Nas @ Rock the Bells (more by Dana (distortion) Yavin)

That didn't take long. We just announced the intitial lineup. Check out the almost-full thing below...

Continue reading "Rock the Bells 2012 full lineup (Nas, Kendrick Lamar, ASAP Rocky, Dipset, Schoolboy Q, Missy Elliot, Wiz Khalifa, much more)"

The 2012 music lineup was announced today for Bumbershoot: Seattle's Music & Arts Festival, which is produced by non-profit arts organization One Reel and takes place over Labor Day weekend, Sept. 1-3, at Seattle Center. The 42-year-old urban festival stands on top nationally in its variety as it showcases both familiar and up-and-coming regional and national talent in many musical genres, as well as in comedy, theater, literary and visual arts, dance, film and children's programming.

Bumbershoot's Mainstage in KeyArena will feature two multi-act performances each day. Artists scheduled to perform there include groundbreaking alternative rock band Jane's Addiction, jazz legend Tony Bennett, electronic phenom Skrillex, a hip hop double bill with Mac Miller and Big Sean, M83, and AWOLNATION among others. Additional Mainstage acts will be announced in coming weeks.

Tickets are all-inclusive. All festival offerings, including Mainstage admission on a first-come, first-served basis (no separate pass required), and late-night electronic music curated by Decibel Festival for Bumbershoot After Dark, are included in the price of a single-day or 3-day ticket

The complete Bumbershoot 2012 lineup below...

Continue reading "Bumbershoot 2012 lineup (Jane's Addiction, Tony Bennett & Skrillex are the headliners)"

"Superfly Presents and A.C. Entertainment are excited to announce the initial lineup for the 2012 Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival. The 11th annual four-day camping and music festival will be held on June 7 - 10 on the same beautiful 700-acre farm in Manchester, Tennessee, 60 miles south of Nashville. A full list of confirmed acts follows, and more will be announced in the coming weeks. The final Bonnaroo 2012 lineup will total over 125 bands and over 20 comedians performing on 13 stages over four days.Tickets for the event will go on sale on this Saturday, February 18, 2012 at 12 noon EST exclusively at bonnaroo.com."

Radiohead, Beach Boys, Phish, Little Dragon, SBTRKT, The Antlers, Bad Brains, Laura Marling, St. Vinent, Tune-Yards, Flying Lotus, and many more are playing Bonnaroo this year. Full list below...

Continue reading "Bonnaroo 2012 lineup announced"

Toots & the Maytals are returning to Brooklyn Bowl on 3/25 and 3/27. Tickets, at the links, on sale at noon.

Yelawolf is playing Brooklyn Bowl on 3/13. Tickets on sale at noon.

Tickets go on AmEx presale at noon for the recently-added Magnetic Fields show at Beacon Theater.

Tickets go on AmEx presale at noon for the Converge show at Music Hall of Williamsburg which Pianos Become The Teeth is opening.

Tickets go on AmEx presale at noon for the Nada Surf show at Music Hall.

Tickets go on AmEx presale at noon for the Chavez show at Bowery Ballroom.

Tickets go on AmEx presale at noon for the 2nd Rob Delaney show at Bowery Ballroom.

That previously announced Nite Jewel show at Bowery Ballroom finally has a ticket link and it goes on sale Thursday at noon.

Tickets also go on sale Thursday for another War on Drugs show.

Another Roger Waters presale starts Thursday.

photos by Andrew St. Clair, words by Andrew Sacher

Fast-talking Alabama rapper Yelawolf was set to release his debut LP Radioactive on September 27 via Ghet-O-Vision/Shady/DGC/Interscope. A recently issued press release announced that the release date has been pushed back to October 25. The album features guest appearances by Big Boi, Eminem, and others. Producers include SupaHotBeats, Justice League, The Audibles, and Diplo. He released the first single from the album, "Hard White (Up in the Club" ft. Lil Jon on August 8. You can stream the track below and purchase it on iTunes. Expect a video soon.

Yelawolf is going on tour in support of the album this September and October with Rittz and DJ Craze. That tour (all dates below) hits NYC the day of the album's new release date, October 25 at Irving Plaza. Tickets go on sale Friday (8/19) at 10 AM.

Yelawolf recently finished up a run on the Warped Tour. Check out a belated set of pictures from both the Nassau Coliseum & Monmouth Park shows, along with all dates and the song stream below...

