Welcome to our weekly show recommendation column RSVP HERE – your source for the best NYC shows and interviews with some of our favorite local live bands.
If J Mascis and Shania Twain started a band together after Armageddon, it would sound like Drug Couple – an actual couple, Becca and Miles, who met and fell in love in 2016 while working on the record for Becca’s former project. Since then, they have written and recorded their debut EP Little Hits and a forthcoming follow-up, Choose Your Own Apocalypse, while microdosing LCD together. You can check out their dream punk ballads at Baby’s All Right on 1/29 with Edna and Coy Sterling. We chatted with them about their dream roadside attractions, upcoming wedding, and plans to harness the power of mind control in 2020.
AF: What was your first ever show like? What was your most memorable show of 2019?
DC: The first time we played together was actually for M’s solo stuff, opening up for Chairlift in Red Hook; the first time we played as our own project was a house show on the Fourth of July at B’s childhood home in Vermont. Our most memorable show of 2019 was probably when we played at Camp Here Here, a very cool place in the Catskills.
AF: If you could play with any band alive or dead who would it be? What band would you want to play your wedding?
DC: Fucking OASIS! We’re actually getting married this summer, and the plan is to have the afterparty be a big ass show with a bunch of our friends playing throughout the night. Yo La Tengo would be pretty cool though too.
AF: Do you prefer microdosing on shrooms or LSD? How does microdosing contribute to your songwriting/recording process?
DC: DEFINITELY the latter. We were pretty into it while we were writing and recording the last record, but it’s been a minute.
AF: What album would listen to as your soundtrack to the apocalypse?
DC: We wrote our second EP, Choose Your Own Apocalypse (that we’ll be releasing this Spring) as a sort of a soundtrack to the impending apocalypse. It’d probably be pretty stressful though so maybe just some Sam Cooke or Neil Young. We’d say Al Green…but then things get all sexy and you’ve really gotta focus on minute-to-minute survival in that kinda situation.
AF: When you go on tour, what will your first road-side attraction visit be?
DC: M is a fast food connoisseur and B’s never had Wendy’s, Taco Bell, Hardee’s, or Whataburger. So those. Also looking forward to Walmart and hanging out in all those gigantic roadside gas and food centers on 80 in Ohio. This is M’s idea of a good time fwiw.
AF: Beyond that, what are your plans for 2020?
DC: Make beautiful things together that we can be proud of forever. Harness the power of mind-control. Become the surprise late entry candidates in the Presidential election that capture the hearts and minds of a nation and, after winning, save the world from its imminent destruction by being able to actually explain our fucking ideas and plans with a shred of believability, coherence, and authenticity.
Welcome to our weekly show recommendation column RSVP HERE – your source for the best NYC shows and interviews with some of our favorite local live bands.
Lola Pistola does not plan on stopping anytime soon. With a raw energetic live show that’s not to be missed, Lola Pistola debuted their grunge and noise pop soaked album Curfew last year on Burger Records, toured the US with drummer Robert Preston (who also fronts Pink Mexico), and are closing out the year with a show at Our Wicked Lady on December 13 with Toward Space, Metalleg, and Johnny Dolphins.
Currently Brooklyn-based, Lola (aka Arvelisse Ruby) grew up in the Puerto Rican punk scene and is also a florist, photographer and contributor to AltCitizen. We chatted with Lola about her love for grunge and NYC’s ’70s punk scene, the changing landscape of New York’s current scene and what her live set would smell like.
AF: What is your favorite part about where you come from and where you are now, both geographically and musically? Where do you want to go?
LP: My favorite part about being from Puerto Rico is how important arts is for creatives and Puerto Ricans in general. No matter the occasion, there’s always music and a sense of community and bonding, whether it’s with family or friends. We have an unusual approach to what we do. I believe Puerto Ricans excel in arts, in music, in theater because we are just moved genuinely by what it means to be oneself and are passionate about our legacy. I loved loved loved being an spectator of the underground punk scene there. It’s chaotic, and loud, and there are many talented and unique bands that are still active after more than 15 years. I think that definitely made me fall in love with music, and learn about the punk scene around the world, specially in Spain and in New York. I’d daydream about playing at CBGB’s, about smoking cigarettes with Debbie Harry, reading poems with Patti Smith, maybe even finding Courtney Love and partying with her too. I feel like now, there’s a lot of that scene that’s undeniably dead. It’s no ones fault. Truly the world is just changing and affecting how we connect with new experiences – how we even promote shows for example. But still, the great thing about New York is the accessibility to local and touring bands, either underground or mainstream, and how there’s a new sound and act popping left and right. For me, I feel like I just want to continue making music, regardless of where I am, and to truthfully to be able to successfully connect with people. I want to continue moving forward where I can be heard, without worrying about scenes, without worrying about how many likes I get on social media. I want to go around the world and back until I fall down or nobody likes my songs anymore. That’s were I want to go.
