A Mister Saturday Night loft party in 2010 (more by Chris Doss)

Yesterday, we listed a bunch of New Year's Eve options taking place in New York City. Here's one more. On New Year's Eve (12/31), Mister Saturday Night (aka Justin Carter and Eamon Harkin) will be taking over House of Yes (342 Maujer St., Brooklyn, NY) for a party and will be playing records all night. In order to keep the party intimate, they're requiring that you buy advance tickets, which are on sale now. They say: "No waiting for a drink for an hour at the bar, no standing in crazy lines at the bathroom, and no coat check debacles. Just you, us, some friends and some dancing. And a champagne toast at midnight, of course." The flier for the show is below.

Mister Saturday Night are also throwing a loft party in Brooklyn on February 11 at 12-Turn-13 on 172 Classon Ave. with Four Tet. It isn't clear whether or not he will be DJing or playing live.

Four Tet also plays NYC a month after that at Le Poisson Rouge on March 10. Tickets are still available.

All Four Tet dates and Mistery Saturday Night NYE flier below...

Continue reading "Mister Saturday Night hosting a NYE party @ House of Yes, and a Four Tet gig in Feb. (updated dates)"

It used to be where Issue Project Room was located. They moved and the outdoor Gowanus Canal space opened as the Yard, which then changed to BKLYN Yard. Always a mystery as to whether the outdoor venue will return each year, last summer it was shut down just as it was getting started. You might remember when all events were cancelled in June which was followed by the weekly daytime dance party 'Sunday Best' un-cancelling but becoming alcohol-free, and then cancelling again (and moving to Brooklyn Fireproof).

WELL, they haven't given up! Sunday Best, put on by the people behind Mister Saturday Night, have changed their party name to Mister Sunday and will return to the space this summer, though the location is now known as Gowanus Grove (identity crisis!). They write:

We've been keeping this one under our hats for a while, but the time has come to spill the beans. In just over a month, on Memorial Day Weekend, we're introducing Mister Sunday, the outdoor, Sunday afternoon spinoff of Mister Saturday Night. Clever name, we know.

If you ever came to Sunday Best at BKLYN Yard, you'll know the place: it's the same canal-side, tree-spotted plot of land at 400 Carroll Street between Bond and Nevins in Brooklyn, now rechristened Gowanus Grove.

If you never made it down, let us count the ways you're going to love it. First, kids and dogs - you can bring them. We love them, and we don't get to see enough of them on Saturday nights. Second, superb food - we're teaming up with Brooklyn Flea to install a small but ace team of food vendors. Right now, we've confirmed Mile End, who will be serving a bunch of stuff you can't get at the storefront in Boerum Hill, and we're soon to confirm at least one more. Third, our friends from Botanica, the best little bar in the five boroughs, are taking care of the booze.

And last, but certainly not least, is the music. The Mister Saturday Night residents, Justin Carter and Eamon Harkin, the gents that pull the strings to bring it all together, will be playing records each and every Sunday through the summer on the big, blue soundsystem. There'll be guests alongside them occasionally as well. Moodymann, Todd Terje, Horse Meat Disco, Optimo and Space Dimension Controller will all take their turns, and on opening day, Four Tet will drop by.

And that's all there is to say about that. We'll see you outside.

Continue reading "BKLYN Yard is now Gowanus Grove, will be open this summer"

photo by Roland Li

We are beyond happy to announce that we are taking a stab at bringing Sunday Best back to the very tree-specked, canal-side lot at 400 Carroll Street where we started this season and spent the past two years. This Sunday, June 13th, we'll begin. We'll be playing in the sunshine alongside LA boogie revivalist Dam-Funk.

We're taking it week by week: This Sunday there'll be no bar, and there can't be any alcohol at all on the property (so please, please, please leave it at home, as the rest of our season depends on it). The good news, though, is that the food vendors are prepping, and the disco ball will be spinning under the trees.

As usual, we'll have a back up in case of inclement weather, so keep an eye on our site if a storm comes up.

We look forward to joining everyone again in the great outdoors!

