8:00 PM
to 9:00 PM
Esben and the Witch
136 schedule::attendees
Location
The Windish Agency House @ ND
9:00 PM
to 10:00 PM
Bikini
54 schedule::attendees
Location
The Windish Agency House @ ND
eventtype Music
Artists Bikini
event::about Bikini is Nigel Diamond and Olivier Olivier. Their music is like Salinger on MDMA. Diamond is originally from Miami and Olivier was classically trained at the Royal Conservatory. Olivier Olivier is the son of the late Indian poet Fateh Bains and moved to Canada where he attended Glen-Lyon Norfolk School, a school chosen for its musical program affiliated with the Royal Conservatory of Music. It was here Olivier met Nigel Diamond, who was sent down after he was expelled from his previous school. It wasn’t until after Glen-Lyon Norfolk that the two began to make music together. Olivier composes all the melodies in the fall of each year, drawing his inspiration from the poetry he writes during the summer. He records vocals, exports all his drafts without titles or form to Diamond. Diamond spends the following spring arranging Olivier's melodies, rhythm sequences and vocal treatments – adding his own lines. The result is a finished record. Nothing is sent back to Olivier. The songs are sent from Diamond to be mastered and released.
event::tags 21+
10:00 PM
to 11:00 PM
Geographer
72 schedule::attendees
Location
The Windish Agency House @ ND
eventtype Music
Artists Geographer, !!!
event::about In the summer of 2005, after a series of deaths in the family, Michael Deni left his hometown in New Jersey for San Francisco. He spent the next several months with his guitar and a synthesizer, turning that tragedy into the songs that would soon become the foundation for Geographer. With the additions of cellist Nathan Blaz and drummer Brian Ostreicher, Geographer spent the next year cutting their teeth in the Bay Area, winning over crowds with the heart-pounding epics that make up their debut record, ‘Innocent Ghosts’. After being selected one of three ‘Undiscovered Bands You Need To Hear Now’ by SPIN Magazine and garnering considerable word-of-mouth praise from their energetic live shows, the band signed to San Francisco-based label Tricycle Records, releasing a 7” single for the song ‘Kites’ in October 2009. ‘Animal Shapes’ follows up ‘Kites’, building on the synth-driven aesthetic of the single, while flirting with darker, more esoteric underpinnings. The record merges Geographer’s aptitude for crafting beautiful, haunting melodies with textural sounds and polyrhythmic energy, marking an evolution of their distinct style. With the overwhelming response to the release of ‘Kites’ and ‘Animal Shapes’, punctuated by a dynamic and engaging live set, the band has already begun to make an indelible mark on the ears of music fans worldwide.
event::tags 21+
11:00 PM
to 12:00 AM
The Fresh & Onlys
149 schedule::attendees
Location
The Windish Agency House @ ND
eventtype Music
Artists The Fresh & Onlys
event::about This has been a decisive year for San Francisco’s the Fresh & Onlys – including invitations to play All Tomorrow’s Parties and then they joined Deerhunter for a UK tour, extensive treks throughout the US, and standout performances at the Woodsist festivals in NY and Big Sur. Keeping with their notorious urgent pace the Fresh & Onlys released a handful of exclusive 7” singles, and Captured Tracks issued the lush and anthemic August In My Mind EP. Now to cap off the year, Play It Strange arrives from the infamous In The Red Records with a tour supporting Clinic across the US to follow. Play It Strange is the third full length album recorded in just over two years since the band’s inception with previous albums out on Woodsist and Castle Face. This newest album is also the first recording done outside the band’s own analog home studio. Hot on the heels of touring and arranging these new songs live, Play It Strange was furiously recorded and mixed in one week with Tim Green (Fucking Champs, Comets On Fire) at Louder Studios in order to better capture the muscularity and depth of the band’s live performances. The Fresh & Onlys newest is a shimmering pop record full of infectious melodic hooks, led by singer Tim Cohen’s hazy romanticism, and the incessantly propulsive rhythms of Shayde Sartin and Kyle Gibson. Play It Strange has an evocative moody swagger that jangles with 80’s guitar pop like the Go-Betweens, Jacobites, or early R.E.M. and a provocative rawness ala Iggy Pop or The Gun Club. The record is saturated with guitarist Wymond Miles sonic textural sprawl full of desert guitar-noir phrases that call to mind Morricone/The Bad Seeds. Play It Strange is an addictive record that will establish the Fresh & Onlys as a band that effortlessly laces together threads of great guitar bands from decades past. They may not be your favorite secret to keep much longer.
