Gangnam Style

PSY is back with "Gangnam Style" which  he claims will "penetrate the foundations of modern philosophy."  Bold statement.  Bold video.   Check out the South Korean mega star.  

Would he make it in the States?     

Gangnam Style

PSY is back with "Gangnam Style" which  he claims will "penetrate the foundations of modern philosophy."  Bold statement.  Bold video.   Check out the South Korean mega star.  

Would he make it in the States?     

Get Gaymous with Scissors Sisters

June is gay pride month and what better way to celebrate it than with the appropriately named Scissor Sisters at Hollywood Palladium on Saturday?  If you want to move, sweat and meet your new gay best-friend - look no further than Sunset and Centro on Saturday June 16, 2012.  

We're dishing out a pair of free tickets to their poppy-gaymous glam rock electroclash dance party - and we strongly recommend you hit us up at contest@supergoodmusic.com if you want to go. The formerly Fibrillating Scissor Sisters are celebrating the release of their album Magic Hour (released May 28, 2012) and will most surely be dropping "Only The Horses" "Shady Love" and "Lets Have a Kiki" for their first time in LA - plus classics like "Take Your Mama" and "Fire With Fire."

If you don't want to chance it - ensure you'll be inside for the party by getting tickets here via Live Nation. 

Penguin Prison Hit LA for 2 Days/Don't F With My Money

We had Penguin Prison perform at our SUPERGOODMUSIC Showcase series in Austin, TX during SXSW 2011 - which included a performance of "Golden Train" at Rusty Spurs (see video below). The act has steadily been infiltrating other blogger's respective radars and recently picked up Windish to their booking - so you should certainly expect to see their name popping up on more festivals and more national tours in 2012.

They also just dropped this video for "Don't F With My Money" that has Occupy Wall Street themes in it and is definitely stirring up a little controversy.

Get More: Penguin Prison, Don't F*** With My Money, Music, More Music Videos

To close out their 2011, they are making a trip back to L.A. to play Dim Mak Tuesdays tonight at Dim Mak Studios and then tomorrow they head west to The Central SAPC to perform Wednesday night. Their high energy, infectious-indie-electro jams translate really well to concert and we strongly recommend you check them out if you can.

Keeping it Cremey

Dub Frequency (DF) is smacking LA in the face with some cool parties this weekend.

Tonight, Creme De La Creme is at Foundation Room at House of Blues on Sunset. Blaqstarr holds it down, with support from a few friends. I'll be there post T. Mills.


Tomorrow, the dF crew heads downtown to The Standard for a No Shirt, No Shoes curated pool party with musical stylings from Poolside, Futurecop!, Fiero and more! It is their 1st pool party of the summer, so you know it will be banging.

RSVP to the events for FREE entry at www.dubfrequency.com

Odd Modern's Playful "Wallflowers"

Local electro indie duo Odd Modern is back at it again with the cool music videos, this time with 'Wallflower.'

In the absence of a famous person cameo (Steve O was in their "Contrary to Popular Belief" vid) - the duo had to step up their cinematography a notch to generate a similar buzz. S0 what's the video got? Warehouse? Check. Choreographed dances? Check. Cool camera tricks? Check.

Certainly a fun effort from a band that gives away all of their music for free at www.oddmodern.com.

The driving synth, Gerardo's smooth drums and Vanina's pretty voice provide the musical backdrop after their dance coordinator walks you through how exactly to do the "Wallflower." While not every person in L.A. will have what it takes to bust out the Wallflower - the 8 point moves aren't too complex and the only way you'll learn 'em is by watching this video...

The Wallflowers by Odd Modern from Gerardo Herdstagerd on Vimeo.

VENICE BEACH - FUTURECOP!

Peter Carrol and Manzur Iqbal, better known to most as FutureCop!, just leaked some of their latest music to the blog community - including the track "Venice Beach" which I was happy to premier to the world in The Concert Blast that went out earlier today.

Anyhow, the track is catchy, fun, danceable and has a quintessential L.A. essence too it. I only hope they come back to the states, and more importantly, California, to rock this single live for us because I loved seeing these guys perform and get the electro-pop party jumping when they were here with Keith Masters in April.

