by BBG

I can still feel my skin rippling from that Ben Frost gig. Those oceans of sound and vibration are overwhelming. -HallochHill

Ben Frost @ Littlefield microreview: The sound of the universe rending itself in two, as wolves howl into the cold. Gorgeous. Terrifying. -stribs

Ben Frost at Littlefield - Sept 15, 2010 (photo by l_c_m_tt_)

When Sónar Chicago first announced that Ben Frost would be on its inaugural line-up, their commitment to innovative electronic music became clear. This wasn't going to be a watered-down sibling to their annual Barcelona event, rather it would present dance music and experimental sounds in equal measure. Frost was an ideal candidate for bridging this gap, as his... powerful recent releases like 2007's Theory of Machines and last year's By the Throat, ensured this would be one of the most eagerly anticipated performances of the entire festival...

Poised behind his laptop with a guitar in his hands, the image of Ben Frost on stage immediately evokes that of another guitar-laptop musician, Christian Fennesz. Instrumentation choice is where the similarities end, however, as Fennesz creates a more shimmering, ethereal reality of reserve and restraint. Frost opts instead to maximize the minimal, plotting an anxious course against the audience. With a debt owed to both Swans and Throbbing Gristle, there's little room for delicacy. -[Gapers Block]

While the review above comes from his show in Chicago as part of the Sonar festival, the tweets at the top (and the photo) come from Ben Frost's show last night (9/15) at Littlefield in Brooklyn.

The Icelandic electronic artist will do his best to pay any debt owed to Swans by playing Brooklyn Masonic Temple on 10/8 as the support act for the previously discussed Swans/Baby Dee shindig. Tickets are still available. Ben Frost will not appear at the now sold-out Swans show at Bowery Ballroom show on 10/9.

The NYC and Chicago show were a couple of a few that Ben Frost had planned for the US. Full tour dates and some video, including a live vid from Sonar, is below.

Continue reading "Ben Frost played Sonar & Littlefield, added to Swans show "

DOWNLOAD: Oval - "Ah!" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Oval - Ringtone II EP (zip file of MP3s)

Oval is an electronic music group founded in Germany in 1991... The band's original members were Markus Popp, Sebastian Oschatz, and Frank Metzger, although Oschatz and Metzger left the group in 1995. All three are regarded as pioneers of glitch, a genre of music that embraces the sound of damaged audio produced by the failure of digital equipment. Disdaining the use of synthesizers, Oval instead deliberately mutilated CDs by writing on them with felt pens, then processed the palette of fragmented sounds to create a very rhythmic electronic style. -[Wiki]

Markus Popp released his first recordings under the Oval moniker in nine years with the Oh EP in June, and now he's gone one step further with a new double LP O out NOW on Thrill Jockey.

Oval will support the release(s) with three US shows, two of which will go down TONIGHT at Issue Project Room in Brooklyn (9/9). Tickets are still available for both the first (at 8PM) and the second set (at 10PM). The third Oval show will be a headlining date at the Sonar Festival in Chicago along with The Slew featuring Kid Koala, Martyn, Ben Frost, Nosaj Thing Visual Show, Black Devil Disco Club and many others. For more info, including ticketing, head to the Sonar site.

Oval recently released a video for "Ah!" from O which is viewable below (the song is downloadable above). In addition, Oval has released the FREE Ringtone II EP for download as well. Check out that above and dig on the tracklisting below.

Continue reading "Oval is here w/ a new double LP & A FREE EP (MP3s) --- 2 NYC shows (tonight) & then Sonar in Chicago (dates)"

photos by Zach Dilgard

Grace Jones

"Late of the Pier played a 20 minute shmeh set and crystal castles had no sound. crookers were better than usual and orbitol were awesome. grace jones is fucking mad and fucked up the schedule. Fever Ray is a shamanic wonder." [The Naked Smiles Club]

Grace Jones has shows coming up in both NYC and LA. The 2009 Sonar Festival took place June 18-20 in Barcelona. More pictures from that weekend in Spain, below...

Continue reading "Sonar 2009 in pictures"

"Woah just watched crystal castles at sonar, sound was awful throughout kept cutting out so at te end alice started trashing the stage..." - Little Boots

Crystal Castles @ Coachella 2009 (more by Darren Kim)

"Toronto synth-rockers Crystal Castles were involved in a melee with security while onstage in Barcelona early Sunday morning. Their show, part of the Sonar festival, had been marred by technical issues. At some point during the set singer Alice Glass went into the crowd and punched a security guard. She then climbed back on stage, and pulled out the kick drum and appeared to be about to heave it when a sound technician grabbed her. And that's when her bandmate Ethan Kath jumped in and rushed to her aid." [National Post]

Videos below...

Continue reading "Crystal Castles fight w/ security @ the Sonar Festival (video) "

by Black Bubblegum

Herren & Lange as Savath Y Savalas

Scott Herren, aka Prefuse 73, will headline Brooklyn's Bell House TONIGHT (4/23), one of three upcoming NYC dates for Mr Glitch Hop.

Along for the ride at the Bell House is the duo of Roberto C Lange (collaborator and member of Herren's Savath Y Savalas project) and David Ellis (MoMa featured visual artist), Alexis O'Hara, GOD, Grade 13, Nine 11 Thesaurus, and Tiny Toones. The Bell House show will serve as a launch party for Radio23.org, a streaming audio site that will broadcast the whole thing LIVE. Tickets are still available. We also have two pairs of tickets to give away. Details below.

The second show lined up for Scott Herren will take place at MoMa on May 4th as part of their ongoing MoMA Monday Nights series. Tickets are $10 if you ride your bike to the museum that night or if you are a Flavorpill subscriber. Otherwise it costs $20.

The third, and possibly the biggest, is the NY installation of Barcelona's Sonar festival on May 12th in NYC:

Sonar is organising a day of special concerts and performances in New York in a very unusual venue in the city, the Baryshnikov Arts Center (BAC), with a top class line-up that combines multimedia art ideas with experimental electronica and latest generation pop, and which includes... [installations by] both Catalan and American artists... [including] Marcel·lí Antúnez and ReacTable featuring Ikue Mori; the mysterious ambient of Balago; the soundtrack, performed live, by Árbol and Fibla for a film by Taiwan's Tsai Ming-Liang; the extravagant pop of Hidrogenesse; hip-hop in a trio format with the Del Palo Soundsystem; two sets by the Barcelona dj d.a.r.y.l.; the highly unconventional rhythm of the Americans (both ex-residents of Barcelona) DJ/Rupture and Prefuse 73; and visuals by No-Domain.

Free tickets are required, and the jump-off takes place at 8PM to 1AM in the Baryshnikov Arts Center NYC (450 West 37th Street, Suite 501).

You may have recently caught Prefuse 73 spinning some records at Other Music during Record Store Day.

Some videos, and contest details, below...

Continue reading "Sonar Festival in NYC, the Radio23 launch party & MoMA Monday Nights (all Prefuse 73 shows, 1 tonight, win tix) "