Ed Banger At Cinespace Tonight...with Justice?

Tonight at Cinespace in LA the fine folks at Ed banger are taking over. On the decks are Busy P, DJ Medhi, DJ AM, So Me, Steve Aoki, Them Jeans, Dan Oh and a "special guest". Hmmm I wonder who that could be? Maybe a French duo by the name of Justice?!

Thats the rumor and its going to be PACKED so arrive early to the gig.

Bloc Party Announce U.S. Summer Tour Dates

Do the boys in Bloc Party ever stop?! They've been to the U.S. so much recently...good thing is that no one ever gets sicks of them.

This time around, coming along for the ride is Does It Offend You, Yeah?. Straight off a tour with Yo Majesty and now playing to a new crowd on the Bloc Party tour, they've focused their energy on taking over the States.

Here are the tour dates:

July
28 - Glass House, Pomona CA
29 - Mayan Theater, Los Angeles CA
30 - Fillmore, San Francisco CA

August
05 - Fillmore at Theater of Living Arts, Philadelphia PA
06 - Webster Hall, New York NY
07 - Webster Hall, New York NY

Ticket for us normal people go on sale May 2nd but if you are a member of Bloc Party's fan club Marshals then you've got an April 29th pre sale in your future.

Coachella 2008 Wrap Up

It had its moments but to be honest, Coachella 2008 was a major let down. The bands booked seem to come to New York or LA every couple of weeks so it was nothing I hadn't seen before. Even so, I managed to make the most of it and there were some great highlights.

The show of the weekend of course was none other than The Verve. Opening with "This Is Music" and moving on to play a set filled with new tracks and fan favorites; Ashcroft and co. were the only thing that make the entire festival really worthwhile. It was so good that I couldn't feel my legs. Yep...it was THAT good.

Kraftwerk were absolutely brilliant as well. I have never seen a group be able to stand there in black and be so entertaining. Kudos to their visual guy...the graphics on the screen were the most fabulous thing I have seen in quite some time.

Portishead were amazing but not for everyone. They aren't performers...its just the sound and if you don't like the sound then you are royally fucked. Beth Gibbons sounded perfect...her voice is as haunting live as on CD and in a huge field it was absolutely brilliant. The new stuff isn't as good as the old stuff but it could just end up growing on you...

Justice was wicked but the one problem was people squeezing up to the front to "see" the show. They are fucking DJs...just enjoy.

Black Mountain was one of the last bands to play the festival but it was well worth the wait. The tent was empty as everyone wanted to finish watching Roger Waters or get a good spot for Justice. It was perfect; no crowd and good music...what more can you ask for?

The surprise of the weekend was Roger Waters. I missed the whole "Dark Side of the Moon" bit that he played during the second half of his set, but from what I did see, I realized why Pink Floyd has such a lasting presence on pop culture. The visuals and the work that was put into this show were amazing. Complete with a flying pig that had "Obama" written under it, it was a killer show to catch and an unexpected enjoyment.

Other honorable mentions were Love and Rockets who KILLED it on Sunday, Hot Chip who somehow managed to perfectly tie in all of their hits into one 60 minute set and got the crowd incredibly hyped and Mark Ronson who made my night bringing Candie Payne on stage.

I could write about Coachella for hours and hours but these were the highlights. I couldn't see a damn thing during Prince but he played "Controversy" which made my night.

Also, does anyone think they should move Coachella back to 2 days? My feet hurt, I felt gross and after day 2 I was ready for the thing to be over.

Prince



The Verve



Portishead

My Bloody Valentine Plan More U.S. Dates

The news we've all been waiting for! My Bloody Valentine have just announced that they will be playing a handful of dates in the U.S. besides All Tomorrow's Parties.

Dates have yet to be announced but stay tuned!

Amy Winehouse In The Running For 3 Ivor Novello Awards

AmyAmy Winehouse may have been caught smoking pot in public, having a rocky relationship with her current husband and loads of ther bad situations with her personal life; but that doesn't deny the fact that her music is absolutely brilliant.

