by Andrew Sacher

cigarettes on cigarettes, my mama think I stank

As mentioned, Chance the Rapper, whose solid Acid Rap mixtape is out now and free, will be coming to NYC during the Northside Festival. Since we last spoke, it's been announced that his show will happen on June 15 at Europa. Tickets for that show are on sale now, and you can also try to get in with your Northside badge. The rest of the lineup is TBA.

As mentioned, you can also see Chance in the NYC-area this July opening for Mac Miller if you're into that sort of thing.

Mac is also featured on "Guild," the new track from another of his tourmates, Earl Sweatshirt, which you can stream below (via Fader). The track is set to appear on Earl's upcoming album, Doris, which still has no release date.

Updated Chance the Rapper dates are listed, along with a stream of his mixtape and the Earl song, below...

Continue reading "Chance the Rapper Northside show announced (tix on sale); Earl Sweatshirt has a new song (listen)"

Schoolboy Q at Best Buy Theater - 5/21/13 (via Kellen Dengler)

Thanks to TDE's recent success, Q found himself as the most established performer at the Freshman show. With no one to accompany him on stage, he fared better in the larger crowd as a solo artist, breezing through tracks from Habits & Contradictions and throwback collaborations with A$AP Rocky. At one point, he asked Kendrick Lamar to join him but laughed at the audience members who fell for his joke. Fittingly, he won the crowd back with his charisma by asking them the title of his upcoming album. "Oxymoron!" they screamed back. And this was done four times over. [XXL]

As mentioned in yesterday's What's Going On? post, Action Bronson made a video for his Harry Fraud-produced song, "Strictly 4 My Jeeps." If you missed it, you can watch that video below. Riff Raff stars in the video, and as discussed, he plays a Scion A/V show in Brooklyn at Coco 66 tonight (5/22) with Stalley and Smoke DZA. Entrance to that show had to be gained through Scion's contest which has since ended.

Schoolboy Q and Ab-Soul are both members of the group Black Hippy (which also includes Kendrick Lamar and Jay Rock), and that whole group is playing the traveling Rock the Bells Festival which hits the NYC-area on October 4-5 at the Meadowlands Racetrack in East Rutherford, NJ. Tickets for that festival are on sale now. The rest of the lineup includes Big K.R.I.T., Common, Danny Brown, Earl Sweatshirt, Tyler the Creator, Jhene Aiko, Juicy J, Rakim, Wu-Tang Clan, and many more.

Updated Rock the Bells lineup and videos below...

Continue reading "Schoolboy Q, Action Bronson (who has a new video) & more played the XXL Freshman show; Rock the Bells tix on sale"

Happy 10th anniversary to Rock the Bells, who have announced their initial, rotating 2013 lineup featuring hosts Peter Rosenberg & MURS 3:16, as well as names like Bone Thugs N Harmony, Danny Brown, Black Hippy (who just played NYC), Common, E40 & Too Short, Earl Sweatshirt (ditto), Flatbush Zombies, Juicy J (who played a Fader show on Monday and Irving Plaza last night), Rakim, Wu-Tang Clan (who play Summer Jam soon), Tyler the Creator (who just announced an NYC show as part of Odd Future), Eazy E, Ol Dirty Bastard and more. Confused? Yes, I did just say Eazy E and Ol Dirty Bastard, both of which will be "virtual performances" as part of the travelling festival. AllHipHop reports:

Ol Dirty Bastard and Eazy-E's spirits will return to the stage at Rock The Bells this year, AllHipHop has learned.

The pair of Hip-Hop legends will have holograms performing this year at the 10-year anniversary of the rap festival.

Eazy-E will perform virtually with Bone Thugs-In-Harmony and ODB will rock with Wu Tang. Organizers said Eazy never blessed the Rock The Bells stage and ODB only did once.

Also, the "holograms" are approved by Eazy-E's wife Tomica Wright and Ol Dirty's mother, Cherry Jones.

Tupac's Coachella appearance inspired the new virtual performances at Rock The Bells, organizers admitted.

Initial lineup (at least 15 more artists TBA), dates and some video below.

Continue reading "Rock the Bells 2013 initial lineup (Wu-Tang, Earl Sweatshirt, Juicy J, Tyler the Creator... + hologram ODB & Eazy E)"

by Andrew Sacher

Black Hippy at Downtown Music Festival in NYC (via @me_acosta)

The Downtown Music Festival, which is coming to multiple North American cities this year, kicked off its first one in NYC on Friday (5/10) across various LES venues.

