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)"

photos by Amanda Hatfield, words by Rachel Kowal

The Rock Shop may have been open for a couple of months now, but last night's show marked the official party to celebrate the new Park Slope venue (the first show happened a month earlier). The Rock Shop is kind of like a smaller version of the Mercury Lounge (minus the door between the bar and the show space). There's a bar lining the wall as you walk in, and the concert space is in the back. There are even benches lining both walls like at the Mercury Lounge. But the Rock Shop benefits by having additional space upstairs with large open windows that look onto 4th Ave.

For such a small room (max capacity 120) the bill was pretty solid thanks in part to the venue's booker, Skippy McFadden, who formerly booked artists at both the Bell House and Union Hall. Just Sunday night, the 'surprise' headliner, tUnE-yArDs, opened for St. Vincent in Central Park.

But first up was a short set by a last-minute addition, Pat Jordache. Jordache and his two-man backing band (including the drummer of The Acorn) are apparently friends with tUnE-yArDs' Merrill Garbus, who danced a bit in the crowd during their set. With a full line-up of women scheduled for the evening, it was nice to get a little testosterone in the mix, too.

I expected the two main openers to put on a good show, but I hadn't heard a thing about Lady Lamb & the Beekeeper. Given the clunky and cutesy name, I was somewhat skeptical going into the set, but singer-songwriter Aly Spaltro quickly won me over with her beautiful lyrics, husky voice, guitar playing skills, and earnest little kid-like eyes. Unlike the other artists on the bill, Aly powered through her set alone. There were no bells and whistles, just a girl and a couple of guitars, and the result was stunning. Ally's voice is deep and raw. During the dramatic parts of her songs she rocks out on her electric guitar and nearly sings herself hoarse. Then without warning her voice becomes soft and sweet.

Up next was the Brooklyn transplant, Sharon Van Etten, who masterfully crafts heartbreaking (but ultimately triumphant) songs. Sharon began her first song solo, but was soon joined by her backing band, which included birthday girl Cat Martino on backing vox. Her new record, Epic, is slated to drop until October, but she had copies available for sale and showcased a number of songs during her set. The crowd responded fondly to the new material, prompting Sharon to comment, "I've never ever seen people bob their heads to my music before." She encouraged the warm, familial mood in the room by sweetly dedicating a song to her mother, who was present at the show.

Upon the conclusion of Sharon's set, the mood in the room became more frenetic in anticipation of tUnE-yArDs, the main act. After setting up the beat to her first song, "Hatari," Merrill Garbus offered a brief word of introduction. As the beat continued to pulse through the speakers, she inquired, "Can you dance to it?" before continuing, "Not that New Yorkers dance. I know you don't dance. Only in your bathrooms after you've pooped... Oh, New Yorkers don't poop." And with a knowing laugh from the crowd, she began to sing.

It's hard to know what to say about Merrill Garbus' dramatic musical project tUnE-yArDs that hasn't already been said. Either you're down with the tribal-like beats, fierce delivery, and zany presentation or you're talking at the back of the bar. Either way, seeing Merrill perform is an experience. When the stage allows for it, she takes advantage of the space and surrounds herself with a host of musical collaborators, but there was no room for a drum circle on the Rock Shop's small stage. Instead, Merrill handled the percussion herself, looping together upwards of 7 or 8 tracks at a time to create a rich, full-bodied sound. Merrill was also accompanied by Nate Brenner on bass and, for a few songs, a trio of brass players.

Though there were brief technical issues when Merrill began to play "Safety" on the ukulele, the audience didn't seem to mind the lull in the set. "Take your time!" "Just figure it out!" they shouted encouragingly as Merrill tried to rectify the situation. But eventually, she just had to give up. "Sorry. I just can't hear it at all. It just won't work [...] But I'll still play a good song. " And with that, she launched into the whimsical song "News."

