Chairlift @ Glasslands, 12/19/2013 (more by Robert Altman)

As mentioned, Matthew Dear is performing at the "conceptual music experience" known as "Black," which is happening on Thursday (2/21) at swanky downtown eatery/club Capitale in the historic Bowery Bank building. The Virgins were to have played this as well, but have dropped out and have been replaced by Chairlift. The Rapture are DJing, and Black also features Jim-E Stack, a "special sound experience by Sennheiser," and art installations by Charlie Nesi, Young & Sick, and Joel Walker. Tickets (starting at $40) are still available.

Matte, the producers of the event, made a video announcement for the Black party and you can watch that stylishly NSFW clip below.

Continue reading "Chairlift added to 'Black' party at Capitale with Matthew Dear"

NYC rap crew Ratking (aka Wiki, Hak, Sporting Life, and Ramon) have signed to XL imprint Hot Charity (making them labelmates with Willis Earl Beal) and will release their debut EP, Wiki93, on the label on November 6. The whole thing was produced in-house by Sporting Life. You can get a taste of that EP with the song, "Wikispeaks," which is streaming below.

The band have been playing around NYC on some pretty good bills, including shows with Gunplay, Fat Tony, Smoke DZA, and more. They've got more upcoming shows this month during CMJ including a Yours Tru.ly party at Glasslands on October 19 with Joey Bada$$ (who will be rolling with his crew Pro Era), Jim-E Stack, Isaac Delusion, Evy Jane (who were supposed to make their NYC debut earlier this year but had to cancel), Night Panther and MØ. That show is free with RSVP. Then later that night (10/19), Ratking will play a free show at Mercury Lounge. The next day (10/20), they'll return to Glasslands for a show with Doldrums, Pictureplane (DJ), DJ Dog Dick, Haleek Maul, and Normally Important. $5 tickets for that one are on sale now. Their only other announced date at the moment is Pitchfork Paris.

A list of all dates and that song stream are below.

Continue reading "Ratking releasing an EP on Hot Charity, playing CMJ (dates)"

Diplo jumping off MHOW's balcony - 8/5/12 (via Diplo)

The Mad Decent Block Party returned to NYC this past Sunday (8/5), happening for the first time in the newly-christened Williamsburg Park instead of South Street Seaport, where it's been in previous years. Unfortunately, due to the storm that hit NYC on Sunday which picked up during Erol Alkan's set, the party was shut down early before headliners Major Lazer (the project of Mad Decent label boss Diplo). Before the party did get shut down, we got sets by Mr. Muthafuckin' eXquire, Bonde Do Role, Lunice, Riff Raff, Baauer, and more. You can check out some videos of the performances and the rain below.

After MDBP's cancellation, Diplo tweeted that Major Lazer would do an extra long set at the afterparty at Music Hall of Williamsburg, which also had sets by Erol Alkan, Lunice, and Jim-E-Stack. The party got pretty crazy, as you can see in the picture above of Diplo jumping off MHOW's balcony, but it didn't appease everyone. One angry MDBP attendee took to his blog to say, "Diplo (Major Lazer) invited the attendees from the free all ages event to a $10/21+ after show......Thanks a ton MAD DECENT." Granted, MHOW is also significantly smaller than Williamsburg Park and the party was announced way before the weather shut down the block party so it would've been hard to get in regardless, but he has a point that it doesn't totally "make up" for the cancellation. Major Lazer will be back in NYC for a much larger (paid) show on October 27 at Terminal 5 too (tickets).

Videos below...

Continue reading "Mad Decent Block Party shut down early due to thunderstorms; Major Lazer took the party to MHOW"

Bonde Do Role at Bowery Ballroom in 2008 (more by Bao Nguyen)

Back in June, we mentioned that the Mad Decent Block Parties were returning this summer and then earlier this month, they revealed a list of artists, but didn't say who was playing each city. Now venues have been revealed for all five parties and the lineups for NYC Philly, and Toronto have been announced as well. The FREE NYC party will happen on August 5 at WIlliamsburg Park (in previous years it was at the South Street Seaport) with Major Lazer, Erol Alkan, Bonde Do Role, Lunice, Riff Raff, Mr Muthafuckin' eXquire, Reptar, Zebra Katz, Bosco Delrey, Baauer, Kito, and Paul Devro. The parties are free and all ages but RSVP is required. All announced lineups are listed below.

Speaking of Lunice, his collaborative project with Hudson Mohawke, TNGHT (pronounced "tonight") released their self titled debut EP this week (7/24) via Warp/Lucky Me. If you've yet to hear it, you can stream the entire thing below.

As for Bonde Do Role, the block party will be their first NYC show quite a while. You may remember that their original singer, Marina Ribatski left the band in 2007 and was replaced by two other singers, Ana Bernardino and Laura Taylor, who joined the band by winning an audition done with MTV Brasil. Ana has since left the band too and they are now a 3-piece fronted only by Laura Taylor. The new incarnation of the band put out their first album in five years, Tropical/Bacanal, last month via Mad Decent. The album was co-produced by Diplo and Filip Nikolic of Poolside (who have two NYC shows this week). The album features guest appearances from Caetano Veloso, Das Racist, Cecile, Rizzle Kicks, and The Death Set (who also has a NYC show coming up). The video for album track "Kilo" and a stream of another track, "Bang," which features Kool AD of Das Racist, are below.

Updated Mad Decent Block Parties info, the flier for the NYC party, video and streams are below.

