The crowd seemed a little sparse at first, probably mostly due to the World Cup championship game which Jelly was unfortunately not able to show.  Those who did come early saw performances by Pictureplane, Fang Island (prior to its tours with The Flaming Lips and Stone Temple Pilots) and Cincinnati’s Why?.  It was my first experience with Why? in person, but the performance left some audience members cringing, while others sang along to every word.

This all set the stage for Deerhoof and Xiu Xiu collaborating to perform Joy Division’s album Unknown Pleasures in its entirety.  Jamie Stewart was actually an impressive ringer for Ian Curtis today with his low baritone voice.  The unit made good on its promise and played the whole record from beginning to end.  The only problem was it was 10 songs totaling around 40 minutes.  A short but sweet nostalgic set closed out what hopefully will be a great summer of music.

M.I.A at Creators Project NYC

The collaboration between technology giant Intel and Vice had all the makings of one giant clusterfuck, but much to many’s surprise, after the poorly organized registration, that the event went off without a hitch.  After picking up a complimentary beverage and burger, most of the guests immediately made their way to the loading dock where the U.S.A vs. Ghana World Cup match was being projected while others made it to the 8th floor of the gallery to view the debut of a Spike Jonze project.  This was pretty much the vibe for the 12 hour gala.  There were art installations by a bevy of visual artists and photographers, including Yeah Yeah Yeahs guitarist Nick Zinner, Mira Calix and panels featuring the likes of Graffiti Research Lab founder James Powderly.

Sam Spiegel, Mark Ronson, Alan Palomo and Alex Greenwald

One of the most interesting panels happened around 5pm in one of the 8th floor studios.  Producer and DJ extraordinaire Mark Ronson teamed up with Sam Spiegel aka Squeek E. Clean from N.A.S.A, Neon Indian’s Alam Palomo and Alex Greenwald of Phantom Planet to create a pop song in 60 minutes that was to be uploaded to the Creators’ website.  After toiling around for a bit and polling the audience for suggestions and hooks, a houseish/electronic song was in the works.  Look for, what I’m guessing will be the title, “Can’t Delay the Party” on the Creators blog in the near future.

The rest of the night I dedicated to the music.  People packed the 2nd floor gallery for Sleigh Bells, Die Antwoord and special guest M.I.A (all of whom are on the July 24 Hardfest bill at Governor’s Island).  Sleigh Bells had a frantic energy that got the crowd moving, while Die Antwoord impressed seemingly everybody except myself.  I just cringed a little everytime Ninja and Yo-Landi opened their mouths.  In the loading dock, Interpol was debuting some new songs and old favorites.  M.I.A came out to the not so good “Born Free”, and walked her way through some new tracks as well as classics from Arular and Kala with guests including the infamous Ninjasonik.  The last stop of the night for me was Mark Ronson’s DJ set in the 1st floor gallery.  Alex Greenwald and Rose formerly of the Pipettes crooned Radiohead’s “Just”, followed by MNDR belting out the song of the summer “Bang Bang Bang”, as well as “Sparrow” and “Fade To Black”.  The perfect ending of a long day.

Setlist:

Party People

Killjoy

Hot & Fun

Hot In Herre (Nelly)

Maybe

Sooner or Later

She Wants To Move

Everyone Nose (w/ Lupe Fiasco)

Spazz

Lapdance

Rockstar

MATT AND KIM, TED LEO AND THE PHARMACISTS, THE PAINS OF BEING PURE AT HEART, NIGHT MARCHERS, SURFER BLOOD, HARLEM, CYMBALS EAT GUITARS, EARL GREYHOUND, SCREAMING FEMALES and WYE OAK