Continue reading "Yelawolf releasing 'Radioactive', touring (dates, new song stream & belated Warped Tour pics)"

words & photos by Andrew Frisicano

Wednesday

Twin Shadow @ Fader Fort

A crowded backyard tent filled with cigarette smoke, free open-faced tacos (pork, chicken, brisket or veggie), a man carting a dolly of Lone Star cases through the crowd, and a pair of middle-aged guys picking a fight with each other on a Wednesday afternoon. "Doesn't he know I'm a ticking time bomb?" the offended guy says, a bit like he's not joking. JEFF the Brotherhood is playing too, which is more or less the occasion for all of this, my first show of SXSW 2011. The JEFF brothers aren't really the focus though, since they'll be playing a dozen other times this week, and most of the people are concentrating on the tacos, their conversations or their inability to get away from the door of the totally (did I say?) packed room.

In spite of that, the band is tearing through songs from Heavy Days and their new LP We Are the Champions, and between songs tossing out free vinyl singles into the crowd: "Those are going to slice someone's neck open," says Jake before slinging a few more across the room. They go into "Bummer," a ballady, Dino Jr.-style headbanger, that's one of the standout new tunes.

Trash Talk @ BV/Feed the Beat Day Party (photo by Samantha Marble)

Ty Segall's entertaining and totally worthwhile band is up next, but the BrookylnVegan day show at Emo's is also currently happening, the highlight of which has to be the simulatneous staging of Cali punks Trash Talk (who went on before Kylesa) and Mister Heavenly (who went on before Surfer Blood). Mister Heavenly are a supergroup of-sorts you've heard about. On the inside, Trash Talk frontman Lee Spielman towers over everyone with the body of a scarecrow and a scary-as-hell perma-scowl; he smashes his forehead with the microphone a few times to draw blood. "Stick around for Surfer Blood," he says, before crawling into the crowd and standing on what I can only hope were someone's shoulders. People start edging toward the door. On the outside stage, Mr. Heavenly performs an appropriately lovely set, its two frontmen trading verses in their own styles.

After that, the Fader Fort brought Twin Shadow on stage, the bedroom-pop project of George Lewis Jr. that's become a wildly good live band. For an outdoor venue, the system sounded impressively balanced and clear - which would turn out to be a rarity at the festival. That was 'specially good for Yelawolf, whose songs sounded vital in a way that your iPod just can't do. With no crew to speak of, his solo athletics put in an early bid for best-of.

Yelawolf @ Fader Fort

Later that night at Stubb's, Yuck and James Blake played what would be the first of several for both. Both did well on the big stage, a portent of things to come, vibing out in their respective styles: fuzz rock and chilled-out pop. Check out both of their sets for yourself at NPR- Blake and Yuck.

continued below...

Continue reading "Colin Stetson, Twin Shadow, Odd Future, James Blake, JEFF the Brotherhood, Yelawolf, more (Andrew F's week @ SXSW)"

Full press release below...

Continue reading "Roots Picnic 2011 lineup announced"

Talib & Res

Tickets are still available for the next 5 Questlove DJ gigs at Brooklyn Bowl.

Tickets are also on sale for a Talib Kweli show happening at Brooklyn Bowl on February 1st with J-Live, K-Salaam, and Mad Sol Desar.

You can also catch Talib on February 10th when he teams up with Res (and Graph Nobel?) to form Idle Warship at Music Hall of Williamsburg with Dead Prez, Ninjasonik (who also play the same venue on 3/26), The Wellington Papers and "Special Surprise Performances." Tickets go on sale Friday at noon.

That same night, 2/10, is when Black Milk is at SOB's with a full band.

That same venue, MHOW, is where Raekwon is playing on March 8th. Tickets are now on AmEx presale.

Raekwon's same night, 3/8, is when Yelawolf is going to play Highline Ballroom with Cyhi Da Prynce. Tickets go on sale Friday at noon.

Murs also has a show coming up at MHOW, and that show is still on sale.

Last but not least (unless you mean the price), Chiddy Bang is playing a free show at Irving Plaza on January 29th. The catch? You need to go to either NYU, Rutgers, CUNY, Fordham or Columbia to attend. Actually that's not true, you can just pretend you do I think, since it also says "Students at other NY area schools also eligible. Text closest school to claim tickets." The show is part of a "Textbooks & Tickets Tour" that is also giving away free tickets to a Big Boi show in Atlanta and has other performers in a few other cities.

Yelawolf crowd @ Terminal 5 (more by Brook Bobbins)

Tickets go on general sale at noon for the December 30th Drive-By Truckers show at Brooklyn Bowl. Tickets are still on sale for their New Years Eve show at Terminal 5 too.

