Anthrax at Wellmont Theater in 2012 (more by Greg Cristman)

today in NYC
* Asssscat 3000 @ UCB
* Jamie Saft @ The Stone
* Furthur @ Capitol Theatre
* Kingston Yard @ The Stone
* Junior Brown, Sturgill Simpson @ City Winery
* Dead Milkmen, The Brooklyn What @ Bowery Ballroom
* Gracie & Rachel, Money and King, Luray @ Cameo Gallery
* Anthrax, Exodus, Municipal Waste, Holy Grail @ Irving Plaza
* Brother Reverend, Reputante, Divining, No Kill @ Glasslands
* Raven, A Sound of Thunder, Holy Grail, Brohammer @ Saint Vitus
* Big Neck Police, Bluffing, The Gradients, Large Lady @ Silent Barn
* Colleen Green, Habibi, Pop Zeus, Juniper Rising @ Death By Audio
* The Nowadays, Tommy Kodak & The Loaders, Viking @ Cake Shop
* Hannibal Buress, Neal Brennan, Todd Barry, Calez @ Knitting Factory
* Dusty Brown, Life In A Blender, Sarah Donner @ Rockwood Music Hall
* Sadat X, Grand Puba (of Brand Nubian), ArtiFacts, DITC Crew @ S.O.B.'s
* Aspects of War, Bad Noids, Violent Reaction, Slugz, Anasazi @ Saint Vitus
* Vulture Shit, Clean Girls, Old Monk, Low Fat Getting High @ Bowery Electric
* Drowners, Summer People, The Can't Tells, Rewards @ Brooklyn Bowl (DJ)
* O'Death, Big Wilson River, Nude Dudes, Thomas Wesley Stern @ Mexicali Live
* The BlkHands, Skyzoo, Skyway, Ragnarok, Doc Casion @ The Studio at Webster Hall
* Crazy Spirit, Green Beret, Hound of Hate, Extoplasm, Altered Boys, Nomad @ 285 Kent
* After The Burials, Within The Ruins, The Contortionist, Glass Cloud, City in The Sea @ Santos Party House
* En Nihil, The [law-rah] Collective, Iron Forest, A Murder of Angels, Kama Rupa, Lussuria, Jane Vixen (DJ), Theologian Prime (DJ) @ Public Assembly

There's some pretty great local support at tonight's Colleen Green show at Death by Audio coming from Habibi, Pop Zeus, and Juniper Rising. Admission is $7 at the door.

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Hope everyone had a great Record Store Day yesterday. As always, many of the previously unreleased tracks that came out yesterday have wound up on the internet. Check out streams of MGMT's new single, "Alien Days," Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds' Push the Sky Away b-side, "Animal X," Chelsea Wolfe's "Fight Like Gods" from her split with King Dude, Nicolas Jaar's remix of Grizzly Bear's "Sleeping Ute," and the video for Garbage and Screaming Females' Patti Smith cover below.

As mentioned, Pharrell was promising something "extra special" for his House of Vans show on Friday (4/19), and though Daft Punk didn't show up, he did play his new collaborative single with the duo, "Get Lucky." Three times. Check out a video of that below (via CoS).

What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Sunday?"

From December 6 through 9, Miami Beach, Florida, will host the 11th edition of Art Basel, the most prestigious art show in the Americas. More than 260 leading galleries from North America, Europe, Latin America, Asia and Africa will take part, showcasing works by more than 2,000 artists of the 20th and 21st centuries.

The exhibiting galleries are among the world's most respected art dealers, offering exceptional pieces by both renowned artists and cutting-edge newcomers. Special exhibition sections feature young galleries, performance art, public art projects and video art. The show will be a vital source for art lovers, allowing them to both discover new developments in contemporary art and experience rare museum-caliber artworks.

Other music artists playing shows during or around Art Basel include Chromatics, Prince Rama, Nicolas Jaar, Purity Ring, Twin Shadow, Brenmar, Animal Collective, Flying Lotus, Dan Deacon, Hundred Waters, ITAL and Jacuzzi Boys. Paper Mag has a pretty good guide to some of it.

Some of those artists were set to play the UR1 Festival which was to run concurrent with Art Basel but was cancelled.

If you're going to Miami, we'd like to point out that BrooklynVegan photographer Dana (distortion) Yavin will be showing more than 26 prints of her mostly-BrooklynVegan concert photography (including Morrissey, Iggy Pop, Pearl Jam, Fiona Apple, Snoop Dogg, Madonna and more) in two different galleries, LMNT and OVERTURE, from December 4 - 9. A flyer for the show below has more details.

