Category Archives: News

By KRISTOFER RÍOS from NY times

In an industrial and uninviting stretch of Brooklyn, near several strip clubs and a factory that makes electrical tubing, Thomas Bernich’s small plant recycles vinyl and preserves a fading piece of history. In fact, Mr. Bernich’s workplace in Sunset Park is one of the few of its kind in New York City and in the country.

Inside the one-story, red-brick factory on 42nd Street, boxes of discarded albums from used-record stores are piled high on wooden pallets, awaiting their end and a new beginning.

[Read More]

By MERIBAH KNIGHT from NY times

One of these days, Chris Miller is going to run out of space for compact discs at his CD-only music shop, Chicago Digital, in Oak Park. Last week he had to put a second shelf in the restroom. It extends from the top of the toilet’s water tank to the ceiling and accommodates classical composers from Liszt, Franz, through Mozart, W. A.

“I have pretty much packed out where I can go,” Mr. Miller said.

He said he believed that Chicago Digital, which opened in 1985, was the first compact-disc store in Illinois. The shop now holds around 40,000 discs, Mr. Miller estimates with a tape measure allotting three discs per inch. (His only vinyl is a box of LPs someone abandoned three years ago, and it still sits on the shop’s floor.)

[Read More]

¡WEPA! presents…
Antonio Ocasio – LIFE’S MASTERPIECE Record Release Party

Music by: Antonio Ocasio (Tribal Winds)

The musical vibrations of Antonio Ocasio’s Tribal Winds thrives off of an infectious breed of raw Afro-Latin Jazz and deep house music. The heavy percussion and conga rhythms naturally speak to Antonio’s ancestral roots.

His years of experience as a Producer and DJ have led to a lethal combination of ingenious musicianship and aspiring productions. As a prominent storyteller, Antonio pays homage to his upbringing by spinning tales of musical tradition and experience, taking the dancer through peaks and valleys, building anticipation with every turn of the record.

This box set leads you to the core of Tribal Winds and provides evidence of Antonio’s devotion to his culture and love for music.Life’s Masterpiece is years in the making and a lifetime in its inception.

Antonio Ocasio – LIFE’S MASTERPIECE (Release Date: April 2011)

CD Album (19 songs)
Box Set Contents (Limited Amount):
Double CD Album (19 Songs)
12” Single
A: Quimbara ft. Pablo Fierro
B: Been So Long ft. Mustafa Akbar
10” Single
A: I Know Who I Am! ft. James Medina Jr.
B: Do You Know Who You Are? ft. Quentin Harris
12” Single
Live ft. Jannae Jordan
12” Single
The Dream Lives On ft. Annette Taylor
12” Single
Azande
Bonus 12” Single

Antonio Ocasio: LIFE’S MASTERPIECE (WATER :: FIRE) CD One
Antonio Ocasio: LIFE’S MASTERPIECE (WATER :: FIRE) CD One by Antonio Ocasio

Antonio Ocasio: LIFE’S MASTERPIECE (EARTH :: AIR) CD Two
Antonio Ocasio: LIFE’S MASTERPIECE (EARTH :: AIR) CD Two by Antonio Ocasio

———————AFTERWARDS———————
Joann Jimenez presents…
¡WEPA! Welcome to “El Barrio” – Afro House + Latin Soul

Resident DJs / Producers: Antonio Ocasio (Tribal Winds) & Lou Gorbea (Omi Tutu Productions)
Randy Montalvo (Congas)   /  Coquito, Cigars, Dominoes, Visuals, Roof Deck

@ Bar 13 (3RD Floor)
121 University Place (between 13TH & 14th Street)
10pm – 4am $10 After 10pm with a Flyer / $15 at the Door
Print or RSVP to muzikbutrfly@gmail.com

Dailysesion crew were cruising some record shop and party.

Halcyon 3pm

Fat Beatz 4pm

Dope Jam 5pm

Meme-Antenna 6pm

Friend’s Party 7pm

Wepabation 10pm

By Lincoln Anderson – The Villager
Don Hill, whose eponymously named club in Hudson Square was a bastion of rock ’n’ roll in a gentrifying Downtown scene, died last Thursday at age 66. According to Martin Sheridan, owner of the nearby Ear Inn bar, Hill suddenly collapsed. He reportedly died either at an East Side hospital or on his way to it.

An autopsy was performed but there isn’t a cause of death determined yet.

