The full list of artists confirmed for the 2012 CMJ Music Marathon so far is below...

Continue reading "CMJ 2012 initial lineup announced"

(via @leiaj)

Tickets for the Sloan Twice Removed show at Maxwell's go on sale today at noon and tickets for the MHOW show go on AmEx presale today at noon.

Tickets for the Texas is the Reason show at Music Hall of Williamsburg go on AmEx presale today at noon.

Tickets for the Lotion and Edsel show at Mercury Lounge go on AmEx presale today at noon.

Tickets for the Miike Snow shows at United Palace go on AmEx presale today at noon.

Tickets for The Soft Moon show at Bowery Ballroom go on AmEx presale today at noon.

Tickets for the Pujol show at Mercury Lounge go on AmEx presale today at noon.

The BrooklynVegan photo exhibit, "480 Pixels," opens this Thursday (8/16) with performances on opening night from Screaming Females, Hunters, and Heliotropes. Tickets for that show are still available and we're also giving away a pair.

Tickets for the Regina Spektor show at Beacon Theater are on AmEx presale now and go on sale to the general public on Friday (8/17) at noon.

Tickets for Asheville, NC festival Moogfest are on sale now.

As mentioned Idle Warship (Talib Kweli + Res) play Highline Ballroom on Monday (8/20). Tickets for that show are on sale now. You can also catch Res at Rockwood Music Hall on September 4. Tickets for that show are on sale now.

Martha Wainwright's residency at City Winery continues tonight (8/15) with Nicole Atkins opening. Tickets for tonight's show are still available.

Lucius is playing Rockwood Music Hall on August 29. Tickets for that show are on sale now.

Mirel Wagner and Natureboy are playing Joe's Pub on September 16. Tickets for that show are on sale now.

Our Hit Parade starring Bridget Everett, Kenny Mellman and Neal Medlyn play Joe's Pub on 8/22, 9/26, 10/24, and 11/14. Tickets for all four shows are on sale now.

Tickets for the Morbid Angel show at BB King's are on sale now.

Micky Dolenz, lead singer of The Monkees, whose former bandmate Davy Jones passed away earlier this year, will play BB King's on October 19. Tickets for that show are on sale now.

As mentioned The Misfits will play their Halloween show at HIghline Ballroom this year. Tickets for that show are on sale now.

In other holiday show news, the sixth annual Menorah Horah! goes down at Highline Ballroom on December 9. Tickets for that are on sale now.

Darlene Love will play her annual Christmas show at BB King's on December 9. Tickets for that show are on sale now.

EDM's rise to the mainstream continues to show itself in interesting ways. After big festival sets all summer, AVICII has announced that he'll play a show at NYC's Radio City Music Hall on September 27. How kids on Molly plan to rave at the fancy seated venue remains to be seen. Tickets for the show go on sale Friday (8/17) at 10 AM with an internet presale starting Thursday (8/16) at 10 AM.

Talib Kweli @ SXSW 2011 (more by BBG)

Speaking of Blue Note, Blue Note alumnus Talib Kweli, though not part of the just-announced festival this year (Mos Def is though), has shows of his own scheduled.

As part of "The Prisoner of Conscious Tour", he'll headline Le Poisson Rouge in NYC on May 28th with guests J. Pinder and Bajah and The Dry Eye Crew. Tickets for the show are on sale. All currently announced dates, including Black Star at Bonnaroo (where Kenny Rogers is also playing), are listed below, along with a video for a song from Talib's new album...

"Slated for a Summer 2012 release, Kweli's new album, Prisoner of Conscious (Blacksmith/EMI), features appearances from RZA, Busta Rhymes, Curren$y, Kendrick Lamar, Melanie Fiona and more. The video for the album's lead single, the Oh No-produced "Distractions", can be seen below."

The video has actually been out for a while. You may have seen it - it's the one that features footage from Occupy Wall Street (which is about to be active again in honor of May Day).

Kweli, who played a show in Chicago last night, has had a great week so far. His Idle Warship (with Res) project recently released a new video for "Driving Me Insane" and Kweli was profiled by NY1.

Watch the Idle Warship video, the Talib video, and a trailer for a documentary about Res, with all tour dates, below...

