"Everytime I'm in Williamsburg,
i wonder what all those cool people do in real life?" - Joakim

Joakim recently finished up a short tour on Sunday (8/7) at Le Bain in NYC. He's sticking around to play one more NYC show tonight (8/10) at Cameo Gallery in Williamsburg with Justin Strauss and Sal P of Liquid Liquid. Doors are at 10 PM and admission is free. Check out the flier for the show, which has been dubbed "Joakim's Farewell to NY Bash" below.

Joakim has also recently revealed a trailer video for his upcoming album, Nothing Gold, which is due out in September. Check that out, along with the show flier below...

Continue reading "say goodbye to Joakim tonight w/ Sal P & Justin Strauss"

PS1 last week (more by Vincent Cornelli)

Today's Warm Up lineup:

July 16
agnès b. presents:
Audio Love by Juan + Johnny
Joakim / Tigersushi / Paris, France
Koudlam / Pan European Recordings / Paris, France
Mirror Mirror / RVNG Intl. / New York, NY

For Joakim the show is one of a handful of dates he has scheduled this summer.

Continue reading "Warm Up continues today with Joakim & more "

French electro artist/producer/dj Joakim is set to release his fourth LP Nothing Gold on his own label Tigersushi this September. He released the album's lead single "Forever Young" on June 13. It was released as a 12" single with three remixes of the track on his label. Check out the video and soundcloud streams of the remixes below.

He'll go on a short US tour in support of the album which kicks off today (7/8) in San Francisco at No Way Back. The tour hits NYC on July 16 at MoMA PS1 where he plays a Warm Up. Joakim also returns to NYC on August 7 at Le Bain for a Tigersushi party.

Joakim's DC date is presented by FIXED who meanwhile bring The Magician to Good Units in NYC this Saturday(7/9). All FIXED events are listed below.

All dates the video and songs below too...

Continue reading "Joakim now on tour, releasing new album (dates, new video & 3 remixes of the single)"

crowd @ Warm Up 2010 (more by Zach Dilgard)

The full schedule for MoMa's 20l1 'Warm Up' season at PS1 has since been announced. The dance parties happen at the Long Island City location every Saturday from July 2 through September 3 from 2 PM to 9 PM. Admission is $15 and includes access to all exhibitions and 'Warm Up.' Check out the full lineup below.

As discussed, Four Tet and Matthewdavid play 'Warm Up' on July 9. STBRKT (who recently collaborated with Little Dragon) along with FaltyDL and others are also on that bill.

Other days feature Delicate Steve, Odd Future DJ Syd tha Kyd, Black Dice, Juan Maclean, Blood Orange, Solange, Grimes, Tanlines, Sun Araw and many other DJs, producers and and bands. Das Racist, Simian Mobile Disco, Ford & Lopatin, Gang Gang Dance and a few other groups are performing DJ sets.

More info and the full schedule below...

Continue reading "PS1's 2011 'Warm Up' lineup announced"

Holy Ghost! in Austin last week (more by Tim Griffin)

The second edition of Noncerts goes down at Cameo Gallery in Brooklyn tonight (4/29). Elvis Perkins, Martha Wainwright, and Jesse Harris will all play sets with the all-star house band and tickets for the benefit are still on sale.

Stick around after Noncerts for the dance party happening in the same venue with DFA DJs Jee Day, Matt Cash and Juan Maclean who may not be joined by his bandmate Nancy Whang even though she will probably make an appearance earlier in the night across the street at the sold out Holy Ghost! show happening at Music Hall of Williamsburg. Nancy is scheduled to instead appear with Classixx tonight at Webster Hall (flyer below). If that's not enough DFA for you, Free Energy play a show tonight at Glasslands too. Oh, and if you're going to Holy Ghost!, save your ticket stub (if you have one). It gets you $3.00 off admission to Cameo (doors at midnight).

Holy Ghost! just got off a tour with Cut Copy whose next NYC show is in Prospect Park with Midnight Magic who you can catch way before that on North 6th Street too. On Cinco de Mayo, while BOBBY are doing there thing over at Knitting Factory, Midnight Magic, Arthur Baker, and DFA DJ Matt Thornley will play a show in the back room of Public Assembly while Colin Rogister [Disocography], Joakim [Paris/ Tigersushi], Sal P [Liquid Liquid], and Tim Sweeney [Beats in Space/ DFA] hold it down in the same venue's loft space. A $15 ticket will get you into both the main event and the "Discography" party in the loft, or you can skip the downstairs and pay only $5. The flyer for that part is below...

Continue reading "Juan Maclean DJ's after Noncerts, Holy Ghost! & Free Energy +++ catch Midnight Magic & even more DFA on Cinco de Mayo"

by Andrew Frisicano

Sam Amidon, accompanied by Thomas Bartlett, ushered in the first show of the 2010 Big Ears Festival at the Knoxville Museum of Art on Friday (3/26) with "Wild Bill Jones," his own version of the Appalachian folk song, punctuated with a piercing scream half-way through. "These are all folk songs, some from around here," said Sam, which was the right thing to say at the KMA, an institution whose collection and staff brims with East Tennessee pride. After a welcome by festival organizer Ashley Capps (whose AC Entertainment also organizes Bonnaroo) and co-curator Bryce Dessner, Calder Quartet and violinist Iva Bittova led the audience through the folk-inspired world of Bartok, Janacek and guitarist/composer Fred Frith.

