Public Assembly

Speedy J+Peter van Hoesen

Soul Khan Makes Music For the Audience, Not Himself: "It's Not My Journal"

Soul Khan, one of the fastest rising stars in the New York hip-hop indie-ground, is preparing to add one more entry to his already prolific catalog with his Psalm EP. It's the fourth and final part of his Love Supreme series, with this installment produced entirely by Abnormal. It's out today, and t ... More >>

The Ten Best Artists at Brooklyn Electronic Music Festival This Weekend

This weekend, the Brooklyn Electronic Music Festival will take over Williamsburg for the fifth year running. (So it's technically the Williamsburg Electronic Music Festival, but who's counting when you're drunk and dancing to Nick Catchdubs at 4 a.m.?) Last year's Festival brought Matthew Dear, Beat ... More >>

PLUGGED IN

BEMF gets Williamsburg dancing

Vagina Panther, Foxygen, Milk Dick, etc: Why 20 Bands Playing CMJ Chose Their Name

The only thing all of the bands playing CMJ have in common aside from the fact that they're all playing CMJ is that they all have names. As they have been in the "indie" world for quite a while, animal-inspired band names are very popular this year at CMJ. The most respected animal continues to be t ... More >>

Win A Pair Of Tickets To See Ka At Public Assembly Tomorrow Night

The Brownsville MC Ka has been getting attention for his uncompromising style and lyrical dexterity. "Ka's entire aesthetic is stripped down," SOTC's J. Pablo wrote this spring, adding, "His videos and beats are simple and straightforward, leaving nothing but a tsunami of words he floods your senses ... More >>

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Q&A: Southpaw Co-Owner Matt Roff Talks About The Venue's Closing

Yesterday the news that the Park Slope club Southpaw would be turning into an educational center for children broke, and we got comment from co-owner Matt Roff—whose business interests also include Williamsburg's Public Assembly, Greenpoint's No Name Bar, and Crown Heights' Franklin Park— ... More >>

Southpaw Closing Next Month; Tutoring Center To Open In Its Place

On Tuesday, a flare regarding the future of the Park Slope venue Southpaw went up via Twitter: "I cant believe I'm writing this but, Southpaw will be closing its doors for good Feb. 20th," wrote @TheGreatHustler, a member of the Park Slope venue's booking and marketing department. "The venue has bee ... More >>

The Bunker Turns Nine

Bryan Kasenic's techno-plus party lives

Seven Other Sets You Should See During CMJ Week, Including Quilt, Eternal Summers, And A Voice Party Star

Eternal Summers. ​ Sound of the City's staff has opinions about which bands to see at the CMJ festival, happening around the city this week. Here, Martika Finch picks her favorite acts playing over the coming five days, including one Nashville-based punker who's playing the Voice party this Sa ... More >>

Live: Neon Marshmallow Turns Up The Volume At Public Assembly

Grouper at Neon Marshmallow. Neon Marshmallow NYC Public Assembly October 14-16 Better than: Bumming about Kim and Thurston. "Yeah, he was pretty much just sitting there, watching his .wav files," somebody noted to a late-arriving friend, recounting a Friday set at this weekend's Neon Marshmallow ... More >>

PIG OUT

Will it be bacon or hummus or both?

Download Christopher Weingarten's Hipster Puppies Cassette Release Party Podcast, Filled With NYC Bands

​Next Wednesday, SOTC pal Christopher R. Weingarten will celebrate the release of the cassette companion to his canines-and-coolness tome Hipster Puppies—a tape stuffed with a roster of 18 local bands that includes Das Racist, Yvette, and Liturgy—with a party at Public Assembly. Th ... More >>

Son Lux's We Are Rising: How To Make An Album In 28 Days

​Tonight at Public Assembly the Brooklyn musician Ryan Lott—d/b/a Son Lux—will perform in honor of the release of his new album We Are Rising. The album was created earlier this year as part of the RPM Challenge—it's like National Novel-Writing Month for records, only a bit m ... More >>

THEY LIVE

Hipsters. Zombies. Same thing.