“It was something internal,” Sheridan said. [Read More]

By Tom Kalin, filmmaker (Swoon, Third Known Nest, Savage Grace) – Inside/Out MoMA

I never visited the Warehouse, the Chicago club where legendary Frankie Knuckles was DJ (and where the moniker “House Music” was born), but I was lucky enough to dance all night at the Power Plant, the club he opened there in the early 1980s. Later, during a visit to NYC in the summer of 1983 (before I moved here in 1987), my friends took me out for a delirious pilgrimage to hear the mighty sounds of Larry Levan at Paradise Garage. This former garage at 84 King Street was a place of few words. Dance was the message. Waitresses, postal clerks, trannies, and bankers all moved with an eloquence absent from ordinary life and transformed that dance floor into a music-fueled perpetual state of grace. [Read More]

By Glenwood

Legendary music photographers Janette Beckman and David Corio (left and right, below) have an excellent exhibition going on now at the Morrison Hotel Gallery on Bowery, right next to the old CBGB (which is now a John Varvatos outlet), and if you were alive and in love with music in the late 1970s and 1980s, it’s kind of a must-see show. Titled Catch the Beat: The Roots of Punk and Hip Hop Photography, Beckman and Corio’s exhibition features scads of insanely great images–some familiar, many of which we had never before seen–of the icons of the era.

Here, for example, are Public Enemy, from the mid ’80s, posing in an unlikely rural setting. Corio, who was on hand at the Morrison Hotel Gallery and, even better, was nice enough to chat with us a bit, told us that the shot was actually taken in Hyde Park, and that he had to hold back the suits just trying to walk through the park on the way to the office, and who had no clue who Chuck D, Flava Flav, Terminator X and the S1Ws were, other than a crew of oddly dressed young men making them late for work. Corio’s portrait of Biz Markie (below) flashing his chains is a great photograph, too (we had the pleasure of shaking Markie’s hand back in the mid-’80s, and he couldn’t have been more pleasant… nor more HUGE), as is his silhouetted shot of Afrika Bambaataa, scratching in London. [Read More]

By JON PARELES – NY Times

Loleatta Holloway, a gospel-charged disco singer whose 1980 hit“Love Sensation” had a long afterlife when fragments of it were used in later hits, died Monday in a suburban Chicago hospital. She was 64 and lived in Chicago.

She died after slipping into a coma after a brief illness, her manager, Ron Richardson, said in a statement.

Ms. Holloway was born in 1946 and grew up singing in gospel groups, including her mother’s Holloway Community Singers choir. From 1967 to 1971 she sang in one of gospel’s most respected groups, the Caravans, led by Albertina Walker. She then turned to secular music, bringing the raspy fervor and airborne whoops of her gospel performances to songs about desire. [Read More]

By  TIM STELLOH – NY Times
Joe Long has tried closing his legendary Brooklyn music shop, Birdel’s Records, before.

Two years ago, Mr. Long posted a going-out-of-business sign in the windows of his Bedford-Stuyvesant storefront, which opened in 1944. With the decline of the music industry and of his profits, and the fact that no family member wanted to take over, he’d had enough. Mr. Long, now 73, began working at Birdel’s in 1957 and had owned the shop since the late 1960s. He was ready to retire, he said.

But to hear him tell it, the neighborhood wouldn’t let him. [Read More]

Who said Vinylmania is dead?

“VINYLMANIA STILL ALIVE”

Owner Charlie Grappone opened the Vinylmania’s doors in 1978. He opened the store with a sparse selection of Rock records, but after crowds from the Paradise Garage started showing up, he realized his market was with the house heads. Vinylmania quickly became the goto spot for house in NYC, eventually spawning a record label under the same name, and it’s legacy began. Sadly Vinylmania closed its doors in 2007 after almost 3 decades of business. Charlie has since moved his inventory into Downtown 161, a record distributor in Lower Manhattan, where he opens one day a week for a select group of shoppers.

DailySession and Charlie Grappone are going to revive the life and legacy of New York’s premiere House record store – Vinylmania. The doors may have closed in 2007, but Charlie’s love for records still lives on. DailySession will open the Vinylmania pop-up shop in Zakka. So all you people who thought the record store ended when the lights went out, come into Zakka to feel the beat again.

DCM#002
DISCOVERY VINYL 7”
STARMAGIC
LIMITED 500 PRESSED

Discovery is an experimental pop group with disco, Latin, and prog rock influences that performs often in NYC. Always Discovery’s approach has been to keep it funky. Discovery has been said to straddle Tropicalia and post punk genres equally with comparisons ranging from Maximum Joy and Teena Marie to Hot Chip and The Yeah Yeah Yeahs. The group is not a rock band, per se–there is no guitar player in the group at present time. Focus on the bass grooves and drum rhythms for infectious , danceable fun. Vocalist Kathleen Cholewka sings with rock bravado and yet can emote in an intimate cabaret-like style. Lex Marsh’s synth tones and Bridget Fitzgerald’s string lines heighten the mood. Lyrics range from the abstract and dark, dreamy and suggestive to the provocative and direct. Along with originals, Discovery also lovingly chooses covers to perform including Laura Nyro’s Stoney End, Debbie Deb’s When I Hear Music, The Rolling Stones Under my Thumb, and Smokey Robinson’s Baby That’s Backatcha. Visit myspace.com/thisisdiscovery to hear live tracks.

