by Andrew Frisicano

"I'm in NYC smoke sumn'" - Freddie Gibbs

Stones Throw producer Madlib is headlining Music Hall of Williamsburg with a DJ set on Wednesday, January 18th. Also on the bill for that show, which is now sold out, are J Rocc and Freddie Gibbs. The beat-maker is also at Princeton, NJ's Terrace Club tonight with Shigeto and Dabrye. And he's in Toronto on Jan 19 (also sold out, it seems).

On MLK Day, his label wrote that: Brooklyn, 1/16/12, 1:30 PM EST, Free medicine: There's a complete set of Madlib Medicine Show (#1-13) in the Metro box on 5th Ave & Flatbush Ave in Brooklyn. Did anyone grab it?

No word on Madvillain 2, but Madlib will be producing the new album from singer Georgia Anne Muldrow, due out March 27th. The title track of that is posted below.

Stones Throw also just released a new video for the song "Thuggin," off the Freddie Gibbs/Madlib Thuggin' EP. It's below...

Continue reading "Madlib & Freddie Gibbs are here, released a new video (did anyone grab the free box set?)"

Freddie Gibbs & Madlib

"Celebrating its 15th anniversary this month, Stones Throw is a Masada for those who never sold their turntables. There's an unspoken compact between the label and those who love what Madlib called "the old music." Collectors. Romantics. Sentimentalists.

"Our releases have always been whatever and whoever I've liked, whatever makes me excited at the time," says Peanut Butter Wolf, Stones Throw's founder and resident Wonka. Wearing a gray porkpie hat and T-shirt, the San Jose-born Chris Manak looks a decade younger than his 42 years. "It's all outsider music."

In the upstairs offices -- made up of four large rooms and a small studio -- a pencil sketch of Manak's late musical partner, Charizma, is framed above his desk. It starts a mini Stones Throw wall of fame, including the label's most iconic artists, the late J Dilla, Madlib and MF Doom. To a generation of underground rap fans, the trio might well be Mount Rushmore, a holy trinity that has accounted for six of its seven top-selling records in the United States: Madvillain's Madvillainy; J Dilla's Donuts and Ruff Draft; Jaylib's Champion Sound; and (Madlib alias) Quasimoto's The Unseen and The Further Adventures of Lord Quas. (The seventh is Mayer Hawthorne's A Strange Arrangement.) Madvillainy, the top seller, has moved just north of 150,000 copies." [LA Weekly]

Madlib isn't currently on the bill, but he just played an LA show at the Echoplex on Saturday night (12/10). A few weeks earlier Madlib played a show in San Francisco with Freddie Gibbs who he just released a collaborative EP with. Listen to "Thuggin'" below. Stay tuned for a full album in 2012.

Look for the EP at the merch table at Music Hall of Williamsburg on January 18, 2012. Madlib is headlining the Brooklyn venue with a DJ set that night. Tickets go on sale Friday.

UPDATE: JRocc and Freddie Gibbs are also playing the Brooklyn show.

Stones Throw signee The Stepkids play Knitting Factory in Brooklyn four days earlier. Tickets are on sale. All Stepkids dates are listed below...

Continue reading "Stones Throw is 15; Madlib schedules NYC gig; Stepkids too"

by BBG

Havoc of Mobb Deep @ the kick-off in LA (more by Graeme Flegenheimer)

In addition to initially announced Rock The Bells lineup (Nas playing Illmatic? Mobb Deep on The Infamous detail? wow), the festival has made some interesting additions like Erykah Badu performing all of Baduism (on select dates), Common performing all of Be (on select dates), Killah Priest performing all of Heavy Mental, Slaughterhouse, and DOOM. More lineup details are below.

The NYC show on 9/3 at Governor's Island gets the Erykah Badu appearance, and tickets are on presale, password is "ILLMATIC". General sale begins Saturday, 6/11, at 10:00 AM.

LA and San Francisco are on sale now, and the only other date, Boston, still doesn't even have a venue announced yet.

