photos by Vincent Cornelli

"In the 3 years since I've seen the band, they've become an even tighter and more powerful live act. Even songs I was not really a fan of on their records were delivered with such focused abandon that it was impossible to not shake a head or foot in timed unison. Stylistically, the songs and band seamlessly weaved in a rich cross-section of record geek "hip" subgenres (disco, electro, hip hop, no wave, new wave, post punk) with a decidedly nyc flair. Murphy takes his talking points in the definitive "Losing My Edge" as both an ironic critique of "hipster" authenticity and a genuine sonic blueprint for his own music and artistic influences" [In This Game a Minute]

LCD Soundsystem and Holy Ghost! finished up their four-night run at Terminal 5 in NYC last night (5/23). They played the venue Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday (there was also an official afterparty at Highline Ballroom on Saturday night). Pictures from the first night, are HERE (where you'll also find Holy Ghost's setlist). Pictures from night two are in this post.

The LCD setlist was exactly the same all four nights. According to Anon 4:33, James "commented on wanting to change up the set list for Sunday, but then said 'fuck it' and didn't. ok." That setlist is below.

And the (UK) numbers are in:

For the first time in 16 years, the Rolling Stones top the U.K. album chart, after their reissued 1972 album "Exile On Main St" (Polydor/Universal) hit No. 1. U.S. hip-hop artist B.O.B. debuted at the singles summit with "Nothing On You" (Rebel Rock/Grand/HustleAtlantic/Warner Music) featuring Bruno Mars...

...long-running favorite dance act, LCD Soundsystem, got a No. 7 debut with "This Is Happening" (DFA) and Alicia Keys' "The Element of Freedom" (J/Sony Music Entertainment) raced 21-8. [Billboard]

Those numbers are not to be confused with the U.S. Nielsen Soundscan numbers - a contest The National scored #3 in, one week earlier. This week's U.S. chart coming soon.

No rest for LCD Soundsystem right now. The band, along with Holy Ghost!, are already playing their next show in Montreal tonight (5/24). This summer they'll hit festivals all over the world. In the U.S. it's Sasquatch (next weekend), Pitchfork, Bonnaroo, and ACL. All dates, more pictures from Friday, videos (including one of the balloons dropping) and the setlist, below...

Continue reading "LCD Soundsystem played 4 shows at Terminal 5 (same setlist each night) - night 2 pics, videos & more tour dates"

DOWNLOAD: Foreign Born - Vacationing People (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Foreign Born - Early Warnings (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Free Energy - Something In Common (MP3)

"What about FOREIGN BORN-Person to Person!!!" - JarretP

Foreign Born

L.A. band Foreign Born will be taking Philly DFA party rockers Free Energy on tour with them this February and March. The bands roll into NYC for two shows, the first of which is March 11th at Mercury Lounge. Tickets are on sale. The second is the next night (3/12) at Knitting Factory. Tickets for that are up too.

Foreign Born's latest album, Person to Person, came out over the summer (two tracks from it are reposted above). Their new, vacationy/mock-adventure video for the summery song "Early Warnings" (it's always summer in L.A. I suppose) is posted below.

Before the tour, Free Energy will be playing other shows around NYC. They do a live set at the DFA Holiday Party happening at (Le) Poisson Rouge on Saturday, December 19th. Also at the party will be Special Disco Version (DFA's James Murphy, who produced Free Energy's forthcoming Stuck on Nothing, and Pat Mahoney), Holy Ghost, Matt Cash and Justin Chearno. Tickets ($5) are on sale. Flyer is below.

Free Energy, whose last NYC show was also a holiday party, are also playing Pianos on January 21st (tickets) and Brooklyn Bowl on Jan. 22nd (tickets).

The Juan Maclean isn't playing the DFA holiday party, and isn't playing Music Hall of Williamsburg on December 18th as originally scheduled. The Brooklyn show was cancelled after the untimely passing of Jerry Fuchs.

