This Halloween, Verboten descends upon the Big Easy for a long weekend of music, art and debauchery at The Voodoo Experience Presented by Stephen Rehage in New Orleans. Based on the overwhelming response to its dedicated electronic dance music area Le Plur, the festival continues the dance marathon with DeJa Voodoo is Verboten after parties from electronic artists who are appearing as part of the Voodoo line-up.

Throughout Voodoo’s Halloween weekend celebration (Friday, October 28, Saturday, October 29 and Sunday, October 30), some of world’s top underground talent will perform at the fan favorite Le Plur area including Cassy, Claude VonStroke, Craig Richards, Danny Howells, Deniz Kurtel, Lee Burridge, Maya Jane Coles, Soul Clap, Tanner Ross, Three, Voices of Black, and Wolf+Lamb.  As the Voodoo Experience wraps every night, these acts will then appear at historic New Orleans venues on Friday at The Howlin’ Wolf, and Saturday and Sunday at Republic, as part of DeJa Voodoo is Verboten, a three-night series of official Voodoo After-Dark Parties with world-renowned DJ’s performing sets from midnight-6:00am.

2011’s The Voodoo Experience Presented by Stephen Rehage in New Orleans’ City Park will feature its traditionally eclectic line-up including a variety of exclusive U.S. festival appearances from Soundgarden and Blink-182; performances from the recently reunited Raconteurs, Steve Angello, the original members of X, plus Snoop Dogg, TV On The Radio, Fatboy Slim, Girl Talk and many more.

Tickets for the 2011 Voodoo Experience are available HERE. Tickets for the DeJa Voodoo is Verboten official Voodoo After-Dark Parties are available HERE. Tickets inclusive of entry to the Voodoo Experience and the After Dark parties are available for $250 (General Admission) and $290 (VIP). To attend the DeJa Voodoo by Verboten parties only, 3 Night Party Passes are available for $80 (General Admission) and $99 (VIP).

In addition, Voodoo has again partnered with the Marriott New Orleans in the Historic French Quarter offering concert-goers a special $149 per night Voodoo rate. Other special hotel rates at a variety of Marriott locations throughout New Orleans are available on Voodoo’s travel page.

As sun stretched into Saturday’s morning sky, I was bouncing around my room and impatiently trying to nudge my boyfriend out of his peaceful slumber. This day had been circled on my calendar for about a month now and after weeks of built up anticipation, it had finally arrived. It was time to go to the Ball, the Governors Ball. This was not the social gathering you would want to attend in a floor length gown or tuxedo. Instead, you’d want to trade the evening-wear for a tank top, make up for sunscreen, and champagne for water.  The Governors Ball was New York City’s newest addition to its summer festival line up, and I was ecstatic to be a part of it.

First and foremost, my main concern was arriving to the pier early enough to avoid the assumed monolithic ferry lines. It was only logical that the Governors Ball would take place on Governors Island and thought of tens of thousands of festival attendees being forced to rely on boats for the sole option of transportation sounded chaotic. However, much to my surprise, not only was this process organized, but well executed. The longest wait I heard of was twenty minutes, and the ride over was quite stunning. New York City looked tranquil, resting between New Jersey and Brooklyn.

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Summer is upon us and you know what that means, it’s almost festival season! Hundreds of music makers and fans are about to start converting abandoned fields and city parks into temporary musical utopias around the world. New York City is proud to announce it’s newest festival, Governors Ball. This one-day festival will be taking place Saturday, June 18th, on Governor’s Island (a quick ferry ride from the southern tip of Manhattan). Artists performing will be Girl Talk, Pretty Lights, Empire of the Sun, Big Boi (of Outkast), Neon Indian, People Under the Stairs, Passion Pit (DJ set), Mac Miller, Miami Horror, Outasight, and Reptar. The ferries start running to the island at 11:15 AM, gates open at 11:30 AM, and the music and festivities will continue through 11 PM. Also, there will be no over lapping sets! This way, you will be able to enjoy all of your favorite artists in full without the worry of missing a thing. We’re super excited for this festival and look forward to seeing you there!

Click here to purchase tickets.

Click here for more festival information.

Mixtape aficionado Gregg Michael Gillis aka Girl Talk just released his latest infusion of oeuvre, All Day. To mark his 10+ years of sample-based productions and touring, Girl Talk is offering this mix for free. Following Night Ripper and Feed The Animals, All Day is a hodgepodge of samples that comes out to 71 minutes and 373 samples of dynamic transitions and cut-ups.

Click here to download the album or click through for a listen.

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San Diego, you are in for one hell of a party. On Sunday evening, Girl Talk performed at Jelly’s penultimate Pool Party in Brooklyn to the largest crowd of the summer. Girl Talk has been known to invite the audience to join him on stage while he DJs, but this time, the stage was no match for the party that ensued. Girl Talk’s set came to an unexpected halt so that the crew could repair the stage, which started to buckle under the pressure of dancing fans. The diminished stage crowd didn’t deter Girl Talk from his usual high-energy antics as he continued his set.

Sunday was Girl Talk’s last show on the east coast, but you can catch him this Friday at Street Scene in San Diego. Click here to see pictures from Girl Talk’s show at Hiro Ballroom last May.

If you’re looking to squeeze in one more massive music event this summer, then we’ve got the party for you. On August 28 and 29, San Diego’s premier music festival is bringing it back to the streets. For the first time since 2003, Street Scene will be held in the heart of San Diego’s East Village, celebrating the festival’s 25th anniversary.

While Outside Lands, happening the same weekend in San Francisco, is also a tempting option, nature festivals are a dime a dozen in the summertime. Street Scene’s urban setting makes it a unique experience you can’t find anywhere else, and the line-up of over 45 artists, including M.I.A., Chromeo, The Dead Weather, Girl Talk, Public Enemy and Modest Mouse, speaks for itself.

At $65 for single-day passes and $122 for a two-day pass, tickets are pretty affordable (I’ve paid more than that to see a single act at Madison Square Garden). On top of that, if you buy your tickets today or tomorrow (August 13th or 14th), the people at Street Scene will waive all service fees, on both single- and two-day passes.

What summer music events are you looking forward to? Sound off in the comments section after the jump…

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For eight consecutive Sundays in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, JELLY brings us dodge-ball throwing, basketball tossing, bass thumping pool parties… minus the pool. The last three summers, the empty McCarren Pool transformed into an infamous pit of live music mayhem. Now McCarren is about to reopen as an actual swimming pool, so this summer the slew of free shows has a new location at the East River State Park.

The festivities kick off July 12th with the indie-punk rockers Mission of Burma and continue through August 30th. Notables include sweaty laced laptop masher, Girl Talk, British floor-fillers, Simian Mobile Disco, & indie-rock up-and-comers, Dirty Projectors. Grizzly Bear, who Jonny Greenwood dubbed his favorite band, will close the summer jaunt with thier neo-psychedelic sound.

Full schedule & video after the jump…

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On Thursday night, mash-up master Girl Talk took the stage at Hiro Ballroom for a special private performance hosted by Spin Magazine and Canon.

As soon as the set started, Greg Gillis, better known as Girl Talk, wasted no time jumping off the stage and inviting fans to join him. The next hour-plus set was one big dance party – animated fans crowded around Girl Talk, who certainly could not be accused of lacking energy.  He kept the crowd going with his wild antics a set of old favorites presented in his unique mash-up style. He often stood up on the DJ table while he played to rile up the crowd, which explains why the monitors were strapped to the table and his two laptops were haphazardly wrapped in plastic and tape.

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