Maria Minerva

This Saturday (5/4), NYC's New Museum is presenting "New Museum Untapped: Music in the Park," a day of free music happening as part of the "IDEAS CITY StreetFest," which goes down from 11 AM to 6 PM, occupying more than a square block around the New Museum. The musical performances will take place on the basketball courts in Sara D. Roosevelt Park from noon to 4 PM. Artists playing include La Big Vic, Maria Minerva (whose new Bless EP is out now), Pearl Necklace, Erika Spring (of Au Revoir Simone), Lorna Dune, and Michael Alan.

Saturday night, Andrew WK will use his keyboard to control the lights on the outside of the New Museum.

Show flyer and a newish Maria Minerva demo below...

Continue reading "'New Museum Untapped' with Maria Minerva, Erika Spring & more Saturday (before Andrew WK does some magic)"

by Andrew Sacher

DOWNLOAD: Hervé - "Gold" (feat. Maria Minerva) (MP3)

Maria Minerva

Lo-fi pop artist Maria Minerva teamed up with LA dance four-piece Pharaohs for the track, "Miraculous Feet," off Pharaohs' debut full length, Replicant Moods, which is due out on April 20 via 100% Silk. Maria takes lead vocals which gives the track an overall feel more similar to her music than Pharaohs', but Pharaohs' Chic-style bassline and post-punk drums make the song beefier and dancier than most of Maria's work. You can stream that track below.

As mentioned, Maria Minerva and Pharaohs are teaming up for a NYC show this Saturday (3/2) at 285 Kent with Octo Octa and Magic Touch (8 PM doors, $10 admission), but Pharaohs will be landing in NYC even sooner to play Cameo on Thursday (2/28) with Jonas Reinhardt, SHAMS, and a DJ set from Suzanne Kraft. Advance tickets for the Cameo show are on sale now. Both Maria Minerva and Pharaohs will also be in Austin this March for SXSW.

Maria Minerva also has a new release of her own on the way; the Bless EP, which will be out on April 2 via Not Not Fun. The EP's first single, "Black Magick," continues in the vein of her Will Happiness Find Me? album, and you can watch the video for that track below. Maria will play a release show for that EP in NYC on April 18 at Cameo Gallery with Butterclock (more on her in a minute). Tickets for that show are on sale now.

In addition to her own EP and collaborating with Pharaohs, Maria also contributed vocals to "Gold," the new single off UK producer Hervé (aka Joshua Harvey)'s new album, The Art of Disappearing, which comes out on March 4 via Cheap Thrills. Maria's airy vocals and Hervé's downtempo rhythms work great together and you can hear the collaboration by downloading the track above or watching its video, below. That album also features a killer collaboration with Austra (who are playing BrooklynVegan SXSW shows) on the track "Save Me," which you can stream below as well. Other collaborators on the album are Niki & the Dove and Seasfire.

Butterclock

As mentioned above, support at Maria Minerva's EP release from comes from oOoOO collaborator Butterclock (aka Laura Clock), who released her debut EP, First Prom, earlier this month. A limited CD pressing of the EP is available at the Fantasy Music webstore. Butterclock also has some European shows coming up, which are listed below, and more US dates will be announced soon. The video for "Don't" off her EP is below.

oOoOO also has some dates of his own coming up, including one in NYC which happens on May 23 at Glasslands. Tickets for that show are on sale now.

All dates are listed, along with all mentioned song streams and videos, below...

Continue reading "Maria Minerva readies new EP, adds NYC show w/ Butterclock +++ related news on Pharaohs, oOoOO & Hervé"

Frightened Rabbit @ T5, Nov. 2010 (more by Lionel Bergeron)

SXSW has just announced another round of bands for the 2013 edition of the annual music festival that will happen March 12 - 17. This brings the total current number of acts to around 1300. Someome of the highlights include Vampire Weekend, Frightened Rabbit, The Thermals, Black Lips, Camera Obscura, Merchandise, Bleached, Mr. Muthafuckin' eXquire, Eagles of Death Metal, Parenthetical Girls, Indians, Night Beds, IO Echo, KEN Mode, Prince Paul, Pure Bathing Culture, Sepalcure, UK motorik post-punks TOY, Finnish instrumentalists K-X-P, Toronto's Moon King, UK indie rockers Splashh (not Brooklyn Splash with one "h") and loads more. Head to BV Austin for the whole Round 3 list.