All tour dates, fliers and videos below...

Continue reading "Free Energy playing the DFA Holiday Party, touring w/ Foreign Born, playing other shows - dates ++ MP3s, video"

photos by Vincent Cornelli

Chromeo was one of the bands that played the free Green Label Sound show at Brooklyn Bowl on Friday night (10/23). Theophilus London, Amazing Baby, Solid Gold, and Holy Ghost were also on the bill. Green Label Sound is a Mountain Dew-run website that gives away tracks by various bands including all of the artists who played the show. For Chromeo you can get "Night By Night" and two remixes of the same song. More pictures from the show (well, of Chromeo anyway) below...

Continue reading "Chromeo @ Green Label Sound show @ Brooklyn Bowl - pics"

Flyer below...

Continue reading "DFA does CMJ @ Brooklyn Bowl (tonight)"

Chromeo, Theophilus London, Amazing Baby and Solid Gold are performing at a free not-CMJ, Green Label Sound sponsored show at Brooklyn Bowl on Friday night, October 23rd. Holy Ghost! is DJing. You need to RSVP. Flyer below..

Continue reading "Chromeo, Theophilus London, Amazing Baby & Solid Gold playing free show @ Brooklyn Bowl during CMJ "

DOWNLOAD: Marcos Cabral DJ Mix - OTPMIX02 (MP3)

Josh Link is remembered @ Santos this Wednesday

Hopefully you've had a good week in dance so far. I've yet to hit any dancefloors this week, but plan on making up for it on Saturday (9/26):

Continue reading "the week in Dance w/ Showtrotta (part 2) "

Pilooski @ the Scion Radio party @ Plan B - August 11, 2009

It's been an interesting week in dance so far. Tuesday night Pilooski was great, as expected, at the Scion party at Plan B. Unfortunately nearly everyone there was in "hang out & BS" mode instead of dancing. At any given time there was probably a maximum of 5 people dancing which was frustrating. You can lead a horse to water...I had an excellent time anyway and hopefully people will dance more when Pilooski is back here on September 26 (location tba).

Wednesday night at Le Poisson Rouge was the complete opposite. The Phenomenal Hand Clap Band opened for Friendly Fires and there was a pretty good amount of dancing going on during their set. Their sound is kind of like a blend of classic rock with hints of funk & soul which I'm not sure how I feel about yet. They were super enthusiastic and fun to watch though.

Unfortunately, immediately after their set, things started to go downhill. Set-up and sound check for Friendly Fires was over an hour and I was standing next to a very drunk & annoying girl (not to be confused with the one at Thursday's show) and matching friend. Despite the extensive set-up, when Friendly Fires finally started the sound was not great! The vocals sounded off to begin with and lead vocalist Ed McFarlane's habit of intermittently pulling the mic away from his mouth as he sings (which usually is not a problem) sounded like a cd skipping at times because the band was so loud. The band's addition of a little horn section to the mix was interesting at first, but ultimately seemed unnecessary most of the time. Removed from these couple of things everything else was typically awesome Friendly Fires. Everyone was dancing away, but I couldn't really get into it after the hour+ wait.

Hopefully things will be better this Saturday (8/15), but before we get into that...last Saturday was the Brooklyn Electronic Music Festival (BEMF). This was my first time going to the festival, which is now in its second year. Heading there after Dark Disco in the Park, I arrived at the Old American Can Factory around 8 to see a decent-sized crowd hanging out in the courtyard. There was a nice set-up of food vendors in the back, opposite the main stage, a bar down a little alleyway, and a second stage indoors. Nobody was really dancing when I got there as Jupiter One's set had just ended, but within a few minutes that changed when OCD Automatic went on, playing a nice little mix of some electro favorites (like Mylo, which I haven't heard out in ages).

At this point I was still exploring the space and getting my bearings...when I went inside and saw Plant Music's Kap10Kurt was on I was really excited as I've come very close but have never actually succeeded in seeing one of his sets. Unfortunately this time was no different since he was done by the time I figured out the bar/drink tickets situation and got back to the stage.