Discovery’s first album of ten tracks called Pushy was released mid-year in 2010. It is available on cdbaby and iTunes. The group is now enlisting some of NYC’s music specialists to remix some of their tracks. The most recent is DJ Alfreako’s Moonlight Mix of Starmagic now available on 7″ vinyl and via Dancecampmusic.com.

Discovery started in vocalist Kathleen Cholewka’s dark Brooklyn basement in 2004 and had its first performance later that year. Over the years the group’s line up has included notable NYC players. Original and past members include guitarist Don Stahl, and keyboardist Lindsay Kaye. At one point Patrick Wood of Phenomenal Handclap Band was Drumming in Discovery. Marsh who joined early on to add additional bass, sax and keyboard sounds, is now writing much of Discovery’s music with Cholewka. David Smith, a much sought-after trombonist, joined and played on Discovery’s album pushy. David Scott of Guru’s Jazzmatazz continues to add his virtuosity to the mix via percussion and flute. And currently Julliard grad Fitzgerald’s viola playing brings unique and intense textures.  http://www.dancecampmusic.com/

By Jesse Serwer – NY Times

In the annals of college radio, few programs had a more substantial impact than The Stretch Armstrong Show, or, as it’s more commonly known, “The Stretch & Bobbito Show.” DJ Adrian “Stretch Armstrong” Bartos and Robert “Bobbito” Garcia’s hip-hop broadcast, which aired 1 to 5 a.m. Friday mornings (“Thursday nights”) on Columbia University‘s WKCR-FM from 1990 to 1998, gave Nas, the Notorious B.I.G., Jay-Z, Big Pun, DMX, and the late Big L some of their earliest exposure via in-studio freestyles recorded while all of them were still unsigned and somewhat anonymous. “That show was like a trampoline in some ways—it elevated a lot of artists that were never heard before,” explains Bronx rapper Lord Finesse, a frequent guest. “If you didn’t have a deal and you was on there and you was dope, word traveled. And if the word didn’t travel, the tape damn sure traveled.” [Read More]

By Tsutomu (dailysession)

1 . SESSION 611: THE BANDWAGON 023 Fred P. & Taimur Agha

2. SESSION 336 : BLESSUP : 07.30.09 : Liondub Reggae Mix

3. SESSION 505: A1 AFTRHRS 06.23.10  Ron Morelli

4. SESSION 736: GOOD RECORDS 12.17.10  Doc Delay

5. SESSION 613: BLESS UP 05.27.10 Nihal, Pinch, Marcus Visionary & Sepulcure

Joann Jimenez presents…
¡WEPA!
Welcome to “El Barrio” Afro-House + Latin-Soul

Resident DJs / Producers:
Lou Gorbea (Omi Tutu Productions / Vega Records)  Antonio Ocasio (Tribal Winds)
Randy Montalvo on Congas
Coquito, Cigars, Dominoes, Visuals, Roof Deck

EVERY LAST FRIDAY OF THE MONTH 10PM – UNTIL EVERYONE GOES HOME!
$5 Before 11pm for Everyone
$10 After 11pm with a Flyer/Print or RSVP to: muzikbutrfly@gmail.com
$15 After 11pm with No Flyer/Print or RSVP

Bar 13 – the SECOND Floor w/roof access
121 University Place (off 13th Street – Union Square Area)
NYC, 10003

dailysession will live broadcast Wepa!

By Seth Schiesel – NY Times

You’ve Googled yourself, right?

Like it or not, there’s a digital you out there. In fact almost every aspect of your life is probably reflected in some computer somewhere. You could say that information, that data, has a life of its own. If you have anything to do with modern society, you are no longer a purely biological, analog being.

The idea that a person could be represented inside a computer both thrilled and frightened me when I first saw “Tron” in the summer of 1982, when I was 9 and just starting to get into computers. As incredible as it may seem now, my friends and I would buy magazines that published short programs in Basic code. The ones we cared about were games, and I would enter them by hand into my Commodore VIC-20. Unlike kids today, we had no ability to create films or Web sites. But we could make little games, and we did. [Read More]

By Ben Brantley – NY Times

It was almost exactly 16 years ago that I made my first visit to La MaMa in a professional capacity, as a new theater critic for The New York Times. I’d been there before as a civilian, usually under the influence. (I believe it was where I first saw a foghorn-throated drag queen named Harvey Fierstein.) But even then La MaMa had for me the whiff of another time, the patchouli scent of the 1960s, when downtown theater was longhaired, renegade and rude.

