photos by dailybeatz, words by Andrew Frisicano

Hopefully all goes well with the HARD NYC show at Governors Island's South Island Field this Saturday (7/24). The show, which still has tickets on sale, will be happening despite the cancellation of its sister HARD LA show. The disappointing HARD LA cancellation came right after the disappointing lukewarm critical reaction to Maya (though Metacritic rates it as 69/100, so not so bad overall actually).

MIA, who is also playing the Virgin FreeFest this year, is on a lineup that includes Die Antwoord (who play the next night at MHOW) and Sleigh Bells, who just played Pitchfork Fest's third day.

A full list of who's at HARD NYC, with set times, and more pictures and some palpably sweaty videos of Sleigh Bells at the Pitchfork Festival (on the stage and in the crowd) are below...

Continue reading "Sleigh Bells played P4K (pics), playing HARD NYC (set times)"

photos by Chris Graham

Pavement @ Sasquatch Fest 2010

The above-pictured Pavement show took place in May 2010 (and wasn't free). In September, Pavement will play Virgin Mobile FreeFest (and it is free)....

"Breaking from traditional festivals, the Virgin Mobile FreeFest presented by Kyocera unveiled its lineup for the award-winning festival, selecting relevant, important, and eclectic headliners to represent this year's free show. This morning, Chairman of the Virgin Group Sir Richard Branson announced the lineup on Virgin Mobile Live, the company's new Internet music stream available on Virgin Mobile websites.

The lineup will include:

M.I.A., LCD SOUNDSYSTEM, PAVEMENT, T.I., LUDACRIS, JOAN JETT, THIEVERY CORPORATION, MATT & KIM, JIMMY EAT WORLD, THE TEMPER TRAP, EDWARD SHARPE & THE MAGNETIC ZEROS, AND YEASAYER;

DANCE FOREST: CHROMEO, SLEIGH BELLS, DIE ANTWOORD, MODESELEKTOR, AND NEON INDIAN

Not bad for a free show (and yet another Pavement show!). More details, with the full set of pictures of Pavement playing this year's Sasquatch Fest, below...

Continue reading "Virgin Mobile FreeFest lineup +++ Pavement Sasquatch pics "

Video from last night's episode of Letterman below...

Continue reading "M.I.A.s played Letterman (video)"

photos by Benjamin Lozovsky

"This M.I.A. album is unforgivable. Y'all put her on the cover of your magazines before actually hearing this thing, right?" - Chris Weingarten

"every1 who came 2nite to PS1 TO REP the LP Release party THANK YOU! I LOVE YOU! !!!!!! i dint get to say it coz the cop turn my sound off!.." - _M_I_A_

M.I.A. @ The Creators Project in June

"The record is a shambling mess, devoid of the bangers that characterized Arular and Kala, two of the stronger pop albums of the past decade. It aims to capture a technological and cultural zeitgeist in its over-stimulated, digitally degraded sound, but the songs are too flimsy to carry her bold conceit. Without compelling tunes, the obnoxious public antics, dubious political messages, and thin voice that had grated on her naysayers have become impossible for even dedicated fans to ignore. It's as if everything that was great about M.I.A. has been stripped from this music, leaving behind only the most alienating aspects of her art and public persona." [Pitchfork (Matthew Perpetua) gave / \ / \ / \ Y / \ a 4.4]

M.I.A.'s next NYC show is on Governors Island.

M.I.A.'s last NYC show was at PS1 last night, Sunday, July 11th, sort of. As previously mentioned, she was only scheduled to play a very short set, and as you can see by her tweet above, that set was cut even shorter (by actors pretending to be cops. just kidding! well, you never know).

M.I.A.'s last show that was longer than 5 minutes was her semi-surprise appearance at the June 26th Creators Project event. A full set of pictures from that show (pot leaf glasses and all), below...

