Blog: ÜberDrivel

ÜberDrivel has taken a backseat as I hibernate until summer. However, I am very proud to announce the launch of a new site for Real Estate Weekly (aka my day job), which you can check out at www.rew-online.com . Might have to switch over to Wordpress myself one of these days. See you when it gets a little warmer.

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Talk about a happy alternative. I had originally planned to see Javelin down at Glasslands on Friday, but upon arriving, I learned it was sold out. So I trudged over to Brooklyn Bowl, figuring the massive place would still have room. Thankfully, it did. I fought my way through the crowd in time to see part of Dinosaur Feathers. The Brooklyn group had just returned from a jaunt to California and were happy to be back. It was an exuberant set, full of multi-part harmonies - although they often were yelps - and a gaudy, piercing synth. [...]

Ewan Pearson New York may be a rock town, but there is a stupendous amount of electronic music over the next two nights. One solid bet is ReSolute 's party featuring Ewan Pearson , who brought his formidable production skills to the last couple Tracey Thorn records. He's also remixed the likes of Ladytron, the Rapture and has a particularly great rework of Cortney Tidwell .. The event will be going down at House of Yes , at 342 Maujer Street near the Grand Street stop on the L train. [...]

Good times as always at the Bunker last week. Ovum boss Josh Wink was on hand, taking over at the front room, but we were mostly in the back, checking a Delsin Records showcase. As usual, things were pitch black and moody, but I've been there so often that it's starting to feel like home. Rest of the photos after jump.

Activision Some sad news: Activision Blizzard has canceled the long-running Guitar Hero series, citing declines in the "music genre" (not to mention the music industry ). The Journal has the company's stock numbers , which don't look great, but the publisher was still the top video game publisher in North America and Europe. Two huge titles from the Blizzard division boosted the company last year, but this cancellation speaks of the eroding interest in what has been a five-year [...]

Head over to DUMBO record shop Halcyon at 57 Pearl Street tonight at 7 pm to catch free DJ sets from Bea Tricks and Tamur Agha. You can also catch a stream of the show at dailysession.com . It's all part of a twice-monthly series called the Bandwagon. More info on today's show at Resident Advisor .

Zandy Mangold Last fall, Drew Norton set off to change the way music videos are made. The filmmaker, whose credits include work for Phantogram and Micachu & the Shapes , was inspired by the emergence of British singer Darwin Deez, who used a green screen to catapult his single " Radar Detector " up the charts. Norton reasoned that a green screen and some technical expertise provided a flexible template for up-and-coming bands, giving them a platform with the potential to [...]

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UberDrivel Podcast 02 by UberDrivel This week, I talk about the Super Bowl, more on Egypt, Walmart, HuffPo and the Daily, along with your weekly concert calendar and music from Robag Wruhme, LCD Soundsystem, Destroyer, Azari & III, and Young Galaxy!

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Citigroup's 399 Park Avenue and EMI's 150 Fifth Avenue, via PropertyShark As the month turned over, Citigroup wasted no time in taking control of EMI. The move came as a surprise to former owner Terra Firma, which was expecting to default on its debt before ceding control to the bank. During the takeover, Citi wrote off $3.5 billion of EMI's debt, leaving it with $1.9 billion, but the improved balance sheet is unlikely to change the label's next step: being sold to the highest bidder. NPR compares the [...]

UberDrivel Podcast 01 by UberDrivel I'm excited to announce a new project! Every Sunday, I'll be releasing an hour-long podcast, covering news of the week, upcoming concerts, and, of course, playing some songs. Eventually I'd like to incorporate interviews and more reporting. Stream it above, and click the arrow on the right to download. I'm definitely eager to improve it, so let me know what you think! More information and links to the various stories mentions below. Egypt: Times [...]

