Nicky Da B at Brooklyn Bowl in January (more by Erik Erikson)

New Orleans bounce artist Nicky Da B released his debut album, Please Don't Forget Da B last year. The album is driven by similar rapid fire vocal repetition to other artists in the genre like Big Freedia, who he opened for at Brooklyn Bowl in January. You can stream the entire album at the bottom of this post.

Unlike Freedia, Nicky Da B & DJ Rusy Lazer were down in Austin last month for SXSW, and they have a BUNCH OF NYC shows this week. They'll play Work In Progress tonight (4/2), Beauty Bar in Manhattan on Thursday (4/5) followed by a show at the Morgan on Thursday, after which they'll hit Santos Party House on Friday (4/6) with Kayla Guthrie, and Brooklyn Bowl on Saturday (4/7) with SSION, LE1F and Hair Jail. After Brooklyn Bowl it's an afterparty at Public Assembly (with just Rusty and friends), and finally there's an Easter day party at the Morgan too. All dates are listed with more details below.

Nicky Da B is also one of the guests on Diplo's upcoming Express Yourself EP, which drops in May via Mad Decent. Check out the video for the EP's title track which Nicky Da B appears on below.

Big Freedia has upcoming shows, Santos Party House included, too.

All Nicky Da B/Rusy Lazer dates, album stream, and video below...

Continue reading "Nicky Da B & Rusty Lazer touring NYC this week (lots of parties, a Diplo video & album stream)"

photos by Erik Erikson

Big Freedia @ Brooklyn Bowl


Big Freedia spent last night (1/25) teaching the US how to bounce at home as part of a live appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live. The diva performed "Excuse" and "Na Who Mad" from her recent EP, but unfortunately did not perform the new single "Booty-Whop" which was released this week via iTunes. Check out video of the New Orleans bounce phenom below, and if you're in LA then head to Bootleg Bar TONIGHT (1/26) to catch the booty-clapping in the flesh.

Big Freedia headlined Brooklyn Bowl on January 21, bringing her patented bounce to the venue along with support from Nicky Da B and Rusty Lazer. Pictures from the appearance adorn this post too. More below...

Continue reading "Big Freedia played Brooklyn Bowl and Jimmy Kimmel Live! (pics & video)"

photos by Tim Griffin

Big Freedia @ Fun Fun Fun Fest

Shake away that t(of)urkey and stuffing on the Saturday after Thanksgiving at Public Assembly (11/26) when bounce queen Big Freedia returns to Brooklyn. The $12 show will also feature appearances from Freedia's DJ Rusty Lazer, Phi Unit, and Lil Ray along with Freedia's cavalcade of rotund posterior dancers.

The NYC show is one of a handful of dates that Ryan Gosling's good friend Freedia has scheduled right now. The full list is below.

If YOU think you've got what it takes to be a Big Freedia dancer, then here's your chance:

Are we playing in your town soon? Would you like to arrange a bounce dance class before the show to learn how to shake!? Contact Miss Altercation through either booking agent: www.etbagency.com or bojan@windishagency.com

With that offer, there better be some experts in the house on 11/26.

We last caught Freedia at Fun Fun Fun Fest (where Freedia met Gosling) and here are some more pictures from her set (which was maybe a PG-13) along with a retrospective video from the fest which includes her majesty in action. It's all with the dates below...

Continue reading "more Big Freedia dates & live pics (and a chance to learn how to shake it!)"

photos by Chris La Putt

Big Freedia @ Mercury Lounge -- 5/26/2011

After opener (technically co-headliner) Javelin played a set to a packed house last night at Mercury Lounge (pictures of their set coming soon), DJ Rusty Lazer took the stage solo briefly, to warm up the hot and sweaty, and soon to be much sweatier, room. After a grand entrance through the crowd from the back of the room (which is where all artists have no choice but to come from at Mercury Lounge), with dancers in tow, queen diva Big Freedia took the stage to loud cheers and applause. From there it was about 40 minutes of non-stop ass shaking to Freedia's brand of New Orleans bounce.