(photo by Marko Krunic)

Maria Minerva capped off 2012 with her collaborative LP with LA Vampires, The Integration, which came out about two months after her solo album, Will Happiness Find Me?. If you haven't heard the album, you can stream the entire thing below via spotify or purchase it on iTunes. Maria also recently revealed a remix of the album's single, "Seasons Change," which was done by Sapphire Slows. You can hear that remix and watch the video for the original below too.

Maria Minerva was just added to the recently announced Octo Octa (her 100% Silk/Not Not Fun labelmate) show in NYC, which happens on March 2 at 285 Kent with Magic Touch and Pharaohs. No advance tickets for that one at the moment. Admission is $10 at the door. It's Maria's only announced North American date that we're currently aware of.

Song streams and video below...

Continue reading "Maria Minerva remixed by Sapphire Slows, added to Octo Octa show at 285 Kent (stream)"

by Andrew Sacher

Maria Minerva & LA Vampires - The Integration

As mentioned, warped pop singer Maria Minerva is releasing a collaborative album with Not Not Fun/100% Silk label head LA Vampires (aka Amanda Brown, formerly of Pocahaunted) called The Integration. The album will be out digitally and on vinyl on October 30 and it comes out on CD on November 13. GvsB just premiered the video for the album's single, "Seasons Change," which you can watch below. That's the cover art above and the tracklist is below.

Maria Minerva is playing a number of CMJ shows this week (maybe you saw her at the Panache showcase at Public Assembly on Wednesday or at Trip House or Le Poisson Rouge last night?) and you still have some chances to see her. She plays the Ad Hoc unofficial showcase at 285 Kent tonight (10/19) with Solar Year, Prince Rama, Le1f, Physical Therapy, Mykki Blanco, and Pictureplane (DJ). I just caught Prince Rama, Mykki Blanco, and Pictureplane (though it was live a set) at the Terrorbird party at Cake Shop on Wednesday and they were all great, plus Maria Minerva doesn't disappoint in a live setting, so that showcase is looking like a pretty solid show. $8 at the door.

Maria plays the 285 Kent show at 9 PM and after that she'll head to Delancey for a 12:30 AM set at the Underwater Peoples showcase with La Big Vic, Future Shuttle, Ian Drennan, and Limited. $5 at the door.

Then, as mentioned, Maria will play the Life or Death showcase at 92YTribeca on Saturday (10/20) with Kilo Kish, Sky Ferreira, Mac DeMarco, DIIV, Twerps, Starred, Dogbite, Slug Guts, and Jozef Van Wissem. $10 at the door, or you can try to get in with your CMJ badge.

A list of all dates, that video, and the album tracklist are below.

Continue reading "Maria Minerva has a new video from her collaborative LP w/ LA Vampires, playing CMJ shows"

DIIV at River Rocks, August 2012 (more by Amanda Hatfield)

DIIV already revealed they'll be headlining the Captured Tracks CMJ show at Music Hall of Williamsburg on Thursday (10/18) and will also play the KEXP CMJ day show at Union Square Ballroom on Thursday and also at Fader Fort (RSVP) that same day too, not to mention the Pitchfork party on Friday (10/19).

The band will also be the secret guest at the Life or Death PR CMJ show Saturday night (10/20) at 92YTribeca that also includes Twerps, Slug Guts, Mac DeMarco and more (though no 2nd secret guest as originally announced). $10 at the door, or get in with your CMJ badge. More info here.

Full line-up for the 92YTribeca show, set times and the flyer, and DIIV tour dates, below...

Continue reading "DIIV revealed as secret guest at another CMJ show (updated dates & Life or Death showcase set times)"

Jozef Van Wissem & Jim Jarmusch

As mentioned, Jozef Van Wissem and Jim Jarmusch are releasing their second album of 2012, The Mystery of Heaven, on November 13 via Sacred Bones. We've already posted the video for "The Sun of the Natural World is Pure Fire," off of that album, and the duo have since revealed a stream of another track, "Etimasia." You can listen to that below.

