Monday
08Feb2010
ANNOUNCING MtyMx: ALL AGES FESTIVAL OF ART AND MUSIC - Organized by Todd P & Yo Garage Going down in Monterrey, Mexico from March 20 - 22!
Monday, February 8,2010
JUST ADDED: Andrew W.K., Acid Mothers Temple (JAPAN-above picture), High Places, Ratas del Vaticano (MX), Telepathe, Pictureplane, Explode Into Colors, XYX (MX), TV Ghost, Teengirl Fantasy, Chikita Violenta (MX), Tanlines, Hunx and His Punx, Lucky Dragons
List of confirmed bands already includes: Dan Deacon, No Age, Neon Indian, Toro Y Moi, Washed Out, F***ed Up, Das Racist, Lemonade, Thee Oh Sees, Pocahaunted, Indian Jewelry, Male Bonding, Best Fwends, Banjo or Freakout!, DD/MM/YYYY, Small Black and Liturgy, plus Mexican bands Los Fancy Free, Los Margaritos, Quiero Club, Los Llamarada and many many more!
Buy A 3-Day Festival Pass ($30 USD) here: http://tinyurl.com/mtymx3dtix
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Organized by Todd P & Yo Garage with Ric Leichtung, Fiona Campbell, & Jesse Hlebo March 20th-22nd 2010 // 12pm - 12am // Avenida Lazaro Cárdenas @ Avenida las Torres, Monterrey, Nuevo León Mexico MAP: http://tinyurl.com/mtytxsite TOURING SOUTH For the past 4 years, Todd P and countless volunteers have organized an independent festival during SXSW at Ms. Bea's in Austin, Texas. With over 100 bands featured and a crowd in excess of 2500 people, Ms. Bea's has consistently provided a free, all-ages alternative to the badges and wristbands of 6th Street. This year, Todd is packing up, joining forces with Monterrey, Mexico-based Independent promoters Yo Garage, and introducing a new post SXSW tour routing direction: South! Monterrey, Mexico is roughly the same distance as other "next stop on your tour" cities like Dallas, Houston, New Orleans, El Paso, etc.. The idea of the festival is to provide bands with another option during those 3-4 days after SXSW, where they risk playing under attended, money losing shows because a) it's spring break, b) it's a Sunday night in Oklahoma City and c) every other band in the world is also trying to play a show on a Sunday night in Oklahoma City! 3 DAYS + 75 BANDS + US, MEXICAN, & INTERNATIONAL BANDS TOGETHER The MtyMx Festival will begin at noon on Saturday, March 20th (overlapping with the final day of SXSW), continuing until midnight, on Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Up to 25 bands a day will play staggered (no overlapping sets) on 2 stages, both featuring professional, festival quality sound. The festival will be $30 USD (roughly 390 pesos) for a 3-day pass, all-ages, and will include musical artists from all over the world, with fully one third of the bands booked hailing from within Mexico. Because of restrictive US border controls, Mexican national bands rarely get the chance to play alongside international acts or in front of international audiences. OUTDOORS AT A DRIVE-IN MOVIE THEATER ON THE SIDE OF A MOUNTAIN The venue is spectacular: "Autocinema Las Torres" is a drive-in movie theater on the side of a mountain, overlooking Monterrey's old city towards the foothills of the Sierra Madre Oriental and Monterrey's signature mountain "La Silla." This site is a regular location for concerts, raves, parties and other large-scale events. The space can host 5,000+ people, features modern toilet facilities, on-site ambulance for emergencies, professional security, secure on-site parking, a vintage concession stand, local food vendor trucks (i.e. some of the finest tacos in Northern Mexico!), and a full bar. WORLD CLASS VISUAL ART Surrounding the perimeter of the site will be mural pieces by prominent U.S., European and Latin American artists curated by Jesse Hlebo in the spirit of our NYC arts and all ages events publication "Showpaper." Confirmed artists include Rudy Shepherd, Stephanie Davidson, Sumi Ink Club, Jesse Spears, Dena Yago, Shalo P, Katja Mater, JD Beltran + more added daily. Further, we will utilize the site's classic, curved drive in movie screen to show avant video works. DISCOUNT