Tonight at Music Hall of Williamsburg, Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson (who released one of our favorite albums of 2009 with the help of Kyp Malone and Chris Bear) will be playing Here We Go Magic's record release party with The War on Drugs.
Want a free pair of tickets? Head on over to our Facebook page and comment on the contest thread for your chance to win. And for those of you with a little less luck, tickets are still available!
If you’re over Radegast Hall & Biergarten, a new option in the ‘burg will soon be available for you to drink huge beers and eat massive pretzels and/or sausages. The second location of the popular LES spot Loreley is scheduled to open ANY DAY in Williamsburg on Frost Street and Meeker Avenue taking the place of a former gas station.
Thrillist reports:
The new digs boast an 80-seat interior brightened by soaring sky-lit ceilings and imported Baltic maple tables, while the poured concrete bar overlooks a brick-fenced garden with communal seating set in a greens-lined gravel pit. Traditional Deutsche noshes have made the trek, including signature oven-fresh pretzels, sausages served simply w/ mustard & rye, and baskets of curry-ketchup’d pork meatballs, while heartier fare includes sandwiches (the jagdwurst/Prague ham/garlic pepper salami/gouda Loreley Club) and a butcher’s plate loaded w/ smoked pork chops, rib bacon, and smoked sausage, all on a bed of mashed potatoes and sauerkraut. There’s a limited selection of bottles (Augustiner Edlestoff, Erdinger…) and 12 rotating, oft-seasonal taps that fuel half- and full-liter steins with everything from their specialty Gaffel, to Schneider Weisse, to Reissdorf Kolsch.
*Image c/o Thrillist
Photo by Michael Rusch for c/o the New York Times
The Times takes a long, hard look at just how Senator Charles E. Schumer came to back Jelly's Pool Parties as they faced contract renewal problems following last year's shows. It reveals there actually came a time when park officials grew frustrated with Jelly and began looking for alternative promoters.
But Schumer put the kibosh on those talks by "insisting that Jelly be part of the concerts series for this year, that there be no discussion with other people," according to Steve Hindy, chairman of the Open Space Alliance (and Brooklyn Brewery president). After a winter of negotiations, Jelly finally signed a contract last week for seven free Sunday concerts this summer. The bands have yet to be announced, but hopefully we'll get word soon of who's playing.
Like all upsides to a story, there is a downside. Bowery Presents, the promoter behind the Music Hall, Brooklyn Bowl, and a majority of the other venues here in the city, feels left out. Joe Lentol, our state assemblyman, thinks Senator Schumer got a little muscley, getting "a little more involved than he should have." But once he was in, it was all-in for the Senator. Lentol adds "when Chuck Schumer gets involved in something, it doesn’t matter if it seems to be small for a United States senator. He will not let it go until he’s resolved it.”
The first show will be July 11th.
Plans to revamp the old Domino Sugar Factory into shiny condos got a big stamp of approval yesterday when the City Planning Commision voted 13-0 in the developers' favor. Now, it's on to the city council. Curbed notes our local city councilmember (Levin, I'm guessing) "is no big fan of Domino, and has urged the developers to cut back on the project's density so as not to overwhelm the neighborhood."
In Hey Baby, the New York Times' Seth Schiesel writes, "men approach you and say something, and you can either blow them away, leaving tombstones inscribed with their affronts, or you can say, 'Thank you, have a great day,' and the man turns around and leaves in a cloud of floating pink hearts."
Its designer, Suyin Looui must live in the neighborhood as Schiesel, another neighborhood resident, notes "several of the storefronts are drawn directly from small businesses on Bedford Avenue in Williamsburg, Brooklyn." As you'll see above, I took that screenshot after shooting one particularly aggresive fellow right outside The Bagel Store.
The game itself is terribly strange, frightening as you stroll around the block and zombie-dudes from all corners say things like, "You're fucking beautiful," or, "Nice crotch."
So ladies: Ever wanted to shoot that guy saying, "Hey gurrrrl" right in the face right on the corner of Bedford and No. 7th? Fire away.
PopGun kicked off their incredible summer lineup Saturday night with a sold out show of the best stuff out there in dance-pop right now... and one lucky reader was there thanks to, well, FREEwilliamsburg. Here's how the night went down, in the words of the ticket winner himself:
MillionYoung, two gentle youngsters from Florida, make squeaky clean guitar-driven electronica. To augment the precision, the vocals were washed with more fuzz and echo than perhaps any band I've seen save a beach-pop act or two that sparked up last year. THIS is chillwave riding its crest. Marco Diaz has crafted an early version of the future sound of pop, and would have played a spectacular set but for the "William Jean"-pegged MJ cover at the end that, sadly, just didn't work. Nonetheless, I look forward to more.
