LA Fest FYF Fest is celebrating 10 years this year, and will take over Los Angeles State Historic Park on August 24 & 25. Check out the massive lineup in the poster above, and in alphabetical order below...

Continue reading "FYF Fest 2013 Lineup (My Bloody Valentine included)"

El Guincho / Empress Of

Empress Of released a pair of hot remixes today by the likes of El Guincho (who has been quiet the last couple years) and Pional. Both are pretty chilled out, especially El Guincho's which sounds like walking through a big house that has a radio in every room, each one playing something different. Listen to both below.

Empress Of also has a pair of shows coming up including the previously mentioned gig with Twin Sister at Silent Barn on Saturday (5/11) and one with Doldrums at Mercury Lounge on Wednesday (5/8). Tickets for the Merc show are still available.

All tour dates are listed, along with those remixes, below.

Continue reading "El Guincho and Pional remixed Empress Of who's opening for Doldrums and Twin Sister (separately)"

John Talabot at LPR in 2012 (more by Maxwell Reichert)

As just revealed in the Sasquatch 2013 lineup announcement, Barcelona producer John Talabot will be making his way over to North America in May for the festival. And while he's here, he'll be playing other dates including one in NYC on May 28 at Music Hall of Williamsburg. For the shows, he'll be taking along singer Pional, who contributed to his album and has toured with him before. The NYC show is being presented by FIXED and resident DJs JDH and Dave P will man the boards. Tickets for that one go on sale Friday (2/8) at noon with an AmEx presale starting Wednesday (2/6) at noon. All currently confirmed North American dates are listed below.

John Talabot also just offered an 'Acetate Dub' remix of Peaking Lights' "Beautiful Son" off their 2012 album, Lucifer. You can stream that remix and check out a list of all upcoming dates below...

Continue reading "John Talabot announces North American tour, remixed Peaking Lights (dates, stream)"

photos by Maxwell Reichert words by Kon Glikos

John Talabot @ Le Poisson Rouge - 9/27/12

Last Thursday night (9/27) FIXED hosted Barcelonian John Talabot at Le Poisson Rouge, this marking his second date on his North American tour -- and his first live date at the venue which he DJed back in August. Since the release of his LP fIN on Permanent Vacation early this year, he has been the recipient of a universal set of accolades and deservingly so. fIN is a complete record, in the sense that every song is its own realized concept, with all roads ending in the same place. No one idea ever overtakes another, resulting in a varied and inspired electronic album. When listening to it you get the sense that there are rich influences fueling the sounds, although they are not easily traceable. This kind of mysticism begs interest and is precisely what drives music fans crazy. Talabot ended up striking the proverbial cord in that respect, and fIN quickly found a home in techno DJ record bags, indie-playlists and hipster sects alike.

That diverse mix is what made up the crowd for the night, all awaiting the highly anticipated performance. After a notable opening set by Brooklynites Blondes; dishing out a hypnotic 4/4 helping of live techno. Talabot and fellow Spaniard and collaborator/vocalist Pional took center stage in front of a sizable set up including digital and analog gear, keyboards and some live percussion. As expected, Talabot moved through most of his celebrated LP, with highlights lying between the lines in the polyrhythmic changes from song to song. The slower material like "El Oeste", shined because of all of the individual elements coming in sharp and distinct, closing in on every moment passing by. While, more of the dancefloor-concentrated material gave into the crowd's revelry. Songs like "Destiny" and "So Let It Be Now" incorporated an ideal mix of harmonized vocals, texture and thump; giving everyone a chance to sweat it out, if for only a little while.

Overall, the interplay between the live organic elements and processed sound found an eccentric musical middle ground rarely attempted or experienced. While impressive, the performance did leave a feeling behind that Talabot is still getting comfortable with his elaborate live format and that there was room for the scope of his performance to grow. Still, being a voyeur within this circumstance is fortunate and if this show was any indication at all, the remaining dates on this North American tour are in for a real treat.

More pictures and a couple videos from the LPR show are below.

Continue reading "John Talabot played Le Poisson Rouge w/ Blondes (pics, videos, review)"

LCD Soundsystem at MSG (more by Dominick Mastrangelo)

As mentioned, the LCD Soundsystem documentary, Shut Up and Play the Hits, will screen at Brooklyn Bowl on Friday (7/27). Advance tickets for that screening have sold out, but more tickets will be available at the door. They've since added another screening, which happens at Brooklyn Bowl on August 1 with a "special guest DJ TBD." Tickets for that screening are on sale now. The DVD of the documentary is also now up for preorder.

In other DFA news, Juan Maclean will DJ in Brooklyn on August 24 at Cameo Gallery with Brooklyn Bass. Tickets for that show are on sale now.

In somewhat related news, DFA released a white label 12" with remixes of The Rapture's "In The Grace Of Your Love" by Poolside (who play NYC TONIGHT and Friday) and Pional (who plays NYC with John Talabot in September). You can stream the Poolside remix HERE and the Pional remix below.

Continue reading "2nd LCD Soundsystem 'Shut Up and Play the Hits' added at Brooklyn Bowl; Juan Maclean DJing Cameo"

by Andrew Sacher

Speaking of artists opening for The xx on their upcoming tour, Barcelona's John Talabot will be supporting the band on a run of dates in October. Talabot won't be at either of the NYC shows, but as discussed, he will DJ with Jamie xx at Le Poisson Rouge on August 4, two days after The xx plays Terminal 5 and the same day that Jamie plays Warm Up at MoMA PS1. Tickets for that show are still available.

Before John Talabot heads out with The xx, he'll be doing his own run of live shows which brings him back to NYC's Le Poisson Rouge on September 27, for what will be his first live show in the city since the release of his album. Tickets for that show are on sale. The show is with Pional, who records for Talabot's HIvern label, and sings on his album. Hopefully this means Pional will be joining John on vocals during his set, like he's done in the past. You can check out a video of them doing so at this year's Primavera Sound below.

That video and a list of all dates are below...

Continue reading "John Talabot touring w/ The xx, adds live dates, one in NYC"

by Andrew Sacher

Barcelona producer John Talabot released ƒIN, his first album released under that name, this week via Permanent Vacation. It's easy to want to compare the album to fellow Barcelonians Delorean, whose singer Ekhi Lopetegi provides lead vocals on the track "Journeys," and those comparisons definitely have some accuracy to them. Both Talabot and Delorean go for polyrhythmic house music, but while Delorean pulls from tropical disco, John Talabot's sound is much darker and subdued. The album opener, "Depak Ine," uses a similar vocal clip to Delorean's "Real Love," but when placed upon Talabot's stark backdrop, it comes off sounding most like the ghostly vocal samples in witch house.

The album is largely made up of impressive instrumentals, but its most memorable moments do come from the songs with lead vocals, like "Destiny," which features contributions from Pional, who has releases on the label Hivern, which Talabot runs. "Destiny" is a low-range indie pop song which covers similar ground to recent work by Matthew Dear and Nicolas Jaar. Pional also appears on the album's closing track, "So Will Be Now," which is fronted by more ghostly pitch-shifted vocals, but they're brought far closer to the forefront than the reverb-coated clips that come in earlier on the album. You can stream both of the Pional-featuring songs below, along with the album artwork and tracklist.

John Talabot's got a few upcoming shows including a FIXED show in NYC with Permanent Vacation labelmate Tensnake happening on March 18 at Le Poisson Rouge. Tickets are on sale now. UPDATE: John Talabot cancelled.

All dates, streams, album art and tracklist below...

Continue reading "John Talabot released ƒIN, playing LPR with Tensnake"