After a month long installation in Long Island City, HEADSCAPES has come to a close… So naturally, the dozen or so (mostly Brooklyn-based) artists and musicians involved in the show have decided to invite us all to dance the night away surrounded by the fragmented remains of art.

More info on what you missed and may or may not see tonight at headscapes-show.tumblr.com

Tonight’s shindig includes performances from our friends Ninjasonik, New Cross (ex-Team Robespierre) and Mr. Andersonic followed DJ sets from Ben Robey, James Mulry and Dirtyfinger.

RSVP and stalk for attractive attendees here.

Swing by beloved neighborhood bar, The Flat, tonight to encounter some of your favorite Ruskis…

Plus, a DJ set by Slava will be setting the mood which is kind of a big deal considering the party is FREE.

Did we mention, open vodka bar at 10:30!? See you slurry babes there!

The Flat

308 Hooper (btwn S. 5th & Broadway)

10:30pm, 21+

Out now on Cascine, Rush Midnight‘s +1 EP is a plethora of tropical vibes that’s sure to make your baby-making parts feel all sorts of tingling. Russ Manning’s moniker, Rush Midnight, is equally dichotomous as the former Twin Shadow bassist’s solo debut record – perfectly rushed beats set the danceable rhythmic pace, while each track drips with breathy lyrics that after dark is made of.

Check out the video for “Crush” below, featuring NYC subway breakdancers W.A.F.F.L.E. Crew and produced by none other than George Lewis Jr. himself:

Haven’t had enough? Get your copy of Rush Midnight’s +1 here and check out the spandex-clad video babes in “The Night Was Young Enough” after the jump…

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From Bushwick’s grey industrial streets, rose Spanish Prisoners’ strangely uplifting sound — a perfect blend of cloudy density and pop-y guitar riffs that brings to mind The Beach Boys on the verge of a heroin overdose. But don’t be fooled by the analogy, surf rock is nowhere to be found here — rather, a heap of perfectly listless waves crash over emotionally charged yet stoic lyrics.

Spanish Prisoners “Know No Violence” off of the band’s newest release, Gold Fools, carefully careens between dreamy layered vocals and lucid instrumental precision, a habit the band luckily doesn’t kick through the entirety of the album. We got to chat with songwriter Leo Maymind and singing drummer Mike DiSanto about finding the perfect amount of reverb, the influence of drunk douchebags and New Order on the album, and how, apparently, Nas’ Illmatic is totally timeless.

Oh and did I mention we have  a pair of tickets to check out Spanish Prisoners tomorrow night at Pianos with Ski Lodge, Wolff and more!? So check out the rest of the interview after the jump and leave a comment below for your chance to win and be sure to grab Gold Fools for the current price of whatever you want to pay for it.

First and foremost, where does the name Spanish Prisoners come from?

Leo Maymind: The name came from the David Mamet film “the Spanish Prisoner,” which I think is a classic con-artist movie. Mamet kind of has a cult following. I’m not even sure the rest of the band has seen it.
Mike DiSanto: I haven’t seen it and people always seem vaguely disappointed in me when I tell them that.
Leo Maymind: We’ve been talking about setting up a movie night and all watching it, but it hasn’t happened yet.

Tell me a little about the writing process of Gold Fools. How does it differ from the band’s previous releases?

M: The writing process was very much the same as the recording and mixing process.  It was all kind of happening at the same time as Leo and I would pass tracks back and forth with a pile of USB keys. I bought a new keyboard at the time and every time Leo gave me a song he was working on I would delete some of his tracks and recreate them with the keyboard, which was maybe a little annoying but I regret nothing.
L: Mike would also incrementally decrease the level of reverb without telling me. And then I would just increase it even more the next time around, hoping he wouldn’t notice. So it was mostly this long process of just sending things back and forth and sort of carving out something that was pleasing to the two of us and our other two bandmates. Suffice to say it took a pretty long time to arrive where we are now.
M: That’s true, at least 40% of our discussions on the album involved reverb.
L: It was more like 70-80%. We would start talking about reverb and end up talking about New Order for an hour.

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Not only do you have awesome plans tonight, you now have equally awesome plans for the following night! RSVP here to check out Suckers, Javelin and Lemonade at Santos Party House tomorrow brought to us by Death + Taxes and vitamin water, as well as FREE beer from none other than Pabst Blue Ribbon.

