photos by Chris Doss

DOWNLOAD: Dominique Young Unique - Show My Ass (MP3)

"Jelly pool party was historic/epic. DMC + Andrew WK + Les Savy Fav+Doug E Fresh : unforgettable. Gucci mane is the gertrude stein of hip hop" -erikhinton

Gucci Mane @ Williamsburg Waterfront Sunday

When they said "surprise" they meant it, though as rumored (and here), Gucci Mane was on the lineup of the final Jelly Pool Party on Sunday, August 29th, at Williamsburg Waterfront. Andrew WK hinted at his participation the night before, but for the most part, the lineup remained a rumor until the artists hit the stage. Featuring DJ sets by The Rub and Smalltown DJs, Sunday's Pool Party-that-almost-didn't-happen featured performances from DMC (of Run DMC), Andrew WK (and Cherie Lilly), Doug E Fresh, Doug's son's group, Big Freedia (and dancer), The Cool Kids, Tim Harrington (of Les Savy Fav), and Atlanta MC Gucci Mane in addition to the previously announced Dominique Young Unique and Delorean.

Unlike Run, Andrew WK and Tim Harrington helped DMC perform "It's Tricky" and "Walk this Way". Delorean, already headlining multiple nights at 600+ capacity venues in NYC, played 2nd on the bill after an opening set by Dominique Young Unique who was busting out of her top as she played songs like "Show My Ass" (download that song above).

Dominique Young Unique

But Dominique's outfit was nothing compared to the stage show of New Orleans's Big Freedia who brought "Ass Everywhere" to a NYC crowd for the third time in two days (Freedia also performed at PS1 on Saturday and at Coco66 later that night) (Dominique also played again later Sunday night at Brooklyn Bowl).

So was it the final pool party ever?

...Series' co-founder, Sarah Hooper, has said that she "hates" what the beloved Pool Parties have become: lame concerts with muted speakers, too many security guards and too much oversight from the state and its patron, Open Space Alliance. She even hinted that Jelly's current side-project, a six-show free series called "Rock Yard" on Wythe Avenue, could replace the Pool Parties (so named because they began at the McCarren Park pool).

Hooper didn't fork over any of the juicy details when she took the stage on Sunday to give a crammed park its final farewell.

"Thank you so much, we love being in Brooklyn," she said to a roaring crowd. "Don't ever let anybody tell you that you can't be yourself." -[Brooklyn Paper]

More pictures and some videos from the whole day, below...

Continue reading "Gucci Mane, Doug E Fresh, Dominique Young Unique & the Cool Kids played the final Pool Party too (pics) "

photos by Chris Doss

"It was all worth it to see DMC, Andrew WK and a yeti-dressed Tim Harrington on stage together singing "Walk This Way."

Watching that. Then turning around and seeing the Manhattan skyline over the East River. And seeing the hundreds of people sitting in the grass behind the tents. Then walking home to my apartment. And realizing that this is something real that has actually happened. It's hard to be mad at the pretentiousness of a crowd, or peoples' ignorance (heard a dude say "Who is that guy?" when Tim Harrington came out. Made me giggle.) when this is a world where things like this can happen" [Times Ain't That Rough]

Continue reading "Andrew WK & Tim Harrington played w/ DMC (instead of Run) @ the Pool Party @ Williamsburg Waterfront (pics & video) "

Shearwater @ Sasquatch 2009 (more by Chris Graham)

today in NYC
* Kraut @ Cake Shop
* Mr. Gnome @ Union Pool
* Bitch @ Knitting Factory
* Norah Jones @ The Theater @ MSG
* Miike Snow, Delorean @ Webster Hall
* Nada Surf @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
* Beaches, Flight, Total Slacker @ Death By Audio
* Love is All, Crystal Stilts, Beachniks @ Maxwell's
* Lymbyc System, Slow Six, Glass Ghost @ Glasslands
* Hawk and Dove, Pearl & The Beard @ The Bell House
* Basia Bulat, Sam Izdat @ Mercury Lounge (Early Show)
* Little Dragon, VV Brown @ Mercury Lounge (Late Show)
* Shearwater, Wye Oak, Hospital Ships @ Bowery Ballroom
* Mike Doughty & Christina Courtin @ (le) Poisson Rouge
* The Grates, Savoir Adore, Dappled Cities @ Brooklyn Bowl
* Extra Life, Zs, Skeletons, Nine 11 Thesaurus @ Silent Barn
* The Pack A.D., Cherie Lily, Zuzuka Ponderosa @ Santos Party House
* Erykah Badu, Spank Rock, MNDR, The Tony Castles @ Good Units
* Keren Ann, Joseph Arthur, Chris Garnaeu, Elysian Fields, Dayna Kurtz (Haiti benefit) @ City Winery

Tonight's Grant Hart / The Octagon show has been postponed to May 28th.

