We’ll have more to say about the Turbo Fruits and their great new album, Butter, which was released on Tuesday, when they head back to New York City in October for CMJ. In the meantime, you definitely don’t want to be the only one not havin’ fun tonight, as the Nashville-based garage rockers will be at Mercury Lounge with Roomrunner. Butter, the first release on Kings of Leon’s Serpents and Snakes label — and also available as a special limited-edition hot-butter vinyl LP — was recorded in eight days and features such groovin’ tracks as “Where the Stars Don’t Shine,” “Harley Dollar Bill$,” “Sweet Thang,” “Colt 45,” and “Ain’t the Only One Havin’ Fun.” We’ve been waiting for this one for three years, since 2009’s awesome Echo Kid (“Naked with You,” “Mama’s Mad Cos I Fried My Brain”), so we’re psyched that TF head Jonas Stein has at last settled on a full-time lineup — with Dave Tits on bass, Kingsley Brock on guitar, and Matt Hearn on drums — that sounds better than ever and is forging full-speed ahead. Tonight should be one helluva sweet thang indeed.
this week in music
BIKE-IN MOVIES: SHUT UP AND PLAY THE HITS
James Murphy says farewell to LCD Soundsystem in multifaceted concert documentary
SHUT UP AND PLAY THE HITS (Dylan Southern & Will Lovelace, 2011)
The Well
272 Meserole Ave.
Saturday, September 15, free with RSVP, 7:00
347-338-3612
www.thewell.com
www.shutupandplaythehits.com
On April 2, 2011, after ten years of building a devoted following that was still growing, electronic dance-punk faves LCD Soundsystem played its farewell show at Madison Square Garden. Directors Dylan Southern and Will Lovelace, who previously documented the British band Blur in No Distance Left to Run, capture the grand finale in the often bumpy, sometimes revelatory concert film Shut Up and Play the Hits. The movie is divided into three distinct sections that take place before, during, and after the massive blowout, with Southern and Lovelace weaving between them. There is extensive footage of the event at the Garden, including performances of such LCD classics as “Dance Yrself Clean,” “All My Friends,” “Us v Them,” “North American Scum,” and “Losing My Edge.” Although the multicamera approach tries to make you feel like you’re there, onstage and backstage with front man James Murphy, keyboardist Nancy Whang, bassist Tyler Pope, drummer Pat Mahoney, and various special guests, it lacks a certain emotional depth, and the sound, primarily during the first songs, is terrible, although that could have been the fault of the tiny theater we saw it at more than the film itself. The second section features music journalist Chuck Klosterman (Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs: A Low Culture Manifesto) interviewing Murphy at the Spotted Pig in the West Village a week before the concert, asking inane, annoying questions that Murphy strains to answer. But the most fascinating part of the film by far, and how it starts, involves Murphy the day after the show. He allows the camera to follow him everywhere, from waking up in his bed with his dog to carefully shaving with an electric razor to visiting the DFA offices for the first time in a year. It’s hard to believe that the night before he was a grandiose rock star but now he is walking his pooch, sitting on a bench in front of a coffee shop, and spending most of the day alone. The camera literally gets right into his face, showing every gray hair, zooming in on his puffiness and his deep-set, nearly dazed eyes. The film would have benefited from less time with Klosterman and more with Murphy as he contemplates his past, present, and future. It also would have been interesting to hear from the other members of the band, but Shut Up and Play the Hits is specifically about Murphy, who, at forty-one, suddenly doesn’t know what to do with his life, having left an extremely successful gig that was only gaining popularity. The film is having a special showing on September 15 at the Well’s outdoor space in Brooklyn on a thirty-foot screen as part of the “Bike-In Movies” series and will kick off with a set by DJ Dubspot. Admission is free with advance RSVP, and the bar and kitchen will remain open throughout the event.
