SPLICE 1st Anniversary Overload @ Galapagos w/ Maxx Klaxon, I Synthesist, Vusac, Brand New Idol, Kumabear
On Sunday, April 29, 2007, SPLICE celebrates its first birthday! Our showcase for live, eclectic electronics has featured a stunning selection of underground talent over the last year: artists from Europe, Australia, and all over the U.S., as well as the local scene.
This month we've got something very special: a super-sized SPLICE, with some of the best acts from our first twelve months. And this party is just too big for our usual digs, so we're doing it at Galapagos, Brooklyn's premier venue for out-of-the-mainstream music and performance.
Join us for what should be one of the year's most unforgettable nights for live, eclectic electronic music in NYC!
VUSAC is the solo project of Brooklyn's Isaac Peachin, a founding member of the electro-rock combo Lution. In this incarnation, he walks the tightrope of live electronic improv, spanning ambient dub to frenetic jungle. Vusac's creations montage voices, polyrhythms, and electrophonic/orchestral harmonies. Special guest performer: violinist Carolin Pook.
THE MAXX KLAXON OUTREACH UNIT Electro insurgents Maxx Klaxon and Marlene Mars bring their smooth synths, hard beats, post-punk bass guitar, and black humor to Brooklyn. In their first NYC appearance since SXSW, the avant-pop duo will present new arrangements of favorite songs, with a dazzling multimedia backdrop. Free CD sampler giveaways -- plus an audience-participation segment that could give you a chance to be on the next Maxx Klaxon release!
I, SYNTHESIST is the electropop music of Chris Ianuzzi, an accomplished composer/performer and a veteran of the downtown NYC scene, who has collaborated with artists including Vangelis, Man Parrish, and Suzanne Ciani. He works with video designer Anna Krych to create surreal, futuristic musical environments. Come hear selections from the exciting new album!
BRAND NEW IDOL is a sharp, sleazy, and hugely talented synthpop ensemble, formed by members of other acclaimed electronic groups (Joy Machine, Platform One). This is their second SPLICE appearance; it's also their first show since slimming down from a four-piece act to a trio.
KUMABEAR is an enigmatic Brooklyn-based solo artist, who builds tight, live instrumental grooves using a variety of electronic hardware and effects. He combines fresh-chilled melodies and jagged, jazzy, dark electro in real time, creating a unique musical experience.
SPLICE 1st Anniversary Overload
@ Galapagos
70 N. 6th St. (b/t Wythe + Kent), Williamsburg, Brooklyn
L train to Bedford Ave.
7:30pm - 1am
$5 ($4 w/ RSVP to splice.nyc [at] gmail.com)
21+
posted by Maximus |
3:11 pm EST |
2007.04.28 |
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I just rediscovered the roller rink experience last year -- about 25 years(!) after my first initiation (which was also when I first discovered electro -- the rink DJ had a hot new song called "Planet Rock" in heavy rotation). My return to skates happened because a friend decided to invite everyone to The Roxy for her birthday.
That night, a whole hidden subculture of the city was revealed to me: people of all ages, colors, classes, and ability levels having a non-stop party, in a totally non-judgmental atmosphere. It was a glorious time-warp back to 1982.
Sadly, the Roxy closed last month. (Tricia Romano eulogized it here.) Now the New York Times chronicles the passing of another NYC skating emporium: Brooklyn's Empire. The article notes that yet another rink closed in the Bronx last year.
The Roxy, which was on a piece of now-hot west Manhattan real estate, is being replaced by condos (of course). But the Empire's replacement? A storage facility. They really closed down a skating rink for that? Why all the hating on skating?
Maybe it's because most of the people zooming around in these rinks are black and Latino New Yorkers. I'm not saying that it's necessarily a matter of active racism. But unfortunately, in early 21st-century New York, people with darker skin who live in the outer boroughs and aren't rich don't count for very much. And their pastimes are not seen as important (or lucrative) enough to protect.
A year or so ago, it actually looked like pop culture was poised for a roller-skating revival, with Roll Bounce and a hit video from Madonna. What happened?
UPDATE: Here's the personal website of the Roxy's DJ Julio, which is packed with info about the bygone days of skating in NYC.
posted by Maximus |
6:39 pm EST |
2007.04.24 |
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FEATURING: Prizes for dorky yearbook photos, nerd trivia, and short readings from the book by contributors including Kelly Braffet, Owen King, Maud Newton, and James P. Othmer.
PLUS: An exclusive DJ set of your favorite loser anthems, spun by Maxx Klaxon!
