by Andrew Sacher

J. Cole was a pretty exciting rapper around the time of his Friday Night Lights mixtape, but that excitement died down a bit when his debut album for Roc Nation, Cole World proved to be mostly mediocre. Still, something about Cole makes you want to root for him, and that's stirred the excitement up again for his second official album, Born Sinner (due out June 18). The album's not an instant classic, but it's a much better and more consistent release than its predecessor.

The guest spots feel carefully chosen, the only ones coming from Miguel, Kendrick Lamar, Dirty Projector Amber Coffman, the two surviving members of the recently-reunited TLC, and Justin Timberlake's songwriting partner James Fauntleroy. But even with major names like those, the guest appearances always tend to take a backseat to Cole, who really runs the show (he wrote and produced almost the entire thing himself). Unfortunately, that does cause it to get a little one-dimensional at times, but when Cole is on ("Power Trip" and the title track are early highlights), he's making some pretty impressive music. Stream the album in its entirety, along with the "Power Trip" video, below.

Cole will be celebrating the album with his Dollar & A Dream tour, which begins in Miami tonight (6/11). For that tour, he'll be hitting 11 cities and each show only costs $1 to get in. The catch is that the venue won't be announced until the day of the show via J. Cole's twitter, and there's no advance tickets. You have to pay admission at the door, first come, first serve. The tour hits NYC on June 19.

You'll also be able to catch Cole at a NYC show that you can get advance tickets to when he plays Warm Up at MoMA PS1 on August 17. That show includes other rappers, Mr. Muthafuckin' eXquire and World's Fair, in addition to producers King Britt (Hyperdub), Bangladesh and Darq E Freaker. Tickets for that show are on sale now.

All dates are listed, along with the video and album stream, below...

Continue reading "J. Cole releasing 'Born Sinner' (stream it), announces tour"

by Andrew Sacher

Kingdom at Bowery Ballroom in December (more by David Andrako)

As mentioned, Brooklyn producer Kingdom released his his new EP, Vertical XL, last week (5/28) via Fade to Mind. If you're a fan of the darker, subdued side of headphone dance music, it's worth giving this a listen. The opening track, "Bank Head," which features lead vocals from Kelela, can be streamed, along with clips of the other tracks, below.

Kingdom will be supporting the new EP with some dates this year, including a show with Kelela in LA tonight (6/5), and he'll return home for a Brooklyn show on June 15 at Knitting Factory, as part of the Northside Festival. Tickets for that show are on sale now, and you can also try to get in with your Northside Badge. All dates are listed below.

Meanwhile, Kelela, who caught our ears last year when she sang on Teengirl Fantasy's album, has been working on her own career as well. She has a mixtape coming out this June via Fade to Mind and has some solo shows coming up this summer. She'll be going on a tour with inc. and Total Freedom which includes the previously discussed NYC show at Music Hall of Williamsburg on July 14 (tickets).

During that tour, she'll also play Warm Up at MoMA PS1 on July 20 with Hyperdub label head Kode9, Night Slugs co-head L-VIs 1990, Recloose, and Obey City. Tickets for Warm Up are on sale now.

All Kingdom and Kelela dates are listed, along with those streams, below...

Continue reading "Kingdom released an EP, playing shows; Kelela touring w/ inc. and playing Warm Up w/ Kode9 (dates & streams)"

by Andrew Sacher

XXYYXX at BV-SXSW 2013 showcase (more by Amanda Hatfield)

Exciting young Beyonce/TLC/Alt-J/etc-sampling electronic musician XXYYXX has a few dates scheduled this summer, and will be coming to NYC for the Warm Up summer concert series at MoMA PS1. As mentioned, he plays on July 13 with a great lineup of Ryan Hemsworth, Bondax, MK, Gobby, and James K.

The day before Warm Up, XXYYXX will be in Brooklyn for a headlining show at Music Hall of Williamsburg (7/12) with Chrome Sparks (live), Fortune Howl, and DJ True Panther Sounds. Tickets for that show go on sale Friday (6/7) at noon. XXYYXX's 2012 self titled debut LP is great for the headphones, but he's a hell of a dancefloor commander too. So if that's your kind of thing, these NYC shows are not to be missed. A full stream of his LP is below.

Tickets for all Warm Up shows go on sale today (6/5) at noon. Other artists playing the series (which runs from June 29 to September 7) include Majical Cloudz, Liars, Mr. Muthafuckin' eXquire, J. Cole, Juan Atkins, Jon Hopkins, and many more.

All XXYYXX dates are listed, along with the LP stream and a video, below...

Continue reading "XXYYXX headlining Music Hall of Williamsburg before Warm Up (which goes on sale today)"

by Andrew Sacher

Jon Hopkins

As mentioned, London electronic musician Jon Hopkins is releasing his new album, Immunity, on June 4 via Domino. It's heavy on the thick, dancefloor rhythms, but he pays serious attention to creating gorgeous melodies that do more than make your feet move. Take a listen to the entire hour-plus thing for yourself over at NPR.