Young Love (who I've seen before and am not a fan of) was on the main stage and I was beginning to realize that forgetting to print out the schedule of performers was not the best move. I spent most of the night scurrying inside and outside to see who was on and hit a lull pretty early on where I didn't like the acts on either stage for a while.

Thankfully around 10, Free Blood (who I had never seen before) went on. I really enjoyed the live guitar over the electronics in the background and Madeline and John have a really good dynamic.

From there things really heated up. JDH & Dave P were deejaying when Shy Child soundchecked over them pretty loudly (which I thought was really rude at first, until I realized that's how pretty much everyone was doing it the entire night). Thankfully JDH & Dave P were able to resume where they left off after Shy Child's set, bringing the packed courtyard's dancing to a frenzied pace by the time the Juan Maclean went on.

At that point I was exhausted and wasn't really looking forward to their set, since the last time I saw the Juan Maclean back in October I did not enjoy their performance at all. The only reason I stuck around was to see how the show would compare to that performance. As soon as they began I was glad I decided to stay.

From the get-go I could tell it was going to be a totally different show. All the somber, underwhelming slow disco jams were gone, and Nancy Whang wasn't straining her vocals this time. Juan and the band played track after upbeat track including newer ones like "One Day" and "Happy House" (which you can see videos of, along with the Juan Maclean tour dates here) and oldies but goodies like "Give Me Every Little Thing". The whole set was very lively & bouncy and everything sounded great (from the synths to the drums to...the theramin) as the modern disco's vibes permeated the crowd. The crowd was accordingly losing it, and it was the most wild Juan Maclean show I have ever been to. It was a great ending to BEMF (for me...the festival went on for hours more, but I was done for the night).

This weekend there is no rain in sight and there are plenty of opportunities to dance outside! Make the most of this good weather (though there are some indoor events too), starting with Saturday (8/15):

Continue reading "the week in Dance w/ Showtrotta (part 2)"

Stretch Armstrong @ Été d'Amour
@ the Rivington Hotel Penthouse - June 14, 2009

Hopefully all the rain we've been getting lately hasn't kept you from heading out to dance. Unlike this weekend, last weekend's weather was pretty good for dancing outside. I got a late start and arrived at the BKLYN Yard for Sunday Best just before Jus-Ed began his set. The two hours that followed were brimming with great house music, which even included some live vocals from Madafi Pierre:

Continue reading "the week in Dance w/ Showtrotta (part 3)"

"With a vital role on band sensation Grizzly Bear's new CD Veckatimest and an appearance this Thursday, May 28th, backing up the band at Town Hall, the Grammy Award-winning Brooklyn Youth Chorus embarks on a six-week run of performances spanning music as diverse as indie rock and Mahler's 8th. That's business as usual for the BYC, which has sung with Alicia Keys for a Sesame Street special, backed Elton John at his birthday concert at Madison Square Garden, premiered Philip Glass's Symphony No. 5 with the Brooklyn Philharmonic, and commissioned a body of work by musicians including Nico Muhly and Fred Hersch. The BYC is an astonishingly active group of kids that performs on the highest levels of the New York music scene, whether it be symphonic, rock, hip-hop, gospel, avant-garde classical, jazz..." [press release]

Unfortunately it looks like the Chorus will only be at one of Grizzly Bear's three NYC shows. All BYC dates below...

Continue reading "Brooklyn Youth Chorus backing Grizzly Bear at Town Hall, playing w/ Nico Muhly, Holy Ghost & more "

by Showtrotta

DOWNLOAD: The Juan Maclean - One Day (James Curd remix) (MP3)

Favorite concert: Most memorable concert ever attended was Nu Shooz in the parking lot of Beaverton Mall, Ore. in 1980-something. Billy Bragg at Big Day Out last year was moving. The favorite show I ever played was at Coachella with LCD Soundsystem -- the second time.

