As you may have heard last week when it was announced, the Klaxons have cancelled their entire March & April North American tour "due to unforeseen circumstances." The tour was set to begin March 25th in Orlando and included the Ultra Music Festival, Coachella and a March 29th show at Webster Hall. The full list of cancelled dates is below...

Continue reading "Klaxons cancelled their tour, Coachella included"

Klaxons

After an appearance at SXSW in Austin followed by the Ultra Music Festival in Miami (full lineup belolw), the Klaxons will play shows on their way to the sold-out Coachella Festival in California. It looks like a full tour is still TBA, but (UPDATE: full tour now announced and) the dates will include a NYC show at Webster Hall on March 29th with Brooklyn's A Million Years (who also play Mercury Lounge on 2/11) and Brooklyn's Creep. Tickets for the Manhattan gig go on AMEX presale Wednesday at noon (2/2) and regular sale 48 hours later. All dates are listed below.

Creep is a duo comprised of Lauren Dillard and house DJ and producer Lauren Flax. Flax is also Fischerspooner's touring DJ. Creep recently dropped a video for "Days" directed by Fischerspooner Warren Fischer. The song features vocals from Romy Madley Croft of The xx. Check out that video below and look for Creep's debut LP later this year. Meanwhile they also have other collaborative singles planned with Reggaeton-R&B twins Nina Sky, Nomi Ruiz and Planning to Rock.

Speaking of Nomi Ruiz (who is best known for her role in Hercules & Love Affair), Nomi's current project Jessica 6 recently announced a March 1st Mercury Lounge show. That gig takes place not long after the band gets back from a European tour. All dates below.

Flax can also be found at One Step Beyond at The American Museum of Natural History this Friday (2/4), where she'll DJ alongside Scissor Sisters (who are also DJing) and Activaire. Tickets are still available. Scissor Sisters play live at Wellmont Theater on 2/18 (tickets available), a few days before they hit MSG at part of their tour with Lady Gaga.

Check out the video for Creep's "Days" (with Romy Madley Croft), and all tour dates, and the complete Ultra Music Festival lineup, below.

Continue reading "Klaxons dates, a Scissor Sisters DJ gig, Creep, xx, Jessica 6 (and the complete Ultra Music Festival Lineup)"

It's like a human centipede orgy.

photos by Chris La Putt

Blood Red Shoes @ MHOW

After Chris left the BV Loft Party all the way back on Friday, October 22nd, he headed over to Music Hall of Williamsburg for the Blue Flowers-presented CMJ showcase for a lineup of mostly UK bands including Chapel Club, Everything Everything, and Blood Red Shoes (who toured North America with Sky Larkin in October). Pictures from that show are in this post.

The occasion (to post these belated pics)? SXSW has already announced an initial lineup of bands playing in Austin from March 16-20, 2011, and Chapel Club is on that list (and I wouldn't be surprised of the other 2 mentioned bands end up coming too). Also on the list: Lia Ices, Braids, Asobi Seksu, Wye Oak, Suuns, Sun Airway, A Place to Bury Strangers and more. Full list under the rest of the MHOW pictures, below...

Continue reading "Chapel Club played CMJ w/ Everything Everything & Blood Red Shoes (pics), playing SXSW 2011 (intial lineup)"

by Bill Pearis

Klaxons @ Bowery Ballroom - Sept 20, 2010 (photo by Diana Wong)

"Flashover" indeed. About three seconds into that song, which opened the Klaxons' set at Music Hall of Williamsburg last night (9/22), the megawatt strobes they had aimed at the crowd started going off. I was seeing spots for the rest of the evening. I think I still am. Do not bring your epileptic dog to see the Klaxons.

It was the last of three concerts the London band played in New New York (the other two were at Bowery Ballroom and Maxwell's, and they played a show in DC between Bowery and Music Hall). Apart from the cat astronaut cover art, the band's new album Surfing the Void hasn't gotten the attention their 2007 debut did. Despite this, Klaxons clearly still have a lot of fans and while MHoW was only about three-fourths full, those who were there were very into it, ready to dance, mosh, throw their hands in the air and sing along -- even to the new stuff.

Me? I was a big fan of Myths of the Near Future but I haven't really gotten into Surfing the Void which hit U.S. stores this week. Mostly I think due to the sound of Ross Robinson's overdriven, steely production. It's a little shrill to my ears. In the live setting, though, the songs sound more obviously Klaxons-ish and has me going back to the album today. Especially for the funky, syncopated "Twin Flames" which was my favorite of the new material they played. "Venusia," came off well too, as did single "Echoes."