Jon is celebrating the new album with a previously discussed record release party in NYC at Glasslands on the day of its release (6/4). Openers on that show include California producer SFV Acid (live) and Brooklyn producer Octo Octa. Tickets for that show are still available.

SFV Acid released his debut album, The Dwell, this week (5/28) via UNO NYC. It was allegedly created entirely in Starbucks locations, and channels a rich history of IDM, making him a good fit for the bill with Jon Hopkins. You can stream that album in its entirety below (via FADER).

Octo Octa also released a new album this week, Between Two Selves, which is an ambient take on this whole house revival that's going on. That album can be picked up at the 100% Silk webstore and you can stream one of its tracks, "Please Don't Leave," below. He also plays other hometown shows on Friday (5/31) at Body Actualized Center (143 Troutman), Saturday (6/1) at Bossa Nova Civic Club (1271 Myrtle Ave), and on July 5 at Cameo with Anthony Naples and Magic Touch. Advance tickets for the Cameo show are on sale now.

Back to Jon Hopkins. In addition to his record release party at Glasslands, he'll be returning to NYC this summer for Warm Up at MoMA PS1. He plays on August 31 with a pretty stacked lineup of Cajmere, Liars (live), Lil Silva, IO Echo (live), and Miles. Tickets for all Warm Up shows go on sale June 5 at noon.

Cajmere (aka Curtis Jones), who plays Warm Up with Jon Hopkins, is a '90s Chicago house veteran that you may know from his head-knockin' 1992 single, "Brighter Days" (streaming below), his 1995 single as Green Velvet, "Flash" (also streaming below), or the rest of his long discography. He put out a new album, Too Undeground for the Main Stage, this month and you can stream two tracks from that below too. You can catch him in NYC much sooner when he plays Williamsburg dance club Output on June 6 with Free Magic & Faso and Discovery. Tickets for that show are on sale now.

All Jon Hopkins dates are listed, along with song streams, below...

Continue reading "Jon Hopkins, SFV Acid, Octo Octa & Cajmere playing shows, streaming albums & stuff"

by Andrew Sacher

Canadian producer Ryan Hemsworth, whose already blessed us with some solid EPs, singles and remixes, has just put out another EP today (5/23) called Still Awake. The new EP contains 6 of his brightest sounding tracks and veers more towards chillwave than his usual forte of cloud rap. It's also got a bonus track, which is a remix one of the EP tracks, and you can download the entire thing for free. It can also be streamed in its entirety below.

Ryan Hemsworth, who was just in NYC for Downtown Fest, is part of the just-announced Warm Up at MoMA PS1 lineup, which goes down this summer. He plays on July 13 with MK (aka Detroit producer Mark Kinchen, who had two '90s hits with singer Alana Simon, "Always" and "Love Changes"), exciting young Orlando producer XXYYXX, UK duo Bondax, UNO-signed producer Gobby (who just played with Majical Cloudz), and James K. Tickets for all Warm Up shows go on sale June 5 at noon.

Ryan also plays Camp Bisco the same weekend as his Warm Up show. EP stream below...

Continue reading "Ryan Hemsworth released a free EP, playing Warm Up w/ MK, XXYYXX, Bondax, Gobby & others"

Warm Up 2012 (more by Leia Jospe)

The annual Warm Up summer concert series is returning to MoMA PS1 this year every Saturday from June 29 through September 7. As usual, they've booked an excellent lineup of forward-thinking electronic music, hip hop, and other related genres.

Artists playing this year include Majical Cloudz (who just played NYC and will play Northside), XXYYXX, Ryan Hemsworth, Liars (live), Kode9, Mr. Muthafuckin' eXquire, Caribou (DJ), Empress Of, J. Cole, World's Fair, IO Echo (live), Julio Bashmore, Ben UFO, Gobby, Kelela, Juan Atkins, A Guy Called Gerald, Pional, Kim Ann Foxman, Jon Hopkins, King Britt and tons of other names.

Advance tickets for each day will go on sale Wednesday, June 5 at noon via MoMAPS1.org. Full 2013 schedule below...

Continue reading "MoMA PS1 Warm Up 2013 announced (Majical Cloudz, XXYYXX, Ryan Hemsworth, Liars, Mr. MFN eXquire & more)"

Thom Yorke at The Wooly - 9/7/12 (via non_equivalents)

Thom Yorke came to NYC over the weekend and DJed a Fashion Week party for Rag & Bone (whose co-designer Marcus Wainwright is a friend of Thom's) at The Wooly on Friday (9/7). A picture of Thom during his set at the Belvedere Vodka-sponsored party is above. Aziz Ansari was in attendance too.