Continue reading "Mad Decent Block Party lineup revealed (Williamsburg Park is the NYC venue); TNGHT EP; new Bonde Do Role out now"

Action Bronson at Red Hook Park in June (more by Eric M. Townsend)

As mentioned, Mad Decent Block Parties are returning this summer, hitting Toronto, Philly, NYC, Chicago, and LA. When we last spoke, lineups had not yet been announced. They still haven't revealed specific lineups by city, but we've now got the full list of artists who will be playing Mad Decent Block Parties this summer and it includes Major Lazer, Action Bronson, Mr. Muthafuckin' eXquire, Spaceghostpurrp, Lunice, Jacques Greene, Casey Veggies, BADBADNOTGOOD, Baauer, Jim-E Stack, Bosco Delrey, Flosstradamus, Three Loco (aka Andy Milonakis, Dirt Nasty, and Riff Raff), and many more.

As mentioned, the parties are all ages and free, and RSVP is open.

The full lineup is listed below...

Continue reading "Mad Decent Block Parties lineup revealed (Action Bronson, Mr. MFN eXquire, Spaceghostpurrp, BADBADNOTGOOD & more)"

The 14th annual Voodoo Music & Arts Experience happens from October 26 - 28 at City Park in New Orleans. Among the 70+ acts at this year's fest are Jack White, Green Day, Neil Young & Crazy Horse, Skrillex, Justice, Silversun Pickups, Thomas Dolby, Die Antwoord, The Dirty Dozen Brass, and Bootsy Collins. Tickets are on sale with a variety of options as is the usual with festivals these days.

Full Voodoo Experience line-up is below.

Continue reading "Jack White, Green Day, Neil Young & Crazy Horse, Justice & more playing the Voodoo Experience in New Orleans (lineup)"

photos by Chris La Putt

Willis Earl Beal @ Mercury Lounge

Willis Earl Beal is on a tour which brought him to NYC for a Glasslands show on 3/29 with Zulu Winter and a Mercury Lounge show on 4/1 with She Keeps Bees and Fenster (who play again at Knitting Factory on 4/4). Pictures from the Mercury Lounge show are in this post. More below.

That tour was supposed to include an opening slot at SBTRKT's Webster Hall show tonight (4/3) (which is sold out, Sepalcure is still opening, and will be streaming online) but Willis has cancelled tonight's show due to illness. The official statement reads, "Unfortunately Willis is sick and his doctor has ordered him not to perform tonight. The rest of the tour dates are on as planned." Bummer.

UPDATE: DJ Jim E Stack, who played with SBTRKT last night at Music Hall of Williamsburg, will open for SBTRKT in Beal's place tonight.

The rest of that tour includes dates with WU LYF that brings both bands to NYC on MHOW on 4/26 and Bowery Ballroom on 4/27. Willis will also be back in NYC for the Questlove-curated Shuffle Culture Fest at BAM which goes down on April 19 and 20.

Willis also just made a video for "Montony" off his debut LP, Acousmatic Sorcery, which is out now on Hot Charity. That video, updated dates, and more pics from the 4/1 show at Mercury Lounge, below...

Continue reading "Willis Earl Beal made a video, played Merc w/ Fenster & She Keeps Bees (pics), IS NOT playing w/ SBTRKT tonight (dates)"

photos by Ryan Muir, words by Andrew Sacher

"ASAP Rocky show @ Irving Plaza was CRAZY!!!" - Atiba Newsome

"ASAP ROCKY KILLED IRVING PLAZA!!!!" - Vic Damone

"Shout out to Jim e stack bun b waka flocka and da homie school boy" - AsapTwelvyy

A$AP Rocky brought the A$AP Mob tour to Irving Plaza last night (2/1). He brought out a number of guests like Bun B, Waka Flocka, and ScHoolboy Q, and Danny Brown opened the show, along with Flatbush Zombies and G-Eazy. More pictures and a video from this show are below.

One day earlier, A$AP Rocky appeared on The Angie Martinez Show on Hot 97. He was shocked when during his interview, Rakim, who Rocky's mother named him after, joined Rocky and Martinez on the show. A video of this interview is below too.

The Irving Plaza afterparty went down at The Studio at Webster Hall where a very tall Jim E Stack DJ'd in celebration of his new release. Did any of the advertised special guests show up?

ScHoolboy Q also showed up at the recent Danny Brown show in LA.

More pictures and videos from the NYC show below...

Continue reading "ASAP Rocky played Irving Plaza w/ special guests Danny Brown, Bun B, Waka Flocka & ScHoolboy Q (pics, video)"

The A$AP Mob is kicking off their tour this week, which brings them to NYC on February 1 at Irving Plaza. That show is now sold out.

That same night, New Orleans DJ/producerJim-E Stack (pictured above) is having a release party for his Come Between EP at The Studio at Webster Hall (2/1) with Azizaman and Mess Kid. The flier (pictured below) also mentions there will be "$PECIAAL GUEZT APPARANCES." Tickets for the Studio show are on sale now. You can stream the whole Jim-E Stack EP, and the Jim-E Stack Bootleg version of ASAP Rocky's "Purple Swag" (cover art above), below. Also down there streaming: a Sonic Router mix Jim-E made that also includes a track by ASAP Rocky.

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A$AP Rocky at Creators Project in 2011 (more by Ryan Barkan)

In related news, Kendrick Lamar associate (aka Black Hippy member) ScHoolboy Q just made a video for "Hands on the Wheel," which features A$AP Rocky, off of ScHoolboy Q's most recent mixtape, Habits & Contradictions. Watch that below.

Speaking of the Studio at Webster Hall, upcoming shows there include Cloud Nothings this Thursday (1/26) and (A$AP Rocky collaborators) Main Attrakionz on 3/5.

Continue reading "Jim-E Stack streaming new EP, celebrating @ The Studio (with "$PECIAAL GUEZT APPARANCES")"