Arcade44

Winsome William // We Can’t Enjoy Ourselves // News

arcader — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 15:49:50 +0000

We recently spoke with Brooklyn’s We Can’t Enjoy Ourselves, which quickly turned into one the most bizarre and entertaining interviews the Arcade has done to date. We can pretty much be sure that this would greatly please the band. We are equally pleased to bring you a free download of “Winsome William,” the devilishly bouncy track just dripping in nostalgia for a simpler place in time.

We Can’t Enjoy Ourselves is a band that…

started as project that originally included members of Modern Painters, Blindermann, Malkmus X, and Seaside Houses. But our other bands no longer afforded us any pleasure or escape (all those bands played slow cerebral ska — like putting the “Police and Thieves” 45 at 33 1/3 rpm) so we began to commit ourselves to the one that did. But that’s not to say we have a bond or anything precious like holding each others hands in solidarity against all things sad and cruel. We’re actually quite mean and depressed with one another and we always quarrell and we always try and ransack each other’s charm and composure publicly…How do I get out of this sentence?

We started playing music together…

while living together in a collective house in Brooklyn. To tell you the truth, that house was kind of a botched experiment to begin with. We used to play music together in order to distract ourselves from how dirty and degenerate it was. It was called the Lazy Hearts House. Everyone in that house hated work, including us. God, nothing feels more like a slaughterhouse than the subway at rush hour.

We are inspired by different types of…

failed social utopias. We all have our favorites. Amongst others, Brookfarm, The Paris Commune of 1870, modern day western districts of the United States. For the record, two of us are registered as Maoists in the Kings County registry, the other two are Fourerists at heart but who have failed to pay their dues for the last three years on account of unemployment.

We would describe our music as…

gentle and coarse as nankeen felt and its myths. If you cut its veins open little rythymic arcs of yellow as out of season, healthy, pale and pastel as orange juice, would pulsate in the wan morning sun.

The song, “Winsome William” was written…

when we were taking a walk through Greenpoint right after a pretty intense session of Bikram yoga where our instructor almost set fire to the most beautiful building on No 11th street because as we were to find out, he secretly smoked cigarettes while everyone had their eyes closed, executing the various positions. We passed a statue of Pope John Paul II and realized how much he looked like Peter Falk.

Our favorite thing to do as a band is…

stay indoors and drink camparis and invent variants of the same joke where one of us asks, “Have you ever been to Boca Raton, FL?” and then another one of us says, “No, but my brother is a black jack dealer on television.” We’re all very light-hearted and thus always laugh a lot at this kind of joke. Except when Caley says it because his brother is actually a black jack dealer on television and everyone is worried for him because the show isn’t doing very well because he drops the cards in front of the camera and the studio says this ruins the momentum of the show and he’s probably about to lose his job and and that’s not very funny.

The best show we have ever played was…

at a reggae festival on The Staten Island ferry. Those guys are all lunatics. You have to be a lunatic to play reggae. It was so much fun. It was on a Tuesday.

The worst show we have ever played was…

Mordecai Sholem’s barmitzvah. It was held on the G train. In spite of that, we still love public transit.

Our plans for 2012 are…

for our album Make A Mess Of Sacred Ground to soar higher and higher to the top of the Billboard charts, to pass number 10, then number 3, then number 1 in fact and not stop till it sits atop the header, floating and making friends with the page number and the date until one day some scatterbrained copy editor, just now noticing our inexplicable presence, says to herself, “Shit, I could get fired for this,” then calmly with an expert movement of her pink fingertips highlights our band name and the album title in beautiful pale summer-day blue, then with a finality flashed with the abyss, presses Delete.

- Annick Mayer

The First Time I Ran Away // M.Ward // News

arcader — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 17:32:43 +0000

M. Ward will be releasing a new solo album called A Wasteland Companion on Merge April 10. The track “The First Time I Ran Away” just got a new video directed by Joel Trussell (also helmed the “Chinese Translation” video.) We are loving everything about this.

Sweden Under The Bridge // Ruvan Wijesooriya // News

arcader — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 16:40:01 +0000

NYC Arcaders, expect a brilliant and rather soulful culture clash tonight when Sweden appears in Brooklyn as Sweden Under The Bridge. An exhibit of visual art and live music, the event sparks a perfect opportunity to see some of Sweden’s finest, all grooving at Galapagos Art Space. Featuring musicians Nina Persson (yup, of Cardigans fame) and her American hubby Nathan Larson,Göteborg rockers Fibes Oh Fibes and French-Swedish crooner Sibille Attar, the party also hosts Scandi DJs and a cross-continental group of contributing artists. We spoke to photographer and curator Ruvan Wijesooriya about the Swedish connection.

