro-tech producer and DJ. It is also the name of Ridha's label, Boysnoize Records, which he set up in 2005...

...Under the name Boys Noize, he has released records on French label Kitsuné Music, Tiga's Turbo Records label, and on DJ Hell's International DeeJay Gigolo Records. He has also remixed tracks for Tiga, Para One, Feist, Kreeps and Depeche Mode, as well as popular remixes of British indie anthems "Banquet" by Bloc Party and "Everyday I Love You Less and Less" by Kaiser Chiefs. Boys Noize's tracks and remixes are played by DJs such as Erol Alkan, SebastiAn, 2 Many DJ's, Tiga and Justice...

...Boys Noize is set to release a new album, called "POWER", in October 2009. It will feature 12 tracks including "Starter" and "Jeffer", which were released on EP in July 2009.In addition to his new album he will also release a EP with Erol Alkan called: "WAVES"/"DEATH SUITE". [Wikipedia]

Continue reading "Boys Noize, Drop the Lime & Canyons @ Summerstage - pics "

MALUCA

Last week in dance was not my favorite. I enjoyed Losoul's set at Sunday Best, and the urban landscape "Afterparty" at Warm Up at PS1 (though not the music so much) . More about both of those in Part 2 of the Week In Dance. For now, here's what's happening Thursday & Friday:

Continue reading "the week in Dance w/ Showtrotta (part 1) (MALUCA)"

DOWNLOAD: Trouble & Bass - Scion CD Promo Mix (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: AC Slater - Calm Down (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Drop The Lime - Tabac Theme (MP3)

While I haven't made it out to anything happening this week so far, I finished out last week by heading to Terminal 5 to see Fatboy Slim Wednesday night. I arrived a little after 8:30 and Terminal 5 was not full by any means...there was a decent amount of people there, but still plenty of room to walk around. Numbers had only slightly increased by the time Shinichi Osawa began his set at 9. He deejayed just over an hour and the time flew by. It was an hour of recent electro (Soulwax, Bloody Beetroots, Tiga...) that I've heard tons of times before...but Shinichi made it sound brand new. He teased the crowd to death with tracks that were to come, manipulated everything, messed with the levels, cut back and forth, sampled, looped...he did it all. The tracks he chose were all on the heavier side, but what he did to them really broke things up and kept the set from getting monotonous. The entire time you could tell Shinichi was glad to be up there...fist-pumping, smiling, raising his arms. By the time he was done, he had the crowd (which had since filled in) in an absolute frenzy...

...a frenzy which continued as "Pure Imagination" from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory played against a projection of a clock whose hands kept changing time. After a few minutes it was the witching hour and the smiley Brit that is Fatboy Slim was back behind the decks, happy as ever. His intro was some slow verses from "Praise You" before launching into a nearly two hour set that went all over the place. It included decent amounts of some older dance tracks, newer stuff (Nadastrom's "Pussy", Fake Blood's "Blood Splashing", a "sample" from Dan Le Sac Vs. Scroobius Pip's "Thou Shalt Always Kill" repeating "Fatboy Slim, just a band. BPA, just a band."), some of Fatboy's own tracks (Love Island, Right Here Right Now, Fucking In Heaven, Star 69, Renegade Master, Praise You), and some random fun stuff (Gorllaz - "Feel Good Inc." , DJ Kool - "Let Me Clear My Throat", House of Pain " - "Jump Around"). The entire time the screen, which originally showed the clock prior to Fatboy taking the stage, was always changing...from singing mouths, to eyeballs, to a blowfish, to Christopher Walken to a visual of Iggy Pop singing the BPA's "He's Frank" (many figured Iggy might actually perform at the show since he was in town)...the visuals were as varied as the music...though my favorite was when live projections of a very happy, dancing, smiling Norman Cook and reciprocating crowd (that was going apeshit the entire time) were displayed.

While it was not my favorite of the three Fatboy Slim deejay sets I have witnessed (and I'm still not entirely sure why), it was still a good one. It's great to see someone who has been involved with music and deejaying for a number of years, still enthusiastic and smiling about it and able to get an equally glowing reaction from those experiencing it.

Hopefully this weekend you will be able to find someone who makes you happy on the dancefloor. Here's what's happening starting with Satuday (6/27):

Continue reading "the week in Dance w/ Showtrotta (part 2)"

photos by Tim Griffin

So how was [Thursday] night's Music Hall of Williamsburg show, only the second on their tour for Entertainment, and the first of a stand that [continued Friday] at Webster Hall? Hardly rudimentary, my dear. Let's dispose first of the big news: Madonna was in attendance (hanging off of some man, Lourdes knows who).

Spooner, surely to her dismay, made Madonna's presence known -- probably mischievously, as he also asked, seemingly with mock surprise, where she'd gone to once the set was over. (Madge ducked out after a few songs.) So what new material might she have gathered for her own live show? We were too busy attempting to move in rhythmic patterns to jot down any notes, but with four dancers (in a variety of often shiny costumes), two stand-up mirrors, two flat-screens, and a large video projection, the crew created an ultraenergetic, unapologetically arty, but resolutely playful stage show. [NY Mag]

Continue reading "Fischerspooner played Webster Hall & MHOW (pics) (NSFW)"

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).

