Black Lips
Davila 666, Xray Eyeballs, DJ Jonathan Toubin
Sat, October 29, 2011
Doors: 6:00 pm / Show: 7:00 pm
Webster Hall
New York, NY
$20.00
Tickets
This event is 18 and over
http://www.bowerypresents.com/event/60901/
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Black Lips
What do you do when you're sixteen and in deep shit? You’re looking out at the world from the strip-mall and the detention hall, from the basement and the cul-de-sac and it just looks like there is a wall around you. Everybody tells you and your friends that you’re going nowhere, that your lives are already ruined. What the fuck do you do?
You hang around and smash stuff and get high and try to be a bad-ass, that’s what you do. You steal and drink and smash up the car your mom gave you and pull your pee-pee out in public. You work at sandwich shops and fast-food joints and try to screw private school girls because they think your tough and the girls at your school think your gay because you pretended to give your friend a blowjob at the junior prom. You fuck it all up as ugly and as dirty as you can because, why the fuck not?
Your parents and teachers and sandwich-shop supervisors look at you and think, “What happened to the kid? He has all the advantages in the world and he has chucked it all in the shitter. Doesn’t he believe in the inherent goodness of our enlightened society? Doesn’t he believe in any thing at all?”
It is this question, the question of belief, nay, the question of faith, that is the crux of the matter. It is this question that was asked of the Black Lips. And the Black Lips have answered it. They have answered it in their songs and in their actions. They have answered it for every shit-assed, burned-out brat that staggers out of the suburbs. They have answered it resoundingly and continue to answer it.
“Where is their answer?” you may ask. Do those psychedelic swamp guitar drones bear witness to a faith of some kind? Does the quasi-violent sexual comedy of their stage show underscore a deeply held belief system? Does their commingling of Deep South, big-tent revival rhetoric with hoary-throated, drug-haze mumble truly mean anything, to them or to anyone else?
You bet your ass it means something to them. How would they have persevered through all the drudgery and threats of doom if it didn’t mean a goddamn thing to them? Their adversaries have been formidable and numerous, and they have bested them all. Why, even in their earliest days, death itself reared its ugly head to attempt to halt their progress, and was dismissed directly. How, without faith, could the Black Lips have carried their message forth into the four corners of the earth?
And so, on the eve of the release of their fifth album, the faith abides stronger than ever. A host of influences have passed through their gullet and provided the sustenance to keep their faith alive. The dusts of a southern back road and the big-city gutter puke crackle in the grooves of this record as it did in the previous ones. The shouts and moans and static continue to bear witness.
“But faith in what?” the fathers, mayors and captains of industry might continue to ask. Well, if you’ve never been one of those shit-assed brats looking out into a world you were already excluded from, a world that sickened you, but for which there was no alternative, then you may not understand. But, through the eyes of one whom, like them, was a go-nowhere from the get-go, the Black Lips represent the faith that it takes to reject that world of sterile, futile, servile, silliness and forge your own world based on bravery and bad-ass-ness. They have carried to fruition the plan that has been hatched, and will continue to be hatched in the minds of dizzy, dumb and desperate youth the world over. Now they carry their message of faith to the world. FEAR NOT! BE BRAVE AND TAKE HEART! THE WORLD IS YOURS IF YOU ACCEPT THE POWER OF FAITH!!!
(As I record these words a purple and orange fog engulfs the bay below me. The gin gimlets glide down my throat and I ponder the freedom that I, myself, have wrenched from the “enlightened society’ that once oppressed me. It is good and right that we should live free. I know this, the Black Lips know this, and the gulls in the bay below know this. Take this knowledge and go in faith.)
You hang around and smash stuff and get high and try to be a bad-ass, that’s what you do. You steal and drink and smash up the car your mom gave you and pull your pee-pee out in public. You work at sandwich shops and fast-food joints and try to screw private school girls because they think your tough and the girls at your school think your gay because you pretended to give your friend a blowjob at the junior prom. You fuck it all up as ugly and as dirty as you can because, why the fuck not?
Your parents and teachers and sandwich-shop supervisors look at you and think, “What happened to the kid? He has all the advantages in the world and he has chucked it all in the shitter. Doesn’t he believe in the inherent goodness of our enlightened society? Doesn’t he believe in any thing at all?”
It is this question, the question of belief, nay, the question of faith, that is the crux of the matter. It is this question that was asked of the Black Lips. And the Black Lips have answered it. They have answered it in their songs and in their actions. They have answered it for every shit-assed, burned-out brat that staggers out of the suburbs. They have answered it resoundingly and continue to answer it.
