Thom Yorke

Labor Day.  A day of rest.  A day to honor the working class.  A day to nurse your Monday morning hangover.  A day to watch bad horror films on Netflix. Have you guys seen “Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead” yet?

Fuck that.  Labor Day is a day of freedom.  Why waste it on delivery and laptop movies, when you can go to a free “Day Off” party with some unreal hip-hop acts?  The folks at Fool’s Gold are responsible for today’s debauchery at City Winery, highlighted by performances by French Montana, Danny Brown, Brothers Macklovitch (A-Trak and Dave L), Just Blaze, Flatbush Zombies, Party Supplies and much, much more.  I’m guessing there’s bound to be some cameos as well.  It’s a hip-hop show with plenty of local acts, after all.  Oh, and this one is our MOST BLOGGED ABOUT show this week, so there’s that too.

This week’s EDITOR’S PICK is unique in that it’s a DJ set. I don’t like to christen a DJ set the “can’t miss” show of the week, but when Thom friggin’ Yorke is involved, all rules go out the window.  MoMA PSOne’s “Warm Up” series draws to a close on Saturday with a DJ set from Atoms For Peace, Thom’s side project with Flea and Radiohead producer, Nigel Godrich.  I’m not sure if Flea or Nigel will be on hand, but I can assure you Thom will, given his penchant for throwing down DJ sets once every blue moon.  Even if you take Thom Yorke out of the equation, you’re still left with the perfect swan song for 2012′s warm up series, with performances from Holy Other, whose quizzical album is one of this year’s best, and Maria Minerva, whose upcoming LP may soon boast similar bragging rights.  Rustie and Justin Strauss are also on the bill.

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Louis C.K.

Louis CK.  That is all.

No, but seriously.  Unless you’ve been living under a rock (or if you just woke up, and in that case, I am jealous), you already know that Louis CK is playing THREE TEN DOLLAR shows, tonight at Bell House.  If you’re like me, you’re wayyyyy too far away from Gowanus right now to have any chance of getting tickets, because they’re only available at the venue’s box office.

Relax.  You should know by now that I’m here to console you with incredible shows that you actually CAN attend.  Like Train and Mat Kearney tonight in Central Park.

Just kidding.  Serious salt in the wound there, soul sister.

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Afro-Punk Festival

8th Annual Festival August 25-26! Erykah Badu, Gym Class Heroes, Janelle Monae, Das Racist, Skindred, Toro Y Moi, Reggie Watts, The Afro-punk Festival is returning to Brooklyn’s Commodore Barry Park for the 8h Annual Afro-punk Festival on August 25-26.

The 2012 festival has the most stellar line up yet with Erykah Badu, Gym Class Heroes, Janelle Monae, Das Racist, Skindred, Toro Y Moi, Reggie Watts, Spank Rock, Ninjasonik, The Memorials, Bad Rabbits, Gordon Voidwell, Cerebral Ballzy, Phony Ppl, Body Language, and more to be added! In addition, the Nike Battle For the Streets Skate Competition, the largest street skate competition in NYC will return this year with the nation’s top amateur skaters in a competition to be judged by top professionals in both sports.

Last year’s festival was unfortunately cancelled due to Hurricane Irene which almost put an end to the Afro-punk Festival but through the organization’s work and this year’s sponsors which include Nike, Vitamin Water, and media sponsors The Fader and WNYC, the festival is back and still free to the public!

Described by the New York Times as putting “rock and rebellion squarely in the category of African-American music,” the Afro-punk Festival has become a Brooklyn intuition, the focal point for the burgeoning Afro-punk movement. Over the past seven years, the festival has presented new artists before they hit it big, such as Grammy-nominated Santigold, The Noisettes and Janelle Monae. Afro-punk mainstays like Saul Williams, The Dirtbombs, and Dallas Austin have also graced Afro-punk’s stages.

Best of all, it’s free! More information at afropunkfest.com

Just Blaze

MoMA PSOne may take home the bloggable gold once again this week with Just Blaze, Nick Catchdubs, Danny Brown, The Stallions and BAIO (of Vampire Weekend) at Warm Up on Saturday, but there’s no fewer than four more hip-hop shows this week we’d say are up to snuff with that one.  The best part about them is that they’re all FREE (except for warm up, which is just $15), and they’re all on different days.

The legendary Pete Rock appropriately gets things started on Wednesday at East River Park with a free show with DJ Premiere.  THEN Action Bronson plays Thursday night at Music Hall of Williamsburg (with Flatbush Zombies, Meyhem Lauren and Tanya Morgan.)  Nas released his first decent album in about a decade last week (or more, depending on who you ask), and he plays tribute to the city that made him a star with free one at the iHeartRadio Theater on Friday night.  Cap it all off this weekend with the FREE Afropunk festival; which is hip hop heavy with Erykah Badu, Janelle Monae, Das Racist, Ninjasonik, and Spank Rock, PLUS TV On The Radio, Toro Y Moi, Body Language, Cerebral Ballzy and much, much more.