AF: What shows/bands/artists have had the biggest influence and inspiration on your live set? If your live set was a color what color would it be? What smell would it be?
LP: Let’s just say I spent a lot of time watching Nirvana videos on YouTube using a shitty internet connection. Physically I take on more from movies and dance performances. If my set was a color it would be not a color, but the cathartic after-effect of strobe lights, hinted with the scent of salt water.
AF: If you could share the stage with anyone alive or dead who would it be and why?
LP: I’d love to perform with Iggy Pop, and I don’t think I need to explain why. Present Iggy Pop – full of wise and uncontrollable coolness, and more in control than ever of his voice and vision. His last two albums are definitely part of my favorites of the decade.
AF: When you’re performing do you ever look at a specific stranger and wonder how their day was?
LP: That’s interesting, but not really. I think the whole act, while performing is such an egocentric approach that I am only worried if they can really see me. If I lock eyes with anyone, I just want to make sure they see me.
AF: If you were a street performer and had to do something other than music, what would you do?
LP: A cartoonist.
AF: What are your plans for the next year/decade?
LP: I’m just waiting to be discovered and get a six figure contract, so I can record a couple of bangers and not work anymore. But also, joke aside, I just plan on doing what I do now, just 10 times bigger. I don’t have time to stop now.
Witches talk back nowadays. Raechel Rosen, aka Mima Good, walks an interesting tightrope thematically; her music weaves together the historical oppression of women with music that more readily brings to mind a candlelit boudoir. It’s the playful banter between hi-concept undertones and sexuality that make her new EP Good Girl stand out.
Raechel says her first single “Bad For Me” is about “attachment to trauma, how traumatic experiences can be so formative to our identities that we don’t want to let them go. It starts with… reminiscing about what it was like to be a young girl, before puberty and sexualization and boys, when I didn’t have to care. I’m mourning the girl I was before patriarchy got ahold of me, in a sense. Once the chorus kicks in, I am fully in its grasp, in a self-destructive trance.”
We talked with Raechel about how feminism influences her work, what the word “witchy” means to her, and how performance art seeps into Mima Good.
Give her single “Bad For Me” a listen below:
AF: Give us a little background on you: Where are you from? What kind of music were you dancing around to as a kid?
RR: I grew up in NYC and was obsessed with music and performing as soon as I could move. My parents raised me on classic rock and disco, my dad spoon-feeding me Springsteen in the crib and my mom blasting Abba, cheering “C’mon Raechy” until I’d begin to bob. The camera was pretty much always rolling; they got a full reality show season’s worth of baby footage.
AF: Where did the name Mima Good come from?
RR: A feminist theory class in college (lol). We were reading Caliban and the Witch by Silvia Federici and it got me obsessed with the strategies of patriarchy from feudalism to capitalism, and of course witch hunts throughout time, specifically those in Salem in the 1690s. Most of those women burned at the stake were tried as witches based on accusations of being too political or too sexual, suspected queerness, “turning the eye of too many a married man” (literally just too hot); any woman who did not fit within the strict bounds of Puritan society could be murdered for suspected witchcraft. So I combined the names of two of my favorite “witches” and began this project as tribute.
AF: Your music is direct, sensual, powerful. It’s been called “witchy”, which is one of my favorite female musician descriptors (Grimes being one of your tribe). Do you categorize the music you make?
RR: I have a hard time describing my own music. I think its really exciting how much music is being made right now and how everything is fusing together. I kinda feel like we are moving past genre. I don’t know how to compare myself to others but some of my biggest inspirations are Amy Winehouse, Angel Olsen, Nina Simone, FKA Twigs, Talking Heads… I could go on for a very long time.
AF: I love the retro vibe on “My Demon.” Tell us about your writing process. Are the lyrics the frontrunner or do you start with a beat/rhythm in mind?