Amy has not one but TWO chances to win the "Best Song of The Year" award for "Love Is A Losing Game" and "You Know You're No Good".

The Awards take place in London on May 22.

The Pipettes Lose Two Founding Members

The Pipettes go through member changes like people go through underwear. This time around two of the founding members, RiotBecki and Rosay have moved on to pursue other musical pursuits.

The two new members are Ani and Anna, surely just as cute as the two that left. Of course, those little polka dot numbers really do help with the "cute factor".

The departing members will remain friends with the band still and apparently Rosay and RiotBecki's new stuff will be "brilliant". We will just have to wait and see.

Likely Looks: Lykke Li - I'm Good, I'm Gone

Lykke Li not only likes to dance, but this time around she brought some special friends to help her along the way. Seeing the elderly pop and lock is pretty awesome I must say.

Also, if you need to learn how to shimmy your shoulders just ask Lykke Li to teach you...she's got that move on lock down!

CSS Announce North American Dates

Everyone's favorite Brazilian are back for another tour in the States; this time around as a five piece since the departure of bassist Ira Trevisan.

this time around the band will FINALLY play Lollapalooza and will be hitting some other key festivals as well.

Here are the dates:

July 30 - Minneapolis, MN First Avenue
July 31 - Milwaukee, WI Turner Hall
August 1 - Chicago, IL Lollapalooza
August 4 - Montreal, Quebec Osheaga Festival
August 5 - Toronto, Ontario Kool Haus
August 8 - Jersey City, NJ All Points West Festival
August 9 - Worcester, MA The Palladium
August 10 - Atlantic City, NJ House of Blues
August 14 - Morrison, CO Monolith Festival
August 15 - Salt Lake City, UT In the Venue
August 17 - Vancouver, British Columbia Commodore Ballroom
August 19 - Portland, OR Roseland Theater
August 22 and 23 -Los Angeles, CA Mayan Theatre
August 25 - Tucson, AZ Rialto Theater
August 26 - Austin, TX Austin City Limits Festival

Its Official...Madonna Plays Roseland!

Madonna needs no introduction. Its MADONNA! Right after her new album "Hard Candy" drops she is going to be doing an intimate show at New York's Roseland Ballroom.

Tickets can be purchased on a first come first serve basis or if you have Verizon you will get the chance to win free entry into the gig.

How the hell am I getting into this is the question?

Likely Looks: Pop Levi - Never Never Love

I guess it pays to be a filmmaker in Pop Levi's case because the end result is a bizarre yet enjoyable video for his new single "Never Never Love".

Its a very 60's influenced, colorful electro journey and you can hop on the ride too...

Here is the video:

Lily Allen's New Tracks!

Lily Allen has been hard at work on what seems to be everything BUT her music. Her show "Lily Allen and Friends" has been a semi hit as BBC3 picked it back up for another season, she's a paparazzi favorite and well, a damn good partier.

Still, its nice to here something fresh from Lily that has something to do with her music! Today, Lily blogged on MySpace and put up two new tracks (demos) called "I Don't Know" and "I Could Say". She's ditched the ska infused pop and checked in for a little bit different of an 80's vibe with some synth-esque pop. Final outcome...I love them both!

and now for the blog:
"Eaaasssyy peoples, So , I'm a blondie and loving it and I've been working hard in the studio . I posted a couple of new songs on the player for you all to have a listen to and get an idea of my new direction , they are just at a demo stage so don't be too hard on them . I'll probably swap some others around and play you stuff as I do it in the studio , like i did last time round . And ther'll also be a new mixtape soon , I hope you enjoy this shizzle . Aiiight big kisss lil x x"

Wooooo can't wait for more Lily!

Adele Announces North American Tour

Adele has been making the rounds in the States as of recently. First it was New York and LA...now its the whole damn continent of North America (excluding Mexico)!

