This is a pretty interesting story about a cover song duo who’s actually found a way to make some scratch:
You can add the band Pomplamoose to the long and growing list of YouTube sensations, with its cover of Beyonce’s “Single Ladies.” Its members don’t have a record deal or a publicist, but that song’s video has been viewed almost 4 million times on YouTube alone….
“There’s no hidden sounds, there’s no lip-synching, there’s no overdubbing. What you see is what you hear,” Conte says. “Sometimes, there might be two or three Natalys harmonizing with herself, and then you’ll see those three videos juxtaposed together on the screen.”
The group has made no hard copies of its albums; no CDs have been printed. Nevertheless, they make their living on sales, having sold about 100,000 songs last year.
Pomplamoose is one of the first bands to be invited into YouTube’s Musicians Wanted program, which is an ad-revenue sharing program. YouTube places ads next to or on a video, and then shares the revenue for that ad, 50-50, with the artist. Income sources like this allow for bands to survive without the help of a major label
Here they are in action. We actually prefer their version of Lady Gaga’s “Telephone:” [via]
The Times caught up with Johnny Ludolph, one of the guys arrested this week at 13 Thames Art Space out in Bushwick for allegedly having an old unpaid beer on the sidewalk ticket. Turns out the cops’ warrant-less entrance was due to reports of squatters in the building and an open door. The Times picks up here:
But when he arrived at the 90th Precinct station house, Mr. Ludolph said, the police seemed most interested in asking him about the fliers.
The fliers were for the NYC Anarchist Film Festival. The address: 13 Thames Street. Some fliers included the formula ‚”energy x mass + love =” next to an illustration of an explosion. One showed a stylized image of a helmeted police officer carrying a plastic shield and covered by flames.
‚”They asked me, ‘Who’s running this, who’s involved?’ ” Mr. Ludolph said Wednesday afternoon as he sat on a wooden table inside 13 Thames. Mr. Ludolph said he told the police he did not know.
The explosion, they forgot to note, is in the shape of a heart. Ah anarchists, killing the authorities with love one flyer at a time. NYT
Last night, The Low Anthem played their first of two New York shows at Bowery Ballroom along with Timber Timbre and The Woes.
Strolling in on the middle of Timber Timbre’s set felt more like an unwanted intrusion with the lights so dim and the crowd so quiet. The hushed setting was the perfect backdrop for Timber Timbre’s eerie folk music and heavy bass drum. (It was however the worst backdrop for shooting any photos.) The changes from gentle violin and minimal guitar to the booming kick drum was genuinely startling but extremely engaging. The crowd was so absorbed I thought I heard the ice shifting in plastic cups and it felt inappropriate to be a little bit buzzed from dinner.
Low Anthem perpetuated this feeling of soothing and minimalist folk rock with their emotive group vocals and harmonies. The diverse instrumental sounds courtesy of Mat Davidson who moved from singing saw to drums and back round again enriched the entire romantic experience. Opting for newly written songs, The Low Anthem set did however include their fan favorite, “Charlie Darwin.” The entire set was a beautiful collection of folk songs performed to showcase the genuine musicianship and band’s cohesiveness.
Catch the Low Anthem’s second show tomorrow night (April 16th) with Timber Timbre at the Bell House and more pictures after the jump!
Many of you may recognize Hisham Bharoocha as former Black Dice member and solo-artist as Soft Circle. However, he has been a keen collaborator and orchestrator of the Boredum’s Boadrum project. Going it alone, Bharoocha will lead a 40 drummer Earth Day celebration today at Loomstate. Other noteworthy drummers include members of Oneida, Lichens, Pit Er Pat, Aa, and Jah Division among others.
Chris Taylor (of Grizzly Bear) will DJ.
Loomstate is located at:
GOOD UNITS AT HUDSON
356 West 58th St (Between 8th + 9th Ave)
More details can be found here.
Seems the NYPD raided the 13 Thames Art Space and arrested a couple residents, or “members of the collective.” This comes just three days before the group’s NYC Anarchist Film Festival, so yes, put on your conspiracy hats!
