Zambri @ Pianos

We've had Zambri on our radar for a few weeks now. Ever since we saw them play one of their residency nights at Piano's with another BRM fav, Rewards (Ex-Chairlift member, Aaron Pfenning's current project), we have been keeping an eye on them.

The girl-fronted four piece band blew us away last night, just as they did the week before, and the crowd was overjoyed with their performance. Not only are Jess and Cristi Jo gorgeous, stylish and charming, but they've got sensational voices and an energy on stage that will blow you away. It has been awhile since the indie scene has impressed us quite this much, and so unexpectedly, so expect to see more of them in BRM in the coming months as we keep track of their progress in the music scene.

Their electro-Italo-beats coupled with a first rate drummer, often romantic lyrics, dancy tracks and rich vocals are sure to hook in you once you give them a listen. And if you're lucky enough to lay eyes on them during one of their live performances, there'll be no turning back. You'll be a fan for good.


Published in BRM: http://beyondrace.com/reviews/concerts/3084-zambri--pianos

BLANK CITY - Final Screenings at IFC

Director Celine Danhier brings us a documentary film about art, film, music, youth and counter culture in the rundown, near bankrupt New York City of the late 1970s and 1980s. Pieced together with interviews by the likes of Jim Jarmusch, Steve Buscemi, Lydia Lunch, Richard Kern, Amos Poe and Deborah Harry, this well done 93 minute feature takes viewers to a New York City that scarcely remains today. It was post Vietnam, post JFK and Martin Luther King assassinations, there was barely enough money for sanitation and maintenance, let alone for progressive, shocking and, more often than not, offensive arts. The city was ruled by rats, cockroaches and crime, and the Lower East Side and Alphabet City, today two of Manhattan’s desirable neighborhoods, seemed more like war zones than residential areas.

Blank City is an inspiring flick that will give you a glimpse of how some of today’s most inspiring filmmakers, artists, actors and musicians started off, and it is interesting to see footage of them as punk twenty-something year olds in dirty jeans, with bad skin and empty pockets, cut with images of them today, in their gorgeous pads, sporting soft, quality designer clothing, speaking with an authority that is only achieved after years of experience and success. The evolution of the young artists was in fact one of the more interesting points of the film; the ways in which they went from pushing through creative and artistic barriers with an I-don’t-give-a-f&%$ attitude that shocked people into changing their ways of seeing and perceiving culture, sex, their surroundings and way of life, to suddenly becoming interested in “making it,” in making financial profit, as a measure of their success. Specific reference is made to Jean Michel Basquiat and how his attitude about quality in the arts changed when he went from a degenerate artist, crashing on one friend's grimy floor or another, to the wealthy and renowned painter that comes to mind today. It appears that this entire “No Wave” generation, as it was later named and commercialized, shared similar beginnings marked by struggle and rebellion, and although tough at times, it was always exciting, experimental and, most of all, fun.

This flick will give you insight into what New York was all about just over three decades ago. It is a must see for anyone living and loving this unbelievable city. Every artist, musician, and actor, aspiring or not, lover of the city, and passerby, should watch this film. It lets you in on the history beneath the island that millions of people flock to every year in search of that magic that makes it the urban and social phenomenon that was then and is today.
After watching the film, you will leave the theater with a quiet sense of pride about being a descendent and heir of the pure and transgressive glory that once was, and, if you've been paying close enough attention to everything around you, and living this city as it is meant to be lived, know still is.


http://www.blankcityfilm.com/


Published in BRM: http://beyondrace.com/reviews/movies/3083-blank-city

PJ Harvey @ Terminal 5

There are two important things to say about last night’s PJ Harvey show at Terminal 5. The first and most important is that PJ never ceases to mesmerize her devoted audience. Her distant yet warm presence, the amazing versatility of her voice, number of instruments that pass through her hands over the course of the show, and quality of her music are simply remarkable. The last time that we caught up with her, she was playing at New York’s Beacon Theater, a charming venue with designated seating, with John Parish, also a part of last night’s performance, and although it is always a pleasure to see PJ Harvey in the flesh, casting out that beautiful and unique voice a mere few feet away from you, last night’s set list was perhaps more exciting than that of her 2009 performance in NYC, which lacked a little of that timeless PJ rock.

