Hospitality @ Pianos in Feb (more by Jessica Amaya)

today in NYC
* Senna (movie) @ KF
* It Is It @ Pianos
* Effi Briest @ Zebulon
* Jen Chapin @ Barbes
* ASSSSCAT 3000 @ UCB
* Rhys Tivey @ The Stone
* Ben Senterfit @ The Stone
* Hannibal Buress @ Knitting Factory
* Hospitality @ South Street Seaport
* Pink Martini @ Central Park Summerstage
* Elliot & The Ghost, The Actuals @ Mercury Lounge
* Marc Ribot's Ceramic Dog @ Rocks Off Concert Cruise
* Taking Back Sunday, Thursday @ Best Buy Theater
* Jon Hopkins, King Creosote, Phone Home @ The Rock Shop
* Grandfather, Grass Is Green, Ovlov @ Bruar Falls (free)
* Stephane Wrembel Presents The Django Experiment @ Barbes
* The Manhattans, Rhythm Revue with Felix Hernandez @ Crotona Park
* Xray Eyeballs, Frankie Rose, Woven Bones @ Beekman Beer Garden
* Insanity, Mutant Supremacy, Betrayall, Sacrificial Blood @ Acheron
* Jimmy Gnecco, Lukas Rossi, School Of Rock Waldwick @ Studio @ Webster Hall
* The Rochambros, The Rotaries, Two States, Robin Hood, Burning Buildings @ Silent Barn
* Monument, Weak Teeth, Best Practices, Tit Patrol, Don't Give A Fuck, Living Room @ Party Xpo
* Lord Finesse, Boogie Blind, Jasmine Solano, King Ryuku Sound, Stellas & Dutches, K-Prince, Deadly Dragon Sound System @ Le Poisson Rouge
* Freddie Stevenson, Alastair Ottesen, Rebecca Jordan, Marlo Marron, Orly, John Foti, Saskia Lane, Deidre Rodman, Guilford County Kings, Kay Story, Eric McGrath @ Rockwood Music Hall

We're presenting a free 'Senna' Screening at Knitting Factory in Brooklyn today. Doors at 4pm. Movie at 5pm. First come, first served. Free poster to the first 50 people. Free VitaCoco to all. Brazilian themed drink special too. Check out our Facebook invite. Win early entry by helping us spread the word on Facebook and Twitter.

Haven't had enough South Street Seaport yet this weekend? Head over there for a free set by Hospitality at 3pm and then stick around for the free show at Beekman Beer Garden.

James Blake, who played the Pitchfork Festival Friday, played "The Wilhelm Scream" on Fallon on Thursday (7/14). Questlove seems to be suggesting that James will appear on the next Roots album. Watch the video below.

What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Sunday?"

photos by Bao Nguyen

"One of the sickest shows I have ever been too,
James Blake blew the roof that bitch." - Lily Nunez

"My teeth are vibrating. At James Blake in Webster Hall" - Brennan Moore

"Seeing James Blake at Webster hall.
This is what soul and bass should sound like" - Static TV

James Blake played to a sold out crowd at Webster Hall last night (7/13). His set included all of the James Blake standouts as usual, but also some interesting additions. He played a live version of "CMYK" which he only recently began doing (video below). He ended his set with a cover of Digital Mystikz' "Anti-War Dub" and then returned for an encore to play "The Wilhelm Scream" and a new track, "Tell Me, Are You With Me" (video below).

Catch James at Webster Hall again on October 5 as part of his fall tour. Teengirl Fantasy opened the show, though we missed them. They have other upcoming shows too.

More pictures, videos, and the setlist from the Webster Hall below...

Continue reading "James Blake played Webster Hall (pics, video, setlist)"

"Paul Simon, Lee Scratch Perry and Jimmy Cliff play blinding sets at Glastonbury Saga stage. All over 70 Tony Benn oldest at 95 !" - James Osborn

"Best thing musically I saw at Glastonbury was probably SBTRKT on the Friday night ...quality stuff." - Joshua Saunders

Glastonbury 2011 (via Glastonbury.fm)

Glastonbury Festival took place in Worthy Farm in Pilton, England this past weekend. Tons of artists from all different backgrounds played the festival. The festival featured guest appearances, secret sets, and other interesting occurrences. Here are a few of the highlights.

