Andrew W.K.

(how andrew wk introduced a video the other day)

(cue ned: "oh, i get it, etc. etc. ...)

I mean I'm perfectly open to the possibility that I don't get it.

he bigs up max martin and marilyn manson. he's just making shiny, dunderheaded glam metal. the shock and confusion he elicits eludes me.

Just the dullness. And to heck with this 'resisting' idea, that makes it seem that liking it is somehow a natural or correct approach. Garbage. I don't resist Mr. WK, I just don't find the results worth a damn and worth the consideration.

I quite liked the "YOU.........YOU WORK ALL DAY" part of Party Hard but that's about it. It was oddly compelling.

THEN THAT MEANS HE SHOULD KNOW BETTER. Like I said over on ILM, if the man appreciates pop, then demonstrate that! Bah!

Your explanation vis-a-vis unrelenting noise that achieves transcendence in repetition certainly makes sense when it comes to the comparison with Lightning Bolt, say. I like that thought, I may take it as my own. ;-) But I like Lightning Bolt and think WK is go-nowhere codswallop. So they may have similar intents, but terribly different results.

(I think Andrew WK is funny, though I could only tolerate about 10 seconds of his SNL performance.)

The $64,000 question. ;-) Mostly it's because of the semi-assumption above I vigorously protest, namely that it is instantly catchy dumb pop/rock. WRONG, at least in my ears. His sin is not attempting his approach, his sin lies in doing so and failing miserably.

Well, why not?

Yes; I don't think a record has ever made me laugh so much in my life. It feels so good!

It seems that not to like WK is apparently a sign of being anti-pop, being anti-dumb fun, being a snob, being humorless, being too serious, being a poor sport, etc. I find all these assumptions wanting.

You, Ned, don't like Andrew WK because he's unmemorable - this tells me nothing about you except your ears work in v.different ways from mine (which I knew anyway) and that you make a lot of fuss about a property (unmemorableness) that doesn't bother me. In fact it's you who's applying an assumed framework to WK - he is pop therefore he must be catchy. I happen to think he is catchy and pop but more than that I love him for the noises and textures: WK tracks make me think of cross-section pictures of the earth's crust, this vast layer of magma and rock (the guitars) with this tiny pretty layer of trees and grass perfectly balanced on top (the keyboards).

It's basically a heavy sugary Devo, with a wrestler's voice. And maybe a little Elton John/John Tesh on the piano bits. The whole metal image seems to be a non-clever rue to make Mr. WK to be some sort of rock god, where in fact, I enjoy the music for all the reasons BUT.

he is pop therefore he must be catchy

*scratches chin* Now this makes me wonder...can it be possible to create something intentionally uncatchy but aimed at a pop audience? Nothing to do with Andrew WK now, more thinking about what pop 'should' be.

Then maybe the answer is WK is the new Vanilla Ice.

What Tracer said about "not selling out enough" is how I feel about the whole Electroclash thing. I want one of those opportunistic aging club kids to do something totally vulgar and flashy and feelgood--create a new Ru Paul or Deelite--and shoot it into the Top Ten. It's just so classy and blah right now, at least the stuff I've heard.

I adore it unto my bosom. And then cast it from me like a bad taquito.

The future is so bright - at times I feel the need to cover my eyes with my hands for fear of being blinded. But, as quickly as I can cover them, something will tear them away, and I'm forced to momentarily gaze into the explosion. What I see is almost too much to bare - I see the absolute truth. That there is nothing to be afraid of. There is nothing that can hurt me or anyone else. That my place in this room is the same as my place in the universe. That these things are not to be looked down upon, but to be looked up to. And suddenly, all that ever once was is not any more. And all the stuff that I was worried about is no longer upsetting, and all the things that I was afraid of seem safe and warm. The truth has everything inside of it - EVERYTHING. And it is O.K. and it is good.

I will work everyday to feel O.K. To truly feel O.K. is to accept everything as such and that you have a place inside of it all. And that place is a miracle, not something small. We can do so much, so easily, so fast. We have so much power, and so much ability. Human beings are one of the greatest achievements in the history of the world. We are our own achievement. So many people have dedicated their lives to working for our benefit. So many things that we have now came from people before us. We owe to them to make the most of our times now. We can create things of such beauty and magnificent dimensions, and we have the potential to destroy and tear down and deplete as well. This is so simple and so clear. The future holds everything. In my life I want to feel as good as possible and help as many people as I can to feel the same. I want to do everything and I want to help as many people do everything too. Everyone is invited. No one is turned away here. This music is about freedom and this music is much bigger than just me. I don't own it - I couldn't try to keep it all to myself even if I wanted to. It belongs to human beings. It belongs to you. The music is perfect. All it wants is for people to be happy. It doesn't even exist except as a moment of time. The more you believe in it, the stronger it gets and the stronger you get. The music is your best friend, and it will never turn its back on you or let you down. It loves you unconditionally and thinks that you're great. It wants to do whatever it can to make you smile and feel good. You can do no wrong. There is nothing you could ever do or say or feel or think that would make it leave you. It will always be there for you - from the first time that you hear it to the last time before you die. In the morning when you wake up, and right before you go to sleep. And it will visit you in the dark, in your dreams and it will make you're happiest wishes come true, and in your nightmares it will protect you and fight for you and keep you safe. The only thing happening here is acceptance and excitement. This is real and true. It is the truth. I will work everyday, and be patient, and have endurance, so that I can give to others what has been given to me. It is not instant. It will take time, and when I'm dead it will continue on without me. This is not mine alone, and I did not begin it. It was begun when the first baby smiled and it will NEVER END. NO ONE CAN STOP THIS - this is still just the beginning. The start of the beginning. This has never happened before. We have never happened before. You have never happened before. There are new horizons and new frontiers that belong to us. These are our trails to blaze. THIS IS OUR TIME. I LOVE YOU.

------

i have to admit, that makes his schtick exponentially more delightful.

he's due to appear on politically incorrect on april 29th. i am eagerly anticipating this.

OK, more seriously, even as an Andrew WK fan I'm not quite sure how you get from that to "Party Til You Puke".

VINDICATION!

So maybe his music is NOT that bad, eh?

If I came across most people I suspect they'd have a right to complain. Depends on the context, though.

Yeah, I am going to damn the torpedoes and make the comparison. This album is very "Ramones-y." This a good thing. A VERY good thing. Songs with little lyrical merit, yet still make you feel good to be alive. Peppy and pointless. This is what I expect from musicians I like. Stay away from "art." Art is rarely good. I don't want to have to think and ponder. I want to bounce around, slam into the concert goer next to me, wind up bloody, and go home feeling snazzy.

