Category: gigs

PITCHFORK FEST + NEW YORK TROPICAL

This Sunday, July 19, 2009, at precisely 4:30pm, I will play a set at the Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago’s Union Park. I would tell you to come, but Sunday tickets have been sold out for a month.

So my advice is more specific: gather at ‘Balance Stage’, up close and on time! Especially because it’ll be a short “45 minute set – STRICT set length”. (in Band time, 45 minutes is often enough; in DJ time it passes so quickly.) Which means we will have go in deep, together, from the very beginning, at once and completely.

At first I was a bit worried about being the only DJ at a big 3-day festival. I was gonna invite an MC, or a video artist for projections, or a cellist… Then I decided no. I’m just gonna DJ, as I always do, and if I’m not as exciting to watch as, say, every other act at the festival, then that’s that — you should be dancing anyhow. Life in DJlandia evolves via participation (bouncing around, dutty wine, grinding, etc) not spectatorship, in part because the crowd’s energy & responsiveness to certain tunes or moods actually changes what will get played. A feedback loop. A symbiotic relationship.

Put another way: let’s dance!

OR, it’s better to think of DJs a mediums (rather than performers or Artists or whatever). Grabbing the dictionary…

Medium – (1) a substance regarded as the means of transmission of a force or effect (2) a channel or system of communication, information, or entertainment — compare mass medium (3) an individual held to be a channel of communication between the earthly world and a world of spirits (5) a condition or environment in which something may function or flourish.

but mostly, these days, it’s about cumbia. and our homegrown beats. and Kassav’! (Also – where are the cumbia / Mexican music shops in Chicago?)

A week from today I’ll be back home in BROOKLYN, playing the latest installment of New York Tropical. Think hummingbirds.

BROOKLYN WE GO SOFT

this Friday, come join us @ Glasslands in Brooklyn for another installment of the Dutty Artz party, New York Tropical.

Expect cheap dutty fun, populated by healthy pterodactyls and pansexual tiger cubs. We like Glasslands because it’s on the edge of things. I’ve been out of town for the last 4 or 5 of these, am looking forward…

Fri. June 26th BROOKLYN

music by: DJ /rupture. Matt Shadetek. Geko Jones. Lamin Fofana.

Glasslands, 289 Kent. williamsburg $5 before 11pm, $8 after.

RUPTURE STUFF

New York Times love, followed by European tour dates.

first, NYT embraced my Frieze auto-tune essay as “Idea of the Day.”

sona2big

[New York Times: Kyle Dean Reinford/Sonarsound]

And a few days later there appeared a very nice review & photo of my SONAR set. The event was a blast, thanks to everyone who came out (like Lou Reed!) and raved on a Tuesday night.

Jon Pareles’ SONAR review ended with:

“DJ/Rupture played strategically plotted but constantly surprising international mashups: a pitch-shifted “Standing in the Shadows of Love” vocal matched to a dancehall reggae bass line, cumbia accordions cascading over thumping electro beats, “Walk Like an Egyptian” with a sitar line tucked in. His music was plugged into ideas from around the globe; it also got people dancing.”

it was my last NYC gig for a minute — here’s info on my upcoming European tour:

May 29 – Berlin. The Bug w/ Flow Dan, Kid606, DJ Rupture, Sick Girls, Christoph de Babylon. big party!

May 30 – Barcelona. Primavera Sound. big festival! i play on the Pitchfork stage, right after Ghostface Killa.

June 5 – Mulhouse France. w/ CIAFRICA & Babylon Residence.

June 6 – Helsinki. my first time in Finland! Basso festival.

then a series of duo gigs with Andy Moor.

June 9 – Amsterdam. OCCII. w/ Brent Arnold

June 10 – Tilburg. 013

June 11- Den Haag. Paard v Troje

June 12 – Amsterdam. solo DJ set. OT301 Exploder night

June 13 – Brussels. duo set, late nite solo DJ set.

Note: this is not Andy Moor

ruptursvsmoorkopie

This is:

RACE DONT MATTER

bardconf

The train ride out to Bard College is lovely – green things everywhere! water! So the conference happening there this weekend may be worth your while (perhaps especially if you have a car…)

Confronting the ‘Race Doesn’t Matter!’ Moment: Rethinking Race after Obama.

I’ll be participating, alongside folks like Binyvanga ‘How To Write About Africa‘ Wainaina, and the Increasingly Famous Kalup Linzy. The event is only on facebook right now, so here’s the info:

Keynote Speaker: Kendall Thomas, Director of the Columbia University Center for Law and Culture

AVERY AUDITORIUM 12PM-8PM, MPR 8PM+

[12-1]
RECEPTION with complimentary lunch for conference attendees (Salvadorean, Indian, Jamaican)

[1-2:30]
KEYNOTE SPEECH and Q&A with Kendall Thomas

[3-5]
PANEL: Pop Culture, Politics, and the Personal: Confronting the “Race Doesn’t Matter!” Moment

(Kalup Linzy, DJ Rupture, Otis Gaddis Kendall Thomas, Baratunde Thurston, Lara Stapleton, Greta Edwards, Carmen Oquendo-Villar )

[5-6]
DINNER (requires complimentary conference ticket)

[6-8]
PANEL: Race After the “Post-Racial”: De Facto vs. De Jure in Public Space (Law, History, Architecture)

(Jesse Shipley, Tabetha Ewing, Ashwini Sukthankar, Michael Tan, Binyavanga Wainaina , Mitch McEwen)

COFFEE BREAK: change

[[[AFTER PARTY/PERFORMANCES]]]
with Kalup Linzy, DJ Rupture, Sienna Horton, and others

SONAR, RUPTURA, NUEVA YORK

On Tuesday May 12, Barcelona’s heavyweight SONAR electronic music festival arrives for a FREE one-off night here in New York City — first of its kind! Performers include myself, Prefuse 73, Beans and a bunch of friends from Barcelona… gratis but you need to sign-up.

