Fujiya & Miyagi @ Lincoln Hall in Chicago, 1/25/2012 (more by Chase Turner)

Fujiya & Miyagi were in North America a couple times this year, most recently over the summer, playing Glasslands here in NYC and a few festivals around the country. While the band didn't have a new record out this year, front man David Best stayed busy with side project Omega Male who Kraftwerkian synths showed that his Krautrock love isn't limited to Neu! and Can. You can stream the Omega Male album below, there are some really good tracks on it.

Best was kind enough to send us a list of his favorite albums of 2012 and, speaking for myself, there's more than a few on here I am completely unfamiliar with, which I'll have to add to my listening queue. He also lists a few comilations and reissues as well. Check out his list below, along with the Omega Male stream.

Continue reading "David Best of Fujiya & Miyagi / Omega Male picks his Top 10 albums of 2012"

The Greg Dulli-curated ATP NY is this weekend (9/21 - 9/23) and organizers just released the schedule which you can check out below. Music (and comedy on Friday) happens on two stages with films, talks and bingo taking place on the Queen of Hearts boat which is docked just nearby. If you're wondering, Frank Ocean is at 11:45 PM on Friday. Also, Chavez dropped and and have been replaced by JEFF the Brotherhood (Sat. 9/22 7 PM).

Tickets are still available to all three days which can be gotten online or at Other Music. Peruse the full schedule below, perhaps while listening to the ATP mixtape that Greg Dulli made for us.

Continue reading "ATP NY 2012: full schedule"

That didn't take long. Last night we posted it as a rumor. Today it is confirmed (removal of Louis CK included):

ATP Concerts today announce the relocation of this September's New Jersey based I'll Be Your Mirror festival event to Pier 36 in Manhattan, New York.

Pier 36 was the intended home for I'll Be Your Mirror beginning in 2013 - but due to unavoidable logistical concerns (along with a lack of available fan accommodations in Asbury Park), ATP has decided to move there for this year's event.

New additions to the festival today include: Philip Glass & Tyondai Braxton, Janeane Garofalo, Lightning Bolt, Lee Ranaldo, Chavez, Kurt Braunohler, Afterhours, Joseph Arthur, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, The Album Leaf, The Psychic Paramount, Braids, Tall Firs, Blanck Mass, Endless Boogie, Demdike Stare and DJ Jonathan Toubin with more to be added to all three days - see below for more info on the new additions...

Some artists who are unable to play the new location - the following statement comes from Louis CK's management:

"Louis CK who was originally scheduled for the Asbury Park event will not be performing at ATP in Manhattan due to scheduling conflicts. Check louisck.com for info about his tour schedule."

Sharon Van Etten, Reigning Sound and Factory Floor will also not be available to perform. All other previously announced artists will perform as originally scheduled.

"We hope that the new venue will make for an incredible event and open up many other accommodation options to fans who were unable to find rooms in Asbury Park," comments ATP's Barry Hogan. "We sincerely apologise to those inconvenienced by the move and hope that any problems caused may be minimised by the relatively small distance between the two locations. Anyone who is unable to attend due to the move or due to the cancellation of Louis CK can claim a full refund by contacting their ticket agent between now and July 31st."

Pier 36 is a new indoor venue sitting on the edge of the East River between the Manhattan & Williamsburg Bridges - it's outside area boasts glorious views of Brooklyn and the Statue of Liberty.

The Saturday night of this year's festival will be headlined by The Afghan Whigs (who have reunited after a 13 year hiatus) and curated by their frontman Greg Dulli, with ATP curating the Friday and Sunday nights.

Tickets are on sale now via ATPfestival.com priced at $199 for the Weekend, with Day Passes also newly available priced at $60 for Friday & $75 for Saturday/Sunday.

Full information on the additions to all three days of the line-up...

Friday will feature both music and comedy - we can now announce a musical headliner for Friday, as esteemed composer PHILIP GLASS teams up with TYONDAI BRAXTON (former Battles frontman) for a completely unprecedented live collaboration. Other stellar additions to the day's musical line-up are LIGHTNING BOLT - one of the world's most unmissable live acts, and LEE RANALDO of Sonic Youth. Joining the Friday on the Comedy stage is none other than standup/actress JANEANE GAROFALO, newcomer KURT BRAUNOHLER, with more to be confirmed. Friday tickets cost $60.

