"The former Annex space on Orchard Street was up and running for the recent CMJ music fest as Backstage Bar. Turns out that was only a temporary venue designed to take advantage of all the bands in town. The management team behind Crash Mansion is currently renovating the space, and the redo will be dubbed Tammany Hall. A recent peek inside found plywood galore - the new owners promise a spiffed-up space with a large stage in the main room, a Prohibition-style basement lounge and an upstairs balcony with its own bar that will feel similar to the "second floor of Stanton Social." A kitchen has been added, so you can expect bites with the numerous beers that are planned for the taps. And though there' s no official launch date yet, the swank-ified space will be open here and there for private parties as work progresses (152 Orchard St.)." [Zagat]

Tammany Hall (which is also the name of a band) is presumably named after the Tammany Society. After it was the Annex, and before it was Backstage Bar for CMJ, 152 Orchard St. was a shortlived sports bar called Doghouse Saloon. Juan Maclean is DJing the new club on 12/9.

I just got an email asking if there was any truth to my post about LES club the Annex closing. That reminded me that I did leave that one with a "?" on it. So just to confirm, the venue closed on September 12th.

Ruff Club held their final party there on September 11th. On September 17th, DJ & promoter Spencer Product wrote:

As we close in on the one week anniversary of the end of three and a half years of Ruff Club..and the Annex, I think (as I speak for myself) recovery has been reached. It was an epic evening. Men were great live ! The A.R.E. Weapons kicked ass as usual and everyone who came made this night amazing ! Thank YOU, New York ! Stay tuned to this website for new events, projects, ideas, thoughts, pictures ...and whatever the hell else we decide to put up! Love, Product

Ruff Club's Danny Le Nimh then posted a video of his final walk through of the club on September 16th. You can watch that below...

Continue reading "in case anyone was wondering, The Annex is closed "

...and turning into a sports bar in mid September?

words and photos by Dominick Mastrangelo

Nobody knew what was in store; not the band and certainly not those in attendance. But the first-ever show by Florida's The Drums (Jonathan Pierce of Elkland and Jacob Graham of Horse Shoes) was arguably the highlight of the final day of NYC Popfest (5/17). Playing shimmery, surf-pop with a bit of post-punk bent, The Drums charged through an all-too-brief performance that set the tone for the second half of a marathon day in which 12 bands performed at Cake Shop on the Lower East Side. There was bouncy, jubilant pop from Vermont's The Smittens and a thoughtful, stripped down set from ex-Softie Rose Melberg early on; quirkiness from Casper and The Cookies (who managed to knock out the string lights during their set) and dreamy pop of the Burning Hearts (comprised of members of Cats On Fire) later; and a raucous end to Popfest by Sweden's Suburban Kids With Biblical Names. But wedged in between was a killer seven-song salvo by The Drums who follow up their Popfest success with a show on May 30 at Union Hall with Pelle Carlberg (tix).

If you miss them, don't worry, they also have four more NYC shows at the Annex scheduled in June - the same month their debut EP, Summertime, will be released. Listen at their website. All dates, and more Popfest pictures below...

Continue reading "The Drums wowed Popfest (pics), playing 5 more NYC shows "

DOWNLOAD: Russ Chimes - She's Got the Heat (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: 33Hz - Sentinel of Love (OrtzRoka Remix) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Anoraak - Endless Summer (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Flashing Lights Mix #2 (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Ursula 1000 - Zombies (Dj Ayres Remix) (MP3)

I was really, really looking forward to last week in dance, but it wound up being just alright (part of which was my fault). Friday night I went to Trusme's new monthly at APT, Disco3000. While there was good disco thanks to Kon & Amir, Trusme (who I was most looking forward to) was nowhere to be seen. I arrived at APT around 12:30, so theoretically I could have missed him. I would think even if that were the case he would have been hanging around though. Who knows...

A couple of notable things: APT was finally fittingly packed with people dancing (the past few times I'd been there recently it was dead). 2. There was someone "deejaying" who I didn't recognize, who wasn't mixing the songs. There were a couple of failed attempts...and then complete pauses in between each song. Really broke the momentum and my disco heart as the songs probably would have made for a good set if they had been mixed together.

Saturday night was a total debacle on my part. I was running around doing a bunch of things during the day...and by the time I would have left to see Romanthony at Love I was completely out of energy. Epic fail followed by immediate regret. Did any of you go?

Despite just having an OK time last week, I am still very optimistic about this week. There are lots of potentially awesome dancefloor scenarios that could unfold - here's what's up for Thursday (1/22) & Friday (1/23)...

