Introducing Mr. Stef Siepel, EVBs newest contributor and magnet for shit-hot bands that you’ve either just heard of, or maybe never heard of, but in either case, will likely be hearing much more about in months to come - likely on these pages.

We met Stef a few weeks ago at a Snowden show here in the East Village. We hung out, talked about music, complained that Suede was never as popular here as they should have been, he showed us his, we did the same - our iPods I mean, though if I remember correctly Stef had something definitively not iPod. We quickly learned that this man with the fucked-up hair visiting from Holland was a musical force to be reckoned with, decided our meeting was fate, and promptly signed him up.

We thought the best way to introduce him, was to have him put together a mixtape of whatever he’s been dancing too all summer, so here it is. Enjoy!

PUSHING BUTTONS AND KNOBS

Heartbeat - Late of the Pier / Wires - Dead Kids / Folio - Model Horror / Money on the Fire - The Ghost Frequency / Blackout - The Whip / Ghostdance - Lesser Panda / Love is a Boat and We’re Sinking – Dinosaur Pile-Up / Red Socks Pugie - Foals / Strobe - Friendly Fires / Wolfgang Bang - Mirror! Mirror! / Disneyland Part 1 - Get Shakes / Young and Stupid - Dreamer / Dark Skies - The Electric City / Canape of Love - We Smoke Fags / British Mode - Goose

Their official bio says it well: “40 years after The Summer of Love (and 30 years after The Summer of Hate), MGMT is celebrating the grand re-opening of the third eye of the world with the duo’s much-anticipated first full-length album, an enigmatic and prophetic collection of hallucinatory sounds and hook-riddled pop tones for the new millennium. MGMT is Andrew Vanwyngarden and Ben Goldwasser, two psychic pilgrims whose paths first intersected in the green pastures of Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, circa 2002.”

Eventually they migrated to Brooklyn, did some home-studio Mbox recordings, finally recorded Oracular Spectacular (easily one of our favorite albums of the year), and became accidental rock stars, touring, it seems, everywhere - forever.
Richard and Weston caught up with Ben over the phone, somewhere in the UK, to ask as many inappropriate questions as they could. Luckily our newest EVB music guru Stef Siepel stepped in and gave us some serious questions to ask, you know, about music.

EVB: Where are you right now?

BEN: On our way to, umm, Scotland.

EVB: What day of the week is it?

BEN: Um, it’s [laughs] oh man… it’s Friday.

EVB: What did you do yesterday?

BEN: We were in Lisbon doing a festival. It was our first time in Portugal. It was really fun - cool place. There’s not too much of an attitude there.

EVB: Where are you playing tonight?

BEN: In Scotland. We’re playing tomorrow night at a festival called “T in the Park”, about an hour outside of Glasgow.

EVB: There’ll be a lot of seriously wasted people there, I can tell you that.

BEN: Yeah, well, judging from the other festivals…

EVB: You’re touring like crazy - you just did Glastonbury. How does that compare to the Princeton show you did a couple years ago that we saw online? It looked like a bunch of douche bags with bottles of beer?

BEN: [laughs] That was a kind of a one-off show. We hadn’t been playing for very long and someone just set the show up for us. It was called Field Days or something - basically every fraternity had a band playing in their backyard - people were falling into garbage cans. So that show - we totally made it up on the spot. We had no idea what we were going to do. Lately we’ve been playing with a five-piece band. We’ve definitely improved. It’s been less of an unstructured mess and a little bit more of a band getting up on stage and playing.

EVB: I presume, as you’re on tour, you have a tour bus?

BEN: Yeah. It’s definitely taken some time to get adjusted to it. Some things I don’t like about it, some things I do. It’s nice to fall asleep in one city and wake up in another and start your day out there, walk around, see the city.
EVB: I’ve been on a few tour buses in my time, and I know the sleeping arrangements can be kind of interesting. Who sleeps on top, and who’s on bottom?