Headliner Beyonce played a hits-heavy set with some pretty interesting cover song choices (King of Leon's "Sex on Fire," Etta James' "At Last"). But more even more interestingly, Tricky joined her on stage for a pretty inexplicable guest appearance on "Baby Boy." The trip-hop pioneer took a mic and uttered some sparse vocals as Beyonce and her backup singers belted the song. Video of the performance is below.

Speaking of things related to Massive Attack and Glastonbury, UK DJ Nick Warren, who would regularly DJ for Massive Attack in the '90s, said "My Highlight of Glastonbury Festival was James Blake live." James's set included the track "CMYK" off the 2010 EP of the same name in addition to tracks off his 2011 self-titled album. Some might say James's set was even explosive:

James Blake at Glastonbury

Festival attendees who were not part of the 75,000 watching Beyonce may have ended up at The Streets' set which took place at the same time. The show was apparently one of the Mike Skinner's last, who recently announced a breakup. Unfortunately, The Streets recently cancelled a trip NYC, but maybe they'll reschedule before saying their final goodbye. Video of The Streets' Glastonbury performance below.

This year's secret shows included UK Glastonbury vets Pulp and Radiohead.

It was Pulp's fourth Glastonbury appearance but their first for nine years and as they came on stage, frontman Jarvis Cocker told the crowd: 'We couldn't think of anything to get you so we brought the sunshine.'
After their set, which included some of their biggest hits including Disco 2000 and Common People, he added: 'Thanks Glastonbury, obviously it's been a very important place for us. When we played in '95 things took off for us and we went in a strange orbit around the earth, and now we're back home in one piece.' [Daily Mail]

Radiohead brought Portishead drummer Clive Deamer as a guest to play with Philip Selway. Their setlist was almost entirely made up of The King of Limbs and In Rainbows tracks, and recent non-album material, except for Amnesiac's "I Might Be Wrong." They also surprised fans of their earlier work by playing "Street Spirit (Fade Out)" as an encore. Video of "The Daily Mail" and "Bloom" and setlist below.

Cee Lo, unlike at Coachella, showed up on time for his set, which included a mix of his own material and Gnarls Barkley stuff. He also covered Black Sabbath twice. Big Boi got lost in London, but also ended up showing on time for his set. Like Cee Lo, he still embraces past projects and included a good amount of Outkast material. Big Boi-collaborator Janelle Monae played the festival too. Video of her performance of "Tightrope" below. Catch her and Cee Lo (but not Big Boi) for free at Afro-Punk in August.

Battles brought Matias Aguayo on stage to sing "Ice Cream," the song he recorded lead vocals for on their recently released Gloss Drop. Video below.

British folk/jazz legends Pentangle, who reunited in 2008 but have not been very busy since then, played the festival. Their lineup includes Bert Jansch who is currently a Drag City-recording artist and released The Black Swan on the label in 2006, over 30 years after Pentangle originally broke up. Lauren Laverne of BBC 6 interviewed the band. They talked about the resurgence of folk music and how Bert is a fan of Fleet Foxes (who also played Glastonbury). Video of the interview below.

SBTRKT at Glastonbury 2011 via facebook

SBTRKT, who visits NYC for the first time in July, played a live set (pictured above). His Young Turks labelmate Jamie xx (of The xx) played a set too. Jamie's "Far Nearer" single is on sale now. Pressings are limited. Check out a soundcloud stream of the track below.

Another UK post-dubstepper Jamie Woon played the festival. 3AM writes, "During my bum breaks, I caught Jamie Woon's set and it was fantastic. I've heard a lot about this chap, but haven't listened to his stuff before. Sitting in the middle of a field with a pounding head and cider was the perfect way to be introduced to Jamie's chilled but strong, powerful tunes."

Speaking of dubstep crossover, UK singer Katy B brought her dubstep-leaning pop to Glastonbury as well. She plays a private show in NYC tonight (6/27). It will be her first.

