photos by Greg Cristman

Tangerine Dream at Best Buy Theater - 7/7/12

Tangerine Dream are currently on a tour which brought them to their first NYC show in about two decades on Saturday (7/7) at Best Buy Theater. They took the stage about a half hour later than planned, but then graced the audience with a 2 hour and 45 minute set. Since 1988, the only original member who remains in the lineup is Edgar Froese, who leads the band from his keys. The NY Times offered their thoughts on the show, giving it a bit of a mixed reaction, and mentioning that the show-offy guitar playing of Bernhard Beibl was at times reminiscent of '80s pop hits:

On Saturday Tangerine Dream's two generous sets wandered between the hypnotic and the cheesy. Pieces like "One Night in Space" stacked rhythms -- metronomic programmed beats, a throbbing bass undertow, crosscurrents of percussion, percolating arpeggios from keyboards and guitar -- that promised ceaseless, dizzying motion, the kind of rush through abstract voids that was shown on a video screen above the musicians.

Regardless of any lower points, it was a great opportunity to see the band back in a city they hadn't visited in so long. If you made it out to the show, what did you think?

More pictures from Best Buy Theater and a list of all remaining tour dates are below...

Continue reading "Tangerine Dream played Best Buy Theater (pics)"

Tangerine Dream at Moogfest 2011 (more by Diana Wong)

From June 1 - 7, BAMcinematek, will be hosting 'Tangerine Dreams,' a series of ten film screenings, all of which were scored by ambient pioneers Tangerine Dream. They'll be screening Miracle Mile, Legend, Strange Behavior, The Keep, Thief, Shy People, Le berceau de cristal, Near Dark, and Silent Running. The schedule with dates and viewing times is below. Tickets to all ten screenings are available and we're giving away a pair of tickets which include access to all of the screenings. Contest details are below.

The film series happens about a month before Tangerine Dream kick off their July tour which includes the previously discussed NYC show on July 7 at Best Buy Theatre. Tickets for that show are still available.

'Tangerine Dreams' schedule and contest details below...

Continue reading "'Tangerine Dreams' film series coming to BAM (win tix!)"

by Klaus Kinski

At 12:06AM on February 25, 2012 I tweeted "Am I the only person here who fires up GTA IV just to hop in a car, tune in to "The Journey" and just drive?" If you don't know, The Journey is a radio station featured on GTA IV that specializes in New Age music. It is the chillest radio station, and if it was a real thing here in NYC I'd listen to it constantly. To sit on ones couch, throw on some headphones, drink booze, and drive aimlessly around Liberty City listening to the Journey is probably the most profound form of laziness, lifelessness, and lack of motivation I can think of; and man, it's bliss. The Journey features songs that conjure up images of pot-smoking, space travel, astrology and astronomy by artists including Terry Riley, Steve Roach, Michael Shrieve, Jean Michel Jarre, Philip Glass, Tangerine Dream, Aphex Twin, and Ray Lynch. Sure, this shit might be cheesy, but if it wasn't for these folks half the electronic, ambient music you like wouldn't exist. They are the godfathers of mellow.

As it happens, the tune by Tangerine Dream is my favorite cut on that dial. Prior to GTA IV I had SOME familiarity with Krautrock pioneers Tangerine Dream, but it was their inclusion on The Journey that made me want to delve into their (unbelievably fucking massive) catalogue head first and I soon became a devotee of them. The other day at work I was at my computer listening to Vangelis of all things when a guy, who I'll refer to as BV, chimed in through gchat to tell me that Tangerine Dream has some US dates scheduled including July 7th at the Best Buy Theatre in NYC!! How BV knew I was into Tangerine is a mystery to me. And how he had the timing to tell me when I was listening to new age legend Vangelis is just plain scary.

Anywhoozle, RIGHT NOW Tickets to the NYC show are in Amex and internet presale. Regular people can get tickets when they go on sale to the public today, Friday April 13th at noon.

More tour dates and their cut from The Journey are below.

Continue reading "Tangerine Dream playing some shows in July (dates)"

photos by Diana Wong

Tangerine Dream & fan

The annual music festival Moogfest took place this Halloween weekend down in Asheville, North Carolina. Countless bands we know and love played over the course of its three days including The Antlers, Atlas Sound, Austra, Anika, The Field, AraabMuzik, Flying Lotus, Chromeo, TV on the Radio, Moby, Matthew Dear, Tangerine Dream, and many more. And that was just Friday. Friday pictures are in this post.

As NPR points out:

"Tangerine Dream has wore many hats during a prolific 35-year career: Krautrock, New Age, film scores and pioneering synth music, to start. The group has consistently worked at a steady clip, generating 116 (!) live and studio albums in spite of its many personnel changes. Edgar Froese, the creative force behind Tangerine Dream, is the only remaining original member."