DOOM of course is not to be confused with the crust band who just played MDF and Chaos in Tejas.

In other Hip Hop festival news, Brooklyn Hip Hop Fest's lineup has expanded too adding MOP (!), Torae, Random Axe (Sean Price + Black Milk + Guilty Simpson), eLZhi, Marley Marl, Roli Rho (5th Platoon), Grand Wizzard Theodore and Twilite Tone. Tickets are on sale for all Brooklyn Hip Hop Festival events, including an after-party at Southpaw on July 16th which proclaims to have "special guests invited including the entire BHF '11 lineup".

Full Rock The Bells details, alongside some videos, below...

Continue reading "Rock the Bells expands lineup, NYC tix on presale now"

photos by Graeme Flegenheimer

Cypress Hill @ House of Blues - Sunset Strip - 5/24/2011

The line-up for the ROCK THE BELLS 2011 FESTIVAL SERIES--presented by Boost Mobile in association with GUERILLA UNION and powered by BlackBerry--will feature an array of seminal and up-and-coming hip-hop artists on three stages. Headliners include Ms. Lauryn Hill, Nas,Erykah Baduand Cypress Hill. See the current line-up below and look for more performers to be announced soon.

This year's festival will head to four major North American markets. Kicking off in the Los Angeles-area on August 20 at the San Manuel Amphitheater, ROCK THE BELLS will then head to San Francisco on August 27 at Shoreline Amphitheatre. The festival moves to the east coast for a show in New York on September 3 at Governor's Island (co-promoted with Bowery Presents, Highline, Mad Dog Presents) before wrapping in [a TBA venue in] Boston on September 10.

ROCK THE BELLS featured a number of headliners performing their most influential albums in their entirety for the first time in the history of hip-hop entertainment last summer. The tradition continues this year with Ms. Lauryn Hill performing her landmark, multi-platinum selling, multi-GRAMMY winning album The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill and Nas performing his breakthrough debut album Illmatic with special guests AZ, Pete Rock and DJ Premier. Nas says about performing Illmatic this summer, "For years people have been asking me to do Illmatic in so many ways, from stage plays to movies to books, but the time wasn't right. Where music is going now, the time is right. This will be my biggest production and it only makes sense to do it on the best rap tour which also happens to be a brand I've built and am a partner in. Can't wait to kill it with my comrades AZ, Premo & Pete Rock!"

Full album sets can also be expected from: Cypress Hill performing their 1993 multi-platinum album Black Sunday, featuring modern rock radio mainstay "Insane In The Membrane"; Mos Def & Talib Kweli Are Black Star performing their 1998 self-titled debut album; Raekwon & Ghostface teaming up for critically acclaimed, platinum selling Only Built 4 Cuban Linx and more.

"I am excited that this year's Rock The Bells will continue its rich history and tradition by presenting the best and most ambitious festival programming in Hip Hop," says festival co-founder and Guerilla Union head Chang Weisberg. "The bar has been set high and this year's line-up will certainly stake its claim. With ten of the biggest records in the history of the genre and the freshest new talent bubbling from the underground, this summer's Rock The Bells is another dream come true."

ROCK THE BELLS will feature three main stages this year. The two returning stages are the ROCK THE BELLS STAGE and the PAID DUES STAGE, which will feature independent hip-hop acts that performed at the Paid Dues Festival this past April in San Bernardino and new artists-on-the-rise. Paid Dues Festival creator Murs says, "I am excited that I once again have the privilege of hosting the Paid Dues Stage. We will have the honor of showcasing some of the best talent in independent hip hop as part of the worlds largest and longest running hip hop festival... the Paid Dues stage is gonna be the one to watch this year."

The 36 CHAMBERS STAGE is a new addition to the festival and will primarily feature members of the Wu-Tang Clan as well as artists selected by stage curator and Wu-Tang Clan mainstay RZA. A fourth stage that will also be added to most markets is the GRINDTIME NOW STAGE, which will feature battle-style performances.

