A few days back, Lil Kids hit us with their new album “to collect digital dust” as frontman Adam Kane said via Facebook. It was titled- Dead Ass. Here’s the video of the first track, ‘Overloaded’. It’s exactly what I’ve come to ecpect from them; completely silly. @Dingusonmusic
Dead Ass by Lil Kids (Brooklyn, New York) *
Brooklyn rap conman Adam Kane and production prodigy Nick Adams are back again, this time- with a new sound for Dead Ass. It’s a rap album that samples (and often uses live recorded) rock elements flawlessly, without sounding forced, without sounding like a gimmick. At least half of these tracks you’ve heard live if you’ve been existing in the Brooklyn DIY sphere, especially if you’ve been attending our shows. Lil Kids does it again, and I know what I’m riding the subway to for the next few weeks. [Free Download] @Dingusonmusic
Posted in A: Dingus, C: Free Music, C: Staff Favorites, T: LP/EP
Tagged Adam Kane, Brooklyn, dead ass, lil kids, New York, nick adams
On April 19th we had an epic show over on our home turf at Freecandy. The line up was composed of The Gradients, Lil Kids, Napoleon, Ghost Pal and Happy Lives. 1.21 Gigawatts, one of Brooklyn’s most grassroots publications, organized a fine arts show for the gallery space and all was swell. Traditionally, we got fucked up and had an amazing time. Thank got nobody got knocked out this time. Emotions run high. And now for some photos from Adhat Campos. @Dingusonmusic
The latest social media blast from Adam Kane aka Lil Kids aka The Klumps came in the form of an Instagram blast. The Brooklyn rapper did a series of ink on paper drawings that I would gladly hang in my hallway. Enough talk, here they are (WHAT WHITE PEOPLE LIKE TO EAT, MAKE YOUR OWN VAGINA KIT, CHIMICHANGA THE CHOADE, WHAT DOES A GIRL WANT?) @Dingusonmusic
If you live in New York, you’ve been to our shows. If you’ve been to our shows, you know Adam Kane aka Lil Kids aka the Nutty Professor (I made that one up). Well, the other night he got drunk (or so it would seem) and posted a whole bunch of vine videos- which have been regarded by some as high modern art. To see em all (and to continue the entertainment), check back on his twitter account. Gallery owners, get out your check book- he doesn’t come cheap. @Dingusonmusic
Today I sit here. It is noon. Sasha Geffen is landing from Chicago and Freecandy is gearing up. In twelve hours- with a joint in hand, I will turn twenty four. Today, tonight we re-invent events. We bring back the Blue Blood and Fresh Arrest records for those who missed the early days. The days when a man asked not what his band could do for him, but what he could do for his band. But least important of all is the fact that I’ve been putting one foot in front of the other for twenty four short years. Short they are, when you do what you love- and goddamn do I love Dingus and all it stands for in audio culture.
God Save MCFK by Ghost Pal (Brooklyn, New York) *
Tonight we pay our respects to some of the greats- pioneers; talent filled faces that pour their hearts into your earbuds so that morning commute, that long drive, that dark night is consoled. God Save MCFK. God save us all. This one’s for the bands busting out new material: The Gradients, Ghost Pal, Happy Lives, Lil Kids, & Napoleon. Some of my best friends, some of my best enemies- all drunk tonight, together, for the start of something new.
Now a toast. To a year and a half of bare knuckle boxing in preparation for the title fight. To the music we grew up with, the music we challenge. We’re here to represent you and your heart- so send us your songs. [Facebook Event/RSVP] @Dingusonmusic
WELCOME BACK. YES. WELCOME BACK. EVERY WEEK WE’VE GOT AN M.V.P. BECAUSE WITH HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF SELF RELEASED PROJECTS IN THE COSMOS HOW CAN WE NOT TAKE TIME EACH TUESDAY TO FILL YOU IN ON ONE OF OUR FAVORITE ARTIST’S EMBRYONIC CAREER. THIS WEEK IT’S ADAM KANE AKA LIL KIDS AKA THE DOOR GUY AT MUCHMORE’S WHO HELPS ME CLEAN UP THE BAR AFTER YOU GUYS TRASH IT. YEAH HE RAPS.