It was hard to tell how many of the dancers on stage were there with Freedia, and how many he picked up in NYC, and how many were just coming up from the crowd (though lots fit the latter description on Freedia's command at times). But I think Freedia had at least four official dancers with her this time, and most notably one official male addition (and I don't mean the popping man that she introduced as her own man, who was also on stage, and may have been the best dancer of all). If I'm not mistaken, the enthusiastic gentleman on stage in short shorts with a "frohawk" shaking his thing throughout the whole show was none other than the person known to some as "Frohawk"! As usual, great show. Freedia loves NYC and NYC loves Big Freedia.

Freedia does it again Saturday night at much bigger venue Brooklyn Bowl before continuing on tour.

Unless you're up close or standing on a chair, it's often hard to see what's really going on stage at a Freedia show. Luckily Chris was front row last night at Mercury Lounge. More of his pictures and a video below...

Continue reading "Big Freedia & ass everywhere @ Mercury Lounge (pics, video)"

Tim's complete set of pictures from FFF Fest Saturday are split into two posts: HERE and HERE. A third set, that I took with far inferior skills and camera, but that fills in some blanks and includes stuff like a dude being thrown into a pool filled with thumbtacks, a member of Gwar storming the stage during Municipal Waste's set, and people waiting in line to get Wavves' autograph, continues below...

Continue reading "Fun Fun Fun Fest 2010 - Day Two in pics (part 3) - Jacob Calle, Butcher Bear and Charlie, Gwar vs Municipal Waste & more"

photos by Tim Griffin

Big Freedia

The 2010 edition of Fun Fun Fun Fest is now complete. You saw pictures from the first night. We have lots of possitive things to say coming up, but for now here is a part two of our photos - all from day two aka Saturday (11/6). They continue below...

Continue reading "Fun Fun Fun Fest 2010 - Day Two in pics (part 1) - Big Freedia, Antlers, Wavves, Devin the Dude, Os Mutantes & more) "

photos by Zach Dilgard

Body & Pole / Big Freedia @ PS1's Warm Up

"New Orleans bounce artist Big Freedia presided over a sweaty mess of dancing kids for about 30 minutes late [Saturday] night at Coco 66 in Greenpoint. I haven't experienced that sort of frenetic energy in a club since catching a late-night Girl Talk set a few years back in Austin, TX. After a swift high energy set by New York's House of Ladosha, DJ Rusty Lazer got the crowd going, his stage jammed with dancers before he cleared a path for Freedia. By the time Freedia busted out her signature tune, "Azz Everywhere," the stage was again filled with folks dancing wildly" [indiewire]

That review comes from Freedia's 2nd show Saturday. The first was earlier in the day at PS1 where the New Orleans party starter performed alongside DJs Venus & Brenmar, Trax, Rashad, and Body & Pole, who along with Freedia is pictured above and in the videos below.

Big Freedia then made a surprise appearance at Sunday's Pool Party, is now on tour, and will be back in NYC for CMJ. More pictures and video from PS1 Saturday, below...

Continue reading "Ass, Body & Pole @ PS1 Saturday (pics & video) "

by BBG

Big Freedia, in one of the rare pics where azz ISN'T everywhere (more)

"And then something remarkable happened. The crowd -- just about evenly divided between men and women -- instantly segregated itself: the men were propelled as if by a centrifuge toward the room's perimeters, and the dance floor, a platform raised just a step off the ground, was taken over entirely by women surrounding Freedia. The women did not dance with, or for, one another -- they danced for Freedia, and they did so in the most sexualized way imaginable, usually with their backs to her, bent over sharply at the waist, and bouncing their hips up and down as fast as humanly possible, if not slightly faster. Others assumed more of a push-up position, with their hands on the floor, in a signature dance whose name is sometimes helpfully shortened to "p-popping." " [NY Times Magazine]

Lower Queens and upper Brooklyn will BOTH feel the thunder on August 28th as Big Freedia will unleash a double shot of booty-clappin'. We already knew that PS1 would get a dose during the afternoon, but now Big Freedia and DJ Rusty Lazer have added a second show later that night at Coco66 with House of Ladosha, w/ Ghe20 Gothik DJ's Venus X & Brenmar.

