The BUKU Music + Art Project 2015 Preview

New Orleans is known as a city that likes to party, and not just for Mardi Gras. Since 2012, the Buku Music + Art Project has brought a wide...
The BUKU Music + Art Project 2015 Preview

The BUKU Music + Art Project 2015 Preview

New Orleans is known as a city that likes to party, and not just for Mardi Gras. Since 2012, the Buku Music + Art Project has brought a wide variety of musicians, artists, food vendors, street performers and more to the Big Easy, and returns on Friday the 13th (spooky!) and Saturday the 14th:

 

FRIDAY, MARCH 13th

Power Plant

Empire of the Sun, 9:45 PM – 10:45 PM

Australia has been doing very well in the international electro-dance scene, such as The Midnight Juggernauts (QRO spotlight on), Miami Horror (QRO spotlight on), and The Presets (QRO spotlight on), and one of the biggest is Luke Steele & Nick Littlemore (QRO photos) – a.k.a. Empire of the Sun (QRO photos at a festival), who burst out in 2008 with Walking On a Dream and “We Are the People”, and come to Buku Project with all their amazing visual spectacle in tow (QRO photos at a festival) behind 2013’s follow-up, Ice on the Dune.
Empire of the Sun
A$AP Rocky, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM

The Buku Project has always had the beats & rhymes, such as this year with A$AP Rocky (QRO photos at a festival), of the acclaimed A$AP Mob – so expect shouts for schwag (QRO photos at a festival) as he plays off of 2013’s debuted-at-number one Long.Live.A$AP.
A$AP Rocky
STS9, 6:00 PM – 7:15 PM

The acclaimed instrumental act combines numerous influences, including funk, jazz, psychedelic, and hip-hop. But they’re best known for their live concerts (QRO photos), which stretch to over two hours, and feature improvisational collaborative work not known in the jam-band community. Their festival performances, however, go even bigger (QRO photos at a festival).
STS9
Robert DeLong, 4:15 PM – 5:15 PM

Nicely mixing between his indie-rock background and his moombahton love, Robert DeLong (QRO photos at a festival) will have all the kids dancing at Buku ’15 (QRO photos at a festival).
Robert DeLong
Big Freedia, 3:00 PM – 3:45 PM

Just as the post-Katrina rebuilding of New Orleans has been taking a while, so has the post-Katrina (re)discovery of New Orleans music – but one of the biggest & best to come out of the Big Easy is bounce music, mixing hip-hop with local dance and Mardi Gras call-and-response, and one of the biggest & best in bounce is Big Freedia (QRO photos at a festival), with the big asses (QRO photos) that set the world twerking record, starred in their own FUSE series, and taught Buku VIPs how to twerk last year (QRO photos) and this (see below)
Big Freedia

Float Den

Die Antwoord, 12:00 AM – 1:00 AM

In this day & age, it can be hard to for an act to truly surprise, but Die Antwoord (QRO photos) have done it. Not only South African but Afrikaans (the descendants of the Dutch settlers who instituted & later repealed apartheid), vocalist Ninja & Yo-Landi Vi$$er took the internet by storm with a baffling mix of rave & hip-hop, English & Afrikaans in “Enter the Ninja” and 5 EP (QRO review). They followed up in 2012 with Ten$ion (QRO review) and 2013’s Donker Mag, and have been baffling minds & blowing them away (QRO photos at a festival) while stealing the show (& shedding clothes) wherever they go (QRO photos outdoors at a festival). The duo (QRO photos at a festival) comes to Buku while also starring in out-now film CHAPPIE.
Die Antwoord
Flosstradamus, 10:30 PM – 11:45 PM

Chicago-based DJs J2K and Autobot are Flosstradamus (QRO photos), and while they’re best known for touring with such similar techtronica acts as Chromeo (QRO live review), they’ve also shared the stage with indie groups like Matt & Kim (QRO spotlight on) on more than one occasion (QRO photos, again on the bill with Matt & Kim).
Flosstradamus
Also:

RL Grime, 8:30 PM – 9:45 PMQRO photos from Buku ’14

Zomboy, 6:45 PM – 8:00 PM

Claude VonStroke, 5:00 PM – 6:15 PM

Mr. Carmack, 3:30 PM – 4:30 PM

Rl Grime

Ballroom

Gramatik, 11:45 PM – 1:00 AM

Gramatik (QRO live review) comes all the way from Slovenia (the best part of the former Yugoslavia).
Gramatik
Boosie Badazz, 10:45 PM – 11:30 PM