The last time I felt this good about music was at the final Ramones show, and listening to his album, I get the same feeling. It's a very good thing. And that's what music's really all about, isn't it? Making you feel something. Good, bad, whatever. It's all good.

Kevin Buffington made some very good points in his review (http://www.culturedose.com/review.php?rid=10002497), and I'm not saying he's wrong. Do the songs sound alike? Yes. Is there a recurring theme here? Quite. Do they blend together? Of course they do. Will these songs change the world as we know it? Probably not, but all I'm saying is that this isn't necessarily a bad thing.

Agreed, I won't call this metal. I'm almost afraid to call it Punk, but it definitely doesn't fit any of the other genres. I can't really call it rock, since I'm not feeling the need to airguitar. What I WANT to do is to violently slam my 270 pounds into someone, watch them "ooof!," turn around and do the same thing to me.

Loud guitars, screaming madman, no solos, AND keyboards on occasion, this album has everything I could hope for. No, he's not reinventing the wheel, he's not worried about difficult chord progressions (barre chord central, folks, have I made the Ramones comparison? By George, I think I did!), but he is having a blast doing it and I'm having a blast listening to it. Over and over and over again.

The songs are all pretty upbeat, a quick tempo with a driving beat. No, there's not much of an edge. Is a good portion of each song a repetitive chorus? Yes. Again, not a bad thing. The Ramones' "Beat On The Brat" is a perfect example. And while they seem to go by fast, the average song is about 3 minutes. This is the only flaw in my opinion. 12 tracks, yet the album only lasts 35 minutes. I want more, dammit.

Songs of note include "Ready To Die," a very peppy happy song about killing you (with cheerful keyboards, no less. OK, so maybe art isn't dead on this album.) and "I Love NYC," which would make a decent anthem, and is sure to get tons of airplay, after all, not doing so would mean that the terrorists win. We can't have that, no sirree bob.

In conclusion, I highly recommend this piece of auditory magic. If you're tired of being spoon fed the latest crap MTV hands out, and really want to feel good about music again, this album will do it for you. I'm going to end this now. My cats need to learn how to mosh with the big boys. Pray for them.

-Kevin Carlson

1. Japanese gameshows (misapprehension thereof)
2. The 1936 Olympics, Berlin
3. Stephin Merritt
4. George W. Bush

1. Japanese gameshows (misapprehension thereof)
2. The 1936 Olympics, Berlin
3. Stephin Merritt
4. George W. Bush

Thing is, I don't think poor Andrew could really be remniscient of any of those things, to me at least, since there is this sickeningly-sweet-or-just-sickening INOCENNCE to him that is probably beyond calculatiom, something none of the decadent hair-metalers he appears to be aping (like Van Halen, etc.) ever had. Maybe this is what is so beguiling and off-putting to some people. He truly believes the abstraction of his own mythified construction, that he is some sort of good and noble savior figure who can inspire happoness in everyone through his simple, easy, catchy music - lije that website entry up above on this thread proves. More than a hippie, his naivete propels his infantilism towards wide-eyed idealism, which is repeatedly getting confused with either hedonistic stupidity or irony-free nostalgia. Andrew is just a kid at heart, an organ Tommy Lee never even had.

Eh? Ya lost me.

you also would get your ass beat by him if you ever came across him in real life

If I came across most people I suspect they'd have a right to complain. Depends on the context, though.

-- Ned Raggett (ned@kuci.org), July 24th, 2002.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Why do you always have to ruin Thanksgiving???" - Ellen Degeneres
-- Dan Perry (djperry@post.harvard.edu), July 24th, 2002.

Andrew W.K. brings himself, and his "thoughts" back to The PIT, for an encore three-part series of weekly lectures. Mondays, March 12 -- March 19 -- March 26.

Andrew has decided to open up the playing field up even wider in order to converse even more directly with members of the audience. "I guess you could say, I'm reaching out and pulling in," says Andrew. Each night will be dedicated to a question and answer format, where those present may ask Andrew questions and collaborate in the night -- it will be an evening of ?

Andrew has insisted this forum be broad enough to include every possible topic and every possible person. Participants are encouraged to come. NOT A CONCERT - speaking engagement only!

The moment continues. Met a fellow traveller the other day. There only need be 12 of us

*SECRET HANDSHAKE SHAKEN*

this album is still monumental

At shows, he plays a 3-minute version of the Kit Kat jingle he recorded (available here). He also plays and growls Blueberry Hill as an evil dirge on keyboard sans bandmates.

He is also surrounded by super insane and detailed conspiracy theories (NSFW) and his possible alter ego Steev Mike.

AVAILABLE WHERE???

I thought this place would be a good resource for interesting AWK discussion since a lot of the themes relevant to his music are often covered here. What a shame.

I came to AWK late. I always knew who he was but thought his music was either fun but something only acceptable to rockout-to in an ironic sense on good days, or retarded sounding meathead music on bad days. I started seriously listening to AWK's stuff only recently but am blown the fuck away now. "I get Wet" is the most intense thing since the first bad brains record (like I was around for that)and the more melodic songs on "The Wolf" rock hard. "Never Let Down" may be the greatest Camaro song of all time. The lyrics are cliche but he delivers them with soo much heart it's like he really sincerely believes it and that makes you believe too...or something.

There of course is the question of whether it's "schtick" and obviously to some degree it is. It's clear from researching his background and some of the other bands/projects he's been involved with (Bowie Covers while in the Pterodactyls) that he's a lot more musically cultured and pop aware than he lets on. How could you hear those synths and NOT know something was up? Yet there doesen't seem to much if any winking involved. I think he just really likes big grand piano riffs, Journey-esque solos and lyrics consisting of little more than stunted threats against invisible authority figures and directives to rock on. He may be the most unpretentious musician ever.

AWK = singer-songwriter of a generation

AWK = serious bro.

r.i.p.

He had a great look going at 77BOADRUM:

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1272/765586185_aeaee5da3e_b.jpg

MAN! The W.K., when will you ever not be transcendent? NEVER.

I believe everyone here would do well to read his short story The Old Lady and the Cats.

Has anyone heard his newer song "Pushing Drugs"? WTF? "Don't Call ME Andy" is a good one to look up, too, it's all like some Grease-style song.

wait that's seriously andrew wk?

y

the sunglasses were Oakley Blades circa 1987... really a nice touch.

I get it

There's these ones too. Better demonstration of the sunnies.
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1113/752263390_034b19a862_m.jpg
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1185/751298513_c3b1789a69_m.jpg

the off center belt buckle bothers me.

That is a good look, if one completely stealthy for Mr. W.K.