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It's a big night in dance music! First off, Hyperdub boss Kode9 headlines at the Cove in Williamsburg. He was spectacular at the Winter Garden way back in 2008, and this night should be the same. The venue's at 106 North 6th Street (between Wythe and Berry), and entry is free before 11 pm, $5 between 11 and midnight, and $7 after midnight. The price is right! A couple doors down the street, the Bunker guys will be doing their thing. Tonight's [...]

Iron & Wine, headed by Sam Beam, will drop by the Apple Store in Soho for a free set tonight, at 7 pm. It should be a lot more intimate than the band's sold-out show at Radio City Music Hall on Saturday, but will likely be packed. The store has been handing out wristbands for guaranteed entry since yesterday - not sure if those are still available - but my suggestion is, arrive an hour early if you want a good shot of getting in. The band's new album, Kiss Each Other Clean , came [...]

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Add another eagerly awaited release to the 2011 list: Britain's Katy B will drop her first full-length, On A Mission , on March 28. It'll be 12 tracks, including previous singles "Katy On A Mission" and "Lights On," and judging from past work, she'll be incorporating elements of house, hip hop and (yes) dubstep. Although she's been scorching the U.K. charts, Katy hasn't made an impact Stateside just yet, but judging from her fellow Brits Kate Nash and Lily Allen, she's poised to do just that. Now, we just need some local tour dates! Preorder [...]

Wild news tonight: All Tomorrow's Parties annual fall festival is moving from Kutsher's in upstate New York to Asbury Park, N.J., and this year's show, dubbed "I'll Be Your Mirror," will feature Portishead and Jeff Mangum of Neutral Milk Hotel. That's Portishead's first show in the East Coast since 1998, which was, coincidentally the same year that In The Aeroplane Over The Sea was released. Portishead is also curating some ATP shows over the summer, and expected to be in the States around this time. [...]

Last Wednesday, I managed to catch Toro Y Moi at Mercury Lounge, which was even cozier than usually. The venue was packed stage-to-door by the time Toro's early set came around, bobbing to the woozy beats. Singer Chaz Budnick exemplified the laidback nature of his South Carolina roots, cooing into the mic and murmuring words of thanks in between songs. And although nominally a one-man band, Toro Y Moi live is definitely enhanced by Budnick's bandmates (including, it should be said, my friend Andy on drums), pushing the sound into that of a full-formed quartet, rather than the shy bedroom [...]

Last week, the Times reported that Warner Music Group was, as expected , pursuing a bid for EMI, reaching out to the troubled label's debt holder Citigroup. But what was surprising was that Warner had also hired Goldman Sachs to seek potential buyers for itself , a strange "double or nothing" strategy. It appears that Warner's investors, who bought the company from the huge Time Warner conglomerate in 2004, are becoming impatient. They either want the label to expand, likely targeting EMI's lucrative publishing arm, or they want to dump the investment. [...]

In 2007, Chromatics released Night Drive , an evocative, nocturnal trip that was one of the most striking releases of the year. They visited New York a few times since then, but I never managed to catch them until recently, when they played the weekly Girls & Boys party at Webster Hall. Generally, it's a scene and venue I try to avoid - although Webster used to be a solid venue for relatively large indie bands, Terminal 5 has since supplanted it (unfortunately), and I hadn't been there for ages, generally opting for the more intimate venues. [...]

This looks fun! Ghostly shapeshifter Matthew Dear will be DJing a free dance party tonight, in another bash from the folks at Beyond Booking . The venue's at 345 Grand Street, just off the Metropolitan Ave stop on the G, also known as the Lorimer stop on the L. The promoters also promise that the dance floor will light up. More info on the party here .

Coachella just announced its 2011 lineup, and there are the obligatory big names, but it's the smaller ones that really excite me. As it's such a massive festival, you can pretty much take a bucket and dip it into the current pond of indie bands and come up with a pretty good idea of who's playing, as the fake posters indicate. Still, some cool stuff here. A Death From Above 1979 reunion is completely unexpected and awesome, and I'm crossing my fingers that they'll make there way to New York. Also, it's wild to see Mumford [...]