Restless People, yet to release an album (the self-titled EP is due mid-September), got the crowd dancing with their Tropical Rock-tronic sound. Recently signed to IAMSOUND Records and partially composed of our beloved Tanlines, the two tracks floating around, "Days of our Lives" and "Victimless Crimes", are furthering the dance rock that is coming to define this summer. Stereogum links them to another "sunny, globally minded dance-pop group... Delorean, zeitgeist-nailers making a lot of people sweat in 2010."
But Delorean is nearly a class unto its own, and this Barcelona fourtet drew a packed, sold out crowd. Almost as if The Avalanches finally achieved that perfect dance album, "Subiza" is becoming the sound of Summer '10. Tinged with the tongue-in-cheek cheesiness of the House music they surely grew up on, Delorean oozes a danceably hazy feast of pop sounds that also recalls fellow Spaniard El Guincho's pension of an Animal Collective aesthetic. "Simple Graces" and "Come Wander" are my jams for the hot days, but each track appealed to its own crowd as Delorean rocked the international hip scene they drew.
--Claiborne McDonald
More photos from Saturday night's show after the jump...
MillionYoung
Restless People
A little over a week ago somebody posted a curious missed encounter on Craigslist, detailing a night making McCarren Park their bedroom. "Who got laid in McCarren Park?," we asked.
Monique, a 21-year old resident of the neighborhood, writes of that fateful sexxxy Tuesday night with an answer: it was her.
She writes:
Um well, It was totally random but so beautiful. We met just walking down the street, and we just knew something was going to happen. I was pretty intoxicated haha, as was he. But everything happened so naturally. We wanted to lay down for a bit in the park, it was around 4am. We were kissing, touching, and before you know it one thing led to another. We were so locked in passion, that we didn't realize the sun coming up. Or the joggers. Or bike riders. Or stragglers and lovers like ourselves who were enjoying the remnants of an epic Tuesday night. We parted ways after that, I didn't want his number, and didn't give him mine. The night was too perfect and simple to mar with sober akwardness. If we are meant to cross paths again, bless it be. My name is Monique, Im a 21 year old female living in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. A native actually. I write as well, and have a lot more stories than that, although it is my best to date. More sweet, and intense.
Emphasis added. The lesson here of course is that strangers can still, in this day and age, meet randomly on the street at 4am on a Tuesday and just go have sex in a public park.
Crest Fest, the opening day party for this year's Crest Hardware Art Show will be Saturday, June 19th with live musical performances by Deluka, Sundelles, Motel Motel, Oberhofer, Zongo Junction, Darlings, Wizardy and DJ performances by Nick Catchdubs, Faux Mex, Lucas Walters, Petey Complex, DJ Teenwolf, and many more.
They'll have food, drinks, and an "art & design market." Proceeds from this year's show will benefit the City Reliquary Museum. This year's Fest should be a blast, and I most definitely look forward to the crazy exhibits littered throughout the store for the weeks to come.
View the full flyer after the jump!
June 19th -- 558 Metropolitan -- 12pm - 11pm -- FREE
Info & flyer courtesy of Crest Hardware Art Show; h/t the Jelly Roll
Having lost a number of recent battles to the Hasids, are hipsters refocusing their ire? Times, take us to the front lines!
For decades, the faithful who lived in the wood-frame houses along the route of an Italian enclave in North Williamsburg, Brooklyn, knew their duty during the area’s many religious processions. As the elaborately carved statues would approach, they darted out to the street to pay their respects or to join the procession. Today, another ritual has emerged: curious hipsters whipping out cellphones to take a snapshot.
Goddamn you hipsters with your Razr phones and your poor choice of quotes said to reporters at city-wide publications. Ten bucks says the reporter for the Times got the idea for the whole article upon hearing this quote: “There was one float and a horrible marching band. It was very ironic. The Latino parades are more festive.”
photo via mybrokenmouth on flickrYeasayer kicked off their summer-through-fall 2010 tour opening The Beach at Governors Island Saturday night. The music was fantastic, as expected (Yeasayer setlist). The logistics of getting thousands of sweaty hipsters out to an island accessible only by boat, on the other hand, were insane. Kudos to Bowery Presents, Highline Ballroom and Mad Dog Present for even trying, and thanks for keeping the taxis and music free.
