Coco66 in October 2010 (more by Andrew St. Clair)

As mentioned, Coco66 was shut down on July 9 so SBTRKT couldn't DJ after his PS1 show. We also recently mentioned that the July 23rd Pictureplane, Teengirl Fantasy, Gatekeeper show originally scheduled at Coco66 has been moved to 285 Kent. That's because Coco66 never reopened after the SBTRKT incident...

It seems that Greenpoint music venue and bar Coco66 was raided by both the NYPD and SLA for operating without a liquor license last weekend. According to reports at Paper and New York Shitty, the authorities showed up at some point Saturday night and arrested the venue's owner David Kelleran and in a scene out of prohibition, all of the booze was destroyed by the SLA when they made the bartenders pour out every last drop of about $20,000 worth of alcohol. What a waste! The bar's problems began in October, 2010 when the NYPD conducted an initial raid and lost its liquor license. Kelleran had been buying booze at retail shops for the bar's events and apparently wants to try to reopen the bar without a liquor license. [Eater]

No events are currently scheduled at Coco66.

EMA at P4K Fest (more by Dominick Mastrangelo)

Darkstar played their first US show at Pitchfork Festival this past weekend. As mentioned, they'll be sticking around for a bit and will play in NYC tonight (7/18) at Le Poisson Rouge. Phaseone opens the show and tickets are still available. We're also giving away two tickets at our facebook.

TIme Out Chicago caught Darkstar's set at P4K:

On "Gold," the trio's cover of Human League, a distant house thump permeates, rolling alongside hi-hats and anchored by slow piano. This is the energy the crowd needs. People start wading in closer, whistling and fully embracing the music.

Clicks continue to buzz in rapid succession, and the distorted and crunchy synth found in so much of Hyperdub's output sits prominently in the mix. The lead singer looks like Brendan Fraser in Airheads, but this shouldn't make you take Darkstar any less seriously. Their February signing to Warp is big news for these Brits, a trio we'll hear more of in the future.

Speaking of bands who played Pitchfork Festival with upcoming NYC shows, Gatekeeper play on Saturday (7/23) at 285 Kent as part of their tour with Pictureplane and Teengirl Fantasy. The NYC show was originally scheduled for Coco66 but has been moved to 285 Kent. Tickets are still available.

P4k2011's first sounds were very yin and yang. As Gatekeeper's light, blissful tunes fluttered over the trees, EMA (Erika M. Anderson) squinted into the hazy afternoon sun and began grinding out some dark, menacing music. [Chicago Sun Times]

Check out pictures from Gatekeeper and EMA's sets at Pitchfork Fest HERE.

EMA has two shows on Wednesday (7/20). She'll play an early show at Mercury Lounge with Helado Negro (tickets) and a late show at Glasslands with Talk Normal and Abblehearts (tickets). All tour dates are listed below.

Alamaba rap duo G-Side also played Pitchfork and will play NYC on Saturday (7/23) at Tammany Hall.

Gang Gang Dance conclude their tour with a Rocks Off Concert Cruise Thursday (7/21). Nguzunguzu and Total Freedom aren't on the bill like they were for the much of the tour (Pitchfork after party included) but Nguzunguzu have their own shows this week. Here's some words about GGD's Pitchfork set:

A small man waving a stick of burning sage preceded Gang Gang Dance to the Green stage--a shaman of sorts, he stayed on stage for the entire hour, waving his sage stick or a towel and nodding along to the hyperbolic pastiche of dancehall, new age, tropicalia, electronica and Middle Eastern. It's world music gumbo, but highly danceable and about as "now" as you can get.

Lead Lizzie Bougatsos jumped off the stage to greet fans while the band continued banging out its dizzy-making tribal beats. It wasn't long before Bougatos was crowd surfing as fans reverentially passed her around the human sea. "I think when you carried me I became Jesus Christ," she said, returning to the mic. "I'm showered in your love, I'm dripping it. Drippy drippy all the way down!...If you can't act crazy on stage, there's no reason to live." Gang Gang Dance's new album Eye Contact is one of my favorites of the year so far, and live it sounds very different--much less haunted and weird, but damn good all the same. [Riverfront Times]

Gang Gang Dance also DJ on Saturday, 7/23 at Warm Up at PS1 with Syd tha Kyd of Odd Future, who also played Pitchfork Fest.