The biggest highlight of the artists I saw was the Black Hippy crew, who went on at Capitale at around 1:30 AM. All four guys, Kendrick Lamar, Schoolboy Q, Ab-Soul, and Jay Rock, came out together for a few posse cuts to start the show, and then Ab-Soul, Schoolboy Q, and Kendrick each did their own mini-sets to follow that. They had a ton of fun with it, focusing on crowd pleasers, and taking it a little less seriously than when the members play their own gigs (in a good way). We've seen them make appearances at each other's shows, but getting a chance to see each rapper in the group sampling their own stuff and no one member taking the limelight over another is an entirely different appeal. It showed how diverse each rapper really is (Kendrick has the introspective songs, Q has the party bangers, and Ab-Soul has the tripped out ones -- and PS, we want to hear more from Jay Rock!), and like I said, it was a super fun show.

Houston rapper Fat Tony opened that show with a solid set, which he used much of to promote his new album, Smart Ass Black Boy, which comes out June 11 via Young One. If you haven't heard it yet, you can stream that album's single, "Hood Party," which features Kool A.D. and Despot, below. Tony will be back in NYC for the free 4Knots Music Festival in June.

Earl Sweatshirt at Downtown Music Festival in NYC (via Liz Una Kim)

Another standout of the festival for me was Earl Sweatshirt, who played Element at around 11 PM with Syd tha Kyd as his DJ. Odd Future supporters have turned on the group a bit (or at least the way it was when Tyler and Hodgy Beats were basically running it) and Tyler's so-so new album Wolf didn't help that, but Earl's been hailed as something of a saving grace for the group. It's obviously too soon to tell if Earl's gonna pull it off (though his recent singles have been promising), but whether intentionally or not, his show on Friday worked by being good for very different reasons than the ones that initially gained Odd Future attention. He didn't talk much between songs, didn't have any "punk" stage antics of a large group of hypemen, and OF's shock-factor-turned-predictable-offensiveness was almost never to be found. Instead, Earl focused on classic-style rhymes and proving himself as an adept emcee. There's still no release date for his upcoming album, Doris, but once it does come out, it should be pretty interesting to see where he goes with it.

More Downtown Music Fest coverage to come. Meanwhile, a video of Earl playing a new song at Element, Kendrick playing "Bitch Don't Kill My Vibe" at Capitale, and that Fat Tony stream below...

Continue reading "Downtown Music Festival NYC day 1: Black Hippy, Earl Sweatshirt, and Fat Tony (in review & videos)"

by Andrew Sacher

Mac Miller and Ab-Soul (via Macklemore's Instagram)

It's not too out of the ordinary when rappers we don't like collaborate or tour with rappers we do like. We've already seen some of our favorite rappers tour with Childish Gambino and collaborate with Asher Roth, and now a handful of guys we're currently invested in are doing stuff with another non-fave, Mac Miller. First, he did a track, "S.D.S," which was produced by Flying Lotus (and FlyLo fans shared a collective sigh of relief when the instrumental version came out). Then he contributed a guest verse to the new Ab-Soul song, "The End Is Near," which he also produced under the moniker Larry Fisherman. Both versions of "S.D.S." and "The End Is Near" can be streamed below.

Now, Mac has announced that he's going on a US tour from June to August and the openers include Chance the Rapper, Earl Sweatshirt, Action Bronson, The Internet, Vince Staples, Meek Mill and others. That tour hits NYC on July 11 at Hammerstein Ballroom with Chance the Rapper, The Internet, Vince Staples, and The Come-Up; and it hits Asbury Park, NJ on July 14 at Stone Pony Summer Stage with Chance the Rapper, The Internet, Vince Staples, and Meek Mill.

Tickets for both of those shows go on sale Friday (5/10) at 10 AM. Citi/Live Nation/Ticketmaster presales for the Hammerstein show begin Thursday (5/9) at 10 AM and Citi Cardmember/VIP Package presales for the Stone Pony show begin Wednesday (5/8) at 10 AM, with a Live Nation Mobile App presale beginning Thursday (5/9) at 10 AM. All tour dates are listed below.

Earl Sweatshirt won't be on the NYC-area shows, but he will be here as part of Dowtown Music Festival this Friday (5/10) at Element for a show with Ryan Hemsworth and Antwon (tickets).

Action Bronson isn't on any of the NYC-area shows either, but he has other upcoming NYC shows too.

