Friday Aug 21, 2009 (9pm)
It's your standard story: college freshman launches tastemaking record label out of Michigan dorm room. (All right, maybe it's not.) You've gotta hand it to Sam Valenti IV, ten years down the line, for shaping Ghostly International into a solid source of new avant-pop and electronic music. The label celebrates its first decade with parties in a half-dozen cities, including one at the Empty Bottle. Tonight's salute features Solvent's analog-synth electro pop, the darker industrial-tinged sounds of Kill Memory Crash, and additional sets by Tycho and Dark Party. With four artists on deck, it's a decent introduction to the Ghostly way. If you're looking for more, download the label's slick Discovery app for your iPhone and the free Ghostly Swim compilation.
– Karsten Lund