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omegaremix · 1 month

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Boy Harsher + Twin Tribes @ Music Hall Of Williamsburg; April 3rd, 2022.

October 2021 would have been one of the busiest months of going to shows ever. The problem was that Ministry postponed their “Industrial” Strength Tour for the third time, and I was too late in getting tickets for Boy Harsher’s Halloween show. It only left me with the Uniform show at Saint Vitus with Body Void and Portrayal Of Guilt on the ticket. It took me six years to cross off seeing Uniform in full off my most-wanted list. Shortly after, Boy Harsher announced new dates to coincide with the release of their new short film The Runner featuring everyone’s favorite Kris Esfandiari (King Woman, Sugar High, NGHTCRWLR, Miserable). Time for redemption.

I snatched up tickets right away and feverishly waited for January 29th. Then a slight hitch in plans: the omicron strain took over and infections went wild once again causing Boy Harsher to move their dates up to April 3rd. That’s too bad. The January date was the sweet spot to have a wintry day out in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, the preferred weather to enjoy darkwave and synthwave as it was always intended to be. But I’ll take a postponement over a cancellation any day. It’s better to have an experience than none at all.

I learned that it would be a two-hour train ride home from Penn Station to Deer Park. I wouldn’t have the time as I had work early the next day, so instead, I drove to the Babylon station as the train home would make it’s final stop with no transfer. One hour later of cloudy grayscale skies and nothing-special transit later, I arrive at Penn Station. From there, I took the 1 / 2 / 3 Express and finally transferred to the L line to Wythe Av. and North 7th Street. A few blocks away and here I am at The Music Hall Of Williamsburg, my first-ever visit there.

The venue’s site said “doors open at 7PM” but their app- said “8PM”. Fearing arriving late, I hoped for eight. I did get there at 7:30PM and asked the strongarm at the door checking i.d. when they did open. “Doors opened at 7PM but you came just in time. Just in time” as he said with confidence. Judging by his relaxed demeanor, I took his word for it and he was right. Once I walked in, there were a few spots right at the front rail ready for the taking, and I did. Mid-right in front of the speakers. The night was already off to an adrenaline-pumping start. Who is that?! Andi Harriman was dee-jaying on the wheels of steel spinning all sorts of seriously intense and exhilarent synthwave. I never heard anything like it. She’s reached far for some synthwave sounds I never heard of; further than I’ve reached so far because I’m somewhat freshly new to it. I was hooked on what she played and wanted to find what her setlist was, if any.

Twin Tribes opened up for this short Sunday night roster. Had my original date’s tickets transferred to the Friday show, I would’ve ended up seeing Aurat open instead. How amazing would that have been?! But Twin Tribes was an act I wasn’t familiar with but their sound was. I had some experience listening to goth rock in the vein of Adrenochrome, Otzi, and Kurraka, but the Twin Tribes duo took the route of Eighties goth rock built on melodic guitars, hot synthesizers, frighteningly-good vocals and tense upbeat energy. They were a great compliment on a bill that catered to the all-things-industrial and goth subculture, which to me was the culture in Greenpoint.

After Twin Tribes departed for the night, we were once again treated to Andi Harriman’s so-fucking-good dee-jay set. By then the crowd started to pack in tightly on all sides, the balcony, and in general admission. I was still up front and there wasn’t much open space for me to look around to see who was wearing what. I will say that one of the Music Hall crew sported an Aphex Twin hoodie and another one repped Soundgarden, which were great. I look to my left and someone was proudly wearing his FKA Twigs tee. I came in wearing my Rough Trade NYC shirt with my beige hoodie being it was in the nippy high 40’s. That’s your obligatory Ω+ live-show fashion round-up as always.

Twenty minutes of painful waiting, Augustus Muller finally takes the stage. His other half Jae Matthews joins him and Boy Harsher is all ready to go for their set. The fanfare all around the music hall were loud and going wild. Here’s a synthwave duo that’s been currently heralded as one of the flagship outfits of the genre with almost no detractors to be found. They opened up their set with “The Ride Home” and segued into “Give Me A Reason”, a leading track from their new album and motion picture soundtrack The Runner that’s been heavily exposed. They had plenty of cards up their sleeve and reached back to their Yr Body Is Nothing era with “Morphine”. I was still only mere inches from The Music Hall’s- system so I could hear every note thump, vibration, and punch through the speakers as any synthwave / EBM artist should. Right after they finished their cover of Chris Isaac’s “Wicked Game” did they unleash the highly-exhilarating and manic “Come Closer” and made the audience get into a seriously rabid frenzy.

Muller and Matthews controlled the show when they brought it down to a suspenseful mood with The Runner‘s opening track “Tower” and continued on with more wavy, lucid sounds in “Escape” and “Country Girl”. The duo kept going into their Carefularsenal with “Tears” and “LA”; the former which delivered such elasticity and one of the main reasons why Boy Harsher’s fanfare has always been on fire, as they always found and utilized classic synthpop and synthwave elements to everyone’s liking. All the while Jae Matthews exuded a constant sensuality with not only her on-stage presence but also her sultry vocals that paired with their always-sweltering sounds. Augustus Muller always kept to himself behind the keyboards and hitting the beats new-wave style. Forty-five minutes later, Boy Harsher called it night. Or did they?

The Music Hall didn’t switch on their overheads when they both left the stage. That was an easy tell for at least an encore and they delivered on that. “Autonomy” was the final track from The Runner they played and they brought out guest vocalist Cooper B. Handy for it. It was the first album of theirs to feature guest vocalists entirely other than Jae Matthews (the other “Machina” featured BOAN and Mariana Saldana but they weren’t present). There’s always a sense of love and this cute little admiration of their fellow artists and friends when they feature them on-stage, in their videos, projects, and even on their social media posts, as if they’re the special highlight of the day. After “Autonomy was over, Cooper waves good-bye to the crowd. Boy Harsher retires the night and the show’s over. Or was it?

Boy Harsher walked off and hid backstage like they did before. The overheads once again didn’t turn on. You could hear the audience now begging for that one song. That one song. The one that put the duo on the map and won them their recognition. Five more minutes later, they returned on-stage and gave them what the audience so badly wanted: “Pain”. It was the only way to cap off a three-night stay in The Music Hall- and we wouldn’t have let them leave New York City without playing it. No fucking way.

