By Zachary Swickey

Despite their jet lag and still donning their Mariachi outfits from their set at Austin City Limits, Ray Suen and Jorma Vik sat down with MTV News to discuss Mariachi El Bronx, the Spanish-flavored side project of LA’s finest punk rock bands, The Bronx. Their ACL appearance was a one-off break from their much-coveted opening slot on the Foo Fighters fall tour. El Bronx’s new, niche sound is winning the hearts of many, and the guys were kind enough to shed some light on the project for us.

First off, your name and all of the instruments that you played on the album?
Jorma: I’m Jorma and I play the drums and handle percussion for Mariachi El Bronx.
Ray: I’m Ray and I play violin … and some other stuff. (Editor’s note: I’ll throw Ray a bone here: He plays violin, guitar, harp, requinto jarocho, vihuela, jarana as well providing backing vocals.)

What is the technical term for the Mariachi outfits?
Jorma: They’re called Charro suits. C-H-A-R-R-O.
Ray: We had ours made out in East LA by a guy named Alyas. How did you find Alyas [asking Jorma]?
Jorma: There’s a really f**king cool part of LA and it’s like maybe a half mile square and it’s all these taco shops, mariachi shops and all these places that make the suits or instruments. There’s this one little corner called “Mariachi Plaza” where a bunch of Mariachi dues will be all dressed up and they stand there waiting for people to pick them up to play parties or whatever.

Why no Mariachi hats?
Jorma: We thought it was a little campy. You know people would think, like, the "Three Amigos" or whatever.
Ray: Well, we’re already combating some kind of prejudice and we don’t want to make a mockery of anything, so yeah, it’s exactly that. When people think of Mariachi, especially in the UK, people will say, “Oh like 'Three Amigos'?” It’s like, “Nooo, not so much like 'Three Amigos.'”

How was the seed fist planted for the Mariachi spin-off of The Bronx? Was alcohol involved?
Jorma: We got asked to play a TV show as The Bronx, but they wanted us to do it acoustic. We were kind of like, “Ah, that’s not really going to work so well,” so [guitarist] Joby had the idea of getting Mexican instruments and taking one of the slower songs we wrote and turning it Mariachi before we even knew what we were doing at all.

What song was that?
Jorma: It was “Dirty Leaves” off our second record, which is like the slowest song we have. And so we did that, and it was so much f**kin’ fun. We just, you know, had the instruments and just kept writing on them then it just kind of snowballed from there.

How did the recording process differ between the first and second Mariachi record?
Jorma: It was actually very similar. One of the cool things is, we have Ray in the band now where with the first record we hired someone to write the violin lines and then hired a few people that are actually from "American Idol." They had to come in and play under assumed names, because it’s like they couldn’t even do anything.

It just sounds like there is a lot more going on musically with the new album?
Jorma: Definitely having Ray as part of the process, and having somebody there when we’re writing who’s thinking about the violin parts. You know that just helped a lot.
Ray: People were much more comfortable with the form. From everything I’ve heard from the first record, they were still figuring out or getting comfortable with a lot of the forms and stuff. With that being under everyone’s belt, it was like, “Now we can be more dramatic or strip it down if we want too” with just a lot more options. That’s why I feel like there’s a lot more different kinds of material on the new album.

Ray, what was it like to join and record with a notorious punk band under such a different project?
Ray: It was great because I used to get hyped to the first Bronx record. The first band I ever toured with, we would listen to the first Bronx record and get hyped to it. Then when I found out Mariachi El Bronx was a Swami [Records] band, my mind was just completely blown. But I got over the awestruck thing pretty quickly and felt, “Yeah, I want to help make this better.”

Did you already have experience in playing any Mariachi-esque music at all?
Ray: You know, I used to play in a tango band when I was younger, and the same kind of mellow-drama that happens in tango music is there. There’s no way you can be over-the-top, at least string-wise, in Mariachi El Bronx. So I already had a little bit of that in my system.

How does a band with eight members get from St. Louis to Austin in a single night (which they had to do for their appearance at Austin City Limits)?
Jorma: [laughs and sighs] We woke up at 4 AM today. Got to the airport at 4:30 and flew to Dallas with all our gear. Then flew here [to Austin]. Got here, landed, got driven straight to stage. Set up our s**t. Played our set.