Continue reading "Art Basel begins soon in Miami, many bands & Dana (distortion) Yavin photo show included"

DOWNLOAD: Nicolas Jaar & Theatre Roosevelt - "The Ego" (MP3)

"Teddy's ghost wishes you a happy thanksgiving!"

In honor of Thanksgiving/Black Friday, Nicolas Jaar and "Theatre Roosevelt" (aka "Teddy's Ghost) have unleashed a free song onto the internet today (11/23) called "The Ego." You can download it above or stream it below.

Continue reading "download a new Nicolas Jaar and Theatre Roosevelt song"

photos by Oliver Correa & Amanda Rohowsky / HiFi Cartel

"Mykki Blanco freaking out the crowd at Brooklyn Electronic Music Festival. #fierceness #nobros" - Tavia Nyong'o

"#BEMF Brooklyn Electronic Music Festival
exceeding expectations after 1 set" - Schuyler Van Horn

Nicolas Jaar / Gold Panda @ MHOW, 11/10/2012

The 2012 Brooklyn Electronic Music Festival went down this past weekend (11/9-10) at Music Hall of Williamsburg, Glasslands, Cameo, Public Assembly, 285 Kent, and Brooklyn Bowl, with shows running until about 4 AM each night. A worthy alternative to people who don't like the excesses of major electronic festivals like Electric Zoo and Ultra Music Festival, BEMF has become one of the most forward thinking ones around. And this year may have been their best lineup yet with some great names in IDM, downtempo, post-dubstep, deep house, instrumental hip hop, and more like Nicolas Jaar, Gold Panda, Photek, Nguzunguzu, Kingdom, Mykki Blanco, Salva, Shlohmo, and many others.

N. 6th St. in Williamsburg was flooded with people, likely due to having Public Assembly right next to Music Hall of Williamsburg which is just down the street from Cameo, and the ticket pickup tent in the parking lot across the street. (Not that N6 isn't a madhouse anyway on the weekends.) But also very likely that on Saturday night it was due to one of the festival's most in-demand acts, Nicolas Jaar, whose set was pushed back from 1 AM to 2:30 AM after the last-minute addition of Dave P. Ashley from Et Musique Pour Tous wrote, "I've never seen Music Hall of Williamsburg as crowded as it was last night. For the first half hour of Nicolas Jaar's hour and a half long set, nobody could move, and dancing was an intimate experience to be shared with strangers." Hazel Sheffield call his set "precocious," writing:

He turned the chorus from Cat Power's 'Cherokee' - "Marry me, marry me to the sky," - into a slowburning, plaintive swirl of a lyric, then slipped the clanging chords from Dave McCallum's 'The Edge', best known as the opening sample on Dre's 'Next Episode', into an interlude, sending people wild for about two seconds, before they realised the joke was on them. Precocious, then. But completely absorbing.

More pictures from the festival below.

Continue reading "Brooklyn Electronic Music Festival 2012 in pics (Nicolas Jaar, Gold Panda, Photek, Nguzunguzu, Mykki Blanco & more)"

BEMF 2010 (more by Chris Doss)

The Brooklyn Electronic Music Festival is here tonight (11/9) and Saturday (11/10), and since our last update, the full schedule has been revealed. They're no longer using Villain as one of the venues, but will be using 285 Kent instead.

Tonight's updates include Omar S, Drop the Lime, Nick Catchdubs, Morri$, Deadboy, Jackmaster, and Matt Shadetek playing Public Assembly; and Nadastrom & Sabo, Uproot Andy & Geko, and DJ Blass playing 285 Kent (all ages). Those are in addition to the previously discussed sets by Gold Panda, Photek, and more at Music Hall of Williamsburg; Nguzunguzu, Kingdom, Fatima Al Qadiri, MikeQ, and more at Glasslands; and Braille, Brenmar, Mykki Blanco, Mess Kid, and more at Cameo.

Saturday's updates include Groundislava, Shlohmo, Salva, Lazy Brow, Jubilee, Wildlife!, Dre Skull, Dubbel Dutch, Fantasy Thrilla, and a special guest at Public Assembly; and Hussle Club and Body Language at Brooklyn Bowl. Those are in addition to the previously discussed sets by Nicolas Jaar, Lauren Flax, Nick Hook, and Heathered Pearls at Music Hall of Williamsburg; KI:Theory, FaltyDL, Benji B, and Pearson Sound at Cameo; and Baths, XXYYXX, Hiawatha, and Shadowbox at Glasslands.