Here are are the tour dates:

5.21 Los Angeles, CA The Roxy Theatre
5.22 San Francisco, CA Bimbo's 365 Club
5.25 Vancouver, BC, Canada Red Room
5.27 Seattle, WA Triple Door
5.29 Portland, Oregon Mission Theatre
5.31 Chicago, IL Martyr's
6.2 Minneapolis, MN Theatre De La Jeune Lune
6.6 Toronto, ON, Canada Queen Elizabeth Theatre
6.7 Montreal, QC, Canada Outremont Theatre
6.10 New York, NY Highline Ballroom
6.13 Manchester, TN Bonnaroo Music Festival
6.15 Philadelphia, PA World Cafe Live (WXPN Studios)
6.17 Washington, DC Sixth & I Historic Synagogue
6.21 Boulder, CO Fox Theatre

Likely Listens: The Rascals

Hailing from Liverpool, The Rascals are a relatively new band thats made a big impact over the past year.

Forming in May 2007, Miles Kane (guitar/vocals), Joe Edwards (bass) and Greg Mighall (drums) haven't spent much time together as a band but have known each other since youth. Already opening up for the Arctic Monkeys (who they are very obviously influenced by) and signed to Deltasonic Records (home to The Coral and Likely Broads favorite Candie Payne), the band are going to be ones to watch in 2008.

After catching them at SXSW, I fell in love. Good band, good energy and most of all good tunes. What more can you ask for?

Here is the video for "Suspicious Wit":

Amy Winehouse Gets An Ultimatum

Can life get any harder for Amy Winehouse? She's got a husband in jail, has been back and forth to rehab and now she's got a nice little ultimatum from her record label, Universal.

According to a source close to the label, “Amy has been reminded of her responsibilities. Unless she is clean she will not be allowed to release another album."

Album plans to record in the Bahamas have been scrapped so now its looking like a 2009 release from Wino. Too damn long...at least we have the Bond theme.

Kylie Minogue Doesn't Have the "X" Factor in America

After Kylie Minogue criss crossed the U.S. performing on every possible popular talk show in the U.S. her album "X" still bombed.

From Ellen to Dancing With the Stars, Kylie performed her first U.S. single, "All I See" and I guess no one cared. The album debuted at #139 on the Billboard Charts. Its a shame because its a great record.

Guessing the U.S. will never see a Kylie tour? I'm guessing I could be correct.

Lykke Li Is Making 2008 Her Year

Lykke Li has already won the hearts of America's bloggers and her next attack is on the UK. After having an amazing string of performances at SXSW she's going to be hitting the UK market with a select few upcoming shows. Basically, if you are in the UK (and Norway!) and you miss these you should be sued.

April

18 - Camden Crawl, London, UK
19 - Rough Trade East (in store), London, UK
19 - Camden Crawl, London, UK
23 - Roadhouse, Manchester, UK
24 - The Admiral, Glasgow, UK
25 - Glee, Birmingham, UK
28 - Scala, London, UK (supporting Sebastian Tellier)
30 - Bergen Festival, Bergen, Norway

Also, Lykke Li made a new video for "I'm Good, I'm Gone". Here are some pretty stills from the video!







Also, if you've not gotten the chance to see Lykke Li in a small venue...then you can catch her performing live in a bathroom (without her signature bun!):



Loads of Lykke...just the way it should be.

Liz Phair Joins ATO

Let's face it, Liz Phair Liz Phair hasn't made a good record since whitechocolatespaceegg (sorry Liz!) but times might be changing! This week, Liz announced she will be joining the ATO family (home to Radiohead and Dave Matthews Band) where she will re-release her incredible debut, Exile In Guyville.

Through doing press for the new signing, you learn that Liz was sort of "thrown to the dogs" and matador sold her out to Capitol. Shame, as thats where she made her most shitty records. Good news is she's feeling creative again. Could this mean a good record for Liz?