I’d love to make up a number so I will. It was a year and two months ago that I was sitting in a mutual friends apartment when this white kid came up to me and said he rapped. Considering the television personality packed deep inside, I figured I’d at least listen when usually I would just laugh- on the inside of course; but that’s what you do when you write Dingus, listen: always. And- well, fuck.
No, no, no- FUCK.
I heard Beck. I heard Cypress. And that’s all fantastic but I heard modern poetry, no matter how lame that sounds. If you watched MST3K when you were a kid than you’ll know I’m right when I tell you that the vast majority of hip-hop is an album with wrapped around one hook buffered by a whole bunch of foam peanuts (it’s those club lines). But that isn’t Adam Kane, and for him to ignore that mentality is not something that requires a whole lot of effort; the kid’s a natural with the English language. Spoken, he comes as a puzzle worth unlocking; every sentence filled in with black and red depth. Get him stoned and you just bypassed any literature class you could drop tuition on. Every line, every word is spoken poetry- you just might not get it. You’re either old or stupid.
Slow Rainbow cut through hard and ‘Nobodies‘ hit Hypem at number one for four days before it was ripped down because Childish Gambino desperately needs that slot to convince fifteen year olds that he’s cool. Working along with producer L0pat0, Kane fit like blood. With an instrumental intermission to demonstrate dynamism, Lil Kids put out mixtape number one- and it was a mind fuck, a validation to everything this blog ever worked toward and believed in.
Young Hercules certainly got the attention that it deserved and while traditionally a sophomore release deserves the harsher treatment, Lil Kids took what they did raw and polished it perfectly allowing nothing bur praise. It isn’t till ‘Microwave‘ that you’ll find yourself something radio friendly- I did just write radio, holy shit. Landing and interview with…. Interview proved how useless a magazine like Interview is when you have to actually look at a numbers. Oh, it’s fucking cool, but does is speak to the people, fuck no- you better be a pretentious prick to have read that whole thing. So here we were, Lil Kids, Dingus, Young Hercules and you know what mattered. The album was amazing right down to ‘Bubble Wand‘.
Enter the Snake Records- a label in digital transition. Enter ‘Swiss Cheese‘- A single that marks transition. Enter drunken rumors of a new mixtape. Enter rumors of original instrumentation.
Lil Kids has already proven their worth. Not to follow them forward would be… well, just go live on Long Island. @Dingusonmusic
Posted in A: Dingus, WC: DIYMVP
Tagged Adam Kane, d.i.y.m.v.p., diymvp, lil kids, slow rainbow, swiss cheese, young hercules
HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE! MY NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS INCLUDE TO BRANCH OUT BEYOND SMALL INDIE RAWK, PUNK RAWK SHOWS TO GIVE YOU A BROADER TASTE OF THE NYC DIY WORLD, TO PARTY HARDER, AND TO HAVE LESS TYPOS.
On Friday 1/4 I went to the Astro Nautico party at Free Candy. This party was made by how awesome of a venue Free Candy is. It’s a former parking garage decked out in neon paint, street art, and a separate room for framed art, with the current exhibition including large paintings of laser guns, splattered blood and ’80s-ish caricatures of Barack and Michelle Obama. Mainly bass-heavy electronic music was spun by Obey City, Paul Jones, Michael Jukeson, Chits, Time Wharp, Howse, The Range, and other special guests along with huge 20′ x 12′ video projections.