Tickets for the festival are still available, including 2-day passes, 1-day passes for Friday (Saturday is sold out), and a special all ages ticket, which grants you access to tonight's 285 Kent stage (the rest of the venues are 21+).

Flyers with full lineups and set times are below...

Continue reading "Brooklyn Electronic Music Festival 2012 is here (full schedule)"

FaltyDL - 'Hardcourage'

As mentioned, FaltyDL has been at work on his new album, Hardcourage, which features the single "Straight & Arrow." Details on the album have surfaced and we now know that it comes out on January 22 via Ninja Tune. That's the awesome cover art above [very Barney Bubbles - Bill] and the tracklist, including "She Sleeps," a collaboration with Friendly Fires' Ed Macfarlane, is below. The "Straight & Arrow" single comes out next week (11/13) via Ninja Tune and features remixes by Four Tet, Gold Panda, and MikeQ & Divoli S'vere. FaltyDL also just revealed the video for that track, which you can watch below.

As mentioned, FaltyDL will play Webster Hall on December 7 with Skream, but you can catch him in NYC sooner than that because he's been added to the Brooklyn Electronic Music Festival, which happens this Friday (11/9) and Saturday (11/10). FaltyDL plays Cameo Gallery on Saturday with Pearson Sound, Benji B, and Ki:Theory.

Since we last spoke, the Brooklyn Electronic Music Festival has revealed more of its schedule (some of it is still TBA though). You already know that Music Hall of Williamsburg is hosting Gold Panda and Photek on Friday and Nicolas Jaar and Nick Hook on Saturday. In addition to Cameo's aforementioned Saturday lineup, on Friday they have Metro Area, Braille, Brenmar, Mykki Blanco, and Mess Kid. Glasslands has Kingdom, Nguzunguzu, Jam City, MikeQ, and Rizzla on Friday, and Baths, XXYYXX, Hiawatha, and ShadowBox on Saturday. Lineups are still TBA for Public Assembly, Brooklyn Bowl, and Villain. Tickets for the festival are still available.

FaltyDL video and album tracklist below.

Continue reading "FaltyDL reveals album info and video, playing Brooklyn Electronic Music Festival (updated schedule)"

DOWNLOAD: Photek - "Pyramid" (MP3)

Photek

Last week, we mentioned that Brooklyn Electronic Music Festival expanded their lineup. The full schedule still hasn't been revealed, but it's been announced that Music Hall of Williamsburg will host two great double bills as part of the festival. On November 9, it's Gold Panda and Photek, and on November 10, it's Nicolas Jaar (live) and Nick Hook of Cubic Zirconia. Admission to those shows is gained by purchasing a festival pass, which are on sale now. 1-Day passes for each day and 2-Day passes are available.

Photek, who celebrated the fifteenth anniversary of his influential debut, Modus Operandi, this year, is releasing his fifth full length (and first since 2007) this month. It's called Ku:Palm and comes out physically on October 23 and digitally on October 30 via his own Photek Productions label. You can download the album's lead single, "Pyramid," at the top of this post or stream it below.

Continue reading "Music Hall of Williamsburg announces their BEMF shows (Photek, Gold Panda, Nicolas Jaar & Nick Hook)"

Jam City

As mentioned, the Brooklyn Electronic Music Festival returns on November 9 and 10 to multiple Brooklyn venues, including Music Hall of Williamsburg, Brooklyn Bowl, Public Assembly, Glasslands, Cameo, and The Villain Loft. Since we last posted, the lineup has been expanded and now includes Shlohmo, Jam City, Nguzunguzu, Kingdom, Salva, Groundislava, Brenmar, Nadastrom, Omar S, Mike Q, and more, in addition to previously announced names like Nicholas Jaar, Gold Panda, Photek, and others. The updated lineup is below.

Tickets for Brooklyn Electronic Music Festival are on sale now.