Little Dragon wowed the crowd, according to VH1 anyway:

For the UK at least, this performance of their new song "Ritual Union" is a real coming-out party for the band, who absolutely deserve to be heard on a much wider scale. It's really difficult to make smooth music work in the middle of the day at a big outdoor festival, but Little Dragon pulls it off in style.

UK anti-folkie Emmy the Great covered The Pixies' classic "Where Is My Mind" with help from Tim Wheeler of the punky brit-poppers Ash. Full setlist below.

On a more negative note,

A senior member of David Cameron's Tory constituency has been found dead in a portable toilet at the Glastonbury festival.

Christopher Shale, the chairman of West Oxfordshire Conservative Association, suffered a heart attack, sources believe.

His body was found in a portable toilet in the backstage area, where many celebrities and performers stay.

A story in the Mail on Sunday contained leaked sections of a strategy document Shale had drafted for David Cameron, in which he said the party can be perceived as "crass" and "always on the take".

Avon and Somerset police confirmed that the body of a man in his mid-50s had been found in the backstage area. A woman was seen being comforted by officers.

His body was found at 8.45am. An area between the Pyramid stage and the Other stage has been cordoned off. [Guardian]

Videos, soundcloud streams, setlists, and other stuff below...

Continue reading "Glastonbury 2011 happened (highlights, video, setlists, Tricky, SBTRKT, Radiohead, Pulp, Beyonce, Janelle Monae & more)"

Tickets go on sale at noon for the James Blake happening at Webster Hall in October, not to be confused with the sold out James Blake show happening at the same venue much sooner.

Tickets go on sale at noon for the Japandroids show at Mercury Lounge.

Tickets go on sale at noon for the Battles show at Webster Hall.

Tickets go on sale at noon for both Opeth shows at Webster Hall.

Tickets go on sale at noon for the Clap Your Hands Say Yeah show at Bowery Ballroom.

Tickets go on sale at noon for the Fleet Foxes/The Walkmen show at Williamsburg Waterfront.

Tickets are on still sale for other Williamsburg Waterfront shows too, like Sonic Youth and Death Cab.

Panda Bear tickets also go on sale at noon.

DNTEL tickets also go on sale at noon.

Tickets are still on sale for An Evening With Youssou N'Dour at Terminal 5 on June 24th.

Tickets are still available for the R. Stevie Moore show happening this Sunday, June 12, with Tropical Ooze, Jonny Corndawg and Lost Boy.

James at LPR earlier this month (more by David Andrako)

James Blake heads out on a tour this summer which includes the previously announced Webster Hall show on July 13. The tour is almost entirely overseas, save for the NYC show and Pitchfork Fest, but James has added a leg of American dates in the fall, including Austin City Limits and October 5th back at Webster Hall. Tickets for all dates are on presale now. Look for general sale tickets to appear soon.

Check out the recently-released video for "Lindisfarne" and more dates below...

Continue reading "James Blake announces fall tour, another Webster Hall show (2011 dates on presale now)"

The 10th Anniversary ACL Festival line-up is on the books. Stevie Wonder, Arcade Fire, Kanye West, Coldplay, My Morning Jacket, Fleet Foxes, Alison Krauss and Union Station, Nas & Damian "Jr Gong" Marley and Cee Lo top the bill of the over 130 bands. Bright Eyes, Social Distortion, Empire of the Sun, Santigold, Pretty Lights, TV On The Radio, Skrillex, Big Boi and Randy Newman are also on tap to rock September 16-18.

Continue reading "Austin City Limits 2011 festival lineup is here, tickets on sale"

photos by David Andrako

James Black @ LPR

James Blake has the element of surprise working for him. The 22-year-old Londoner first became known last year as a producer of dubstep, the British club-music micro-genre marked by throbbing, reverberating bass.

But that was "a long time ago," Blake said on Monday night during his first Philadelphia performance, at a sold-out First Unitarian Church, where the show was moved to from Johnny Brenda's to accommodate demand. "Well, not that long. But you know how the Internet is."

Yes, we do. The Internet is a place where an evolving artist can grow up, and be scrutinized, in public long before putting out a full-length album. And when he does put out an eponymous full-length - as Blake did, in January - he can generate even more buzz by displaying talents more multifarious than those that dweeby, techno, knob-twiddlers are expected to possess....