Music: Thee Oh Sees from San Francisco. I listen to "Heaven" or "Las Vegas" by the Cocteau Twins and Arthur Russell's "World of Echo" every time I go running, but mostly because they're what's on my iPod Shuffle and I haven't been bothered to change it.
[Nancy Whang of the Juan Maclean talked to the NY Times]

The Juan MacLean is celebrating the release of his new album The Future Will Come, out April 14th on DFA, with a live (full band) performance at Le Poisson Rouge tonight (4/17). Advanced tickets available here.

Throbbing Gristle, who played Brooklyn Masonic Temple last night, is playing earlier tonight at the same venue. Tickets to both TG and JM would cost you a combined $52, OR you can pay $35 (before fees) for the combo by going HERE and entering the code GENESIS.

I really like the new Juan MacLean track "One Day" (video below and download the James Curd remix at the top of this post), and most of his past shows I've been to, so I'm hoping his show at Bowery Ballroom in October (which I found disappointing) was a fluke. The excellent Holy Ghost will be deejaying the LPR show, as well as Matt Cash, plus a live performance by Black Meteoric Star.

Juan begins a European tour just days after this show, followed by a US tour with the Field starting mid-May. The Field's new album, Yesterday & Today, is due out May 19 on Anti- Records. All dates, the new video and Juan MacLean cover art, below..

Continue reading "The Juan MacLean - new DFA record, a show tonight after Throbbing Gristle (coupon), 2009 tour dates w/ The Field "

DOWNLOAD: Tortured Soul - Did You Miss Me (MP3)

Cut Copy @ Terminal 5 - March 21, 2009 (ChrisGoldNY)

This weekend saw the first wave of post-SXSW, pre-WMC deejays and bands come through New York. There were a lot of events lined up that I had seen coming for weeks, but one that somehow got by me until just a few days before, was Disco 3000 with Trus'me and Volcov at APT. Without enough time to sway my more "electro"-minded friends to change their plans, I hit APT solo Friday night and left without an ounce of regret. Upon arriving around 12:30 or so, the basement space was packed with people dancing. While there were some weird and inexplicable ebbs & flows in terms of dancefloor traffic, the music was on point the entire night. Trus'me and Volcov traded off deck duty every hour or so, easily meeting the expectations garnered from the flyer:

Expect to hear all corners of the record shop from the past, present and of course the future. Disco, afro, house, boogie, hip hop, techno, jazz, psyche, reggae, soul, brazilian, dub.

Overall it was a great night that had me out dancing until 4, never even toying with the idea of leaving earlier. It also reminded me just how much I love disco, house, etc. After inadvertently laying those genres by the wayside of more electro-oriented sounds for too long, I have not been able to get enough of them since Friday.

Saturday night I ventured out again, to Terminal 5 to see Cut Copy. I managed to catch a bit of Knightlife's opening dj set which was very well-mixed and balanced, including tracks that were on the more melodic, French house side of things with a tasteful amount of more gritty/synthy electro thrown in.

Matt & Kim @ Terminal 5 - March 21, 2009 (meisemily)

Following Knightlife, Matt & Kim went on. I had seen them open for Professor Murder at Bowery a few years ago and really didn't like them. This time around, despite still not really being into their music, I found their set to be much more entertaining in terms of something to watch. The pair really didn't let the crowd that was standing idly for the first couple of songs get to them. If anything it made Matt & Kim try even harder to get everyone excited. It inevitably worked after a few more songs and some witty banter. By the end, the crowd was very into it. People were jumping and dancing along to the upbeat synth & drum combos, which ended with the previously indifferent crowd, now embracing and ushering Matt to the safety of the stage after his attempt to literally walk on top of them failed.

The tension built as the crew readied the stage for Cut Copy's set...unfortunately, so did the crowd. Just minutes prior to the beginning of the show I realized the floor was so packed I could not lift my arms and it began to dawn on me how hellish the next hour or so might possibly be.

