2004

Move over Woodstock — Field Day is on the way. New York’s mid-Hudson Valley, home to the original Woodstock Music Festival and Woodstock ’94, is drumming up another two-day music gathering. This time it will be on the east side of the Hudson River.

New York promoter Andrew Dreskin got the go-ahead last week from the town board in Red Hook to put together the Field Day music and arts festival on Greig Farm, about 45 miles south of Albany in Dutchess County. Dreskin agreed to give the town a dollar for each ticket sold.

Dreskin said there would be 50 to 60 acts, performing either July 16 and 17 or July 23 and 24, 2005, depending on who is signed. He said possibilities include Radiohead, the Beastie Boys and Norah Jones. The show is expected to draw about 35,000 people a day, with three nights of camping.

The promoter staged his first Field Day concert in June 2003 at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., after plans to hold the event in Riverhead, N.Y., collapsed at the last minute. The show featured performances by Radiohead, the Beastie Boys, Spiritualized and Blur.

Source billboard.com.

Acclaimed reggae act John Brown’s Body has signed to Easy Star Records, which will release the band’s fifth album in March 2005. The Boston-based band was previously signed to I-Town/Shanachie, which also released lead singer Elliott Martin’s debut solo album, 2003’s Black Castle.

Songs slated to appear on the new JBB set include a few that have become concert favorites as of late, such as “Bread,” “Shadow” and “Full Control.” The album will be the follow-up to 2002’s Spirits All Around Us.

Source Billboard.

Nikulydin and DJ Tym Ryan will team up tomorrow evening, Sept 21, at the Phoenix Landing in Central Square, Cambridge MA. The free show starts at 9:30pm and in addition to their own sets, both the DJ and band intend to interlock sets in seamless fashion.

Nikulydin channels the energy & vibe of a Rave into a dynamic live sound and light performance using traditional instrumentation & cutting edge technology. Appropriating the styles of transcendental musical forms from shamanic ritual drumming and Indian Raga to the modern-day likes of psy-trance, jungle and house; the musical message is one of hope and unification directed to an increasingly global, yet spiritually fragmented world.

Spontaneous, organic, and underground, the improvisational processes of Nikulydin distill the essences of Trance, House, and Jungle to their pure and rudimentary forms, utilizing the structures for their vehicular capacity to shake the rump and move the soul. Always in real-time, by real people, melodic loops, sonic tapestries, deep grooves, & hip-shakin’ dance beats create Nikulydin.
Nikulydin is a process: an experiment in sound, light, rhythm and melody. The process creates an improvisational musical and visual experience for those who want to move the body and ease the mind.

See nikulydin.com for more info.

Technicians at Sweden’s public television have unearthed an unexpected delight for music lovers

R.E.M. unveiled several songs from its upcoming Warner Bros. album, “Around the Sun” in London last night (Sept. 15) at a secret gig in a London church. Staged and recorded for broadcast by BBC Radio 2, the gig was held at St. James’ Church in Piccadilly, and featured a surprise guest appearance by Radiohead vocalist Thom Yorke of Radiohead.

The show opened with “Animal,” from R.E.M.’s 2003 best-of “In Time,” but thereafter was dominated by material from “Around the Sun,” due Oct. 4 internationally and a day later in North America. After lead singer Michael Stipe quipped to journalists that he didn’t want to see any reviews of the event headlined “Losing Their Religion,” the band performed such new songs as “Wanderlust,” “I Wanted To Be Wrong,” “Final Straw” and the album’s title track

Yorke joined the band for a guest vocal on the 1996 hit “E-Bow the Letter,” while the encore featured new single “Leaving New York” and 1992’s “Man on the Moon.” The show will air Oct. 23 on Radio 2.

R.E.M. has confirmed the U.K. and Irish leg of its 2005 European tour, which will see them play six shows from Feb. 19-26, with other European shows preceding them from Jan. 7-Feb. 11. The band will also play outdoor U.K. shows next summer, including a massive July 9 Hyde Park date.

Source billboard.com.