While she played a lot of her more recently released tracks last night, kicking off with “Let England Shake,” “The Words That Maketh Murder,” and “All And Everyone,” three entrancing songs from her generally entrancing album, Let England Shake (2011), she didn’t neglect to give the audience some of those all time favorites that have defined the PJ we’ve known and loved for nearly two decades. “C’mon Billy,” “Angelene,” “The Devil” and “The River,” are just a few of those classics that had euphoric cheers and goose bumps ripple through the crowd. PJ’s singular long white garb and raven’s crest headpiece figuratively accompanied the light and dark beauty of her music, at times haunting and deep, at others soft and uplifting, but always bittersweet, and ever staggering. There is nothing but good things to say about this artist in every sense of the word. The only complaint to be noted, which takes us to the second of the two points to be made here, is how awful of a venue Terminal 5 is. Months ago, after spending the entirety of the La Roux show trying to find a spot to actually be able to see the performers, we left the building, with our fists in the air, swearing that we would never again return to that dreaded place.
With that being said, it is a good thing that an exception was made last night for PJ. The show was outstanding, as one would expect from such a performer, but you will in turn have to excuse the pic, as that’s about as good of a view one gets at Terminal 5 without resorting to aggressive push tactics. BRM’s all about peace so we don’t do such things.

Published in Beyond Race Magazine: http://beyondrace.com/reviews/concerts/3074-pj-harvey--terminal-5

Warpaint @ Wrongbar

Any dedicated BRM reader knows that Warpaint is one our favorite and most featured bands these days. The four-piece girl band from LA has been touring for several months now. We covered them in early October when they opened for The xx at New York City’s magical United Palace, in Philly, just a few days later, when we met with them for a chat and some snapshots, again in December when they came back to New York as the headliner band, with Family Band and Aaron Pfenning (aka. Rewards) opening for them, at Webster Hall and Williamsburg Musica Hall, and yet again last weekend, at Toronto’s Wrongbar. BRM is far from unfamiliar with their live shows and, although the Canadian venue was significantly smaller than the US venues that we have seen them play at, their Saturday evening performance was one of the best, most animated and well-received yet. After a setlist of ten tracks, the girls were pulled back on stage for another round of fun, giving the audience a final encore performance of “Elephants” to bring the evening to a close. The crowd, however, displaying little or no interest in having the curtain fall, managed to inspire Stella to grab her sticks once again and start beating on her drum, just as she laughingly shouted something like “thanks for the drugs” into the microphone, getting Jenny to start fiddling with the bass once again and Theresa to make what at first were indecipherable sounds into the mic. Emily, seemingly confused by the spontaneity of her counterparts, laughed at first and then slowly began to integrate herself by reaching for her guitar at one point, and then, as the jam session began to take shape, dancing to the improvised beat of –brace yourselves—“Scatman”. Yes, Warpaint covered Scatman John’s 1994 hit with the all too familiar lyrics, “Ski-Ba-Bop-Ba-Dop-Bop” (a song that earned him a special place, as well as an award, in the National Stuttering Association Hall of Fame). The jam went on for awhile; both crowd and band were beating with energy, and after several minutes of messing around, the girls were finally bid farewell with adrenalized applause and cheer. The word “fun” doesn’t cut it when describing what went on north of the border that night. It will, however, be used as an understatement here: that was good fun, girls. Come again soon. Check out some footage below of "Set Your Arms Down" from their set:



Published in Beyond Race Magazine: http://beyondrace.com/reviews/concerts/3056-warpaint--wrongbar-toronto

In Conversation With Friendly Antelope: Tame Impala

Just a few doors away from the Rockefeller Center, four young musicians from Perth dodge up Sixth Avenue amidst heavy Midtown people traffic to meet with us for a quick word. Each band member seems to have a very marked personality: Kevin Parker (vocals) being the more serious type, interjecting here and there when he sees fit; Jay Watson (drums), a gregarious, smiley lad that is happy to chat as much as possible; Dominic Simper (guitar), the quieter, meek Cobain type; and Paisley Adams (bass), who likes to make quirky remarks and stare off into the distance every now and then. These young men make up the four-piece psychedelic rock band, Tame Impala. Their tour has been a success thus far, selling out twice in New York City this week.

Jay: Doesn’t Dossier mean something like “important documents”?

Vanessa: Yeah, like a portfolio.

Jay: Like for Bond, James Bond.

Paiseley: Yeah (chuckles).

Vanessa: So tell us, what’s it like to be a young Indy band that goes from playing in Australia to quickly blowing up in North America and Western Europe?

Jay: Well—

Kevin: It doesn’t really seem –sorry to interrupt—, it doesn’t really seem that way for us. Because we’ve been touring for two or three years in Australia, traveling to Europe and the US seems like the natural progression for what we’ve already been doing. We don’t even really notice it.

Jay: Yeah, I don’t notice it much.

Vanessa: What is the first musical obsession that you remember having?

Jay: I liked “Peaches” by Presidents of the United States of America. That was my favorite. You know, the one that goes, “Moving to the country, I’m gonna eat a lot of peaches…moving to the country, I’m gonna eat a lot of peaches…” (smiles).