Tickets for the Roots at B Bowl on New Years Eve are sold out, but you can still buy your way in to Questlove's DJ set taking place one night earlier after the Drive-By show..

The Pietasters play Brooklyn Bowl on February 12th. $5.00 Tickets are on sale.

The Funky Meters, which is the continuation of The Meters, Art Neville and George Porter included, will play three nights at Brooklyn Bowl in February. Tickets go on sale at noon for February 15th, February 16th and February 17th.

Yelawolf just played as part of a big Thanksgiving weekend bill at the big Terminal 5. You can catch him in a more intimate and headlining setting when he plays SOB's on December 22nd for just $10.

Nicki Minaj played a huge NYC show on Thanksgiving. She plays another one ON CHRISTMAS, but this time up at the Paradise Theater in the Bronx. Tickets are on sale.

Levon Helm just played two big shows at Beacon Theater in NYC. He and his band return to the area to play The Wellmont Theater in Montclair on February 11th. Tickets go on sale Friday at noon.

Tickets go on AmEx presale at noon for the Bright Eyes show at Radio City Music Hall.

Tickets are on presale for the upcoming Allman Brothers shows at Beacon Theater.

photos by Brook Bobbins

A-Trak looking spiffy

"A Trak has proven himself to be one of the most talented DJs around, period. I had a chance to watch his set from the "backstage" area at Terminal 5 last night and was thoroughly blown away. Flying Lotus put on an incredibly energetic performance that set the stage for A Trak, who rocked his turntables in a tuxedo atop a 2 story platform covered in lights and LCD screens. Visually, it was a spectacle in its own right. Needless to say the crowd lost it for dance floor anthems like 'Anyway', 'Barbara Streisand', 'Shake It Down' and his 'Indestructible' remix. Amidst the furious scratching and beat juggling he is famous for, you could hear hints of hip-hop rhythm working their way into the electro until ultimately you found yourself dancing to straight up rap music." [Electronica Oasis]

A proven way to burn off all the calories associated with piles of stuffing and t(of)urkey is to hit the dance floor, and that's just what many people did on 11/26 at Hard Fest Turkey Soup at Terminal 5, though in this case it was the kind of dance party where everyone faces the stage. Featuring appearances from A-Trak, Tiga, Flying Lotus, Miike Snow (who performed a DJ set), Yelawolf, and Destructo, the show was a one-off appearance for all of the above as part of the Hard Fest series of shows which last made appearances in NYC in for the form of Crystal Castles/Sinden/Destructo and Die Antwoord/MIA/Destructo/etc. One thing all three recent HARD NYC shows had in common? Destructo on the bill. Why? One reason might be because Destructo also happens to be HARD's founder.

A set of pictures and some videos from the Thanksgiving event continue below...

Continue reading "A-Trak, Tiga, Flying Lotus, Miike Snow, Yelawolf & Destructo performed @ Hard Fest Turkey Soup @ Terminal 5 (pics)"

by BBG

A-Trak at Williamsburg Waterfront (more by Andrew St. Clair)

A full two months before his big brother plays the same venue as a member of Chromeo, A-Trak will headline Terminal 5 on 11/27 with Tiga, Flying Lotus, Yelawolf and special guests as part of "HARD NYC Turkey Soup 2010". Tickets for the Thanksgiving weekend show go on sale Friday 10/15 at noon.

The show is one of four US dates for A-Trak, with the others being the previously discussed HARD Haunted Mansion in LA on 10/31 with Flying Lotus (his only other date) and the Bloody Beetroots (who play Webster Hall this Friday), Fun Fun Fun Fest in Austin, TX, and a pre-Halloween show in Chicago on October 30th with Chromeo. All dates below.

Meanwhile, A-Trak's project with Armand Van Helden, Duck Sauce, recently released a new video and single for "Barbara Streisand". The star-studded video features cameos from Kanye West, Pharell Williams, Buckshot (rapper), Smif-n-Wessun, DJ Premier, Chromeo, Diplo, Ezra Koenig, and so many others. Watch that with all A-Trak dates below...

Continue reading "A-Trak, Tiga, Flying Lotus & Yelawolf playing HARD NYC Turkey Soup 2010 & other dates ++ Duck Sauce"

Big Boi @ Brooklyn Bowl Monday night

"Yeah. Big Boi was really fun and he played almost all the Outkast and solo hits you could think of... but it was too short, and it really seemed like there should have been an encore. People stood around cheering for like 10 minutes and the house lights went down but, nothin." [panopticon]

Yelawolf headlined the free Fool's Gold 'Day Off' Fest on Labor Day and then later popped up again to join Brooklyn Bowl headliner Big Boi on stage at his sold out, encore-less show last night. Yelawolf appears on the track "You Ain't No DJ" on Big Boi's new album. The official video for that song, and three live clips of other songs Big Boi played at Brooklyn Bowl, can be watched below.

