photos by Tim Griffin

Ladytron / The Faint

"I'm all for the egalitarian spirit of alternating closing slots when it comes to co-headline tours, but even as someone who's a fan of Ladytron and who hadn't heard a note from The Faint before Monday's show at the Phoenix, I'd have to say that the evening would have been better served if the Nebraskans had been last up.

Which isn't a slight on the Liverpool outfit in the least - as their appearance at Harbourfront last July proved, they can put on a terrific show even without being especially animated but following a set as hyper-kinetic and anarchic as The Faint's? That's tough. As mentioned, they were an unknown quantity but made a hell of an impression, and quickly - their laser-guided light show and frontman Todd Fink's manic antics made for a level of spectacle and showmanship that I'm not really used to seeing, and soundtracked by the band's deep and thundering synth-dug grooves, it wasn't a little gleefully apocalyptic. And helping that impression along were the audience - all I can say is that if you're going to be standing in the all-ages portion of a Faint show, you'd best be prepared. Starting from a sway and quickly building to a near-riot, it became very clear that the front half of the Phoenix was no place for the faint of heart or aged of back. I can't say that I'll remember a single song The Faint played during that hour on Monday night, but I'll certainly remember the effect it had on their fans. That shit was crazy."
[Chromewaves saw the Toronto show]

Ladytron and The Faint are on tour, and came through NYC over the weekend to play Friday and Saturday night shows at Webster Hall with Crocodiles (not Telepathe). The co-headlining bands also DJ'd a couple of afterparties while they were here. The pictures in this post are from the Saturday (4/11) show. More of them below...

Continue reading "Ladytron & the Faint @ Webster Hall, NYC - pics "

Louise Harman is just 23, but already she's had quite a life. By the age of 20, she had scored a Top 10 hit with the Ordinary Boys - Nine2Five - and recorded with the Streets. In 2005, she got a deal with Island Records in the UK, while Jay-Z himself signed her to his Def Jam label in the US...

...Then things started to fall apart. "I went on strike and stopped doing stuff, so Def Jam got the hump with me," Harman shrugs, sipping on a vodka and Red Bull in a pub in Wembley, north London, near where she grew up. Her initial meeting with Jay-Z took place in front of R&B star Usher and producer LA Reid, and was, she remembers, an uncomfortable experience. "All these executives, on the top floor of a high-rise building, all eyes on me. It was like an audition. Jay-Z is a cool guy, but we only hung out properly once - it's not like we were best friends." Her mother was (and still is) seriously ill with a brain tumour. Meanwhile, Def Jam had spent vast amounts marketing her debut album, Public Warning, and saw little chance of profiting from its 300,000 sales. The pressure was on.

The tipping point was a disastrous performance at New York's Studio B in May 2007. Harman told the audience she was broke and bored of performing the same songs; she left the stage after two tracks to a chorus of boos. "I lost the plot a few times. I was cutting myself and stupid things like that. I was tired," she says now. "I felt like it was just push, push, push. I didn't have a chance to record any new stuff, it was the same old songs."

She flew back home. "My manager rang me and said, 'OK, it's definitely over.' And it hit me." She insists that Def Jam didn't drop her; the parting was a mutual decision. "It just had to be done, for their sake, for my sake. It wasn't messy, it was just ... gone."... [Guardian]

Lady Sovereign doesn't kick off her proper North American tour - the one that includes shows at Highline Ballroom and Music Hall of Williamsburg - until May 1st, but she is in NYC now to promote her record, Jigsaw, that came out last week. That promotion included two NJ Hot Topic in-stores (as if you needed another reason not to like her). That promotion also includes a free (with RSVP) show at Tribeca Grand tonight (4/11). Ladytron and (members of) The Faint, who play their second of two shows at Webster Hall tonight, are both DJing. All dates below...

Continue reading "Lady Sovereign (no longer on Def Jam) tour dates (tonight @ Tribeca Grand w/ Ladytron/Faint DJs)"

DOWNLOAD: Telepathe - So Fine (Lauren Flax remix) (MP3)

photos by Tim Griffin

Crocodiles came through town and played Bowery Ballroom on Thursday (4/2) with Tyvek and Asobi Seksu, and a show two days later at Pianos with Tweak Bird.

