Alt-J at Glasslands, 8/7/2012 (more by Toby Tenenbaum)

today in NYC
* Big Terrific @ Cameo
* John and Scott @ UCB
* Ben Gerstein @ Barbes
* ZZ Top @ Beacon Theater
* Dragonette @ Webster Hall
* Luciana Souza @ Joe's Pub
* Miguel Frasconi @ The Stone
* Azure Ray, Soko @ City Winery
* Alt-J, JBM @ Bowery Ballroom
* Brazilian Girls @ The Bell House
* Echosuite,Sophie Auster @ Mercury Lounge
* WIERD w/ Merchandise @ Home Sweet Home
* AAnnea Lockwood, Miguel Frasconi @ The Stone
* Firewater, Skeleton Key @ Knitting Factory Brooklyn
* Animal Tropical, Jag, Mechanical River @ Cake Shop
* Indian Rebound, The Denzels, Fast Years @ Muchmore's
* Holly Miranda, Julia Haltigan, Kendra Morris @ Zebulon
* Yeasayer, Tanlines, Daedelus @ Central Park Summerstage
* Dawn Landes, Henry Wolfe, Christina Courtin @ The Rock Shop
* Tenement, Vacation, Swearin', Space Trash @ Brooklyn Fireproof
* Icona Pop, Heartsrevolution (DJ Set), Punches @ Santos Party House
* Sarah Silverman, Katina Corrao, The Lucas Brothers, Brent Sullivan @ BAM
* Dead Prez, Lushlife, Iron Solomon, DJ Total Eclipse, Gen.Erik @ Public Assembly
* Chelsea Light Moving, Steve Gunn, White Out @ 285 Kent Avenue
* Andre Obin, Beacon, Braille, D. Gookin, Foxes in Fiction, Heathered Pearls, Jacob 2-2, Teeel @ Glasslands

Alt-J, whose debut An Awesome Wave is included on this year's just-announced Mercury Prize shortlist, play their biggest NYC show yet at Bowery Ballroom (sold out).

Tampa, Florida's gloomy, romantic (and BV faves) Merchandise play the WIERD party at Home Sweet Home tonight. Word of warning: things get started late there. They'll also play 538 Johnson on Thursday (9/13) and Saint Vitus on Friday (9/14) and will be back for CMJ.

Thurston Moore's new band, Chelsea Light Moving, play their first NYC show at 285 Kent tonight.

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Paul Thomas Anderson's new film, The Master, opens on Friday (9/14) and like his last film There Will Be Blood, it features a score by Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood. You can stream the soundtrack below via Spotify.

Bonnie "Prince" Billy released a new animated video for his song "Time to Be Clear" and you can watch that below.

The Raveonettes' new album, Observator, came out this week and the band just released a new video from it, "The Enemy," which you can watch below.

What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Wednesday?"

"Walls of Tom #radiohead" (via paulvkieu)

Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood has a new album. NPR explains:

How do you capture the energy -- both positive and negative -- of the past 50 years by using instruments perfected in the 18th century and made of wood, glue and horsehair?

That challenge lies at the very heart of this album, which brings together one of rock and electronic music's superheroes, Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood, with one of his own idols: the septuagenarian Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki. The collection features two string pieces written by the elder composer, 1960's Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima and 1961's Polymorphia for 48 strings, juxtaposed with two of Greenwood's similarly set answers to Penderecki's work: Popcorn Superhet Receiver (inspired by Threnody) and 48 Responses to Polymorphia. Here, they both choose to use a seemingly antiquated vehicle -- orchestral strings -- to convey the noise, chaos and energy of our time. The results are ear-tingling.

Radiohead are currently out touring North America. Upcoming shows include Dallas and Austin. Recent shows include Houston, Miami, and Atlanta where one group of hardcore fans was NOT happy about how they were treated when the doors opened, or should I say didn't open. Their story and video below...

Continue reading ""Radiohead Waste Ticket Holders Line Fiasco" video posted; Krzysztof Penderecki & Jonny Greenwood album streaming"

DOWNLOAD: MA Doom - "PBS" (MP3)

Masta Ace

Masta Ace has a few upcoming US shows this month before he tours Canada in March. Those shows include the final event at Southpaw which happens TONIGHT (2/20) with live sets by Jean Grae, Keith Murray, and Artifacts, in addition to live interviews, slide shows, and DJ sets/parties. More info about tonight's show is HERE.