The overheads finally turned on and we all exited out. I brought a Benjamin with me in the event that Jae and Augustus manned the merch- tables. They didn’t. I took a small glimpse of what tapes and shirts they were selling, but time was tight in catching the train back home. I didn’t want to chance it and let it be, but not before I saw a short, pale, curly-haired dominatrix-type making her way to the bar in leather gloves, boots, fish nets, and a tight shiny PVC unitard that hiked up her ass and disappeared. Comes with the industrial / synthwave territory.

It was an astonishing night and I expected it to turn out that way. Boy Harsher and Twin Tribes put on an amazing show and was worth the wait. I left The Music Hall Of Williamsburg with my quotient up and completed a must-do rite of passage. I scrambled through the quiet well-lit streets long enough to get lost (as expected) and took the L and 1 / 2 / 3 line back to Penn Station where I missed the 12:15AM train by three minutes. The painstaking one-hour wait for the 1:15AM Babylon ride was spent getting a four-dollar Toblerone and dodging the panhandlers who scoped out the slightest eye-contact. I finally hop on heading east, arriving at Jamaica to transfer to the line home on a double-decker car, pondering how I would deal with only six hours of sleep before the next day’s shift at work.

#Boy Harsher #Twin Tribes #goth rock #synthwave #BK #Brooklyn #NYC #New York City #music #omega #playlists #mixtapes #personal

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sreegs · 10 months

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mb should have provided more detail! food-wise cheap and casual is preferred, like small cafes or a food court counter and i will eat pretty much any type of cuisine. as for interests i enjoy arts/cultural stuff especially live music at small venues. mostly planning to explore around brooklyn/queens

its kinda hard not to find a good slice shop in brooklyn so you're fine there, but "brooklyn and queens" are both huge places unless you plan on just going up and down the G between 7th ave and Court Square where most of the tourists stick to

go all the way into Flushing on the 7 for the bigger chinatown, they got good food and sightseeing there. go to the food court in the new world mall for some noodle soup

MoMA PS1 is in LIC for your big art museum but don't sleep on the Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria

i just checked and my favorite greek place is gone. rip. fuckin covid.

go to Peter Pan in greenpoint before 10 am for good donuts

if you like beer check out Torst also in greenpoint. the commodore is a fun dive too. if you end up in williamsburg just avoid the main drags of bedford, kent, and metropolitan if you want to find the good stuff. though there's still some good food trucks there at night

oh my god Sal's is closed too man i havent really been in brooklyn much since covid i gotta trim my favorites map. this is depressing.

as far as shows goes go tbh i've never been much of a concert liker because my hearing gets fucked up but as long as you're not wandering around like times square or whatever getting pulled into shitty standup shows you'll probably find whatever you're into

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ourladyofomega · 10 months

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Last summer. Taken five minutes after jumping off the ‘G’ line and walking south on Manhattan Ave. in Greenpoint (Brooklyn) on my way to Captured Tracks.

#it's me #it's me motherfuckers!#sono io #BK #Brooklyn #NYC #New York City #omega #our lady omega #Summer

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strle · 5 months

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Activity Report: A very good self-guided international food stroll along Roosevelt Avenue in Queens Particular restaurants were chosen from a truly infinite selection of international mom & pop restaurants, but it felt like the whole world in a day.

We chose IHOP as our starting point because that's where Roosevelt Avenue ends, but it was TOO hoppin, so we hit up the Paris Baguette across the street. My favorite food was probably the down home cooking from the Philippines at Renee's Kitchenette, where i was already so full we only had room for Sausage & desert, but all the food was good, and an unexpected highlight was the awesome array of restaurant soundtracks. Our original plan was to go all the way to the waterfront on Greenpoint ave (another couple of miles) but we got rained out. Still tho- a truly great day, and I think we'll do it more than once a year in the future.

#Life and times of Danielle #NYC #queens #Food

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sovietunion · 8 months

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Walking over the greenpoint ave bridge and feeling it bounce and rumble is so crazy.

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brooklynwildlife · 9 months

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Brooklyn wildlife summer fest

Here’s the link to buy your tickets

info about the event

ABOUT BWSF 2023:

Brooklyn Wildlife Summer Festival is an annual, diverse & synergistic, indoor and outdoor festival featuring some of the best Independent talent from New York and beyond. The goal of the event is to galvanize the Indie arts and music community and represent its flourishing cultural growth within Brooklyn, with a special focus on Bushwick.

BWSF 2023 is a true appreciation and celebration of Indie culture. We take an authentic approach to create the largest platform possible for artistic presentation without any corporate sponsorships or industry funding – only art, music and culture in the purest form. We focus on performers in the Brooklyn arts and entertainment scene and want to represent our community...we are lucky to have a large presence of international artists in Brooklyn, so the festival also includes performers and participants from all around the world.

WHAT WE DON'T WANT: Hate speech, Promotion of senseless or gratuitous violence, Exclusivity, Entitlement, Expression of privilege.

. . . Dates, addresses and performers listed below!

9/1 - Opening Night @ Brooklyn Music Kitchen—117 Vanderbilt Ave. Bushwick

Grant Swift

Eb Rebel

Graphic Melee

Marcus Jade

Melissa Hunter Gurney

Mistha Dean

Modern Flame

Ryan - O'Neil

ViceVerses

No Show No Call

https://tinyurl.com/2b7jm76c For Event Details

9/2: GAMBA Forest— 630 Humboldt St. Greenpoint

OR NAH & Ronit Levin Delgado

kelly shaw nyala

Dan Gitlin

STAV G

ADE O.TONE

ALIXER

Sunshine Monie El

Nomad N3

The Taste of Vomit

Ananda Rose

Pheonix Out The

Dakota Smith

The Cannery

G.T. Arpe

MeccaGodZilla

ANTwontstop

C.Shreve the Professor

phil phlaymz

ZILLY900

The IZM.

