Festival Updates

First: 

Just announced was the lion's share of this year's Blip Fest - a lineup that features artists from such exotic locales as China, Australia, France, Japan, and New Jersey. Boasting a stylistic range that's difficult to pigeonhole or classify, this year's selection of performers will be offering up sounds & images that are smooth, classy, abrasive, aggressive, dancefloor-friendly, thought-provoking, and above all, always intriguing.

Scheduled to appear at Blip Festival 2011 are:

· A.M.U · Anamanaguchi · BEASTMODE · Bit Shifter · Chipzel · cTrix · exileFaker · Henry Homesweet · M7Kenji · NNNNNNNNNN · NO CARRIER · Noisewaves · Nullsleep · Party Time! Hexcellent! · Tristan Perich · Stagediver · Peter Swimm · Talk To Animals · 

Ten Thousand Free Men & Their Families · Ultrasyd · visualicious · Wet Mango · Zen Albatross ·

…with additional performers and supplementary events to be announced. Be sure to check our newly-launched website at http://www.blipfestival.org/ (designed by Entter) for full info about the performers and the event.

+ FESTIVAL PASSES ON SALE NOW +
Three-day festival passes: Available now [http://blipfestival.org/2011/info/tickets/]Individual, single-night passes: On sale April 19th.

++ SEE YOU THERE! ++
May 19-21 2011 at Eyebeam · http://www.eyebeam.org
540 West 21st Street, New York NY 10011 US map: http://goo.gl/ju6DT

Second:

48,000 music fans can't be wrong. North Coast Music Festival's maiden voyage proved a success, with fans, families and freaks descending upon Chicago's Union Park for three days of arts, culture and cause during Labor Day Weekend 2010. With the Monday holiday giving festival goers a day to recuperate, organizers have again chosen Labor Day weekend 2011 (Friday, September 2 - Sunday, September 4, 2011) for their progressive serving of electronica, MCs, jambands and everything in between.

Keep your eyes on [www.northcoastfestival.com] for ticket on-sale and initial artist announcements dropping on April 16, 2011.

Initial presale tickets are priced as follows:
Single-Day Passes - $40
Three-Day Passes - $95

Designer Drugs Album Release PAaaarrrrtttyyyy

DESIGNER DRUGS ALBUM RELEASE PARTY

with

DESIGNER DRUGS

MUSTARD PIMP

VIKING

Tonight! Friday March 4 at Webster Hall

Designer Drugs are releasing their new album 'Hardcore Softcore', which means, of course, that an album release party is in order... so that's what you are getting this Friday at Webster Hall. Designer Drugs will be deejaying, alongside the excellent Mustard Pimp (who we have had our eye on for some time now). One of our favorites, VIKING, will also be spinning - rounding off a night of bone-rattling electro...

See you there...

$5 BEFORE MIDNIGHT WITH RSVP: CLICK HERE

Webster Hall: 125 E11th St between 3rd & 4th Ave.s
Doors 10pm. 19+ w/I.D.

Empire of the Sun @ Terminal 5

Whoa. What an excellent show! Its obvious that EOTS would have put everything out there for their second show State side EVER, but this was just way, way, way past what I expected from a performance especially in a venue as small as T5.

The Australian trio rocked the house with its catchy 80's transplanted electro driven songs which, I think, were defiantly trumped by the eye-popping visual show with elaborate choreography and bizarrely clad backup dancers. The show was something akin to a wet dream lady gaga may have if she was on an existential trip with her own id in some futuristic interpretation of Japanese vernacular culture.

 They played some of the hits and some of the b-sides all with intense interludes of highly vivid visions of the inter-workings of the universe from the earth to the cosmos as seen in the beginning of their latest rendering for the song "Standing on the Shore". I recommend checking them out (at any sized venue) as they will surely bring the mess with your mind visuals and the dance-able tunes. Enjoy live footage of "Walking on a Dream" from the show below!

Freedom Tunnel Reclaimed W/Street Art

ya'll remember dark days? Well that shanty town was evicted and the tunnel has been reclaimed but the residents left some fantastic art! Who wants to go exploring in this Moses Monstrosity this weekend?!

Filmed and cut by Carlito Brigante

fyi: check out this blog crustypunks for interesting biopics of various street travelers...

Pulsewave NYC- 8/29

Three years ago in downtown Manhattan, the first Blip Festival proved that the New York chiptune scene is strong and unstoppable. After all this time, the scene keeps growing and getting stronger. Join them as they and NYC say goodbye to 2 Player Productions at their last Pulsewave before they move to the West Coast. True to form, they're leaving us all with a parting gift in collaboration with 8bitpeoples:

This night marks the official release of the long awaited and much-guessed at catalog number 8BP100. In celebration, this will be a special, extra-long Pulsewave with a whole host of surprises and treats, including:

A 7 PM special screening of 2 Player Production’s documentary “Reformat the Planet 1.5",

8 PM Open mic,

8BK-ok, Covox, Touchboy and Bud Melvin with visuals by J.Y.K., Dave Mauro and VBLANK.
And DJ sets from Natty and C-Tor between each act so the music never stops.