Baton Rouge’s own Boosie Badazz (formerly Lil Boosie) comes to Buku celebrating one year since being released from his home state’s infamous state Prison, Angola – or ‘Alcatraz of The South’.
Boosie Badazz
Portugal. The Man, 8:45 PM – 9:45 PM

Buku draws from far up north with Alaska’s Portugal. The Man (QRO photos at a festival). The rambling grunge outfit garnered new fans with 2007 sophomore release Church Mouth (QRO review), and its unhinged alt-rock (QRO live review), though slipped somewhat since then, even while finally playing Europe (QRO photos at a European festival) and becoming a festival favorite (QRO photos at a festival). Their major label debut In the Mountain In the Cloud (QRO review) was more psych-lite, but they still bring it live (QRO live review), and even went Down Under (QRO photos at a festival) after 2013’s release of follow-up Evil Friends (QRO review), hitting both the festival circuit (QRO photos at a 2013 festival) and live gigs (QRO 2013 live review).
Portugal. The Man
Run the Jewels, 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM

El-P blew up the Brooklyn rap scene with 2013’s Cancer 4 Cure (QRO review of release party), and brought about his team-up with Killer Mike (QRO photos at a festival) for 2012’s ‘Into the Wild’ tour. Mike & P have deepened that connection, working together as Run the Jewels (QRO photos at a festival) for two critically acclaimed records, most recently last year’s Run the Jewels 2, with word of 3 already in the works.

Also:

Yung Lean & Sad Boys, 5:30 PM – 6:30 PM

Pell, 4:15 PM – 5:00 PM

Run the Jewels

Back Alley

Jamie Jonas, 11:00 PM – 12:30 AM

Thomas Jack, 9:30 PM – 11:00 PM

Bob Moses, 8:15 PM – 9:30 PM

Suicideyear, 6:45 PM – 7:45 PM

MUSA, 5:30 PM – 6:30 PM

Herb Christopher B2B Ryan Deffes, 4:00 PM – 5:30 PM

CHRISCROSS, 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM

Thomas Jack

VIP S.S. Blu-Ku

Slow Magic, 11:00 PM – 12:00 AM

Mija, 8:30 PM – 9:30 PM

Big Freedia’s Twerk Lesson, 6:30 PM – 7:30 PMQRO photos at Buku ’14

Boyfriend, 4:30 PM – 5:30 PM
Big Freedia’s Twerk Lesson

 

SATURDAY, MARCH 14th

Power Plant

Bassnectar, 9:45 PM – 11:00 PM

A festival mainstay (QRO photos), Lorin Ashton (a.k.a. Bassnectar – QRO photos) brings the lights live (QRO photos at a festival) – as well as the hair… (QRO photos at a festival)
Bassnectar
Passion Pit, 7:45 PM – 9:00 PM

Blowing up very fast was Cambridge, Mass’ own Passion Pit (QRO photos). Single “Sleepyhead” (QRO video) found its way to MTV nominations, while debut Manners (QRO review) found its way onto the charts – and high expectations were filled with 2012’s follow-up, Gossamer (QRO review), and single “Take a Walk” (QRO review). Catch the big-name indietronica stars (QRO photos outdoors) as they return to the road (QRO photos at a festival), ‘cause they’ve moved up to the big-time (QRO photos) like Madison Square Garden (QRO live review) and headlining festivals (QRO photos headlining a festival), and aren’t playing small places – or even medium-sized (QRO photos) anymore (QRO live review). Oh, and don’t worry about the electronic playing outdoors (QRO photos outdoors at a festival), as they more than know how to do it outside (QRO live review outdoors). They come to Buku behind last month’s release of the highly awaited Kindred.
Passion Pit
TV On the Radio, 6:00 PM – 7:00 PM