I wasn’t around for that heady heyday of La MaMa, the willful, playful brainchild of Ellen Stewart, who died on Thursday. Yet what I saw in the East Village theater that January night in 1994 turned out to be not only absolutely of the moment but also of the future. It was a rough-hewn, rowdy, dirty little play called“Stitches,” put on by a brother-and-sister team that presumptuously called itself the Talent Family. Their real names? David and Amy Sedaris. [Read More]

By Andy Beta – The Village Voice

William T. Burnett, a bespectacled thirtysomething with parted blond hair and a shoulder slouch befitting a drummer, pushes a handcart stacked four boxes high with vinyl records toward the back of the Thing, the monstrous Manhattan Avenue thrift store where he works part-time, dumping them in a corner already overloaded with such stacks and heading out to grab another load. Burnett is a busy man: He releases idiosyncratic analog dance music under names like Grackle, Speculator, and Galaxy Toobin’; DJs on Internet station Newtown Radio; and runs the Pentatonic Guitars shop in Greenpoint. He also operates his own record label, appropriately titled WT. Not all of these activities are making him money right now.

“Right now, I think I am a couple thousand in debt,” Burnett estimates of his label endeavor, in a drawl reflecting his South Texas upbringing. “But one day I will get back to even.” Lucrative business plan or not, like many local DJs and dance-music producers in New York City, he opted to release the music of friends and acquaintances, and in turn get them to release his own productions, rather than waiting for someone else to do it all for them. [Read More]

By Roberta Smith – NY Times

WHEN I walk through the Museum of Modern Art these days, it sometimes feels as if the place has come back from the dead — even if I’m not always so crazy about the life it happens to be leading. There’s often a confusing, disjunctive quality to it, especially where contemporary art is concerned, as the museum’s programming lurches from crowd-drawing, performance-art spectacles in the atrium to relatively dry and didactic exhibitions in its galleries. But at least there’s a pulse.

The museum feels much, much more animated than it did back in 2005 and ’06, when it — and we — were first adjusting to its slick new home on West 53rd Street. That structure, designed by Yoshio Taniguchi and built at a cost of $425 million, opened in November 2004, and over the next two years it appeared to many depressed MoMA watchers that we were witnessing nothing less than a major museum’s suicide by architecture. [Read More]

By Larry Pohter – NY Times

The Library of Congress has begun taking possession of a huge donation of recordings, some 200,000 metal, glass and lacquer master discs from the period 1926 to 1948 that have been languishing in the subterranean vaults of Universal Music Group, the largest music conglomerate in the United States.

The bequest, which is to be formally announced on Monday, contains music representing every major genre of American popular song of that era — jazz, blues, country and the smooth pop of the pre-rock-’n’-roll period — as well as some light classical and spoken-word selections. One historic highlight is the master recording of Bing Crosby’s 1947 version of “White Christmas,” which according to Guinness World Records is the best-selling single of all time. [Read More]

1. Jim Sullivan – U.F.O. – Light In The Attic

Long-anticipated reissue of this very rare and obscure rural rock LP. Words fail to describe it accurately – it’s a little bit psychedelic, there’s a folk influence, country vibes, and Sullivan’s yearning voice and mystical songwriting is backed by Earl Palmer and crew, the same band that played sessions for David Axelrod and others at Capitol Records. The result is a sound that’s as professional as it is unorthodox. Sullivan sings of mysterious cities and UFO kidnappings. Fittingly, he drove off to seek his fortunes and disappeared into the ether, leaving his car in the desert and his guitar in a hotel room.

2. Rahni Harris & The Family Love – A Different Drummer – Emprise

Independent label gospel-soul LP out of New Jersey. Shimmering, mellow keyboard-, vibes- and marimba-led ballads and midtempo grooves that recall groups like the Stylistics, or the Sylvers. The messages are spiritual but not so explicit as to turn anyone off. Just a beautiful record, and tough to find.

3. Raw Dope Posse – Listen To My Turbo – Show Jazz

Doc Delay said, “this is everything you like about rap, in one record”. He’s right – a perfect example of hardcore hip-hop. The beat is manic: Mantronix-inspired rapidfire snare programming, some bells, a spliced telephone busy signal, a scratched horn break, and the vocal science is delivered with utmost swagger and precision. If this came out yesterday, it would still sound ahead of its time. Known and sought-after for years, but still a tough pull.

