Motivational partier / nascent meteorologist Andrew WK just embarked on a short tour with the contemporary classicists the Calder Quartet, and he’s moved two of the shows (in Washington, D.C., and Toronto) from churches to other venues. Any other artist out there would just have moved the shows and been done with it, but Andrew explained his decision to move the shows in his inimitable way:

“I am truly sorry for any inconvenience experienced by those who already purchased tickets for the D.C. and Toronto shows. I sincerely hope you’re able to attend at the new venues.
A couple days ago I had a really intense personal experience and it made it very clear to me that I cannot and should not play in religious buildings on this tour. Please understand, I have nothing against religion or temples of any kind. In fact, I love going to churches and hearing music there – but I can’t play my music there after what happened the day before yesterday.
The best I can do to describe my experience, is to say that the world opened up to me, and I received it, as Spirit and Love and of course, a lot of fun and pleasure. It was a sexual feeling, and I just didn’t feel right about bringing that into a holy place, like a church or synagogue. My choice to move the venues is out of respect for this feeling, for myself and my body, and for the buildings themselves.
Fortunately, even though this was all last minute, we were able to keep the tour more or less intact, and will still play every city or region, as planned. Once again, I’m really sorry for any trouble this causes, but it was something I felt very strongly about. Thank you always for your love and belief in the feelings I work to bring you.”

Ah, church-related guilt. I know it all too well.


In related news, Andrew’s 2001 debut I Get Wet made Pitchfork’s Top 200 Albums Of The 2000s list—which we’ll be getting to once the top album has been revealed on Friday, because who’s going to critique a half-done list even if I already know beyond belief that Annie’s Anniemal is way too low—at No. 144, and our own Jess Harvell wrote it up.


[Andrew WK]

The Andrew WK-hosted Destroy Build Destroy debuts a week from tomorrow on the Cartoon Network, and in case you were wondering just what the title meant, here’s the show’s official description: “With host, Andrew W.K., two teams take turns destroying each other’s materials, then putting them back together, then destroying them again. Oh, and things blow up.” And the above trailer would seem to bear that out! Although I kept getting distracted by the stuff being destroyed by the commercial’s background music, which sounded like a certain song about desire-born Catholic guilt that appeared on one of my favorite albums of high school:





Seriously, that “cha cha cha chunk” riff underneath the scenes of Andrew WK-presided mass destruction is exactly the same as the one on the verses! Maybethis guy got a side job doing music for Cartoon Network ads. Either way, thanks, Andrew WK, for inadvertently teaching me that if you search “Pornograffiti” on Google, Extreme isn’t even mentioned in the first 100 links–or the “related searches” area? I thought they coined that term! What an outrage!


Andrew WK – “Destroy Build Destroy” [YouTube]
Extreme – It’s A Monster [YouTube]
Earlier: Andrew WK To Make Triumphant Return To TV

It’s a TV show about breaking stuff! Destroy Build Destroy, which debuts on Cartoon Network will allow two teams to destroy large things, then create new exciting structures from the rubble; the singer / motivational speaker / piano player / club mogul / etc. will then preside over a judging of the reconfigured items. And as a bonus, the winning team gets to then destroy the losers’ hard work… you know, for fun. If you’re a teenager (or you just look like one) in the LA area, you can be on the show! Perhaps if you lose you’ll get counseled by Andrew himself, a la Your Friend, Andrew W.K.


This is the sort of inspi/aspirational programming MTV should be bringing back, really:

Andrew W.K. to host ‘Destroy Build Destroy’ on Cartoon Network [EW]
Your Friend ANdrew WK EPISODE 1 [Dailymotion]
Your Friend Andrew W.K. [YouTube]
Andrew WK [MySpace]

If you know what’s good for you, you’ll head to Fluxblog today to grab “Kiseki,” a track from Andrew W.K.’s all-J-Pop covers album. At Matthew Perpetua puts it, “It’s difficult not to get swept up in the moment of the song, and its outsize optimism and over-the-top sentimentality,” and isn’t that what today’s all about? [Fluxblog]