event::tags 21+
12:00 AM
to 1:00 AM
Cults
230 schedule::attendees
Location
The Windish Agency House @ ND
eventtype Music
Artists Cults
event::about It’s often said that the most subversive pop music – from the Shangri Las to Rihanna – is that which wraps sinister tales within a sugar-coated shell. If so, then it’s hard to imagine a band pushing that manifesto further than Cults. On the surface they could be sickly sweet – a smitten couple called Brian Oblivion and Madeline Follin who spin gorgeous melodies across their girl group-inspired bedroom pop. But dig deeper and a whole new world opens up, one that contains songs about anxiety, drug abuse and the pain of moving from adolescence into adulthood. Oh, and those inspirational, moving speeches that appear, ghost-like, behind the music? They’re from a selection of notorious cult leaders
event::tags 21+
1:00 AM
to 2:00 AM
Asobi Seksu
151 schedule::attendees
Location
The Windish Agency House @ ND
eventtype Music
Artists Asobi Seksu
event::about The signs in Chris Zane's (The Walkmen, Passion Pit, Tokyo Police Club) studio couldn't have been any clearer: "Don't Overthink It" and one simple word: "BOLD." Or as Asobi Seksu guitarist/singer James Hanna puts it, "This time, our agenda was to not have one at all; to be mellow about the entire process instead of obsessing over everything." Maybe mellow isn't the right word, unless he's comparing the band's fourth proper full-length (Fluorescence) to a coiled-up cobra or unconscious crocodile: temperamental types that are one false move away from striking. After all, "Coming Up" sets the scene by plowing into beehive-like synth lines and warp speed washes of dream-pop that leave you wondering just what the hell is going on. Things don't let up on "Trails," either, as singer/keyboardist Yuki Chikudate sets her immaculate melodies against a barrage of battery-powered chords. Catchy and chaotic to the core, the sky-scraping song pays homage to the pitch-perfect songwriting of the '60s by chartering a yellow submarine to the moon. And when the Brooklyn-based quartet (rounded out by bassist Billy Pavone and drummer Larry Gorman) finally hits the ground, their color-saturated soundscapes don't get dull or cold. They get even brighter, as Fluorescence's many shades shift with each passing song. That includes everything from the expansive/erratic -- and yet, oh-so-poppy -- prog movements of "Leave the Drummer Out There" to the weightless balladry of "Ocean," a track that channels its title with swollen synths and beats that bob and weave through the murkiest waters around. "James likes to get a lot more abstract with the music," says Chikudate, "So Chris (Asobi Seksu's longtime producer) will often try and reign him in." "I like to see how far we can take a song before pulling back a bit," explains Hanna. "Like I'll say that 100 vocal tracks would sound great in a spot where we only need 40." And since Asobi Seksu have spent the past decade refining their bombastic but beautiful blend of hailstorm hooks and fog-shrouded 4AD-isms (including last year's special acoustic album, Rewolf), they knew exactly what to do with all of that restlessness: embrace it.
event::tags 21+
8:00 PM
to 9:00 PM
Wise Blood
34 schedule::attendees
Location
The Windish Agency House @ ND
9:00 PM
to 10:00 PM
Jamie Woon
64 schedule::attendees
Location
The Windish Agency House @ ND
eventtype Music
Artists Jamie Woon
event::about Jamie Woon is a special talent who will carve his blues 'n' garage infused future pop songs into your brain and leave them there forever. It's music that will get people talking, made by the guitar wielding singer/songwriter and producer. You might not have heard of him yet – unless you've been tapped into the eerie, soulful end of dubstep or perhaps if you were a regular at One Taste, an acoustic night that took over festival stages at Secret Garden and Glastonbury in the late 2000s. If you'd been looking carefully, though, you might have noticed that Woon was one of the participants at the acclaimed Red Bull Music Academy in Barcelona 2008. The academy invites 60 up and coming DJs, musicians and producers from around the world to the month-long event where they are tutored by musical legends like Sly and Robbie and make tunes with the studio team - who that year included drum 'n' bass don DJ Zinc, Sa-Ra's Om'Mas Keith, D'Angelo producer Russ Elevado and Mark 'Global Communications' Pritchard. The academy has thrown up a tonne of talent over the ten years it's been going: Flying Lotus, Mr Hudson, Hudson Mohawke, J-Wow from Buraka Som Sistema and a whole host of others. This experience helped build on the fragile, atmospheric music he was making with a LoopStation, opening his eyes to the heavy new sound of Woon 2010. Two releases emerged from the musical collaborations that were born at the academy: he released 'Solidify' with electronics girl Subeena on Planet Mu, quickly followed by the twisted G-Funk of 'I'm Going Wit You' by Debruit featuring Om'Mas Keith. But you have to go back a few years to find the seeds of his new sound. In 2007 he released his version of traditional standard 'Wayfaring Stranger' with a remix from ultra-selective dubstep producer Burial on the flip. It turned people like Gilles Peterson and Mary-Anne