THE JOSHUA LIGHT SHOW
The Joshua Light Show will team up with a diverse series of experimental musicians for six groovy shows at the Skirball Center
NYU Skirball Center for the Performing Arts
60 Washington Sq. South
September 13-16, $20-$68
212-998-4941
www.nyuskirball.org
www.joshualightshow.com
A key figure in the psychedelic movement of the late 1960s, the Joshua Light Show created dizzying, kaleidoscopic, all-too-groovy projections at the Fillmore East, Woodstock, Carnegie Hall, and other venues, where their liquid lights exploded in a vast array of colors behind Janis Joplin, the Grateful Dead, Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd, Jefferson Airplane, and other legendary musicians. Over the last several years, JLS has returned with a vengeance, performing at Lincoln Center, the Hayden Planetarium, the Hirshorn Museum, Art Basel in Miami, and the recent Transmediale festival in Berlin. This week founder Joshua White and his talented crew, which still primarily uses analog techniques to mix their creations live, will be at the NYU Skirball Center for six performances over four nights, beginning Thursday, when they are joined by Scottish percussionist Dame Evelyn Glennie and master harpist Zeena Parkins. Friday night features the minimalist father-and-son duo of Terry Riley and Gyan Riley at 7:30, followed by the inspired quartet of John Zorn, Lou Reed, Bill Laswell, and Milford Graves at 10:00. On Saturday night, MGMT cofounders Ben Goldwasser and Andrew VanWyngarden will play two shows, with GlobalFest closing things out on Sunday with the Boston-based Ethiopian-American Debo Band and the New York-based Brazilian-American Forro in the Dark. Each performance will last approximately one hour, with JLS onstage improvising alongside the musicians; the JLS team includes White, photographer and installation artist Alyson Denny, experimental composer and vocalist Nick Hallett, filmmaker and musician Seth Kirby, Ana Matronic of the Scissor Sisters, live cinema artist and designer Brock Monroe, painter and comic-book artist Gary Panter, production manager Doug Pope, performance artist and director Bec Stupak, and sound designer Jeff Cook.
TWI-NY TALK: BETTINA RICHARDS
Bettina Richards is celebrating twentieth anniversary of Chicago-based Thrill Jockey label
THRILL JOCKEY: 20 YEARS
Friday, September 14, Death by Audio, 49 South Second St., $13.50, 8:00
Saturday, September 15, Webster Hall Grand Ballroom, 125 East Eleventh St., $20, 5:30
www.thrilljockey.com
For twenty years, Chicago’s Thrill Jockey Records has been releasing some of the most exciting and challenging music around, from well-known bands and emerging up-and-comers, in multiple genres, often with highly sought after special limited-edition vinyl pressings. The label, whose wide-ranging roster includes such groups as the Sea and Cake, Oval, Eleventh Dream Day, the Fiery Furnaces, High Places, Future Islands, Tortoise, and Pontiak, was started back in 1992 by Bettina Richards, a major music fan who is still running things today. “Bettina is a shining light in the increasingly dark recording industry who still has an unwavering enthusiasm for discovering new music and championing the people she believes in,” notes David Halstead, who worked with Bettina at Thrill Jockey for many years and is now at Solid Gold in Brooklyn. “Her dedication to DIY music culture and her ability to make it work in today’s climate is nothing short of inspiring. Thrill Jockey never panders to the lowest common musical denominator, and she deserves massive amounts of respect for still wanting to take chances — even if she’ll never admit that ‘classic era’ Guided by Voices was nothing but pure genius.”
Richards and Thrill Jockey are celebrating their twentieth anniversary with a series of live shows around the country and in London. The tour stops in New York this weekend for a pair of concerts, Friday night at Death by Audio with White Hills, Guardian Alien, Man Forever, Dan Friel (formerly of Parts & Labor), and Rhyton, followed by Tortoise, Future Islands, Matmos, Liturgy, D. Charles Speer and the Helix, and the Black Twig Pickers at Webster Hall on Saturday. In between taking care of her twins and blasting black metal, Richards discussed Thrill Jockey and the state of the music business in our latest twi-ny talk.
twi-ny: How did you come up with the name Thrill Jockey?
Bettina Richards: In 1992, I was working at Pier Platters records store in Hoboken while living on the Lower East Side. I also was an intern for Todd Abramson, the head honcho at Telstar Records; as a side, he also books many clubs today, like Maxwell’s. Todd is not only a serious music geek, he is a big fan of some B movies, especially, it seems, of a more delinquent nature. At about the time that I was planning on starting the label, Todd showed me an especially funny preview for a film called Speed Crazy. In this film a few hooligans disrupt a small town by behaving in a simply terrible fashion, being loud, driving their hot rods too fast, etc. As I recall it, the voice-over proclaimed that three thrill jockeys terrorized Mercerville.