Chance the Rapper - 'Acid Rap'

Perhaps the most exciting part of the NYC-area shows is that they'll be the first in the area for Chance the Rapper since the release of his impressive new mixtape, Acid Rap. Acid Rap wears its influences on its sleeve a bit (Kanye, Eminem, Kendrick Lamar, Andre 3000), but it's a very cohesive release that plays more like an album than a mixtape, and it's a pretty bold statement for someone who's still early on in their career. He's got a sing-rapping style similar to Drake and Kendrick Lamar, and though it can be a little off-putting at first, it's a grower. You can stream Acid Rap in full below and download it for free at DatPiff.

All Mac Miller dates are listed, along with all streams, below...

Continue reading "Chance the Rapper, Earl Sweatshirt, Action Bronson & more touring w/ Mac Miller (who collaborated with FlyLo & Ab-Soul)"

Kendrick Lamar at SXSW (more by Tim Griffin)

Tickets for the individual shows of Downtown Music Festival (5/10-11), which were just announced are on sale now, in addition to passes.

A whole bunch of other tickets just went on sale too.

Day-by-day schedule for Downtown Music Festival below...

Continue reading "individual Downtown Music Fest shows on sale now"

TEEN @ Glasslands. Sept. 2013 (more by Courtney Dudley)

The Downtown Music Festival happens in two weeks (May 10 - 11) at NYC venues on or below Houston St. A few artists have been added to the fest's line-up: Nguzunguzu, Antwon, TEEN, Branchez, Mess Kid, Jade <3 & Blind Benny, Anais Mitchell, Crush Distance and Nire & Nani. Tickets (single day and two-day passes, and VIP passes) are still available.

The festival has also announced the daily line-ups, so we now know things like that Black Hippy and Fat Tony will be playing at Capitale on Friday night (5/10); Earl Sweatshirt, Ryan Hemsworth and Antwon will be at Element on Friday; and Ratking, Black Dave, Vashtie, Mr. Muthafuckin Exquire and Jade <3 & Blind Benny will be at Tammany Hall on Saturday night (5/11), to name a few. Check out the full schedule below.

Continue reading "Downtown Music Festival adds more artists (Antwon, TEEN + more), announces daily schedule"

One of the most eclectic lineups in the US, Hopscotch Festival in Raleigh, NC, will be back for 2013 on September 5 -7. Pulling from all genres, this year's line-up includes names like Big Boi (who plays NYC tonight), Spiritualized, Sleep, Wolf Eyes (who have a new video), The Breeders (performing Last Splash), John Cale, Kurt Vile & the Violators, Gorguts, Inter Arma (who play NYC on Saturday), Double Negative (who played NYC this past weekend), Swearin' (them too), Pissed Jeans, Dan Friel, Waxahatchee and many many others. Three-day wristbands are on sale now with individual day tickets going on sale in June. Full lineup is below.

Continue reading "Hopscotch announces 2013 lineup (Big Boi, Sleep, Spiritualized, Kurt Vile, Wolf Eyes, John Cale, more)"

photos by Wei Shi

Passion Pit / Alt-J / Purity Ring & Danny Brown / crowd

Coachella 2013 is currently going down in Indio, CA for its second weekend after kicking off this past Friday (4/19). We've already posted pics of day 1 (HERE and HERE), day 2 (HERE) and day 3 (HERE) from weekend 1, and now we've got pictures of day 1 from weekend 2 in this post. This time around we caught sets by Passion Pit, Earl Sweatshirt, Polica, Youth Lagoon, Purity Ring, (who were joined by Danny Brown, whose new album they appear on), Foals, Modest Mouse, Alt-J and more.

Check out more pictures from 4/19, along with a "Coachellavated" video of the festival filmed from the top of director Chris Crutchfield's head and a video of Passion Pit's full set from weekend 1, below...

Continue reading "Coachella Day 1 Weekend 2 in pics (Passion Pit, Polica, Earl Sweatshirt, Youth Lagoon, Purity Ring, Modest Mouse & more)"

Autre Ne Veut at BV-SXSW 2013 (more by Amanda Hatfield)

As mentioned, Downtown Records are taking their Downtown Music Festivals to different North American cities this year, including NYC from May 10 to 11 across various LES venues, including Mercury Lounge, Bowery Ballroom, Angel Orensanz Center, Pianos, Cake Shop, Tammany Hall, Element, Capitale, Rockwood Music Hall and more.