Masta Ace has been working with on a collaborative album with MF Doom titled MA Doom: Son of Yvonne, which is due out sometime this year. You can listen to an interview that Masta Ace recently did with Brooklyn Bodega Radio where he previews some of the album below, and grab a non-album track from their sessions, "PBS," above or stream it below.

Speaking of MF Doom collaborations, he's been pretty prolific with them lately, after keeping to himself for a while. Still no word on the album with Thom Yorke, but Doom did drop a track a few months ago with Yorke and Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood (listen HERE). He's also revealed plans for a new Madvillain album. His most recently announced project is JJ DOOM, a collaboration with Jneiro Jarel. Their album, Key to the Kuffs, is due out this May. Stream their track "Banished" below.

All dates and streams below...

Continue reading "Masta Ace working with MF Doom, playing shows (dates)"

I know you're sick of Radiohead posts, but, well, they keep doing things! (and anyway, more importantly, this post also contains Portishead!). But back to the point.... Radiohead just played two shows at Roseland Ballroom, appeared on SNL, and on The Colbert Report. They're also rumored to play for Occupy Wall Street today at 4 PM, though that might not happen. In addition to all of that, Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood will perform on Fallon on Monday (10/3). According to Radiohead At Ease, they'll be performing "Give Up The Ghost."

Speaking of Fallon, his week-long run of Pink Floyd covers (that started with the Shins) continued on Tuesday when Foo Fighters played "In The Flesh" with Roger Waters, on Wednesday when MGMT took on "Lucifer Sam" off of The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, with help from Bradford Cox who was dressed as Joey Ramone. Dierks Bentley did "Wish You Were Here" last night (9/29). You can watch all three videos below.

MGMT will also perform at The Guggenheim on November 10 and 11 as part of the 2011 Guggenheim International Gala. The 11/10 show is a private party, but the 11/11 show is a public event. Tickets go on sale Friday (10/14) with a member presale starting Thursday (10/13).

Portishead, who plays and curated ATP NJ this weekend, will appear on Fallon on Wednesday (10/5), two days after Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood do. Portishead play their second of two sold out shows at Hammerstein Ballroom the same night.

Fallon videos below...

Continue reading "more Pink Floyd covers on Fallon (videos), Thom Yorke, Jonny Greenwood & Portishead next week, MGMT @ the Guggenheim"

"It may not be the week's biggest bit of Radiohead news, but the band's Jonny Greenwood has been announced as the composer for a new film starring Tilda Swinton. Greenwood will score We Need to Talk About Kevin, the third feature by Scottish director Lynne Ramsay.

This is not Greenwood's first time writing music for the big screen. His debut soundtrack, for Paul Thomas Anderson's There Will Be Blood, won an Ivor Novello award. This was a minimalist work featuring tense, dissonant strings and tribal drumming. Greenwood also scored a Japanese adaptation of Haruki Murakami's Norwegian Wood, which is due for release in the UK on 11 March." [Guardian]

On May 20 and 21, Wordless Music concludes its fourth season with the United States premiere of Doghouse, the longest and largest work yet for orchestra by Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood, on a program with the first New York City performance of Philip Glass / David Bowie / Brian Eno's Symphony No. 4 ("'Heroes,'" based on the music of Bowie and Eno) and György Ligeti's Chamber Concerto, all performed by Ensemble Signal with the Wordless Music Orchestra and conductor Brad Lubman. Tickets for the May 20 and May 21 concerts at the New York Society for Ethical Culture are now on sale.

Continue reading "Jonny Greenwood scoring 'We Need to Talk About Kevin', having his work performed by Signal in NYC"

Jonsi @ Terminal 5 (more by Dominick Mastrangelo)

Along with that Godspeed You! Black Emperor announcement, two Wordless Music Series-presented shows included, came this:

"Look for a full 2010-11 Wordless Music season announcement in the coming days, including world and U.S. premieres of new music for orchestra by Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead, Jónsi and Kjartan of Sigur Rós with Alex Somers of Riceboy Sleeps, Kronos Quartet, The Hilliard Ensemble, Latvian National Choir, Tyondai Braxton, the Wordless Music Orchestra, Joshua Rifkin, Deerhoof, and the U.S. debut of the Carl Craig/Moritz von Oswald/Francesco Tristano Schlimé Trio, as well as collaborations with Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, Library of Congress, Walker Arts Center, and Emerson College for concerts in New York City, Washington D.C., Boston, and Minneapolis."