Continue reading "Brooklyn Electronic Music Festival expands lineup (Shlohmo, Jam City, Nguzunguzu, Kingdom, Salva, Omar S & more)"

BEMF 2010 (more by Chris Doss)

Brooklyn Electronic Music Festival is returning to Brooklyn for its fifth year on November 9 and 10 across multiple venues, including Music Hall of Williamsburg, Brooklyn Bowl, Public Assembly, Glasslands, Cameo, and The Villain Loft. The initial lineup already includes some pretty impressive names. So far, it's got Nicolas Jaar (live), Gold Panda (live), Photek (whose influential debut, Modus Operandi, has been celebrating its 15th birthday this year), Baths, Jackmaster, Onra, Nick Hook, and Hiawatha. Early bird tickets for the fest are on sale now.

The trailer video for BEMF 2012 and a radio rip of a recent Gold Panda single, "Trust," are below.

Continue reading "Brooklyn Electronic Music Festival 2012 announces initial lineup (Nicolas Jaar, Gold Panda, Photek, Baths & more)"

Baroness at Terminal 5 in May (more by Joe McCabe)

Earlier this week, we posted an update from Baroness showing that things were looking upwards for the band. Unfortunately though, with two members having broken vertebrae and frontman John Baizely having a broken arm and leg, it doesn't come as much of a surprise that Baroness have in fact cancelled some of their upcoming North American tour dates, including their NYC show at House of Vans and LA's FYF Fest. They will not be replaced on the House of Vans lineup, which happens on August 29 and now just includes Turbonegro, Doomriders, and Nightbirds. This is a bummer but it makes sense that the band takes the time they need to recover, and we wish them a speedy and successful recovery!

Meanwhile, FYF Fest, which Wild Flag also dropped off of, recently expanded its lineup. It now features The Faint (who just announced they'll be reissuing Danse Macabre and touring the album), Glass Candy, King Tuff, and newcomers The Orwells. Tickets for FYF Fest are still available. The updated lineup and flier are below.

Continue reading "Baroness dropped off House of Vans and FYF Fest, who added bands (updated lineup)"

Cat Power's new album, Sun, is out in about a month (September 4 to be specific) and Chan has just revealed a second track off the album, "Cherokee," which you can stream below in its original form and remixed by Nicolas Jaar. You can download them as well via the same streaming widget.

New album means touring and while she hasn't announced a full tour yet, Cat Power will play Hammerstein Ballroom on October 23. Tickets go on sale Friday, August 10 at noon with a presale starting Wednesday (8/8) at noon. The only other U.S date as of now is Boston the following night (10/24).

UPDATE: The full tour has been announced. The list of all dates and the "Cherokee" streams are below.

Continue reading "Cat Power touring this fall (dates); stream a new track off 'Sun'"

photos by Fred Pessaro // BBG & Chase Turner

Grimes / Godspeed You! Black Emperor

The 2012 Pitchfork Music Festival continued on Saturday (7/14), and like day 1, Chicago's Union Park was plagued by some rain, but everything moved along as planned and the weather cleared up by mid-afternoon. Day 2 began with sets by The Psychic Paramount and The Atlas Moth (both of who we unfortunately missed) and then continued with Cloud Nothings, Flying Lotus, Schoolboy Q, Chromatics, Hot Chip, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Grimes and much more.

If you weren't at the festival, did you stream it live?

More pics from day 2 are below (all by Fred Pessaro/BBG except Grimes by Chase Turner) and day 1 pics are HERE.

Continue reading "Pitchfork Fest 2012 day 2 in pics (Godspeed, Hot Chip, Grimes, Wild Flag, Chromatics, Flying Lotus, Cloud Nothings & more)"

Bon Iver at Bonnaroo 2012 (more by Dana (distortion) Yavin)

Bon Iver recorded an iTunes session at East West studios which is available exclusively from iTunes starting today. It includes six tracks off 2011's great Bon Iver, Bon Iver and a cover of Bjork's "Who Is It?," which the band has played live many times. You can stream the session's opening track, "Beth/Rest" below.

As mentioned, Bon Iver is touring internationally throughout the summer and fall and will come to NYC on September 19 and 20 at Radio City Music Hall. Both of those shows are now sold out. All Bon Iver dates, including a recently announced European leg, are listed below.