Saturday, headlined by THE AFGHAN WHIGS and featuring a stellar list of artists chosen by the Whigs' frontman Greg Dulli, has three new artists. First up are alternative rock band CHAVEZ, who returned to the live arena in the last few years to much acclaim, and they're joined by Italy's AFTERHOURS (past collaborators with Greg Dulli) and Ohio based singer/songwriter JOSEPH ARTHUR. They join the previously announced Saturday line-up of The Afghan Whigs, The Roots, José González, Mark Lanegan Band, Dirty Three, The Antlers, The Dirtbombs, Scrawl, Emeralds, Vetiver, Charles Bradley And The Extraordinaires and DJ Questlove with more to be confirmed. Tickets for this day cost $75.

Sunday will be headlined by one of the incomparable live shows from legendary Canadian post-rock pioneers GODSPEED YOU! BLACK EMPEROR. Also newly confirmed are Canada's fantastic BRAIDS, Britain's DEMDIKE STARE and BLANCK MASS (feat Benjamin Power of F**k Buttons), intense New York post-rock from THE PSYCHIC PARAMOUNT, a return ATP performance from THE ALBUM LEAF, cult rock quartet ENDLESS BOOGIE, alt folk duo TALL FIRS, and DJ JONATHAN TOUBIN. They join the previously announced Sunday line-up of The Make-Up, Hot Snakes, The Magic Band, Autolux, Thee Oh Sees, I Break Horses and Quintron And Miss Pussycat (moving to this day from Saturday) with more to be confirmed. Sunday tickets cost $75.

As well as the live music line-up and comedy on the Friday, our friends at The Criterion Collection will return to run the Cinema across the weekend. All three days feature DJs and other activities to be confirmed in the months ahead. Each day runs from noon-midnight.

Whether this is related to ATP filing for liquidation or not is not 100% clear (but who really cares). Updated ATP NYC lineup below...

Continue reading "confirmed: ATP moves from Asbury Park to NYC, adds artists"

They say:

ATP are very pleased to confirm our return to Asbury Park, New Jersey USA with a new I'll Be Your Mirror event, the Saturday night of which will be headlined by The Afghan Whigs (who have reunited after a 13 year hiatus) and curated by their frontman Greg Dulli. Formed in 1986, the bands career from then until 2001 saw them release six critically acclaimed albums during their career. Fusing classic rock with grunge-era distortion and a heavy soul influence, The Afghan Whigs were one of the most renowned live bands of their time and ATP is excited to be a part of this long awaited reformation.

We are also very excited to present Grammy Award winner LOUIS C.K. (handpicked by Greg Dulli) who will be making a rare festival appearance, the fantastic THE ROOTS, JOSE GONZALEZ, a show from the reformed THE MAKE-UP and many others, see below for full line-up confirmed so far.

After previous years in upstate New York, ATP moved to the iconic Asbury Park waterfront in 2011 for a hugely successful I'll Be Your Mirror event co-curated and headlined by Portishead, and we are very happy to return to this very special location in September. The Convention Hall has seen the likes of Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, The Doors and Rolling Stones grace its stage and the Paramount Theatre has welcomed stars such as Tony Bennett who often insists on playing a song with all the electrics turned off to demonstrate the amazing acoustics of the room. Once again the ATP experience will be taking over the boardwalk, with the main shows taking place at the Convention Hall and Paramount Theatre, and other events happening at the Berkeley hotel (former home of Johnny Cash).

As well as the live music line-up of 35+ acts across the weekend, Friday will feature a Comedy stage, and we're very pleased to announce that our friends at The Criterion Collection will return to run the Cinema across the weekend. All three days feature DJs and other activities to be confirmed in the months ahead. Performances take place indoors with great soundsystems, so you have no need to worry about the weather, and Asbury Park is easily accessible via public transport from nearby cities.

Tickets, which were slightly delayed from original estimates, go on sale Monday at 10am (but are on PRESALE NOW). Initial lineup below...

Continue reading "ATP I'll Be Your Mirror NJ -- initial 2012 lineup (Louis CK, Make-Up, Mark Lanegan, Dirty Three, Hot Snakes, Antlers, Roots, more!)"

photos by Erez Avissar

""IF YOU'RE FROM NEW YORK, you'll know this one." As the image of an eye patch-sporting Kurt Russell flashed across twin screens behind the stage at West Village destination Le Poisson Rouge, the speaker struck up a portentous synth line and the audience burst into nostalgic applause; ...the tense theme from 1981 cult actioner Escape from New York is one of his own compositions. Alan Howarth... is something of an icon to fans of electronic movie sound tracks and effects: His résumé is peppered with Hollywood titles from Poltergeist to Raiders of the Lost Ark, John Carpenter projects like Escape and Halloween featuring prominently among them.

