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.

The rest of Ronson's set that I saw, before the end, was mostly soul and early '00s hip-hop (Pharell, Snoop, Stevie, Jay-Z). Upstairs, MIA was still on the stereo, with NASA mixing the verses of "Bombs over Baghdad" over her song "Boyz." Much of the remaining audience was on stage partying with two arthropod-looking creatures. Back downstairs, some diehards were still dancing - the bar was still stocked, and Mark Ronson behind the decks didn't give much reason to leave.

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"

photos by Erez Avissar, words by Andrew Frisicano

In May, Vice and Intel announced the Creators Project, an art & music series that would be hosting events in various cities and on its website. The NYC kick off for that will be Saturday, June 26th at Milk Studios and will include performances by Interpol, Mark Ronson, Die Antwoord, The Rapture, Sleigh Bells, Gang Gang Dance, Salem, N.A.S.A., Neon Indian, Lemonade and others, plus a "very special guest." The event is free; RSVP here. How big is the space exactly? They write that "the eight-floor art gallery and performance space will host thousands of people for live concerts, art exhibits, film screenings and panel discussions by leading artists and the next generation of innovators."

It's the first of five events in different cities- the others are slated for London, Sao Paulo, Seoul and a three-day event Beijing.

For Die Antwoord, it will be their first NYC show, making the July gig at Governors Island their second.

For Interpol, it will be the first time we see them with their new lineup (unless they announce something else soon).

Pictures from the Creators Project announcement event, and a flyer and the full lineup of music and visual art (which includes work by Spike Jonze, Nick Zinner, Danny Perez/Animal Collective's ODDSAC and more) are below...

Continue reading ""Creators Project" announces free show w/ Interpol, Die Antwoord, Mark Ronson, the Rapture, Sleigh Bells, Gang Gang Dance, Neon Indian & more"

N.A.S.A. @ (Le) Poisson Rouge (more by Ryan Muir)

N.A.S.A.'s debut, The Spirit of Apollo, came out on Anti in February of this year. Odds are you've heard (or heard about) the many guest spots scored by the N.A.S.A. DJs, Squeak E. Clean and DJ Zegon. Those included David Byrne, Chuck D, M.I.A., Santigold, Nick Zinner, Kanye West, Lykke Li, members of the Wu Tang Clan and others.

This summer N.A.S.A. is bringing its live show back to NYC with a Bowery Ballroom show on Thursday, August 20th. Tickets go on American Express presale Wednesday, May 6th at noon. General sale starts Friday, May 8th at noon.

The band last visited NYC earlier this year with a pair of shows at (Le) Poisson Rouge. The first was a free record release show on January 29th, the second was a tour stop on March 12th en route to SXSW. Both featured the DJs and "scantily-clad, painted-green women, aliens and drunken, dancing fans (on the floor and on the stage)". The guys also played Coachella and their credits included a remixed for the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. A summary of the band's work is available through the streaming player on Squeak E. Clean's blog.

Videos from their Coachella set, with all tour dates below...

Continue reading "N.A.S.A. played Coachella (videos), playing Bowery Ballroom"

photos by Darren Kim

"Coachella exists in two time zones: the event itself and its digital afterlife. The second zone, on cameras and blogs and Twitter and video-sharing sites, comes a heartbeat after the first, like a rockabilly slap-back echo. In its 10th year now, Coachella has been the music festival for the most technologically advanced teenagers-to-young-professionals, sniffing around the alternative mainstream. Even when the music doesn't present an argument they haven't heard before, they're controlling their own media representation of it; the act of listening is almost immediately contextualized into their own lives." [NY Times]

More pictures from Coachella Day One, below...

Continue reading "Coachella 2009 - Day 1 in Pictures "

This Saturday, April 11th, Yeah Yeah Yeahs will perform as the musical guest on Saturday Night Live. Zac Efron hosts. This past Saturday's episode featured Paris's Phoenix. Videos from that show HERE.