And tomorrow you play in?
Jorma: Detroit.
Ray: Our flight is at 6AM.

Are there any pre-show rituals and do they differ from that of The Bronx?
Jorma: You know, we kind of do the same thing. We all huddle up like a f**kin’ football team and bro down for a second. We put our hands all together and dedicate the show to something, whatever is on our minds, usually something goofy, stupid, some kind of inside joke.
Ray: Today we gave it up to “street justice.”

Are there going to be anymore double-bill shows with Mariachi El Bronx and The Bronx playing sets like you had been doing previously?
Jorma: Yes, we’re doing a mostly Mariachi tour in the UK and Europe in November and December, but we’re doing I think four Scandinavian shows that will feature both bands. And we’re playing Finland for the first time, so that’ll be cool. Yeah, shows in Sweden and Norway have been f**kin’ rad.

You recorded two Mariachi records and The Bronx appears to still be on hold. Is this a bad sign for fans of The Bronx?
Jorma: We did, didn’t we? [laughs] When started writing this Mariachi record, we were writing The Bronx stuff at the same time, and the Mariachi stuff just started coming quicker so we just went with that.

Are you making a lot of new fans or are fans of The Bronx enjoying both?
Jorma: It’s a little of both. It’s wild when people come to see us play as a Mariachi band and they have no idea about The Bronx. So when we go on [as The Bronx] they’re like, “What the f**k is this?” But for the most part, all The Bronx fans have been real cool and opened-minded about it. I think that speaks a lot about the people who are into the band.

By Zachary Swickey

The weather gods no longer had pity for the crowd on day three of the Austin City Limits Music Festival. The sun began shining bright and early for us festival-goers, but thankfully, all eight members of Mariachi El Bronx hit the stage promptly at 12:30 in the afternoon and soon made us all forget about the sweltering heat beating down on us. (How could we complain when they were in full-blown mariachi garb sweating like a Spanish Slipknot?)

Appropriately, they snapped right into the opening track of their recently-released second album, 48 Roses. Frontman Matt Caughthran's vocals were spot-on as he serenaded, "So please save some forgiveness for me / a man blinded by love can't think clearly." When the song was over, he couldn't help but be taken with the scenery. "I really wish you guys could see the view from here. It's beautiful," he marveled. Caughthran joked that he wished he had brought some psychedelic substances to enjoy the setting even more, but noted he would've looked like an a**hole if they had missed the show because he tried to sneak drugs onto the plane from St. Louis.

"Cell Mates" was everything I hoped it'd be. The vibrant horns were alive and showed no signs of jetlag despite the show being an off-date that was squeezed in since El Bronx are currently the opening act for the Foo Fighters. Caughthran had no problem sharing the background of a few songs as he interestingly proclaimed "Silver or Lead" was about the similarities between Jesus Christ and Pablo Escobar (admittedly, it's hard to tell if he's joking sometimes, but that's part of his charm). Caughthran then urged us all to ignore the BS in life and embrace the good, noting there was plenty to go around at ACL before breaking into another stellar, mellower track from their new album. "This song's called 'Poverty's King,'" he said, "and it's about being poor but happy."

Rounding out their set, "Revolution Girls" is one of the new album's livelier numbers and had the crowd clapping along furiously. Caughthran claimed the song is about the rite of passage a man faces south of the border when visiting the ladies that the song's title references (once again, it's hard to tell when he's joking). The swarm of people that arrived during Mariachi's set was a pretty impressive spectacle itself.

I stuck around for a quick chat with violinist Ray Suen and drummer Jorma Vik about all that is Mariachi before I eventually found myself in front of the Honda stage anxiously awaiting Toronto’s Death From Above 1979. It was DFA’s second trip to Austin this year, following their surprise, pre-Coachella gig at the South by Southwest Music Festival, which ended up being their first official reunion and incited riots that required mounted police and all. No riots went down on Sunday, but there was definitely a fervor as the noisemaking duo blasted through their set.

Drummer and vocalist (yes both, and yes, at the same time) Sebastian Grainger resembled a porn star version of Andy Warhol with his thick mustache and bleached-out hair. His musical partner, Jesse Keeler (who is also one-half of electronic duo MSTRKRFT), had no problem providing the audio ruckus from the group’s only release, 2004’s You’re a Woman, I’m a Machine. His beefy Roland keyboard was simply stacked on top of a gear case, but simplicity cannot be used to describe the group’s maniacal sounds. Keeler commented, “With the wind and the rain, it’s like a Garth Brooks video up here,” before the group launched into “Too Much Love” as Grainger wailed, “If I didn’t forget you, my heart would explode / Yeah there is too much love.”