Exile In Guyville will be re-released on June 24th.

The Ting Tings Announce U.S. Tour

The U.K.'s new superstar duo, The Ting Tings are back in the U.S. for another quick tour! Things have changed a bit for the band as the band are scheduled for Jimmy Kimmel and *gasp* TRL's "First Look".

Here are the tour dates:

06/07/08 San Diego, CA Casbah
06/09/08 Vancouver, BC Plaza
06/10/08 Seattle, WA Chop Suey
06/11/08 Portland, OR Doug Fir
06/12/08 San Francisco, CA Popscene
06/13/08 Los Angeles, CA Troubadour
06/14/08 Los Angeles, CA Zero One
06/16/08 Toronto, ONT Mod Club
06/18/08 New York, NY Bowery Ballroom
06/19/08 Boston, MA Great Scott
06/20/08 Brooklyn, NY Southpaw
06/21/08 Philadelphia, PA Popped

Likely Looks: Adele - Cold Shoulder

Mark Ronson adds his magic to another track yet again; this time being Adele's "Cold Shoulder".

Here is the new video from Adele for the track:

Those Dancing Days Plan UK Tour

Gearing up for their upcoming album in June, Those Dancing Days are going to be playing a select few live dates in the UK as well.

Here are the dates:

June

02 - Audio, Brighton
03 - Brundell Social Club, Leeds
04 - 100 Club, London
05 - Night & Da, Manchester
06 - Future Days Event, Dublin

August
08 - Underage Festival, London

They really are just lovely...

El Perro Del Mar Gearing Up For Latest Release

El Perro Del Mar is gearing up to release her sophomore LP "From The Valley To The Stars" on April 22nd in the States. I haven't had a chance to hear the album yet but apparently it's crushed the term "sophomore slump"...which is always a good thing!

Of course, with a new album comes a tour! This time around, El Perro Del Mar joins Miss Buzz Bin herself, Lykke Li.

Here are the tour dates:

May 6 - Johnny Brenda's - Philadelphia, PA
May 7 - Joe's Pub - New York, NY
May 8 - Bowery Ballroom - New York, NY
May 9 - Middle East - Boston, MA
May 10 - Lambi - Montreal, Quebec
May 11 - Mod Club - Toronto, Ontario
May 12 - Schuba's - Chicago, IL
May 14 - Red Room - Vancouver, British Columbia
May 15 - Triple Door, Seattle, WA
May 16 - Dough Fir - Portland, OR
May 18 - Bimbo's - San Francisco, CA
May 19 - El Rey Theatre - Los Angeles, CA

For your listening pleasure, here is an MP3 of the glorious single "Glory To The World"
El Perro Del Mar - Glory To The World

Portishead Will Premiere Third On TV

Portishead are back and ready to premiere their album Third on April 11th. The band will be performing 8 songs lie in their home town of Somerset exclusively for Current TV.

The good news is if you miss the performance on the 11th you can catch it for up to 3 weeks after.

Third is in stores April 28th.

Lily Allen Drops Out of Judging Panel Citing Illness

Maybe the peroxide got to her head? Lily Allen was supposed to be a judge at the Orange Prize For Fiction but had to drop out citing "health issues" as the reason.

Allen apparently had kept her end of the bargain by reading books as the first part of the judging process but was not able to continue as she is now sick. Lily was supposed to be 1 of 5 judges on the panel.

"Rather than do a disservice to what she [Allen] sees as an incredible array of female literary talent, it has been agreed that she will withdraw before the final judging takes place...Lily hopes that her withdrawal will not detract from the huge importance of the Orange Prize and sends her sincere apologies to her fellow judges and to the individual authors.", says a spokesperson for Lily.

Feel better Lily...maybe next year you'll be a judge. Just don't dye your hair blonde before the event.

