Friday, October 1, 2010

Treehouse Salutes Pavement!!!

Tonight, in Las Vegas, Pavement is playing one of the final shows of its 2010 reunion tour, after last week playing four consecutive, already-legendary nights at Central Park's Summerstage. How momentous was this occasion for Treehouse? Well, one of us went all four nights, and the other twice, and our friends and family accompanied us each and every time. (If Treehouse has a community indie-rock band, Pavement is surely it.)

So we wanted to celebrate the moment, and share our admiration for Pavement for all to enjoy. Here's a couple of bits of rare media that we've been carrying in our hearts and souls for - gasp! - 20+ years.

The original single-tracking-shot video for "Debris Slide," from Perfect Sound Forever, quite possibly the greatest 10" ever released.



And...newly "discovered" (thanks Pavement2010 Tumblr) live recording of the band, pre-fame but in full-fledged, flighty, furry power in August of 1990 (quite possibly from Maxwell's).

Pavement - Live at Maxwells (Aug 12, 1990) by herjazz

Photo from Brooklyn Vegan by Dominick Mastrangelo

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Treehouse 016 Reviewed!!!


Thanks to everybody who came out to the Greenpoint debut of Treehouse, featuring Sal P and Safety Scissors. Not only was it a smashing success, with folks dancing 'til they kicked us out; but in a very unexpected development, the Village Voice's "Sound of the City" actually reviewed the evening's festivities. Much thanks to new FoT Chris Tarantino for the kind words.

FURTHER READING: "Salvatore Principato Fist-Pumps with New Jerseyian Abandon at Treehouse" Village Voice 9.27.2010

Saturday, September 25, 2010

Treehouse 016 - Sal P + Safety Scissors


Treehouse is pulling up roots and branching out to Greenpoint this Saturday. We hope you'll join us as we try out a new home with new (and old) friends. We have high hopes for a high-energy jammy.

We also have special guests this month who we're very excited about.

Sal P
was the iconic singer of Liquid Liquid, the short-lived early '80s NYC post-disco phenomenon with a long arc of influence ever since. (Their classic track "Cavern" became the rhythm for Grandmaster Flash's famous "White Lines," and the legendary Glasgow club night was named for their song "Optimo.") Here's a Sal P mix from Tim Sweeney's Beats in Space radio show. And below is a clip of Sal and Liquid Liquid performing "Optimo," a jam that's birthed to genres, bands and parties from New York to Glasgow and beyond, shot at this summer's Primavera Sound Festival in Spain.



Safety Scissors is an old pal—he played the Mishpucha blowout "Put On A Happy Face" (with Swayzak and Moosaka) at Filter 14 in 2001 —and he's just moved to Brooklyn (from Montreal, and before that Berlin and San Fran) and started playing out and making tracks again. His records are some of the most interesting and advanced electronic music of the last decade, and we're psyched to see what he plucks from his past and present.

We're now using our Treehouse Facebook for RSVPs (and updates/mixes, etc.). So say you're attending there and it's only $3. Otherwise it's $5 at the door. Also follow us on Twitter for fun stuff.

See you on the dance-floor.


Treehouse 016
Sat., Sept. 25, 10p-4a
Special Guests: Sal P + Safety Scissors
Residents: Raspberry Jones + Treeboy
Coco66 (actually the bar next door at #68)
66 Greenpoint Ave.
(btw. West + Franklin St.), Greenpoint, Brooklyn
$3 w/RSVP; $5/door

Saturday, August 21, 2010

"The Record: Contemporary Art & Vinyl" @ the Nasher Museum, Durham, NC


Over the past few years, Treehouse's Piotr Orlov has been assisting long-time friend and collaborator, curator Trevor Schoonmaker, on a museum show about vinyl records. Not the typical "album sleeve art" exhibition, but, in Trevor's words, a show about how "artists use the vinyl record as metaphor, archive, artifact, icon, portrait, or transcendent medium."

The result is The Record: Contemporary Art & Vinyl, featuring the work of artists such Christian Marcalay, Malick Sidibe, Carrie Mae Weems, Jasper Johns, Robin Rhode, Laurie Anderson, David Byrne, Mingering Mike and numerous others, and which opens to the general public at Duke University's Nasher Museum in Durham, North Carolina on September 2nd.

In addition to contributing a central essay to and helping edit the catalog, Orlov will be DJ'ing the museum's special opening night party on Wednesday, August 25th. Orlov's tag-team DJ partner for the evening will be another FOT (Friend of Treehouse), Dave Tompkins, who also contributed an essay to The Record's catalog.

Dave recently published a book entitled How to Wreck a Nice Beach: The Vocoder From World War II to Hip-Hop - The Machine Speaks, which has been garnering fantastic reviews and is a staple on the Treehouse book-shelf. He's also spent the summer making rather insane mixes, like this one, Spine Blowing Decisions Vol. 26, co-piloted by Chairman Mao (check the player/download in top left corner).