Thom also, as discussed many times, did an Atoms for Peace DJ set for the final installment of this summer's Warm Up at MoMA PS1 with AFP bandmate and Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich. Atoms for Peace just announced that their new album will come out next year, and to open their set, Thom and Nigel performed three new tracks that will presumably end up on that album with Thom singing live. You can watch videos of two of those new songs, and listen to audio of the third below. After the short unexpected live performance, Thom returned to the boards for the remainder of the show and spun a variety of tunes (everything from Talking Heads to Azealia Banks).

Thom Yorke & Nigel @ MoMA PS1 - 9/8/12 (via rebeccataylorny)

The rest of the lineup at Warm Up was great too. Despite a crazy storm, the show went on, opening with a set by Justin Strauss. Then Maria Minerva, who also did a Fashion Week show, just released new album, Will Happiness Find Me (stream it), and who now lives in Brooklyn (after moving from Estonia to London), played a live set. You can catch her in NYC again at Glasslands on Friday (9/14) with Father Finger and Octo Octa (tickets).

Up next was Holy Other, finally making his NYC debut, after having to cancel shows last summer due to illness. The elusive producer, who in a recent interview with Stereogum said he was "going to feel naked" performing outdoors during the day, played material off his excellent recently released debut LP, Held, and 2011's With U EP as well. A video from his set is below. The MoMA PS1 show fell in the middle of his tour with Amon Tobin, which hits the NYC area on Thursday (9/13) at Wellmont Theatre (tickets) and Friday (9/14) at Hammerstein Ballroom (tickets).

Before Thom Yorke and Nigel Godrich finally took the stage, we were graced with one more set, this time by Scottish producer Rustie, who played Webster Hall with Flosstradamus and Brenmar the night before (9/7). He dropped bass heavy tunes that got the crowd going pretty wild. A couple videos from his Webster Hall show are below (unfortunately, the sound cuts out about halfway through).

Check out all those videos below...

Continue reading "Thom Yorke DJed for fashion, sang new Atoms for Peace songs @ MoMA PS1; Rustie, Holy Other, Maria Minerva played too"

Atoms for Peace at Roseland Ballroom in 2010 (more by Bao Nguyen)

Thom Yorke's Atoms for Peace project (with Flea and Nigel Godrich), who released a single over the summer, just resurfaced with another new single today (9/6) called "Default." The song is on iTunes and it will be officially released on September 10 via XL. The cover art for the single is below.

As mentioned, Atoms for Peace is DJing at the final installment of this summer's Warm Up at MoMA PS1 on Saturday (9/8) with the very impressive lineup of Holy Other, Maria Minerva, Rustie, and Justin Strauss. Advance tickets for that show are sold out but there will be a limited amount available at the door starting Saturday (9/8) at noon.

Speaking of Nigel Godrich (who also produces Radiohead), his new band Ultraista has a few shows scheduled, including one in NYC on October 24 at Le Poisson Rouge. Tickets for that show are still available.

Atoms for Peace cover art below.

Continue reading "Atoms for Peace has a new single; their DJ set at the final Warm Up is this weekend"

Miguel at MoMA PS1 earlier this month (more by Leia Jospe)

R&B singer Miguel, who was in NYC earlier this month to play Warm Up at MoMA PS1, is back and will play TONIGHT (8/24) at J&R MusicFest 2012 (23 Park Row) with Deon Young, Leah LaBelle, Marcus Canty, and Ryan Leslie. Tonight's show starts at 5 PM. The fest began yesterday (8/23) with sets from DMX and Talib Kweli (who played Highline Ballroom with his Idle Warship project earlier this week), and it wraps up tomorrow with Q&A panels, a special guest, and more. You can check out a recent Pitchfork.tv video of Miguel performing "Adorn" and talking about his live show at Warm Up below.

Meanwhile, Warm Up continues at MoMA PS1 on Saturday (8/25) with Just Blaze, Danny Brown, Nick Catchdubs, The Stallions, and BAIO (of Vampire Weekend). Tickets for that are still available. Nick Catchdubs made this week's FADER/MoMA PS1 Warm Up mix, which you can stream below.

Just Blaze

As mentioned, Just Blaze and Danny Brown will share another bill on September 3 in City Winery's backyard as part of Fool's Gold Day Off NY 2012 with French Montana, Flosstradamus, Flatbush Zombies, and others. That day show is free and all ages. But Just Blaze will fit in yet another NYC appearance before that. He'll play the new 'Found' rooftop party at The DL on Sunday (8/26) (95 Delancey St) with special guests Cosmo Baker, Farrington G, and Dan Wender (Rinsed). The party is 21+ and starts at 6 PM. It's free with RSVP before 9 PM and $10 after that, with a portion of the proceeds going to the Beyond the Boroughs National Scholarship Fund. The flier for this party is below.

Danny Brown will then return to NYC when his tour with A$AP Rocky and Schoolboy Q hits Roseland Ballroom on September 27. Tickets for that show are still available.

