Laurel Halo

There’s something to be said for normalcy.

The last couple of weeks brought our fair city of Gotham a plethora of summer festivals and concert series that thoroughly wore us at My Social List out (in all the best ways.)  There’s no big summer series this week… but that doesn’t mean there aren’t buzzworthy shows to enjoy.

THE MOST BLOGGED ABOUT show this week is a very danceable one over at 285 Kent, a venue that seems to be skewing increasingly in that direction over the past few months.  Slava headlines with sets from Laurel Halo, Gatekeeper, Anenon, Wish, Brenmar and a DJ set from none other than Teengirl Fantasy, whose upcoming LP is one of the most anticipated releases of the year.  Laurel Halo guests on their new album, so I wouldn’t be too surprised to see them collaborate at some point in the night.  Sounds like a party destined to rage on until the sunrises with a lineup that stacked.

Speaking of anticipated releases, Japandroids recently dropped their second full-length, Celebration Rock, which is already showing up on everyone’s album of the year lists; from the most obscure indie blogs to big-time mainstream magazines.  And with good reason, the LP’s collection of celebratory punk party anthems is a welcome breath of fresh air in today’s electro and shoegaze-saturated market.  The album doesn’t veer too far (if at all) off the path they blazed with Post Nothing, but that’s not exactly a bad thing.  They’re this week’s EDITOR’S PICK, and they’ve sold out two nights this week at Bowery Presents’ mid-sized venues, Bowery Ballroom (tonight) and Music Hall of Williamsburg (tomorrow.)  Cadence Weapon opens.  Next stop, Terminal 5…

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Governor's Ball

As made evident by the content of this and the previous edition of “The Most Blogged About Shows This Week,” New York City is increasingly overrun by festivals.  There’s a few going on this week, most notably Hillstock (Bushwick), Rockstock (Rockaway Beach) and, with some of the biggest names to hit NYC this summer, Governor’s Ball.

Festivals can be a crap shoot… so many things can go right (Northside) and so many things can go wrong (Googa Mooga.)  Governor’s Ball’s lineup is awesome on paper and is well put together (more on that later), but the Randall’s Island location presented some issues last year (longggggggggg ass lines for the ferry.)

It’ll be interesting to see how it plays out this year.  There’s a shuttle bus running from Williamsburg this time around (right in front of Brooklyn Bowl, every hour from 11 am to 6 PM), but the price was steep ($50 round trip) and they’re sold out.  Last year, patrons reported waits of upwards of 2 hours for the ferry, so I’m a bit wary this year.  I’ll likely walk across the RFK Bridge from Queens, which takes about 30 minutes.  The temperature is supposed to drop about 10-15 degrees from the oppressive and record-breaking temperatures we’ve seen the last couple of days, so it should be rather pleasant.

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The Northside Festival

The Northside Festival can be intimidating if you have a badge… so many shows, so little time.  And while our own humble Brooklyn-based festival isn’t as massive as similarly-modeled “showcases” like SXSW or CMJ, it also won’t put as massive of a dent in your wallet.  There are plenty of free shows worth seeing, and most others are $12 and under.  Or hey, you could pick up a badge for just $80 (which could have been had for AS LOW as $52.50 for our loyal readers), and you’ll have free reigns to run wild up and down Williamsburg and Greenpoint for a long weekend.  Rather than discuss everything that’s awesome (because there’s a lot of awesomeness) I thought I’d share how I plan to map out the weekend, with the hope of maximizing said awesomeness.

The music portion of the festival begins tonight, and who better to get things started than Kool Keith?  That’s right, KOOL KEITH.  The enigmatic absurdist underground rap deity has been pretty quiet the past couple of years, but he has a new LP Love & Danger out later this year and plays Brooklyn Bowl to kick things off (and closes things out with Ultramagnetic MC’s on Sunday.)  Doors open at 6.

Cold Cave fronts an awesome lineup at 7 PM (their set at 10) at Europa with White Ring and Burning Star, which is really tempting, but I’m planning on staying closer to North 6^th tonight (more on that later.)  Instead, I’ll probably catch the first couple bands at 285 Kent’s showcase at 8 PM.  Local fuzz-punks Eula are up first and are followed by New York experimental legend Dave Shuford’s (No Neck Blues Band, Speer) new instrumental outfit Rhyton, who play incredibly loud reverb-drenched psych jams.