https://tinyurl.com/57bndzeu for event details

9/3 : Secret Sphinx Salon — 199 Richardson St. East Williamsburg

Adriana Adeline

Blacc Lotus, Soul Survivor

CallME TK

Chromoplast

Chrrry

Ryan Lucas

Sam Rosen

Millszy •

https://tinyurl.com/yrhmrpv8 for event details

9/4: The Living Gallery— 1094 Broadway, Bushwick

Coffee Nap

Fredrixthelive1

Phantm Phuego

Complex Messiah

KNOWITALL

Lex Rush

anna leah

The CHUNE Experience

Jew Bitch Honey

elana

Euphony

Mariah Eskoh

Mel Rosa

Danny Severance

Natasha Alexander

Ardamus

Patty Honcho

https://tinyurl.com/2p8k6vw2 For event details

9/5 - Pete's Candy Store— 709 Lorimer, Greenpoint

Cat Rickman

Chocolate Brown & Segami

The DarkDoves

Fancy Cat

https://tinyurl.com/3mh3rmcc for event details

9/6: The Deep End—1080 Wyckoff Bushwick

Mecca Shabazz /DECISIONS

Thorne Malik. (and the Deep Cuts)

DarkStarNoMercy

The Bumbling Woohas

Eliza and the Organix

LOST DOG

Pink Tacos

Cuddlebasstard

https://tinyurl.com/5f2vjhmu for event details

9/7: Becky's House — TBA

Real Clothes

Emmannuel and the unlimited Consciousness

Eush

Sara Clash

https://tinyurl.com/36tt6ey2 for event details

9/7: The Rack Shack—17 Thames St. Bushwick

Virginia Wagner

Queen of Love and Hope

SteV Obsidian

Fuck it’s Leslie

https://tinyurl.com/4p8eek9e for event details

9/7: The Love Gallery— Bushwick

B.Fortune

KNOBAD

Sam Nordlinger

Xtian Aki

Ductape Halo

Garrett Deming

Wade Wilson

Kay Day

Kjindabuilding

#JumpingGoats

ALIXER

Doctor Breakfast

JOATA

https://tinyurl.com/nka3tfzn for event details

9/8: IVy House Studios— Bushwick

Chris Conde

Parnhash

Homeboy Sandman

Kahlee

Mandella Eskia

Stay on Mars

https://tinyurl.com/282xftm7 for event details

9/9: Gamba Forest—630 Humboldt St.

Add'm Fears

AllOne

AngelCaroline

Banji

Cruz Cruz

Designer Rap Tour Fearturing James E! Walker

Madeline at Neighbors + Zhenya Skyla

Melton

Mercy Tullis Bukhari

Mosaictheanimated

Pirate Radio Podcast

Samantha Avery

Slick Nova

The Artist & Repertoire Workshop Feat: Yoni Rose and McBean

Valore

Richie

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/bwsf-2023-day-9

9/10: Four Five Six/Glenda the GoodBus/GAMBA Forest—Greenpoint

Ashley Be

Bill Bartholomew

Bo Ballew

Carlyn Castigila

Devin Bramble

Esco

Gabriela Rossi

God

Joi Sanchez

Jon Gardiner

Lucas Connolly

Mario Benitez

Michelle Joni and the Expandaband

OHene Cornelius

Prince Kurt Russell

Frank Vera

GMS

Renee Catrine

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/bwsf-2023

#festivals #festival #music #tomorrowland #festivalseason #love #dj #rave #india #events #edm #diwali #art #housemusic #party #musicfestival #concerts #techno #livemusic #edmlifestyle #edmfamily #photography #mumbai #festivalfashion #culture #instagram #festivallife #edc #dance #bkwildlife #BWSF2023

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omegaplus · 2 years

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# 4,174

Cold Waves @ Warsaw; September 15 & 16, 2022.

If I told you that I was feeling shaky going into attending Cold Waves, you’d write me off instantly. Why would I still feel nervous about attending shows? Sure, the event is everything, but every trip to grandiose New York City is still a major thing for me. It’s still feels like uncharted territory and I’m still not over it but it has everything Long Island fails to provide: the venues, the people, the exciting energy, and an allure I still can’t put my finger on. It’s all for the taking, whereas on Long Island I had way more than enough. Also: anxiety. (Film at 5.)

I was only mere days away and I had to get ready for two straight nights of taking trains to and from Brooklyn. Cold Waves would be the third show I’d attend this year - fourth if I cared going to Ministry’s “Industrial” Strength tour which I didn’t go to. I was a frantic wreck anticipating this industrial legends / synthwave festival. The tremors in my black heart would stop only if I finally arrived at Warsaw. It’s my third visit there. The first was for Hospital Productions’ 20th Anniversary and the second was for Black Marble and Cold Cave on a hot June day - before my world, my momentum, and soul were all upended.

I don my black cap, a Clock DVA shirt, blue jeans, black boots and new black leather jacket. It’s sunny out, a hazy blue sky is being invaded by cumuluses all over the place - perfect conditions for an afternoon drive westward on the Long Island Expressway, down on Sagtikos Parkway, through Southern State to Rt. 231, and heading south to Rt. 27A to the Babylon station. I took no chances catching the earlier one-hour train to Penn Station, then hopped on the ‘E’ line to Court Square’s ‘G’ line to Greenpoint Ave. The train ride was bliss as hardly anyone was on it.

It was 6:15 PM when I stepped off the G and went upstairs to Greenpoint, my favorite Brooklyn neighborhood. It only took me 15 minutes to walk a few blocks down to Driggs Av. in Kings County’s Polish neighborhood. It’s only 6:30 PM and already I’m being greeted by a crowd of three at the very front of the line. One of them saw my DVA shirt and gave me two thumbs up. “Great shit, man!”, he said. I smiled and my heart rate went up 20.00% knowing I made the right choice of t-shirt for night #1 of Cold Waves. I found myself standing at the exact same spot on line more than four years ago when I waited to enter the venue for Cold Cave and Black Marble. It was that very corner where Wes Eisold stood with Genesis P. Orridge before that show. Doors open at 7 PM as all of us trudge towards the venue for our security checks before entering paradise where I’m immediately hit with the smell of incense, a special smell distinct to my Brooklyn travels and nowhere else.

The music existed before the beginning of time and it was pumping. No wonder - DJ Andi (Harriman) was behind the wheels of steel. She’s a fixture of the neighborhood where she fit perfectly with the industrialists and synth-wave demographic that populate there. With me being 15th in line, I won a spot up front. As always without fail. I was feeling great about what was about to go down for the next five hours. The first person I thought of was my Roman goth friend Lira* who I wished was there with me. She would’ve blended in with all these vampires, witches, and mistresses attending; many walking around wearing 242, Wax Trax, Pig, Pigface, Hocico, and Twin Tribes shirts.