And as reported, Big Boi will play a 2nd NYC show TONIGHT (9/7) for lucky NYU students who will also get a DJ set by The Knocks and a co-headlining live set by Dr. Dog who recently played a public show at Governors Island and who go out on tour with Here We Go Magic in October. The show is the annual NYU "Mystery Concert" (no longer a mystery) and is only open to students.

Big Boi's other upcoming dates include Vegas and Moogfest. Videos below...

Continue reading "Big Boi played w/ Yelawolf, plays w/ Dr. Dog @ NYU tonight"

Yelawolf headlines the free outdoor festival in NYC today..

Continue reading "Fool's Gold 'Day Off' Fest Labor Day (today) (FREE)"

photos by Andrew St. Clair

Raekwon shows potential groupies his current relationship status

What kind of oldies concert draws a huge audience in its 20s? Rock the Bells, the daylong hip-hop festival that came to Governors Island on Saturday. This year's Rock the Bells borrowed an idea from the indie-rock festival All Tomorrow's Parties, booking groups to perform watershed albums in their entirety.

Two headliners, Snoop Dogg and Wu-Tang Clan, largely complied with the assignment. Snoop Dogg brought along most of the guests from his 1993 album, "Doggystyle," made back when he was Snoop Doggy Dogg. The others - A Tribe Called Quest, KRS-One, Rakim and Slick Rick - went "veering off," as Q-Tip of A Tribe Called Quest put it, to play additional hits (which no one minded) or to plug more recent projects.

And then there was the wild card: Lauryn Hill, the singer and rapper formerly of the Fugees, appearing half an hour late. She hasn't released a studio album since "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill" in 1998, and she has recorded and toured only sporadically since then while raising five children. "I miss you," she told the crowd repeatedly. Partway through the set she pulled guests out of the V.I.P. section and onstage: Mary J. Blige, Alicia Keys, Jay-Z, Beyoncé, John Legend. They missed her too.
-[New York Times]

A second set from the NYC edition of Rock The Bells (first is HERE), continue below...

Continue reading "Rock the Bells @ Governors Island - pics (part 2) (Wu-Tang, Street Sweeper Social Club, Yelawolf, Slick Rick & more) "

Big Boi's solo debut album, out July 6th via Def Jam/Purple Ribbon, is streaming now at MySpace (which means occasionally it will pause until you figure out which window/tab you have it open in and click the annoying ad). Full tracklist with list of guests below...

Continue reading "Big Boi's Sir Lucious Left Foot out soon, streaming in full "

by BBG

Rock The Bells 2010? Um, awesome.

For the first time in the history of hip-hop entertainment, ROCK THE BELLS is slated to have headliners perform their most influential albums in their entirety. East-coast legends Wu-Tang Clan will perform Enter the Wu-Tang: 36 Chambers from beginning to end. Released in 1993, the group's debut album revived the New York rap scene and is widely-regarded as one of the greatest albums in hip-hop history. Considered one of the greatest MC's of all time, Rakim is set to perform 1987's, Paid In Full, his first full-length album with Eric B. Fellow Golden age, east coast rapper, Slick Rick will conquer The Great Adventures of Slick Rick. Released in 1989, this debut album became a certified-platinum classic topping the Billboard's Top R&B/ Hip Hop Albums charts. Highly regarded as the "THE TEACHER", KRS-One is a hip hop culture advocate, music producer, MC and published author. Hailed as one of the best live performers, KRS-One will perform [the Boogie Down Productions classic LP] Criminal Minded. The 1987 trend-setting album sampled music from various genres including rock, reggae and funk.

In addition to that drooler of a hip hop lineup, Rock The Bells will also feature a rotating cast of also-awesomes, depending on where you lay your head. Lineups haven't been solidified by city but look for appearances from Street Sweeper Social Club, Murs and 9th Wonder, Wiz Khalifa, Clipse, Immortal Technique, Jedi Mind Tricks, Brother Ali, DJ Muggs and Ill Bill, Big Sean, Yelawolf, and more TBA (but not Lauryn Hill).

So far only four festival dates have been released, LA (8/21), San Fran (8/22), NYC at Governors Island (8/28), and DC (8/29). Ticket info is forthcoming.