I know puffing on Parliaments is fashionable for some music elitists, but I’ll bet Grainger is nicotine-free as he had no problem pillaging his drum kit while maintaining his vocal duties throughout. Randomly clarifying the difference between “sadists” and “masochist,” Grainger then drove into the group’s reggae tune “Dead Womb,” which at only two-minutes long is still one of their more demanding tracks. The catchy “Black History Month” features one of Keeler’s finest grungy bass riffs and the crowd voiced their admiration loudly. The destructive audio duo closed their set with another fan fave, “Do It,” off their debut EP, Head’s Up. The track sure sounds Nintendo-inspired at times, but the ferocity is something one must see in a live setting.

All-in-all, I’ve never experienced a more friendly music festival that had such good vibes all around. I did not witness a single fight, which is simply unheard of for a rock show let alone a sold-out music festival for 75,000 people. ACL is all about being green too with a decent percentage of the crowd arriving via bicycle (I even noticed several bikes chained literally in trees). There are few fests as reliably awesome. Keep it weird, Austin.

There were some interesting sights on day one of Austin City Limits, but day two was no slouch on the “weird” either. I witnessed a full-grown man wearing only women’s underwear, several tween girls attempt crowd surfing for the first time, and an elderly woman with Skrillex clearly circled on her schedule. Just another typical day at ACL, where the weirder you are, the more welcome you seem to be.

First on the agenda were MTV VMA performers Young the Giant. Mere seconds before YTG took the stage, the sky dropped a sudden downpour of rain (two days in a row now after three months of zilch). The rain was coming down rather hard and was a bit chilly as everyone was expecting dry, 100-plus degree weather throughout the weekend, but the many hippies I saw doing “rain dances” must’ve worked their magic.

Frontman Sameer Gadhia embraced the rain, saying, “It’s finally raining Austin! Now let’s have us a good time!” The band wound through the various hits off their debut album, with “My Body” and “Cough Syrup” being the obvious favorites. Gadhia swooned the ladies with his onstage charm as he crooned into his vintage microphone and frequently displayed his tambourine skills. Their catchy track “Strings” had to be my favorite electric, spine-tingling moment.

Next up was the soothing Canadian sounds of City & Colour (who we are big fans of). Frontman Dallas Green was dressed appropriately in a pale yellow button-up shirt with a black bandana tied around his neck (in a cowboy fashion, not the gangsta way). Kicking things off with the opening track from Little Hell, their newest release, “We Found Each Other in the Dark” may be relatively new, but trust me when I say the fans knew every word. The band played to a rather large crowd considering the time and stage, but this was their second trip to ACL after their initial appearance back in 2008. Older classic tunes like “Against the Grain” and “Waiting...” from Bring Me Your Love sent the ladies into a frenzy. Austin definitely has plenty of love for the acoustic melancholy of City & Colour.

The highlight of my day came when I made my way to the Google+ Stage a good hour and a half early to grab a primo seat for dubstep titan Skrillex. Well, it wasn’t even early enough to get me on the rail, but I was smack dab in the middle of a huge sea of fans, which I had no complaints about. The stage set-up seemed pretty lame, with a fold-out picnic table with a black tablecloth simply tossed over it, and only a Macbook with some additional surrounding speakers, but I was planning on dancing and listening to the audio onslaught more than watching anyway.

From the get-go of Skrillex’s set, it was clear he was a festival favorite (it makes no sense that he wasn’t on the main stage). “Rock n’ Roll” was the first track that got the crowd so excited that I slightly feared for my own safety. The rain then became more than just a drizzle just in time as Skrillex dropped into the calorie-burnin’ “Kill Everybody,” which had every single person in view throwing their hands in the air.

The show was momentarily stolen by a little boy with a red mohawk and blue cape (who could not have been more than five years old) as he danced his little ass off with more enthusiasm than most modern day divas. The crowd totally fed off the little guy and shouted encouragement in what will hopefully be an interesting memory for him someday. Oddly, it seemed like a rather appropriate end to the set as Skrillex thanked the enthusiastic crowd and hoisted the little boy, carrying him offstage.