A stream of Nick Catchdubs' Warm Up mix, the Miguel video, and Just Blaze flier are below...

Continue reading "Just Blaze playing the DL after Warm Up; Miguel playing J&R MusicFest and has a new live video"

Hieroglyphic Being

Warm Up continues at MoMA PS1 on Saturday (8/18) with Jacques Greene, Floating Points, Hieroglyphic Being, and Secret Circuit. Tickets for Saturday's show are still available.

While Chicago mainstay DJ Hieroglyphic Being (aka Jamal Moss) is in town, he'll play a late night party at 285 Kent on Friday (8/17) with Maxmillion Dunbar, Antennes, SFV Acid, a DJ set by James Gerard and visuals by Aurora Halal. Tickets for that show are on sale now.

In related news, SFV Acid will play an UNO party one night earlier (8/16) at The Hester with Mykki Blanco, Physical Therapy, Krystal Klear, and a "Special Secret Guest." No promises on who the guest is, but perhaps it will be one of the people in town for Saturday's Warm Up, like past Warm Ups have yielded. Maybe you should go and make your friends envious. The flier for this show is below.

A list of all Hieroglyphic Being dates and some song streams below.

Continue reading "Hieroglyphic Being playing 285 Kent before Warm Up; UNO throwing a party at The Hester w/ a secret guest (dates)"

by Andrew Sacher

Howse

One of my two personal most-anticipated Warm Up at MoMA PS1 lineups goes down this Saturday (8/11) with sets from Photek, Evian Christ, Howse, Shlohmo, and Autre Ne Veut. Tickets for Saturday's show are still available. You can stream/download Shlohmo's FADER/MoMA PS1 mix for this week's installment below.

Meanwhile, Howse (aka Nathaniel Oak), who released the great footwork-meets-witch house ("footwitch"? or maybe housework...) Lay Hollow EP on Tri Angle earlier this year, will be arriving in NYC a bit earlier to play a late show at Cameo Gallery on Friday (8/10 with the always great Octo Octa and The Range. $5 tickets for that show will be available at the door. Howse also made hand painted, hand stamped CDRs which will be available at both of his NYC this shows this weekend, or if you contact him via email. You can stream the Howse track, "VBS," below.

Speaking of artists playing Warm Up this weekend, as hinted at and now confirmed, Evian Christ will in fact open both NYC shows on Purity Ring's upcoming tour. Those shows include 9/21 at Bowery Ballroom and 9/22 at MHOW. Both shows are now sold out. Headaches, who made his US live debut opening for Purity Ring at LPR last month, is also on both shows.

A list of all Howse dates, and all streams are below.

Continue reading "Howse playing Cameo before Warm Up; Evian Christ opening Purity Ring's NYC shows (dates & streams)"

by Andrew Sacher

We've mentioned a few times that Scottish beatmaker Rustie, who released his great debut LP, Glass Swords, last year on Warp, will be in NYC to play Warm Up at MoMA PS1 on September 8 with Thom Yorke/Atoms for Peace (DJ set), Holy Other, Maria Minerva, and Justin Strauss (tickets). Now Rustie has revealed that the show is part of a short tour that Rustie will be on, which also includes a show at Webster Hall on September 7 for a Girls & Boys party with Flosstradamus and Brenmar. Tickets for that show are on sale now. All Rustie tour dates are listed below.

Rustie also recently teamed up with Aluna Francis, the vocalist of UK R&B duo AlunaGeorge (who put out the great You Know You Like It EP earlier this year) to give vocal treatment to the track "After Light" from his Glass Swords LP. The dubstep meets cool-R&B approach of the collaboration hits a similar spot that SBTRTK's vocal collabs do, and if Rustie continues in that direction he may end up as massive -- especially if there's enough demand for his Webster Hall show (you'll remember that his last NYC gig was at the much smaller Santos Party House). Rustie did a similar reworking of his album track "Surph" earlier this year, when Nightwave added vocals to the song.

Streams of the vocal-assisted versions of "After Light" and "Surph," and a list of all dates are below.

Continue reading "Rustie announces North American tour, playing Webster Hall before Warm Up (dates & streams)"

photos by Leia Jospe

"shouts 2 all of u dancing onstage to jamie xx at ps1 ur all beautiful snowflakes with orange wristbands" - Drew Millard
"Jamie xx is absolutely shutting down ps1" - Ned White
"Jamie XX making it feel like im in Miami right now #ps1 #moma" - Val Tott

Miguel/Jamie xx's crowd at MoMA PS1 - 8/4/12

This summer's Warm Up at MoMA PS1, a series featuring afternoon dance parties from forward thinking electronic musicians every Saturday in MoMA PS1's outdoor courtyard, continued this past Saturday (8/4) with sets from Jamie xx, Miguel, Lemonade, Sinjin Hawke, Pearson Sound, and Zora Jones. This one sold out in advance, and the line to get in was crazy long as usual. Many people who didn't have tickets showed up anyway and listened from outside.