"Most of this music's just been sitting around for thirty years," Howarth admitted cheerfully, reveling in the attention it was now receiving and clearly overjoyed to find himself out of the studio and in front of some appreciative listeners. Harald Grosskopf, drummer for 1970s German space-rockers Ash Ra Tempel and author of 1979's Synthesist album (described by the organizers as "the nexus of Krautrock, Kosmische, and New Age"--and who am I to argue?), was in similarly high sprits. Taking the stage after Howarth, he got rather more of a workout, bobbing and weaving behind his stand-up kit while adopting a range of orgasmic/tortured facial expressions. "This screen is to monitor my blood pressure," he quipped, pointing to one of several nearby laptops. "It's nothing to do with the music."

After an hour or so of meandering but effortlessly enjoyable stuff, Grosskopf and friends made way for Emeralds, a young trio from Cleveland whose synth-heavy instrumental jams owe much to their senior colleagues' pioneering work..." -[Artforum]

Synthesizer music pioneers Alan Howarth and Harald Grosskopf shared a bill with Emeralds as part of the Unsound Festival at Le Poisson Rouge on Friday night (4/8). And it was old meets new, as Grosskopf was joined by A.R.P, Blondes, Laurel Halo, Pink Skull and James Ferraro. Howarth and Emeralds also played together. Jade Boyd provided the visuals.

The theme continued the next night as well as many of the same performers, Harald Grosskopf included, played and/or DJ'd at a secret party in Brooklyn. Erez was at both events, and his pictures from them continue, with some videos, below...

Continue reading "Alan Howarth, Harald Grosskopf, Emeralds & friends played an Unsound show @ LPR (and a secret gig in Brooklyn) (pics)"

Sinfonietta Cracovia

04.01 Friday
08:00 PM // ISSUE PROJECT ROOM
UNSOUND LABS: COLLABORATIONS 1, presented with ISSUE Project Room
Unsound Festival NY Labs kicks off at ISSUE Project Room with the first of 2 nights focusing on collaborations. HATI (PL) collaborates with Z'ev (US); Dawid Szczesny (PL) collaborates with duo MERCE made up of harpist Shelley Burgon & avant-turntablist Maria Chavez (US); Anna Zaradny (PL) collaborates with New York-based Walkman manipulator Aki Onda (US).
08:00 PM HATI + Z'ev
08:00 PM Anna Zaradny
08:00 PM MERCE
08:00 PM Dawid Szczesny
08:00 PM Aki Onda
Tickets: $12 / $10 members IPR

Though I don't think everyone is playing at 8:00, that is the official description of the Unsound Festival's first event which is happening at Issue Project Room tonight (4/1). Read more about it on the Opal Nest blog, and browse through the whole schedule to see what's happening over the 10 days at various New York venues.

April 6th is the Daníel Bjarnason/Ben Frost w/ Krakow orchestra Sinfonietta Cracovia "Music for Solaris" show at Alice Tully Hall. Sinfonietta Cracovia (who are coming all the way from Poland) also perform the day after that at Judson Church where they'll be performing Gorecki including the piece you can watch below.

To quote the NY Times...

"Now in its second year, this New York outpost of a vital Polish avant-garde music festival includes several events of note for contemporary-classical partisans. On Wednesday at Lincoln Center, the Sinfonietta Cracovia presents "Music for Solaris," a multimedia homage to Stanislaw Lem's novel with music by Ben Frost and Daníel Bjarnason, and works by Krzysztof Penderecki and Steve Reich. On Thursday evening Morton Subotnick revisits his pioneering electronic work "Silver Apples of the Moon" at the Rubenstein Atrium; later, at the Judson Church, the Sinfonietta Cracovia plays works by Henryk Gorecki in a concert shared with the Norwegian duo Deaf Center. Wednesday at 8 p.m., Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center, (212) 671-4050, lincolncenter.org; $20 to $30. Thursday at 7:30 p.m., David Rubenstein Atrium, Lincoln Center, (212) 875-5456, lincolncenter.org; free; at 10 p.m., Judson Memorial Church, 55 Washington Square South, Greenwich Village , (212) 598-0551, judson.org; $12 in advance, $15 at the door. (Smith)"

You can also find more info in our previous post on the fest's lineup, and in our initial announcement as well. The above-mentioned video and more below...

