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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.
New York Governor David Patterson (whose family background is Jamaican) and Mayor Michael Bloomberg are calling this Sunday, May 4 a “Day of Reggae,” coinciding with the 27th Annual International Reggae and World Music Awards (IRAWMA). The event takes place at the Apollo Theater and will feature performances and award presentations from Beenie Man, Ky-Mani Marley, Doug E. Fresh, Tarrus Riley, Freddie McGregor, Etana, Buju Banton, Macka Diamond, Lady G, Tony Rebel, Lady Ann, Dean Fraser, and Junior Reid.
The musically divergent, Spokane, Washington resident James Pants will leave home next week to play several dates around North America, the majority of which are part of the Jamie Lidell tour soon to be making its way around the country.
It’s 2008, and Moby's made up his mind. He's done with touring.
New York City will host the ninth annual Latin Alternative Music Conference this summer from July 8 - 12. Tying together artists who share the Spanish language and sometimes little else, the conference presents a spread of artists both geographically and stylistically diverse.
With electronic music cluttered with myriad hybrids and subgenres, some readers may wonder, is there really room for another disco offshoot? After all, Norway’s Lindstrom and Prins Thomas have popularized their psychedelic cosmic-disco, Germany’s Get Physical and Systematic labels trade in bass-driven electro-disco, and acts like LCD Soundsystem, Headman, and The Rapture brought disco-punk to the masses.
From our early days of printing off of floppy discs at a Seattle Kinko’s to navigating the online-publishing revolution, XLR8R has tried to keep it as real and as DIY as possible. For the occasion of our 15-year anniversary, we editors decided to throw our boss a few questions about how we got here.
Since his days as the lead singer and guitarist in Hüsker Dü, the Minneapolis, MN-based band that was synonymous with U.S. hardcore punk of the early ’80s, Bob Mould has defined what it means to be “indie.” A child of the internet, Yoni Wolf, of hip-hop experimentalists Why?, took a different path to underground success.
Spore Creature Creator
The long-awaited evolution simulator, Spore, from Sims creator Will Wright, will begin rearing its head when the Spore Creature Creator is released on June 17.
Creature Creator will allow would-be gods their first chance to begin constructing, trading, and showing off their own race of beings, which can then be imported into the final version of Spore, due out later in the fall.
Since announcing a partnership with New York’s VP Records at the beginning of 2008, London’s Greensleeves label has been far from dormant.
Ann Arbor's Ghostly imprint has teamed up with the Adult Swim crew for not just any old release, but a free one. The 19-track, digital-only Ghostly Swim compilation will feature the label's usual suspects, like Matthew Dear, Aeroc, Kill Memory Crash, and Osborne, along with Flying Lotus, Samiyam, Dark Party (Eliot Lipp and Leo 123), and other friends. BoyCatBird, Ghostly's new mascot, also makes its animated debut here, in the form of a music video.
Thirty years ago, on April 22, 1978, the historic One Love peace concert, headlined by Bob Marley & The Wailers, took place in Jamaica. The concert’s apex was when Marley, back in Jamaica after a two year exile, brought the country’s two political leaders–the PNP’s Michael Manley and JLP’s Edward Seaga – onstage to shake hands.
Erstwhile member of Radian and founder of Mosz Records Stefan Németh is giving U.S. and Canadian fans a rare treat–namely in the form of a few appearances that mark the first time the experimental producer has performed this side of the Atlantic in four years.
Throughout the late ’90s and into 2000, Sean Daley, the 35-year-old rapper known as Slug, helped define backpack rap as half of the group Atmosphere.
His autobiographical, heart-on-sleeve storytelling, which ran over producer Anthony “Ant” Davis’ clear-cut, sample-based hip-hop loops, became a hallmark of a genre that defied mainstream hip-hop’s hoes ‘n’ hustlers mentality.
Immortal Technique, the Harlem-raised rapper better known to his parents as Felipe Coronel, will release The Third World, the final installment of the Revolutionary series that launched his career, on June 24 via Viper Records.
