photos by David Andrako

Last night's installment  (3/14) of the 2013 Ecstatic Music Festival was the the Bang on a Can People's Commissioning Fund Concert which saw the Bang on a Can All-Stars performing world premieres of new commissions by Anna Clyne, Dan Deacon, Tyondai Braxton, Jóhann Jóhannsson, Paula Matthusen, and Fay Kueen Wang's Weltinseln.

Dan Deacon's piece made use of his flashing iPhone/Android app, which was certainly a first at The Kaufman Center's Merkin Concert Hall. Deacon and Braxton were on hand for show and were interviewed by WNYC's John Schaefer for the station's New Sounds Live.

The fest rolls on this weekend on  Saturday (3/16), composer Imani Uzuri joins Numinous ensemble founder Joseph C. Phillips, Jr. Tickets to that show are still available. More pics from last night's Ecstatic Music Fest performance are below.

Continue reading "Bang on a Can All-Stars performed works by Dan Deacon, Tyondai Braxton and more at Ecstatic Music Fest (pics)"

Tyondai Braxton at ATP NYC 2012 (more by David Andrako)

Ex-Battles frontman Tyondai Braxton will present his new multimedia project, HIVE, in NYC at the Guggenheim Museum on March 21 as part of the museum's Works & Process series. The project is being co-presented by Wordless Music and will feature musicians Ben Vida, Yuri Yamashita, Jared Soldiviero, and John Ostrowski, and architect/carpenter Uffe Surland Van Tams. Tickets for that show are on sale now. Flyer below.

Tyondai has other upcoming appearances and events in NYC including premiering his new work, Trems, which is being performed by Bang On A Can at Merkin Concert Hall on March 14 for an event that also features music by Dan Deacon, Anna Clyne, Paula Matthusen, Johann Johannsson, and Fay Kueen Wang.

Then, he'll debut his piece, "Fly by Wire" with the ensemble Alarm Will Sound at Carnegie Hall on April 6. Tickets for that show are on sale now.

Tyondai and Ben Vida (who also performs at the HIVE show) are teaming up as a duo to perform as an opening act at Extra Life's last show ever which happens on January 19 at 285 Kent with Sam Mickens (who plays Mercury Lounge with Callers tonight [1/7]), Oneirogen, and a DJ set by NMCM (Krallice). Admission is $12 at the door. You can read Extra Life's goodbye message at their website.

And, as mentioned, Tyondai will DJ at Dan Friel's record release show for Total Folklore on February 19 at Knitting Factory with Guardian Alien and Yvette. Tickets for that show are still available.

All dates are listed below...

Continue reading "Tyondai Braxton has new musical projects, playing live (dates)"

This is the info:

Jóhann is making landfall in North America for three exciting and unique performances. The first stop is New York City. Jóhann will perform in its entirety his most recent release: the haunting soundtrack to Bill Morrison's film The Miners' Hymns.. This performance features a 22 piece brass and string ensemble and will be accompanied by a screening of the documentary. The event will take place at the World Financial Center's Winter Garden. on January 31st as part of WNYC's Wordless Music Series, hosted by John Schaefer. - Admission is free; no tickets or reservations needed!

Next stop is Winnipeg, Manitoba, where, on February 3rd, the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra will perform the world premiere of Jóhann's A Prayer to the Dynamo, a new 40 minute piece commissioned by the WSO for the Winnipeg New Music Festival.. The piece takes its title from Henry Adams' poem inspired by his mystical experience in the Great Hall of Dynamos at the World´s Fair in Paris in the year 1900.

Finally, Jóhann goes west to Los Angeles, where he'll be joined by the Formalist Quartet for a retrospective concert at the Masonic Lodge at Hollywood Forever Cemetery. on February 8th. This will follow a performance on KCRW's "Morning Becomes Eclectic," which airs on Tuesday, Feb. 7th at 11:15 PST.

For more Tuesday evening NYC concerts, check What's Going On Tuesday.

Crystal Stilts @ Slumberland Birthday, 2009 (more by Tim Griffin)

tonight in NYC
* Red Baraat @ BAM
* Dan Deacon at Suny Purchase
* Evangelista @ The Stone
* Memory Tapes at Tribeca Grand
* Men, MKNG FRNDZ @ The Bell House
* Wakey! Wakey!, Harper Blynn @ Mercury Lounge
* Yemenwed, Light Asylum, Sabine Gruffat @ P.S.1
* The Golden Filter, Nancy Whang @ Brooklyn Bowl
* Man In Gray, El Jezel, Coyote Eyes @ Union Hall
* H2O (15 Year Anniversary Show) @ Gramercy Theatre
* Nosaj Thing, Daedelus, Jogger @ (Le) Poisson Rouge
* These Are Powers, MNDR, Blondes, JDH & Dave P @ Coco 66
* Misery Index, Magrudergrind, Mutant Supremacy @ Union Pool
* Aligns, The Yellow Dogs, In Cadeo, Darwin Deez @ The Cameo
* Zola Jesus, Blacklist, Cult of Youth, White Ring @ Cake Shop
* Extra Life, Pink Reason, Silk Flowers, M. Lamar @ Death By Audio
* PC Worship, Ashcan Orchestra, GDFX, Hexbreaker Quintet @ Shea Stadium
* Pygmy Shrews, Golden Girls, Byrds of Paradise, Tough Knuckles @ Bruar Falls
* Greg Kelley, Chris Brokaw, Matthew Heyner, Sean Meehan @ Issue Project Room
* Secret Country, Roadside Graves, WJ & The Sweet Sacrifice, My Name Is John Michael @ Maxwell's
* Crystal Stilts, The Beets, Christmas Island, Beach Fossils, German Measles @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
* Haiti Benefit w/ Your 33 Black Angels, Bugs in the Dark, Palominos, Hollands, Normandy, Balboa, Winston Troy, MK Groove Orchestra @ East River Bar

Man in Gray are back together for one night only tonight at Union Hall! With Coyote Eyes and El Jezel. They played their two final shows in 2008, one of which was at one of our Rock n ROFL shows at Pianos.