Hobbs into full-blown Woon fans, but the release also recalibrated his musical mind. It sent him on a journey which forced him to learn and unlearn everything he knew, and took him to this place where he's primed to be one of the most exciting artists you're likely to hear all year; a man who is populist but always inventive, a modest and understated 27 year old who's making hugely ambitious music that you'll be filing, typically idiosyncratically, between your favourite Four Tet, Richard Hawley and D'Angelo records. The new sound, fuses his future pop songs with '80s reverb, ultra-tight beats and acres of bass. "I love atmosphere," he says. "I'm a fan of really deep sub bass that isn't swamped by other sounds. There's always enough room for some twinkly stuff on top and this big cavern, for the voice." The new songs, like 'Night Air' or the future bossa-nova of 'Tomorrow' or the Radiohead-go-soulful undertones of 'Street' carry the intimate emotions of his early sound into a whole different room; bigger, badder… heavier. Singer, songwriter and self-taught producer Woon made his name by playing live. He's got hundreds and hundreds of gigs under his belt, from endless spots in front of the microphone with just his guitar, an effects box and that unmistakable voice, to supporting Amy Winehouse. He's played in a full band with dubstep DJ and producer Reso on drums and he's taken stage at Sonar. You might say it's in his blood: his mother is Scottish folk legend Mae McKenna, a lady who did session vocals for a massive list of stars including Bjork, Michael Jackson and the aforementioned Kylie. Woon's influences are similarly colourful. He namechecks nu-disco king Todd Terje and 2010 future garage hotshots James Blake ("he's a beast") and Mount Kimbie . He's a fan of '90s R'n'B as well as the folk and soul stuff you'd expect, and Cajun blues master JJ Cale, a man he describes as 'the original bedroom musician'. Woon likes to take the soul lineage back to its roots: "I like people who find different ways of doing the blues. It's at the root of all popular music. Blues and bass - that's the real hybrid." He has now made the music that will let him switch between intimate gigs to stages with a bigger reach. "I want to play to more people and I want to play in bigger places. I want to be able to do absolutely anything I want - no constraints." Basically, and bassically, he's doing things his way. Always.
event::tags 21+
10:00 PM
to 11:00 PM
Mount Kimbie
107 schedule::attendees
Location
The Windish Agency House @ ND
11:00 PM
to 12:00 AM
Friendly Fires
259 schedule::attendees
Location
The Windish Agency House @ ND
12:00 AM
to 1:00 AM
Big Freedia
56 schedule::attendees
Location
The Windish Agency House @ ND
eventtype Music
Artists Big Freedia
event::about Big Freedia (pronounced "Free-da") is the undisputed "Queen Diva" of Bounce Music, and performs six or more times a week in various venues throughout her hometown of New Orleans. Bounce Music is an original urban music rising up from the intimate and fun-loving nature of the New Orleans housing projects which dominate the city's street culture, and Freedia performs a derivative of Bounce reserved for self-proclaimed "Sissies" (a locally used name for biological men with varied and ambiguous sexual identities) that has risen to prominence in recent years and features explicitly gay and cross-dressing musicians and themes. Big Freedia, like other "Sissy" artists, has achieved mainstream success with several New Orleans hit singles such as "Gin in My System" and "Azz Everywhere!" from her albums "An Ha, Oh Yeah" (1999) and "Queen Diva" (2003). Freedia began her musical career almost 15 years ago at the Walter L. Cohen High School in New Orleans, where she was enlisted as choir director from her sophomore to senior years. She sees her performance as a Bounce artist as an extension of this work, often interacting in a call and response/teacher and student, fashion with her audiences. Big Freedia has always acted as a mentor for many younger artists and is currently at work on her third album. While also running a successful decorating business (for which she counts the Mayor's office as a client), Freedia recently developed a musical about her life entitled "Catch That Beat" which featured cameo appearances by a who's who of New Orleans Bounce artists alongside the story of her upbringing in New Orleans 3rd Ward. Since 2009 Freedia has begun traveling outside the city regularly with her dancers and live DJ, Rusty Lazer, playing to audiences across the country and in Canada alongside (or onstage with) artists such as Spank Rock, Ninjasonik, Japanther, Mos Def, Gucci Mane, Monique and many more. Last year Freedia performed on the West coast with New Orleans band Galactic, recreating her collaboration on the critically acclaimed 2010 album "Ya-Ka-May", and at North By Northeast alongside Kid Sister, De La Soul and her New Orleans neighbors Quintron and Miss Pussycat. Most recently Freedia closed FYFest between !!! and The Rapture in Los Angeles, shared the stage with Major Lazer at MusicfestNW in Portland, played multiple shows at CMJ including the Windish Agency Showcase and lit up the crowd by performing with 8 dancers at the 2010 Fun! Fun! Fun! Fest in Austin, Texas.