I didn’t get there until around midnight so I’m not sure what DJ was on, but it didn’t really matter. I was more in the people watching mode rather than partying mode, so I had a good time due to all the interesting characters who came out. The majority of the party was comprised of goofy college kids dancing, but there was also some goth kids, boys in skirts, and some seemingly local Brooklyn kids. When I arrived I went into the bathroom and overheard a conversation between two women, one reading her baby daddy’s text messages to another, followed by her telling me never to have a baby with an idiot (“but don’t get me wrong, I have an awesome kid!”), because then you’ll be stuck with him for the rest of your life. Good advice, ladies!
Astro Nautico has some cool merch you can check out here.
Saturday night (1/5) I caught hip hop kids, Tron! & DVD at The Bitter End. When you think about The Bitter End, “DIY” isn’t the first thing that comes to mind. Thoughts like “omg I have to go to fucking Bleecker Street?!” “Wait, I have to pay the cover and get roped into a 2 drink minimum if I try to sit down?” and “If any fucking foreign people try to feel my tits tonight I’m going to throw my unnecessarily spiky boot heel at their throat” are more common. But it was Tron! & DVD’s first NYC headlining gig, an act that has opened for K.Flay and Ghostface Killah, among many others. All their shows they book and promote themselves, so for this one night, The Bitter End really had DIY at heart.
As for their performance, they managed to turn a has-been, sit down, touristy type Manhattan venue into a real hip hop party. They’re 2 rapper brothers + DJ Munderville who are from upstate NY, in a neighborhood where squirrels apparently steal car keys. They were super personable, energetic, and entertaining: Tron! went and sat down at one of the tables and rapped to a couple girls sitting down, Tron! & DVD were asked to sign an autograph during their set, their DJ somehow jumped 10 feet high in the air, and at the end of the set Tron! bench pressed the mic stand mid song while DVD spotted him. It was something else. Catch Tron! & DVD with Lil Kids and Charlie Sima at Legion Bar Thursday, 1/24!
Previews—————————————————
Tomorrow night, Wednesday (1/9), at Big Snow Buffalo Lodge is Advaeta, Kal Marks, Tom Blacklung and The Smokestacks, and Chat Logs. Doors @ 8pm. $7.
At Spike Hill on Thursday (1/10) there “will be only bands that actually kick ass, no questions,” according to Dan from Flagland. These bands are Vulture Shit, Lunchbox, and Flagland. It’s FREE! I’m really glad it’s an early show too (first band’s set is @ 8:30), so on Friday I can wake up early to smell some roses and watch some birds.
If you’re not feeling 2013 just yet, head over to Legion Bar Thursday for “What’s My Age Again? AGAIN,” where 1.21 Gigawatts and DJ Whyte Ka$tle will bring you back to our earlier days of Emo, Pop Punk, and Screamo. This week’s Guest DJ is BROKEN PROMISES. It’s FREE and you can even make requests on their Facebook event page!!
There’s also a Thursday post-punk banger at Big Snow Buffalo Lodge with Grooms, Heaven’s Gate, The Numerators, EULA and Bennio Qwerty. DJ Jason Sigal from WFMU’s Talk’s Cheap/Lame Drivers/Home Blitz will also be there. Doors @ 8pm. $7.
At Death By Audio Friday 1/11 is Parquet Courts, PC Worship, Household, Gal Pals and Priests. All Ages. Doors @ 8PM. $7.
Also on Friday, around the corner at Glasslands Gallery is Emil & Friends, Neighbors, and Silent Rider for $10.
Bandshell Presents: Sparxx, Mind Dynamic, PVre Matric, Spirit Guide, and GLA22 at 285 Kent on Saturday (1/12). Sparxx is on a roll playing great shows lately, expect a lot of glitter!
Also on Saturday, The Deliquency is presenting a show at Living Bread Deli with The Yellow Dogs, Shark?, EULA, The Denzels, and Radical Dads. It’s $10 with FREE Narragansett BEER. 8pm.