Paisley: Oh, well, if we’re gonna go way back, then I would think that Michael Jackson was it for me. Yeah, Michael Jackson, I’d say.

Vanessa: What are some of your current musical fixations? Are you repeaters that play the same tracks over and over again?

Paisley: Maybe with albums…

Jay: I’m not sure about songs, but I definitely repeat albums. We played with a band called Warpaint in Europe just recently and they’re really cool. I think they might come out and meet us when we play in LA.. But yeah, I’ll definitely listen to an album over and over again.

Kevin: I’m definitely a song freak, even a chorus freak, where I listen to the first chorus and then start over again, and again.

Jay: I really like the last Spiritualized album and have been listening to that a lot. It also helps me go to sleep in like the best possible way.

Vanessa: What would you consider to be a kick-ass idea for a music video?

Kevin: I’ve got lot’s of ideas, I just can’t remember any of them…

Paisley: There are a few things that I like…Things with artsy technology. There’s that Spectrum song, “How You Satisfy Me,” where the couple’s dancing around and you can see in the background all of that weird color fading in and out. That, I like.

Vanessa: Do you ever listen to your own album?

Dom: Yeah, I listen to it every now and then as a kind of reminder of what we’ve done until now.

(All nod affirmatively)

Vanessa: Did you have any odd day jobs before dedicating yourself full-time to music?

Paisley: I don’t know about odd. I worked as a checkout girl at a cash register for awhile, and then worked in the kitchen, frying stuff at a pretty reputable Italian restaurant chain with a bunch of loud, mean guys. I got fired from there for eating a shrimp. Well, I didn’t actually get fired; they caught me eating a shrimp, yelled at me for it and then when I went for lunch I just never came back (laughs).

Jay: Yeah, I've only ever worked in fast food…

Dom: I studied a business diploma— (rest of the band laughs).

Kevin: I worked in a mine once.

Vanessa: Really?

Kevin: Yeah. It was pretty crazy, we went down about a kilometer.

Vanessa: What would you be doing now if you weren’t musicians?

Paisley: I guess go to uni. That seems to be what people do (Jay nods in agreement).

Dom: I’d like to go back to school as well.

Kevin: Sure…

Vanessa: While on tour are you also working on material for your next album?

Kevin: Definitely. We always have recording devices with us when we’re traveling. Jay’s still using Garage Band in fact (everyone laughs), and Dom and I use other programs like Ableton. When you’re in a tour bus you can’t really plug in a guitar and play, so we use the software and I sometimes use a midi keyboard.

Jay: Yeah, I’m not as sophisticated as Kevin. I still use Garage Band.

Vanessa: Do you get more attention in Perth than you do in other cities?

Jay: We’re definitely a lot bigger in Australia than we are here, but I guess that makes sense.

Vanessa: I wonder how such a remote place as Perth has influenced you. There are some great artists, performing and visual, from Perth, but it’s so isolated. How does that happen?

Jay: Perth isn’t all that small, so we manage to have a decent music scene out there. Also, it’s not like you ever drive to other cities, so you don’t really notice the distance. You just get on a plane and in like 4 hours you’re somewhere else, which is like going from New York to LA, I’d say, so we aren’t all that isolated, really. I don’t actually feel disconnected from the rest of the world. We’re still connected to what’s going on in other places.

Although Tame Impala has sold out in New York this week, their tour continues for at least two months throughout North American and Europe, with at least one pit stop in Australia. Catch them if you can. They put on a five star performance.

Originally published in Dossier Journal on Nov 20, 2010: http://dossierjournal.com/blog/music/in-conversation-with-friendly-antelope-tame-impala/#more-15033

Photo Credit: Sofie Olsen

Latest RATATAT Video Released Today

Today, RATATAT releases a new music video for the song "Neckbrace," off of their latest album, LP4 (XL Recordings). The video stars Mike and Evan, and a bird. Some say that this is perhaps the greatest of all RATATAT videos, but you can decide that for yourself.

