photos by Erez Avissar

Zomby @ Glasslands

Prince Rama, despite touring with them and also playing CMJ, are not opening the previously discussed Gang Gang Dance show at Bowery Ballroom on 10/22, but some other more exciting acts are opening what is looking like a 4AD showcase. The lineup as of now is Gang Gang Dance, Inc, and Zomby! At least one more act will be announced too (hmm, Joker will be in town). Tickets are still on sale, or get in with your CMJ badge.

Zomby, despite the Guy Fawkes mask he sports, has not made any appearances at Occupy Wall Street so far (that we know of) (like Jeff Mangum did), but he did make a rare appearance in NYC at Glasslands on October 1st...

"At nearly 2 a.m. on Sunday morning, U.K. dubstep womperkind Zomby is onstage, but he is not making any noise. "We've waited years for this, dude, years," calls one fan as another boos. And indeed, the crowd who attended Zomby's set at Glasslands had been waiting years to see it, as that night marked Zomby's second appearance in New York since entering the bassosphere in 2007, and the first one [wasn't] open to the public. Now, after years of consuming his releases from across the pond and hours of slogging through jam band opening acts and faceless DJs that night, Zomby was onstage and silent as a stupid dead lamb who deserved to die for making everyone wait so unbelievably, mind-numbingly long. "Where's the music?" demands another fan. When the first note trembles through the venue and the crowd unleashes a collective noise of assent, all is forgiven. Zomby, that diva bastard, is worth the wait." [CMJ]

More pictures from Glasslands are below...

Continue reading "Zomby played Glasslands (pics), playing with Gang Gang Dance and others @ Bowery Ballroom "

CMJ takes over NYC venues from October 18-22, and they just announced another round of bands that are playing. They are:

J Mascis, Shonen Knife, Gang Gang Dance, Boy & Bear, Cloud Nothings, Free Energy, T. Mills, Kendrick Lamar, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Casiokids, Oberhofer, Smif-N-Wessun, Pujol, Zomby, Joker, Painted Palms, Flatliners, Robbers on High Street, Bag Raiders, Young Buffalo, Skeletonwitch, Gary Clark, Jr. and 1, 2, 3.

if you click the links above, you'll see where some of those shows are happening. The previous CMJ announcement is HERE, though collectively that's still not a lot of bands announced by CMJ yet (many more have been announced by venues). Badge info here, but remember if all you want to do is go to shows, you can also just buy tickets to those shows.

Zomby is also playing Glasslands even sooner.

Joker

HARD Haunted Mansion returns to the Shrine Expo Hall in LA October 28-29 with Fatboy Slim, Skream & Benga, SBTRKT, Kingdom and others. Tickets for the LA festival are on sale now. A flier for the fest is below.

If you can't make it out to LA for the festival, HARD Haunted Mansion will be putting on a smaller but similar show on October 22 at Terminal 5 billed as 'HARD Haunted Mansion NYC.' The show will be headlined by Skream & Benga and includes support from Joker, Dillon Francis, Destructo, and more TBA. Tickets go on sale Friday (8/26) at noon.

Joker is set to release his first official full length album, The Vision on November 8 via 4AD. We've already heard his single of the same name with Jessie Ware on lead vocals (who also sang on the SBTRKT album). He's since revealed the single "Here Come the Lights" (ft. SIlas of Turboweekend) which comes out as a 12" on September 27 in the US b/w "Trance Girl." Check out a radio rip of the new track from BBC Radio 1 Zane Lowe's Hottest Record of the World show below.

In related news, HARD Summer Tour is underway with Digitalism (live), Switch, Designer Drugs, and of course HARD founder and DJ Destructo. Caspa, was originally scheduled to be on the tour, but recently cancelled. As mentioned, the tour ends on Saturday (8/20) at Terminal 5. Tickets for the show are still on sale and we're also giving away a pair. Details on how to win below.

Song stream, LA flier and contest details below...

Continue reading "HARD bringing Haunted Mansion to NYC (Joker included), HARD Summer Tour even sooner (win tix)"

Sampha & Jessie Ware

SBTRKT released his debut and self-titled LP this week (6/28) in the US and a day earlier (6/27) in the UK. We've talked about the Little Dragon-featuring single "Wildfire" with vocals from Yukimi, but she isn't the only person contributing vocals to the album, far from it. Roses Gabor contributes vocals to the song "Pharoahs" and most of the album's vocals are performed by SBTRKT's Young Turks labelmates Jessie Ware and Sampha, who often collaborate with each other.

Jessie Ware and Sampha recorded the track "Valentine" together for Valentine's Day which they included on a Valentine's Day mixtape that they made for Fader. Check out the music video for that song, along with a live video of Jessie Ware and Sampha performing the song, and another of them performing a cover of Bobby Caldwell's "What you Won't Do for Love", below.

Jessie Ware also recently contributed vocals to another UK dubstep producer, Joker, for the single "The Vision," which was Joker's first release on 4AD. Listen below.

SBTRKT heads to North America soon for three NY dates, and for a just-added one in Toronto. Most interesting about the Canada date is that it advertises Sampha on the bill. Hopefully that means Sampha is also the "guest vocalist" appearing at PS1 on July 9th (one day later) too.

Little Dragon, who like SBTRKT played Glastonbury, plays Music Hall of Williamsburg in August. The show went on sale yesterday and is sold out.

All SBTRKT and Joker tour dates, videos, songs and the SBTRKT tracklist with vocalists listed, below...

Continue reading "Jessie Ware, Sampha & Roses Gabor are voices of SBTRKT"

Actor Heath Ledger was found dead Tuesday of a possible drug overdose in a Lower Manhattan apartment, the New York Police Department said. The Academy Award nominated actor was 28. "Pills were found in the vicinity of the bed," police spokesman Paul Browne told CNN.

"This is being looked at as a possible overdose, but that is not confirmed yet." Police later said the pills "appear to be over the counter" sleeping medication. Ledger was unresponsive when he was found by a housekeeper who had gone to wake him for an appointment with a masseuse in the Soho apartment, Browne said. [CNN]

Continue reading "Heath Ledger, RIP"