The lineup was announced last night at a show at House of Blues in LA. Mobb Deep, Souls of Mischief and Cypress Hill all played and pictures to prove it are in this post. More of them below.

The full lineup is also below...

Continue reading "Rock the Bells 2011 dates & lineups announced, Mobb Deep & Souls of Mischief & Cypress Hills played the kickoff (pics)"

Big K.R.I.T. & Freddie Gibbs

Mississippi MC Big K.R.I.T. recently dropped a new mixtape, ReturnOf4Eva, which is available for the price of your email address. K.R.I.T. is currently out on tour with Freddie Gibbs & Smoke DZA. That tour hits Brooklyn on April 26th at Southpaw. Tickets are on sale. The tour ends a few days later in NJ at Bamboozle. All dates are listed below.

Freddie Gibbs has a mixtape of his own out right now too, Str8 Killa No Filla. Download it for free via mediafire. AND:

"XLMag.com has learned that 2010 XXL Freshman, Freddie Gibbs, is on the verge of signing to Young Jeezy's CTE Record label.

Rumors broke out months ago that Gibbs was in talks with the imprint, but according to sources close to the deal, the agreement is done. All that is left is the paperwork."

Continue reading "Freddie Gibbs signing w/ Young Jeezy?, on tour w/ Big K.R.I.T. & Smoke DZA (2011 dates & mixtapes) "

Lupe Fiasco is currently in Australia as part of the Big Day Out Festival, touring with names like Iggy Pop, Deftones, Grinderman, and countless others. After returning back to the states, he'll get ready to welcome his new LP Lasers into this world, due on March 8th. The Chicago MC will celebrate the release with a date at Webster Hall the night before it hits the streets and tickets go on sale at noon today (1/28). Lupe recently released the first single from the LP, the Modest Mouse-sampling "The Show Must Go On" via iTunes.

Tickets also go on sale at noon for Rick Ross at Best Buy Theater on March 4th, and fortunately if you can't make that show you can make it out to see him support Lil Wayne and Nicki Minaj at Nassau Coliseum on March 27th as part of the I Am Music II tour. Ticket info for that show hasn't been released yet. All dates below.

Those of you who want to see Lil Wayne but might prefer to see him in a much (much) different setting than the third of three hip hop acts (instead with Motley Crue, Waka Flocka Flame, Insane Clown Posse & Bruno Mars?) can catch the recently freed MC at Bamboozle 2011 in New Jersey. Tickets are still available for the festival in multi-day, and single day pass increments.

And lets say, for some godforsaken reason you felt like a double dose of Insane Clown Posse.... that can be arranged. Insane Clown Posse has taken time off of their busy wrestling schedule to shower New York City with Faygo on April 29th at Gramercy Theater. Tickets are still available all of you Juggalos and Juggalettes!

Full Bamboozle lineup and all Lil Wayne tour dates are below.

Continue reading "Lupe Fiasco adds record release show, Rick Ross playing NY before tour w/ Nicki Minaj & Lil Wayne (who plays Bamboozle w/ Insane Clown Posse) -- lineups & dates"

Freddie Gibbs

Freddie Gibbs will rhyme all over Glasslands on Friday (10/22) when he hits the Yours Tru.ly showcase alongside Sun Airway, Cults, Kisses, Laurel Halo, Candy Claws, Young Man, Oberhofer, Guards, and James Vincent McMorrow. The show is the day before he hits the #OFFLINE Pitchfork party at Brooklyn Bowl (10/23) which will also feature Cults. Tour dates are below.

Dent May is prepping to play the Chocolate Bobka day party at Pianos as we speak (10/20, set is at 6PM), and will be joined by Woodsman, Sultan, and many others on it's two floors. Git on down there! Or if you can't make it today, then catch Dent May at the #OFFLINE party at Brooklyn Bowl Thursday, or the Forest Family/Gorilla Vs Bear party later that day (doors at 6) at The Pyramids (32D South 1st Street) with Marnie Stern, Eternal Summers, La Cera, Family Trees, Luke Rathbone, Young Prisms, Slow Animal, and... Surfer Blood.