After those two wrap things up, it’ll probably be wise to get on line to catch GZA’s second Liquid Swords set over at Music Hall of Williamsburg, the first absolutely CAN’T MISS performance of Northside.  He plays earlier in the night as well (doors, 8PM), so I’m hoping a lot of people decide to go to that one (which is sold out) so I can check out some of the above shows earlier in the night.

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Drake

Just when you thought the blog cycle was over… SHE RETURNS.

That’s right.  The ever divisive Lana Del Rey is back in town. She’s playing the sold out Irving Plaza tonight, a decidedly less intimate setting than her first couple of shows in New York, which were at Glasslands and Bowery Ballroom.

Lana might have moved onto slightly larger venues, but her buzz has died down considerably.  She’s not even our most BLOGGED show for TONIGHT, let alone the week.  The mindie-starlet comes in THIRD (for the week) behind  the ever bloggable (and equally divisive) Drake, J Cole, Waka Flocka Flame and Meek Mill at the PNC Bank Arts Center down in Holmdel, NJ next Tuesday; and a FREE show from BIG K.R.I.T. at the West 14^th Street Apple store TONIGHT.  Wristbands are going quickly for that one. They must be picked up prior to the show, so head over the West Village NOW if you plan on going tonight.

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Radiohead

So… the My Social List top ten for the week is broken right now.  All we have for you is a top four, until we get things straightened out.  Why?  Because we deleted the Bobby Womack and Willis Earl Beal Summer Stage show that is being rescheduled for sometime in July.   For some reason, it made everything all wonky.  The show is being rescheduled due to “sickness” of some kind, but I’m guessing it has more to do with Willis Earl Beal’s detainment from kicking a homeless man in the face in Amsterdam.  He’s since been released, but that kick had ramifications beyond his wildest dreams… namely, it means this list is going to be ORGANICALLY CURATED by me.

The most blogged about show this week is a no-brainer; algorithm or not, and that’s Radiohead and Caribou at the Prudential Center.  The My Social List machine seems to feel that tonight’s set is more blogged than tomorrow’s set, but I’m envious of anyone who got tickets to either night.  Well, kind of.  I definitely would have coughed up the dough to see Radiohead this time around, had I not been one of the lucky few who was able to secure tickets to one of their Roseland shows this past September.  I will say this: If you’re a King of Limbs detractor, like I was, be prepared to be reborn, because all of the songs sound absolutely incredible live.

If you’re not schlepping out to Newark tonight, schlep to downtown Brooklyn instead, because Thurston Moore is playing a set, consisting largely of songs off of his excellent LP, Psychic Hearts, at Roulette tonight.  He’ll be joined by Bill Nace and Joe McPhee.  I caught his set at Maxwell’s earlier this year and you definitely won’t want to miss this one.  It’s not Sonic Youth… but it’s the next best thing, no disrespect to Lee Ranaldo (who also put on a great show at Glasslands in January.)

There’s a lot of great options for you this weekend, beginning with tUnE-yArDs Terminal 5 show tomorrow night, and ending with Blondes, JDH & Dave P and Paul Raffaele at the Dekalb Market on Sunday.  SANDWICHED IN BETWEEN, there’s Porcelain Raft, Firehorse & Jane Jane Pollock at Mercury Lounge tomorrow; Woodsman, Dustin Wong & Jovontaes Herbcraft at Big Snow Buffalo Lounge (also tomorrow); and a BIRTHDAY PARTY and loft shitshow over at Cheap Storage in Bushwick with Total Slacker, Night Manager, Heaven’s Gate and Turnip King Saturday night.  You’ll want to catch that one if you’ve managed to miss Total Slacker or Night Manager over the past year (and if you go to shows, I’m not sure if that’s possible), as they’re heading out on a mini-tour of the east coast/mid-west in June.

