Andrew W.K., in his snowboarding and general party outfit (more by Chris Doss)

Manhattan club co-owner Andrew W.K. is going to enter the realm of Brooklyn DIY for a special show on 11/13....

Saturday November 13th @ 285 KENT AVE
:: BABYCASTLES, DEATH BY AUDIO, & TODD P present
:: Andrew WK
:::: So Percussion & Calder Quartet
:::::: Tristan Perich
| 285 KENT AVE |
285 Kent Ave @ South 1st | Williamsburg, Brooklyn
L-Bedford, G-Metropolitan, JM-Marcy | 8pm | $tba | all ages

UPDATE: The show billing has changed and now it just says Andrew WK is DJing. Here is what it is now:

9pm - 1am @ 285 KENT (South 2nd & Kent Avenue)
$10
? Skeletons
?? So Percussion and Calder Quartet
???? Diamond Terrifier ( Zs solo )
?????? DJ Andrew WK

Premiering new music by Tristan Perich and Daniel Wohl.

Tickets will be available at the door for the night of experiemental electronic sounds, classical music and partying hard.

Then five days later, before Andrew hypes the Turbonegro crowd at Santos on 11/18, he'll host a pre-party in the same venue...

The World Snowboarding Championship in association with Innovation Norway, Visit Oslo and Santos Party House will be hosting the international launch party for WSC 2012 on November 18th. This special reception is a pre-cursor to the WSC which will go down Feb 10th-19th 2012 in Oslo, Norway (the world's winter capital and coolest destination for snowboarding in Europe). It will be hosted by none other than world ambassador of rock and the man behind Santos, Andrew W.K.. W.K. will also perform the official theme song to WSC 2012 "Go Go Go Go" live for the first time ever as well as premiere the video to the song. The song personally shouts out some of the top international snowboarders in the world today including Mark McMorris (Canada), Tyler Flanagan (USA), Kazuhiro Kokubo (Japan) and Peetu Piiroinen (Finland) and is packed with the energetic and frenetic signature style that W.K. is known for.

Unfortunately the pre-party (6-8pm) featuring free drinks and that short AWK performance is invite only, but we have two pairs of tickets you can win. Details on how to enter the contest are at the bottom of this post.

Tickets are still available for the public Turbonegro portion happening later in the night.

Contest details and a couple of videos below....

Continue reading "Andrew W.K. playing 285 Kent, hosting a private pre-party before Turbonegro at Santos too (win tix!)"

Peelander-Z at The Studio in January (more by Leia Jospe)

Welcome home Peelander-Z! The NYC band is finally home after an extended tour with Anamanaguchi that kicked off at SXSW and ended on April 30th. And though the tour is over, the band is ALREADY back out on the road, playing Newark, Delaware tonight and a hometown show back at The Studio at Webster Hall Saturday (5/7) with Hard Nips and Friends. Tickets for that one are still available (and, update: we're giving away a pair on Facebook).

Anamanaguchi has a new NYC show on their calendar too, which they say "is gonna be AWESOME. we're gonna have: JAMS // VISUALS // STROBES // UNICORNBROS DOING SECURITY // FURBIES // RAINBOWS // W33D420 // OK." Bowery Presents may have to give some of their staff a night off to make way for those UNICORNBROS, because Anamanaguchi are talking about a show at Music Hall of Williamsburg on 7/22. Tickets are on sale.

You don't need to wait that link to see Anamanaguchi though. The band will play day one of this year's Blip Festival, the annual three day festival in celebration of "low-bit video games and home computers". This year's fest takes place at Manhattan's Eyebeam (540 West 21st Street) from May 19-21. Tickets are on sale with 3-day and 1-day options available. The full lineup is listed below. It includes Tristan Perich, Bit Shifter, Nullsleep, Starscream and many more.

Anamanaguchi, Starscream and Peelander-Z played a show together at the Studio at Webster Hall back in January. Check out the pics.

Hard Nips, who play with Peelander on Saturday, are also scheduled to support Quintron & Miss Pussycat with Super Nice Bros and X-ray Eyeballs on May 28th at 285 Kent. Friends, who also play with Peelander Saturday, play 285 Kent soon too, with Dan Deacon.

All tour dates, the Blip lineup and some videos below.

Continue reading "Blip Festival coming, Anamanguchi announce shows, Peelander-Z play one this weekend (dates)"

As previously announced, the 2011 Ecstatic Music Festival, presented by New York City's Merkin Concert Hall in association with New Amsterdam Records, is a showcase of imaginative collaborations between more than 150 genre-pushing composers, songwriters and performers who represent a new generation of artists combining diverse influences and techniques to explore the intersection of classical and pop music. All concerts will include premieres. The festival opens with a free seven-hour marathon on January 17, 2011, and continues with 13 additional concerts until March 28, 2011. All concerts will take place at Merkin Concert Hall.

