photos by Wei Shi

New Order / The xx / Danny Brown

Weekend 2 of Coachella 2013 continued on Saturday (4/20), and this time around we caught sets by New Order, The xx, Hot Chip, Danny Brown (who debuted a new Rustie-produced track, "Dope Song," during his set which you can watch a video of below), Action Bronson, Trash Talk, Janelle Monae and more. Pictures of Weekend 2 Day 2 are in this post.

In case you haven't been keeping up with our coverage, pictures of Weekend 2 Day 1 are HERE. For Weekend 1 pictures, check out day 1 (HERE and HERE), day 2 (HERE) and day 3 (HERE).

More Coachella Weekend 2 Day 2 pictures and the Danny Brown video below...

Continue reading "Coachella Weekend 2 Day 2 in pics (New Order, Trash Talk, Danny Brown, The xx, Hot Chip, Action Bronson & more)"

photos by Dana (distortion) Yavin

Sigur Ros / Bat For Lashes / Spiritualized

"It was a mixed bag for veteran acts on Saturday. On one hand, The Evens, featuring ex-Minor Threat and Fugazi man Ian MacKaye, drew a respectable (and respectful) Gobi Tent crowd early in the day; the Descendents' influential melodic-punk found a fairly large following at the Outdoor Theatre under the stars; and New Order brought a solid throng along for its night-capping Mojave Tent performance (despite going up against headlining Phoenix and post-rock favorites Sigur Rós, among others). But reunited D.C. garage-soul outfit The Make-Up, underground hip-hop icon El-P and British ska survivors The Selecter played to some of the weekend's sparsest audiences in the Gobi Tent." [Las Vegas Weekly]

Coachella 2013, now streaming live, continued on Saturday with the previously discussed sets by Phoenix (and R Kelly) and The Postal Service (Jenny Lewis included), as well as Sigur Ros, Bat For Lashes, Major Lazer, Descendents, 2 Chainz, Savages, The Evens, and many more. Pictures from Friday are HERE and HERE.

UPDATE: Pictures from Sunday are HERE.

Saturday photos are in this post and continue below...

Continue reading "Coachella Day 2 Photos (Sigur Ros, Bat For Lashes, Major Lazer, Descendents, 2 Chainz, Phoenix, Postal Service, more)"

Postal Service

We mentioned that Blur and The Stone Roses are reuniting for Coachella 2013, and as usual there some other interesting reunions at the festival too.

Violent Femmes, who called it quits in 2009, appeared on the lineup announcement. Unlike Blur or The Stone Roses, this is the first we're hearing about them getting back together, so hopefully we'll get some more shows from them. They last played NYC in 2007. Some classic Violent Femmes videos are below.

As promised, The Postal Service are in fact confirmed for Coachella. They recently confirmed their 2013 reunion, and are also part of the Primavera Sound lineup.

It wasn't even two full years ago that Nick Cave said he was done with his Grinderman project for a while, and we know that The Bad Seeds are back this year (and also playing Coachella), but he's got Grinderman on the lineup too. Grinderman plays day 1 and the Bad Seeds play day 3.

One of Ian Svenonius' many bands, The Make-Up, reunited last year and played ATP NYC, and they're also included on this year's Coachella lineup. Meanwhile, you can catch Ian in NYC on his book tour tonight (1/25) at LPR and Monday (1/28) at WORD Bookstore.

New Order (without Peter Hook) made their live return last year, and after releasing their "lost" album, Lost Sirens, this year, they were announced for Coachella as well. The way things have been going, we probably can't count on Hook being there, but like Ian Svenonius, you can catch him in NYC on Monday (1/28) for his book talk.

Fellow new wave icons Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (aka OMD) returned in 2010 and they're promising a new album out on April 9, just before Coachella begins. They've also talked about a North American tour, which presumably will be announced soon with dates surrounding the festival.

Descendents have been back for a little while at this point, but a reunion show from them is always exciting, and this year's Coachella should be no exception.

Dead Can Dance have been back for a bit too, having released a new album, Anastasis, and gone on a tour last year, and they'll be at Coachella this year as well. They're also playing Primavera Sound and just launched a video competition.

Two-Tone legends The Selector (they shared a side of the label's first-ever 7") will play as well. The band have reformed a few times over the years, with different members offer rival versions of the band. Singer Pauline Black and Gaps Hendrickson feature in the line-up coming to Coachella.

And maybe most surprsingly on this list of Coachella reunions is The Three O'Clock who were intregral in the '80s "paisley underground" scene in Los Angeles. Fronted by bassist Michael Querico, the band made 1985's cult classic Arrive Without Traveling, ended up signed to Prince's Paisley Park records where they made one album before breaking up in 1988.