Download the song here - http://www.mediafire.com/?obnynaees4s6iq2

Check out the 80s esque video too:

SWEDISH HOUSE MAFIA DOCUMENTARY PREMIER!!!

DJ collective and dance chart toppers, Swedish House Mafia, stop in LA today (actually within the hour) to screen their documentary Take One. The premier comes amidst a very exciting week for the superstar DJ collective, who also released their album, Until One, which serves as a soundtrack to the film, just yesterday.

I'm anxious to see the film that MTV calls “one of the most ambitious documentary film undertakings with a dance music focus," and the times calls "Spinal Tap for the Acid House generation." With great buzz surrounding the film and release, I can only hope the premier it as epic as their dance tracks.

10.15.10 = Too Many Options

10.15.10 = Too Many Options
Are Promoters & Talent Buyers Nervous?

Although 10.15 doesn't fall within the boundaries of this week's Concert Blast, I feel it necessary to draw attention to the overwhelming amount of hipster indie-electro and electronic music in town next Friday. Specifically, I'm talking about the following shows:

LCD Soundsystem, Hot Chip & Sleigh Bells at The Hollywood Bowl

Miike Snow and Mark Ronson's Business International at The Wiltern

Fourtet and Jon Hopkins at The Music Box

Kruder & Dorfmeister, Jason Bentley, J-Boogie at Club Nokia

Grum and Acid Girls at Avalon

Jamaica, Nightwaves, French Horn Rebellion, Parallels @ Echoplex (Tilt 3 Year Anniversary)

LTJ Bukem and Deco at House of Blues

Paul Oakenfold, Chuckie @ The Music Box

I even heard a rumor that the members of LCD Soundsystem will be spinning an after party somewhere too.

Much of the talent performing that night is making the almost mandatory stop in Los Angeles prior to heading North for the Treasure Island Music Festival, although not all of the talent is (Grum, Acid Girls, Nightwaves, French Horn Rebellion, Parallels are not on TI).

Now, you can't fault any of the acts for routing themselves through Los Angeles. Of course they WANT to play here. Of course their agents, management, publicists and fans want them to play here. We are the most important city for music in America these days so it behooves these artists to play here. AND there certainly is an audience to support any one of these acts individually on any given Friday night BUT FOR the immense amount of competition.

There are six different shows that all have some indie electro flavor. Sure some are bands and some are DJs/beatmakers - some more rocker and some more electronicized, some foreign and some domestic. I will accept that there are niche markets each artist attracts. However, I just think the presence of so much market competition will draw away from the crowd at some of these amazing shows and at the very least cause hard decisions. I myself want to go to every show, and yet, I can only physically be at Hollywood Bowl and then maybe Avalon or Echoplex (because those shows will probably go later).

Had the promoters or talent buyers strategically planned for the competition, they may have captured a repeat offender like myself. Friday clearly was not the only night available night. Die Antwoord is coming from Treasure Island Festival to LA for a performance on Sunday. Miike Snow is playing at Club Nokia Thursday too. I'm hitting up Miike Snow at Club Nokia on Thursday night, but that show was announced after their Friday show at The Wiltern. (How those two shows are working from a contractual stand point is absolutely beyond this lawyer (me). At least one of those venues (Wiltern in particular - who announced it first) should have some Radius clause that would, at the very least, prohibit a show within one day within a ten mile radius at a COMPETITOR's venue no less! (If either venue does not have that clause - feel free to contact me about revising your contracts, I have experience in that department).

In addition to the tough decisions next Friday, for any potential attendee that might go to the above shows, if they had already elected to make the jaunt to San Francisco for Treasure Island and are on an indie hipster's budget, there is probably no reason they would go to Hollywood Bowl, The Wiltern, Club Nokia or The Music Box if they had to pay for it. Ticket fees alone might be prohibitively high. Even if they are not on a budget, some fans aren't necessarily down to see the same act twice in back to back days, especially when they are liable to play close to the exact same set (did someone just cough LCD Soundsystem?).