The Ecstatic Music Festival 2011 is almost here. Subscriptions and single show tickets are on sale. The full updated schedule (tUnE-yArDs, So Percussion, Dan Deacon, Craig Wedren, ACME, Nadia Sirota, Buke & Gass, Doveman, Owen Pallett, Bang On A Can All-Stars, and more included), and a trailer, below...

Continue reading "Ecstatic Music Festival kicks off on 1/16, runs through 3/28 (updated schedule w/ tUnE-yArDs, Dan Deacon, Owen Pallett)"

by Andrew Frisicano

That's 1-Bit Symphony pictured above in NYC composer Tristan Perich's hand. The piece comes programmed into a microchip that's wired with a battery, an on/off switch, a volume control and a headphone jack, all within a standard CD jewel case. The sounds that come out are similar to the video game bleeps of chiptune (or Dan Deacon), but instead of, say, an 8-bit "Billie Jean" cover, the music is layered as minimilist-influenced composition. Tristan put out a previous CD-case circuit, 1-Bit Music, in 2004. The project has already been on sale at shows (the Bang on a Can Marathon, for instance), but the official release is set for August 24th on Cantaloupe.

There'll be a release party for 1-Bit Symphony at Roulette on Friday, August 20th. In addition to Tristan Perich, sets include Shawn Greenlee playing "noise electronics" and Daniel Wohl with his piece Glitch, for string quartet and electronics.

A video for 1-Bit Symphony is posted below...

Continue reading "Tristan Perich releasing 1-Bit Symphony, playing a show "

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"

2/13 Friday 8 pm - Lexie Mountain Boys
2/13 Friday 10 pm - The Fable of Pitter Patter

A collection of improvisations and short compositions contributed by a group is made up of friends who come from many different groups and backgrounds, including Akron/Family, Vetiver, Butane Variations, and the MK Groove Orchestra.

2/14 Saturday 8 & 10 pm - John Zorn's ANNUAL VALENTINE'S DAY IMPROV NIGHT--A Stone Benefit
2/18 Wednesday 8 pm - Ecstatic Sunshine
2/20 Friday 10 pm - Sam Amidon
2/21 Saturday 8 pm - Tristan Perich

Check the full schedule at their website.

Joan as Policewoman will play shows at 8 and 10 pm at the Stone in NYC on New Years Eve. The 'Annual End The Year Improv Night' with John Zorn happens at the same venue three nights earlier. Other names on the Stone's schedule for December (curated by Jennifer Charles) include Gary Lucas, Erik Friedlander, Doveman, Alan Licht, Hal Willner's Parade (Yuka Honda & Sean Lennon), Elysian Fields, JG Thirwell, and Marc Ribot's Ceramic Dog (tonight, Sunday December 7th).

January's schedule, curated by Craig Taborn, doesn't have many names
I recognize, but February, curated by Shannon Fields of Stars Like Fleas, has Twi the Humble Feather, Tunde Adebimpe of TV on the Radio, Chris Schlarb, Diane Cluck, Jon Natchez, Kelly Pratt, Lexie Mountain Boys, Megafun, John Zorn, Ecstatic Sunshine, Sam Amidon, and Tristan Perich,

For other NYC shows on New Years Eve, browse HERE.

Joan Wasser (as Policewoman) and at least one band member also contribute to Gramercy Arms.

Marc Ribot is also playing December 9th at Blue Note and December 11th at Knitting Factory.

DOWNLOAD: Tristan Perich - Certain Movement (oen bit MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Tristan Perich - Gilgamesh (one bit MP3)

Artist, inventor, and composer Tristan Perich holds degrees in music, math, and computer science. Inspired by the aesthetics of these disciplines, Perich works with simple forms and complex systems to compose works for solo instruments, small ensembles and orchestras. His "1-Bit Music" project, consisting of hand-built electronics packaged inside a standard CD jewel case, probes the foundations of electronic sound. Perich's work has been played by courageous contemporary music ensembles including Bang on a Can, Calder Quartet, counter)induction, New York Miniaturist Ensemble, Due East, Y Trio and Ensemble Pamplemousse at venues including P.S.1 and Mass MoCA.

Tristan Perich plays '1-Bit Music noise disco' @ the Zombieville party @ Southpaw tonight (March 29). He'll also be performing two compositions....

Telescope (two bass clarinets, two baritone saxophones, 4-channel 1-bit electronics (2007)) and This Resonant Room (three trumpets, two sets of crotales, 4-channel 1-bit music (2008) which premiered at the Whitney Museum, Feb 29 2008)

....at Issue Project Room on April 3rd.