Continue reading "Pitchfork trashes new M.I.A. album, cops break up release party @ PS1 +++ here are those Creators Project pics"

words by Andrew Frisicano, photos by Ryan Barkan

Mark Ronson & MNDR @ Milk Studios

The show spaces were predictably cozy and cramped, and USA lost their World Cup match again Ghana, but besides those qualms, not many bad things can be said about the Vice/Intel Creators Project event on Saturday (6/26). Interpol played their first hometown set since unveiling their new lineup earlier in the week, and M.I.A., the night's secret guest, put on a singularly ridiculous, entertaining show, albeit in the crowded, low-ceilinged second floor space. Even the un-affiliated soccer game screened amicably on a huge projector before the music started. If there was one caveat, it was that not that many people, relatively, got in to enjoy the art and music presented. Then again, that's one reason the labyrinthine network of art installations and stages was so surprisingly bearable and easy to navigate.

The same second floor stage that filled up for M.I.A. was also packed to capacity for Sleigh Bells. How much you enjoyed either's set depended a great deal on where you stood (and how early you got there). Cramped in the back, Sleigh Bells sounded pitchy and uneven - but jostled up in the front, the spectacle and body-shaking bass of Die Antwoord were entirely enjoyable. It also depended on your affinity for personal space, which was in short supply anywhere with a decent view of the stage.

And a view was pretty essential to enjoying the antics of the Antwoord crew and M.I.A.'s coterie of stage guests. Mia opened with caustic punk song "Born Free" (video below) a loud if not exactly melodious entrance choice. The stage-show continued the flashy political baiting of the "Born Free" video, which played behind the song. M.I.A. donned pot leaf goggles, rainbow hair and a hooded camo jacket, with a band who alternately wore glow-stick lined clothes and MIA-logoed burkas. Others on stage included a pair of dancers (one ginger-haired), Sleigh Bell's Alexis and Derek, and Ninjasonik. More new songs came, as did "World Town" and crowd-pleasing closer "Paper Planes."

Three of the night's other bands - The Rapture, Gang Gang Dance and Interpol - set up on the first floor studio's back loading dock, which was open to 14th street and the adjacent High Line Park. Gang Gang Dance sounded dependably sturdy in the cavernous garage. Interpol played an 11-song set with four new songs (including the slow-building "Lights") - tight and together, and ready for bigger arenas. The stage was open on three sides, so even without a spot in the front of the stage you didn't get locked out.

I didn't see much on the first floor lounge - Salem took a while to set up and I skipped them to catch Interpol. Neon Indian played the downstairs too, where DJs spun throughout the day. The eighth floor of the building was also part of the show (as was the penthouse/roof VIP-area above it). On eight, there was a screening room where Spike Jonze's I'm Here, a surrealist robot drama, played among other things, as well as installations like Nick Zinner's gothy, minimal photo and ambient-score room.

After M.I.A. I went to downstairs to find Mark Ronson DJing in the first floor gallery. MNDR was on stage with him singing her song "Fade to Black". She also reportedly performed Ronson's new single "Bang Bang Bang" before I got there. NME also says...

"Phantom Planet's Alex Greenwald [sang] the Ronson-tweaked version of Radiohead's 'Just' while executing an impressive crowd-surf.

Ex-[Pipettes] singer Rose Elinor Dougall took to the stage for two new 'Record Collection' tracks, 'Hey Boy' and 'You Gave Me Nothing' - the latter a song co-written by Jonathan Pierce of The Drums. Ronson ended the night with the first public airing of 'Somebody To Love Me', which features vocals from Boy George.

Ryan's Die Antwoord pictures were already posted (as were Ben's of Interpol). The rest of Ryan's pictures, and some videos, below...

Continue reading "a take on the Creators Project event @ Milk Studios - pics & video of Mark Ronson, MIA, MNDR, Rapture & more included"

Saturday's event will be streaming online. That includes the performances by Sleigh Bells, Die Antwoord and the secret guest, who, if you didn't figure it out already, is M.I.A.. UPDATE: the event will be streaming, but not the performances, just the exhibits.

Tickets are also on sale for MIA/Sleigh Bells/Die Antwoord at Governors Island.

Neon Indian also plays Creators Project, also has a show coming up at Governors Island, and is today's "creator".

interview by Billy Jones, top photo by Ryan Muir

DOWNLOAD: DOM - Jesus (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: DOM - Living In America (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: DOM - Burn Bridges (MP3)

Dom, pictured above playing at a party inside Pitchfork's Brooklyn offices on Tuesday night, are in town to play two Northside Festival shows. The first happens tonight, Thursday, June 24th, at the Knitting Factory. Dom opens for Cloud Nothings and WAVVES. That show is sold out. After that it's Saturday night at Music Hall of Williamsburg aka the BrooklynVegan showcase with Zaza, Twin Sister, and Memory Tapes. That one still has tickets available. Both shows are also accessible with a Northside Festival badge (first come, first served, capacity permitting, etc).