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DIIV

*Insert obligatory comment about the long lines and overall poor-planning of The Great Googa Mooga HERE*

Alright, I’m glad we got that out of the way.  Let’s move onto something a bit more current.  Complaining about Googa Mooga is sooooooo four days ago.  Next thing you know, I’ll be writing an op-ed about the Facebook IPO!  Onto the Most Blogged Shows of the Week.

We all cracked on the name when we heard it (or read it, I guess), but it looks like DIIV has the last laugh as they’re this week’s MOST BLOGGED show AND my EDITORS PICK, and that’s for their free Hype-Machine-produced and Toyota Prius-sponsored show at Brooklyn Bowl tonight.  It’s my pick for a few reasons.

1)     It’s free.

2)     DIIV are actually pretty awesome, if you haven’t heard them (or seen them) by now.

3)     KILLER MIKE is also on the bill (holy shit!)

4)     DIIV are about to blow up, so who knows what kind of venues they’re going to play from now on?  And at what cost?  Not that Brooklyn Bowl is “intimate” or anything, but you understand my meaning, no?

5)     The openers, High Highs and Beat Culture are no slouches.

6)     The first 150 people get some kind of “League Night” gift bags chock full of target-marketed goodies!

7)     Did I mention it’s free?

Make sure you show up early (Brooklyn Bowl opens their doors at 6 PM.) I’d guess this thing’s going to be packed.  I wouldn’t recommended showing up if you haven’t RSVP’d either, and that’s all closed up now.  If you get turned away, The Deli Magazine’s Emerging Artists festival continues tonight at Public Assembly and Spike Hill.  ALSO, a couple of awesome bands that have shared the bill with DIIV about 74 times (Night Manager, Heaven’s Gate) play Cameo Gallery for just $5 with some solid openers as well (Yvette, Mala Strana.)

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Dinowalrus

Williamsburg’s own Dinowalrus recently released their critically-acclaimed sophomore LP, Best Behavior; a decidedly more dance-driven and synth-based approach than their debut, the noise rock-inspired %.  My Social List caught up with Pete Feigenbaum, their self-proclaimed “curator of riffs” at El Beit to discuss his band’s progression, the erosion of local music scenes, the continued gentrification of Williamsburg and what he described as a Warholian appropriation of culture as a driving influence in his band’s sound.

Peter Rittweger – You’ve said that Andy Warhol’s or Mike Kelley’s “appropriation” was a source of inspiration on Best Behavior. I almost immediately think of your album cover, which is an image of the Domino Sugar factory, this “iconic” Williamsburg landmark.  % was more “no-wave” or “noise rock” inspired, while Best Behavior seems to be more influenced by the best music AROUND you.  Would you say the image symbolizes that sort of appropriation?

Pete Feigenbaum – Yes and no.  I mean, the album cover is just an allusion to Animals, that Pink Floyd album… which isn’t a very good album, but that album cover really resonates with me.  I mean both albums (% and Best Behavior) are sort of appropriations in a different way.  I have this theory that nostalgia comes in twenty year waves.  I guess there’s only really been two years between the two albums, but in my mind it feels like more, so we’ve jumped from 1982 to 1992 in our minds, haha.

I was vaguely interested in this Madchester acid-house sound for a while, so it just made sense to dig even deeper into that and really let that influence the songwriting on Best Behavior, and the production too.  So I feel that that’s the biggest re-appropriation on Best Behavior…like taking ideas from the Happy Mondays, Stone Roses, Charlatans, Primal Scream, Candy Flip, Flowered Up… all those bands.  I feel like our interest in them is a very unique thing. It seems like no one else around here is into that.  Revivalism can be kind of hokey, or even a cheap thrill but I like to think the way that we’ve done it, we’ve kind of made it our own and made people see this style that they may have overlooked previously.

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Foo Fighters

The MOST BLOGGED shows this week are somewhat enigmatic… and that has EVERYTHING to do with the Bamboozle music festival, which apparently our algorithm likes a whole lot.  And hey, there’s some stuff to like (and a lot to make you cringe.)

