Instruments like this will be played tonight

Happy summer solstice! And what a way to kick off the season, it looks like it's going to be well into the 90°s today. Death by Audio will be celebrating it tonight (6/20) with Modular Solstice, a night of all modular synth performances by musicians who are or were involved in a project which uses analog electronics. (Let's hope for the instruments' sake DbA's A/C is up and running.) The lineup for tonight's show includes Drew McDowall (CSD, ex-Coil and Psychic TV), Mark Dwinell (member of Forma), Matthew Regula (member of Telecult Powers), Nathan Cearley (member of Long Distance Poison), and Jesse Derosa (member of Grasshopper). Doors for tonight's show are at 8 PM, first set at 8:30. Admission is $7.

Drew McDowall spoke to WFMU about what he's been up to and they touched on the DbA show, in addition to some other future plans:

You're playing the Modular Solstice Synthesizer show on Wednesday at Death By Audio in Brooklyn, what can you tell me about the instrument you will be playing? Lots of gear fetishists want to know, I'm sure.

As this is the first solo show that I've done I wanted to to make it even more exposed and solitary so it's going to be modular synthesizer. No other instruments. You'll have to come to see what it is.

What's next?

Putting the finishing touches to the next Compound Eye and CSD records. I've started collaborating with a few other people and doing remixes too. I'm doing something with Nicky Mao from Hiro Kone, i'm excited about that.

You can check out some videos of Captain Sons and Daughters (CSD) from their St. Mark's Church show in 2008 below.

Each artist performing at Death by Audio tonight has offered a one to two sentence description of their set. A couple of them actually sounds like it's about the music, but they're all pretty fun to read. Check them out below.

Continue reading "Drew McDowall (ex-Coil), Mark Dwinell (of Forma) & more playing 'Modular Solstice' synth show at DbA tonight"

Japanese noise/experimental artist Astro

Fans of noise music and the outer reaches of experimentalism can be found at Ende Tymes Festival next weekend, which goes down over four days, May 17th-20th. The festival, which was launched after a successful Kickstarter campaign earlier this year, is housed in two venues (Secret Project Robot & Outpost Artist Resources) and will focus its efforts on noise & experimental music, film, and video art from more than fifty artists working with "STREET-LEVEL AVANT-GARDE TECHNOLOGY". Greg Fox (Guardian Alien, ex-Liturgy), Astro, Sudden Infant, Sickness, Telecult Powers, Grasshopper, Diablo (featuring fest organizer Bob Bellerue) and many others are all on board and you can check out full details on the event, including the schedule, below alongside the flyer and some live video.

Continue reading "Ende Tymes Fest happens at 2 venues for 4 days (schedule)"

by BBG

DOWNLOAD: La Otracina - "Raze The Sky" (MP3)

Incorporating elements of hard rock, punk, and metal, La Otracina still know how to lock into a heavy-psychedelic groove, and they do it well. The retro-leaning band will show off some of those XL riffs on a new LP Reality Has Got to Die out now digitally via Holy Mountain Records. Hard formats are due in September. Spacey but not meandering, gently melodic but with cojones, La Otracina pummel on burly tracks like "Raze The Sky" available for download above.

La Otracina's genetic make up is similarly awesome, featuring members of Titan, Children, and the dearly-departed Nebula (who played the BV day-party at Fontana's last year). The trio will show off their chops at a number of NYC shows in the coming weeks including Coco 66 Wednesday (7/28) with Telecult Powers & La Big Vic, August 27th at Union Pool with a killer teaming of Bezoar, Naam, and Wizardry, and September 16th at Union Pool with Mondo Drag and The Main Street Gospel. Full tour sked and some videos are below...

Continue reading "new La Otracina LP (MP3) & upcoming shows (dates) "

DOWNLOAD: Future Islands - Tin Man (MP3)

Future Islands at a BBQ show in 2009 (more by Sarahana)

You can almost count on one hand the shows happening this July 4th. She & Him, The Old 97s and Rosanne Cash all play free shows, while the Feelies hold fort a Maxwell's in Jersey. Add to those Shea Stadium's all-day BBQ show, that'll also be celebrating the one-year anniversary of its 20 Meadow Street location. The bands & genres range from black metal (via Liturgy) to 'minimalist funk' (courtesy of CSC Funk Band ) to sludge rock of La Otracina to synthy post-punk Future Islands (grab one of their songs above).