The songs from the first album still got the biggest reaction -- "It's Not Over Yet," "Golden Skans," "Two Receivers" and "Gravity's Rainbow" all still sounded great. But it was their, ahem, nu-rave classic "Atlantis to the Interzone" which closed the show and truly sent the crowd into fits. Or maybe it was the strobes.

The band continues their US tour in Boston on Friday. All tour dates below...

Continue reading "Klaxons on tour after playing 3 NYC-area shows "

by Bill Pearis

Remember the Klaxons? Three years after winning the Mercury Prize, they're back with Album #2 and are playing some American dates this fall, including two stops in New York: Bowery Ballroom on September 20 and Music Hall of Williamsburg on September 22. Both shows go on sale Friday (7/16) at noon, as does a September 19th show at Maxwell's. Oregon's Baby Monster open the shows. All currently known dates on that trek below (with more still TBA).

Klaxons new album, Surfing the Void, will be out August 23 in the UK and yes that is the album art above. Ridiculous but kind of awesome too, which also is a good descriptor of the band themselves. (Mind you, this post is written by a guy who picked their track "Golden Skans" as Best Single of 2007.)  The new album was produced by Ross Robinson, best known for being behind the board for hard rock acts like Korn and Limp Bizkit and Sepultura. (But also At the Drive In, Blood Brothers and The Cure.) It's another odd choice for a band that has almost willfully defied pigeonholing -- despite coining the regrettable "nu-rave" tag in an interview -- since day one. Their debut, Myths of the Near Future, remains one of the weirdest Mercury Prize winners ever.

The new album was a difficult birth. Sessions recorded with Tony Visconti, Focus, and Myths producer (and Simian Mobile Disco dude) James Ford were all scrapped before finally getting it done with Robinson in Los Angeles earlier this year. Despite threatening to go full prog, the first taste we got of Surfing the Void was "Flashover" that is pretty much what you might expect The Klaxons working with Korn's producer to sound like: loud, flinty, cacophonous, weird. Official first single "Echoes" is closer to a "Golden Skans" or "It's Not Over Yet" type vibe: poppy, kind of dancey, also weird. Lyrically, it seems we're still in sci-fi/fantasy/nu-age/what? territory. You can stream both songs via YouTube, with all currently known dates, below....

Continue reading "Klaxons releasing new album, touring (new songs & dates)"

...and those new dates are now on presale

"JERUSALEM (JTA) -- In more apparent fallout from Israel's interception of a Gaza-bond flotilla, the American alternative rock band the Pixies canceled a scheduled concert in Israel.

The band was scheduled to perform Wednesday in Tel Aviv in its first concert in Israel.

"The decision was not reached easily, and we all know well the Israeli fans have been waiting for this visit for far too long," read a message received Sunday by the concert's producers in Israel from the band's management, according to reports.

"We'd like to extend our deepest apologies to the fans, but events beyond all our control have conspired against us. We can only hope for better days, in which we will finally present the long awaited visit of the Pixies in Israel."

Two other groups, Klaxons and the Gorillaz, canceled their scheduled performances in Israel following the deaths of nine activists during clashes with Israeli Navy commandos during the boarding of one of the flotilla's ships early on May 31.

The cancellations come less than a month following the cancellation of British rocker Elvis Costello, who was making a political protest. Costello called the cancellation of his scheduled June 30 and 31 concerts "a matter of instinct and conscience."" [JTA]

Pixies won't be heading to Israel, but they will continue touring in 2010 with more "Doolittle" shows now scheduled through the end of September. There were four NYC Doolittle shows in November of 2009. The closest show to NYC at the moment is Philly in September of 2010, and those tickets, like all the new dates, are on presale now ("All pre-sale ticket purchases include a download of the live recording from the show, delivered to the purchasing fan via email the day after the show*. Pre-sale prices are all-in, and are less than total cost of tickets at public outlets. This fan-only presale ends at 11:59 pm on Friday, June 11. All tickets can be claimed at WILL CALL, unless otherwise noted.). All dates and a widget that will get you a free live EP right now, below...

Continue reading "Pixies cancel Israel shows, add more Doolittle dates in the US "

Last month, Roman Abramovich shelled out £185,000 each for Mercury prizewinners Klaxons and sexy Brazilians CSS to perform at his daughter's birthday. In February, a Californian computer-games tycoon paid £15,000 for an exclusive set in Pete Doherty's own, blood-spattered home. Mind you, the latter may have been miffed to hear that, a few weeks earlier, Doherty had accepted £100 from a regular dad to play at his daughter's birthday party.