For the most part, it was. Dancing had gone from being the fun, point of the evening, to a battle for personal space. Cut Copy were in top form, as they have been every time I've seen them prior, but the crowd made it difficult to enjoy their set.

In terms of what they played, it was mainly favorites from their albums In Ghost Colours and Bright Like Neon Love, plus the addition of the track "Sands of Time" (recorded at the same time as In Ghost Colours, but never making it onto the album) which sounded amazing live. Thankfully there were just enough brief moments where I found myself with sufficient space to get down and enjoy the music, making me able to walk away from the show feeling good about it (despite the hellish crowd).

Hopefully the positivity will continue into this week. By the looks of what's headed our way, I'm optimistic:

Continue reading "the week in Dance (part 1) w/ Showtrotta (Cut Copy, Prodigy, Friendly Fires, Ellen Allien, Tortured Soul, more...)"

DOWNLOAD: Trus'me on Beats In Space June 17, 2008 (MP3)

the crowd @ Studio B - January 10, 2009 (CRED)

What started out as a half-full Studio B on a snowy Saturday night (1/10) had turned into a full-out dance party by the time I left. The dubby, experimental band, Lemonade got the crowd warmed up with an energetic live set around midnight. I enjoyed this performance more than their show at the Annex, but they are still a little more mellow & dubby than what I would listen to regularly.

In any case, by the time Lemonade's set was over, the crowd which had been attentively bobbing their heads and working up to various levels of dancing began getting down to Holy Ghost's set nearly instantly. They were ready to dance - the crowd took the attention they had fixated on Lemonade and literally pivoted ninety degrees, faced the dj booth and just started going at it on the dancefloor. In a time when some people still cringe at the mention of disco, it was really great to see such a warm response to some markedly great examples of the sound (both new and old) from Holy Ghost.

Holy Ghost @ Studio B - January 10, 2009 (CRED)

I could see what my only complaint about the entire evening would be when Maggie Horn crept up on the platform in front of the deejay booth about 45 minutes into Holy Ghost's set - we were only going to get 1 HOUR OF DISCO! It was just cruel...Holy Ghost had such a good groove going, I literally was close to weeping when they stopped. There should be a 2 hour disco minimum!

Disco rant aside, the new Curses! track featuring Maggie Horn was pretty tight and I appreciated it. Following that, some of the Trouble & Bass crew (including the Captain, Drop the Lime, and Star Eyes) traded off on the decks, but I couldn't make the shift from sweet, sweaty disco to heavy bass so I called it an early night while the still mostly full floor danced on.

Maggie Horn and Curses! @ Studio B - January 10, 2009 (CRED)

This week the slight beginning of the new year dance lull has subsided and we're back to the usual monstrous amount of dancing to be done. Here are some options for where to get down on Friday, with a post of events for Saturday through next week on its way:

Continue reading "the Friday night in Dance w/ Showtrotta"

DJ Reid Speed @ Studio B - December 31, 2008 (CRED)

On New Years Eve I ended my two week long dance-less streak, arriving to a very full and fun Studio B whose NYE bash was in full swing at 1am. Sinden was already on, but I didn't really have a chance to get pay attention because I lost my jacket and was spent the first hour I was there looking for it. I temporarily gave up the search so I could hit the floor and attempt to enjoy the music. The timing was great as I was able to catch Jokers' of the Scene's set right from the beginning which was a wonderful, upbeat, thumping, crunchy, well-balanced mix of mostly new stuff - I recognized maybe 5% of their set which is becoming more and more rare.

After Jokers, Reid Speed played a good set that was a lot of fun incorporating some current electro with old favorites (ie Prodigy), some Nintendo samples, and total oddballs (Diddy/whatever he's calling himself now - Bad Boy For Life) which worked surprisingly well. The ridiculous bill for the evening was far from over, but the dj (who I didn't recognize) after Reid's set started playing a lot of Jungle which I wasn't into, so I called it an early night (for New Years Eve anyway).

continued below...