Continue reading "the week in Dance w/ Showtrotta (Thursday & Friday)"

photos by Faith-Ann Young

DOWNLOAD: Little Boots - Meddle (Baron von Luxxury's Technicolor Remix) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Little Boots - Stuck on Repeat (Fake Blood remix) (MP3)

"I had a photo shoot for a big fashion magazine thing yesterday [October 26, 2008], I've never really done anything like that before so it was kind of weird, within about 5 minutes I had 6 people descend on me involving things like this:

Yeah I know, I have no idea either, it was a bit like Stars In Their Eyes except I wasn't quite sure who I was supposed to be at the end. Anyway it was quite an experience. After that we legged it to soundcheck at The Annex for the NME Showcase but unfortunately we were already too late and it turned out half of our techy stuff wasn't working not to mention my throat is still in ruins but we got through it and there was a good crowd. I tried to teach them the phrase "put a donk on it" but I'm not sure if New York is quite ready for that!

Stayed around to watch Passion Pit, by which time it was absolutely rammed. They were good, I like some of their songs a lot, one about 'tears like diamonds' which I think is a nice phrase."
[Little Boots]

That CMJ blog entry on NME explains why Little Boots' hair looks so different than it did in the pictures from her show the night before The Annex, and two days after The Annex. More pictures from that show, and a couple of newly scheduled US dates, below...

Continue reading "Little Boots - more US shows & CMJ pics (from the Annex)"

photos by Kyle Dean Reinford

Friendly Fires and Lemonade shared a bill at The Annex in Manhattan last night (12/9). Kyle liked Lemonade even more than he liked them when they opened for El Guincho. Friendly Fires took the stage around 11 PM and played for around 45 minutes to the overfilled LES venue. There was lots of energy, lots of sweat, frontman Ed Macfarlane in the crowd for a song, and no encore. More pictures below...

Continue reading "Friendly Fires & Lemonade @ The Annex, NYC - pics"

photos by Leia Jospe

Thursday during CMJ (10/23) I headed over to the BrooklynVegan CMJ day party at Pianos to see Friendly Fires for a third time after seeing them at Bowery on Tuesday and popping round the corner to the Annex after Wednesday's show at Mercury. Friendly Fires were consistently awesome each time, but I think they played some different songs at Pianos making that set even more enjoyable. After they finished I hung out for a while and was able to catch Sebastien Grainger and the Mountains, who I thought were very good, despite not being an electronic/dance act. They basically rocked in a very straightforward and loud way (like lots of less than amazing bands do) but Sebastien Grainger and the Mountains were actually talented musicians, so it was good. - Showtrotta

Of all the bands who played the BV party that day, Friendly Fires definitely won "biggest draw". Based on that logic, I'd say they're sure to pack the Annex in NYC (again) on December 9th. Tickets are on sale. They also play Spaceland in LA two days earlier. More pictures from that Pianos show below...

Continue reading "Friendly Fires - Dec shows (NYC/LA) & Pianos pics (BV CMJ) "

by Showtrotta

A Touch of Class

Tonight (Friday April 11th) is the 2 year anniversary of the electro-meets-rock rager - Ruff Club at the Annex. There is a pretty long list of deejays/bands on the flyer (see below), but I have to call attention to A Touch of Class. ATOC is Oliver Stumm and Dominique Clausen. They are based out of New York and run an electronic/dance label by the same name, home to several New York Bands such as the Ones and Services. Oliver and Domie have also done numerous remixes for many diverse artists, everyone from the Gossip to the Scissor Sisters to Joss Stone.

When it comes to deejaying, their sets are all over the place in the best way possible. I was truly blown away when I saw them at PS1 this past summer. They went from 45 minutes of old school, funky disco to everyone from Mr. Oizo to the Police. Tracks with nothing in common seemed like they were always meant to be played together. Not dancing was not an option. Strongly recommended

Continue reading "Ruff Club turns 2 tonight w/ A Touch of Class, Pop Levi..."

or something like that....

The All-For-Nots @ The Annex, NYC - April 9, 2008 (Christian Hansen/NY Times)

So who comes to the real performance of a fake indie band? Imaginary fans? Hired extras? True friends of the fictional band members?

On Wednesday night, City Room went down to The Annex on the Lower East Side and scoped out the performance of the All-For-Not, a spoof of an indie Williamsburg band that is the center of a new Web series backed by former Disney chief executive Michael Eisner. This was the band's first performance in New York since the series debuted last month. (They had an earlier performance at the Mercury Lounge back in December, an impressive debut venue for any band, real or fake). The conceit of the Web series, introduced in the first episode, is that a documentary crew is following the band around on tour. In other words, faux-reality television. [NY Times]

Maybe I'm just tired today, but I'm totally confused. (thx Daniel)