event::tags 21+
1:00 AM
to 2:00 AM
Friendly Fires DJ Set
69 schedule::attendees
Location
The Windish Agency House @ ND
8:00 PM
to 9:00 PM
The Good Natured
28 schedule::attendees
Location
The Windish Agency House @ ND
eventtype Music
Artists The Good Natured
event::about My name is Sarah McIntosh, I'm a 19 year old singer/songwriter, and I go under the name of "The Good Natured". When playing live I'm supported by my two band members. National UK press such as The Guardian compare me to the likes of a young Kate Bush. In the last 2 years The Good Natured have played approximately 150 gigs around the UK, culminating recently in a live recording session at BBC Maida Vale studios for Huw Stephens' Radio 1 show. We have also played outside the UK in Paris, at La Fleche D'or. This summer we played the Isle of Wight, Latitude and V festivals and have just returned from playing CMJ in New York. In summer 2009 I was approached by Harvest Music Publishing USA to license some material to them. Presently I am managed by Simon Bobbett who has been approached by Polydor, A&M, and Asylum records in the UK and Atlantic records in New York. In March 2010, a remix of one of my songs was released on a complilation by French Label "Kitsune" (Kitsune Maison 9). It was also released on their compilation for Japan (Gildas and Masaya Tokyo) and I have also have my EP released in Japan through Fastcut Records. I released my debut single 'Your Body Is A Machine' in July and am about to release my second single 'Be My Animal/Prisoner', a double AA side.
event::tags 21+
9:00 PM
to 10:00 PM
WhoMadeWho
47 schedule::attendees
Location
The Windish Agency House @ ND
eventtype Music
Artists WhoMadeWho
event::about WhoMadeWho may lack a question mark after their name but their music will certainly have you asking after them. The Danish trio are difficult to pin down but their music sounds as effortless as it is stylistically and sonically adventurous. WhoMadeWho are on a mission to eschew convention.
The band formed in 2003, with falsetto voiced bassist Tomas Høffding coming from the Scandinavian rock underground, singer songwriter/guitarist Jeppe Kjellberg from the avantgarde jazz scene (with beard to match), and drummer Tomas Barfod – who also records as Tomboy – a rising star of electronic music. They released several 12-inches on leading German disco label Gomma Records, culminating in their eponymous debut album in 2005, which won them a devoted audience who evangelised about their new favorite band, making it the sleeper hit of the year. While touring the globe the band started work on their second album. “The Plot” was released three years later, were it got great reviews across the board, culminating with the +500.000 views for the “Keep Me in My Plane” video. Because of the lengthy recording process with “The Plot”, the band matured sonically, making it a bit more pop, still with the distinct rock- and electro sound. As a live band WhoMadeWho are an unforgettable, incendiary experience having played alongside genre bending contemporaries Daft Punk, Soulwax, Hot Chip and LCD Soundsystem as well as having their 1st album song “Space For Rent” covered by Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age after seeing them rattling bones in their skeleton garb. Always using a foundation of beats and bass lines, the songs are then written on top, alongside the unusual additions of oboe, castanets, electro-synth or vocal harmonizing that pushes their music into the extraordinary. NME once asked ”God knows what would happen if they got serious?” That time is now! The skeletons are back in the closet for now, only to be taken out on special occasions. Alongside their extensive touring, WhoMadeWho have been working on a third album that will reveal a darker side together with their own take on party music. Outlandish getups aside, WhoMadeWho get serious on their new material. However, as always it will be full of playfulness and pumped rhythms that will put the room on fire and get the party started. WhoMadeWho individually evangelise about 60’s psychedelia, 70’s stoner rock, 80’s mutant disco, 90’s electronica and this have resulted in their warped sound of now. They are so much more than a danceable rock band. They are the spark to a firework display of ideas. And they’re just about to light the blue touch paper for the third time. Don’t stand back! As Seattle paper “The Stranger” wrote after nominating WhoMadeWho’s 2010 South by Southwest performance as the best show of the festival: WhoMadeWho is not only “the rockingest dance band or danciest rock band but both the danciest dance band and the rockingest rock band.”