Man I love this guy.

genius. reminds me of when I saw Will Oldham eating on a patio wearing mall-bought Hilfiger top and pants (many years ago)

http://www.brooklynvegan.com/archives/2007/08/music_hall_of_w_1.html

anyone ever get to the bottom of that steev mike thing or make any sense of his shifting personas? judging by his website he now looks like this:

http://www.andrewwk.com/cms/data/news_images/i_632.jpg

We should start an elite strike team against him or something.

-- Ned Raggett, Monday, April 15, 2002 12:00 AM (6 years ago) Bookmark Link

ned in nyc?

Having just met Alex face to face the other week, anything is possible. (That said AWK did a fantastic job with Sightings on their last album.)

http://www.andrewwk.com/cms/data/intro_slideshow_images/i_452.jpg

Off centre belt-buckle strikes again.

the new lee scratch perry album is pretty fucking aces.

Andrew WK did a fantastic job on everything he has done ever.

I flew ten hours to Houston last week to see a cancelled AWK show. He is pretty much the most important dude to me ever.

I like a few tunes off the first album. I think a lot of the hate directed at him is due to the "hair metal = satan/misery = integrity" narrative of rock history that's been dominant since the early 90s.

that was the picture I tried to link before. He looks like the lost member of Japan in that picture.

Anyway I still don't "get" him but I'm sensing that I'm overthinking it. I agree that my knee-jerk reaction toward the music is "meh" but then he comes across as so knowledgeable, intelligent, insightful, and cool in interviews. he clearly has a broad and deep knowledge of experimental music. And then when that ISN'T really what he puts out (on a major label, no less) I'm confused. And then I start thinking it's an act. But then I have to consider that it isn't an act, he just likes making music like that, and it doesn't need to be at odds with anything else he says or does.

but I should also note that everything tied up in the east-coast noise post-hardcore scene is weird to me since I'm too old and have always lived on the west coast so what the fuck do I know

"hair metal = satan/misery = integrity" narrative of rock history

can you explicate, please?

dude he just makes fun music, what is there to 'understand'?

Read the pitchfork review.

xpost

I'm admitting that my reaction to Andrew WK says more about my own prejudices than anything else. To me, the idea of a classically trained musician with a deep respect for John Zorn projecting a 'dumb party guy' image and landing a record deal with a major label and cranking out a giant hit or two is bizarre. Maybe that isn't bizarre to you but it is to me.

I think it's sort of good bizarre. I'm a big fan of the incongruous.

lolz kids show

ugh

http://www.myspace.com/andrewwk

Uh is that his home phone number on his myspace?

Wouldn't be surprised. Didn't he personally call the first thousand people who bought I Get Wet or something?

Who bought 'The Wolf.' I love that man.

Me! I listened to it a couple times (once on mushrooms iirc) its okay. Make Sex is funny

the cartoon network isn't really for kids as much as it is for adults on drugs

'I Get Wet' = record of the decade for real

'Destroy Build Destroy' not v good tho

'I Get Wet' = record of the decade for real

it's no Horse of a Different Color

No, I Get Wet is better.

u should post to this thread
Big & Rich: Album of the Decade?

x-post - I loved "I Get Wet" when it first came out. Have you seen his twitter? It can be pretty amusing: http://twitter.com/AndrewWK

This is a good friend of mine on Halloween a while ago now - I still love it:

http://i28.tinypic.com/o73i2t.jpg

omg <3

Saw AWK give a piano concert - was awesome - also, apparently he twittered congrats to my friend who got married

I think the secret to exercising regularly and at a strenuous pace is to make sure that the only song on your iPod is 'I Get Wet'

I like to party

Hey you! *points finger* Let's party.

Come on everybody: it's time to party.

in other party-related news, this guy also likes to party (unfortunately there's no link for my favorite track, "Too Tired to Party")

I think he is the best human of the decade. He is inspiring and amazing!

hey c'mon now... no love for Aung San Suu Kyi?
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d7/Aung_San_Suu_Kyi.jpg

Gravel I agree!

If not the best record of the decade, one of the top 10 EASY

I wish I cld listen to it with you all in a car. It is a joy to drive to. We wld have such a happy, bonding, raucous time together.

Ok guys here is my 'armchair speculating' thing that I indulge in infrequently (& I know I've said I don't care for such things before, so sry for the hypocrisy). Anyway, I think the W.K. might be bipolar.

I have tried to pump my good old friend and ex-bandmate for information about the WK (they both played in Current 93 together on a tour and AWK even played drums in my friend's band and is featured on a tour cdr) but he never has anything to say :(

Ok guys here is my 'armchair speculating' thing that I indulge in infrequently (& I know I've said I don't care for such things before, so sry for the hypocrisy). Anyway, I think the W.K. might be bipolar.

― bad-boy (sic) cartographer (actually a girl) (called) (not named) (Abbott), Wednesday, 29 July 2009 22:08 (1 hour ago) Bookmark

lol

maybe he is just an intense guy?

Maybe that's my 'problem' too! :O

Now I have to reconsider everything.

official anthem of the war on terror:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0TzUNti3rY

it's no Horse of a Different Color

― velko, Wednesday, 29 July 2009 18:38 (4 hours ago)

Joke sucked the first time, stop biting it.

Former ILX favourite scores massive hit

Lol Paper Planes </instant hilarious comedy>

when your time is at an end/then its time to kill again

adam curtis should have made the video

he's hosting a gameshow on cartoon network, anybody see it?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcxkGMPAnbg

http://twitter.com/AndrewWK

^^ This often makes me :D

Drinking dirty Martini's outside in Tulsa. Eating mini cheeseburgers with 1,000 Island & extra ketchup. This is a party!
7:50 PM Jul 23rd from txt

Anybody seen him shilling for the new Cartoon Network lineup of reality shows? The songs not bad but fuck, just makes me want a new album from the dude.

Drinking dirty Martini's outside in Tulsa. Eating mini cheeseburgers with 1,000 Island & extra ketchup. This is a party!
7:50 PM Jul 23rd from txt

goddamn right.

i know it gets said too much, but this guy is awesome.

couple of weeks ago, having beers and doobs at an old friends bday party, listening to CCWBW it was the best <3

and we had cupcakes too

Next time you drink something (water, milk, beer), you give thanks for the existence of fluid & its contribution to partying.
6:38 PM Jul 26th from web

llllollll

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6H6n_onZI0

^^ the best face-pull i have seen in a good while

"you give thanks" vs. "you SHOULD give thanks". Andrew WK is giving you a goddamn ORDER.

Man finding episodes of Destroy, Build Destroy on torrent trackers is hard going...

i was perturbed to find andrew wk following me on twitter the other week. i HAAAAATE andrew wk.

awesome.