Continue reading "Talib Kweli prepping new LP, announces dates & stuff"

photos by Amanda Hatfield & Dominick Mastrangelo, words by Andrew Sacher

Talib Kweli w/ Idle Warship @ BV-CMJ @ Public Assembly (by Dominick)

Idle Warship (Talib Kweli and Res), who played our CMJ day party with their full backing band, and who were just added to SXSW, have a few shows coming up this month and next. One of those shows is in Talib's hometown of NYC this Friday (12/9) at Southpaw with Jah C & Jaison Spain, Kyle Rapps, ILLUSTRATE, and The Band Called Fuse. Tickets are on sale. After a short break in their schedule, they'll play NYC again on January 4 at SOB's. Tickets for that show are on sale now. All dates and more pictures from our CMJ show are below.

In related news, Talib Kweli is readying his album Prisoner of Consciousness, which he's been working on for four years, for a 2012 release. He recently spoke to The Boombox about the album:

"Prisoner of Consciousness' is a record I've been working on for the better part of four years," Kweli tells The BoomBox. "I wasn't happy with my last album with Warner Brothers [2007's 'Eardrum,'] and I knew I didn't want to give them 'Prisoner of Consciousness.' I knew the project was too important for me, so I opted to get out of my deal."

The omnipresent Kweli released the follow-up, 'Gutter Rainbows,' earlier this year. The effort was his first solo album off his own imprint, Blacksmith Music. "I'm a touring artist," he admits. "Prisoner of Consciousness' wasn't ready but I still had a bunch of great songs that were timely; a lot of the songs on 'Gutter Rainbows' were songs that work for that time, but if I held on to them, were going to have to be updated. So, I was like let me put together a project and put it out myself and that was what 'Gutter Rainbows was."

However, the 36-year-old rhymer didn't just craft his last project from leftovers from his forthcoming LP. It was all a part of a bigger picture. "'Gutter Rainbows' was not necessarily the outtakes from 'Prisoner of Consciousness,' but 'Gutter Rainbows' was started with the spirit of 'Prisoner of Consciousness' and became its own thing, almost like a prelude to 'Prisoner of Consciousness,'" he explains.

All Idle Warship dates and a belated set of pictures from our CMJ party below...

Continue reading "Idle Warship schedule more shows, played BV-CMJ @ Public Assembly (belated pics & tour dates)"

As the first of three BrooklynVegan not-CMJ DAY PARTIES is already underway, I'm happy to announce that Idle Warship will be playing the free BrooklynVegan day party at Public Assembly on Saturday, 10/22, at 5pm! Full lineup TBA shortly

If you missed Idle Warship's free Restoration Rocks show (due to them not playing it), here's another chance! As their bio reads:

A collaboration between hip-hop luminary Talib Kweli and critically acclaimed soulful singer and songwriter Res, Idle Warship is a genre-bending musical project born out of sheer experimentation and unbridled creative expression. Idle Warship's free-thinking approach has always crossed over from the studio to the other end of the process - the delivery of the music. After releasing free music across the web for the past four years, Idle Warship unveiled "System Addict," a track off Habits of the Heart, on the now wildly-popular social music site Turntable.fm just weeks after its launch. Talib Kweli even received Turntable.fm's very first verified account.

That album, not out until November 1st (via Blacksmith/Element 9/Fontana), is now streaming exclusively on Spotify who are also BrooklynVegan's digital music service partner for all of our CMJ events.

Talib Kweli plays his own Blacksmith CMJ showcase at Music Hall of Williamsburg (right next door) later Saturday night.

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Full BV Saturday lineup coming any second! Full BV Friday day party lineup HERE. Thursday lineup, happening as I write this, HERE.

by Black Bubblegum

Idle Warship

Talib Kweli will team up with Res and Graph Nobel as part of a new group called Idle Warship on Dec 22nd at BB King's in NYC. Tickets are on sale. The crew are wrapping up their debut LP Party Robot, are streaming a few songs at their myspace, and recently released a video for "Black Snake Moan". Check it out along with the show flyer, below..

Continue reading "Talib Kweli, Res & Graph Noble = Idle Warship -- NYC show "