MIA @ MoMA (more by Ryan Muir)

Best Alternative Music Album
(Vocal or Instrumental.)

Modern Guilt
Beck
[DGC Records/XL Recordings/Interscope]

Narrow Stairs
Death Cab For Cutie
[Atlantic]

The Odd Couple
Gnarls Barkley
[Downtown/Atlantic]

Evil Urges
My Morning Jacket
[ATO Records]

In Rainbows
Radiohead
[TBD Records]

photos by Bao Nguyen

"The National is headlining the concert at Hammerstein Ballroom on October 10th, Grizzly Bear is opening and the evening is hosted by Stella: Michael Ian Black, Michael Showalter and David Wain. Tickets are $35 and there's no scalping, like all New York events, it's will-call only." [The Life Vicarious]

The National's last NYC show was at Central Park Summerstage.

Grizzly Bear's last NYC show was at Music Hall of Williamsburg. The night before that they played All Points West in Jersey City - part of their tour with Radiohead that ended August 15th in Toronto. Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood never speaks at shows. At that Toronto show he spoke on stage possibly for the first time ever. What he said was (approximately), "I would like to thank my favourite band in the world, Grizzly Bear, so thanks alot, thank you very much for touring with us". Thom followed that with, "Jonny speaks". Video footage from Toronto and more pictures from All Points West, below...

Continue reading "The National, Grizzly Bear (Jonny Greenwood's favorite) & Stella playing Hammerstein for NY Mag's 40th"

WNYC recorded the show.

The next advertised Wordless show is the Stars of the Lid one.

by Chris Owyoung

More photos from last night's show at The Church of St. Paul the Apostle, below...

Continue reading "Jonny Greenwood Wordless Music Series photos"

Wordless Music Series, NYC - Jan 16, 2008

Wordless show last night was EXCELLENT. If you don't have tix, I strongly recommend figuring out some way to get in for the show tonight. [The Battering Room]

outside Rough Trade in London, Jan 16, 2008 (CRED)

No offense to the Wordless Music Series (they are good), but I do think it was confusing to non-Classical people (myself included) to list the show as "Jonny Greenwood" when Jonny Greenwood won't actually be there. If you look at the 2007-2008 Wordless schedule, the list of performers reads: "Do Make Say Think, Beirut, Valgeir Sigurdsson, Grizzly Bear, Mum, Max Richter, Jonny Greenwood: Jonny Greenwood: Popcorn Superhet Receiver". The Jonny one is the only time it's a "piece" instead of a performer. That said, I realize now that there is no real reason for Jonny to be there, and I'm sure the string orchestra performing his work will still be great (though I bet there will be at least one disgruntled Radiohead fan in the crowd). The NY Times has an article today (thx Hiro)....

In a way this is a peculiar program for Wordless Music, now in the middle of its second season. Most of Mr. Givony’s concerts have offered both indie rock bands (or members of more famous groups in solo spinoffs) and classical performers, an expression of Mr. Givony’s conviction, as a longtime rock fan and newcomer to classical music, that anyone who likes Bjork, Radiohead or other experimental pop would also enjoy classical pieces.

In related news, Mr. Ronen Givony will soon also be doing shows @ The Village Gate. He is also expanding the Wordless Music Series. Not only is the upcoming Stars of the Lid show in NYC a "Wordless" show, so are the ones in Portland and Minneapolis. Tickets will be in sale in about a week. Plus, there are those upcoming David Byrne shows too.

And further proof Jonny won't be there tonight: Radiohead are about about to webcast a live performance from the Rough Trade shop in London.

If you haven't heard yet, The Golden Globe awards were handed out last night at - due to the writer's strike - a quickly done press conference that any TV station was free to broadcast. I watched some of it on CNN which meant I got to hear all of Larry King's unintentional hilarious commentary when awards were announced ("a great movie everyone needs to see", etc). I felt tense when they were about to announce best picture. Would it be "There Will Be Blood" or "No Country For Old Men"? They were the only two I saw in that category, and the two I was misled into believing had to win. I was about to feel bad for the one that didn't win, when it was announced that neither won. "Atonement" took it instead. I need to see that - and "The Great Debaters" that Sharon Jones is in, and "American Gangster" that inspired the new Jay-Z album.