Small Black is hitting the road with Class Actress for a string of US dates, and will follow those up with some in the EU. But before that, the band has a CMJ showcase (and the non-CMJ #OFFLINE show) to headline at Pianos on 10/21, stocked with bands like Sun Airway, La Ices, S.Carey, and Suuns who also plays the BrooklynVegan showcase the same night.

Speaking of the BrooklynVegan showcase and #OFFLINE, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart are now playing both. They've always been our Thursday night headliner (tickets are getting close to sold out) and Pitchfork just added them to their Saturday show. They added Titus Andronicus to that day too, and released the set times for all three days. The Fool's Gold 3rd Anniversary Party portion happens late Saturday night (starts at midnight). All the set times are below.

You can spend all day at Public Assembly on Saturday, and still get to Brooklyn Bowl in time to see Ty Segall, Pains, Matthew Dear, Freddie Gibbs, Titus for a 2nd time, and all of the Fool's Gold stuff.

Highlife plays the Chouette show at Bruar Falls today at 4PM (10/20) with Sharon Van Etten and Lower Dens (who play the BV Day Party on Fri), but also will play the Invisible Children/Blogotheque Showcase on 10/22 as well as the #OFFLINE party at Brooklyn Bowl the next day (10/23). The Blogtheque showcase will go down at SPiN NYC (48 East 23rd St) and will also feature Traffique and Yellow Ostrich.

How to Dress Well will do double duty TONIGHT (10/20), playing the Ramiken Crucible with Salem and then the Lefse/I Guess I'm Floating CMJ showcase at The Delancey later on with A Classic Education and many others. In addition to playing the #OFFLINE party at Brooklyn Bowl on 10/22, he'll also DJ the Altered Zones after-party at Glasslands with John Maus, Prince Rama, Greatest Hits, Teen Inc, Hippos in Tanks DJs, and more. The next day, you can catch HTDW at the Fader Fort with OFF!, Teen Inc, Wack Flocka Flame, Royal Bangs, Tanlines, Glasser and others. RSVP here.

Exhausted yet? Our full guide to tonight/Wednesday is HERE. Dates for artists mentioned above, set times and stuff below...

Continue reading "more bands, CMJ parties & tour dates (#OFFLINE set times, Freddie Gibbs, Small Black, TPOBPAH, Dent May & more)"

Matthew Dear @ MHOW in 2008 (more by Bao Nguyen)

As mentioned, Pitchfork will be hosting three days of shows at Brooklyn Bowl during, but-it-looks-like/probably completely unaffiliated with, CMJ this year (Thursday/Friday/Saturday CMJ week). "Brooklyn Bowl is located at 61 Wythe Avenue between N. 11th and N. 12th streets. The festival starts at 2 p.m. each day, with doors opening at 1 p.m. Tickets are $10, both in advance and day of the show." They're calling it the #OFFLINE Festival.

Based on the lineups and start time, it looks like each #OFFLINE day will be about a 12 hour show. No set times yet though, but the full lineups and ticket links are below...

Matthew Dear is one of the biggest names on the list (he plays Saturday), and it will be one of three CMJ week shows for Matthew. His first is Friday night at Webster Hall with Jamaica and Dominique Young Unique. His third is later on Saturday at Public Assembly for the FIXED/Making Time Party with Matthew Dear, Crocodiles, Holy Ghost!, Javelin, Gold Panda, Jamaica, and Kisses.

The FIXED/Making Time party starts after the BrooklynVegan party which is also happening at Public Assembly that same day. Just to be clear:

SATURDAY OCTOBER 23RD
* BrooklynVegan @ Public Assembly 12-6pm (free - more details TBA)
* FIXED/Making Time @ Public Assembly 9pm-late (tickets)
* Pitchfork @ Brooklyn Bowl 2pm-late (tickets)
* BrooklynVegan metal @ Union Pool 7pm-late ($5.00 or CMJ badge at the door)

We (BrooklynVegan) will also be at Public Assembly all day on Friday, October 22nd (details TBA), and at Music Hall of Williamsburg on the Thursday night.