event::tags 21+
10:00 PM
to 11:00 PM
The Chain Gang of 1974
101 schedule::attendees
Location
The Windish Agency House @ ND
eventtype Music
Artists The Chain Gang of 1974
event::about “My brothers and I were surrounded by music growing up,” explains Kamtin Mohager, the shape-shifting singer/multi-instrumentalist behind the Chain Gang of 1974. “Not Beatles albums or anything like that; more like the Persian records our parents played all the time. And when we got older, it was up to us to discover everything.” Born in San Jose and raised in Hawaii, Mohager spent his first 13 years obsessing over inline hockey and the idea of being drafted by the NHL one day. A series of life-changing events were set in motion once Mohager’s family moved to Colorado, however. The first of which involved the final scene from Real Genius—quite possibly Val Kilmer’s finest hour—and its penultimate ‘popcorn song’, a.k.a. “Everybody Rules the World.” “I love ‘80s music, but not typical new-wave stuff,” says Mohager. “Like I’m way into Tears For Fears and Talk Talk, the other side of the spectrum, really.” That’s abundantly clear on White Guts, a record that’s nearly as restless as Chain Gang’s previous collection of early recordings, Fantastic Nostalgic. The way Mohager sees it, his first proper release was “all over the place, from a piano ballad to songs that sound like Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Primal Scream or Justice.” White Guts, on the other hand, funnels three years of instrument-swapping, sample-splicing experience into a lean, focused listen. So while “Stop!” and the rather epic “Hold On” hint at everything from LCD Soundsystem to Talking Heads, they make perfect sense in the context of deep cuts like the synth-flecked “Don’t Walk Away” and bass-guided “Matter of Time,” shimmering power ballads that could have been on the soundtrack of Sixteen Candles or Pretty in Pink. What sets the Chain Gang of 1974 apart from other Reagan-era revivalists is Mohager’s innate sense of rhythm, a skill he acquired at an early age. And we’re not just talking about his parents’ punchy, groove-riding record collection. We’re talking about family gatherings and traditions that taught Mohager how to make a crowd of cool kids uncross their arms and dance like there’s pistols pointed at their feet. “Everyone lets loose at our shows,” says Mohager. “It’s a party, man. If only I had a dollar for every time someone bum-rushed the stage or grabbed one of our instruments.” Things are bound to get worse, too, as his live band—a quartet that’s a far cry from Mohager’s original iPod/bass setup—spends the next six months spreading the Chain Gang gospel far beyond its Rocky Mountain beginnings. Or as the man behind every last beat puts it, “I’m letting the music just be, and if something’s meant to happen, it’s meant to happen.”
