news – Page 14 – 7th Level Music

Big Ears Festival announces line-up.

Knoxville, Tennessee’s Big Ears Festival has announced its line-up for 2016. The festival is one of the best world music festivals around and brings in a great variety of acts.

Where else are you going to find Laurie Anderson headlining on Sunday, Yo La Tengo playing two sets, Tuareg guitarist Bombino, German psych-rockers Faust, and doom rockers Sunn O))) playing in the same festival (apart from a Levitation show)?

They also have independent films from all over the world scheduled the whole weekend, and tickets for the festival are cheap – $135 (plus fees) for the whole weekend. That’s a steal for this much musical talent from around the globe.

Keep your mind open.

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The Raveonettes create “anti-album.”

The Raveonettes, ever the innovators, have decided to create an “anti-album” by creating and releasing a different single every month of 2016. The first, “The World Is Empty (Without You),” is now available and it’s a neat electro cut they describe on their e-mailing list as “our take on an 80’s Freestyle beat.” Go to their site, subscribe to their e-mailing list, and you can partake of each track as it becomes available.

Keep your mind open.

White Denim now on tour promoting “Stiff.”

Austin, Texas’ White Denim, highly regarded as one of the best live acts out there, has started their spring tour to promote their upcoming album Stiff (due out March 25th). They just rocked the BBC 6 Music Festival, and now they’re back in the United States. You can find all the official tour dates here.

Here’s the new single, “Ha Ha Ha Ha (Yeah)” from Stiff. I look forward to hearing the whole record.

Elephant Stone announce March tour dates and release new single.

Psych rockers (and a favorite band of my wife) Elephant Stone have released a new single, “Where I’m Going,” from their upcoming album Ship of Fools. As my wife put it, “I was hooked in the first five seconds.” The band has mixed a bit of electro into their raga-influenced psych-rock, and it works very well.

They’ve also announced March tour dates. Catch them if you can.

03/10 – Toronto, ON @ Sneaky Dees w/ Champion Lover and Bad Girls TICKETS
03/11 – Indianapolis, IN @ Joyful Noise w/ Vaadat Charigim TICKETS
03/12 – Little Rock, AR @ Vino’s Brew Pub TICKETS
03/14 to 03/17 – Austin, TX for SXSW TICKETS
03/18 – Memphis, TN @ Hi-Tone w/ R. Ring TICKETS
03/19 – Cincinnati, OH @ MOTR Pub TICKETS
03/20 – Brooklyn, NY @ Baby’s All Right w/ Las Rosas and Fascinator TICKETS
04/14 – Montreal, QC @ La Sala Rossa w/ The Mad Alcemy Liquid Light Show TICKETS

Keep your mind open.

Levitation Austin releases daily line-up and additions.

My favorite music festival, Levitation Austin, has released their daily line-ups and additions to the three-day music festival.

I was happy to see the return of France’s Wall of Death, psychedelic rockers Holy Wave, German electro artist Klaus Johann Grobe, and the Arcs (which lets me see one half of the Black Keys, since it’s Dan Auerbach‘s psychedelic band) on Friday.

Saturday’s additions that excite me are electro artist Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith, spaghetti western rockers Federale, electro artist Bayonne, and David J and the Gentlemen Thieves – which might be the closest I ever get to a Bauhaus or Love & Rockets reunion.

Sunday has added (among others) Magic Wands and Ween to the list. I’m keen on hearing the Magic Wands, and I’m sure the Ween performance will be packed.

Single day tickets are also now available. The festival hasn’t announced who will play the Thursday night pre-festival kick-off shows downtown yet, but they’re always worth seeing.

Keep your mind open.

Peter Hook and the Light offer amazing PledgeMusic deal of New Order and Joy Division tracks.

If you’re a fan of Joy Division and / or New Order, you owe it to yourself to check out the PledgeMusic offer now available from (original Joy Division and New Order bassist) Peter Hook and the Light.

“Hooky” and his band performed the entire Joy Division catalogue on May 19, 2015 and recorded the performance. This three-disc live recording is available through the PledgeMusic offer, as are live December 2014 recordings of the New Order albums Unknown Pleasures, Closer, Movement, Power, Corruption & Lies, Low Life, and Brotherhood. You can get all these live albums either in groups of two or all six (plus an orchestral version of Unknown Pleasures) in a special autographed package.

Levitation Vancouver dates announced

The official dates for Levitation Vancouver will be June 16-18, 2016. The shows will take place at Malkin Bowl and downtown venues. No lineup has been announced yet, but we should hear the first batch soon.

Levitation Chicago is March 10-12, 2016 and Levitation Austin, the largest of the Levitation festivals, is April 28 – March 01, 2016. All of them are excellent festivals and shouldn’t be missed.

The Soft Moon start GoFundMe campaign after gear stolen.

Dark wave rocker Luis Vasquez, otherwise known as The Soft Moon, has started a GoFundMe campaign after his band’s van was broken into during a gig in Oakland on January 26th. The total loss was well over $10,000 and included not only instruments and Soft Moon merchandise but also luggage and personal effects.

Please consider donating to help them recoup the loss. Go see them on tour if you can’t make a donation, or at least spread the word about the campaign.

Tour dates as of today:

2/1/16 — Portland @ Holocene
2/2/16 — Vancouver @ Venue
2/3/16 — Seattle @ Barboza
2/6/16 – Denver @ Marquis
2/8/16 — Minneapolis @ Amsterdam Bar & Hall
2/9/16 — Chicago @ Thalia Hall
2/10/16 — Columbus @ Rumba Café
2/11/16 — Toronto @ Lee’s Palace
2/12/16 — Montreal @ La Sala Rosa
2/13/16 — Brooklyn @ Market Hotel
2/14/16 — Brooklyn @ Saint Vitus
2/16/16 — Philadelphia @ Boot & Saddle
2/17/16 — New Haven @ Bar
2/19/16 — Pittsburgh @ Cattivo
2/20/16 — Baltimore @ Ottobar
2/21/16 — Norfolk @ Work Release
2/22/16 — Chapel Hill @ Cat’s Cradle

Don’t miss them if you have the chance to see them. A Soft Moon show is a visceral experience.

Underworld release “I Exhale” from first album in six years.

British house / techno gods Underworld have released “I Exhale,” the first single from their upcoming album Barbara Barbara, We Face a Shining Future. The track is an immediate club hit and brilliant in its simplicity of booming bass and synths, stream of consciousness lyrics, and dance beats. It’s an instant cure to seasonal affective disorder.

You can pre-order Barbara Barbara, We Face a Shining Future (the band’s first album in six years) now. They’ll also be playing Coachella this year, so don’t miss them if you’re out west.