By Zachary Swickey

Austin City Limits was back celebrating its 10th anniversary this weekend, a little earlier than its typical October slot, which helps explain the temperatures being a solid ten degrees higher than I recall from year's past. It's the last of the music festival season's "big four" fests – Coachella, Bonnaroo and Lollapallooza obviously being the other three – and with Austin, Texas being rain-free for three months, I was a bit weary of how I'd handle the blistering sun.

Luckily for me, Theophilus London was ready to make me forget about the weather. Donning a jet-black tank top and equally dark cowboy hat with a flat bill all the way around, London rocked some tunes from his righteous Lover’s Holiday EP and some select tracks from his recent full-length debut Timez Are Weird These Days. He cut one of his tracks short when he was inspired by a sudden downpour of rain that came out of nowhere, all while the sun was still peeking through the clouds. “Hold up, hold up," he said. "We gots to play a different song.” Unexpectedly, London broke into rhyming over a sample of Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You” from The Bodyguard soundtrack. The crowd erupted, ate up every moment, and the climax was London’s impressive freestyling over a funky warbling beat as he closed his set.

I made the trek across Zilker Park in time to finally see UK-import - and a favorite of the ladies – James Blake. While I had not fallen for the singer as much as some of my music-elitist friends, he won me over with his funky, experimental set. Blake’s affinity for sampling his own voice on the spot in a live setting was pretty rad to see. Expectedly, “Limit to Your Love” was the crowd’s favorite as the bass was visibly shaking the ACL banners draping both sides of the stage. He did look a little disgruntled at one moment when a raucous band was playing nearby and their sound was frequently bleeding into some of his mellower moments. (I could have sworn his sound guy began turning his bass up even louder.)

After catching a few tracks from Foster the People from a good hundred-plus yards away (despite getting to the stage forty-five minutes early), I headed to the Honda Stage to see the tail-end of the Cold War Kids set, including the classic “Saint John” from their '06 debut album. I sat tight in anticipation of Santigold, who I was looking forward to the most on the Friday schedule.

Her band waltzed onstage wearing strange white flat-top wigs that appeared to be made out of rubber and chunky necklaces that looked like fashion out of "The Flintstones." Her two dancers soon followed, sporting bullfighter-esque outfits with the neon colors from the 80s, and gold pom-poms in-hand. Appropriately, Santi (wearing a small tiara) kicked things off with “Go” the only release so far from her upcoming, still-untitled second album, which also features Karen-O of The Yeah Yeahs (but alas she didn’t surprise us with an appearance). Santi announced ACL was her first stateside stop in support of the to-be-released album, as she had been swooning fans overseas.

The set seemed to consist mostly of new songs that we were all getting to hear for the first time, and some select key tracks off her self-titled debut. "Say Aha" understandably got everyone moving, especially Santi's dancers, who went at it nonstop while wearing the most stoic poker faces I've ever seen (they did not smile a single time...weird). One new track had the dancer’s wielding old school railway hammers as Santi chanted “build a wall.” Other new songs had the dancers rocking out on some white snares that you'd normally find in a drumline over a sexy, scratching guitar-lick as Santi sung, “You can make it alone only if you try.” For the fourth new track, I jotted down in my notes, “crazy jungle reggae with some kind of foreign chanting,” which is the best way I can attempt to describe the song.

Santi then snuck off for a quick wardrobe change while a dance-off erupted between the two dancers – who turned out to both be Texans – which included one doing an ass-shaking handstand (a sight to see I must say). Breaking into yet another new tune with an insanely fast drum beat (on a real kit, mind you), Santi contrasted it with a chill, slower vocal delivery. The high point came when she picked some fans from the crowd to join her onstage for a group dance, while she played the best track off her first album, “The Creator.” The lucky ones onstage went absolutely nuts as they attempted to display their best dance skills with Santigold even getting in some of their faces as she shouted, “Me, I’m a creator / Thrill is to make it up.” She then closed her show with one last new song (perhaps titled “Freak Like Me” as it was heard many times throughout) that was one of the fastest, and most-bumpin’, I've ever heard from her. All-in-all, an ass-kickin’ first day from some of the smaller acts at ACL.