Stealing liberally from the Jesus an Mary Chain and Spacemen 3,not to mention various other psych rock bands, San Diego duo Crocodiles aren't doing anything new, but they do it very well. Dressed in skinny denim and sunglasses and bathed in red light, Charles Rowell and Brandon Welchez look like a lost 1986 Creation Records press photo. It's all two-chords, feedback, reverb, and excruciating volume set against a dimestore drum machine beat. And it all works pretty brilliantly because, like fellow West Coast-ers The Soft Pack, they have one element that can't be ripped-off from someone else: attitude. All that's missing is strobe lights and smoke machines. Though it would probably work just as well with a full band. [Bill Pearis]

Almost immediately afterwards, the Crocodiles jumped on to the already-in-motion Faint/Ladytron tour that Telepathe was supposed to be opening. Why Telepathe dropped off is unclear. What is clear is that Crocodiles won't be gone for long. The Faint and Ladytron (and Crocodiles) hit Webster Hall on Friday, April 10th and Saturday the 11th. Tickets for both the Friday and Saturday shows are still on sale.

That tour runs through May 5th. Crocodiles' debut album, Summer of Hate, will come out on April 28th via Fat Possum Records. Tracklist below.

Then later in May, Crocodiles will return to NYC AGAIN - that time to play two shows with Holy Fuck and A Place to Bury Strangers. Tickets for both Friday, May 22nd at MHOW and Saturday, May 23rd at the Bowery Ballroom are on sale.

Telepathe's next show is scheduled for April 15th at The Annex in NYC. The gig will be a record release show a for the band's debut, Dance Mother, coming out April 14th on IAMSOUND. The record is "produced by Dave Sitek of TV On The Radio and comes with cd-only remixes from Chairlift, The Big Pink and Atticus Ross (Nine Inch Nails producer)." Dance Mother single "So Fine" is remixed above - the video for Telepathe's version is below.

Telepathe also has European/Japan dates scheduled, a June North American tour, and an appearance at All Point West scheduled. All tour dates, videos, and more Crocodile pictures below...

Continue reading "Crocodiles played Bowery Ballroom (pics), replaced Telepathe on the Faint/Ladytron tour (dates) "

Teengirl Fantasy (photo by josh sisk)

You don't hear too much from Celebration lately. Well, not totally true. The Baltimore band, known for being tight with Brooklyn's TV on the Radio, are credited as collborators on the new Holly Miranda album that was co-produced by TV on the Radio's Dave Sitek. And this Saturday night, February 21st, Celebration plays a Brooklyn show at Glasslands - the very venue members of TV on the Radio have turned up to play with their side projects in the last few weeks. TV on the Radio also have a NYC show coming up. Holly Miranda has a couple too.

Sound Fix Records, the venue, is not long for this world. Upcoming free shows there include a Friday night (tonight) performance by The Forms, and a Saturday one by Howlies. Tonight's Forms show, presented by Guilt by Association, also doubles as a Sound Fix benefit show, so look for the tip jar as its being passed around. Howlies' record "Trippin With Howlies" is out now. That is the occasion they'll be celebrating when they come back to town to play Death By Audio on February 26th.

Telepathe have been added to the Ladytron and Faint tour in April. That means they'll be playing Webster Hall on the 10th and 11th of that month. No need to wait that long though. In addition to some shows at SXSW in March, you can catch Telepathe twice in NYC this weekend, courtesy of Todd P. Tonight, February 20th, the show is at Market Hotel with These Are Powers, Teengirl Fantay, Soft Circle and Katie Eastburn. Saturday they play with Teengirl Fantasy, Hawnay Troof, and Silk Flowers at 92Y Tribeca. Todd P says...

Especially excited about the 2 shows this weekend featuring TEENGIRL FANTASY from Oberlin, Ohio. Teengirl Fantasy, aka Logan Takahashi and Nick Weiss, are two young guys currently attending Oberlin College, together they make drum machine and sampler heavy dance music that steals as much from the underground noise scene as it does from the dance world. Teengirl Fantasy smash those influences to make transcendently catchy adrenaline anthems that get everyone dancing.

Teengirl Fantasy remixed one of Telepathe's songs. Listen to it in the video below...

Continue reading "Forms, Howlies, Telepathe, Celebration & Teengirl Fantasy"

DOWNLOAD: Ladytron - Tomorrow (Vector Lovers Lucky remix) (MP3)

LADYTRON has just announced a North American co-headlining tour with THE FAINT this spring, beginning in Milwaukee on Wednesday, April 1 and wrapping in Denver on Tuesday, May 5. The two bands will switch headline duties each night, and will be joined by FIGO who will DJ throughout the evening. Tickets go on sale Friday, February 13.

