As you’ll no doubt recall, and as we at TMT faithfully reported back in February, Brian Eno and RZA have both taken to referring to James Blake as “Jimmy Digital.” Back when that news first broke, I’m sure you, like me, had a good chuckle. “Ah, isn’t it sweet that these musicians are buddy-buddy enough that they’re giving each other nicknames,” you probably said. As it happens though, the nickname was more than just a little bit of horseplay. In fact, it was a covert cry for help. You see, at some point near the end of 2012, James Blake was somehow vacuumed into a computer, leaving behind his physical form and making him quite literally a “a cute British ghost in the machine.”
Though the conversion into a 100% digital entity was beneficial to Blake in the last few months of working on Overgrown (TMT Review), once the album was released, his disembodied internet spirit started to express a little bit of frustration (“I just want to feel the warmth of flesh on flesh again” has been seen to appear with uncomfortable frequency in Microsoft Word documents around the globe). Since then, plans have been in the works to convert Jimmy Digital back into “Jimmy Analog,” or “Jimmy Fleshpile,” if you prefer. One such plan comes in the form of a recently reported fall tour, in which the MacBook Air that holds a majority of Blake’s aura will be toted across the world and plugged into PAs in front of crowds of people in hopes that… something will happen (the science is actually pretty unclear). If you’re so inclined, you can catch Blake’s disembodied internet presence in a venue near you this fall. Jimmy Digital, if you’re reading this (or, more accurately, if the as-yet-unnamed constituent particles of your digitized soul are slithering over the base code for this page on the TMT server), I wish you luck!
Dates:
05.24.13 - Barcelona, Spain - Primavera Sound Festival
05.29.13 - Madrid, Spain - Sala Capital
05.30.13 - Porto, Portugal - Optimus Primavera Sound
06.01.13 - Dublin, Ireland - Forbidden Fruit
06.04-05.13 - Tokyo, Japan - Studio Coast
06.06.13 - Nagoya, Japan - Club Diamond Hall
06.07.13 - Osaka, Japan - Hatch
06.22.13 - Istanbul, Turkey - Efes One Love Festival
06.23.13 - Hvar Island, Croatia - FOR Festival
06.30.13 - Pilton, UK - Glastonbury Festival
07.04.13 - Paris, France - Cité de la Musique
07.05.13 - Amsterdam, Netherlands - PITCH Festival
07.06.13 - Werchter, Belgium - Rock Werchter
07.07.13 - Roskilde, Denmark - Roskilde Festival
07.14.13 - Montreux, Switzerland - Montreux Jazz Festival
07.16.13 - Athens, Greece - Ejekt Festival
07.19.13 - Berlin, Germany - Melt Festival
07.21.13 - Beccles, UK - Latitude Festival
07.25.13 - Perth, Australia - Astor Theater
07.26.13 - Perth, Australia - Astor Theater
07.28.13 - Byron Bay, Australia - Splendour in the Grass
07.29.13 - Sydney, Australia - Sydney Opera House
07.30.13 - Sydney, Australia - Sydney Opera House
07.31.13 - Melbourne, Australia - The Palais Theatre
08.02.13 - Auckland, New Zealand - Town Hall
08.09.13 - Oslo, Norway - Øya Festival
08.10.13 - Gothenburg, Sweden - Way Out West Festival
08.17.13 - St. Pölten, Austria - FM4 Frequency Festival
08.31.13 - Zurich, Switzerland - Zurich Openair
09.13.13 - Portmeirion, UK - Festival No. 6
09.18.13 - Glasgow, UK - O2 ABC
09.20.13 - Manchester, UK - Ritz
09.21.13 - Birmingham, UK - Institute
09.22.13 - Oxford, UK - O2 Academy
09.24.13 - Bristol, UK - O2 Academy
09.25-26.13 - London, UK - O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire
10.06.13 - Copenhagen, Denmark - Vega
10.08.13 - Berlin, Germany - Tempodrom
10.09.13 - Munich, Germany - Muffathalle
10.10.13 - Cologne, Germany - E-Werk
10.12.13 - Amsterdam, Netherlands - Melkweg
10.13.13 - Brussels, Belgium - Ancienne Belgique
10.14.13 - Paris, France - Trianon
10.22.13 - Los Angeles, CA - Wiltern
10.23.13 - Los Angeles, CA - The Hollywood Forever Cemetery
10.24.13 - San Diego, CA - House of Blues
10.25.13 - Phoenix, AZ - The Crescent Ballroom
10.27.13 - Dallas, TX - House of Blues
10.28.13 - Austin, TX - Emo’s
10.29.13 - Houston, TX - House of Blues
10.30.13 - New Orleans, LA - Republic
10.31.13 - Nashville, TN - Marathon Music Works
11.02.13 - Washington, DC - 9:30 Club
11.03.13 - Washington, DC - 9:30 Club
11.04.13 - Philadelphia, PA - Union Transfer
11.05.13 - Boston, MA - House of Blues
11.06.13 - New York, NY - Terminal 5
11.07.13 - New York, NY - Terminal 5
11.09.13 - Montreal, QC - Metropolis
11.11.13 - Ann Arbor, MI - Michigan Theater
11.13.13 - Chicago, IL - Riviera Theatre
11.14.13 - Milwaukee, WI - Turner Hall Ballroom
11.15.13 - Minneapolis, MN - First Avenue
11.16.13 - Iowa City, IA - The Englert Theatre
11.19.13 - Vancouver, BC - Vogue Theatre
11.20.13 - Seattle, WA - Showbox Sodo
11.21.13 - Portland, OR - Roseland Theater
• James Blake: http://jamesblakemusic.com
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