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A producer's laptop being stolen is essentially the equivalent to a band losing every single one of its instruments, and unfortunately, such a thing occurred last night in Denver to edIT. The L.A.-based producer played a show with his Glitch Mob crew, after which someone snagged the computer and disappeared.
From edIT:
XLR8R gets an in-depth look at two new Spectral takes on the post-rave soundclash, James T Cotton's Like No One and Osborne's self-titled album.
Bradford Cox will take a break from his work with Atlas Sound to join his Deerhunter crew again for a set of tour dates, the bulk of which are supporting, uh, Nine Inch Nails. Past tours have included such antics as performing onstage smeared in fake blood and Cox donning a sundress, so expect nothing less than intensity and eccentricity at these shows.
Meanwhile, a yet-to-be titled follow-up to Cryptograms is slated for release later this year. The album is said to be in production right now.
Tour Dates
Brooklyn-based conscious reggae artist Rob Symeonn’s distinctly pitched voice is both fragile and deliberate, which allows his clean-living roots and culture lyrics to sound inspirational rather than bossy. Songs like “King Tafari,” “Good Over Evil,” and “Empress,” on the 2006 album Chosen One (Redbud), showcased his range and consistency, as did this year’s uniquely cognizant “Pork Eater” on dubmaster Tiklah’s full length for Easy Star.
With five solid years of releasing tunes under his belt, Ben Watt and his Buzzin' Fly imprint are taking some time to acknowledge half a decade's worth of musical accomplishments with Buzzin' Fly - 5 Golden Years in the Wilderness.
Producer, inventor, and lover of conceptual music and Victorian attire, Daedelus has once again emerged from the studio with a playful, genre-defying album. Love To Make Music To, set for release on July 15, marks his first full collaboration with Ninja Tune, though he's had several albums and singles on the label in the past (not to mention ones on Mush, Alpha Pup, Plug Research, Hefty, and a bunch of other imprints).
Now that the wall between rock purism and the digital dancefloor has been reduced to mere rubble, a suite of newer, harder, brighter, faster bands are getting down to the business at hand: having a good time. Here, Does It Offend You, Yeah? brings of a steamroller of rum, synth riffs, and screeching punk rhythms.
Morgan Heritage’s new album, Mission In Progress, landed at the number one position on the Billboard Reggae Album Chart last week.
Don’t think that just because it caught the attention of Amy Winehouse and NPR news that Daptone Records has abandoned its core fans. Instead, the Brooklyn-based funk trailblazing imprint is set to offer a digital-only compilation of some of its most treasured 45s.
Kenyan/American outfit Extra Golden has seen its share of highs and lows over the years, including the death of its original singer, Otieno Jagwasi, in 2004, visa difficulties that had to be solved with the help of Barack Obama, and much critical praise for 2007's African benga-meets-American rock album, Hera Ma Nono (Thrill Jockey).
The Village Voice unveiled the initial lineup last week for its 8th annual Siren Music Festival, set to take place on Saturday, July 19 at Coney Island.
Dragons of Zynth, Beach House, Broken Social Scene, Film School, and others will take to the stage at noon for the nine-hour festival, which once again will be free-of-charge and open to all ages. The festival has historically hosted every indie act from Q and Not U to The Black Lips, so stay tuned for further additions to the lineup.
Confirmed Artists
Charles Webster was around for the original rise of house music in the U.K. He has seen it ebb and flow, through the mania of the superstar-DJ era of Sasha & Digweed to its fade back into the underground. But Webster’s own richly melodic, subtle take on the genre has quietly endured, even as other sub-genres have grabbed the headlines, then disappeared.
Los Angeles-based web radio collective-turned non-profit organization dublab launched its "Hands On" Proton Drive this week, and until May 21, the infamous Labrats (frosty, Jimmy Tamborello, Nobody, Daedelus, The Gaslamp Killer, Carlos Nino, and a ton of other artists) will be broadcasting live, working hard to collect some extra funds.
The Roots, Múm, Caspa & Rusko, Robert Hood, and Senor Coconut are just a few of the artists confirmed for the diverse Flow Festival, set to take place August 15-17 in Helsinki, Finland's Suvilahti. Now in its fifth year, the event is organized by the Nuspirit Helsinki collective, who have expanded the show to an area three times larger as the previous year and added a fourth stage.
BJ “Bitter” Bastard’s not one for navel-gazing. And he certainly didn’t care to trawl through the annals of this rag’s history to find for you our finest moments of the past 15 years. But we made him do it anyway. One might think that he’d come away with a veritable history of electronic music culture from ’93 ’til the present. He did, but he also surfaced with tired drug references, sore eyes (from staring at the worst fractal graphics ever), and God knows how many disses on Moby and prog house. Here he lays bare 10 monumental firsts in XLR8R’s early years.
Atmosphere
When Life Hands You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold
Rhymesayers
Release Date: Out Now
Richie Hawtin must have recently watched The Matrix, because he and his Minus crew have broken their self-imposed 10 weeks of silence by unveiling The Cube.
They've pushed releases from indie hip-hop artists for the last decade, created what Rolling Stone deemed "the number three most recognizable band logo in history," and started a streetwear line. Now, the Hiero Imperium crew is set to embark its Freshly Dipped Tour, a lengthy slew of North American dates celebrating 10 years of business for the label.