RR: It really depends on the song. “My Demon” literally came to me in a dream about my abuser – we were both sprinting toward each other ready to fight. Right before I reached him I woke with the first verse and chorus in my head. Most songwriters I know experience this once in a blue moon and it’s really the coolest feeling. I really felt like I didn’t write the song, so much so that I couldn’t finish it until it came to me in a similar manner on the 6 train. With other songs I usually start with the lyrics & melody, developing the chords and beat afterwards.
AF: A trademark move of yours is slowly peeling a banana onstage and circumcising it with a pair of scissors. It reminds me of watching Teri Gender Bender perform in Le Butcherettes: a kind of visceral representation of the lyrics themselves. Is this end of show act the only time you bend into performance art, or is crossing that line a consistent interest of yours?
RR: Haha yea, I was doing that for a bit last fall. I was thinking a lot about misandry at that time, both ironically and genuinely. I do love playing around with boundaries and pushing audiences’ comfort zones. My performance style is constantly changing based on how extroverted I’m feeling and what’s going on in my spiritual practice. Lately I’ve been focusing inward and on delivering my songs as honestly and beautifully as possible.
AF: In 2016, you co-hosted The Witch Ball in Brooklyn, “an inclusive, intersectional feminist party.” What role does feminism play in your work?
RR: I would really love to witness the destruction of patriarchy and all systems of domination in my lifetime, or at least for future generations to experience less gender-based violence. My EP has been an attempt at expressing my journey through a particularly formative trauma, how it held me frozen for years after and what it takes to truly get free.
AF: What artists do you currently have in rotation?
RR: Alice Coltrane, Girlpool, Valerie June, Hole, and ‘Everytime’ by Britney Spears.
AF: When can we see you live?
RR: Tuesday, April 24 at The Good Girl Party at Elsewhere in Bushwick! Doors are at 7:30, I go on at 10. I am bringing up some new live players, drums, bass, a 16-year-old trumpet player and my little sister on vocals for the last song. I am so excited for this show; it’s gonna be a meaningful one for me.
Do you live in NYC? AudioFemme x PopGun presents The Good Girl Party TOMORROW NIGHT at Elsewhere in Brooklyn.Get tickets to see Mima Good’s release show HERE!
For Hether Fortune of Wax Idols, there’s no such thing as a fairy tale ending. There’s simply life – the bleakest aspects of which have often become fodder for her musical output – and death, the finality of which she’s come to theorize may be the sweetest release. On Wax Idols’ forthcoming record Happy Ending, slated for release sometime this spring, Fortune spins another of her dark, personal narratives, with one major difference; she’s learned to give up some of the control she had over her past work and let what was essentially a solo project evolve into something she’s always dreamed it would become – a full band.
Though Wax Idols has featured other musicians in the past – nearly a dozen over the years, by Fortune’s estimate – it was always a vehicle for Fortune’s songwriting, with a revolving door policy when it came to who played along. “I’ve tried to keep things very fluid and amicable and friendly,” says Fortune when we speak over the phone. “[/fusion_builder_column][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][Other musicians] have been involved in varying degrees and it’s always been chill. You contribute what you want, I’ll credit you appropriately, and if you can’t do it anymore it’s okay.” Her laissez-faire approach worked well enough over the course of three emotionally raw LPs: 2011 debut No Future leaned heavily on the San Francisco garage punk scene from whence it came; 2013 saw a turn toward goth-tinged post-punk for Discipline + Desire; by 2015, American Tragic placed Wax Idols solidly in the moody dreampop sphere.
That was when a permanent Wax Idols lineup began to congeal. Multi-instrumentalist Rachel Travers, who played drums on American Tragic, became a core part of the band; Fortune’s longtime friend Peter Lightning (of Some Ember) joined them, and “everything changed,” according to Fortune. “Once we started playing music together, we realized that we could do this for real, like we could write together,” she says. “And that’s something that I’ve never really had. I’ve never had a pure collaborative relationship with someone.” Travers began writing guitar parts in addition to drumming duties. And although bassist Marisa Prietto would eventually opt not to join Wax Idols full time since she lives in Los Angeles, she ended up writing the chorus for “Devour,” which turned out to be one of Fortune’s favorite songs on the LP.