Though they still haven't made an official announcement, Nebula's break up is further confirmed by the cancellation of tonight's show at Pianos. Quest For Fire and Dangeroo won't be there either.

Drunkdriver broke up too and won't be playing their record release show at Market Hotel tonight. The other bands on the bill play 538 Johnson instead.

Delorean played two shows last night. First Music Hall of Williamsburg and then Coco66. Tonight they do it at Webster Hall (with Miike Snow).

Back from Mexico where she performed alongside Andrew WK at MtyMX, Cherie Lily can be found at Santos Party House tonight.

Pere Ubu is at LPR Sunday.

A whole bunch of tickets recently went on sale.

Jamie Lidell's new video for "The Ring" below...

What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Saturday?"

by Andrew Frisicano

it's a pool toy

Andrew W.K. and friends launched the free, biweekly Adult Swim Presents Summer at Santos series with a party at the club on June 11th. The show featured sets from Andrew W.K.'s roster of Skyscaper Music Maker artists, including Cherie Lily, Bad Brilliance and Aleister X, all of which appear on that label's only release so far, DAMN! The Mixtape.

Cherie Lily opened the show promptly -- I missed her set, but she re-emerged throughout the night onstage and in the crowd. Next, Aleister X, a Brit goth one-man show, performed with Andrew W.K., who spun from the booth and sang backups.

Bad Brilliance rolled out a red carpet for his costumed spectacle, which featured members of the dance-pop band Tayisha Busay (pictured on stage with Cherie Lily, below) and others dancing in full '80s aerobics gear while photographers in formal dress (also part of the performance) snapped photos a la movie-opening paparazzi.

The synth-pop-punk of Natalie Portman's Shaved Head, the only band on the bill, was energetic and unhinged. It was during their set that the crowd got into stage-diving/manical dancing mode. More than a few showgoers backfliped into the crowd.

Last up, Andrew W.K. performed a set of party-rock singles with a backing track and occasional added piano. It became hard for him to even reach the keyboard though, when at least half of the crowd joined him on stage during the second song. Most stayed there for the rest of the set, which progressed with the house lights on. Cherie Lily hung out stage left contributing hypeman ad libs to songs like "Party Hard" and "I Love NYC." And she wasn't alone on the mic as Andrew passed it to friends (crowdmembers) on stage. Near the end of the night someone cracked open a foam-filled plush toy which was quickly disassembled and rained plastic snow on the departing crowd.

The Adult Swim series continues on June 25th with sets by Jon Glaser, The Woggles, Cheeseburger, A.C. Newman and more. That's the same night Santos hosts the Phenomenal Handclap Band CD release show.

Some of the night's performers, including Cherie Lily, Tayisha Busay and Aleister X, will be at the Studio at Webster Hall on Thursday, June 18th. Tickets are on sale.

Natalie Portman's Shaved Head play Santos again on Saturday, June 20th with Kittens Ablaze and Home Video. Tickets are on sale.

More pictures below...

Continue reading "Andrew W.K., Bad Brilliance, Aleister X & Cherie Lily @ Santos Party House - pics (Adult Swim party)"

by Andrew Frisicano

DOWNLOAD: Bad Brilliance - Non Tradition Ball Head (Girl Talk Remix) / It's So Fun (Andrew W.K. Remix) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Julia - Cocaine (The Knocks Remix) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Aleister X - The Git (MP3)

Bad Brilliance & Andrew WK @ Terminal 5 in November (more by Zach Stern)

If you missed Andrew W.K.'s DAMN! The Mixtape release party at Santos on May 28th, don't worry. You'll have another chance to catch W.K. and his Skyscraper Music Maker friends at the club's first Adult Swim Presents Summer at Santos Series show on Thursday, June 11th.