It's been an exciting few months for Dom whose next scheduled NYC show after Northside is the 2010 Siren Festival. Their most recent show before Northside was "Fader Bowl".

Billy Jones (you may have read his recent interview with Dave Sitek) caught up with Dom (the person) via gchat on Wednesday. They talked about Dom (the group), the Pitchfork party, Cults, gingers (they both are), Total Slacker, salvia, Party Expo, merch and more...

---

Billy: sup man
Dom: nothing much. chillin.

Billy: i am ginger
Dom: sick! u kno we are less than 10 percent population

Billy: have you seen the M.I.A. video?
Dom: yes i have

Billy: how do you feel about mia? i am left handed and ginger. fucked.
Dom: i love mia. yeah i wasnt really moved one way or another by the vid. great concept, butttt, i could have done it better

continued below...

Continue reading "an interview w/ Dom (about MIA, gingers, drugs, Pitchfork's Brooklyn office party, the Northside Fest & stuff) "

Editors' Note: June 3, 2010

The cover article in The Times Magazine on Sunday profiled the singer and political activist M.I.A. While discussing her efforts to draw attention to the civil war in her home country, Sri Lanka, she was quoted as saying: "I wasn't trying to be like Bono. He's not from Africa -- I'm from there. I'm tired of pop stars who say, 'Give peace a chance.' I'd rather say, 'Give war a chance.' The whole point of going to the Grammys was to say, 'Hey, 50,000 people are gonna die next month, and here's your opportunity to help.' And no one did."

While M.I.A. did make those remarks, she did not make the entire statement at the same point in the interview, or in the order in which it was presented.

The part that begins, "The whole point of going to the Grammys," up to the end of the quotation, actually came first. The part that begins, "I wasn't trying to be like Bono," and ends, "Give war a chance," came later in the same interview. The article should have made clear that the two quotations came from different parts of the interview. [NY Times] (via)

DOWNLOAD: M.I.A. - Haters (MP3)

'Maya' cover art

The most combustive song on M.I.A.'s third album isn't loud or chaotic. Built on a mildly ominous, off-kilter beat -- plus an incessant shoosh like a bag of coins being shaken -- it bloops along with the grace of a janky PopCap game. But the sneakily titled "Lovealot" is perhaps the riskiest gambit yet from the 32-year-old artist born Maya Arulpragasam.

"Lovealot" alludes in part to the iconic, viral photo of a pistol-wielding Russian/Islamic couple -- the husband, a terrorist leader killed last year by police, and the wife, a teenager who tried to avenge his death by suicide-bombing the Moscow subway (at one point the song was titled "A/bdurakh/man/ova," after the girl's surname). Merely 20 seconds in, M.I.A. spits, suddenly, "Like a Taliban trucker eatin' boiled-up yucca / Get my eyes done like I'm in the burka," and then, "Like a hand-me-down sucker throwin' bombs out at Mecca," and on and on. What's more, when she purrs the line, "I really love a lot," she stretches the last two words so they sound like "I really love Allah." [Spin's review of 'Maya']

For the past week or so, as you probably heard, M.I.A., like Courtney Love before her, has been "feuding" with NYTimes' writer Lynn Hirschberg (a "ginger") over a not-so-favorable but not-SO-bad-either profile (cover story) on the singer in the NYT Sunday Magazine (a key part of which aims, successfully or not, at M.I.A.'s "terrorist" cred/claims). It all started when M.I.A. tweeted Lynn's phone number after the article was posted on NYTimes.com. The most recent development is a song (above) posted on the NEET Records blog, accompanied by unedited parts of the interview (part of which concerns truffle fries) (how M.I.A. got audio of her own interview is unclear).

M.I.A.'s shows this summer include the headlining slot at NYC's HARD Fest at Governors Island on July 24th. Her album's tracklist is below...