Photo Credit: BSKphoto.com for Electric Zoo

By Nick Philippou

This past weekend, Randall’s Island again played host to an eclectic fusion of electronic dance music at one of New York’s fastest growing music festivals – Electric Zoo. Headlined by the likes of Tiësto, David Guetta and Armin van Buuren, dance music’s elite conducted their own brand of symphony to a melting pot of an estimated 85,000 fans over three days and nights at summer’s last official hoorah. With international artists spanning multiple stages across the massive concert grounds, killer sets were by no means hard to come by, but we have narrowed it down to five of the most noteworthy acts that graced the main stage and put their mark on NYC’s dance music monster.

Armin van Buuren
Sunday’s finale featured Armin van Buuren, the reigning king of trance, directing a triumphant, crowd-pleasing closing set to the weekend. AVB fired off a barrage of his international smash-hit tracks like ”Full Focus” and ”Silent Hearts,” featuring BT mixed against Simon Patterson’s “Latika” before powering through Eric Prydz’s remix of Dépêche Mode’s “Personal Jesus.”

He teased an early ending at 10:50 PM, leaving the stage after “In and Out of Love” seemingly closed his set. Then moments later, an echoing chant of “we want more” was answered by a red and white firework-filled spectacle, choreographed to the beats of AVB’s “This Light Between Us,” to close the weekend.

Photo Credit: BSKphoto.com for Electric Zoo

Afrojack
Just prior to AVB, Afrojack filled the main stage and grounds to capacity, as the eager crowd chanted his name even before he opened with ”Bangduck,” one of growing list of signature tracks. He also debuted at least two new songs, one called “Vancouver,” he said were from his upcoming album on Wall Records, and another, still untitled, Afrojack brashly told the audience he made the night before.

David Guetta
Saturday night, David Guetta opened his set presenting the crowd with his latest collaboration with Afrojack, “Lunar,” fresh off of Guetta’s fifth studio album, “Nothing But the Beat,” a double-CD released August 26.

Guetta tapped into his signature electro-pop sound, bridging his set with his new, upbeat and highly melodic alliance with Avicii, called “Sunshine,” before channeling crowds to sing along to his growing list of mainstream pop hits like “The Club Can’t Handle Me Right Now,” featuring Flo Rida. He zestfully closed his set with “Where Them Girls At,” also with Flo Rida and Nicki Minaj.

Photo Credit: BSKphoto.com for Electric Zoo

Tiesto
Tiesto also revealed new music at Electric Zoo, including his imminent international hit “Maximum Crazy,” which was released today on Beatport.com. The track brought the crowd to a frenzy as a confetti bomb exploded in the Friday night breeze, making the sky appear pixilated, like an impressionist’s painting.

Tiesto exuded his trademark swagger on stage, while incorporating new music with some of his classics like “Adagio for Strings,” his remix of Hans Zimmer’s “He’s a Pirate,” and “Escape Me,” featuring C.C. Sheffield.

DJ Snoopadelic
DJ Snoopadelic, another of his many monikers, The Doggfather of Hip-Hop, Snoop Dog himself, somewhat surprisingly hit the main stage Sunday with a scattered selection of hits from Martin Solveig’s “Hello,” to the Fugee’s rendition of “Killing You Softly.” Snoop sprinkled reggae, a pinch of Michael Jackson's classics and a dash of classic R&B, like Bobby Brown’s “My Prerogative,” to compete for the crowd’s attention.

He closed his set by performing his hit “Drop it Like it’s Hot,” minus Pharrell, but not before encouraging festival goers to light up – and he wasn’t referring to glow-sticks.

Photo By Zachary Swickey

By Zachary Swickey

DALLAS – In the past year electronic dance music has wiggled its way back into the mainstream in a way it hasn’t done since the mid-90’s enthusiasm for hard-banging house acts like the Prodigy and the Chemical Brothers, who have both weathered changing musical trends and are still around today. What better time than now for the inaugural run of a new touring digital music festival?

Case-in-point, the Identity Festival. “Grandfathered” by EDM legends Kaskade and Steve Aoki, who helped pick out the jaw-dropping lineup, Identity has been sweeping the U.S. with rotating slots featuring the likes of White Shadow, Holy Ghost, Datsik, the Disco Biscuits, Rusko, DJ Shadow, Skrillex, Pretty Lights and, of course, Kaskade and Aoki themselves at select spots.