“Where is their answer?” you may ask. Do those psychedelic swamp guitar drones bear witness to a faith of some kind? Does the quasi-violent sexual comedy of their stage show underscore a deeply held belief system? Does their commingling of Deep South, big-tent revival rhetoric with hoary-throated, drug-haze mumble truly mean anything, to them or to anyone else?
You bet your ass it means something to them. How would they have persevered through all the drudgery and threats of doom if it didn’t mean a goddamn thing to them? Their adversaries have been formidable and numerous, and they have bested them all. Why, even in their earliest days, death itself reared its ugly head to attempt to halt their progress, and was dismissed directly. How, without faith, could the Black Lips have carried their message forth into the four corners of the earth?
And so, on the eve of the release of their fifth album, the faith abides stronger than ever. A host of influences have passed through their gullet and provided the sustenance to keep their faith alive. The dusts of a southern back road and the big-city gutter puke crackle in the grooves of this record as it did in the previous ones. The shouts and moans and static continue to bear witness.
“But faith in what?” the fathers, mayors and captains of industry might continue to ask. Well, if you’ve never been one of those shit-assed brats looking out into a world you were already excluded from, a world that sickened you, but for which there was no alternative, then you may not understand. But, through the eyes of one whom, like them, was a go-nowhere from the get-go, the Black Lips represent the faith that it takes to reject that world of sterile, futile, servile, silliness and forge your own world based on bravery and bad-ass-ness. They have carried to fruition the plan that has been hatched, and will continue to be hatched in the minds of dizzy, dumb and desperate youth the world over. Now they carry their message of faith to the world. FEAR NOT! BE BRAVE AND TAKE HEART! THE WORLD IS YOURS IF YOU ACCEPT THE POWER OF FAITH!!!
(As I record these words a purple and orange fog engulfs the bay below me. The gin gimlets glide down my throat and I ponder the freedom that I, myself, have wrenched from the “enlightened society’ that once oppressed me. It is good and right that we should live free. I know this, the Black Lips know this, and the gulls in the bay below know this. Take this knowledge and go in faith.)
Davila 666
Describing themselves as like "Menudo on drugs," San Juan, Puerto Rico's Davila 666 combine Stooges-like garage rock fire with the occasional sugary pop melody. The seven -- not six, surprisingly -- Davilas include singer/tambourine player Sir Charles, multi-instrumentalist AJ, guitarists/vocalists Miss Davila and Johnny Otis, drummer/guitarist/vocalist San Pablo, percussionist/vocalist Panda, and guitarist/drummer/vocalist Gigi. Their theatrical live show -- which includes themes, props, costumes, and dancers -- won them fans in the States when they toured with the Black Lips and the King Khan & BBQ Show. Davila 666's self-titled U.S. debut was released in summer 2008 via In the Red Records. ~ Heather Phares, All Music Guide
Xray Eyeballs
Xray Eyeballs began as the brainchild of guitarist O.J. San Felipe and bassist Carly Rabalais, who, after founding Brooklyn garage-rock juggernaut Golden Triangle (Hardly Art), sought a release that would sate both their sweet-toothed desires and their darker impulses, like a candy-coated Vicodin. Like their musical antecedents The Jesus and Mary Chain and The Velvet Underground, Xray Eyeballs creates a world of their own. Low-lifes, night-walkers, pill-riders, and other sordid characters stalk the band’s New York City streets and their songs compel you to follow them until you find the peace of a night redeemed in the morning light.
On “Splendor Squalor,” Xray Eyeballs’ second full-length on Kanine Records, refracted rays of that redemptive light shine through the band's eerie musical haze. The band evolves to more sophisticated songwriting and adventurous arrangement, while retaining the spark and energy of their raw early material, a progression that recalls Wire's "154" and The Cure's "Pornography." The addition of Sarah Baldwin (The Girls at Dawn, Fergus & Geronimo) on drums and Liz Lohse (Heaven, Runaway Suns) on guitar and synths expands the band's sonic possibilities with lush vocal harmonies, unique musical counterpoints and inspired songwriting contributions. Xray Eyeballs' new lineup deftly maneuvers from unctuous drones to punk rave-ups and new-wave bangers with a confidence and melodic sensibility that illuminates the splendor in the squalor.
The needle drops on “Four” and you find yourself enthused with the will to cross the dance floor and talk to that crush your friends warned you about. “I’m feeling alright,” San Felipe sings. You believe him and feel alright, too. The bass throbs with Factory-style control as “X” sends you oscillating wildly in a lovers’ power struggle: "I control you/ You control me." It’s 6 AM and you’re sitting on a couch between two guys who either wish they were Lou Reed and Alan Vega or actually are Lou Reed and Alan Vega. You shouldn’t have taken that last anything of anything. “Syrup,” featuring Christiana Key (Cult of Youth, Zola Jesus) on violin, wafts into the room and suddenly that time between last call and pancakes make sense.