BEN: [laughs] Um… I’ve got a top bunk.

EVB: Andrew is on bottom?

BEN: [laughs] uhh… I don’t… I can’t remember. He may have a top bunk too.

EVB: So you’re both quite versatile?

BEN: [laughs] uhh… you could say that.

EVB: We read in an earlier interview that you guys thought your live performance was still a bit dull and you wanted to make it more theatrical and liven things up. What plans crossed your minds?

BEN: For now it’s still pretty much the same as it has been, except that we’re getting better as musicians - more practiced at getting up in front of people. We’re taking a break at the end of this year and I think we’re going to try some new stuff - hopefully work on some sort of stage presentation.

EVB: I guess there’s got to be a difference between doing a small gig, and playing huge venues with Radiohead or Beck for example, both of whom you’re scheduled to soon be opening for.

BEN: Yeah, I think we’re starting to get over the awkwardness of walking up in front of a crowd. We used to be really nervous because we’re just playing instruments - we don’t really have anything to look at on stage, but I think we’re getting a little more confident about that.

EVB: You need to recruit a Bez - like from the Happy Mondays.

BEN: Yeah, yeah, yeah!

EVB: A guy who just takes loads of drugs and dances like a fool.

While we were doing some research we found a bunch of old tracks from when you were still called The Management. Really minimal, drum machines - most of which we’ve never heard before and was never re-recorded.

BEN: Yeah, yeah - that was the kind of stuff we were making in college.

EVB: There were a few musical references to what’s going on now, but what happened to all that early music.

BEN: It was a lot more kind of goofy, nonsense songs. Kind of pop-satire almost. We weren’t much of a band at that point. We definitely weren’t taking it seriously.
EVB: People are always talking about the “Brooklyn school” - a “school” that includes, Vampire Weekend, Yeasayer, Dirty Projectors, Grizzly Bear, Boy Crisis, Gang Gang Dance. Does that diversity make the whole idea of a “Brooklyn school” bullshit, or is there something real to that?

BEN: There’s definitely something real to Brooklyn being an influence to certain kinds of bands that live there, in terms of the experience of potentially being an outsider coming to Brooklyn. It would have been much different for me if I had grown up in Brooklyn. I moved there at the end of 2006 and lived there for about a year. I live in New Jersey now, but…

EVB: Oh, we’re not going to print that [laughs]. Do you guys both live in Jersey?

BEN: Well, I live in Jersey but Andrew is homeless right now. He lives on the bus. I do too, mostly. I think being in Brooklyn for a year definitely influenced the way I thought about music and being in a band and being in a big city for the first time in my life. But we never felt attached to the other Brooklyn bands that were coming up at the same time as us - the ones who all started getting buzz at the same time - other than, I guess, Yeasayer because they’re friends of ours, and we maybe have more of a musical connection with them, stylistically.

EVB: We just saw an interview with you where you actually wished bad Karma on Vampire Weekend…

BEN: Yeah, we wanted to start a fake feud with them [laughs]. The British music press got all over it and started spreading around that we were talking shit about Vampire Weekend. We’d never even met them before, we just thought it would be funny. We ended up meeting them and they’re really nice guys and we became friends with them, so any bad karma is gone now.

EVB: It seems the longer you guys play, the richer the music gets, and the more eccentric you seem to get. Usually eccentricity hits when you get older but are you guys are going to be a huge beautiful mess before you’re 30.

BEN: I think we’re uh… I think a couple of things have been happening to us. Since we’ve been on the road we’ve gone a little crazy. I think we’re also getting more confident, which kind of encourages us. We realized nothing bad is going to happen to us if we act like crazy people - at least for now. As long as we don’t develop hard drug habits we’re mostly alright for now.

EVB: About the album - the first part of the album, up to ‘Kids’, has a very poppy sound with catchy choruses and all. The second part is a lot more experimental, and psychedelic, and the lyrics turn from verses with choruses into a more narrative structure. Was that a conscious dividing line on the album?