LUCK O’ THE IRISH

Let’s step up your drinking regimen

Your Week In Nightlife, Starring Downtown Records, Dixon, Rye Rye, And A Party Called "Reality Bites"

​The weekend starts early, as we're desperately trying to take advantage of the pleasant weather and gallivant around the city by foot. Start your Thursday night off at Sway for the relatively new Reality Bites throwdown -- yes, a reference to the '90s film classic. (Note: We're basically will ... More >>

Unsound Festival New York Announces Super-Intimidating Lineup

​The Polish electronic/avant-garde/new-classical bacchanal known as the Unsound Festival has been the pride of Kraków since 2003, luring sonic-minded thrill-seekers the world over with a veritable orgy of umlauts, consonants, and high-minded audio/visual splendor, mixing high-culture chamber- ... More >>

Your Weekend In Nightlife, Starring Escort, Douster, DJ Harvey, And C.A.K.E.

​If you happen to live in Williamsburg, we're happy to tell that you won't have to travel very far for the best of tonight's dance parties. Stay local if you can for three very different but equally excellent dance floors, all within a few blocks of each other. Start your Friday night at Publi ... More >>

Your Week In Nightlife, Starring Josh Wink, Chromeo, The Bad Lupo Brothers, And A Gala Dilla Tribute

​Start your week off tonight at the Ace Hotel with the Bad Lupo Brothers. The evening is propelled by local club destroyers and electro-heads Trouble & Bass, as they celebrate crew birthdays and their recently declared love for old-school rockabilly jams. Yes, rockabilly. The titular Brothers ... More >>

Live: Kid Sister Headlines, But DJs (And The Crowd) Rule At The Brooklyn Electronic Music Festival

Apparently it was a good time. Pics by Jeff Meltz/THECULTUREOFME, more below.​Brooklyn Electronic Music Festival Music Hall of Williamsburg/Public Assembly Saturday, December 18 Better than: Last year's. (Seriously.) A beer exploded on Public Assembly's stage Saturday night. It was a party t ... More >>

Natalie Storm, Blondes, DJ Pauly D, Derrick May, And (Maybe!) Prince Headline Your Week In Nightlife

​Your partying jag kicks off on Thursday this week and features a global takeover of NYC. Jamaican dancehall queen Natalie Storm is something of an obsession for us lately (especially after Friday night's reOPENed party) -- she's returning to the Lower East Side for an appearance at Happy Endi ... More >>

Kid Sister, Penguin Prison, Javelin, Etc. Tapped For The 2010 Brooklyn Electronic Music Festival

​Now in its third year, the Brooklyn Electronic Music Festival is fairly self-explanatory as these things go, cramming as many DJs, producers, and dance-music luminaries into one warehouse as possible (the Juan Maclean headlined last year's model), only this year they're moving up in the world ... More >>

Kylesa Are Playing a Surprise Show at Public Assembly Tonight

​We haven't talked much about it here, but the Georgia-based, double-drumming, psych-metal wrecking crew Kylesa have made one of the better records of the year in Spirit Shadow, their improbably melodic (Built To Spillish, even!) fifth (!) album. It comes out tomorrow, after which it will sure ... More >>

The Monster Mash, Turbotax, The Fader Fort, And, OK, A CMJ Showcase Or Two Headline Your Weekend In Nightlife

​Thanks to CMJ, there are hundreds of things you could do in the city this weekend. There are too many bands we love playing too many shows, acting as the "secret guest" at epic concerts that we regret not going to, and walking down the streets and hanging out in bars like us real people do. I ... More >>