It all started with a very long line, as such things do, that spanned from the gates of the Water Taxi building allll the wayyyy to Battery Park. Almost everyone behind me never even made it to the show as the island hit capacity about ten minutes after 7:00pm. The spot itself is awesome -- right there on the Governors Island "beach" overlooking the East River and NYC skyline. Best of all, they have dayglo fake palm trees.
Opening bands Keepaway and Delicate Steve were the openers, Yeasayer the main event. All rocked it solidly, but let's talk logistics, after the jump. In the meantime, here's Yeasayer performing O.N.E., via eyots:
Gone to Governor's - Yeasayer from The Big Secret on Vimeo.
Getting there
Get at the water taxi in Manhattan BEFORE 6pm. You'll still wait at least an hour, but at least you'll have a chance getting on the island. There is a liquor store beyond Battery Park just next to the Wall St. bull. They came in handy. Organizers promise they'll have a Brooklyn-side water taxi up and running soon, so hopefully that will help cut down the crowds. But man, that was bad!
Drinks
Drinks selection was solid: Brooklyn Lager, liquor, Sangria, etc. Outside drinks are banned, and they'll search and pat you down on the way in. You'll wait in another line getting a 21+ wristband, but thankfully they've got three tables set up so it spreads things out a bit.
Food
What the fuck guys. If there's one rule I go by when attending summer shows, it's always order the fucking sausage. You are guaranteed to get a foot-long kielbasa on a nice big hot dog bun, which you then slather in spicy mustard, sit back, and wait for the heartburn to kick in. But what did you give me? Half of a HALF of a sausage on a hamburger bun. You butterflied my half of a sausage and dropped it on a dried out hamburger bun! Saddened, I sauntered over to the condiments table but only faced empty buckets and teeming patrons scooping every last drop out of the ketchup and mustard bins with the sauerkraut tongs. It was total condiment mayhem. Conclusion: Don't go to Governors Island hungry.
Music
The stage is big, so the views are fine from front to back. The music's pretty good too, but of course, it's best from the concrete up front and the wood planks in the middle. Once you're in the sand it starts to lighten-up. But you're in sand in New York City so who cares, right? Yeasayer is awesome, I can't say it enough. I loved their lighting situation, which basically created a band of silhouettes.
Getting home
As you can imagine, everybody getting in by boat has to leave by boat, so don't think you're getting home after the encore -- more lines! I'd recommend you leave sometime between the second-to-last song and the encore and catch that first batch of water taxis home.
The bottom line
Get a canoe, pack a flask and a sandwich.
Come out to party at Public Assembly tonight!
Special guest Dj's Name You Can Trust plus our favorite Ohio Party Crew will be there drinking $4 Colt 45's with a shot of Whiskey 10-midnight. Come early and stay late! There will be FREEEE giveaways such as: 25 COPIES OF DAVE’S WHIP-ASS NEW MIXTAPE!
You can smell the chocolate from blocks away if the wind is blowing right.
Last night Hey Champ played at Webster Hall Studio with opening bands Shy Child, The Death Set and Mad Ave Boys. The entire night was a culmination of dance rock and loud music-- loud music that doesn't just pulse through your heart throwing off its natural beating rate but the level of loud that causes your arm hairs to stand on end.
The punk influenced trio Deach Set bounced around the stage stirring the crowd into a loose mosh pit. Lead singer Johnny Siera seemed to enjoy the crowd's unleashed behavior and finished the set with a rock anthem complete with fist pumping and aggressive pointing at the crowd.
Shy Child began their set by inviting the crowd to take three steps forward to fill in the vacant orchestra pit concert goers naturally create around any given stage. The electro-percussion duo kept the energy high causing bursts of dancing movement with their hook littered songs with strong bass back beats.
Closing the night Hey Champ capped off the high energy night with their fast and unabashed performance. Dancers who had stepped away from the stage before were reeled back in with Hey Champ's set and everyone was dancing (drink in hand as if life became a Bacardi ad). The only hiccup in the night? When Hey Champ drummer Jon Marks broke his kick drum pedal and had to rush backstage to find a replacement. However, he was able to jump back into the next song because you can never hold back hot beats...
More photos after the jump!
Hey Champ
Shy Child
The Death Set
Photo taken by dennisandluba, posted under CreativeCommons
Brooklyn Vegan posted news that BKLYN Yard, the Gowanus space that's hosted a fantastic variety of outdoor events over the past few years, is closing, a victim of a landlord tearing up the lease.