BEN: Well, it didn’t really start out like that. The “catchy” songs were originally more scattered around the album, with the other stuff in the middle. We ended up changing the order because we had a meeting with Rick Rubin and he strongly suggested we move the single tracks up to the beginning of the album. We weren’t crazy about the idea, but we ended up doing it.

EVB: Have you been asked to remix anyone?

BEN: I did a remix for Black Kids but I used a Kate Bush sample and it didn’t get cleared. I think a rough version leaked out online but we couldn’t release it. We do have a several people who have remixed us, or are working on remixes for us, which is weird because we think of ourselves as more of a rock band, but I guess a lot of people think of us as someone you play in a club - we don’t even go out to clubs much.

EVB: Anything you’d like to tease us with about your side project with Of Montreal’s Kevin Barnes?

BEN: He and Andrew have been talking about doing something together for a while. It was before we got a record deal, we weren’t doing anything as a band, and Andrew thought it would be cool to do something together. But now Andrew’s busy touring and I think Kevin is making the new Of Montreal album, so I don’t really know when that’s going to happen.
EVB: Do you guys think that being hot actually makes the music sound better?

BEN: [laughs] I wish it did! There are definitely people in our audience you wouldn’t think would normally be listening to the music we’re playing if people weren’t talking about our band in terms of a style. I also think some people come to the show because they think Andrew is hot. They probably like the music too, but it’s definitely a factor.

You guys probably know the term cryptogay…

EVB: What? No.

BEN: We did an interview in Paris a couple days ago and the guy brought up crypotgay culture, which is where people appropriate popular culture - superheroes for example - and use them in gay sex scenarios. Apparently there’s a movement that’s doing that with music. It’s crazy, but we can’t really read our French press to figure out what’s going on and what people are saying about us over there.

EVB: Wait, so you guys are subjects in some sort of cryptogay fantasy culture?

BEN: Yeah, apparently. We just found that out.

EVB: We’re definitely going to research that. While we’re on the subject, do you have any particular fetish?

BEN: I don’t know, I’m pretty boring in the sack [laughs].

EVB: Do you believe sexuality is fluid? If so which fluid best describes your sexuality?

BEN: [laughs] Yes, I believe it’s fluid, and I would say these days it’s kind of like a fruity, strawberry, champagne drink. With a lot of Vodka in it.

EVB: What’s the golden rule of management?

BEN: Have fun and don’t take yourself to seriously.

EVB: Since Andrew’s not on this call, do you want to start a rumor about him?

BEN: [laughs] He’s probably doing a good enough job on his own.

EVB: He has “Real” tattooed on his chest. What’s the story behind that?

BEN: Yes he does, I saw him get it. I don’t know how long he was thinking about it, but we were hanging out in Athens Georgia, living there for the summer, and he started talking about getting a tattoo, walked in and picked out, like, a cursive font.

EVB: Yeah, but what’s it mean?

BEN: I’m not exactly sure what it means to him, but it seems like [laughs] having a logo that says “Real” on yourself might be life-affirming in some way.

EVB: It seems like Andrew is more of a twink - do you think of yourself as more of an otter?

BEN: [laughs] Did you say otter?

EVB: Yes, thats what I said. Or maybe a mink.

BEN: I don’t understand [laughs].

EVB: What was your earliest gay experience?

BEN: Umm, it’s hard to say what counts as gay when you’re a REALLY little kid, but…

[laughs]

… I made out with a guy in college [laughs].

EVB: We know you guys aren’t gay, but what would it take to recruit you?

BEN: What would it take? Man, that’s a good question. What are you offering [laughs].

EVB: Well, we’ll see you at McCarren Park Pool so we’ll show you then.

BEN: Alright!

MGMT (with The Ting Tings and Black Moth Super Rainbow), plays McCarren Pool in Brooklyn, Sunday July 27. Hot. Sweaty. Love it.