Now that the wall between rock purism and the digital dancefloor has been reduced to mere rubble, a suite of newer, harder, brighter, faster bands are getting down to the business at hand: having a good time. This week, Melbourne's dance-pop mood masters Cut Copy go from bright neon love to hazy ghost colors.
The UB40 singer drama continues. After announcing recently that U.K. singer Maxi Priest would assume lead singer duties after the departure of former lead Ali Campbell, now comes word that Ali’s brother Duncan will share the role. Duncan sings seven songs on a new UB40 album, which also features Ali’s final performances with the band.
Can you arrange an entire song from a single Roland TR 606 drum kick? Producer James Bernard proved such a thing is possible using Reason Version 4. Is Reason’s new Thor semi-modular synth (pictured above) as “patchable” as its analog cousins?
It felt absolutely, resolutely endless. Gothic grey streaks and storm clouds splayed for miles across the Bristol, U.K. skyline, comprising the daily view from Portishead’s perch at the top of band member Adrian Utley’s stately, two century-old Georgian house. Camped out in the top two floors of studio space, the band was entrenched in an interminable stretch of music-making, broken occasionally by talking, fiddling with vintage instruments, and drinking tea.
Tecmo Bowl Returns!
Any way you slice it, Tecmo Bowl, released for the NES in 1989, was and still is one of the best football games ever to grace a home console. And this week, old-school digital gridiron heads were rewarded for 19 years of patience, as Tecmo announced that Tecmo Bowl will be returning this fall to the Nintendo DS in the form of Tecmo Bowl: Kickoff.
After tearing up the stage at Coachella and collaborating with SoCal art collective Three Legged Legs for a short film, P-Thugg and Dave 1 will hit the road this summer for a round of tour dates that will include several summer festivals and probably a lot of mayhem. The shows begin a fews days before Chromeo's Fancy Footwork: Deluxe Edition hits the stores, so the duo should be in especially high spirits for the performances below.
Welcome to a new dancehall generation. A tidal wave of young Jamaican talent has risen up in the past three years, including vocalists Mavado, Demarco, and Munga Honourable, and producers Stephen McGregor, Daseca, and King Jammy’s sons Jam2 and Baby G. They’re charting dancehall music’s next phase but not limiting their sound, according to fellow new-gen artist, 27-year-old Matthew J.S. Thompson, better known as Esco.
They sold out San Francisco and Denver and revealed an upgraded live show at Coachella that included new visuals, tons more synths, and extra lighting, so all doubts as to whether or not Booka Shade are worth catching should be stamped out by now. Arno Kammermeier and Walter Merzinger will continue slaying audiences in North America with more tour dates this summer. Catch them live at one of the shows below.
Book your Virgin Air flight now and get to the big show next week, May 9, at London’s Fabric. The “Cool & Deadly” Room One features a live PA from Magnetic Man (Benga, Skream, and Artwork, authors of the smash “Alright, What’s Happening”), plus Tayo, Freq Nasty, and more. Room two is d&b from Fabio, Friction, High Contrast, Commix, and more. Big night!
In4mation creative director Rhandy Tambio counts Johnny Cash, skater Eric Koston, surfer Tom Curren, and Bob Marley among his style icons, an ethos reflected in the Hawaiian brand’s mix of street, surf, and skate with a laidback island flair. In4mation began throwing shakas in 2002, when partners Tambio, Ryan Arakaki, Todd Shimabuku, and Jun Jo started screenprinting tees out of their two Oahu skate shops–one in suburban Miliani, the other in tourist-laden Waikiki Beach.
Adult., the Detroit-based couple of Nicola K. and Adam L. Miller, has made some of the darkest (and best) electro tunes of the last decade. Not limited to just music, Nicola K.'s calmly violent photography, the source of the band's captivating cover art, has played quite the role in orchestrating their dark aesthetic of high fashion and Midwestern Gothic.
The members of Bay Area-based trio Cryptacize have already shared the stage with WHY?, and now they'll split a record with the Oakland-based band when Asthmatic Kitty releases the latest 7" in its Unusual Animal series.
The Japanese behemoth better known as Boris will not be slowing down anytime soon. They’ve released something like three collaborative albums, a live split, and their latest solo record, Smile, in the last year or so. You’d think that after the European tour they’re currently on with New York noise-makers Growing, the band would want to take a break. Maybe hang out in Japan, get a massage and drink some tea or something. But, no, they’re not relaxing anytime soon.
Though we've seen it bounce between the names DEMF and Movement like a ping-pong ball gone out of control, Detroit's annual electronic music festival has remained consistent in one area–the music.
This year's festival–whose full name is Movement: Detroit's Electronic Music Festival '08–sees another roundup of house, techno, and electronic music artists on the bill, with names as old and familiar as Stacey Pullen and Richie Hawtin and new faces like The Cool Kids (pictured above).
If there’s one thing that Muhsinah Abdul-Karim knows well, it’s the death-defying balancing act of the aspiring musician. “Last year, I was working 12-hour days as an audio engineer at this audio-books studio,” she recalls. “While they’re reading, I’m supposed to be reading along. But I would just press record and doze off! I was the worst employee!” She can afford to laugh about it now, but the 24-year-old singer-songwriter/producer/engineer is no stranger to the task of forcing square pegs into round holes.