A flyer, more details and videos are below...

Continue reading "Brooklyn's Shea Stadium hosting all-day July 4th BBQ (lineup)"

Sam Hillmer (left) playing with Zs @ the Yard (more by Sarahana)

You Are Here (The Maze) is a performance festival in a sculptural maze taking place at Williamsburg's Death By Audio from September 10 - October 2, 2009. Emphasizing the sprawling and interconnected nature of New York's underground, a trip through the maze offers a peak inside NYC's diy art/music scene. A meditation on passage and desire, You Are Here engulfs the space and presents beckoning inhabitants, dead ends, and uplifting epitaphs. Medium and genre vary and overlapping and simultaneous performances are frequent, each performer establishing a different corner or dead end as his or hers.

The lineup and installation is being put together by TROUBLE (Sam Hillmer & Laura Paris). Acts in the three-week schedule include Calvin Johnson, Screaming Females, Mick Barr, Ty Segal, Grooms, Extra Life and others.

Skeletons kick off the first night of the festival on September 10th as the Skeletons Big Band, a 12-piece band (expanded from their usual four) that's also playing September 7-9th at Roulette. There they'll be performing "New Works for a Larger Ensemble" which includes "excerpts and new arrangements from their record in progress "PEOPLE," a long form piece based around conversations in Greyhound busses and stations, and beyond..."

The full schedule for the Maze (and the lineup for Skeletons Big Band) is below...

Continue reading "Death By Audio's The Maze - schedule (includes 1 of 4 upcoming Skeletons Big Band shows & much more) "

by Andrew Frisicano

NY EYE & EAR FEST II - JULY 9 - 12, 2009!
4 DAYS - 3 VENUES - 2 BOROUGHS
Knitting Factory & 92Y Tribeca in Manhattan & Death By Audio in Brooklyn
Pendu presents: NY Eye & Ear Fest II ... a massive 4-day New Music and Arts Fete showcasing some of the most exciting bands, artists, and filmmakers currently living and working here in NYC. In addition, NYE&E assembles a Record Fair featuring NYC-based Record Labels and Vendors selling LPs, CDs, 7''s, cassettes, lathes, comics, zines, stickers, and art prints.

The fest is a part II to the December event of the same name. The Fest's four days of music kick off at the Knitting Factory on July 9th. The bands there include Grooms, Liturgy and Love Like Deloreans (to name a few) with headliners Nymph and Neg-Fi. The fest returns to the Knit on Friday, July 10th, for a show with Magik Markers, Child Abuse and more. In addition to the venue's two floors of music, its already-creepy basement will be turned into a "Video Art Installation and a 7-hour Continuous Drone Room."

The Fest then switches to the 92YTribeca on Saturday for a concert and a free record fair. Also at 92Y will be a program called "Women of NYCinema," with films and music from Sarah Lipstate (aka Noveller), Liz Wendelbo, Rachel Blackwell and Dirty Churches. The vendors range from big names like Matador Records to the recently featured Journal of Popular Noise to notable jazz label ESP-Disk.

The fest's final, fourth day moves to Brooklyn for a closing party at Death by Audio. That lineup includes Murdertronics, Team Robespierre, Talibam!, Total Abuse and Drunkdriver.

Tickets for Thursday, Friday, and a variety of Saturday packages are available.

Separate from the festival, on Thursday, July 9th the 92YTribeca will screen filmmaker Brendan Toller's I Need That Record, a documentary about the problems facing record stores around the country. It will be the NYC premiere of the movie that was getting some attention already all the back on Record Store Day 2008. The movie includes interviews with Thurston Moore, Ian Mackaye, Mike Watt, Chris Frantz and more. Toller will be on hand for the showing. Tickets are on sale.

More details on the film (with video trailer) and the Ear and Eye Festival, below...

Continue reading "NY Ear & Eye Fest II - shows & record fair this weekend @ KF, DBA & 92Y Tribeca (also screening 'I Need That Record')"