photos by Kurt Christensen

"MGMT's trippy electronica beats... fit right into the equation, although a lot of the crowd wasn't feeling it. I overheard one (probably Manhattanite) guy complain, "Give me something with a melody, play songs!"

The set was MGMT's debut of totally new tracks that they created specifically for the event and were inspired by the Cattelan installation. While at times the songs were a bit too obvious (one piece with electronic organ sounds was clearly meant for Cattelan's infamous sculpture of John Paul II killed by a meteorite), other tracks had catchy beats and little to no vocals so that one song smoothly blended into the next.

The light show was what really made the performance. Yet it seemed as I looked around and saw people talking amongst themselves and standing still during the show, that this just wasn't the right crowd to really get into it. The event was missing some key elements: dancing, maybe some drugs and actually more hipsters. Taken out of the stiff setting of a gala, MGMT's unique collaboration with Cattelan would have reached a whole other level." -[Hyperallergic]

Videos from the show, a video with more details on the ideas behind the music, and more pictures from the 11/11 show, below...

Continue reading "MGMT (only) played songs written for 'All' @ the Guggenheim (pics & video)"

MGMT @ MHOW in 2008 (more by Ryan Muir)

Tickets for MGMT's cheaper Guggenheim show go on sale to Guggenheim members on Thursday morning at 10am. General sale begins on Friday (10/13) which is the same day Andrew VanWyngarden DJs Cameo Gallery in Brooklyn with Aaron Pfenning (Rewards/Chairlift/DFA), Brian Harding (Ex Cops), and "Very Special Guest!" That all goes down after the Razika show.

I know you're sick of Radiohead posts, but, well, they keep doing things! (and anyway, more importantly, this post also contains Portishead!). But back to the point.... Radiohead just played two shows at Roseland Ballroom, appeared on SNL, and on The Colbert Report. They're also rumored to play for Occupy Wall Street today at 4 PM, though that might not happen. In addition to all of that, Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood will perform on Fallon on Monday (10/3). According to Radiohead At Ease, they'll be performing "Give Up The Ghost."

Speaking of Fallon, his week-long run of Pink Floyd covers (that started with the Shins) continued on Tuesday when Foo Fighters played "In The Flesh" with Roger Waters, on Wednesday when MGMT took on "Lucifer Sam" off of The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, with help from Bradford Cox who was dressed as Joey Ramone. Dierks Bentley did "Wish You Were Here" last night (9/29). You can watch all three videos below.

MGMT will also perform at The Guggenheim on November 10 and 11 as part of the 2011 Guggenheim International Gala. The 11/10 show is a private party, but the 11/11 show is a public event. Tickets go on sale Friday (10/14) with a member presale starting Thursday (10/13).

Portishead, who plays and curated ATP NJ this weekend, will appear on Fallon on Wednesday (10/5), two days after Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood do. Portishead play their second of two sold out shows at Hammerstein Ballroom the same night.

Fallon videos below...

Continue reading "more Pink Floyd covers on Fallon (videos), Thom Yorke, Jonny Greenwood & Portishead next week, MGMT @ the Guggenheim"

photos by Chris La Putt

"... So we met with Sean in private and asked him nicely to sort this chick out and only deal directly with us like we had been doing up to this point.Sean told us that his boss is a bit psycho and that he is bound by the contract he signed and that there's not much he can do about her lies to the press.At this point, we decided to just let it all be and not make a big scene.We were kind of let down that Sean didn't have enough of a spine to stick up for his 'friends' but we also thought, "Fokkit, let's just carry on making new shit...whatever."

However when we heard last night that Sean's boss had told the Guggenheim museum that her new up and coming director was the mastermind behind DIE ANTWOORD we kind of lost it.Sometimes enough is enough.

With all this said, Sean is fuckin talented and a sweetheart, but in life it's good to keep it real, tell the truth, and stick up for your friends.

This is why we say, "A fake friend is worse than a wild animal because wild animal can harm your body but a fake friend can harm your mind."