In related news, "Zero," the first single off the band's new record It's Blitz, has so far been remixed by MSTRKFRFT, N.A.S.A., and Animal Collective (and probably others). If you haven't heard them already, the first two versions are streaming below. The third, Animal Collective's reworking, is out as the b-side of a limited-edition "Zero" 7" single - free when you buy/bought the album from Insound.

The band's upcoming shows include Coachella and Bonnaroo, and All Points West.

Check out the third installment of Yeah Yeah Yeahs' SNAKESWEAT art-video series (after catching up on the previous two), also below...

Continue reading "Yeah Yeah Yeahs playing SNL, remixed by N.A.S.A. & others"

photos by Ryan Muir

N.A.S.A. returned to Le Poisson Rouge in NYC for the 2nd time in just a few months. The first show was in January to celebrate the release of their album The Spirit of Apollo (out now). This show (3/12) was a stop on a larger tour that is on its way to Austin for SXSW. Both NYC shows featured deejays Squeak E. Clean and Zegon (collectively known as N.A.S.A.) dressed in their orange spacesuits and surrounded by scantily-clad, painted-green women, aliens and drunken, dancing fans (on the floor and on the stage).

N.A.S.A. rose to popularity pretty quickly due to an enormous amount of very talented and famous special guests appearing on their debut album. The list includes Karen O, Tom Waits, M.I.A., RZA, Kanye West, Chuck D, David Byrne, Seu Jorge, Santigold, Ol' Dirty Bastard and Kool Keith. You'd think then that MAYBE a NYC show by the group might include one of them. That is true, though it was one you probably never heard of. Ras Congo sings on the song "Money" on the album, and he did live at this show. Squeak E. Clean's mom was there too.

More pictures below...

Continue reading "N.A.S.A. & girls painted green @ le Poisson Rouge, NYC - pics"

words by Andrew Frisicano, photos by Faith-Ann Young

Truth told, it was hard to pay any attention to any of the music because randomly, three drunk chicks in silver spandex bodysuits and green painted legs came onstage and did a little bizarre, nonsensical, inebriated dance tease (doubt they were professionals as they were having difficulty balancing or even standing still in their stilettos...while visibly wasted). When the crowd grew bored of that (after throwing beer cans and dollar bills at the girls' feet), men dressed as apes came on stage and freaked with the drunk man-woman-alien chicks.

I asked around if anyone knew if this was customary for N.A.S.A., but no one had a clue what was going on.... - Faith

That's a description of N.A.S.A.'s free record release party (1/29) for debut The Spirit of Apollo which came out on Anti in February. N.A.S.A. return to LPR tonight (3/12) for a show with DJ Stretch Armstrong. Tickets are still available.

N.A.S.A., the duo of Squeak E. Clean and DJ Zegon, will also tour the U.S. in February and March playing an official SXSW showcase at Emo's on March 19 (plus a few other Austin gigs - see below) and a performance at Coachella on April 17.

N.A.S.A.'s recent album, laden with guest spots from Tom Waits to M.I.A. and RZA, also sported interchangeable artwork from five artists - who seem to be taking turns illustrating the group's videos. Marcel Dzama (who worked on the video for Department of Eagles' "No One Does It Like You," to be unveiled at MOMA) drew N.A.S.A.'s "The People Tree," a song that features David Byrne, Chali 2na, Gift Of Gab and Z-Trip. Artist Splunny created the video for "Hip Hop," below, and the band's newest video, for "Way Down," was illustrated by artist Sage Vaughn. Obama-artist Shepard Fairey (who will be at Coachella) made a video for "Money," discussed here. All of these and more will be collected on the N.A.S.A. documentary in the works.

All tour dates, videos, and more pictures from the last LPR show, below...

Continue reading "more N.A.S.A. videos & tour dates + pics from Le Poisson Rouge where they play again tonight"

Headliners Paul McCartney, The Killers and The Cure are among the 130-plus acts set for the tenth COACHELLA VALLEY MUSIC & ARTS FESTIVAL (APRIL 17, 18 AND 19) at the beautiful Empire Polo Club in Indio, CA, the same grounds where the COACHELLA VALLEY MUSIC & ARTS FESTIVAL debuted in 1999. Other artists confirmed for America's most critically acclaimed music festival include Morrissey, Amy Winehouse, Franz Ferdinand, My Bloody Valentine, Leonard Cohen, Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band, Thievery Corporation, Yeah Yeah Yeahs (the complete line-up is listed below).

