Blog post 03
Save the date: November 22 at Le Bain
Charlie here from DJ duo We Take Manhattan. To everyone who came out to our party at Le Bain last Friday, you’re the best. Deep Thrills (all the way from LA) and xJermsx (all the way from BK) crushed it as our guest DJs, and I performed 7 songs live at midnight. Special night. We’ve got another party at Le Bain on Friday, November 22, so save the date.
Music blog time. I caught The Voidz set at Knockdown Center this week. I’ve been listening to the new album a lot lately. Nasa threw a fun afterparty with Piper + Alec on the decks. Clutch to have the afters in the same building as the show. I’m a fan of Knockdown, but I was kind of worried about the whole serial killer thing when I left by myself at almost 2 AM — it’s a truly desolate industrial area, and I had to walk a few extra blocks to reach a station that had any Citi Bikes. But I stumbled upon a 24/7 McDonald’s right next to the dock, a fortuitous find, and increasingly rare in the city for some reason. That double cheeseburger saved my life, figuratively, and maybe literally…
Last week I went to see Hyderdaze at Brooklyn Made. Sarosh and Bryan are friends, but I’m embarrassed to admit this was my first time seeing them live. It definitely won’t be the last — the drummer + singer live format works well, with Bryan’s lead foot holding down the groove while Sarosh struts around. He has a very cool stage presence, then when he does on-stage banter between songs he’s very sweet. It’s an endearing contrast. I hear the lads have some new songs on the way, produced by Jerms. After the set, it seemed like our entire extended friend group somehow got backstage access. Brooklyn Made has the coolest backstage complex I’ve ever seen — multiple floors of green rooms, and then an entire penthouse apartment above, with a wraparound deck and roof with views of the Manhattan skyline. Apparently there used to be an outdoor pool, but a nice dude who works there told me the pool’s heater caught on fire over the summer, so there is currently no pool. A few of us hung out in the apartment during the latter half of the headliner’s set, which was so loud that the whole living room was shaking several floors above the stage, drowning out the upright piano we were playing. New favorite venue, instant classic of an evening.
GEMS
“Citibike” - Blaketheman1000
Gotta start with this one because I’ve been waiting for this song for approximately two years now. Blake was the first person I met in the “scene,” back in spring of ’22. I kind of randomly found myself at a performance of his, took a photo that wound up getting used in Rolling Stone, then he introduced me to his friends, and some of them became my friends. I started going to almost every Blaketheman1000 show — at the time he was performing constantly, free shows that were either at Baby’s All Right or at bizarre non-venue spaces like Skinos (a fancy Greek restaurant) and Cactus Store (a cactus store). I ended up seeing him perform 12 times in 9 months, and I quickly learned all the words to his songs, including several that hadn’t been released. My favorite was “Citibike.” Blake did this thing on TikTok where he tried to perform the song at every Citi Bike dock in Manhattan. I don’t know how far he got toward that goal (25+?), but it was a great bit. Two trips around the sun later, the track is finally out. The music video’s got the Citibikeboyz guy doing stunts, and Blake drinking lots of kombucha.
“Congratulations” - Ren G
Ren G (formerly of the great Club Eat) just released her debut solo mixtape, Miss 24/7. I’ve been listening to the whole thing quite a bit, but my favorite non-single track is this one, produced by Ezra. The playful ’80s synth + drum machine are a really cool contrast with the darker vibe of the rest of the mixtape. I used the song on TikTok and people were asking for the track ID — turns out the album disappeared from streaming a couple days after it came out. Mysterious… Luckily it’s back online now, enjoy.
“Why’s this dealer?” - Niko B
I hadn’t heard of this UK rapper who stage-named himself after a Grand Theft Auto character until now, but apparently he had some viral hits a few years back. This new song popped up on my FYP a few weeks ago — it’s got a throwback house beat and funny lyrics about a guy whose dealer is running super late. The excellent music video commits to the bit, with retro 2000s VFX and a 720p upload.
That’s all for now. See you November 22 at Le Bain. Stay tuned for lineup announcement.
Charlie