Big thanks to Pavla Kopecna and Phil Ogynist for the photography.

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To help get the boys excited about their gig at McCarren Park Pool in Brooklyn, Sunday the 27th, MGMT gave us a couple of their 7″ singles. We only have two, so if you want one (along with a 7″ from The Ting Tings, also playing on Sunday), be the first two people to send us a pic of your 7″ with “MGMT” written on it, and we’ll send you one of ours.

Send your pic to EDITOR@EASTVILLAGEBOYS.COM

We just adore Rufus Wainwright here at EVB, especially when he gets all pantomime, as he did at his recent Radio City Music Hall gig, dressed up in lederhosen, and slapping his thighs with gusto.

So you can imagine our feverish excitement when we watched Teddy Thompsons new video for “In My Arms”, and found our favorite pantomime queen dressed as our favorite pantomime king, and in roller skates, banging on his organ somewhere near the middle of the video. Enjoy, boys!

So it’s summer and the heat is upon us here in NYC, the AC in our office crapped out, and even our mighty editor Weston was sighted donning a pair of cut-off jeans!

We’ve shut the office for the weekend (for heat and sanitary reasons) and retreated to our friend Peter’s lovely rooftop deck. A gimlet in hand and some juicy sausages on their way… life couldn’t be better.

To share our heat and affection for you all, I knocked out a little summer rooftop playlist. It’s a mix of old and new, fast and slow… just how we like it at EVB… I hope you all enjoy it, and thank you for the wonderfully supportive emails you’ve sent us recently.

LOVE IS IN THE AIR AND WE LOVE IT!

Gobbledigook - Sigur Rós / I’m Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You - Black Kids / My Mistakes Were Made For You - The Last Shadow Puppets / 24k - The Whitest Boy Alive / Pocket - Sam Sparro / Kids - MGMT / Kids In America - Kim Wilde / Rich Girls - The Virgins / Charmed Life (Frases’ Jacked Up Mix) - Pig Out / Strings - Assylum / Can You Feel It - Mr. Fingers / Radio Edit - Studio / Go Bang (François Kevorkian Mix) - Dinosaur L / Everybody Wants To Rule The World - Tears For Fears / Zenophile - Mylo / Club Tropicana - Wham!

Big Scot has been keeping the riff raff out of our bars and clubs for the last 20 years [applause]. He is absolutely an East Village legend, and absolutely not to be fucked with. He’s also a gentle giant, a writer, and an artist and musician in the tradition of what made the East Village hot in the first place. He may even be a murderer, but probably not. His storytelling can best be described as stream-of-consciousness. At any rate, he’s been around, seen a lot, done more, and luckily is a great friend of EVB because he’s naming names.

Weston: Pot, Ketel One - ready to go?

Big Scot: Yeah.

How about a background track for the readers. Name your tune.

Slayer, “Seasons in the Abyss”.

I think I’ve seen you maybe once without a metal t-shirt. What’s the Holy Trinity of metal?

Blood, sweat, and love.

I meant the bands.

The best live, Slayer. Black Label Society (BLS), and Queens of the Stone Age.
[since publishing this article Scot has sobered up and wants to change his original answer to Slayer, Black Sabbath and Judas Priest. What the hell was he thinking with Queens of the Stone Age?]

Surprised about that last one, but those are the three must-haves for EV boys that don’t know anything about metal?

Yeah.

Lets start with your public door-whore persona.

I am not a whore [laughs].

What doors have you whored before your current gig at Eastern Bloc, in the East Village (of course)?

What doors have I not whored should be your question. OK here we go. Limelight, Pyramid…

Limelight during the Michael Alig days?

This was before Michael Alig, but I used to sneak him in when he was, um, 19. I HELPED PROMOTE A MURDERER!

Did you help with the murder?

[pause]

OK, next question…

[laughs] No, I didn’t help with the murder, but I did know Angel.

Back to the doors.

