Little Dragon is an electronic music band, based in Gothenburg, Sweden. It consists of Swedish-Japanese singer Yukimi Nagano (vocals, percussion) and her close high-school friends Erik Bodin (drums), Fredrik Källgren Wallin (bass), and Håkan Wirenstrand (keyboards). They are currently touring the world at large but we caught up with them in Detroit at Movement.
Within five minutes of Flying Lotus’ set on the Red Bull Music Academy stage at Movement on Memorial Day, it was obvious why he was closing down the stage for the weekend. Flying Lotus (born Steven Ellison) came in with a “shoot first, ask questions later” mentality. After rumors that he might be late (no one wanted to see his much anticipated set reduced), Ellison arrived like he had something to prove.
With a mission of bringing together musicians, DJs and producers from diverse musical and cultural backgrounds to exchange ideas about music and their knowledge of how life in the industry works, Red Bull Music Academy has helped emerging, innovative talent get their wings including many of the acts that were seen on the dedicated stage throughout the weekend.
Daedelus, well-known around the electronic music industry as one of today’s cornerstones of new sound graced the Red Bull Music Academy stage incorporating a deep jazz element into his Movement set proving his nickname — “mad professor” — true.
Mid-fi synth-wave, slow-motion funk. How could you read it and not want to hear it? But Com Truise does you one better — he offers up a visual accompaniment with just about everything he releases. To announce a trio of shows — first trip overseas to Sweden, his two-hour show at Movement 2011 and a set in Toronto — Com pumped out a slick graphic to let you know. He designed the artwork for his Ghostly International debut, “Galactic Melt,” due July 5. He rocks a t-shirt he designed to coincide with said release.
These, ladies and gentlemen, are the perks of being the digital art director for a global pharmaceutical firm and a budding New Jersey-based DJ whiz.
I first heard of Sonny Moore (better known as Skrillex) back when he was in a little punk rock band called From First to Last on Epitaph Records. His electro house/ dubstep inspired sound doesn’t feel very rock n roll at first blush, however his ability to mix sounds, create moods, and subvert the expected is very punk rock, even in the electro community.
The unclassifiable Sleigh Bells are heading back into the Studio this coming June to start recording their follow up project to the wildly successful Treats. If you have not yet heard of this amazingly talented duo you must. They are fresh and forward. They sound like nothing before them and have a power all of their own. If Trent Reznor and Terri Nunn had a baby (assuming of course that the indelible Nunn could stomach the incorrigible Reznor) their offspring would most likely sound a lot like Sleigh Bells.
If you want a snapshot of America on any given summer just take a sampling of the trends set at its festivals. Bamboozle just occurred in New Jersey this past weekend and I tasked the talents of photographer Joe Gall to capture the people and mayhem of the scene. Check out the awesome that is an ever fashion forward Jersey scene…no seriously.
Lil Wayne may be a lot of things to a lot of people; a rapper, producer, felon, & father. But on Sunday night he was nothing short of spectacular as he closed the three day Bamboozle Festival in New Jersey. He took the stage for a little over an hour as the sun kissed weary crowd stayed transfixed. From an artist who’s playbook includes so many featured acts and guest vocals, one might think the whole Young Money crew travels attached at the hip, but not so. Lil Wayne proved that not only can he carry a show relatively alone, he is in fact a true performer.
Paying tribute to the band that started it all, New Found Glory played a cover set of Ramones tunes (featureing Marky Ramone on the skins) to the crowd at New Jersey’s Bamboozle Festival.
New Found Glory, love them or not, is a band that has maintained the same lineup for over 10 years and built a solid fan base through hard touring and good natured relationship building. That in itself is quite an accomplishment and a testament to the tenacity of these pop punk pioneers, not to mention the fact that they’ve played everywhere from TRL to the local dive to.
NFG frontman Jordan Pundik thanked the crowd during their set for keeping the band in business over the years and let them know that they were recording a new album to re released soon. The band announced yesterday that they will be releasing the album title Thurs. May 12th at 8 pm EST/ 5 pm PST on their website via a live in studio chat… Oh and per the band, Ian will probably be flashing his butt cheeks.
Check out Marky and the boys rocking Blitzkrieg Bop (video) and see the Bamboozle pictures after the jump
Honestly, I didn’t know anything about dance-hop duo Chiddy Bang, other than the fact that front man Chidera Anamege aka “Chiddy” just broke M-Eighty’s world record for the longest freestyle ever (at over nine hours straight), until Bamboozle… And I gotta say, the boy’s got skills.