Tonight: Rooftop Riot!

So pissed I'm out of town for this.

Tonight: Awesome Market Hotel Show, Deli Mag Party

Two fun shows in Brooklyn tonight:

Links:
Parts & Labor / Aa/ Pterodactyl

Deli Mag Party @ Union Pool

Enter Shikari = HOLY AWESOMENESS!

There are very few bands that simply make me drop everything I'm doing and listen in awe. Enter Shikari are one of those bands. I can't even begin to describe the sound of this band. One minute they sound like Alexisonfire and the next they sound like Bloc Party, then it's Prodigy, Soulwax, then it's fucking As I Lay Dying and then FATA...WTF?!?! I'm fucking blown away by the mix of styles. Especially since it all makes perfect sense and flows so so smoothly. Apparently these guys are a big deal in the UK and the rest of Europe but I've never heard of them in the States. Hopefully that changes soon.

Link:
Enter Shikari

Sorry You're Not A Winner


Enter Shikari

New Kings Of Leon Video "Sex On Fire"

Weird video...

Sex On Fire

Tonight: FOTP & Dinner With The Band BBQ @ Hope Lounge

$5 plates from an excellent chef and $5 beer and shot (of Absinthe!) specials. Sounds like a fun and delicious Wednesday. See you there.

We Are Scientists v. Rage Against the Machine

So I've got a a dispatch from today's NME online. I'm sort of following up with Matt's blurb about Rage Against the Machine at the DNC which you can find below...

Anyways, NME was talking to the jackasses from We Are Scientists about playing Reading or Leeds or some big, rainy festival which RATM had headlined. Rather than be gracious (hey, I'm not a huge Rage fan either) or intelligent, the favorite sons of Brooklyn went for glib and basically, ignorant.

The whole thing is here

The choicest bit:

Murray added: "This is an argument I have with myself a lot because I really hate political statements coming from bands. I feel like the last person I want to hear you know a philosophy from is someone whose one credential is that they can play the guitar."

Murray admitted Rage Against The Machine aren't all bad though, saying: "On the other hand it's good to have bands like Rage Against The Machine, who no matter whether or not you think they're a bunch of fools who are trapped in freshmen year of university, are at least speaking their minds and like trying to make a difference. Although, were they spouting fascist ideas then we'd all be condemning them." (my italics)

This is what disturbs me so much about our scene in this city sometimes...apparently, it's funny and immature to give a damn about anything. Maybe it was all of my formative years in the punk scene, but I always thought it was badass that certain groups were really committed to certain ideals. And it did me a lot of good to hear to hear what they had to say...

Look, obviously, a group like Rage Against the Machine isn't above pageantry, sure. But in the quote above, it sounds a lot more like we are disqualifying guys from speaking out just because they have guitars; as if that makes them junior citizens.

Awesome Show Alert: Team Robespierre, NinjaSonik, & More

Hopefully I can make it back into town for this one. Great line-up and it's on a roof! BYOB (so what's the $12 for?). Anyway, RSVP here and you get in for $10:

Link:
BKByHand RSVP

Cheech & Chong Tix On Sale At 4:20PM

I have great news to report today: Cheech & Chong are back! The stoner kings of comedy are reuniting for a series of live shows. I was never a die hard fan but this is still awesome. I'm going to try and score a pair of tix.

Link:
BV - Cheech & Chong

New Metallica "The Day That Never Comes"

Guess what? Metallica are back... to sucking! Even the mighty resurrector, Rick Rubin, couldn't bring these washed up fucks back from their alterna-rock holes. At best this is a b-side from The Black Album and at worst it's the best song on Load. So I'll admit it's the best thing they've released in a long time but it's still fucking boring. The solo is the only thing worth sitting through this crap for.

Really when it comes down to it they'll never sound good again as long as James is doing that terrible "ooh-yaaa-heeyy-ahh" bullshit voice he's been using since Load. You can't sing motherfucker, stop trying and fucking yell like you used to. I know a bunch of NASCAR watching, pick-up truck driving morons are going to disagree with me but I don't care. The truth is the truth, and the truth is Metallica are too rich and comfortable to make convincing metal anymore. Rest in peace Metallica. I'll never let you get my hopes up again, I can't take heart break like this anymore.

Link:
New Song On MySpace

Rage Against The Machine & Flobots Playing DNC Protest Show

RATM hates the dems just as much as the GOP. So they teamed up with Flobots and will be having a free show in Denver during the Democratic National Convention. The passes with be distributed via a lottery. Apparently they'll be doing this for the GOP convention too.

Link:
RAGE Crash DNC

Ten Questions with Dynasty Electric

Recently, the Ski Club sat down in the West Village with Jenny singer and cofounder of Dynasty Electric. The following is a (very) abbreviated version of the conversation.