What bothers me the most about 10.15.10 is that, as a former talent buyer myself I feel like some of these venues and/or their talent buyers should have seen the potential conflict and pushed for the shows to be a day or two earlier or Sunday or Monday or Tuesday.

For all I know, maybe these venues got exceptional discounts on the talent on the basis of the market competition. Maybe the buyers got a deal on some of them - like LCD and Miike Snow - because of the fact that they both played the market multiple times in June. However, I'm going to go ahead and assume that didn't happen.

Rather than have the venues suffer at the door, the bar staff suffer from less patrons, and each act and venue overall make less money - it looks like a little more strategic planning may have helped everyone's bottom line.

All that said Tickets are still available for the Hollywood Bowl, The Wiltern, The Music Box, Avalon, Club Nokia and Echoplex.

Meet Signal Path (Playing The Roxy Saturday 9/25)

Over at SUPERGOODMUSIC, we are stoked to have the stellar line-up of Blockhead, Signal Path and Nocando coming to town next weekend. After listening to Signal Path's recently released (AND FREE) album, Imaginary Lines (which you can play at the bottom of this post) we reached out to the artists to learn more and get amped for the upcoming show.

Not only did we discover that Signal Path's Damon Metzner is a cool mo-fo who formerly lived in Michigan, we found out he trained under Galactic's Stanton Moore too!!! Imaginary Lines had me sold on attending The Roxy initially, but armed with the knowledge that Damon is a funk master's disciple, I definitely won't miss a minute next Saturday!

Below is our full interview with Damon from just before he hit the road to tour (first show was last night Seattle), along with a stream of the album. ENJOY :D



SUPERGOODMUSIC: Where did you grow up?

Damon: I grew up in the great city of New Orleans, with a little bit of time in America's High Five: Michigan!



SUPERGOODMUSIC: How did you decide to chase a career in music? When did you give up the typical "day" job?

Damon: I've been bouncing between being a performer and working the music industry side of things since I was 17. The last job outside of either the music industry or performing was at a pizza shop in New Orleans when I was 16.



SUPERGOODMUSIC: Did you go to school for music or take any music lessons growing up?

Damon: I did both. I started out taking lessons with the great teacher Mark DiFlorio in New Orleans who then introduced me to Stanton Moore. Stanton was a gigantic inspiration in my playing and having him take the time to show me a few things was a huge motivator to say the least. I then went on to major in jazz at The University of New Orleans before changing my major to business at The University of Montana.



SUPERGOODMUSIC: Where did the name Signal Path come from?

Damon: Ryan Burnett (guitar production) came up with the name in 2000. It makes sense for an electronic act, no? Haha.



SUPERGOODMUSIC: What is Signal Path all about?

Damon: Signal Path is a musical project created by Ryan Burnett (guitar/production) and myself, Damon Metzner (drums). We try to incorporate deep melodic ideas that wrap around compositionally focused core of intricate rhythm and massive low end. Both Ryan and I draw a lot of influence from american roots music, and try to incorporate those influences with our electronic production. Rhythmically, we definitely identify with a lot of glitch, hip hop and big beat music, but intertwine acoustic instrumentation as well. We regularly incorporate acoustic guitars, mandolins and lapsteel guitars that weave inside synths, massive leads and heavy basslines. Our goal is to produce deeply meaningful unique music that can be both beautiful and intense live.



SUPERGOODMUSIC: What's brewing at the moment?

Damon: Right now we are 100% focused on the recent drop of our free album Imaginary Lines, that came out on September 1st. Getting ready for one of the most exciting headlining tours in our history too. We couldn't be more thrilled to share the stage with some of our favorite artists in the nation including Blockhead, Bluetech, Designer Drugs, EPROM and EOTO. Having the opportunity to perform with artists of this caliber is a HUGE inspiration.



SUPERGOODMUSIC: What makes this tour that you're embarking on different from all your previous ones?

Damon: This tour really stands apart as it's giving us the opportunity to perform music from an album that we spent more time on than any other release. This tour also is allowing us to work with some of our favorite producers in the country.



SUPERGOODMUSIC: When will you be playing LA?