On Sunday is a Sugar Mama Bk Presents showcase with Sharkmuffin, Lunchbox, Sic Tic and Vivienne Eastwood at Big Snow Buffalo Lodge. Doors at 8pm. $7. Sharkmuffin just released their second single, the b-side to their upcoming 7″ check it out below…@Sugarmamabk
Posted in A: Thiessen, WC: Ragers & Rock Shows
Tagged 1.21 Gigawatts, Advaeta, Astro Nautico, Bandshell Presents, Bennio Qwerty, Big Snow Buffalo Lodge, Charlie Sima, Chat Logs, Chits, Death By Audio, DJ Whyte Ka$tle, Emil & Friends, EULA, flagland, Free Candy, Gal Pals, GLA22, Glasslands Gallery, Grooms, Heaven's Gate, household, Howse, Kal Marks, lil kids, Living Bread Deli, Lunchbox, Michael Jukeson, Mind Dynamic, Neighbors, Obey City, Parquet Courts, Paul Jones, PC Worship, Priests, PVre MatricSpirit Guide, Radical Dads, Shark?, Sharkmuffin, sic tic, Silend Rider, Sparxx, Spike Hill, sugar mama bk, The Bitter End, The Deliquency, The Denzels, The Numerators, The Range, the Smokestacks, The Yellow Dogs, Time Wharp, Tom Blacklung, Tron! & DVD, Vivienne Eastwood, Vulture Shit
Monday (10/15) Yellow Dogs, The Immaculates and Habibi were at Brooklyn Bowl. Yellow Dogs are the most band-of-thieves looking Iranian bunch. Their sound is very refreshing and reminds me of a bunch of poppy post-punk band from the UK I listened to when I was in middle school in the early 2000s. The boys of The Immaculates were looking sharp as usual, and I didn’t actually see Habibi, except for one of their members face-down asleep in the green room earlier in the evening. Hope she’s doing better now…
CMJ felt like any other week to me honestly, except it was more socially acceptable for me start drinking before 5PM. On Tuesday I went to pick up my badge, since I managed to get my shitty punk band, Sharkmuffin, a showcase at Muchmore’s. My badges only use the entire week seemed to be to get a ton of picture likes on Facebook and the ability to pretend I was still an NYU student hanging out in the Kimmel Center. I saw a decent panel Tuesday on the state of DIY music that included Krissy Krissy as a speaker. I don’t want to knock her as a DIY musician or anything, but her story basically was that some popular rapper’s former manager discovered her in a karaoke bar in Bushwick, and now she has a video on MTV. Her point though was that this wasn’t her first album she’s recorded, it was her 9th, so she did work her ass off for it, and it is a self-released album. But it still apparently takes a lot of luck and a manager with a lot of connections to get on MTV as a ‘DIY artist’.
I didn’t catch any shows Tuesday, but I went to an all night keg party at 285 Kent and then ended up at The Commodore playing the Gilligan’s Island pinball machine til 4. There’s free pinball at The Commodore everyone.
I woke up Wednesday (10/17) and decided to go to Webster Hall thinking that The Denzels were playing at 4:30 at the Surprise Attack showcase in The Marlin Room, but I misread the band name and ended up seeing The Danvilles. This turned out to be a wonderful mistake. They were a great southern rock band that did a great cover of a cramps song and inspired me to immediately go buy some bourbon that I carried around in an iced coffee cup for the rest of the evening.
After that I went to the Camper’s Rule showcase at Muchmore’s with Sharkmuffin, Indian Rebound, Quiet Loudly, Backwords, and Gunfight! It goes without saying that my shitty punk band, Sharkmuffin, was awesome. I was glad to hear that the boys in Indian Rebound are teenagers because they kept fucking with me like they were teenagers. They’re sweet kids though and they write good poppy music that also reminds me of early 2000s pop post-punk from the UK like Yellow Dogs. Is that a thing now or something? I missed Quiet Loudly, Backwords, and Gunfight! because I went back to my apartment to get more of my bourbon to share with someone who I now know was most likely underage. Lol, oops.
