​Influential British folk guitarist Bert Jansch, 67, passed away on Wednesday night in London from lung cancer. Having watched Jansch in performance when he opened for Neil Young just over five months ago, it's shocking to say the least: "while Jansch's singing voice at times came out murmured and indistinct, his finger-picking was stable and crystalline," I noted back in April. That night, each note pealed like a bell, making his formidable skills apparent to the audience.

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David Black

​Games was once the name of longtime pals Joel Ford and Daniel Lopatin's studio project that they collaborated on while Ford performed in Tigercity and Lopatin operated under the spellcheck-challenging noise moniker Oneohtrix Point Never. But now the duo just goes by Ford & Lopatin, and on their poppy yet bizarre new concept album about the year 2082, Channel Pressure, they've shoehorned as many Reaganomic touchstones that can fit onto a single plastic disc as humanly possible. We chatted with them about revisiting their jazz-fusion past, playing with their extensive gear collection, and their favorite R&B summer jams.

You guys met back in sixth grade. Did you instantly bond over music?

We definitely bonded over music right away. Dan lived within walking distance of school and I remember the both of us sprinting to his house one day to listen to my new copy of the Metallica self-titled tape.

You both cite jazz-fusion tracks from that era. What were other kids listening to that you reacted against? And I'm wondering which one (if any) you guys have revisited and how your perspective on them had changed at all? Did Return to Forever still sound good?

I don't think our jazz and jazz-fusion listening was reactionary. It's just what we liked. We listened to a lot of the popular rock music at the time we became friends. Grunge gone pop bands like Pearl Jam, Nirvana, etc. Return to Forever has become more of a reference for keyboards and keyboard sounds over the years, but I still jam out to '70s Herbie Hancock albums. Thrust never gets old for me.

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Neil Young/ Bert Jansch
Avery Fischer Hall
Sunday, April 24

Better than: Easter dinner with your two guitar-playing grandfathers.

As the crowd of Neil fans sorted themselves out at Lincoln Center, there was a bit of murmuring when opener Bert Jansch took the stage. For all their knowledge of Neil's back catalog, few audience members recognized the British folk legend, who was an early influence on Young back when he was still busking at cafés in Toronto and is a most apt choice as opener on this string of East Coast dates.

That lineage between the two gentlemen is best heard when playing Jansch's heart-breaking 1965 song "Needle of Death" next to Young's equally poignant 1972 updating, "The Needle and the Damage Done." Neither Jansch nor Young sought to revive such old ghosts and avoided playing these songs, although both men will reunite with former bandmates come June; Jansch and his Pentangle bandmates will reunite to play Glastonbury Festival and Young will join the reconvened Buffalo Springfield, culminating in an appearance at Bonnaroo. But if tonight proved anything, it was that neither man needs a full band to carry a room.

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​Has it really been three summers since we swooned over Escort's "All Through the Night" video? The clip, which cagily synched their "If you wanna sex me, give it up" sentiment to the Muppets, led our own Rob Harvilla to write, "Jim Henson is doing the Hustle in his grave" (a compliment, we think). But soon afterwards, they disappeared off the scene entirely. Which is kinda hard when you're a seventeen-piece disco orchestra. Turns out that Escort, helmed by keyboardist Eugene Cho and keys/guitarist Dan Balis were shoehorned into a room somewhere, recording a full-length. And while its tantric pleasures remain unknown as yet, this week we did get a taste of the band's new single, "Cocaine Blues," which is an upbeat, tingly, fun time. In anticipation of Escort's show at the Highline Ballroom tonight, we caught up with Cho and Balis to see what took so long.

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Boris' drummer attempts to reenergize the crowd. Pic by Beta.

​Sunn O))) and Boris/BXI
Brooklyn Masonic Temple
September 6, 2010

Better than: Sun King, the Cult tribute band.

