August 15th, 2009 by Eric RexFull Flickr Set
Last night was the last of the outdoor shows at South Street Seaport for 2009, closing the series out with an electronic / rock themed night. It brought out a hardcore contingent for School of Seven Bells and a handful of people out to see The XX.
The XX make deceptively gentle [...]
Category : Show Review 
0 Comment » August 13th, 2009 by Eric Rex
Ahab’s second full length The Divinity of Oceans is the third in their Nantucket Trilogy of musical releases based off of New England whaling narratives. The first being their long out of print EP “The Oath”, the 2006 album Call of the Wretched Sea, and now The Divinity of Oceans.
Category : album Review August 11th, 2009 by Eric RexI’ve been a fan of SMD for quite a while. Back before electro and indie dance merged to become fidget they had a part in creating some nice, rolling anthems, the most famous of which is probably Simian vs. Justice’s ubiquitous “We Are Your Friends” a song that was tragically inescapable and whose popularity became something of an in-joke for my DC rave friends.
What really made my group of friends take notice was the mix they did back in 2006 for NME when NME was trying to push their whole new rave movement. The music was really fun and exciting and largely new to us as DC dance culture wasn’t really…adventurous. It was a small market that was getting smaller for an audience that didn’t really seem to appreciate risk. An evening of dance was a warm comforting blanket and social event rather than a chance to try things out. Repetitive beats and repetitive events.
Thankfully, PA is just two hours away and New York, four, so those of us who wanted something a bit more, could go out and get it. So, we did when Simian Mobile Disco came to PA in early 2007. It was all electro / indie dance / protofidget anthems but we didn’t care, because it was loud and it was fun and it was what we loved at that moment and no one else was doing it in DC.
I have a lot of love for SMD and was really excited to see them again. It had been a while since they were even on my radar, so I was really curious as to what they’d be playing, of all the genres, I didn’t expect it to be pretty much just straight banging techno.
Category : Show Review August 10th, 2009 by Eric RexThe Netherlands are a three piece band which pulls from 40 plus years of metal / psychedelic / progressive rock tradition while integrating a tongue in cheek element that is unlike that of similar bands like Panther Tracks in that it comes across as a bit subtler. The band is made up of musicians who’ve [...]
Category : album Review August 10th, 2009 by Eric RexI feel like I’m going to be doing a huge disservice to Peelander Z while trying to write about them. It’s truly one of those “you had to be there” concert experiences. Previously when people would tell me about their shows, it would start off weird and then get into improbable and the after action reports of the antics would build until as a listener, I would nod saying “un huh, un huh, that sounds wild” while not really paying attention anymore, because I was certainly convinced that the person was just fucking with me.
This past Saturday was the Yo-Yo Open, an exhibition and contest that aims to advance the sport of Yo-Yo in the eyes of the public. As a child of the 80s, I’m familiar with the advertisements for Duncan showing kids pulling tricks like Walk the Dog, around the world and other now primitive, if not quaint, feats. I was prepared to learn and see some people do some impressive tricks, but I don’t think I was really prepared for what I experienced.
I’m really ignorant about most of what I saw, but it looked like people playing really elaborate games of cat’s cradle with themselves in more and more elaborate configurations. My camera was far to slow to capture any of the movement and give what the performers were doing any justice. This is a total cop out on my part, but check out stuff by Mark Montgomery, Rei Iwakura, and Hiraku Fujii on YouTube to get a sense of what was happening. While this was very exciting, we were there predominately for the free musical acts, Adam Matta and Peelander Z.
Category : Show Review August 8th, 2009 by Eric RexFull Flickr Set
I’ve really only been a fan of the record label Moshi Moshi for the past few years. Their most popular successes are bands that are somewhat inescapable in certain circles, Lykke Li, Bloc Party, Hot Chip, and the like. Good music, but beyond Lykke Li, not really my thing.
My introduction to [...]
Category : Show Review August 6th, 2009 by Eric Rex“Art must be beautiful. Artist must be beautiful.” This refrain repeated over and over by Marina Abramovic for her short film project Art Must be Beautiful as she combs her hair with a hard plastic comb and a hard metal brush scratching her face in the process is the first image [...]
Category : album Review August 5th, 2009 by Eric RexI never thought I’d describe any release from Scott Hardkiss as boring and routine and yet with the release of Technicolor Dreamer, here we are. Scott Hardkiss is the man who has given us Godwithin “Raincry” innumerable acid house, tribal house and techno tracks. A man who to me helped define [...]
Category : album Review August 4th, 2009 by Eric RexThis landed in my inbox today:
DJ/producer Scott Hardkiss rebounds and makes good by delivering his long awaited debut artist album Technicolor Dreamer. Scott’s signature super-funky beats, psychedelic, eclecticism and up-lifting, atmospheric vibe are all featured on the album, but the music has evolved into tightly-crafted songs with vocals, verses, choruses, and hooks. Scott sings, raps, [...]
Category : strange promo mail August 4th, 2009 by Eric RexEnjoy
Gypsy Jazz, Soul, Post Punk, Disco, Salsa, Boogaloo, Fucked Pop, and 8 Bit Covers
Category : King of the Gigamixes