For Miguel, Warm Up was his first public NYC show since his private EP release party at Joe's Pub that he played earlier in the week. Rolling Stone caught his set and wrote:

Miguel performed a brief yet galvanizing set with his neon-clad backing band, delivering one of the few "concert" experiences of the evening and giving the thousands crammed into the gravel-floored courtyard something to scream about with a handful of weather-appropriate nü-R&B tracks off his forthcoming LP Kaleidoscope Dream in addition to a newly rap-infused performance of one of his well-worn covers, 2Pac's "I Get Around."

Meanwhile, for Jamie xx, Warm Up was one of two DJ sets he delivered this past weekend while in town in between The xx's Terminal 5 show last Thursday (8/2) and their Staten Island show, which is TONIGHT (8/6) at Snug Harbor Music Hall (sold out). Jamie premiered a new xx song during his set, and had the crowd going pretty nuts. After that show, he headed over to Manhattan to DJ a FIXED party at Le Poisson Rouge with John Talabot, who will be supporting The xx on many of their upcoming dates (none in NYC) and will return to LPR for a live show with Pional on September 27. Some videos of Jamie and John's sets from LPR are below.

Jamie xx wasn't the only one on Saturday's Warm Up lineup to keep the party going late into the night. Lemonade showed up in Williamsburg to DJ a party at Glasslands with Blondes and Rewards, and they killed it. Meanwhile, Sinjin Hawke was next door murdering 285 Kent with Egyptrixx, Elite Gymnastics, N0ms, Gobby, and MikeQ. Blood Diamonds, who had played Glasslands one night earlier (8/3) with Le1f and Gobby, showed up for a secret late set at the show. A video of Blood DIamonds' set from 285 Kent is below.

More pictures (unfortunately none of Sinjin Hakwe or Zora Jones) from Warm Up and all videos are below.

Continue reading "Jamie xx, Miguel, Lemonade, Sinjin Hawke & others played Warm Up before other late night shows (pics & videos)"

by Andrew Sacher

Miguel at Joe's Pub - 7/31/12 (via)

R&B singer Miguel first caught ears with his 2010 debut LP, All I Want Is You, and earlier this year he resurfaced with the Art Dealer Chic EPs. He's since announced his next full length, Kaleidoscope Dream, which he'll release on October 2 via RCA, but instead of making you wait until October, Miguel has decided to gradually unveil it. He released the Kaleidoscope Dream: Water Preview digital EP yesterday (7/31), which comprises three of the eventual album tracks, will follow that with the Kaleidoscope Dream: Air Preview digital EP on September 11, and then finally on October 2, those two EPs and five more previously unreleased songs will make up the full album. Way to utilize the internet.

You can stream the entire Water Preview EP over at SPIN and download it for just under $4 at iTunes. It's decidedly more on the Frank Ocean/Weeknd side of R&B than the Usher/R. Kelly side, and it's really good. The songs are fully formed and ready for radio/MTV/arenas but there's a depth to these arrangements that won't you normally find in those places. The end of "Don't Look Back" features a straightforward homage to The Zombies' "Time of the Season," and while Miguel's not the first R&B/hip hop artist to recognize the swag of "What's your name, who's your daddy, is he rich like me?," he certainly gives it the justice it deserves in 2012.

Miguel celebrated the new EP with a private show in NYC last night (7/31) at Joe's Pub, where he performed all three of the songs on the EP in addition to older cuts as well. He was backed by a drummer, two guys with laptops/synths and an electric guitarist. Was it a little cheesy when the mega-distorted guitarist soloed and ripped aggressive power chords over smooth R&B? Yeah, a little. And there was a bit of over-the-top heteronormativity when he demanded that the men in the audience made room for the ladies up front after playing a song where he repeated, "Tell me that pussy is mine." But overall, he and his backing band sounded great playing these songs, and Miguel has the ability to play much larger venues than Joe's Pub. Check out videos from the show below.

Miguel will play a public NYC show this Saturday (8/4) at MoMA PS1 for Warm Up with Jamie xx, Lemonade, Pearson Sound, Sinjin Hawke, and Zora Jones. Tickets for that show are still available.

The only other shows we're aware of at the moment is a show with The-Dream in Columbus, OH on Friday (8/3) and Power 98's Summerfest in Charlotte, NC. All dates in list format and the videos from last night's show are below...

Continue reading "Miguel releasing 3-part LP, playing shows (streams, live video and dates)"

by Andrew Sacher

Three of the biggest current forces in indie rap, A$AP Rocky (and his A$AP Mob), Danny Brown, and Schoolboy Q will be touring together this fall. Looks like A$AP Rocky's got the headlining spot, as it's dubbed the 'LoveLiveA$AP' tour (after Rocky's album of the same name, due out 9/11), as you can see in the flier above, which borders between provocative and a little creepy.