event::tags 21+
11:00 PM
to 12:00 AM
French Horn Rebellion
69 schedule::attendees
Location
The Windish Agency House @ ND
eventtype Music
Artists French Horn Rebellion
event::about SET THE CONTROLS FOR THE HEART OF THE… HOLY HELL WHAT IS THAT???? OK, we were on the dance floor a second ago, now we are in SPACE and SOME OF US ARE NAKED! Some of us are UPSIDE DOWN and naked, which is not a good look for us! What’s going on? What in the name of all that’s decent and right is going on? Wah! I’m a giant baby looking at the earth like in that flick! Wahhh! OK, calm down. French Horn Rebellion is going on is what’s going on. A few moments ago, you made the decision to listen to ‘The Infinite Music of French Horn Rebellion’. You took the red pill. In doing so you quite innocently agreed to venture into the unknown with brothers Robert and David Perlick-Molinari and their gleaming French Horn, and now you have to live with that decision. By the way, I’m sorry I had to slap you there. So. You took the red pill, and may God have mercy on your soul. May God have mercy on all our souls. Who’d a thunk these two unassuming brothers from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, who have only released two singles since 2009, yet have been tipped by everyone from NME, MixMag, and Artrocker to The Guardian, Time Out and French music bible Les Inrockuptibles, could have brought us out this far? Yes, they’ve had a Record of the Week on BBC Radio 1. Of course, an opening slot on the influential Kitsuné Maison compilation series is a big deal. And You know what it means a live performance at Jean-Charles de Castelbajac’s Paris fashion week catwalk show. (It means they, at the very least, saw some hot models). But still, you weren’t prepared for this! You didn’t know you were getting into this! Another mystery: How have they found the time to do this to us? Live shows on both sides of the Atlantic alongside Hot Chip, Leftfield, Sleigh Bells, The Drums, Cut Copy and SebastiAn (to name a few) gives you some idea of the last 12 months in the lives of Robert and David. And yet they still found time to go into the studio and create this glitterball-shaped starship. Initially forced to take up the French horn at 8 years old, Robert developed an affinity for the instrument when he discovered that it was actually awesome. He went on to earn a degree in French horn performance at Northwestern University (in Evanston, IL) and became an associate member of the Chicago civic orchestra. However, as his classical career progressed, so did his dissatisfaction with it; awesome though it is, The French Horn cannot do everything. And Robert wanted to do everything. With this new sense of musical purpose, French Horn Rebellion was born, and Robert turned to his producer brother David. David was coming to his own creative crossroads. As a budding music producer in New York, he was frustrated with clients who spent too much time wondering about what people could ‘take’—that is, until he produced MGMT's indie release, ‘Time to Pretend EP.’ “They (MGMT) would never pander to people’s expectations; instead they were always playing with them. It inspired me to follow my nose a bit more.” David immediately recognized a shared desire in Robert with French Horn Rebellion, and so their partnership began. ‘The Infinite Music of French Horn Rebellion’, released this November, is the result of this fated collaboration. There is a story to the album. The story has a hero and it takes you to places, some of which you have heard of and all of which you know. There are encounters and there are decisions and there is reflection and there is enlightenment. “It’s about the Universe. We’re pretty clear on what the story is, but what you take away from it may be entirely different,” says David. Whatever the hell else it is, the album is quite clearly a vibrant and adventurous collection of songs, and you are upside down in space. Wahhh! WAHHHHHHH! That is French Horn Rebellion is what that is! Graham Linehan
event::tags 21+
12:00 AM
to 1:00 AM
Miami Horror (Live)
92 schedule::attendees
Location
The Windish Agency House @ ND
eventtype Music
Artists Miami Horror (Live)
event::about // MIAMI HORROR // ILLUMINATION // After years in the making here at last is Illumination, the fully realised debut album from Melbourne’s favourite psychedelic indie-electronic adventurers Miami Horror. With Illumination, Miami Horror has delivered on two years of teeth-cutting live shows and an ever escalating wave of buzz that’s made the group bonafide blog darlings the world over. But what’s most amazing about the grand arrival of Illumination is that the roots of the record stretch back countless moons to when Miami Horror began as just one synthesizer-obsessed producer huddled over a laptop in a bedroom-come-studio and the album itself just a spark waiting to be lit. The afore mentioned synth tragic was, and let’s face it still is, electronic young gun Ben Plant, who kick started Miami Horror out of a love of Roland keyboards and French house, landing himself on Pitchfork’s hot-list overnight and copping a barrage of high profile remix requests from the likes of Datarock, PNAU and The Presets. Yet it was while Ben was punching out 2008’s epochal Bravado EP that Miami Horror took off in a completely new and different direction. Characteristically wanting to flex his creative muscle and avoid the limitations of being stereotyped as simply a dance or electro act, Ben rewired Miami Horror’s genetic makeup, deputising the talents of Josh Moriarty, Aaron Shanahan and Daniel Whitechurch to form a new live band persona of Miami Horror, a whole new beast immeasurably more exciting than before. “It started out that I didn’t