The lineup for that free gig includes Andrew W.K. and special guests, plus opening sets by Cherie Lily, Aleister X, Bad Brilliance and Natalie Portman's Shaved Head. Video clips of what exactly went down on the 28th are posted below.

Cherie Lily, Aleister X, Bad Brilliance and that crew are all featured prominently on DAMN! The Mixtape -- a comp produced by Andrew WK and B-Roc of The Knocks. Check out three tracks from that album, above. Those include Bad Brilliance's Girl Talk & Andrew W.K. remixes together as one MP3. And speaking of Girl Talk, he has some shows of his own coming up this summer.

Cherie Lily and Andrew W.K. are also performing at the Street Meat show at Cake Shop the next night (Friday, June 12th). It's a free show that's billed as "Character Comedy with Special Guests." Also playing are Terror Pigeon Dance Revolt, Jon Glaser, Trevor Williams and more.

As previously discussed, Andrew W.K. has a bunch of projects debuting soon: a solo piano improv album coming in the fall, a Canadian tour in June with Nardwuar (who recently interviewed Vivian Girls) and his own Cartoon Network show called Destroy Build Destroy.

Well, he also contributed to the most recent Current 93 album, and at a July 7th Santos show...

Andrew will perform several pieces from his voice performance contribution to The Journal of Popular Noise. This will be Andrew's first ever performance of this type, and a special night of new sounds and styles. Featuring TV BABY, Walker & Cantrell, Jayson Green and DJ TK.

Flyers for the Santos and Cake Shop shows, with Bad Brilliance vids and live clips from the DAMN! The Mixtape release party, below...

Continue reading "DAMN! - Girl Talk remixed Bad Brilliance (MP3s) who plays w/ Andrew WK others @ Santos courtesy of Adult Swim "

by Andrew Frisicano

Andrew WK takes to the stage of Santos Party House, the club he partially owns, this Thursday, May 28th for a show with Cherie Lily, Height with Friends, Ed Schrader, DJ Dog Dick, Ana Lola Romanhas and host Aleister X. Also appearing will be Julia, Samuel and Bad Brilliance. Tickets are on sale.

That event is a release party of sorts for the first record from Andrew WK's Skyscraper Music Maker label. That compilation, DAMN! The Mixtape Vol. 1, released on May 25th, features "Andrew's work as a producer for Skyscraper Music Maker artists, Bad Brilliance, Aleister X, and more." Check out a streaming sample at RCDLBL, and a trailer for it, along with the video for Bad Brilliance's "It's So Fun" (remixed by AWK), below.

This September, Skyscraper Music Maker (with its partner Cargo Records) will release Andrew WK's new record, 55 Cadillac, a disc of solo piano improvisations. There's an advertisement/preview video for the disc, also below.

Just a few days ago, Andrew WK started his own Twitter, and already he's been dropping news bits (and trying to get people to call him). Along with more prosaic observations about pizza and dusty Diet Coke, Andrew announced that his 2006 overseas-only album, delayed previously because of contractual obligations, will finally be see US release, as well as new disc(?) Young Lord. He writes, "Close Calls With Brick Walls is coming in the winter and Young Lord is next!"

Andrew WK is releasing material sooner than that even. Nardwuar, the Canadian music personality, is putting out a 7-inch on June 23rd called A Wild Pear! split between his own band, The Evaporators, and Andrew WK. The CD release party for that EP is part of a larger Andrew WK summer Canadian tour coming in June. That tour includes Sled Island Fest in June, and more shows with The Evaporators (who killed it at SXSW this year). All dates below.

Non-Canadians get Andrew WK love this summer too, as his new TV show, DESTROY BUILD DESTROY, is premiering on Cartoon Network on June 20th. The program is "a game show involving teenagers and 100 foot high explosions, quadruple wide fire-balls, and the will to create from the ashes!" Check out a preview for that below.

All above mentioned videos, show posters, and a "Learn How to Play Andrew WK songs" clip hosted by WK himself, below...

Continue reading "Andrew WK - new music, Nardwuar, live shows, a TV show, his own label Skyscraper Music Maker & stuff"