And that's why we also say "Love all but trust no-one."...
[Die Antwoord]

Die Antwoord made a last minute move from being opener for Deadmau5 at Roseland to instead headlining their own show at Gramercy Theatre in NYC last night (Friday, 10/29). The Knocks ended up opening the show, and Die Antwoord played 12 songs as you can see on the setlist which is with the rest of the pictures, below...

Continue reading "Die Antwoord played Gramercy Theatre in NYC w/ the Knocks (pics & setlist), are controversially in the Guggenheim "

Avey Tare @ Governors Island this summer (more by Erez Avissar)

The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and YouTube, in collaboration with HP and Intel, tonight announced the top 25 videos, selected from 23,358 online video submissions and 91 countries, for YouTube Play. A Biennial of Creative Video. The announcement was made at a special celebratory event at the Guggenheim Museum this evening, "YouTube Play. Live from the Guggenheim," with a corresponding global live stream at YouTube.com/Play.

On behalf of the jury, Nancy Spector, Deputy Director and Chief Curator, Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, and Jury Chairperson, said, "It was our goal to reach the widest possible audience, inviting individuals from around the world to submit a video for consideration. While our original goal had been to select 20, the jury was so moved by the quality of work submitted that we decided to honor a final list of 25. We believe the end result is 25 of the most unique and innovative video work to be created and distributed online during the past two years."...

...The YouTube Play jury included: performance artist and musician Laurie Anderson; music group Animal Collective, featuring Deakin (Josh Dibb), Geologist (Brian Weitz), and Panda Bear (Noah Lennox); filmmaker Darren Aronofsky; visual artists Douglas Gordon, Ryan McGinley, Marilyn Minter, and Takashi Murakami; artists and filmmakers Shirin Neshat and Apichatpong Weerasethakul; and graphic designer Stefan Sagmeister, with Guggenheim Chief Curator and Deputy Director Nancy Spector serving as jury chairperson.

Continue reading "Animal Collective helped pick YouTube videos for the Guggenheim ++ Avey Tare release party tonight"

The Ninja Tune XX box set contains the following stuff which is 100% exclusive to the set and unavailable anywhere else in the world:

- 2 x CDs + 6 x 7"s featuring new tracks from Mr Scruff, Toddla T, Kid Koala, Wagon Christ, Jaga Jazzist, King Geedorah, DJ Food, Kyle Hall, The Heavy, The Qemists, King Cannibal, Blockhead and unreleased archive tracks from The Cinematic Orchestra and Roots Manuva AND new remixes from Modeselektor, Cut Chemist, Zomby, Scuba, Dorian Concept, EL-P, The Bug, King Jammy, Matthew Herbert, Rustie, Prefuse 73, cLOUDDEAD, 808 State, The Orb, Tom Middleton, Gold Panda, JME, Alix Perez, Joe Goddard (Hot Chip), Doomed (Richard Russell) and Roots Manuva. See tracklists [HERE>].

Meanwhile, Ninja Tune is celebrating 20 years, and in addition to the box set, that means parties. Tickets are on sale now for an October 28th show at Santos Party House with sets by Amon Tobin, Kid Koala, DJ Food & DK, Poirier Toddla T & Serocee, DJ Kentaro, and Eskmo.

Two days later, almost the same lineup plays Echo/Echoplex in LA, though they also get Cut Chemist

Eskmo is one of Ninja Tune's newest signings. Check out a video along with 10 streaming tracks from the box set, info on a new book, and more, below...