Jozef Van Wissem has some solo shows scheduled, including the previously mentioned show at Issue Project Room TONIGHT (10/4) with guitar great Loren Connors and Clint Heidorn. At that show, Loren will be performing duets with both Jozef and Clint.

Jozef also plays the Life or Death CMJ showcase at 92YTribeca on October 20 with Twerps, Mac DeMarco, Prince Rama, Slug Guts, Maria Minerva, Sky Ferreira, DJs Poolside and Disco Phantom and special surprise guests. Tickets for that show are on sale now or you can try to get in with your CMJ badge.

About a month after CMJ, Jozef and Jim will team up for a show in NYC at Le Poisson Rouge on November 27 with Marissa Nadler. Tickets for that show are on sale now. It's the only announced date for Marissa Nadler at the moment.

A list of all dates, video, and song stream below.

Continue reading "Jozef Van Wissem & Jim Jarmusch playing show in NYC (plus Jozef solo dates & song stream)"

Thom Yorke at The Wooly - 9/7/12 (via non_equivalents)

Thom Yorke came to NYC over the weekend and DJed a Fashion Week party for Rag & Bone (whose co-designer Marcus Wainwright is a friend of Thom's) at The Wooly on Friday (9/7). A picture of Thom during his set at the Belvedere Vodka-sponsored party is above. Aziz Ansari was in attendance too.

Thom also, as discussed many times, did an Atoms for Peace DJ set for the final installment of this summer's Warm Up at MoMA PS1 with AFP bandmate and Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich. Atoms for Peace just announced that their new album will come out next year, and to open their set, Thom and Nigel performed three new tracks that will presumably end up on that album with Thom singing live. You can watch videos of two of those new songs, and listen to audio of the third below. After the short unexpected live performance, Thom returned to the boards for the remainder of the show and spun a variety of tunes (everything from Talking Heads to Azealia Banks).

Thom Yorke & Nigel @ MoMA PS1 - 9/8/12 (via rebeccataylorny)

The rest of the lineup at Warm Up was great too. Despite a crazy storm, the show went on, opening with a set by Justin Strauss. Then Maria Minerva, who also did a Fashion Week show, just released new album, Will Happiness Find Me (stream it), and who now lives in Brooklyn (after moving from Estonia to London), played a live set. You can catch her in NYC again at Glasslands on Friday (9/14) with Father Finger and Octo Octa (tickets).

Up next was Holy Other, finally making his NYC debut, after having to cancel shows last summer due to illness. The elusive producer, who in a recent interview with Stereogum said he was "going to feel naked" performing outdoors during the day, played material off his excellent recently released debut LP, Held, and 2011's With U EP as well. A video from his set is below. The MoMA PS1 show fell in the middle of his tour with Amon Tobin, which hits the NYC area on Thursday (9/13) at Wellmont Theatre (tickets) and Friday (9/14) at Hammerstein Ballroom (tickets).

Before Thom Yorke and Nigel Godrich finally took the stage, we were graced with one more set, this time by Scottish producer Rustie, who played Webster Hall with Flosstradamus and Brenmar the night before (9/7). He dropped bass heavy tunes that got the crowd going pretty wild. A couple videos from his Webster Hall show are below (unfortunately, the sound cuts out about halfway through).

Check out all those videos below...

Continue reading "Thom Yorke DJed for fashion, sang new Atoms for Peace songs @ MoMA PS1; Rustie, Holy Other, Maria Minerva played too"

London-via-Estonia psychedelic pop singer Maria Minerva is planning to release her new album, Will Happiness Find Me?, on August 1 September 4 via Not Not Fun. The album follows her excellent 2011 EP, Sacred & Profane Love, which came out on NNF sister label 100% Silk. The album was recorded in Lisbon, finished in London, and mastered in Berlin. She's also got a collaborative album with NNF/100% Silk label boss LA Vampires (aka Amanda Brown) called The Integration, which is due this October.

Maria will be touring New Zealand/Australia in August, and after that she'll be heading to the US for a tour here. That tour hasn't been announced in full yet, but we already know she'll play Warm Up at MoMA PS1 on September 8 with Thom Yorke/Atoms for Peace (DJ set), Holy Other, Rustie, and Justin Strauss. Tickets for that show are still available.

