photos by Diana Wong

Honestly, I'm a little mind-blown right now. Phantogram and RJD2 opened for The Glitch Mob, and they were nothing short of incredible. I was surprised by how people didn't really seem to know RJD2 though, because when we got there, there was a lot of talking going on and not much dancing. It was still really beautiful, but I'm just surprised more people weren't dancing...

Phantogram also blew me away, with their fly lead singer, Sarah Barthel. Rocking a Karen O. hairstyle, she headbanged, and played the hell out of the keyboard. It was really hard to not dance to.

All I can say is that the Glitch Mob was able to make me dance way more than I expected, and that's all I'm ever trying to do. Their sound was perfect too, not too heavy on the bass. They also opened their set with Daft Punk, which was probably the wisest move they could've made because it was such a crowd pleaser. -[Et Musique Pour Tous]

The Glitch Mob headlined the dance party (well, sort of) at Terminal 5 on Friday 7/22 with RJD2 and Phantogram. The show is part of The Glitch Mob's current and ongoing set of dates with Phantogram that puts them in Montreal tonight (7/27) at SAT.

The Glitch Mob recently released their new We Can Make The World Stop EP. Stream all three tracks at their site. All tour dates are below.

RJD2 returns to NYC to hit Webster Hall on September 2nd. The DJ/producer also has some other tour dates as well as a new project on the way:

Hey folks, I wanna let you all know that I've got a new group called Icebird, and my label is putting out our album on Oct. 11. I did all the production, and this awesome singer named Aaron Livingston (who sang "Crumbs off the Table" on The Colossus) did all the vocals. I'm pretty damn excited about how the album came out; we'll be giving away tracks starting august 2nd to preview. Stoked for you to hear it!

Look out for that LP on 10/11, and check out more pictures from Terminal 5, with all dates, below.

Continue reading "The Glitch Mob, Phantogram, and RJD2 played Terminal 5 (pics, more dates & Icebird)"

RJD2 at Webster Hall (more by Chris Doss)

The Glitch Mob, Phantogram, and RJD2 will team up to play Terminal 5 on July 22nd. Tickets go on AmEx presale on Wed, 3/23 at noon, and regular sale on Friday.

No word on whether RJD2 will also perform material as part of his alter ego, The Insane Warrior, who released a debut LP called We Are The Doorways last month.

"A strictly instrumental affair, the album "We Are The Doorways" was loosely inspired by horror and sci-fi film scores of the wonderfully fruitful period of 1976-1984. Several things mark this record - for one, there is a departure from the concise nature of most modern pop-oriented records. Expansive, open passages - often with no rhythmic elements - recall the work of both Eno and John Carpenter. These give way to spastic outbursts of energy in places. At other times, the tension-meets-groove aesthetic of Dario Argento's pet Goblin give birth to some surprisingly funky cuts as well."

Stream that LP below, and head to the bandcamp page to learn how you can submit your own "visual or audible companion to any of the tracks."

RJD2, who also plays Camp Bisco in July, was just down at SXSW (as was Phantogram) but only played a single show which was with Chiddy Bang on 3/15 at The Belmont in Austin (Chiddy Bang also played the BV/Feed The Beat party at Emo's the next day). Videos from the Windows Phone-sponsored SXSW Interactive shindig can be watched below.

In related news, RJD2 is part of a new DJ Hero 2 "indie hip hop" bonus pack that is out now and also features Jaylib, Charisma & Peanut Butter Wolf, The Perceptionists, and Atmosphere.

The Glitch Mob, who will be at Ultra Music Festival in Miami at the end of this month, is also confirmed for STS9's Re:Generation festival, as are STS9, Bassnectar, Beats Antique, The New Deal, Big Gigantic, Tycho, Emancipator, Little People and Lynx, and others TBA. The fest, which takes place in North Plains, Oregon's Horning's Hideout, goes down from June 23-26.

Everything mentioned above, and all known tour dates, below...

Continue reading "RJD2 played SXSW, is the Insane Warrior, playing a show w/ Phantogram & the Glitch Mob, doing other stuff too"

photos by Sharese Ann Frederick

Ed Banger's DJ Mehdi signs a fan

Bassnectar closes out the final day

"Bassnectar, arms flailing and Cousin It hair flying in all directions, brought the loudest set of the weekend, inspiring two concertgoers to scale a 30-foot support pole inside the tent." [NYU News]

Fresh off a recent appearance at Electric Zoo 2010, Bassnectar will return to NYC to play Terminal 5 on Nov 6th with Beats Antique (DJ set) and Emancipator. Tickets are on sale. The show is part of a larger US trek for the electronic artist that extends until the middle of December (and that was previously listed without the NYC show). All dates below.

In terms of new material, he says:

This week i finished the latest Bassnectar EP, 'Wildstyle' which is the most bonkers collection of music i've ever created. Each song was crafted with you in mind, and how your body and soul will be affected when the waves of this music are crashing through your cells. We will have more info soon with regards to release, but it will definitely become centerpiece of the fall soundtrack.

In the meantime, and as promised, we have our fourth and final set of 2010 Electric Zoo pictures in this post. You can also check out PART 1, PART 2, and PART 3, before continuing with PART 4 below...

Continue reading "the final set of Electric Zoo pics & more Bassnectar dates "

words by Kon Glikos, photos by Zach Dilgard

Flying Lotus / ravers

As we were saying, This past Labor Day weekend saw the second installment of the Electric Zoo festival, taking place on Randall's Island. The two-day festival boasted a line up of over 70 artists on 4 stages, catering to most genres of electronic music. The line up ran the gamut. Commercial dance DJ's/acts such as: The Chemical Brothers, Moby, Armin Van Buuren, and house and techno staples the likes of: Richie Hawtin, Claude Von Stroke, and Steve Bug found themselves along side each other on the bill. In addition, artists such as Martyn, Erol Alkan, and Aeroplane represented genres like dubstep, electro, and nu-disco.