Continue reading "the whole annoying M.I.A./NY Times thing + new cover art"

MIA @ Gotham Hall - 5/19/2010 (jaymesue84)

"FOR decades, the upfront week in mid-May -- devoted to previewing the coming television season for advertisers -- was reserved for the big broadcast networks. Recently, however, the cable channels, emboldened by gains in ratings and advertising revenue, started sneaking onto the schedule.... Among the other events planned this week by cable channels are a party with a "Jersey Shore" theme, from MTV, part of the MTV Networks unit of Viacom; a party sponsored by the Adult Swim programming block on Cartoon Network, part of the Turner Entertainment Networks unit of Time Warner; and presentations by two Turner channels, TBS and TNT." [NY Times]

M.I.A.'s upcoming shows include ACL and Governors Island.

M.I.A.'s new album "/ \ / \ / \ Y / \" will be out July 13th via N.E.E.T./Interscope/XL. The first single can be bought at iTunes and streamed below...

Continue reading "M.I.A. played an Adult Swim Upfront party @ Gotham Hall "

ACL 2008 (more by Kyle Dean Reinford)

October 8-10, 2010 | Zilker Park, Austin, TX

"The Austin City Limits Music Festival began as a modest, two-day event and now, as it enters it's 9th year, has become a perennial American music experience. Taking place at the heart of Austin, Texas in the legendary Zilker Park, ACL Festival has grown to 3 days, 8 stages and over 130 bands."

Continue reading "Austin City Limits announces 2010 festival lineup (Eagles, Muse, Phish, Strokes, MIA, LCD, Spoon, Gayngs, more) "

Sleigh Bells & M.I.A. (I think) @ Coco66 on 5/7 (actually 5/8) (Seva Granik)

As if the hype wasn't through the roof enough, M.I.A. helped popularize the act her label co-signed (is that the right term?) a little bit more this evening by joining Sleigh Bells on stage at the end of their show at Coco66. The show's promoter Seva Granik writes, "MIA closes Sleigh Bells' set on "Ring Ring." Crowd go nut. Ima get another drank."

In unrelated news, David Byrne was seen checking out Local Natives cover a Talking Heads song at Bowery Ballroom earlier the same night, and Emily Haines joined Broken Social Scene for three songs at Webster Hall. More on those later.

For prettier pictures of Sleigh Bells, check out the set from their show at Webster Hall earlier in the week. Sleigh Bells play another NYC show on May 11th. M.I.A. and Sleigh Bells officially share a bill this summer on Governors Island.

"Damn, I love Die Antwoord. It's like we've taken all the Disney Princesses at Stereotypes R Us, pulled off their wigs, forced their little legs together, and rammed them down the throats of the American purveyors of pop culture dreck, the soulless marketers who make millions every year by selling ersatz imperial myths to the rest of the world.

Okay, perhaps Die Antwoord aren't achieving quite that level of utter cultural domination, but allow me our little victories. The sight of Americans taking Yo-Landi and Ninja seriously is so delicious, I can almost forgive some of the excesses of the music. There's a 20 minute interview with Die Antwoord on Boing Boing, around their debut at the Coachella music festival in California, and it's a marvellous exercise in satire." [CHRIS ROPER | JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA]

Continue reading "Die Antwoord are playing NYC w/ M.I.A. (and others) "

M.I.A. @ Outside Lands 2009 (more by Chris Graham)

MIA's new record has a release date (June 29th), and she has summer shows coming up in L.A., Europe and New York (where she'll play Governors Island on July 24th).

Now she's released an official video for her new song "Born Free." The ultra-violent short, directed by Romain Gavras, isn't exactly SFW. Check it out below...

Continue reading "new violent M.I.A. video for 'Born Free'"

M.I.A.'s new album will be released on June 29. M.I.A.'s label N.E.E.T. has signed Jaime Martinez who makes gifs...

