Category Archives: music

In Remembrance…LCD Soundsystem

James Murphy and Co. took the stage yesterday to bid farewell.  LCD Soundsystem’s played their last live show and those lucky enough to score tickets to the sold-out performance, at Madison Square Garden, were treated to 3-hours plus of dancing themselves clean with some of the best dance/electronic/pop music of the last 10 years.

I wasn’t one of the lucky ones in attendance, but I was lucky enough to catch the act live last Fall in support of This Is Happening.  That was one big dance party, so I can only imagine how much fun last nights show must have been (Donald Glover has some really nice thoughts on the performance over at iamdonald.com).

photo courtesy of iamdonald.com

I’m not going to write much more on this.  It’s sad that such a good band have said goodbye, especially considering the current outbreak of horrible cookie-cutter pop music infecting the airwaves (Ke$ha, Drake, Nicki Minaj, Rihanna, etc).  But i’m glad the band is going out on their terms.  They did what they set out to do and they’re happy with the results.

Normally, I would include a track or two after my ramblings, but not today.  One, I don’t have permission.  Two, it’s way too hard to pick one or two tracks to sum up LCD Soundsystem.  Three, if you’re reading this post, chances are you already have everything produced by the band and there’s really no need to double up…but like me, you may not have seen LCD’s last show.

Pitchfork was nice enough to stream the entire show live yesterday (they also put together a really good, in-depth history of LCD  — You Were There: The Complete LCD Soundsystem).  Supposedly, the stream was supposed to be a one time thing and  if you didn’t tune in live, you missed out.  Luckily the internet doesn’t forget anything and I was able to find the entire show on youtube.  I’m not sure how long it will last, so check it out below while you still can.
UPDATE (4/6): looks like the internet police took the farewell concert video down, but i’m sure you can find them elsewhere.

And lastly, THANK YOU, LCD Soundsytem…THANK YOU.

Paste Magazine put out a good list of their 10 favorite LCD tracks.  I think Great Release should be included, but I pretty much agree with the picks otherwise.

[watch] PS22 Chorus & Freelance Whales

The PS22 Chorus is an elementary school chorus from Public School 22 in Graniteville, Staten Island, NY.  The chorus is composed of 60-70 fifth-graders, and is directed by Gregg Breinberg.  PS22 is amazing.

Freelance Whales are an indie rock band from Queens, NY, that utilize quite the assortment of instruments (banjo, harmonium, glockenspiel, synthesizer…to name a few) and one of my favorite new bands from the last couple of years.

The two of them recently teamed up for a fantastic rendition of my two favorite Freelance Whales tracks, Generator ^ First Floor and Generator ^ Second Floor.

Enjoy!

[hot off the press] Childish Gambino//The Longest Text Message

Childish Gambino just dropped a brand new track, The Longest Text Message (free download, grab it now), and posted it to his SoundCloud page.  No surprise here, but I love this track.  To be honest, I don’t think there’s a track by him that I haven’t loved.

For more Childish Gambino, check out my previous posts and be sure to visit iamdonald.com.

Röyksopp Visits KCRW

Tune in tomorrow (3/30) at 11:15am for a live studio performance by Norwegian electronica duo, Röyksopp, on KCRW’s Morning Become’s Eclectic.  They’ll be treating listeners to tracks from their latest release, Senior, and more.

Röyksopp – This Space

Visit royksopp.com/track-of-the-month for more free tracks

[on the road] The Antlers

Brooklyn indie rockers, The Antlers, are hitting the road this May for a North American tour in support of their upcoming album, Burst Apart.

After some England shows, they’ll kick things off in the states on May 17th in DC and wrap things up June 17th in CT (with a stop at Sasquatch on 5/28!).  Along the way, they’ll be joined by Little Scream and The Dodos (check dates below for specifics).

Burst Apart is set to be released May 10th via Frenchkiss.

The Antlers – Shiva

05/12 London, England – Heaven
05/13 Manchester, England – Manchester Club Academy
05/14 Brighton, England – Great Escape Festival
05/17 Washington, DC – Black Cat (w/ Little Scream)
05/18 Philadelphia, PA – First Unitarian Church Sanctuary (w/ Little Scream)
05/19 Brooklyn, NY – Music Hall of Williamsburg (w/ Little Scream)
05/20 New York, NY – Bowery Ballroom (w/ Little Scream)
05/28 George, WA – Sasquatch Festival
05/31 San Francisco, CA – Great American Music Hall (w/ Little Scream)
06/03 Los Angeles, CA – El Rey (w/ Little Scream)
06/04 Pomona, CA – Glass House (w/ Little Scream)
06/07 Austin, TX – Emo’s (w/ Little Scream)
06/08 Dallas, TX – The Loft (w/ Little Scream)
06/09 Tulsa, OK – The Marquee (w/ Little Scream)
06/10 St. Louis, MO – Firebird (w/ Little Scream)
06/11 Chicago, IL – Metro (w/ Little Scream)
06/12 Detroit, MI – Magic Stick (w/ Little Scream)
06/14 Toronto, Ontario – Mod Club (w/ Little Scream)
06/15 Montreal, Quebec – La Tulipe (w/ the Dodos)
06/16 Boston, MA – Paradise (w/ Little Scream)
06/17 Hamden, CT – The Space (w/ Little Scream)