Music Snobbery Bags Moby For His 3rd Anniversary Show

Sometimes that long shot that you think up actually does happen! Case in point, the lovely Chris over at Music Snobbery made this nifty video ask Moby, Win Butler, Kate Nash and/or Ben Gibbard to make an appearance at his 3rd anniversary show at Maxwell's. Who would think that any of these artists would actually see the video, let alone play the gig.

Think again, and welcome MOBY as the headliner of the show. Chris will be paying Moby $1000 out of his own pocket (therefore maybe you can donate $1 to him or something at the gig if you see him to be nice) and he's going to have the best gig ever. Thanks to The Teeth for breaking up and letting Moby take over. Well, actually best of luck to The Teeth as I know it wasn't intentional that they broke up and had to drop out of the gig.

And the video that started it all:

Maximo Park To Play At London's Forum For Charity

Maximo Park have teamed up with Blood Red Shoes, Pete and the Pirates and Mystery Jets for a very special gig at London's Forum in support of The Royal Marsden Hospital and the No Surrender Charitable Trust on May 28th.

After Maximo Park's good friend, Jason Boas, was diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer, the band took action and put together the gig.

“When someone you know is up against cancer it makes sense to give them your full support. Since that is currently the case, and that person is being treated at The Royal Marsden hospital, which was recently damaged by fire, we decided to do what we can as a band. What we do best is play concerts and we intend to give all profit from our gig at The Forum to help rebuild the cancer unit where they not only look after sufferers but continue to further our knowledge and treatment of the disease. We've never been a preachy band or asked people to shell out daft amounts for tickets, but this show will be well worth the entry fee for a number of reasons.”, says Paul Smith.

Tickets are priced at £20 and go on sale from 9am on April 9th and are available from:
www.gigsandtours.com/?a=maximo+park&site=maximopark

Sunday Video Rewind: The Prodigy - Firestarter

Remember when electro ruled the world circa 1997? Yes, there was a time that electro was THAT popular.

What better way to revisit that time with The Prodigy's "Firestarter" from their #1 album "Fat of the Land"? It was a time when Liam Howlett ruled the world and Madonna's record label actually made money and signed good artists.

The great thing about this video is that its still damn good although it looks a bit like the video for "No Good", don't you think?!

Lily Allen Goes Blonde

I think we've got a little Amy Winehouse fever happening...

Here's Lily whose now a blonde. What do you think? I think its sweet!

R.E.M. Tops The UK Charts

R.E.M. is back from a 4 year break to top the UK charts, knocking Duffy out of the spot. Next up, let's see if they can do the same in the U.S.

After hearing some of the tracks at SXSW I don't think it should be too much of a problem.

Amy Wnehouse Records The Bond Theme with Mark Ronson

Amy Winehouse is getting her life back together...finally! She's in the process of recording her third album and YES she's scored the Bond theme!

Once again, she's teamed up with Mark Ronson, who went to her flat in London and picked up all the necessary gear to record the track at his country retreat in Henley. They have nothing planned but apparently the film is quite dark; and well, so is Amy.

Likely Listens: Florence and the Machine

I'm not going to lie, missing Florence and the Machine is my biggest regret of SXSW. Playing shortly before I headed over there for MGMT, I missed it to eat dinner at a crappy Mexican place.

Regardless, that doesn't stop me from falling completely in love with this band. Florence has the most hauntingly beautiful voice that I've heard in ages and the music combined with it makes it magical. A bit of soul, a bit of sexy guitar and a lot of genius makes this my most favorite discovery of 2008.

Here is some footage of Florence and the Machine performing "The Girl with One Eye" at Blue Flowers in April 2007.

Florence and The Machine - 'The Girl With One Eye'

Lollapalooza 2008 Lineup Gets Released A Bit Early

The 2008 Lollapalooza lineup was supposed to be announced on Monday but with most things in music these days, it got leaked.

Its absolutely brilliant and blows Coachella so far out of the water.

