Soulwax brings the dance party back to America this fall. After playing San Francisco and HARD Haunted Manion in LA, the Belgian group will headline a HARD-presented show at Webster Hall on November 2nd. Tickets go on sale today (9/28) at noon. All dates are listed below...

Continue reading "Soulwax playing CA, NYC & London shows"

photos by Brook Bobbins

A-Trak looking spiffy

"A Trak has proven himself to be one of the most talented DJs around, period. I had a chance to watch his set from the "backstage" area at Terminal 5 last night and was thoroughly blown away. Flying Lotus put on an incredibly energetic performance that set the stage for A Trak, who rocked his turntables in a tuxedo atop a 2 story platform covered in lights and LCD screens. Visually, it was a spectacle in its own right. Needless to say the crowd lost it for dance floor anthems like 'Anyway', 'Barbara Streisand', 'Shake It Down' and his 'Indestructible' remix. Amidst the furious scratching and beat juggling he is famous for, you could hear hints of hip-hop rhythm working their way into the electro until ultimately you found yourself dancing to straight up rap music." [Electronica Oasis]

A proven way to burn off all the calories associated with piles of stuffing and t(of)urkey is to hit the dance floor, and that's just what many people did on 11/26 at Hard Fest Turkey Soup at Terminal 5, though in this case it was the kind of dance party where everyone faces the stage. Featuring appearances from A-Trak, Tiga, Flying Lotus, Miike Snow (who performed a DJ set), Yelawolf, and Destructo, the show was a one-off appearance for all of the above as part of the Hard Fest series of shows which last made appearances in NYC in for the form of Crystal Castles/Sinden/Destructo and Die Antwoord/MIA/Destructo/etc. One thing all three recent HARD NYC shows had in common? Destructo on the bill. Why? One reason might be because Destructo also happens to be HARD's founder.

A set of pictures and some videos from the Thanksgiving event continue below...

Continue reading "A-Trak, Tiga, Flying Lotus, Miike Snow, Yelawolf & Destructo performed @ Hard Fest Turkey Soup @ Terminal 5 (pics)"

by BBG

A-Trak at Williamsburg Waterfront (more by Andrew St. Clair)

A full two months before his big brother plays the same venue as a member of Chromeo, A-Trak will headline Terminal 5 on 11/27 with Tiga, Flying Lotus, Yelawolf and special guests as part of "HARD NYC Turkey Soup 2010". Tickets for the Thanksgiving weekend show go on sale Friday 10/15 at noon.

The show is one of four US dates for A-Trak, with the others being the previously discussed HARD Haunted Mansion in LA on 10/31 with Flying Lotus (his only other date) and the Bloody Beetroots (who play Webster Hall this Friday), Fun Fun Fun Fest in Austin, TX, and a pre-Halloween show in Chicago on October 30th with Chromeo. All dates below.

Meanwhile, A-Trak's project with Armand Van Helden, Duck Sauce, recently released a new video and single for "Barbara Streisand". The star-studded video features cameos from Kanye West, Pharell Williams, Buckshot (rapper), Smif-n-Wessun, DJ Premier, Chromeo, Diplo, Ezra Koenig, and so many others. Watch that with all A-Trak dates below...

Continue reading "A-Trak, Tiga, Flying Lotus & Yelawolf playing HARD NYC Turkey Soup 2010 & other dates ++ Duck Sauce"

photos by Lionel D. Bergeron

Bear Hands @ Rockefeller Center - 9/10/2010

Bear Hands are opening for Jamie Lidell at Webster Hall on Saturday night (9/18). If you don't already have a ticket, here's a little more incentive:

"As an additional bonus to all of his amazing and supportive fans, Jamie is offering everybody who has pre-ordered a ticket to any show on his fall world wide tour a special collection of remixes done by friends like Tiga, Micachu and Tuneyards, as well as from band mates Guillermo Brown and Andre Vida. This deal applies to all standard headlining shows September 6-November 20. Local promoters will provide all purchasers with a download link on the day of concert, and all hard ticket purchasers will receive a link from the box office on the show day by presenting their ticket. "

All Jamie Lidell tour dates are below.

Savoir Adore, Brahms (who have some CMJ shows comin up), and Bear Hands played sets outdoors at Rockefeller Center as part of Fashion's Night Out last week. Lionel missed Savoir Adore, but shot the other two bands. Those pictures and all dates continue below...

Continue reading "Bear Hands played Fashion's Night Out w/ Brahms (pics), opening for Jamie Lidell (free remix EP w/ ticket) "

"The 2010 Lollapalooza line-up is official: Soundgarden, Green Day, Lady Gaga, Arcade Fire, The Strokes, and Phoenix will headline, joined by Social Distortion, MGMT, Jimmy Cliff, Hot Chip, and The Black Keys. With 130 bands on this year's bill, its sure to be a weekend long feast for the ears.

It's a monumental year for Lollapalooza, filled with homecomings, reunions, and first-times. Soundgarden, 1992 and 1996 Lollapalooza alumni, return to the Lollapalooza stage for their first performance since 1997. Green Day will rock Grant Park sixteen years after their first Lollapalooza appearance. While Lady Gaga will headline the festival only three short years after playing the BMI stage at Lollapalooza 2007.

Arcade Fire returns to Grant Park, having played the reincarnated Lollapalooza in 2005. This is the first Lollapalooza for The Strokes - and also their first show in four years. And making their Lollapalooza debut: Phoenix." - Lollapalooza

After extremely accurate early leaks and then much teasing, Lollapalooza oficially announces this year's lineup. Check it out below...