Dynasty Electric is currently awesome and on a nationwide tour which features stops from coast to coast and a featured spot at Burning Man. When not out setting hearts afire in the desert, the group is one of the bright lights on the greater Brooklyn music scene. Look out for their upcoming record and enjoy our talk about group dynamics, space, and the irrepressible power of pop music .


Brooklyn Ski Club: We’re currently in the underground lair of the Ski Club. Having a good time so far?

Jenny: Having a great time!

BSC: One of the things that your group, Dynasty Electric, is becoming best known for is space travel. Can you tell us a bit about your collective passion for the solar system and how it’s reflected in your music?

J: Well, a couple years ago I got pneumonia, and I basically stayed at home and watched, like, blacksploitation soft core porn for like, several months, and a lot of that was Sun Ra’s “space is the place” and (laughs) um, that’s when I started getting interested in space travel. And one of my favorite quotes from sun ra was, when people would ask him do you like musicians that are trained or untrained, and his answer was like: it doesn’t matter to me if they are trained or untrained, what I want to know is, have they been to Pluto. That’s what he told major publications! Pluto, that’s what I care about…so I don’t want to speak for the rest of the band but I know that they are interested in the Solar System.

Everytime I go to the loft – the music place where we rehearse – they’re watching the sci fi channel specials on space and solar system formation/planet formation and the formation of the milky way…

…but all of the specials, all of it comes off as so authorative, based on all these calculations…but it’s all theoretical, and in that vein, we can all make any idea we want about how the universe started.

BSC: What’s the Dynasty Electric prevailing theory about the universe’s creation.

J: It was a vibration! A sound vibration. One that vibrated at certain frequency that started everything going. And I think that there’s a scientific theory that backs that up.

BSC: Sure, string theory. It’s very similar.

J: Yeah, so vibrations…for sure, that’s how it started.

BSC: In keeping with this theme, can you give us some background to the press photo of the group on Mars?

J: Well, I’d like to say that we actually have a new bass player since that photo – that was Valerie (recently departed bassist for the group) – we have (a new bass player) he’s come in and he’s doing our tour with us. So I’m sure we’ll go to the moon or something and take a photo with him, because we’ll need to have photos on the surface of the moon with the sun behind us. But we haven’t had time to go there yet because there’s so many other things going on.

BSC: Isn’t the moon a bit of a regression?

J: No no no no! The moon is a great place for photographs. Like, I don’t want to live there, I just want to take photos there.

BSC: Before lightspeed travel and Theremins (you guys are big on Theramins and stand-alone saxophones), what was the origin of the group? How long have you been toiling away ? I can see from your bio materials that it all began as a duo. So how long has the large scale lineup been intact?

J: We’ve only been doing…Dynasty Electric has basically had a bunch of incarnations. We started off as an experimental jazz trio. There were no vocals. It was just insane, improvised saxophone with punk rock bass lines and drums – I played bass with a bow.

And we traveled all over the country doing that and then we started adding vocals and worked as a duo and started programming the drum beats. And then we were kind of taking that all over the place – went to Japan, Taiwan, Canada and all over the US again. And then there was a period of time when we had 6 people in the band and in this short period of time we recorded some material…then it was 3 again…

But the current lineup with the rhythm section and some programming has been going on since (late 2007), for six months or so.

BSC: So this whole chronology takes place over the course of?

J: 5 years…ish.

BSC: As the band grew and your sound expanded, how did that come to affect the approach to your work?

J: It’s true that having it be a duo, we really experimented…all of that we have taken with us to this next incarnation. But the difference being that there’s just a real power and energy to a live rhythm section; of a good drummer and bassist just locking in and really powering something. Originally, well, I was friends with the guys from TV on the Radio years ago and originally they were just doing a programming thing too and it was just the there of them, and you know, the songs were really good…

But once they got their rhythm section, for some reason, people just (started to) relate, they really related to the live songs. It just gives it some power that you can’t have with programming alone.

BSC: When you’re actually working on compositions, do you think differently now, with the group? No offense, but you’re talking about experimental jazz and basses with bows and you play Pop Music now.

J: Yeah, well, first of all, Seth (the guitar player/co-founder/co-songwriter) came from an experimental (background). He was playing with Anthony Braxton…and I think he started to realize that he really wanted to talk to a LOT of people. He really wanted to communicate to a lot of people and you don’t do that with experimental jazz. You know? Even if you are the top of the top. The amount of people that you can actually send a message to (are limited).

I don’t know! Music, pop music, is what’s POPULAR. It’s where it’s at. And I think there’s a lot that you can do with that. And it’s actually a lot harder to write a good pop song that makes people think. It sounds so simple. But to put all of those elements together , musically, and in a way that really hits someone…

So, I love pop music.

BSC: Well…the Beatles…

J: The Beatles! And it was totally the era that they were in, but they dialed into something. Something metaphysical. And they were just tuned in. And everyone responded.