want to have any guitar on the album besides a little funk guitar or disco bass,” Ben grins while explaining the turning point for Miami Horror’s evolution. “But then Josh came in and started playing all these other parts that sounded amazing. Paired with what I was working on, nobody was doing anything like it, so I knew we had to turn those sounds into a live thing and just go wild.” It worked. Since the switch, Miami Horror has launched into dizzying new stratospheres, their well-polished chops as a group making for some unmissable sets at Australia’s biggest festivals, and that’s not to mention some A-list support slot call ups for everyone from Phoenix, Friendly Fires and La Roux to a hand-picked hook up from Lily Allen. All this time Ben had been further noodling away at Miami Horror’s long-awaited debut disc and with the vision for a fully-blown and creatively shared band now fulfilled Miami Horror was able to pour all of their energy into Illumination, the record that’s taken Miami Horror years to perfect and Ben a whole lifetime to get right. Bunkering down in Ben’s own studio in Melbourne, Illumination was recorded in typical Miami Horror fashion with the band opening themselves up to new styles and approaches which saw them call in a cast of guest stars including Swedish singer MAI, Melbourne based chanteuse Kimbra, Dappled Cities’ wordsmith Tim Derricourt for a lyrical assist and also Neon Indian and Vega prodigy Alan Palomo who Ben flew out from the US to add his distinctive haze to multiple tunes (Soft Light, Holidays, Ultraviolet). As well as crafting a truly classic album that begs to be consumed from beginning to end to fully uncover all the layers and engrossing sonic textures of each tune, Ben says the aim with Illumination was to present an accurate portrait of the band’s current core and not make things too “glossy” and “hi-fi”, with Ben himself producing and engineering the album from the confines of his bedroom. As such, listening to Illumination is like a guided tour of Miami Horror’s combined minds, with enormous flying grooves gliding through the speakers alongside nods to the deities of French house and vintage synth explorers like Giorgio Moroder and Jan Hammer, all mixed and muddled up with slabs of melting, fuzzy psychedelica, some wandering kraut rock bass-lines, enough star-gazing hooks to make Electric Light Orchestra blush, plenty of ear-catching pop swagger and Ben’s own studied cinematic aesthetics. Never content to stand still, Miami Horror ambitiously test their boundaries across the album, experimenting with lush, almost chillwave instrumentals (see the gorgeous Infinite Canyons), futuristic disco gems (I Look To You), summer-bound party jams (Holidays) and anthem-sized synth epics (Sometimes). Testing the limits of the Miami Horror sound evidently came naturally for the group, with Ben admitting that the band weren’t afraid to cut loose and indulge their desires to blend electronic sounds with bristling psych-pop flourishes. “At first I didn’t think it was possible for us to do something like that, but more and more we found ourselves making things that sounded a bit fuzzy. People don’t believe me when I tell them that we use slide guitar on five tracks because that just doesn’t sound like us,” Ben says beaming. “It’s not like Chris Isaak or anything though, we just call it disco-influenced prog-pop. I don’t think that’s a genre, but it works for us!” Although the band themselves admit to a serious case of perfectionism, spending months layering, refining, tweaking and endlessly perfecting Illumination, they’re at last ready to launch it out to eagerly awaiting ears. “We’ve spent about ten months alone mixing the album, which is a process that should normally take two weeks,” Ben laughs. “We always just said ‘f**k it, we have to make the album that we want to make’ and this is it. We made it.” Yes, this is their moment. And though it seemed like an electro-dreamer’s distant fantasy four years ago, Miami Horror’s same excited sense of wonder has only ballooned from then to now. If you haven’t already heard the gospel, expect to be converted to the cause any second now.
event::tags 21+
1:00 AM
to 2:00 AM
Flosstradamus
121 schedule::attendees
Location
The Windish Agency House @ ND
eventtype Music
Artists Flosstradamus
event::about Flosstradamus, the oft-mentioned Chicago DJ duo comprised of J2K (Josh Young) and Autobot (Curt Cameruci) have been dominating the party scene nationwide with their tag-team DJ sets (3 turntables, 2 mixers) for just over a year and show no signs of slowing down. But let’s get one thing straight, for the record: no more Wu-Tang requests, please! Both established DJs in Chicago prior to their alliance as Flosstradamus, J2K and Autobot initially linked up while DJing a house party together in 2005, decided to start performing as a duo, and the rest is history. Gathering vast influences from their respective backgrounds in punk and hip-hop, Flosstradamus brought normally divided crowds together with their unique mixes of Baltimore club, hip-hop, house, obscure remixes, and juke. A monthly party soon followed (“Get Outta The Hood”) at Chicago’s Town Hall Pub, and within a year Flosstradamus turned a stagnant bar into the proverbial place-to-be, lines stretching down the block while sweaty kids crowd surf and get down inside. National press soon began to take notice, with features in URB (“Next 100 for 2006”), MTV (featured in “My Block”), and The Fader. Other recent accolades of note include 2006-2010 appearances at SXSW, CMJ, Pitchfork Festival, Pop Montreal, parties for VICE, The Fader, Jane Magazine, DKNY, URB, and Puma, not to mention performances with Clipse, Common, and Rick Ross.