A little after 7pm at the gorgeous Bijou Theatre (est. 1909), Terry Riley and his quartet - consisting of his son Gyan on classical guitar, Tracy Silverman on electric violin and Ches Smith on drums and marimba - played a series of extended ragas and genre-morphing songs. By midnight, an ecstatic crowd of all ages filled the hall for the xx. Just a few hours before, University of Tennessee basketball advanced to the NCAA Elite 8, and the partly collegiate crowd carried the celebratory mood to the gig. Some danced in front of their seats or in the aisles, and cheered in anticipation - in one opera box, an exhibitionist couple shared a drunken embrace dangerously close to the railing. Clandestine cigarettes were smoked as the xx performed their moody rock alongside minutely choreographed stage lights.

The earlier jj were even more laid back than the xx, with a sole singer, Elin Kastlander, standing before video projections that included an Italian soccer game, romps on the beach by Elin and co-member Joakim Benon, and whales and other nature scenes. We also got to see Elin roll a big blunt on screen, which might speak to her onstage ambivalence and generally lackluster approach. She did pick up an acoustic guitar once, as did her blond gentleman collaborator, Joakim, for a few numbers. With the music on autopilot, everything else - from the canned "native" beats to the narcissistic video - seemed to follow suit.

The first act had much better luck: Nosaj Thing's post-apocalyptic electronica, riddled with blippy bullets and ghostly echoes, destroyed the darkened theater. The xx gig was one of of the fest's sold out gigs (the others are currently Vampire Weekend and Joanna Newsom) but those with all-access Inner Ear passes ($250 now, but cheaper if you bought earlier) had no trouble finding front-row first-come, first-served seats if they showed at least 15 minutes before doors. The passes are pricey, but a good deal even if you make it to only 1/3rd of the 30-some shows at the fest.

A few blocks away, Andrew WK and the Calder Quartet finished their set with a cover of John Cage's 4'33" - or as Andrew put it "Johnny Cage! Fatality! Mortal Kombat!" The room was divided between those trying to rebel ("Play music!"), those trying to explain the piece ("It's supposed to be people talking"), those shushing, and those just enjoying the spectacle. Andrew returned for an encore of "Party Hard" (piano, voice and crowd participation) and brought out Calder's Eric Byers for a Bach cello piece, accompanied by an interpretive dance by Andrew WK (think "an impressionistic karate kid") dedicated to the late Merce Cunningham.

The compact nature of the participating venues in downtown Knoxville (one mid- and one large-size theater and a handful of smaller club-like spaces) gives Big Ears an intimate feel, and the festival's musicians - most recognizably, Sufjan Stevens, though his only performance is in a supporting role with Clogs (The BQE is being screened too) - can be seen hopping from venue to venue along with the fans.

The difficult decisions of Big Ears day one - Dutch post-punks the Ex against newcomers the xx - only intensify as the festival progresses, with the headliners like Joanna Newsom, Vampire Weekend and composer in residence Terry Riley all going head to head on Saturday.

More pictures and video from Big Ears day one are below...

Continue reading "Big Ears Fest Day 1 - Sam Amidon, jj, The xx, The ex, Terry Riley, Andrew WK, Nosaj Thing, more (pics, video, review)"

"Not that happy w/ the XX's (too short) set tonight. But Friendly Fires blew me away. wow." - TheGreyestGhost

"Lots of cute frat boys at the Friendly Fires concert. Which was surprising. Yum anyway!" - HereAndNow3

photos by Chris La Putt

Friendly Fires @ Webster Hall

"It makes us giddy with delight to announce that New York's finest, Holy Ghost, are going to join the line-up [of our December 11th show at London's Coronet Theatre]. As if their addition weren't early christmas present enough, we're also going to be revealing an exclusive and highly limited 12" at the show. We've recorded an entirely new reworking of 'on board', showcasing the lung capacity of our brass section. On the other side of 'On Board'(pig bag version) is a fun loving remix by the boisterous Joakim. So as not to rub in the face of the ticketless too much, the 12" is also going to be available in a very limited number of record shops as well. Perfect stocking filler for any nan on the scene. [Friendly Fires]"

The xx start up again in March with US dates running almost to the end of April (aka look for them to appear at both SXSW and Coachella this year). The xx's next NYC show is April 22nd at Terminal 5 with Hot Chip (tickets still on sale). Hot Chip are DJing the above-mentioned UK Friendly Fires show - the show where people will get a first shot at picking up the hot new Joakim remix on vinyl. You can listen to the song now though - thanks to someone ripping it from Annie Mac's BBC show and posting the clip to YouTube.

That video, all dates, and more pictures from Webster Hall, below...

Continue reading "Friendly Fires played Webster Hall with The xx (pics), releasing limited 12" w/ Joakim remix (listen now)"

I haven't gone out yet this week. Last weekend I was out of town and missed Joakim's deejay set at the Tribeca Grand (among lots of other events), but have since managed to get a copy of his new album, Milky Ways which I strongly recommend.