Continue reading "Cinematic Orchestra on Ninja Tune XX box set, but not in NYC tonight (or on the XX party lineups -- Santos show on sale)"

photos by Dominick Mastrangelo, words by Rachel Kowal

For Andrew Bird, touring with a handful of over-sized gramophone speakers is nothing new, but at last night's show, he worked with artist Ian Schneller to create "a forest floor of horns" (Bird's words) in the impressive, multi-level rotunda of the Guggenheim Museum. The show was the second installment in a three-part series called Dark Sounds (Beirut was the first), which combines a live musical performance with an exhibition. Two hours before the show, the doors to the museum were thrown open, allowing people to mill around the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed space, chat, and peruse the art at their leisure. Underneath the soft din of people, the sound of crickets was piped in through the gramophones that covered wide swathes of the museum's floor.

A few minutes after ten, the crowd broke into a slow clap, and the dapperly dressed Andrew Bird emerged. Bird began to play his first song - a beautifully melancholy instrumental piece - on his violin without so much as a word to the audience, but he soon opened up. "Well, I've seen a few things, but I haven't seen this before. Hey everybody. Pleased to meet you. This is a show I've never done before." Apparently, Bird, Schneller, and the crew drove from Chicago early Thursday morning, and Bird's only time to practice with the blanket of gramophones was in the hours preceding the show.

Bird played a number of instrumental songs in addition to a few with vocals, each time carefully building up layers of violin, guitar, glockenspiel, vocals, and whistling. In between songs, he'd look up at the tiers of fans in the immense room. "I've just got to take a minute otherwise I won't remember what happened," he said a few songs into his performance. There was certainly a lot to take in. Far from being merely ornamental, the gramophones were all wired to project Andrew Bird's music in different directions. Apparently, Sonic Arboretum is something Schneller and Bird have been working on for quite some time, their goal being to create a visual landscape complete with 96 horns. It's not uncommon to hear music reverberate off walls - especially in such a cavernous space, but it was a nice treat to hear it coming from multiple angles without the sound being muddled. This is what you call surround sound.

Over the course of the show, Bird stopped and started a few songs over to ensure optimum sound quality. "Let me try that again," he'd say before scrapping the loops and starting over. "It got a little messy [...] I'll try a different approach."

When he had finished playing his single-song encore (after a few false starts), he surveyed the audience one last time, hopped over the low wall behind him, and escaped through the crowd, leaving a chorus of crickets chirping in his wake.

More pictures from the show below...

Continue reading "Andrew Bird, Ian Schneller & a whole bunch of horn speakers @ the Guggenheim (pics)"

words & photos by Dominick Mastrangelo

Beirut played their third sold out show in just over a week on Thursday (7/15). No small feat for a band that hasn't released anything in a year and a half. They played twice at the Music Hall last week, and Zach Condon and Co. were the lead act of the Guggenheim Museum's three-show Dark Sounds Series to coincide with the ongoing exhibit, "Haunted: Contemporary Photography/Video/Performance."

The setlist changed very little from last week's shows and except for some minor, sporadic problems with feedback the sound was excellent. Condon encouraged everyone to sing along during "Nantes" and everyone, without his encouraging, sang along to "Postcards From Italy" including the crush of girls who lined the front of the stage and swooned in that teen idol way at every glance Condon cast toward them. One of those crushing girls was overheard saying to her friend before the show, "I have a feeling we're going to end up on the cover of Brooklyn Vegan tomorrow."

More pictures, including one of the setlist, below...

Continue reading "Beirut played Dark Sounds @ the Guggenheim (pics & setlist) "

IAN SCHNELLER

The Guggenheim will be hosting a three-part music series at the museum this summer. Running in conjunction with their "Haunted: Contemporary Photography/Video/Performance" exhibition (currently on view at the museum through September 6), "DARK SOUNDS" has the following schedule:

* July 15, 2010: BEIRUT
* August 5, 2010: ANDREW BIRD AND IAN SCHNELLER
* September 3, 2010: CINEMATIC ORCHESTRA

"Produced by Sam Brumbaugh, Special Events Consultant, and Bronwyn Keenan, Associate Director of Special Events, the series takes its thematic cue from the conceptual threads that weave through Haunted, aiming to evoke the exhibition's elements of melancholy, ghostliness, the uncanny, and our collective and individual obsession with accessing the past. The series title is borrowed from the writings of Montague Rhodes James (1862-1936), who is often described as the father of the modern ghost story."