SONAR NYC is part of the monthlong Catalan Days festival, which kicks off today.

cap

& I’ve got a Brooklyn gig before that as well – Friday May 1st, I’ll DJ an Agriculture edition of the long-running Bunker party. It goes down in Brooklyn’s Public Assembly. Quite looking forward to see Raz ‘Badawi’ Mesinai live, haven’t caught a set of his in awhile.

bunker

A MOVER EL BOTE

you’ve got 2 options tonite, Americans.

Mexico D.F.: El Hijo de la Cumbia, Rupture, & Andy Moor DJing! last minute fiesta total.

mx party

NYC. Brooklyn, New York Tropical with special guest vocalists Esau Mwamwaya (The Very Best/Radioclit) and La Yegros (Buenos Aires),. alongside Matt Shadetek, Uproot Andy, Kingdom, Geko Jones. info.

MEXICO CITY SOUNDTRACK

This Thursday Andy Moor & I will provide live soundtrack/accompaniment to:

Manifiesto DF. Films by Jem Cohen.
Salón Juárez, Centro Cultural Universitario Tlatelolco.
Flores Magon 1, Colonia Nonoalco РTlatelolco. M̩xico DF.
26 march 21:30hrs. 150 pesos

sections of the film(s) will also be accompanied by Guy Picciotto (Fugazi), and T Griffin, and Sonido Changorama.

mx

Como resultado de la residencia artística de Jem Cohen en la ciudad de México, se proyectará el retrato fílmico de nuestra ciudad realizado por este singular cineasta. Dj Rupture, Guy Picciotto (Fugazzi), T. Griffin, Andy Moor (The Ex) y Sonido Changorama, se encargarán de musicalizar en vivo dicha proyección.

UPCOMING EVENTS

this month qualifies as crazy.

jetlag

Saturday March 7th, I’m DJing a party in Caracas, Venezuela.

Thursday March 12th, I’ll be speaking @ the Strand alongside Jedediah Purdy and Mark Greif – this is Jed’s evening, as he’s just published his 3rd (!!) book, A Tolerable Anarchy: Rebels, Reactionaries, and the Making of American Freedom. They say: “Purdy will discuss his new book, along with politics, culture and the age of Obama with n+1 editor Mark Grief and DJ /rupture.”

Friday March 13, you can catch me DJing @ Tormenta Tropical in Los Angeles, an amazing club night which the Bersa Discos gang and I will take to San Francisco on March 14th. Bring dancing shoes.

Then it’s back to the east coast as my band Nettle will be in residency at Brandeis from March 19-21, culminating with a public concert on Saturday. In a small triumph — Abdelhak & Khalid were granted visas and Brandeis raised funds after having seen them slashed!! We’ll be a quintet, with Brent Arnold joining us on cello and Grey Filastine on percussion. Artist Daniel Perlin will join in with his live video projections. I love possee creativity. Plus – it’ll be half the band’s 1st time in America – very exciting! If you see Judy or W&W, hug them.

On Thursday March 26th Andy Moor & I will perform together in Mexico City, providing a live soundtrack to the debut of a Jem Cohen film which he shot on 16mm in D.F. this January. (it’s beautiful). The event forms part of a Jem Cohen retrospective. (NYCers can check Jem’s solo show @ Roger Miller gallery, opening on March 19th.)

Cumbia fans take note – El Hijo de la Cumbia will be on tour in Mexico at the same time, and we may do an additional event in D.F.

from Mexico it’s straight to Los Angeles for five days of Postopolis 2.

I’m sure there’s stuff I’m forgetting… See you there! You can remind me of what I’ve forgotten.

BROOKLYN HEATER UPPER

a last-minute late winter celebration:

NEW YORK TROPICAL: OUT & BAD. friday feb 20th.

Bunny Rabbit, DJ /rupture, and Geko Jones. holding it down at some Greenpoint basement, where we’ll bring Grimm’s reggae bassbins to up the bump. como si fuera un house party!

details & flyer in a bit. I will play this song

[audio:Schlachthofbronx-We_Nah_Fraid_Baby_Cham_Demarco.mp3]

Schlachthofbronx – We Nah Fraid (Baby Cham & Demarco)

and probably this one

[audio:Madera Limpia_la lenta_schlachthofbronx_remix.mp3]

Madera Limpia – La Lenta (Schlachtofbronx remix)

A few months ago Geko Jones tipped me off to the above Bavarian heat – Schlachtofbronx, a name we’ll eventually have to learn how to pronounce, because they’re so great. Who knows what tunes he’s got now.

Bunny Rabbit and the Cult of Miracles are bringing “a drum kit”.

THIS IS REAL BECAUSE WE BELIEVE IT IS, they say:

real1