Since she currently only has one album under her belt, Merrill has been playing many of the same songs at her shows, and the audience was fairly familiar with her material. When Merrill began to shout the question, "Do you want to live?" she was met by a resounding "YES!" before she had a chance to offer an explanation or a prompt. Fans of tUnE-yArDs will be glad to hear that new music is on the horizon. "This is the last time I will be playing this song ["Hatari"] in New York City before I finish a new album... so there," Merrill declared near the beginning of her set.

Following up her impressively strange debut BiRd-BrAiNs will be a difficult feat, but something tells me Merrill Garbus is up for the challenge.

More pictures from the show with Sharon and Merrill's setlists, below...

Continue reading "tUnE-yArDs, Sharon Van Etten, Lady Lamb & the Beekeeper & Pat Jordache played The Rock Shop (pics & setlists)"

photos by Chris La Putt

Still shaking from the @basiabulat @tuneyards and @st_vincent show at #summerstage. Definitely one of the defining concerts of the summer! -Laura Rubin

St. Vincent at first seemed nervous due to a lot of technical difficulties with her band, but she quickly came into her element- perhaps focusing on Actor too much, Annie did not settle for just performing her songs, but reinventing them. She was absolutely exceptional, performing a sort of dance when she played guitar that was both a dance of rage and a parody of modern guitar solos at the same time as this spindly siren carries a pretty serious, Chuck Berry-esque guitar up to the front of the stage. She seemed lost in the world of her songs, a morose fairytale land of abstract orange hues and jagged shapes, but she brought something new out in her music with her reinterpretations- 'Your Lips Are Red' suddenly seemed almost like a Browning poem with its powerful jealousy and murderous themes.

The real highlight however, of this really quite exceptional set, may have been Black Rainbow- her impressive selection of band members (whom she recalled every name of, bless her) had starred and shone through several of her other hits. But with Black Rainbow the song just trickled into a dark, powerful musical marsh. You became weighed and yet uplifted by the powerful musical breaks, and it was... It was really something to watch. For all her nerves and sometimes awkward demeanour, St Vincent really performed today- but did so with a more rocky, almost Joplin edge to her music than she does on her albums. It was.... Divine. [Deliciously Apart]

St. Vincent headlined a free Central Park SummerStge show on Sunday, August 1st. She played with a full band with horns, as did opener Tune-Yards (who's playing the Rock Shop tonight)...

"The second Tune-Yards album can't come quickly enough. The existing recordings are very good, but don't do enough to showcase exactly how jaw-dropping Merrill Garbus has become as a live performer. I would go so far to say that she may be one of the greatest singers in the world today." [Fluxblog]

Canada's Basia Bulat was the first act of the day - she'll be back in NYC for two shows with the Acorn in September. The first is at Mercury Lounge on September 23rd. Tickets are on sale now. The second is one day later at Littlefield. Tickets are also on sale. All Basia dates are below.

More pictures & videos from the Central Park show, with two of the setlists, below too...

Continue reading "St. Vincent, Tune-Yards & Basia Bulat played Central Park Summerstage (pics, video, setlists, more dates)"

Tune-Yards @ Summerstage - Aug 1, 2010 (JoeYTeacups)

Brooklyn Vegan & The Rock Shop proudly present:
The Rock Shop's Grand Opening Party with secret headliner
Sharon Van Etten, Lady Lamb The Beekeeper
The Rock Shop
Mon, August 2, 2010
Doors: 8:00 PM / Show: 8:00 PM
$15.00

Now that she's played her set at Summerstage, it's safe to say, if you haven't figured it out already, that tUnE-YarDs will be Monday night's secret headliner. See you there.

Merrill's only other currently scheduled dates are in Europe. They are listed below...

Continue reading "and Monday night's secret Rock Shop guest is..."