7:45PM is here. The dee-jay fades out, the overheads turn off and the first act is ready to go. Cold Waves is finally underway.

Spike Hellis was the first of ten on the roster and kicked off the entire festival. The fresh Los Angeles duo have enjoyed a new sizable uptick of exposure. They were active and had lots of energy on stage; a theme that they’d set the tone for the entire program. Their fast-paced EBM, electro, and electronic hybrid was a fine example of the current sound that Los Angeles had to offer. Both Cortland Gibson and Elaine Chang traded instrumental and (screaming) vocal duties with each other while conveying themes of agony, control, rage, emotional despair, and submission that rubber-stamped their own pandemic-era, all accentuated at the end with an annoyed Chang dealing the finger to an audience member as the cherry on top. Who knows what happened there? What I do know was that someone threw an empty beer can at them during their set and security called him out on it; eyes and pointy fingers in his direction with a one-and-final warning not to do it again.

For those wondering why Rein is being highly praised all over, you’ll see why. One of two solo acts, Rein wasted no time taking the stage and it wasn’t long for her to show everyone why she’s one of the most talked-about synthwave acts of recent. It’s not just her razor-sharp EBM delivery and style but also her choreography which made her perfectly groove to the music. She can seriously move it like no other and also delivered plenty of hard-edged sounds of equal measure. It was more than enough to ask who the fuck Shakira was, because she’s got nothing on her. It wasn’t just Rein who was motioning to the music. I look to my right and seen a good number of people getting into it, too; such as the guy three spaces away from me who happened to be wearing a gas mask through her set. After she closed out her set came another intermission. The next three legendary acts have yet to come into play and right behind me are three belligerent drunks (one male and two females) fighting over who bumped into who, not saying ‘excuse me’, who stood where, and lots of name-calling and f-bombs lobbed at each other’s slovenly faces. Not a dull moment so far.

Portion Control was the third and most enduring act of the festival with their debut cassette release A Fair Potion dating all the way back to 1980. I’ve constantly heard of them through new-wave, industrial, and synthwave circles. It’s my first go at them and Wow. They. Nailed. It. They became one of the very few artists I ever discovered to give me a perfect example of everything I was looking for on the very first listen. Perhaps the hungriest, meanest, and venomous act I discovered live or not. I may have caught them at their best ever and it lead me to the three Seed e.p.’s. Onstage, Dean Piavanni was a vocally sinister, persuasive, and direct force who could’ve easily taken on the audience (and would’ve won); as Jon Whybrew was on the controls transmitting ultra-energetic and juiced-up EBM and industrial techno for the small masses. It was the most exciting payout of the night so far.

If there was ‘the’ reason that attending Cold Waves was an absolute must, it was the team of former Wax Trax and Ministry members Paul Barker and Chris Connelly. They are part of the reason why everyone had some of the best moments of their lives and made for some of the greatest industrial releases ever. Billed as The Revolting Cocks Corpse and in conflict with Al Jourgensen’s version of the band, it would be their last-ever appearance. I hate to admit, a scratch off the bucket list was long overdue and years in waiting. Now, here was my chance of seeing both of them live in one shot.

Want real-deal Cocks classics? You got ‘em. Paul Barker handled his iconic bass logo-ed with the Cocks’ Beers, Steers & Queers emblem on it before kicking off with “38” and brought out former Cock (Front 242’s) Richard 23 on vocals. After that comes Connelly onstage in casual wear in a trucker hat, jeans, and a shirt that’s scrawled “Strong And Pretty” on the front, so we’re getting the nutty version of him. Then the rest of the hits came rolling in: “Attack Ships On Fire”, “Cattle Grind”, “Crackin’ Up”. When Connelly asked himself out loud what else to play, the audience yelled “Let’s Get Physical” (rest in peace, Olivia Newton John). “Well, I didn’t ask for your help!” he said coyly to all of us and we couldn’t help but to laugh. They did cap off their monumental set with “Do Ya’ Think I’m Sexy” and it felt like a dream. Connelly leans on the speakers acting all cute and blowing kisses to the crowd with a smile. Before you know it, he’s laying on the floor with arms wide open like he’s just fallen in love as Barker and company call it a night. Nothing but good times and an ultimate culmination of their Wax Trax output as I hoped for.

Finally, it was Front 242’s turn to take the stage; the apex of an already high-flying night. It would be a bittersweet performance at that as this was one of many shows on what was their final U.S. tour. Many fans thought it was because of Jean-Luc De Meyer health issues but thankfully that wasn’t the case. No matter, it was everyone’s last chance in the states to catch them before leaving North America once and for all with no turning back. I considered Front 242 to be a bonus for me as I was heavily into their pioneering Eighties material during my community college years, their later albums, and C-Tec which De Meyer took part in. I had absolutely nothing to lose seeing them live. All throughout the night I’ve seen photographers-for-hire huddle around the space in-between the rail and stage getting their dozens of shots in. For Front 242, the three-song policy got extended to four. It had to be. Warsaw security managed to catch one snap artist who didn’t know better.“No flash! No flash!” they told him as they pointed at and called him out on it. Which also begged the question: where the hell is Brooklyn’s industrial / synthwave fixture-photographer Nikki Sneakers? It’s been at least five years since I’ve seen her shooting at venues.

Front 242 played their most-recognizable and popular classics that established and pioneered EBM with “Don’t Crash”, “Operational Tracks”, “U-Men” and many more. It was all Richard 23, De Meyer, and Patrick Codenys in their unmistakable iconic tactical outfits with a shirtless Tim Kroker on live drums. They took all the power and energy they had and kept it going all the way, delivering nothing short of a rhythmic and beat-heavy experience they were known for. One funny moment to be seen was when De Meyer stood cross-armed wearing his huge shades and had such a scowl on his face, looking all bad-ass as the other three carried on. After eight or nine songs, 242 left the stage - not to lock targets and catch men - but to gear up for their first encore. We all knew there was more to come and what came was “Headhunter”, one of industrial / EBM’s most historic songs ever written. Two more songs later and 242 left the stage again charging up for another encore. As soon as we all heard the soundbyte “Hey, Poor!”, it meant only one thing: “Welcome to Paradise”. Only then was the perfect Front 242 show complete. The team of 23, De Meyer, Codenys, and Kroker took in a lengthy applause and gave a standing ovation as they all thanked New York City and bid farewell. The lights turn on for all of us to head out of Warsaw. I turn around to get going and behind me I see a female fan being consoled by her husband - and she’s in tears. Either she finally fulfilled her life-long dream of seeing Front 242 or saddened that they would say goodbye and farewell to the states, never to return.