Limelight, Pyramid, Boy Bar, The World, Mars, Sound Factory, Sound Factory Bar, Twilo, Barracuda [vomit noises, more vomit noises], The Cock.

I heard [redacted] waters down their drinks.

Yes, I believe they do. The first time I had a drink in there I was like this motherfucking Jack is fucking watered down you motherfucking bitch. I can’t stand those fucking assholes. One of them wanted to look at my paintings and I was like, “I would never sell you a painting, bitch. Even if you wanted the million dollar one” [laughs]. Can I finish my doors? OK, The Cock, The Park and now Eastern Bloc.

Speaking of Eastern Bloc, I’ve seen you turn away legions of hot boys. What the hell?

They didn’t have ID.

And? I have seen fake IDs handed to you. Not good enough?

[laughs] No.

Give us some dirt on the Eastern Bloc staff - but be nice it’s our favorite bar.

I don’t really have any dirt on any of them. They’re all friends of mine, we all get along and they’re great to work for. And all those clubs I listed - this is the first time I haven’t worked for a cokehead owner. The first one! I was like, wow, after 20 years of doing this, this is the first place with no cokehead owners.

We’re going to get sued.

No, I’m telling you the truth. They’re nice guys at Eastern Bloc and I really like everyone there. It’s small and it’s - oh we had one employee that was kind of funny - he used to do happy hour and used to play Tori Amos. You’d walk in and think “lets’s do some heroin and slit our wrists”. But he’s gone now.

Who was the last guy you threw out at Eastern Bloc?

Oh that was this guy last Friday. They called me in and the dancer comes over, “I need help, I need help, there are people on the stripper pole!” So I go over and I tell this one chick to get down, she gets down, and then there’s this big fucking guy, and he was screaming “HALLELUJAH JESUS! JESUS! AMERICA! AMERICA!”, and I said dude, you can’t be touching the pole while the go-go boy is trying to dance, so he looks at me, gives me this dirty look, and he takes his hand off the pole, and I go back to the door, and turn around, and his hand is back on the fucking pole, and I’m like dude, you can’t put your fucking hand on the pole, and he says “but I have to! If I don’t I’ll fall over!”, and I said I think its time for you to go and he gives me this look and says “try to throw me out”, and tries to stare me down, and he was a big fucker, and I was like ok bitch are you ready to go - I’m not in the mood, but then I suggested “you know, you’re fucked up, you need to get some air, lets go outside”. So we go outside and he’s like “thank you, I love you! Thank you for being so understanding” and waddled down the street home.

So when we hang out at the door with you, I love watching all the straight boys walk by all sly to check the place out, and then circle back and come in… or am I imagining things?

No, you’re not. Somehow my body odor attracts them. If you’re good looking, mental, and confused about your sexuality, then you’re in love with me. And I’m in love with you.

Um…

They come to ME! you’ve seen them, right?

I’ve seen it, I’ve seen it. They probably think you’re the guy from Harry Potter.

HAHAHA! Hagrid?

Yeah, exactly! What’s it like working with Daniel Radcliffe anyway?

Who’s Daniel Radcliffe?

Um… so the East Village has changed a lot over the last twenty years. What was it like when you first started doing doors in the neighborhood?

When I used to work at Pyramid on Avenue A, I had a big red bong underneath my chair, and when my friends showed up we’d take bong hits. That’s how cool it was back in the day. People would bring me beer… people were afraid… Avenue A was “alright”, Avenue B was “Beware”, Avenue C was “crazy” and Avenue D was “dead”. Now you walk down Avenue B and there are people with baby strollers. I miss when it was bombed-out buildings and junkies - it was like zombie land. I lived on 8th Street between B and C at one point - because I was between beware and craziness.

What’s the craziest shit you’ve seen in the last 20 years. I want names.

