today in NYC
* Howl! Festival
* Bushwick Open Studios
* It Is It @ Pianos
* ASSSSCAT 3000 @ UCB
* Atlantic Avenue Artwalk
* Jason Kao Hwang @ The Stone
* Hillstock Festival @ 402 Park Ave.
* Justin Vivian Bond @ Joe's Pub
* Pretty Good Friends @ Union Hall
* Hannibal Buress @ Knitting Factory
* Xalam Project, Bizi Gara @ Zebulon
* ZWERM Guitar Quartet @ The Stone
* The Baseball Project @ City Winery
* Akiko Pavolka's House of Illusion @ Barbes
* Tanuki Suit, Mancie, Rachel Lee Walsh @ Glasslands
* The Dynamites Featuring Charles Walker @ Brooklyn Bowl
* Joshua Light Show @ American Museum of Natural History
* Stephane Wrembel Presents The Django Experiment @ Barbes
* The Soundtrack of Our Lives, The Mommyheads @ Le Poisson Rouge
* All Tiny Creatures, The Carribean, Computer Magic @ Mercury Lounge
* Against Me!, Screaming Females, Lemuria @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
* Darlings, Dinosaur Feathers, Friends, Grand Rapids, Like, Mountains @ Housing Works Street Fair
* Whale Belly, Panoramic & True, The Robin Electric, Little Grey Girlfriend @ Littlefield
* Hot 97 Summer Jam w/ Lil Wayne, Drake, Birdman, Chris Brown, Dipset, Rick Ross, Fabolous, Lloyd Banks, Waka Flocka Flame, Wiz Khalifa @ the Meadowlands

Hillstock Fest times changed since the initial announcement. Updated list of bands and times is below.

Unkle have a new video starring Nick Cave. Check it out below...

What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Sunday?"

James Lavelle & Pablo Clements will take UNKLE out on the road for a string of dates that will include three US dates (so far) and only one on the east coast. The NYC show is Webster Hall on October 23rd (during CMJ). Ticket info is forthcoming.

The US dates take place a month after Unkle releases their new and chock-full-of-guests EP, The Answer due on September 28th and featuring appearances from Tim Goldsworthy (ex-Unkle, current DFA), Lupe Fiasco, and Sleepy Sun among others. The EP has also spawned a pair of videos including the title track which is directed by The Proposition / The Road director John Hillcoat and features The Departed actor Ray Winstone. View both vids below. Preorder The Answer EP now on limited edition 12" vinyl or limited edition CD, as the physical US release will only be available via the band.

Sleepy Sun will be in NYC at Knitting Factory on 9/6 (tickets). just a few days after they appear at ATP New York (updated lineup).

The Answer tracklisting, a pair of videos, and all tour dates are below...

Continue reading "UNKLE releasing an EP, playing shows (dates) "

photos by Bao Nguyen

"Agh. Free Black Keys concert tonight at the Classic Car Club but lines were CRAZY!" - quiet soliloquy

"Fans have overwhelmingly expressed, in 354+ comments on The Black Keys Facebook page, that the band has "sold out" following an announcement that a new song, "Chop And Change", will be a part of the soundtrack for the third installment of extremely popular vampire movie franchise "Twilight".

The Black Keys' have sold out? Yeah, sure. If anything, they've finally just sold in on their own terms.

In most cases, the term "sold out" would be fantastic news to artists in regards to shows, books, CDs, etc. It simply claims that the artist/event is doing so well that they have run out of space or items and that it is pretty much exclusive and rare - a privilege, really. It's heartbreaking to the people who did not get a chance to be a part of it, but it does hint at success, which can obviously be rendered in many different ways. For people who appreciate "underground" or lesser-known works or talents, however, "selling out" is the worst possible brand that you can get from a fan - it pretty much means that you are now not good enough to be appreciated anymore, and that you are now "mainstream" or "too trendy."" [The Black Keys Fan Lounge]

The Black Keys, who are opening or Pearl Jam at MSG this week (and playing a benefit at Housing Works that will also be a temporary Black Keys pop up shop), and whose sole SXSW show this year was a T-Mobile-sponsored Mog show, played a Microsoft/Verizon Kin show in NYC last night (5/15). The show took place at the Classic Car Club in Tribeca, just like the Passion Pit one did one night earlier. A free Kin Ting Tings show also happened last night at a different venue.