In addition to the previously announced lineup of Black HIppy (aka Kendrick Lamar, Schoolboy Q, Ab-Soul, and Jay Rock), Purity Ring, Earl Sweatshirt, DIIV, Sky Ferreira, Trash Talk, Palma Violets, Teengirl Fantasy, and others; more acts have just been added. Those new acts include Andrewy Wyatt (of Miike Snow), Autre Ne Veut, Guards, Ryan Hemsworth, Port St. Willow, Kilo Kish, Ratking, Mr. Muthafuckin' eXquire, Vashtie, Fat Tony, d'Eon and Kingdom (playing with Kelela, who sang a song on the Teengirl Fantasy album last year and sings a song on the new Kingdom EP this year, which you can listen to below).

2-Day passes for the festival have sold out, but single day tickets for May 10 and May 11 are still available. The day-by-day lineups have also been announced, and you can check those out below.

Continue reading "updated Downtown Music Festival lineup & tix info (Autre Ne Veut, Ryan Hemsworth, eXquire, Kilo Kish & more added)"

Pharrell at Afro-Punk 2012 (more by Gretchen Robinette)

Renaissance man, MC, producer and, most recently, journalist (sort of) Pharrell will play a free show at House of Vans on April 19. RSVP is free and open to the public.
The Neptunes/NERD member was recently featured on Tyler, the Creator's new album and is expected to make an appearance on Earl Sweatshirt's forthcoming effort too.

Meanwhile, Pharrell interviewed Henry Rollins for a recent installment of web series ARTST TLK and you can watch that below.

Continue reading "Pharrell playing free House of Vans show, interviewed Henry Rollins + more"

Palma Violets at BV SXSW 2013 day party (more by Amanda Hatfield)

Downtown Records are taking their Downtown Music Festivals to different North American cities this year with a lineup that includes Black Hippy (aka Kendrick Lamar, Schoolboy Q, Ab Soul, and Jay Rock all playing together), Purity Ring, Earl Sweatshirt, Sky Ferreira, DIIV, Palma Violets, Trash Talk, Beach Fossils, Teengirl Fantasy, Inc., Ducktails, Royal Teeth, and Black Dave, plus more TBA.

The first festival takes place in NYC from May 10 to 11 across multiple venues, including Bowery Ballroom, Mercury Lounge, Rockwood Music Hall, Angel Orensanz, Pianos, Cake Shop, Tammany Hall, and Element. The full lineup and schedule for the NYC shows has not been announced yet, but we do know that it includes the previously announced Palma Violets show at Bowery Ballroom (which is now sold out, but tickets are still available for PV's MHOW show a day earlier). We also hear that they're trying to put up an outdoor stage and shut down Ludlow St to car traffic (which Pianos and Cake Shop are both on) for the festival, but no exact word on how that will work out.

2-Day Passes for the NYC festival are on sale now and tickets for individual nights go on sale Friday, April 12 at 11 AM.

After NYC, the festival will also pass through Philly, Toronto, Boston, LA, Denver, and Las Vegas, but the dates for those cities has not been announced yet.

photos by Jason Bergman

Tyler, the Creator at Music Hall of Williamsburg - 3/23/13

On the new material previewed during the show, flashes of introspection shone brightest. He opened one track berating his father for still not picking up the phone, and later placed his bank account flexing in context: "You'd think all this money would make a happier me, but I'm about as lonely as crackers and skinny models be."

Tyler's production is more progressive and exploratory this time around, digging even deeper into the kick drums and colorful chords of his idol/mentor Pharrell. The upcoming single "Bimmer," a playful love-letter about sharing Slurpies with a girl he thinks is "chill," accented with harmonies from Frank Ocean, felt especially precious between the snarls and growls that dominated his set. [Rolling Stone]

A portion of the set was spent with just Tyler and Earl on stage, during which they played "Whoa" off Earl's new album (which Tyler is featured on), in addition to earlier tracks the two rappers recorded together. When Tyler wasn't previewing Wolf material, he reached back his early albums, Bastard and Yonkers, and also the early Odd Future mixtapes, like when he brought out former OF member Casey Veggies to do "Odd Toddlers" from 2008's The Odd Future Tape.

More pictures and some videos from Saturday's show below...