Speaking of Bjork, she's teaming up with the New York Public Library (NYPL) and the Children's Museum of Manhattan to create interactive educational programs for middle school-aged students based on her Biophilia app. Speaking about the program, Bjork said:

"It's not a bookish thing. You cannot learn to make music from a book." "I love books; they're like the best ever," she added. "There are things you can only learn from books, but it's also important to introduce the physical aspects. So for me, it was very important to make, somehow, music education that was physical." (via NY Daily News)

Way Out West (Aug 9-11) in Gothenberg, Sweden features many of the same bands as Oya like Bon Iver, Refused, Afghan Whigs, St. Vincent, Purity Ring, John Maus, and Bob Mould in addition to Blur, Wilco, I Break Horses, Hot Chip, The War On Drugs, Mark Lanegan Band, Adolescents, Swans, and more. Check out the spotify playlist. The full lineup is listed below.

As mentioned, the reunited Mazzy Star is set to play both of those European festivals. Full lineups and the Bon Iver dates and song, below...

Continue reading "Bon Iver's new iTunes session, Bjork's new program at the NYPL & the full Oya & Way Out West festival lineups"

Lindstrom

Lindstrom will be releasing a 12" of remixes from his Six Cups of Rebel LP on June 25 with remixes from Oneohtrix Point Never (who plays Ecstatic Summer), Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti, and Mark McGuire (of Emeralds). Have a listen to Oneohtrix Point Never's take on "Call Me Anytime" below.

Lindstrom is currently on a tour which brings him to NYC on Friday (5/25) for the previously discussed Webster Hall show with Simian Mobile Disco (tickets). That tour will also bring him to Detroit's Movement Electronic Music Festival this weekend where he'll play alongside Public Enemy, Actress, SBTRKT, Major Lazer, Gold Panda, Nina Kraviz, Matias Aguayo, FaltyDL, AraabMUZIK and more. Tickets for the fest are on sale now. The full lineup is listed below.

Speaking of electronic music festivals, Mutek goes down in Montreal from May 30 - June 3. The Mutek lineup includes Kode9, Nicolas Jaar, Clark, Blondes, Apparat, Shlohmo, Shackleton, Stephen O'Malley & Tim Hecker, Biosphere & Lustmord, and more. The full lineup is listed below.

In related news, as mentioned, Apparat will come to NYC after Mutek for a show at Gramercy Theater on May 31. It's since been announced that Sleepyhead will open that show. Tickets for that show are still available and we're also giving away a pair. Contest details below, along with a list of all dates, song stream, and those festival lineups.

Continue reading "Lindstrom releasing remixes 12", touring (dates); Movement Fest & Mutek coming soon (lineups); Apparat adds opener (win tix)"

Apparat, who actually made a couple of appearances in Texas for SXSW, will return to North America with a full band for a strategic strike of shows on our shores in May. The five date North American trek will include stops at Sasquatch, in Chicago, at Lightning in a Bottle, at MUTEK, and in NYC at Gramercy Theater on May 31st. Tickets are currently on presale and go on regular sale at 10AM tomorrow (3/30).

Apparat will be joined by names like Jeff Mills, Shackelton, Blondes, Tim Hecker, Nicholas Jaar, at Mutek 2012, which runs from May 30 - June 3 in Montreal. More artists will be announced but tickets are on sale. Current lineup is below.

Apparat's new single "Candil De La Calle" has hit the racks, digital and otherwise. The single is packaged with a dub remix by Sascha, a remix by Fennesz (streamable below), and a "Black Water" reworking by Hamburg's DJ Koze. Check out video of "Candil De La Calle" from a recent MTV session alongside a full The Devil's Walk album stream (which dropped late last year) and all tour dates, below...

Continue reading "Apparat playing NYC after Sasquatch & MUTEK (dates)"

by Andrew Sacher

Nicolas Jaar walked on stage just minutes before midnight at the sold out Clown & Sunset showcase at Music Hall of Williamsburg last night (2/3) after opening sets by Pavla + Noura, Valentin Strip, and Acid Pauli. He stood surrounded by keyboards and straddling a vintage style microphone in front of a backdrop of slowly drifting images of nature and architecture. The set began with some heavily blurred vocals and swirling atmospheres, but much of what was to follow was pretty unexpected.

After pushing his mic to the side (which he did after about two songs), Nico hit his highest points when he dropped bass-heavy beats, all of which were met with huge applause from the crowd, but lost sight of what made his album, Space Is Only Noise, so appealing. Save for a few memorable piano hooks, the minimal textures and Nico's own distinct voice that set him apart from other dance musicians took a backseat for more straightforward beatwork. It wasn't until a bit more than halfway through the set, when he was joined on stage by collaborators Will Epstein and Dave Harrington, that the show became something entirely of its own. Epstein's meandering sax lines and Harrington's prog rock guitar turned the show into dancefloor-ready experimental rock, and their ability to do that is ultimately the most attractive thing about bringing Nicolas Jaar's music into a live setting. They ended their pre-encore set with the clear highlight of the night, "Space Is Only Noise If You Can See," which saw Nico grabbing a more modern mic with way less effects on it and discernibly delivering his stark baritone vocals.

