The simple mission

Off The Page and On To The Stage

WHO COULD WIN A TICKET? THE CONTEST 

 

As a way of saying thanks to all of you who've been keeping tabs on this site's reportings, musings and music things all year, the Simple Mission will be giving away two pairs of tickets to the Blood On The Wall/Psychic Ills/TK Webb show at the Knitting Factory this Thursday. Come join in the chorus of  praise that both the bands and the venue have recently received from the big boys as we celebrate another year of tuneage, bloggetry and bookings with...you!

 

This being the interweb, I'm not trying to hear any of that self-addressed stamped envelope nonsense. To win the tix all you have to do is hit up the Young Elz hotline withKNIT FIT in the subject line by Thursday at 2PM. Make sure to include your daytime phone number and a short list of what's been  awesome, awesomer and awesomest about 2005 for you when you enter. It won't influence who's going to win—this will be a scrictly random type affair—but it'd be good know anyways.

Thanks to the Social Registry and the Knitting Factory for providing the tix and thank to all of you for tuning in all year. Now that we've come this far, don't drop out, drop a line.

Yar. Har. Har. Ho. Ho. Ho. Over. And. Out.

I Am A Rock, He's An Island: The Interview

It's been a while since the Simple Mission checked in with Islands, the Montreal-based pop troupe led by former Unicorns Nick Diamonds and Jamie Thompson. Since June, when the two were kind enough to let me post some of their then-new music on this site, lots has done changed. For starters they recorded an LP, made the internet go nuts and got to open for Beck at the Pop Montreal Festival this past October for their first ever live show. And now, just a few months later, they're touring the US with a full band that includes two violinists, a bass clarinet player, a second guitarist and a bass player. Wow. That's a lot. FULL STOP.

Last night, the newly expanded Islands played their first New York show at the Knitting Factory and if I may take the liberty of saying so, did a bang up job of making a lot of people very happy. Over the course of their hour long set, the Islands ensemble performed a selection of nimbly arranged pop songs that wove intricate keyboard and string arrangements and slippery world riddims into Diamond's imaginative tales of innocence, experience and um, volcanoes.

Without being word fancy, it was a very happy music, but one that was clearly informed by getting older and realizing that the good times, well, they're harder to get to these days. Something in the tender way Diamonds sang his songs seemed to be asking "why is the world like this? When did everything get complicated and confusing?" but the richness and sheer joy of the deliciously ambitious pop music he and his band were making asked a more important question—"why can't life be like this all time?". Most people would tell you it can't, but Islands manged to put it out there that it's worth working for. And maybe that's all we needed to hear.

Nah. But I couldn't get into all the heady stuff with Island number 1 Nick Diamonds after he'd played a full set and two encores. So to keep things more manageable (and transcribable at 3AM), the Simple Mission sat down with Sir Diamonds to find out about what's what with his new group and get a handle on what we can expect from them soon come. Here's what he had to say.

The Hutz Homecoming

It's true. After a few weeks spent spreading the rebel gospel with his band Gogol Bordello, DJ Hutz is returning to the Bulgarian Bar tonight with a gunny sack full of newbalkanoreggeatonflamencoukrainianrebel jams for the NYC internationalist massive. It's going to be bananaz. Seriously intense. Prepare yourself by copping the exclusive to web Gogol Bordello track "Sally" here if you haven't already. You're going to love it, but I can't be held responsible for what it'll make you do later this evening when you hear it on the BB's dance disaster floor.

 

Note: This photo was too good not to use, but let it be said that Simple Mission does not in any way promise the presence of a forklift at tonight's party.

I See Colors

The great white wonder of the North (ok, Boston), surrealist MC/producer/dilettante de jour Edan is going to be at performing a set tonight at the great wonder of the West (ok, the meatpacking district), APT. On the strength of his latest psych-tinged mind bubble bubble music banger Beauty and the Beat, I'm anticipating it to be a good ass time. And for those checking for some outside approval, the braintrust music shop Other Music have slapped their stamp of approval on this gig as well. 5 bucks gets you in, but no telling about how exactly one will go about getting out once the magic drops.

Social Registry Social Calendar

On the bummer front, the Social Registry recording artists Blood On The Wall's 5/22 show with Deerhoof at Northsix was cancelled after guitarist Brad Shanks got into "somewhat serious bicycle accident involving an automobile on last Sunday night." The very fantastic news, according to the SR website, is that "Brad is A-OK. A little banged up but he will see a full recovery." Here's to wishing him a speedy and complete return to good health.

In the event that you still need your fix of New York's best outsider music, the rest of the Social Registry family are going to have a very, very busy week. And if you're free, you should join them. Starting Monday and ending sometime never, five of the label's artists: the Psychic Ills, Blood lines, TK Webb, Electroputas and the mighty Gang Gang Dance are going to be running around NYC for a bunch of live performances, including a crosstown double wammy on Friday night.

The Rebel Sound Of The Young Zippers

This is turning into quite a week. First my man hits me with Hugh Masekela's The Boy's Doin' It LP and and and a copy of Black Flag "Louie Louie b/w Damaged I" on Posh Boy and then I find out two of my fave dudes on the wearables front are in a group fashion show that one of my fave NYC bands, Early Man, are playing at. Now that you're done clicking around, here's the deets.

Not So Quiet On The Eastern Front or Totally Fucking Reckless!!!

Dispatches from the Greater Lower Manhattan 5 Borough Politburo:

On Sunday May 22, the Knitting Factory (proletariat must dance in factory) will host its third GYPSY ROCKER MASSIVE. Conspirators in the plot to dismantle monolithic uni-culture of chromatic athletic sneaker/t-shirts and ideologically unsound haircuts include: the Minister of Reckless Culture Smash DJ Eugene Hutz, the World/Inferno Friendship Society, Nervous Cabaret, Slavic Soul Party and many others. In addition to indoctrination via Balkan dance lessons by the Zagnut Cirkus Orkestar, there are promises of drinking, kissing, handsome men with accordions and a full range of Balkan sounds from wedding songs to white knuckled punk numbers. If you've been looking for your fix of Culture Klatsch since the last time I did the damn thing, come on down. This night will be sure to stir your soul and promote positive entertainment for rebel youth and elders alike.

The Gypsy Rocker Massive starts at 7 and will run on all three floors of the Knitting Factory 74 Leonard St, NYC. 12 bands, 1 DJ Hutz and no less than 4 tubas—all for $15 American Dollars.