Ok this one will be gossipy. One time, this gossip columnist from [redacted] - I was working at The World, and they had this one section in the middle of the place called the “It Club”, and the staff would always go in there because we knew the beer cases were open and we could go in there and get beer, so my buddy and I were in there drinking a beer, and we see [redacted] over in the corner with some young guy with his pants down, and he was trying to get the guy hard but he couldn’t get hard because he was so fucked up, but he’s still sucking on his dick [sucking sounds], so we crouched down and he hears us giggling, so he stops and looks around - and then [sucking sounds].

I don’t think we should print that.

You don’t have to say who it is, just say “gossip columnist”.

I have funny fuck story. This guy shows up at Boy Bar, and he’s like “can I come in?”, and the other doorman told him (more…)

There are many grossly overrated DJs who jet from one continent to the other lugging their ‘anthemic’ tunes with them, and then there are those DJs who are more interested in developing a style, reputation and atmosphere in front of a weekly audience. Luke Howard is one such DJ. He began DJing in the late 80s and was the resident at London’s infamous Brixton-based QUEER NATION for over ten sweaty years. We caught up with him on his return from a long, hot trip to Rio De Janeiro…

Richard: Hey Luke, what have you been up to tonight?

Filthy Luka: I went to The Joiners Arms for a night called Macho City, a night of Hi-NRG. It was a lot of fun, just like being in a gay bar in 1985.

R: How did you come by the name Filthy Luka and when did she hit the scene?

FL: Well, I was working at another gay night on a Sunday and then Horse Meat Disco started and the other club didn’t want me to play at two gay things on the same night so I decided to have an alias and came up with Filthy Luka. So she’s been around since Horse Meat Disco began really.

R: How long have you been DJing? How did you get into it?

FL: I have been DJing since 1989. I started doing squat parties in London and then I got a warm up slot at a night at Dingwalls, and then Patrick Lilley gave me a try out when he opened Queer Nation in December 1990. He liked me, so I got the job and was resident there for 14 years.

R: Describe your DJ style in five words.

FL: Jumping groovy disco dancing songs.

R: And you also produce music and perform?

FL: I’ve done a few tunes over the years, mostly for Afro Art which used to be Ashely Beedle’s label, I had an electro pop project with Princess Julia called The Most, and we did a ton of stuff and had a record out on German label Beauty Case - one of our songs was used on the soundtrack of John Maybury’s feature film The Jacket. I haven’t been in the studio for ages but I’m just about to start a new project with Foolish Felix of Cynic records, so I’m looking forward to that.

R: You play at London’s Horse Meat Disco, which is at a boozer called The Eagle in Vauxhall. Over the last few years Vauxhall has become a new gay ghetto in London. What’s that all about, and how do you find it?

FL: Vauxhall is really a massive after hours scene, which I’m not really into. Currently most of the clubs down there are quite generic and I can’t do that up all night thing. However, boozers like The Eagle and the Royal Vauxhall Tavern are a lot of fun and add a bit of variety to things.

R: We hear you have spent the last six months in Brazil (lucky Luka!). Why Brazil?

FL: I just love it. I first went in 2003 and I’ve been back every year for a month but this time I decided to stay longer so I could improve my Portuguese. I really like the way things are down there. People are super friendly and know how to live in the moment and just enjoy life. I love samba and carnival and of course the weather is wonderful compared to winter in London.

R: Where were you? What did you do?

FL: I was living in Rio and I worked for a while making outfits for a children’s samba school. I had to make 120 outfits for the bateria (the drummers) of the school which took about ten weeks to finish. When they paraded there was a mighty thunderstorm and all the outfits were ruined in about ten seconds - feathers don’t like rain!

R: Tell us your finest daytime story and nighttime story from your Rio adventures.

