(Flyer via Saint Vitus)
Wednesday February 8, 6:30 to 11 pm at Saint Vitus: $15
Given the heavy flow of benefit shows going on around town these days, it seems inevitable that a band called Netherlands would pick Planned Parenthood as their cause of choice. Proceeds aren’t going directly to Planned Parenthood, but instead will be funneled into a PAC known as PPNYC Votes, which supports candidates running for political office at the state level. But wait a sec, aren’t we doing pretty well when it comes to reproductive rights in New York state? Actually, not so much. As one of the show’s organizers explained on Facebook, there is still a majority in the State Senate “opposed to reproductive rights.” You, like me, probably assumed that these Biblical, stick-up-the-you-know-what holdups of complex, usually self-hating origin (I mean, Brad Patton, the shimmery blond and toothy-smiled gay porn star, made a really convincing Mike Pence) were reserved for rural representatives, the same guys (they are all guys, let’s be real) who wilt at the sight of a stray tampon string. Wrong-o again. Four of those PP-blockin’ pols are from our very own city.
At the moment, PPNYC Votes is pushing a policy agenda that would build up a buffer between the abortion-hatin’, social-safety-net-stripping aims of the Trump administration and New Yorkers who, like, don’t really wanna lose access to essential reproductive healthcare. Measures include the Comprehensive Contraceptive Coverage Act. If passed, it would keep birth control free for residents of New York.
(Flyer via Magic Cobra Tattoo Society)
The Giraffes are not nearly as gentle as their quietly suffering namesakes, graceful and yet scorned for they are too tall for this cruel world. Instead, these guys blend the bygone alternative rock sounds of bands like Queens of the Stone Age with classic Metallica. You heard right: we are officially nostalgia tripping to the early aughts.
More music provided by Ice Balloons and Strange Names. If that doesn’t sound like quite enough entertainment for you, performer Bunny Buxom (self-described “the beauty and the beast of burlesque”) graces the lineup as well.
If you’re really committed to the cause, make your way to Magic Cobra Tattoo Society, the Williamsburg tattoo parlor that’s lending a hand– er, some needles– to the cause too, with their own little pre-show benny. A handful of artists are giving out $40 flash pieces, with 100 percent of the proceeds going directly to Planned Parenthood proper.
(Flyer via AdHoc)
Friday February 10, 9 pm to 2 am at Knockdown Center: $10
A little more than a year ago, we met up with Luwayne Glass, the soft-spoken and pensive, yet quietly magnetic artist behind Dreamcrusher. Luwayne’s on-stage alter ego is possessed by their raging id and capable of suffering self-induced whiplash without so much as a vacant stare. Recently, Dreamcrusher has moved the borders of their cracked and splintered electronic noise just slightly toward the softer end of what Luwayne refers to as “nihilist queer revolt musik”– and by “softer,” well, I don’t mean soft at all. See Dreamcrusher in the flesh and you will know exactly what the organizers mean by “a group healing through weaponized frequencies.”
The show is actually installment lucky-number 13 of DWMS (“Devil Want My Soul,” a collaborative effort of AdHoc and record label/art collection PTP fka Purple Tape Frequencies. It will be largely dedicated to a slew of talented DJs– Dis Fig, Soda Plains, and STUD1NT. Two more live acts from VHVL and Yatta, plus a detour to Sharp Veins, break up the sweat.
Ticket earnings will be donated to Safe Horizon, a non-profit advocacy organization working with victims of domestic abuse and sexual assault.
(Flyer via AdHoc)
Friday February 10, 8 pm at Alphaville: $8
If good ol’ fashioned indie rock is more in keeping with your personal RPM, be sure to lap it up while you still can, because something tells me that the self-searching narrators typical of indie music lyrics, and really just the genre’s inoffensive aura as a whole, are about to enter endangered species status. Just in case you’re crossing your arms right about now and about to say, “But, like, what does ‘indie rock’ even mean anymore?” let me stop you right there, because the answer is, absolutely nothing.
And yet, that oh-so-vulnerable tone (which is really just a cover for boundless vanity and lacking anything else to say) is instantly recognizable. If you need an example, go ahead and dig up the ol’ Garden State soundtrack (it’s ok, we all have a CD-R copy of it somewhere). Not only does it not hold up, but the reference itself feels stale. Admittedly, Brooklyn’s thriving indie rock scene, however, does not seem to notice or care that their vibes are obsolete.
Like, really, are there any safe spaces left for these adorable underachievers, guys who perpetually shuffle around in wooly socks, clutching impossibly steamy cups of hand-picked, artisanal tea and preach about how everyone is “missing the point,” who condescend and mansplain without hesitation, but never wander very far from bed?
Let’s find out.
Exhibit A is a band called Active Bird Community, which at first might seem like an open-and-shut case. But in January the band came out with a new album, Stick Around, and with songs like “QB Sneak”, there’s a whiff of burnout– like that subtle stank when blackened, toasted-beyond-reason bread hits the plastic trash bag, and puffs out a tiny plume of cheap plastic carcinogenic carbon embers. I mean, what else could you make of a song like this? “If life is just a rest stop, I think we just passed it. We’ll get off at the next one. Wait and see what you’ll find out once you leave. Now let it go.”
Now it’s another band’s turn to take the plunge: with their new album out later this month Wild Pink is the guest of honor at this Friday night show, where they are encouraged to bask in the glow of their self-titled LP, available in two highly desirable limited-edition shades (bubblegum pink and “opaque lavender) that could easily pass for small-batch Lip Smackers flavors. But with tracks like “Wizard of Loneliness” and “Wanting Things Makes You Shittier” (omg, so true) there’s reason to believe that the contents might be quite different from the wrapping.
Exhibit A is a band called Active Bird Community, which at first might seem like an open-and-shut case. But in January the band came out with a new album, Stick Around, https://activebirdcommunity.
Now it’s another band’s turn to take the plunge: with their new album out later this month Wild Pink is the guest of honor at this Friday night show, where they are encouraged to bask in the glow of their self-titled LP, available in two highly desirable limited-edition shades (bubblegum pink and “opaque lavender) that could easily pass for small-batch Lip Smackers flavors. But with tracks like “Wizard of Loneliness” and “Wanting Things Makes You Shittier” (omg, so true) there’s reason to believe that the contents might be quite different from the wrapping.