"When I Was a Loser" Book Party
@ Lolita
266 Broome Street (at Allen Street), Lower East Side
F train to Delancey
6:30-8:30pm
Free
posted by Maximus |
12:47 pm EST |
2007.04.23 |
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P-Thugg and Dave 1 — more appropriately known as Patrick Gemayel and David Macklovitch — will release Fancy Footwork on May 8. The group signed with Juno Award-winning Montreal DJ/producer Tiga's Turbo Recordings for their 2004 She's In Control debut, which put the Arabic/Jewish electro-funk partnership on the club scene map. Chromeo have since kept busy producing remixes for Ed Banger, mix CDs for Eskimo and scoring the film Don't Even Go There.
The title cut is the first single from the forthcoming 13-track album. That song and "Tenderoni" can be heard on Chromeo's MySpace page.
posted by Maximus |
2:41 am EST |
2007.04.17 |
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NO ONE'S GONNA SAVE YOU FROM THE BEAST ABOUT TO STRIKE
»General
Michael Jackson is in discussions about creating a 50-foot robotic replica of himself to roam the Las Vegas desert, according to reports.
The pop legend is currently understood to be living in the city, as he considers making a comeback after 2004's turbulent child sex case.
It has now been claimed that his plans include an elaborate show in Vegas, which would feature the giant Jacko striding around the desert, firing laser beams.
If built, the metal monster would apparently be visible to aircraft as they come in to land in the casino capital.
There's a great opinion piece in today's NY Times, written by two guys who run an independent record store (now mostly an online operation). They explain how the music industry has been destroying itself thru stupid, greed-oriented strategic decisions:
In the late ’90s, our business, and the music retail business in general, was booming. Enter Napster, the granddaddy of illegal download sites. How did the major record labels react? By continuing their campaign to eliminate the comparatively unprofitable CD single, raising list prices on album-length CDs to $18 or $19 and promoting artists like the Backstreet Boys and Britney Spears — whose strength was single songs, not albums. The result was a lot of unhappy customers, who blamed retailers like us for the dearth of singles and the high prices. ...
The major labels wanted to kill the single. Instead they killed the album. The association wanted to kill Napster. Instead it killed the compact disc. And today it’s not just record stores that are in trouble, but the labels themselves, now belatedly embracing the Internet revolution without having quite figured out how to make it pay.
At this point, it may be too late to win back disgruntled music lovers no matter what they do. As one music industry lawyer, Ken Hertz, said recently, “The consumer’s conscience, which is all we had left, that’s gone, too.”
Of course, the major labels' insane pursuit of total control and maximum profits is also destroying internet radio.
This is the last of three installments of my SXSW diary. (Part 1, Part 2)
SATURDAY 3/17
By our third day in Austin, it's clear that this trip is as much about food as it is about music. Today we're having lunch with another acquaintance of Maud's: Hayden Childs, editor of the online magazine The High Hat. On the menu: Texas barbecue at Artz Rib House.
Supposedly, Artz used to slow-cook their barbecue in the boiler of an old steam locomotive. I'm not sure if they still do, or if there's some other voodoo involved. Whatever their methods, the results are amazing. As the tender meat from the beef ribs melts in my mouth, I can taste multiple layers of flavor -- smoky, sweet, salty. If there were more than three big ribs on my plate, I'd probably slip into a blissful meat coma for the rest of the day.
After lunch, we take a walk up South Congress and check out some of the shops. Then we put in one more rehearsal for tonight's Maxx Klaxon gig. Even though the set is not the same without bass guitar (and Maud has mixed feelings about getting up on stage), our vocal harmonies are sounding pretty good after a few more run-throughs. Before long, it's time to head downtown for the show.
Ninety Proof is a laid-back lounge that's right across the street from the convention center. The building opens up to the street on two sides, allowing people to look right in. It's not really a live music venue, so the whole setup tonight is a little jury-rigged... but every act on the bill shows a lot of energy and enthusiasm. The first band of the night is Sugar and Gold, out of San Francisco. They deliver a solid set of white-boy funk.
Then it's our turn. The video projections and sound mix are far from perfect. But I hook up my gear and strap on my keyboard, and Maud and I give it our best shot. And we have fun. (Well, I have fun. Maud might rather be having a root canal, but her look of cool detachment works perfectly with the material.)
After our set, Maud heads off with Alex and Kam to catch Golem, a klezmer-punk band. I stay at Ninety Proof, watching other bands and sucking down as many free vodka-and-tonics as possible. The standout acts are Scream Club, a "queer punk rock rap" duo out of Olympia, WA, and Sky Hy, an offbeat electro-flavored hip-hop artist from Atlanta.