What can visitors look forward to at the exhibit?

We have some great talent showing, both young artists such as Roxy Farhat along with mid-career artists such as Lars Tunbjork. The exhibition compares and contrasts life and experience between Sweden and America, or perhaps more accurately, New York City. There is a fair amount of work dealing with immigration, which is a hot and crucial topic in both Sweden and America at the moment. I hope visitors will get a better idea of Sweden from the show.

Sweden Under the Bridge brings together image-makers and musicians. Tell us a little about your personal connection to Sweden. How does it inspire you?

Sweden is among the most liberal countries in the world. There fashion is more than clothes, being gay is not shunned upon and there is a general strive toward equality. They spread their wealth and gender equality is taken seriously. Some of the young art directors there found out about what I was doing here in New York. Our sense of aesthetic, trend, timelessness and social importance clicked. Also, I had a girlfriend from Sweden for a few years and in that time I was there quite a bit. Over the last seven years I’ve collected many Swedish friends. Because of the egalitarian aspects of their culture, the girls are tougher than most and the guys are a bit more sensitive and perhaps honest with themselves, which is socially easy and approachable. They all know how to party, and so do I. There we go!

Having shot everyone from James Murphy to Iggy Pop, music often influences and inspires your photography, so we have to ask—Who are you listening to lately?

At the moment I’m listening and revisiting a lot of older music. Allides Hidding does a cover of the song “Hollywood Seven,” it is amazing. Planningtorock released their debut last summer; it’s fantastic. On the more chill tip is a band from Sweden called First Aid Kit – Sadly, they were busy and couldn’t be involved in the showcase. I’ve been listening to a lot of early 90s Primal Scream. The Midnight Magic single “Beam Me Up” is a great song to hear out at a club. Jacques Renault’s remix kills. The Crystal Ark and Gavin Russom put out some incredible techno tracks. I’ve been listening to Lead Belly as well. Sunday afternoon music…

What’s on tap next for you?

I was just in Brazil and shot two main fashion stories for Turkish Vogue, which should be out in the late spring and summer. The LCD Soundystem documentary should be out within the year and my photos are used in its introduction. The film premiered at Sundance, which is always exciting. I have a feeling I will be doing more exhibitions this year. Perhaps not as many as last year, but still one about every two months. So far I’m off to a good start!

It’s Around You // ANR

arcader — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 13:16:04 +0000

Yesterday we brought you into the studio with Miami’s ANR, and today we are thrilled to give you a front row seat to the full performance of “It’s Around You,” from ANR’s album Stay Kids. Currently, the boys are hard at work on their follow-up album, which they tell us will definitely be ready for audiences by SXSW 2012. Without further ado, let’s give it up for ANR…

Miami Heat // ANR

arcader — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 14:13:06 +0000

Our love for ANR goes way back, Well, way back in the Internet sense of the term. We first met MJ Hancock and Brian Roberston of ANR during CMJ 2010 at a coffee shop in Brooklyn. We talked about the records that MJ had bought for his dad during their trip, their love for Miami and their former identity as “Awesome New Republic,” which they joked, “when coupled with the more humorous elements of our music, could have easily been misinterpreted as ‘cowabunga pizza party.’” With a good sense of humor and even greater music, we obviously became huge fans of these dudes and their band. This past year ANR added a drummer, bringing their live shows to a new level. If you have never seen them live, do yourself a favor and change that. Luckily, while in Miami for Art Basel this year, we not only got a tour of the ANR studio, but the guys treated us to a private performance. Stay tuned for the full live performance, which will premiere on the Arcade tomorrow. For now, we are excited to welcome you to the ANR studio…

- Annick Mayer

Ten Years Old // You Won’t // Finish This Sentence

arcader — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 16:40:41 +0000

Its a rainy Friday here in NYC, and if you’re like us, you need a pick-me-up to get your weekend started. We have just the thing. May we present You Won’t, a Boston band whose new album, Skeptic Goodbye, has been on our best of the new year list since we first laid ears on it. The album is out on Old Flame Records 2/14/2012 and if you are looking for some new tunes, this album won’t disappoint. It is pretty fitting that such a genuinely charming record would be released on 2/14 aka Valentines Day. If you get yourself or a special someone anything, it should probably be this album.

You Won’t started recording music in…

September 2010.

We met each other…

sword-fighting in high school.

Being a musician in Boston is…

not a very popular career path.

We would describe our music as…

melodic, quasi-folky, lyrical, percussive.

Skeptic Goodbye is an album that…

was about 7 years in the making.

The track, “Ten Years Old,” was written…

in New York City in the summertime, while my hands were stricken with crippling tendonitis.

