Conspirator (the 4-piece jamtronica band: Marc Brownstein and Aron Magner of The Disco Biscuits, Chris Michetti of RAQ, and KJ Sawka of Pendulum) has scheduled a show on Wednesday, November 21 at New York’s Club 39 to raise money for continued hurricane relief efforts in the devastated NYC-area beach communities.
Conspirator bassist Marc Brownstein singled out the small Long Island city of Long Beach, one of the hardest-hit areas, as “near and dear to my heart” and that’s not only because of his fans who hail from the area. “I am a homeowner and summer resident of the beach town. The recovery is going to be long and hard and we wanted to see if we could pitch in a little.”
100% of the ticket sales will go to relief efforts. There will also be a silent auction at the event and other surprises planned.
Horizon Wireless and other special guests are set to provide support.
This is a great cause and it’s the night before Thanksgiving–a great party night–so come out and party with a purpose. More information and tickets, here,, and you can also choose to donate even if you cannot attend.
The Disco Biscuits and friends invaded The Mann Music Center in Philadelphia last weekend and for a two-day festival called City Bisco.
Let’s start with the good. The venue is a great spot to have a concert, plenty of seating, grass seats, and a balcony, so there are so many great spots to see the show, and when the Biscuits play you know they’re going to bring great lights. The weather held up, too. Each day was beautiful and didn’t get too chilly at night. And the sound at the venue is pretty incredible.
As far as music The Disco Biscuits weren’t bad the first night, but then really shined the second. The guys really seemed to enjoy themselves and were happy to be back in Philly. Barber looked like he was having more fun at a smaller show than he has in years. And the guys seemed to take it all in stride when a crazy fan seemed to slip past security and run on stage to try to get a hug. Some of the highlights include a really fun cover of “The Safety Dance” an inverted version of “Humu” into “Helicopters” when they faked out the whole crowd for “King of the World” and ending the night and festival with a quick jam of “I-Man”.
Brownie told the crowd that he and Barber used to chill at the Mann years ago and once Barber lost his wallet there. But luckily later on they were hanging out at some guy’s house and the guy said “Hey man, you look familiar.” Turns out he found Barber’s wallet. Pretty cool story!
A-Trak was great as always. Though I must say a lot of the straight Biscuits fans were not really into his groovy electronic sound. I personally loved it and really enjoyed his mashup/mix of two of his most popular tracks, “Barbara Streisand” into his “Heads will Roll” remix. Sure, two overplayed tracks, but he added some special touches that night. And as always he seamlessly mixed hip-hop into electro.
I caught the end of Paper Diamond’s set and he did a great job, though once again the crowd wasn’t fully into it. He dropped some heavy bass tracks as well as some of his popular tracks including one of my favorites “Can I go Up”.
Now, on to the bad. The scene: It is a little ridiculous that you can’t go a foot in the parking lot without being offered nitrous balloons and the amount of people with access to tanks and selling them is unheard of. (Read up on the “Nitrious Mafia” here.) One of them people I was with accurately called the lot “Crime Alley,” a Batman reference. It had a dark and depressing feel, with kids getting their fix or passed out on the ground. The police and security do nothing. It just left a really dark and negative feel in my mind and really gives the scene a bad name. continue reading "City Bisco 2012 Review, Photos"
The inaugural Catalpa NYC festival had some highs and lows due to circumstances beyond the control of the promoters. Torrential downpours mired a promising start to the festival, but by the end, the rain was a distant memory, with the mud on the ground being the only reminder.
I’m back, rested and finally fully clean from Camp Bisco 11. A truly awesome experience — probably the most fun I’ve ever had at a festival. So many great people, with excellent music throughout.
We arrived at the Upstate New York grounds mid-day Thursday (July 12) and checked in. Immediately we met some great people camping in the Media/Artist Guest lot. We quickly set up our home for the next three days and decided to check out the festival grounds. I really liked the setup. It was spread out in a way that didn’t create sound bleed, but also allowed you to have ample time to get from set to set. The staff/volunteers were very friendly and helpful. And everyone was just so nice, I’ve never had more people apologize for accidentally bumping into me at a festival.
Day 1 highlights: The M Machine — even though it was only one of the guys, the set was still high energy, especially for an early set time (during which the day’s heat seemed to creep up quickly). Afterward, I checked out Michetti, who I’ve never seen before. He is a dubstep producer and also one of the guitarists in the band Conspirator.
Next up, Star Eyes — a member of the world famous Trouble and Bass crew from Brooklyn. She had an awesome bass-heavy set, even grabbing the mic to show off her vocal chords. Unfortunately most of the festival missed out on her set but the 50 or so people that were in the tent were treated to one of the best sets at Bisco.
Camp Bisco will return to Mariaville, New York between July 12 – 14, 2012 and will be headlined by The Disco Biscuits for all three nights, Skrillex and Bassnectar.
Taking place on the Indian Lookout Country Club, Camp Bisco will be looking to improve even more now that they are beginning their second decade of existence. Expect faster entry into the festival with an addition main gate, better audio in the dance tents, larger dance tents and long distance shuttles from Albany, Philadelphia, New York City, Albany, Buffalo, Boston and Burlington.
In addition to the headliners, Camp Bisco will play host to Amon Tobin, Crystal Castles, Atmosphere, Shpongle, A-Trak, Simian Mobile Disco, Dada Life, Portugal. The Man, Big Gigantic, Break Science and a ton more. Expect plenty of additional artists to be announced in the near future.
General Admission tickets for the three nights at Camp Bisco will cost you $170. There are also VIP and other options that you can check out here.
Stay tuned to TheMusic.FM for all things Camp Bisco 2012.
Check out our coverage of the tenth Anniversary of Camp Bisco here, here and here.