Continue reading "the week in Dance w/ Showtrotta"

Joakim

Did you end up doing anything last night? There are some great things happening Friday (tonight - Aug 22) as well.

Joakim (head of Tigersushi, remixer, and front man of Joakim & the Ectoplasmics) is deejaying at APT. Check out his top 10 for August on Resident Advisor for a look at what he might be playing....

Continue reading "the Friday night in Dance w/ Showtrotta"

DOWNLOAD: the Bloody Beetroots - NLLR mix (zSHARE MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Felix Cartal - NLLR mix (zSHARE MP3)

Kavinsky (CRED)

As I mentioned last week, after a string of disappointing deejay sets I've been reluctant to allow myself to get too excited even when acts I've previously been amazed by come to town. I did a pretty good job of staying calm leading up to Kavinsky's set at Studio B on Saturday. Firstly, I have to give props to Jen Lasher for spinning a set that was much more interesting than many more well-known DJ sets I've seen recently. She covered quite a lot of ground in terms of dance music, and she wasn't afraid to drop a few oddballs and pop songs in there either. She took a relatively tame and sparse midnight Studio B crowd and whipped them into a dancing frenzy by the time Kavinsky took the decks at 2.

When that finally happened I found myself desperately hoping his set would be good and thankfully it was! He started off well, playing Mr. Oizo's remix of "Merrymaking at My Place" by Calvin Harris (who makes his way back to NYC this Monday), and D.I.M.'s remix of "My People" by The Presets a few songs in. He also played some electro that was less recent, but worked well despite this because of his timing, choices, and good mixing. About a half an hour or so in, something shifted, and Kavinsky's set went from good, to one of the most fun sets I've ever gotten down to. It was the perfect mix of classic dance tracks, brand new electro (he played the two new SebastiAn tracks which are perfect for the floor and a loud system), old electro, and random-ness (Phil Collins - Sussudio?!). He kept "the B"'s floor the most packed I've seen it in a while until a little after 4. It was easily one of the best sets I've witnessed this year. You can read my more detailed review here and stream a playlist I made of close to 20 of the tracks Kavinsky dropped at the B that night.

This weekend is another one full of dance. Get ready to start making decisions. Here is what is happening on Thursday (April 24, 2008) alone!.....

Continue reading "the week in Dance w/ Showtrotta (last week & tonight)"

DOWNLOAD: Le Castlevania - Trouble In Daylight (LA Riots Remix) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Justice - D.V.N.O.--LA-Riots-Bootleg (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Justice - D.A.N.C.E (Alan Braxe Remix) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Alan Braxe & Fred Falke - You'll Stay In My Heart (feat Savage) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Digitalism - Zdarlight (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Daft Punk - Face to face [Cosmo Vitelli rmx] (MP3)

This week seems to be the kick off of CMJ-like festivities for dance fans. I'm (almost) more excited for this week than next...

Wednesday (Oct 10, 2007) is the final Tales of Colt 45 at Studio B with LA Riots' NY debut. I've been playing a lot of LA Riots remixes and originals recently. They do a great job of balancing their sound somewhere between big room house and the overly crunchy Justice-emulators out there and come out sounding really fresh. Don't believe me? Check their Kid Sister remix just launched on their Riotspace. The party is free, booze is free, and you also get live sets from Purple Crush, Health, The Mall, + Yip Yip, as well as DJ sets from Lauren Flax, Robot Blair, and me. Get on the list and come dance with us.

Thursday night (Oct 11) is a tough decision. The Field open for !!! at Webster Hall, Modular hosts Digitalism live at Studio B, and Moby launches "his" Degenerates party at Hiro Ballroom with DJ sets by the bald one himself, Stretch Armstrong, The Juan Maclean, and Alex from Holy Ghost!.

More events, music, news, & tour dates, below.....

Continue reading "the week in Dance w/ David Bruno (10/09/07)"