I want him to follow me. I bet if I send him a message he would. I should do this, y?

y

i was perturbed to find andrew wk following me on twitter the other week. i HAAAAATE andrew wk.

Maybe he wants to know about dubstep and funky?

AndrewWK Mindset Of The Day: Think of all people as grown up babies who just want to be loved and cared for. We all want that, so PARTY!
about 1 hour ago from web

if he lived a few a thousand years ago we'd have a whole other religion now

A couple of years ago I was reading lots of longform AWK stuff (he used to answer letters from people with these glorious two-page calls to action) and there was some seriously awesome, sermon-on-the-mount stuff.

Don't we already have Greek/Roman party gods? Did they just not rock hard enough?

love this fuckin guy

Maybe he wants to know about dubstep and funky?

probably thought Donae'O was doing a cover

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngjMz8PM-XQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdPB-hi26Yk

this thread was responsible for a long argument w/ my girlfriend - I was trying to explain to her why I thought this man was a complete genius. she mostly listens to classical music.

Take her to see him live - the only place where it all makes sense.

"she mostly listens to classical music."
hey what is her assessment of AWK's classical piano training?

"a waste"

haha! Burn!

I really just shouldn't have started that conversation

have you played for her his latest improv piano album?

i know his moms (no, NOT in the biblical sense) (she is a very nice, smart lady)

also, I too like to party.

def one of the 10 worst artists of this decade, ugh @ the fawning "genius" talk

You just don't know anything about him, that's all.

great posts in this thread

xpost

I hate Kathy Griffin so so much. Can't she take her smug altered face back to wherever it came from and never come out again?

she is awful. andrew wk is still a weird fucking phenomenon to me that I don't really get. Is it irony? Is it serious? also what was with the whole "he is just a created persona" thing that was going around?

Check out how long the responses are on this thing:

http://www.avclub.com/articles/andrew-wk,13766/

'what was with the whole "he is just a created persona" thing that was going around?'

This was a set of rumors that at least some of which were sanctioned/started by AWK inc. or the susan lawly foundation or whatever it was he called it. I think he/they were going for something grander than Dave Grohl = AWK.

no... steev mike was dave grohl.

Yeah i read that Onion piece back when I Get Wet just came out, and he had all this amazing inspirational stuff on his website. I was really excited about it, because I already liked his music, but reading this stuff was just icing on the cake.

The whole persona idea is interesting and if you've seen Who Knows? or listened to Close Calls With Brick Walls it feels like even if there aren't varying AWK actors then he definitely has some crazy schizophrenic themes running through his work. How does a song like "Pushing Drugs" (which is a AWESOME song in a completely different way than most of his stuff) fit in with this inspirational mindset? I love the line 'Mother nature does a favor, puts your body in a hearse, is what I'm doing really any worse?'

teh label made him change a lot of lyrics for I Get Wet... the tour he did before the release had totally diff lyrics IIRC (ie, "girl's own juice" -> "girl's own love")

oh man, i thought it was girls own love as in girls have ownership of love. "girls own juice" never made much sense, like they own a welches grape soda factory with profit-sharing or something.

or something ROFLMAOWOWOWOWOWLMAO!

401-K with matching funds?

LAWWWWWWWWWWLLLLLLLLLLLLL!

this is one hilarious grape juice factory.

i have never seen that kids show he presents

do you have scrolling capabilities (eg, up)? how about youtube search function? c'mon bro, you can do it!

Okay, I meant to say, I have never actually seen that show scheduled on television, but I watched a few clips of it on youtube and agree that it is essence the ideal kids show and reminds me a little of a show I used to love when I was young called Beakman's world that nobody but my sister and I ever remember.

I watched Beakman's World all the time.

How did we figure out Steev Mike was Dave Grohl? Any time I try & read about the whole thing it's a trip down the rabbit hole.

nounne-z

'Mother nature does a favor, puts your body in a hearse, is what I'm doing really any worse?'

Dude figured out lifes puzzle like quickness.

You probably know about his new album of classical piano solos that just came out. Possibly you know of his forthcoming tour with a string quartet. But have you heard about the Gundam Rock album due on 9/9/9?

Also, he is on Red Eye tonight but you probably knew that already.

you're assuming a lot

I'd hate to assume that I was the best informed person on Andrew WK matters on this board.

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c287/expatrica/tumblr_kpx62uqSep1qzvqipo1_400.jpg

WOW

A. Ant W.K.

Well, that took a long time. Close Calls With Brick Walls is finally getting a North American release. Double CD with a disc of unreleased and rare tracks. Feb 23 2010.

i own this: http://www.discogs.com/Andrew-WK-Close-Calls-With-Brick-Walls/release/1777968 version of it. The pressing is atrocious.

but obviously it looks amazing.

I was really into that record for a little bit and just recently listened to it again. Some songs are actually really atrocious. But there's some really amazing stuff on here as well. I think "Don't Call Me Andy" is my current favorite.

"Don't Call Me Andy" and "Pushing Drugs" are the best ones.

i believe the key is that wikipedia lists him as an "entertainer" before "rock musician."

Which is why this thread is on I Love Everything, rather than I Love Music.

xpost. Nah. Best tracks are "Hand on the Place, "Not Going To Bed", "One Brother" and "When I'm High". I don't know of any atrocious songs on this album. I mean, there's the three or four short filler numbers which are about 40 seconds long. Other than that it's solid as a rock. His best album by a mile.

Also "Into the Clear" is amazing.

I take that back. Not many atrocious songs. I don't like "Las Vegas, Nevada" or "The Background", and sometimes the production grates on me. But I'm glad he really just went crazy with this. It feels like every song is a weird experiment and sometimes it really works and if it doesn't then it just sounds really odd and it's a nice place anyways. My version also has "This Is My World" which I totally love.

Man, "Hand on the Place" and "When I'm High" are really awesome too!

One of the experiments which doesn't really work is the Roxy/Sparks inspired number "Dance With Me". Maybe if it was done with more humour or elegance it would be okay but instead it's a bit of a mess. "Las Vegas Nevada" is a disappointingly poor relative to "Ace of Spades" lyrically speaking. The hedonism associated with gambling seems really manufactured and using Las Vegas rather than a winning card as the principle symbol weakens the whole thing. Cos you know, most people in Vegas are amateurs, there to lose a set amount then go home. For Lemmy it's literally win or die. This song almost sounds like a real ad for Las Vegas, which may well have been the goal. I know Andrew WK is pretty successful at licensing his songs, ringtones etc. To me, that's a turn-off if it's too obvious.

