UPCOMING: The Virgins, Animal Collective, Lemonade

August 17, 2009 8:00PM - A BENEFIT FOR CINEMA NOLITA All tickets sold at the door. Full proceeds to Cinema Nolita. More acts TBA.

THE VIRGINS

Returning to Santos a year after selling it out, The Virgins are virtuosos of groove, recalling the tambours of garage rock and the melodic undertones of new wave. Often compared to The Strokes and Franz Ferdinand for the dance punk sensibilities, the band has accomplished a lot in their 3 year run, including opening spots for Jet and Sonic Youth. Hot off the heels of destroying their Lollapalooza set, Santos is proud be hosting The Virgins again, before they’re forced into playing arenas or something like that.

THE BEETS
Not to be confused with the fictional authors of “Killer Tofu,” The Beets are known for their raw take on classic bar-room punk. Their emphatic harmonized vocals are absolutely perfect for their pummeling strums and schoolboy drums.

ANIMAL COLLECTIVE (DJ SET)
Perhaps the pre-eminent name in experimental pop, Animal Collective is what every modern psychedelic sampler aspires to. Combining artfully crafted and melodically articulate lyrics over samples, synths and polyrhythms, Animal Collective put a freakishly distorted twist on the everyday. Their most recent album, Merriweather Post Pavillion has received nearly universal acclaim. For the Cinema Nolita benefit, they’ll be commandeering the Santos Party House sound system with a unique DJ set.

AUGUST 18, 2009 - Tickets available here

LEMONADE

Lemonade is an unusually intense take on electro punk transplanted from San Francisco. Their beats are densely layered, heavily percussive and matched with a sinister vocal. Organic sounds and samples are equally essential and prominent in their tunes. While it’s not unusual for American dance music to incorporate Latin and Arab musical tropes, Lemonade does it without adding any additional gloss or glitter, allowing the sound to remain gritty and bizarre, a welcome home for samples and wave manipulation.

CALE PARKS
Cale Parks has moved from behind the drum kit for Aloha and White Williams to fronting his own unique musical project. His solo work has, since it's inception, been a foray deep into texture, rhythm, pure sound and onwards into the heart of the song. His 2006 album Illuminated Manuscript owes as much to his classically trained precision (as a trained orchestral percussionist) as it does to his ear for melancholy, summoning comparisons with the repetition of Steve Reich, the sadness of Arvo Part & the electronic textures of Mum. 2008's Sparklace builds all these aspects into a more structured whole indebted to the dark 80s British electronics of New Order and Depeche Mode. To Swift Mars, released on August 4th will come to be seen as his mission statement, where he combines the textural lessons learned from his previous works with a greater mastery of songwriting and a more organic instrumentation.

DINOWALRUS
There’s something anthemic about Dinowalrus’ tranced-out experimental rock. All three members are multi-instrumentalists, as adept on strings, percussion and woodwinds as they are on their samplers and modulators. Energetic and infectious, their music transcends time, and rests somewhere in space between Pink Floyd, Sonic Youth, and New Order.

TEENGIRL FANTASY
Through heavy use of samples and electronics, Teengirl Fantasy create moments of droney, polyrhythmic neo-disco and freeze them for repetition. The duo’s mastery of drum machines is unparalleled, and their sense of ambient harmony is quite astute for fellows just learning to master their hormones.

Plus DJ's JDH and DAVE P (Fixed)