Carly Simon - WHY (Project Tempo Why Not Edit)

Taken from Project Tempo Volume I (Phonica Records)

Download and repeat.

http://www.interestingblends.com/WhyPTEdit.mp3

The xx and Warpaint Tour US

The xx and Warpaint kicked off their Fall tour a few weeks ago in Los Angeles and will bring things to a close in just a couple of days in Dallas, Texas. BRM has been fortunate enough to see the bands play on more than one occasion. The most notable show of all has been, hands down, the concert on October 2 at the United Palace Theatre in New York City. The ornate, neo-classical venue, is a church and live music theatre, tucked away in Harlem on 175th Street and Broadway. These two bands made the golden insides of the palace shine.
Zola Jesus has also been playing in this tour, setting the stage for the four-piece girl band from LA, and the established trio from London. Those who have seen The xx in the past and have had the opportunity to see them again during their North American tour have surely noticed quite a difference between the band’s performances. They’ve come a long way since their 2009 show at Mercury Lounge, when the band stood on stage, nearly motionless, singing their songs in what seemed to be the exact same order that they appeared in their album. Those days are gone and the band has gone from a very straightforward, no frills set, to a well produced and impressively lit show. We loved them then, but we love them even more now. Jamie Smith (bass and vocals) was quite active on stage, changing things up for the crowd, wooing it with his low, intimate and sultry voice. A cover of “You’ve Got To Show Me Love” was another nice surprise that got onlookers up on their feet, reminiscing and grooving to Robin S’ nineties dance hit.
All in all, we have nothing but good things to say about the tour. Warpaint pulled more than its fair share of weight as an opening band and, in fact, it is difficult to say which band owned the show. Thumbs up to both.

Written for Beyond Race Magazine
http://beyondrace.com/reviews/concerts/2853-the-xx-and-warpaint-trail-through-the-us

Coffee and Cigarettes With Mike Bones

We had a coffee with Mike Bones at Ninth Street Espresso in the heart of NYC’s Alphabet City. It turns out that this tongue-in-cheek musician is nothing less than a romantic at heart.

What’s your birth name?
My real last name is Strallow, which is a sort of bastardized Italian.

And Bones?
It’s just a nickname that I’ve had forever.

Speaking of bones, have you broken any?
I’ve broken many… My nose, fingers and toes, maybe a rib here and there, although I never went to the hospital to find out if they were actually broken. You know, nothing major.

I’m sure you’re familiar with Morrissey’s “Michael Bones”. Do you relate to the unlucky boy who, although just a boy, turns out to be an underdog and hero?
I really like that song a lot but I don’t know if I relate to it. Well, Morrissey’s really good and I relate to all of his songs, I was just listening to his lastest album and it’s fucking phenomenal. He’s pissed! It’s a really vicious record.

Are you pissed?
Nuh, uh.

Have you given up on guitars?
From time to time I do, to just live my life and do what normal people do.

What’s your connection with London?
There it’s weird; I don’t know what it is. I play guitar in a band and they mostly live in London, and it’s really strange because they do really well over here in New York, yet nothing really happens for them there, and I do really well over there but nothing really happens for me here at home.

Tell us about “What I Have Left,” which is different from your other songs.
Yeah, it was an accident. Well, no…I mean, it started out just like any of my other songs, but I guess when we were getting ready to record, we basically had one rehearsal before we made the record and at the time I was chilling with the band and thinking about the songs for the record and listening to a lot of Detroit techno, like Jeff Mills and shit like that, and Richie Hawtin, even though he’s not from Detroit but is kind of hooked into that scene. And so it was just a regular folk song and I was like well why don’t we just put a four on the floor, a kind of Detroit house rhythm behind it? So we did it and it was catchy and it just kind of happened. I don’t know if I could ever come up with something like that again; I don’t know if I would want to. It’s a good song, I guess.

Is your album more spontaneous and playful than it is plotted out?
Our record, we made it in four days, so there wasn’t any time to plot it out or think about how we were going to perform the songs. I mean, that’s all they were, performances. It’s not like we labored over them getting guitar sounds and drum sounds. We played everything pretty much live, but the writing is definitely plotted out and the songs were picked because they went together. I kind of think of one character for each record or a person that would make each song, but yeah, I don’t think that we’ll make the next record in just four days. I don’t know how we pulled that off or why we, or I, decided to do that, but I make rules, so the rule for that record was we’ve got to make it in four days. Rules just keep you from getting too far out. You’re in a recording studio, you have access to all this shit, computers and whatever, and this just sort of keeps you focused.

What has the highest rotation on your mp3 player?
I don’t really repeat songs, but albums, yeah, definitely. Hmm…What have I been listening to lately? I mean, the Morrissey record for the past few days a ton, the new Animal Collective record, John Martyn lately, who died awhile back, you know, maybe that’s why I’ve been listening to his record so much; he’s sort of a great British songwriter from the seventies. What else, what else? Jeff Mills a ton, the Last Fall record a lot. Yeah…

Does your band change up a lot?
Yeah, it changes all the time. I get bored playing with the same people and I like to mix it up a bit.

You sing a lot about love. What’s up with that?
What’s up with love? I don’t know, man!
I mean, what else do you write songs about? All the good songs are about love. I mean, I’m not going to write about politics. That’s just what I feel like writing about when I sit down to write a song; that’s just what it turns out to be. Maybe I am cheesy, but it’s that part of life that fucks me up the most, gets me the most psyched and the most bummed. So yeah, there isn’t anything else or any other kind of thing that happens in my life that makes me want to really play.

