Simian Mobile Disco to record new live project in Pioneertown

For experimental bands looking to broaden their horizons, there’s no place like Joshua Tree. Turns out even English dance acts can find some magic in them hills.

Simian Mobile Disco, the longtime London electronica duo, has announced an intriguing new project that’s half installation-art, half live album.

On April 26, the duo will commandeer Pappy & Harriet’s in Pioneertown, Calif., for a one-off performance that will be recorded for an upcoming new album, “Whorl.” The show will nix all laptops, software, samples and vocals -- each member will get only one synthesizer and one sequencer to perform the record.

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The catch? The pair is going to do this set only once, and whatever happens that night will become the grist for the new album.

It isn’t exactly a proper live album -- the band plans to later mix, edit and add to the individual tracks for a more sonically coherent LP. But when Simian Mobile Disco walks off Pappy & Harriet’s stage that night, it will have tracked most of its new record and will never play quite the same set again.

Tickets for the FYF-presented show are on sale now for $15. For fans of ambitious techno, it might be worth taking the whole month of April off and sticking around the desert.

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