MTV IGGY

We’ll just put this out there: No one who has seen the Seoulsonic tour will forget the experience quickly. Every year, the masterminds behind the tour bring together some of the most heavy hitting alternative rock bands the Korean indie scene has to offer. Last year, it was Crying Nut, Yellow Monsters and 3rd Line Butterfly. And we’ll never forget 2011, when Galaxy Express‘s punk rock bullet train rolled through.

The class of 2013 consists of electro-rock duo Goonam, blues rockers Lowdown 30 and punk rock quartet No Brain. As we speak, they’re showing SXSW what’s up with support from some of Soulsonic’s most honored alumni. After South By, they’re off for select dates in the US and Canada through March and April. Check the tour dates below to see if they’re coming your way. 2K13 Seoulsonic is about to roar. Tickets are available online.

Tour Dates:

Austin TX @ SXSW South By Southwest

MARCH 11 : Geeks from Gangnam Party @ Moonshine Bar
(Goonam, Galaxy Express)

MARCH 12 : KOCCA presents KPop Night Out @ Elysium
(NoBrain, Galaxy Express)

MARCH 13 : SPIN Magazine presents SEOULSONIC
(Goonam, Lowdown 30, No Brain, The Geeks, 3rd Line Butterfly, Galaxy Express)

Toronto ON @ CMW Canadian Music Week 

MARCH 21 : SEOULSONIC @ Tattoo Rock Parlour
(Goonam, Lowdown 30, No Brain)

Providence, RI @ KASCON 26 

MARCH 23 : Kollaboration presents SEOULSONIC
(Goonam, Lowdown 30, No Brain)

New York City, NY

MARCH 28 : KAFFNY presents SEOULSONIC @ 285 Kent
(Goonam, Lowdown 30, No Brain with special guests Brown Rice Family)

MARCH 30 : KAFFNY presents SEOULSONIC @ Nublu
(Goonam, Lowdown 30, NoBrain)

San Diego, CA

APRIL 05 : SEOULSONIC @ Tin Can Alehouse
(Goonam, Lowdown 30, No Brain)

Los Angeles, CA

APRIL 06 : SEOULSONIC @ Dim Mak Studios
(Goonam, Lowdown 30, No Brain, with special guests Galaxy Express

Hallelujah, we can see the light at the end of the “Gangnam Style” tunnel. PSY finally dropped word that his big comeback — aka the new single everyone’s been waiting for — will happen via live concert/livestream next month.

Until now, only four DJs in the world were in possession of Steve Lawler’s deep house masterpiece “Avaida (The Organ Track).” Apart from the UK producer himself, Seth Troxler, Jamie Jones, Pete Tong and Darius Syrossian were the only ones to play it, though plenty of people got to know and love its organ-laced groove during the VIVa Warriors season in Ibiza this past year.

Using analog equipment and a real mixing desk, Lawler labored for nine months over the pulsing, layered and previously unreleased cut, which is named after his daughter to be, who is also expected to officially meet the world in March. Today, it’s finally out as an EP on picture disc vinyl, with a digital release scheduled for March 18. We’re very proud to present it here though, so you can get lost in its warm depths without any more delay.

It’s Friday. Let’s do this.

Who’s going to wear the crown as this week’s new Artist of the Week before the poll closes next week? You tell us.

One of the five upcoming global artists listed below will be voted in by you and other Iggyites across the nation. You have until next Friday morning at 11 am EST to vote for your favorite artist using the poll below.

The band with the most votes will be featured on MTV Iggy’s homepage. So yea, it’s a pretty big deal. Get voting!

I Can Chase Dragons

I Can Chase Dragons is the cloud-like project of Julio Gudiño, a Mexican indie musician from D.F.  furloughed in Boston. Back home, he takes part in a fun indie-pop group called The Plastics Revolution, who claim to have been inspired to make music by a Flaming Lips show in Mexico, if that helps set the scene. The ICCD sound is feel-good Spanish language experimental pop, executed with finesse. It’s lo-fi and synth-happy, with crackling dirt and windy ambiances galore. Guaranteed to make you want to fall in love this summer.