Your DJs,
Justin Carter, Eamon Harkin & Doug Singer
[Sunday Best]

Continue reading "Sunday Best returning to BKYLN Yard! But with no alcohol. (Dam-Funk this Sunday) "

DOWNLOAD: Âme - Setsa (MP3)

Dixon

A cold has prevented me from hitting many a dancefloor so far this week. As I mentioned at the end of part 1 of the Week In Dance, Micachu & The Shapes play the second New York show on their tour, at Le Poisson Rouge tonight (10/2). Check out a video of Tim Exile (who played Santos Thursday night) remixing Micachu & The Shapes, live, below and don't forget that following the Micachu show Martyn, Kotchy, Starkey, DJ Sharmaji, and Samiyam will also be at Le Poisson Rouge (11pm, now changed to 21+).

Continue reading "the week in Dance w/ Showtrotta (part 2) (Dixon, Tim Exile, Micachu, Mixhell, Stretch Armstrong, Toxic Avenger & more)"

by Andrew Frisicano

Hercules & Love Affair @ MHOW in August (more by Sara Skolnick)

Hercules & Love Affair's Andy Butler was one of the many DJs at the Electric Zoo Festival that happened over Labor Day weekend. At the fest he was billed as himself, but on September 26th he'll be DJing as H&LA at MoMA MiXX, a new series of dance parties at the museum.

MoMA MiXX uniquely pairs together major artists with world-renowned musicians or DJs, with each featured performer spinning a set of music that night. The Agnes Gund Garden Lobby will be transformed into a dance floor, and MoMA's Donald B. and Catherine C. Marron Atrium will serve as a lounge area complete with bars. The money raised benefits the exhibition programming for The Museum of Modern Art and P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center.

Tickets for each event are $75 per person (or $200 for the first three events), and include an open bar.

Also on the way, the museum is hosting Between Worlds, an evening-length "pop spectacle" performance by Fischerspooner on November 1st. Tickets TBA. (MoMA is also still running Looking at Music: Side 2, and will be showing a Spike Jonze retrospective with No Age in October.)

Hercules & Love Affair played two live shows in NYC in August. At them, they debuted their new current (but probably not permanent) lineup of Shaun Wright, Aerea Negrot, Kim Ann Foxman, Mark Pistel and Andy Butler.

In the past, Hercules & Love Affair's lineup prominently featured singer Nomi Ruiz. More recently, she's been playing with Jessica 6. They opened for CocoRosie's return-to-NYC show at the beginning of September. Coming up, they're opening for Japanese psych rock band Yura Yura Teikoku at the Music Hall of Williamsburg on September 18th. Then the next night (Sept. 19th), they play as part of the New Languages Festival, which runs for six nights (starting Thursday, Sept. 17th) on two weekends at McCarren Hall in Brooklyn (on 98 Bayard St, an address that might sound familiar). Tickets are available at the door only.

For Japan's Yura Yura Teikoku, the MHOW is one of three upcoming US dates they have scheduled. The other two are opening for Yo La Tengo on Tuesday (9/15) and Wednesday in Vermont and Boston. Their new album "Hollow Me", which includes their recent EP "Beautiful", is out September 14, 2009 on DFA's Death From Abroad label (which helps explain the Jessica 6 connection). Album tracklist and NYC show flyer below.

The whole lineup for the jazz-based New Languages Festival, which "attempts to provide a panoramic view of 21st century jazz in New York City," is pretty diverse and spectacular. It includes Akoya Afrobeat, which matches the sound of Fela Kuti almost note for note (and integrates some of his songs into their rep), drummer Mike Pride's From Bacteria to Boys combo (who recorded a live session for WFMU in April), a set led by noted improviser and avant-jazz composer Tim Berne, and an opening night performance by Darcy James Argue's Secret Society, whose debut, Infernal Machines, came out in May on New Amsterdam Records.

The full schedule of shows and all tour dates are below...

Continue reading "Herc & Love Affair/Fischerspooner playing MoMA, Jessica 6 playing w/ Yura Yura Teikoku & New Languages Fest (lineup)"

photos by Ryan Muir

The first concert at the new Brooklyn Bowl will be O'Death, Justin Carter, Eamon Harkin and Terror Pigeon Dance Revolt on Friday, July 10th. Tickets are on sale now. You may remember that O'Death's June 13th Northside Festival show, which ended up happening at MHOW, was originally scheduled for the venue. More pictures from that show below...