4. George Braith – Musart – Prestige

One of my favorite jazz LPs. Braith started out on the Blue Note label, leading several modal sessions that are all great and worth seeking out. He developed an expertise in playing two horns at the same time, much like Rahsaan Roland Kirk, although he tended to use the technique more melodically than Kirk did. He cut one mediocre record on Prestige, “Laughing Soul”, a somewhat cheesy soul jazz outing, before recording this. But something must have clicked, because this 1966 release takes the beautiful modal horn work of his Blue Note recordings and marries it to a lush, tropical, latin-flavored sound that – though it’s mellow – never crosses into chintzy lounge territory. It sounds like a dream, somewhere between Harlem’s 125th Street and Disney’s The Jungle Book.

5. William Onyeabor – Tomorrow – Wilfilms

A perfect piece of wigged out afro funk. Onyeabor was a successful businessman in Nigeria and built himself his own recording studio, seemingly outfitted with every synth, drum machine, and cutting edge recording device available. He pressed his own records, and allegedly made his own movies. On vinyl, he was extremely prolific – and this LP finds him in my favorite style of his, a spaced out disco vibe that doesn’t quit. Quite desirable and never turns up except in Nigeria – a unique Good Records NYC exclusive.

By Jon Pareles – NY Times

LATELY I’ve been having a recurring sinking sensation. A hit on the radio gets my attention and doesn’t repay it; it adds up to little more than a dull thumping Eurodisco beat and a robo-tuned voice repeating an inane hook, something like the “Ay-oh, gotta let go,” in Taio Cruz’s “Dynamite,” or Justin Bieber piping, “Baby, baby, baby, oh” or the Black Eyed Peas chanting “Imma Be” more than 100 times (though at least that song goes through some rhythm changes).[Read More]

By Matt Harvey – NY Press

Back in September, nightlife blogs buzzed with sweeping pronouncements about the impact a rebranded Don Hill’s— the two-decades-old Greenwich Street institution newly reopened with capital provided by club mavens Nur Khan and Paul Sevigny—would have on the moribund Manhattan demimonde. Setting the tone for the blitz, Khan told one local paper, “There hasn’t been a CBGB’s or a Max’s or a Mudd Club in so long.” In the same article, Sevigny wondered how “hotel bars [had become the new] cool places to be in New York City.”

So the partnership between the world-weary, blessedly still standing Don Hill (who has provided on-the-scene, drink-in-hand management at high-profile nightspots since he helmed the Cat Club in the mid-1980s) and the dynamic two late-aughties entrepreneurs would rescue Manhattan from the clutches of such influential, glitzy spots as, well Khan’s Rose Bar, which sits in the Gramercy Hotel. (Just this week, Khan announced he would no longer work with the upscale club.) [Read More]

By Ben Seario – NY Times

Teena Marie, a singer whose funky hits in the 1980s, like “Lovergirl”and “Square Biz,” made her one of the few white performers to consistently find success on the rhythm-and-blues charts, died on Sunday at her home in Pasadena, Calif. She was 54.

The cause was not immediately known, but The Associated Press reported that the authorities said she appeared to have died of natural causes.

Born Mary Christine Brockert in Santa Monica, Calif., on March 5, 1956, she grew up in a predominantly black area of nearby Venice, Calif., and began singing and acting while still a child. At age 8, she tap-danced for Jed Clampett on an episode of “The Beverly Hillbillies,” under the name Tina Marie Brockert. [Read More]

By docdelay.com

The long-awaited part II to the acclaimed REM Sleep Psych mix by Doc Delay (Good Records NYC) is now available for pre-order to US customers only.

DOC DELAY – REM SLEEP II SAMPLER by Six Ton Armor

Order at here

byNutritious // Indecent Exposure

Additional links to check out:
Website:
http://www.djnutritious.com/
Mixes:
http://soundcloud.com/djnutritious
Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/Nutritious1

We will broadcast live from Japan for the first time this tuesday , Dec/21st.

Our special guest DJ will be Aota & E-JIMA

Chill Monday

Aota
Aota has started his music at the age of fifteen as a professional guitar player in Japan.
During the early 90’s, he was in the band “Puffy” aka Amiyumi.
He left the band to make his own band “Cembalo” to achieve his real dream.
People recognize Cembalo’s sound as unique blend of Funk & Rock with Japanese lyrics.
After big success in Japan, Cembalo stopped playing.
Aota released his solo EP “Blue in Green” & remix EP with DJ Monchan from Angels Egg which is Ejima’s label.
Now, Aota owns a business called “Chill Monday” which is a bar/cafe/vintage shop.
Here is his mix which is recorded at the Cedar Party Room, Brooklyn, N.Y.
SESSION 405: FUNKY SLICE 03.12.10

Disc Shop Zero

E-JIMA
Ejima is the owner of “Disc Shop Zero” & the record label “Angel’s Egg“.
His shop & label does not specialize in trendy styles of music but he selects good music which lasts forever based on his diverse knowledge of music.
Also, he has a strong connection with Bristol, U.K.
Disc Shop Zero carries mostly Club Sound(Street Sound) – Break beats, Reggae, Dub, Hiphop, Drum n’ Bass. House, Jazz, Funnk & Indie Rock.
His motto is Do It Yourself !