Xray Eyeballs fully realizes their vision of "Splendor Squalor" live: skater kids donning the band’s signature “Ghost Girl” t-shirt bounce off the walls; the oldest punks in the world reluctantly acknowledge the validity of something new; hands typically stuffed in the pockets of skin-tight jeans wave in the air like they just don’t care; record nerds dance as if nobody’s blogging; goths smile. The band's undeniable energy brings the shadows in the darkness to life. These creatures bear witness to San Felipe’s blatant disregard for his physical well-being as the enraptured frontman, refusing to acknowledge the limitations of both stage and gravity, bounds recklessly around the crowd and dangles perilously from the ceiling, a provocation for the audience to match the band’s enthusiasm. Driven to seduce as many as possible into their world, Xray Eyeballs have toured across the country numerous times on their own, consistently delivering the show everyone will be talking about the next day.
“
On “Splendor Squalor,” Xray Eyeballs’ second full-length on Kanine Records, refracted rays of that redemptive light shine through the band's eerie musical haze. The band evolves to more sophisticated songwriting and adventurous arrangement, while retaining the spark and energy of their raw early material, a progression that recalls Wire's "154" and The Cure's "Pornography." The addition of Sarah Baldwin (The Girls at Dawn, Fergus & Geronimo) on drums and Liz Lohse (Heaven, Runaway Suns) on guitar and synths expands the band's sonic possibilities with lush vocal harmonies, unique musical counterpoints and inspired songwriting contributions. Xray Eyeballs' new lineup deftly maneuvers from unctuous drones to punk rave-ups and new-wave bangers with a confidence and melodic sensibility that illuminates the splendor in the squalor.
The needle drops on “Four” and you find yourself enthused with the will to cross the dance floor and talk to that crush your friends warned you about. “I’m feeling alright,” San Felipe sings. You believe him and feel alright, too. The bass throbs with Factory-style control as “X” sends you oscillating wildly in a lovers’ power struggle: "I control you/ You control me." It’s 6 AM and you’re sitting on a couch between two guys who either wish they were Lou Reed and Alan Vega or actually are Lou Reed and Alan Vega. You shouldn’t have taken that last anything of anything. “Syrup,” featuring Christiana Key (Cult of Youth, Zola Jesus) on violin, wafts into the room and suddenly that time between last call and pancakes make sense.
Xray Eyeballs fully realizes their vision of "Splendor Squalor" live: skater kids donning the band’s signature “Ghost Girl” t-shirt bounce off the walls; the oldest punks in the world reluctantly acknowledge the validity of something new; hands typically stuffed in the pockets of skin-tight jeans wave in the air like they just don’t care; record nerds dance as if nobody’s blogging; goths smile. The band's undeniable energy brings the shadows in the darkness to life. These creatures bear witness to San Felipe’s blatant disregard for his physical well-being as the enraptured frontman, refusing to acknowledge the limitations of both stage and gravity, bounds recklessly around the crowd and dangles perilously from the ceiling, a provocation for the audience to match the band’s enthusiasm. Driven to seduce as many as possible into their world, Xray Eyeballs have toured across the country numerous times on their own, consistently delivering the show everyone will be talking about the next day.
“
DJ Jonathan Toubin
New York Night Train’s POP NIGHT:
DJ JONATHAN TOUBIN plays songs you know – one night only
Jonathan Toubin (Soul Clap & Dance-Off, etc.), known worldwide for perfecting the science of making masses get down to the most obscure 45rpm recordings, plays the hits for one night only. This is not an April Fools, an ironic art project, or an old-fashioned sell-out. The DJ is serious. He put this night together because he has come to understand something you may have never thought about…
YOU PROBABLY HAVE NEVER HEARD YOUR FAVORITE RECORDS! For real! Teams of specialists recorded, mastered, and pressed songs to sound amazing with painstaking deliberateness. Over the years these original 45s have been remastered for CD, mp3, and even record – losing their rich dynamic qualities and becoming another animal entirely – sounding nothing like what the artists’, producers’, and engineers’ original intentions. But tonight you have an opportunity to dance to your favorite tracks in their purest state – the original mix undigitized and uncompressed. This is not audiophile mumbo jumbo - you are not likely to recover from hearing your favorite songs on the ultimate sonic medium through Bowery Ballroom’s first-class sound system. And like good wine, you won’t go back to the bad stuff once you’ve had a taste.
Jonathan Toubin has made a career out of playing atypical musical selections because his goal has been to give you a unique life-changing nightlife experience. He spends all of his time and money pursuing 45rpm records because the warm tone, wide dynamic range, big drums, and fleshy presence make the 1960s 7-inches Jonathan Toubin’s favorite audio format of all time. By playing a familiar Motown hit or a Beatles anthem on the original 45 instead of the usual high quality obscurities, Toubin wants his dancers to recognize the sonic difference from the mediums they are accustomed to - and hear and feel their favorite classics as never before.