Highlights on Saturday included a blistering live techno set from Reboot, taking place in the Sunday School tent. In the evening, Major Lazer brought the crowd into a frenzy with their all-encompassing musical mash-ups. Over on the Red Bull Academy stage, Flying Lotus's much anticipated set had its moments of brilliance, namely a re-edit of Radiohead's Idioteque towards the end of his set. The Chemical Brothers closed out the night on the main stage, starting off with a string of new songs, signifying a musical directional change, giving way to older crowd favorites. Additionally, the visual production paired with their music, made their performance memorable for the thousands that listened in.

Day 2 started off on a high note, with Jon Hopkins's thoroughly original take of a live electronic set, which seemed largely improvisational. The next time slot called for witnessing a meeting of the techno minds back at the Sunday School tent. Techno heavy weights: Martin Buttrich, Mattias Tanzmann and Davide Squillace performed a track for track DJ set that was mainly composed of their favorite techno classics. It quickly became one of the highlights of the weekend. On the main stage, Moby played his DJ set to a sea of people in full on festival mode. His set was a retrospective, made up of tracks from dance eras gone by. What he played was a nice contrast to the seemingly endless stream of commercial trance and progressive house sounds coming from the main stage all day long. He was one of the top main stage performances all weekend.

While the aforementioned performances made up what I thought to be some of the most significant of the weekend, there was no shortage of cringe-worthy music being performed. For example, the countless musical crimes being committed in the Hilltop Arena tent (aptly re-named the Jersey Shore tent by many), aided in shedding some of the festival's musical credibility. Still, the premise of this festival seems to be that there is something for everyone because "you get what you pay for". Only time will tell if this is the electronic music festival that New York City deserves.

--

As promised, here are more pictures from last weekend's event. Part 1 is HERE. Part 2 is HERE. Part 3 continues below...

Continue reading "Electric Zoo in pics - part 3 (Flying Lotus, Moby, Reboot, more) "

photos by Andrew St. Clair

"Dutch this, Swedish that! Germany's answer to house, Boys Noize, put on one hell of a set. Almost every track he dropped was welcomed by a roaring cheer. Technically he was breathtaking and proved once again why he is the future of electronic music." [Dancing Astronaut]

Here is Part Two of our continuing coverage of the 2010 Electric Zoo Festival that took place over Labor Day Weekend on Randall's Island in NYC. We had multiple photographers and reviewers on hand. Andrew's pictures of Saturday (day one) were posted HERE. His pictures of day two (Sunday), continue below...

Continue reading "Electric Zoo 2010 in pics - part 2 (A-Trak, Armin Van Buuren, Boys Noize, Diplo, Steve Aoki, JDH, Dave P & more) "

DOWNLOAD: Tittsworth - WTF (Nadastrom remix - Stretch Armstrong Edit) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Tittsworth - WTF (Eli Escobar remix) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Presets - This Boy's In Love (Lifelike remix) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Runaway - Use Me (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Midnight Juggernauts - Into the Galaxy (Grandmaster Flash remix) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Daisy O'Dell - (3 live mixes): Electro Bounce, Groovy Disco Breaks, and Boogie Hits (yousendit MP3 link)
DOWNLOAD: Mikix The Cat - Freeze (Kanji Kinetic remix) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Captain's Holiday Mix '08 (Mediafire MP3 link)
DOWNLOAD: Evil Nine - All the Cash (Glitch Mob Remix) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: John Acquaviva - November '08 Mix (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Drlkt Freddie - Airtight (MP3)

Fake Blood is not Soulwax

I took two nights off after my early start Wednesday night, leaving me eager to hit the B Saturday night for a party that featured a nice mix of deejays that were both familiar and new (to me). I arrived in time to catch the tail end of Van Scott's set which featured a dancey Lykke Li remix, a super-voded mix of Little Boots' "Meddle" (which I later found out was by Treasure Fingers), and lots of other recent tracks.

Franki Chan followed with an excellent mix of some tracks I didn't recognize along with some new favorites including Whomadewho's "TV Friend" (one of the remixes that just came out at the end of last month) and a lovely hybrid version of the Soulwax remix of the Chemical Brothers' "Hey Boy, Hey Girl" that featured the original "super star deejays" vocal sample instead of "2manydj's" but as far as I could tell, retained all the instrumental parts from the Soulwax remix.

Princess Superstar took the evening in a highly dancey meets retro direction, dropping some current stuff mixed with some updated, oldie but goodie classic 90's tracks. Her set segued into Larry Tee's with the pair performing a live version of their hit "Licky" that's had dancefloors freaking out since last winter. Larry's set had everyone getting down and remembering what an innovator the pioneer of electroclash was and continues to be.

The night ended with a bang that unfortunately, hardly anyone was left to see: Nadastrom absolutely killed it. I'm not sure what specifically was great about their set ...it might have been the song selection, excellent mixing, just the right amount of wobbly bass...but one of the most satisfying elements of their set was the enthusiasm the pair maintained as the not too big to begin with, Studio B crowd dwindled down to a few handfuls of people:

Continue reading "the week in Dance w/ Showtrotta (Fake Blood, Lifelike, Larry Tee, Tittsworth, Moby, Evil Nine & more)"