Continue reading "UNSOUND is here (April 1-10 in NYC)"

Ben Frost at Brooklyn Masonic Temple (more by Greg Cristman)

After a successful inaugural year, Unsound returns in 2011. As discussed, the ten day festival will take place from April 1st - 10th at multiple venues across New York City with the musical program taking place from April 6th - 10th.

Kicking off April 6th at Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, as also discussed Unsound will host Music For Solaris, a multimedia experience that incorporates the Tarkovsky film, Lem's written source material, and music "written for twenty-nine string players, two percussionists, prepared piano, guitars and electronics by Ben Frost (Australia / Iceland) and Daníel Bjarnason (Iceland) in collaboration with one of Poland's leading orchestras, Sinfonietta Cracovia." Brian Eno and Nick Robertson will be on hand for "film manipulations" of the Tarkovsky film.

The next three days will see events with Morton Subotnick, Atom, Lone, Badawi, Kontext, Alan Howarth, Harald Grosskopf, Emeralds, the previously mentioned debut of the new incarnation of Skull Defekts with Daniel Higgs (April 3rd at Littlefield), and so much more.

On April 10th, the festival will close up shop with with three events, one of which will feature the NYC live and dark debut of Lustmord with Void Ov Voices (aka Attila of Mayhem) and Robert Piotrowicz at Abrons Art Center.

More details on Unsound NYC are below.

Continue reading "Unsound 2011 lineup updates (Ben Frost, Brian Eno, Emeralds, Lustmord, Void Ov Voices, Morton Subotnick, Atom & more)"

DOWNLOAD: Mark McGuire - Brothers (for Matt) (MP3)

"Mark McGuire's been kicking around since mid-2006 as guitarist for Cleveland heroes Emeralds. He's also put out about 30 solo records, in batches sometimes as limited as 20 copies per pressing. With his new solo LP on Austrian label Editions Mego, who put out Oneohtrix Point Never's Returnal and Emeralds' Does It Look Like I'm Here? earlier this year, McGuire is finally getting the distribution he deserves. Living With Yourself is a deeply personal album, but not in the sense of, say, an Elliot Smith release. McGuire doesn't wear his heart on his sleeve, bare his soul, or poetically expose his innermost desires and tragic flaws. In fact, he hardly says a word. He doesn't have to."
[Ric Leichtung @ Altered Zones]

Every time I read about Mark McGuire (like in that most recent gushing Pitchfork Altered Zones piece) (which came with an accompanying tweet that said the record is "one of 'our favorite records in the world right now.'"), I, like probably anyone might that regularly reads this site and knows who the other Mark McGwire is, think of the ironically named Brooklyn DIY venue Shea Stadium.

Mark McGuire (it's not spelled the same despite what the Photoshopped baseball card above says) has no upcoming dates at the moment - he was in town in April, and in September as a member of Emeralds as part of a tour with Caribou. When he comes back, someone please book him at Shea Stadium (maybe he even played there already?). Grab an MP3 above. Put on your headphones and listen to the live videos below...

Continue reading "Mark McGuire (should play Shea Stadium)"

The previously announced Throbbing Gristle tour has been extended (thx anon). Now there is a second chance to see the reunited band if you don't have a ticket to their sold out shows in Brooklyn and Chicago. Tickets go on sale Monday at 11:55am for an April 28th show at Brooklyn Masonic Temple with Alan Vega (Suicide) and Emeralds. Their first show at the same venue happens 12 days earlier which is before they play Coachella and San Francisco, but not LA:

The U.C.L.A. event has been cancelled due to circumstances beyond TG's control.

Discussions are ongoing to find a replacement event at a venue TBC.
Details will be posted here as soon as they are available.

The new Chicago date is on sale now. No word yet if the format of the new dates will be the same (two sets) as the old dates. All tour dates, including a couple in Europe, below...

Continue reading "Throbbing Gristle add 2nd NYC & Chicago shows, cancel LA"

No Fun Fest 2009. May 15,16,17 at Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn. Daily Schedule,ticket info/prices will be announced by January 12.

Full lineup below...

Continue reading "Sonic Youth, Merzbow & Bardo Pond playing No Fun Fest 2009 (full 3-day, Brooklyn lineup)"