Daniel Day Lewis did win best actor though, and Javier Bardem won best supporting actor, so both NCFOM and TWBB were well-represented. "Ratatouille" starring future Plug Awards host Patton Oswalt won best cartoon, "Sweeney Todd" beat "Juno" for best musical or comedy, and Eddie Vedder won best song. Jonny Greenwood didn't win anything, which could be because they don't even seem to have a soundtrack category.

Also happened this weekend: Bjork flipped out again

DOWNLOAD: Feist - 1234 (Vanshe Technologic Remix) (MP3)

The Coen brothers' No Country For Old Men was the big winner at the Critics' Choice Awards in the US, taking home three awards including best film......Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood won a prize for the soundtrack to Paul Thomas Anderson's There Will Be Blood, and its star, Daniel Day Lewis, won best actor......Awards came in pairs for two other films, teenage pregnancy drama Juno, and musical comedy Hairspray. [BBC]

Continue reading "Feist & Snoop Dogg @ the Critics' Choice Awards"

I knew that Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead just put out a CD, and I've seen the creepy trailer for the new Paul Thomas Anderson movie starring Daniel Day-Lewis, but it wasn't until today that I put two and two together and realized that both of these things are There Will Be Blood.

Anderson had been a fan of Radiohead's music and listened to Popcorn Superhet Receiver halfway through writing the screenplay. After agreeing to score the film, initially Jonny Greenwood had his doubts and thought about backing out but Anderson's reassurance and enthusiasm for the film convinced the musician to stick with the project. [Wikipedia]

Popcorn Superhet Receiver is being performed (apparently WITHOUT Jonny Greenwood in attendance, although I'm told there's a chance he might show up) in NYC on January 16th & 17th.

Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo releases Alone - The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo tomorrow, but the release I am picking up is another side-project, Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood's score for the film, There Will Be Blood.

The Daniel Johnston tribute disc, The Late Great Daniel Johnston: Discovered Covered has been remastered, and is a must-have for any fan of the singer-songwriter. The double disc release includes one disc of covers as well as a disc of the original songs. The covers:

"My Life is Starting Over Again", Teenage Fanclub with Jad Fair
"Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Your Grievances", Clem Snide
"Impossible Love", Gordon Gano
"Living Life", Eels
"Walking the Cow", TV on the Radio
"Good Morning You", The Rabbit
"Sorry Entertainer", Calvin Johnson
"Devil Town", Bright Eyes
"Dream Scream", Death Cab for Cutie
"True Love Will Find You in the End", Beck
"Go", Sparklehorse with The Flaming Lips
"Blue Clouds", Mercury Rev
"Love Not Dead", Thistle LLC
"Like a Monkey in the Zoo", Vic Chesnutt
"Dead Lovers Twisted Heart", Starlight Mints
"Story of an Artist", M. Ward
"The Sun Shines Down on Me", Guster
"King Kong", Tom Waits

Continue reading "Largehearted Boy's Interesting CD Releases This Week"

Tickets went on sale Friday for the two "Jonny Greenwood: Popcorn Superhet Receiver" shows happening as part of the Wordless Music Series here in NYC.

Commissioned by the BBC in 2005, when Jonny Greenwood was named the BBC’s Composer-in-Residence, and premiered in November 2006 at Queen Elizabeth Hall in London by the BBC Concert Orchestra, “Popcorn Superhet Receiver” is a 20-minute work inspired by the phenomenon of white noise and the music of Krzysztof Penderecki, György Ligeti, and Olivier Messiaen. For its U.S. premiere, the work has been revised by the composer and will be performed by a string orchestra comprising 18 violins, 6 violas, 6 cellos, and 4 double basses.

The Wordless Music Orchestra will be led by conductor Brad Lubman, known for his work conducting the Steve Reich Ensemble, and will feature a one-time gathering of 50 instrumentalists, who represent many of the brightest talents in New York’s classical and new-music community. They come from a diverse group of bands and ensembles who have drawn inspiration from the music of Jonny Greenwood and Radiohead throughout the group’s 15-year history, including members of Alarm Will Sound and So Percussion.