DOWNLOAD: Lower Dens - "Brains" (MP3)

The National have announced that they're headlining and curating at ATP in Minehead UK, which is happening from December 7-9, 2012. So far, in addition to The National, the lineup (not very surprisingly) includes Sharon Van Etten (who plays the sold out Mercury Lounge tonight), My Brightest Diamond, Wye Oak, Megafaun, The Antlers, Buke and Gase (FKA Buke and Gass), Lower Dens, Owen Pallett, Boris, Tim Hecker, Kronos Quartet, Suuns< and Dark Dark Dark. More artists TBA. Tickets go on sale Friday (1/20) at 2 PM.

Maybe this lineup will shed some light on the bands Aaron and Bryce Dessner will be choosing when they curate BAM in May.

ATP's NJ festival happens in September and is being curated by Greg Dulli.

Speaking of Lower Dens, they've just revealed plans to release a followup to their 2010 debut LP, Twin-Hand Movement. The new album, titled Nootropics, will be out April 30 via the Domino affiliate label Ribbon Music. Grab the fast paced lead single, "Brains," at the top of this post and stream it below. Also below is the album artwork and tracklist.

Continue reading "The National curating an ATP; Lower Dens announce new LP"

Grouper at Terminal 5 in 2009 (more by Natasha Ryan)

Mini festival Neon Marshmallow is making its way to NYC, after two successful outings in Chicago. The festival will call Public Assembly home over three days (10/14 - 10/16), featuring live performances, DJ sets, and visuals from many artists who embrace experimentalism. Among the bands performing at the fest are names like Tim Hecker, Rhys Chatham (who celebrates 40 years of The Kitchen in September), Grouper, Phill Niblock, and many others that range in genre from Alan Licht to The Men (who are currently touring and will play Saint Vitus on 9/17) to Xeno & Oaklander to La Big Vic. The festival is currently selling weekend passes, though no word on individual days or who will perform on each day. Full lineup is below.

In other news, Grouper, who recently played LPR and Glasslands, has a new digital 7" available. Stream the title track from Grouper's latest Water People 7" below alongside the full Neon Marshmallow lineup.

Continue reading "Neon Marshmallow fest coming to Brooklyn (3 days @ Public Assembly w/ Tim Hecker, Grouper, many 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)"

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!)"

by Andrew Frisicano

this post concludes our Big Ears 2010 Festival coverage. links to the first two posts are also below...

"When people ask what my favorite place to play is, I tell them about this place. It's like playing inside an Easter egg," quipped My Brightest Diamond's Shara Worden, gazing at the deep-sea blue dome overhead at Knoxville's Tennessee Theater. The psychedelic cavern, a mish-mash of decorative styles and colors, served as the home to the Big Ears festival's largest shows, and its final act on Sunday night, with headliner the National.

The National's presence was felt long before they took the stage - in the hand of guitarist Bryce Dessner, who co-curated the fest, in the National members' supporting gigs, playing behind Doveman, Clogs and others, and in the abundance of friends and fellow Brooklyn-ites in the Big Ears lineup. Of course, those are all connected. One look at the stage during the first song of the National's encore - "Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks" off their forthcoming High Violet - revealed a selection of Big Ears' top acts - Nico Muhly, St. Vincent, Shara Worden and sometimes-National members Padma Newsome and Thomas Bartlett (Sufjan came out for a song, but not during the encore), all of whom performed earlier in the weekend on their own. (Read here about days one and two)

Attendees also had the chance to opt for music outside of that circle. At Big Ears Annex, Tim Hecker and Ben Frost collaborated for a set of fragile, icy noise (they both played on their own earlier too - Hecker opened for Bang on a Can All-Stars' performance of Music For Aiports and the Books at the TN Theater). Trio Konk Pack took the same stage later for improvised noises, pops and whirs - like the soundtrack to an invisible film. The night before, one could choose between Liturgy and Gang Gang Dance - two bands at the top of their respective genres - while Terry Riley's In C filled the Tennessee Theater to its elliptical rafters.