I was watching a documentary (on the Beatles) and to see everyone’s reactions to their concerts… Holy Shit!

"Too Drunk To Fuck"

No...I'm not referring to the classic Dead Kennedys song. I'm talking about the chorus to the new Buckcherry song "Too Drunk". Yes, those wanna-be '80's shit rockers dared to rip off the chorus to one of the most classic punk rock songs ever. We all know Buckcherry sucks but this fucking song is even shit by their low standards. So how are they going to get people to listen to it? Put a bunch of titties in the video and premiere it on the Playboy website. I hope Jello Biafra sues the living shit out of these Hollywood hacks.

Link:

The Titty Video On Playboy

I realize I shouldn't link to the video but you have to see the level these idiots have to stoop to in order to get people to hear their shitty song.

Too Drunk To Fuck, Live 1981

Tonight: RebelRebel Moves To Annex, Radio America @ R Bar

Radio America
@ R BAR
10PM
FREE
Open Bar 10-11

Also:

"Dumb and Poor? Here's a simple way to make MONEY!"

SPAM mail subject line of the week!

Introducing Eastern Sweats!

Please allow me to introduce the best band in Brooklyn that you've never heard of. They're called Eastern Sweats and they're fucking awesome. Hell, I think they're so awesome that I decided to manage them. Here are some songs to listen to, let me know what you think. I appreciate brutal honesty but I truly don't see how anyone can not dig this band. They're making their live debut on September 2nd.

MP3's:
Let Whatever Be - Eastern Sweats
Atmoscene - Eastern Sweats

Eastern Sweats
9/2/08
8PM
@ Rehab
w/ Radio America
$8

Tonight: Kill Shop Kill Party w/ Baby Sinead, Michael T, and more!

KILL SHOP KILL
Store Launch
(At the STORE)
8:30-9:30
132 North 5th Street (@ Bedford Avenue)
Complementary Cocktails Provided By Ardbeg


KILL SHOP KILL
Launch AfterParty
(An All Night Celebration of Excess)
9:30-4:00
@
Cyn
216 Bedford Avenue (@ North 5th Street)

What I Learned At Virgin Mobile Festival

• Average people still have no idea who Gogol Boredello is
• Lil Wayne is a dick. Seriously dude, 45 minutes late! Then you just rap over your CD, which you didn't even bother taking the vocal track out of??? FUCK YOU SIR
• The food is excellent. Seriously. Festival food worth buying.
• NIN have the best light show EVER! Mind blowing shit. And thanks for playing 3 of my 4 favorite NIN songs - Hurt, Wish, and Piggy.
• STP is awesome. REALLY awesome! Time and separation has not hurt them at all. No one at the festival sounded better.
• Iggy Pop is super human...but I guess we already knew that.
• No matter how cheesy The Offspring have become hearing songs from Smash never gets old.
  
• As suspected Citizen Cope is fucking awful. The single worst part of Virgin.
• Despite my hatred for the oonst oonst Soulwax is pretty incredible live.
• Chuck Berry can't really play guitar anymore but who fucking cares because he still put on a show. Let's see what you're doing when you're 81 - shitting your diaper and playing crosswords. You def won't be on stage with a bunch of 19 year old girls like Chuck.
• Bob Dylan sounded terrible. What a fucking bummer. It's like he's trying to sound like an exaggerated Dylan impersonator.
• FESTIVALS ARE GRUELING!

I'm Back, Fuckers

So if you didn't notice from the last post I'm back in NYC. I spent a week at, the pristine, Lake George relaxing and now I'm back in this polluted cesspool. I spent the whole week cruising around on a boat, hiking, mushroom hunting and fishing.

It's the first time I've been fishing since I was about 15. I went through a whole "it's cruel and barbaric" stage regarding fishing but have since wised-up. Commercial fishing is totally fucked and if everyone caught their own then the world would be a better place.

Anyway, I'll save my rant about commercial meat for another day. The point is I caught a 5-6 pound smallmouth bass! Considering the NYS record for smallmouth last year was just over 8 pounds that's not too shabby.

But enough about me hicking it up in the mountains. I'm back in the city and there are parties and shows to talk shit about. Obviously I'm a week behind in everything so cut me a little slack while I catch up.

Tonight: Fiasco, Ninjasonik, Homosexuals, more

Hop on the J train and head to Market Hotel for the Fiasco tour kickoff show with Ninjasonik. Fiasco played the MOB party on Saturday and were really good. The show starts at 8PM ($8).

Tonight: King Khan & The BBQ Show

Tonight King Khan and The BBQ Show at Santo's Party House. Tickets are available on TicketWeb and they're only $10. King Khan and BBQ did a song with the Black Lips yesterday at the pool and it was awesome. Don't miss this.