Tonight! In a Brooklyn near you.

An event formally held at Union Hall: The Union Hall Secret Science Club.

Outgrowning the people under the stairs vibe at Union Hall, the SSC is now held near the river Gowanus at The Bell House. Tonight's topic : your brain! Let's find out how it remembers stuff, what drugs to take to remember stuff better and what's up with those lab mice? Starts at 7.30pm and costs zero dollars.



Here is a topical episode from my favorite radio program ever. It's called Radio Lab ~ So listen to it and come feeling all smarter than everyone else and shit. Don't forget.


*Radio Lab episodes from all 5 seasons ~ plus extra podcast features ~ are here.

Artist of the Day

Stephin Fucking Merritt. I'm pretty sure that's actually his middle name. Or at least how I envision how he introduces himself to people.

With not only the most distinctive voice, but one of my truly favorites, Stephin Fucking Merritt holds a big middle finger to leisure time. He's created and played significant roles in these bands:

• The Magnetic Fields
• The 6ths
• The Gothic Archies
• Future Bible Heroes

They can all be found under Stephin's House of Tomorrow umbrella.

* Not an official MF video, but I think it was put together well and I like that song*

He has also collaborated with children's book writer Daniel Handler, more familiarly known as Lemony Snicket and his series of unfortunate events. Under the name The Baudelaire Memorial Orchestre, Merritt wrote the soundtrack for the Tragic Treasury audio book.



Merritt recently scored the music and wrote the lyrics to Coraline the musical which opened May 7th at the MCC Theatre in NYC. And, yes, that Coraline with the rad 3-D that's probably still in a theatre near you. This stage adaptation has been in the works for over five years but has been all caught up in movie legal strife. Well, now it's playing, but only til June 20th. Here, the talents behind the curtain talk:

Animal Collective; live and in your livingroom. Tonite!

They will be playing music at the 930 Club in Washington DC tonight and NPR is there to webcast the performance in its entirety.

It starts at 10pm EST. Learn more.

Come on in. The water's fine.

And in case you're home on Friday night, click on over to Last Call. The Friendly Fires will be there for you.

Found of the day

This found is fantastic. They share what others have not meant for you, or them.

Check out the tour page for an event near you. There were two in NY this week but I didn't find out until today. Don't let it happen to you.

And, yes. There is a dirty version.

Olof of the day

Another Icelandic gem, Olof Arnalds played last night at Sycamore. This is a great spot of a venue. It's like a wooden ye olden times candle-lit thing. It's great. Seats about 35. You should go to that.

Olof sings Icelandic folk. She has a wonderful voice and also performs in the crazy good Icelandic troupe Mum. It seems that everything is good that comes out of Iceland. If only they could export their economy.

the artist as critic

The Hour of Bewilderbeast will be celebrating it's ninth anniversary this June. It's a just-push-play album, and those are my favorites.

The guy is British singer/songwriter Damon Gough. He goes by the stagename Badly Drawn Boy and the namesake is illustrated at right. That is Sam, and he's the main character from a British cartoon from the 1970's. But if you follow that link and scroll to the bottom, you will see that Gough could have really been a number of badly drawn peoples (Arkwright the Horse, particularly). But the boy will do just fine.

The Pains.

You should know and go see this band. I'm not the only one who thinks so.

THE PAINS OF BEING PURE AT HEART

Start with Stay Alive... and then go see them at Bowery Ballroom on May 12th. And I know it's alrready sold out.

new to you of the day

pow wow!
Well, these guys are pretty stripped down and dirty. And I like it. I have read references to Velvet Underground, but it seems like every band the light touches these days gets that nod. So i won't. Go for the Indian headresses and band name. Let's keep it superficial here.

Darlings

This four-piece is going to fit right in with the aforementioned on Thursday night at Glasslands ~ quite unpolished and loud. Like a rock hitting the bottom of a canyon. But with vocals and guitars and such.

The Beets

I think they recorded this in my bathroom. From my living room. Having a record release party at Bruar Falls on Saturday, May 9th.

More information on these new and other new bands in NYC ~ although they might as well just say NEW BROOKLYN bands, who lives in Manhattan? or Queens? ~ can be found in the latest L Mag. Pick one up on the corner on your way back to Brooklyn. Aw, crap. The Beets live in Queens. Whatever. All their shows are in BK.

Fever Ray

Fever Ray is Karin DreijerAndersson of The Knife.

The Knife is the aforementioned Karin and her brother and/or husband Olof Dreijer. There is an air of confusion, due mainly to lack of interviews granted by the Swedish duo, of their true relationship ~ I think it's now confirmed they're siblings ~ These are a bit dated Knife tracks, but the Fever Ray album was just released in March and if you have the chance to see them perform, do eet. They have a knack for the smoke and mirrors. And rad neon glow.

A Secret?

If you've never, you really should...

really check out the origins of this and many a more video from LA BLOGO. I may loose your frequency but Vincent Moon shoots the best bands in the best places ~ live and with the people. I picked Menomena on a whim, but be prepared to spend many many many an unadulterated and blissful hour here. See you laters.

Cinco de of the Day

Don't get me wrong, Hanna Barbara is okay and everything, but Warner Bros. did it the bestesterest. Mel Blanc and Friz Freleng are the kings of cartoons. The End.

Err, let me go on to say that Slo Poke Rodriguez is my favoritest character. He's lethargic as shit but when it's time to fuck with the gato, bingo.

SPEEDE GONZÁLEZ - MEXICAN BOARDERS
Uploaded by SUMMUMDESIDERATUM

Brooklyn Film Scene. So be seeing it.

Presented by Brooklyn Arts Council and curated by the Deirdre Corley.

Tonight May 5th @ Galapagos Art Space in DUMBO...

7pm: Brooklyn, and the issues you need to be should knowing.

"... a trio of short docs about issues facing Brooklynites. They touch on the subprime mortgage crisis in East New York, the displacement of residents due to the still unbuilt Brooklyn Yards project, and the firing of the principal of the Kahlil Gibran Arabic School. You know, things you should probably maybe care about but don't. Yet."

9pm: Crossing Borders: Flying on One Engine

"... about the fastest surgeon in the world. Each year he performs hundreds of surgeries on deformed children in India. He happens to live in Brooklyn, and hes also a really crazy interesting character. Seriously, its much funnier movie than it sounds. The film went to SXSW and a couple of other big festivals to good reviews, check it out on the big screen while you can. Its preceeded by a film called Sanza Hanza which is about insane train surfing kids in South Africa. Its beautiful and terrifying and you should come see it."

Wednesday May 6th @ Galapagos Art Space in DUMBO...

7pm: Living the Independent Dream: Brooklyn Filmmakers Panel

"... filmmaker panel featuring Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden (Sugar, Half Nelson), Tia Lessin who was nominated for an Oscar for Trouble the Water, Ramin Bahrani (Chop Shop, Goodbye Solo) and Sundance sensation Cruz Angeles. If you have any interest in filmmaking, this is a ridiculous all star line up, and you could learn a lot. Also, there will be free food."

Broadcast : Broadcast

From their 2005 release, Tender Buttons (audio only).



Young Marble Giants. UK band about 25 years before Tender Buttons was released.



From 1984:



And Broadcast.




* bonus Laurie Anderson:

Yanni of the Day

I Yanni'd! And it was fucking beautiful.
Last Friday night I saw Yanni live at the Radio CIty Music Hall.



Here he is now ~ sans signature moustache. Which is a pretty big deal as Yanni has no upper lip. He's got a funky muzzle.

A muzzle that I believe he shares with Lion-O. As you can clearly see.