Raisa K

If you’re familiar with UK’s Micachu & The Shapes, you already know the work of the group’s keyboardist Raisa Khan and her mathy, distortion-ravaged electronic collages that sound like nothing else on earth.  Well, she’s going solo now under the name Raisa K, and her EP Feeder does not disappoint if you’re looking for cacophonous electro madness topped by a British accent.

As They Burn

There are about a million ways to combine hardcore and metal, but the six young Parisians in As They Burn found a really good one. Their sophomore album and Victory records debut Will, Love, Life, due out next week, has the monstrous velocity and scream-along choruses of current metalcore. They’ve got enough brutal death metal riffs to level a city and the lyrics are darkly mystical. But there’s something unusually human, weird and fun in there despite their formidable technical powers.

Pirates Canoe

Meet Pirates Canoe and their heartrending, beautiful bluegrass sounds. The trio (and sometimes sextet) from Kyoto, Japan has been lulling the masses with classy Americana a la Alison Krauss, the kind that gives you a pit in your stomach because it’s like the heavens opened and bestoweth divine, majestic song. Check out their new video of “Guitar Blue” from their self-titled full-length, and get hypnotized.

Jez Dior

Hailing from L.A., Jez Dior is making 2013 look good for hip-hop. His new single “Love Me To Death” is the work of a commanding artist who rides on measured flow and meticulous production that straddles top 40, soul and indie-conscious rap. He also has interesting familial music ties. His father is Steve Dior, a guitarist who worked with the likes of Sid Vicious and floated around the punk scene in London and New York during its peak. He’s rounded and real, not whiny or singlemindedly hip-hop industry-oriented.

Voting Booth!

Swedish electronic duo The Knife takes their artistry to a whole new level. Today they unveiled “A Tooth For An Eye” from their forthcoming album Shaking The Habitual, and premiered their new spooky video. It’s got it all — deconstruction of maleness, a creepy power-hungry kid, and as ever, satisfying Swedish pop.

The track will be available to download next week on Tuesday March 12th and Shaking the Habitual is out April 9.

If you think you’re ready to see these men get owned, check out the video premiere below.

They’re known for playing forbidden underground gigs in Tehran, right under the government’s nose, and getting away with it. Nothing else is more punk rock than that.

These days The Yellow Dogs are in Brooklyn and, for the past few years, have been experiencing life as a “legal” band for the first time.  The raw and charismatic crew were featured on the Cannes Award-winning documentary No One Knows About Persian Cats, and they’ve been killing the US rock scene ever since.

In the coming months, The Yellow Dogs will be rocking an East Middle West tour this spring with their street artists friends from Iran, Icy & Hot. They’ll be hitting up warehouses in NY, SF, LA, Houston, and Chicago. Get updates on the tour here. 

Check out their recent video with eMusic. 

After a tight race between Kansas City’s bilingual foursome Making Movies and Madrid’s When Nalda Became Punk,  it was the Missouri Afro-Caribbean crew that came out as the ultimate champions.

Congratulations, Making Movies!

Making Movies’ songs are rooted in heavy Afro-Caribbean percussion grooves – everything from salsa to cumbia and even reggaeton’s dembow. Yet as it fitting for a fully bilingual band (they sing in English and Spanish), they are equally fluent in the sonic language of indie rock as they are in Latin genres. Making Movies just released their second album, A La Deriva, beautifully produced by Steve Berlin of Chicano rock veterans Los Lobos. They’ll also be embarking on a big tour in the US and Puerto Rico.

Stay tuned for a tell-all Q&A with the winners, and in the meantime, Enjoy a taste of the album with a live version of their new song “Pendulum Swing.”

While Skream is off making disco, his best friend and dubstepper in crime, Benga, has chosen to stick with the Croydon-born genre a little while longer. Benga’s new single, “Forefather,” which will appear on his forthcoming major label-released album, Chapter 2, later this year, features one of grime and UK hip-hop’s heavyweights, east London’s Kano. It’s not often that you hear monstrous dubstep productions like this being tamed by an MC, it’s usually the other way around, but that just goes to show how much of a lyrical beast Kane Robinson actually is.