event::tags 21+
8:00 PM
to 9:00 PM
The Holidays
35 schedule::attendees
Location
The Windish Agency House @ ND
eventtype Music
Artists The Holidays
event::about The Holidays ALBUM - Post Paradise 2010 was a massive year for Sydney foursome The Holidays. Releasing their self produced, critically acclaimed debut album, Post Paradise, picking up The Age EG award for ‘Best Album’ and finishing off the year with a Triple J Feature Album. Following on from the single Broken Bones, which received international praise and 40,000+ views of it’s video clip in the first week, 6AM is the perfect slice of feel good pop with tropical rhythms and lyrics conjuring images of summer, days off, late nights and living care free. With Post Paradise’ chilled vibes, it’s easy to see why critics are calling it the must have record for summer and why The Holidays are one of the most exciting up and coming bands around. 2011 is shaping up to be an even bigger year for the band, having kicked it off with The Mystery Jets support this last week, they’ll be touring nationally in February with the Laneway Festival (alongside Yaesayer, Cut Copy, Menomena, Local Natives, Jenny & Johnny). Plus they’re one of only a handful of Australian bands in the first round announcement for 2011’s SXSW in Texas. The Holidays will release Post Paradise in Japan in early 2011 through Ralleye Label (Klaxons, Toro Y Moi) followed by EP releases in the UK and USA. “World Class…10 songs of consistent greatness” - Daily Telegraph Hit “Perfectly paced and consistently good, Post Paradise is a winner” - Mess & Noise Drum Media - Album Of The Week BMA - Album Of The Week Beat – Album Of The Week The Brag – 4.5 Stars Herald Sun Hit – 4.5 Stars For further MEDIA information please contact your local Mushroom Group Promotions representative MELBOURNE: 03 8687 1353 SYDNEY: 02 8356 1299 EMAIL: info@mgpromotions.com.au
event::tags 21+
9:00 PM
to 10:00 PM
Dominique Young Unique
49 schedule::attendees
Location
The Windish Agency House @ ND
eventtype Music
Artists Dominique Young Unique
event::about 18-year-old Tampa rapper Dominique Young Unique is making music that is breaking out of the ghetto and reaching out worldwide, and she's doing it with swagger. Taken under the wing of Yo Majesty's producer David Alexander and recording in their studio from aged 12, she certainly shares her mentors' taste for rapid-fire raps and high-speed +8 electro club beats. Youthful, raw and full of bite, this 18 year-old is crashing onto dancefloors with her militaristic mash-up of electro and hip-hop. "YES, I've ruddy seen her. YES, I've ducked and dodged her richocheting shrapnel-pinging verses. And YES, I'm aware of the fact she's underground booty-bass' best stab at a genuine popstar." - NME "Her statacco rhymes serve as the track's bedrock rhythm while the production moves quickly between percussion-only "Lip Gloss" clap to bass-driven 1-3 bop to shimmering new wave. "I'm doin' this right," goes one of the many hooks packed into this short little tune. Pretty much, yeah." - Pitchfork "With the sexy swagger of Lil Kim, the ghetto credibility of Trina and the spitting skills of Nicki Minaj, it’s impossible to ignore Tampa electro rap queen, Dominique Young Unique" - Dazed and Confused "The young female rapper everyone is talking about." - RWD
event::tags 21+
10:00 PM
to 11:00 PM
Young Empires
45 schedule::attendees
Location
The Windish Agency House @ ND
eventtype Music
Artists Young Empires
event::about Young Empires are a Canadian music group that NME Magazine has compared to the likes of The Killers, Arcade Fire, Yeasayer, The Rapture, and Foals. Defined by swirling synthesizer tones, soulful bass grooves, and funky guitar rhythms, Young Empires deliver dance tracks full of swagger, sexuality, and a little angst. Since inception, the band has had the blogosphere in a spin. Their home demo 'Rain of Gold' hit #13 on Hype Machine's charts garnering the trio international attention and spawning a select run of international shows. Having already supported bands by the likes of Chromeo, Jamiroquai, and Sleigh Bells, Young Empires are poised to win over the hearts of tastemakers and crowds alike with their energetic and luscious electro based rock. Visit www.youngempires.com for more info.
event::tags 21+
11:00 PM
to 12:00 AM
Royal Bangs
97 schedule::attendees
Location
The Windish Agency House @ ND
12:00 AM
to 1:00 AM
Special Guests
19 schedule::attendees
Location
The Windish Agency House @ ND
1:00 AM
to 2:00 AM
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