The first five acts were amazing. It felt like I did a great service to myself in attending. I already checked off all the boxes I wanted to: take mass transit, visit Greenpoint, see Barker and Connolly play, and be associated with my kind of people. A night out in Brooklyn never fails and the thrills would still continue after the show ended. There’s always the experience of taking the alphabet and number lines - taking the ‘G’ and then the ‘7’ line to walk from 10th St. towards the Empire State Building and then arriving at Penn Station all by one-in-the-morning. Like the ride from Babylon to Penn Station, the reverse ride was quiet and not as crowded as a can of sardines. More exhilarating was the ride from Babylon back home where all the roads were empty and quiet, leading up to driving east on a wide-open Sunrise Highway at three in the morning and getting home all in 25 minutes time.

Night One of Cold Waves was now in the record books.

**********

Friday afternoon? Well, what an adventure. I had no idea that traffic was literally paralyzed on Sagtikos Parkway. It was that point where I knew it would be down to the wire getting to the Babylon station. From then on, I was finding every inch I could to cut other drivers off, find detours, and get head-starts while waiting for green lights and cursing out turtle drivers. Traffic was tight and every decision counted. One minute I thought I was going to make it and the next minute I was doubtful. South on Commack Road, down Deer Park Avenue then Route 231, and finally to Route 27A where I was only a few thousand feet away from the station. I arrive at the parking lot across from the station, bolted out of my car, ran across the street and up the stairs like a motherfucker. I finally reach the platform and - it’s taking off. Fucking great.

I had one hour until the next train to figure out how to unfuck myself and get to Warsaw in time. I tried signing up for OMNY (New York City’s wireless transit pay) months ago but was unsuccessful. Now time to try again. I downloaded the Apple Pay app- and then had to call the bank to connect my card. Now that it’s tied to my phone, I tired again to sign up for OMNY. Success! The 4:35 PM Babylon train arrives and I had 55 minutes to map out the quickest path in getting to my destination. The train arrives at Penn Station and I waste no time hauling ass to the ‘E’ line. Here we go. I hover my phone over the turnstile and - GO. Raced up and down the flights of stairs and I catch the ‘E’ train by five seconds before its doors closed. I take another 20 minutes to cool down before the transfer to Court Square / 23rd Street’s ‘G’ line. I hop off, sprint, and find the ‘G’ train that would take me to the Nassau Avenue stop, the closest one to Warsaw. It took me about two minutes and 1,000 feet to get there. I finally arrive out of breath before I go through the security checks and magic wands before entry. All clear. It’s 7:40 PM. Five minutes to go and I’m at the exact same spot I was the night before. All worship to Lucifer that I made it.

And now, night two begins.

If there was any artist to kick off Friday’s festivities that represented his hometown and carried its flag, then Confines was it. The hard-hitting, beat-heavy industrial-techno / EBM project certainly had some punch to it. Like Rein, Confines was a one-person show who did all of his instruments and movements on his own. Not bad at all. At the time of this writing I learned something about him that totally kicked me off of my seat: Confines happened to be David Castillo, co-owner of Brooklyn’s Saint Vitus bar and venue, host of the Age Of Quarantine podcast, and lead singer of Primitive Weapons. Are you fucking kidding me?! I was on the lookout to spot him at my last visit to -Vitus to see Uniform but I was shit out of luck. Now I finally found him performing at Cold Waves and didn’t even know that was him until after the fact! Fucking right. And it doesn’t stop there. I also learned that both Geography Of Nowhere 1 and Work Up The Blood was mixed and mastered by Hospital Productions’ Kris Lapke / Alberich and laid out by Sannhet’s AJ Annunziata. Wow. Talk about getting five-in-a-row on that bingo card.

Fans of Vancouver musicks enjoyed a two-for-one approaching the middle of the night’s bill. We were all treated to Leathers consisting of Shannon Hemmett (vocals), Kendall Wooding (synths), and Adam Fink (drums). For anyone who wanted the 2022’s tense of what an Eighties’ synthpop / new-wave show would look like? Well, now you have it. It was a treat seeing them perform and also seeing the slender Hemmett as an Eighties dream while Wooding and Fink played a smooth mid-tempo set. But with a wardrobe change and Jason Corbett coming into play, Leathers became Actors and Artoffact’s flagship band was the iteration that appeared on everyone’s radar as of late. They traded in their Eighties’ synthpop and new-wave cool for heavier rock. This time Hemmett took over synth duties and Wooding wielded bass as Fink stayed on drums and Corbett helped Actors push more power and electricity into their second set to keep the excitement steady from start to finish. I tried out both Leathers / Actors before and for some reason they’re not my type of heavy-rotation listening. However, there’s no denying that their talent brought them their well-deserved fanfare and exposure.

Not since Merzbow’s personnel bringing out his gear at Output have I been bracing myself with another artist’s set-up. Lighting fixtures attached all over and bulbs placed in front of huge cymbals might’ve told me that the next set would burn my eyes right off my face. Luckily, I was wrong. That was Kite’s visual set-up and a precursor to their performance. The Swedish duo of Niklas Stenemo and Christian Berg were another act I never heard anything of, and afterwards tilted me to give them a shot. Both were skilled in playing two keyboards at once (or keys- and knobs in Berg’s case) as they delivered a lively performance and Stenemo a few kicks, switching between synth-wave and synthpop. Their latest single “Bocelli” was the highlight on the night, showing their dramatics while also providing a soulful, heartfelt, and at times acclaimed power.