Dec 21st/6pm ~ 10pm Japanese Time.
Dec 21st/4am ~ ?am NY Time.

NEW RADIO SHOW “Listener Submitted Sessions”

Lately we’ve been getting many mixes from our listeners on Daily Session. It is complementing to know that we’ve inspired you to send us your music. So starting in December, we are going to pick one mix a month to add to our Radio Archives page. So please feel free to respond for more info or send us your mix for consideration. Thanks again for supporting Daily Session!

By Halcyonline.com

The new book, Vinyl Lives: The Rise and Fall and Resurgence of the American Independent Record Store, provides an inside look at the contemporary, independent American record store, highlighting the role these shops play as valuable resources, both within their communities and within the larger culture. As one such shop, we here at halcyon were keenly interested in what the author had to say on the subject. Since we barely know how to read ourselves, we decided to get in touch with the author for a one-on-one conversation instead.

halcyon: Tell us about your earliest memories of record collecting. Can you recall the first shop you ever visited? The first record you ever bought?

James Goss: The first record album I purchased was Meet the Beatles. I borrowed $3 from my dad and rode my bike over to Worden’s 5 cents and $1 (about a half a mile away in a small shopping center), to buy it. The total experience of buying that particular album was a revelation. [Read More]

By  Old-Soulz.com

Come Celebrate the new start of the clothing brand, “High Rollers” and Old-Soulz Official Website!! Also it’s our special artist, PESU’s Birthday Bash!!!
This is going to be the best party of the year…you don’t wanna miss it!!

Wednesday, December 15th
“High Rollers & Old-Soulz.com launching party”
@Soiree
(199 Bowery New York)
11:00pm – 4:00am
[Read More]

By Carol Cooper – The Village Voice

Dada and surrealism have a historic rivalry, especially when it comes to their approaches to politicized art. But despite philosophical turf wars, they accomplished more together than apart, especially once Afro-Caribbean “Negritude” emerged as the missing link needed to make sense of Dada nonsense and constructively embody surrealist dreams. Consider New York City’s high-concept Dada dance combos Dr. Buzzard’s Original Savannah Band (formed in 1974) and, subsequently, Kid Creole & the Coconuts (born in 1979): Both used music and musical theater to liberate their fans, transforming every stage into the Cabaret Voltaire with a Pan-African backbeat. [Read More]

By Autobrennt

Music – whether making it, buying it or working in the industry – involves sacrifices. Taimur Agha knows this reality all too well.  “I can’t afford to lose any more right now. I’m living on peanuts,” sighs Agha. Then, panning the impressive shelves of vinyl at halcyon the shop that surrounds us, he breaks into a grin and adds, “I need some records.

Less than a month ago Agha’s  Halloween techno hoedown powered by his Blkmarket Membership team was crushed by the citywide crackdown on underground parties that night.  The bust cost his team a fiscal dent and a slew of partygoer backlash that followed.

“It’s been a hard four months,” he said, admitting that he barely can sleep these days. It’s tough enough to be under taskforce threats but that’s not the only pressure he’s facing. In addition to co-running the famed underground Blkmarket parties, Agha is the musical director of the city’s newest club, District 36. He has been fighting an uphill battle with Manhattan’s tight legal grip on venues and nightclubs, hence the prolonged postponement of the club’s official opening. [Read More]

By Virginia Heffernan – NY Times

In 1997, when Garry Kasparov, the great Russian chess champion, resigned the sixth and final game of his match with Deep Blue, theI.B.M. computer, he crumpled. He couldn’t conceal his despair. No opponent had ever beaten him in a match before, and this one didn’t even have a heartbeat. Kasparov announced, “I lost my fighting spirit.” [Read More]

By John Vorwald – NY Times

Like many college radio stations across the country, Rice University’s KTRU and Vanderbilt University’s WRVU play a broad swath of music — from undiscovered indie bands and obscure blues acts to ’60s garage rock and ’80s postpunk. It’s a mix largely absent from commercial broadcasts, and students active in radio say their stations add distinct voices to their cities’ broadcast landscape.[Read More]

By The Villager

The Underbelly Project, an illegal show of street art, curated by street artists PAC and Workhorse, fills the inside of an abandoned Brooklyn subway station. The project began in 2009. Artists, 103 in all, were escorted into the space individually to create their works. According to the project’s Web site, “Unobstructed by the pressures of commercial sales, e-mail or daily routines, each artist painted one full night.” (There’s definitely no e-mail, since four stories belowground in the century-old station, there’s no WiFi.) [Read More]

By Dave Itzkoff – NY Times

It is not uncommon for people to react with awe to their first up-close encounter with a balloon from the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. But when Takashi Murakami saw his contributions to Thursday’s event, he bowed. Twice.