Live: Dance Party Flashing Lights Celebrates Two Years Of Confusion, Elation

Birthday party revelers. Pics by Puja, more below.​When Flashing Lights began two years ago, we couldn't help but think it was some sort of inside joke. For a dance party that featured "house, disco, techno, and rave", the cast of characters (residents Catchdubs, DJ Ayres, and Jubilee) made se ... More >>

I Don't Go Clubbing, I Go Dancing: The Weekend In Nightlife, Starring Solange, Peanut Butter Wolf, And The Martinez Brothers

​As hard as she tries to claim that she's not a hipster, Solange has been pretty consistent about proving otherwise. Never mind the palling around with the Dirty Projectors on- and offstage, or recording with Of Montreal's Kevin Barnes -- now the budding starlet has taken to DJing. Yes, DJing. ... More >>

I Don't Go Clubbing, I Go Dancing: The Weekend In Nightlife, Starring Donuts, Metro Area, Afrojack, And A Whole Lot Of Glitter

​Donuts, a San Francisco based music/art/dance party, makes its way to the right coast tonight with an awesome lineup at Brooklyn's Coco66. The Blondes headline with their spacey synth jams in celebration of their new album release on RVNG. Relatively new DFA darlings Q&A (half Quinn from Phen ... More >>

I Don't Go Clubbing, I Go Dancing: The Weekend In Nightlife, Starring DJ Cato, Caps, Beach Blanket Disco, Yeasayer, The Juan Maclean, And The Rub

​Start your weekend off with a little art therapy. Scion hosts the opening of touring art exhibit Installation Six at Eastern District in Brooklyn: The show is comprised of "non-narrative video installations" created by some of our favorite music fiends and local artists, most notably Brooklyn ... More >>

Tonight! Hot Hot Heat, Washed Out, Midnight Masses, ArpLine, And 5 de Gall HyperMex Dance Party

Washed Out: "Gary Low ain't got shit on me."​Tonight, Hot Hot Heat begin their month-long residency at Public Assembly, an attempt to shed their image as radio-rock backwash that ends up on the John Tucker Must Die soundtrack. Over at the Bell House, Washed Out unleash the chill, much to the c ... More >>

Hot Hot Heat

I Don't Go Clubbing, I Go Dancing: The Weekend In Nightlife, Starring Kid Sister, Mark Farina, And The Mutek Festival

​Tonight a mix of electro and hip-hop pervades Webster Hall's "Girls & Boys," a party with more teenagers and neon than... not. The pairing of U.K.-born dubstep darling Rusko and Chicago hip-hop queen Kid Sister might seem strange at first, but just go with it. (Or, take a listen to Rusko's of ... More >>

I Don't Go Clubbing, I Go Dancing: The Weekend In Nightlife

​The Arms Around Haiti event at Public Assembly kicks off our Friday evening with a reminder that just because there haven't been any telethons lately doesn't mean the situation isn't just as awful as it ever was. The event spans over both rooms of the venue and boasts a lineup of over ten dis ... More >>

I Don't Go Clubbing, I Go Dancing: The Weekend In Nightlife, Starring Shackleton, Frankie Knuckles, And Other People You May Know

​Tonight, creepy dubstep producer Shackleton headlines Dub War at Love -- the genre gets even darker thanks to his unexpected silences and evil whisperings in between all that bass wobble. WARP's Eskmo and Eprom are also scheduled to play, along with Dubwar residents Joe Nice and Dave Q, among ... More >>

A Guide To This Weekend's Holiday-Party Glut

​If there's one thing that people of all faiths can agree on, it's that the best thing about the "Holiday Season" is all the parties. There's nothing quite like sipping on some good ol' rum punch with your co-workers or donning your cheesiest Xmas swag for your apartment-building potlucks. On ... More >>

Weekend Black Metal Symposium Hideous Gnosis Graduates to the New York Times

"Brandon Stosuy, a Brooklyn music critic, read from his oral history in progress of American black metal: a welcome demystification, cast in normal-dude voices." Way more where this came from over at Ben Ratliff's critical dissection of Saturday's Hideous Gnosis symposium on black metal at Public ... More >>

