dpconey9

the week in Dance w/ David Bruno (08/14/07) (part 1)

DOWNLOAD: Calvin Harris – Acceptable in the 80s (MP3)

Daft Punk @ Keyspan Park, Coney Island, NYC – Aug 9, 2007 *
Daft Punk in Coney Island
* photo by Phillip Angert

Daft Punk: What an incredible celebration of the power of electronic music. I can’t say I’ve ever seen so many people dancing and smiling in New York. Whatever your background, whatever your experience with dance music, I think we all we were on the same page on Thursday night. I dance often, and I haven’t danced that hard in a long time. You all know that dance music is awesome, but dance music with Robots, Pyramids, Tron visuals, and Kraftwerkian pagentry is sublime. In related news,

Daft Punk will in late November release a live album chronicling the June 14 Paris stop on its first tour in a decade, Billboard.com can reveal. The as-yet-untitled Capitol set will be available in a single CD edition plus a two-disc set which features the show’s encore. As of now, no live DVD companion is in the works, according to the group.

And don’t miss the screening of Daft Punk‘ movie Electroma at the Landmark Sunshine Theatre in NYC this weekend.

If big-time dance concerts are your bag (they should be after Daft Punk), you’ve got plenty to look forward to in the coming month.
UnderworldThe only thing getting me over my Daft-over is Underworld in Central Park on September 14th. Underworld, in conjunction with their Tomato design collective, take the visual music experience to a completely different level.

Underworld are busy prepping their new album, Oblivion With Bells, for an October release. Prefix has the full tracklist, and a list of some their friends who helped whittle it down to eleven. Earplug previewed the album in their latest issue:

Musically, Hyde cites Germany’s techno scene as a major motivator, specifically name-checking Ricardo Villalobos, Mathew Jonson, and the Kompakt label, among others.

Karl & Rick have consistently been amazing at twisting contemporary sonic influences into something completely futuristic and amazingly poetic. Check out an awesome live video of Underworld playing “Mo Move” for Moscow.

The Chemical Brothers are another duo adept at channelling “the sound of now” into something uniquely their own. Two big NYC-area shows coming up, including the recently annonunced gig with Ladytron at McCarren Pool on Sept 22 (tix). If you haven’t picked up their fantastic We are The Night album. Do it again. Lots of Chems goodies at their Astralwerks site, including an interview series and remix competition for their next single “Salmon Dance.” Check out this video of Tom Chemical explaining why some tracks are more fun to play live than others (while Ed Chemical thinks about taking a crap).

Chicago readers, I’m DJing in your fair city this Friday night.

Calvin HarrisMORE NEWS

  • Calvin Harris is probably the Arctic Monkeys of UK indie dance, and is also some serious fun. ABC News checks up on his Merrymaking home invasion fiasco this Friday. His I Created Disco album is out on Almost Gold in the US on September 4, and he plays the Mercury Lounge in NYC on September 12 (tix), and The Echo in LA two days later.
  • Its been a tough summer in Ibiza this year
  • Pitchfork points out Ewan Pearson is up next for the stellar Fabric mix series, also seems to think Ibiza is in in Greece
  • Jas & James of Simian Mobile Disco take a dig at blog house – “I’ve been finding that I’ve been going on all the blogs and all that kind of stuff, which is not a good way of getting music because you get all the same shit that everyone else gets”, and a dig at blog rock – “I’m sure everyone picks up the same stuff like Tapes ‘n Tapes and all that nonsense” on PF’s Guest List. It was also recently announced that SMD are playing CMJ, which is not to be confused with their upcoming show at NYC’s Gramercy Theatre.

David