http://siren.villagevoice.com/2010/

So Foxboro Hot Tubs consists of Billie Joe Armstrong, Tre Cool and Mike Dirnt of a little band known as Green Day. Also in the band are guitarist Jason White and sax/keyboard player Jason Freese who make up Green Day’s touring band and Prima Donna axe man Kevin Preston. So when the last minute New York debut of the band for $20 was announced, we all flocked to Greenwhich St. to try our luck at being some of the lucky few to get in. It did not disappoint. After opening sets from Honna Lee from New Jersey and the insanely fun Mystic Knights of the Cobra, FBHT flamboyantly rushed the stage. Sure some in the room were hoping for an all out Green Day set, but what we got really was special. The band belted 2008’s Stop Drop And Roll, including the title track 4 times, and a new song simply entitled “Fuck Time”. When the show ended 2+ hours later, everybody knew the words as it was played about 8 times throughout the night. Onstage the PBR was flowing (I’ve never seen that much beer chugged in quite some time), Billie Joe was crowd surfing, hanging from the ceiling pipes and everything else you won’t usually see at a GD show. Those who expected a greatest hits set were appeased with “Blood, Sex and Booze” from Warning and American Idiot’s “St. Jimmy”. The Who’s “A Quick One While He’s Away”, Sonny Curtis’ “I Fought The Law”, The Penguin’s “Earth Angel” and “Supermodel Robots” from an ‘unknown’ band called The Network were sloppily played to our delight. Long live the kings!

When Erykah Badu announces a last minute “secret” show for $20 at a small venue, you go if you can. Before I go into anything else, I’ll say that tonight benefited those who believe that patience is indeed a virtue. The performances kicked off with electronics genius and electro-pop esque Amanda Warner aka MNDR. Equipped only with a mixer and a microphone (as well as her associate who did a superb job with the lighting) she somewhat awkwardly made it through songs from her E.P. such as “C.L.U.B”, “Fade To Black” and the unreleased “Sparrow”. Up next was The Tony Castles, that has been described by critics as “dream pop”. There isn’t, per se, anything wrong with this band, but its sleepy seemingly epically long songs made for a major lull between the more uptempo acts that preceded and followed.

After The Tony Castles vacated, it was time for Naeem Juwan, Lord Darko aka Spank Rock and Roofeeo (of the motherfuckin’ Death Set). Dressed in a suit with slicked back hair, they ran through bass heavy tongue in cheek new classics like “Competition”, “Rick Rubin” and “Shake That”. Now I’ve seen Spank Rock and Erykah Badu quite a few times each, and the thought never crossed my mind that the audiences would clash. However when Naeem played “Shake It Till My Dick Turns Racist”, a staple of Spank Rock’s shows, a majority of the female heavy crowd practically booed them offstage. He then joked that he was going to come up front to watch Erykah, but nobody seemed able to absorb the humor.

…and then the waiting started. About an hour after Spank Rock finished, Ms. Badu’s band set up the stage, and when her DJ started playing a track from the upcoming New Amerykah 2, the anticipation was at its height. However, another hour or so passed with mixed confusion from everyone from the audience to the stage crew to the DJs. Finally a few minutes before 1:30am, a trench coat clad Badu sauntered onstage with her laptop, tea and camera to wild applause from the relieved room. She did not disappoint. The close to 2 hour set drew from all the singers records. “20 Feet Tall” from Return of the Ankh, “The Healer” from New Amerykah Part 1, “On & On” from Baduizm, World Wide Underground’s “Danger” were just a few choice examples of what she serenaded us with. Those whose legs didn’t fail them were rewarded with an unforgettable (late) night of music. Thanks Erykah.

This rescheduled-from-December show marked the mighty Mos’ proper album release for his excellent new album The Ecstatic. The man ran through the entire album, bringing out his old Black Star partner in crime Talib Kweli for the track History, New Orleans native Jay Electronica and the one and only Diddy a.k.a Puff Daddy a.k.a Sean Combs for Jay’s hit Exhibit C. Standout moments included Mos behind a drum kit for an extended version of “Quiet Dog” and the outstanding “Casa Bey”. Some photos below.