Continue reading "O'Death played MHOW (pics), playing Brooklyn Bowl (really) "

DOWNLOAD: Sleepy & Boo - Where Today Becomes Tomorrow mix (MP3)

Dimitri from Paris @ Été d'Amour @ the Rivington Hotel - May 31, 2009 *

* photo by Justin Gonzalez

No dancing to report yet this week, but I am still basking in the afterglow of last weekend. As if seeing Pilooski deejay everyone silly Saturday night wasn't enough, I awoke on Sunday with a full day of dancing ahead of me. I made it out the door and down to the BKLYN Yard for Sunday Best by 4:30 at which point I was completely stunned by the size of the crowd. The Yard was already more full than I had ever seen it last summer and it was still so early! It proceeded to get more packed with people as the night went on (apparently seeing over 1,000 people!), but it never felt too crowded. The food & booze lines were a little long at times, but you have to keep your eyes open. The smoothie line (equipped with vodka & rum) only had 5 people on it (while at that time, the line for the bar nearly ran the entire length of the Yard)!

Moving on...the music was excellent. I knew we would be in for a treat when I saw that Mr. Scruff had hauled 2 big crates of records with him down to the Gowanus. For 3+ hours the Scruffy one treated the crowd (which was a huge mix of young people, locals, babies, little kids, and dogs) to a wide range of sounds...literally everything from soul, funk, jazz, disco, to dancehall. He played it all. Check out some great video from Electrodrone below and get ready for another great weekend in dance!

Continue reading "the week in Dance w/ Showtrotta (part 2) "

Despite rumors to the contrary, the outdoor Brooklyn venue on the Gowanus canal (at the Issue Project Room's former address) will be open again this summer. Last year it was called The Yard. This year its new name is The BKLYN Yard (388 Carroll St., Brooklyn, NY).

A few events have already been announced (below), and that includes the return of Sunday Best - the dance party happening at the venue every Sunday from Memorial Day Weekend to Labor Day Weekend. As an added bonus, this year they've secured the Bell House as a rain location. Full schedule and more details below...

Continue reading "The Yard (now called The BKLYN Yard) is back - initial summer 2009 schedule includes Sunday Best "

DOWNLOAD: Tortured Soul - Did You Miss Me (MP3)

Cut Copy @ Terminal 5 - March 21, 2009 (ChrisGoldNY)

This weekend saw the first wave of post-SXSW, pre-WMC deejays and bands come through New York. There were a lot of events lined up that I had seen coming for weeks, but one that somehow got by me until just a few days before, was Disco 3000 with Trus'me and Volcov at APT. Without enough time to sway my more "electro"-minded friends to change their plans, I hit APT solo Friday night and left without an ounce of regret. Upon arriving around 12:30 or so, the basement space was packed with people dancing. While there were some weird and inexplicable ebbs & flows in terms of dancefloor traffic, the music was on point the entire night. Trus'me and Volcov traded off deck duty every hour or so, easily meeting the expectations garnered from the flyer:

Expect to hear all corners of the record shop from the past, present and of course the future. Disco, afro, house, boogie, hip hop, techno, jazz, psyche, reggae, soul, brazilian, dub.

Saturday night I ventured out again, to Terminal 5 to see Cut Copy. I managed to catch a bit of Knightlife's opening dj set which was very well-mixed and balanced, including tracks that were on the more melodic, French house side of things with a tasteful amount of more gritty/synthy electro thrown in.

Matt & Kim @ Terminal 5 - March 21, 2009 (meisemily)

Following Knightlife, Matt & Kim went on. I had seen them open for Professor Murder at Bowery a few years ago and really didn't like them. This time around, despite still not really being into their music, I found their set to be much more entertaining in terms of something to watch. The pair really didn't let the crowd that was standing idly for the first couple of songs get to them. If anything it made Matt & Kim try even harder to get everyone excited. It inevitably worked after a few more songs and some witty banter. By the end, the crowd was very into it. People were jumping and dancing along to the upbeat synth & drum combos, which ended with the previously indifferent crowd, now embracing and ushering Matt to the safety of the stage after his attempt to literally walk on top of them failed.