"Doherty is a perfect example of how the private-gig market is shifting," says Richard Davies, a former music-industry executive turned internet entrepreneur, whose latest venture aims to make private-party performances from pop stars available to the masses. "At one end of the scale, you have your Dolly Partons and Celine Dions. At the other, which is still in its infancy, are cooler, younger pop and indie acts, who are obviously a lot cheaper." [TimesOnline]

Mark Ronson & Amy Winehouse

The Arctic Monkeys took best British group and album - both for the second year in a row - while Foo Fighters won best international group and album.

The ceremony saw performances from Amy Winehouse and Sir Paul McCartney, who received a lifetime achievement honour.

Kate Nash won best British female and Mark Ronson was named best British male.

Producer Ronson, who performed with Winehouse and Adele at the Earl's Court show, is the first non-singer to have scooped the solo artist prize....

...US star Kanye West, who was unable to attend the ceremony, was named winner of the best international male prize. "I'm sure there's someone who deserves this more than me, but I just don't know who they are," he said in his acceptance video....

...Rihanna followed with a performance of her number one single 'Umbrella', accompanied by Klaxons. [BBC]

Mika & Beth Ditto

Continue reading "2008 Brit Awards - results, pictures, Beth Ditto, etc"

DOWNLOAD: Gossip - Jealous Girls (New Young Pony Club 12" Remix) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: New Young Pony Club - Ice Cream (Popular Computer Remix) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Muscles - Ice Cream (MP3)

a Gossip, Horrors & NYPC sandwich (CRED)

a CSS, Klaxons & NYPC sandwich (CRED)

NYPC @ Oya Festival, Norway - Aug 2007

NYPC @ Studio B, NYC - Oct 2007 (CMJ) (CRED)

For nearly everyone in the room, it was a total dance floor stormer. The place was going mental even without the near constant cheerleadering of singer Tahita Butler and the unexpected note-for-note cover of Technotronic's "Pump Up the Jam" sent the crowd over the edge. For me, the muddy sound (could not hear Spence's guitar at all, though it could've been my ears, damaged by Biffy Clyro's set at the Fader Sideshow earlier that day) and my waning energy level had something to do with it. There was also the pervasive, putrid smell of vomit -- provided, I'm guessing by the passed out girl by the railings -- that helped to sour the evening for me. But even a year later, "Ice Cream" was still pretty sweet. [Sound Bites]

I didn't love New Young Pony Club when I saw them again at Oya over the summer (partly because they went on right after Justice I think), and that's partly why I didn't make it to the CMJ show that Sound Bites reviewed above - a Modular party that Muscles also played at Studio B in Brooklyn in October.

Softlightes (another Modular artist) is playing with Justice and Peaches in Los Angeles on New Years Eve. Muscles will open for Daft Punk five times in Australia this December. New videos and tour dates by all these Modular artists, below.....

Continue reading "New Young Pony Club, Softlightes, Muscles, Modular, dance"

new-raving to the Klaxons @ Webster Hall, NYC - Oct 12, 2007 (CRED)

Video from late night TV, below...

Continue reading "Klaxons played Webster Hall & Conan (video)"

DOWNLOAD: Klaxons - Magick (simian Mobile Disco Remix) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Maps - Lost My Soul (MP3)

Klaxons dressed up @ MSG, NYC - Sept 24, 2007 (CRED)

2007 Mercury Prize winners the Klaxons opened for Bjork at Madison Square Garden the other day. What were they wearing? I don't even recognize them. Is this Lovefoxxx's influence? Tickets are on sale for their Webster Hall show (which Shitdisco is no longer playing).

Speaking of funny outfits, Bat For Lashes - sometimes compared to Bjork (and I'll admit that Natasha Khan does do a mean Bjork) didn't win the Mercury Prize. They did play Bowery Ballroom this week though.

New Young Pony Club (also nominated) are playing Studio B on Thursday October 18th for CMJ. It's the Modular Records party. Muscles & The Cool Kids are also playing live, and Simian Mobile Disco are DJing. I saw NYPC at the Oya Festival in Norway this summer, and I didn't like them nearly as much as I did when they last played Brooklyn.

I didn't love Fionn Regan (also nominated) when I saw him at Austin City Limits. I was also saying he must have fans here though - because he's headlining the Gramercy Theatre. I knew that statement would come back to haunt me. The show was moved to Mercury Lounge. Tickets are on sale.