This is an unprecedented opportunity to witness America’s most prominent 45 DJ (and America’s most popular soul party DJ) playing the hits. This is also Jonathan Toubin’s first 18+ dance party since his Lincoln Center Midsummer Night’s Swing silent disco nearly a year ago. And get ready to experience the excellent visuals, go go dancers, guest DJs, and other surprises you’ve grown accustomed to in a New York Night Train parties!
Wait ‘til you hear the original “Honky Tonk Woman” or “The Clapping Song” on 45! You will NEVER go back!
"DJ Jonathan Toubin is creating his own kind of dance revolution" (Village Voice, 2011)
"The most-liked man in the soul music scene" (Rolling Stone, 2012)
"Jonathan Toubin is the only person we can call a "professional DJ" without involuntarily making a jack-off motion with our hand... His parties are like what Ancient Stonehenge was like if it was, as archaeologists theorize, filled with people dressed many times better than you completely losing their shit." (VICE, 2010)
"A legend among Lower East Side entertainers and fans" (ABC News, 2012)
"To friends and fans, Mr. Toubin is the man behind New York Night Train, whose musical arsenal is made up of lesser-known artists from the 1950s and 1960s, captured on 45 r.p.m. records." (NY Times , 2012)
"New York Night Train's Jonathan Toubin throws the raddest underground rock parties in New York" (Paper Magazine, 2008)
"The best soul DJ in the land" (Flavorpill, 2013)
DJ JONATHAN TOUBIN plays songs you know – one night only
Jonathan Toubin (Soul Clap & Dance-Off, etc.), known worldwide for perfecting the science of making masses get down to the most obscure 45rpm recordings, plays the hits for one night only. This is not an April Fools, an ironic art project, or an old-fashioned sell-out. The DJ is serious. He put this night together because he has come to understand something you may have never thought about…
YOU PROBABLY HAVE NEVER HEARD YOUR FAVORITE RECORDS! For real! Teams of specialists recorded, mastered, and pressed songs to sound amazing with painstaking deliberateness. Over the years these original 45s have been remastered for CD, mp3, and even record – losing their rich dynamic qualities and becoming another animal entirely – sounding nothing like what the artists’, producers’, and engineers’ original intentions. But tonight you have an opportunity to dance to your favorite tracks in their purest state – the original mix undigitized and uncompressed. This is not audiophile mumbo jumbo - you are not likely to recover from hearing your favorite songs on the ultimate sonic medium through Bowery Ballroom’s first-class sound system. And like good wine, you won’t go back to the bad stuff once you’ve had a taste.
Jonathan Toubin has made a career out of playing atypical musical selections because his goal has been to give you a unique life-changing nightlife experience. He spends all of his time and money pursuing 45rpm records because the warm tone, wide dynamic range, big drums, and fleshy presence make the 1960s 7-inches Jonathan Toubin’s favorite audio format of all time. By playing a familiar Motown hit or a Beatles anthem on the original 45 instead of the usual high quality obscurities, Toubin wants his dancers to recognize the sonic difference from the mediums they are accustomed to - and hear and feel their favorite classics as never before.
This is an unprecedented opportunity to witness America’s most prominent 45 DJ (and America’s most popular soul party DJ) playing the hits. This is also Jonathan Toubin’s first 18+ dance party since his Lincoln Center Midsummer Night’s Swing silent disco nearly a year ago. And get ready to experience the excellent visuals, go go dancers, guest DJs, and other surprises you’ve grown accustomed to in a New York Night Train parties!
Wait ‘til you hear the original “Honky Tonk Woman” or “The Clapping Song” on 45! You will NEVER go back!
"DJ Jonathan Toubin is creating his own kind of dance revolution" (Village Voice, 2011)
"The most-liked man in the soul music scene" (Rolling Stone, 2012)
"Jonathan Toubin is the only person we can call a "professional DJ" without involuntarily making a jack-off motion with our hand... His parties are like what Ancient Stonehenge was like if it was, as archaeologists theorize, filled with people dressed many times better than you completely losing their shit." (VICE, 2010)
"A legend among Lower East Side entertainers and fans" (ABC News, 2012)
"To friends and fans, Mr. Toubin is the man behind New York Night Train, whose musical arsenal is made up of lesser-known artists from the 1950s and 1960s, captured on 45 r.p.m. records." (NY Times , 2012)
"New York Night Train's Jonathan Toubin throws the raddest underground rock parties in New York" (Paper Magazine, 2008)
"The best soul DJ in the land" (Flavorpill, 2013)
