How much do you love bowling? Enough to fight off all the other Thanksgiving orphans left in Brooklyn to get a free lane? If so, head on over to Brooklyn Bowl today from 2-3pm where they’ll be offering free bowling. Shoes not included.

A little after 2am Sunday morning, as sweaty, drunk, and all but tired hipsters danced and partied to one band after another at Pichfork’s #Offline Festival at Brooklyn Bowl, guests got a big surprise. Glammed out in bling, an excited, energetic, and oh so entertaining Kanye West took the stage. Backed by DJ A-Trak, he performed five of his newest hits: “So Appalled”, “Monster”, “Devil in a New Dress”, “Power”, and “Runaway”. He was electric, charismatic, and on top of his game. It looked like he was having a good time. As an added bonus, GZA took the stage after Kanye, and performed “Liquid Swords”. Its been a great week for live music in NYC. As the impending CMJ/Pitchfork rivalry grows into a feud, the the spoils of war may be ours to reap in the form of good shows.

Brooklyn Bowl owner Peter Shapiro is considering taking his alley/venue/restaraunt/bar nationwide, exporting its hipster elements out and capitalizing in similar neighborhoods around developing areas in cities like San Francisco. There’s a lotta “ifs” out there, but hey, it might happen. “We would try to take the best of what’s worked in New York and try to re-create that again,” said Shapiro, to the San Francisco Chronicle:

New York’s acclaimed Brooklyn Bowl has been the subject of some juicy rumors involving a possible Mission District location.

The first – and to this point, only – location of the food, music and bowling LEED-certified venue is in the Williamsburg area of Brooklyn. Owner Peter Shapiro is flirting with a number of options, but since there’s definitely no deal yet, he’s staying mum.

It’s a fun spot, there’s no doubt about that. And hell, Shapiro, it’s a great idea too. Who doesn’t love a bowling alley-venue with hotdamn awesome fried chicken? Export your pants off.

Finally making good on a tweeted promise of a free NYC show after the debacle that was her HARD NY performance in July at a soggy Governor’s Island, M.I.A. takes to Brooklyn Bowl‘s stage on October 6 for a first-come first-served solo gig. Doors are at 9:30 and the line for hopefuls forms at 7:00. Luckily the Bowl has a roof.

There’s just about an app for everything these days, isn’t there?

Brooklyn Bowl is the latest to join ranks with their app that lets you do everything from check out their schedule to use the app as a digital lighter to wave at concerts. AND from tonight to Friday, the first 50 people to show off their shiny iphone with the Brooklyn Bowl app get in free. That means you can possible see for zero dollars: Talib Kweli, Carney, Questlove, and Eliot Lipp. No love for the Android users yet, huh? Download is here.

(via Brokelyn)

As part of The FADER‘s regularly occurring Fader Bowl series, Vermont-based, Sub Pop-signed Happy Birthday will be playing tonight at Brooklyn Bowl. Their self-titled debut is filled with garage-y guitar riffs peppered with synth lines and catchy, timeless pop melodies. In essence, they sound like a lot of bands that were signed to Sub Pop in the early ’90s. In other words, they should put on a super fun show tonight.

DJing the evening will be Awesome Tapes From Africa, which is exactly what it sounds like. Best of all, the show is free. So no bellyachin’.

We all agree that the Pool Parties have become kind of a bummer. Ok, so they’re still pretty fun but seriously lacking that special Jelly flavor that was recently replaced by rules, regulations, and the fear that a slip ‘n slide is way too dangerous. That said, we’re on our way now because Future Islands are a band everyone should get into.

Also, the Nicky Digital hosted after party with Deluka should be pretty rad.

Overheard in a Berlin Cafe: “Any advice for somebody wanting to start a record label?” the young man said.

“It’s a nightmare, but we’re all gonna die, and you might as well do something you love,” answered Grant C. Dull, founder of ZZK Records, the premier record label in Buenos Aires, Argentina, which specializes in “cumbia digital.” And this Thursday, July 22nd, Buenos Aires’ best DJs and their drum-toting live band will be taking over Brooklyn Bowl.

In 2008, Grant C. Dull, whose DJ name is “El G,” founded Zizek, shortened to ZZK Records, after four years of building and running cultural events website What’s Up Buenos Aires.  El G has played at festivals such as Coachella, Roskilde & Summer Stage in Central Park.  The ZZK cumbia digital sound has influenced DJs and artists like Bersas Discos & Tormenta Tropical in San Francisco and DJ/Rupture and Diplo in the East.  The sound has ignited a resurgence in cumbia music for a new generation of Latinos, hipsters, and world-music audiophiles alike, with leading label ZZK receiving a wide range of media attention from big names like The NY Times, CNN, The Fader, Mad Decent, Discobelle, and Generation Bass.

Cumbia is colored like Colombian sunsets. Cumbia sounds like Caribbean coconuts falling to the ground. Cumbia feels like the sweat underneath a Panama hat…. It’s African. It’s New World. It’s tribal, it’s digital. And now it’s coming to Brooklyn.

(more…)

Our beloved headliners from Sunday night’s Northside showcase at Brooklyn Bowl, Keepaway, are the first full set recording to be released by NYC Taper, who happened to be in attendance. As the trio took the stage, they gave shout outs to Kobe Bryant, Lil’ B, as well as the man responsible for Intro to Based 101 before diving head first into a set filled with rhythmic keys reminiscent of the Rugrats theme song. Basically, really fucking rad.

So if you have fond memories of the show, or you couldn’t make it because you’re lame, relive the whole thing right here. We’ll keep you posted on recordings from the rest of Sunday’s artists.