Continue reading "Lollapalooza actually announces 2010 lineup "

by Showtrotta

Electric Zoo (more by Zach Dilgard)

While from the outside, Electric Zoo (Sept 5-6, 2009) might seem like a 2-day hell, overrun by fake-tanned, heavily hair-gelled masses and their female counterparts, the actual experience (at least for me) was far from it. While my jaw dropped in horror as many of the element described above boarded the ferry to Randall's Island at the 35th Street pier, and I was only further freaked out when the entire boat broke out in a sing-along to "Now That the Love Is Gone" by David Guetta (one of many deejays playing the festival), once I arrived the dread of dealing that all day, subsided.

For starters, the festival grounds were very accommodating size-wise for the number in attendance. When I first arrived around 12:30 on Saturday, there was ample room and even as the day wore on and the grounds filled up, I never felt that I was trudging through a crowd to get where I wanted to go. Along with the size of the venue, the diverse spread of deejays (who were grouped at four different tents/stages vaguely according to similar genre/sound), kept my interaction with club-goers whom I would rarely run into under normal circumstances, to a minimum. In the instances where I was confronted with people straight out of My New Haircut (NSFW!) I couldn't say a bad thing about them. Everyone at the festival seemed to be too happy to be there, and dancing their asses off, to care what was going on around them, or to do anything too outwardly annoying to ruin anyone's time.

continued below...

Continue reading "the 2009 Electric Zoo Festival in review"

"Inglewood police dispatched a riot unit, and by 1:25 a.m. Sunday, more than 17,000 attendees had been sent home." -LA Times

Balcony climbin' @ Hard Summer '09 in L.A. Saturday night (downtownlobby)

A back door of the VIP section, where tickets began at $125, flew open and fans ran in from the parking lot in what [concert-goer Will] Fan described as a "stampede."

"We saw about 200 kids run right through the bar area," said the 35-year-old Sherman Oaks resident. "It was a little scary. I saw the bartender push one kid down, but everyone else just ran around him. Eventually, security was able to stop more people from coming in. But the kids ran out of the bar...and basically hopped over the balcony and onto the floor. Then the music stopped."

The sold-out all-night Hard Summer concert, which featured a lineup that included U.K. dance duo Underworld and Canadian electronic rockers Crystal Castles, was halted at about 10:50 p.m., according to the Los Angeles County Fire Department, which cited "hazardous life-safety things taking place inside the event."
[L.A. Times]

Hard Summer '09 @ L.A. Forum (beltran)

"We were required to shut down Hard Summer at The Forum Saturday [August 8th] night by the Los Angeles County Fire Department. They declared the event a "hazard" after seeing concert-goers jumping from the balcony to the floor. The Inglewood Police Department backed the decision of the Fire Department and assisted in clearing the venue.

While we, the promoters, worked with the authorities to consider other options to continue the concert, ultimately they made the decision to end it. We are happy to report that there were no major injuries.

We are offering refunds to all concert-goers and are deeply disappointed that the fans were not able to see this incredible show come to fruition." [official statement]

Underworld and Chromeo were among those who were supposed to play.

Hard Fest NYC is set to take place October 10th at Terminal 5 where we doubt any problems like that will happen. Crookers and Major Lazer (Soundsystem) headline, and tickets are still on sale.

LA refund info and the continued Hard Summer story with videos (showing people climbing, falling & jumping over railings and ledges), below...

Continue reading "chaos at HARD Fest LA causes shut down - people broke in, climbed over balconies, etc (VIDEOS) --- refunds available"

DOWNLOAD: Lindstrøm - The Long Way Home (Prins Thomas edit) (MP3)

Andy Butler of Hercules and Love Affair @ Studio B (more by Ryan Muir)

Hercules and Love Affair (aka Andy Butler) is releasing a new DJ mix called Sidetracked... July 21st on Renaissance Recordings. Butler will be making DJ appearances throughout the summer, mainly in Europe. One U.S. gig will be at the July 3rd Firecracker party at the Hammerstein Ballroom (tonight). Also at the event, as mentioned by Showtrotta, will be Steve Lawler, Tiefschwarz, Victor Calderone, Damian Lazarus (live) and Audiofly. Tickets are still on sale.

Butler will be at Lollapalooza on August 8th, and he'll be making an appearance at NY's Electric Zoo Electronic Music Festival, taking place September 5th and 6th on Randall's Island. Other acts at the fest include Special Disco Version (featuring LCD Soundsystem/DFA's James Murphy & Pat Mahoney), Felix Martin & Al Doyle (of Hot Chip), Lindstrom, Frankie Knuckles, Prins Thomas, and many, many more. Above you can check out the Prins remix of Linstrom's "The Long Way Home" off the latter's Where You Go I Go Too. Tickets to the fest, including 2-day passes, are on sale now. Electric Zoo's current lineup is posted below.

Another electronic music suaree, the Brooklyn Electronic Music Festival, is on the way as well, happening August 8th at the Old American Can Factory. The fest's headliners will be Juan MacLean (live) and RJD2; full lineup is still on the way. Tickets are currently on sale.

Electric Zoo lineup with Hercules and Love Affair comp info and tour dates, below...

Continue reading "Electric Zoo on Randall's Island, BK Electronic Music Fest, Hercules and Love Affair DJ sets & CD & more..."