The Andrew & Ian show sounds especially special It is: "Andrew Bird & Ian Schneller's Sonic Arboretum, a site-specific performance involving violin, looped passages, and a landscape of horn speakers." That's Ian with some horn speakers pictured above.

Andrew Bird only has a handful of other shows scheduled. They are all listed, along with info on a "Dark Sounds membership package, below...

Continue reading "Beirut, Andrew Bird & Cinematic Orchestra playing DARK SOUNDS @ the Guggenheim "

by Benjamin Lozovsky

"For the Guggenheim's 50th Anniversary, the band Animal Collective has collaborated with artist Danny Perez on a site-specific performance piece that will transform the museum's rotunda into a kinetic, psychedelic environment. Transverse Temporal Gyrus will feature original recorded music composed specifically for the event along with video projections, costumes, and props, rendering the band members and performers into intense, visual abstractions. During the evening, guests are invited to freely explore the space in order to fully immerse themselves in the environment created by Animal Collective and Danny Perez."

The event was part of the ongoing yearlong celebration commemorating the museum's 50th anniversary. While it's impossible to say what museum founder Peggy Guggenheim might think of such an experiment in spectacle, her track record of gracious support for establishment challenging mind-benders like Max Ernst, Paul Klee, René Magritte and Marc Chagall could be a telling hypothesis.

Animal Collective described their musical contribution to the collaboration as an attempt to mimic the cacophonous yet often unrecognized communication present in both the jungle and thriving urban landscapes. It turned out to be an accurate representation, even through the diluted prism of psychedelia that washed over the towering rotunda for the whole event.

Samples created and collected by the band alternately chirped and blared through the 36 speakers set up along the ascending spiral path, determined at random by a complex (at least complex-looking on a audio engineer monitored screen) computer algorithm. For three hours monastic chants, saw-tooth metallic grinding, and even snippets of recognizable melodic elements from the band's recorded work, among many other sounds, repeated and bled into each other as Geologist, Avey Tare, and Deakin (Panda Bear wasn't there) stood as stylized monstrosities surrounded by black lit, stone-like sculptures and metamorphosing crystal balls. For many attendees, it was hit or miss.

The always challenging and ever-divisive band managed to confound plenty of their fans during the event, but to be fair, a large amount had probably never witnessed a sound installation before. And even as far as sound installations go, it was at times underwhelming. It was perhaps better served as less of a revelatory art piece and more of a completely unique and relaxing way to view and experience one of the most beautiful indoor spaces in all of New York City. Watching saturated colors shifting in tones illuminate the high glass ceiling of the Guggenheim was easily hypnotic.

But as the initially strange noises became more familiar as they reoccurred throughout the night, the mood of the crowd grew more frenetic, as if to connote that more we are able to understand each other, the more confusing our world becomes.

And for Animal Collective, the installation at once seemed like a creative side-indulgence and a culmination of a career long objective: to completely remove themselves as individuals from the music they create, sitting back as prominent but ultimately irrelevant performance objects. With that sort of fulfillment of an artistic destination, Peggy Guggenheim would surely approve.

More pictures from the 2nd of two shows last night, below...

Continue reading "Animal Collective & Danny Perez took over the Guggenheim Museum (pics & review)"

Animal Collective & Danny Perez

Transverse Temporal Gyrus, the video/music installation/performance by Animal Collective & Danny Perez happening at the Guggenheim, has sold out its 9pm showing on Thursday, March 4th. Good thing they've added an early show for the same day, to happen from 4:30-7:30pm. Tickets are on sale (thanks Christopher & CJ).

The trailer for their previous film with Danny Perez, Oddsac, which coms to NYC this week, is reposted below...