FL: Daytime: One day I was jogging on Flamengo Beach and I met a Brazilian man who was my physical ideal - older, broad shoulders, salt and pepper hair, rugged-looking. We struck up a conversation and learned that we had the same taste in American female soul singers. He started singing songs by Alcione - this female Brazilian singer with a deep voice - which was very romantic. I was just about ready to marry him. I gave him my number but sadly never heard from him. His name was Eros, so if you’re out there reading this, I’ve got my wedding dress out of the dry cleaners…

Nighttime: After I had watched the carnival parade all night I walked down to this place called Elite which is a samba gafiera dancehall that goes gay at carnival. On the way there, down a darkened street, I could see a large group of guys standing at the side of the road. As I got closer I realized it was about forty guys, all having sex. Even I was stunned, as it was just a regular street with quite a lot of cars and people passing by. Needless to say I didn’t join in as I had a lot of money in my pocket, but it was quite a thrill stumbling across and outdoor group sex scene like that.

R: Nice! Very different than your home in London. How does gay culture differ in Brazil from the rest of Europe?

FL: Rio doesn’t have as much gay nightlife as São Paolo as it’s more of a beach culture. There are quite a lot of saunas though. In some areas of life gay people are very integrated into the mainstream, like samba, carnival and Candomblé (Afro-Brazilian religion). In samba school rehearsals there will be quite a lot of gay people and some trannies - they belong there as much as anyone else. In Candomblé most of the priests are gay, the participants are a mixture of straight and gay, and everyone is given equal respect.

R: what clubs or bars do you think an east village boy might find… rewarding?

FL: Unidos da Tijuca samba school have rehearsals every Saturday in the months leading up to carnival and it’s very gay there. Dama de Ferro, a club in Ipanema, is good for afterhours on Saturdays. And there’s a bear party called Encontro dos Ursos (Bear Meet Up) twice a month at Espaço Marun in Catete which is quite fun.

R: I hear Rio is all about the cruising - any hot tips?

FL: Parque do Flamengo at Flamengo Beach is quite cruisy once the sun has gone down, but I hear it can be dangerous. Rio can be quite cruisy everywhere and there are love motels where you can rent rooms by the hour if you get lucky - they’re better, and safer, than taking someone back to your apartment.

R: Name your three all time favorite tracks and why they mean so much to you?

FL: Not wanting to sound morbid, but I’d like these three played at my funeral:

1. Chaka Khan, ‘Love Has Fallen On Me’. I listen to this everyday and it always gives me a lift. Her vocal performance is stunning and the production by Arif Mardin is gorgeous.

2. First Choice, ‘I’ve Got A Feeling’. This is pure Philly Disco perfection. It has quite a melancholy feel, but is uplifting at the same time.

3. Labelle, ‘I Believe That I Finally Made It Home’. Nona Hendrix wrote the lyrics - they’re really powerful. It’s one of Labelle’s finest moments as they all take turns with the lead vocals.

R: Any tips for the future?

FL: Don’t try too hard to be anything in this over-competitive world. We all end up as dust anyway.

R: Are you a Speedo or short shorts boy?

FL: I love Speedos. I have a bit of a fetish for them. It’s great in Rio as all the men wear them at the beach so I’m in heaven.

R: Prove it! ->

EVB has never before had to issue an apology, but apologies in advance for the multiple equestrian references you’re about to endure.

Riding into town on their super-hung stallion James and Jim from London’s Horsemeat Disco bring their wonderful nosebag of disco delights to Club 205 on Tuesday night.

This will be the boys’ final gig in NYC (they were support DJs for Hercules and Love Affair on Saturday night at Studio B) before jumping back into the saddle and galloping (or should that be cantering) back to London.

Here at the EVB stud ranch we are all waxing our chaps and slipping on our stirrups for a right royal hoedown.

Come join us and the wonderful Horsemeat boys tomorrow night, May 20 at Club 205, 205 Chrystie St (at Stanton), NYC. If you bring a sugar lump, wear a rosette and impersonate a horny stallion at the door, who knows what might happen…

OK, we’ve finally decided to clue you in about our favorite East Village rocker girls, Tall Black Girls. They’re totally East Village boys, except for the girl part, so lets call them our honorary East Village Boys of the month. At any rate, they’re all tougher than our twinky intern.