If you know what’s good for you, you’ll head to Fluxblog today to grab “Kiseki,” a track from Andrew W.K.’s all-J-Pop covers album. At Matthew Perpetua puts it, “It’s difficult not to get swept up in the moment of the song, and its outsize optimism and over-the-top sentimentality,” and isn’t that what today’s all about? [Fluxblog]

Are you interested in being in the studio audience for the taping of a TV show hosted by motivational partier Andrew WK? Are you able to articulate why that particular activity might interest you in less than 100 words? Can you be free and in the New York City area on Jan. 28? Then this might be your lucky day. (Heck, it might be mine!) [Andrew WK's MySpace Blog]

What were the 80 most important musical recordings, artists, trends, events, and performances of 2008? What were the eight things this year that broke our hearts—or, at least, our ears? We’re happy to announce 80 ’08 (and Heartbreak), Idolator’s year-end overview. The list is below the jump.

80. Andrew W.K., “McLaughlin Groove”
79. Elvis Costello puts his trust in Fall Out Boy
78. Wye Oak, “I Want for Nothing”
77. Nine Inch Nails’ flood of digitally distributed music
76. TV on the Radio, “Golden Age”
75. Journey welcomes the Web 2.0 Era (and a new singer) with open arms
74. Jenny Lewis, “Acid Tongue”
73. Radiohead scores the year’s strangest Top 40 hit
72. The Music Tapes at Athens Popfest, August 2008
71. Kanye, Lily, Pete, and Courtney form their own blogger nation
70. French Kicks, Swimming
69. Soundscan: down for the recount
68. Make It Stop! The Most of Ross Johnson
67. Parry Gripp, “Hamster on a Piano (Eating Popcorn)”
66. Okay, Huggable Dust
65. Mariah Carey, “Touch My Body”
64. 360 deals make heads spin
63. Daniel Amos, Darn Floor Big Bite
62. Cut Copy, In Ghost Colours
61. Solange, Sol-Angel and the Hadley St. Dreams
60. The Numa Numa Dance revival
59. The Gaslight Anthem, The ’59 Sound
58. ’90s alt-rock memoirs
57. Larry Norman and Sonseed
56. Sheryl Crow, “Shine Over Babylon”
55. DJ Koze
54. David Cook beats David Archuleta on American Idol
53. T-Pain, Thr33 Ringz
52. Perez Hilton Vs. Sony BMG: slapfight!
51. Justin Moore’s “Back That Thing Up” video
50. Optimo’s mix CDs
49. Extra Golden live at the Caledonia Lounge, Athens, GA, June 2008
48. Jamey Johnson, That Lonesome Song
47. Daveigh Chase sings “The Happiest Girl in the Whole USA” on HBO’s Big Love
46. Gnarls Barkley and the Raconteurs race each other to the record store
45. Pete Wentz tries to save the music video with FNMTV
44. R&B’s breakbeat vogue
43. Jobromance!
42. Dennis Wilson, Pacific Ocean Blue (Legacy Edition)
41. Miley Cyrus, “See You Again”
40. Max Martin and Dr. Luke infiltrate rock radio
39. Of Montreal get Skeletal
38. Poplife Presents Poplife Sucks
37. Alec Foege, Right of the Dial and Taylor Clark, Starbucked
36. Major labels fail to kill the single—again
35. Velvet Revolver brings the drama
34. Blake Leyh makes us listen closer to The Wire
33. Soulja Boy Tell ‘Em, “Yahhh!”
32. The end of TRL
31. The old-skool rave revival
30. Ida Maria, “Oh My God”
29. Fred Schneider on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
28. CMT’s Can You Duet
27. ’90s reunion fever
26. Estelle makes her way across the ocean
25. John Darnielle’s Master of Reality and Carl Wilson’s Let’s Talk About Love: A Journey to the End of Taste
24. Girl Talk, Feed the Animals
23. Santogold, “Lights Out”
22. Summer festival glut
21. Monotonix live in Baltimore
20. James Sullivan, The Hardest Working Man: How James Brown Saved the Soul of America
19. Be Your Own Pet, “Becky”
18. Kanye West’s aesthetics
17. “Vinyl is back!”
16. Global reissues bonanza
15. Beyoncé, “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)”
14. Rickrolling rolls on
13. M.I.A., “Paper Planes”
12. Alphabeat get “wonky”
11. The year of the remix
10. R. Kelly goes to court
9. Jarvis Cocker at Pitchfork Festival, Chicago, July 2008
8. The Ron Clark Academy, “You Can Vote However You Like”
7. Portishead, Third
6. Prince at Coachella Festival, April 2008
5. Erykah Badu, New Amerykah Part One (4th World War)
4. Guitar Hero / Rock Band
3. A very musical Presidential election
2. Lil Wayne: All things to all people
1. Ne-Yo, Year Of The Gentleman