I was printing the jackets for the Zipgun single that I did, and I had found a really cheap printer around 42nd St. (This was in 1992.) They were very friendly and chatty on the phone; they kept saying they did not work with too many companies run by women. I really did not think much of it at the time. I went to pick up the sleeves and discovered that the printer almost exclusively printed VHS cases for pornographic films. They said, “Great company name! We do not have many people that print soundtrack records for their films.” So, good record label name — perhaps. Great pornographic film company name — for sure!
twi-ny: What were your initial goals when you started Thrill Jockey? Did you ever think it would still be thriving after twenty years?
Bettina Richards: My goals were pretty much what they remain today: Simply put, to release music we love, and to treat the musicians as equal partners in our advocacy. I followed the model of Dischord and Touch and Go, two labels that I admire. While we work hard to keep ahead of technology and to be creative thinkers in the way we approach the business of music, I never much think about Thrill Jockey as an entity beyond a few years into the future. So the short answer to the question would be no, I never imagined the label at twenty years old.
twi-ny: What does it take to be a Thrill Jockey band?
Bettina Richards: It is very hard to put that into just a few words, but I will try. I think a common thread among musicians we work for is that they would all be doing what they are doing regardless of who was listening, that they are willing to take risks musically, and finally that they always have a certain aspect of abandon in their music. From one of our newest artists, Black Pus, to one of our oldest bands still recording, the Sea and Cake, they are all-in and uncompromising.
twi-ny: How has the Chicago indie music scene changed since 1992? Who are some of your favorite signings?
Bettina Richards: Everywhere has changed since 1992, considerably. I really do not have favorites among the records that I have released. I really do love them all. I could tell you a story about each and every release. While the label owes its longevity, in large part, to our better known bands like Tortoise, Freakwater, Trans Am, the Sea and Cake, the Fiery Furnaces, Future Islands, Wooden Shjips, and Liturgy, we simply would not be the same label without Oval, Radian, Eleventh Dream Day, Pontiak, the Lonesome Organist, Barn Owl, Sidi Touré, Jack Rose, or Gaunt. To borrow some words from John Coltrane, “It all has to do with it.”
twi-ny: You mentioned before that you are equal partners with your artists. Does that 50-50 model still work in the digital online era?
Bettina Richards: Indeed it does — extremely well.
twi-ny: What kind of music do you listen to when you’re away from the office, relaxing at home?
Bettina Richards: I have four-year-old twins, so you will have to refresh my memory as to what relaxing is like!
There is very little difference between what I listen to while at work and while at home, even to what I play for my twins. So aside from the records that we put out, I play lots of records on the always exciting Drag City Records, Blackest Rainbow, Experimedia, Immune, and reissue labels like Monk, Four Men with Beards, and Mississippi Records. I have lately been on a real heavy bent playing a lot of Watain, the Body, Mutilation Rites, Krallice, and Hell. While that has been my most recent tear, it has been peppered with a healthy dose of Charlie Parr, Elektro Guzzi, Joe Bataan, Porter Ricks, Duke Ellington, Cat Stevens, and music from the early twentieth century from India and Pakistan. (Yesterday it was an early recording by Ali Akbar Khan). Been getting into those Fugazi live recordings that Dischord has been posting. Always close to my record player are Fleetwood Mac, Fats Waller, Wanda Jackson, the Jesus Lizard, Al Green, Curtis Mayfield, EPMD, and Neil Young.