While Kite tore down their equipment, I thought of something. It’s been five years since I attended Hospital Production’s 20th Anniversary. I remember one moment near the end of the showcase when Bone Awl was playing their set - where all of a sudden Dominick Fernow (Prurient and Hospital- label-head) runs to the apron, stage-dives over the pit, and into the audience for a crowd-surf. It was a moment that never escaped me since then. Here I am back again at Warsaw for Cold Waves five years later and I’m at the rail for both nights. During one intermission, something dawned on me - I look at the rail, then the edge of the stage, and then the rail once again. I thought to myself: how in the fuck did Dominick have enough clearance to fly in the air, avoid banging into the rail, and land safely on top of the crowd? Good thing he successfully pulled off that spectacular feat.

Asterisk: New York City was supposed to receive Stabbing Westward as the closer to Cold Waves but had to bow out. That’s where Cold Cave gladly stepped in and ultimately sealed the deal for Cold Waves’ entire New York City stop. “Remember when we last played here?” lead singer Wes Eisold asked the audience. Yes I do, Wes. Yes I do. Seeing Cold Cave again for the second time in the same venue was another special bonus to me, and always a welcome one at that. I walk through previously-ventured territory and this time it was just as exciting as the last. All hits and zero misses from Eisold, his lady Amy Lee, and company. “Glory”, “People Are Poison”, “A Little Death To Laugh”, “Confetti”, “Rainbow Girls”, “Godstar”, “Theme From Tomorrowland”. You named it, they played it. For 50 minutes they kept a steady upbeat energy of synthwave and classic goth pedigree; not to mentions tons of smoke and fog fired towards our way to where I’m seriously considering getting myself screened. The only difference between their 2018 appearance and this one at Cold Waves? No sign of Max G. Morton, and Eisold’s heroine Genesis P. Orridge who joined him on guest vocals had sadly passed away since then.

But there was one shining onyx that fit the head jewel of the crown: when Eisold and Amy Lee brought their daughter out on stage. How fucking amazing was that? The audience collectively melted. Imagine being in your single-digits and having an amazing story to tell your friends back in school about how your rock-star dad brought you up on stage to sing for the crowd. Through their entire set, Cold Cave never let up and missed any of their targets as Eisold, Amy, and the rest played through their last encore and that’s all they wrote.

Before I knew it, it’s 12:20AM. Cold Waves in New York City was now history.

**********

I walk out of Warsaw and away from the busy volume of the patrons standing around in front of it. The night skies changed their tune to a purplish overhead. They were nice enough to wait until my moment was over to return. I’m now processing how to put the last 48 hours into words and also my place in the universe after being where I wanted to be. I head west on Driggs Street through McCarren Park weaving through the pedestrians walking towards me and observe a few small groups of people congregating and chilling on park grounds with their portable speakers. It’s only a few more blocks before I enter the ‘L’ line that will connect me to the ‘2’ line.

If only I can tell you the city’s delights that I’ve seen during my travels to Penn Station. I’ve seen female torture artists and double-pigtailed mistresses in their black onesies and shiny knee-high boots. There’s an Asian girl my height in a low-cut purple dress and her thigh is all bloodied and bandaged up; situated below her very visible purple underwear. Across from me was this gay guy who was the stunt double for The Ukiah Drag’s Tommy Conte, kissing his boyfriend on the cheek and sad-gazing in his boyfriend’s eyes who boarded off the ‘L’, but not before he blew Tommy a kiss goodbye. Another couple hopped on our crowded car. His blonde girlfriend’s neck and chest were literally covered red with hickeys and didn’t give a soaring aerial fuck about all the eyes and stares aimed at her. The ‘L’ ends and I transfer to the quick ‘2’ which only took five minutes to get me to Penn Station, leaving me with a half-an-hour wait for the Babylon train to arrive. Lather, rinse, and repeat with a left-hand forward ride to the station and another Sunrise Highway night drive back to my quiet-as-night neighborhood. A return to silent normalcy.

**********

Chicago has been widely known as the industrial capital of the U.S. It’s where Jim Nash and Danny Flescher established Wax Trax as a record store and the label that’s given birth to the careers and legacies of Ministry, KMFDM, My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult, Meat Beat Manifesto, and countless other acts. It’s also where Public Image Ltd.’s Martin Atkins created Pigface and Invisible Records and gave life to Chemlab, Damage Manual, Dead Voices On Air, Murder Inc., Ritalin, Sheep On Drugs, and Test Dept. All these artists made my identity, or part of it. Throughout the years I’ve followed all of my favorite artists and have never given up on them. They were there for me during my difficult times at community college and to this day I’ve never tired of their projects. It wasn’t until recently when I revisited the classics that I realized that these artists and labels were in my heart all along. Millions of industrialists join each other in various online groups to share their stories and live memories and say “hi!” to the many legends who lurk around and keep that cameraderie going. I see the company around me in Greenpoint who share similar interests, qualities, and aesthetics and those are the people I want to be associated with.

I thought attending just one Boy Harsher show was a rite of passage. Yes - more in the synthwave world. I’ve also attended shows for Nine Inch Nails, Ministry, and Killing Joke and that’s more than enough for me to hoist my flag for this genre. (Naysayers will wave their filthy unclean fingers at me and say “not so fast” because I wasn’t able to go to a Skinny Puppy show.) I’ve heard many great things about Cold Waves that I’d be a fool to miss out. Mutuals who went told me it’d be amazing and they were double-right. With Front 242’s final American appearances and with Braker and Connelly having to quit the RevCo name, this year was a non-negotiable. What started out as a one-night benefit and an honor of Jason Novak (Acumen Nation, DJ? Acucrack) and David Schock’s fallen friend Jamie Duffy evolved into an (almost) annual round of the best and legendary industrial, synthpop, and synthwave acts. Like my attendance with the previous Cold Cave and Black Marble shows, attending Cold Waves was a thank-you to the scene that gave me an identity but also to a certain number of acts that helped build it.

It’s been one of the best and most exhilarating moments of the year, ranking as high as Sacred Bones’ 15th anniversary. If the line-up for next year is as good or better (how could it?), then I guarantee you I’ll be returning.

