DOWNLOAD: Steven Drozd - "Born" (MP3)

Tibet House US Benefit 2010 (more by Chris La Putt)

No word on how a giant vagina entrance, a bear suit, Wayne Coyne in an inflatable ball, Hulk hands and similar props will work at Carnegie Hall, but The Flaming Lips will join recent addition Taj Mahal at the 21st Annual Tibet House US Benefit Show on 3/3. The two join a veritable all-star lineup that includes Michael Stipe, The Roots, Patti Smith with Jesse Smith & Michael Campbell, Angelique Kidjo, James McCartney, and of course curator Philip Glass. Tickets for the concert are on sale via Carnegie Hall, while tickets for the concert and a fund-raising dinner are on sale via Tibet House directly. (Note: Do not expect a full set by any band - they usually play 3 songs each at the most, with a few collaborations and group sing-alongs).

In related News, Wayne Coyne recently talked to Spin about some of the Lips' plans for 2011...

First up, the band is heading to New York to cut tracks with synth-pop artist Neon Indian and longtime producer Dave Fridmann, and they're hoping to release the results on the fly. "We're going to do two or three songs with him and that shit should be ready to go pretty quickly," says Coyne, who posted a demo of a potential collaborative track earlier this week. "I have a couple of tunes that he's heard and we'll just do that shit and fix that up and fuck around together."

Coyne adds that he'd love to do similar collaborations with Deerhoof and Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti: "I think everybody would be up for doing something. But a lot of it comes down to us fitting into their schedules. I can always sneak in on their thing."

Deerhoof is going out on tour soon, and is now playing Europa in Brooklyn on February 8th instead of Ridgewood Masonic Temple which can no longer serve alcohol. Tickets for the Brooklyn show are on sale now. Ariel Pink will be at Coachella and was just on Fallon. Neon Indian has one show coming up: Thu Feb 03 at The Palladium Ballroom in Dallas, Texas with the Flaming Lips.

Finally, Steven Drozd of The Flaming Lips recently dropped the score for The Heart Is Drum Machine, a documentary that examines music and human attraction to it. The twelve-track mostly-instrumental LP features tracks like "Born" (downloadable above, streamable below) and a cover of Elton John's "Rocket Man" featuring none other than Maynard James Keenan of Tool/A Perfect Circle. The film also features Drozd, Keenan, & Wayne Coyne, alongside appearances from Jason Schwartzman, Modest Mouse's Isaac Brock, Juliette Lewis, Spoon's Britt Daniel, George Clinton, and many others who all discuss their personal connection to music. The Heart Is A Drum Machine is out now on DVD and the soundtrack is out now on iTunes.

The soundtrack tracklisting, the film trailer, and that song stream are all below.

Continue reading "Flaming Lips & Michael Stipe playing Tibet Benefit, Deerhoof playing Europa, Heart Is A Drum Machine score out now"

Tibet House US will hold its 20th Annual Benefit Concert at Carnegie Hall on Friday, February 26th. Philip Glass, the concert's Artistic Director, once again brings together an original line-up of contemporary artists including Patti Smith, Jesse Smith, Michael Campbell, Baaba Maal and Pierce Turner with more performers being confirmed soon.

Carnegie Hall is located at 881 Seventh Avenue (at 57th Street). Concert tickets are $35 to $85 and can be purchased by calling Carnegie Charge at 212.247.7800 or in person at the Carnegie Hall Box Office (57th Street and Seventh Avenue). Tickets go on sale December 24th.

As previously posted, Dirty Projectors are also playing this.

Le Poisson Rouge's ode to Philip Glass/Chuck Close (more by Chris La Putt)

As someone kindly pointed out, tickets are now on sale for the 2009 Tibet House Benefit concert happening at Carnegie Hall on February 3rd. The list of artists confirmed so far is in the title of this post.

Vampire Weekend are in the middle of their three-night NYC run at Terminal 5.

Patti Smith also has a three-night December run of shows coming up in NYC, AND, like Vampire Weekend (these two artists have a lot in common), is speaking at an upcoming NY Times event.

The Tibet show is a month before the REM show at Carnegie Hall that Patti Smith is also playing and which was organized by Michael Dorf who has Philip Glass playing multiple shows at his new City Winery.

Philip Glass is also playing a Roulette benefit Saturday December 6th at Roulette.

The Tibet House benefit show is an annual show put on by Philip Glass. Patti Smith has played it before. So has Antony, Sufjan Stevens, The Black Keys, Trey, Ray Davies, Lou Reed, Laurie Anderson, Damien Rice, Band of Horses, and many, many more.

Video of Antony performing "You are My Sister" in 2006 (a fine moment), below...

Continue reading "2009 Tibet House Benefit concert w/ Philip Glass, The National, Patti Smith, Jesse Smith & Vampire Weekend"