The full band returned for an encore, bringing out guest vocalist Sasha Spielberg to sing lead on a track, which ended up being another highlight of the show, and Nico rounded things off with a few more dance tracks.

You can catch Nicolas Jaar, along with Will Epstein, Dave Harrington, and Sasha Spielberg at MoMA PS1 on Sunday (2/5), when he premieres a five-hour multidisciplinary piece as part of PS1's "Sunday Sessions". The event is free with admission to PS1.

He also recently dropped an unofficial video for "Materials," directed by Pondr, which you can watch below...

Continue reading "Nicolas Jaar played Music Hall of Williamsburg"

DOWNLOAD: Nicolas Jaar - "And I Say" (feat. Scout LaRue and Will Epstein) (MP3)

Nicolas Jaar is currently on tour in Europe, and will return home to NYC on February 3 to play a MHOW show, which is now sold out. Two days later, he'll play a Pitchfork-presented event called "From Scratch" at MoMA PS1 (2/5) in Long Island City. Pitchfork writes:

"From Scratch" will premiere a new five-hour, multidisciplinary performance from Jaar, with musical collaborators Will Epstein, Dave Harrington (Jaar's partner in Darkside), and Sasha Spielberg. It will include a movement piece by Lizzie Feidelson, and sound-derived video art from CSA's filmmaker-in-residence, Ryan Staake of Pomp & Clout.

SUNDAY SESSIONS
Five-hour, continuous performance by
Nicolas Jarr and collaborators

Sunday, February 05, 2012
12:00 PM to 6:00 PM
1-6 PM Performance by Nicholas Jaar and collaborators
All Day M. Wells Outdoor Grilling Station

Updated dates are listed below too...

Continue reading "Nicolas Jaar premiering 5-hour piece @ PS1 (two days after sold out MHOW show)"

by Andrew Sacher

Nicolas Jaar

Nicolas Jaar has a few dates scheduled in the UK for early 2012, and upon returning to the US he will play a live set as part of a Clown & Sunset showcase (Jaar's own label) at Music Hall of Williamsburg on February 3 with special guests. Tickets go on sale today (12/23) at noon.

His last NYC show was the sold out live debut of his Darkside project with Dave Harrington at MHOW earlier this month. Capital New York was at the show and talked to Nico about how despite his presence in the electronic scene, he was brought up on rock (Darkside covered Bauhaus during their encore). CMJ was there too and said:

Watching Jaar perform alongside Harrington--a music nerd-looking guy shaking his head of curls and picking out sooty, smoldering notes on the guitar and bass--makes it hard to contrive a difference between their creative processes. Jaar, like James Blake, has a way of being involved in making his music that is at once undeniable and hard to come by. He might be using a MacBook Pro as part of his music-making setup, but Jaar's work is pulsing with human life, just as fleshy as the guitarist looking him in the face.

Dave Harrington is playing again on New Year's Eve in NYC as El Topo, when he opens for Nosaj Thing at Glasslands. TIckets are still on sale.

Nicolas also has a few UK dates coming up. All dates, videos, and stream, below...

Continue reading "Nicolas Jaar headlining Clown & Sunset showcase @ Music Hall (where Darkside recently played)"

Josh T Pearson @ BV-SXSW 2011 (more by Amanda Hatfield)

Check out Rough Trade's list of the Top 100 Albums of 2011 (yay Josh T Pearson!), below...

Continue reading "Rough Trade's Top 100 albums of 2011 "

by Andrew Sacher

DOWNLOAD: Nicolas Jaar - "Don't Break My Love" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Nicolas Jaar - "Why Didn't You Save Me" (MP3)

On his own, Nicolas Jaar brings together organic and synthetic sounds to create minimal soundscapes. Now he's prepping the debut EP of a new joint project, Darkside, a collaboration with guitarist Dave Harrington, who plays in his live band. They'll release the EP on December 7 on Jaar's own Clown and Sunset label. The EP's artwork is above.