Members of The Orb want to make it very clear that their forthcoming full-length is, in no way, a "comeback" album. According to their press release, founding members Alex Paterson and Youth have been collaborating in their hometown of London for the last few years and have a "retro-fresh" album ready for the record stores as a result of this, a release "created purely upon the need to work together."
Four Tet, Henrik Schwarz, Booka Shade, and Hot Chip have all ensured !K7's DJ Kicks compilation series remains an eclectic, multi-genre primer on new music the label has always intended it to be. South London's Burial will follow suite when he assumes mixing duties for the latest installment, to be released later this summer. The famously press-shy producer has hinted that the mix will contain techno and R&B, as well as dubstep, though of course, he isn't jumping to give any interviews about the release.
Excerpts from Vivian Host’s interview with Johnny Siera of The Death Set.
XLR8R: You’re from Australia’s Gold Coast. Why do you say the Gold Coast is gross?
Ever feel like electronic music these days is lacking something? Like originality, emotion, artfulness, and authenticity?
Rock Band Album: Judas Priest
Since Rock Band was unveiled last year, EA promised that in addition to the game having a downloadable song here and there, aficionados would also be able to download entire albums from big rock artists such as the Who and Metallica. People were stoked.
But nine months later, and not a peep had been uttered in regards to whole albums. Until this week, that is! And it’s a doozy…
A grip of new artists have been confirmed for the 2008 Sonar Festival, taking place this year from June 19 - 21, 2008. This follows news of appearances from The Field, Ewan Person, Boys Noize, Flying Lotus, Neon Neon, and dozens of others, are all set to descend upon the city of Barcelona for the festivities.
Across the pond, the four members of Southend, U.K.-based outfit These New Puritans have a reputation for hyperactive live shows that incorporate elements of post-punk, dubstep, and '80s industtrial music, a combination that's also prevalent on their recently released Domino album, Beat Pyramid. Stateside fans will have a chance to witness this pack of youngsters in the live setting in June, when the band embarks on its first-ever North American tour.
When you think about minimal techno some places come to mind: Berlin, Detroit… hell, all of Europe. Los Angeles, not so much. Yes, John Tejada and Cytrax hail from here, but promoting techno in the land of plastic surgery and palm trees has always been an uphill battle. Which explains why the founders of Droid Behavior had to trick Southern Californians into joining their fledgling motorik movement.
The Royal Albert Hall's most famous and infamous concerts may have taken place more than four decades ago, like the time The Beatles and Rolling Stones shared the stage or when Bob Dylan antagonized his audience with electric guitars, but the historically revered venue continues to have one of the best reputations in the world. All of that admiration is well earned considering that the venue has 4,000 seats, audiophile-approved sound, and enough room for a full orchestra to perform.
Miss Kittin, the queen of moody electro-tech, picks her favorite goth records.
1. Dead Can Dance
Into the Labyrinth
4AD
Sneaker hoes take note. Shoewear giant Adidas has produced a pair of its iconic Superstar sneakers, and this set is literally bigger than your average SUV. The 15-foot long kicks sport shoelaces made of firehose material, as well as art from both coasts represented on the respective "left" and "right" shoes.
Baje One, the MC half of Brooklyn-based hip-hop outfit Junk Science and erstwhile Nuclear Family member, has gone solo for a moment and laced fans with a new, free release. Despite claims on his MySpace page that his work alone isn't truly solo, because he doesn't make beats, the six tracks on The Weightless EP nonetheless find the artist firmly holding center stage. J.
Bob Marley’s mother, Cedella Marley Booker, died at her home in Florida last Tuesday, April 8. She was 81. Ms Booker, who was honored in a memorial service yesterday, was not only the King of Reggae’s mom, but an author and artist in her own right who recorded several albums and remained active in her community to the end.
“I have fallen into everything I have ever done,” states 34-year-old Chris Duncan, who moved to the West Coast on a whim some years ago from his native New Jersey. Landing in Oakland, via a stint on the Tahoe slopes, this punk rock die-hard proceeded to get mystical, creating an organic body of work where wood putty, paint, lines of pencil and string, and pink tape converge into cosmic transmissions that suggest clues to the mysteries of the universe.
