SPIN ‘Year In Music’ 2013 Party

SPIN Magazine's 'Year In Music' party was a great way to end such a lackluster year....
SPIN 'Year In Music' 2013 Recap

SPIN 'Year In Music' 2013 Recap

Year-end ‘summing ups’ are always a bit forced, as it’s just a random point on the calendar in the dead of winter, which for some reason is just a week after the biggest holiday of the year – in reality, the end of summer is the end of the year, whether you’re talking a new school year, new fiscal year, or new year of primetime television.  And 2013 has been a particularly meaningless year, from its unsexy number (the first year without two digits repeating since 1987) to the pointlessness of things like government shutdowns and twerking.  Even the unfortunate passing of the great Nelson Mandela got swamped in debates over presidential handshakes and fraudster sign language translators.  The word of the year was ‘selfie’…

But SPIN Magazine was still able to throw a great ‘Year In Music’ party, December 10th at Music Hall of Williamsburg (QRO venue review) in Brooklyn, with a diverse line-up of artists who had a great 2013 in Danny Brown, Superchunk, and Charli XCX, plus host Hannibal Buress.

Like last year’s party (QRO review) at Music Hall’s sister venue, Bowery Ballroom (QRO venue review), the event was pseudo-divided between the VIP balcony and regular RSVP stage floor (but this year QRO had VIP…).  The regular RSVP actually seemed not as hard-to-get as expected (or maybe your correspondent just knows more people this year than last), but the upstairs VIP was packed with press, publicists, label people, artists, and the like.  It was where you could run into Dave from Brooklyn Vegan talking to Conrad from Takka Takka (QRO spotlight on), or the publicist of the holiday party you were going to the next night (QRO photos).  Interestingly, and perhaps slightly ironically, while all the bars at Music Hall were open ones (thanks, Tiger Beer!), the one on the balcony for VIP was far more packed, a far longer wait, than the ones for regular RSVP (hopefully the VIPs still tipped their hard-working bartenders).  It being semi-separate from the actual balcony that overlooks the stage floor meant that the space was where VIPs could talk and not be bothered by/be distracting to the artists & fans.

Hannibal Buress

Buress & ballerinasOpening and hosting the event was comedian Hannibal Buress.  Comedians at music events, especially sharing the same stage, don’t always work (The Daily Show’s John Oliver once joked about it when he performed at a music festival – QRO recap), but Buress did.  His sort of ‘meta comedy’ included asking the people “up top,” “What can I get from you?…”, commenting on rappers having too many people on stage (yet they all look angry…), and compared being a comedian to being a rapper, and how rappers can sample other people’s work, but comedians can’t.  For this and other bits (like rappers lying in their rhymes, such as A$AP Rocky saying, “I got a crib in every state” – “No way he’s got a crib in both Dakotas…”), he worked with the DJ, DJ Roofeo, who would put in samples like Chris Rock’s famous “There’s a civil war going on with black people” (no, we’re not going to repeat the rest…).  He also brought on ballerinas seemingly just because he could (and made sure they still danced when he rapped his song – that’s the #1 rap song in Norway – a-cappella).  It was actually an engaging way to start the show (other topics included people using old flip phones, “That’s obviously not your real phone – that’s your crime phone…”, opening for Tracy Morgan, who said, “You’ll be the date rape drug, and I’ll be the big black dick…”, getting an Emmy by just being at the right place at the right time, “Like Juwan Howard having an NBA championship ring,” and more), and his introducing each act made it feel like more than just a collection of unconnected artists.

Charli XCX

Charli XCXThe party could have felt that way because it was a rather random line-up.  Being a holiday industry party, the evening wasn’t the usual ‘headliner + opener(s)’ set-up, but rather three acts who could headline events all their own (and even at bigger venues), and certainly wouldn’t normally be on the bill with each other.  First up was Charli XCX, who had only recently headlined the larger Irving Plaza (QRO venue review) the Charli XCXmonth before (QRO live review).  Ms. XCX has had a great year, following up her meteoric rise in 2012 with the acclaimed True Romance this year.  She came to Music Hall with her all-girl band, and though the sound wasn’t perfect, she’s a strong frontwoman.  Yes, she did “I Love It”, the song that’s been made famous by the even more meteoric rise of Icona Pop (QRO spotlight on) – but Charli co-wrote it, and can certainly pull it off herself.

Charli XCX

Superchunk

Jon WursterThe definite outlier amongst the acts that night was Superchunk – something the band joked about themselves, remarking on how much older they were than the others.  Old Superchunk might be, but that’s only enabled them to create a great discography – oh, and found indie label-made-good Merge Records (Arcade Fire, She & Him, Spoon) to boot.  Mac McCaughanWhile 2010 was the year the band put out their first record in almost a decade, Majesty Shredding (QRO review), this was the year they followed it up and proved they’re just a vital as ever with I Hate Music (QRO review).  The set was naturally heavy on the newer material, somehow not including their classic “Slack Motherfucker” (but did close with oldie “Hyper Enough”), and didn’t have as much in between jokes as the band is known for (drummer Jon Wurster is one of the funniest musicians on Twitter), though singer/guitarist Mac McCaughan did ask about the balcony, “Are those the people who actually do hate music?” [note: the head of Merge Records was later seen in said balcony…]

Superchunk

Danny Brown

Danny BrownAfter all those ‘artistes’ with their ‘bands’, the evening closed with Danny Brown just on stage with his DJ SKYWLKR (maybe he was slightly shamed into not having all his friends on stage after Hannibal Buress’ bit…).  By this point, the open bar had gotten to most people, but that’s certainly not outside of Brown’s range, and he was more than able to hold his own on the stage.  Obviously doing mostly songs from this year’s Old (SPIN’s #12 album of 2013), the special event of the night was him being joined by Charli XCX for their new song, “Float On”, to end the party.

Danny Brown

Yes, the event had lots of schmoozing (your correspondent ran out of business cards, always a good sign…) and boozing, but also a lot of music & fans.  It was a great way to end such a lackluster year.

-words: Ted Chase
-photos: Robert Altman and Deborah Lowery

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