All Matthew Dear tour dates (many of which we previously posted including a November show at MHoW), and the Pitchfork #OFFLINE Fest info, below...

Continue reading "Pitchfork announces #OFFLINE not-CMJ parties, Matthew Dear also playing Making Time & Girls & Boys parties (lineups) "

by BBG

DOWNLOAD: - Jim Jones - "Salute" Remix w/ Cam'ron, Juelz Santana, & Vado (MP3)

"Freddie Gibbs hella #underrated" - NiNO_WiLLIAMS

"only in NYC can you see Gotham Green, Black Milk, Freddie Gibbs, DJ Spinna and Tony Touch all rock in the same night." -jessfromcosign

"Jim Jones is at the Freddie Gibbs/Black Milk show. I didn't know he liked rap." - itsthereal

Freddie Gibbs at SXSW (photo by Villageslum.com)

Freddie Gibbs is the Str8 Killa (and a straight blunt killa, but more on that in a sec) and he celebrated his new EP with a show featuring the great Black Milk, Gotham Green, Push! Montana, Tony Touch, DJ Spinna and others last night at SOB's. Check out some videos from the event below.

In other Gibbs related news, odds are you won't see the MC at the upcoming Rick Ross / Diddy shindig at Governor's Island:

Complex: Switching topics: One of the hottest rappers right now is Rick Ross. One of your recent tweets read: "Who are you? Rick Ross, Big Meech or Larry Hoover? the rap game is like halloween every day?"

Freddie Gibbs: [Laughs.] That's real, man. That dude makes good records, but I just can't support no bold-faced lying on records. I guess he's entertaining people. It's like a movie, like Scarface. He can have that fake lane. I'll stay in the real lane. We got a non-fiction lane of rap, that's how I'm looking at it now. So you got that fiction lane over there where they're doing all them. I do the non-fiction, the autobiography, the real shit. It's all good.... I mean you can't really trip on him yelling names out. This the same dude that told you he knew Noriega when he first came out, so...

As you can see above, Jim Jones was spotted at the Freddie Gibbs/Black Milk shindig. Jones's reunited partner in rhyme (dipset all day, as the kids say) Cam'ron will headline the Funkmaster Flex birthday party next Wednesday (8/11) at BB King's. Look for Killa Cam to perform alongside a team Ja Rule, Capone & Noreaga, Group Home (who just played Brooklyn Hip Hop Fest) and DJ Premier (him too). Tickets are on sale, yuhnahmean? Dig on the remix for "Salute" from Jim Jones's upcoming LP The Capo (9/28 via E1) featuring Juelz Santana, Vado, and Cam'ron above.

Video from the Freddie Gibbs/Black Milk show last night, as well as some of Mr. Gibbs and Best Coast (ex-Vivian Girl Ali included) sharing some ganj at the Pitchfork Fest, is below...

Continue reading "Freddie Gibbs played SOB's, smoked weed w/ Best Coast (video) ++ Rick Ross is fiction?, a Cam'ron show & more"

by BBG

Black Milk at SXSW (more here)

Black Milk will team up with his uber-buzzy mic controller Decon label-mate Freddie Gibbs for a show at SOBs on Tuesday (August 3rd, tickets). The show will double as a record release party for Gibbs, as he readies his new EP Str8 Killa due that same day (git it) and accompanying (requisite?) mixtape, available for free download HERE. In addition, Gibbs has pounded out a new video for the lead single from Str8 Killa, "National Anthem", available below

The eight-track Gibbs EP also features a song called "Oil Money" that features guest spots by Chuck Inglish of the Cool Kids, Chip Tha Ripper, Bun B & The Black Keys' Dan Auerbach. Download that track free HERE or HERE. Read more about the THREE Black Keys shows that just happened in NYC here, here, and here.