Extra Life, who are at DBA tonight, have a new record coming out, called Made Flesh, on March 30th.

Memory Tapes tonight at Tribeca Grand is free (RSVP to events [at] self-titledmag.com). Tanlines are DJing.

Mates of State play the Bell House on Sunday.

Today is the last day of by:Larm in Norway. I've seen a ton of great bands so far. Most are new to me. I'm trying to avoid bands I've seen or will definitely see soon. Serena Maneesh fall into both categories (SXSW = the "see soon" part), but I couldn't help myself and went and checked them out last night at Spectrum Scene in Oslo. They went on after Johann Johannsson who went on after Efterklang (it was 4AD night). I actually watched all three and even saw some bands in nearby venues during set change... there's a band on somewhere every half hour, and all bands only play for 30 minutes.... so if you're quick you can see at least 25 minutes of a 30 minute set twice an hour for about 7 hours straight...except Serena Maneesh actually who got 45 minutes as tonight's big headliner... actually Johann played longer too, but I left before he finished). I don't have videos from the show, so here are some of their official videos instead, below...

What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Saturday?"

the composer in 3-D...

Composer Jóhann Jóhannsson of Iceland will be making rounds this spring with a slate of North American shows. The tour kicks off on April 20th, with a gig at NYC's (Le) Poisson Rouge on Friday, April 30th. Tickets are on sale. The next night (5/1) he'll be at Littlefield in Brooklyn. Tickets for that are also available.

LPR is the club where Jóhannsson made his US debut with a show last June.

& In the Endless Pause There Came Sound of Bees, Jóhannsson's score to the animated short film "Varmints," is being released by Type as a limited-edition vinyl (you might be able to find it now, though Amazon says it will be released on January 5th) and later in 2010 as a CD (it came out as a tour-only CD in July 2009). The trailer for that film and all tour dates are below...

Continue reading "Jóhann Jóhannsson - 2010 tour dates & soundtrack release "

words by Martin Longley

Jóhann Jóhannsson @ LPR in NYC - June 25, 2009 (Lucas Cometto)

The Icelandic composer Jóhann Jóhannsson makes his US touring debut with a pair of sets at (le) Poisson Rouge (6/25), a club that seems to achieve a feeling of fully-seatedness no matter who's performing. Potential audiences appear to have faith in its diverse and adventurous bookings. The American Contemporary Music Ensemble (ACME) open the proceedings with a performance of "String Quartet No. 1", by Gavin Bryars. This is an appropriate move, as there are parts of the last year's Fordlandia album where Jóhannsson evokes certain sonic flourishes that are reminiscent of the English composer's work. The piece establishes a suitably brooding tone for the evening, relishing the very essence of the string formation, but never emerging from this exploratory stasis. The lighting is low, and will remain this way when New Yorkers ACME take to the stage again, to form Jóhannsson's string extension during his own set.

continued below...

Continue reading "Jóhann Jóhannsson played Le Poisson Rouge w/ ACME"

Jóhann Jóhannsson...

Iceland's Jóhann Jóhannsson was scheduled to play a free River to River show at the World Financial Center last summer, but he had to cancel.

Instead, Jóhannsson is making his US debut this year, on Thursday, June 25th at (Le) Poisson Rouge. The Wordless Music show will also feature the ACME String Quartet. Tickets for the show's early set (6:30pm) and late set(9pm) are on sale.

All tour dates and a video of his song "Sun's Gone Dim," below...

Continue reading "Jóhann Jóhannsson - 2009 tour dates (2 NYC shows) "

A July 8 River To River Festival performance by Jóhann Jóhannsson, due to take place in the World Financial Center's Winter Garden, has been cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances. The concert will not be rescheduled.

"BEN NEILL is a composer, performer, and inventor of the mutantrumpet, a hybrid electro-acoustic instrument. Through his use of interactive computer technologies, Neill creates a unique musical and visual experience, melding the worlds of electronic music, jazz, pop culture and visual media." [Ben Neil]

"Ben is the curator of the River to River Festival at World Financial Center this summer. This series of 5 free concerts focuses on leading artists in the field of electronic music, including Ulrich Schnauss, Fennesz/Sakamoto, FourTet and Steve Reid, Nicolas Collins, Dorit Chrysler, Kode 9, Dubwar and Johann Johannsson. See full schedule here" [Ben Neil]

Info on a show Ben is playing himself, as well as a Kieren Hebden (FourTet) and Steve Reid video, below....

Continue reading "Ben Neil curated the five free electronic shows @ WFC "