Saturday- The Tank, NYC (W 45th St) starting at 7pm
Presale tickets are available here



WHO'5 G0ING?

Art on Top of the World

Judith Supine's "Above the City in a Summer Night Dream" On Top Of The Williamsburg Bridge

[Via Wooster Collective]

[Images S. Duncan]

Central Park Summer Stage Line Up

And they are…

Friday, June 12, 8pm - Josh Ritter & The New York Pops
Saturday, June 13, 3pm - Smokie Norful, Tye Tribbett
Wednesday, June 17, 7:30pm - Wally Lamb & Zoe Heller
Thursday June 18, 7:30pm - Sharon Olds & Thomas Sayers Ellis
Friday, June 19, 8pm - Comedy CP (Gabriel Iglesias & Pablo Francisco)
Saturday, June 20, 3pm - Definitely Poetry
Sunday, June 21, 3pm - Fete De La Musique, Yannick Noah
Saturday, June 27, 3pm - Istanbulive: The Sounds & Colors of Turkey
Sunday, June 28, 3pm - Ledisi/Esperanza Spalding, Jonathan Batiste
Sunday, July 5, 3pm - Oumou Sangare, Les Nubians
Wednesday, July 8, 7pm - Juana Molina, Curumin & El G (ZZK)
Saturday, July 11, 3pm - Los Fabulosos Cadillacs & Eric Bobo
Sunday, July 12, 3pm - Family Day! (DJ Lance Rock & Brobee, Iza Trapani)
Monday, July 13, 8pm - The Metropolitan Opera Summer Recital (Paulo Szot)
Saturday, July 18, 3pm - Q Tip, Chester French, Little Dragon & Benji B
Sunday, July 19, 3pm - Alpha Blondy & The Solar System, Lee “Scratch” Perry
Friday, July 24, 7pm - Bettye Lavette, Budos Band
Saturday, July 25, 3pm - Jerry Rivera & N’Klabe
Sunday, July 26, 3pm - Ginuwine, Joe & Chico DeBarge
Friday, July 31, 8pm - RIOULT & Germaul Barnes/Viewsic Expressions
Saturday, August 1, 3pm - M. Ward & Mike Watt & Nels Cline
Sunday, August 2, 7pm - Cine Fest Brasil
Monday, August 3, 8pm - Bela Fleck & Toumani Diabate
Wednesday, August 5, 7pm - I Am Cuba
Thursday, August 6, 7:30pm - Asbury Shorts: The World’s Best Short Films
Friday, August 7, 8pm - Dayton Contemporary Dance Company
Saturday, August 8, 3pm - Boys Noize
Sunday, August 9, 3pm - Jazmine Sullivan, Chrisette Michele & Jon B
Friday, August 14th, 8pm - The Wheeldon Company & M. Wainwright
Saturday, August 15th, 8pm - The Wheeldon Company & M. Wainwright

The Writers Bench

The Writers Bench is an important symbol due to its historical function as a place where writers could meet each other and exchange important information. This new “unsanctioned project" that utilizes the “camouflage of design to lend stature and authority to the Writer’s Bench at 149th St and Grand Concourse” is not only fitting, but in many cases necessary. Artists Erik Burke and Yale Wolf have been putting up faux "SubTalk" posters in stations and even installed a plaque at the legendary Writer’s Bench. The first writers bench was formed in 1972 in the w 188th st. in Manhattan. around 1975 a writers bench was formed at the 149th st and Grand concourse subway station in the Bronx. this bench was an idea place for writers to go piece watch because the 2 4 and 5 lines converged at this station allowing writers to see the artwork displayed on all 3 of these lines.

As a renowned NYC graffiti artist and writer, Daze explained " it was an ideal place for writers to go watch pieces because there was a bridge that connected the uptown and downtown sides and you could see pieces go by on both sides of the train. people would go there to meet each other, but mainly, it just started as a good place to go piece watch."

Many writers' benches flourished in the 70s and early 80s before the city's attack on graffiti finally forced them to dissolve. some of the most notable were the benches at the Atlantic ave and Brooklyn bridge stations. once these benched were established writers would travel to different boroughs in order to meet writers from these areas. although the writers benches have now disappeared, they are remembered as icons that attest to the growth of the graffiti culture and movement.

[info and photos via writers bench NYC]