BEAT FESTIVAL
The crowd is part of the show in Noémie Lafrance’s CHOREOGRAPHY FOR AUDIENCES — TAKE ONE at the BEAT Festival
BROOKLYN EMERGING ARTISTS IN THEATER
Multiple venues in Brooklyn
September 12-23, $15-$35
www.beatbrooklyn.com
A celebration of community performance focusing on live music, dance, spoken word, and theater, the BEAT Festival gets under way September 12, kicking off twelve days of thirty-eight performances by thirteen acts in eight venues. Standing for Brooklyn Emerging Artists in Theater, BEAT will feature Lemon Andersen’s County of Kings, his one-man show about growing up in Brooklyn; American Opera Projects and Opera on Tap’s OPERAtion Brooklyn, featuring songs by One Ring Zero, Daniel Felsenfeld’s “A Genuine Willingness to Help (Book I),” and Sidney Marquez Boguiren and Daniel Neer’s “Stop and Frisk”; Kimberly Bartosik/daela’s You are my heart and glare, a trio of duets between dancers, designers, and vocalists; the Irondale Ensemble’s Color Between the Lines, which examines the Brooklyn abolitionist movement; Theatre Group Dzieci’s Fool’s Mass, Makbet, and Ragnarök; Noémie Lafrance’s Choreography for Audiences — Take One, in which audience members are active participants in the production; Marshall Davis Jr. & Friends, in an evening of tap; Ishmael “Ish” Islam’s BEAT Spoken Word, led by New York City’s nineteen-year-old poet laureate; a BEAT Sideshow hosted by Jessica Halem; Creative Outlet Dance Theatre’s Urban Roots and Courtney Giannone’s Protean Acts; Elevator Repair Service’s Shuffle, a mash-up of The Great Gatsby, The Sun Also Rises, and The Sound and the Fury held in the stacks of the Brooklyn Public Library; and Radha Blank’s HappyFlowerNail, a one-woman show that takes place in a Bed-Stuy Korean nail salon. In addition, Shaun Irons and Lauren Petty’s video installation “Atmospheres & Accidental Ghosts” will be shown September 20-22 in the lobby of the Brooklyn Public Library, in conjunction with Shuffle. Tickets range from $15 to $35, with many of the performances taking place at multiple venues over the course of the festival, including the Irondale Center, the Flatbush Reformed Church, the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music, and the Waterfront Museum in addition to the Coney Island Sideshow theater and MetroTech Commons, which will host two free shows. The closing party will be held September 23 at El Puente Earth Spirit Garden with BombaYo.
VIDEO OF THE DAY: “THESE TIMES” BY SAFETYSUIT
Nashville power popsters SafetySuit have followed up their 2008 debut, Life Left to Go, which featured the VH1 hit “Stay,” with These Times (Universal Republic, January 2012). Featuring longtime friends Doug Brown on guitar and vocals, Jeremy Henshaw on bass, Dave Garofolo on guitar, and Tate Cunningham on drums, SafetySuit was burned out after the first record and subsequent touring, leading to their scrapping half an album’s worth of new material, not feeling ready. But they’re now back with These Times, rocking out on such songs as “Believe,” “Let Go,” “Get Around This,” “One Time,” and “Life in the Pain,” some of which Brown wrote while on tour in Bahrain, playing for the military. “These times are hard / But they will pass,” Brown sings on the title track, adding social commentary to the proceedings. SafetySuit will be at the Gramercy Theatre on September 12 with Go Radio and Taylor Berrett.
DAILY NEWS BLOCK PARTY
Ed Charles will be back at the Daily News Block Party to sign autographs and show off his championship ring on Sunday (photo by twi-ny/mdr)
The Third Avenue Street Fair takes place on Sunday from 12 noon to 5:00, between 66th & 86th Sts., but what makes this one a little different is that the Daily News hosts a block party from 76th to 77th Sts., featuring an all-star lineup of meet-and-greets, autograph signings, and live music and comedy. Among this year’s media participants are the News’s own Bill Madden and Denis Hamill, channel 4’s Pat Battle, Lauren Scala, and Raphael Miranda, NY1’s Cheryl Wills, FOX 5’s Greg Kelly and Dari Alexander, and MY9’s Brenda Blackmon. Among the current and former athletes on hand will be boxers Bryant Jennings, Riddick Bowe, Steve Cunningham, Danny Jacobs, Marcus Browne, and Mark Breland, Guyanese sprinter Aliann Pompey, and Mets champion third baseman Ed Charles, along with such pseudo-celebrities as JoJo Spatafora of Big Brother, Elizabeth Vashisht of VH1’s Tough Love, Raquel Castro of The Voice, Christina Salgado and Jenna Russo of Oxygen’s Bad Girls Club, and the Naked Cowboy and the Naked Cowgirl. Live performers include the C.A.S.Y.M. Orchestra, Gary Russo, Kool Mike Ski, the Edwin Vazquez Band, and Taina.