Things were off to a slow start at the Dallas stop on Sunday, considering the temperature was a mild 107 degrees. Heading to the main stage, I caught the wild stylings of Afrobeta – a guy/girl duo who could resemble Nelly Furtado’s hot younger sister and Paul Giamatti’s sequin-emblazoned cousin. Concocting pop music with some banging low-end bass, the crowd ate up everything Afro served – including a dubstep version of the “Looney Tunes” theme song and a complete pop reinvention of Nirvana’s “Lithium.”

Next up was the more subdued Holy Ghost – an electropop duo who already have our attention – bringing with them a full backing band (something scarce on this DJ-friendly tour) to flesh out their disco sounds. “Do It Again” and “Hold On” were crowd favorites that helped inject some energy into the set as the fans were already melting in the early afternoon. Frontman Alex Frankel provided additional percussion on a few tracks, which helped give the easy-going show a little extra bang.

Frankel sympathized over the heat and even tossed me what is possibly the only drum stick that was thrown out at the whole festival – it would’ve made a quality prison shank too as he had snapped it in half while rockin’ out.

There were plenty of “Are you serious!?” moments when lamenting over the set times. The fact that digital music legends the Crystal Method were playing in the mid-afternoon was one of those occasions. Armed with a double bass/keyboard/turntable, Scott Kirkland and his digital partner, Ken Jordan, had no qualms with it, and the crowd clearly respected the scene’s elders. A beat that included a sample of Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs” elicited a brief-but-enthusiastic sing-a-long. Twin air cannons mounted on the front of their DJ rig supplied much-needed air blowing onto the sweat-soaked crowd. It’s worth nothing, Method were the only artists I experienced dousing the crowd to keep us cool. “Busy Child” had one of the best crowd responses of anything played by anyone for the entire day. Legends indeed!

As the sun faded, the young and spry Datsik, who I admittedly knew little about, did me the honor of giving me a full body massage via the earth-pounding bass that rattled my bones throughout this set. I heard a lot of other people, none of whom seemed aware of his prowess either, repeatedly shouting “Holy s**t!” (in a joyous fashion) as he kept the crowd going harder and faster. Steve Aoki briefly sprung up beside him to give an unofficial sign of approval.

Closing the night was hot on-the-rise Pretty Lights, who has catapulted to fame in just a few short years thanks to his vast and excellent catalog being available on his website for free (his fine remixing skills don’t hurt either). Glowing LED columns resembling a level from Tetris provided some wild visuals. His magical mash-up of Nirvana’s “All Apolgies,” Nine Inch Nails’ “Closer” and Radiohead’s “Everything in its Right Place” was one of the strangest, but most brilliant musical moments of the evening. Although, his digi-soaked rendition of Pink Floyd’s “Time” drew a raucous applause as well. He may not have the legendary background of DJ Shadow or the Crystal Method, but Pretty Lights did prove he is a headlining-worthy artist who can keep several thousand folks on their feet despite a 10-hour day in the sweltering heat.

By Zachary Swickey

Riding high on the overwhelming critical success of their self-titled sophomore release, Bon Iver are set to curate a new music festival in Paris this fall. The Chicago-based Pitchfork Music Festival is expanding overseas and asked Bon Iver to help curate the event. Seems rather fitting for singer Justin Vernon’s falsetto coo to swoon audiences in the city of love.

Vernon and his bandmates will play the La Grande Hall in the French capital as the main headliner on October 29 with Cut Copy, Kathleen Edwards and Pantha du Prince in tow and more artists expected to be announced.

Bon Iver is the latest artist to curate a music festival, a growing trend as the number of stateside festivals surges. In the last year alone, Wilco, Portishead and Animal Collective have all worked to select bands for various festivals. And, of course, there’s Perry Farrell of Jane’s Addiction, the man we can thank for Lollapalooza – originally a touring music festival started in 1991. Lolla’ has since grown into one of the premiere festivals in the US, rocking Chicago every August. Farrell does a great job of bringing in musicians from all over the musical map, but here are five bands/artists we’d most like to see curate a festival.

