photos by Jonathan Bernstein

Beacon at Mercury Lounge - 5/4/13

Brooklyn electronic pop duo Beacon released their new album, The Ways We Separate, last week (4/30) and celebrated it with a release show on Saturday (5/4) at Mercury Lounge, a one-off before their mini spring tour, which begins later this month. Support at the show came from Braille (aka Praveen Sharma aka 1/2 of Sepalcure) and Montreal's Solar Year. Pictures from the show are in this post.

Solar Year next plays NYC as an opener for the previously discussed Actress show at Cameo on June 6. That show is also with Gobby, who you can see sooner opening for Majical Cloudz at Glasslands (5/21) (tickets) and at UNO's free Red Bull Music Academy showcase on May 28 at Le Baron. Tickets for the Actress, Solar Year, Gobby show at Cameo are still available.

More pictures from Mercury Lounge, a stream of "Drive" from Beacon's new LP, and a list of all remaining dates, below...

Continue reading "Beacon, Braille & Solar Year played Mercury Lounge (pics)"

DOWNLOAD: Tiger & Woods - "A Golden Bear mix" (MP3)

Tiger & Woods at Movement 2012 (via Sidewalk Hustle)

Production duo Tiger & Woods will be in NYC TONIGHT (4/26) at Highline Ballroom for a FIXED + Let's Play House party with The Dead Rose Music Company, Canyons, and FIXED regulars JDH & Dave P. Tickets for tonight's show are still available. You can download the duo's brand new mix, "A Golden Bear mix," at the top of this post, or stream it below.

FIXED is also throwing a party at Highline Ballroom on May 31 with Verboten which features sets from Azari & III and Jozif. Tickets for that one are on sale now.

They've also got one happening on June 28 at Glasslands with a live set by Dutonic and Mighty Mouse. Tickets for that show are on sale now.

French house DJ Fred Falke, who released the funky Part IV back in 2011, will come to Williamsburg dance club Output on May 2 for an 'Input' party with Foals (DJ), Chrome Sparks and Jorge Bonjour. Tickets for that show are on sale now.

Trus'me at Mutek 2009 (more by Zach Dilgard)

Neon Indian will also be DJing an 'Input' party at Output (5/9) the following week. The rest of that lineup includes UK producer Trus'me (whose new album, Treat Me Right, can be streamed at XLR8R), Optimo, and Tanner Caldwell. Tickets for that show are on sale now.

Actress, whose very good R.I.P. LP came out last year, was supposed to play Cameo Gallery in Brooklyn a few months after its release, but never made it here. Now he's planning on returning to the venue on June 6 for a show with Gobby and Solar Year. Tickets for that show are on sale now. Show flyer below.

Dave Harrington (of Nicolas Jaar's live band and their collaborative project, Darkside) will also be playing a Cameo show on May 25. Benoit and Sergio are on the bill too. Tickets for that show are on sale now.

Classix

As mentioned, The Presets and Dragonette are going on a tour this year which hits NYC on May 8 at Terminal 5. Since we last spoke, LA dance duo Classixx have been added to that tour. Tickets for the Terminal 5 show are still available.

After that tour ends, Classixx will play their own show in NYC on June 15 at Le Poisson Rouge with Headband and Hooligan. Tickets for that show are on sale now. Classixx's new album, Hanging Gardens, will be out on May 14 via Innovative Leisure, and the duo have recently revealed one of its tracks, "All You're Waiting For," which features vocals from DFA's Nancy Whang (who they've played with before). You can stream that, along with two other album tracks, "Borderline" (ft. Jesse Kivel of Kisses) and "Holding On," below.

French producer Onra, who released the Deep in the Night EP on Fool's Gold last year, will be coming to NYC for a show on May 21 at Le Poisson Rouge before heading to Montreal for Mutek. Tickets for the LPR show are on sale now.

Brooklyn disco collective Midnight Magic will play a hometown show on May 18 at Music Hall of Williamsburg with Slow Knights and Spank DJs Sean B and Will Automagic. Tickets for that show are on sale now.

Germany's Ellen Allien, who put a new album out this year, will return to NYC for a show on May 24 at a TBA location. The bill also includes Camea, Thomas Muller, and Safety Scissors. Tickets are on sale now and you can find out the location by RSVPing to resolute.bpitch@gmail.com.

Another secret dance show is happening in NYC on July 26 with Tiga, Martyn, and Bordello. This one's a Blkmarket show, and tickets are on sale now. Stay tuned for info on the location.

