Metric at Terminal 5
Recently, Metric wrote on their Twitter feed, ‚”Got 99 problems but… this tour ain’t one.” Presumably, the band have been enjoying themselves on their latest supporting tour, and this stop was no exception.
Metric kicked it off in Brooklyn, and as singer Emily Haines professed between songs, ‚”I love coming back to New York and playing at home … I remember when we took the train to play with the Rolling Stones. …Yeah! The fuckin’ subway.” Haines knew we could all relate, with most people having traveled from afar to get to Terminal 5′s remote (read: Midtown) location. The crowd cheered with approving applause.
These two factors may not have caused it, but the group seemed positively electrified on stage. As each member’s hair grew progressively matted from their own perspiration, their energy only increased, with their instruments seeming to grow louder with every song.
As with their newest album, Fantasies, Metric was precise in their presentation and musicianship. For the most part, they seemed closely tethered to their respective spots on stage, surrounded by their vast array of synthesizers and guitars (James Shaw, the guitarist, grabbed a different guitar for nearly every song, his stagehand frantically retuning each before use). Every measure of every song seemed to be played with the utmost importance for absolute perfection, and unlike most live acts, they pulled it off with surprising accuracy and dedication.
Haines was the only one who spoke at all to the audience, and didn’t speak much. When she did though, she expressed adoration and camaraderie for the receptive crowd, and even unleashed a little weird philosophy on everyone. It was, at times, incoherent, but her message got through: ‚”Just remember, that, you know, you gotta do what you wanna do. That’s what this next song’s about,” she said, before launching into ‚”Gimme Sympathy”.
Did I enjoy the show? Usually when my attention from a performance wavers, I start to notice what kind of equipment the artist is using– for the first time in a long time, I left the large venue without a clue about any of it.
– Erik Erikson
More photos after the jump…

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Oh No! Pitchfork is reporting The Dirty Projectors were in a “pretty bad” car accident and, according to a promoter with the now-canceled Toronto show, “One of them is in very serious condition.” . We hope this sounds worse than it actually is.
The Dirty Projectors are currently slated to play a much-anticipated free show on the waterfront on July 19th.
Updated statement from the band:
“Dirty Projectors’ van flipped outside of Detroit, MI on their way up to Toronto. Although the crash was serious, we’re happy to report that all members of the band have been safely discharged from the hospital. The band will be flying home to New York in the morning to regroup and rest. Unfortunately, the band will have to cancel Toronto and Montreal. Thank you for understanding and sending your well wishes.”

Ok who let the Germans into McCarren Park?

Fluent in German? Feel free to translate for us, we’d love to know what the Deutsche really think of the Never Scared team captain.

Thank you thank you thank you Gothamist for finding this dirty little gem of a Bruno hipster fart.

best line: “do I look like I’m into oriental music?”

more Breakfast at Sulimays here.

The entire time that I have lived in Brooklyn I have only had one lady touch my hair and that person is Jess Stover. (And, I wouldn’t have it any other way.) While she has spent most of her time spreading joy around Williamsburg at the Beehive Salon, she has finally struck out on her own and is opening Adelaide Salon.
To celebrate there will be a little soiree on Friday (see flyer). This will give you the chance to put your name down on the soon to be very long waiting list. Man is she worth it!

New York has written a researched rebuttal to the Times’ piece Parents Pulling the Plug on Williamsburg Trust-Funders. Turns out we’re not all trust-funders…. a fact that I’m all too well aware of:

The median income for the area in the last twelve months was $39,663, well below the city median of $48,631. In 2007, 38.3 percent of residents in the 11211 Zip Code were below the poverty level [...]
Local soup kitchens and food pantries are overwhelmed. ‚”We’re serving 200 people a week,” says Ann Kansfield, pastor at the Greenpoint Reform Church and the head of the Greenpoint Interfaith Food Team, which serves both Greenpoint and Williamsburg. ‚”Where are these trust-funders? I want them to give us money!”
There’s probably a reason the trustafarians are so elusive: In the last twelve months only about 2.9 percent of Williamsburg households made over $200,000 annually. The reality of Williamsburg, beyond the mythical trust-funders, is that it is a community of people mostly struggling to get by, with a few wealthy residents grabbing headlines ‚Äî the way New York has always been.

This week, you’ve got three chances to catch San Francisco’s eternally ethereal Girls- a band that hones all things hazey (I might be hinting at edibles here) and sun-filled breezes. I’m talking mopey pop Elvis Costello would be proud of, not just because frontman Christopher Owens evokes the timbre of the man himself.
We can only hope they’ll bring the California sunshine with them, or at least make us forget about the rain for a moment. All three shows should be exceptional, but I’m picking the Monster Island show as a favorite in advance- I just can’t stop giving those Real Estate boys some love.

Check out the video for “Hellhole Ratrace”, the first single off of Girls’ debut full length after the jump. The album which will be called, um, Album, is due out Sept 22nd on True Panther Recordings.

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North 3rd and Kent

image c/o BrooklynBased
This really sucks, so go give Papacitos some business. From Gothamist:

Papacitos, the wildly popular Greenpoint Mexican restaurant with the best vegetarian tacos in town, was the victim of a brazen robbery Saturday night. Co-owner Cody Utzman tells us that thieves broke into the establishment after it closed, hopping the courtyard fence and entering through the back. According to Utzman, the robbers smashed open the cash register and made off with a safe that had $10,000 inside, as well as the restaurant stereo and some employees’ personal belongings. Police have dusted for fingerprints and are investigating the incident.
But there’s also good news for Papacitos fans; Utzman tells us he’s doubling the size of the place by expanding into the adjacent storefront, which is part of the same building and was the former home of a palm reader. He adds that a “very high profile” designer is overseeing the expansion, which will include a 12 foot tequila bar (whenever Papacitos’ liquor license finally gets renewed) and a new mosaic fountain in the spacious courtyard. Work is expected to start next month, with the expansion complete by the end of July.

For years, Zs have been making headway marrying jazz and avant garde textures. On Wednesday, they will release their latest album for the Social Registry. Awesome festivities (Grade 13, Effi Briest, Nine 11 Thesaurus) will be happening at Secret Project Robot.