The Flaming Lips

The Flaming Lips are notorious for their wild, psychedelic performances – frontman Wayne Coyne rolling around on top of fans in a giant human hamster ball is a concert staple. From Japan to Puyallup, Wash., the Lips are in demand all over the globe, and summer music festivals can’t seem to get enough of them. Plus, the Lips seem to love working with other bands. MGMT and Karen O of The Yeah Yeah Yeahs both appeared on their last album, Embryonic, and just this year they’ve collaborated with Neon Indian and Prefuse 73 (with more collabs on the horizon). It’s clear that the Lips are loved by fans and fellow bands alike, so could someone please just ask them to curate their own festival already?

Read on for more.

Kanye West

Love him or hate him, you can’t deny the “power” of Kanye West (pun intended). He takes rap performances, which are occasionally known to drag in live situations, to another level entirely. I don’t recall anyone having interpretive dancers on SNL before him. His personal musical taste is not confined to the realms of hip-hop either – Justin Vernon of Bon Iver prominently appeared on two tracks from Ye’s most recent album. We all know Kanye has friends and plenty of them. Heck, we’d be more than thrilled if he curated a festival strictly with his surprise guests from this year’s SXSW: Mos Def, Pusha T, Kid Cudi, John Legend and Jay-Z.

Trent Reznor

Trent Reznor was along for the ride with his musical brainchild, Nine Inch Nails, on Lollapalooza’s inaugural run in 1991 and has become familiar with every festival under the sun ever since. Synth-heavy music is as popular as ever and Reznor was at the forefront of bringing industrial music to the masses – so much so that many bands cite him as inspiration today. His personal musical tastes are eclectic – Grizzly Bear, Sufjan Stevens and Crystal Castles – which is what you need when rounding out a festival lineup.

Radiohead

This one is almost too obvious, and the fact that it hasn’t happened already makes you wonder if the band would even want to. You’re not going to find an act more critically hailed than Radiohead. At Lollapalooza 2008, they played their headlining slot unopposed, because, well, anyone else playing at the same time would have little or no audience. Radiohead is also low on detractors, and we can’t imagine a single band/artist, regardless of genre, that would turn down an opportunity to play a festival organized by them. If anything, Radiohead would have problems finding enough land to put the fest on and enough Pabst Blue Ribbon to supply the audience.

Red Hot Chili Peppers

Another vintage Lollapalooza act (they headlined in ’92), the Red Hot Chili Peppers are one of those fun bands that everyone seems to love (have you ever met someone who couldn’t stand them?). The Peppers are one of only a few rock acts to remain relevant for over 25 years. Any band that cites both Black Flag and James Brown as influences is bound to have a vast musical palette. Past tour mates have included Snoop Dogg, Gnarls Barkley, Mars Volta and The Foo Fighters – which sounds like a nice start to us.

Credit: Cheyenne Bosco

By Adam Stewart

It was one epic a weekend for the New York City dance scene, as Governors Island played host to tens of thousands of fans and over 75 DJ’s on three stages at the first ever Dance Here Now Festival. With a six-hour set by the legendary Paul van Dyk kicking off the festivities Friday and Fatboy Slim headlining on Saturday, the stage was set for the most anticipated acts of the weekend, Laidback Luke and Benny Benassi, who co-headlined Day 3.

Sunday started off soggy and damp on the Island when MTV News arrived on the scene, but before long, things were already heating up in the courtyard tents with a bumping electro house set by Slick Nick, down tempo “Moombahton” set by Sazon Booya, the moniker of Mr. Vega and DJ Sav (aka Stephen Vasquez, director of the Electro Wars documentary). Back on the main stage, the masses were further primed by the up and coming Japanese Popstars, who took to the main stage and hit hard with a Benny Bennasi remix of their hit single “Saving Lisa,” kicking the party into high gear.

When Dutchman Laidback Luke took the helm around sunset, the thousands in attendance exploded as he wowed the crowd with Steve Angello’s “Be,” Duck Sauce’s “Barbara Streisand” and Swedish House Mafia’s “Miami 2 Ibiza.” Mixing it up even further in the second hour of the set, Luke changed gears for a old-school hip hop intermezzo , belting out a remix of Fat Joe’s “Lean Back” and House Of Pain’s “Jump Around,” before switching gears back to house with he and Lil’ John’s massive collaboration “Turbulence” and the Mahesa Utarra remix of Angger Dimas’ “Are You Ready.” Needless to say, Dutch Dance ambassador rocked the Governors Island beach and perfectly set the stage for the evenings closer, Benny Benassi.