...in an hour-long set, Blake demonstrated that his audience-relating skills have improved considerably since he performed in March at the South by Southwest Festival in Austin, Texas. And the depressive tendencies in Blake's highly emotive music were balanced by the lush textures that cushion his languorous tunes, as well as the promise of a bright future that clearly lies ahead. [Philadelphia Enquirer]

Continue reading "James Blake played Bowery Ballroom & Le Poisson Rouge w/ Active Child (pics) "

Active Child

In case you're wondering who will be playing the opening set at the sold out James Blake shows happening tonight/Wednesday at Bowery Ballroom (afterparty at Tammany Hall) and tomorrow/Thursday at Le Poison Rouge, it's Active Child who also opened DC and Philly, and who will continue on to Toronto, Chicago and Minneapolis. All dates and a recently "See Thru Eyes" live acoustic session video, below...

Continue reading "Active Child on tour w/ James Blake (in NYC now)"

As mentioned in "What's Going On Thursday?," there's a party going on at Tammany Hall tonight, 5/5, with sets by Gordon Voidwell, Futurecop, NewVillager and a "secret guest." I don't know why they need to be secret (probably because they're playing Governors Ball), but apparently the secret guest is Reptar (according to a reputable source).

Speaking of Tammany Hall, that's also where James Blake is going to play his first-ever U.S. DJ set after his live Bowery Ballroom show on May 11th (thanks Ben). Tickets are on sale for the afterparty. Both event flyers below...

Continue reading "James Blake playing his first US DJ set @ Tammany Hall (which is where Reptar is playing tonight)"

Tickets are NOW on sale for the upcoming James Blake show at Webster Hall. We first announced the July 13th show back on April 4th, but then the show got un-announced and then re-announced this week with a new "WILL CALL ONLY, 2 TICKET LIMIT" anti-scalper restriction too. As previously mentioned, the show takes place right before Blake plays the Pitchfork Fest. A recent video interview w/ James can be watched below...

Continue reading "James Blake's Webster Hall show is back & on sale"

photos by Dominick Mastrangelo

Raphael Saadiq

Duran Duran

Catching up a bit. Here's what Dominick saw in Austin on Wednesday, March 16, 2011...

Continue reading "SXSW 2011 Day 1 pics"

photos by Dominick Mastrangelo

James Blake @ Stubb's

As mentioned, after he made his U.S. debut at Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn, James Blake played his first SXSW show at Stubb's on the Austin fest's first night with Yuck and others. That set is streaming at NPR, and a few pictures from the show are in this post.

And as you know, James will return to American in May for a tour that includes sold out shows at Le Poisson Rouge and Bowery Ballroom. Then in July he's back in the states to make an appearance at Chicago's Pitchfork Festival, but not before he headlines Webster Hall in NYC on July 13th. Tickets for the new show go on sale Friday at noon. All dates and those pictures are below...

Continue reading "James Blake played SXSW (pics), adds pre-Pitchfork Fest NYC show @ Webster Hall (and other dates)"

Guided by Voices @ Irving Plaza, New Year's Eve (more by Chris Gersbeck)

"As previously announced, the 2011 Pitchfork Music Festival will be taking place on Friday, July 15th through Sunday, July 17th at Chicago's Union Park! Tickets went on sale on March 4th, and, as predicted, three-day passes sold out in a record time of 24 hours! That said, eager prospective festival goers should fear not, as single-day passes are still available for the totally reasonable price of $45.

And now, without further ado, the newest additions to the 2011 Pitchfork Festival lineup! Friday will see the addition of Guided By Voices and Neko Case; Saturday's lineup will feature No Age, Gang Gang Dance, G-Side, and Chrissy Murderbot; Sunday's stellar lineup now includes The Fresh & Onlys, Radio Dept., HEALTH, Shabazz Palaces, Baths, How To Dress Well, Kurt Vile, and Twin Sister. Stay tuned for more bands still to be announced in the coming weeks!"