LODGING AVAILABLE Lodging options will include the Fundador Hotel, a three star-rated 76 room hotel available at low cost via the festival, located in Monterrey's historic Barrio Antiguo colonial district. Lower cost on-site camping will also be available, with tents available for rent and a late night "tent city" bar with DJs and fun! EASY BUS TRAVEL TO & FROM AUSTIN, TEXAS The festival will also be providing a reduced cost, no-frills bus service from Austin to Monterrey and back. The first bus will be an "after bar red-eye" bus leaving at 2:30AM on Friday night/Saturday morning, through the weekend, with more to be added as interest grows. There are also several commercial companies who offer the same route every hour or so for around $48 each way. For those driving, in the last 10 years, the Mexican federal government has embarked on a freeway-building spree including highways directly from the border crossing at Laredo to Monterrey. A SIMPLE BORDER CROSSING Crossing the border into Mexico is very simple. All you need is a valid passport or an official passport card. Passport books & cards currently take 4-6 weeks to order and process if not expedited. Books are $100, cards are $45 (only for entry to Mexico/Canada and can only used when traveling by land). No Visas are necessary. U.S. citizens can apply for a passport book or card here: http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/79955.pdf You can renew an existing passport here: http://travel.state.gov/passport/forms/ds82/ds82_843.html MONTERREY: MODERN CITY OF 4 MILLION PEOPLE, WEALTHIEST & SAFEST CITY IN MEXICO Monterrey is a safe, clean city of 4 million people, and is by far the wealthiest and most modern city in Mexico.
http://medicaltourismmag.com/issue-detail.php?item=69&issue=4Monterrey has a two line subway system, a modern airport, great hospitals, and modern industry, culture, architecture, and government, as well as the most renowned university in Mexico. Monterrey was ranked as "The Most Secure City in Latin America" by América Economía magazine.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monterreyhttp://www.finfacts.ie/qualityoflife.htm http://www.osac.gov/Reports/report.cfm?contentID=62158 TOWARDS CORRECTING U.S. IGNORANCE ABOUT MEXICO The conventional wisdom on the U.S.A. side of the border is that Mexico is a third world country, with hopeless problems of crime, chronic lack of education, and crooked government. Anyone who has traveled extensively within Mexico, or has looked at actual statistics, knows these perceptions of Mexico are deeply incorrect. Mexico is a modern, growing nation with industry, free press, modern art, world class universities, and rich culture and history. MtyMx aims to encourage U.S. citizens to travel to Mexico and see Mexico for themselves. SPOTLIGHTING U.S. TRAVEL RESTRICTIONS ON MEXICANS The U.S. has strict visa restrictions in place to curtail Mexican immigration. To obtain a tourist visa for travel to the United States, a Mexican must provide proof that they have held a job consistently for 5 years, show that they own property and have maintained a stable address for 5 years. Many creative people in the U.S. or Mexico would find these requirements hard to meet. The policy effectively locks out all but the most established Mexican bands and artists from touring or showing their work in the United States - particularly playing or attending SXSW. MtyMx seeks to reverse this disenfranchisement, by bringing the best of SXSW across the border to play with bands and in front of audiences that have been effectively shut out of the party. There is valid, informed modern art and intellectual music being made in Mexico and Mexican artists deserve their place as part of the international conversation. ORGANIZERS