While she's in NYC, she'll return to Glasslands (where she made her US live debut back in April) for a show on September 14 at the Brooklyn venue. Tickets for that show are on sale now.

A list of all currently known dates and a stream of Sacred & Profane Love's "Gloria" below...

Continue reading "Maria Minerva releasing new solo LP, collaborative LP w/ LA Vampires, touring, playing Glasslands after Warm Up (dates)"

by Andrew Sacher

Manchester producer Holy Other released one of the finest EPs of 2011 with the With U EP, and he just announced that he'll follow it with his debut full length this year, which is titled Held. The album's out August 28 via Tri Angle, who also released his EP. The first taste is a new track titled "Love Some1" which is rooted in the same type of Burialesque bass, snaps, and pitch shifted vocals that made his EP so great, and this track is no exception. Stream it below, along with the album's tracklist.

Holy Other was supposed to make his way over to the states last year but had to cancel due to illness and never ended up doing so. Now he's once again got plans to head over to our side of the Atlantic, and assuming all goes well, he'll make his US live debut at PS1's Warm Up on September 8. That one's the final show of the series and it's got an especially stacked lineup with Thom Yorke's Atmos for Peace (DJ), Rustie (who we've written about HERE), Maria Minerva (who we've written about HERE and HERE) and Justin Strauss. Tickets for Warm Up go on sale June 18.

All dates are listed below along with the song stream and album tracklist...

Continue reading "Holy Other releasing debut LP (stream a track), playing shows"

Warm Up 2011 at MoMA PS1 (more by Erez Avissar)

The Warm Up summer concert series is returning to MoMA PS1 this summer for another run of dance parties from forward thinking electronic musicians every Saturday from July 7 through September 8 in PS1's outdoor courtyard. For the first time, advance tickets for Warm Up will be available this year. They go on sale June 18.

The 2012 schedule includes Thom Yorke's Atoms for Peace (DJ), Jamie xx, Danny Brown, Just Blaze, Maria Minerva, Shlohmo, Evian Christ, Howse, Nguzunguzu, Baio, Holy Other, Rustie, Matthew Dear (DJ), Lemonade, Slava, TRUST, Light Asylum, Sepalcure, Floating Points, Jacques Greene and many more.

More info and the full schedule below...

Continue reading "PS1's 2012 'Warm Up' lineup announced (Thom Yorke, Jamie xx, Danny Brown, Maria Minerva, Evian Christ, Trust & more)"

photos by Greg Cristman

"On Saturday night the festival presented a commission: "Trinity," a collaboration by Lustmord, from Los Angeles, and Biosphere, from Norway. The West Park Presbyterian Church had been turned into a surround-sound environment.

Trinity was the name of the first test of the atomic bomb, in New Mexico, and the images on the video screen at the church were black-and-white film of desert landscapes, 1940s bomb technology and eventually the detonation. Lustmord and Biosphere are kindred spirits, masters of ominous ambience: enveloping, murky, ultra-slow-motion music. "Trinity" filled the room with tectonic rumbles and gradual whooshes, with tolling crashes followed by silences, with air-raid sirens, with claustrophobically thick cluster chords that were sometimes electronic and sometimes orchestral -- part Penderecki, part "A Day in the Life" -- and with spoken words from the era, wondering, "What have we done?" They embraced technology to question where technology can lead. -[NY Times]

The Lustmord/Biosphere collaboration at West Park Presbyterian Church on Saturday (4/21) also featured a supporting slot from Jacaszek. More pictures and a video from that show, below...

Continue reading "Lustmord & Biosphere collaborated in a church (pics/video)"

by Andrew Sacher

London-via-Estonia's Maria Minerva made her US live debut at Glasslands last night (4/22) as part of the Unsound Fest closing party. The stage was lit up by an original video montage which included clips of highway driving, old music videos, and tropical storms as Maria performed solo with her laptop/samplers/keyboard and an effected vocal mic which soaked her voice in reverb and delay. Though Maria is a producer and had the stage setup of one, she opted for more of a pop performance, spending most of the time away from the boards and focusing on her voice which rotated between speak-singing and a floaty falsetto. And while visuals for some electronic artists have become "what you watch" at their shows, for Maria they only added to her own performance, which included dancing on stage, standing on chairs, and charismatic gestures.