WU LYUF didn't play the fest, though Pitchfork probably wish they did. They share a bill with DJ Dapwell of Das Racist, who did play Pitchfork, on Saturday (7/23) at Knitting Factory. WU LYF also play the night before (7/22) at Mercury Lounge. Bass Drum of Death are on both bills.

Pitchfork Fest day one pics are HERE. Pics from the following two days are coming soon.

EMA dates and a video of Zola Jesus & EMA doing an unrehearsed cover of 'Crimson & Clover' at a pre-Pitchfork Fest show in Madison, Wisconsin, below...

Continue reading "Darkstar, Gatekeeper, EMA, Gang Gang Dance & others played Pitchfork, in NYC this week"

photos by Dominick Mastrangelo

Neko Case

Bob Pollard of Guided By Voices

James Blake

The 2011 Pitchfork Festival continues through Sunday at Union Park in Chicago. Some of it is streaming online. A set of pictures from Friday continues below...

Continue reading "Pitchfork Fest 2011 ---- Day One in pics (part 1) "

DOWNLOAD: Pictureplane - "Post Physical" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Pictureplane - "Real is a Feeling" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: S.C.U.M. - Summon the Sound (Grimes remix) (MP3)

Pictureplane on Halloween in NYC (more by Andrew St. Clair)

Speaking of Teengirl Fantasy, they're set to head out on tour with Pictureplane in late July. The tour kicks off in Boston on July 20 and hits NYC on July 22 at a TBD location and July 23 at Coco66. Gatekeeper, who also play 285 Kent with Teengirl Fantasy this Saturday night (June 18), open the tour. Tickets for the Coco66 show are on sale now.

Pictureplane will release Thee Physical on July 19 via Lovepump United. The album was produced and recorded by Egedy and mixed/co-produced by Jupiter Keyes of HEALTH. Grab the tracks "Post Physical" and "Real Is a Feeling" above. Those tracks are two of the more mildly-named tracks on the new album. Check out song titles like "Techno Fetish" and "Trancegender" on the full tracklist below.

Both Pictureplane and Teengirl Fantasy also play PS1 Warm Up events this summer in Long Island City, but on different days. As just mentioned, Teengirl Fantasy play on August 27. Pictureplane plays one week prior on August 20 with Juan Maclean (DFA), Blood Orange (Dev from Lightspeed Champion), Solange (Knowles), Grimes, and Ford & Lopatin (formerly Games).

The Juan Maclean (Juan and Nancy)

Juan Maclean has a few other DJ sets coming up this summer as well. Tonight (6/17), as mentioned, he'll transform Williamsburg's Metro Community Laundromat into the Dirty Disco Laundrette with fellow DFA DJ Justin Miller. The flier for the show is below. Tickets are still available (which is not surprising if you look at the price). Juan Maclean also DJs at Cielo Club on June 28 with Eli Escobar and Runaway. Tickets are available.

Blood Orange and Grimes open the Washed Out show at Bowery Ballroom on July 11. Blood Orange also open the previously announced The Ghost of a Sabre Tooth Tiger (Sean Lennon) free show on June 24 at South Street Seaport.

S.C.U.M.

In other Grimes news, she remixed the single "Summon The Sound" by British psychedelic punks S.C.U.M.. "Summon The Sound" is off their upcoming debut Amber Hands which comes out late summer/early fall on Mute Records. The band is named for the 1968 feminist tract S.C.U.M. (Society for Cutting Up Men) Manifesto by Valerie Solanas. S.C.U.M. just finished up a tour with The Kills in the UK. Listen to the original and the Grimes remix (which you can also download above), below.

Grimes also has other upcoming shows with fellow Canadians Gobble Gobble and Pat Jordache. All tour dates, Pictureplane album info, and other stuff below...