Damon: Saturday September 25th. At The Roxy. We're giving you a pair of tickets to give away. (tweet and mention @supergoodmusic @signalpath & @theroxy for chance to win or e-mail contest@supergoodmusic.com with the Subject: Signal Path)



SUPERGOODMUSIC: When was the last time you played LA? Where? How was it?

Damon: We haven't played in LA since 2007 when we did a run with the Pnuma Trio. We played a place called Fais Do Do. It was a great time for sure. LA throws down.



SUPERGOODMUSIC: Where have you stayed in LA when you've come? Do you have a favorite place? Do you have a favorite spot to hit up to eat?

Damon: Hahahaha - Well, we pretty much always stay at some seedy motel....this one time, naw, forget it.



SUPERGOODMUSIC: Have you had In n Out? Is it the best fast food burger there is?

Damon: I have had In n Out...and although a fantastic burger, I have to say that the Burgerville's in Portland, OR takes the cake for the organic(ish) fastfood chains...I hope I get some free burgers out of this!



SUPERGOODMUSIC: I hope I do too. So, what's next?

Damon: We're focused on making the next several months some of the most positive in the history of the band. We couldn't be more proud of the music we've put out on the new album. We just really can't wait to get on the road and share the music with the fans live. Ultimately, none of this would be possible without their support.



SUPERGOODMUSIC: Anything else you want to let the SUPERGOODMUSIC community know?

Damon: We just really want to thank all the fans. Like I said, NONE of this could happen without them which is one of the reasons why we give the music away for free. Of course we'd like to give props to www.supergoodmusic.com for the opportunity to share these thoughts and help spread the word. We'd also really love to thank all the artists we're fortunate enough to work with including the amazing visual artist Josh Keyes who donated a fantastic piece of art for our use as our album cover.

FULL TOUR SCHEDULE:

09/16/10 Thu - Seattle, WA Nectar Lounge - w/ Blockhead, Nocando
09/17/10 Fri - Bellingham, WA The Wild Buffalo - w/ Blockhead, Nocando
09/18/10 Sat - Portland, OR Refuge - w/ Blockhead, Nocando
09/21/10 Tue - San Diego, CA Casbah - w/ Blockhead, Nocando
09/22/10 Wed - Santa Cruz, CA Moe's Alley - w/ Blockhead, Nocando
09/23/10 Thu - Arcata, CA Arcata Theater - w/ Blockhead, Nocando
09/24/10 Fri - Berkeley, CA Shattuck Down Low - w/ Blockhead, Nocando
09/25/10 Sat - West Hollywood, CA Roxy Theatre - w/ Blockhead, Nocando

10/01/10 Fri - Dallas, TX La Grange - w/ Eprom
10/02/10 Sat - Austin, TX The Parish Room - w/ Eprom
10/09/10 Sat - Denver, CO Ogden Theatre - w/ EOTO
10/14/10 Thu - Minneapolis, MN Cabooze - w/ Sovereign Sect
10/15/10 Fri - Aberdeen, SD VFW Post 42 - w/ Sovereign Sect
10/16/10 Sat - Fargo, ND The Aquarium - w/ Sovereign Sect
10/20/10 Wed - Ann Arbor, MI Blind Pig
10/21/10 Thu - Grand Rapids, MI Founders Brewery.
10/22/10 Fri - St.Louis, MO 2720
10/23/10 Sat - Madison, WI Annex
10/28/10 Thu - Missoula, MT Wilma Theatre - w/ Designer Drugs
10/29/10 Fri - Bozeman, MT Filling Station
10/30/10 Sat - Chattanooga, TN Collective Vision

11/11/10 Thu - Oxford, MS Proud Larry's - w/ Bluetech
11/12/10 Fri - Nashville, TN 12th + Porter - w/ Bluetech
11/13/10 Sat - Asheville, NC Club 828 - w/ Bluetech
11/15/10 Mon - Blacksburg, VA Awful Arthur’s - w/ Bluetech
11/16/10 Tue - Knoxville, TN Southbound - w/ Bluetech
11/17/10 Wed - Raleigh, NC Pour House - w/ Bluetech
11/18/10 Thu - Wilmington, NC Kefi - w/ Bluetech
11/19/10 Fri - Charleston, SC The Pour House - w/ Bluetech
11/20/10 Sat - Atlanta, GA Apache Cafe - w/ Bluetech

12/4/10 Sat - Chicago, IL TBA

FUNKMOSPHERE = Weekend Hangover Cure

Did you wake up with a case of the Mondays this week? Pining for the weekend fun that just ended? Wishing you had just one more night to kick it to some good music and have a few libations? If you did, you should have gone to Funkmosphere at Carbon last night. AND, we basically recommend you go there every week...