Everyone kind of relates to it, I guess.

Published in Dossier Journal
http://dossierjournal.com/blog/music/coffee-and-cigarettes-with-mike-bones/

Popping Glocks With Uffie

Nearly four years after tearing onto the underground music scene with her 2006 EP “Pop The Glock,” Uffie gets us into a groove with the mixed-beat, genre-bending tracks of her recently released album, Sex Dreams and Denim Jeans.
In the dressing room, just before performing at SOS Music Festival in Murcia, Spain, we managed to take a peek down her barrel and find out a little more about the up and coming artist.

VC: Why the name Uffie?
UF: It’s what my dad has called me since I was born. He would always say, “enuff, enuff, enuff!” when speaking to me.

VC: Where'd you grow up and why the move to France?
UF: I grew up between the States and Hong Kong. When I was fifteen, I visisted my dad in Paris and decided to stay… I really prefer European lifestyle and culture.

VC: Do you play any instruments?
UF: Not yet.

VC: Has music always been a part of your life or did you discover it when you grew up and started to play a part in the night scene?
UF: I have always loved music and my parents were always playing it in the house. I just never thought of being a musician until DJ FEADZ got me into it.

VC: What do you sing most about?
UF: My life. I think that these days I tend to write about things that confuse me. It’s as though, if I analyze them in the song, I will somehow figure them out. A night out…love…loneliness…Whatever it is that I’m feeling in the moment.

VC: Are you more about lyrics or rhythm and beat?
UF: Depends on the song.

VC: What artists are you working or planning on working with in the near future?
UF: That is a surprise that you will have to wait for!

VC: Your music has been described as "anti-flow". What does that mean? Where do you get your flow?
UF: I have no idea, actually (laughs). The flows just come naturally, through the rhythm, beat, and words. It just sort of comes out a certain way that fits.

VC: It has been some time since "Pop the Glock, " and some of your earlier projects and collaborations got the underground scene's attention. Tell us about the making of Sex Dreams and Denim Jeans.
UF: It was important for me to make something other than club tracks, to go deeper, and push myself more outside of my comfort zone, so the album criss-crosses a lot of moods and genres.

VC: Do you have any plans to tour in the US?
UF: Oh yes! We should be on tour in late October and Early November.

VC: Name the top three artists on your mp3 player these days.
UF: The flowers, The Strokes, LCD Soundsystem.

VC: Any artists that not enough people know about but should?
UF: The flowers are really great...


Sex Dreams and Denim Jeans was released June 14, 2010 in Europe and June 22, 2010 in the US by French electronic music label, Ed Banger Records.
Check out one of our favorite tracks off of the new album: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEMylWiClqs

http://www.myspace.com/uffie

- Published in Dossier Journal

ATP New York 2010 Curated By Jim Jarmusch

Earlier this year, All Tomorrow’s Parties announced that they would once again be taking over Kutsher’s Country Resort in Catskills, NY. The third, and hopefully not last, ATP NEW YORK will be curated by independent filmmaker Jim Jarmusch and the ATP team, and will feature timeless artists of the likes of Sonic Youth, Explosions in the Sky, Fuck Buttons, The Books, Iggy and the Stooges (performing Raw Power), Tortoise, Shellac and The Scientists.

Two years ago, ATP brought My Bloody Valentine to the US after a 16-year hiatus; the band both headlined and co-curated the avant-garde weekend festival in Monticello. Last fall, ATP took over upstate New York for a second round of musical nirvana, featuring The Flaming Lips, Sufjan Stevens, Animal Collective, Crystal Castles, Panda Bear, Iron and Wine, and several other inspiring artists.

Tickets to this year’s festival are now on sale via the ATP website, running the weekend of Friday, September 3 to Sunday, September 5, 2010. For those who haven’t been fortunate enough to have found their way to an ATP festival in the past, all we can say is that there are few words that can describe just what this festival entails. Think of all of the festivals, shows and concerts that you’ve ever been to, of the best parties you’ve ever stumbled across, of what you would expect to find at the most unrivaled festival that you can fathom going to, and toss all of those thoughts and ideas out the window.

ATP is better than that.

All Tomorrow’s Parties creates a post-punk planet of non-commercial and sponsor-free music in the most ingenious of ways. Not only is the line-up kickass, but those of you who decide to make your way to Monticello (a mere ninety miles north of New York City), will commit to three days of musical overdrive, where artists, organizers and guests share drinks, beds and music for 72 hours. As usual, when trying to describe the ATP experience, we are at a loss for words, so stop reading, and start listening: ATP is worth the extra mileage, so do yourself a favor and grab a pair of tickets while you still can. ATP’s known to sell-out well before the show.

