PAN label throws PAN_ACT festival in NY and Boston with Laurel Halo, Keith Fullerton Whitman, Eli Keszler, and more (apparently everyone is hanging out without me)

By Taylor Peters on May 16 2013

Chalk this one up to neuroses confirmed: PAN is hosting a festival in New York and Boston from June 14 through June 29, and no one even texted me about it! It’s not like I’m hurt or anything. I’m just sitting here at home, all alone, catching up on Homeland and eating literal buckets of yogurt, sobbing occasionally. The event is called PAN_ACT, and it’ll feature a whole array of performances, talks, and art installations, all curated to explore “parallel strategies in conceptual art, underground dance, and experimental music.” Ugh. I could totally show you all a text message right now from like two months ago when PAN’s head honcho Bill Kouligas was all like, “Dude, exploring parallel strategies in conceptual art is totally our thing.” Now he’s not even responding to my Gchats.

Moment of blazing honesty: the lineup for this event is good enough to make me cry tears so big and earnest that they would tunnel all the way down to the fruit at the bottom of this yogurt cup. For starters, you’ve got the pioneering minimalist composer Catherine Christer Hennix who will open the festival on the 14th with an installation in the ISSUE Project Room. Then on the 18th, she’ll give a talk, and on the 19th, she’ll perform at the closing of her installation. And that only scratches the surface! Throughout the length of the event, artists like Thomas Brinkmann, Rene Hell, Eli Keszler, Jar Moff, Keith Fullerton Whitman, Ben Vida, Rashad Becker, Laurel Halo, and Kouligas himself will perform. All in all, the fest features 16 events across multiple venues, and it’s making me very emotional.

For more details and to purchase tickets starting May 20, visit the ISSUE Project Room Site. Be forewarned, however, since there’s no telling what sort of emotional domino effect the page may initiate in you. Me, I only just managed to pull myself out of a 12-hour cycle of weeping and gnashing of teeth that has converted my molars into worthless stubs. The doctor says I’ll probably have to eat through a straw for the rest of my life, which is actually pretty okay with me, since I LOVE milkshakes.

• PAN: http://www.pan-act.com
• ISSUE Project Room: http://issueprojectroom.org
• Goethe-Institut: http://www.goethe.de/enindex.htm

Groundislava is bringing along oOoOO on a US ToOoOOur, releasing a remix EP to kick it oOoOOff

By Ryan Simpson on May 16 2013

It took a second to figure out exactly what Groundislava’s name meant. Only upon seeing the cover for his first album did the reference to the ubiquitous childhood game make sense. This is actually reflected in the music as well, if one listens with the right set of ears, which contrasts interestingly with the generally more adult subject matter and content of touring mate oOoOO. Perhaps that’s exactly what they were going for: a representation of the whole of human experience wrapped up in an electronic music show. Such a concert is a bold statement, definitely not the result of apophenia.

Perhaps the key to this enigmatic series of nine performances lies in Groundislava’s new remix EP, Treasure Chest. His choice to remix other more pop-oriented tracks, instead of making the compilation all about him, speaks to a “big picture” view. Choosing tracks to remix with names like “Wide Awake,” “Adorn,” and “Super Bass” definitely indicate that there is something else, some shady ulterior motivation, to this EP.

Oops. Hold on. Medication time.

So ummm, go see Groundislava and oOoOO when they come around. And check out the remix EP. What… what just happened?

Treasure Chest tracklisting:

01. Time Alone
02. Miguel “Adorn (Groundislava Cool Mix)”
03. Katy Perry “Wide Awake (Groundislava Cool Mix)”
04. Jamie Foxx & T-Pain “Blame It (Groundislava Cool Mix)”
05. Utada Hikaru “Sanctuary (Groundislava Cool Mix)”
06. Trey Songz & Drake “Successful (Groundislava Cool Mix)”
07. Supa Blanco “I Bet I Do (Groundislava Cool Mix)”
08. Nicki Minaj “Super Bass (Groundislava Cool Mix)”
09. Shlohmo “Ghosts pt. 2 (Groundislava Cool Mix)”
10. Errors “Relics (Groundislava Cool Mix)”
11. Kanye West ft. Jay-Z & Big Sean “Clique (Groundislava Cool Mix)”

05.16.13 - Red 7 - Austin, Texas
05.30.13 - Glasslands - Brooklyn, New York
06.01.13 - Lincoln Hall - Chicago, Illinois
06.04.13 - Dim Mak - Hollywood, California
06.05.13 - El Corazon - Seattle, Washington
06.06.13 - Fortune Sound Club - Vancouver, British Columbia
06.07.13 - Mississippi Studios - Portland, Oregon
06.08.13 - Hi Fi Club - Calgary, Alberta
06.22.13 - Bounce Festival - Twain, California

• Groundislava: https://soundcloud.com/groundislava
• oOooOO: https://soundcloud.com/ooooosounds

Google announces Google Play Music All Access, inciting Tron-esque laser bike fight over user base that wants everything for free

By Taylor Peters on May 15 2013

Waaaaayyy back in February, we sorta casually mentioned — in that off-hand manner you’ve come to love/expect from TMT — that Google was maybe almost possibly kinda hinting that they just might be launching a streaming music service similar to the likes of Spotify, Pandora, and whatever site your local tweens use to rip music off of YouTube.

