It's All Gone Pete Tong

I checked out It's All Gone Pete Tong the other night. This mockumentary about a legendary Ibizan DJ was pretty good. It's really hard to capture the non-stop wildness of a place like Ibiza, but I thought the movie did a good job - it showed the hard-core club scenes and then the partying-at-the-beach-the-next-morning scenes. Paul Kaye was great as DJ Frankie Wilde, who loses his hearing after years of extremely loud music, coke, and alcohol. I particularly enjoyed the club scene where Frankie is trying to mix but can't hear anything and trainwrecks ensue - followed by his throwing of the turntables on to the dance floor. There were some great camera shots of his mixing - watching his hand on the vinyl, then over to the cross-fader. Pretty good movie overall. Here's the NY Times' review (which didn't really praise the movie).

Remastered albums by The Cure

Supposedly, the next three in the line of remastered albums by The Cure, Seventeen Seconds, Faith, and Pornography are being released today. I cannot wait to get my hands on these. The studio outtakes for Pornography, their darkest and possibly best album, should be incredible. I never got around to completing my tape-to-cd transition and these albums were victims of that. After hearing that these were going to be remastered, I went ahead and waited to buy these. Thus, I can hardly contain my excitement. Also of note, apparently Steve Severin of the Banshees has been talking with Robert Smith about remastering The Glove's Blue Sunshine. This album was done during the Robert-is-in-the-Banshees era of The Cure and isn't that bad even if it's kind of a novelty album.

Kind of a wild night

Thanks to everyone who came out to Foxbase Alpha! last night. It definitely was an interesting evening. Um, what exactly goes on in that photo booth?

You can see last night's setlist here.

Foxbase Alpha! at Magnetic Field

This Friday is Foxbase Alpha! at Magnetic Field
in Brooklyn Heights. I will be spinning Britpop
and new Brit sounds. If you're in the area, come
on down and raise a pint!

Coldplay's "Speed of Sound"

Melody Nelson has an audio stream of the new Coldplay single "Speed of Sound." It's good but not great and doesn't really take off until the chorus. It's kind of like the next take of A Rush of Blood To the Head rather than a Parachutes-era song - i.e., some keyboards swirling underneath the vocals, lot of ride cymbals. Good song, but I think "Talk" the better new Coldplay song (the other song leaked from their album). I think "Speed of Sound" is now available for "exclusive" download on iTunes.

I feel so extraordinary

I happened to remember that Apollo Heights were playing late Friday night at Rothko, and managed to make my way over there around 1:30am. Good show - better than last week's at Pianos. Their sound is a little darker than their Veldt sound, but still really powerful. Apparently "Heather" is the only song from their Veldt days that makes it into Apollo Heights' set - and its great to hear. The Apollo Heights album will come out in August.

On Saturday, I checked out The Go Station at Pianos. Probably the best set I've heard them play, and they seem to get stronger each time out. One casualty from Saturday's show was the snare drum, and thankfully there was a back-up snare in the house. "C'mon" and "Wandering Away" (see video here) were especially good, but the highlight was a synth-less cover of New Order's "True Faith." Their EP Quiet Zone is almost ready, and I'm looking forward to its release.

I was going to see Madison Strays on Sunday, but just didn't have the energy for their midnight set. Hopefully they'll have some NYC shows following their return from a quick tour of England.

...at my house, my house.

My New Order tickets arrived yesterday. Outstanding...so fired up about this show (May 5th, the Hammerstein).

Went to Cheeky Bastard last night at Hiro, where Nora, the Husky Gentleman, Nick Marc, and Courtney Taylor dj'ed. Heard a lot of great songs, including "Daft Punk is Playing at My House," which I didn't like at first but when I hear it being blasted over the speakers, it's actually quite enjoyable. My favorite quote from the evening came from my friend Susan: "Do they bring their own music or is it already here?" "Oh, they bring their own stuff." "So that means that they actually own a copy of Cory Hart's 'Sunglasses at Night'?" "Yes, I guess they do." Hiro is an interesting place - wandering through long hallways, through a huge (and really cool looking) ballroom, and into the bunker-like bar.

The Anniemal is on tap for tonight at the Tribeca Grand. Should be interesting, and very crowded with blogger-types. While I love "Heartbeat" (especially the Alan Braxe remix) and like some of the other songs on Anniemal, I'm not under the impression that she's the greatest thing ever. More like the Scandanavian Kylie, but I think Fever is a much stronger album than Anniemal.

