BLACK MOUNTAIN TOUR DATES

"Black Mountain will be previewing their upcoming full-length record on the tour. The new album is called In The Future, it is epic, and it is coming out on Jagjaguwar in January of 2008."

09/27/07 Boise, ID - Neurolux
09/28/07 Salt Lake City, UT - Kilby Court
09/29/07 Denver, CO - Hi-Dive
10/01/07 Omaha, NE - The Waiting Room
10/02/07 Minneapolis, MN - 7th Street Entry
10/03/07 Chicago, IL - Empty Bottle
10/05/07 Toronto, ON - Horseshoe Tavern w/ The Cave Singers + Oakley Hall
10/06/07 Montreal, Quebec - Le National w/ Lightning Dust + Oakley
Hall + Sunset Rubdown
10/07/07 Portland, ME - Space
10/08/07 Allston, MA - Great Scott
10/10/07 New York, NY - Mercury Lounge
10/11/07 Brooklyn, NY - Southpaw
10/12/07 Philadelphia, PA - Johnny Brenda's
10/13/07 Cleveland, OH - Grog Shop
10/14/07 Bloomington, IN - Bluebird
10/15/07 Louisville, KY - Headliners w/ The Cave Singers + Wax Fang
10/17/07 Norman, OK - The Opolis
10/18/07 Denton, TX - Dan's Silverleaf
10/19/07 Austin, TX - Emo's
10/21/07 Phoenix, AZ - Modified
10/22/07 San Diego, CA - Casbah
10/23/07 Los Angeles, CA - The Echo
10/24/07 San Francisco, CA - The Independent
10/26/07 Portland, OR - Doug Fir Lounge
10/27/07 Seattle, WA - Crocodile Cafe
11/03/07 Vancouver, BC Canada - Richards on Richards (no The Cave Singers)
11/09/07 Victoria, British Columbia - Sugar w/ Bison

STEPPIN' OUT

Gaaahdamn. This night in Chicago is going to be absolutely insane. I think I might call it "Justice Weekend II," which is misleading since Justice won't actually be there. But the line-up is fucking crazy. Swedish keyboard popsters Lo-Fi-FNK just got added to the bill, which I will run down hyah:

SATURDAY MARCH 24

METRO @ 9 PM
*Lo-Fi-Fnk
*Crystal Castles
*The Presets

SMARTBAR @ 10 PM
*Guns'N'Bombs
*Digitalism

To expand... the Lo-Fi-FNK record Boylife was definitely in my top 25 albums of last year. Synth-pop where every sound just twinkles and pops and snaps. Should be fun live; I don't know if the chick will be with them or not. Tour dates for the FNKrs:

06-MAR-Los Angeles, CA Safari Sam’s
07-MAR-San Diego, CA Beauty Bar
08-MAR-Seattle, WA Atlas
09-MAR-Vancouver, BC Shine
10-MAR-Portland, OR New Noise
11-MAR-Eugene, OR Indigo District
13-MAR-San Francisco, CA Mezannine w/ Fujiya & Miyagi
14-MAR-Austin, TX SXSW Super! Alright! Space
15-MAR-Austin, TX SXSW Beauty Bar
16-MAR-Austin, TX SXSW Urban Outfitters - 1 pm
17-MAR-Washington, DC Rock’n'Roll Hotel
18-MAR-Baltimore, MD Sonar
20-MAR-Charlotte, NC Fit for Use
21-MAR-Atlanta, GA Kiss Atlanta event
22-MAR-Gainesville, FL Common Grounds
23-MAR-Miami, FL Pier 14
24-MAR-Chicago, IL The Metro w/ The Presets, Digitalism & Crystal Castles
27-MAR-Toronto, ON Drake Hotel w/ Crystal Castles
28-MAR-Montreal, QC Club Lambi
29-MAR-Boston, MA Square
30-MAR-Philadelphia, PA Making Time w/ Datarock, The Presets
30-MAR-New York, NY RUFF Club
31-MAR-Brooklyn, NY Studio B

I don't know what the deal is with Crystal Castles. All blogs love them, and I feel like they shouldn't. And I feel like I shouldn't like them, but I really do. Errr they must be good or something. Glitchy and screamy but still melodic and madly driven by the beat.


