FRIDAY, MAY 3

ASTRONAUTICO: Low Limit, Time Wharp, Dreams, Obey City, Paul Jones, Michael Jukeson at Free Candy [10PM/$5wRSVP]
Experimental beats label Astronautico’s monthly party is a mainstay of this list. Partly, it’s the badass space, partly the proper sound, but mostly, its the bookings. Consistently showcasing the most exciting North American experimental bass music is what has made Astronautico a crucial part of the NYC underground. This time, they feature the cleverly named Time Limit tour, comprised of Low Limit and Time Wharp. Both have a successful history with wonky beats, but the collaborative promo mix they put out leans more towards acid house and weird, energetic berlin techno. Also on the bill is up and coming beatmaker Dreams. His productions explore the RnB/future beats territory made popular by Shlohmo, but seethe with an urgency you don’t typically associate with that sound. Hoping for a fiery set from this one.
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Kastle (live!), Knxwledge at 285 Kent [8PM/$12]
Kastle is a major force in stateside bass music. As both a label head, (he runs Symbols recordings) and a producer, he specializes in lush, intricate and often emotional club tunes. Rarely is a Symbols release solidly one genre; more often its somewhere in a Venn diagram of house, garage, futuristic rnb (but it always has amazing art, thanks to Joyce Su). Kastle’s utterly fantastic LP dropped last week, and this is one of the first stops on his tour in support of the album AND the debut of his live show. As someone with extremely high standards for both his music and his label, I’m thinking his live set is gonna be top notch. Also playing is super prolific dusty beatmaker Knxwledge.
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SUPPLY RECORDS RELEASE PARTY: Taimur, Max Pearl, John Barera at Bossa Nova Civic Club [10PM/FREE]
Celebrating the release of SUPPLY 005, B-Tracks Flightless EP. Supply Records boss John Barera has invited BLKMARKET founder & resident Taimur and cluster mag editor & eclectic DJ Max Pearl to join him in playing some tunes at the Bossa Nova Civic Club. BNCC has a great soundsystem, no cover and one of the lowest incidences of douches per capita of any club in NYC (and they have Club Mate!)
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SATURDAY, MAY 4

IDLE 02: Rrose (live!), Prism House (live!), Dave Q, Dustmite, Max Von Cannon at TBA [10-5/$15]
IDLE is the second in a series of collaborative AV events put on by Reconstrvct and BigUp magazine (two of the most trustworthy names in bass music). Essentially a massive art show (this time featuring Kahori Maki, whose work is MINDBLOWING) with music from a host of experimental bass music acts with a heavy emphasis on a/v shows. But IDLE elevates that to a sumptuous sensory experience via their discerning curation, top notch production design, venue choice and the best sound in town (Tsunami Bass, duhhhh). Dense, mysterious techno from Rrose, wildly experimental live beats from Prism House, a set from NYC’s leading bass music futurist (and Dub War founder) Dave Q, and more. Venue is ONLY announced to advanced ticket holders, so go cop those before it’s too late.
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Record Release Party: a/jus/ted with Jeremy Glenn LIVE at Kinfolk Studios [10PM/FREE]
a/jus/ted is the duo of Eddie Mars (aka Teddy Stuart) and Justin Strauss. United by their love of analogue disco production, what makes them so interesting is that they’re separated by a dozen generations of clubbers. Justin Strauss is an NYC institution, with 3 decades of NYC nightlife experience, who has played literally everywhere. Eddie Mars is a young gun, who has already produced and remixed for labels like UNO and DFA, and before that had 4 years experience throwing epicly dark, sweaty Vietcong Disco loft parties. Tho it’s just one 12”, they clearly have a synergy as a production team – as their record clearly shows. A shimmering, vital, timeless piece of disco.
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Beats Antique, Russ Liquid at Brooklyn Bowl [8PM/$15]
Beats Antique have carved out a unique sound, marrying party-starting glitch-hop beats with live musicianship. Fiddle and mandolin riff off sequenced and live drums (and often a host of bellydancers) creating a gypsy crunk vibe that goes over really well with the Burner and Bisco scenes. Support from west coast producer Russ Liquid, who has really distinguished himself from the field with his slyly funky, heavily textured, sinuous, intricate beats.
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RBMA x The Bunker: Andy Stott, Atom TM, Objekt, Octo Octa, Patrick Pulsinger, Kloke, Smax at Public Assembly [10PM-6AM/$20]
Buncha dudes playin really good techno.
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Big changes are coming to WompBlog, and I want you to all be in the know. Here’s the tl;dr – I don’t have the time to make this a good music blog and a good events listing. And since there are a million music blogs, this is going to become an events blog. For bass music events in New York City. There will also be a mailing list with weekly blasts of what’s coming up.

I work as a UX designer, and we’re always talking about minimum viable product. What is the experience at the core of your product? What provides the value? What makes it different and valuable when a potential user is looking at all the competition? I realized that, as music blogs go, this is a pretty half-assed one – sometimes I go weeks without posting. There are already a million blogs out there who do it better, and more spring up every day. I imagine most are run by college students, or people with mindless dayjobs, or trustafarians with DJ aspirations. Folks with gobs of free time. I can’t compete with them, nor do I want to. My dayjob keeps me challenged and busy, and after work I’d rather spend time with my girlfriend than with my computer. And, oh yeah, go out and see music.

But WompBlog IS a fairly decent events listing (just check the sidebar). And as far as I’ve seen, nobody else is consistently curating bass music events in New York City. Sure, each promoter has a website with listings of their events and stuff they are co-promoting, but that’s hype. There’s resident advisor and songkick, but those are only good if you already know what you’re looking for. What this scene needs is curation – not only in selecting what’s worth going to, but also in telling you why it’s worth going to. My modus operandi here is aggregating the best stuff from both the underground scene and the more established clubs. The only prerequisites are good DJs/producers, a good soundsystem, and a good crowd.

As the prophet Ron Swanson once said, “Never half-ass two things. Whole-ass one thing”. The time has come to whole-ass the events section. The basic site structure will remain the same (for now) but the editorial focus is going to shift towards upcoming events. Expect more quick posts to tell you what has been added to the listings, and longer ones focused on upcoming shows. Once a week, all those will get rolled up into an email that will keep you in the know, and probably have some exclusives as well. Signups will be open shortly. There will still be mixes, and gems from bandcamp and soundcloud, but music will be more closely related to who is playing in NYC in the near future.

So if you’re a concertgoer, get ready for a whole lot more awesome events. If you’re  a promoter, get ready for a lot more fans. And whoever you are, get ready for a whole lot more WOMP!

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