Around the corner from the Annex at the Pilot Light, KnoEars, an unaffiliated, somewhat anti-Big Ears DIY Fest, hosted an all-day lineup that included homemade noise, Replacements-style punk and more emanating into Sunday's rainy street.

Terry Riley, selected to be this year's resident guide, performed four times over the three days - all in different settings. Other repeat acts like Thomas Bartlett (Doveman), who played with Sam Amidon, the fest's first act (interviewed here), and The National, its last, were frequent Knoxville fixtures for the three-day fest, running to their own gigs or enjoying others'.

"Mr. Riley also enjoyed a fair number of other people's shows, especially the art-song band Clogs. ("They were the hit for me," he said, beaming over breakfast on Monday morning. "Great performers, great writing. I'm going to buy their CD when I get home.")" [NY Times]

Doveman and Nico Muhly both played earlier Sunday in a set that included material from their recent Peter Pears project, the Footloose soundtrack, and their 802 tour partner Sam Amidon (who had to catch a flight to Germany). That show's headliner, St. Vincent, provided a counterpoint to their pianos with a set of songs steeped in squealing noise and leveling distortion.

More pictures and videos from the fest are below...

Continue reading "Big Ears Fest Day 3 - The National, My Brightest Diamond, St. Vincent, Tim Hecker & Ben Frost, more (pics, video, review) "

by BBG

DOWNLOAD: Aidan Baker - "Liminoid Part III" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Tim Hecker - "Chimeras" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Tim Hecker - "Radio Spiricom" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Tim Hecker - "Blood Rainbow" (MP3)

Nadja

The ongoing Unsound festival continues to impress. LPR will feature the great Tim Hecker TONIGHT (2/10) with Radian, Sweden's Tape, and Mountains with a special and unique set from a "band formed during the kids electronic music workshops" that have taken place throughout the festival. Tickets are still available.

Hecker released two LPs in the past two years: a solo effort entitled An Imaginary Country via Kranky last year and a collabo LP with Aidan Baker on Alien8 called Fantasma Parastasie. The ever prolific Baker has a few different projects up his sleeve but one of those, Nadja, will also be in NYC as part of the Unsound fest.

Nadja is scheduled to open the Issue Project Room on 2/12 with Xavier van Wersch and headliner David Daniell:

As a performer, Daniell utilizes acoustic, electric, and pedal steel guitar along with a variety of electronics. He has worked for over a decade as a member of the improvising blues-drone trio San Agustin, along with many other collaborators through the years, including Tim Barnes, Ateleia, Jeph Jerman, Thurston Moore, Sean Meehan, Loren Connors, Tomas Korber, Greg Davis, as lead guitarist in Jonathan Kane's live band, and as concertmaster for Rhys Chatham's 100- and 200-guitar performances. Current active collaborations include a duo with guitarist Douglas McCombs (of Brokeback, Tortoise, Eleventh Dream Day) and a trio with Christian Fennesz and Tony Buck (of The Necks).

Tickets are still available.

Aidan Baker has a new LP entitled Liminoid/Lifeforms out NOW via Alien 8. Stream the entire thing and/or download one track, "Liminoid Part III", above. After NYC, Nadja will blast off to Europa to link up with OvO and Thrones (who is playing TWO NYC shows, 2/18 and 2/19) for a string of dates in later March/April.

Full tour dates and a bunch of videos are below.

Continue reading "Tim Hecker, Nadja, other upcoming (Unsound) shows + MP3s"

by BBG

Carl Craig, one of the many artists at Unsound 2010

Since 2003, Unsound Festival, Poland's most adventurous music festival, has brought a bold and uniquely modern program of music to Kraków. Now, with seven festivals in their native city under their belt (and outpost events further east in cities like Minsk),
Unsound is coming west to New York for their first ever North American edition. Unsound Festival New York's mission is to forge new links between music genres, between generations and even between artistic practices.

