King Felix :: MONSTER ISLAND BASEMENT DOUBLE FEATURE
:: late show –> -=10PM=- :: LAUREL HALO RECORD RELEASE party :: :: Laurel Halo :::: Oneohtrix Point Never :::::: Hubble
:: early show –> -=7PM=- :: “INTELLIGENT DESIGN, PART I” :: musicians perform original scores to short films :: :: dj Dog Dick :::: C. Specer Yeh :::::: Dustin Wong ———- of Ponytail and Ecstatic Sunshine :::::::: the Gamut
:: dj Physical Therapy :: dj Jan Woo :: dj McGregor ——— aka Chocolate Bobka
| MONSTER ISLAND BASEMENT | 128 River St @ Metropolitan Ave | Williamsburg, Brooklyn L-Bedford, JM-Marcy, G-Metropolitan | 7pm/10pm | $8 p/ show, $12 both shows
| curated by JJ RAMBO, Laurel Halo, & Todd P, organised by Todd P |
"ToddPNYC" Yesterday some interesting pictures of an abandoned drive-in movie theater turned up on Facebook. BK DIY scene leader Todd P posted them. Later I came to learn that the pictures are of the potential grounds for a post-SXSW festival in the Mexican city of Monterrey, roughly four hours south of Austin. Rumor has it 200 bands (Correction: more like 40-80 bands) will be playing the three day festival, which will reportedly kick off the Saturday March 20th, and will overlap with SXSW for a couple days. If the lineup is anything like Todd's SXSW shows of the past, his legendary beach BBQs, or CMJ shows under the Bridge, 80 bands over three days is probably an accurate, maybe even conservative, take on the amount of music that could be blasted from the base of the Sierra Madre's one late weekend in March. Fingers crossed. See ya in Mexico.
"I've Got Wild Eyes" Friday night at Water St's Monster Island Basement was one of the best lineups of the year, if not for the plethora of future stars then for it's unbriddled cohessiveness. Hats off to Todd P, who, once again, curated a night of near-perfect music from Beach Fossils, Real Estate, Girls and Kurt Vile & the Violators. Hazy surf-psych, lazy beach pop, narcotic Costello grooves and mega-feedback, it was almost as if the boundaries dividing each act bleed into each other, so that the revolving cast of musicians, actually felt like a revovling cast, rather than a drastic 180 degree turn taking . While Girls wowed me for the second night, especially their righteous cover of Vivian Girls "Wild Eyes" and Real Estate showed that they just keep getting tighter and tighter, the real surprise of the night was Beach Fossils, whom, despite being a one-man act on record, really fleshed their sound out nicely for the live performance. The band's short, remarkably clear sounding set include Bobka-favorites "Daydream" and "Vacation," as well as "Lazy Day", which continues Beach Fossils "I'm really baked and it's way too hot to do anything but pass out in the sun" vibe. While I heard muttering that Beach Fossils vocal effect may have been "a little much," I'm going to let it slide, as the warbled-flange is the vocal equivalent to someone muttering strange thoughts in your ear whilst passed out on the beach. Beach Fossils- Vacation Real Estate- Black Lake
Girls covering "Wild Eyes" at Cake Shop (Shot by Bill)
"I'm So Bored" (photo by YiiioiiiY P) A long weekend of shows ended yesterday afternoon in Morningside Heights with sets by Nodzzz, Woods and Wavves. Put on by WBAR and Todd P, the Underground Lounge was packed with undergrads hopped up on blog buzz and Red Stripe, reminding me of days spent in half-dilapidated barns and outhouses. To be honest, I haven't been that impressed with Wavves on record. I bought the LP a few weeks back and, for whatever reason, simply hadn't gotten into it yet. That was until yesterday when Nate and Ryan's three-chord skate punk shredded by head, and, by association, my neck. I can't remember the last time I head banged so hard, simply getting lost in a mess of breakneck schizo punk. Surprisingly, Wavves was much less lo-fi live than I thought, especially compared with Woods, who are really fucking lo-fi (shitty instruments, singing through headphones, broken cymbals, etc. As Bejar said best "The kids with the homemade microphones have very interesting sounds.") Nate played a rather new looking Tele through an equally as new Fender Twin Reverb, the amp of choice for many a guitarist, but hardly a staple at DIY basement parties. Highlights included "California Goth" (7" now sold out), "So Bored", "Weed Demon and "a new song we've never played", which is as close to a romantic ballad as I think we're gonna get from Wavves. All in all a great set.
While Wavves was pretty phenomenal, for me the highlight of the afternoon was Woods, whose Sun Ra meets "I'm-still-trying-figure-this-out" sound was a super pleasant surprise in between sets of shabby garage punk. Woods did some interstellar exploration, reaching for the most far out galaxies, yet managing to ground their sound in songs, which after getting lost in space kept calling me back to earth. I'm really not doing this any justice right now, but I bought their latest record Woods Family Creeps and, so far, I'm really enjoying it. Really looking forward to catching these guys again.
As for Nodzzz, I wasn't expecting much after reports from friends on Friday said they "sorta sucked live." Maybe it was my low expectations, but I thoroughly enjoyed their teenage stoner doo-wop, which would be the perfect soundtrack for driving through the desert with Hunter S. Thompson and Beavis and Butthead high on rubber cement. Goofy and badass, all at once.
Pixie Dust Todd P sent out an email yesterday that read:
2NITE -> a special beautiful night of quieter sounds w/ Múm alums Kría Brekkan -&- Ólöf Arnalds (both from Iceland) -&- Sam Amidon @ LUTHERAN CHURCH OF THE MESSIAH
Immediately, I knew I was in. Even more so after my delirious eyes realized the Lutheran Church of the Messiah is a few measly steps from my front door. The basement of the Greenpoint church was dark and dank, quite the contrast from the cool evening outside, which seemed to usher in autumn. We arrived at 9 just in time for Kría Brekkan's set of tape looped, piano driven, whimsical dream cycles that flutter in and around your head like specs of gold dust after you've run into a brick wall. Quite refreshing, and entrancing too. Kría wanted the room dark and finagled with the lone flood light that lite the stage. She pushed a table in front of it so its ominous glow was more of a shadow than a spotlight. Her live show was much like I envisioned after hearing the Wildering 7"; gorgeously quiet, as if her music was seeping out from 5,000 years of frozen dreams. Kría often stopped songs claiming she was messing up, or didn't know the words, but she is so beautiful and charming on stage that none of that mattered, as if it should. Music to dream to, most definitely. Even reminded me to get back into William S. Burroughs My Education: A Book of Dreams.
Her former múm partner Ólöf Arnalds set was similar, albeit totally different than Kría's more experimental set. Leaning closer to traditional Icelandic folk than Lau Nau-ish experimentalism, Ólöf stunned the crowd with her voice, which sang like you wish your mother would've sung you to sleep. Of course, Ólöf is a new mom and her son was in the audience, arguably making more noise than the dudes running down the stairs, popping beer bottles and shuttering lenses. All good though, he was just hungry and when Mommy called him on stage for some food, and an acapella lullaby, he seemed to relax. Ólöf ended the evening by bringing VT bred ambient folkie Sam Amidon, whose set we regrettably missed, and Kría back on stage for a string of collaborations that carried me off into a purgatorial state, which I may still be in while writing this. Absolutely beautiful evening from some of Iceland's most provocative, most enchanting songstresses.
Next up, Sigur Ros tonight. Iceland's really taking over.
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