The tour doesn't hit NYC (yet?), but there are some shows nearby, including Toads Place on September 23 in New Haven, CT and Electric Factory on November 18 in Philly. Tickets for the New Haven show and the Philly show go on sale Friday (7/27) at noon.

Meanwhile, all three rappers have other upcoming shows in the NYC area before this tour kicks off. A$AP Rocky will be on Randall's Island this weekend (7/28-29) for Catalpa Fest. Schoolboy Q plays Rock the Bells at PNC Bank Arts Center (9/1-2) (ASAP only plays Rock the Bells in California), and he and Black Hippy crewmate Kendrick Lamar are among the support acts for Wiz Khalifa and Mac Miller's tour which hits Jones Beach on August 2. Danny Brown is keeping it a bit on the smaller spectrum, seeing as he will play Warm Up on August 25 at MoMA PS1 with Just Blaze, Nick Catchdubs, The Stallions, and BAIO (of Vampire Weekend). Tickets for Warm Up are on sale now.

Most of the LiveLoveA$AP tour coincides with Kendrick Lamar's upcoming tour with Ab-Soul and Jay Rock (aka all of Black Hippy except Schoolboy Q). However, the first few dates, including Kendrick's NYC show at Terminal 5 (9/15) happen before the LiveLoveA$AP tour. Maybe Schoolboy Q will make an appearance at that (more details still TBA)?

A list of all dates on the LiveLoveA$AP tour and videos of all three rappers below...

Continue reading "A$AP Rocky, Danny Brown & Schoolboy Q touring together"

Genesis P-Orridge

MoMA PS1 Summer School returns this August for its second year in a row. MoMA describes it as, "An annual series of workshops, lectures, and discussions, Summer School brings students together for a focused conversation on contemporary practice with artists, authors, musicians, curators, theorists, and scholars who have made significant contributions in their respective fields." This year's classes will be taught by Throbbing Gristle's Genesis Breyer P-Orridge, Marina Abramovic, and Steve Paxton. The deadline to apply for classes is today (7/20), but all three of those teachers, including Genesis P-Orridge, will give a presentation open to the public at MoMA PS1 on September 9.

Genesis P-Orridge is also reissuing What's History for the first time on vinyl this month on Dais Records. The album was recorded in 1981 with filmmaker Dan Landin and originally came out on cassette in 1983. Only 500 copies are being pressed and you can pre-order it at the Dais webstore.

Speaking of MoMA PS1, the 2012 Warm Up series continues there this Saturday (7/21) with Matthew Dear (DJ), Sepalcure, Le1f, MikeQ, and JDH & Dave P. Tickets for that show are still available. You can stream MikeQ's Fader/MoMA PS1 Warm Up mix for this week, which includes Azealia Banks, Brenmar, and more below.

Continue reading "Throbbing Gristle's Genesis P-Orridge teaching 'Summer School' at MoMA PS1, where Warm Up continues this week"

by Andrew Sacher

As just mentioned, The xx have revealed the openers for their upcoming tour and the opener for the first leg of the tour, including NYC's Terminal 5 (8/2), is Montreal's Jacques Greene, who will be DJing at the sold out show.

Jacques just released his second EP of 2012, Ready, this week (7/16) via 3024 (his first, Concealer, came out in January). Though Jacques is from Montreal, his beats are well grounded in the UK. The EP's three tracks are all driven by UK funky and garage patterns, and they're accented by the manipulated vocal clips that dominate the post-dubstep world. It's a great (and quick) listen, and if you haven't checked it out yet, you can sample the entire thing with 3+ minute clips of each song below. Also check out the video for the title track below.

While Jacques is in NYC, he'll be sticking around (or given the two week gap, perhaps he'll be scheduling more shows and then heading back) for two more NYC shows, including one at Le Bain on August 17 before playing Warm Up at MoMA PS1 on August 18 with Floating Points, Secret Circuit, and Hieroglyphic Being. Tickets for Warm Up are on sale now. Jacques is also one of the many artists lined up for this summer's Mad Decent Block Parties. He's already set to play the Toronto one on July 28 (the only one whose lineup has been announced), but the NYC party falls on August 5, just after he plays T5 with The xx, so it seems possible that he might play that one too.

Meanwhile, The xx just added a second night at Paradise Theatre in the Bronx in October.

A list of all Jacques Greene dates, the Ready sampler and video are below...

Continue reading "Jacques Greene released 'Ready,' touring with The xx, playing other NYC shows too (Warm Up included)"

London-via-Estonia psychedelic pop singer Maria Minerva is planning to release her new album, Will Happiness Find Me?, on August 1 September 4 via Not Not Fun. The album follows her excellent 2011 EP, Sacred & Profane Love, which came out on NNF sister label 100% Silk. The album was recorded in Lisbon, finished in London, and mastered in Berlin. She's also got a collaborative album with NNF/100% Silk label boss LA Vampires (aka Amanda Brown) called The Integration, which is due this October.