TODD P For nine years, Todd P has been booking and promoting independent all ages shows and parties in New York and other parts of the United States. He has boosted the career of dozens of bands now considered influential, while always remaining close to new projects. Todd, with his expanding team, has developed projects such as the free bi-weekly publication Showpaper, famous for enlisting dozens of other shows and promoters around the New York area every two weeks. Since 2006, Todd has curated and organized a series of alternative events to SXSW in Austin, TX at Ms. Bea's. The documentary "Todd P Goes to Austin" narrates what happened there in 2008. His next step is, in collaboration with Yo Garage, to move these festivals and bands to Monterrey, showcasing the participation of Mexican bands and visual artists from both countries and elsewhere. | SITE |- http://toddpnyc.com YO GARAGE: DIY PARTNERS IN MONTERREY The promoting duo, Ricardo Ramírez Franco and Leila Ibarra Castro, showcase independent bands in the city of Monterrey. They have their own space called Garage where they put on shows for local acts as well as bands from other states and countries. They collaborate with the bands on recordings, tours and shows in other spaces, also provided in the DIY spirit. This year, besides organizing MtyMx Festival, have been invited to curate a Mexican showcase during SXSW 2010 in Austin. | SITE |- http://enelgarage.com GUESTS CURATORS RHINOCEROPOLIS The MtyMx Festival is also proud to include guest curators Rhinoceropolis, one of the purest examples of a progressively curated DIY punk space based in Denver, Colorado. Rhinoceropolis hosts local art shows and promotes them with the same fervor as it does the musical acts that pass through its doors. Whatever you're looking for, you're guaranteed to see -- or hear -- something way outside the mainstream any time you visit. Noise artists, psych folk, avant-garde rock and anything else that is just too weird to fit into the universe of more conventionally minded folk finds a home at Rhinoceropolis. They have been instrumental in booking early "before they were famous" shows as well as present day major tours for acts such as Dan Deacon, HEALTH, High Places, Pictureplane and many others. | SITE |- http://www.myspace.com/rhinoceropolis || CONFIRMED BANDS || | ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE | "A "freak-out group for the 21st century," Japan's Acid Mothers Temple and the Melting Paraiso U.F.O. were founded in 1996 by members of the Acid Mothers Temple music-art commune. AMT pays wicked tribute to the halcyon days of the late-'60s to mid-'70s English/American progressive and avant-rock bands and new-music pioneers, including but not limited to Sun Ra, Gong, Hendrix, Floyd and Soft Machine. The band's various lineup transmutations are pretty hard to keep track of, though the faithful know that the live event will be a guaranteed major mind meltdown." - L.A. Weekly | MYSPACE / MP3s |-- http://myspace.com/acidmotherstemple | ANDREW W.K. | - "Andrew W.K. is the Motor City madman who has arrived to preach the true faith of heavy-metal dementia. He puts the "mess" in "Messiah," raising arena-rock cliches from the dead and amping them up until they scream for mercy." - Rolling Stone | MYSPACE / MP3s |-- http://myspace.com/andrewwk | CHIKITA VIOLENTA | "Chikita Violenta is a Mexican indie rock band from Mexico City. They released their first record for a major label in the beginning of 2007; The Stars and Suns Sessions was produced by David Newfeld (Broken Social Scene, Apostle of Hustle, Super Furry Animals, Los Campesinos!) and was recorded in Toronto's Stars & Suns studio." - NME | MYSPACE / MP3s |-- http://myspace.com/chikitaviolentaband | EXPLODE INTO COLORS | "The band is a trio of ladies dead set on conjuring your ghastly spirit with subversive galloping grooves, neo-primitive drum roundhouses, and banshee-friendly, trance-like vocal calisthenics." - Seattle Subsonic | MYSPACE / MP3s |-- http://myspace.com/explodeintocolors | HIGH PLACES | Brooklyn 2 piece with Mary Pearson's angelic vocals paired with Rob Barber's electronic compositions and elaborate live percussion. Everything is drenched in reverb and kickin' bass beats, creating a wall of sound that is shimmery and enveloping. High Places breathe gorgeous new life into the sounds of sweet twee pop. Mary and Rob are rad, most loved new band in Brooklyn hands down. | MYSPACE / MP3s |-- http://myspace.com/hellohighplaces | HUNX AND HIS PUNX | "Some might recognize Seth Bogart as the keyboard player and singer from the hamburger-loving electro-pop band Gravy Train!!!!. Now he's also the mustachioed, leather-jacket-wearing lead singer of bubblegummy, homorrific garage band Hunx and His Punx...