Question: What do you get when a girl who lives by the motto, "its not about the program its about what you do with ur brain," gets her hands on Garage Band?
Answer: Grimes (nee Claire Boucher), a 23-year-old bedroom dweller, witch house dabbler, and dark electro wizard from Montreal, whose self-produced solo releases -- Geidi Primes and Halfaxa -- have left legions of music nerds wallowing in fandom.
Basically, she's become an object of total obsession in certain circles. And with her new slab, Visions, slated for January 2012, Grimes is giving the blog geeks and tuneage freaks exactly what they want -- a series of semi-private shows -- announcing a 24-date Spring 2012 tour with a Miami gig scheduled for Thursday, March 8, at Bardot.
Grimes's Visions Spring 2012 Tour Dates
February 18 Fortune Sound Club, Vancouver, BC
February 20 Sunset Tavern, Seattle, WA
February 21 Holocene, Portland, OR
February 24 Echo, Los Angeles, CA
February 25 Soda Bar, San Diego, CA
February 27 Rhythm Room, Phoenix, AZ
February 29 Lambert's, Austin, TX
March 1 Dan's Silverleaf, Denton, TX
March 2 LBC Quad at Tulane University, New Orleans, LA
March 3 Cats Purring, Oxford, MS
March 5 Drunken Unicorn, Atlanta, GA
March 6 The Orpheum, Tampa, FL
March 7 Backbooth, Orlando, FL
March 8 Bardot Miami, Miami, FL
March 13 7th Street Entry, Minneapolis, MN
March 14 Empty Bottle, Chicago, IL
March 19 Legendary Horseshoe Tavern, Toronto, ON
March 20 Brillobox, Pittsburgh, PA
March 21 Str8 Cavin, Baltimore, MD
March 22 Kung Fu Necktie, Philadelphia, PA
March 23 Mercury Lounge, New York, NY
March 24 Glasslands, Brooklyn, NY
March 26 Great Scott, Allston, MA
March 31 Cabaret Mile End, Montreal, QC
Now when Grimes opened for Austra at Grand Central earlier this month, Crossfade wasn't exactly rapt with wonder. We were a bit bummed by her set ("Boucher mostly karaoke-ed to samples and loops"), noting that "the band-in-a-box dynamic didn't do her sound justice." But lately, she's been emphasizing her ongoing evolution as a professional performer, telling Pitchfork that touring has "forced me to become a musician."
And honestly, if this bedroom dweller can actually translate the ethereal intensity of Visions' strange, sublime first single, "Oblivion," to a live setting, we'll undoubtedly be left wallowing in fandom, like all those other geeks and freaks, over Grimes and her self-described "post-internet" vibes.
Download: Grimes's "Oblivion" off her upcoming album Visions
("Option" click for Mac, right click for PC)
Grimes. Thursday, March 8. Bardot, 3456 N. Miami Ave., Miami. Call 305-576-7750 or visit bardotmiami.com.
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