North Coast Music Festival 2012 Preview

Labor Day Weekend marks a last hurrah for music lovers in the Windy City and the crew running North Coast Music Festival has made sure there is a “little something for everybody” in this years line up. This is the third year of NCMF hosted at Union Park in Chicago, IL and the first act takes to the stage at 2:00 p.m. sharp. If you haven’t already bought your tickets, good luck! All but 3-Day VIP tickets have been sold out; if you’re lucky you can catch some of the after party’s going on throughout the city. Headliners include Pretty Lights, Girl Talk, STS9, and hometown heroes, Umphrey’s McGee. And when I mentioned there is…

Day Three – Electric Forest

Photos by e.Tree Photography It seems as if everyone and their mother went a little too hard on Friday night because everything seemed to run a bit slower come Saturday afternoon. Of course that is to be expected when Steve Aoki and DIM MAK play into the early hours of the morning and its a little difficult to avoid the “WOOP WOOP” when you’re staying in general camping. Yet come 5:30 p.m. on Saturday when Santigold took the stage, the party (including myself) seemed to regain that second wind. Santigold was a must see on my schedule for the weekend though she seemed a bit reserved, flowing lightly across the stage and making hand gestures…

STS9 Returns to NYC

NEW YORK, NY – Saturday October 22nd Sound Tribe Sector 9 will return to New York City’s Best Buy Theater for their first NYC performance since August of 2010. During that two night stand they treated New Yorkers to an  “Axe The Cables” acoustic set at the The Blender Theater before heading to the Roseland Ballroom the following night-(full setlists below.)  Their current 24-city fall tour will be in full swing following 2 sold out performances at Colorado’s famous Red Rocks Amphitheater (saw the two Red Rocks Shows – SICK – ed.) where the band was joined by Snoop Dogg, Savoy and LTJ Bukem. STS9 first played NYC in 1999  at now defunct Wetlands Preserve. …

Review: North Coast Music Festival 2011

Words by Erica Treais, Photos by Erica Treais, Eric Rademacher & Chris Monaghan In it’s second year as the end of summer Labor Day blow out, Chicago’s North Coast Music Festival played host to more than 60 acts over the three days, with Saturday and Sunday both selling out according to promoters. Located on the west side of Chicago at Union Square Park (also the home to Pitchfork), North Coast featured electronic headliners straddling sets between jam band faithful and everything in between with a hip-hop “it” boy and indie heartthrobs making appearances. The lineup again showcased up and coming Chicago artists like Van Ghost, Future Rock, Orchard Lounge, Midnight Conspiracy and Mario Florek alongside…

Five Must See Shows @ North Coast

                      BTJ’s Five Must See Shows At North Coast Thievery Corporation – For DJ’s Rob Garza & Eric Hilton, Thievery Corporation’s live show has ballooned to much more than a DJ show. Sure the two are still poised behind the turntables, but with a massive live band surrounding them and a slew of vocalists to drive different styles their live show show is always varied and entertaining.                   Where & When: Sunday 10pm Red Bull – Sunday Late Night Show @ The Congress RJD2 w Break Science – RJD2 looks to find the sweet spot between the energy of a live band and a DJ set,…

Festival Preview: North Coast Music Festival

Chicago may be the Second City, but with a diverse selection of food, music and art, the culture is never second rate.  It is the home to countless music and art festivals spread throughout the streets and parks, all alongside plenty of nightlife.  This summer has been no different, as once again we’ll get ready for the second incarnation of the North Coast Music Festival.  This year’s lineup leans on the electronic and indie scenes boasting names like Fatboy Slim, David Guetta, Bassnectar, STS9 (Sound Tribe Sector 9),Gogol Bordello and of Montreal. Also current festival regular Wiz Khalifa, Latryx (Lateef The Truth Speaker & Lyrics Born)and Common will satiate fans looking for their hip-hop fix….

STS9 Late-night set at the Barn – Summer Camp 2010

STS9′s inclusion in Summer Camp may have been due to the fact that these old guys create soundscapes on a grand scale. Traditional late-night fare, STS9′s blend of electronica with live instruments makes them doubly enjoyable.  They rocked the house past 3AM and even did an encore. The room was a bit too full for my tastes, and the way that this venue handles photo passes meant that there were none – STS9 forbid any media from accessing “the pit” at the front of the stage. I’m not sure why artists/management/show staff do this thing other than for a power trip.  It’s not like the drunk girlfriends/jail bait that you miracle’d with passes are worth…

STS9 Live @ The Town Ballroom 10.17.09 | MP3

STS9 is lighting up clubs across the east coast this fall with it’s unique blend of funk, jazz, drum and bass, instrumental rock, and electronic music. We’ve never seen a psychedilic rock experiment of this caliber executed to such perfection as we did this past week at Buffalo’s best indoor venue, the Town Ballroom in Buffalo, NY. Take a listen to a few tracks from the show below. Oh Little Brain: The Rabble: To grab the MP3 files now click HERE. For the lossless files head over to The Archive. Setlist: Set 1: This, Us > One A Day > 118 > The Rabble > Oh Little Brain > Bigs intro > Bigs cont >…

All Good Festival 2009 Initial Lineup – Ben Harper, Ratdog, moe.

Tickets are now on sale for 3 days of anything goes music, art, camping, & loving. The festival returns to Marvin’s Mountain top in Masontown, West Virginia July 9-12th. This is the festival 13th year. I’m stoked to see that NY natives Donna The Buffalo will be making the trip down the weekend after they host the Great Blue Heron Music Festival in Sherman, NY. Here’s the initial lineup with many more bands to be announced: Ben Harper & Relentless 7, Bob Wier & Ratdog, moe. STS9, Les Claypool, YMSB, Teal Leaf Green, Buckethead, Soja, Bassnectar, Steve Kimock Crazy Egnine, The New Mastersounds, Donna The Buffalo, Ivan Neville’s Dumpstafunk, Todd Snider, Cornmeal, Trombone Shorty &…

RollingStone Magazine’s Top 10 Jam Bands

Rolling Stones Magazine recently let its readers vote for best Jam Bands of all time. Surprisingly the Allman Brothers narrowly beat out the Grateful Dead. 1. Allman Brothers Band 2. The Grateful Dead 3. Phish 4. Umphrey’s McGee 5. moe. 6. Widespread Panic 7. Led Zeppelin 8. My Morning Jacket 9. Dave Matthews Band 10 Gov’t Mule 11. Jimi Hendrix 12. String Cheese Incident 13. Santana 14. Disco Biscuits 15. STS9 Source: http://www.rollingstone.com