Freddie's older The Miseducation Of Freddie Gibbs Mixtape is free HERE.

Black Milk's new LP Album Of The Year is due on September 14th, and the beat god (and damn fine MC) dropped a video album trailer for that LP today. View that below along with the album's tracklisting, some other video and full Freddie Gibbs tour dates...

Continue reading "Freddie Gibbs giving away new mixtape, celebrating new EP @ SOB's w/ Black Milk -- MP3s, video, dates & the Black Keys"

"What began as a spontaneous event for friends and neighbors outside the label's Philadelphia headquarters and grew in 2 short years to the largest block party in city, the MAD DECENT BLOCK PARTY is nothing short of a legend. Now in the event's 3rd summer, Mad Decent has teamed with Diesel and JELLY to bring the MAD DECENT BLOCK PARTY magic across the country! Starting in Philadelphia and traveling to New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago over 4 consecutive Saturdays from July 31st to August 21st, the MAD DECENT BLOCK PARTY promises banging music, carnival games, yummy food, super secret guests and all for FREE!"

Continue reading "Mad Decent & Jelly throwing free block parties in four cities, at South Street Seaport in NYC"

by Andrew Frisicano

DOWNLOAD: Guilty Simpson & Bumps - Drums (MP3)

A new Madvillain track, "Papermill," is online to stream and download. The Madlib's wirey '70s cop chase sample and top-form wordplay from DOOM are both good signs that the pair is putting in some serious effort to follow-up 2004's Madvillainy. The label writes that the song will be on the new album, which is still a work in progress.

The song is online as part of the Adult Swim singles series, which has been distributing tracks weekly. Madvillian was the second song, and there's already one from Bonnie "Prince" Billy and Matt Sweeney. On the way is music from Black Lips, Freddie Gibbs, Killer Mike, High on Fire, Cults and Washed Out.

To measure just how long the new Madvillain is taking in Madlib-years (remember, he already put out his own part 2 of their debut), consider the fact that Stones Throw gave the beatmaker his own label imprint, Madlib Invazion, in early '10, and that's now in the process of releasing one Madlib CD a month for 12 months. The most recent edition, Madlib Medicine Show #5: History Of The Loop Digga, 1990-2000, collects "Madlib's previously unreleased, made-for-cassette 90s work" under the Loop Digga name (and comes with a comic book to boot).

Madlib's "OJ Simpson" collaborator Guilty Simpson recently released a track with Bumps, the beatmaking trio of Tortoise drummers John McEntire, John Herndon and Dan Bitney. You can get that above. The OJ Simpson album is out now on Stones Throw.

Tortoise kick off a tour in June that brings them to NYC for a June 23rd show at Le Poisson Rouge as part of the Care Fusion Jazz Festival. Tickets are still on sale.

All Tortoise dates and some classic Madvillain videos are below...

Continue reading "updated Tortoise dates, new tracks from Madvillain, Adult Swim, Guilty Simpson, Bonnie Prince Billy & Bumps"

Modest Mouse @ Terminal 5 in March 2009 (more by Chris La Putt)

Modest Mouse will join Faith No More and Nas & Damian Marley (tickets) as one of the acts set to play at Williamsburg Waterfront in Brooklyn this summer. Their Friday, July 23rd show will be ticketed/non-free (like the others mentioned). Tickets go on sale Friday at noon (which is when the just-added Faith no More show goes on sale too).

Modest Mouse's Brooklyn show is a week after they play the Pitchfork Festival which recently updated its lineup. New acts playing the Chicago fest include Big Boi, Major Lazer, Neon Indian, Beach House, Free Energy, Local Natives, Robyn & more. Check that out in full below. Single day tickets are still on sale.

UPDATE: Modest Mouse's Brooklyn show is one day after they play one in NJ.

