Day For Night 2016 Preview

In the final days of what has been a year for the ages (in ways mostly bad), Day For Night Festival comes to Houston Saturday & Sunday, December 17th & 18th:

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 17th

Red Stage Aphex Twin, 10:00 PM – 12:00 AM The festival season is still about ‘big gets’, and Day For Night hooked a big one in Aphex Twin. The seminal electronic musician helped birth the likes of acid techno in the nineties, before going into inactivity that was stopped by 2014’s Syro, Grammy winner for Best Dance/Electronic Album. He’s playing his first U.S. date in eight years, only at Day For Night.

ODESZA, 8:00 PM – 9:30 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 Day For Night (QRO photos at a festival) off of 2014’s follow-up full-length, In Return.

Nick Murphy, 6:40 PM – 7:30 PM Melbourne electronic musician Nick Murphy (QRO photos), formerly known as Chet Faker (QRO live review), comes to Day For Night (QRO photos at a festival), after winning a slew of awards Down Under.

Banks, 5:40 PM – 6:20 PM Los Angeles’ Jillian Rose Banks (QRO photos outdoors) brings her ethereal sonics to Day For Night.

Thundercat, 4:40 PM – 5:25 PM Known for his psychedelic excursions, Thundercat (QRO photos at a festival) recently worked with the likes of Flying Lotus (QRO live review) on his newest album, Until the Quiet Comes. He has been compared to the likes of Jaco Pastorius for his precise and experimental basslines. Also: Welcome To Houston, 3:20 PM – 4:20 PM

Green Stage Run the Jewels, 10:10 PM – 11:20 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 (QRO photos at a festival), 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.

DJ Windows 98, 9:10 PM – 9:40 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’.

Blood Orange, 7:40 PM – 8:40 PM Dev Hynes (QRO photos) first came up writing for others, such as on Chemical Brothers’ Grammy-winning We Are the Night (QRO review), before forming his own band, Lightspeed Champion (QRO photos), not to mention playing in the short-lived Test Icicles. In recent times, however, he’s focused on his electronic project Blood Orange (QRO live review), coming to Day For Night after the release of his latest, Freetown Sound.

The Jesus & Mary Chain, 6:20 PM – 7:10 PM After gaining notoriety for their short and violent sets, The Jesus and Mary Chain (QRO photos at a festival) split in 1999 only to be reunited back in 2007. The band (QRO photos at a festival) has released a slew of power punk albums in the ‘80s and ‘90s but have yet to release anything new.

Lower Dens, 5:10 PM – 5:50 PM Slowly but surely little ol’ Baltimore is getting a rep in indie-circles – and alt-rockers Lower Dens (QRO photos at a festival) is one of the reasons why (QRO live review).

Chelsea Wolfe, 4:10 PM – 4:50 PM Chelsea Wolfe (QRO photos at a festival) brings her drone-metal-art-folk mix to Day For Night, behind last year’s Abyss. Also: Buoyant Spirit, 3:10 PM – 3:50 PM

Blue Stage Soulection, 11:10 PM – 2:00 AM The “global platform moving culture” label/artist that is Soulection headlines the Blue Stage at Day For Night.

John Carpenter, 9:30 PM – 10:30 PM Seminal cult classic horror/sci-fi director John Carpenter (Halloween, Escape From New York) has long composed his own music for his films, and last year put out his first studio album, Lost Themes.

Tycho, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM Ambient electronics come back to Treasure Island in the form of Scott Hansen (QRO photos at a festival), a.k.a. Tycho (QRO photos), who is touring (QRO photos from earlier this year) off of this year’s acclaimed Epoch, his follow-up to 2014’s Awake (QRO review).

Oneohtrix Point Never, 6:35 PM – 7:35 PM Another experimental musician from a city that has tons of them, New York, Daniel Lopatin is the electronic Oneohtrix Point Never (QRO photos at a festival).

Also: Clams Casino, 5:20 PM – 6:05 PM Tobacco, 4:15 PM – 5:00 PM Herman Kolgen, 3:20 PM – 4:00 PM

Yellow Stage SG Lewis, 11:30 PM – 12:20 AM Hevin, 10:20 PM – 11:10 PM Fat Tony, 9:20 PM – 10:00 PM – QRO photos at a Texas festival Daughters, 8:20 PM – 9:00 PM Spit Mask, 7:30 PM – 8:00 PM From Beyond, 6:30 PM – 7:10 PM -Us., 5:30 PM – 6:10 PM MNYNMS, 4:40 PM – 5:10 PM Tee Vee, 3:50 PM – 4:20 PM Splendid Emblem, 3:00 PM – 3:30 PM

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 18th

Red Stage Kaskade, 10:50 PM – 11:50 PM Ryan Raddon’s origins, which include a two-year mission in Japan for the Mormon Church, might sound more apropos for a country musician in Louisiana, but he’s become a top electronic performer worldwide.