But nothwithstanding these details, it's one of the few albums from the last few years where I'll almost always listen to the whole thing from beginning to end. Yeah, there are two or three weaker songs like The Background and Las Vegas. But it's one of my favourite albums of the decade. Now set to be one of my favourite albums of the next decade too.

cool thing about AWK is that it's still impossible to say why exactly he's doing what he's doing the way he's doing it. he's inscrutable. he presents this super-earnest, half-crazed motivational speaker/kid's show host front - all positive, all the time - but then he carefully creates this absurdly elaborate backstory/mythology with creepy occult-psycho overtones. his music seems like pop, but also like a ghastly parody of pop, and the tension there never comfortably resolves. there's a big andy kaufman streak in what he does, down to the faux (or is it?) quasi-autism shtick. all of which inclines me to respect him. i like jokes that never quite give the punchline away. and close calls w brick walls is a hell of a lot better than i expected. everything OTM abt the wonders of "hand on the place", "one brother", etc. but "pushing drugs" is pretty great, too.

Yeah, good post. I've never really been able to make much sense out of the various sides of his personality/art. It's a baffling persona that raises questions every time I listen to him - even more than Kaufman (of course in Kaufman's case we have decades of hindsight to help us sort out the facts/motivations/intentions). Like you, I really like the unresolved nature of it. The joke without a punchline as you say.

I took a friend of mine who's in his sixties to see Andrew WK this summer and he was blown away because it reminded him of "proper" showmen that he'd seen in ye olde days like James Brown etc. Afterwards my friend went off totally inspired, read all the weird stuff and then later said to me that he takes it all at face value and was loving the ride because the whole point is about entertainment. I honestly do find him to be an amazingly inspiring figure. The show I saw this year was about a life-changing as anything is likely to be at my advanced age. Just him, a keyboard and an ipod.

Just him, a keyboard and an ipod.

which is weird, because this is the same format he chose in his early solo career around 2000-2001.

listening to this again, cuz i haven't thought of it in a while. i can't go so far as everything in loving EVERYTHING about it, but it's awful damn good, if somewhat bloated.

the songs that work best, imo, are those that wander a few steps from the aerobic motivational triumphalism that he's made his stock in trade. i get wet throwbacks like "not going to bed", "when i'm high" and "into the clear" get old fast, especially in comparison to the more varied & inventive material surrounding them. "i wanna see you go wild" & "you will remember tonight" are the best of that bunch: the latter's got cool & creepy messianic lyrics and the former just slays non-stop.

have the sense, though, that CCWBW would work better if there were just a little bit less of it to go around (which is probably the ultimate missing-the-point critique where AWK is concerned). the long set of mutated/inverted party jams that closes the album is a good example. they're all worth a listen, but collectively, they oversell the point. gems like "big party" and "we will boogie" struggle to stand out.

this seems to result from two things: 1) CCWBW is a concept album, and 1) most of lyrics are very simple and repetitive. so in order to make a point about the ghastly frozen emptiness of the scenario he's describing, WK needs an entire song like "we're not gunna get old". and it works, drives the point home w/ a sledgehammer - but it also drags the album down a bit. it's suitably grim & suffocating, but not very musically interesting. (i do like "las vegas nevada" though, which seems more cheerfully subversive than straight-up celebratory.)

and on that note, GOD this is a creepy fucking record. cryptic lyrics that read super-funtime-positive only on the surface, hopeless mirror-box solopsism, vaguely fascist calls to annihilation in the moment, not-so-vaguely homoerotic misogyny, digatally altered vagina-like WK mouths all over the insert art. it's more a subtle sort of psychological horror movie than the "party party" pep talk it pretends to be, and i guess i like that too. reminds me of BOC (touchstone for all music appreciation) and the flaming lips. creative, fearless and weird as hell. but you've probably gotta be something of a geek to really appreciate it.

point 1) and uh, point 1)...

It's a very good point.

What do y'all think about Nardwuar as bipolar hyperactive funtime with dark underbelly persona/artproject in comparison to AWK?

It's a fair comparison I guess. They both have their uniforms. Both of them have formidable performance skills. They both share huge generosity of spirit and a fierce dedication to making sure everyone has a good time.Having seen them interact in person it's obvious that they are soulmates in certain ways. They are like brothers. Nardwuar seems more guarded because he comes off as really irritating at times (a trait that he has toned down in recent years, which I believe a natural result of being older).

For both, there is always a question of how much of their personality is "an act". To me, there's no mystery about Nardwuar. I've known the guy long enough to know that his regular personality is similar to what he presents on stage or on TV. It's a more obvious "punk" persona, with his addiction to obscure singles, all-ages shows and outmoded media, his challenging interview style and his songs which follow the fairly standard comedy punk tropes of light-hearted protest songs, homages to unusual people and of course self-conciously bizarre topics such as being addicted to cheese, having unusual rashes and that kind of thing.

Andrew WK's real personality is unknown but I suspect he is quite different - a more modern kind of guy. In interviews he can come across as earnest, focussed and very intelligent. It seems he is an astute businessman who knows how to create songs that will be appealing for ringtones, movie placements etc. Beyond that he really knows what he's doing with the branding of himself marketing his ideas, building his mystique (for example that piano album, touring with a string quartet), creating work for mass consumption (the TV shows and Japanese albums) while maintaining more underground connections (drumming with Boredoms, appearing with Fucked Up, doing split singles with obscure garage bands etc).

Andrew WK is perfectly natural and at-home appearing on TV. Nardwuar's forrays into mainstream media always come across like he's a gatecrasher.

So yeah. I don't really know where I'm going with this. They are alike but different.

Okay, now to respond to contenderizer's epic post. You are listening to the US vinyl version which is made more bloated with the addition of the last five track. The regular version of the album has 18 songs of which three are really just breathing spaces between hurricanes. This version does not seem like too much to me, although at almost 50 minutes that's quite a long album. I'm not sure what the north American version will look like but I suspect that it will be 18 tracks long, with the bonus numbers moved over to the extra disc.

I agree that "Not Going To Bed" is an I Get Wet throwback, but not "Into The Clear" which is a very interesting song about personal transformation whose lyrics say a lot about whichever dark place AWK came from, and where he is trying to go. To me this song exemplifies the conflict between his confused personas and is one of the best songs on the album. It's also the song that is most similar to his Japanese stuff and was perhaps written with that in mind.