If it’s not a hip-hop week, then it’s Teengirl Fantasy’s week.  Their highly anticipated LP, Tracer, is out tomorrow, which features guest spots from Panda Bear and Laurel Halo (to name just a couple) and they’re appropriately all over our buzz list for this week.  And why not start with tonight?  Teengirl Fantasy are part of a FREE show at Summerstage which gets going at 6 PM with none other than Araabmuzik.  Flosstradamus and Nick Hook are also on the bill, and you don’t even have to go uptown for it either – this one’s down at East River Park.  Too last minute for you?  For just fifteen bucks, you can catch them on Thursday ON A BOAT, with Lemonade and Gatekeeper on the latest Rocks off Cruise.

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Delinquency

Via DNA

MGMT’s drummer Will Berman is celebrating his birthday tonight — and everyone is invited.

The soon-to-open venue Delinquency, a colorful newly renovated space on Grand Street by the Bushwick border, is hosting a free party and concert with three bands and an open bar starting at 8 p.m…

Tonight’s concert — which also celebrates Saverance’s 28th birthday — comes after years of scheming to open a venue in the Bushwick area, Saverance said, who joined forces with his two best friends Julian Vigoroux and Landon Webb after they worked in different bars in the Lower East Side and hosted DIY events in Brooklyn.

“Our space is a warehouse that had been gutted and was empty for 40 years,” Saverance said of the space on 1031 Grand St., which he claimed was the first air conditioning factory in the United States.
The bands playing tonight include Kings of Belmont and Zach Mexico’s Latest Side Project, according to the venue’s site.

More information here.

UPDATE: DOM is headlining:

DOM
BUM RAP
Kings Of Belmont

via

Warm Up

You know… I was going to lead this with the whole “free” angle this week, but then I realized I did that last week.  I’m going to do it anyway… it’s appropriate, because once again, there’s a bunch of free shows dominating the blogosphere.  That’s summer in NYC for ya.

The most blogged about show this week isn’t free, but it’s pretty cheap at fifteen bucks, and worth it for admission to the museum and a look at the winning installation, and that’s Floating Points, Jacques Greene, Secret Circuit and Hieroglyphic Being at MoMA PSOne Warm Up on Saturday.

This week’s editor’s pick, however, IS FREE, and that’s over at the House of Vans.  The Jersey kid in me is pretty much foaming at the mouth at this week’s show which is co-headlined by the pride of Glen Rock, Titus Andronicus, and Cursive (not from NJ, but justtttttttt emo enough to be pigeonholed here.)  Titus just announced their new LP will be released on October 23 (my birthday, btw, thanks guys), so there will likely be some new tracks to hear for the first time, and who can resist the tone-deaf screech of Tim Kasher’s vocal assault?  Love as Laugther and Joyce Manor are also on the bill.

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Get tix here

Join Finger on the Pulse in celebrating five years of the BBQ Blow Out with two-star starwarts Gwynnett St for a summer ending night of food, fun and fantastic music (& beer!)

Get tickets now for the early bird prices!

Early Bird (Gets the BBQ Worm): $10 GA (Gaurenteed Spot) / $15 VIP

Day of BBQ: $10 GA / $20 VIP

The xx

I’m going to try and get all the shameless self-promotion out of the way in the first two paragraphs here, but we released the new version of My Social List quietly over the weekend.  It features an all-new blog, where you can read even more of my incoherent ramblings.  Our “Official Grand Opening” in which we take over the blogosphere is TBD, but the door’s open for you to come on in and poke around now.

SHAMELESS PLUG TWO: We have another show scheduled for TONIGHT with our good friend Kristina Tequila featuring Anasazi (record release party), Dream Affair, Religious to Damn (last show) and Nao Katafuchi.  I’m looking out my window now and it’s a total Factory Records day out there; perfect because these bands would have fit right in on the label in the late 70s.  Read our preview here.

THE MOST BLOGGED ABOUT SHOW this week is The XX at Terminal 5 tomorrow night.  No surprise, the UK buzz darlings have sold out the cavernous venue in spite of the negative press their first single has received; but if you missed out, Jamie XX is performing at MoMA PS1’s Warmup on Saturday with Lemonade (who DJ late night at Glasslands for free afterwards with Rewards), Pearson Sound, Sinjin Hawk and Jora Jones.  If you haven’t been to Warm Up yet this year, this is the perfect one to start with.

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More information here.

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Catalpa Festival

Another week, another festival in New York.  Randall’s Island is getting quite the workout this summer, and this weekend the tri-boro island hosts the inaugural Catalpa Music Festival.  The two-day festival (Saturday and Sunday) has an admirable concept, to create “a truly authentic, fresh and unique musical experience featuring over 50 artists that traverse many styles and genres from rock and indie to hip-hop, reggae and the world of electronic music.”

And they do accomplish that to some degree.  The lineup is eclectic and bloggable enough to be our MOST BLOGGED show for the week; thanks in no small part to the two mammothly huge headliners: The Black Keys and Snoop Dogg.  Also worth mentioning: TV on the Radio, a newly non-Hasidic Matisyahu, Girl Talk, Araabmuzik and Zola Jesus.

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