The NYC dates will kick-off a larger tour that will last through the next couple weeks and continues with a sprinkling of dates that include FYF Fest in LA and Fun Fun Fun Fest in Austin.

Big Freedia is currently streaming a bunch of tracks at myspace and her website, a good portion which are also streaming below. Those tracks, the show flyer, full Big Freedia tour dates, and some (NSFW?) video is below...

Continue reading "Big Freedia adds a 2nd NYC show & other tour dates"

Delorean @ Glasslands in June (more by Chris Doss)

MoMA's annual summer season of parties at PS1 in Long Island City, aka Warm Up, returns on July 3rd and there are lot of familiar names on this year's lineup. That is due in part to this year's curators being Dean Bein of True Panther Records, Jon Galkin from DFA, Kris Chen (XL), Ronan from LPR, writer Brandon Stusoy (Stereogum, etc), and Robin from Tri Angle. Check out the full schedule, directions and more info below...

Continue reading "2010 PS1 Warm Up schedule announced (Delorean, MEN, Big Freedia, Questlove, DFA, Animal Collective DJs & more) "

words by Andrew Frisicano

Big Freedia & friends @ Wrongbar in Toronto for NXNE - June 18, 2010

"So what the hell is Sissy Bounce? Sort of depends who you ask. Katey Red, arguably the creator of the genre, suggests it doesn't even exist and instead insists it's just sissies producing Bounce. Other artists such as Big Freedia fully embrace the term. Take some of the most hypersexual, bump and grind you can imagine, remove everything but the sexed up chorus, speed it up, and then remove the sexual identity of the artist performing it. What, what? That's right. Sissy Bounce artists are purposely androgynous, sometimes referred to as queer, sometimes transgendered, a very direct intent is to fuck with people's heads about sexuality. It's easy to relate, or be offended when you see one sex singing about the other. But with Sissy Bounce you have no idea. This makes the performances just as important as the music itself, which is perhaps why it's stayed locked down for so long." [Sean Bonner]

From the pictures above and below, maybe you can tell that Big Freedia's Friday night set at Toronto's Wrongbar (as part of NXNE) was a crowd pleaser. Big Freedia, DJ Rusty Lazer and a pair of dancers held a master class on ass-shaking dance moves and a good portion of the crowd was happy to oblige, especially for the infectious bounce of songs like "Azz Everywhere" and "Rock Around the Clock." Freedia went from a tender acapella verse about settling down to a song with the hook "I got that gin in my system, somebody's gonna be my victim." The spectacle was one thing, but it was ultimately the songs, rumbling party mantras, that made it a great set.

The next night Big Freedia brought her act to the city's Yonge-Dundas Square (a free, very public stage surrounded by stores and restaurants )- it looks like they played there with considerably more clothes on. Still, Damian Abraham tweeted: "Big Freedia's performance in Dundas Square today made the Stooges show (which was amazing) look like a Peter, Paul and Mary Concert." (btw, our pics from the Stooges show he's referring to are coming soon).

Big Freedia and crew (that includes Freedia's DJ Rusty Lazer) will be back in Brooklyn for a Thursday night set at CrushFest at Public Assembly. The lineup for the June 24th show, which is part of Northside, also includes Yes Giantess, Fang Island, Iran, MillionYoung, Dinosaur Feathers, Anton Glamb, LE1F, Jason Pants & Chaz Requina (Palms Out Sounds), Denny Le Nimh and No Surrender. Tickets are only $5.00 until 3pm today (6/22) - then the price goes back up to $15. You can also try to get in with your Northside Badge.

More pictures from Toronto, a flyer for the Public Assembly show and a video from a Big Freedia show at Glasslands are all below...

Continue reading "Big Freedia played NXNE (NSFW pics), playing Crush Fest in Brooklyn w/ Yes Giantess, Fang Island, others (tix on sale) "