Dave Grohl and his big mouth, right? During his acceptance speech at the Grammy awards last weekend when Foo Fighters won for Best Rock Performance, Mr. G took his moment in the spotlight to speak from his millionaire heart, saying, “Singing into a microphone and learning to play an instrument and learning to do your [...]
The Museum of Modern Art in new York will present its first live retrospective of electronic music pioneers Kraftwerk over eight consecutive evenings from April 10-17. Kraftwerk-Retrospective 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 “comprises complete experience with music, ambient sound, video, set design, and performance.” The elaborate staging of the performances will combine [...]
DEMF, the annual techno gathering held in Detroit, has announced that legendary rap group Public Enemy, Chicago house legend Lil’ Louis and Detroit techno icon Jeff Mills (a.k.a. The Wizard) will headline DEMF 2012 taking place May 26-28 at Hart Plaza on Memorial Day weekend. In addition to these headliners, a partial lineup of 50 [...]
Geoff Barrow, of seminal trip-hop group Portishead, continues his nonstop musical trailblazing with lo-fi hip-hop side project Quakers, who’ve signed with Peanut Butter Wolf’s L.A.-based Stones Throw label. Despite rumors of a new Portishead album swirling for the past few years, Barrow’s other side project, Beak>, with Billy Fuller (Fuzz Against Junk) and Matt Williams [...]
Tainted by the collective sorrow of Whitney Houston‘s untimely death on Saturday, the 54th annual Grammy Awards went on as scheduled last night. Dance music was woefully ignored (as usual), but Skrillex won three awards: Best Dance/Electronica Album (Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites), Best Dance Recording (“Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites”) and Best Remixed Recording, [...]
The music world was dealt a serious blow last night when police confirmed that singer Whitney Houston was found unresponsive in her hotel room at the Beverly Hills Hotel Hilton in Los Angeles. Beverly Hills paramedics, who were at the hotel for music executive’s annual pre-Grammy party, were on the scene almost immediately and found [...]
Jamaica’s oldest living DJ has died. Trailblazing artist King Stitt passed away yesterday at a Kingston hospital at the age of 72 after a lengthy battle with prostate cancer. Stitt, who was born Winston Spark, pioneered the dynamic reggae vocal style “toasting,” which later played a major influence on the birth of hip-hop in the [...]
New York City DJ Jonathan Toubin has been released from a Portland hospital after suffering massive injuries when a taxi plowed through his hotel room at the Juniper Hotel on the morning of December 8 while he was sleeping. Toubin, who was in town to play a show, was pinned under the cab and suffered [...]
Simon “Bonobo” Green took his career to the next level in 2010 when he released Black Sands. The soulful full-length showcased his impressive writing talent and gave rising soul star Andreya Triana some time in the spotlight before she released her Green-produced debut, Lost Where I Belong, which featured two songs penned with fellow Ninja [...]
Venerable Chicago house DJ/producer DJ Sneak has mixed Fabric 62. Due out on March 1 (US release date: March 27), the compilation features 18 floor shaking tracks from Strip Steve & Das Glow, Luca M, Tripmastaz, Willie Graff & Tuccillo, and others. “I am very proud, excited and confident this mix will entertain for many [...]
What people say publicly and privately are often two very different things. In perhaps one of the most candid video diatribes ever created by a DJ, Toronto superstar deadmau5 (a.k.a. Joel Zimmerman) rails against Ultra Music Festival, the annual Miami electronic music superfest. In the 12-minute video Deadmau5 lashes out against UMF’s ticket price, bemoans [...]
Influential techno label Sandwell District has closed. The label, which launched in 2005 and issued top minimal releases from Function & Regis, Female, and Ian J. Richardson, made the surprising announcement via tumblr on December 31 stating “regular audio communications from Sandwell District will cease. All vinyl artefacts have been decommissioned.” The label was highly regarded [...]
A DJ set by LMFAO’s Redfoo at the Coliseo Nacional de Ingenieros in the capital of Tegucigalpa in Honduras was cut short last night when the venue’s electrical system under the stage apparently caught fire. The fire set off panic in the club, causing patrons to make a mad dash for the exits. At least [...]