“I’ve always wanted this project to be a band – that’s why I called it Wax Idols and not my name. I was always hoping that the right people would find the project and stick,” says Fortune. The result of writing her first truly collaborative album, she says, wasn’t a distillation of her sound, but cohesion. “Now it’s much more streamlined; it finally feels more like what Wax Idols music really sounds like,” she says. “It’s taken a lot of weight off of me.”
Part of the reason those first three records sound so disparate, she admits, is that she was “trying to cram too many ideas into one place with Wax Idols.” Collaborating with a full band helped her focus and define the project, and while touring behind the reissue of American Tragic, an idea for the next album began to take shape. “[The title Happy Ending] came to me when we were in the van on tour two summers ago,” she recalls. “The initial concept was meant to be this sort of fictional narrative about somebody who has moved beyond the body, a kind of tongue-in-cheek happy ending, like: I’m not stuck in this flesh carcass any more.” Wax Idols released a single, “Everybody Gets What They Want,” as an early teaser. But in the wake of a tragedy that hit too close to home, the band shelved their work in progress, eventually scrapping many of the songs and reworking others. Fortune was no longer interested in writing an esoteric concept album – because she had to rely on writing music to save herself.
“I’ve had severe depression for as long as I can remember, paired with crippling anxiety, which turned into a panic disorder over the years. In the last year or so, it got really dark, darker than it’s been since I was a teenager,” Fortune says. “I have attempted suicide twice in my life. And I got pretty close at the beginning of last year to trying again. But I was able to pull myself back. Realizing how dark things were last year and seeing how it was affecting my loved ones, and my band and everything, I just was like, something has to change.” Fortune went back to therapy. And she began writing noise-driven solo material without any self-imposed boundaries, to move past feelings of self-loathing and self-doubt. “I just did my best to quiet those voices, or even if I couldn’t keep them quiet, I tried to give them an outlet in sound.”
She realizes now that at the beginning of her career, she’d tried to project a hardened, give-no-fucks attitude, but that in the end, this wasn’t an honest portrayal of the emotional devastation she felt inside. “I think that was empowering to an extent,” she says, “but a lot of it was really me trying to hide the fact that I was ill, and was really scared of dying. I think it does a disservice to myself, to fans, to peers, or whoever, to not tell the truth, which is that I have severe mental illness, and it’s a struggle for me every day.” In one of Wax Idols’ most arresting new songs, “Crashing,” Fortune sings openly about suicidal ideation – not to glamorize it, but as a way to communicate what it’s really like for those, like herself, that have been “at the brink of death.” Fortune hopes this radical honesty will help destigmatize mental illness.
“Crashing” is one of a handful of songs that survived the first iteration of Happy Ending, along with “Too Late,” “Scream,” and “Belong.” Wax Idols played them live for the better part of a year before taking them into the studio, which Fortune says made recording them “a breeze;” to complete the album, they put together “impeccable” demos, then re-tracked them at Ruminator Audio, where Fortune says she “worked her ass off” trying out new vocal techniques and experimenting with “the fun stuff – nuanced post production things, weird sounds and textures.” Fortune says the content of Happy Ending is some of the darkest she’s put to tape – which is no small statement, given her back catalogue – but that hashing it out in the studio brought her some relief, even if the bulk of that came just from being able to complete the record.
“It was painful content-wise, but [making the record] felt exciting and we could tell we were pushing ourselves, and it was a great record to make. It was difficult but it felt really authentic, it felt right,” she says. “[This record] stayed with me for a year and half through all kinds of hell and turmoil and struggle with creating it, so I feel like I had to keep it intact. I’m seeing it through ‘til the end, seeing the idea through.” That sentiment gives the record’s title its true weight; making meaningful art out death, out of struggle, and out of our darkest moments is perhaps the happiest ending any of us can strive for.
Wax Idols plays our Audiofemme showcase at Elsewhere, Zone One, on Friday, January 12 with Bootblacks and Desert Sharks. Check out Hether’s exclusive Audiofemme playlist below – we’ll see you at the show!
[fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”]Ringing in the New Year at Brooklyn’s newest nightclub & indie rock venue, Elsewhere.
“What is elsewhere?” I asked.
Just a week or two into my internship at PopGun Presents, I had heard Jake, Rami, and Dhruv say this word at least ten dozen times. I sat with Jake and Dhruv at Saint Vitus over beers as they went back and forth about something, until I had to ask. They just laughed, but explained that Elsewhere was a still just a concept, but would one day be a massive music venue that we would own and operate. I say “we” because I had already decided that I would be working there, even if they didn’t know it yet. It would celebrate the DIY ethos of PopGun’s former home, Glasslands, while being totally legal and up-to-code so that it could survive. They wanted to build a home for independent artists and musicians that would last.