This 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.

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)

"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]

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...)"

DOWNLOAD: Tittsworth - WTF (Nadastrom remix - Stretch Armstrong Edit) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Tittsworth - WTF (Eli Escobar remix) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Presets - This Boy's In Love (Lifelike remix) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Runaway - Use Me (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Midnight Juggernauts - Into the Galaxy (Grandmaster Flash remix) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Daisy O'Dell - (3 live mixes): Electro Bounce, Groovy Disco Breaks, and Boogie Hits (yousendit MP3 link)
DOWNLOAD: Mikix The Cat - Freeze (Kanji Kinetic remix) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Captain's Holiday Mix '08 (Mediafire MP3 link)
DOWNLOAD: Evil Nine - All the Cash (Glitch Mob Remix) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: John Acquaviva - November '08 Mix (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Drlkt Freddie - Airtight (MP3)

Fake Blood is not Soulwax

I took two nights off after my early start Wednesday night, leaving me eager to hit the B Saturday night for a party that featured a nice mix of deejays that were both familiar and new (to me). I arrived in time to catch the tail end of Van Scott's set which featured a dancey Lykke Li remix, a super-voded mix of Little Boots' "Meddle" (which I later found out was by Treasure Fingers), and lots of other recent tracks.

Franki Chan followed with an excellent mix of some tracks I didn't recognize along with some new favorites including Whomadewho's "TV Friend" (one of the remixes that just came out at the end of last month) and a lovely hybrid version of the Soulwax remix of the Chemical Brothers' "Hey Boy, Hey Girl" that featured the original "super star deejays" vocal sample instead of "2manydj's" but as far as I could tell, retained all the instrumental parts from the Soulwax remix.

Princess Superstar took the evening in a highly dancey meets retro direction, dropping some current stuff mixed with some updated, oldie but goodie classic 90's tracks. Her set segued into Larry Tee's with the pair performing a live version of their hit "Licky" that's had dancefloors freaking out since last winter. Larry's set had everyone getting down and remembering what an innovator the pioneer of electroclash was and continues to be.

The night ended with a bang that unfortunately, hardly anyone was left to see: Nadastrom absolutely killed it. I'm not sure what specifically was great about their set ...it might have been the song selection, excellent mixing, just the right amount of wobbly bass...but one of the most satisfying elements of their set was the enthusiasm the pair maintained as the not too big to begin with, Studio B crowd dwindled down to a few handfuls of people:

Continue reading "the week in Dance w/ Showtrotta (Fake Blood, Lifelike, Larry Tee, Tittsworth, Moby, Evil Nine & more)"

DOWNLOAD: Ewan Pearson - Buzzin' Fly, August 22, 2008 (MP3)

XLR8R Issue 123 - Best of 2008

This past weekend, which I was really looking forward to, wound up being pretty lame dance-wise. Things started off okay at Webster Hall Friday night. D.I.M. began his set with some oldies but goodies from last year: Boys Noize - "Lava Lava", and the Chemical Brothers - "Salmon Dance" (Crookers Wow remix), then immediately launched into a three song burst of new stuff - MGMT - "Kids" (Soulwax remix), Tiga - "Mind Dimension", and Mr. Oizo - "Positif", which was entirely too short-lived as D.I.M.'s set quickly devolved into what could have unfortunately been a playlist titled "Best Electro of '07". Mostly good songs, just a year old. This can be fine, but nothing D.I.M. was doing was really grabbing my attention.

I started hoping Switch's set would blow me away and save the evening. Unfortunately that was not the case. Switch, apparently nowhere to be found, did not go on, and AC Slater who was scheduled to close out the night, filled in his place. At that point I was frustrated, cold (Webster wasn't too full at that point and was drafty), and having my ear talked off by some drunk a-hole about how great Switch was (after I informed him that it was D.I.M., NOT SWITCH), so I left.

Saturday I was so looking forward to seeing Green Velvet at Sullivan Room (after missing him the past 2 times he was here), but I got a cold and decided to stay in. Apparently he had the packed floor moving all night...

video of that and many upcoming events below....

Continue reading "the Thanksgiving week in Dance w/ Showtrotta (Drop The Lime - Best of 2008, Ewan Pearson, FIXED, 19+ @ Studio B)"

DOWNLOAD: Drop the Lime - I Love NY (MP3)

The Field @ Studio B, Brooklyn, NY - 6/6/08 (J Russell)

Hopefully your week in dance is off to a good start. I haven't gone to a thing since M83 on Tuesday, but tonight (Saturday, June 7th) that is definitely changing. There are two great options you should not miss out on:

Continue reading "the weekend in Dance (& Monday) w/ Showtrotta (Fixed, etc)"