Benny took the baton and kept the energy level high, kicking his signature sound into the mix and pushing the limits of the massive sound system in Pacha’s custom-built arena. Pumping out a remix of Chris Brown’s “Beautiful People,” as well as David Guetta’s “Little Bad Girl,” fans old and new were all thumping to the beat. Mixing Third Party’s “Duel” and the Skrillex remix of his own hit single “Cinema” into his set, the house heads where on their toes as he worked though his 2003 breakthrough smash “Satisfaction” and even a festive mix of the 1980’s Nintendo theme song to “Tetris.” Just as in Luke’s set, nothing was off limits in Benny’s world.

Dance Here Now made its mark on the holiday weekend, which continued Monday with closing sets by NYC legend Victor Calderone, set against a backdrop of the lower Manhattan skyline and Macy’s 35th annual Fireworks Spectacular – a picture-perfect ending to one of the most memorable music weekends in New York dance music history.

Dance music returns to Governors Island on July 16 and 17 for Pacha’s Black & White Festival, headlined by Boris, Oscar G and Avicii, and then again on August 20 when Steve Angello’s “Size Matters” Tour takes to the shores joined by Thomas Gold and Junior Sanchez.

Did you make it to Governors Island and the Dance Here Now Festival over the weekend? Let us know in the comments below!

By Adam Stewart

No car this holiday weekend? So you’re stuck in the city and can’t find your way down the shore or out to the island. Fear not. Instead of wasting away the days frying on your co-op’s sweltering rooftop listening to a senior’s book club yap while you’re daydreaming of a better life, why not join the 25,000 others who’ll be dancing their cares away right in your backyard? There’s still time to grab tickets and join in on inaugural Dance Here Now Festival. Pacha Nightclubs presents the first of its kind event on NYC’s Governors Island this weekend, July 1-4, bringing together world class acts, top notch sound and one hell of a view.

“The four day open-air festival will be housed in the biggest outdoor arena in NYC history,” says Eddie Dean, president of Pacha Nightclubs. “It’s custom made and built for the occasion, with a sonic and visual onslaught by festival specialists AG Light & Sound”.

Construction on the massive arena is currently under way as over 200 crew members erect the structure which will house 15 world class headlining DJs, including Laidback Luke, Benny Benassi, Paul Van Dyk and Fatboy Slim, James Zabiela, Victor Calderone and The Japanese Pop Stars, as well as over 60 supporting acts spinning sets in the courtyard tents.

“From trance to glitch, big beat to electro-house, the roster features a huge span of styles and talents, all uniting under the blue skies of downtown NYC in a first-of-its-kind open-air festival in a historic venue,” Dean goes on to say, adding that the festival is truly catered to the fans.

“No more rushing from stage to stage to catch 30 minutes of your favorite act. We're dedicating entire days and nights to individual talents and their hand-picked support staffs”

Governors Island has recently played house to an increasing number of music events. In the coming summer months, Pacha presents a number of A-list acts, including Avicii on July 17 and Swedish House Mafia’s Steve Angello on Aug. 20, in addition to their already impressive roster at their New York flagship club as well as a recent partnership with Joey Harrison’s Surf Club Sundays in Ortley, NJ.

Are you ready for Dance Here Now? Let us know if you'll be catching the event in the comments below!

This weekend in Pilton, England, the Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts thrilled more than 170,000 festivalgoers with sets from Coldplay, U2, Beyonce, Radiohead, Queens of the Stone Age, Morissey, Wu-Tang Clan, Paul Simon, Fleet Foxes, Bright Eyes, Lykke Li, Kesha, Cee-Lo Green, Big Boi, Crystal Castles and hundreds of other big-name musicians.

Founded by Michael Eavis, a now 75-year-old dairy farmer who had the idea after seeing Led Zeppelin perform at a music festival, Glastonbury has become one of the biggest festivals in the world and routinely lands some of the biggest stars in music as headliners.

The reviews for this year’s fest are in and apparently it was a banner year over in jolly ole England. Had there been a roof over the outdoor fest, it seems Beyonce would have blown it off. Check Queen B out above and read on for more action from Glastonbury.

U2, currently on the last leg of their 360 world tour (aka the biggest tour in history), also played a stellar set and had the entire Glastonbury crowd singing along to their classic “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For.”