photos by Amanda Hatfield

Xiu Xiu @ LPR

Xiu Xiu are on the road and intersected with Japanese noise artist Merzbow and Gentle for a show at Le Poisson Rouge on Sunday night (9/26). Ecstatic Sunshine, who was originally scheduled to play, had to bow out of the show due to illness.

The show was one of three NYC gigs scheduled for Merzbow. The noise terrorist also attacked Issue Project Room twice on Thursday (9/23).

Merzbow, a/k/a Masami Akita, has been making noise since the late 1970s and last night he gave a more than 45-minute cacophonous performance. He performed with long hair swaying across his sunglass-clad face, sometimes sitting, sometimes hunched over his instruments with their "Meat is Murder" stickers, unfurling sonic textures so intense the guy next to me had his head in his hands. Indeed, that's what his music does--it's so oppressive that the room shakes and you start to hear echoes inside your brain. But listening to the music is only one-part of the noise experience. Coming out of the performance clear-headed and stronger than when you entered is just as integral.-[Village Voice]

Xiu Xiu's tour will loop back to the NYC area on 10/15, when the avant/experimental band will hit Maxwell's. Tickets are on still sale.

More pictures from LPR, and a video of Merzbow at IPR, below...

Continue reading "Merzbow played 3 NYC shows, 1 w/ Xiu Xiu @ LPR (pics) "

by BBG

Three days before he is scheduled to play Le Poisson Rouge with Xiu Xiu (9/26, tickets), Japanese noise technician Merzbow will play TWO shows at Issue Project Room in one night (9/23). Tickets are on sale for both the 7:30 (tickets) and 10:00 (tickets) shows. MV Carbon and Philip White will support at both Brooklyn shows.

Merzbow also has a pair of collaborative appearances scheduled. Balazs Pandi will join the artist on 9/27 at I-House in Philadelphia, and, as mentioned, he'll team up with Richard Pinhas to play as part of the weeklong Sonic Circuits Festival in DC this week. The fest, which also includes Magma (who play NYC TONIGHT), Fennesz, US Girls, Controlled Bleeding, and many many others, is ongoing but closes on 9/25 (it kicked off on 9/18).

The Xiu Xiu show is part of a much larger tour for Xiu Xiu that also includes a Maxwell's show. All Merzbow dates are listed below...

Continue reading "Merzbow playing DC, Philly & 3 shows in NYC "

Jamie Stewart @ Williamsburg Waterfront on July 11th (more by Kyle Dean Reinford)

Xiu Xiu's Jamie Stewart seems to be in an collaborative mood of late. Recently, Stewart and Xiu Xiu member Angela Seo joined Deerhoof for a live tribute to Joy Division, which headlined the year's first Pool Party.

Next, Jamie teams up with Shearwater's Jonathan Meiburg (someone who's been venturing out as well, like at a gig with Wye Oak's Andy Stack at the Whitney in June) to form Blue Water White Death, a name drawn from "a 1971 documentary that follows a team of increasingly reckless explorers on a shark-finding quest to Australia's aptly-named Dangerous Reef." The collab's self-titled debut comes out October 12th on Graveface Records. The pair wrote and recorded the eight-song album in a one-week session produced by John Congleton (St. Vincent, Modest Mouse, The Roots, Black Mountain).

On the Xiu Xiu front, who, don't forget, released their a record of their own, Dear God, I Hate Myself, earlier this year, the band plays a show at (Le) Poisson Rouge on Sunday, September 26th with Japanese noise musician Merzbow. Ecstatic Sunshine and Gentle open the show Tickets are on sale.

Xiu Xiu plays in Baltimore this weekend for Whartscape, an annual fest in its fifth and, according to co-organizer Dan Deacon, final year. When asked by Baltimore Sun about his favorite act on the Whartscape lineup, Jamie Stewart mentioned Brooklyn's Talk Normal, saying "Talk Normal berates all that is dull by ignoring it and being thrilling, intense and open. When you see them, you want to be creative and you want to see the rest of the world. They remind you that art does matter and that you need it to live." Talk Normal opens for Sonic Youth (along with Grass Window) at Prospect Park on July 31st.

More Blue Water White Death info (art & tracklist) below...

Continue reading "Xiu Xiu forms group w/ Shearwater's Jonathan Meiburg, playing NYC w/ Merzbow, likes Talk Normal"

by BBG

Magma in 1979

Led by classically trained drummer Christian Vander, the Paris-based Magma have been, in their way, perhaps the ultimate progressive rock group; while other artists have achieved greater commercial success and critical acclaim, Magma have typified the many ambitions and excesses of the genre that won them as many detractors as fans, even going so far as to invent their own lyrical and musical language in order to bring their unique vision to life...