For 4 years, Dam Funk, the rising Stones Throw artist, has been holding down Carbon in Culver City, CA on Monday nights with a plethora of electro-funk boogie records. B-boys routinely show up to display their talents and battle with both friends and dance foes. 45 fans and electro-boogie-funk lovers line the bar with $5 or less beers and flat brims while they absorb the 70s sounding grooves and observe the flailing bodies on the dance floor. Once the clock strikes midnight, you're certain to see someone get served - and quite possibly by one of the spectacular b-girls that gracefully whip the competition into shape.

The night is always FREE, and on this particular Monday - the Funkmosphere crew was celebrating Egyptian Lover's birthday. As seen above, Peanut Butter Wolf was in the house and spinning the fire for the mostly 'regular' crowd along with Dam Funk.

What is remarkable about the Funkmosphere event is that it is an untapped resource of awesomeness; despite its 4 year tenure, the amazing music and ambiance - it doesn't get to capacity. It certainly gets crowded (usually by regulars) and it can get hot indoors if it weren't such a cool summer, but there is always enough space for the dancers to put the moves on.

So, if you are looking for something to cure your weekend blues or simply spice up the start of your week - we have no better recommendation than Funkmosphere. If you are looking to meet some cool people and possibly new friends who could teach you some amazing dance moves - go there. The crowd of 21+ electro boogie funk lovers are a friendly bunch; their love for the music is infectious and they are happy to share their appreciation with others. The DJs love for the scene, especially the host's, is infectious too. The dancing is absolutely breathtaking - it makes you wish you were remotely close to that good. Combine all those elements at a cool, relatively inexpensive bar and you just got one Damn Funky event.

Funkmosphere is a FREE electro-funk boogie event that takes place every Monday at Carbon on Venice Blvd. - 9300 Venice Blvd. FYI, If you were a fan of the old Starshoes bar on Hollywood Blvd. and the funky shows that would go down there with DJ Miles, this is a similar substitute BUT with better dancing.

Empire of The Sun Loses U.S. Virginity

The Australian music sensation, Empire of The Sun, have finally made their way to the United States....and they chose LA to be their first epic run of concerts with 4 straight nights at The Music Box.


Having first performed in the states at Lollapalooza on August 6th, Luke Steele and Nick Littlemore are basically virgins to how U.S., no less Los Angeles and the west coast, do our indie electro jams. However, from what I've heard, they were prepped to deliver and are performing indie-electro anthems in an atmosphere described as a "a balls to the wall rave party."

If you think you don't know this band, you just don't know them by name. You've heard their songs at the club, remixed or not, for the last two years, especially here in LA. I even remember the first time I heard "Walking On A Dream," I had to know who that was. The Australian duo has been riding in fantasy land ever since their 2008 album, Walking On A Dream, on the strength of the title track, "We Are The People" and "Standing on The Shore." The latter, which repeats "Don't want to talk. All I hear is noise," reflects exactly how I hope to be at their concert.

I'm pretty upset that I am not going to be at Henry Fonda to see any of these local shows. I'm saving my virgin eyes and ears (and my cash) for their Sunday night Outside Lands closing set.

Check out more EOTS music, including lots of remixes, by following links on this hypem search: http://hypem.com/#/search/empire+of+the+sun

HARD Weekend...

After jumping through some hoops to acquire the HARD press pass, I finally parked near the LA State Historical Park and waded through the sea of people that was the raver task force and potential concert attendees. Before I could even enter the event, the first "did I just see that?" experience occurred, when a pedestrian was struck by a car.

