The Crystal Ark at Music Hall of Williamsburg in May (via Veronica Ibarra)

The Crystal Ark began as the solo project of DFA producer/musician/synthesizer builder Gavin Russom, who also has records out under the name Black Meteoric Star, collaborations with Delia Gonzalez, and has been a touring member of LCD Soundsystem. Gavin recruited vocalist Viva Ruiz to contribute to the project and the Crystal Ark has since become a full band. They released their percussive, disco-oriented self titled debut album this week (10/30) via DFA. You can stream five of the album's eight tracks below, and if you like what you hear, you can pick the album at the DFA webstore. The album's cover art and tracklist are below too.

The Crystal Ark will celebrate their new album with an record release party in NYC at Le Poisson Rouge on November 14. The show also doubles as a premiere party for the video for their single, "We Came To." No openers have been announced of this post. Tickets for the show are on sale now.

Song streams, cover art and tracklist below.

Continue reading "DFA's The Crystal Ark celebrating debut LP in NYC (streams)"

Brooklyn producer Chrome Canyon (aka Morgan Z) released his debut album, Elemental Themes, this week (10/9) via Stones Throw. You can stream the album in its entirety below. Chrome Canyon will play a record release show for the album tonight (10/12) at 285 Kent with labelmate Peanut Butter Wolf. The bill also includes Dj sets by Gavin Russom (DFA), Veronica Vasicka (Minimal Wave), and Airbird (Software). Doors are at 8 PM and admission is $12 for this all ages show. The flyer is below.

Chrome Canyon is not to be confused with Chrome Cranks, who play Mercury Lounge (10/13) one day later with Star and Dagger. Tickets are still available for that show.

The Chrome Canynon album stream and flyer for tonight's show are below.

Continue reading "Chrome Canyon released debut LP (stream it), celebrating at 285 Kent tonight w/ Peanut Butter Wolf & friends"

by Bill Pearis

While the pull of the Northside Festival will keep a lot of us in Williamsburg, one of the cooler events of the weekend is happening in Bed-Stuy. DFA act The Crystal Ark perform at soul food restaurant/disco The Sugarhill Supperclub on Friday (6/17). Tickets are $15 in advance or $20 at the door.

The Crystal Ark is DFA mainstay Gavin Russom and visual artist Viva Ruiz, who will be backed by a 9-piece ensemble including DFA DJ and engineer Matt Thornley, DFA bassist Tyler Pope and percussionist Alberto Lopez. There will also be (according to the press release): a slew of DJ talent, including Venus and $hayne of GHE20 GOTH1K and Saheer Umar (House of House); custom lights and visual effects courtesy Bec Stupak (Deitch Projects, Whitney Biennial) and Johnny Woods of Honeygun Labs, as well as choreographed dances by Alberto Cortes and Irene Discos and improvisational interludes.

You can check out a stream of The Crystal Ark's new single on DFA, "Touch," at the bottom of this post. In 2010 they also released two singles you may be familiar with, "The Tangible Presence of the Miraculous" and "The City Never Sleeps". You can also check out the video for the latter below.

This will be The Crystal Ark's third live performance. The venue is what makes this so interesting. Here's a quote from a Yelp review:

As stated in previous reviews, Sugarhill is a sort of time-warp alternate history version of New York in the 1970s-early 80s, or at least some time when gold trim, drop ceilings, burgundy pile carpet, hunter green accents, and statues of eagles were the height of sophistication.

The Sugarhill Superclub, also known as Sugarhill Disco, has also been host to some Rubulad parties in the past. Could make for a fun, surreal evening. Flyer for the show and songs are below.

And speaking of DFA shows happening in weird Brooklyn venues on Friday, The Juan Maclean and Justin Miller are playing a pop-up party at at Metro Community Laundromat. Admission to "Dirty Disco Laundrette" is a hefty $75, but includes open bar from 10:30pm-4am.

YACHT play a Northside show at Music Hall of Williamsburg two nights later.

Continue reading "Crystal Ark (Gavin Russom & friends) releasing DFA singles, playing Sugarhill Disco (Juan Maclean playing a laundromat)"

Delorean @ Glasslands in June (more by Chris Doss)

MoMA's annual summer season of parties at PS1 in Long Island City, aka Warm Up, returns on July 3rd and there are lot of familiar names on this year's lineup. That is due in part to this year's curators being Dean Bein of True Panther Records, Jon Galkin from DFA, Kris Chen (XL), Ronan from LPR, writer Brandon Stusoy (Stereogum, etc), and Robin from Tri Angle. Check out the full schedule, directions and more info below...

Continue reading "2010 PS1 Warm Up schedule announced (Delorean, MEN, Big Freedia, Questlove, DFA, Animal Collective DJs & more) "

DOWNLOAD: Mishka Presents: Ninjasonik - Darth Baño Mixtape (MediaFire MP3)

Boy 8-Bit

Last week in dance I only made it out one night, but had an absolute blast! Friday night I headed to Public Assembly around midnight to see Boy 8-Bit. While he didn't go on for an hour or so, his 1-1/2 hour long set was well worth the wait. From about 1:30 until 3, he played a UK-influenced, yet diverse set. He opened with his track "The Suspense Is Killing Me" which he manipulated to be a little more subtle than usual - a great starting point and indication of what was to come.

The rest of the set was a pretty current mix, punctuated with some of his own tracks (including some from the Baltic Pine EP which I strongly recommend - info on the release in last week's post) as well as Boy 8-Bit's own impressive take on some already awesome tracks. From a remix of Fake Blood's "Mars" (a track I thought couldn't get any better) to Bumblebeez's "Rio" (a track I never thought I'd be glad to hear) to what might have been (but I'm not certain) an extremely messed with, instrumental only remix of TTC's "Travailler"...Boy 8-Bit's set at Public Assembly was easily one of the most unpredictable, exciting, dance-able sets of this year.

While I find this week's dance prospects a bit less exciting, there certainly is a lot going on:

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