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myplasticheart · 1 year

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REPOST • @authanchen “Knight of the White Prairie”, my latest acrylic piece for that time of the year again! Had a lot of fun creating this piece for the annual Red Envelope Show, and was thrilled to find out that it will be co-curated by @grumpybert and @myplasticheart! For the creation process of this piece, I was initially inspired by giant puppet parades in Europe but also wanted to have fun with some steampunk-ish elements. The red envelopes will be exhibited in MyPlasticHeart in Brooklyn, (40 Greenpoint Ave, Brooklyn, NY), with a show opening event taking place on January 28th. Please feel free to stop by and check out all of the coolest red envelopes! ．又到了一年一度繪製紅包聯展的日子了，今年的靈感來源是不知從哪被燒到的歐洲巨型木偶遊行，於是我也想設計一個木工機械式的木偶，以及為了好玩而融入的蒸氣龐克元素。今年紅包展將會在1/28於Brooklyn的Myplasticheart舉行，當天現場還會有舞龍舞獅的開幕活動，歡迎大家來共襄盛舉！． #art #illustration #illustagram #instadraw #figurativeart #popsurrealism #surrealart #drawing #illustrationartists #illustrationart #best_of_illustrations #artoftheday #illustration_best #acrylic #acrylicpainting #redenvelope #redenvelopeshow2023 #redenvelopeshow #knight #puppet #yearoftherabbit #紅包 #兔年 #插畫 #壓克力 #手繪 #イラスト #イラストレーション #authaniche (at myplasticheart) https://www.instagram.com/p/Cn401BVOzoA/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

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overnightdrive · 1 year

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BLACK FRIDAY 11/25 COME CELEBRATE 10 YEARS A BAR, Brooklyn NY 597 Manhattan Ave Greenpoint Brooklyn, NY 11222 (at A Bar) https://www.instagram.com/p/ClXGVqhJuAe/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

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longeyelashedtragedy · 2 years

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Funniest thing you did while drunk?

tbh alcohol kind of gets me more tired and/or makes me more normal, i'm usually much more of a damn fool while sober. but, idk if this is funny or super gross BUT one time a few years ago, my friend was visiting the city and we went to saint vitus bar (this goth/metal bar in brooklyn) and got drunk off our asses. the walk back to the subway was very long and on the way back there was a pizza place. we decided it would be a great idea to get a whole pizza to split and carry it back to my place.

as we were walking down the street our drunk fool asses dropped the pizza box and the ENTIRE pizza slipped out and flopped onto the nyc sidewalk. crust down, but still. our lives flashed before our eyes!

now, normally i am paranoid about food sanitation and contamination to the point that it actually gets in the way of living and if i didn't have even bigger problems i would really need therapy for it. BUT, drunk me (and drunk friend) did not care! we were drunk off our asses and wanted that pizza! so....that winter had been REALLY cold, temps below freezing for weeks, and it was february so this was still going on. and we were like "eh, fuck it, the cold has probably killed all the germs, right?" and just picked the whole pizza up, put it back in the box, and then devoured it all standing on the greenpoint ave platform. ewwww, right? but i'm still here so that's a win for my immune system i guess!

#anonymous #answered

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omegaremix · 1 month

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April 5, 2018.

A venture into New York City is always a good thing. Give me any reason - a doctor’s appointment, family, or a show in Greenpoint - and I’m there. This time it was a check-up on the pricier Lower East Side. I asked the team to give me an early time because I knew something else was going on behind the clinic. I know because my old man drove me home all the time and took a specific rote to do so.

The chilly 35* temperatures bit like any early April would. The sharp white sun constantly cut across the passing white clouds drifting through the dry blue sky. I stand at the Deer Park platform for a few minutes and anticipate its’ arrival. The iPod Classic (160GB) is still holding up. It’s been my only companion that comes with me for Christ knows how long, ever since it’s not-as-capable brother (30GB) took it’s first ride with me supplying Whitehouse’s Racket, Vincent Gallo’s When, and various Boards Of Canada and Roy Ayers cuts. That was another springtime trip where Cath- and I joined forces at Penn Station to go to the Brooklyn Museum and back home on the Ronkonkoma line for what was one of the most significant days ever lived. I loaded up the 400 or so finds to it of songs I never heard of before, songs then in the auditioning phase for Omega WUSB’s airplay. Train rides on the Deer Park line are usually prime-time to cycle through it all with no distractors around. My other companions? A Sony kit and a tripod.

I board and sit on the outer left aisle facing forward. No window seat this time. Public Image Ltd.’s “Poptones” couldn’t have come at a better time as the Deer Park line slowly rolled down through Farmingdale. None more fitting when those loopy dangling notes of Keith Levene’s Veleno moved perfectly with the slow floating crawl of the car. I’m not even paying attention to the motion blur of the graffiti or the industrial buildings usually experienced when looking out of the window. Another song plays, it’s The Plugz’ “Satisifed And Die”. It was a gift from Holly, a Brooklyn goth girl who followed me here. She’s made me roused and stimulated like no other. We been trading recommendations for a couple months based on our equivalencies of industrial, noise, punk, and other artists. I never heard of Plugz until she told me that “Hammy” from The Pee-Wee Herman Show was in the band.

The music still spun in my ears. Each song that played was saved to the day’s on-the-go playlist. No skips or fast-forwards. Eventually there’ll be seven or ten songs out of thirty that will follow me around forever out from the 400 chosen for April 5th. They kept going, and so was I on the way to Penn Station. Final track to end the ride? “Hold On To Your Genre” from Les Savy Fav, a band I’ve heard about over the years, and maybe a mention from former selector Xtina who used to run The All Ages Show before I took over her timeslot. Holly’s hits kept on parading through.

Penn Station here. I save my energy taking the A/C/E connecting me to the N/Q/R/W line to Lexington Av. and walk up 3rd St. to the clinic. Here I am! I’m directed to go upstairs and angle myself for some x-rays before heading downstairs to see the silver surgeon who saved my life eighteen months ago.

“Wow! What’s that?” excitingly ask Renee, the surgeon’s assistant. She saw my kit and tripod and told her I was going to shoot after our appointment. She was happy to see me. They’ve seen them all come and go during all their years in practice. It was a treat for them to see me have this new energy from when I was either blacked out on the hospital bed or frustrated and itching ready to go. But here I was. That’s the most important thing for all of us, right? Silver took his hand and pressed his tips on my shoulder to feel any changes. Looked over the film and saw no changes. Asked me how I was doing with this British / Irish roll and was pleased to hear that I was doing great. An hour later, I was good to go. Show’s over for now. See you in six months.