In a letter to supporters, MeanRed Productions writes, "Our landlord of the past four years, who used to share our vision for BKLYN Yard, notified us on Tuesday May 1st, that they would no longer honor our lease which had been in place since early this year. They chose not to give us an opportunity to renegotiate, and requested that we take what we have built, and terminate all of our confirmed plans and schedule for BKLYN Yard this summer."
Blows. After the jump, read the whole thing.
June 4th, 2010To our Yardies...
Over the past four years, we have worked hard to create BKLYN Yard. You watched us grow from a small unknown independent venue into a space that hosted the best tacos in NYC, incredible talent (Lee Scratch Perry, Kaiju Big Battel, Dan Deacon & Jose Gonzalez to name a few), the Sunday Best dance series, the Gowanus Harvest Fest, the BK County Fair, Score! Pop-Up Mega Swap, Parked: Food Truck Festival, and countless lobster bakes, pig roasts, BBQs and more. This past Memorial Day Weekend, we were so proud to open our doors and display all the hard work we have been putting into the space to make this summer even better...from our new bar, to our atm, to our bocce court. Thousands of you came out and supported us and made it one of the most beautiful weekends we have had yet, so we are sad to announce, that last weekend was the final weekend of BKLYN Yard in our Carroll Gardens home.
Our landlord of the past four years, who used to share our vision for BKLYN Yard, notified us on Tuesday May 1st, that they would no longer honor our lease which had been in place since early this year. They chose not to give us an opportunity to renegotiate, and requested that we take what we have built, and terminate all of our confirmed plans and schedule for BKLYN Yard this summer.
BKLYN Yard is a labor of love for MeanRed, rooted in our core company values: Love for artists, food, music and community. We are sad to see our passion project go in its brightest year, and are sad to let down all the people who have support and worked with us for the past 3 summers.
But if there is one thing we pride ourselves in, its our ability to think outside the box, to take a leap when there is no net, and to reach our highest visions. We wouldn't be who we are if we let hurdles keep us down. If we can turn a dim sum restaurant into a nightclub, a loft into a members-only club, and a toxic yard into a beautiful summer oasis... we can do anything.Rest assured, our renegade spirit and love for pop-up spaces will come alive again this summer -- very possibly with the same collaborators and programming you see on our current schedule... And very possibly even better than we had planned before.
Doug Singer, Eamon Harkin and Justin Carter's Sunday Best series will continue on at another location, including this Sunday with DJ Koze. You can keep an eye on them at www.sundaybestnyc.com
In the meantime, we want to say:
Thank you for sharing in BKLYN Yard. We hope you'll continue on this crazy ride with us as we bring you what's next. Stay tuned, we will pop-up where you least expect it, with the words:
"Built by BKLYN Yard"With love,
MeanRed Productions
You can get your twee on at noon, that's when tickets go on sale.
Beloved twee-pop cult heroes Belle and Sebastian haven't played a show on American soil since 2006. But this fall, the Matablog reports that the band will breeze through North American venues on a way-too-brief tour that'll include a pair of Mexican dates.[via]
This announcement comes on the heels of news that the band is back at work, writing songs in Glasgow and recording in Los Angeles. According to a Friday news update on the band's site, they're currently in "the final stages" of recording a new album. They'll also tour through Europe and Asia in the coming months, and also promise some UK dates and "a trip to South America" before year's end. And they'll curate and headline the Bowlie 2 festival, which takes over Butlins in Minehead, England December 10-12. Taking twee global!
More information here.
Bushwick artists open their doors this weekend for Bushwick Open Studios. The opening party is tonight at 10pm at Beauty Bar and tomorrow, take a few hours to trek around Bushwick. Here's a map and show directory. Go see one of the 313 shows in the neighborhood -- all of Bushwick is included, as are parts of Williamsburg, Bed-Stuy, and Ridgewood, Queens.
España's Delorean have been gently rocking our socks off since the Ayrton Senna EP which, considering the band formed back in 2000, seems a little off. Almost a decade of tweaking details, slightly altering the band's lineup, and what sonically translates to frolicking along a golden hour beach, the band's pinnacle release is here-- Subiza, out in the U.S. on True Panther this coming Tuesday.
If you haven't been listening to this coastal four-piece, let us introduce you to your summer go-to album. Unfortunately for most of you, Delorean's New York shows (starting tonight at Piano's) are SOLD OUT. But for one lucky reader, there's a light at the end of the tunnel. Just head on over to our Facebook page for your chance to win a pair of tickets to see Delorean, along with Restless People and MillionYoung at Glasslands this Saturday.