HEARTBREAKS
1. Mamma Mia Misses The Essence Of ABBA (Kate Richardson)
2. The Death of Baltimore Club Music’s Queen, DJ K-Swift (Al Shipley)
3. The blogosphere as the new status quo (Lucas Jensen)
4. Britney Spears on the 2008 MTV VMAs (Molly McAleer)
5. Be Your Own Pet breaks up (Mike Barthel)
6. Everyone in the music business losing their freakin’ jobs (Michaelangelo Matos)
7. Guns N’ Roses, Chinese Democracy (Maura Johnston)
8. John Rich shills for the GOP (Chuck Eddy)

Who would have thought, back in March, that it would seem plausible to take down the right wing through mockery rather than righteous indignation? Andrew WK, of course. He took an exchange from The McLaughlin Group in which loudmouthed conservative talk-show-host John McLaughlin speculated on the possibility of John McCain’s accidental death (while misquoting Carl Sandburg and predicting that “the next man on the moon will be Chinese”) and turned it into an anthemic demonstration of how anything sounds true when it’s yelled loudly enough.

Still, it seemed like a novelty song. But then John McCain was actually nominated, and then John McCain nominated Sarah Palin, and all of a sudden the idea of simply amplifying the excesses of the conservative movement and letting people draw their own conclusions seemed like a valid political strategy rather than a joke. “McLaughlin Groove” takes concrete evidence of the Republican Party eating itself and turns it into a preemptive celebration of the victory that this dysfunction would engender eight months down the line. As the man who made it all happen prepares to leave office and we’re tempted to cut him some slack, blast this song, pump your fists, and remember where it all came from—and where it will all no doubt eventually return. Death comes in the night on little cats’ feet, indeed, John.

80 ’08 (And Heartbreak)

Who among us wouldn’t want to be introduced by Andrew WK before our blistering rendition of… well, of whatever songs Ted Leo and the Pharmacists have learned for New York‘s upcoming karaoke night? Tickets are on sale now for this collision of awesomeness, which takes place Dec. 3 in Brooklyn. (Apologies to the non-New Yorkers in the Idolator audience who are probably sick of the parochalism that music-blog posts like these engender, but c’mon, I’d probably be excited if this event was happening anywhere within Amtraking distance. I’d even learn “Ready To Die” for the occasion, you know?) [New York By New York]

I went to PS 112 in Astoria to vote this morning, and while the school’s lobby was bake-sale-free, casting my ballot and walking to the subway put me in a good mood. The sun was shining, the air was crisp, and the promise of not being bombarded with election-related speculation was close on the horizon, at least until some idiot commentator utters the word “2012″ while scrambling to fill space on whatever cable-news channel has given him airtime. Which is probably why I had Andrew WK’s “Party Hard” in my head: Sure, it was barely after nine in the morning and I was on my way back to work, instead of heading out for the evening, but my heart felt right–like it was enjoying some wine, canapes, and total fucking raging. And isn’t that what matters? A counterpoint party song, and a rundown of some notable stories that got lost in the Election Day shuffle, after the jump.