Like Neon Indian or Toro y Moi, Maria Minerva is looking back on nostalgic pop music through a psychedelic lens. She creates dense, hypnotic atmospheres in virtually all of her music, yet seeing her perform it in front of clips that hearken back to the days where MTV actually played music videos, it's hard not to wonder how many cues she takes from those groups that were on MTV. This isn't a totally foreign concept--Grimes and Zola Jesus have achieved similar feats--but Maria does it really well and there's something very pleasing about music that can be perceived as intelligent while hitting the spot filled by pop. In addition to those nostalgic pop video moments and the samples in her songs, she's quite referential. Because of the effects on her voice, it wasn't always too discernible, but when it cut through I could make out some other allusions to pop culture. The most notable one came when she nicked The Kinks' lyrics on her final song of the night by repeating, "Boy, you really got me going/you got me so I don't know what I'm doing/yeah, you really got me now/you got me so I can't sleep at night," to her own rhythms and melodies.

a Sun Araw vs Heat Wave DJ set, along with Napszyklat and DJ Elton John, opened the night. Watch some Maria Minerva videos below...

Continue reading "Maria Minerva helped close out Unsound Fest @ Glasslands"

Sun Araw Band at BV SXSW (more by Amanda Hatfield)

Heat Wave, who is in NYC this week for the Unsound Festival for which he will participate in a 'Sun Araw vs Heat Wave' DJ set at Glasslands on Sunday (4/22) with Maria Minerva, is playing his first ever Brooklyn show TONIGHT (4/18) at 285 Kent with OHBLIV, Pilgrim (not to be confused with the metal band), and North American, with DJ sets by Zona, Bessed Of, and Witch Doctor.

Of the Glasslands show, Unsound writes, "Especially for the Unsound closing party, Sun Araw will perfrorm a DJ set with close associate and guitarist Alex Gray, who jams with Sun Araw in his band, and is also in Heat Wave and Deep Magic." Tiny Mix Tapes clarifies and says "Heat Wave [is] a project started in late 2010 by L.A.-based Alex Gray (Deep Magic, Sun Araw, Olympus Mons, Earthsurfers)."

More info on the 285 Kent show is below, along with a stream of a Sun Araw vs Heat Wave mix.

Continue reading "Heat Wave plays 285 Kent (tonight) before Unsound DJ set w/ Sun Araw (and Maria Minerva)"

by Andrew Sacher

Julia Holter at LPR last week (more by Amanda Hatfield)

Unsound Fest, which goes down from April 18 - 22 across multiple NYC venues, has announced its schedule for 2012. The schedule is listed in full below, and here are some of its highlights:

Julia Holter, who has been making a ton of buzz lately with her excellent new album, Ekstasis, and her NYC live debut, which you can now watch in full at NPR, will be playing the first day of the fest on Wednesday, April 18 at Issue Project Room with Julia Kent and Jenny Hval.

On Thursday, April 19, psych/dub duo Peaking Lights and LXMP will play a free show at David Rubenstein Atrium at Lincoln Center at 7:30 PM. That show will be followed by live sets by Actress, Next Life, and Hype Williams at Le Poisson Rouge at 11 PM.

Friday's (April 20) shows include Sun Araw, pole, and Inner Tube at Le Poisson Rouge at 6 PM and live sets by Laurel Halo, Ital, Demdike Stare, Hieroglyphic Being, Zemi17 and Monolake at Warsaw at 10 PM.

On Saturday, April 21, Biosphere and Lustmord's special TRINITY piece will be performed at West Park Presbyterian Church at 7 PM with an opening set by Jacaszek. After that show, at a venue TBA we'll get Sepalcure (live A/V set), Nguzunguzu (DJ), 2562 (DJ), Teeth (live), Throwing Snow (DJ), DaveQ (DJ), and Distal (DJ).

The festival wraps up on Sunday, April 22 with mostly Unsound LABS, including a talk with Biosphere & Lustmord on 'TRINITY' at the Goethe-Institut Wyoming Building at 4 PM. Glasslands will then hosting the Unsound Festival closing party at 9 PM with live sets by Napszyklat and Maria Minerva (who will be making her US debut) and DJ sets by Sun Araw vs Heat Wave and Eltron John.