There is nothing else I can do but fight against all odds
Against the deadly soul that's living in my heart
I won't give up, I won't give in
I won't give out or fall apart
This is the mountain I must climb
This is my time
And all at once the shadows disappear
I move around the side and into the clear

That's pretty long distance from the party tunes on I Get Wet. From anyone else that might come across like a load of rock'n'roll feel-good redemption nonsense but from a guy with AWK's history it's an acknowlegement that the party persona is not necessarily natural and a recognition that the fun comes with a price, including a huge mental effort it takes be happy. As such I think this is a very important and honest song for AWK.

what makes "into the clear" feel like i get wet is the spirit of triumphant, mountain-climbing maximalism (quite literally what the song's about in this case). that kind of thing's okay - it's arguably what AWK does best - but a little goes a long way in CCWBW's somewhat more musically varied context,and unfortunately the song just isn't that memorable.

yr right that i should distinguish between the album proper (ending w "the moving room") and its bonus tracks. the extra stuff fits in with & fleshes out the concept, so it's easy to blur the line, but the 18-track version of the album definitely feels more manageable. on that note, it's tempting to rope in the korean bonus tracks, too. though they're almost too literal about the MPD/insanity angle, "i want your face" and "this is my world" feel like necessary pieces of the puzzle, and the other two like interesting expansions. american tracks are less crucial wr2 the storyline, but i enjoy the more leftfield stuff like "i've got know fear" and "we will boogie".

it's a strange record, and though i like it, i don't know that it's a great one. AWK's primary "thing", his bigger-louder-moremoremore aesthetic - coupled with his steinman-esque ear for anthemic cheeze - is also his achilles heel. if the tunes & lyrics aren't up to snuff, it all starts to grate. in that spirit, i do wish the last 8 songs were a bit more fully developed. most of my favorites are in the opening 10 and the bonus tracks.

(fwiw, i think the lyrics to "into the clear" are neither feel-good redemption nonsense nor an important and honest statement. i read them as part of a disturbing fictional narrative about fragmented identity and the way different aspects of a broken personality move in and out of the foreground of consciousness. but that's just me, and one of the nice things about an album this sprawling & ambitious is that it can mean different things to different people.)

Isn't "clearing" cribbed from/referring to Scientology? (it feels as though both AWK and Scientology are fixated with eliminating barriers to expressing your "true" potential) I think he's a cool dude, but his "embrace everything to the max -- don't listen to those voices of doubt" message is kind of harmful and insidious. Sometimes those voices of doubt have sensible and principled advice!

okay, that's a real good point. part of the subtext/mythic "backstory" for CCWBW plays w tom & nichole in ways i don't quite understand. blurring the line between AWK & tom, implying that he slept with nichole, etc. which supports yr reading of "into the clear".

one read for the album is that it's about supressing aspects of yourself in order to become more marketable, and that the all the insanity & self-improvement stuff just supports that.

and i take back my hedging about the album's greatness. it IS a great, and the 2nd half holds up just fine, but i'm kinda embarassed to admit how much i like it. which is lame, but so be it.

Tom Cruise? I never really considered that aspect. Maybe that's what the final verse of "When I'm High" is about. The scientology connection has certainly crossed my mind. But only because of that one word. He's obviously no scientologist. I think the strongest theme is about his own mental struggles and the ways he's dealt with stuff in his own life (often described as "nightmares" or "shadows"). It's given an extra dimension because he's embraced this motivational role and so his stories are often presented in that context. It can be confusing as to who he's addressing or singing about, or who's voice he's speaking with. I guess that helps listeners apply them to their own experiences, but it sure makes it difficult to puzzle out AWK's personal story.

The recurring theme of cloth or fabric being removed or ripped to reveal light, clear sky or whatever - I think that's a reference to visualization techniques to do with self-empowerment.

I think the strongest theme is about his own mental struggles and the ways he's dealt with stuff in his own life (often described as "nightmares" or "shadows"). It's given an extra dimension because he's embraced this motivational role and so his stories are often presented in that context. It can be confusing as to who he's addressing or singing about, or who's voice he's speaking with. I guess that helps listeners apply them to their own experiences, but it sure makes it difficult to puzzle out AWK's personal story.

― everything, Thursday, December 17, 2009 5:05 PM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark

it's kinda weird to me that you read this as a personal story (not that i think yr wrong to do so, mind). the whole thing, including most of AWK's non-musical public presentation, seems like performance art to me. he clearly works hard to create doubt abt his sanity, his identity, his intentions, dark forces pulling the strings, etc - cryptic talk of nightmares & shadows being part of that. all of which tends to depersonalize the result. i like it, but more as a mysterious form of conceptual media play than as an earnest statement of self.

x-post

the recurring theme you mention is very hard to pin down, though obviously present. sometimes it expresses itself as a simple clarity of mind & intention, related to self-improvement. but at other times ("the moving room", parts of "into the clear"), it seems to concern perception as a form of becoming, as though to see is to be, or to make things exist. at the same time, there's a sense that this becoming is conditional, and not really controllable - that one's existence is dependent somehow on a kind of seeing that arrives from outside oneself ("hand on the place").

When I first heard "Kicks and Bricks" -- at the end of hearing the new sound of CCWBW -- it really stuck out and sounded like the Andrew from the first two albums was a totally different person than the Andrew from the third. Brought back those conspiracy thoughts.

I love LOVE the crazy bonus songs, "Let's Go On A Date", "I Want Your Face", god yeah that record is really cool.

Nardwuar....I saw one interview he did and he just came across a really smug hipster asshole.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilKuJOe2goA

Andrew W.K. Admits He's Not the Original Andrew W.K., Says Persona Was Developed By Committee

i dont understand

me either

Andrew W.K. is living, breathing performance art.

was that ever seriously in doubt>?

I was on board with it basically from the beginning. Andrew Wilkes Krier is a really weird dude. Very nice, but really, genuinely weird. I'm not sure how the whole Steev Mike thing fits in, and I think when he says he was a different person, literally, he's not convincing. It's the same guy that's always been Andrew W.K., but it's not the same Andrew W.K. if that makes sense.

hahahaha you seriously believe that he is a living, breathing being?

hahahahaha

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH FOOL

you know nothing of the profound evil lurking beneath this man's visage......
you know nothing of what he is capable...

listen to me or don't...that is your choice.....
but when i tell you that in due time you will regret having known about Andrew W.K.... you had better beleive me when i say that you will have wished you had believed......

(15)(14)(5)(16)(9)(5)(3)(5)..(13)(9)(19)(19)(9)(14)(7) (6)(18)(15)(13) (2).

The most plausible scenario to me is one or more members of the group of people who organized AWK as a merchandising interest
split not too amicably, forcing Andrew to assume the role full-time, but because these ex-AWKers held some part of the domestic album release rights, AWK group
could not release close calls etc... for a while.

It might very well be that this was planned all along, but it doesn't make much sense to delay an album release to conjure up the mystique of legal trouble.
If there is any consistency in how AWK operates, it is in taking full advantage of any synergistic opportunities that comes his way.