The police were certainly out in full force; the city made it quite clear that they were going to amp up their police presence with the raver task force and not tolerate a lot of the shenanigans that were routine at EDC (i.e. teenagers doing ecstasy). As a result of concentrating police efforts on eradicating drugs from the concert going experience (has that ever worked?) the city's boys in blue just weren't patrolling street traffic. Maybe if the cops spent more time doing what they had done at EDC (direct traffic) and less time fulfilling the calling of the raver task force (make drug related arrests), the victim of this accident wouldn't have been carried away on a stretcher. While I understand the motives for the city to make a strong showing against underage drinking and drug consumption in light of the death at EDC, I'd prefer to see the city direct the resources toward a problem they can actually control (traffic congestion and pedestrian foot traffic) than one that they cannot (drug consumption).

Once I finally got inside the venue, I b-lined to the alcohol area because it had been a good two hour ordeal just to do the damn thing and I felt like celebrating. I drowned my sadness over missing The Twelves and Breakbot with a little bit of hoppy nectar and sought to find some good photo subjects and a good vantage point for Diplo.

The alcohol control was admittedly a lot more under control than it had been at EDC, so props to the HARD organizers for keeping the tweener set away from the booze for the most part. Inside the tent, I had the pleasure of bumping into some cats from the Jungle Riddim and Media Contender camp. We chopped it up while indulging in Diplo at the main stage - who was creating some impressively hard dubstep that I did not expect from him.

As the sun faded down, I thought it would be wise to see what was up at the dubstep stage. Meandering through the sea of candy flippers, girls in yeti boots, rolling rollers and teenagers womp stepping, I stumbled into John, better known as the rising star 12th Planet.

A Rolling Roller

12th Planet (yellow & black plaid)

Benga

After kicking it over some drinks with 12th, Benga and the entourage, and absorbing the electro-dub-compositions of Flying Lotus (his set was spectacular and J Dilla inspired), I felt a bit of a need to get my dance on. Luckily for me - this girl in the pink had the same idea and we battled (check out my dougie!).

Boom D dance off

After turning heads with wicked dancing in the alcohol tent, I ventured out to the teenage zone to see if I might have other challengers or another b-boy-esque cypher to join. With attendees focused on the LED screens and the headlining acts, I didn't find the competition I was looking for. But, I made a handful of new friends, saw some shining faces and ended the night with some fantastic music (Soulwax).

Can only hope the rest of the tour goes off as it did on Saturday and that the next HARD LA event has as interesting of a line-up...

The Electro Majic Invasion

(Keith Masters at El Cid - photograph by Matt Roznovak)

(Keith Masters & Futurecop! are ELECTRO MAJIC; photograph by Matt Roznovak)

So, Keith Masters and Futurecop! descended upon Los Angeles delivering their futuristic, dream-wave, synth based electro majic music to three hungry crowds before going back into orbit and heading to San Francisco.

I had the pleasure of kicking it with the rising MC and production team all weekend and took in all three of their shows (El Cid was probably my favorite). Futurecop!'s album release is slated for the summer and will feature a smattering of songs that include Keith Masters, but look for a full on Masters and Futurecop! ELECTRO MAJIC release sometime not too far after that. Their genre melting music can already be heard on the internet and seen on our youtube channel with songs like "88 Girls" and "Teenage Love."

Below is a sampling of pictures from La Cita and El Cid (we ran out of batteries at 14 Below).

(Manz of Futurecop! at El Cid - photograph by Matt Roznovak)

(Keith Masters at La Cita - photograph by Brandon "Boom D" Dorsky)

(Keith Masters & Futurecop! are ELECTRO MAJIC at El Cid - photograph by Brandon "Boom D" Dorsky)

(Kam & Futurecop! [Manz & Peter] at La Cita - photograph by Brandon 'Boom D' Dorsky)

(Keith Masters, Nicole and Manz of Futurecop! at El Cid - photograph by Matt Roznovak)

(Manz of Futurecop! - photograph by Matt Roznovak)

Check out more from these artists on their respective myspace pages and twitters.

For Keith Masters - go to www.myspace.com/keithmasters and www.twitter.com/keithmasters

For Futurecop! - go to www.myspace.com/thefuturecop and www.twitter.com/futurecopx