Nicolas and Dave are presenting the world debut of Darkside at Music Hall of Williamsburg on December 1. Tickets for the show go on sale Friday (11/11) at noon. The Darkside show is the last US appearance Nicolas will make before he tours South America and Europe. All dates are listed below.

Nicolas Jaar also released a free 2-song EP, Don't Break My Love, on the Clown and Sunset website on November 1. The title track is a crackly ambient piece similar to much of his debut, which came out earlier this year. But he changes things up on the second track, "Why Didn't You Save Me," which is driven by polyrhythms and a wordless vocal loop. You can download both tracks from that EP above.

All dates below...

Continue reading "Nicolas Jaar released a free EP, formed Darkside -- live debut announced (MP3 & dates)"

"Paul Simon, Lee Scratch Perry and Jimmy Cliff play blinding sets at Glastonbury Saga stage. All over 70 Tony Benn oldest at 95 !" - James Osborn

"Best thing musically I saw at Glastonbury was probably SBTRKT on the Friday night ...quality stuff." - Joshua Saunders

Glastonbury 2011 (via Glastonbury.fm)

Glastonbury Festival took place in Worthy Farm in Pilton, England this past weekend. Tons of artists from all different backgrounds played the festival. The festival featured guest appearances, secret sets, and other interesting occurrences. Here are a few of the highlights.

Headliner Beyonce played a hits-heavy set with some pretty interesting cover song choices (King of Leon's "Sex on Fire," Etta James' "At Last"). But more even more interestingly, Tricky joined her on stage for a pretty inexplicable guest appearance on "Baby Boy." The trip-hop pioneer took a mic and uttered some sparse vocals as Beyonce and her backup singers belted the song. Video of the performance is below.

Speaking of things related to Massive Attack and Glastonbury, UK DJ Nick Warren, who would regularly DJ for Massive Attack in the '90s, said "My Highlight of Glastonbury Festival was James Blake live." James's set included the track "CMYK" off the 2010 EP of the same name in addition to tracks off his 2011 self-titled album. Some might say James's set was even explosive:

James Blake at Glastonbury

Festival attendees who were not part of the 75,000 watching Beyonce may have ended up at The Streets' set which took place at the same time. The show was apparently one of the Mike Skinner's last, who recently announced a breakup. Unfortunately, The Streets recently cancelled a trip NYC, but maybe they'll reschedule before saying their final goodbye. Video of The Streets' Glastonbury performance below.

This year's secret shows included UK Glastonbury vets Pulp and Radiohead.

It was Pulp's fourth Glastonbury appearance but their first for nine years and as they came on stage, frontman Jarvis Cocker told the crowd: 'We couldn't think of anything to get you so we brought the sunshine.'
After their set, which included some of their biggest hits including Disco 2000 and Common People, he added: 'Thanks Glastonbury, obviously it's been a very important place for us. When we played in '95 things took off for us and we went in a strange orbit around the earth, and now we're back home in one piece.' [Daily Mail]

Radiohead brought Portishead drummer Clive Deamer as a guest to play with Philip Selway. Their setlist was almost entirely made up of The King of Limbs and In Rainbows tracks, and recent non-album material, except for Amnesiac's "I Might Be Wrong." They also surprised fans of their earlier work by playing "Street Spirit (Fade Out)" as an encore. Video of "The Daily Mail" and "Bloom" and setlist below.

Cee Lo, unlike at Coachella, showed up on time for his set, which included a mix of his own material and Gnarls Barkley stuff. He also covered Black Sabbath twice. Big Boi got lost in London, but also ended up showing on time for his set. Like Cee Lo, he still embraces past projects and included a good amount of Outkast material. Big Boi-collaborator Janelle Monae played the festival too. Video of her performance of "Tightrope" below. Catch her and Cee Lo (but not Big Boi) for free at Afro-Punk in August.

Battles brought Matias Aguayo on stage to sing "Ice Cream," the song he recorded lead vocals for on their recently released Gloss Drop. Video below.

British folk/jazz legends Pentangle, who reunited in 2008 but have not been very busy since then, played the festival. Their lineup includes Bert Jansch who is currently a Drag City-recording artist and released The Black Swan on the label in 2006, over 30 years after Pentangle originally broke up. Lauren Laverne of BBC 6 interviewed the band. They talked about the resurgence of folk music and how Bert is a fan of Fleet Foxes (who also played Glastonbury). Video of the interview below.