[think] if someone put equal parts Ramones, John Waters, and the Ronettes in a blender with some ice and made hot-pink frozen daiquiris to serve at one of those big gay pool parties where everyone looks like early-'80s-era Freddie Mercury in a bathing suit." - The Stranger | MYSPACE / MP3s |-- http://myspace.com/hunxsolo | LUCKY DRAGONS | From Los Angeles, "Luke Fischbeck creates beautiful organic noise and intelligent electronica - and mind blowing projected visuals - all created utilizing a laptop and gorgeous homemade triggers to affect lush loops and harmonic sequences, always different and determined by audience participation and Fischbeck's hypnotic dancing. "Intriguing 'organic glitchcore' - a ragbag of cut and paste, sing-song melodies, found sounds, acoustic folkiness - reminds me of various artists without really sounding like them: Alejandra and Aeron, Fennesz's Endless Summer spring to mind most readily - excellent stuff" - Boa Melodybar . "a line between the handmade and the distanced digital... ...a successful forging of the personal detritus, the mic-ed moments between moments" - AllMusicGuide.com . "Lucky Dragons craft some of the most humane, confused, and staggeringly beautiful Lap-pap I've ever had the pleasure of hearing." - Zac Pennington, PortlandMercury.com | MYSPACE / MP3s |-- http://myspace.com/luckydragons | PICTUREPLANE | "Pictureplane, aka 24-year old Denver-via-Santa Fe multi-media maker Travis Egedy, popped up on some radars this past April via his remix of HEALTH's "Die Slow." Before that, he remixed Crystal Castles, collaborated with hometown New Mexico bud Zach Condon, and self-released his debut full-length Turquoise Trail, which Lovepump reissued digitally in March. Now the same label's tackling his excellent sophomore collection Dark Rift. If may very well be the dance record of the summer for people who aren't used to dancing: Egedy's expansive mix of '90s house, dreamy '80s synth-pop, poppy darkwave, tripped and colorful Black Dice-style noise, bottomed-out hiss, weirdo Sublime Frequencies drum circles, and a surprisingly ready-for-the-club semi-sheen creates endlessly interesting soundscapes. He has art-school style, yes, but the guy also writes well-crated hooks with actual emotional pull." - STEREOGUM | MYSPACE / MP3s |-- http://myspace.com/pictureplane | RATAS DEL VATICANO | "Ratas Del Vaticano ("Rats of the Vatican") are a quartet hailing from Monterrey, Mexico, who assail ears with a most excellent assemblage of punk spew that can best be pitched as "KBD-like." Originally formed as a drunken joke (where have you heard that one before?), Ratas Del Vaticano quickly realized they were onto something. And, man, can these guys slice 'n' dice! Guttural, sneering, cynical, sarcastic, Ratas Del Vaticano dish it out in buckets like rancid pozole." - Slitbreeze. All their records have been released by US independent labels. "Mocosos Patéticos" (Siltbreeze 2009), "Chido EP (Volar, 2009) and the soon to be released "Tiempos de Austeridad" on HSBP-2X, followed by another EP with Batshit and a tape release with Full Beans. | MYSPACE / MP3 | -- http://myspace.com/ratasdelvaticano | LABEL SITE |-- http://siltbreeze.com/ | TANLINES | amazing electronic duo by 2 guys who used to be in Professor Murder and Don Caballero. "Tanlines belong to that happy breed of musicians that revels in the rank absurdities thrown up by postmodern culture and its attendant dogs of unreality. Neither the mournful