M.I.A. "Born Free" Music Video Banned from YouTube

A Moment with Christina Rosenvinge - Dossier Journal

Photo by Fran Kiko

Micropoemas - Ajo

Arritmia

Odio el amor
y además lo odio
con todo tu corazón

A Homage to the Past, and to Norway.

Tough not to feel something while listening to this favorite of Beach House's tracks.
At least a little peace.

The sexiest thing about it? If I didn't know any better, I'd think it were a guy singing.
Gotta love that it's not.

Tiesto featuring Tegan and Sara

More from the Canadian twin sisters that often confuse us.. Are they singing this to one another? Ambiguities are great. Interchangeability even more so. After all, in the dark, we all look the same.

Catchy tune.

Primavera Club Music Festival

Devendra Banhart and The Grogs, School of Seven Bells, Cymbals Eat Guitars, Standstill, The Soundtrack of Our Lives, HEALTH, Marissa Nadler, Bigott, Psychocandy and The Pastels are just a few of the sixty or so artists that straddle Barcelona and Madrid, and over a dozen venues, during the Primavera Club music festival that wraps up today after a five-day stretch of fitted jeans and indie beats.

Primavera Club is brought to us by the guys who put together Spain's most impressive annual congregation of music buffs, Primavera Sound, literally "spring sound," with stages curated by All Tomorrow's Parties' Barry Hogan and Deborah Kee Higgins, the guys over at Pitchfork, and other trendsetting audiophiles.

This year’s lineup, although a bit obscure at first glance, is, as the Primavera team’s work always manages to be, revelatory. Devendra being, without a doubt, the headliner of the event, played two nights in Madrid and then again in Barcelona, but our props go out to all the little guys in the line-up that really showed that they could strut their stuff before the loud Spanish audience. The Pastels, Marissa Nadler and Cymbals Eat Guitars did a great job holding down the fort, but so did most of the other kids on the block.

If there is one thing that Primavera festivals are good for, it’s for disseminating obscure and new talent. Passes for Primavera Sound 2010 are already available. They get pricier as the date approaches so get your hands on a few as soon as you can. The lineup will be incredible as usual, and between several nights of waking up with your pants inside out, you’ll get to spend your days basking in the Catalonian sun.

Barcelona, here we come.


http://www.beyondrace.com/reviews/concerts/1985-primavera-club-music-festival

Kings of Convenience @ Circo Price

“God Save the Kings!”, saluted one spectator as the curtains fell.

After a short, twenty-minute act by young Chilean soul and electronic pop artist Javiera Mena, the stars of the night came onto the stage, amidst a warm, loud, whistling welcome for their first show ever in Madrid.

With outgoing Erlend Øye on the left and the subtle, charming and utterly underrated Eirik Glambek Bøe on the right, this Norwegian duo from the musical brothel known as the city of Bergen gave the sold out venue a performance to satisfy the likes of old, new and enduring fans, playing a seamless mix of tracks off of all four of their albums, slightly favoring their last two.

The first leg of the show was quieter and acoustic-based, at which point even the media weren’t allowed to shoot the band in order to not disturb the quietness of the show with camera clicking. Favorites like “Misread”, “Love Is No Big Truth” and “Know How” from their penultimate album, Riot On An Empty Street, were by far the tracks that most excited the audience. For the last stretch of the show, the boys invited accompanying string musicians out onto the stage, to liven up the scene, which got the crowd swinging their hips progressively more and more, until the show’s culmination in their latest success off of Declaration of Independence, “Boat Behind”.

Things only came to a close after a great encore, full band performance of “I’d Rather Dance With You”, which lyrically and literally got everyone into the swing.

Aside from the misfortune of having to watch the show next to an onlooker that spent the entire show bouncing around like a jumping jack – as though this band’s delicate music were especially written for such –, distracting people around her as she flailed her arms in the air, threw herself into her escort’s arms, and woo hoo’d at unseemingly moments, the show was an outright success.

The only thing that could have made this show better than it was, would have been a surprise visit from the lovely Leslie Feist.

A girl can dream.

Kudos, Kings.


http://www.myspace.com/kingsofconvenience
http://www.myspace.com/javieramenamusica

- Published in Beyond Race Magazine

From Norway - The Asteroids Galaxy Tour

Given these kids' upcoming tour beginning November 12 with a two show stop in New York City, before heading back to Western and Northern Europe for a month of touring, it seems they are gaining popularity amoung the hipper end of the indie crowd. One or two songs can be cheering, but more than that can have quite the opposite effect.