Maria will be touring New Zealand/Australia in August, and after that she'll be heading to the US for a tour here. That tour hasn't been announced in full yet, but we already know she'll play Warm Up at MoMA PS1 on September 8 with Thom Yorke/Atoms for Peace (DJ set), Holy Other, Rustie, and Justin Strauss. Tickets for that show are still available.

While she's in NYC, she'll return to Glasslands (where she made her US live debut back in April) for a show on September 14 at the Brooklyn venue. Tickets for that show are on sale now.

A list of all currently known dates and a stream of Sacred & Profane Love's "Gloria" below...

Continue reading "Maria Minerva releasing new solo LP, collaborative LP w/ LA Vampires, touring, playing Glasslands after Warm Up (dates)"

photos by Amanda Hatfield

"DJ @Nguzunguzu spinning live is a revelation" - John Won
"@NGUZUNGUZU thank for this ‪#PS1‬ set. Kids be wylin" - Taye Digg$

Light Asylum/Nguzunguzu

MoMA PS1's 2012 Warm Up series kicked off this past Saturday (7/7) with sets from Arca ft. HBA, TRUST, Nguzunguzu, Light Asylum, and Todd Terry. It was super hot and the art installations made for less shade than last year's did, but that didn't stop the crowd from dancing throughout the show. Nguzunguzu got a great reaction from the crowd and Todd Terry had the place going pretty crazy too. If you were there, what do you think?

For Light Asylum and TRUST, the MoMA PS1 show was part of a tour that the two dark duos are on together, which also came to Brooklyn for a show at Music Hall of Williamsburg on Sunday (7/8).

Warm Up continues this Saturday (7/14) with Terrence Parker, D3, Ron Morelli, Jeremie Delon, and Steve Summers. Tickets for all upcoming Warm Ups are available. More pictures from this past Saturday below...

Continue reading "'Warm Up' began at MoMA PS1 w/ Nguzunguzu, Light Asylum, TRUST, Todd Terry, & Arca ft. HBA (pics)"

Warm Up 2011 (more by Erez Avissar)

The 2012 Warm Up at MoMA PS1 summer concert series kicks off Saturday (7/7) at 3 PM in the Long Island City museum courtyard. This week's Warm Up is with Light Asylum and TRUST (who also play MHOW together on Sunday [7/8]), along with Nguzunguzu, Todd Terry and Arca ft. HBA. Advance tickets for the show are still available.

The series continues every Saturday at MoMA PS1 through September 8 and tickets for each show are available. You can stream a FADER/MoMA PS1 mix that Arca made for today's show, along with some Nguzunguzu tracks below...

Continue reading "Warm Up 2012 at MoMA PS1 begins Saturday"

by Andrew Sacher

DOWNLOAD: Le1f - Dark York (ZIP)

Blood Diamonds

Vancouver's Blood Diamonds (aka Michael Diamond aka Mike Tucker), who we profiled when he came to NYC for a Glasslands show in August of last year, will return to the Brooklyn venue almost exactly a year later for a show on August 3. The show is with NYC rapper Le1f. Tickets for that show are on sale now.

Blood Diamonds has since signed to 4AD, who will release his Phone Sex 12" on July 24. You can stream the title track from that maxi single, which features Grimes, below. It differs from his earlier tropi-pop singles and is dominated heavily by Grimes' vocals, but it's a great listen and the new 12" is one to look forward to.

Le1f

Le1f (aka Khalif Diouf), who is also on the Glasslands show, released the Dark York mixtape earlier this year on Das Racist's Greedhead label. Le1f identifies on facebook as "GAYNGSTA RAP" and was featured in a recent Pitchfork article, "We Invented Swag: NYC's Queer Rap," so Le1f is definitely joining the increasing number of openly gay rappers, but as he points out in the Pitchfork article, he doesn't want to "make gay NYC rap 'a thing.'" He continued saying, "The whole 'room for one' mentality is homophobic... if the world is ready for a gay rapper, then they're ready for multiple gay rappers. If we were straight, no one would be comparing us."

Le1f's Dark York mixtape features a number of solid producers, namely Nguzunguzu (whose new Warm Pulse EP is out this week) and Morri$, and also includes a handful of tracks that Le1f produced himself. Thanks to those producers, the mixtape is mostly made up of dark, murky beats and Le1f sounds like the Danny Brown from hell with a far more subdued delivery than Danny's rambunctious shout, but one that's equally swagged out. You can download the entire EP for free above or stream it below.

Le1f will also play Warm Up at MoMA PS1 this summer on July 21 with Matthew Dear (DJ), Sepalcure MikeQ (who plays a RINSED party tonight (7/6) at the loft at 70 North 6th St. [above Public Assembly]), and JDH & Dave P. Tickets for that show are available.