On Thursday afternoon (10/18) before I saw Popstrangers at Cameo Gallery, and Backwords, Spanish Prisoners, and The Denzels at Legion Bar, I had a lovely brunch with Miss Leah Lovecat at Egg. We drew on the table and drank mimosas. All the way from New Zealand, Popstrangers killed it with their noise grunge pop. I was really into their catchy bass lines. Then I saw Backwords for real at Legion Bar. They seemed like a very happy band that had a lot of fun psychedelic trips together at summer camp. I missed most of Spanish Prisoners because I was off getting chex mix, but they have a track called guitar dream, which is pretty sweet. The Denzels were great. I love bands with bigger-than-your-average-boney-hipster scruffy men with mustaches and telecasters. I really enjoyed their lead guitar lines and their death by audio fuzz war pedal.
On Friday (10/18) I saw J. Rambo’s unofficial CMJ showcase at Cheap Storage with King Tuff, Total Slacker, Habibi, Royal Baths, and Turnip King. I feel like Cheap Storage is cursed, because all of my friends’ multiple current and ex-lovers seem to flock there and create this weird vibe by awkwardly running into each other in all the awkward crevices that this place contains. It also has a really charming piss staircase in the left corner of the roof.
Turnip King opened the show. The guitarist on the left side of the stage had a really cool pick guard design & the dream catcher hanging off his telecaster. They have a good balance of ethereal loose reverbed-out songs and more basic pop structured ones. Royal Baths was my favorite band I saw all week. I think I drunk texted everyone I know about how good they were. I haven’t seen them since Leslie (formerly of the band Friends) joined the band. The attitude of her voice and her facial expressions were perfectly sexily off-putting. I usually don’t like making other band comparisons but they’re sort of like if The Velvet Underground and The White Stripes had a baby or if Jack White & Alison Mosshart’s band The Dead Weather was more psych influenced. I was kind of creepily turned on the whole time. Habibi was cool, the girl I saw sleeping earlier in the week was alright if you were wondering. This was Total Slacker’s first show since their drummer, Terence Connor sadly passed away October 1st. Ross Condor, their original drummer took over. Their 2nd guitarist, Tassy, has the best head movements and dance moves. Their bassist Emily had an awesome leather skirt. By the time King Tuff started Cheap Storage was hot, stuffy, and really sweaty, so I sang along on the roof for a few of their songs. The crowed and the pit were crazy and like this one headline stated it proved “sketchy Brooklyn venues are the place to be.”
Saturday (10/20) at Muchmore’s was The Dingus/TheSnake showcase. My favorites were Flora & Lil Kids. Flora came all the way from Israel and took an awesome picture of me on the couch. Lil Kids projected erotic images onto the celing and were the most energetic project I saw all week. @SugarMamaBK
Posted in A: Thiessen, WC: Ragers & Rock Shows
Tagged 285 kent, Backwords, Brooklyn Bowl, cameo gallery, Flora, gunfight, Habibi, indian rebound, King Tuff, Krissy Krissy, lil kids, muchmore's, Popstrangers, Quiet Loudly, Royal Baths, Sharkmuffin, Spanish Prisoners, The Commodore, The Danvilles, The Denzels, The Immaculates, Total Slacker, Turnip King, webster hall, Yellow Dogs
You see, the single greatest thing about the DIY scene, well at least one of the greatest things about it, is the unrelenting relationship between the artist and the fan. Lil Kids’ latest video ‘Poison Control’ is testament to the personal nature deep inside- simply put, it’s lyricist and poet Adam Kane and you, one on one for a solid three minutes. Where as the musicians you grew up loving years ago made every attempt to exist within a social sphere that, clearly, you were never meant to be a part of, the musicians of this movement make every attempt to demonstrate that they are you, always were and always will be. Lil Kids emits this compassionate sentiment as the semantics, irregardless of their probable vulgarity, welcome you with open arms and a lit blunt. @Dingusonmusic