Wedidit collective member Groundislava is playing Glasslands on May 30 with Fur and Time Wharp. Tickets for that show are on sale now.

DJ Rashad, DJ Spinn, Soulja Man, J-Cush, Durban, and TCJ are playing 285 Kent on May 24, the day after Rashad & Spinn play a Red Bull show. Tickets for the 285 Kent show are on sale now.

Eamon Harkin and Justin Carter's Brooklyn dance party Mister Sunday Night will be returning to Gowanus Grove this summer for weekly parties beginning May 12. More details and ticket info at their website.

Of course these are only a few of the upcoming dance shows in NYC. We've also recently mentioned shows by Nina Kraviz, Emika, Disclosure & TNGHT, and The Field. Plus, the Mad Decent Block Party is coming up, and there's going to be tons of dance music during the Red Bull Music Academy NYC onslaught, which happens from April 28 to May 31. What else?

Classixx song streams, the Tiger & Woods mix, and Actress show flyer below...

Continue reading "upcoming dance shows in NYC: Classixx, Actress, DJ Rashad, Tiger & Woods, Fred Falke, Trus'me, Ellen Allien, Martyn, more"

by Andrew Sacher

Maria Minerva & LA Vampires - The Integration

As mentioned, warped pop singer Maria Minerva is releasing a collaborative album with Not Not Fun/100% Silk label head LA Vampires (aka Amanda Brown, formerly of Pocahaunted) called The Integration. The album will be out digitally and on vinyl on October 30 and it comes out on CD on November 13. GvsB just premiered the video for the album's single, "Seasons Change," which you can watch below. That's the cover art above and the tracklist is below.

Maria Minerva is playing a number of CMJ shows this week (maybe you saw her at the Panache showcase at Public Assembly on Wednesday or at Trip House or Le Poisson Rouge last night?) and you still have some chances to see her. She plays the Ad Hoc unofficial showcase at 285 Kent tonight (10/19) with Solar Year, Prince Rama, Le1f, Physical Therapy, Mykki Blanco, and Pictureplane (DJ). I just caught Prince Rama, Mykki Blanco, and Pictureplane (though it was live a set) at the Terrorbird party at Cake Shop on Wednesday and they were all great, plus Maria Minerva doesn't disappoint in a live setting, so that showcase is looking like a pretty solid show. $8 at the door.

Maria plays the 285 Kent show at 9 PM and after that she'll head to Delancey for a 12:30 AM set at the Underwater Peoples showcase with La Big Vic, Future Shuttle, Ian Drennan, and Limited. $5 at the door.

Then, as mentioned, Maria will play the Life or Death showcase at 92YTribeca on Saturday (10/20) with Kilo Kish, Sky Ferreira, Mac DeMarco, DIIV, Twerps, Starred, Dogbite, Slug Guts, and Jozef Van Wissem. $10 at the door, or you can try to get in with your CMJ badge.

A list of all dates, that video, and the album tracklist are below.

Continue reading "Maria Minerva has a new video from her collaborative LP w/ LA Vampires, playing CMJ shows"

It's been about two years since we last heard from Montreal's Valleys who apparently have had a rethink since then. The band (Matilda Perks and Marc St Louis) have dropped the folky elements of their music but kept the ethereal atmophere, adding layers of analog synths to their sound. Valleys new album will be out early next year on Kanine but NYC folk can hear their new sound next week during CMJ. They'll play the Kanine Records day party on Friday at Cameo (10/19, 6 PM) and then Saturday (10/20) afteroon (1:15 PM) at the Pop Montreal day party which is also at Cameo. So if you can tear yourselves away from one of our day parties at Public Assembly those same days (right down N. 6th St.), do stop by and check them out.

The Kanine showcase also has Beach Day, Bleeding Rainbow, Eternal Summers, Zambri, Moon King and Roommates (featuring mems of Surfer Blood and Pop Etc.). The show is free and open to the public and flyer for the show is below.

The Pop Montreal day party line-up also free and open to the public and features Goose Hut, Mozart's Sister, Blue Hawaii, and Solar Year and the flyer for that show is below too.