This is one of the ones that we like. Play as you wish.

The Rosebuds

Nice Fox from Kelly Rosebud on Vimeo.

This North Carolina husband and wife duo surprised us last week at Madrid's Moby Dick Club. Sent out to cover the Telekinesis show, we caught the last few songs of The Rosebuds' opening act. Southern boy Ivan Howard playing the acoustic guitar and the lovely Kelly Howard bearing an accordion charmed the crowd with their sweet, wholesome melodies. Their music makes us feel like we're sitting around a campfire with old friends, and their warm interaction with the audience as the two step down from the stage playing their final song of the evening, "Nice Fox", in which all were urged to sing the chorus after each of Ivan's lines, like the world is a dreamy, happy place. It felt so great to share a room with them that no on seemed to hold back on the singing. And just like that, the Rosebuds managed to turn a trendy night out on the Spanish town, into a joyful sing along.

Kudos to the band, and please come again.

Joan as Police Woman @ Sala El Sol

Since the release of I Survive nearly a year and a half ago, Joan as Police Woman fans have kept themselves busy by looping tracks like “Feed The Light” and “To America”, which features the baritone vocals of the temporarily blind –no joke– Rufus Wainwright, from the band’s first two albums.

Now, they've thrown us something new. Well, sort of.

The past couple of months Joan, linked to the extended (and extensive) Antony and the Johnsons family, has been touring to promote and sell Cover, a compilation of cover versions only available for purchase at lives shows, which means that you need to meet face to face with these Brooklynites to both preview and snap up a copy of the band’s new recordings.

BRM checked her out at Madrid’s Sala El Sol, in the heart of the Spanish capital. Although the venue could have left a little more room for comfort, audience members didn’t seem to mind the heat of swaying bodies bumping, tapping and pressing up against one another. At least not when the striking Joan Wasser, accompanied by the multi-musician Timo Ellis, started clapping and bouncing to their ebullient take on Britney Spears’ “Overprotected”, shooting the crowd up with life.

The duo played an even mix of old and new, with an emphasis on the latter, and although the substantial performance could have used a few more upbeat tunes, the majority of onlookers was won over by Joan’s fervency, endearing clumsiness, repeated pronunciation of “gracias”, and bashful smiles in response to fans crying out “¡guapa!” between songs.

We’ve always been impressed by this band’s soulful mix. From keyboard to guitar, from bass to drums, from hands to feet to ukulele and breath, these two musicians know how to put on an orchestral show.

Joan describes her covers as “slowly destroying the originals, a little bit by little bit”, but we beg to differ.
Sure, Hendrix’s “Fire” is legendary. But since sung by Jimi himself forty years ago, we doubt it has since set a crowd aflame like it did in Madrid last night.

Although the band is currently on a European tour, they will be back in the US with a few shows later this month, starting with New York’s Knitting Factory on October 24.

Sexy, dirty, haunting, feeling.

Joan’s a natural.

-written for Beyond Race Magazine

The xx

Not enough time to elaborate; just enough to embed a video of Crystalised, a recent single by young brits The xx. Soak it up.

Film-The Cove

Documentary art. Aesthetics and issues that matter.

Director Louie Psihoyos and his team of activist divers create real-life drama The Cove. Psihoyos has been quoted by the Australian press saying that "It's not a movie, it's a movement," and since his repeated infiltration of and struggle with the secret cove in the Japanese coastal village of Taiji on which the film is based, a warrant for Psihoyos' arrest in Japan has kept him from returning to the town to partake in that movement and protest against the annual fall massacre of 23,000 dolphins.

Despite their high levels of contaminants, most of these are sold to the Japanese public for consumption. Others, to amusement parks.

Not only does this thrilling documentary raise awareness about the nasty side of being at the top of the food chain, its underwater visuals are positively stunning.

Winner of several 2009 festival awards, The Cove can no be seen in many US and Canadian cities, as well as some international locations.


Watch trailer here

Music Video-Hellhole Ratrace

San Francisco band Girl, features not a single girl. Thankfully, these shoegazers have given us a video that does.

Girls who are boys
Who like boys to be girls
Who do boys like they're girls
Who do girls like they're boys

Always should be someone you really love.

Or not.

Download audio track here.