Continue reading "Animal Collective/Guggenheim installation adds early show"

Geologist @ AMNH in January (more by Tim Griffin)

Animal Collective & Danny Perez: Transverse Temporal Gyrus...For the Guggenheim's 50th Anniversary, the band Animal Collective has collaborated with artist Danny Perez on a site-specific performance piece that will transform the museum's rotunda into a kinetic, psychedelic environment. Transverse Temporal Gyrus will feature original recorded music composed specifically for the work along with video projections, costumes, and props, rendering the band members and performers into intense, visual abstractions. During the evening, guests are invited to freely explore the space in order to fully immerse themselves in the environment created by Animal Collective and Danny Perez.

Danny Perez is the visual artist who worked with the band on their ODDSAC film, which is coming to NYC's Visual Arts Theatre on Tuesday, March 2nd and (added second night) Wednesday, March 3rd. Tickets to the new night's 6:30pm & 8:30pm screening are on sale.

More details on the new installation and the ODDSAC trailer again are below...

Continue reading "Animal Collective doing 'site-specific performance piece' @ the Guggenheim + more movie screenings added"

photos by Chris La Putt

"[Friday] night the Guggenheim hosted another event for their It Came From Brooklyn series, which brings talented Brooklynites all the way to the Upper East Side. The evening was hosted by Max Silvestri, and featured a (bit too maudlin) reading from Rachel Sherman, and live sets from Tanlines and Yeasayer. A 3-D light show was also advertised, but as the evening went on we were told the glasses were merely for "enhancement" purposes.

The $45 ticket price is a bit high, but those in attendance were also able to check out the Kandinsky retrospective while there... just so long as they didn't have their 3-D enhancement glasses on. The guards were unusually strict about this.

There was a bar set up, with a ticket system in place (one wine was 3 tickets, aka $6); and the museum served as a gorgeous venue, with plenty of great sightlines. Frank Lloyd Wright, however, didn't design it to be acoustically perfect for future indie bands -- leaving Yeasayer sounding more like Mehsayer (sorry). That said, we sort of prefer these museum rock shows over the status quo -- so we hope there are many more to come!" [Gothamist]

Continue reading "Yeasayer, Tanlines & Max Silvestri came from Brooklyn @ the Guggenheim - pics "

Yeasayer @ Hudson River Park in August (more by Bao Nguyen)

Yeasayer recently revealed in an interview with Pitchfork that they had finished their sophomore album and it would be released on January 19, 2010. There are four new songs they've been playing live; the four new songs are "Madder Red," "O.N.E.," "I Remember," and "Amblin' Alp." Yeasayer has also hinted that they would do something big in October.... [Wikipedia]

Guggenheim's last "It Came From Brooklyn" show featured Julian Plenti aka Paul Banks from Interpol. Julian has more shows on the way in November.

Yeasayer is currently in the UK, on tour with Bat for Lashes (who played NYC in August).

Yeasayer's Anand Wilder and Ira Wolf Tuton worked on Bat for Lashes' new record, Two Suns, which came out in April. As for their own still-untitled CD, Yeasayer's new disc is expected early next year (see above). Pitchfork called their last album, All Hour Cymbals, the 197th best album of the decade.

At least one member of Tanlines (also playing the Guggenheim show) is in a new group with members of Professor Murder called Restless People.

A Jools Holland video, and all tour dates for Yeasayer, which include Fun Fun Fun Fest in Austin on November 7th and Brown University on Nov. 13th (with Javelin), are below...

Continue reading "Yeasayer - playing the Guggenheim, new CD on the way"

The Guggenheim Museum is holding a First Friday event tonight with Dam-Funk. It's $25 for non-members, BUT "The first one hundred guests to arrive wearing red clothing, shoes, or accessories will receive free admission courtesy Côtes Du Rhône." More details below...

Continue reading "First Fridays @ the Guggenheim - Dam-Funk x Ge-ology tonight (wear red and get in free) "

photos by Vincent Cornelli

"On Friday night we stopped in at the Guggenheim for the second in the museum's "It Came From Brooklyn" concert series [(the first featured The Walkmen)]. This time around, the main event was Paul Banks' solo project Julian Plenti, with a solid dose of comedic input from MC Eugene Mirman...