No more Kin shows in NYC, but Chicago has one by The Dead Weather coming up. The Dead Weather (who also opened a pop up shop in NYC when their last record came out), along with Metric (who play NYC tonight/Sunday), Muse (who are taking Metric on tour), Band of Horses (who also open for Pearl Jam at MSG this week), Vampire Weekend and others, also appear on the new Twilight soundtrack. The full tracklisting and more pictures from the Kin show below...

Continue reading "The Black Keys played the Classic Car Club in NYC (pics), appear on the new Twilight Soundtrack (track list)"

photos by Ryan Muir

DOWNLOAD: Black Mountain - Tyrants (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Black Mountain - Druganaut (MP3)

Black Mountain will be visiting NYC in September. Tickets for shows at Bowery Ballroom and Music Hall go on sale Saturday at noon. In related news, Black Mountain are part of this year's Sub Pop singles club, and Black Mountain are featured on a track on the new Unkle album ("End Titles...Stories for Film" - out July 15). More pictures from the show Black Mountain played at Mess With Texas in March, and all tour dates, below....

Continue reading "Black Mountain - 2008 Tour Dates, Unkle, Sub Pop, live pics "

* The Format broke up (thx jeff).
* UNKLE did too (sort of...see comments) (thx anon).

Lupe on stage w/ UNKLE @ Vegoose 2007 (CRED)

The Lupe Fiasco one-off, record-release show at Irving Plaza is this Tuesday December 18th. Then he's taking a Hawaiian vacation, and then he'll start a tour in January that will eventually bring him back to NYC on February 2nd for a show at Nokia Theatre. Tickets for that one aren't on sale yet, but they are for a lot of other dates.

Lupe (and Jill Scott) was also just nominated for a Grammy. Does he care that much?

Nah. I was thinking about this one, though, I was kind of pondering the importance of a Grammy nomination. It can really affect sales and things of that nature. We’ll see if I win one. It’s starting to be the little things that matter to me. Like, last night I got invited out to see The Cult, with Ian Astbury, and he shouted me out on stage. I’m a big fan of Ian Astbury. I think The Cult is a little bit before my time, but I’m a big fan of Ian Astbury’s due to a lot of the stuff he’s done with UNKLE. So, yeah, it’s more those little things and occurrences, which are the milestones. Like, “Frank Sinatra went over to Sammy Davis Jr.’s house and they had a barbeque.” It’s starting to be like, “Damn, guess who I was just with yesterday?” I got a chance to perform with UNKLE, which was phenomenal. It was with a live band, we were all in Vegas. Some people might be like, “Who the hell is UNKLE?” But for me it’s like, “Damn.” Those are the stories I’m gonna tell my kids. [Lupe to the Village Voice]

This is the part where I was going to post Lupe's entire new album for you to download for free, but then I read THIS, so you'll have to just stream it instead. All dates below....

Continue reading "Lupe Fiasco - 2007/8 Tour Dates, album stream & a warning"

Following a successful summer run of high-profile shows overseas including headlining the mainstage at Benicassim in Spain after Muse and the Glade Festival in Reading, U.K., UNKLE has announced it will come to North America this October for a short run of tour dates. Spearheaded by frontman James Lavelle, UNKLE for the first time ever will make its appearance as a live band. Utilizing guitars, bass, drums and synths set against a backdrop of intricate lights and AV screens for a one-of-a-kind audiovisual experience, UNKLE will perform material from their new album War Stories, as well as selections from the two previous UNKLE releases Psyence Fiction and Never, Never, Land. Check out live footage from the aforementioned Benicassim show here (.mov).

They play Webster Hall on October 18th. All tour dates below...

Continue reading "Unkle - 2007 Tour Dates"