SBTRKT at Glastonbury 2011 via facebook

SBTRKT, who visits NYC for the first time in July, played a live set (pictured above). His Young Turks labelmate Jamie xx (of The xx) played a set too. Jamie's "Far Nearer" single is on sale now. Pressings are limited. Check out a soundcloud stream of the track below.

Another UK post-dubstepper Jamie Woon played the festival. 3AM writes, "During my bum breaks, I caught Jamie Woon's set and it was fantastic. I've heard a lot about this chap, but haven't listened to his stuff before. Sitting in the middle of a field with a pounding head and cider was the perfect way to be introduced to Jamie's chilled but strong, powerful tunes."

Speaking of dubstep crossover, UK singer Katy B brought her dubstep-leaning pop to Glastonbury as well. She plays a private show in NYC tonight (6/27). It will be her first.

Little Dragon wowed the crowd, according to VH1 anyway:

For the UK at least, this performance of their new song "Ritual Union" is a real coming-out party for the band, who absolutely deserve to be heard on a much wider scale. It's really difficult to make smooth music work in the middle of the day at a big outdoor festival, but Little Dragon pulls it off in style.

UK anti-folkie Emmy the Great covered The Pixies' classic "Where Is My Mind" with help from Tim Wheeler of the punky brit-poppers Ash. Full setlist below.

On a more negative note,

A senior member of David Cameron's Tory constituency has been found dead in a portable toilet at the Glastonbury festival.

Christopher Shale, the chairman of West Oxfordshire Conservative Association, suffered a heart attack, sources believe.

His body was found in a portable toilet in the backstage area, where many celebrities and performers stay.

A story in the Mail on Sunday contained leaked sections of a strategy document Shale had drafted for David Cameron, in which he said the party can be perceived as "crass" and "always on the take".

Avon and Somerset police confirmed that the body of a man in his mid-50s had been found in the backstage area. A woman was seen being comforted by officers.

His body was found at 8.45am. An area between the Pyramid stage and the Other stage has been cordoned off. [Guardian]

Videos, soundcloud streams, setlists, and other stuff below...

Continue reading "Glastonbury 2011 happened (highlights, video, setlists, Tricky, SBTRKT, Radiohead, Pulp, Beyonce, Janelle Monae & more)"

Giant and very-varied Labor Day Weekend electro festival Electric Zoo returns to Randall's Island on September 2-4 and just announced 14 more artists to its already big lineup which is split across four stages (times three days).

The fest this year features performances by big names like Moby (DJ set), Rusko, MSTRKRFT, Richie Hawtin as Plastikman, Chromeo, Boys Noize, Calvin Harris and Diplo. The lineup also includes smaller but familiar and exciting names like Daedelus, SebastiAn (Live), SBTRKT, Nicolas Jaar (Live), and many more. The whole thing is listed below.

SBTRKT meanwhile has dates coming up in July.

SebastiAn, who has had singles floating around for a few years now, and more recently a film score, finally released his first proper full length Total on May 30 via Ed Banger. The album is 22 songs of Daft Punk-esque aggressive French House and features vocal contributions from Mayer Hawthorne and M.I.A.. Check out a soundcloud stream of the M.I.A.-featured "C.T.F.O." (which stands for chill the fuck out) and the full tracklist also below.

More tour dates for Diplo, Chromeo and Rusko, along with the EZ lineup, and stuff, below...

Continue reading "Electric Zoo expands lineup (SBTRKT, Nicolas Jaar, MSTRKRFT, MANY more), SebastiAn released 'Total' on Ed Banger"

DOWNLOAD: Nicolas Jaar - "Keep Me There" (MP3)

"Nicolas Jaar was born the 10th of January 1990 in New York but spent most of his childhood in Santiago de chile. Haunted by Mulato Astatke and Erik Satie, he started making electronic music in 2004. At the age of 17, he made his debut on Wolf + Lamb records. Now 21 years old, Nico runs his own label clown & sunset and just released his debut album 'space is only noise" [nicolasaar.net]

The LPR show is being opened by Valentin Stip, who just released an EP on Jaar's Clown & Sunset label. According to a facebook status on Nicolas' page, it's his last US show until the fall. Tickets are still on sale now.

Nicolas recently recorded a cover of Abdullah Ibrahim's "Ishmael" live at Maida Vale BBC Studios in London. Listen to that, with all dates below...

Continue reading "Nicolas Jaar released 'Space Is Only Noise', covered Abdullah Ibrahim, has a label, can legally drink @ his US live band show"