On Wednesday afternoon, on a stretch of West 81st Street in Manhattan where brightly colored, 30-foot-tall inflatable versions of his characters Kaikai and Kiki were wriggling and writhing underneath a huge net, Mr. Murakami, the Japanese pop artist, held a brief Shinto ceremony for purity and luck. He stood at a table where he poured out a glass of water and a glass of sake in front of two plates, one of white rice and one of sea salt. He gave two bows and clapped twice, then declared the ritual complete. [Read More]

By Amanda Farah – BushwickBK.com

When it was announced that Marissa Nadler was playing in Bushwick last week, almost as much buzz surrounded the venue as the artist. It was the first time many of us had heard of Envelope, a space that had held its first and only show in October. What led to further chattering was that the address of Envelope was only given to those who purchased tickets, and that those tickets were $30 — considered steep by “Bushwick standards.”

In a neighborhood with more DIY than licensed music venues, Envelope presents a new approach to the homegrown experience. Envelope hosts only one show a month, with a capacity for only 60 guests. The rest of the time, it operates as a recording studio. Shows have been booked for the next 10 months, but at the moment there are no plans to expand performances beyond the once-monthly showcases. [Read More]

Photo by Clayton Patterson – The Villager

Tompkins Square Park’s “Tent City,” partly seen above in the late 1980’s or early 1990’s, was a highly polarizing issue in the East Village. At times, the homeless settlement occupied as much as one-third of the entire park. [Read More]

By Bille Jam – NewYork Post

It was only 31 years ago that Gary Weis filmed his movie on South Bronx gang culture, 80 Blocks From Tiffany’s, but it seems like an eternity. “It was a whole different time and place. It was kind of like Dresden when I filmed there,” the director now says of the rubble-strewn, bombed-outlooking borough where he shot his gripping, gritty documentary in the summer of 1979.

It was Koch-era New York when the South Bronx, one of the poorest areas in the nation, was such a rundown destitute place that both Presidents Carter and Reagan traveled there for photo ops to exemplify the most striking symbol they could find of urban decay in America. It was also the time and place when the subways were covered in graffiti and when a new music and culture called hip-hop was taking root in the “Boogie Down” Bronx. [Read More]

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by Paul Cashmere at Undercover – Vintage Vinyl News

Paul McCartney is thrilled (and Ringo’s relieved) that the Beatles have finally come to iTunes.

“We’re really excited to bring the Beatles’ music to iTunes,” said Sir Paul. “It’s fantastic to see the songs we originally released on vinyl receive as much love in the digital world as they did the first time around.” [Read More]

By Ben Sesario – NY Times

For the next generation of Beatles fans, the wait could soon be over.
Apple is expected on Tuesday to announce that it has finally struck a deal with the Beatles, the best-selling music group of all time, and the band’s record company, EMI, to sell the band’s music on iTunes, according to a person with knowledge of the private deal who requested anonymity because the agreement was still confidential. [Read More]

