could this be the new Brooklyn wing of Amazon?

Williamsburg is now fully established as a choice place to live and play and even to work. Vallywag reports:

According to a source, Amazon may have settled on a location for the mammoth office space the company began seeking in February: the Williamsburg waterfront.

Back in February, both the Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg reported that Amazon was seeking up between 250,000 and 500,000 sq. ft. of office space in New York City, greatly expanding its presence here beyond its Midtown outpost. Williamsburg was thrown around as a possibility, along with One World Trade and Brookfield Place.

This past November, Amazon announced it was leasing a 40,000 sq. ft. warehouse at 35 Kent Avenue in Williamsburg to serve as a photo studio to shoot images of products/"mecca" for "creative talent." But the source told Valleywag that the waterfront deal is "bigger and hush hush." - [Valleywag]

Rumors that Amazon's new Brooklyn address could be the old Domino Sugar factory are mostly refuted in the same article. Also mentioned in there is this tidbit about something we've been wondering about the status of: the NYC branch of beloved UK indie store Rough Trade Records that was supposed to open last year. Says their source:

Rough Trade is in the middle of a 30,000 retail renovation on N9 and NO ONE knows about it because they did the deal with a warehouse owner and are doing a complete renovation on their dime.

"In the middle"?

by Bill Pearis

Allo Darlin' at Mercury Lounge, May 2012 (more by Dominick Mastrangello)

Allo Darlin' will release a Christmas 7" on December 7 via fine UK indiepop label Where It's At Is Where You Are. The three-track release is the final release of the label's 2012 7777777 singles club, which offered "seven 7 inch singles; 21 exclusive tracks on 14 grooves by 7 bands, on the 7th day the month, incorporating the 7 days of the week, on vinyl the 7 colours of the rainbow in limited editions of 777." Got that? You can still order the single though there aren't many left. You can stream one of the tracks, "Dear John," below.

Meanwhile, Allo Darlin' second album, Europe, came in at #4 on Rough Trade Shops' Best of 2012 list and was, in fact, the store's best-seller for this year. In celebration of that, the UK record store (which will have a Brooklyn branch sometime soon?) is offering an exclusive 10" covers EP which came out this week. On it, Allo Darlin' cover AC/DC, The Ramones, Bruce Springsteen, Eux Autres, The Go-Betweens and Darren Hayman.

Allo Darlin, who were last here in May, have a few shows remaining in 2012, none of which are in North America but all dates are listed below.

Continue reading "Allo Darlin' releasing Christmas single, covers EP (stream)"

THIS:

Rough Trade Retail Group (RTRG) proudly announces the forthcoming opening of Rough Trade NYC, Williamsburg, New York, USA.

Due to open in Autumn this year, Rough Trade NYC will offer a large saturnalia for music lovers of all ages (even larger than multi-award winning Rough Trade East, London, UK).

In addition to being a place to discover, browse, debate and purchase the finest recorded music, Rough Trade NYC will partner with The Bowery Presents to feature a live performance area for in-store gigs, as well as operating at night as an intimate live music venue. The Bowery Presents has a strong history of operating first class concert venues including the Music Hall of Williamsburg located in the same neighborhood as Rough Trade NYC.

Rough Trade NYC will pay particular attention to its transatlantic dynamic by linking-up with Rough Trade's London stores, encouraging customers (and artists) in each country to interact across the ocean.

"At long last, we can finally confirm the next bold step in our evolution" says Rough Trade's co-owner, Stephen Godfroy. "We're extremely excited at the prospect of handing over the 'blank canvas', that is a Rough Trade store, to the music lovers of New York, allowing them make it their own culture agora, just as the people of London have so successfully achieved, with downturn-defying results."

"The Bowery Presents has always maintained a commitment to developing artists at the inception of their career, with Rough Trade NYC we have that opportunity in an exciting neighborhood and we are excited about the retail store and venue combination concept" says John Moore, partner, The Bowery Presents.

Rough Trade NYC also heralds the forthcoming arrival of a US version of the new, soon to launch, roughtrade.com online store, which will offer MP3 downloads alongside CD and vinyl, complete with subscription services.

Further exciting details will be announced in the months to come.

Stay tuned.