The tension built as the crew readied the stage for Cut Copy's set...unfortunately, so did the crowd. Just minutes prior to the beginning of the show I realized the floor was so packed I could not lift my arms and it began to dawn on me how hellish the next hour or so might possibly be.

For the most part, it was. Dancing had gone from being the fun, point of the evening, to a battle for personal space. Cut Copy were in top form, as they have been every time I've seen them prior, but the crowd made it difficult to enjoy their set.

In terms of what they played, it was mainly favorites from their albums In Ghost Colours and Bright Like Neon Love, plus the addition of the track "Sands of Time" (recorded at the same time as In Ghost Colours, but never making it onto the album) which sounded amazing live. Thankfully there were just enough brief moments where I found myself with sufficient space to get down and enjoy the music, making me able to walk away from the show feeling good about it (despite the hellish crowd).

Hopefully the positivity will continue into this week. By the looks of what's headed our way, I'm optimistic:

Continue reading "the week in Dance (part 1) w/ Showtrotta (Cut Copy, Prodigy, Friendly Fires, Ellen Allien, Tortured Soul, more...)"

Felix Cartal @ Webster Hall - February 27, 2009 (Nicky Digital)

There was quite a bit going on last week, but I hardly went to any of it. I did most of my getting down at the David Byrne show Saturday night at Radio City, which I (unlike Jon Pareles) found to be a great show.

On my way home from David's show Friday night I found myself at the Studio at Webster Hall just to buy a friend a birthday drink. I caught some of Futurecop's set, but it was a bit too much, too soon after David Byrne for me to absorb any of it or make any judgment.

Fortunately I wound up sticking around and getting my ears used to hearing electronic music long enough to realize Felix Cartal was tearing it up. His set was full of bangers, many of which I hadn't heard before. One was a remix/mash-up of Daft Punk's "Oh Yeah" and "Rollin' & Scratchin'" that was sick and featured a weird little vocal periodically saying "rollin' & scratchin!". As good as Felix's set was, I was exhausted and left before he was done.

This week is brimming with good deejays and I am almost glad I won't be around to have to make any of these decisions you're going to face, specifically for Friday & Saturday night. Here's what's happening:

Continue reading "the week in Dance w/ Showtrotta (Mixhell, Frankie Knuckles, Italians Do It Better, Glass Candy, Chairlift, more...)"

DOWNLOAD: Jody Wisternoff - Way Out There, 1/20/09 (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Jody Wisternoff - Way Out There, 12/16/08 (MP3)

Housemeister @ Bowery Ballroom - January 24, 2009

I thought the Valerie Collective at Webster Hall last Friday would be nearly impossible to top, but Saturday proved different. The typically rocking Bowery Ballroom had gone rave for the night. Bowery's usual head-nodding, foot tapping crowd was nowhere in sight and upon entering the front of the sparsely filled ballroom it was like seeing a mirage: a range of people from teens to late 30's, wearing everything from brightly colored shorts and tights, tie dyed capes, matching striped hoodies, and nylon LA Gear Jumpsuits...all getting down (on a much too well lit, and nowhere close to being crowded dancefloor) just minutes into the evening! In addition to the crowd seeming very rave-ready to begin with, Housemeister played an absolutely great opening set...very techy/techno-ey in the vein of Boys Noize and totally fresh. He included many of his own remixes, a lot of tracks I didn't know, and some great current stuff (aka Oizo's "Positif") that had everyone accordingly losing it: Vous êtes des animaux indeed.

You could tell the crowd was eagerly anticipating Modeselektor's set by their hysterical reaction to Gernot Bronsert & Sebastian Szary's brief visits to the stage to show support for Housemeister prior to their set. By the time Modeselektor finally did take the stage (just before midnight), the crowd went absolutely berserk as they opened with "The Dark Side Of The Sun". As the show progressed the pair's energy and antics only fueled the crowd further in much the same way as the past two times I saw them. Modeselektor's lip syncing to their remix of Bjork's "Dull Flame of Desire" garnered a great reaction from the crowd as did track after track which included one of my favorites, "2000007" (featuring French rap group TTC) among others.