Anyway, if you are in-around Durham-Chapel Hill, evening of Wed. 25th, holler at Treehouse, and we'll get you in.

UPDATE: Some photos from the opening night of "The Record: Contemporary Art & Vinyl" at the Nasher.

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Superstar DJ Record Fair @ The Flea

The third annual Superstar DJ Record Fair is coming to the Brooklyn Flea, Sunday, Sept. 19, to the vault at Skylight One Hanson. So if you want to unload some old 12"s, LPs, 45s, or even CDs, we still have room for more vendors.

We'll have 30-40 vendors this year, including faves from past years like Other Music employees, Halcyon, DFA Records, and all sorts of DJs parting with their bloated collections. And we're bringing back the Buy that Record game, where vendors DJ for 20 minutes, with every song they play for sale on the spot. Fun.

Wanna sell? Just drop the Flea a line for more details.

Photo courtesy Kate Glicksberg/Interstatial.

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Andy Votel: Biker Mix B-Side



Andy Votel's Biker Mix B Side by TimeOutNewYork

A great, short and sweet mix that Treehouse 015 guest Andy Votel made for Time Out New York on the occasion of his long mid-August weekend in the Big Apple. Climb Up + Get Down.

Treehouse 015—Andy Votel + Mahssa

The 15th Treehouse is this Saturday, Aug. 14, at Littlefield, and we think it will be quite fun. We hope you will be there to drink and make merry with us.

We chose Kate's photo of the legendary Greenpoint record trove The Thing for this Treehouse because our special guests are crate-diggers extraordinaire. (That's also why Wax Poetics magazine is onboard as a Treehouse partner this month.) Expect rarities, heavy grooves, and musical map-crossing, all with an eye toward the dancefloor.

Andy Votel runs Finders Keepers and B-Music, two labels that relentlessly unearth vinyl castoffs and bring them the public recognition they deserve. Folk Is A Four Letter Word, Well Hung, Music to Make Girls Cry, the list goes on and on. Trainspotters take note. Here's a cool mix of his.

Mahssa curated the heralded Pomegranates compilation of '60s and '70s Persian pop music (on Votel's B-Music label), and we can't wait to hear what she pulls out of her crate on Saturday. Here's a Mahssa mix.

FYI Andy and Mahssa are in town for these cool film and DJ performances this week that are part of the Film Society of Lincoln Center's "Film Comment" series. Check it out.

It's $5 this month, but free if you RSVP.

To keep up with the Treehouse, follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

TREEHOUSE 015
Sat. Aug. 14, 11pm
Special Guests Andy Votel + Mahssa
Residents Raspberry Jones + Treeboy
Littlefield, 622 Degraw St. (btw. 3+4 Ave.)
$5; FREE w/RSVP

Monday, January 25, 2010

Treehouse at Unsound: Thur. Feb. 11, 2010













As part of its association with the inaugural Unsound New York festival, Treehouse is proud to announce an evening devoted to electronic rhythms created in New York.

Treehouse at Unsound, the New York Electronic Music Showcase, will feature live and DJ sets from great veterans of the New York scene, as well as newcomers creating uncompromising new sounds. The evening’s special headline set will be provided by Morgan Geist, among the city dance-music scene’s eminence grise, one-half of the influential duo Metro Area, and the man behind Environ Records. Buyoed by the 2009 success of “Robotic Hypnotic Adventure” (Wurst Edits), the Neurotic Drum Band (the veteran duo of John Selway and Elliot Taub), will perform a “decks & FX”/DJ-meets-live set, showcasing the pair's mix of classic house, Italo and techno. The all-analog live set by the young duo Blondes (Oberlin grads Sam Haar and Zach Steinman) will feature the deep Kosmiche grooves that have drawn comparisons to Manuel Gottsching and Delia & Gavin.

Listen:

Treehouse resident DJs Raspberry Jones & Treeboy will kick off the evening. Brooklyn visuals by Kate Interstatial.

09.00 pm: Treehouse DJs Raspberry Jones & Treeboy
10.00 pm: Blondes (live)
11.00 pm: Neurotic Drum Band (decks & fx)
12.00 pm: Morgan Geist (DJ)


@
Littlefield, 622 Degraw, Brooklyn, NY 11217
Tickets: $5 w/ RSVP to
treehousebklyn@gmail.com / $8 at the door.

SUBWAY: M/R to Union St; any train to Atlantic Ave./Pacific St.; F/G to Carroll St.

New to Treehouse? We're a monthly party thrown by Eric Demby and Piotr Orlov, long-time dance-music writers, collectors and DJs, and community activists. Since kicking off in the spring of 2009, Treehouse has played host to sets by Todd Edwards, Kieran Hebden, Jace Clayton, Alex From Tokyo, Todd Sines and others.

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