Continue reading "Pictureplane LP info & dates w/ Teengirl Fantasy ++++ Grimes, Blood Orange, Juan Maclean & S.C.U.M. too"

Nguzunguzu

"Nguzunguzu first made its mark in mid-'00s Los Angeles as co-hosts of the legendary Wildness parties near MacArthur Park. Around that time the duo started making tracks and mixes and dropping them online -- frantic, tribal sounds that drew on the convergence of Brazilian baile rhythms, Chicago house and London dance music to create primal, infectious grooves. Gradually over the last three years the production team has moved up the ladder, remixing Ciara, Lazer Sword and Ratatat, among others, releasing a few solid EPs, touring as M.I.A.'s DJ and producing much of her most recent mixtape, "Vicki Leekx."" [LA Times]

LA production duo Nguzunguzu (Asma Maroof and Daniel Pineda) released The Perfect Lullaby mixtape for DIS magazine earlier this year with a variety of tracks including Nicki Minaj, The-Dream, and Kingdom (aka Ezra Rubin). Stream and download the mix at DIS Magazine's website. They'll follow that mixtape with the Timesup EP on July 5 via Kingdom's Fade to Mind label. The EP is the first release for the new label. Check out the first track "Timesup" below via Paranoid Youth.

Nguzunguzu are playing NYC's New Museum on June 23 with Kingdom and Total Freedom (Ashland Mines). The "five hour day-into-night performance" is a collaboration with LA performer and filmmaker Wu Tsang who is in residency at the museum. Wu Tsang's residency is an attempt to showcase different aspects of his new film and performance piece Full Body Quotation. His first film, about the "legendary" parties referenced above, Wildness (currently in post-production), was made in collaboration with Total Freedom and Daniel Pineda of Nguzunguzu. Check out a teaser for the movie below.

The New Museum event is free before 7 PM and $12 after. Nguzunguzu, Kingdom, and Total Freedom also play the official after party hosted by DIS Magazine at Subtonic at 11 PM with MikeQ, Venus X, and $hayne.

Nguzunguzu and Total Freedom both head out on a tour with Gang Gang Dance in July. The tour ends one day before Gang Gang Dance play a Rocks Off Concert Cruise on July 21. The Rocks off show has no openers. Tickets are still on sale for the NYC show which is two days before GGD DJ a PS1 Warm Up event.

Nguzunguzu play a PS1 Warm Up event on August 27 with Sun Araw, who they played with at Echoplex in LA last night (6/16). Tanlines, Teengirl Fantasy, and Physical Therapy are also on the PS1 bill.

Teengirl Fantasy (live) and Physical Therapy (DJ) meanwhile play a Northside Merok Records showcase on June 18 at 285 Kent with Gatekeeper, Blondes and dj Ghe20 Gothik. Teengirl Fantasy also play Sled Island in Canada at the end of the month. They tour with Pictureplane in July.

Tanlines recently made a video for the super catchy "Real Life" off their 2010 Settings EP. According to a post on their facebook page on February 17, Tanlines are "very excited that they're almost done with their record." The record will be their first full length and will presumably be released sometime this year on True Panther.

Nguzunguzu album art and soundcloud stream, the Tanlines video, and other stuff below...

Continue reading "a Nguzunguzu EP, mixtape & live dates ++ Kingdom, the New Museum, a Tanlines video & a Northside Fest show too"

Theophilus London will headline the "Official Northside Festival Opening Party" at Music Hall of Williamsburg on Thursday, June 16th. Tickets go on AmEx presale Wednesday at noon, and then general sale Friday at noon. You can also try to get in with a Northside Festival badge.

The hip hop artist is one of 65+ new artists being officially added to the lineup of this year's Northside Festival (June 16-19 in various venues across Williamsburg and Greenpoint, Brooklyn, NY). Here's the full list:

Continue reading "Northside Fest adds 65+ bands to lineup, Theophilus @ MHOW, Mount Eerie, Iceage & more ++ open studios & DIY films"

photos by Erez Avissar

Teen Inc

LA's Teen Inc (who are back in town for CMJ) dropped in at Brooklyn's Monster Island on 10/8 with Gatekeeper, Blondes, Teengirl Fantasy, and Greatest Hits. Prior to that show, White Rainbow soundtracked a yoga session on top of Market Hotel. Pictures from both events are in this post, and continue below...