Modest Mouse will be reissuing their third album, The Moon & Antarctica, on vinyl for its 10th anniversary, on Record Store Day - this Saturday, April 17th. "The album features restored original artwork and replicates the infinite lock groove found in the original vinyl pressings of 2000. The new vinyl reissue includes a download card for the album." All dates the the P4K Fest lineup, below...

Continue reading "Modest Mouse playing Williamsburg Waterfront, the Pitchfork Festival (updated full lineup) & other tour dates"

Freddie Gibbs @ SXSW (more by Andrew Frisicano)

Roc Nation signee J. Cole's Tuesday (3/30) show at SOB's had a few special appearances (not Jay-Z).

Surprise guests Talib Kweli and Hi-Tek joined Cole on stage for "Just to Get By," but the highlight of the night was when Cole brought out Young Gunz rapper Young Chris. "We don't wear the same chain, but, I gotta give respects to those that came before me, from Beanie to Young Gunz," J. Cole told the audience before bringing out the former Roc-A-Fella artist, who was received with shouts of excitement from the throng of people. [Billboard]

At Highline Ballroom last night (3/31), Freddie Gibbs and others from XXL's Freshman Class performed. Cam'ron wasn't quite a special guest - his appearance as the headliner was announced the day before.

One of the more hyped Freshmen, thanks to his imposing style and intelligent rhyming, Indiana's Freddie Gibbs represents a bit of a stylistic change from the other performers. Everything about him--from his physical appearance to his deep, gritty vocals--commands respect. The turning point in his set came when he took his shirt off and upped his intensity (the crowd went crazy).

Donnis was probably the biggest surprise of the night. Besides his smooth, succinct Southern delivery, he brought out two surprise guests of note--Brit soul sensation Estelle and the up-and-coming Ryan Leslie. Estelle, with her scintillating vocals, came out for a quick verse on a new Donnis single, while Leslie played the keys for the track "Gone." [Time Out NY]

Continue reading "J. Cole, K'naan, Freddie Gibbs, Cam'ron & others played guest-filled shows w/ Nas, Damian Marley, Talib Kweli, Hi-Tek, more"

words & photos by Andrew Frisicano

Wednesday - The Middle East @ Club DeVille (more by Tim Griffin)

I started toward MtyMx about 4 hours after my last SXSW show, so I haven't had much time to reflect on what happened in Austin - but before they become too irrelevant, here are some quick pictures and words of my personal highlights at the fest.

The Middle East covered the stage with an arsenal of instruments and percussion, bringing out a flute, a banjo, keys, an accordion, and a rain stick covered in bottle caps. Their set kicked off with a wobbling country-western number. "The Darkest Part" was a solemn, two-member affair, with the others jumping in as it progressed. And the barn-burning jams that built up to their finale, "Blood," brought to mind the more unhinged tunes Mumford & Sons (it clicked a moment later that they're touring together this May). Overall: a tight, short set (with a few nervous slips) in front of Club DeVille's cave-wall backdrop, which hopefully will lead into an engaging debut and tour.

Thursday - Thee Oh Sees @ (Spider House &) Lamar Pedestrian Bridge

I caught Thee Oh Sees twice on Thursday - once on the gorgeously sunny garden stage of the Spider House; once on a footbridge over Austin's Lady Bird Lake at 2am - and they played other shows as well. On the bridge the band traded songs with Home Blitz, who looked not-exactly-pleased to be standing in the freezing wind at 3am. Amps, a PA and a few worklights ran through a generator, and the assembled equipment threatened to topple over from the surging crowd. The band stretched out into extended jams that made the bridge literally shake. After a more than generous set, the crowd still prodded Dwyer and Co. for more, which they gave.

Friday - Billy Bragg @ MWTX Festival

Billy Bragg's set, to the wristbandless masses of MWTX (formerly Mess with Texas) focused nearly as much on politics as it did on music. He buttered up the crowd with "Help Save the Youth of America" and "To Have and Have Not" before speaking about healthcare reform, defeating the BNP and the ubiquity of corporations at SXSW ("This set is brought to you by my sponsor: Woody Guthrie."). His inspiring asides were genuine and welcome, and they lead into the crowd-pleasing closer, "A New England." He played again later on Friday night with a ton of guests.