While we're always thrilled to spend the mornings sifting through the numerous comments left on XLR8R.com, the web staff is greedy to know more about its readers, and have prepped the XLR8R.com reader survey to find out all the details. Tell us about your favorite genres, sections of the site, social networking habits, how you get your hands on new music, and more, and you'll be in the running to win a stack of CDs.
Despite its reputation as a hotbed of live music, Austin, Texas still loves its daily dose of mid-’90s dance crack–at least according to Ghostland Observatory frontman Aaron Behrens. “Everybody loves Jammin’ 105.9!” he crows, citing his favorite local radio station and most recent source of artistic inspiration. “C+C Music Factory, Marky Mark... ’90s, like, sweat dance. It’s the shit!
Audion's forthcoming Billy Says Go EP came into being when the title track landed in the hands of a few DJs and requests for more started pouring in. And though the three songs contained on the EP–set for release May 28 via Spectral Sound–don't bear titles quite as suggestive as 2005's "Just Fucking" or 2006's "Mouth to Mouth," Billy Says Go nonetheless contains that seductive flavor generally associated with Audion's music.
When Afrobeat legend Fela Anikulapo Kuti died in 1997, the world was temporarily left without his pioneering Nigerian funk sounds. Luckily, Fela’s oldest son Femi quickly appeared, releasing his strong debut, Fight To Win, in 2001. However, it was obvious that the Kuti scion intended to not only honor his father’s well-established rhythm, but also incorporate Western R&B, hip-hop, and electronic influences. Femi found a new audience, but fans of his father’s organic groove were left wanting more.
Christopher Willits–multi-instrumentalist, producer, and XLR8R TV star–will take a break from making music to hit several cities in the U.S. and Canada with drone-ambient duo Stars of the Lid.
Nothing quite beats seeing Bad Dudes share the stage alongside bands like HEALTH and The Mai Shi at The Smell, but those East of the Mississippi will nonetheless get a chance to witness the L.A.-based spazz rockers performing tracks off their forthcoming Eat Drugs release in the live setting, beginning this week. A follow up to their 2006 self-titled debut, the new album is a strange mix of psychedelic choruses, synth-punk riffs, and shades of classic rock.
The release of Smashits, an 11-song compilation featuring the likes of Fenin, T. Raumschmiere (a.k.a. Marco Haas), and Deichkind, marks Berlin label Shitkatapult’s 10th anniversary of knocking out abstract-techno bangers and knocking down beer bottles galore.
Last year, Justus Köhncke, the German minimal techno producer and staple on Kompakt’s roster, burrowed around deep inside his brain and eviscerated a bright pastel-and-glitter-coated cheese-pop sliver of himself. He called it Kinky Justice.
Hercules & Love Affair, the DFA recording project of Brooklyn producer Andrew Butler which notably features Antony Hegarty of Antony and The Johnsons, will have its debut album released domestically by Mute Records on June 24. The album, co-produced by DFA's Tim Goldsworthy, is a concoction of disco anthems and house music production that has already garnered enthusiastic admiration since it's March 10 U.K. release.
What, exactly, does it mean when you’re 26, it’s 2008, and you still harbor a schoolboy’s crush on Molly Ringwald?
If you’re Anthony Gonzalez, the French producer behind M83, it means picking album-cover models is easy.
“When we were at the modeling agency in New York, I saw this ginger girl,” he says, grinning as he refers to the redheaded Ringwald dead-ringer on the cover of his new album Saturdays=Youth (Mute). “I knew we needed her.”
On May 27, Ted Braun's documentary, Darfur Now, will drop on DVD via Warner Independent Pictures. The film follows the first-hand experiences of Don Cheadle, Hejewa Adam, Pablo Recalde, Ahmed Mahmoud Abaker, Louis Moreno-Ocampo, and Adam Sterling as they explore the ongoing humanitarian conflict in Darfur and attempt to raise awareness about the region's struggles.