There is a kind of evil in this "embrace everything" attitude. You might not think it's possible to cheapen a song like "It's time to party" by having it appear in an expedia commercial, but both the music and its fans are degraded just a little bit by that.

http://www.fau.edu/freshmanadvising/images/thought_balloon_hmmmm_hg_clr.gif

AWK is way too weird to be merely a media creation, unless the idea was to make an unpredictable crazy guy a rockstar and then go from there. Perhaps he honestly thinks there's been more than one Andrew "playing" the part but that really doesn't mean its so. I just hope that a lot of this actually is planned and staged for promotional effect because I would hate to think Andrew is truly suffering from delusions and split personalities.

I'm not sure what you mean by too weird to be a media creation. I personally think Andrew came up with the basic template of what he would like to achieve, but why wouldn't he enlist outside help to meet his goals, which are pretty simple: "don't be a wimp; achieve immortality"?

The conspiracy nuts were right!

Watching the Rockfeedback interview where he 'lays this out'.

http://www.rockfeedback.com/tv/direct/channels/297400/726538/

He's saying he's a physically different person than the original Andrew WK but then he says everyone is a different person from back then so who knows maybe he is talking about the replacement of cells that make up the human form. Tried reading the forum on his official site but the conspiracy stuff is so thick there it's baffling.

Apparently CCWBW is coming out this year alongside a bonus disc of rare and unreleased material called "Mother of Mankind"

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_BzbVmjyhvHI/Szn0LgMmeUI/AAAAAAAABTA/qDGRJ0JC2ak/s400/AndrewWK_CloseCallsWithBrickWalls_2CDdeluxeEdition_SlipcaseFrontCover.jpg

MOTHER OF MANKIND

1. We Party (You Shout)
2. High Five
3. Let's Go On A Date
4. We Got A Groove
5. Sarah Notto
6. I'm A Vagabond
7. I've Got Know Fear
8. Big Party
9. Who Knows?
10. Coming Bad
11. Can You Dance With Me?
12. Kicks And Bricks
13. A.W.K.
14. I Will Find God
15. This Is My World
16. Young Lord
17. We're Not Gunna Get Old
18. Kill Yourself
19. I Want Your Face
20. Jewel Street Man
21. The Party God

http://i45.tinypic.com/2rdivk6.jpg

The way I understand it, a committee auditioned a bunch of guys to play the part of AWK. Theres the "I Get Wet" version. and now a new guy - 2 of the ppl they auditioned, and potentially neither of them a person actually known as Andrew WK, because he's a fiction.

I kinda like the idea.

I mean its no diff to, say, Hannah Montana. Just not as made obvious.

Either all white people look the same to me, or those are the same dude.

Yeah, I'm ... not convinced by those photos, I have to say. And who knows if its not now *this* story thats the fake. I still think it's great.

If he is a music biz creation then the bizarre career turns (motivational speaker, solo piano album) add a nice baffling layer to it all. You could say they failed at making him a huge superstar but really this guy is on a million tv shows and web shows and all over the place. So maybe he's actually a lot more famous (more people know his name/shtick) than if they just kept releasing new albums. What he's says in this new interview about finding something that reaches people more than through the music; it's the MO of a never-ending promotion cycle.

Maybe that's why a younger looking/skinnier AWK is needed for this second phase. Running around all over the place, doing fashion shoots, interviewing for web shows, writing advice columns in Japan, etc., etc. First phase looked like a dude that spent most of the day in the gym.

I think the first phase ended after "The Wolf" and the transition can be seen in the live "Who Knows" DVD and from then on it's this new guy. But yeah as weird as it all gets there's still this continuity that makes it really kind of seamless in a way.

Yeah I just saw a photo shoot he did (recent?) and fuck me, he looks like Adam Ant or John Taylor in their prime. Pretty <3

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v519/buttered2/misc/NotMyAWK03.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v519/buttered2/misc/NotMyAWK01.jpg

Phworrr.

http://img245.imageshack.us/img245/1481/andrewwk20082.jpg

i still can't see how it's not the same guy.

He says it in this interview.

http://www.rockfeedback.com/tv/direct/channels/297400/726569/

And if he's lying about it, then there's something weird going on at any rate!

but he also says that no one in the audience is the same as who they were. if that makes any more sense i don't know...

Yeah that pre-2005/post-2005 image is pretty silly – he shaved. That appears to be the big difference. It's like being fooled by Clark Kent taking off the glasses.

Yeah I figure you can read him as saying "I'm not the same PERSON I was then, but aren't any of us?". Its an interesting stunt.

andrew james bond

the last time i talked to AWK:
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1272/765586185_aeaee5da3e_b.jpg

07-07-07

'I figure you can read him as saying "I'm not the same PERSON I was then, but aren't any of us?"'
This might be a reference to the idea that everyone's cells are replaced every x years, so they are literally not the same being, and he's drawing some kind of moral equivalency between that and fooling people with doppelgangers.

But I don't think he's been particularly arch or coy about it -- he's trying to propagate the idea that anyone with a white t-shirt and greasy hair ought to receive equal legitimacy in terms of being AWK:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NWFbCJv29o

What better way to assert that he doesn't deserve first class citizenship over being AWK than anyone else than to reveal that it wasn't him singing on the I Get Wet album?

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Andrew W.K.'s Statement 1/3/10