Hideous Gnosis, A Black Metal Symposium, Is At Public Assembly Tomorrow; Internecine Warfare Already Very Much Underway

​Here we have the interesting prospect of spending six daylight hours tomorrow inside at Public Assembly, hearing men with beards elaborate on theories regarding black metal. An event called Hideous Gnosis, no less. Voluminously and silkily bearded SOTC affiliate Brandon Stosuy will be reading ... More >>

A Nightlife (And Ice-Skating) Enthusiast's Guide To Thanksgiving Eve

NYC is a town of transplants, a fact that's never more obvious than during the holiday season. While thousands of New Yorkers take off work early and spend hours upon hours in traffic, at the airport, and stuck in train stations, we think those of you who are left in town should make the most of i ... More >>

CMJ In Photos, So Far

Ume at Public Assembly. Photos by Rebecca Smeyne.​Elsewhere: Endless recaps, involuntary rants, street fashion. Right here: SOTC photographer Rebecca Smeyne, putting in work. Her first installment, featuring Small Black, Woods, El Perro Del Mar, Beach Fossils, Titus Andronicus, Heavy Trash, an ... More >>

CMJ: Meet Invincible, Detroit's Next Great (Female) Rapper And Tuesday-Night MVP

Matt SonzalaInvincible (right) and Waajeed to the rescue.​Invincible/Senor Kaos/DJ Spinna Public Assembly Tuesday, October 20 There's a few things you can count on at an "underground" hip-hop show with absolute, painful certainty: an overwhelming number of guys in city-reppin' fitted caps, mu ... More >>

BLACK HEARTS

Celestia leave their lair in France for their first U.S. show

News Roundup: Show No Mercy/GNAW, Raekwon's Only Built 4 Cuban Linx II, Thom Yorke

​--We'd be remiss to not mention friend of SOTC Brandon Stosuy's latest Show No Mercy, which features the debut of the Khanate project Gnaw (Shawn Bosler: "In that paranoid world where extreme metal intersects with extreme noise--a world where Merzbow sells brain implants in Neuromancer-like b ... More >>

This Wesleyan Mafia Thing Seems To Be Getting Out Of Hand

Yikes So our good friends Das Racist played/terrorized Public Assembly Sunday night as some sort of value-added Wesleyan supergroup dubbed Spanish Broads. How'd it go? A Brooklyn Vegan writeup that begins "At what can only be described as one of the worst live shows I've ever seen," that's how it w ... More >>

Live: Anal Cunt Cover Lenny Kravitz at Public Assembly

"We've been around for 21 years now," says Anal Cunt's Seth Putnam, looking calmly out at a modest, late Sunday night Public Assembly crowd. "I'd like to thank all our fans for being here. This song is called 'All Our Fans Are Gay.'" Add it to the list, basically--is Seth Putnam calling you gay mo ... More >>

Tonight! Amadou & Mariam, Busdriver, and the Beginning of the Week-Long Hold Steady Onslaught

Amadou & Mariam are superstars everywhere else on the planet -- in 2006, the blind Malian couple co-wrote the official World Cup anthem. But transplant the pair to Manhattan and they can't even fill up Webster Hall... yet. Let's make it happen. The Hold Steady, however, have already sold out ever ... More >>

The Ambitious 'Search and Restore' Jazz Series Goes Wherever the Action Is

Photos: Semi Precious Weapons and Titus Andronicus at Public Assembly

photos by Nate "Igor" Smith Titus Andronicus, Semi Precious Weapons Public Assembly December 31 And this year's winner of bizarrely matched New Year's Eve bills went to Williamsburg's Public Assembly, the North 6th venue that paired blank-versing New Jersey boys Titus Andronicus with shameless ... More >>

New Year's Eve 2009: New York Shows, Continued

SMARTY LONG LEGS

A degree in hotness