ushers of a world without meaning nor its ironic celebrants, the Brooklyn duo instead look to embody the spirit of their musical age via their questing, upbeat pop which sounds a bit like a wet-behind-the ears DFA on a globe-trotting youth hostel jaunt. Read what you will into Tanlines' zesty dance-pop goodness, but you'll write them off at your own peril." - thequietus.com | MYSPACE / MP3s |-- http://myspace.com/tanlinestheband | TEENGIRL FANTASY | Logan and Nick are two young guys attending Oberlin College (perhaps taking a little time off), together they make drum machine and sampler-heavy dance music that steals as much from the underground noise scene as from the dance music world. Teengirl Fantasy smash those influences to make transcendently catchy adrenaline anthems that get everyone dancing. "Oberlin, Ohio duo Teengirl Fantasy have been pouring all the most exhilarating bits of those raucous past dance anthems, complete with chopped vocal snips, into their own unique sort of bedroom club music. A huge beach party, where the boombox got waterlogged and now skips and sizzles and is mysteriously picking up four stations at once, and no one cares at all" -- IMPOSEMAGAZINE.COM | MYSPACE / MP3s |-- http://myspace.com/teengirlfantasy | TELEPATHE | "Brooklyn banshees with a brand new beat, Telepathe stand out from the NY district's vacuum of avant-garde. Though the same stifling pursuits of local noiseniks Gang Gang Dance and Effi Briest remain, a realised pop sensibility now stands to the fore, as harmonies and chants call out with blood-curdling brilliance against their lapping tape loops and darting hooks." - DROWNEDINSOUND | MYSPACE / MP3s |-- http://myspace.com/telepathe | TV GHOST | 4 young dudes from Lafayette, IN, making rowdy, dark, angular rock music. Kinda like Suicide meets Beefheart, played by four anxious teenagers from Indiana. | MYSPACE / MP3s |-- http://myspace.com/televisionghost | XYX | ""...fuzzy guitars zig zag turbulent like a crippled joyride in the rusty carousel of vampire haunted Santa Carla, there's a bunch of leather-clad kids with long yellow fangs and cool raybans floating in the darkness outside the bonfire of your keg-party and the rest of the story is pure splatter, which is the way we like it." - 20 Jazz Funk Greats | MYSPACE / MP3s |-- http://myspace.com/xyxs | BANJO OR FREAKOUT! | "Alessio Natalizia (aka Banjo or Freakout!)... has released several singles to mass acclaim, including the most recent Upside Down EP, which is a masterclass in claustrophobic shoe-gaze joy. It's on the live stage that Banjo or Freakout really take sail though. Allowing the layered sounds to break free of their laptop based shackles - Alessio carves out massive curve balls of noise, helped only by an additional drummer and countless effects pedals and synths. Banjo Or Freakout! really are one of the few essential live acts on the UK circuit at the moment." - The Line Of Best Fit
| MYSPACE / MP3s |-- http://myspace.com/banjoorfreakout | BEST FWENDS |
Totally retarded goofballs from Fort Worth. These doods get the dance party going. Good pop songs, good beats, funny funny stage antics. | MYSPACE / MP3s |-- http://myspace.com/bestfwends | DAN DEACON |
"Absurdist composer and electronic musician performs with his "messy table of fancy electronic whosit and howsthat." Dan's music strives to take contemporary experimental composition and electronic music out of the circle of the esoteric intellectual gangs and hipster communities and place it into the more informal "fun time." His performance and compositional techniques shows strong influences from the Fluxus Movement, Spiderman, Absurdism, and the current movement in underground rock. While maintaining a constant performance and tour schedule he has spent most of his time working on pieces for brass ensemble, string quartet, solo cello, casio song workings, solo study and his study in mid and high frequency sine waves." - BALTIMORE CITY PAPER . Listen to Dan again, for the first time.