DOWNLOAD: tUnE-YarDs - I Really Taught Me To Watusi (KATW cover) (MP3)

tUnE-YarDs @ Bowery Ballroom (more)

"Every spring, as the sun starts to shine, DJs reach for the song "Walking on Sunshine." And since its release 25 years ago this week, just about everyone associated with the song has lived quite well off its success. It was recorded by Katrina Leskanich, and when people used to ask her what she did for a living, she'd say, "I'm a singer in Katrina and the Waves. Oh, never heard of it? You know, 'Walking on Sunshine'?"" [NPR]

When I first heard "I Really Taught Me To Watusi" by Katrina & the Waves....

I Really Taught Me To Watusi by Katrina & the Waves (the original)

... while picking songs for this BrooklynVegan Katrina & the Waves covers EP project, I immediately thought of tUnE-YarDs, and when tUnE-YarDs heard the song she immediately said yes to participating. Check out her somewhat lo-fi take on the track for free above. It's track #4 on the above-pictured, currently-5-song EP.

This means so far we have:

1. Sam Amidon - Walking on Sunshine
2. Deer Tick - Sun Street
3. ????
4. tUnE-YarDs - I Really Taught Me To Watusi
5. ????

Stay tuned for the rest soon! tUnE-YarDs dates below...

Continue reading "tUnE-YarDs is track #4 on the BV KATW EP (free MP3!)"

St Vincent @ Lincoln Center's Allen Room (more by Chris La Putt)

St. Vincent (4AD), Tune-Yards (4AD) & Basia Bulat (Rough Trade) will share a Beggars family bill at Central Park Summerstage in NYC this summer. The free show will take place Sunday, August 1st at 3pm, one week before The xx (XL) and Jack Penate (XL) play the same stage (and about a month after XL's Gil-Scott Heron plays there).

St. Vincent, Tune-Yards and Basia Bulat are all female-fronted acts. Four days later a similar phenomenon takes place, also for free, in Prospect Park when Metric, Holly Miranda and Joan as Policewoman share a bill.

The Central Park gig is one of three shows St. Vincent is currently advertising. Pitchfork Music Festival and Calgary Folk Festival are the other two. Tune-Yards on the other hand has a bunch of stuff before August including Sasquatch, the Roots Picnic, Glastonbury and a June 27th show at Hollywood Bowl with Goldfrapp, Orquesta Buena Vista Social Club and Omara Portuondo.

All dates below...

Continue reading "St Vincent playing Summerstage (w/ tUnE yArDs & Basia Bulat), Calgary Folk Fest & Pitchfork (and other dates) "

photos by Lori Baily

"The night was started by Twin Sister, a quintet with only one raspy voiced female. I certainly hope she's got a twin somewhere!...

...Next up was Zola Jesus, moniker for Nika Roza Danilova. Last year, she collaborated with Freddy Ruppert and Jaime Stewart for the Former Ghosts project, via the The Bull and the Ram. At that point, I had no idea who she was, but that song sounded pretty much like a nightmareish synth pop tune sung by Kate Bush, then after grabbing a couple of mp3s off her debut album The Spoils, it became clear that was her preferred line of work. She recently released a new EP called Stridulum that still goes down that same line of being the second coming of Kate Bush in an even more refined manner...

...Tune-Yards is another one-lady band, in this case her real name is Merrill Garbus....she proceeds to create her musical and vocal loops right in front of you. I have no idea how she does it, but it's incredibly fascinating to watch and makes her set electrifying...

...Xiu Xiu went through yet another line-up change, now it's only a duo with new member Angela Seo...About half the set consisted of songs from the new album Dear God, I Hate Myself. I've been listening a lot more to the album and it's currently on the rise with me. At first it struck me as a bit too 8-bit, but once you really give it a listen the sheer melodic genius of it all starts to shine through. Guess it won't really appeal much to the people who complained about Women As Lovers not being noisy enough, it probably is the most pop album. [pecusita]

Xiu Xiu and Tune-Yards' setlists and more pictures from the Friday night show at Bowery Ballroom (4/9), below...