Well, folks, we were right! You know how the saying goes: even a clock made out of weird mangled scrap metal is occasionally right if you interpret the facts charitably. As announced at Google’s I/O conference in San Francisco, it turns out the service is going to be called Google Play Music All Access, and it’ll come with a whole host of features like a personal library, music recommendations, and radio. It’ll be $9.99 a month, but if you sign up before June 30, that price will be reduced to $7.99, and everyone gets a free 30-day trial.

There’s been an exhausting amount of speculation flitting around the internet the last few days, some of which sounded legitimate and some of which did not (some dude on Twitter told me that the streaming service was going to involve actual robots coming to your house and futzing with your stereo for an hour before giving up and telling you to “Just call the damn Geek Squad”). According to The Verge, the streaming service will be based on licensing deals with Warner Music Group (which was already announced by The Financial Times earlier this year), Sony Music Entertainment, and Universal Music Group. The Wall Street Journal reports that YouTube has apparently been vying for licensing deals of its own because, you know, internet battles. Because of Google’s hulking girth, this new service will likely act as a throwing down of the gauntlet for companies like Spotify and Pandora. Not to mention for Apple, who recently delayed the release of their own streaming service.

No word yet on how the service will be integrated with Google Glass, though sources are still reiterating constantly that “Google Glass are literally the best way to pick up women at a bar ever, hands down, forever.”

• Google: http://www.google.com

Drag City to release Andy Kaufman comedy record this summer! Bang, zoom, man on the moon!

By Nobodaddy on May 15 2013

For decades now, the debate has raged on: is comedy even really funny? Leading authorities in the discipline, such as Adam Sandler, Jimmy Fallon, and of course the last 15 years’ worth of Simpsons episodes, have argued fastidiously (albeit somewhat pedantically) that it is not. But if that’s the case, how does one account for guys like Andy Kaufman, a man SO FUNNY that people even thought it was a joke when he up-and-died in 1984! Hahahaha! LOL! You know, now that you mention it, though, that doesn’t seem so funny to me. Huh.

Anyway, Kaufman blazed one heck of a trail in his campaign to promote comedy’s funniness to be sure, but one of the things he never actually got around to was putting out a comedy record. Luckily, he did record a bunch of shit on the newfangled micro-cassette tapes that he reportedly carried around with him all over the place from 1977-79, accruing some 82 hours of “put-ons, falsehoods and other provocations” and “pushing the limit on logic and emotional investment in everyday situations from the trivial to the deeply personal until any suspension of disbelief is out of the question for all involved, and everyone becomes fully immersed in whatever scenario Andy is suggesting as the new reality.” Wait a minutes, that kinda doesn’t sound funny at all. Sounds intense and awkward… ahhh, which maybe… is why it’s so FUNNY! Right?

Right! And leave it to the hilarious bunch at Chicago’s Drag City label to cull through those tapes and release the best of that never-before-heard stuff on a new album, Andy and His Grandmother, that they’re releasing on July 16. With the help of expert writer, producer, and comedian Vernon Chatman (South Park, Wonder Showzen, Xavier: Renegade Angel, The Heart She Holler, Doggie Fizzle Televizzle, and previous Drag City DVD Final Flesh) and editor Rodney Ascher (director of Room 237), all that “stuff” got magically whittled, shaped, produced, and transmuted into something better than stuff: “stuff for sale.” Isn’t that hilarious? Sounds like comedy’s funniness is about to make a comeback. SNL’s Bill Hader provides narration, and liner notes are provided by Chatman and Kaufman associate Bob Zmuda. Now I’m really rolling on the floor and laughing. Are you?

Andy And His Grandmother tracklisting:

01. Andy Is Making A Record
02. Andy And His Grandmother
03. Andy’s Land Live
04. Andy Loves His Tape Recorder
05. Slice Of Life
06. Andy Goes To the Movies
07. Kick In the Pants
08. Andy Can Talk to Animals
09. I’m Not Capable Of Having A Relationship
10. Hookers
11. Andy And His Grandmother Go For A Drive
12. Sleep Comedy
13. [HONK] vs. [DOG] A
14. [HONK] vs. [DOG] B
15. Andy Goes For A Taxi Ride
16. Andy’s English Friend Paul
17. I Want Those Tapes

• Andy Kaufman: http://andykaufman.jvlnet.com/core.htm
• Drag City: http://www.dragcity.com