One of the bands that put Brooklyn not only on the indie-map, but also at the top of it, is the borough’s TV On the Radio (QRO live review outdoors in Brooklyn). 2004’s debut Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes introduced their complex-yet-accessible indie-tech-punk-rock, 2006’s Return to Cookie Mountain proved it was no fluke, and 2008’s Dear Science (QRO review) saw the band launched into the top tier of alternative music (QRO live review). The group took something of a break after that, as members such as Tunde Adebimpe, David Andrew Sitek, and Kyp Malone did various side/solo projects, but returned in 2013 (QRO photos at a festival) with Nine Types of Light (QRO review). Nine Types was a return in quality as well as success for the band (QRO photos at a festival), though they unfortunately lost bassist Gerard Smith to cancer in 2011, but have kept on magnificently (QRO photos outdoors in New York last year).
TV On the Radio
Also:

Raury, 4:30 PM – 5:15 PM

Sweet Crude, 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM

Raury

Float Den

Porter Robinson, 12:00 AM – 1:00 AM

Porter Robinson (QRO photos) might not be old enough to drink (in the rest of the United States…), but he’s already an established DJ, and plays live at Buku.
Porter Robinson
iLoveMakonnen, 11:00 PM – 11:45 PM

Atlanta’s Makonnen Sheran shot up to prominence last year as iLoveMakonnen when Drake remixed his song “Tuesday” – so come see him on a Saturday.
iLoveMakonnen
Borgore, 8:30 PM – 9:45 PM

Asaf Borger has one of the most unusual backgrounds in dubstep – hailing from the Holy Land, he’s also the former drummer for Israeli death metal band Shabira.
Borgore
ODESZA, 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM

Harrison Mills & Clayton Knight managed to put out their debut as electronic duo ODESZA (QRO photos) while still in their senior year back in ’12 with Summer’s Gone, and come to Buku Project off of last year’s follow-up full-length, In Return.
ODESZA
XXYYXX, 5:00 PM – 6:15 PM

Orlando electronic musician XXYYXX (QRO photos at a festival) describes his music as, “Doing drugs on a freeway… underwater.”



Also:

Slander, 3:30 PM – 4:30 PM

XXYYXX

Ballroom

G-Eazy, 12:00 AM – 1:00 AM

Oakland’s G-Eazy comes to Buku behind last year’s debut studio album, These Things Happen, so see them happen & more.
G-Eazy
Hudson Mohawke, 10:30 PM – 11:30 PM

Glasgow’s turntablist Ross Birchard, a.k.a. Hudson Mohawke, managed to get signed to acclaimed U.K. electronic imprint Warp despite few actual releases, but delivered in 2009’s Butler and a few EPs before also getting signed to Kanye West’s own GOOD Music after working some collaborations with West.
Hudson Mohawke
Lil B, 8:45 PM – 9:45 PM

TheBasedGod, or ‘Lil B’, brings his beats & positivity to Buku.
Lil B
DJ Windows 98, 7:30 PM – 8:15 PM

Everyone knows Win Butler as the frontman for the biggest alt-rock hit out there, Arcade Fire (QRO live review), racking up Grammys and Saturday Night Live appearances. But while his main band takes a hiatus and his brother/bandmate Will tours his own solo album, Win does something even less indie than introducing Miley Cyrus, spin tunes under the name ‘DJ Windows 98’.
Win Butler
BADBADNOTGOOD & Ghostface Killah, 6:15 PM – 7:00 PM

The Toronto trio BADBADNOTGOOD (QRO photos at a Toronto festival) are known for incorporating hip-hop into their music, and have collaborated with the Odd Future (QRO live review) likes of Tyler, the Creator (QRO album review) and Frank Ocean. At Buku they team-up with the one-and-only Ghostface Killah.
BADBADNOTGOOD
Also:

Zella Day, 5:15 PM – 5:45 PM

In the Valley Below, 4:00 PM – 4:45 PMQRO photos at a festival

In The Valley Below

Back Alley

Justin Martin B2B Eats Everything, 10:30 PM – 12:30 AM

Benoit & Sergio, 9:00 PM – 10:30 PM

The Range, 7:45 PM – 9:00 PM

Carneyval, 6:15 PM – 7:15 PM

Hyphee, 5:00 PM – 6:00 PM

Klutch, 4:00 PM – 5:00 PM

SFAM, 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM

Justin Martin
Eats Everything

VIP S.S. Blu-Ku

GoldLink, 11:00 PM – 12:00 AM

Hermitude, 8:30 PM – 9:30 PM

Bixel Boys, 6:30 PM – 7:30 PM

Gravity A, 4:30 PM – 5:30 PM
Bixel Boys

 

 

For festival website, go here: http://thebukuproject.com/

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