Here is the a portion of the projected lineup:

Radiohead
Bloc Party
Kayne West
The Raconteurs
Nine Inch Nails
Wilco
Battles
Stephen Malkmus
Girl Talk
The Black Keys
Broken Social Scene
Mates Of State

Chicago here I come...


Photo credit: mason.flickr

Likely Looks: Los Campesinos! - My Year In Lists

How darling are Los Campesinos!???? Their new video for "My Year In Lists" just makes me wants to hug them all.

The single is out in the UK April 21st.

Supergrass Tour with the Foo Fighters

Supergrass are back with their sixth album, "Diamond Hoo Ha" and a nice little tour opening up for the Foo Fighters! Lucky for Supergrass, the Foo Fighters have always been fans of the band (Taylor has been known to sport a Supergrass shirt on stage back in the day).

Here are the tour dates:

7/9 Seattle, WA Key Arena @ Seattle Center
7/10 Portland, OR Rose Garden Arena
7/12 Los Angeles, CA Avalon (Supergass only)
7/14 Morrison, CO Red Rocks Amphitheater
7/15 Morrison CO Red Rocks Amphitheater
7/17 Oklahoma, City Ford Center
7/19 Kansas City, MO Kemper Arena
7/20 St.Louis, MO Scottrade Center
7/22 Grand Rapids,MI Van Andel Arena
7/23 Indianapolis, IN Conseco Fieldhouse
7/25 Cleveland, OH Quicken Loans Arena
7/26 Pittsburgh, PA Peterson Events Center @ Univ of Pittsburgh
7/29 E. Rutherford, NJ Izod Center
7/30 New York, NY Webster Hall (Supergrass only)

Likely Looks: Madonna - 4 Seconds

My dear friend at Popbytes had the scoop on this and was the first to put up the new Madonna video for 4 Seconds.

If I'm as cool as Madonna at her age I'll be a lucky girl...



Note: Watch this video quick before it gets taken down!

Oasis and Ryan Adams Announce Tour Dates

Its Oasis and Ryan Adams...do I say more?

These are the dates that have been announced so far:

26/8/08: Seattle, WA - WaMu Theater - Pre-Sale tickets on sale 4/1/08 @ 10AM PST until 4/3/08 @ 10PM PST. Tickets on general sale 4/4/08 @ 12PM PST available from Ticketmaster & Qwest Field Box Office.

27/8/08: Vancouver, BC - GM Place - Pre-Sale tickets on sale 4/1/08 @ 10AM PST until 4/3/08 @ 10PM PST. Tickets on general sale 4/4/08 @ 10AM PST available from Ticketmaster & GM Place Box Office.

29/8/08: Edmonton, AB - Rexall Place - Pre-Sale tickets on sale 4/1/08 @ 10AM MST until 4/3/08 @ 5PM MST. Tickets on general sale 4/4/08 @ 10AM MST available from Ticketmaster & Rexall Place Box Office.

30/8/08: Calgary, AB - Pengrowth Saddledome - Pre-Sale tickets on sale 4/1/08 @ 10AM MST until 4/3/08 @ 10PM MST. Tickets on general sale 4/4/08 @ 10AM MST available from Ticketmaster & Pengrowth Saddledome Box Office.



I can guarantee they are going to slowly announce a lot more dates so stay tuned to this space!

Lily Allen and Friends Gets a Second Season

It was said that Lily Allen's BBC3 show was a total bomb with fans walking out, low ratings and mixed reviews.

Something along the line must have worked though because the show has been renewed for a second season. Lucky for Lily viewers jumped from 173,000 to 300,000 in a month which gave the channel the green light to renew the show.

Lily Allen and Friends drew just 255,000 viewers for the first episode in mid-February, which fell to just 173,000 at the beginning of last month.

Lily said, "I'm thrilled that we're going to make a second series of the show, it's been such a laugh".

Let's see if the audience sticks with her the second time around...