Continue reading "Xiu Xiu, Tune-Yards, Zola Jesus & Twin Sister @ Bowery Ballroom in NYC - pics & setlists"

The Roots Picnic 2009 (more by Tim Griffin)

As Pitchfork reported, The Roots Picnic will be happening again this year at Philadelphia's Festival Pier on Penn's Landing, on Saturday, June 5th. ?uestlove announced part of the lineup via a Twitvideo (which you can see below), and it includes of Mayer Hawthorne, Clipse, the Very Best, Neka, Tune-Yards (a recent Questlove favorite), Das Racist, Bajah & the Dry Eye Crew, Pattern Is Movement, headliner Vampire Weekend and The Roots (with two side-projects, Black Thought's Money Making Jam Boys and ?uestlove with DJ Jazzy Jeff). He also says that the fest will be reuniting a certain black hat/gold chain (and it could be assumed, Adidas)-wearing hip-hop crew.

Tickets go on sale Friday, March 5th at 10am.

Mayer Hawthorne headlines Webster Hall Thursday night (3/4).

Picture sets from last year's Picnic are here. Pictures from a 2009 show at Brooklyn Bowl that featured more than a few of the members of this year's lineup are here. See ?uestlove's video for yourself (where he also announces that it's the Roots' one year anniversary on Fallon - congrats!) below...

Continue reading "The Roots Picnic - 2010 date & initial lineup (Vampire Weekend, Clipse, The Very Best, Tune-Yards, Run DMC?)"

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Zola Jesus - Night (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Zola Jesus - Clay Bodies (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Zola Jesus - Smireye (MP3)

LA Record: How would you describe your music to a child?

Nika Roza: I tried to do this with my cousin. She's an aspiring goth. I am trying to turn her into a weirdo. 'It's like pop music but it's really noisy and there's opera.' I would probably say, 'This sounds like Hannah Montana' and let their minds adjust. 'This is what Hannah Montana can also sound like.' There's got to be a Nickelodeon Black. If you turn on TV you see people yelling things and vomiting colors. But when I was growing up seeing cartoons they would have a lot of snot and bodily fluids and weird things. What is going to happen to this new generation? But I would tell the 7-year-old child it was the Apocalypse. You know what, fuck that. There's nudity and language--let them see it! If not, they will turn into bigger creeps. You have to expose children to stuff like that. You gotta be ready.

Madison, Wisconsin's enigmatic Zola Jesus (real name Nika Roza) is playing a one-off show at Cake Shop on Saturday (2/20). Posessed with a haunting wail, comparisons to Diamanda Galas, Siouxsie and Karin Andersson are not inappropriate. Check out the MP3s at the top of this post, especially "Night" which is from her new 12", Stridulum, which is out March 9 on Sacred Bones. I really dig the pulsing, slow-build arrangement and the production cuts way back on the reverb -- her voice doesn't need it. The Saturday line-up at Cake Shop is well chosen, Blacklist, Cult of Youth and White Ring.

If you can't make Saturday's show, she'll be back again on April 9 opening for Xiu Xiu and Tune-Yards at Bowery Ballroom Tickets are still on sale. She'll also be at SXSW. All dates, along with a video for "Clay Bodies" and a flyer for the Cake Shop show...

Continue reading "Zola Jesus MP3s, video & 2010 tour dates (Cake Shop Saturday, SXSW, Bowery w/ Xiu Xiu, Purchase & more) "

We'll get a more complete press release in the morning (and confirm what is listed below is 100% correct), but in the meantime below is a picture of the 2010 Sasquatch poster (that someone Tweeted) and the lineup as read by Bradford Cox at tonight's Atlas Sound show in Seattle (and being listed all over the Internet)....

Continue reading "Sasquatch announces 2010 lineup (includes Massive Attack & My Morning Jacket) (and many more) "