Nearly three years later, Elsewhere is open, a reality that seems to re-dawn on us everyday as we face the triumphs and challenges that arise at the club each day. In my first year at PopGun we were just a team of four; I sat at my desk posting Tweets and straining my ears to try and gather bits of information as the guys poured over and finalized blueprints while we waited to begin construction. At this point, the location was top-secret even to me, knowing only that it was in the general vicinity of our Bushwick office. One afternoon after construction had begun, Rami began to head over to the site and asked if I wanted to come see it; I was already out the door ready to go before he had put his coat on. We walked through the gutted warehouse maze, of which the main hall was still merely an idea, as Rami pointed down hallways and through door frames and told me what each “would be” someday.
Slowly but surely bricks were laid and walls were raised; the guys plowed through to-do list after to-do list, checking off licenses, permits, and inspections with respect for the complicated game of bureaucracy and red tape that they had undertaken, and brazen excitement for the future the unfinished project held. One afternoon, Dhruv burst into the office and told me I had to come see what was going on at the site; they were breaking ground on the main hall. Huge stacks of wooden stakes the size of telephone polls littered the ground; a giant machine used to plow them into the ground would suck them up and hammer them into the dirt, creating tension for the massive structure that would one day rest upon it.
It only became more real from there, as the to-do lists became shorter and more of the necessary paperwork was acquired. There were cautious celebrations with each little victory, with all of us afraid to jinx the next necessary step – the liquor license, the T.C.O. inspection. We hunkered down in the freshly finished green rooms plotting strategy for opening and operation and counted down the days until our first show. Lighting went up, art was installed, the sound system arrived piecemeal and was plugged in. Soon enough Elsewhere would cease to be our secret clubhouse and would belong to all of New York City instead, and it seemed like the little details to get there multiplied as quickly as we attended to them.
Every ounce of stress has been worth it though, outweighed tenfold by pride in every victory and excitement over what’s in store. In the two months since our Halloween opening, so much has already happened: Mayor Di Blasio signed the repeal of the much-detested Cabaret Law on our Hall stage. Swedish pop star Tove Lo played a surprise show in pasties; emerging queen of Brooklyn house Yaeji continued her ascent to the top of the scene with a sold-out set in the Hall. We’ve booked all three members of the Detroit techno Belleville Three, and hosted the triumphant return of London soul-funk collective Jungle. It’s been a trip to watch people take in the space, overhearing their comments and questions – Where does this door go? What is this room? – and it’s felt great when they’ve loved it as much as we’ve wanted them to.
[/fusion_builder_column][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”]Mayor de Blasio ushers in a new era for NYC nightlight by repealing the city’s 90 year old Cabaret Law.
With all that in mind though, we’re only two months in, with so much to come in 2018. There’s a daily learning curve in everything we do, as we try to constantly grow and diversify the artists and genres we book. A lot of seemingly simple questions grow into long conversations because they are questions that haven’t been asked before, so we don’t have answers at the ready.
More literally, we’ve got a lot of exciting shows on the book though. In the coming months we’ll welcome thrashy noise-punk duo Lightning Bolt, dub songstress Hollie Cook (daughter of Sex Pistol Paul Cook), and Detroit punk legends The Gories. This summer, our rooftop patio opens, which promises lots of frozen drinks and twilight dance parties. All in all though, after everything we’ve been through, I mostly can’t wait to keep lifting up the community that has always lifted us up, by sharing art and music that we love and creating nights that you’ll remember fondly.
Thank you to Jake, Rami, and Dhruv for letting me tag along on this crazy journey, and to all of you for supporting us through it.
In middle school, soon after I started to play guitar, I would go to my friend’s house who was learning to play drums. We would invite a couple people over, order Dominos and proceed to attempt songwriting for about half an hour and then spend the next two hours arguing about what our band name should be. These one-off pizza party bands never recorded anything and we usually just ended up finishing the practice by jamming on whatever Misfits or Nirvana song we had learned that week.