The driving force in the assembling of the New York program has been Unsound Festival's commitment to forms of music and sound art that involve experimentation and risk. Unsound Festival has made a worldwide reputation by breaking new ground while dealing with vibrant electronic, experimental, independent, post-classical and club music scenes from around the world.

The festival will kick off on Thursday, February 4th, with the first ever US performance from Vladislav Delay + Lillevan as well as Sebastian Meissner + Kwartludium as Solid State Transmitter. The former will perform their "ongoing series of electronic music and video improvisations", while the latter will reimagine SST Records (yes, that SST) through the eyes of a classical composer (wow, awesome). The FREE show will take place at David Rubenstein Atrium at Lincoln Center.

Feb 5th begins the start of Warhol Program, a series of pieces designed for and in tribute to Andy Warhol. The great Carl Craig will join nsi. for live soundtracks to "Blow Job" and "Kiss" respectively during a pair of screenings that night at The Film Society of Lincoln Center, Walter Reade Theater> Tickets are currently on sale for both the first showing at 7:30 (tix), and the second going down at 9:30 PM (tix). The show will be the US debut of the pieces, with nsi.'s piece being it's world debut. For the night owls, the party continues at Public Assembly, who will house Bunker parties on that night, 2/12, and 2/13. More details about the Bunker parties are at their site.

The Warhol Program continues the next day (2/6), when Groupshow (Jan Jelinek, Andrew Pekler, Hanno Leichtmann) will lead a free eight-hour (!) improvisation to Andy Warhol's film "Empire" at LPR. Maybe hook up a sack lunch?

After eight hours of improv, LPR will make way for A Century of Dance Music featuring the US debut of Moritz Von Oswald Trio:

Berliner Moritz Von Oswald is well known for his work as part of the duos Basic Channel and Rhythm & Sound as well as for his own "M" series of recordings. He could be labeled the inventor of "dub techno," if that weren't too narrow a tag to define the scope of his music and accomplishments. Moritz Von Oswald is highly ranked by many critics and fans alike as one of the most original electronic music producers of the last two decades. [On 2/6] Von Oswald unveils his new trio featuring Vladislav Delay on drums and Max Loderbauer on electronics in their first ever North American performance. Last year their debut album was released by London's Honest Jons.

In tribute to Von Oswald, the evening opens with New York City's Ensemble LPR - the flexible house band of the venue (Le) Poisson Rouge which is led by LPR's two young founders - David Handler (violinist / composer) and Justin Kantor (cellist) along with fellow Manhattan School of Music graduate Orlando Alonso (conductor / pianist). The Ensemble will perform new renditions of Ravel's "Bolero" and selections from Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition" based on remixes Moritz Von Oswald and Carl Craig assembled in 2008 for the Deutsche Grammophon album "Recomposed" (released only in Europe).

Doors are at 10PM, and tickets are on sale.

We'll post more details on this festival, but for now, dig on the full lineup (below) and a few videos. In addition, you can download a copy of the Unsound digital compilation for FREE for a limited time. Get on it!

Continue reading "Unsound Fest - Feb 4-14 in NYC"

The Big Ears Festival, happening March 26-28 in Knoxville, TN, recently expanded its lineup to include the National, Dirty Projectors, Bang On A Can All-Stars, Iva Bittova, Ben Frost, Tim Hecker, Tracy Silverman, and Buke & Gass. Those are in addition to the previously announced acts of Vampire Weekend, the Calder Quartet, 802 Tour (Nico Muhly/Doveman/Sam Amidon with Nadia Sirota), Joanna Newsom, St. Vincent, Andrew WK, The Ex, Gang Gang Dance, Clogs, The xx, Javelin, DJ/rupture (solo), DJ/rupture and Andy Moor, My Brightest Diamond, Gyan Riley and jj.