Continue reading "Valleys sign to Kanine, playing NYC next week for CMJ"

oOoOO at MoMA PS1 in 2011 (more by Erez Avissar)

oOoOO (aka San Francisco producer Christopher Greenspan) released his impressive Our Loving Is Hurting Us EP earlier this year via Tri Angle and subsequently toured North America in support of it. Now he's set to go on a European tour, much of which is with Butterclock, who sings on his EP, but before that he'll play a hometown show in San Francisco at Public Works tonight (9/28) with Andy Stott and Demdike Stare (who will both be in NYC for a show together in October), and Balam Acab (who will be in NYC in December).

On oOoOO's way home from the European tour, he too will stop in NYC for a show on November 8 at Glasslands with Solar Year and Silent Drape Runners. Tickets for that show are on sale now. oOoOO just posted a song on his soundcloud called "StairwayToHeaven" (doesn't appear to have anything to do with the Led Zeppelin song) and you can stream that below.

Speaking of Andy Stott, he also just revealed a cut off of his upcoming album, Luxury Problems (due out 10/29 via Modern Love), called "Numb." A stream of that song, the oOoOO song, and a list of all upcoming oOoOO dates are below.

Continue reading "oOoOO has a new song, playing Brooklyn show after European tour; Andy Stott has a new song too (dates, streams)"

photos by Dominick Mastrangelo

St. Vincent / Julia Holter

When it came down to it, [Annie] Clark's voice was the star. Though [David] Byrne, a shock of white, was the one the thousands came to worship - and it's hard to deny the unadulterated joy hearing of "This Must Be the Place" and "Burning Down the House" in such a pristine setting - it was Clark who made the deepest impact. Free of reverbed guitar heroics and floating above a cloud of brass, her rendition of "The Party" during the evening's second encore was a revelation. Drawing from the gigantic church's natural resonance (not to mention its massive pipe organ), the song began with the brass band walked down the aisles as Clark appeared onstage alone, spinning a macabre rhapsody till its eventual sonic denouement.

Closer "Road to Nowhere" wasn't too shabby either. [National Post]

POP Montreal returned to Montreal for its tenth annual year this past week with countless artists across multiple venues in the city. Like CMJ and SXSW, there are so many good options at POP Montreal -- newcomers and old favorites alike -- that it's impossible to catch everyone. While we were there on Friday (9/21), we caught David Byrne & St. Vincent (who are on a tour which hits NYC three times this week -- have you checked out Kelly Pratt's tour diary with David and Annie?), French electronic artist Bertrand Burgalat (who plans to make his way to NYC for CMJ), Julia Holter, Solar Year, and recent Sub Pop-signees METZ (who have also been on the road a lot, and will be back in NYC for CMJ and again on their November tour).

POP Montreal pictures from Saturday (9/22) and Sunday (9/23) are coming soon. More pics from Friday are below.

Continue reading "POP Montreal -- Friday pics (David Byrne & St. Vincent, Julia Holter, Bertrand Burgalat, METZ & Solar Year)"

Grimes at Pitchfork Fest 2012 (more by Chase Turner)

Grimes (aka Claire Boucher), who got her start in a more experimental scene before reaching much wider fanbases this year with her pop-centric Visions, is planning to follow that album with a more experimental project that she plans to release under a different moniker. Here's what she told MTV Hive about the new project:

Have you started on the follow up to Visions yet?

Yeah [but] I'm thinking about making one that is a bit more experimental that I don't put out as Grimes, because I want to stick with this pop aesthetic as Grimes. I've been working on more percussive noise music and also a lot of straight vocal music. I want to make [both] dark percussive shit and vocal ranging and release an album that's halfway between ethereal reggaeton and industrial dance music but is still very pop in its song [structures].

In the wake of Grimes' success, she also continues to collaborate with smaller artists like Blood Diamonds, and more recently with fellow Montreal artist Solar Year for the track "Brotherhood" off their album, Waverly. You can stream that entire album below.

Meanwhile, Grimes will be in NYC TONIGHT (7/29) to DJ at 285 Kent with Pictureplane, Arca, Rezzie, and "special guests" are promised as well. Unfortunately that show is sold out (did you get tickets?) but if you want to try your luck, it looks like some people over at the facebook event have tickets that they're trying to sell. Grimes also has five upcoming live shows in NYC, including a free one at Pier 84 on August 9 with WIld Nothing and DIIV and four sold out paid shows.

A list of updated Grimes tour dates and the Solar Year album stream below...

Continue reading "Grimes releasing experimental project, contributed vocals to Solar Year, DJing 285 Kent tonight w/ Pictureplane & others"