Continue reading "Tyler, the Creator previewed new material at Music Hall of Williamsburg w/ Earl Sweatshirt, Casey Veggies & others (pics)"

Natureboy @ Union Pool, 9/22/2012 (more by Jessica Amaya)

Greys

today in NYC
Mike Daisey @ Joe's Pub
Soulive @ Brooklyn Bowl
Zach Pruitt @ The Stone
Travis Reuter @ The Stone
Slavic Soul Party @ Barbes
Ben Holmes Quartet @ Barbes
The Allman Brothers Band @ Beacon Theatre
The Whigs, Bad Girlfriend @ Mercury Lounge
We Are The Woods, Tom Shaner @ Mercury Lounge
Tristan Prettyman, Anya Marina @ Bowery Ballroom
Greys, Shahman, Fake Surfers, LAW$UITS @ Death By Audio
Natureboy, Magmana, Daltonians, Abandoned Lighthouse @ Cameo Gallery
Breastfist, Taurus, Nate Wood, Alan Hampton, Jeremy Current @ Pianos
Jo Kroger, Lindsay Dragon, Dollshot, Maya Caballero @ Pete's Candy Store
Dropkick Murphys, The Mahones, BarRoom Heroes, Bryan McPherson @ Terminal 5
Adrian Younge's Venice Dawn, William Hart, Taylor McFerrin, DJ Spinna, Pharoahe Monch @ Le Poisson Rouge

So...not a lot of shows. It's because everyone's in or heading to Austin for SXSW. Including most of BrooklynVegan. Follow our exploits via @BVSXSW on Twitter. If you're in Austin, come say hi at one of our many parties (most of which are free).

Follow @BrooklynVegan on Twitter.
Follow @bvChicago for just Chicago stuff.
Also follow @bvAustin for just Austin stuff.

Be our friend on Facebook too, and BV Austin's friend on Facebook and BV Chicago's friend on Facebook.

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Big K.R.I.T. prominently samples James Blake's "The Wilhelm Scream" on his new single, "R.E.M.," which you can watch the video for below.

Earl Sweatshirt is working on his new album, Doris, and as mentioned, he'd be revealing the video for its second single, "Whoa," this week. That video features Tyler, the Creator and it's out now and you can watch it below. Catch Earl at SXSW in Austin playing collaborative sets with Captain Murphy (aka Flying Lotus) like he just did in LA.

What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Tuesday?"

Earl Sweatshirt

Odd Future member Earl Sweatshirt will be making his SXSW debut this year (he wasn't there when the rest of his crew first played), and will be doing collaborative sets with Captain Murphy, aka Flying Lotus' rap alter ego (who collaborated with him on "Between Friends"). Those sets include the Life or Death showcase on Wednesday (3/13) at Scoot Inn at midnight, the Green Label Sound showcase on Friday (3/15) at Lucille at 9:30 PM, and FADER Fort on Saturday (3/16) at 6 PM. Flyers for all three of those shows with full lineups are below.

Earl just appeared at Flying Lotus' LA show at Low End Theory last week (3/7) and they performed three tracks off Earl's upcoming album, Doris, "Burgundy" (produced by Pharrell), "Hive," and "Guild." Mac Miller is featured on that last one and he was at the LA show too. You can check it all out in a video from the show, which is below. Also below is the video for previously released Doris track, "Chum," and Earl has another new video on the way too.

Earl's other upcoming dates include some festival appearances like Bonnaroo, Sasquatch!, and Coachella. All dates are listed, along with those flyers and videos, below...

Continue reading "Earl Sweatshirt performed w/ Flying Lotus (Captain Murphy) in LA, doing it again at SXSW (dates, video)"

Weird Al and Bonarroo phone bank (including Mike Birbiglia and Eugene Mirman...

With help from Eugene Mirman, Chris Gethard, Mike Birbiglia, Portugal. The Man and more, Weird Al just began announcing the 2013 Bonnaroo line-up on the Bonnaroo YouTube page which happens June 13 - 16 in Manchester, TN. Weird Al just announced Pretty Lights, Wilco, A$AP Rocky, and The xx, and over the next hour, more artists will be announced. We'll update this post as more announcements come.

Other artists playing include Passion Pit, Kendrick Lamar, David Byrne and St. Vincent, Jim James, Big K.R.I.T., Billy Idol, Grizzly Bear, Japandroids, Foals, Wild Nothing, Deap Vally, Killer Mike, Lord Huron, Divine Fits, Nas, Beach House, The Gaslight Anthem, Local Natives, Dirty Projectors, Baroness, The National, The Vaccines, Holy Ghost, Death Grips, R. Kelly, Alt-J, Purity Ring, Cat Power, Wu-Tang Clan, Bjork, Tame Impala, Animal Collective, The Tallest Man on Earth, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Paul McCartney, Earl Sweatshirt, Four Tet, Father John Misty, Swans, A-Trak, Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti, Cults, AraabMuzik, DIIV, Charli XCX, Matthew E. White, Frank Turner, JEFF the Brotherhood, Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit, Calexico, Two Gallants, and more.