Håkan Lidbo is dreaming of a crossover success, but it doesn't involve MySpace sponsoring his tour or MTV promoting his video. In fact, the prolific techno artist is trying to reach an audience even wider and stranger than the mainstream pop crowd. That's right, he wants to play music for aliens.
In the first attempt that we know of since the Voyager missions of the late '70s, Lidbo is seriously trying to get his music "out there."
The members of Pelican have proven over the years that their informed, nuanced instrumental metal is anything but ironic, though that fact might have been unclear at first. "I have to tell people that I don't wear t-shirts as a joke," guitarist Laurent Lebec once told an interviewer about a Def Leppard shirt fans kept asking about. Though their songs explored minor key melodies on 2005's The Fire in Our Throats Will Beckon the Thaw, expect a heavy pummeling of the mind in the live sets they'll be performing with over the next few months.
Sure, everyone’s been wowed by Propellerhead Reason’s rear-view: all simulated dangling patch cords that allow you to mix and match instruments, samplers, and EQs to your heart’s content. But there’s much more going on inside this fantastic all-in-one virtual workstation.
World Clash Jamaica winner Mighty Crown went down early. Killamanjaro, featuring Ricky Trooper, was voted out too. Matterhorn, Sentinel, and Black Kat nah mek it to the finale. When it came down to dub fi dub, it was two veterans, Jamaica’s Bass Odyssey and the U.K.'s David Rodigan, who stood across from each other in the last round of the seventh and final UK Cup Clash held Sunday, April 6 at the Stratford Rex in London. Bass Odyssey, known as “sound from country,” lead by selector Squingy, was victorious. More details soon.
Thank You
Terrible Two
Thrill Jockey
Release Date: April 22
U.K.-based weirdo-rock outfit The Chap has signed to Ann Arbor's Ghostly International, on which the group will release its third album, Mega Breakfast. A quick trip to the band's MySpace page tells us the group has expanded its sound since 2005's Ham, adding choruses of vocals, samples galore, and some very danceable beats. And of course, there's the odd, chugging guitar riff here and there that gives the tracks a little bit of much-needed edge.
Producer Bird Peterson–not a jazzman, but he takes his pseudonym from heroes Charlie “Yardbird” Parker and Oscar Peterson–works a USB MIDI keyboard like his tracks do subwoofers: pushing air like jump-man Jordans. And in the last couple years, the 24-year-old native Texan has ridden the internet equally hard and high, using blogs like Discobelle and Gorilla vs.
It’s easy to turn on the radio and immediately be depressed by the state of commercial hip-hop playlists. On the one hand, there’s very little actual hip-hop being played, as R&B artists like Mary, Trey, and Keyshia split time with ringtone rappers like Flo Rida, Plies, and Gucci Mane. On the other, hip-hop acts that do make it into rotation (Lupe, Jay-Z, Kanye) are hammered over and over until you’re sick of the song.
A little over a year ago, Brooklyn dance-punkers !!! dropped their Warp debut, Myth Takes, and since then, we've seen the band remixed by everyone from Hot Chip to Scottie B. Nothing beats a live !!! performance though, as last year's sold-out performances will attest, and this summer just got brighter when the band announced a slew of dates for June, July, and August. Venues for several of the dates have yet to be confirmed, so keep your ears open for more info.
06/13 Manchester, TN: Bonnaroo Festival
Recording throughout the mid-'90s as a part of groundbreaking ambient dub group Rockers Hi-Fi (Different Drummer, Island, Warners), Glyn "Bigga" Bush didn’t let up after the group disbanded at the end of the decade. Instead, Bush evolved his sound, keeping dub as the foundation and adding other eclectic musical structures on top. The results have included solo albums for Sonar Kollektiv (Studio Don as Lightning Head) and Stereo Deluxe (Biggabush Free, Sound Sensation as Bigga Bush).
The Teenagers have accomplished the rare feat of making an album in which every single song has the possibility of being stuck in your head for hours on end, so just imagine how often tracks like "No Love" and "Streets of Paris" will be doing time in the brain once the trio embarks on its forthcoming North American tour.
Flying Lotus