...Banks took to the stage around 10:30, with a band significantly larger than his usual four piece. In addition to Banks on guitar, there was an additional guitarist, bass, drums, and a three piece string section. The mix of instrumentation served to flesh out the sound, and moreover it served as a solid foundation for the atmospheric sound of Julian Plenti....

...One of the more interesting points of the evening was Banks' choice of covers. They included America's "Horse With No Name" and the Pixies B-Side "Into The White". [Hippies Are Dead]

There were also readings by Hampton Fancher and Rivka Galchen before Julian played.

Due to Julian's 10:30 set time, there was actually time on Friday to see Passion Pit and Phoenix at Summerstage before Julian, and then Rorschach and Hellbastard at The Charleston afterwards. At least a few people did just that.

Julian Plenti plays two more NYC shows in November. Tickets are on sale.

More pictures from the Guggenheim (where Kandinsky works are now on display), and Julian Plenti's setlist, below...

Continue reading "Julian Plenti & band played The Guggenheim w/ I'm In You, Eugene Mirman & friends - pics, setlist "

DOWNLOAD: Julian Plenti - Fun That We Have (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Julian Plenti - Games for Days (MP3)

Though the solo debut of Julian Plenti (aka Paul Banks of Interpol) has been out for over a month, the singer still hasn't played any shows. His official live debut takes place September 25th gig at the Guggenheim Museum, as part of its It Came From Brooklyn series (which brought the Walkmen and High Places in August). Also on the bill are I'm In You, authors Rivka Galchen and Hampton Fancher, and host Eugene Mirman. Tickets are still on sale to that show. We also has a pair to give away - details are below.

Past that it looks like Julian will be going on a North American tour in November, though not many dates are public yet. NYC was announced though, and the shows are November 24th at Bowery Ballrom and November 25th at Brooklyn Bowl. Ticket info TBA (on sale Friday?). He's also scheduled to play Europe in December.

Two tracks from Julian Plenti is Skyscraper are posted above. Contest details and known tour dates are below...

Continue reading "Julian Plenti tour dates, 2 more NY shows ++ WIN TICKETS "

Tickets are on sale for the Julian Plenti aka Paul Banks of Interpol show happening at the Guggenheim Museum.

DOWNLOAD: Julian Plenti - Fun That We Have (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Julian Plenti - Games for Days (MP3)

'Plenti' of tour dates on the way?

The inaugural "It Came From Brooklyn" show at the Guggenheim happens this Friday, August 14th with The Walkmen (who also play Summerstage on the 16th with Dinosaur Jr. and Saviours), High Places and the Brooklyn Steppers Marching Band (plus Colson Whitehead and emcee Leo Allen). Tickets are still on sale.

The next edition of that monthly series on September 25th will feature a headlining set by Julian Plenti (aka Paul Banks of Interpol). Presumably this will be his first real show as Julian Plenti (and the September show that was promised). Also on the museum bill are I'm In You, readings from Rivka Galchen and Hampton Fancher and host Eugene Mirman. No tickets yet.

Banks's Julian Plenti is Skyscraper album came out on August 4th. Two tracks from it are above, and the full record is streaming at Rhapsody. It looks like he'll be planning a bigger tour around the Plenti material this fall.

Interpol frontman Paul Banks has revealed today (August 11) that he plans to tour as his solo alter-ego Julian Plenti.

The singer, who recently released the album 'Julian Plenti... Is Skyscraper', spoke to NME Radio about his plans for his solo project.

"I'm really enthused about this music and making more of this music and doing everything that goes into it," he told DJ Iain Baker. "There are some shows that are just getting booked now. There will be a tour!" [NME]

Continue reading "Julian Plenti playing Guggenheim & will tour ++ Fallon video"