| MYSPACE / MP3s |-- http://myspace.com/dandeacon| RAD VIDEO |-- http://youtube.com/watch?v=ouE1Y6bK90s | INDIAN JEWELRY |
"Indian Jewelry do not make dark music to trip to; they make dark music to pack with you on spirit quests. Taking the bad acid freak-out aesthetic of fellow Texans the Butthole Surfers, and cutting it in with the droning electronic menace of Suicide, Indian Jewelry are the new robot shamans, projecting nano-bot visions on expansive wastelands and conjuring snippets of digitized desolation." - Stylus Magazine | MYSPACE / MP3s |-- http://myspace.com/indianjewelry | LOS FANCY FREE |
Los Fancy Free are a psychedelic 4-piece from Mexico City with a unique kind of reputation. Their energetic live shows equally draw a bunch of kids to a DIY space and thousands to a ridiculously big festival. They are highly involved with the Mexican independent scene as producers through their own label, Silicon Carne, as well as other record labels. Around Los Fancy Free exists a bunch of weird and exciting side projects such as Evil Hippie, Pan Blanco and Las Comadrejas.
| MYSPACE / MP3 | -- http://myspace.com/losfancyfree
| LOS MARGARITOS |
Los Margaritos are one of the fixtures of the Monterrey punk scene. Filled with images, both visual and lyrical, of melted creatures, sick heroes and weird teenage habits, Los Margaritos shows have lasted up to 3 non-stop hours, with kids singing along the entire time. Its the best secret kept in Monterrey and some think all of México. Their new album "Melcochambre Sonoro" is free to download but you have to get your hands on The Amazing Herviononos audio-comic book (illustrated by Edwin, the singer) that comes along with it. Check out the track "El mundo ya no sabe rockear" (the world no longer knows how to rock) and let Los Margaritos teach you.
| MYSPACE / MP3 | -- http://myspace.com/losmargaritos| MALE BONDING | The latest addition to the Sub Pop family... "reverb and cowbell soaked violently sprawled new york inspired new wave pop. Think Talking Heads recorded in their first year of formation on a 4 track meets a more obviously pop version of Sonic Youth." - RCRDLBL | MYSPACE / MP3s |-- http://myspace.com/malebonding | NEON INDIAN |
"Twenty-one year-old Mexico-born, Texas-raised Alan Palomo is a restless fellow. Neon Indian is his third new music identity in two years, following the short-lived Ghosthunter and the ongoing VEGA. A gauzy combination of Buggles-style 1980s pop, video game soundtracks, and cheeseball elevator music, Neon Indian songs like "Deadbeat Summer" "Should Have Taken Acid With You" are effervescent, goofy, and achingly nostalgic. Kind of like MGMT on a ramen budget-- and with less face paint." - Pitchfork
| POCAHAUNTED
"Mystic Los Angelino's making post-modern, lo-fi psychedelic drone. Perfect for end-of-the-day Subway rides, food comas, and starring at the wall." - Chocolate Bobka | MYSPACE / MP3s |-- http://myspace.com/pocahaunted | THEE OH SEES |
Reverby, rockabilly-ish, rad psych folk garage from John Dwyer, formerly of Coachwhips and Pink & Brown, and other SF compatriots.| MYSPACE / MP3s |-- http://myspace.com/ohsees | WASHED OUT |
"Mr. Greene lives with his parents in their house in a peach grove in Perry, Ga., but there's nothing rural about his style - wistful lo-fi pop with hints of disco and hip-hop that sounds like re-creations of songs faintly remembered. In recent months Washed Out has released a pair of EPs , the outstanding "Life of Leisure" (Mexican Summer) and the more scattershot, limited-run, cassette-only "High Times" (Mirror Universe Tapes)." - NY Times
| MYSPACE / MP3s |-- http://myspace.com/thebabeinthewoods
| DAS RACIST |
"Das Racist is a weed edge/Hare Krishna hard-core/art rap/freak folk music duo based in Brooklyn, NY, comprised of Queens-born Himanshu Kumar and San Francisco-born Victor Vazquez. The two met at Weslayan, where Victor was Himanshu's Resident Advisor in a "Students of Color for Social Justice" themed freshman year dormitory." - Flavorpill
| MYSPACE / MP3s |-- http://myspace.com/dasracist | DD/MM/YYYY |
Proggy yet sing-along minor key smart punk from Toronto, Ontario, Canada. "Featuring synthesizer, electric guitar, drums and loud vocals, many could categorize this song as punk. However, DD/MM/YYYY categorize themselves on their MySpace as "rock/ progressive/ new wave," leaving the overused and misunderstood "punk" classification M.I.A. While "Batman Guitar Clock" may have a sound reminiscent of punk, DD/MM/YYYY is as versatile as a well made spork, varying in sound from song-to-song." - Imprint Magazine
| MYSPACE / MP3s |-- http://myspace.com/ddmmyyyy | F***ED UP |
"F***ed Up formed in Toronto in 2002, high-school friends influenced by first- and second-wave hardcore bands like Minor Threat and NOFX. It was instantly apparent that they were not carbon-copy punks. Their first 7" was entitled No Pasarán after an anti-fascist slogan from the Spanish Civil War. It was also ferociously melodic and inventive, setting the scene for a string of 25 singles over the next four years that combined political commentary with incredible musicianship and a sense of theater.