While I found his last album Monsters & Silly Songs a bit inaccessible overall in comparison to the singles "Lonely Hearts" and "I Wish You Were Gone", Milky Ways is much more listenable while still being interesting. Over the course of just 10 tracks, Joakim manages to at times channel Radiohead, Talking Heads, hints of noise rock, both modern & retro disco, and robots, to create his own unique sound. Milky Ways is scheduled for release on September 15th in the US, 14th in the UK, and August 31st internationally. !K7's set up a website dedicated to the release where you can find out more about the album, stream some tracks, and get a free download of "Watermelon Bubblicious" after signing up for the !K7 newsletter.

Moving on to this weekend, here's what's happening starting with Saturday (8/29):

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

DOWNLOAD: Tim Sweeney Live @ Sunday Best - August 16 (MP3)

Joakim

It's been a very exciting week in dance, with both Bassment Jaxx and Royksopp show announcements. Unfortunately we still have to wait a few months before those happen. In the meantime, here is what's going on this weekend:

Continue reading "the week in Dance w/ Showtrotta (part 2) (Joakim, Michna, Theo Parrish, Holy Ghost, Soul Bowl, the Drums & more) "

public farm @ PS1 (winterferris)

Friday night I went to APT to see Joakim deejay. I hadn't been there in almost a year and arrived just a hair too early for a Friday night. Todd Sines was on when I got there. His set was fine, but not what I was in the mood for. Jaokim went on about an hour later. Overall a bit too mellow so I left early, but there were highlights, like Mr. Oizo's remix of "Le Magicien D'os" by Ark and a great remix of Simian Mobile Disco's "Hotdog" that I hadn't heard before.

Saturday I went to PS1 around to see Op:L Bastards. It was much less crowded than usual at 4:00 when I got there. For the first time in three summers of going to Warm Up, I saw my first ever empty (except for a generous estimate of maybe 10 people) dancefloor. DJ Poodlecannon was finishing an interesting mix of world music and dance music when I got there, but wasn't really mixing the tracks together. There were a handful of people hitting the floor hard. Everyone else was politely tapping one foot or paying absolutely no attention. Thankfully Op:L Bastards went on promptly at 5:00.

I wasn't the only one waiting around for them. Several people approached the floor as they began. Eventually the dance floor was 3/4 full. Op:L Bastards is essentially a 3-man, live electronic band with a guitarist, bassist, and vocalist who also twiddles with a lot of electronic elements. Things started off a bit slow, but a few songs in they played "Scorpius" which really banged as did every track that followed. I think they were playing a lot of music from their album The Job which originally came out in 2001. It was a nice change as it didn't really sound like anything that's come out recently, but didn't sound dated either. The album was actually just re-released last year with 4 bonus tracks and a forward by Philip Oakley of Human League.

Speaking of Human League, I'm really excited to see Soulwax again in October, but let's not skip ahead. Here's what's going on Wednesday (Aug 27) and Thursday....

Continue reading "the Wednesday & Thursday night 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"

photos by Bao Nguyen

DOWNLOAD: Cut Copy - Hearts on Fire (Joakim Remix) (MP3)

Cut Copy played two NYC shows this week. One was at Studio B with the Black Kids who they're touring with, and one was without the Black Kids last night at Bowery Ballroom (May 14, 2008).

Cut Copy = Good hair, good looks, good and subtle use of unlikely influences (Fleetwood Mac, ELO, etc.), good tunes = Great, great times. [For Your Pleasure]

Continue reading "Cut Copy @ Bowery Ballroom, NYC (pics) & another remix"

DOWNLOAD: KIM - By The Time They Reach You (The Bagraiders Would Have Stolen Your Wallet And Changed All Your Money To Euros And Gone Shopping In Paris Remix) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Presets ~ My People (MP3)

K.I.M. (Or Kimberley Isaac Moyes as his mother calls him) is erstwhile producer/drummer/programmer and one half of THE PRESETS, Australia's foremost proponents of dashing pop/dance (non) sense and (not so) sensibility.

The entire Presets album "APOCALYPSO" is out May 13th on Modular. K.I.M.'s "Fistrogram" single was digitally releaed on January 29th, and Modular was nice enough to give us two copies of a limited edition 'Fistogram (D.I.M remix)' 12" to give away.

We've also got two pairs of tickets to the Modular Monthly happening this Saturday night (Feb 9) at Studio B in Brooklyn. Joakim is playing with "His Ectoplasmic Band", and Juan Maclean is DJing. To win, e-mail BVCONTESTS@HOTMAIL.COM (subject: KIM record OR Modular tickets). Include your first and last name in the email. Two winners will be picked today randomly, and contacted.

The Presets are visiting North America in May and June. They'll play Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn on June 4th, and Bowery Ballroom in Manhattan one day later. Tickets for both shows go on sale Wednesday. All tour dates, the "My People" video, and the Modular Monthly flyer, below...

Continue reading "KIM & The Presets, Tour Dates & a Modular Monthly"