Modeselektor @ Bowery Ballroom - January 24, 2009 (more by Zach Dilgard)

By the last 20 minutes of the set everyone was in an absolute frenzy that seemed to be at its peak, at which point Modeselektor voiced a robotic sounding request for champagne - the show was far from over. Moments later a very pleasant hell broke loose as the crowd shifted forward in the hopes of being sprayed. The music and dancing continued on as this happened not once, but twice! The inflation of a huge ape balloon followed, as did the sudden and very unexpected presence of a man in a chicken suit along with a butcher (complete with a real pig's head - ew!) who repeatedly showered the crowd and the stage with feathers. Modeselektor's excellent show ended infinitely more fun and bizzarely than it had started.

As much fun as I had, I didn't really get to bask in the Modeselektor afterglow as I was racing down to Santos in the hopes of catching Tortured Soul perform at Mister Saturday Night. Thankfully I managed to get there, check my coat, find my friends, and only miss the first two songs of their performance. After witnessing a great show from them last March, but being too exhausted to actually dance, it was awesome to finally see the three-piece, live Brooklyn house band again. They were in top form and had everyone in Santos' packed, main room was getting down from the second they dropped "Fall In Love" early in their set, right until the very end. The dancing didn't stop there as Eamon Harkin and Justin Carter seamlessly eased into their set with Metro Area's "Caught Up" just as Tortured Soul finished and proceeded to keep everyone moving with a great mix of melodic and danceable tunes. Both the upstairs & downstairs of Santos were as packed as ever with people who were there to dance...and Mister Saturday Night proved to be an excellent new way to do it.

Unfortunately this is the first weekend since it started that no Mr. Saturday Night party is happening, but there are many other excellent ways to get down this weekend & get started next week. Here's what's happening starting with Saturday (1/31)...

Continue reading "the week in Dance w/ Showtrotta"

DOWNLOAD: Modeselektor - Resident Advisor mix (MP3)

Hopefully you've already got your dancin' shoes on - and no intention of taking them off. Saturday alone has a ton of danceable events going on, plus a there a few things happening after Saturday to ease you into next week....

Continue reading "the week in Dance w/ Showtrotta (m83, Modeselektor, Housemeister, ESG, Tortured Soul, Save the Cannibals...)"

DOWNLOAD: Move D Live in New York (Mediafire MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Romanthony - Away From U (YouSendIt MP3)

Hopefully you made it dancing through to today and didn't let the cold stop you from getting down. Stay warm and keep moving - there are plenty of dance-worthy reasons to brave the cold this Saturday (1/17) and next week too...

Continue reading "the week in Dance w/ Showtrotta "

DOWNLOAD: Tommy Dorsey - March of the Toys (MP3)

Continue reading "Bring a toy to Santos Party House tonight/Thursday"

Andrew WK (@ Studio B) (by Zach Dilgard) (more)

New Tears Eve @ Santos Party House in NYC
Serving booze until 8:00 AM, January 1st. Live performances upstairs with Andrew WK, Gang Gang Dance, Lissy Trullie, Bad Brilliance and Lemonade PLUS A MYSTERY SURPRISE GUEST! Upstairs will also feature spinning by Manderson, Andrew Kuo, Josh Wildman and Spencer Sweeney plus more DJ's TBA. Downstairs, Presented by Prime Time, will feature Invisible Conga People, Mike Simonetti, Eamon Harkin and James ^$#*@ Friedman. Champagne toast at midnight featuring an unprecedented 96-second countdown! With your hosts MISSHAPES! Entry is $20 after 4 AM. Please be 21 years of age or older with valid ID.

Lemonade recently played a show at The Annex.

Bad Brilliance recently played a show (with Andrew WK) at Terminal 5.

Knitting Factory recently added different price options for their New Years show.

Who will be the MYSTERY SURPRISE GUEST?