I just don't get ringtones

Via Digital Music News:

Cingular Spins New Ringtone Offering, Focuses on New Singles

Cingular is the latest to make a statement in the ringtone space, focusing on new and breaking singles. As part of the new "Cingular Sounds" service, customers will receive singles right as they are being released to radio. The new offering is being bolstered by relationships with majors EMI, Sony BMG, Universal Music and Warner Music. Customers will be alerted of new singles via text messages, with each tone selling for $1.99-$2.49. The service will cut the ribbon with the latest Coldplay single, "Speed of Sound".

The majors are ready to make a killing by forming relationships with cellular companies - just look at the prices for the ringtones. Whereas Apple has seemingly created a market that's locked in downloads for 99 cents, the majors are not going to let that happen this time by charging higher prices for ringtones. (They're also going to demand that masters are used rather than polyphonic versions, that way they'll be paid for the licensing of the master recordings rather than only letting the publisher receive the cash for a modification of the original song into a tone). It amazes me how ringtones are so huge in Europe and Asia, and have started picking up here in the States. I don't feel that it's necessary for my phone to play a song. I usually just have it on vibrate anyway.

Note that Coldplay's new single "Speed of Sound" will be the first song available for Cingular's service.

More Britpop at Magnetic Field

Again, I will be dj'ing a Britpop and New Brit
night at Magnetic Field in Brooklyn Heights.
It's on Friday, April 22nd from 9pm to 4am.
If you're in the area and like British music, check it out!

Bloc Party are just awesome

Last night's show at the Bowery was great. Bloc Party really has it all - the songs, the musicianship, the swagger, and the love for the crowd. They appreciate New York and New York appreciates Bloc Party. They opened with "Like Eating Glass" and rolled through "Banquet," "This Modern Love," and "Helicopter" among others. My personal faves were "Price of Gasoline" and "The Marshalls are Dead."

Kele announced that they'll be back in June and will play Webster Hall - to which the crowd responded with boos. "What, you don't like Webster Hall?" "Where should we play then?" "CBGB's?" "Alright, label guys take note of that."

Bloc Party really deserve the hype they get, and they put on a great live show.

Various pieces of information

So I've recovered from Final Four weekend in STL, well almost - my voice still hasn't returned. And now it's back to the NYC music scene.

It's Bloc Party week in NYC, with Letterman last night and Bowery shows tonight and tomorrow night. Various bloggers reported that BP cancelled their Philly show due to Kele's strained vocal chords, but I think the NYC shows are still on. I'll be at Friday's festivities.

Tonight, instead of going to see Bloc Party, I'm heading over to Pianos to check out Apollo Heights. These guys are the new incarnation of one of my favorite all-time bands, The Veldt. This band should have been huge and even had a major label album (1994's Afrodisiac) but couldn't break in. The Veldt were a shoegazing guitar with hip hop beats and soul vocals kind of band, and I think Apollo Heights are similar if not a little more mellow. They toured with TV On The Radio last year and had a good response. I am so fired up for this show.

Stereophonics have announced Bowery shows - May 23 and 24th. Tix go on sale on April 13. I'm still a fan even though their latest album is kind of poor. If the show was at Webster like it was the last time they were here, I'd skip it, but a Bowery show will be good.

And finally, numerous blogs are psyched over Annie's upcoming NYC appearances on April 12, 14, and 16. I cannot wait - even though she's just dj'ing. I picked up the Alan Braxe 12" remix of "Heartbeat" and absolutely love it.

Turn it Blue!!!

So Carolina emerged victorious in what was the best Men's Championship game ever. UNC vs. Illinois, 1 vs. 2, the two best teams all year.

And I was there to take it all in. Carolina fans were in short supply - U of I's campus was only a couple of hours away. The arena was 80% orange and very loud. After the victory though - the "INI"'s were no longer audible.



Of course, the Carolina ladies were on hand as well...



This shirt really says it all.

(Also of note, during this Missouri adventure I spent some time in CoMO - Columbia, Missouri the home of the Tigers. Participated in a vicious game of Friends trivia - I didn't even know there was such a game. Nevertheless, I won the lightning round of all lightning rounds - "Armadillo!").