Continue reading "Pitchfork Fest expands lineup (Guided by Voices & more)"

words & photos by Andrew Frisicano

Wednesday

Twin Shadow @ Fader Fort

A crowded backyard tent filled with cigarette smoke, free open-faced tacos (pork, chicken, brisket or veggie), a man carting a dolly of Lone Star cases through the crowd, and a pair of middle-aged guys picking a fight with each other on a Wednesday afternoon. "Doesn't he know I'm a ticking time bomb?" the offended guy says, a bit like he's not joking. JEFF the Brotherhood is playing too, which is more or less the occasion for all of this, my first show of SXSW 2011. The JEFF brothers aren't really the focus though, since they'll be playing a dozen other times this week, and most of the people are concentrating on the tacos, their conversations or their inability to get away from the door of the totally (did I say?) packed room.

In spite of that, the band is tearing through songs from Heavy Days and their new LP We Are the Champions, and between songs tossing out free vinyl singles into the crowd: "Those are going to slice someone's neck open," says Jake before slinging a few more across the room. They go into "Bummer," a ballady, Dino Jr.-style headbanger, that's one of the standout new tunes.

Trash Talk @ BV/Feed the Beat Day Party (photo by Samantha Marble)

Ty Segall's entertaining and totally worthwhile band is up next, but the BrookylnVegan day show at Emo's is also currently happening, the highlight of which has to be the simulatneous staging of Cali punks Trash Talk (who went on before Kylesa) and Mister Heavenly (who went on before Surfer Blood). Mister Heavenly are a supergroup of-sorts you've heard about. On the inside, Trash Talk frontman Lee Spielman towers over everyone with the body of a scarecrow and a scary-as-hell perma-scowl; he smashes his forehead with the microphone a few times to draw blood. "Stick around for Surfer Blood," he says, before crawling into the crowd and standing on what I can only hope were someone's shoulders. People start edging toward the door. On the outside stage, Mr. Heavenly performs an appropriately lovely set, its two frontmen trading verses in their own styles.

After that, the Fader Fort brought Twin Shadow on stage, the bedroom-pop project of George Lewis Jr. that's become a wildly good live band. For an outdoor venue, the system sounded impressively balanced and clear - which would turn out to be a rarity at the festival. That was 'specially good for Yelawolf, whose songs sounded vital in a way that your iPod just can't do. With no crew to speak of, his solo athletics put in an early bid for best-of.

Yelawolf @ Fader Fort

Later that night at Stubb's, Yuck and James Blake played what would be the first of several for both. Both did well on the big stage, a portent of things to come, vibing out in their respective styles: fuzz rock and chilled-out pop. Check out both of their sets for yourself at NPR- Blake and Yuck.

continued below...

Continue reading "Colin Stetson, Twin Shadow, Odd Future, James Blake, JEFF the Brotherhood, Yelawolf, more (Andrew F's week @ SXSW)"

words by Andrew Sacher, photo by Michael Barron

"James Blake was impeccable live. Wow." - Tyler McCauley

"whoaa that is bjork up in this james blake concert. would take a picture but it wouldnt matter. bitch is wearing a lace veil!" - Andrew

"Oh, hi," said a timid James Blake as he sat down behind his keyboard to make his US debut for a very approving crowd at Music Hall of Williamsburg. Blake, accompanied by a guitarist and drummer, quickly captured the audience with his distinct brand of electronica that wavers between delicate arrangements and venue-shaking bass drops. The set largely consisted of material off of his debut full length, including fan-favorites "The Wilhelm Scream," "I Never Learnt To Share," and his compelling cover of Feist's "Limit To Your Love." The most impressive part of the night, however, was the audience's reaction to the album's two-part epic; "Lindisfarne." The song's silent passages commanded the entire venue to follow suit, literally making it possible to hear a pin drop between Blake's sparse melody lines. After James Blake and his band left the stage, Blake came back on by himself for a much deserved encore, and performed his piano/vocal rendition of Joni Mitchell's "A Case Of You."

This is not the last America will be seeing of James. He's appearing at SXSW this week before returning to Europe for a number of dates in late March and April, and will be back in May for a proper US tour including sold out shows at Bowery Ballroom and Le Poisson Rouge.

The show was opened by the trippy, trancey duo Ford & Lopatin, who were joined on stage by Prefuse 73. Ford & Lopatin will also be at SXSW.