Continue reading "MIA announces album release date, makes trippy animations"

photos by P. Nick Curran

"The worst group in history just finished on stage at the Fader Fort, Sleigh Bells." - Daniel Berkal

"Sleigh Bells just blew the doors off the Fader Fort" - Enthusiastic Amateur

"M.I.A.-anointed Sleigh Bells closed the showcase with their bombastic drum-and-bass combination, a live show that's growing leaner, tighter and stronger, like a prizefighter before a big payday. Alexis Krauss, Sleigh Bells' frontwoman, is just soaked in superstar potential. She screams, coos, pumps her fist, snaps her head back in the "sexy-lady-moshing" style Sophie described earlier this week. Though the band is just Krauss and guitarist Derek Miller, they sound massive on songs like "A/B Machines," "Crown on the Ground" and "Infinity Guitars." With cred in tow, Sleigh Bells' spring release should be one of the year's most anticipated records." [Time Out]

I previously posted that "M.I.A. is playing NYC & LA Hard Fests & Oya (lineup), co-releasing the new Sleigh Bells". An update to that is that Sleigh Bells are opening the NYC show which is taking place at South Island Field @ Governors Island on Saturday, 7/24, 5pm. Blaqstarr, 12th Planet, Destructo, Nguzunguzu, Borgore & more" are also on the "Hard" bill. "$40 Pre-Sale Tickets / $45 Limited Advance Tickets / $55 Advance & Day of Show Tickets + $5 Round Trip Ferry Fee for all tickets". On Sale Fri 3/26 at 12:00PM. More pictures from Fader, and a video, below....

Continue reading "Sleigh Bells played SXSW (pics), opening for M.I.A. at Governors Island (tickets & more lineup info announced)"

M.I.A. @ Outside Lands 2009 (more by Chris Graham)

M.I.A. will be playing "HARD Fest" shows in L.A. and NYC this July - her first scheduled US shows for 2010. The L.A. date is July 17th at the Los Angeles State Historic Park. NYC's is July 24th.

Tickets for L.A. go on sale Friday, March 26th. NYC ticket info TBA.

M.I.A. has a new record due this year (possibly in June). Her Neet Recordings will be putting out Treats, the debut record from Sleigh Bells (who play SXSW and have plenty of other shows coming up), in conjunction with (as previously mentioned) Mom + Pop Records on May 11th. Neet has also signed Blaqstarr.

M.I.A's other shows include Øya Festival in Oslo on August 10th-14th, and Underage Festival in London on August 1st.

A flyer for the L.A. show, the current Oya lineup, and a teaser video for an M.I.A. song called "THERES SPACE FOR OL DAT I SEE" is posted below...

Continue reading "M.I.A. playing NYC & LA Hard Fests & Oya (lineup), co-releasing the new Sleigh Bells"

The Drums @ Brooklyn Bowl in August (more by Oren Loloi)

tonight in NYC
* Findlay Brown @ Joe's Pub
* FONT Fest @ Abrons Arts Center
* Marianne Faithfull @ The Allen Room
* Hannah Marcus and Friends @ The Stone
* Movits!, The Beatards @ Mercury Lounge
* Still Life Still, Hypernova @ Mercury Lounge
* Mannequin Men (DJ) @ Knitting Factory Brooklyn
* Trouble & Bass, Uproot Andy, NinjaSonik @ Studio at Webster Hall
* The Drums, Surfer Blood, The Depreciation Guild @ Bowery Ballroom
* Kristeen Young, Secret History, Mahogany, Home Video @ The Bell House
* Lizz King, GDFX, Thick Business, Kate Ferencz, The Dreebs @ Death By Audio
* Gregory & The Hawk, Field Mouse, Hailey Wojcik, Toby Goodshank @ Cake Shop
* Outernational, Inlets, Lagoon, No Place, Chris Stelling, Controlled Storms @ Glasslands
* Right on Dynamite, Money Paper Hearts, The Yes Way, The Vanguard, Aviation Orange @ Santos Party House

Marianne Faithfull kicks off Lincoln Center's American Songbook series at The Allen Room.

The Drums play their first show in a while with Surfer Blood and The Depreciation Guild at Bowery Ballroom.

Surfer Blood have other shows coming up too.

Kings of Convenience announced a tour and two NYC shows are already on sale.

Yoko Ono and (lots of famous) friends are playing BAM with tickets on sale too.

Ringo Starr is playing a secret show. He'll be 70 in July and talked about it with USA Today.

Deceased have announced a tour.

The Thermals are touring.

As mentioned before, Pavement is rumored to be playing the Pitchfork Music Festival.

M.I.A. posted a new song/video. Below...