Friday - Man or Astroman? @ MWTX Festival

On a completely different note, Man or Astroman? (back after a bit of a hiatus) headlined MWTX's south stage in full space regalia, with video flashing in the background and a pre-recorded narrator between songs. Their short burst of mostly instrumental surf-rock was anything but boring, and they closed it out by flicking on a huge Tesla coil.

Saturday - Major Lazer @ Carniville

My expectations were pretty low for Major Lazer, who were playing to an iced-over crowd on the massive, corporated-out stage at the Mexican-American Cultural Center (aka the Mad Decent/Iheartcomix/Jelly-presented Carniville for the fest), but they proved me wrong. The antics of hypeman Skerrit Bwoy and dancer Mimi made the frozen crowd erupt (the free T-shirts and foam guns being thrown off the stage helped too) - they mounted and humped everything in sight including crowdmembers, the rigging for the lights, and a ladder, which they used to dive onto each other for more dryhumping. Diplo got through most of Guns Don't Kill People, Lazers Do, with a brief assist from Ninjasonik. Did I mention the huge pink, furry monster on stage? He got some too.

Saturday - The Very Best (and then Freddie Gibbs) @ Scoot Inn

At Scoot Inn, the frigid evening grew on and most of the crowd there for the Pitchfork showcase stayed huddled around a campfire or in the bar's sauna-like interior - until The Very Best (who I missed opening for Major Lazer a few hours earlier). Esau, with a huge grin on his face, his co-mic-man (whose name I can't remember), a pair of dancers and DJ Johan Hugo all made good use of the short set. Their energy passed through the mic into crowd members for songs like "Julia" and "Warm Heart of Africa," which finished with plenty of the crowd on stage.

Freddie Gibbs, who I had never really gotten into before, was up next and seemed similarly unfazed by the cold as he rapped confidently about gangsta life. A handful of friends passed around a blunt and ceded the floor to Gibbs, who cooly made converts with his laid-back approach.

Saturday - Sleigh Bells @ Scoot Inn

Sleigh Bells brought the energy back up for the last set of the night (and for some, of SXSW). Despite being a relatively new commodity, both the band's halves, Alexis Krauss and Derek Miller, are assured, polished performers, and they made their appreciation for the crowd clear with their faultless set.

My many other highlights (bands I'll definitely be catching again in the future) included Califone (in NYC 3/30 & 3/31), La Strada, The Sandwitches, Kid Congo Powers, Private Life/Katie Stelmanis, Happy Birthday, Avi Buffalo, Man Man (who I've seen before, but seem to have a new thing going on) and Think About Life.

More pictures from all the sets above (and a ML video), are below...

Continue reading "SXSW 2010 highlights by AF (Thee Oh Sees on a bridge, Man or Astroman?, Major Lazer, Sleigh Bells, Billy Bragg, more) - pics"

The Pitchfork Music Festival celebrates its 5th anniversary this year at Union Park in Chicago. It runs from Friday July 16th - Sunday July 18th. Three-day passes are now sold out, but you can still get single-day passes on Ticketweb.

The Updated Lineup is below:

Continue reading "Pitchfork Festival updates lineup (Broken Social Scene, Jon Spencer, Panda Bear, Girls, El-P & more) "

The Very Best @ Santos Party House in November (more by Benjamin Lozovsky)

The Very Best and Theophilus London play American Museum of Natural History's monthly One Step Beyond party on Friday, March 12th. Tickets are on sale.

The Very Best will be playing shows in North America leading up to SXSW, where the group has sets scheduled including the Pitchfork official showcase at The Scoot Inn on March 20th, and additional shows around Sasquatch in May (and the Roots Picnic in June). Those dates, the full Pitchfork party lineup, and videos are below...

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