Music News, Reviews, and Gossip on Idolator.com » Andrew W.K. http://idolator.com Music News, Reviews, and Gossip on Idolator.com Sat, 11 Feb 2012 01:30:17 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 en hourly 1 Andrew WK Will Not Take You To Church http://idolator.com/5278562/andrew-wk-will-not-take-you-to-church http://idolator.com/5278562/andrew-wk-will-not-take-you-to-church#comments Wed, 30 Sep 2009 21:00:36 +0000 Maura http://idolator.com/?p=5278562 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: More »]]> awkcalderMotivational 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]

]]> 12 Andrew WK’s New Show Takes Things To The Extreme http://idolator.com/5242302/andrew-wks-new-show-takes-things-to-the-extreme http://idolator.com/5242302/andrew-wks-new-show-takes-things-to-the-extreme#comments Fri, 12 Jun 2009 14:30:17 +0000 Maura http://idolator.com/?p=5242302 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: More »]]>
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

]]> 0 Andrew WK To Make Triumphant Return To TV http://idolator.com/5220131/andrew-wk-to-make-triumphant-return-to-tv http://idolator.com/5220131/andrew-wk-to-make-triumphant-return-to-tv#comments Thu, 23 Apr 2009 17:00:35 +0000 Maura http://idolator.com/?p=5220131 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. More »]]> andrewwkIt’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]

]]> 2 http://idolator.com/5135485/5135485 http://idolator.com/5135485/5135485#comments Tue, 20 Jan 2009 06:30:00 +0000 Dan Gibson df6cdbc25aa49d46d263830383d45f35 More »]]> 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]

]]> 4 http://idolator.com/5156782/5156782 http://idolator.com/5156782/5156782#comments Tue, 20 Jan 2009 06:30:00 +0000 Dan Gibson df6cdbc25aa49d46d263830383d45f35 More »]]> 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]

]]> 4 http://idolator.com/5133422/5133422 http://idolator.com/5133422/5133422#comments Fri, 16 Jan 2009 09:30:00 +0000 Maura edd7c8477d65b6c57d2f7b0408f2ced5 More »]]> 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]

]]> 1 80 ‘08 (and Heartbreak): Announcing Idolator’s Year-End Extravaganza http://idolator.com/5103876/80-08-and-heartbreak-announcing-idolators-year-end-extravaganza http://idolator.com/5103876/80-08-and-heartbreak-announcing-idolators-year-end-extravaganza#comments Wed, 31 Dec 2008 05:45:00 +0000 Michaelangelo Matos f4e4da1e37ff11b035b2b3285e09a912 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.

More »]]> 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)

]]> 23 No. 80: Andrew WK, “McLaughlin Groove” http://idolator.com/5103877/no-80-andrew-wk-mclaughlin-groove http://idolator.com/5103877/no-80-andrew-wk-mclaughlin-groove#comments Mon, 08 Dec 2008 03:00:00 +0000 Mike Barthel b2766e0cacb4498e388282cba127f53e 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.

More »]]> 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)

]]> 1 http://idolator.com/5083321/5083321 http://idolator.com/5083321/5083321#comments Tue, 11 Nov 2008 06:30:00 +0000 Maura e3a012eeb3baa0622103bca9534b68f5 More »]]> 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]

]]> 13 A Party Affiliation That Pretty Much Anyone Can Get Behind http://idolator.com/5076232/a-party-affiliation-that-pretty-much-anyone-can-get-behind http://idolator.com/5076232/a-party-affiliation-that-pretty-much-anyone-can-get-behind#comments Tue, 04 Nov 2008 10:00:00 +0000 Maura 3c6fa4d75a4341f69f95caaced064dd9
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.

More »]]>


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]

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