• The most recent Google News alert for “Jarvis Cocker” comes from a Telegraph piece on an auction benefiting the British music-therapy outfit Nordoff-Robbins: “U2 guitarist The Edge paid £15,000 for the Spitting Image puppet of Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker.” [Telegraph]
• Scott Weiland’s Happy In Galoshes leaked today. I tracked it down, and it took me–I am not kidding–an hour to download the damn thing once I found it. And I was only planning on spending an hour with it in the first place! [Did It Leak]
• Genesis can’t dance, nor can they wean themselves from the reunion-show teat: Now they’re holding out hope that Peter Gabriel will join them for one more tour of the world. [Billboard]
• The idea that Google is facing off against Dolly Parton in the battle over the wireless spectrum sure seems to contradict the company’s longstanding “Don’t be evil” policy, no? [NYT]
• If you work at MTV Networks, you may want to brush up your resume. [Gawker]
• Keri Hilson’s album has been pushed back for the 143rd time. [Billboard]
• I showed this story on Japanese music producers being arrested on conspiracy and fraud charges to friend-of-Idolator Reed Fischer, and he replied, “Someone in this story is going to get thrown off a balcony.” Or option their tale to Jet Li. [Yomiuri Daily Online]

Andrew W.K. – Party Hard [Dailymotion]
Pulp – Party Hard [YouTube]

If, like Jess, you enjoyed Andrew WK’s song about the McLaughlin Group from radio show Fair Game, you will love Scott Bateman’s cartoon adaptation of it, since it features a dancing cat, an astronaut, the grim reaper, and Pat Buchanan. (Pat is the one without the hood.) [Salon]

Whether they’re petroleum-based or digital downloads, singles remain pop’s most fascinating format. Twice a week in Single Spin, a singles-focused twist on Second Spin, we’ll take a look at a song, sound, scene, or star that we think deserves more than two lines and a Rapidshare link–whether it’s CMT country, underground dance, unfriendly noise, or anything else served up one tune at a time. Today we listen to the latest grim banger from a Philadelphia hip-hop institution, a decidedly less grim groove from not-so-sunny London, a music critic delivering a mournful techno remix, and something totally, unexpectedly, ridiculously astounding: Andrew WK’s new mash note to a TV roundtable legend (!), which comes complete with MP3 so you can download and boggle along.

The Roots Feat. Dice Raw, DJ Jazzy Jeff, And Peedi Crakk – “Get Busy” (Def Jam)
Judging by the pre-release leakage from Rising Down, the Roots’ rhythm tracks are now pushing for all their life against a suffocating layer of static and an smothering low-end closing in from the bottom. (Without booklet credits, I don’t want to call that noise a “bassline” only to once again find out it’s Mr. Tuba Gooding, Jr.) Philly breakout-who’s-yet-to-break Peedi Crakk leapfrogged across a string of Roc-A-Fella tracks earlier in the decade that treated his sing-song flow like a sound effects record, groomed like so many Dash/Carter pet projects to wind up routed to the mixtape circuit and growing a chip on both shoulders. (Perhaps he missed the 2007 memo that all Philly rappers needed a Swizz beat to see any sort of chart love.) Surveying his rough decade alongside some hometown all-stars, he’s less manic on the mic, but perhaps that’s fitting given the track in question. The big beats on Peedi’s old collabos hopped, skipped, and jumped; “Get Busy” trudges two slushy miles up Broad Street in big black boots because SEPTA stopped running at the first sign of crappy weather. Cold fronting against the windswept scratching from a guy who used to run afoul of Philip Banks and the band’s immobilizing groove, Peedi flips up his hood, his middle finger, and offers lawyers and label heads the following unsolicited advice: “Fuck the Internet / Buy a baseball bat / Break a bootlegger leg.”

