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When Le1f released Fly Zone this year, “Spa Day” was one of the tracks I immediately latched on to. One of the places where Le1f excels is picking beats that sound like they’re the kind of rap tracks we’ll be listening to when we have flying cars. Another is his way of throwing shade in the most nuanced ways. A lot of folks missed it on “Wut” because of how raspy the vocals are, but verse two on that song is littered with the most bravado-laden lyrics of 2012. “Spa Day” is equally aggressive, despite the song’s title. His mean mug throughout the video, while he’s bouncing from bathtub to hot tub to shower, just emphasizes that it’s not a fluffy track about relaxing, it’s shade on top of shade on top of shade. The phrase “that’s cute” never hurt so badly. You can spot a chunk of his Greedhead labelmates in the clip, which is below.

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Converge at Decibel, 2013 (more by Shaun Regan)

Converge will team with Meek Is Murder, Trenchfoot and Dead Serious at Saint Vitus on May 25 and tickets are on sale. The show is part of a weekend that will see the Massachusetts hardcore quartet also head toward an appearance at Maryland Deathfest, joining names like Bolt Thrower, Infest, and more. All dates are listed below.

Speaking of Maryland Deathfest, the festival recently announced the cancellation of Gehenna "due to pressing legal matters" and the addition of Ringworm. Tickets are still available for Maryland Deathfest.

Dates below...

Continue reading "Converge playing NYC before Maryland Deathfest" at brooklynvegan

All this week Queens of the Stone Age have been sharing creepy, nightmarish visuals in support of their new album

Alexander Von Mehren is a 29-year-old Norwegian who is on the verge of releasing a five-years-in-the-making LP titled Aéropop. He’s the slash type: singer/songwriter/producer/multi-instrumentalist/human. On Aéropop, he’s credited with playing upright piano, Rhodes, Moog, vibraphone, bass, guitars, drums, and singing. “La Chanson de Douche” is the record’s first single, and rather indie-Francophilic at that, sung in French and registering as a deft blend of Serge and Stereolab. Aéropop was mixed by Chicago post-rock hero John McEntire (with Von Mehren), and features a member of Jaga Jazzist, and I mention these things to help you further situate this track’s dapper lounge-fusion je ne sais quoi. Listen:

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With each passing week, listening to the deluge of mixtapes, radio shows, and live sets from electronic producers and hip-hop artists alike becomes an even more insurmountable task. Quality offerings can fly under the radar, either added to our ever-growing

As mentioned, Kylesa will release their new LP Ultraviolet on May 28, another expansion on their already ever-changing sound. Begin their new chapter by streaming the LP in full below care of Metal Hammer.

Kylesa are currently in the midst of a US tour with Blood Ceremony, White Hills and Lazer/Wulf that will hit Music Hall of Williamsburg on June 14th (tickets). All other dates are listed, along with the album stream, below.

Continue reading "Stream Kylesa's 'Ultraviolet' in full" at brooklynvegan

Le1f cleans up his act in this brand new video.

One of New York’s most unique contemporary rappers, Le1f can always be counted on for a good video, and ‘Spa Day’ does not disappoint. The track was already the clear stand-out of January’s

by Fred Pessaro

George Michael sustained a head injury in a car accident in his native UK yesterday, requiring the ex-Wham! vocalist to be air-lifted to a local hospital:

According to the singer's rep, Michael was a passenger in a Range Rover that crashed on the M1 motorway (a huge freeway) at around 5:50 PM local time.

The rep says no vehicles were involved in the crash. It's unclear exactly what caused the collision... Michael's spokesperson says the singer only suffered "superficial cuts" -- and was doing just fine. [via TMZ]

Continue reading "George Michael injured in car accident, doctors say he's OK" at brooklynvegan

Carrie Brownstein spent years as one third of Sleater-Kinney, arguably the greatest punk band in the world. During that time, it would’ve been a real head-exploder to imagine her in a credit card commercial. But Brownstein is now a sketch-comedy celebrity thanks to Portlandia, and in a new American Express ad, she plays a succession of goofy characters that would’ve been right at home on the show. Watch it below.

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On the surface, it

by Dominick Mastrangelo

The Flaming Lips @ Wellmont Theatre, 5/16/2013

The Flaming Lips played the first of two New York-area shows last night (5/16) at the Wellmont Theatre in Montclair, New Jersey.

It was near-sensory overload -- as all Flaming Lips shows have been since The Soft Bulletin tour -- as strobes and lasers flashed all about the theater. Wayne Coyne ascended a pile of silver half domes where his mic sat atop and he cradled an infant doll for the first three songs as black confetti was shot from cannons, two on either side of the stage, during the second song of the evening, "The Terror." It was everywhere and I found myself fishing confetti out of my camera bag on the train ride home.

It was also a far cry from my first Lips show - "The World's First Headphone Concert" - in Dallas in 1999 when Coyne had a solitary trash bag of confetti and would launch handfuls of it into the crowd. Colors cascaded through fiber-optic cords that snaked around the domes and back behind Coyne. From afar it looked as if he was standing on the glittering remains of a Disney Electrical Parade float. You may have seen it on their Late Night with Jimmy Fallon appearance.

The set leaned heavily on material from their new release, The Terror, and the past few records back to Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots. We were treated to one song f...

Interlocken is a new four-day music festival, set for September 5th – 8th in Central Virgina, “with an emphasis on world class music, locally sourced food and sustainability.” The inaugural lineup is headlined by Neil Young and Crazy Horse, Grateful Dead offshoot Furthur, and The Black Crowes, who’ll appear alongside Zac Brown Band, The String Cheese Incident, and many more artists still to be announced. According to a press release, many of the artists will be performing over multiple days, and will be featured in unique pairings. There will also be no overlapping sets.

“Most festivals these days are trying to be everything to everyone — very eclectic with an emphasis on a large number of artists in various genres,” says festival founder Peter Shapiro. “With Interlocken, we want to break away from that mold and create something more identifiable and distinct.”

The festival’s website will begin selling “artist pre-sale” tickets on May 22nd and “early bird” tickets on May 23rd.