Madison Music Review

Madison's trusted source for all good music - photos, reviews, previews, interviews, and more... The summer festival season is upon us and the shows we've seen this year have been a blast - Movement/Detroit's Electronic Music Festival, Yahara Waterfront Festival, Summerfest, and La Fête de Marquette. We'll continue posting reviews and pictures from the festival season and plenty of great music coming through town and around.

We have all heard about and seen pictures of the tragedy that unfolded at Love Parade in Germany this year. The shock and horror of the moment notwithstanding, it is appalling to see the blame game play out with the authorities and organizers of the parade pointing fingers at the “Techno Movement”… We here at Madison Music Review would like to share our opinion on the matter – BULLSHIT! Chris Liebing, world renowned DJ, producer and artist issued a release earlier today that expresses our sentiments in a more lucid manner:

5 days after the tragic events at the Love Parade in Duisburg / Germany, I would like to share my thoughts in a more detailed statement. First of all I want to again express my sincere compassion for all the relatives and friends of the victims, as well as for the injured and traumatized who will have hard times to recover from what they experienced. I am still shocked about what I have seen and heard so far.

The Love Parade has been developing throughout the 90s, parallel to what I would call the “Techno Movement”. More precisely speaking, the Love Parade has been an expression of this movement. It has been a movement beyond any profit or image seeking ideas, which developed completely self-sufficient out of the underground. It was all about celebrating, dancing and having fun together.

Over the years, the numbers of attendants have been rising, and so have the financial needs. The costs were rising (city cleaning, etc.) and so has the profit (for the community and the others involved), and suddenly there was a certain “image” attached, which brands could use to increase their value. Looking back, it is actually a logical consequence and maybe also easy to recognize, that an event like this would eventually fall into the hands of people who see “celebrating, dancing and having fun together” not as the main reason to host a Love Parade. This would actually still be tolerable, as long as human life would not be endangered, but what happened here is beyond anything one would have ever imagined.

It is absolutely appalling and shocking that the responsible organizers of the Love Parade and the city council in Duisburg have misused the “Techno Movement” with those fatal results. In their striving for image and profit, they have disregarded all measures of control and security and put people who really just wanted to celebrate, dance and have fun together in a situation in which 21 innocent persons had to die and countless have been injured and traumatized. I hope that it will be possible to entirely clear up what has happened and that the guilty persons will be held responsible and punished as soon as possible. But even this will not lessen the caused pain. The least we owe to those who have died and those who got injured, is that we make sure that something like this won´t happen again in the future. New laws and rules won´t really help. We have seen that we can´t even trust those who should make sure that those rules are getting observed.

To really change something, we have to start with ourselves. We as DJs, we have to be even more sure about the “Who” we are playing for and the “Where” we are playing at – only like this, the fans can get a better orientation of where it is worth going and where it is save to celebrate. Basically everybody can change a lot with his or her behaviour in this world. The more alert we go through life, the more conscious we can make choices between good and bad products, services, events or other things. Like this we minimize the scope of action for cold-blooded profiteers.

In memory of the victims of the Love Parade in Duisburg 2010, Chris Liebing
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We’d like to hear your thoughts as well, so please comment

For those of you that are not familiar with Ginderman…the band consists of  Nick Cave (vocals, electric guitar, organ, piano), Warren Ellis (electric bouzouki, Fendocastor, violin, viola, acoustic guitar, backing vocals), Martyn P. Casey (bass, acoustic guitar, backing vocals) and Jim Sclavunos (drums, percussion, backing vocals).  Their last release was very good and I am looking forward to the new album, Ginderman 2 which will be be released on September 13 , 2010.

New Single: Heathen Child
Out 6th September 2010
Includes Super Heathen Child featuring Robert Fripp

Heathen Child, the new single from Grinderman, will be released through Mute on 6th September 2010. The first track available from Grinderman’s new studio album Grinderman 2 (due 13th September / 14th in North America on Anti), Heathen Child will be available as a two-track download, accompanied by exclusive track Star Charmer.

A special Heathen Child Limited Edition double A-side 12″ Coloured Vinyl will offer the two single tracks, a poster, plus the bonus track Super Heathen Child — a collaboration between Grinderman and legendary guitarist Robert Fripp.

Grinderman 2

Limited Edition 12″ Coloured Vinyl w/ poster:

Side A: Heathen Child / Star Charmer
Side AA: Super Heathen Child (w/ Robert Fripp)

Single Download:

1) Heathen Child
2) Star Charmer

Listen to Heathen Child

Read more…

I had been told not to miss the set by The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion at 2010 Pitchfork Music Festival.   Wow, was that ever good advice!

This trio certainly did not let the heat and humidity slow ‘em down…  Again, one of my highlights. Hope you enjoy this sequence.

The Blues Explosion features Jon Spencer and  Judah Bauer on guitars and Russell Simins on drums.

This year, Fred and I finally made it down to the Pitchfork Music Festival at Union Park in Chicago.We were there on Saturday and Sunday, and of course the headliners those nights – LCD Soundsystem and Pavement – were outstanding as expected.

But as usual at these fests, it’s the acts that surprise you that really provide the biggest thrill. One of those bands this year for me was Here We Go Magic. I’ve been their fan since the first time I heard the track Fangela. Their set in Chicago was energetic and sounded great; it was one of my favorite sets of the weekend.

Once again, HWGM has released a video in which they acoustically perform one of their songs.  In this case, its Casual from their most recent release “Pigeons.”

Mahjongg is going to be playing on the Terrace at the Memorial Union on Thursday at 9:30pm. As you probably know, this is one of the best places to be on a hot summer night in Madison. Free music only makes it better.

Mahjongg just released their newest recording on July 20th – The Long Shadow of the Paper Tiger (K Records). This teaser will give you a feel…

They call their style Chicagotronics. And I’ve heard it described as “the most fucked up awesome weird dance music.”  Needless to say, I’m gonna be there.

Fusing staccato bhangra beats of the dhol with funky, soul-filled horns, New York City’s Red Baraat were in town a couple of weeks ago to treat us to some DnB of a different kind. The band claims to be the first and only dhol ‘n’ brass in the States and recreates (with a twist) the music, mood and excitement generated by a marching band that leads a Hindu wedding procession. Baraat is the Hindi word for a marriage procession… somewhat akin to a New Orleans second line. The hour and a half long, high energy set was perfect for a mid-week’s night of dancing with the band providing helpful tips to get some bhangra action going on the dance floor. It is a pity that folks did not show up in numbers that would be more along the lines of a shaadi (wedding). Well, we are hoping the band is back in town this Fall for some more of the percussion-horn-dholki combo, when the baraatis are back in town from summer break.

Another amazing performance by LCDSS. This video really seems to capture the energy from their set on Saturday night.