As outlined on the group's eponymous 1970 double-album debut, Vander's tale -- projected to be told over the course of ten LPs -- pitted Earth against a rival planet named Kobaia. Over the course of 1971's 1,001 Centigrade and 1973's Mekanïk Destructïw Kommandoh (recorded with a choir), the story -- much of it told in native Kobaian -- unfolded to depict an Earth so uninhabitable that its citizens must flee to the nearby planet, where years of conflict culminated in the achievement of cosmic harmony and a reconciliation with the deity Ptäh. Chart success was not forthcoming, and after a few early tours of the U.S. and Britain Magma spent the middle years of the decade almost exclusively in France, where they launched records including 1974's Kohntarkosz and the next year's Live. After the commercial failure of 1976's Üdü Wüdü and 1977's Inédits, Magma essentially disbanded, although the group lived on in various forms, as alumni founded a number of loosely affiliated splinter groups to carry on Vander's work... -[allmusic]

The proggy purveyors of zeuhl, Magma, reformed in the 90s and will play Highline Ballroom in NYC on September 20th. Tickets are on sale. The NYC show is one of two US dates scheduled thus far. The other happens in Washington DC two days earlier as part of the The Sonic Circuits Festival of Experimental Music...

The Sonic Circuits Festival of Experimental Music was initiated by the American Composers Forum (ACF) in 2001 to provide DC's music and art communities with the opportunity to sample experimental and avant-garde electronic music, with an emphasis on improvisation and artistic use of new technologies.

Now celebrating its tenth year, Sonic Circuits programs music year round and presents the best in electro-acoustic compositions, free jazz, improv, noise rock, electronic drone and experimental folk, as well as live video and film programs, from DC area artists and from around the world.

The full festival schedule, which also includes Fennesz, Univers Zero, Miriodor, The Muffins, Merzbow and many others, is below.

Magma is touring on the backs of their second LP since their return to the stage, Ëmëhntëtt-Ré, out now via Seventh Records. Stream three songs at the Seventh Records site. All tour dates and some video below...

Continue reading "French prog band Magma are coming to the US (dates), playing NYC (tix on sale) & Sonic Circuits in DC (full lineup)"

photos by Lori Baily

Keith Fullerton Whitman

Conrad Schnitzler's Con-Cert: If thunder was a distant, beautiful room moving towards you with you in it, this is what it would feel like to feel your way around it's edges. Made me think of the following Germans: early Tangerine Dream, early and late Klaus Schulze, Elmar Schulte, and Asmus Tietchens. Yet, it didn't sound like any of them. A masterful abuse/finessing of the ping . . . low, high, and middle. I haven't mentioned my confusion as to who was actually playing here, but I think I've figured it out. Keith Fullerton Whitman was at the controls, the conduit through which Schnitzler flowed. Nice torch. [Heart as Arena]

Last Sunday (5/17) simultaneously marked the end of NYC Popfest and No Fun Fest here in NYC. Today simultaneously marked the end of photo coverage of both events here on BrooklynVegan.com. No Fun one is HERE, and day two is HERE, and the bit we have of Day Three (Lori really was not having fun by this day), is below...

Continue reading "No Fun Fest 2009 @ MHOW - night 3 in pics "

(album artwork features a painting by John Fahey)

Sonic Youth's 16th album, 'The Eternal', will be released on double vinyl, compact disc, and digital album by Matador Records on June 9. Produced by John Agnello and the band, 'The Eternal' not only marks Sonic Youth's return to the independent label sphere (titles on their own SYR label excepted) after a long association with Geffen, but more importantly, ranks as one of their more inspired efforts in a 28 year career.

Recorded through November and December of last year at the band's Echo Canyon West studio in Hoboken, NJ, 'The Eternal' features many firsts for a Sonic Youth album, including a number of shared vocals between Kim, Thurston, and Lee, and the studio debut of former Pavement/Dustdevils bassist Mark Ibold, a member of Sonic Youth's touring band for the past few years.

As previously announced, Sonic Youth is headlining one of the three No Fun Fest nights at Music Hall of Williamsburg in May. Here is the three-day breakdown:

No Fun Fest 5/15/2009 (tix)
Bastard Noise / Thrones / Grey Wolves / Xeno and Oaklander / Carlos Giffoni / Chris Corsano / Axolotl / Raglani / Noveller / DJs: Greh Holger, Steve Lowenthal

No Fun Fest 5/16/2009 (tix)
Sonic Youth / Bardo Pond / Rafael Toral with C. Spencer Yeh, Trevor Tremaine / Sons of God / Pedestrian Deposit / Blank Dogs / Yellow Tears / Mattin / Pulse Emitter / DJs: Invernomuto, DJ JONBENET

No Fun Fest 5/17/2009 (tix)
Merzbow / Skullflower / Con-Dom / Black Pus / Emeralds / Peter Rehberg/Marcus Schmickler / Cold Cave / Jazzfinger / Conrad Schnitzler Con-Cert / DJs: Mike Bernstein,CG Warrior

Tickets weren't supposed to go on sale until Sunday, but as someone pointed out, they are actually ON SALE NOW (that includes the $60 three-day pass).

All SY tour dates and the new album tracklisting below...

Continue reading "No Fun Fest tix on sale, Sonic Youth's The Eternal on Matador "

No Fun Fest 2009. May 15,16,17 at Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn. Daily Schedule,ticket info/prices will be announced by January 12.

Full lineup below...

Continue reading "Sonic Youth, Merzbow & Bardo Pond playing No Fun Fest 2009 (full 3-day, Brooklyn lineup)"