The organizers statement:
Today in Brooklyn NY, the NYPD entered without a warrant 13 Thames Art Space, a Bushwick based art and performance space where members of the Independent Anarchist Media (I AM) Collective have been organizing the Fourth Annual NYC Anarchist Film Festival in honor of Brad Will.
Two plainclothes detectives entered first, followed quickly by a Lieutenant and vans full of blue shirt officers. After corralling everyone present in the back room, they searched the space and detained two members of the collective.
The I AM collective was preparing for the NYC Anarchist Film Festival, a showcase of resistance movements and insurrectionary events from around the world presented from an anarchist and anti-authoritarian perspective.
Our response to the raid: regardless of these attacks, the film festival will happen as planned on Friday April 16, 2010 at Judson Memorial Church. The voice of decentralized creative communities will not be silenced by police repression. They cannot raid us, because we are everywhere.
Were you there!? Write us but I swear to god DO IT FROM A FREE WIFI ZONE WITH MASKED COMPUTER IPS SO THEY CANNOT TRACE YOU!!!111!!!!
To call KFC’s new Double Down Original Recipe¬Æ creation a sandwich is an insult to the wheat-centric tradition America holds so dear. This is no standard sandwich, but a two-bird prom dance packed tight around a strip of bacon smothered in Colonel Sanders’ magical awesome sauce.
It’s a monster. It’s like the Colonel is high-fiving your fat, juicy heart.
Check out the full review on NBC & click “furious” so we can pretend we’re anarchists.
In honor of Brooklyn’s own Sightings record release today, Diana Kinscherf caught up with guitarist/vocalist Mark Morgan on the how’s and why’s of a different kind of rock band and what it’s like to have Andrew W.K. as a roommate…
What made you deviate from a regular rock sound into something noisier?
I remember when I was ten years old and hearing certain sounds and I was really excited by them. I wasn’t inclined to punk rock or any other off-kilter music; I was really isolated in this suburban town of Detroit. There was this thing on MTV in 1983 or 1984 called “Closet Classics”; they played a lot of 60′s acts like Jefferson Airplane, the Rolling Stones, and “Summertime Blues” by Blue Cheer and I remember thinking, “This is really amazing!”. I never really woke up one day and thought I was going to oppose everything that’s going on. What did you grow up listening to?
The first tape I ever bought was Van Halen’s 1984 when I was nine years old; by all rights, it should have been Def Leppard. It didn’t occur to me to buy a record, so my parents bought me a boombox. The second thing I bought was Crazy From The Heat by David Lee Roth. Then I lost touch with modern music, when I was eleven I decided I was going to listen to classical music. I don’t know why I thought that; it was really ridiculous. I remember when I was twelve, some guy came up to me and said, “Do you like the Beastie Boys?” “No…I only listen to classical music”. I was into a lot of pop-metal stuff like Dokken, the aforementioned Van Halen and Ratt. When I was thirteen, my next door neighbor played the Doors for me. I got really into the Doors, at fourteen, fifteen, that was how I got into the Stooges. It was hard to understand how earth-shattering it was to me.
The extended interview after the jump…
From the electronic mailbox:
Councilmen Steve Levin (your guy if you live in the “waterfront” section of the Southside, in most of the Northside or in Greenpoint) is hosting a town hall meeting tomorrow to discuss the Domino Development.
Meeting info: Wed. April 14, 2010 @ Pierogi Boiler 191 N14th (between Berry & Wythe) from 6-8pm.
Have no idea what i am talking about?
Well, the old Domino Sugar factory (@ Kent & S5th-S2nd) is in the midst of the rezoning process. There is a plan from the developers. There is community push back. In a nutshell, lots of $$, lots of L line drama, lots of towers, lots of local politics, lots of “lively discussion”. The project will be coming before city council pretty soon and if you dont like what you see from the developers (or if you do) now is the time to get involved and speak up…..
Need more info. Lots more articles on Brooklyn 11211 about the rezoning process, etc. Also, can get the real estate perspective on Brownstoner.
Last night, 