I've dug the Presets ever since I saw them open for Ladytron (actually no, since I saw the mind-blowing video for "Are You The One?"). They were good then, they were great when I saw them open for the Rapture, so I expect a very fun headlining performance from them.


Guns'N'Bombs is my associate Johnny Love's project, sort of like a bastardized, post-post-apocalyptic Daft Punk. The guy drops everything he's doing in Chicago, moves to LA, and a few weeks later their debut single is out on Kitsune. Go figure. The A-side "Nothing is Getting Us Anywhere" is fun and scary and visceral, and the B-side "Crossover Appeal" makes me anxious to hear the forth-coming LP (assuming they finish it). In the meantime their latest mixtape is here for download.


Digitalism... Digitalism Digitalism Digitalism. Once I found out I'd be catching these dudes, any regret about missing Coachella this year instantly vanished. Last year's single "Jupiter Room (Martian Assault Edit)" never gets old for me, all booming bombast and echoing beats and synthesizer destruction. I actually hope their forthcoming LP follows the path laid out in "Jupiter Room": throbbing beats with the sound of collapsing buildings, add the hi-hat, then enter the puking synths, then the prickly synths, then everything builds and builds until it dissolves into this distorted mess, which coalesces into a huge roller-coaster peak which rides out into the sunset. Yes.

TOURS OF THE NEAR FUTURE, PT. II

Other tours of note:

Le Juan Maclean DJ tour. No Midwest dates, but I'm working on getting him to Minneapolis at some point.

LCD Sounsystem tour North America; inevitable scum references abound. Sunday May 6 at the Metro in Chicago, which I may or may not attend due to finals%@$@&!)*.

A chunk of Ed Banger's roster is making their way here. Feadz and the Uffster hit Sonotheque in Chicago on Feb 17, while Justice returns to Smart Bar at whatever date I said before.

Calla is on tour and hit the Entry on April 6 and the Empty Bottle on the seventh. I've always kind of liked that band.

This post sucked.

I DON'T USE T'S, I USE ANNOYING CROSS WINGDINGS

I don't want to read about any more remixes of Justice's new single, "Phantom." I don't even really like the original one, although I wll say it is growing on me.

---



Ellen Allien is coming to the U.S., and because of my Ellen Allien obsessed friend I will most likely show up at Smart Bar (Friday 3/23).

In fact, dance music is finally coming to the Midwest in general. Exciting shows we know about at Smart Bar include

Alex Under (live) (3/8)
Para One with Johnny Love (3/22)
Ellen Allien (3/23)
Digitalism with Guns'N'Bombs (3/24)
M.A.N.D.Y. (4/6)
the return of Justice (4/27)

Actually, I'm just doing some thinking in print here, but we are definitely going to hit up both Ellen Allien and Digitalism, and maybe even get in for Para One if we can. That is awesome. Extremely awesome. Ok we are talking really fucking awesome.

---

TOO MUCH LOVE on Friday was the best it's ever been. That is, until the brand new soundsystem overheated and we had to close early. That, of course, will NOT happen in the Mainroom in February.

Check photos of the event right here at vita.mn.

Next month:



---

And finally, some good writing... on the internet, of all places. This month's techno column is up at Pitchfork, written by the untouchable Philip Sherburne, and it is remarkably well done. He covers new-rave without any bullshit whatsosever, which until now I thought to be impossible.

There's a bit on Fluokids about the Rex the Dog remix of The Sounds' "Tony the Beat," and for once, a blog nails it exactly right. I almost want to repost the all-caps excerpt but I won't, you can read it over there. Funny because I was going to play that track until the speakers went to shit on Friday. I should play it out within the next month however, so according to Fluokids' guidelines I'm good.