What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Wednesday?"

photos by Chris Graham

Happy Holidays! I take on more than I can handle. That results in a lot of unposted content. In the name of catching up, while also taking it easy during this final week of the year, here's some of that lost material.

For what was the worst day weather-wise for San Francisco's Outide Lands Festival, its last day (Sunday, August 30th) may have been the best musically. Cold fog and wind took the place of cloudless, sunny skies, but those who attended witnessed sets by Modest Mouse, the Dead Weather, the Avett Brothers, Band of Horses, Calexico, Matt & Kim , and soul legends Robert Randolph and Betty Layvette, and MIA, who complained via Twitter about the fest's substitution of Tenacious D for the Beastie Boys, then covered two Beasties songs, "Intergalactic" and "Sabatage, in her set.

Scrambling to find replacement headliners for the Beastie Boys was a common theme for festivals in summer '09, after the group was forced to cancel all dates when Adam Yauch was dianosed with cancer (he's since had sugery, and reports say that part of his health regiment is a vegan/organic diet). Beastie Boys' slot was filled by Jay-Z at All Points West and Yeah Yeah Yeahs at Lollapalooza

More pictures from Day Three below...

Continue reading "Outside Lands 2009 - Day 3 pics (Tenacious D, MIA, Ween, Modest Mouse, Band of Horses, Dead Weather, more)"

Prefuse 73 @ Terminal 5 in November 2008 (more by Zach Stern)

David Ellis is an artist born into a family immersed in music. His paintings are often recorded in a form of digital time-lapse animation he calls motion painting. Like jazz, these works provide Ellis with an opportunity to combine ideas with collaborators and work solo within a form that promotes improvisation and spontaneity.

Ellis often stages events when exhibiting his motion paintings, inviting musicians, performers, and sound artists to interpret the work live. His motion painting, Paint on Trucks in a World in Need of Love was exhibited at MoMA. Ellis further explores sound with kinetic installations that produce analogue sequences in rhythm. His latest work, often in collaboration with composer Roberto Lange, deconstructs the inner workings of player pianos to create sprawling sculptures that automatically play percussive rhythms with recycled typewriters, buckets, bottles and cans.

Not free, but also a party at (Le) Poisson Rouge, Buraka Som Sistema are back. Maluca and DJ Geko Jones open the show which takes place at the West Village venue TONIGHT (11/4) @ 11pm. Be prepared to stay out late.

All Buraka Som Sistema dates, a video of Ellis painting a piece and a song from Prefuse's latest LP, Everything She Touched Turned Ampexian, which came out earlier this year, and more below...

Continue reading "Buraka Som Sistema are back (dates) - show w/ Maluca @ LPR tonight ++ free Prefuse 73 & Mixhell art show Tuesday"

"CANT BELIEVE THEY REPLACED BEASTIES WITH TENACIOUS D ??????????????????????AND IF I PULL OUT THEY SUE! SO REALLY? TENACIOUS D AFTER ME? P.S I ORIGINALLY BOOKED ON SHOWS COZ BEASTIES WERE HEADLINERS , BUT NOW THEY AINT DOING IT AND I JUS WANNA SAY , WE HAVE TO GO HARD!!!" - M.I.A.

When Tenacious D was asked - eventually - to step in as the closing act for the Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival next Sunday after the Beastie Boys were forced to drop out at the last minute, the guys didn't hesitate. In their mind, the substitution seemed like a natural fit.

"I think there are more similarities than differences, really, when you put us together," announced Jack Black, who formed the folk-metal duo with his friend Kyle Gass long before he became a big-time Hollywood star. The band may not have been up to much since starring in the feature film "Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny" three years ago, but when we spoke to them last week they promised, "The D will be in fine form."

SF GATE: Who got the call when the Beastie Boys had to drop out?

Jack Black: I assume they just called our manager. We actually have the same manager as the Beastie Boys.

Neither M.I.A. nor Tenacious D will be viewable on the stream, but Built to Spill and The Dead Weather will be. Full lineup below...

