Ducktails SSPS
While everyone was lounging on their sofas from eating massive quantities of food, I was at the Cake Shop checking out a small but amazing show last night with Bob Bellerue, SSPS, Ducktails, HD (members of WZT HEARTS). Most noteworthy of the night were the sets by SSPS and Ducktails. SSPS is Porkchop from Excepter’s solo project. Taking his cue from German minimalist house, SSPS is equal parts dirty beats and experimental sound exploration. Often marrying the two can prove challenging to create something with substance, SSPS was up to the task–ladling abstract vocals over a dark, dance backbone. (He even got a few members of a slightly reserved crowd to dance.) Ducktails is the solo project of Matt Mondanile (with the occasional live collaborator). Best described as poppy surf rock informed by avant garde music a la The SKATERS and Kemialliset Ystavat, Ducktails is the type of warm music that will get you through the Winter and keep you happy year round. Touching on the pop and the more abstract, Mondanile divided the set between a meditative, outdoors instrumental and an anthemic surf rock ballad (that was unfortunately cut short due to technical difficulties).
In addition to Ducktails, Mondanile also collaborates in Predator Vision and Real Estate—both are in keeping with the good vibes. Real Estate is playing tonight at the Cake Shop at midnight if you can make it out.
There’s been a coldhearted dognapping in Red Hook, and the owner’s asking everybody to keep an eye out for Mango, a 9-year old Jack Russell with a brown spot under his left eye. He let the dog roam freely – no leash – for years, and as you’d expect the Post’s conservative readership are all like, “he deserved it”. But then, the owner (Steve) responded in the comments by quoting both Cesar Milan AND Dan Quayle, effectively sending a digital bitchslap through the internet. Check it out, and read the Mango Alert for more info.
The bike lane situation is looking pretty confusing at South 4th Street, with blatant signage leading bikers up on the sidewalk and onto the bridge. A couple of riders wrote into Gothamist today with stories how the lane led them right into the open arms of a few cops. Naturally, our lovely NYPD wrote them tickets for biking on the sidewalk. Entrapment? Duh.
John at Gothamist poked around about and learned that the DOT is “in the process of designating the sidewalk along South 5th Street as a shared bike/pedestrian path.” They “will soon add appropriate signs and directional bike stamps along the sidewalk (see example), and [we] are reaching out to the local precinct with additional details about the project, which is not yet complete.” DOT, hurry the f’k up with that, our bikers are getting tickets! See more details on this silly bureaucratic fart at Gothamist.
Oh, I should note, aside from the whole woopsie-daisy ticketing situation, this bike lane is great and safe and needed, so thanks DOT. This is just rough love. Keep at it. picture via gothamist, too.
If you haven’t packed up and left town yet for Thanksgiving festivities, there are two great shows happening in our fair hamlet of Williamsburg:
Sexy women will be in abundance at Glasslands tonight, since Afternoon, Sharon Van Etten, Glass Ghost (Eliot Krimsky of Flying), and Treasure are playing. These are all marvelous, Brooklyn-based acts, and you should expect to hear some gorgeous stuff.
@ Glasslands, 8 pm
Philly’s Cortez! Cortez!! will be leading the evening at Public Assembly. I really like this band, they’re kinda like a lo-fi, spazzy, dance punk. Also playing will be Monuments, The Rollo Treadway, and The FolkSong Revival. All of these groups are excellent, go and be merry!
@ Public Assembly, 8 pm
SWEET STUFF!!!
It’s completely worth the $0.99 cost for the “Be Like Lil’ Wayne” iPhone application. The possibilities are endless and wonderfully asinine…..
Per EpicTilt, the application’s designers:
“Lil’ Wayne equips you with a vast array of his personal bling and outfits to pimp yourself out so you can share with your friends! You can even add Lil’ Wayne himself into your pictures and share with the rest of the world by email or by showing it off in the Lil’ Wayne user gallery!”
Here’s my dog:
Here’s the contestant from the new Top Chef who never blinks:
This hipster joke has lots of answers, so we’re gonna try and give you a world of options on how to answer it. See this way, no matter what happens, you’ll always be one step ahead of your friends and neighbors. Got a better one? Leave it in the comments…
Q: How many hipsters does it take to screw in a light bulb?
1. It is a really obscure number and you have probably never heard of it. (or, some obscure number you’ve never heard of.)
2. Who cares? The light bulb was better before it changed.
3. At least 5 to scrape enough change together to buy the light bulb in the first place.
4. However many Pitchfork says it takes to change a light bulb
5. Who cares? it’ll just be another tired rehashing of the way Lou Reed changes light bulbs.
6. Only 3 when they did it at the black cat, but this time through town it took 9 for some reason.
7. Nobody changes lightbulbs since they signed with that major label.
8. Two. One to change it in an ironic fashion and one to get it.
9. Who can tell through these fake hornrims and manicured scruff?
10. *sigh* I have this joke on vinyl.
c/o cbgb.com
There’s an article in today’s New York Times that gives a depressing update on the status of now-defunct music mecca CBGB. The brand is being run out of Moishe’s Storage here in Williamsburg, and whoring itself out on an incredibly cheesy yet lucrative scale:
“…CBGB Fashions Inc., [is] a clothing operation run from the storage unit that sells T-shirts, belt buckles, onesies for kids, even a CBGB dog vest for your poodle. That ghastliness is matched only by the news that the club’s former barman, Ger Burgman, son-in-law of the deceased owner, Hilly Kristal himself, is now the customer service representative for online accounts.”
Burgman goes on to say that ‚”It’s just a regular old boring office job.” Apparently, any pride or nostalgia the employees may have once felt has now been replaced with desk job tedium. Still, who can blame ‘em? If you were selling these nifty guitar pick earrings, you’d probably detach yourself from the entire thing as well.
The Times is also running a virtual tour of the office space, if you’re extra-curious.
If you can set aside seven and a half minutes, then go on and watch this music video from The Hours. It’s, um — interesting.
The band isn’t very well-known over here in the U.S. (yet), but the melodramatic song and expensive video counterpart have gathered severe buzz. It’s directed by Tony Kaye (American History X), it stars a still-in-Factory Girl-character Sienna Miller, and features Damien Hirst’s art direction throughout.
Ultimately “See the Light” mentally transports me back to 1998, when lavish music videos still got loads of attention, and I was merely a sensitive teenager who liked this sort of imported emo crapolla.