Tickets for the festival go on sale Saturday (2/23) at noon EST.

There's also now a video of Daniel Tosh announcing the initial lineup, which you can watch, along with the current list of announced names, below...

Continue reading "Bonnaroo 2013 lineup announcement underway"

Says the PR

On the heels of a highly successful, critically acclaimed sold-out 2012 festival, the Sasquatch! Music Festival unveils its 2013 lineup, which once again features 4 days of music. The festival, hailed as "a model of well-paced programming...in a four-day schedule as efficient and natural feeling as an expertly built algorithm" by NPR Music while Wired notes, "leave the landscape out of it and Sasquatch! has a lineup to kill for," runs May 24-27 (Memorial Day Weekend) at The
Gorge, the internationally acclaimed concert venue carved in the basalt cliffs high above the Columbia River Gorge in Quincy, WA.

Continue reading "Sasquatch! Music Festival 2013 lineup is here"

Jurassic 5

We briefly mentioned in our post of bands reuniting at Coachella 2013, LA hip hop collective Jurassic 5 are reuniting after breaking up in 2007 (one year after the release of their fourth album, Feedback). There's no insight yet as to whether or not this reunion will go beyond the Coachella slot but fingers crossed! They play on the Fridays (April 12 and 19).

Another big one on the lineup is Wu-Tang Clan, who play the Sundays of the festival (April 14 and 21). This one's not exactly a "reunion," like Jurassic 5 is, but it's worth noting that while Wu-Tang Clan members play shows a lot, it's not every day that they all join forces on stage.

Other rappers at the festival include Aesop Rock and Earl Sweatshirt on the Fridays, and El-P, Pusha T, Action Bronson, Danny Brown, 2 Chainz, and Theophilus London on the Saturdays. R&B singer Janelle Monae also plays on the Saturdays.

A classic Jurassic 5 video below...

Continue reading "Hip Hop at Coachella 2013 (not much)"

Click it for the bigger poster.

Hard to believe, but our BrooklynVegan "Blog Radio" show has been airing weekly on satellite radio for over 6.5 years. It started on Sirius which then merged with XM and became SiriusXM. The station, which was originally "Left of Center" on Sirius, is now called SiriusXMU (on SiriusXM). You can currently hear the two hour show on the "indie/college" station every Wednesday at noon EST and again at midnight that night (which is technically Thursday morning in Eastern Standard Time).

At some point years ago I brought on like-minded music lover Dominic (Nick) Masi to be my co-host, and to cover when I couldn't make it. Now, though I still may pop in occasionally (my New Year's resolution!), Nick has taken over completely, hosting the show week to week with a selection of music you'll find on BrooklynVegan.com and on his own iPod. Recently Nick also started hosting a show called "Cover Me" (all cover songs) on Bruce Springsteen's E Street Radio, and other programs on the network too.

In his spare time, Nick now tour manages members of Odd Future - a job which was an offshoot of his huge passion for hip hop (and traveling around the continent in a van).

What were Nick's favorite records and songs in 2012? We asked him and he gave us a list of his top 10 albums and "top 15 hip hop songs of the year that don't feature 2Chainz, Kanye, Drake, Rick Ross or (fill in the blank with your favorite rapper you've seen on every remix this year)."

You can check out both of Nick's lists, along with videos or streams for each song on his hip hop list (Odd Future songs included), below...

Continue reading "BrooklynVegan SiriusXMU host Nick Masi's Top 10 Albums and Top 15 Hip Hop Songs of 2012"

The Who at Barclays Center last month (more by Fred Pessaro // BBG)

Black Moth Super Rainbow @ Metro, 9/8/2011 (more by Ben Rodig)