Continue reading "Outside Lands Fest in SF this weekend, streaming on YouTube -- Tenacious D playing, M.I.A. not happy"

Built to Spill @ the 2009 Siren Music Festival (more by Tim Griffin)

"Over the past 17 years of touring, Built to Spill have become as famous for their cover songs as for any of their own material, having paid homage live to acts as diverse as M.I.A., David Bowie, the Talking Heads, Neil Young, Macy Gray, Modest Mouse, Ozzy Osbourne and on and on. The band is so fond of playing other people's songs that according frontman Doug Martsch, "when we play a cover it's the highlight of the evening for me every single night."

But as one would imagine for a band that has built such a reputation, BTS take the art of the cover song very seriously. "We're like a real cover band when we do covers -- we try to do it straight up for the most part," Martsch tells Spinner. "We don't make a joke out of it. We're trying to convey how great that song was in the first place."" [Spinner]

Continue reading "Built to Spill - cover songs & updated 2009 tour dates"

DOWNLOAD: Esau Mwamwaya and Radioclit - The Very Best Mixtape (ZIP)
DOWNLOAD: The Very Best - Warm Heart Of Africa (w/ Ezra Koenig) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Very Best - Warm Heart of Africa (Metronomy remix) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Very Best - Warm Heart of Africa (Architecture in Helsinki rmx) (MP3)

LPR photos by Kwesi Abbensetts, Supreme Trading photos by Ryan Muir

Esau Mwamwaya @ Le Poisson Rouge - July 18, 2009 (by Kwesi Abbensetts)

The Very Best (production duo Radioclit and Malawian singer Esau Mwamwaya) played a late-night show at (Le) Poisson Rouge on July 18th. They were joined by two backup dancers (one of which was on crutches!), and Ezra Koenig of Vampire Weekend for one song. He stopped by to contribute his part on "Warm Heart Of Africa." That track and two new remixes are posted above.

Ezra Koenig @ Le Poisson Rouge - July 18, 2009 (by Kwesi Abbensetts)

The Very Best's debut record, Warm Heart of Africa, is due to come out on Green Owl, the NYC-based record label that was founded by Benjamin Brewer (the father of M.I.A.'s child), on September 22nd (available digitally August 25). Ezra and M.I.A. both sing songs on it. That album is not to be confused with Esau Mwamwaya & Radioclit Are The Very Best which was the mixtape (that contains songs by Vampire Weekend and M.I.A.) they released for free in 2008. Grab that above.

On Saturday night (7/25) (exactly a week after the LPR show), Radioclit brought "their wild monthly London residency, SECOUSSE, to the States for an all out UK vs. BK battle of the riddims." And by "the states", they mean Supreme Trading (or the former Supreme Trading building at 213 N 8th St) in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Green Owl artist Janka Nabay was also on the bill.

"While many genres of African music have made the crossover to the west (Afrobeat, Highlife, etc), Sierra Leone's traditional Muslim street songs, or Bubu music, have not. The king of Bubu is Ahmed Janka Nabay, an amazing humanitarian musician whose life has been shaped by Sierra Leone's civil war." [Straw vs Gold]

Ahmed Janka @ Supreme Trading - July 25, 2009 (by Ryan Muir)

AND, it ends up that Saturday night's show at Supreme Trading was also a sort-of-secret Very Best show. Radioclit did DJ, but then performed with Esau too (no Ezra this time though). More pictures from both shows and the new album artwork, below...

Continue reading "The Very Best (new remixes) played LPR (w/ Ezra Koenig) & Supreme Trading (a secret show?) w/ Ahmed Janka - pics "

"STREET SCENE, one of the nation's longest running music festivals, will celebrate its 25th anniversary with two full days of music Friday, August 28 and Saturday, August 29. The Black Eyed Peas, M.I.A., Thievery Corporation, Modest Mouse, The Dead Weather and Cake are among the more than 35 acts that will bring the streets of downtown San Diego's East Village neighborhood alive with music and entertainment from 4:00 PM to midnight daily. The venue site will include Tailgate Park (adjacent to Petco Park) in the heart of East Village, incorporating 14th Street as the main thoroughfare and bordered by Imperial Avenue to J Street."

Continue reading "San Diego's Street Scene Festival announces 2009 lineup"

photos by Darren Kim

It's impossible to see everything at Coachella. Here's more of what one photographer saw...

Continue reading "Coachella 2009 - Day 2 in Pictures "