Our favorite thing to do when we need to let loose is…

fiercely competitive wiffle ball.

The best show we have ever played was…

held in an undisclosed location, in the dark, attended by no one and not recorded.

2012 is going to be…

a hell of a letdown if the Apocalypse fails to materialize.

If you are in the NYC area You Won’t’s CD release show is at Union Hall on 2/18! For all other tour dates check here!

- Annick Mayer

Swag: The Mixtape, Vol. 1 // Rashaad Newsome

arcader — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 13:35:16 +0000

Yesterday the Arcade brought you a bit of unadulterated awesomeness in the form of an exclusive look at the inner workings of artist Rashaad Newsome’s “Hair Affair & Five” performance at Art Basel Miami Beach. The artist is making noise with his electric performance work, but is also garnering attention for his exploration of hip hop culture, realized in his first solo show, “Herald,” at the Marlborough Gallery in Chelsea. Melding classical imagery with contemporary cultural references, “Herald” is realized in audio form through “Swag,” Newsome’s mixtape featuring artists like Erykah Badu and Diplo. Give it a listen, Arcaders. We think the project is fit for a king.

Five // Rashaad Newsome

arcade44 — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 13:29:40 +0000

“I’m trying to take this part of history back,” explains artist Rashaad Newsome of his electric performance art piece “Hair Affair & Five.” Performed at the Miami Art Museum during Art Basel, the dance “mash-up” was created with local musicians, renowned opera singers and NYC-based vogue dancers. Newsome gave us an unforgettable look inside the process while also explaining the foundations of the art form, realized in a power-punch of color and movement while also holding close the five fundamentals of “hands, catwalk, floor performance, dips and duckwalking.” As for “hair affair?” Well, you’ll just have to hear the artist tell it.

Sacree Soiree // Discowhat

arcade44 — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 15:14:54 +0000

Arcade44’s New York team first heard Discowhat on a starry night in Miami during Art Basel, when the wind whipped its way down Lincoln Ave and snapped at the already abbreviated skirts on revelers waiting to get into the Mr. Brainwash x Lovecat party. There was a good reason to wait outside in such blustery weather—Discowhat spinning his unique blend of dance floor gems. The Parisian-bred DJ toured all over Europe before linking with Brainwash and moving to LA in 2005. He is now the resident DJ for all of the artist’s events, explaining, “now I play only in careful, selected venues were I can play rare music that I want to share from my huge collection of vinyl.” Sounds good to us. Expect more rare goodness when Discowhat releases his first album in 2013. For now, dig on his podcast, only at Arcade44.

What is your inspiration for the A44 podcast?

For this podcast I tried to execute my own “Top 40.” A selection of disco, electro, house, latin, funk. This is a condensed exemple of my 4-hour mix.

How does music fuel your everyday?

Breakfast, lunch, dinner… and of course—the best—in the car.

What’s got you excited about music right now?

The disco/electro scene coming from London and Berlin. The French house music (so sexy).

TRACKLIST //

We Play – The Music We Play (Mam Remix)
ClickCLick & Microbodies – Electric Mutation
Bill Withers – Who is He (Tss Tss remix)
Digitalism – Zdarlight
Nicolas Jaar – Re-Edits The Beach
Cerrone – Back Track
Stardust – Music Sounds Better With You (Bibi & Dim’s Anthem from Paris Mix)
Cassius – 99
St Germain – Soul Salsa Soul (Remix)
Fast Track – Someone Like You feat. Camille
Dr Dunks – Everybody Get None
Inxec vs Droog – Westbound

Streams/At Night // Arrange // Finish This Sentence

arcade44 — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 21:56:10 +0000

We recently got the chance to chat with Malcom Lacey aka Arrange in another installment of “Finish This Sentence.” As always we are bringing you a free download along with the interview. If you haven’t checked out Lacey’s music yet, now is definitely the time. Streams/At Night is a track to sit with and revisit time and again, so we can’t wait to hear the rest of Lacey’s soon to be released Five Years With The Sun, out on limited edition 12″ vinyl through JUKBOXR Label on February 14th.

Arrange is…

my solo musical endeavor. One that I’ve been working on for the past two years now.

The album Plantation…

was an artistic representation of my experiences over the past few years.

Out this February, Five Years With The Sun, is an EP that…

serves as a goodbye letter to South Florida. A place I have many fond memories of, but needed to leave.

The strangest thing anyone has ever said about my music was…

People would be surprised to hear that I listen to a lot of hip-hop and old country music.

My favorite thing about making music in Portland…

is the weather.

I’m excited for SXSW this year…

mostly because I’ll be able to meet people I’ve spoken to about my music in person.

2012 is going to be…

a pretty great year.

- Annick Mayer