Continue reading "Teen Inc, Gatekeeper, Blondes, Teengirl Fantasy & Greatest Hits @ Monster Island ++ White Rainbow yoga (pics) "

photos by Erez Avissar

Gatekeeper / Games

Games celebrated the release of their new 7", Everything Is Working (out now via Hippos In Tanks) with a release show at Glasslands on 8/19 alongside Gatekeeper, D'eon, Blissed Out, and DJ sets from DJ Keshia Kole. Pics from the show are below.

Games is made up of Oneohtrix Point Never's Daniel Lopatin and Joel Ford of Tiger City, and Oneohtrix Point Never has a bunch of tour dates on the way, including Friday (8/27) at Coco66 with James Ferraro, Arp, Future Shuttle, and a DJ set from Blondes. The show will double as a record release show for Arp, who is celebrating the release of their new LP, The Soft Wave, due via Smalltown Supersound on 9/2.

Games recently dropped a video to "Planetparty" which is below with all date and more pics....

Continue reading "Games played Glasslands w/ Gatekeeper, D'eon & Blissed Out (pics), Oneohtrix Point Never playing w/ Arp & other dates "

DOWNLOAD: Salem - Frost (MP3)

photos by Erez Avissar

Salem...

On a series of breathy, claustrophobic EPs and singles beginning in 2008, Salem-- the trio of John Holland, Heather Marlatt and Jack Donoghue -- has been honing an oozy, cold style; a pastiche of several strains of pessimistic music: there are hints of noise-rock and shoegaze, as well as the stamp of the Houston rap pioneer D.J. Screw, who slowed records down until they became gummy and desperate.

It's not fun, this sound. And onstage it was even hazier. All three members took turns out front. Mr. Holland, who never took off his ski cap, sang, gripping the microphone hard, with hands heavy with rings. Ms. Marlatt -- who has a sweet voice, very well hidden -- was smoking while she played her keyboard, and smoking when she sang. (But hey, so were people in the crowd.)

She helps enliven "Redlights," one of Salem's best songs, which on Tuesday night was like M.I.A.'s "Paper Planes" as heard through thick earmuffs, all low end and distortion but maintaining the hypnotic cyclicality of the beat. [NY Times]

The above review is from the group's show at Glasslands on January 5th, which is also the source of the pictures here. Salem will be releasing their first full length album later this year on IAMSOUND Records. More details will be announced later. More pictures from the Brooklyn show below...

Continue reading "Salem played Glasslands (pics), releasing CD on IAMSOUND"

DOWNLOAD: Salem - Frost (MP3)

"If we wanted to, we could go on about how this is a perfectly timed reaction to all the beach jams released this summer, but we know it's not like that. No, it's just Salem pumping out another ultra-creepy windswept song, no matter what the temperature, only this time they've added some complexity to the drum programming, unscrewed the vocals and turned the whole thing into a battle between lush misery and the kind of marching band drum machine claps we expect from Mannie Fresh. We're more or less watching this band go from good to really awesome, and that's a good situation to be in. "Frost" is the a-side from Salem's 7-inch release with Audraglint." [Fader]

Salem, the dark electro trio of John Holland, Heather Marlatt and Jack Donoghue, play a show at Glasslands in Brooklyn tonight (1/5) with synthy Gatekeeper. DJs play "new+classic-dark-electro-synthpop hits". Tickets are available at the door.

As far as we can tell, Salem only has a handful of releases to their name. Recently they released a single for the track "Frost/Legend" on Audraglint. The video for the "Legend" is below; "Frost" and more are streaming on their MySpace. Salem split a 7" with Tanlines as the December pick for the Fader/SoCo single series. That's streaming.

Flyer and videos are below...

Continue reading "Salem play NYC (tonight) - MP3 & videos "