Trance Rap Antidote [Cocaine Blunts]

D1 – “I’m Loving” (Tempa)
Like an Anglo-Caribbean cousin to the snarling Eastern Seaboard ish of “Get Busy,” British producer D1 usually comes moanin’ at midnight with the darker-than-the-rest sub-bass and thudding beats of dubstep; Tempa is one of the South London labels that initially mapped the increasingly confining parameters for the latest post-rave sub-genre barely distinguishable to American ears. But D1′s always been a little softer than his pitch-black brethren, clinging to memories of clubbing fun during dubstep’s long ban on anything that smacks of Chic-approved good times; whether “I’m Loving,” much more suited to the daylight hours than anything I’ve recently heard from a dubstep producer, is merely the man following his particular muse or a concerted effort to rethink the genre’s gloomy boom, it’s quite welcome. D1′s intercontinental syncopation is cooked from the kind of skipping Detroit techno hi-hats beloved by U.K. broken beat producers and the palsied carnival bounce of Trinidadian soca; add a fresh coat of bright synths and a sweet soul vocal hook and you’ve got something more suited to chilling at a beach house than skulking through the drizzle-soaked concrete-and-steel landscape suggested by crit-darling Burial and a grown and sexy twist on adolescent bassline heads reattaching house to the garage.

D1 [MySpace]
D1 – “I’m Loving [Boomkat sound samples]

Guillaume And The Coutu Dumonts – “Les Gans (Philip Sherburne Remix)” (Musique Risquée)
Music critic pal conflicts of interest abound, but I’d be fibbing if I didn’t say this remix was my fave rave from this round of Single Spinning. Simple in the heart-tugging way good melodic, minimal techno should be, something often easy forget about given the genre’s current glut: a fragile Brian Wilson chime and a Perlon-esque shaker-and-pop pattern opens to let in bass and synth before the track drifts from good to great on gliding, sad-eyed horn charts more Cinematic Orchestra than Ricardo Villalobos. Comparisons to anything remotely trip-hop are tricky given the tendency for potential listeners burnt on blunted beat comps to instantly recoil, and Sherburne’s remix has too much snap to sink into the background. But more build-up or come-down than set climax, this would indeed fit on one of the early, excellent (no, really) Future Sounds Of Jazz comps quite nicely. (Don’t snort, minimal snobs; the maestro Villalobos himself appeared on one of the series’ later installments.)

Philip Sherburne Productions [MySpace]

Andrew WK – “McLaughlin Groove” (Fair Game)
When I was a small boy, my grandfather (may he R.I.P.) subjected his Catholic grandchildren to endless Sunday mornings spent not in church but around the TV for secular worship of various network news idols sermonizing from the magazine or roundtable mount. The only one of these windbags who could have possibly entertained a pair of grade schoolers cranky because they couldn’t even enjoy whatever off-brand cartoons were being aired on UHF was John McLaughlin, whose bellowing, bellicose interruptions and radiant smugness were like watching one of your jerky prepubescent peers be plucked from the recess yard and plopped in a leather chair between Washingtonian insiders, instilling in us both a love for news and a love for shouting. Under the aegis of public radio arts’n'news show Fair Game, our beloved Andrew WK has recorded this cranked-up, karaoke-ready throwback to his I Get Wet-era sound in awed appreciation of that special “McLaughlin Groove,” and while there’s no reasonable explanation for two of my favorite loudmouths to have come together, I can only hope this hints at a possible duets record between strapping young Andrew and the aging Mr. McLaughlin right quick, before AWK has to posthumously put it together in an icky Alicia/Frankie style.

Andrew WK – McLaughlin Groove [MP3]
Fair Game [Official Site]

Guys, not to get all hard-partying fanboy on you, but (OMG!!!1!) did you know that this month The Wire asked world’s-greatest-human Andrew WK to sit down for their “Invisible Jukebox,” the long-running feature where interviewer plays interviewee a bunch of records? And did you know that the magazine’s Web site now features the unedited, nine-page transcript of said “Jukebox” interview with noise bro Mr. Marc Masters? (I did not. Until now.)