Bizarre Sharks has a similar origin story but have succeeded in creating a real band that sounds exactly like what my middle schooler self dreamed of. “Tremendous” is the first single from their EP, which was written and recorded in only one day by a group of five friends after ordering some pizza. It’s a familiar sounding Pixies-esque pop rock anthem that features Jake Becker (of El Silver Cabs) and Laura Gwynn (of Sirs&Madams) on vocals, Mike Seidenfeld (also of El Silver Cabs) on drums, Darrel Dumas (of The Royal They) on guitar and bassist and producer Terry Edelman (of Lost Kingdoms) who recorded, mixed and mastered all the tracks at his Brooklyn basement studio SpaceJam. “Tremendous” is super addicting and has one of those guitar solos that you’ll eventually sing along to. I’ve been playing it on repeat at the pizza place where I currently work throughout this past week and I am so excited for their release show (which may be their only show ever) at Elsewhere on December 8th.
Check out the rest of our Track of the Week playlist below…
Established in 1926 to prevent unlicensed dancing in NYC bars, New York’s “Cabaret Law” is finally on its last legs after City Council voted Tuesday to end it. Many have been quick to point out that the antiquated law is like something out of Footloose, inappropriate for such a progressive, cosmopolitan city. While the law has been less strictly enforced since Rudy Giuliani used it to crack down on “rowdy” nightclubs nearly two decades ago, it still a red-tape nightmare for venues, bars and clubs – especially, say its critics, those run by and for marginalized groups, such as LGBT, Black, and Latinx communities. Now that City Council has voted to repeal, Mayor Bill de Blasio needs to approve the measure to officially end the 91-year old restriction.
The Country Music Association Bans Questions On Gun Rights, Then Rescinds its Gag Rule
Next week is the annual Country Music Association Awards, and the organization drew criticism this week when it warned reporters covering the event not to ask artists about so-called sensitive issues – specifically, “gun rights, political affiliations or topics of the like.” They threatened reporters who defied these guidelines with loss of credentials and removal from the event, but eventually rescinded the gag order when taken to task by artists and media via Twitter – including the show’s host, Brad Paisley. While the country music scene has often touted gun ownership rights, a deadly mass shooting in Las Vegas at a country music festival last month has caused some musicians to reverse their opinions and call for stricter gun control. To compound to issue, the head of the powerful country music PR firm that represents NRA Country (as well as artists like Dolly Parton and Kid Rock, who have since severed ties) is embroiled in a sexual assault scandal.
Other Highlights
Elsewhere opens and Market Hotel re-opens on opposite ends of Bushwick, Beyoncé will play Nala in Disney’s live-action Lion King, Blind Melon’s Bee Girl gets married, Brooklyn grunge-rock darlings Sunflower Bean release new song and sign to Mom + Pop records, Southwest Airlines wants to torture travelers with in-flight concerts, see the LES mural dedicated to Charles Bradley, the 50 most requested lyrics on Alexa, check out Bjork’s bold new publicity photo, Maroon 5’s unfortunate album title, “Oldies” are official public domain, Wilco shares twangy new “old” song “Myrna Lee”, Lana Del Rey weighs in on Harvey Weinstein, Shamir Bailey takes down his music video (his latest LP Revelations is out today), and forget guitar – this woman plays the scissors. Plus new videos from Benjamin Clementine, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, and Stef Chura.
When Kent Avenue’s DIY hotspot Glasslands closed in 2014, its founders seemed to hint that they’d open another spot eventually. Turns out that spot will be Elsewhere, a warehouse in Bushwick that will double as a community space complete with an art gallery and rooftop access. Dates have already been announced for shows as early as November. Read what the founders have to say about Elsewhere here.
Get Ready For A New St. Vincent Album
It’s been a busy year for Annie Clark, a.k.a. St. Vincent: she’s directed a horror short (and will soon direct her first feature film), covered the Beatles’ “All You Need Is Love” for the new Tiffany & Co. campaign, and is about to release her next album and embark on a tour. Check out her cover of the Fab Four’s classic, as well as her new video for “New York” below. There’s no official name or release date for her album yet, but according to a recent New Yorker interview, the LP’s main themes will be “sex, drugs and sadness.”
Simpsons Composer Alf Clausen Fired
He’s been using a 35 piece orchestra to compose the wacky, classic songs that make The Simpsons for 27 years, but not anymore. His work won two Emmys (in ’97 and ’98), and received 21 additional nominations, but according to Variety, Clausen was told by the show’s producer that they wanted a different kind of music. Seems like an interesting choice to make.