And all too soon, my SXSW experience is over. We fly out at an unholy hour the next morning, back to the land of ice and snow. Did it change my life? Maybe not so much... but my friend (and sometime Maxx Klaxon publicist) Lauren predicts that soon I'll need one of these t-shirts:
posted by Maximus |
1:29 pm EST |
2007.04.05 |
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This YouTube clip accuses Timbaland of lifting most of the music for a Nelly Furtado song from Finnish chiptune act Tempest.
The evidence in the clip is pretty damning. But aside from the legal issues, it's an interesting reminder that hip-hop is still the dominant form of electronic pop music in the U.S. And Timbo's beat-jacking is probably the only way that this kind of European electronica could ever be heard on commercial American radio.
Let's not forget that hip-hop has always been open to these influences. It was black radio and club DJs who created a mass audience in this country for Kraftwerk (and then, as now, producers freely "borrowed" Euro-tronic sounds).
British pop stars the PET SHOP BOYS narrowly avoided death when fragments of a meteor missed hitting a plane they were travelling on. Bandmembers NEIL TENNANT and CHRIS LOWE were sleeping onboard a LAN Chile Airbus flight from Chile to New Zealand, when the burning rock fragments zoomed past the plane - missing the aircraft by just 40 seconds.
posted by Maximus |
1:31 am EST |
2007.04.03 |
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This is the second of three installments about my experiences at SXSW. (Part 1)
FRIDAY 3/16
On Friday morning, Alex, Maud and I head to a taco stand called El Chilito. My Mexican Coke (made with sugar instead of corn syrup) and breakfast taco really hit the spot. I'm impressed by all the locally-owned restaurants in Austin. I often think of the U.S., outside of a few coastal cities, as being a wasteland of corporate chains; but people take their food seriously in this town.
Now we head over to the Arthur Magazine showcase at the French Legation. As we enter the tent, Grand Ole Party is playing. The drummer is also the lead singer, and she belts with a moody, Janis Joplin intensity. The guys on guitar and bass do a great job, but she is the one with the real star power.
We listen to some more music and collect some free stuff, then head home. I check my e-mail... and get some bad news. My bandmate Marah is stuck in NYC!
I knew that Friday in New York was going to be nasty -- "wintry mix" is never a good thing. Dozens of flights out of the city have been cancelled. After hours of dealing with airline bureaucracy, and with no hope of making her connecting flight from Chicago to Austin, she gives up. A good call: on Monday, I see a news story about people who waited three days for their flights.
So what to do about Saturday night's show? Maud steps in and saves the day, offering to sing backup on Saturday night. She actually sang live with me at several early shows, before Marah became my backup singer and bassist. My music is not really her style, but she does know the material. Still, we'll need to do some rehearsing. We run through the set a couple of times, then head off to dinner.
Maud's made plans for us to have dinner with James Hynes, the Austin-based author of "Publish and Perish" and "Kings of Infinite Space". Just before the trip, I read the latter book, and really enjoyed it. It's a comic horror/thriller set amid the fluorescent-lit cubicles of a Texas state government office, and reads like a mashup of H.G. Wells, "Office Space," and "Buffy the Vampire Slayer."
Over dinner and drinks with Jim and his friend Mimi, we discuss life in Austin, the stereotyping of "red" and "blue" states, German pop music, and TV vs. movies (the consensus: TV has gotten much better, and movies have gotten much worse). After all this food, booze, and good conversation, I don't feel much like going out and watching bands. We go home and crash.
posted by Maximus |
8:03 pm EST |
2007.04.02 |
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MY BUTTERCHURN BRINGS ALL THE BOYS TO THE YARD
»General
Just when it looked like relations between Russia and the West couldn't get any worse, the new "Cold War" is moving into that most saccharine of arenas: the Eurovision song contest.
In terms of questionable taste, high camp and preposterous costume, Ukrainian drag queen, Verka Serdyuchka, seems to fulfill all the criteria required for a successful Eurovision contestant. ...
But ever since the big bosomed Serdyuchka - known in real life as 33-year-old Andei Danilko - was declared Ukraine's official entrant to the competition last week, suspicious-minded Russians have erupted in fury.
The lyrics of Serdyuchka's song, Dancing, appear, at first sight, to be almost meaningless. But for many Russians they constitute a direct assault by a wayward neighbour on Moscow itself. At the root of the indignation is a refrain that appears to exhort the audience to sing "Russia goodbye". ...
Mr Danilko says his song has been the victim of a gross misunderstanding. His lyrics, he maintains, do not read I want you to sing/Russia goodbye, but I want you to see/Lasha tumbai - which apparently means "churned butter" in Mongolian.
The video looks like a demented combination of electroclash and turbofolk.
Just when you think he can't get 