today in NYC
* Big Terrific @ Cameo Gallery
* Deer Tick @ Brooklyn Bowl
* Rachael Yamagata @ Joe's Pub
* The Malaby Tuba Trio @ Barbes
* Animal Collective @ Terminal 5
* The Who @ Madison Square Garden
* Japandroids, DIIV @ Webster Hall
* Elephant Stone, Zula @ Mercury Lounge
* Wojcik, Young Unknowns @ Cameo Gallery
* Sera Cahoone, Chris Pureka @ Maxwell's
* Pink Mountaintops, The Loom @ Union Pool
* Ife, Matthew Foster-Moore, Nes @ Cake Shop
* Anthony Green, Geoffrey Rickly @ Irving Plaza
* Lucinda Williams, Steve Earle @ Beacon Theatre
* Ben Goldberg's Unfold Ordinary Mind @ The Stone
* Mike Wexler, Daniel Carter, Joanne Hsieh @ Zebulon
* City Rain, Gerek James, Silent Drape Runners @ R Bar
* Ivory Daggers, Don't Upset The Bear @ Knitting Factory
* Star Slinger, Bondax, Sweater Beats, Tony Quattro @ Glasslands
* Bear in Heaven, Small Black, Eraas @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
* Miniboone, Wilder Maker, Leapling, Quiet Loudly @ Death By Audio
* Organs, Paint Fumes, Freshkills, Royal Baths, Bazooka @ Shea Stadium
* Joy Kills Sorrow, Plume Giant, The Whiskey Collection @ The Rock Shop
* Black Moth Super Rainbow, Casket Girls, The Stargazer Lilies @ Bowery Ballroom
* Bear in Heaven (DJ set), Small Black (DJ set), Dave Harrington (DJ set) @ Public Assembly
* The Joe 'Fashion Night Out' benefit & memorial bash w/ Jonathan Toubin, Hamish Kilgour, Artanker Convoy, Fly Ashtray, The Jewish @ The Gutter

Follow @BrooklynVegan on Twitter.
Follow @bvChicago for just Chicago stuff.
Also follow @bvAustin for just Austin stuff.

Be our friend on Facebook too, and BV Austin's friend on Facebook and BV Chicago's friend on Facebook.

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Earl Sweatshirt, who announced that his new album will be titled Doris (due out at some point via Tan Cressida/Columbia), made a video for his track, "Chum." Check it out below.

What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Wednesday?"

by Andrew Sacher

Captain Murphy aka Flying Lotus

If you aren't already familiar with new rapper Captain Murphy, who first appeared on the Adult Swim single, "Between Friends" with Flying Lotus and Earl Sweatshirt, he had been keeping his identity concealed but many rumors circulated that Captain Murphy was the rapper alter ego of FlyLo himself, or a member of Odd Future. He released his impressive debut mixtape, Duality, as one long audio file in a video (which you can watch below) but has since released a deluxe edition with the tracks separated and bonus material, which you can download for free HERE. Most of the mixtape was produced by Flying Lotus and also included production from Brainfeeder producers Jeremiah Jae, Samiyam, and Teebs, plus hip hop production greats Madlib and Just Blaze, and a beat by upcoming duo TNGHT. The full tracklist is below.

If you've been following along with all the Captain Murphy insanity, you may know that he made his live debut last night (11/28) in LA at The Airliner. And as you can see in the picture above from the show, Captain Murphy is in fact Flying Lotus (via Complex). FlyLo has since taken to twitter to comment on the identity revealing.

Mixtape video and tracklist below...

Continue reading "surprise! Captain Murphy is in fact Flying Lotus"

photos by Mighty Beardo

Frank Ocean & friends @ 285 Kent

After Frank Ocean played Terminal 5 and Tyler, the Creator and Earl Sweatshirt played Best Buy Theater, Frank, Tyler, Earl, and most of the rest of the Odd Future crew that was in town (no Mike G or Syd The Kid), made their way over to 285 Kent where the free Brooklynvegan-presented afterparty was happening with an advertised set by Trash Talk (who record for Odd Future Records) and DJ Leftbrain (of Odd Future). Doors were scheduled to open at midnight, By then there were already more than capacity on line to get in. Naturally, everyone did not get in, and some actually stayed on line outside, still hoping while listening through the door until the end of the show.

As advertised/hinted, there were special guests who turned out to be all of Odd Future (even Frank Ocean). The show started with about an hour-long DJ set where the members of Odd Future were on stage dancing around, singing along to whatever songs were playing and hyping the crowd who started to get crazy, but not as crazy as when Trash Talk actually took the stage. It was a trip to watch Frank Ocean having fun on the 285 Kent stage with his friends, after just having seen him command a sold out crowd at Terminal 5. Not to mention Tyler and Earl goofing around, after also just having played a headlining show at the sold out Best Buy Theater. Tyler, Earl and others then stayed on stage for Trash Talk as the band played a signature set that includes lots of pit action and people jumping off speakers. Odd Future didn't technically perform a live set at 285 Kent, but Tyler, as he has done in the past, took over vocals for "Radicals," which you can watch a video of below. Said video also includes footage of Trash Talk playing their song, "Awake."

sweaty Trash Talk

For Trash Talk's last song, they asked every single person in the room to run out of the venue on to the street to join with the people who couldn't get in. That didn't work out so well though, as the security at the door was already overwhelmed and chaos and a fight quickly ensued outside as Todd P and the rest of the 285 Kent crew tried to calm the masses.