Tangerine Dream played a two hour set at the fest. You can listen to the whole thing at NPR who have streaming sets from Austra, Atlas Sound, Tim Hecker, The Field, CANT and others too. The rest of our pictures from the first of three days, below...

Continue reading "Moogfest 2011 - Day 1 in pics & streams (Tangerine Dream, Moby, TV on the Radio, Austra, Chromeo, Antlers & more)"

DOWNLOAD: SBTRKT - "Wildfire" (Drumma Boy remix ft. Shabazz Palaces) (MP3)

Back in June, we announced the killer initial lineup for Moogfest 2011 (October 28, 29, 30). That lineup just got even better with additions including TV on the Radio, Special Disco Version featuring James Murphy and Pat Mahoney, St. Vincent, SBTRKT, Flying Lotus, YACHT, John Maus, Araabmuzik Baths, Zomby, Active Child and more. It was also announced that Brian Eno, part of the initial lineup, will be presenting Brian Eno's 77 Million Paintings and "Illustrated Talks" as part of this year's fest.

The initial announcement also included Suicide, Tangerine Dream, Hans-Joachim Roedelius, Austra, M83, Little Dragon, Passion Pit, Toro y Moi, Moby (full band), The Flaming Lips, Battles, CANT, Brandt Brauer Frick (who will be on a US tour that hits Glasslands), and more.

Speaking of CANT (aka Chris Taylor of Grizzly Bear), he revealed the song "Believe" from his upcoming debut LP yesterday. Stream the track below. The album comes out September 13 on Chris' own Terrible Records. He's also got an upcoming tour surrounding Moogfest which includes a show on October 25 at Bowery Ballroom. Tickets are still on sale.

Speaking of SBTRKT and Little Dragon, Drumma Boy remixed the SBTRKT song with Little Dragon's Yukimi Nagano on lead vocals. Shabazz Palaces is also featured on the remix (compare that to Drake's version). Grab the track above via Gorilla vs Bear. Shabazz wrote on Facebook today, "Besides the release of Black Up, I don't think I've seen one article on here create such a surge of activity as this Wildfire Remix has. Amazing."

Sampha, who sings live with SBTRKT and on his album, also recently released his own song, "Indecision." Stream the track below. Moogfest is one of the stops on SBTRKT's recently announced US tour that also hits Bowery Ballroom on October 31 (with Araabmuzik) and Music Hall of Williamsburg on November 1. Tickets for both shows are still on sale.

Little Dragon plays a BV-presented Record Release show at Music Hall of WIlliamsburg TONIGHT (8/16). The show is sold out, but if you don't have tickets you can catch them in NYC again on their headlining tour which hits Terminal 5 on October 14. Tickets are still on sale.

Song streams and full Moogfest lineup below...

Continue reading "updated Moogfest lineup, new CANT & a Shabazz Palaces/Drumma Boy SBTRKT/Little Dragon remix (MP3s)"

Conrad Schnitzler, prolific German musician who was in early lineups of Kosmische (or krautrock, as the genre became known to English-speaking audiences) groups Tangerine Dream and Kluster, passed away due to [stomach] cancer on August 4. He was 74.

Schnitzler appeared on Tangerine Dream's first album, 'Electronic Meditation,' and he was a founding member of seminal krautrock group Kluster, along with Hans-Joachim Roedelius and Dieter Moebius. Three albums were released under the Kluster name before Schnitzler left in 1971 to work with his other group, Eruption. Moebius and Roedelius continued on as Cluster and actively recorded and toured on and off until 2010.

Schnitzler was active all the way to end. He completed a new solo work 00/830 four days before he died. According to his website you can order a copy by emailing conpanie (at) yahoo (dot) com. RIP to Conrad.

Suicide at ATP 2009 (more by Ryan Muir)

The initial lineup is out for this year's Moogfest, which is taking place in Asheville, NC on October 28-30. This year's lineup has some pretty impresive names including three pioneers of electronic music; Tangerine Dream, Hans-Joachim Roedelius and Suicide, who are performing their highly influential 1977 self titled debut album in its entirety. The Flaming Lips, Crystal Castles, Little Dragon, Passion Pit, Toro y Moi, Chromeo, Austra, M83, Tim Hecker, and many others on there too. Tickets go on sale Saturday (6/4) at noon. Check out the full initial lineup and a video below.

Continue reading "Moogfest initial 2011 lineup (Suicide, Tangerine Dream, Flaming Lips, Little Dragon, Passion Pit & more!)"