Little Dragon, 9:20 PM – 10:20 PM From chilly-but-beautiful Gothenburg, Sweden comes the chilly-but-beautiful electronic outfit Little Dragon (QRO photos), who’ve collaborated with everyone from Gorillaz (QRO album review) to José González, but 2014 put out their own Nabuma Rubberband, their follow-up to 2011’s Ritual Union (QRO review), and have been gracing festivals (QRO photos at a festival) & more (QRO photos at a festival).

Squarepusher, 7:50 PM – 8:50 PM Tom Jenkinson, a.k.a. Squarepusher (QRO photos at a festival), draws on lots of different sources for his compositions – and both live instruments & digital signal processing live.

Kamasi Washington, 6:40 PM – 7:25 PM Acclaimed saxophonist Kamasi Washington (QRO photos at a festival) brings a modern air to the jazz instrument.

Also: Marcel, Rami and Bachar Khalife, 5:20 PM – 6:20 PM Uncle Acid & The Deadbeasts, 4:30 PM – 5:10 PM Nothing, 3:20 PM – 4:00 PM – QRO album review

Green Stage Travi$ Scott, 11:00 PM – 12:00 AM Texan rapper Travi$ Scott has succeeded in everything from producing (for GOOD Music’s Very GOOD Beats) to mixtapes to studio albums. He comes to Day For Night hot off the heels of his sophomore release, this year’s Birds In the Trap Sing McKnight.

Butthole Surfers, 9:40 PM – 10:40 PM There is no band like Butthole Surfers. The Texan natives stood out for being crazy even in the crazy eighties underground scene, stretching from psychoactive psychedelica to punk rock and even electronic sound manipulation. The live show from the rotating cast of characters has long been a sight to behold, and thankfully age has not slowed them down – so watch out!

Unknown Mortal Orchestra, 8:20 PM – 9:10 PM From Portland (QRO photos in Portland), but also New Zealand, Unknown Mortal Orchestra (QRO live review) impressed a lot of ears with their self-titled debut (QRO review) and last year’s Multi Love, both of which managed to be avant while also still rockin’ (QRO photos at a festival).

RZA, 7:10 PM – 7:50 PM The de facto leader of the legendary Wu-Tang Clan (QRO photos at a festival), RZA is one of the most important and influential figures in hip-hop, both for his work in the Clan, solo, and more (including directing his own kung-fu movie, The Man with the Iron Fists). The one-and-only RZA comes to Day For Night with special guest Stone Mecca.

Blonde Redhead, 6:10 PM – 6:50 PM New York’s no wave scene brought together Japan’s Kazu Makino (QRO interview) with Milan/Montreal twins Amedeo & Simone Pace as Blonde Redhead (QRO spotlight on). While the trio (QRO live review) began in distortion, they evolved to beauty with 2007’s 23 (QRO review) 2010’s Penny Sparkle (QRO review), and 2014’s Barragán (QRO review). While they wilt sometimes under the hot sun (QRO photos outdoors during the day), the evening is their magic hour (QRO live review at night). This year they released collection of early recordings, Masculine Feminine, so look for some rare early material at Day For Night.

Lightning Bolt, 5:10 PM – 5:50 PM Before there was the plethora of wild guitar-and-drums duos that there are today, there was Lightning Bolt (QRO photos) – a bass-and-drums duo known for guerilla-style shows who put out their seventh noise-rock LP, Fantasy Empire, last year.

Ariel Pink, 4:10 PM – 4:55 PM The just-past-thirty Ariel Marcus Rosenberg, or ‘Ariel Pink’ (QRO live review), helped start chillwave just recording in his bedroom, but has since recruited a band (QRO live review) and ventured out & onto the stage, with 2010’s Before Today (QRO review), 2012’s Mature Themes (QRO review), and 2014’s pom pom (QRO review), and has kept it up live (QRO live review). Also: Vacation Eyes, 3:10 PM – 3:50 PM

Blue Stage Arca, 11:10 PM – 12:40 AM Björk Digital, 9:30 PM – 11:00 PM SOPHIE, 8:10 PM – 9:00 PM Liars, 7:00 PM – 7:50 PM – QRO album review Mykki Blanco, 6:00 PM – 6:45 PM – QRO photos at a festival Matmos, 5:00 PM – 5:40 PM S U R V I V E, 4:00 PM – 4:40 PM Mary Lattimore & Jeff Zeigler, 3:00 PM – 3:40 PM

Yellow Stage Wild Moccasins, 11:00 PM – 11:50 PM QRO’s favorite Houston outfit Wild Moccasins (QRO live review) play hometown Day For Night (QRO spotlight on). The collective of kids weren’t old enough to drink when they came out with their debut full-length, Skin Collusion Past (QRO review), but have grown up (QRO interview).

Also: Jerk, 9:50 PM – 10:30 PM Futurelix, 8:50 PM – 9:30 PM Night Drive, 7:50 PM – 8:30 PM Maramuresh, 6:50 PM – 7:30 PM Anklepants, 5:50 PM – 6:30 PM Jock Club, 4:40 PM – 5:20 PM DAED, 3:50 PM – 4:20 PM Kult Dizney, 3:00 PM – 3:30 PM