I’m a New Jersey native, who has no problem admitting that I spent a great deal of my youth at Jersey shore emo and hardcore shows.  That’s what this Asbury Park festival was originally known for, going back to its roots as the Skate and Surf Festival at the dilapidated Convention Hall.  Some of that remains on the bill (Brand New, Jimmy Eat World, Motion City Soundtrack, Hot Water Music, Promise Ring, to name a few of the friendly faces), but the rest of the lineup is something of a gigantic clusterfuck consisting of everything from wub-wub dubstep to bad comedy.

Andrew Dice Clay is probably the biggest “WTF” of the event, and he has a set scheduled on Sunday which is headlined by an equally “WTF” act (but for totally different reasons), Bon Jovi.  This isn’t AS MUCH of a surprise for me, as I’m somewhat familiar with the festival.  They usually have some incredibly off-the-wall act every year that really doesn’t fit (acts as diverse as MC Hammer and Skid Row has graced the festival’s stage in previous years), but Dice Clay might take the cake (though I’m not sure where.)

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Beach House

The floodgates opened this week.  Northside.  Celebrate Brooklyn.  South Street Seaport.  CBGBs.  All of these festivals announced varying portions of their lineups this week; and they’re pretty awesome thus far.  There’s sets from everyone from indie vets like Guided By Voices and OLIVIA TREMOR CONTROL (!!!) to hip hop legends like Ghostface Killah, GZA and Kool Keith (Dr. Octagon tracks please), to some of the hottest “buzzbands” like Cloud Nothings, Frankie Rose and The Pains of Being Pure At Heart.  I’m sure DIIV will play at least 74 times, as well.

“Festival season” is still about a month or so away, but that doesn’t mean you have to wait ‘til June to catch some “buzzworthy” shows.  We’ve got you covered, and our MOST BLOGGED ABOUT SHOW this week should get you plenty excited.  Beach House is back in town to support their rapidly forthcoming (and currently streaming) 4^th record, Bloom.  They play the sold out Bowery Ballroom on Tuesday with Zomes.

If you missed out on your chance to see Vicki Legrande’s hair up close and personal, and still want to catch a “big one,” you could do worse than snatching up a ticket to Neon Indian’s second post-Era Extrana go-around at Terminal 5 on Saturday.  There are still some tickets left, despite what represents an absurdly stocked undercard, featuring Ducktails and Lemonade.  Huh.  Kinda surprised Neon Indian can’t sell out a Saturday night at T5, while M83 effortlessly sold out his T5 show tonight, a weeknight.  IS CHILLWAVE DEAD?

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The Walkmen

Today marks the beginning of a new era for My Social List.  From this day onward, we will be known as MI SCILL LIIST.  We really don’t give a fuck about the name.  We originated this project in a bedroom with no internet and didn’t know it would ever leave.

We’re taking a cue from DIIV, formerly known as Dive; aka Zachary Cole Smith of Beach Fossils’ side project.  Apparently, he’s changing the name out of “respect” for some early 90s industrial act from Belgium.

Come on dude, how have you never heard of Dive?  Their experimental sound, consisting of abused drum machines pulsating through crackling distortion influenced everyone from Frontline Assembly to Klinik.

If that all sounds ridiculous… it’s because it is.  My guess?  The guy never heard the “original” Dive in his life, and Wikipedia’d his band name before his LP came out.  Dude.  It’s totally ok.  I have idea who the hell Dive is either.  The last sentence of the previous paragraph is a combination of Wikipedia’s “Dive (Belguim Band)” page and industrial acts from Allmusic.com.

Maybe this perceived insecurity over not knowing obscure foreign bands from dead genres is some sort of sad commentary on the resentful post-internet era we live in.  Who knows?  Maybe he just wanted a more stylized name?  If that’s the case… they should have totally went with ▲DDIIVVEE▲ instead.  Or maybe he realized “Dive” was un-google-able?

Somewhat ironically, I’d like to use this opportunity to announce the launch of the MII SCIIL LIIST iPhone app (get it here)  It launches TODAY, and it’s 100% free.  Now you’ll be able to access our buzz list right on your phone, buy tickets to shows, find shows near you (via current location), and text them to your friends.  Really, there’s no better app for tracking buzzworthy shows in the city despite my INTENSE bias.

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