This marks the first ever U.S. festival appearance for McCartney who is currently supporting his latest release ELECTRIC ARGUMENTS.

"I have heard that Coachella is one of the greatest festivals in the world. I'm really excited to get out there and rock!" McCartney says.

Tickets for COACHELLA go on sale Friday, January 30 at 9:00 AM (PT) at all Ticketmaster locations.

Throbbing Gristle and the rest of the full (real) line-up (as of 1/30) is below:

Continue reading "Coachella 2009 - OFFICIAL lineup announced (My Bloody Valentine, Leonard Cohen, Paul McCartney, Morrissey, The Cure, Antony, Amy Winehouse...) - tix on sale"

The cross-cultural collaboration of N.A.S.A.'s debut album The Spirit of Apollo has been carried over to the album artwork. Each album will contain artwork for five interchangeable covers by popular artists from varied backgrounds and cultures.

Contributing artists (as seen above) are Mark Gonzalez (the skater) (top left) Shepard Fairey (top right), Marcel Dzama (bottom left), The Date Farmers (bottom right), and Sage Vaughn (below). "All of the cover artists have contributed to The Spirit of Apollo's animated music video project, which pairs these artists with animators to create music videos for songs on the record. The first such video, featuring the art of Shepard Fairey, was released digitally in late 2008." You can watch that video below.

Shepard Fairey is also about to release a Bad Brains poster.

N.A.S.A. play Le Poisson Rouge in NYC tonight for free (1/29). When I first started hearing about tonight's show, I thought "yeah,I covered that already" and "that came up fast". Only now am I realizing that tonight's show is a newly added record release party which is not to be confused with the group's show at the same venue scheduled for March (which is on sale).

All dates, more art, and that video below...

Continue reading "Shepard Fairey, Sage Vaughn, Marcel Dzama, Mark Gonzales & others create art for N.A.S.A. (who are in NYC) "

N.A.S.A., and their worldwide debut The Spirit of Apllo, is an ongoing creative collaboration between two lifelong music aficionados, Squeak E. Clean and DJ Zegon, and their friends, friends of friends and musical heroes.

While N.A.S.A. stands for North America/South America and contains a number of superstar artists from both coasts of the U.S., it is about as far from a tension-building geographical showdown as a record can get. Rather, The Spirit of Apollo was born with the righteous goal of bringing people together through music and art, and that is exactly what masterminds Sam Spiegel (Squeak E. Clean) and Ze Gonzales (DJ Zegon) have done.

Unexpected collaborations abound on the seventeen track release. Tom Waits growls over Kool Keith, Karen O taunts while Ol' Dirty Bastard gives shoutouts to Wu Tang and N.A.S.A from the grave, and David Byrne, Chuck D and others expound on the evils of "Money." In spite of the range of performers, the pairings seem organic, inspired and make perfect sense on the first listen, never coming off as ironic or impulsive.... [RCRD LBL]

Other N.A.S.A. collbaroators included Lykke Li, Santogold and Kanye West. Tickets are on sale for a March 12th show at (Le) Poisson Rouge in NYC. The date is part of a larger tour. Watch the David Byrne/Chuck D/Ras Congo/Seu Jorge/Z-Trip "Money" video, and see all dates, below...

Continue reading "N.A.S.A. - 2009 Tour Dates (LPR), David Byrne/Chuck D video"

photos by Tim Griffin

big pimp Bjorn w/ Santogold & Lykke Li @ The 2008 Woodies

Santogold, Lykke Li and Kanye West are all on the new N.A.S.A. track that everyone is talking about. That reminded me of the rest of the Woodies pictures I have sitting here. The new song (streaming as a video), and more pics, below...

Continue reading "N.A.S.A., Santogold, Lykke Li, more Woodies pics "