The band will also release TOMORROW EP -- a 6 track EP featuring remixes of the track "Tomorrow" from their 2008 release Velocifero -- on March 3 on all major digital service providers. Remixers include Jim Abbiss (Kasabian, Arctic Monkeys, Goldfrapp), Dirty Vegas, Great Northern and more.

Download the Vector Lovers Lucky remix from that EP, above. All tour dates, and the whole EP tracklist, below...

Continue reading "Ladytron & The Faint - 2009 Tour Dates, remix EP & MP3"

Continue reading "Langerado Fest, in Miami, in March - initial 2009 lineup"

photos by Ryan Muir

Anti-Pop Consortium opened the Faint show at Terminal 5 eariler this month. Here are the pictures.

Stereolab are playing three shows at Irving Plaza in October. Here are the openers:

10/2 - with The Van Allen Belt, Atlas Sound
10/3 - With Anti-Pop Consortium
10/4 - With Monade, Le Loup

Tickets for Stereolab are on sale. More Anti-Pop pix below...

Continue reading "Anti-Pop Consortium opening for Stereolab, Terminal 5 pics"

by Black Bubblegum

Mookie Singerman of Genghis Tron in Belfort (Photo Rod | Le-HibOO.com)

Good News: Genghis Tron announced another tour of the US.
Better News: It's a headlining tour.
Best News: The band has lined up one NYC date, October 25th (during CMJ), at Schmarket Schmotel (where they have played before) with an absolutely killer lineup of DMBQ, An Albatross, Akimbo, and Monotonix with more TBA.

When Genghis Tron finishes with their previously mentioned dates with Baroness in Canada, the trio will hit the road with checkboard-obsessives Yip Yip playing dates with Black Cobra, Behold The Arctopus, and Lovepump United labelmates (Mookie Singerman's label) Clipd Beaks.

The band is currently on tour with The Faint (who recently played Terminal 5, but not with Genghis Tron) and Jaguar Love (who recently played Southpaw).

Monotonix are also playing Knitting Factory on October 24th (one night before Market Hotel & also during CMJ). Monotonix are also on tour as we speak. All Genghis Tron dates below...

Continue reading "Genghis Tron - 2008 Tour Dates (Monotonix, Akimbo, the Faint, Clipd Beaks, Yip Yip & CMJ included)"

photos by Ryan Muir

Continue reading "The Faint @ Terminal 5, NYC - pics"

The Faint @ Webster Hall, NYC - May 27, 2007

Tickets are on sale (@ noon) for the upcoming show by The Faint at Terminal 5 in NYC. More tour dates and new album info, HERE.

The Faint are set to release their first album in four years - Fasciinatiion - on August 5th through their own, newly-formed label, blank.wav. Fasciinatiion, The Faint's fifth album, is the first in the band's ten-year history to be written, recorded, produced, art directed and released entirely on their own. Prior to the album's release, the Omaha quintet will be hitting the road, playing lots of new songs from Fasciinatiion, in addition to favorites....

$25 tickets go on sale Friday for an August 18th show at Terminal 5 in NYC. All tour dates, and the new album tracklist, below....

Continue reading "The Faint - new album, 2008 Tour Dates (Terminal 5)"

Konono N°1 opening for Bjork @ Radio City, NYC (CRED)

Despite what it says on Bjork's website and I in turn posted, Konono N°1 are not opening for Bjork at the Apollo Theater. Mudderfukin Spank Rock is instead. Awesome, and not surprising. Konono is still opening at United Palace.

Speaking of Mudderfukin, tickets are on sale for The Faint show at Webster Hall.

DOWNLOAD: The Faint - I Disappear (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Faint - Birth (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Faint - Call Call (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Faint - Worked Up So Sexual (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Faint - Agenda Suicide (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Faint - Glass Danse (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Faint - Worked Up So Sexual (Death Cab Mix) - Chris Walla (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Faint - Paranoiattack (Making Time for D.O.N. Mix) - Dave P & Adam Sparkles (MP3)

The Faint @ Eternal, Austin, TX - SXSW 2007 (CRED)

This is probably some people's worst nightmare. Not only are The Faint playing Webster Hall, it's a Motherf*cker party that night - May 27th aka Memorial Day eve. I think it'll actually be the first Motherf*cker since New Years. They're not having them as often as they used to. This may also be the first time they ever held the party at Webster Hall. All Faint tour dates below...

Continue reading "The Faint - 2007 Tour Dates (Motherf*cker @ Webster Hall) + MP3s"