Among those in the crowd were Odd Future associate Lucas, members of Real Estate (who Trash Talk shouted out), Neon Indian, and Cults. Vampire Weekend and John Legend were spotted earlier in the night at Frank Ocean (where Odd Future and Trash Talk also was), and I saw Action Bronson, Despot, and Chavez guitarist Matt Sweeney all hanging out outside the Odd Future Best Buy Theater show. All in all, an eventful night for the NYC music scene thanks to the Odd Future crew coming to town.

We have even more pictures coming, but here's one set. More of them, with the video of Tyler joining Trash Talk, below...

Continue reading "Trash Talk & Odd Future brought chaos to 285 Kent after the Tyler, Earl & Frank Ocean shows (pics/video)"

Off Future's Tyler the Creator with Trash Talk

As mentioned on BV Chicago earlier this week, Odd Future announced some news and a tour that happens after the previously announced The Internet and Tyler the Creator/Earl Sweatshirt shows.

Odd Future will head out on the "Camp Flog Gnaw" tour in September, tagging The Paramount in Huntington, NY on 9/4 and Oakdale Theatre in Wallingford, CT on 9/8, along the way. Tickets for both of those shows go on sale at 10am today (7/20). All dates, which include Jay-Z's Made in America fest, are listed below.

Meanwhile, OFWGKTA member Frank Ocean is on tour, hit Austin last night, and will be in NYC for a sold out show at Terminal 5 on 7/26, THE SAME NIGHT Tyler, The Creator and Earl Sweatshirt play NYC's Best Buy Theater with Raekwon and Asher Roth. Earl joined Frank on stage for "Super Rich Kids" in LA. Hopefully NY will get some of the same action. Listen to Frank's album Channel Orange at Spotify. All remaining tour dates are listed below.

And speaking of on-stage collaboration, Trash Talk are currently on a west coast tour with SpaceGhostPurrp and were joined by Tyler the Creator at their Anaheim show last night (7/19). Trash Talk will release their new record in the fall on Odd Future Records which also has new albums coming from Odd Future members Mellowhype, Domo Genesis, Mike G, and Tyler the Creator.

Domo Genesis' album, No Idols, is the first upcoming release. It's due out on August 1, and you can listen to/download the lead single "Elimination Chamber," featuring Earl Sweatshirt, Action Bronson, Vince Staples, and The Alchemist, at the bottom of this post. MellowHype's Numbers is due out on October 2. Take a listen to a new track for the album, called "La Bonita," below. Trash Talk release their new record, 119, on October 9, and Tyler, the Creator's Wolf is due out sometime in November.

Stay tuned for for another big NYC, related announcement coming shortly.

Songs and all tour dates below...

Continue reading "Odd Future announce tour, Long Island & CT shows included; Tyler, Earl & Frank Ocean will be in NYC the same day"

DOWNLOAD: Frank Ocean - "Pyramids" (MP3)

Odd Future at Fun Fun Fun Fest 2011 (more by Tim Griffin)

Hot 97 DJ Peter Rosenberg, who seems really big on this whole "real hip hop" thing, will be presenting a show at Best Buy Theater on July 26 with Tyler, the Creator & Earl Sweatshirt and Raekwon, which is being billed as "A Night of Real Hip Hop." It's probably safe to assume that Nicki MInaj won't be there. Tickets for the Best Buy Theater show go on sale Friday (6/15) at noon.

It's the only date for the Odd Future boys at the moment except for Jay-Z's Made In America Fest in September. They're probably busy working on the second season of their Adult Swim show, Loiter Squad, or something. Or maybe Tyler is still finishing up his new album, Wolf, which was set to come out in May (it didn't). Meanwhile, it was recently revealed in a NY Times article that Earl is also working on a new album, and it will come out on his own Columbia-distributed imprint, Tan Cressida.

Frank Ocean recently announced a new album and tour too. If you missed it, the 10-minute single, Pyramids," is downloadable above and streamable below.

For Raekwon, the Best Buy Theater show comes at the end of an international tour that he's currently on (he plays Boston tonight). Also his Wu-Block project, with Ghostface Killah, D-Block/The LOX members Sheek Louch, Jadakiss, and Styles P, plays Rock the Bells in September. All Raekwon dates are listed below.

Continue reading "Raekwon is on tour, playing NYC with Tyler, the Creator & Earl Sweatshirt (dates)"