Big Ears is being co-curated by Bryce Dessner of the National, who's also bringing some great acts to his hometown of Cincinnati for MusicNOW Festival. For that, the city's Memorial Hall will host three shows: Joanna Newsom on March 30th, St. Vincent and yMusic on 31st, and Justin Vernon April 1st. Annie Clark a.k.a. St. Vincent has been commissioned to write a piece for the fest that yMusic will perform. More guests TBA. Tickets and three-night passes are on sale.

Joanna Newsom is coming to NYC in March. Tickets are now on AmEx presale. Justin Vernon (aka Bon Iver) is here sooner (this Thursday). St. Vincent has a show coming up at Lincoln Center.

Doveman @ LPR in June (more by Fresh Bread)

Miller Theatre joins forces with the Wordless Music series to present a week of specially curated concerts highlighting the best of each organization's aesthetic and mission. For five nights, indie-rock and electronic-music performers share the stage with artists from the classical- and new-music world, for a week of unorthodox and unconventional musical meetings.

Of those five nights, four lineups at Columbia University's Miller Theatre (2960 Broadway at 116th Street) have been confirmed. Those will take place as follows...

Wednesday, September 9, 2009
The 802 Tour:
Nico Muhly + Sam Amidon + Doveman

Thursday, September 10, 2009
Do Make Say Think
Charles Spearin's "The Happiness Project"

Friday, September 11, 2009
Tim Hecker
Grouper
Julianna Barwick

Saturday, September 12, 2009
Dan Bejar (Destroyer)
Loscil
JACK Quartet

Ticket information HERE.

Those concerts are an addition to Wordless's upcoming schedule, which currently includes the Alarm Will Sound show tonight (July 22nd) at LPR, the Liquid Liquid & Rhys Chatham "200 Electric Guitars" performance on August 8th at Damrosch Park at Lincoln Center, and the Warp20 NYC series in early September.

The original "802 Tour" (the Doveman date above) took place in 2008. No word on whether they are actually going on tour again, or if this is just a one-off date with the same name.

Do Make Say Think and The Happiness Project also have a bunch of other tour dates scheduled, including two other NYC shows. Grouper is also playing ATP NY. Destroyer is going on a very short tour at the end of July that brings Dan Bejar to Bowery Ballroom on the 30th. All dates and a video from Doveman's June 18th show at LPR, below...

Continue reading "'Wordless Music' @ Miller Theatre w/ Doveman, Grouper & Destroyer ++ other tour dates"

DOWNLOAD: Tim Hecker - Chimeras (MP3)

Tim Hecker, gettin down!

Tim Hecker is a Canadian-based musician and sound artist. Since 1996, he has produced a range of audio works... focused on exploring the intersection of noise, dissonance and melody, fostering an approach to songcraft which is both physical and emotive. The New York Times has described his work as "foreboding, abstract pieces in which static and sub-bass rumbles open up around slow moving notes and chords, like fissures in the earth waiting to swallow them whole". His Harmony in Ultraviolet received critical acclaim, including being recognized by Pitchfork as a top recording of 2006... He currently resides in Montreal.

Tim Hecker (also known as Jetone) will headline the latest installment of the Wordless Music Series, bringing two nights of his electronic ambient to Le Poisson Rouge in NYC. The shows are Dec 4th (TONIGHT- tix here) and Dec 5th (tix here). According to his own gigography, these two nights mark his 4th (and 5th) appearance in the NYC-area. He played CMJ in 2001, Bowery Ballroom with Isis in December 2004, and most recently, he played the Issue Project Room in 2007, just a few weeks before it closed down its old location.

Tim is currently readying his new album, An Imaginary Country, due on Kranky in February 2009 ("probably"). He recently released Fantasma Parasite on alien8 records, a collaboration with another ambient-noise-leaning canuck, Aidan Baker (also of Nadja). Stream the whole thing.

Kranky Records was recently showcased at the Brainwaves festival in Boston. Stars Of The Lid was there and also performed a 'Wordless' show at Le Poisson Rouge while they were on this coast.

Nadja is currently touring the Europe, and will again in the new year. All tour dates are below...

Continue reading "Tim Hecker - NYC shows Thursday & Friday, new album soon"