| MYSPACE / MP3s |-- http://myspace.com/epicsinminutes
| LEMONADE | "This trio's tracks hit the dancefloor from all angles, filtering a worldly rhythmic sense and digital peripherals through their Brooklyn-based lens. Front and center are Alex Pasternak's ferocious drumset workouts and Callan Clendenin's cutting vocals, defined by a bar-by-bar attention to tonal texture and left-field electronic filigree."- Stereogum
| MYSPACE / MP3s |-- http://myspace.com/bananasandecstasy
| LITURGY | four piece progressive metal + electronics project from Brooklyn. | MYSPACE / MP3s |-- http://myspace.com/liturgynybm | LOS LLAMARADA | A 4-piece from Monterrey, MX. "The music is Stooges-crude and rendered free of distractions, like high-midrange frequencies. It evokes an eavesdrop upon a found practice space transmission, a shambolic rock and roll 'happening' maybe meant to have been purely ephemeral and undocumented. " - Dusted Magazine | MYSPACE / MP3s |-- http://myspace.com/losllamarada | NO AGE |
"No Age is Randy Randall and Dean Spunt - two heavyweights from the LA punk / skate / art underworld, who previously performed as two thirds of that punked DIY machine, WIVES. Formed in December 2005, following an incendiary final WIVES tour - it ended with a trip to A&E in Islington, London - Randy and Dean bring the world back to their room with a different approach for their new band. A crashing collision of sweetly shouted ditties, ecstatic crunch feedback and violent bouts of percussion, the No Age sound is abound with pop songs fighting to break through a mist of white fuzz... No Age have a rude energy, but the music is emptier than with WIVES and more mysterious... Mr Spunt sang and smacked the rim of his snare drum, while Mr Randall picked out some broken chords. Then it shifted: Mr Randall tapped an octave pedal, transforming his spidery guitar line into a burly, propulsive bass line." - NY Times
| MYSPACE / MP3s |-- http://myspace.com/nonoage | QUIERO CLUB |
Quiero Club sounds like decades of Spanish pop from all over Latin América through the minds of five creative youngsters. While they can check fashion designer, producer, and record label owner off their list of day jobs, they still find a way to take what's good about pop music and create songs with timeless hooks, thoughtful arrangements and powerful beats. Their second album Nueva América was recently released in the U.S. through Nacional Records.