Time has a way of getting suspended at shows involving Boris and fellow Southern Lord labelmates Sunn O))). But usually, it tends towards the extreme, not the abrupt.

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​Only recently has it been revealed that the DFA's secret weapon is the studio and gear whiz Gavin Russom. He was responsible for Black Dice's weird guitar FX suitcase that defined the band's sound during their tenure there. He keeps the label's studio gear in shape. He's toured the world with his boss, James Murphy, as a member of LCD Soundsystem. A few years back, he graced the label with tantric synth workouts with (now-former) partner Delia Gonzalez and sensuous disco singles as Black Leotard Front. 2009 saw the release of his solo acid project, Black Meteoric Star. Now Russom is presenting his newest endeavor, the Crystal Ark. Part kraut pulse, part South American percussion trance, part Berlin banging techno, the project's first single, "The City Never Sleeps," is minimal mesmerism at its finest. In anticipation of the Ark's live premiere at P.S.1 this Saturday as part of the DFA-curated party, we asked Russom about traveling in Brazil, whether New York City in fact sleeps at night now, and how his mom helped come up with the band name.

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Apparently it got a little sweaty. Pics by Jesse Hlebo.

​Man Forever
Issue Project Room
Friday, June 25

Say "drummer's solo project" and conflicting sounds come to mind--Foo Fighters, "Sussudio," Peter Criss, Charlie Watts' Charlie Parker project--with few of them ever meditating exclusively on the drum itself. Conversely, when Oneida's indefatigable Kid Millions (a/k/a John Colpitts) dropped his self-titled debut as Man Forever on the Secretly Canadian vinyl-only St. Ives label this month, its two side-long tracks provided drums aplenty.

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​Having already released two of the 21st century's most sublime minimal electronic albums--2004's Diamond Daze and 2007's This Bliss--on the esteemed German label Dial, it seemed like Pantha du Prince (a/k/a Hendrik Weber) had found a comfortable home. Then it was announced that the artist's third album, Black Noise, would be on the legendary Rough Trade imprint. The switch was both startling and strangely appropriate, as the notoriously pop-friendly Rough Trade has a secret history of releasing challenging electronic music--Throbbing Gristle and Cabaret Voltaire both have places of pride in the label's catalogue. So what could we expect from a Pantha du Prince record on a new label? News that Weber had collaborated with former !!! member Tyler Pope and the Animal Collective's Panda Bear on the album made purists wonder if he wasn't veering into indie-pop territory. But never fear--Black Noise expands the sound palette of his previous efforts, but still finds Weber making the most startlingly organic and gorgeous electronic music out there. In anticipation of his first US appearance in over three years (at Santos Party House tonight), we skyped with Weber to ask about his favorite Rough Trade artists, his pre-Pantha music, and why Black Noise can make the head reel.

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​When Animal Collective's winsome pop collides with Philly-based video artist Danny Perez, odd shit occurs. Perez has a knack for sussing out the band's darkness. Take Perez's first collaboration with the group, for 2004's breakout indie pop single, "Who Could in a Rabbit." Tangentially a video updating of the tortoise and hare race, it devolves into shocking cannibalism by song's end. And for last year's "Summertime Clothes," Perez paired that MPP song's sweet summertime stroll with throbbing flesh pod dancers right out of Invasion of the Body Snatchers.

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A still from Andy Warhol's Blow Job

​Carl Craig and nsi.
Unsound Festival
Lincoln Center
Friday, February 5

The Thursday night opening ceremonies for the Polish Unsound Festival at the David Rubenstein Atrium at Lincoln Center confused and delighted an audience of both Upper West Side neighborhood folk and deep electronic music fans. Finnish electronic producer Vladislav Delay abstracted electronic splashes alongside Berliner VJ Lillevan's projections before producer Sebastian Meissner and Polish avant-garde classic quartet Kwartludium re-imagined Cali hardcore punk label SST as mesmeric classical music. No mosh pit broke out.

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