Check out the video for "Stay Close" after the jump...
[Thanks, Georgia!]
"It was Sunday at McCarren Park. You and your friends were sitting near my friends and me (near the high school, close to Bedford). We had a Smurfs blanket and some Turkey's Nest margaritas. You had a sort of Southern Rock vibe--shoulder length blondish hair and tattoos, probably a black shirt and shades. I was definitely staring at you. Sorry if you noticed me being creepy, but you're *real* dreamy." - Craigslist
Just being servicey...
This weekend be sure to stop by one of our favorite yearly events- The 6th Annual Renegade Craft Fair which takes place on June 5 + 6 from 11am – 7pm in McCarren Park.
The fair is free to attend and features over 300 of today’s finest indie-craft talents from all over the nation, free workshops (including Etsy.com's Make + Take Projects), entertainment, food, + a free to use photobooth.
"Certainly there are some great number of douchebags, pseudo-intellectuals, and no-talent "artists" among the many over-educated young people who have moved to Bushwick over the past decade. Certainly there are a number of locals who are fine, capable people — but whatever that number is, it’s not so high that Bushwick natives are able to fill the various creative jobs that always need filling, which is why Bushwick, like all of New York, must continually import talent to fill them, even in such cases as nativity would provide a significant edge in the carrying out of such work." - In Defense of ‘Hipsters’ and the Controversial Practice of Moving to a City Not of One’s Birth by Barrett Brown for BushwickBK
Last night Nathaniel Rateliff (formerly Nathaniel Rateliff & The Wheel) played a late night (okay, late night for a school night) intimate show at Le Poisson Rouge with opener JBM. Opener and multi-instrumentalist JBM fell in line with Nathaniel's warm but melancholy country vibe.
After the group took the stage, Nathaniel's devotees eagerly listened to the band's country, blues and folk music in near silence. Although a naturally humble charmer, Nathaniel kept his banter to a minimum opting for his music to entangle his audience. Earlier this year Nathaniel released his album In Memory of Loss and will be on tour this summer. Click here for dates!
More photos after the jump!
JBM
prince rama of ayodhya at automatic (chicago) october 3rd, 2009 from acid marshmallow on Vimeo.
Although yours truly is stationed across the pond, I have managed to grow fond attachments for "Sleepy" Doug Shaw's HIGHLIFE blend of african and pop melodies and the extra awesome psyched out prog of Prince Rama (of Ayodhya). Top this show off with Amen Dunes and the fact that it's a Showpaper Benefit, and you most likely have a recipe for one of the shows that sticks out of the blur that is Brooklyn's music scene.
Friday, June 4th @ MONSTER ISLAND BASEMENT
:: SHOWPAPER BENEFIT
:: Prince Rama
:::: HIGHLIFE —– http://myspace.com/highlifehighlife
:::::: Amen Dunes
:: special guest @ 8pm: W.H.I.T.E. — http://myspace.com/whitehorsesintechnicoloreverywhere
| MONSTER ISLAND BASEMENT |
128 River St @ Metropolitan Ave | Williamsburg, Brooklyn
L-Bedford, G-Metropolitan, JM-Marcy | 8pm | all ages | $8
Everything else here.
Yesterday, while you were recovering from one too many PBRs and a grilled food coma, our catchy post-punk faves The Futureheads released The Chaos on Dovecote Records. The album, their fourth since 2004's self-titled debut, nods to riotous roots like that infamous night at Rothko. If you're over synths, sleepy melodies, and noise pop (or you're just missing the NYC of 'yore)... this is a record for you.
And, of course, here at FREEwilly we're always giving up the goods... so one lucky reader will be awarded with The Chaos on vinyl... just by heading over to our Facebook page and commenting on the contest thread with your favorite memory from when the Lower East Side was still kind of cool.
And be sure to check out The Futureheads this Tuesday at Bowery Ballroom with The Like and The Static Jacks.
The lost "Puppy" saga has come to a happy ending!
Andrea writes:
WE GOT HIM HOME!!everyone's worked combined got my puppy home. posting, searching, talking, flyers. . .
he was found by gates avenue, being walked by a lady. she had cleaned him and given him a new leash and collar. an angel who had taken one of my flyers saw this, pulled over, grabbed puppy and drove him home to me!!
thank you for your help and support, everyone.
cheers!!
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