| MYSPACE / MP3 | -- http://myspace.com/quieroclub| SMALL BLACK | "Brooklyn's Small Black have a little bit of the dark wave moodiness that's been seeping up out of New York and a whole lot of the no-fi, bedroom cloud-punk that's been creeping up out of practically everywhere. Jury's still out on whether these Casio muck-gazers make happy or sad music, but it's certainly a grand gesture either way." - VILLAGE VOICE
| MYSPACE / MP3s |-- http://myspace.com/smallblacksounds | TORO Y MOI | "Toro Y Moi, is the brainchild of South Carolinan Chaz Bundick, a 23-year-old singer, songwriter, producer, multi-instrumentalist whiz-kid and graphic design graduate...expect lots of funk bass and fuzztone indie, and plenty of somnolent keyboard pop with a budget-lavish sheen, wafting beautifully but hazily out of your speakers like a weak radio transmission from a parallel universe where Kevin Shields was executive producer of Pet Sounds ..." - The Guardian | MYSPACE / MP3s |-- http://myspace.com/toroymoi || CONFIRMED VISUAL ARTISTS || | KATJA MATER | Katja Mater's (b. 1979) work originates from a meta perspective, dealing with the possibilities and impossibilities of Photography and Video. Rather than documenting frozen moments in time, she records the numerous ways we can look at, and think about photographic images by turning the medium in on itself. In the video piece 'Cumulus', open books of the Amsterdam Public Library pass in front of the camera showing images of clouds. Moving from right to left, the clouds as still images embedded in text, are reanimated into a narrative arc through the illusionary framework of video. Katja lives and works in Amsterdam, Her work has been exhibited throughout Europe, and the US. | SITE |--http://www.katjamater.nl | RUDY SHEPHERD |
"Rudy Shepherd's latest work explores the nature of evil through the mediums of painting and sculpture. This exploration involves investigations into the lives of criminals and victims of crime. He explores the complexity of these stories and the grey areas between innocence and guilt in a series of paintings and drawings of both the criminals and the victims, making no visual distinctions between the two. By presenting the people first and the stories second a space is created for humanity to be reinstilled into the lives of people who have been reduced to mere headlines by the popular press." - rudyshepherd.com| SITE |--http://rudyshepherd.com/ | STEPHANIE DAVIDSON | Stephanie Davidson is an artist from Toronto who is interested in many mediums. Most of her work involves taking digital ephemera out of context and seeing what kind of emotional connection the viewer makes. She works in painting, collage, and video.
| SITE |--http://stephd.biz | SUMI INK CLUB | "Sumi Ink Club is a Los Angeles-based drawing collective founded in 2005 by Sarah Anderson and Luke Fischbeck. The group holds regular open meetings to execute topsy-turvy, detailed, collaborative drawings using ink on paper. In each of its permutations, Sumi Ink Club uses group drawings as a means to open and fortify social interactions that bleed into everyday life. Sumi Ink Club is non-hierarchical: all ages, all humans, all styles." - sumiinkclub.com | SITE |--http://sumiinkclub.com | JESSE SPEARS | "Jesse Spears is living in a small pagoda in Pasadena California. She is working on her sticker club/museum, comic books, drawings, collages and is in the middle of a large mural at The Smell. Everything mentioned besides the sticker club are visualizations of another world." - From the Artist | SITE |--http://imsosuredude.com | DENA YAGO | Dena Yago, born 1988, lives and works in New York and is receiving her BA at Columbia University. | SITE |--http://denayago.com | SHALO P | Shalo P is a San Francisco audio / visual artist interested in emotions and ways of describing feelings. When asked what he does in particular he usually says he's just "surveying the digital apocalypse and embellishing it with rainbows". | SITE |--http://flickr.com/photos/shalo_p/ | JD BELTRAN | "Faced with the compelling psychology and rich history of the painted portrait, I soon became intrigued with exploring the language and concept of portraiture - using painting, photography, text, film, video, sculpture, installation, sound, and intermedia. I'm also curious about the very concept of a portrait - how one can convey not only a person, but a place, a city, even an episode. By rendering my work in a variety of media, and portraying a range of subjects, I am investigating the vocabulary of portraiture." - From the Artist
| SITE |--http://jdbeltran.com/ | MICHAEL RAY-VON / CORY HANSON | "Michael Ray-Von works with concepts and themes related to sacred ritual, religious architecture and mystic experience. He addresses the relationship of these subjects to, and concurrence with, their allegedly profane, contemporary counterparts, which he often finds in human-computer interaction, virtual space, as well as in social and political structures. His work materializes in forms of ceremonial objects, internet ritual, and parapsychological mind-altering electronic devices." - From the Artist | SITE |--http://michaelray-von.com/ |
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