Warm Up begins this weekend (7/7) with sets from Todd Terry, Light Asylum, Nguzunguzu, Trust, and Arca ft. HBA (tickets). Ahead of this week's show, Arca made a FADER/MoMA PS1 mix which you can stream below.

Song streams are below.

Continue reading "Blood Diamonds releasing 12", playing Glasslands w/ Le1f who released a mixtape (download) & plays Warm Up"

by Andrew Sacher

Brooklyn producer Slava (not to be confused with Salva), released the Soft Control EP on Ford & Lopatin's Mexican Summer imprint, Software, earlier this year. It's 4 tracks of snap snares, chopped vocals, and thick bass and ends with the orchestral-sounding "Swan." The EP feels right at home on the Software roster and you can stream the entire thing below.

As usual, Slava has a number of local shows, like the one he just played with Laurel Halo and Gatekeeper on Saturday (6/30) (how was that?). His next NYC show is Warm Up at PS1 on July 28 with Sinkane, MJ Cole, DJ Spoko, and Van Rivers. Tickets for that show are available.

After that, he'll play a BPM152 party at Tammany Hall on August 11. The BPM152 parties are a bi-weekly pop-up bass party series, which have been going down in Tammany Hall this summer. The first was on 6/16 with Myrryrs, Cedaa, Mess Kid, and Old Money Knifeshowand Nire, and the second was this past Saturday (6/30) with Gobby, Physical Therapy, and Don Froth. The lineups for the remaining parties (other than the fact that Slava plays on 8/11) have not been announced yet. Stay tuned for more info on those.

A list of all Slava dates and the EP stream are below...

Continue reading "Slava playing Warm Up before BPM152 party (which continues bi-weekly), streaming EP"

Matthew Dear at Knitting Factory in 2011 (more by Winnie Cheung)

As mentioned, Matthew Dear will release his new full length, Beams, on August 28 via Ghostly, and will support the album with some dates in the fall, including a NYC show at Webster Hall on November 17 (tickets). He'll be in NYC even sooner than that to DJ Warm Up at PS1 on July 21 with Sepalcure, Le1f, MikeQ, and JDH & Dave P (tickets). And since we last spoke, he's added another DJ set in NYC a week before Warm Up, which happens at Le Poisson Rouge on July 14 with Sleepy & Boo. Tickets for that show are on sale now.

Matthew also just revealed the video for Beams single, "Her Fantasy," which was directed by Tommy O'Haver. You can watch that video below, along with an updated list of dates...

Continue reading "Matthew Dear DJing LPR before Warm Up, made a new video"

Jamie xx with The xx at Webster Hall in 2010 (more by Bao Nguyen)

As mentioned, The xx will be on a tour in support of their new album, Coexist (due out 9/11 via Young Turks), this summer which brings them to NYC for a show at Terminal 5 on August 2. That show has long sold out but Jamie xx will be sticking around NYC to play the FIXED show at Le Poisson Rouge on August 4 that John Talabot is DJing. Tickets for that show are still available.

The LPR show is also the same day that Jamie plays Warm Up at PS1 (8/4) with Lemonade, Pearson Sound, Sinjin Hawke, and Zora Jones. Miguel has also been rescheduled to perform on this date instead of the July 21 Warm Up he was originally set to play. TIckets for that show are available

Lemonade will also DJ a free party at Glasslands that night (8/4) after Warm Up.

All Jamie xx dates are listed below, alongside a stream of his 2011 single, "Far Nearer"...

Continue reading "Jamie xx playing LPR with John Talabot, and Warm Up after The xx's T5 show; Lemonade DJing Glasslands after Warm Up"

Just Blaze

Just BLAAAAAAZE. The hip hop producer Justin Smith aka Just Blaze, best known for hemming tracks on classic Jay-Z albums, and more recently providing the beat for Drake's "Lord Knows," among many other things, will be in NYC this week for a 1992 party at Santos Party House on June 21 with Jasmine Solano and Kasey Berry. The party is in celebration of Smoke DZA's new album, Rugby Thompson (which you can stream in full below), but no word of whether or not DZA will be making an appearance. Just Blaze doesn't appear to have much else in the way of live appearances, but he'll be in NYC again on August 25 for Warm Up at PS1 with Danny Brown, BAIO (of Vampire Weekend), Nick Catchdubs, and The Stallions. Tickets for that show are on sale now.

In other classic hip hop producer news, Pete Rock will be DJing with special guests at 20th birthday celebration of his 1992 LP with CL Smooth, Mecca and the Soul Brother, at Le Poisson Rouge on June 30. Tickets for that show are on sale now.

Smoke DZA album stream below...

Continue reading "Just Blaze playing Santos, PS1 Warm Up; Pete Rock DJing LPR"