LA hip hop collective Jurassic 5 are also reuniting for Coachella. More on that and other hip hop at this year's festival coming later.

Violent Femmes videos below...

Continue reading "Violent Femmes, Postal Service, Grinderman, New Order, Three O'Clock, and other reunited bands at Coachella 2013"

Attention People of New York City:

Hello. This is your man Dave Hill writing to let you know that Thursday, October 15 at 8:00pm, I will performing my brand new one-man show "Dave Hill: Big in Japan" like a motherf@#ker for the very third time over there at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in historic Chelsea. Attendance is mandatory unless you hate having a really, really nice time that might also lead to sex. Anyway, I realize there has been a lot of confusion- especially in the Scandinavian press- about my new one-man show. And while there is some truth to the rumor that my new one-man show is a coming-of-stage tale based on my early years as a young Austrian girl who wanted nothing more than to express herself through dance even if her pimp Danny had different plans for her, it is mostly about one man's (me, silly!) undying will to rock the f@#k out of people and also this one time I went to Japan and rocked the f@#k out of people with my rocking rock Valley Lodge. Also- and I cannot stress this enough- it is NOT the same show as the Dave Hill Explosion so stop thinking that, dammit. However, my new one-man show is explosive in nature and possesses similar heatbringing properties and an almost identical bang quotient (sin(ax)sin(bx) - k cos(ax)cos(bx) = number of chicks who totally want to bang me). Anyway, I really hope you can make it. Aside from all the heat I will be bringing to the show, it is directed by the great Jeff Tomsic and assistant directed by the super dupes Nicole Brodeur. It also features the winsome Chris Chuang and the fiery Zachary Danziger in the roles of a lifetime. And as if all of that is not enough, my show is immediately followed by Pangaea 3000 Sucks, a great show that you totally don't have to pay extra for. So come, you know, if you want. I'm tired of fighting about it. You can get tickets right here.

Love,
Dave Hill

That "Big in Japan" show is TONIGHT (10/15). The next "Dave Hill Explosion" is at the same venue on October 22nd and features special guests Gordon Gano of the Violent Femmes and the RETURN of Dick Cavett (not to be missed). Tickets are on sale.

In between those two UCB events you can catch Dave Hill playing two roles in one night. I'm talking about the official BrooklynVegan CMJ showcase at Music Hall of Williamsburg on October 20th where Dave is both playing guitar in the Walter Schreifels Band (expect Quicksand, Gorilla Biscuits, Rival Schools and more), AND telling some jokes and hosting the night. Tickets are still on sale.

"Big In Japan" happens again on October 29th at UCB. The flyer along with a very recent video of Walter performing solo in a store... IN JAPAN, below...

Continue reading "in addition to being funny, and playing for Walter Schreifels (and hosting BV CMJ), Dave Hill is big in Japan! (@ UCB)"

"Gordon Gano (born on June 7, 1963) is the lead singer and guitarist from the band Violent Femmes.During a Violent Femmes hiatus in the late 1980s, Gano formed a gospel group called The Mercy Seat (band) with vocalist Zena Von Heppinstall, bassist Patrice Moran, and drummer Fernando Menendez. The group released one album in 1987 on Slash Records. Gano released his first solo album in 2002, titled Hitting the Ground. He shared vocal duties (singing in Portuguese) with Manuel Cruz, the lead singer of the famous Portuguese rock band Ornatos Violeta in the song Capitão Romance for the last album released before their break-up, O Monstro Precisa de Amigos in 1999. Gano also played violin[3] on Ben Vaughn's 1990 album Dressed in Black. Currently, Gano is writing, recording and performing with ex-members of The Bogmen, Billy and Brendan Ryan, under the name GanoRyan." [Wikipedia]

That Wiki entry probably needs to be updated because actually the band playing the Bell House in Brooklyn tonight (1/29) is billed at Gordon Gano and The Ryan Brothers. Last time they played a show, that I remember, was March 10th at Mercury Lounge under the name "Hired Gun". They may have also played Knitting Factory in Manhattan since then too.

Tonight's (their first Brooklyn?) show is also chock full of interesting local openers. They are Corn Mo, The Lisps, and Drink Up Buttercup.

Gordon Gano and The Ryan Brothers also have a show coming up February 7th at The Strand Theatre in Lakewood, NJ.

Win Butler & Tim Harrington @ Randall's Island - Oct 6, 2007

Yeah, I missed this too....

Continue reading "video of the SECOND Arcade Fire encore @ Randall's Island"

Violent Femmes are back at Warsaw in Brooklyn this summer. They're supposedly playing two nights in a row, but one (June 23rd) is either not on sale yet, or has been cancelled. All tour dates below....

Continue reading "Violent Femmes - 2007 Tour Dates (Warsaw)"