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Sound Liberation Front (SLF), an arts and music organization based in Brooklyn, presents Afro-Dub Sessions: a monthly party at Rose Live Music in Williamsburg that combines live music and DJs to celebrate the best in Dub and African-influenced sounds. For the November edition of Afro-Dub Sessions, SLF is pleased to welcome Sal P from the legendary early 80?s “No Wave” band Liquid Liquid for a featured DJ set. Best known as the lead singer and percussionist of the highly influential New York group, Sal P has been active in the NYC music scene for three decades. Liquid Liquid?s three groundbreaking EP?s from 1981-84 on 99 Records forged a template of minimalist funk, dub and world music mixed with punk energy that has been followed by countless bands. Famously, their song “Cavern” was used as the basis for Melle Mel and Grandmaster Flash?s hit “White Lines” in 1983. Liquid Liquid broke up in1984 but reformed in 2008 and continues to perform. Since 1999, Sal P has hosted “Universal Sundays,” a regular party at various NYC nightspots featuring the African and Caribbean music. As it does every month, Afro-Dub Sessions will also feature a pair of live performances by resident band Super Hi- Fi, which has been packing the house with their creative melding of Afrobeat, Dub, live remixing and special guest appearances. The five-piece collective features members of Aphrodesia, Slavic Soul Party, People?s Champs, and the Blue Man Group. SLF resident DJs Linh and Lil Tiger will bring their diverse musical selections to the turntables to round out the night. Afro-Dub Sessions is dedicated to the idea that dub, born in Jamaica, and African musical styles like Afrobeat, Afropop and Afrofunk are natural partners in the origins of global dance music. Each month SLF explores these connections by hosting a different guest DJ specializing in Dub or African-influenced styles. SOUND LIBERATION FRONT is a Brooklyn-based non-profit organization devoted to the power of music as a socially liberating and unifying cultural force. Last summer, the group organized the Sound Liberation Festival in Brooklyn. The event featured hip-hop legends Brand Nubian; electro-Afrobeat pioneers Chico Mann; Ticklah; DJs Kenny Parker, Cosmo Baker, and Ian Friday; and, workshops by Afro Mosaic Soul and DubSpot. SLF also hosts SoundLib Wednesdays at Moe?s Bar in Fort Greene.

FULL SPECTRUM

A monthly nyc event of true party bangers from some of the best underground and above-ground talent in New York City and abroad. Focusing on DJ’s mixing across diverse musical genres and styles, FULL SPECTRUM has everyone’s favorite music covered. From old school rave to new school dancehall, retro to future-classic, booty-shaking jams and bass-weight, this Friday affair will have you dancing from start to finish.

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Hey were Banging The Door again at Trophy on Thursday November 18. This time my old time buddy Ole’ Koretsky of the Jetlag duo joins me on a majestic ride to the post-punk side.

But, before that, at 7pm, I’ll be across the street at the Mishka store checking out the Das Racist show and we will be hanging, and they will most likely be banging.

Don’t forget your safety helmet!

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About Rahaan:

Rahaan has been dropping disco and funky house beats to retro music heads since the 80’s when he and his friends use to dance at the best house parties in Chicago – Rahaan’s home state and most importantly, the place which gave birth to House music.

Playing at house parties in Chicago obviously done Rahaan some good, as he is now a successful DJ and music producer in his own right. He recently released Rahaan Edits Vol. 1 and 2 in 2008/9 on Stillove4music record label as well as putting out some remixes on the KAT record label.

Rahaan has released numerous mixes on various websites such as Deep House and Bring The Heat, which gained him attention from other record labels and music lovers across the world. His performances have included the Southport Weekender, Northern Soul and Bring The Heat parties, which you can view on the website.

About StilLove4Music:

For 5 years this mysterious black-labelled “anti label” has quietly been slaying the discerning dance music enthusiasists with there releases

Whether it be obscure edits, deep house jams or underground techno, this label and their mission is to listen and play without bounderies. There’s no need for artwork when the music speaks for itself. Over the years stilove4music has released records by respected producers such as Rick Wilhite, Nick Chacona, Trickski and DJ Rahaan.In addition to introducing the world at large to Bim Marx, Bruce Ivery and BE.

The name of the label mysteriously etched into the grooves in the center says it all. love 4 the music was why this label was created and it permeates through every release. For this their 2nd loft party, stilove4music contributors Bim Marx, label founder Jerome Derradji , and Chicago’s famed international disco&vibe king RAHAAN, aim to present a party where all soulful music is celebrated and played.

About Sharegroove:

DJ’s Duckcomb & Steve ShakeWell have been sharing rare grooves for since 2004. Having held various residencies and one-off’s throughout Manhattan & Brooklyn, this dynamic duo focuses on choice programming of all kinds of disco, house, and funky music. Currently, they host parties at a private loft in the Gowanus area of Brooklyn and they are proud to present this Stilove4Music showcase.

By Stephanie Murg – UnBeige

Looks from the Tokyo Fashion Festa, presented at the Fashion Institute of Technology in advance of the “Japan Fashion Now” exhibition, on view through April 2, 2011 at the Museum at FIT (Photos: UnBeige)

Whether you can distinguish a Shibuya denizen from an Akihabara type at 40 paces or still can’t quite get your head around those wide-eyed manga cuties, you’ll be fascinated by the proceedings of the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology’s Japan Fashion Now Symposium. The two-day confab, which takes place tomorrow and Friday at FIT, will delve into the astonishingly diverse sartorial world featured in the museum’s current exhibition exploring the evolution of contemporary Japanese fashion from Rei Kawakubo and the avant-garde gang to gothic-punk-Lolita styles and Cosplay. [Read More]