A thoughtful Mr. Wilkes-Krier offers his take on acts ranging from the Butthole Surfers to Lee “Scratch” Perry to Wolf Eyes, peppering his on-the-spot rock criticism with many personal revelations, including how jealously over his inability to self-pleasure in the name of art spurred his development as a popular musician: “[It] was some 7-inch with a photograph on the cover where he had positioned himself so that he could give himself oral sex. And it was real! It made a certain taste come in the back of my throat, no pun intended actually (laughter). But it was disturbing and very inspiring simultaneously.” [The Wire]

This mention of a recent Andrew WK show where Mssr. Wilkes-Krier “hunched over a piano hugging stage left [and] sprinted through a half-hour of newly penned songs and covers punctuated by the occasional bout of free-form ivory pummeling” before he “sat down and tore through I Get Wet’” for an encore reminded me of how awesome this all-natural ode to party-induced perspiration (or less family-friendly secretions) remains after six years. Not particularly good for writer’s block, though, as it tends to reduce me to grunts, flailing orangutan-esque arm gestures, and the occasional adjective like “awesome.” At least that’s two syllables. [Vulture / YouTube]

So after a lengthy delay, the third album by white T-shirt-wearer/motivational speaker/artist whose show in Philadelphia a few years back resulted in my only bone-dislocation ever Andrew WK is out in the States today, and what with today being maybe the second-slowest-news-day of my entire tenure writing this site, I figured passing along this info would at least brighten the day of one member of the Idolator faithful, if not more. Also, relistening to “Not Going To Bed” is seriously making me rethink my priorities, since there have been multiple occasions this week alone when I have, in fact, fallen asleep watching cable. Maybe that means it’s time for me to go out there, seize the day, and dislocate my other shoulder!

Andrew WK – Not Going To Bed [YouTube]
Andrew WK [Load]

Nearly six years since the release of I Get Wet–an album that paid homage to partying, puking, and partying whilst puking–Andrew W.K. is trying to reinvent himself as a motivational speaker. Tonight in New York City, he’s performing the first part of “The Joy Trilogy,” a projected “nine-hour extemporaneous lecture”:

He has been reading the works of the philosopher Martin Buber, among others, and contemplating consciousness. “I have been very into the idea that the only way the external world exists is by you observing it, and that the only way you can interact with that external world through that observation is to intend it to be,” he said, his eyes closed in concentration. He opened them to eat observably a strip of bacon…

“People have been saying all along, ‘Yeah, the music’s great, but I really like this feeling, it inspires me, it makes me feel like I can do anything,’ ” he said. “I’ve had people say, ‘I don’t really listen to your music, but I read an interview and it made me feel good; I really understood and I could relate to what you were talking about.’ That to me is just as inspiring, because it’s all just expression. What I would really like it to be is that I just show up, and whether it’s a concert or it’s talking, the same essential experience is available.”

There’s more to this new endeavor, of course, including a nightclub in downtown New York City, and a tour that will require him to drive around the country in a Cadillac, throwing parties. But as with everything W.K.-related, it’s unclear whether this is a sincere undertaking, or a hyper-meta-aware media prank; it’s also unclear just how big of a following the singer can command these days, as his last album, Close Calls With Brick Walls, still hasn’t been released here in the states. But even if the whole thing is a put-on, the man deserves some credit: Not since the heyday of Mark McGrath has someone managed to milk his past-its-time career with such savviness.

Are You Ready to Listen? This Rocker Just Wants to Talk [NY Times]

Compiling a year-end Top 10 list means making plenty of painful nips, tucks, and tweaks. And so, after preparing our Jackin’ Pop singles lists, we present “Stuck At Eleven,” a daily look at the songs that came thisclose to making the final cut.

Andrew WK’s Close Calls With Brick Walls still isn’t out in the States yet–it’s available only in Japan, and it’s unclear when, if at all, it’s going to be released on these shores–but the album made its way to us via the Internet, and we found ourselves idly singing the chorus of “Don’t Call Me Andy” on more than one occasion. It probably shouldn’t be surprising that the man who penned wall-of-sound odes to beautiful girls and partying hard could channel Phil Spector in such a spot-on way; we can’t wait to see Andrew-not-Andy perform this song live, if only to see how the mosh pit reacts.

Andrew WK – Don’t Call Me Andy [MP3, link expired]
Andrew WK [MySpace]