Plaid is not just for hipsters, country music stars, your grandfather, or Scottish kilts. That statement was not meant to offend, nothing beats wearing a heavy plaid button down on a cold New York City day like today, but I am not talking about anything clothing related. The Plaid I’m speaking of is the group of two master curators and creators of sound, the London based duo, Andy Turner and Ed Handley.

Apologies, but I must take a few minutes to gush about how phenomenal these two musicians are. A friend introduced me to Plaid about three years ago, and still, I find myself picking up on new details within the same tracks live listened to hundreds of times over.  Plaid is not a group that can be labeled, nor can you fit them into a box. Their compositions are whimsical, spacious, and organic. All of these components (not simultaneously of course) are present in their unique sound: ambient, breakbeat, chiptune (video game music), disco, downtempo, drum and bass (on the lighter side), electronic art music, glitch, IDM, synthpop, melodic, atonal, all fused together with characteristics from every genre imaginable. The tranquil yet complex tunes that are birthed from these two have the ability to take your breath away.

The group is signed to the one and only Warp Records (thank you Steve Beckett and Rob Mitchell) that has signed A-List, head of their time talent such as Aphex Twin, Bibio, Grizzly Bear, Hudson Mohawke (who is also playing tonight at the Brooklyn Electronic Music Festival), Squarepusher, and !!!. Plaid released their first album in 1991 and their most recent album ‘scintilli’ a few months ago. Sharon O’Connell of Time Out London said the following of ‘scintilli’:

“The euphoric immediacy of the whole record belies its painstaking, dazzling multifaceted beauty and ‘Tetris’ like construction, which makes pick a highlight impossible.”

We will leave you with a few of our favorite tunes from Plaid. Hopefully you will purchase your ticket HERE for their show tonight at LPR, and we will see you there! Happy Friday.

Stills- Plaid

Missing- Plaid

After taking on CMJ, The Electric Zoo, Street Scene, All Points West, and the Winter Music Conference in 2009, it seems only natural to add South by Southwest to our growing itinerary for 2010.

Last year, the festival drew 12,000 participants and showcased nearly 2,000 musical acts on 88 stages. The 2009 line-up included AC Slater, Amanda Blank, Buraka Som Sistema, Deadmau5, The Golden Filter, Grizzly Bear, Ben Harper & Relentless7, Jack Beats, MSTRKRFT and The Twelves, among others.

Now in its 24th year, the annual SXSW Music Conference and Festival will be held in Austin from March 17-21. The initial line-up of 450+ artists is likely to quadruple by March, and already includes Treasure Fingers, Kidz in the Hall, HEARTSREVOLUTION, Team Facelift, Adam Tensta and The Postelles. Chauffeur is also rumored to make a rare appearance at the festival, but is yet to be confirmed.

Music badges cost $675 if you register by January 12, and will allow you to participate in all of the official SXSW music parties, panels, and courses. Click here for a full list of badge levels, rates and details about the programs that the badges include. While the price tag might seem a little steep, it includes five full days of music with nearly 2,000 acts (which, if you do the math, breaks down to less than five cents per artist).

Don’t forget, the Winter Music Conference kicks off the following week in Miami (March 23-27), so plan accordingly. But more on that later…

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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