Maps (also nominated) play NYC Friday and Saturday night.

Amy Winehouse (I won't say it again) is releasing a DVD, played with Prince, and is to blame for your drinking problem.

DOWNLOAD: Shitdisco - OK (MP3)

"It is with deep regret that Shitdisco are having to cancel their up coming tour of the United States of America and Canada. Band member Joel Stone was today rushed into hospital. He is being kept there for the next couple of days where specialists will decide what action to take. He has been told he is too unwell to travel for the foreseeable future. The band would like to thank everyone who has booked them to play on this tour, and hope that they will get the chance to play the country soon." - Management.

Cancelled dates below....

Continue reading "Shitdisco cancels tour - Joel Stone "rushed to hospital""

Bjork @ Austin City Limits 2007 (CRED)

Bjork's big show at Madison Square Garden in NYC is tonight (Sept 24). The Klaxons are opening, and so is Santogold - which is BrooklynWhamCityConsistent with Bjork's choice of Spank Rock opening for her last time she was in town. And speaking of Spank Rock and Santogold, they're also both playing the Klaxons-MSG afterparty at Rebel, which (as David Bruno reported) is free if you RSVP. This is also a good spot to mention that the Klaxons are listing a Webster Hall show on October 12th which is "currently not on sale".

I'm supposed to go tonight, but should I? I just saw her at Austin City Limits (she headlined the first day), and probably because I was spoiled from going to all three of her last NYC shows (Radio City, United Palace & The Apollo), I had trouble getting into it (set list here). I was also tired (flew in that morning - was at festival all day), far from the stage, alone, supposed to already be at my own afterparty (which I had no idea how I was going to get to), and in a huge field with thousands of people. I guess I had trouble connecting with the show - like it was just this thing happening on a stage far away that I could sort of hear (I felt that way during Arcade Fire too) (wah, I know). You might have heard that a speaker caught on fire during Bjork's set which was the second fire that day at the fest.

Maybe sitting in a seat at MSG with stadium sound will be better. Do you want to go to tonight? The 30th person to e-mail BVCONTESTS@HOTMAIL.COM (subject: Bjork) will get a free pair of tickets. Include your first and last name. Tickets are also still on sale.

Also...
* Bjork Live Album in the Works
* Bjork playing Conan O Brien Thursday
* Quirky Bjork Relocates Her Innocence, Explains Video Contest
* Bjork, QOTSA, MIA Highlight First Day Of ACL Fest

Simon from Klaxons & CSS' Lovefoxxx & their tattoos

But I guess this is old news. Photo via the Grizzly Bear blog. Klaxons just won the Mercury Prize.

First they get to open for Bjork, and now this! I guess I'm not the only one who's confused though.

In the weeks leading up to the awards ceremony, frontman Jamie Reynolds had admitted the band were "bewildered" by their nomination alongside the likes of last year's winners Arctic Monkeys.

But the "New Rave" group, who only formed two years ago, were not the only ones to raise an eyebrow when their debut Myths Of The Near Future scooped the £20,000 prize.

"Klaxons winning came as a total surprise, and it demonstrates once again that it's pretty impossible to second guess the judges, who always love to confound the pundits and show that they're independently minded," says HMV's Gennaro Castaldo.

Then again, I'm not sure who deserved it more.

Regular tickets go on sale Friday for Bjork's show at MSG. As previously announced, the presale was Wednesday. Did you get tickets through that? I was disappointed to find out the Klaxons are opening. I don't hate them - I just don't think they're very good live, and for whatever reason I don't associate them with Bjork. They're also not Antony.

Amy Winehouse, Arctic Monkeys, Jamie T, Bat for Lashes, and Maps were among those nominated for this year's UK Mercury Prize. Amy Winehouse is playing Summerstage and touring. Arctic Monkeys are playing Summerstage and touring. Jamie T played a one-off show in Brooklyn last night, and Bat For Lashes and Maps both have upcoming tour dates that I've listed below along with all the nominees...

Continue reading "2007 Mercury Prize nominees ++++++ BAT FOR LASHES & MAPS Tour Dates"

The Chemical Brothers have a bunch of shows coming up, but just two in the United States. They play Los Angeles on September 29th, and on September 21st they're at Hammerstein Ballroom in NYC. Tickets go on sale today. All tour dates below...

Continue reading "The Chemical Brothers - 2007 Tour Dates"