I haul my inventory out of the clinic and head towards where my old man would start our path home. It’s the Grand Army Plaza at the southeastern corner of Central Park. Look up and you’ll see the golden monument of William Tecumseh Sherman riding high on a stone pedestal with Victory guiding the way. I take several photos of all their heroic glory. A few horse-and-carriage jockeys were all around me with their furnishings dressed in white, red, and purple with gold trim. I see many overseas families make the best of their time taking photos for mementos forever to be remembered by, not knowing if and when they’ll have another opportunity to return again. But I don’t stop there.

Forward I go into Central Park, because I had all the time in the world to tread into uncharted territory. I walk past the disused zoo and end up at the Balto statue. How cute. I stop and snap away for more test shots before some former aspiring Aron Kay wanna-be rode his bike past me and said something about Balto being a liberal conspiracy, and self-declared it a debacle that was worse that seeing Oprah’s goatse. I walk away from his trailed stench of shit and dried blood and now here I am walking right down the middle of The Mall and Literary Walk. It literally welcomes you in with its pathway, where its generousity is measured by its wideness.

It was at that exact point where I started feeling euphoric again. I’ve beaten cancer to see my final benefits loaded into savings. Three paychecks in March, the tax refund hit, and our company gave us full-timers a surprise $1,000 bonus. Minimal and synthwave finds connected me with some of my best followers here, good times with me and twenty of my other co-workers at my neighborhood arcade, and the record-store victory tour just started. All of my on-going projects at Ω+, VMFX, and WUSB kept me going and proud. My nerves straightened themselves out and for once in my life I was on top of everything. There were no worries, no stress, no pressure. There was only hope. I hit the sweet spot that I been trying to acquire for so long and this was it. I felt like I was the person I always wanted to be. Keep going.

To my right is the Naumburg Bandshell where I did my best to preserve whatever dynamics it presented me with a press of a button. Further I go and I encounter the Besthesda Terrace, a dazzling array that’s been around for almost 175 years. Greeting me is its accompanying fountain where The Angel Of The Waters looks over all of us. A Danish family of four wanted their picture taken together so they asked me kindly to snap them with their camera, which I happily obliged.

It’s 5PM. Joggers and bikers are imminent. Young couples are sitting on the hills admiring the skyscrapers to the south and west side. I let myself get lost as I head north. I reach the Bow Bridge to see a young Filipine couple in their wedding threads have their photos taken. I continue to wander through all the winding pathways and steep hills to find myself at Belvedere Castle which was gated off and closed indefinitely. A few thousand feet later, I stop short at the 86th Street Transverse to catch my breath and pause to experience the current moment of clarity. Robert Viger’s “Limpidite” started to play. The sun’s about to set and it’s getting dimmer. Now was the time to head back.

I didn’t remember the path I took to get here, so what fun I had when I got lost and realized I had to walk the equivalent of thirty city blocks to even reach East 59th Street again which I returned to. I was exhausted and was tempted to take the N/Q/R/W line back to Penn Station, but no. It’s rare for me to be in the city, so why not make the best of it and walk it all back to Grand Central? My time was limitless because I didn’t have to be at work until 1PM the next day. Let’s reverse the process.

I take part in the crowded hustle and bustle of Manhattan. I walk 30 blocks south back to Penn Station for the ride home eastward, still bathing in the new euphoria and pending Spring renewal I just felt. I arrive five minutes to my train, but no big deal. I’m more than happy to re-hydrate with a $2.50 bottle of water and wait around until the Ronkonkoma line arrives. I have another relaxing 65-minute train ride back to Deer Park to cycle through more auditions and selections for the day’s forever soundtrack before it’s gone forever. I arrive on the Deer Park platform and step off the train. I step off the platform and walk through the aluminum overpass and steps onto the parking lot. I get in my car and drive away to sweep up the rest of the way home through the Brentwood streets. 10:30PM and I’m home for the night.

**********

There’s a message waiting for me after I walked in. It’s Holly. She asked how my day was and what I was up to. It was real nice for one of my all-time favorite followers to even ask. I had to reply to her before heading to bed. I also sent her the day’s photos and then asked to see if we could finally meet up. The momentum was stronger and now more essential than ever. I’m thriving for more.

Ghost Spell: “People On The Street”

This Is Hell: “Anarchy On The Atlantic”

Stars Are Insane, The: Versus

Ramleh: “Soundcheck Changeling 2”

Alan Shearer: “Dark Is The Color”

Public Image Ltd.: “Poptones”

Ghost Spell: “Tzz”

Plugz, The: “Red Eye #9″

Jan Jelinek: “They Their”

Pan Daijing: “Female”

Candy: “Rain In Spetember”

Pierre-Alain Dahan & Slim Pezin: “Slim Bertha”

Pisschrist: “Fatal Control”

Alan Shearer: “Only For One Girl”

James Clarke: “Silent Summer”

Thomas Leer: “Saving Grace”

Paul Dupont & His Orchestra: “Lovelorn”

Boy Harsher: “Modulations”

Zola Jesus: “Bound”

Errorsmith: “Superlative Fatigue”

Pisschrist: “Fuck The World”

Alan Shearer: “Generation V”

Joanna Brouk: “The Space Between”

Grey Hairs: “Emergency Banger”

Hogan’s Heroes: “Drugs”

Plugz, The: “Touch For Cash”

Kap Bambino: “More Machine“

Leon Gardner: “Farm Song”

Les Savy Fav: “Hold On To Your Genre”

Marijuana Deathsquads “All Deep”

Red Apollo: “Knife Party”

Stars Are Insane: “I Stayed Up All Night Thinking Of You” (ver.)

Wolf Alice: “Sad Boy”

76% Uncertain: “Coffee Achievers"

Kedr Livanskiy: “Sunrise Stop”

Haircut: “Shutting Down”

Keiji Haino: “See That My Grave Is Kept Clean”

Cabaret Voltaire: Extended Play EP

Candy: “Bears”

Frumpies, The: “I Just Wanna Puke On The Stereo”

Pan Daijing: “Overdose”

Ajax: “Paper And Steel”

Les Savy Fav: Inches

Robert Viger: “Limpidite”

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