betus andronicus

Photo courtesy of Nick Brandreth

I woke up early one Sunday morning and proceeded to shadow New Jersey's finest Titus Andronicus as they enacted a dash from one tip of their homestate to the other for shoot their latest video. A summary of said Garden State excursion can be read here. It started in the Pine Barrens of Little Egg Harbor and wrapped up in Jersey City. There were stop-offs at Asbury Park as well as New Brunswick, where I relived my salad days of basement hardcore shows at a spot lovingly called "Fuck Mountain." And somewhere in there, we stopped at the Grease Trucks and I ate the Fat Darrell sandwich. Within an hour, it felt like Fat Darrell had eaten me instead.

some new jams

Soul Clap

Last Friday, I wrote about Brooklyn's Soul Clap dance contest, a happening fueled by early 60s soul 45s spun by Jonathan Toubin and former Cramps' member Kid Congo Powers. It's one of the rowdiest dance parties I've been to in awhile, and remain struck that hundreds of twentysomethings can get down to some of the most obscure cuts of that era and dance with little inhibition.

julianna barwick

This week in the Village Voice, I profiled Julianna Barwick and her latest album, The Magic Place. The year is still young, but I've easily listened to this album more than any other in 2011. It soundtracks most sleepy mornings and since the promo arrived last December, I also confessed to her that it made for the best "non-Christmas" Christmas album. Which is most definitely a compliment.

above and beyond

Awhile back, I realized that I had written about both Winter brothers within the span of a week: Johnny for a Wall Street Journal concert listing, and his brother Edgar for one of Wax Poetics's re:Discovery items. I'm not familiar with either albino, but Edgar's lone cosmic disco entry, "Above and Beyond" is ridiculously great track. It appears in the latest issue of the mag.
If that's not enough, the issue is a true bounty: stories about the Belleville Three (Derrick May, Juan Atkins, Kevin Saunderson), Ron Hardy's The Music Box, Wally Badarou, and Tom Moulton. Of special note is one of my all-time favorites, Hamilton Bohannon. It broke my heart to learn that another writer had unearthed the man before myself, but a feature on the Mighty Bohannon's influence on dance music is well worth it regardless.

Prince

The internet already knows about how Prince kicked a Kardashian off his stage for her non-dancing ass, but that wasn't the best part of the night. Throwing the mic to Chris Rock for a few lines was nice. Somebody holding up this old-school photo of Prince on her iPad while he sang to her was nice. Jamming for two-plus hours through an inexhaustible catalog was very nice. Prince saying he couldn't sing "If I Was Your Girlfriend" because someone in the audience was gonna wind up pregnant was nice too. Which is not to say that in seven months I won't look like these guys.

Not nice: the girl in front of me who decided that the ideal time to read Prince's Wikipedia entry was during the concert. Maybe next time you should look up and see him dancing his ass off less than 60 feet away from you.

brooklyn comedy feature

I wrote a feature in the Wall Street Journal on the uptick in alternative comedy nights taking place in Brooklyn, focusing on nights hosted by Hannibal Buress, Eugene Mirman, Yannis Pappas, Kurt Braunohler and others.

Betace's High

Starting this Friday and running throughout the month of February, I will be doing a weekly residency at the Ace Hotel in Manhattan. Which is apparently a scene of some sort, according to this Sunday's NY Times article. While Q-Tip throws down in the basement, I'll be up in the spacious lobby from 8pm to midnight. The best part of the night? I'll be playing four hours' worth of old-school country, redneck funk, and bootcut soul! Expect to hear lots of Willie and Waylon, along with lasses like Jessi Colter, Terri Gibbs and Dolly Parton, not to mention dudes like Steve Young, Travis Wammack, Gene Clark, Joe Tex, Jerry Lee Lewis, Gary Stewart, and Billy Joe Shaver, to name but a few. Put some scoot in your boots and tears in your beers!