Yo La Tengo-Popular Songs

Yo La Tengo fans everywhere have been twiddling their thumbs for three years now, waiting for a new album to rip and enjoy. On September 8 Matador Records will be releasing Popular Songs, which can already purchased in the UK via the band's website. For those of you who are jonesing for a whiff of what's to come, you can listen to two of the album's new tracks, Periodically Double or Triple and Here to Fall on yolatengo.com. You'll find that, although not entirely out of line with what we've seen in the past few Yo La Tengo albums, the band is experimenting a little more than usual with other genres and effects, be they psychedelic, bluesy, serene or upbeat. Fiddling with tempo and American Pop (rock, blues, jazz and folk- music of the people, that is) continues to be their shtick. We've listened in on their new works and can assure old fans that they won't be disappointed, and that new fans will be likely join us all on the YLT bandwagon. This is an album that makes you want to roadtrip across North America. Some tracks make you feel as though you're driving through misty mountains, contemplating the beauty of it all, others like you're heading through dusty desert, racing after the sun, or giddying up in Tennessee. At the very least, you'll experience fleeting moments of serenity.

Yo-La-Tengo, Spanish for I've got it. It's almost time that you did too.

Get the album, that is.

Review also available at BRM

ATP NYC 2009

The Flaming Lips, Sufjan Stevens, Animal Collective, Iron and Wine, Deerhoof, Shellac? All in your hotel room?

You got it. Once the concerts are over, the parties move to the resort bar. Once the bar winds down, it's all about word of mouth. "Room 210...room 210....".
And there, in room 210, you find that hot mess that you'll never regret getting yourself into.

ATP / NY 2009 is up for grabs (although barely so, seeing that it's just about sold out). Accommodation + Bus Travel has been on sale for awhile now, so secure a spot for yourself while you still can at what will likely be one of the most remarkable weekends of your musical life.

The event takes place over 3 days, from Friday 11th September to Sunday 13th September 2009 inclusive at Kutshers Country Club in Monticello, NY. The three-day festival will have performances starting in the mid-afternoon, with around 35 acts set to play live across the weekend with DJ sets until late into the night, comedy, movies and more. There is dining, bars and other amenities onsite. Performances all take place indoors at the intimate venues within the complex, so you have no need to fear about the weather!

The format from this years event will also be the same as 2008, with Friday featuring Don't Look Back sets and a comedy curated stage. Saturday will be once again curated by ATP and Sunday will be curated by guests THE FLAMING LIPS. Criterion will once again host the cinema.

Kutshers is a country club based in upstate New York, less than 2 hours from drive from New York City. The club is set in 1200 acres of beautiful countryside in the magnificent Catskills mountains. The resort comprises of a hotel with several bars/nightclubs and cafes/restaurants. Plus various other amenities including a swimming pool, golf course, tennis courts, health spa and much much more..

If you're curious about just how crazy ATP can get, read the first posting on this site, which was a long overdue review of last year's festival in Monticello. I repeat now what I wrote then: fill up your gas tank; it's time to head northwest of the city.

Purchase tickets here.
Once you've done that, sit tight. The Charlies are coming.

Three Years of Beyond Race Magazine

BRM (Beyond Race Magazine) is the authoritative voice for cutting edge music and entertainment that appeals to the socially conscious, progressive minded individual.
As a fast growing media brand with a reputation for spotlighting the trendsetters in our society, BRM has evolved into the premier publication for groundbreaking music and culture.


Published quarterly and distributed internationally, BRM focuses on the many people, groups, and collectives who have dedicated their lives to fighting the good fight through their actions and artistic expressions.

Check out their latest issue, featuring Cubic Zirconia, Mayer Hawthorne, Heavyweight Dub Champions, Dirty Projectors, Tamara Levinson, Peaches, Titus Andronicus, and many others.

beyondrace.com

Short But Sweet

Cider and electro in East Coast Canada. Snx and Curly Kicks at http://bit.ly/W5o87

Concerts To Go - LA BLOGOTHÈQUE

This team of French music lovers, headed by Vincent Moon, believes in sharing music. One of the coolest things they do is follow around bands that most of us would love to see a little more of, get them to play for them in random places - staircases, elevators, junkyards - and then post these improvised bits online, for all of us to see. The videos are not only fun to watch, but also of notably good image.

La Blogothèque has been around for a good while now, so most of you have heard of them by now. If not, it's time to check out their site, which is in French, and head straight to their "Concerts À Emporter" - The Take Away Shows.

www.blogotheque.net

Begging For FFFFOUND! Invitations

Many self-proclaimed artists out there seem to be crying out on the web via facebook, myspace and forums, begging for an invitation to FFFFOUND!
What's all the fuss about? FFFFOUND! is a web service that allows users to post and share their favorite images found on the web to create "an inspirational image-bookmarking experience".

This online community is currently available by invitation only. Most of the images posted on the site are glance-worthy and as it starts to heat up and bubble at the surface among the hip and creative, we're left wondering what will happen next. Maybe nothing, but the cool kids out there will have another digital sandbox to build sand castles in.

http://ffffound.com/