EVB: Describe your sound.
Julie Black: Totally metaclassifunkrocountrygospunk, but sexy.
Nurse Kelly Black: Dirty, sexy, trashy rock.
JenCharles Black: We are most certainly a sexy, dangerous good time. Loud, driving, unforgiving. Kinda like a really good fuck with a total stranger on a hot summer night… what are you doing later… oh wait, we should wait ’til summer. I don’t mind if you bring your boyfriend.
Kate von Black: Hmmm… getting busted on the walk of shame OVER AND OVER AND OVER AGAIN by everybody you’ve ever had a threesome with, only to find out they’re all friends and man do you look like an asshole.

EVB: What’s your take on Cock Culture?
Julie Black: I take cock… and what the fuck is “Cock Culture”?
Nurse Kelly Black: Are you askin’ if I strap it on?
JenCharles Black: My take? Well, I’ll take it anytime! Yea boys!
Kate von Black: More the merrier, bigger the better.

EVB: If you really were a tall black girl, which tall black girl would you be?
Julie Black: Nurse Kelly… or… Joan Crawford. She’s TOTALLY a tall black girl!
Nurse Kelly Black: Tina Turner - she’s the epitome of sexy, soulful, leg rock! RuPaul is a close second, ohhh yeaahhh, stilettos!
JenCharles Black: First of all, I am, and second, I guess I would have to be Kelly if I had to choose. Cuz I’ve always wondered what it would be like to be that short.
Kate von Black: Grace Jones? Tyra Banks on poppers?

EVB: What happened to your keytar player?
Julie Black: GOD, nobody ever tells the drummer anything!
Nurse Kelly Black: A semi-sad story really, we were forced to sacrifice her to Shetar Goddess of Hellfire for some cool, refreshing tequila water.
JenCharles Black: Um, you guys should really proofread these questions before you send them out, because you misspelled guitar. How embarrassing.
Kate von Black: You mean Kelly? Wait, whats a keytar?

JenCharles Black: Hey Julie, why are you such an asshole?
Julie Black: Because you are so much better than me. Hey Kelly, why are you such an asshole?
Kelly Black: Cuz u ladiEs 4 r such bitches… call u after i get my laundry [verbatim via text-message]. Who said I was an asshole, asshole! Hey Kate, why are you such an asshole?
Kate von Black: Cause I can be.

Tall Black Girls is playing Saturday May 3 at Lit, in NYC.
93 Second Ave between 5th and 6th.
10pm. $6 (cheap, of course). C’mon, that’s cheaper than a drink.

Once upon a time, long, long, LONG ago, DIY meant you hauled your candy shop down to the local club, and hoped a dj might sample your confections. If you were lucky, and they dipped their chocolate in your peanut butter, you might get played and have a hit. Nowadays, you can do all this from your bedroom (and you don’t have to open your candy shop unless you want to!).

That’s exactly what Microfilm are doing. Hailing from Chicago, Matt Mercer and Matt Keppel admit they’re not much for nightly parties, but they’ve managed to garner global kudos for their music. They’ve turned in remixes for Ladytron and Sarah Nixey (of Black Box Recorder) as well as a cover for the recent Magnetic Fields tribute album. They’ve even been featured on BBC Radio 1.

They sent us their new track, ‘BFF’, for EVB readers to sample. It’s a new direction for the duo, hardening their sound with a dark buzzing hum and vocoded vocals. I say it’s a direction they should keep going.

In New York, My Robot Friend is currently doing it for himself, shopping around for a partner to release Robot High School, his eagerly anticipated follow up to 2006’s Dial Zero. It makes one wish they had some green to a help a brother out. Personally, I’m spending my wait replaying my favorite remix of his dictionarioke-tastic cover of Blondie’s ‘Rapture’.

My Robot Friend - ‘Rapture’ (Freelance Hellraiser Remix) (Soma Records)