A video of the encore is below...

Continue reading "James Blake made his US debut @ Music Hall of Williamsburg"

Tickets are sold out to James Blake's Monday show at Music Hall of Williamsburg. NPR will be streaming James Blake's Wednesday show at Stubb's which is part of SXSW where James also plays three other shows.

Tickets go on sale at noon for the upcoming James Blake show at Bowery Ballroom. Tickets go on sale Saturday for the show at Le Poisson Rouge. And now the full tour has been announced. All dates are listed below...

Continue reading "James Blake tickets & updated 2011 Tour Dates"

NYC venue Le Poisson Rouge just announced that they too are hosting a James Blake show in May. Tickets go on sale Saturday for the May 12th show which is one day after James plays Bowery Ballroom and 12 days before he plays Masonic Lodge at Hollywood Forever, Los Angeles, CA. Updated tour dates HERE.

James Blake has added a U.S. date to his small schedule of 1 Brooklyn, 4 Austin and 1 Chicago show. The new one, which will probably be part of a bigger North American tour (that comes after a European tour), happens May 11th at Bowery Ballroom and I assume tickets will go on sale soon. Stay tuned for more info.

UPDATE: May 12th at Le Poisson Rouge and May 24th in LA are happening too.

James released a 12" for his song "The Wilhelm Scream" - on vinyl and digitally this week. It comes with two new songs which you can listen to, above a list of all North American tour dates, below...

Continue reading "James Blake adds Bowery show, released 2 new songs (updated 2011 tour dates & streams)"

"the 2011 Pitchfork Music Festival will be taking place on Friday, July 15th through Sunday, July 17th! Tickets will officially be on sale today at 12 PM CST, with single-day tickets for $45 and three-day passes for $110! If last year was any indicator, three-day passes will sell out in under a week (last year they sold out in FIVE DAYS!), so be sure to get your tickets ASAP!"

Continue reading "2011 Pitchfork Music Festival - initial lineup & tickets"

Tickets go on sale at noon for James Blake's show at MHOW. The often-Antony-channeling musician covered Joni Mitchell on BBC the other day. You can listen to that, below...

Continue reading "James Blake covered Joni Mitchell (MHOW tix on sale)"

Tickets are now on presale (update: presale sold out, general sale begins Saturday at Ticketmaster) for the James Blake show happening at Music Hall of Williamsburg (thx Chris!). James will also be playing four shows down at SXSW.

On around February 2nd James Blake's "James Blake" went from having a February 7th UK release date with no U.S. release in sight to getting Universal as its U.S. label and a February 8th U.S. digital release date just like that. February 8th is today, so that means the album is out there and here, though iTunes only mentions the UK label but it looks like you can in fact buy it.

And now, hopefully all the haters who didn't see the "purpose" of the last James Blake post (album review included) will be ok with this one because this post points out that James Blake (not the tennis player) will in fact play a NYC show, his first U.S. show, at Music Hall of Williamsburg on March 14th, right before he heads off to Austin for SXSW for at least four more performances. Tickets for the Brooklyn gig go on sale Saturday at noon (and there will be a presale announced - stay tuned). The full list of SXSW shows is below...

Continue reading "James Blake LP out, playing Brooklyn & four SXSW shows"

by Andrew Sacher

London dubstep producer James Blake is a classically trained pianist who studied popular music at Goldsmiths University in London. He began his music career under the moniker Harmonimix, creating remixes of pop songs. The first and only release under the Harmonimix moniker was a single in January 2010 with a remix of Destiny's Child's "Bills Bills Bills" b/w a remix of Lil Wayne's "A Millie." He spent the rest of 2010 gaining attention with the release of three EPs under his own name, and performing as the third member of Mount Kimbie's live show, which cemented him as a strong force in the dubstep scene.