Ticket info for all of the paid shows is available.

Full schedule including Unsound LABS below...

Continue reading "Unsound Fest posts schedule; tickets on sale"

by Andrew Sacher

DOWNLOAD: Maria Minerva - "Gloria" (MP3)

Maria Minerva

Last month, we announced that the Unsound Festival is returning to NYC on April 18 - 22 across various venues including BAMcinématek, The Bunker, Lincoln Center, ISSUE Project Room and Le Poisson Rouge. We also since mentioned the related Kickstarter campaign for UNSOUND LABS.

Now, a lot of really exciting additions have been made to the lineup, including Julia Holter (who makes her NYC debut at LPR on 3/6), Maria Minerva, Peaking Lights, Sepalcure, Nguzunguzu (who recently announced a tour), Laurel Halo, 2562, Inner Tube (aka Mark McGuire of Emeralds and Spencer Clark), and many more. The full current lineup is listed below. More details coming soon.

One of the most interesting additions to this year's Unsound lineup is Estonia's Maria Minerva (aka Maria Juur), who will be making her NYC/US debut at the festival. According to her facebook, she'll be "doing two things at the festival, more info soon." Maria first caught my attention with her first official LP, Cabaret Cixous, which dropped last year on Not Not Fun. The album showed a tasteful knack for ambient/experimental pop but left me admittedly feeling like she still had plenty of room left to grow. A few months later, she dropped the Sacred & Profane Love EP on NNF's sister label, 100% Silk, and it was exactly what Cabaret Cixous was yearning for. The most impressive moment on the EP (and her best song yet) is the track, "Gloria," which you can download above or stream below. Fans of Grimes, Julianna Barwick, or fellow Unsound performers Julia Holter and Laurel Halo, take note.

Lineup, song stream, and all Maria Minerva dates below...

Continue reading "Unsound Fest announces Maria Minerva, other lineup additions"

by Andrew Sacher

DOWNLOAD: Keep Shelly in Athens - "Hauntin' Me" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Keep Shelly in Athens - "Running Out of You" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Keep Shelly in Athens - "A Tear In My I" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Keep Shelly in Athens - "Song to Cheer You Up" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Keep Shelly in Athens - "Fokiones Negri Street" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Keep Shelly in Athens - "Cremona Memories" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Keep Shelly in Athens - "Running Out of You" (Memory Tapes Remix)
DOWNLOAD: Blood Diamonds - "Lasting Love" (Keep Shelly in Athens Remix) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Porcelain Raft - "Tip of Your Tongue" (Keep Shelly in Athens Remix) (MP3)

Greek electronic duo Keep Shelly in Athens will be making it over to North America this fall to play Fun Fun Fun Fest in Austin, TX. While they're here, they'll play some other dates too. A full tour hasn't been announced (yet?) but you'll be able to catch them in NYC on November 18 at Bowery Ballroom. Tickets for the NYC show go on sale Friday (8/26) at noon with an AmEx presale starting Wednesday (8/24) at noon.

I've never actually been to Greece, but if the coasts are as gentle as Fleet Foxes describe them, these guys sound pretty befitting for a blissful evening on a Grecian beach. Dreamy female vocals swirl around lush atmospheres and head-nodding beats as the duo takes you on a trip through the Mediterranean. They've remixed Blood Diamonds and Porcelain Raft and have been remixed by Blood Diamonds, Maria Minerva, Memory Tapes, and others. You can grab MP3s of some remixes and KSiA's original work at the top of this post and check out some more remixes below.

They've also recently made a mixtape featuring Toro y Moi, Star Slinger, SLEEP OVER, Games, Blackbird Blackbird, and more, which you can stream below. A video for their most recent single, "Hauntin' Me," is also below. That single was released as a limited 7" b/w "Song to Cheer You Up" via Transparent this past February and is now sold out. They're also set to release a split cassette with Disclosure via Loud and Quiet on August 29, limited to 75 copies. Forest Family is another one of their label homes.

Dates, video, song streams and mixtape below...

Continue reading "check out Keep Shelly in Athens --- dates & MP3s"