And, like all free events, we suggest you get there early to avoid any possible shitshow at the door!!

Tomorrow night, come out and celebrate the launch of The World’s First Perfect Zine — the brainchild of David Shapiro a.k.a. Mr. Pitchfork Reviews Reviews — with The World’s First Perfect Party hosted by Tumblr at Other Music.

And what makes a perfect party, you ask? Free booze, for starters, as well as DJ sets by zine contributors Victor Vazquez of Das Racist, Tao Lin and Jenna Wortham of the NY Times.

Shapiro also notes that the zine will have a password-protected Tumblr of supplemental content (photos, interviews, stories) which you’ll have access to by ordering your copy of the limited edition print of The World’s First Perfect Zine… or by solving the below riddle:

What is the first name of the girlfriend of the director in the only 9-minute official music video (presently unavailable in the United States due to copyright issues) by the band whose original guitarist’s older brother was previously in a band whose two other members went on to form a band whose most recent album’s first single prominently features a sample from a song by a now-defunct band whose percussionist is named John Braddock, nicknamed “Dutch”?

Click here for more info about the zine and its contributors (including members of the Brooklyn buzz band hall of fame, filmmaker Lena Dunham and Thought Catalog‘s golden boy, Ryan O’Connell). See y’allz at the party, where the FREEdubs crew will be perfectly drunk!

Since 2008, Mexican Summer has been cranking out records from some of our favorite artists like Best Coast, Washed Out, Kurt Vile, Real Estate, Nite Jewel and well, you get the picture, right? So we’re excited to see the release of their 100th record — two tracks from our synth-enamored friends Ford & Lopatin featuring Tamaryn and Shannon Funchess of Light Asylum fame.

May we suggest kicking off your night to the beat of  “Snakes,” then flipping the record for the late-night lullaby “Flying Dream” once you’ve made it back home with a belly full of Frito Pie.

Order the limited edition clear vinyl 12″ over at Mexican Summer & check out the rad cover art poster of all of the label’s past releases after the jump! (more…)

I’ve got a special place in my heart for CSS — let it be known that little miss Lovefoxxx’s adorable Brazilian accent can be found bopping around on many a travel playlist in my phone. Why? Because the girl brings me right back to a careless age when everything seemed complicated but was way more simple than I would have ever admitted, especially to my parents or my probably totally confused and tortured boyfriend. CSS’s newest single, “City Grrrl,” off of La Liberacion is basically a play-by-play of a suburban teenager’s weekend, changing in the Penn Station bathroom and hopping in a cab Downtown. But just like the song says, when you’re 13 the idea of paying bills and living on your own in the “big city” is exciting… until you’re a 27-year-old blogger with $100 to spare each month on cheap whiskey.

That said, I think I finally figured out a way to create a wormhole into space and time, or whatever… I’ll be on the train in the near future bumping this song in my headphones while wrapped in six layers of winter clothes reminding myself why New York is and always will be where I call home, while the NYU girl at the end of the train is making her friend listen to the song going “Aren’t we totally City Grrrls!??,” and the gay goth (who’s shoes I’ve been eying for the last four stops) will be subtly voguing to the chorus in his seat, and before we know it our subway car will have vanished into thin air. Now remember, we all have CSS to thank for that.

It’s no secret that we’re fans of Small Black here, and we’ve been anxiously awaiting a new release to solidify our love and kick off our longing for next summer — but doused with reverb and hearbreak, the Moon Killer mixtape has us feeling less “let’s hit the beach” and more “it’s too cold to smoke on the fire escape.”

But it’s not all down-tempo introspection, we promise. In addition to the laid back flows from Heems of Das Racist this 11 track gem is, according to the band, “full of samples from and homages to songs we love and the city that we live in. Something we could never do on a record” — and there’s no better example than “Love’s Not Enough,” a track that’s worthy of hand-holding at the roller skate rink. Remixes from Phonetag and Star Slinger close out the record to remind us that after the winter, we’ve got sunshine to look forward to once again.

“After 2 years of non-stop recording and touring, this project was a chance to give people who’ve supported us something free to enjoy,” says the band, so download Small Black’s Moon Killer Mixtape here. And be sure to check them out at the Moon Killer Release Party at Glasslands on Friday, Nov. 18th!