His self titled debut full length drops February 7 on ATLAS/A&M in the UK. A US release date has not been announced yet, but Blake just signed to American major label Universal Republic (UPDATE: Universal will release the album digitally on February 8). The album blends the dubstep elements he experimented with on his EPs with a range of indie rock and R&B influences, and also for the first time features James Blake on lead vocals. He often includes manipulated vocal samples, but only samples of his own voice. James Blake falls somewhere between a more minimalist version of Burial fronted by the vocal layerings of Bon Iver's "Woods," while not failing to showcase his talent as a pianist. And arguably as interesting as what you hear on this album, is what you don't hear. The album's sparse passages with little to no sound leave you listening as intently as the hypnotic vocal loops.

In addition to ten original songs, James Blake also includes a cover of Feist's "Limit To Your Love." Listen to that below. A music video was also recently released for the album's second track, "The Wilhelm Scream." You can watch that video below too. He recently performed a live session for BBC Radio (after placing second in BBC's Sound of 2011) and videos of three songs are available. Below is the video for "Wilhelm Scream." On BBC's site two other videos are available; "Lindisfarne" and his Feist cover.

Blake has been confirmed for this year's SXSW lineup, currently his only confirmed US appearance, but there are plenty of upcoming chances for those in the UK to catch him - both live and as a DJ. Mount Kimbie however is playing Le Poisson Rouge on March 24th (though I assume without James?).

We'll obviously let you know if any more US JB dates are announced. Meanwhile, all currently announced dates, videos, the album's tracklist and more stuff below...

Continue reading "James Blake"

Corrosion of Conformity fans (more by BBG)

The lastest list of SXSW additions is below....

Continue reading "More SXSW 2011 lineup additions"

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Yuck - Rubber (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Yuck - Georgia (MP3)

The BBC recently published its Sound of 2011 list, its annual picks of artists they think will be hot next year. A few of these you might have read about already: The Vaccines (playing here in January), Anna Calvi (playing here in March), Australia's The Naked and the Famous (maybe you saw them at Brooklyn Bowl in November), Esben and the Witch (been here a couple times), and Warpaint (already kinda big over here). There's also dubstep wizkid James Blake, hotshot producers Nero and more.

The list was determined via "160 influential UK tastemakers," and the artists selected must not have had a UK top 20 single or album by 14 November 2010, and must not already be famous (aka contender for TV talent competition, etc). You can see the whole list at the bottom of this post and the top five from the initial list of 15 will be revealed first week of the new year. Last year's list was topped by Ellie Goulding and also included The Drums, Marina & the Diamonds and, uh, Owl City.

Another of the band on the Beeb's list is Yuck who have scheduled and then cancelled U.S. shows twice this year already, but are now really coming -- they pinkie swear -- for two shows next month: January 25 at Mercury Lounge (on-sale 12/17 at noon) and Jan. 26 at Glasslands (tickets are on sale). Immediately after their NYC shows, Yuck heads out for a North American tour with their Fat Possum labelmates Smith Westerns. Yuck's debut album, loaded with warm and fuzzy indie rock a la early Teenage Fanclub or Yo La Tengo, will be out February 15. You can check out "Rubber" from the album above (and watch its NSFW video further down), as well as previously-released, super-catchy "Georgia."

Mona

Also on the Sound of 2011 list and also here in January are Nashville-via-Ohio band Mona, who play The Rock Shop on January 12, Mercury Lounge on January 13 and Union Pool on January 15. The BBC describes thusly:

The myth of the last gang in town is an enduring one in rock music. A small town, some big ideas and four kids who've grown up and grown so close that they finish each others sentences. Mona are those tender souls, hoping to outgrow the story that's been written for them. Says frontman/guitarist Nick Brown of their debut single Trouble On The Way. Nick: "It's pretty self-explanatory - there's a sound on the horizon and the volume's gonna grow."

The majority of this Nashville-based four-piece were raised in the church and learned their craft playing to the congregation: Nick and drummer Vince Gard as Pentecostalists and bass player Zach Lindsey in by Southern Baptist. Guitarist Jordan Young is the token heathen. For those within the faith, secular music was banned. Vince's mother would play him Creedence Clearwater Revival records and make him promise not to let on to his father - rock and roll as illicit, secret thrill.

Videos for Yuck and Mona, plus the entire BBC Sound of 2011, after the jump.

Continue reading "the BBC's Sound of 2011 list, new Yuck tour dates, Mona shows & more"