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NEW YORK CITY STREET REPORT Vol. 1 |  |
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| NYC Street Report, Volume 1, APRIL 2002 Since 911 the New York City Rock and Roll scene has erupted with an undeniably Dionysian buzz. It's like everybody aged 18-40 has suddenly realized that any day could be our last day. This leads people to extremes and this weekend may go down in rock and roll history as a legendary volcanic moment in time. New York may be the greatest city on earth but it hasn't had a genuine rock and roll scene since the mid 70's. Although people try to create such scenes, most fail miserably as 15 minutes of stupid slogans and bad hair. The only rock scenes that have mattered sprung like weeds from unfertile and stagnant periods of music and were further propelled by explosive world events. In NYC, the combination of the apocalyptic events of 911 and the phenomenal success of THE STROKES has energized the street. People feel like real music may just derail the Britney boy band nexus into a subway crash of epic proportions. New experiments in sound are springing up from all 5 boroughs and older bands are reinventing themselves to catch the tide. The one characteristic about the current NYC scene different than all that came before is the "lack" of an identifiable sound. It's based on diversity. From the mellow piano ballad Burt Baccharach style tunes of THE SHARP THINGS and HEM to the multimedia funky noise drone of HONEYCOMB (ex Lotion) and the underground molten hip hop of BOE featuring MIZERY, the most vicious female rapper in town, you can feel a common element of energy, unity, hedonism and Love. My motivation for starting this report is not commercial in any way. My identity is of no importance. I just want to express my adoaration for the incredibly unique vibrations emanating from NYC. |
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| FRIDAY APRIL 5, 2002. My night starts at the CBGB Gallery. I met friends there for a few drinks before heading next door to check out SPACE RACE at CBGBs main venue. A band called THE KING OF FRANCE provided a brilliant musical start to a night that will be etched in my brain forever. This three piece had a minimal sound evoking emotional memories of Jeff Buckley, Bob Dylan and even a quieter early Pavement. The drummer was providing melody in some cool manner which flowed superbly around the lo fi guitar and keyboard bass. Unique, gentle and unsettling. We moved next door to CBGBs proper at 1AM for the NYC debut of SPACE RACE . They were formerly known as KITTY IN THE TREE and their new incarnation is a perfect example of how the aforementioned factors have been changing people. The former sound of the group offered some of the best hooklines and harmonies in the city. This standard 4 piece can write songs with the best of them, but they lacked emotional content and let's face it, the name sucked. But as SPACE RACE they hit the CBGB stage with an inflammatory set of new songs which had balls of steel and harmonies of ice. Imagine early OASIS tunes mixed with T REX riffs but with a lower East Side flavor, a Beatlesque backbeat, and anthem like choruses draped over a Motown bass. I saw them a few months ago as KITTY IN THE TREE but they've gone through a panther morphosis and are destined to be huge. The crowd called them back for two encores and I can't remember the last time that happened on a Friday at CBGBs, one of the toughest crowds in the world to please. At 2:30 AM we headed over to a bar called 2A where THE STROKES were holding court with THE WHITE STRIPES. I had no idea they would be there, but such serendipity is a cornerstone element in serious scenbuilding. The place was buzzing. It just felt great to be in the right place at the right time. The DJ was spinning classic guitar rock from past and present. People are finally dancing again to music other than house and techno (which I also love). The only set back was the impossibility of getting into the bathroom. At about 3:30AM I was handed a flyer for an after hours gig for a band called SCHIZO FUN ADDICT which boldly claimed, "the greatest clandestine venue in the history of rock and roll." Anybody who wanted to attend was told to be out front at 4AM when a white van would pick us up and bring us to the mysterious venue. Tony Zajkowski, front man from HONEYCOMB and satellite member of SCHIZO FUN ADDICT told me not to miss this so I headed outside to wait for the van. As I crammed into the back with a load of mad fuckers, I realized that nobody knew what this was all about. The van was making stops at various bars around the city and picking up freaks with invites. The van deposited us downtown at the Brooklyn Bridge where we were escorted into an abandoned maintenance shed inside a column of the bridge. Stunning! This was totally illegal. The DJ was playing a mixture of British indie rock from the early 90s-- STONE ROSES, CHARLATANS, HAPPY MONDAYS, as well as big beat and hard house trance tracks. Many blunts were being passed around. It was packed with approximately 100 people. The space was like a small cavern but with 20 foot high stone ceiling, dirt and gravel floor, and four walls filled with acidic visuals and strobes. Then a movie started to play using all four walls as four separate screens. This was so unbelievably strange. The movie was about some person called BURNWEED and his belief that THE STONE ROSES are angels heralding in The Second Coming. The movie lasted about 40 minutes and then SCHIZO FUN ADDICT took the makeshift stage made of wooden pallets and a closed dumpster as drum riser. They killed! There is no possible way to describe the sheer uncontrived experimental quasar of sound this crew put out. There was full on white noise guitars that shook the concept of treble past anything MY BLOODY VALENTINE may have ever dreamed of. There was electric piano and sax too and a drummer that had eight arms when he wasn't triggering full on big break beats. They have two front people, a manic guy and a more subdued girl (so hot) who sang some of the oddest harmonies I've ever heard. Try to picture early VELVET UNDERGROUND working with THE APHEX TWIN remixing SONIC YOUTH's first album or maybe DIONNE WARWICK fronting THE JESUS and MARY CHAIN. During one song all four walls were covered in video of full on hardcore lesbian sex which caused a chain reaction in the crowd. Two girls were having mad oral on right behind me. Total rock and roll insanity. If you ever get a flyer invite from this crew DO NOT miss it. I love NY. Yours Truly The Unknown Muse CONTACTS for the bands mentioned: THE SHARP THINGS HEM SCHIZO FUN ADDICT SPACE RACE BOE and MIZERY HONEYCOMB tonyz@honeycombandyou.com catch Honeycomb live at Don Hills Tues. April 16th THE KING OF FRANCE: Michael Azerrad at Rolling Stone |
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