"Since 2001, I have been accused of being part of a conspiracy in which I knowingly entered into a contract with creative directors called Steev Mike, who proceeded to invent a new identity for me to perform under. I'm here to say this is simply not true and a gross exaggeration of easily explainable and common-place music industry practices. Of course I work with people who choose not to include their whole names or real names in the credits, or who aren't on stage with me during my shows - but taking advice and guidance from other people doesn't mean I'm a victim of mind-control. That's like science fiction! Andrew W.K. is about partying and doing what you want! We want fun, and that really is what I am about.
These lies have unfortunately been with me since my career started - critics were saying I had to be a fake puppet for the record industry because I appeared over night. These simple untrue allegations have grown over the years to the point now where I have to defend myself. I have done many interviews and talks where I have explained the nature of how I got into music, and I admitted that I did work with people. But people have still taken what I said and tried to call me a liar and a fake. What alarms me most about these accusations is that they remind me of witch trials: The kind of people who accuse me of being a talking head for some secret conspiracy to corrupt people's morals are the same people who claim MTV and Cartoon Network are owned by secret rulers of the world out to poison kid's brains, or that pop stars like Beyonce or Lady Gaga are part of some occult society, or that companies like McDonald's, Coca-Cola, or Hollywood are secretly promoting hidden plans. Or that the President of the USA is just a figure head and reading a script given to him by a secret world power. Come on!
We're working in a business where there are different ends and different means. No one controlled Frank Sinatra or told him how to sing. No secret group of managers has been telling someone like Jay-Z what to do or how to look. And no one tells me what to do, except me and the people who believe in me. I am a real person who thinks for himself and am not the victim of anyone or group of people trying to influence my career or life. I take responsibility for everything in my life, including who I work for and what happens to me because of it. Just because a person has mentors or advisers doesn't mean they don't have their own brain and soul. And just because I work with other people who advise me doesn't mean that I am a puppet for an evil cult or a have some sort of master plan. I make party music - plain and simple. In fact, it is me who is the innocent victim of a conspiracy of critics and haters who don't believe in the power of music and pure true fun. It is us artists who are the victims. It's crazy that still today, brand new artists like Lady Gaga have already been dealing with the same sort of paranoid allegations that I've has been dealing with since 2001. It just doesn't stop! We are not puppets, we are human beings.
Musicians are not acting, we are real people. We are not part of a conspiracy! It's really intense when people are telling you who you are, so I'm going to tell them who THEY are! On behalf of all musicians, the entertainment industry, and everyone else who's ever been falsely accused, YOU ARE NOT HURTING US AND YOU ARE NOT STOPPING THIS. The party will continue! We will endure! It has become too common for musical artists and performers to be labeled as part of some global scam to control the world, or that we're puppets for a larger agenda designed to hurt people. That's why I'm speaking out and loudly declaring: I am not evil and neither are any of my other fellow members of showbusiness. We are here to bring fun and light into the world, not doubt and darkness. I have been accused of having people design my image, tell me what to say in interviews, design my clothes, the way I look and talk, and of course my music. It's true I do work with people, but not to accomplish anything bad, just the basics that any person does in this business and with this opportunity to live out my dreams.
I have always admitted that I worked with people and I have confessed that time and time again, even if the critics twisted what I said. I did this hoping it would quiet people up and put an end to all the speculation and exaggeration. I was never an actor and the partnerships I made with friends, family, and the companies I've worked with have all been to promote entertainment, excitement, and fun - to give people something fun to focus on and to occupy our thoughts, instead of a bunch of fear or negativity.
I will always keep my focus where it matters most:
1) On being grateful for the incredible people who believe in the feeling I work to create
2) And on that magical feeling itself: BEING ALIVE!
Long live music and long live life. PARTY HARD!"
- Andrew W.K.

andrew w.k. did the moon landing

I love how one of those conspiracy sites they prove that Lady Gaga is a member of the Illuminati by pointing out symbols in an Illuminati-themed photo shoot she did. The site also shows a photo of AWK making the 'sign of the devil' as proof of his evilness. Actually it's proof that he's 16 years old.

It's like, she did that photo shoot for the same reason you're writing that she's part of a conspiracy: Da Vinci Code sold like a motherfucker.

The party will continue! We will endure!

has there been discussion of 55 Cadillac? it's an blast!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oQhi5IJmYw

Steinway recorded on cassette mmhmmmm such an American album. Freedom on piano through affirming idioms by wearing&leaping between them w/supreme comfort while also being able to zoom-in to concentrate on repeating a few notes over and over, and to get too excited for the keyboard and drum it out on the top of the piano.

Most people will be unenthusiastic to hear a solo, imporovised, instrumental piano album but it's fine for a one-time listen. It's more successful as a symbol than for the music or the performances. Like Metal Machine Music. It's not well recorded in my opinion.

Actually, rather than Metal Machine Music, a better comparison would be Julian Cope's Skellington - a hastily recorded, sparsely orchestrated statement of artistic freedom that will be unheard by all but the most devoted fans.

He's putting it up for free on his website right? Why wouldn't casual fans take a listen then?

Because it's an instrumental album with (mostly) nothing but him banging away on piano.

I may be wrong but that kind of shit doesn't really turn folks on unless it's Glenn Gould playing Bach. I love AWK but he's not good enough (nor is the album well enough recorded) to carry that over a whole album.

OK I'm listening to it now, and am not really digging it, but it's not so abrasive that I'd warn off casual fans from it. I liked the crickets at the beginning. Perfectly acceptable typing music.

AWK's 2009-2010 NYE mixtape:

SONG
1 It's Time to Party by Andrew WK
2 Tom Tit by Aleister X
3 Stuntin' Like My Daddy by Birdman
4 Quack Head by Bad Brilliance
5 Bloodstone (Live) by Judas Priest
6 Devil's Child by Judas Priest
7 Party Hard by Andrew WK
8 Lemonade by Gucci Mane
9 Electric Feel (Justice Remix) by MGMT
10 My Feet Keep Dancing by Chic
11 One More Time by Daft Punk

Xpost. Maybe my comparison with Metal Machine Music gave the impression that it was abrasive. It isn't - just poorly recorded. Which is why I changed my comparison to Skellington. The comparison was only because it's the product of an artist proving he can do whatever the hell he wants, with disregard for both the music industry and (most) fans expectations.

everything are you saying ppl don't like solo instrumental piano music? agreed on the recording quality not being that great but the rest of yr statements are madness.

Glenn Gould playing Bach, people like. Andrew WK making shit up as he goes along may be a bit of a harder sell. Is that really so challenging an opinion?

I got it, and I'm not really a fan, I don't have any other Andrew WK stuff, I just thought it looked awesome. Keith Jarrett has had a pretty good career, I'm not feeling you on the unpalatable nature of improv piano.

He doesn't have to sell it; it's there for free! I'm not sure if the paradigm of self-indulgent artistic statement applies to someone who says "yes" to just about everything.

"Artistic statement" - yes. Never said it was self-indulgent.

Keith Jarrett? I'm still waiting for him to make a folk album on acoustic guitar, written and recorded in two days. That'll be KILLER.

zmg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6pMNElW0rE

Awesome it's the 1st Andrew WK from pre-2005.

http://hphotos-snc3.fbcdn.net/hs148.snc3/17577_260411202896_63695247896_3388757_8365573_n.jpg

andrew wk and cherie lily in next month's ELLE magazine on New York Power Couples!

That's some nice wallpaper he's wearing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUOvnbCtnVQ

for a man who writes so many songs about partying and dancing he sure can't dance his way out of a paper bag

classic

You have to admire his continuing dedication to Partying Hard though, even in the face of a full Juggalo onslaught.

that video is like the crucifixion. "you know not what you do"

55 Cadillac is definitely the bomb though, I've run tests and had it confirmed from outside sources.

he loves the juggalo tribes so much he is willing to lay down his headbanging for them

I saw him live last year, kind of awesome when he invited several hundred people up onstage to dance with him, leaving about ten people in the audience.

http://www.normanrecords.com/images/covers/113460.jpg

Oh my gosh he's straight from a RAY BRADBURY STYLE EVIL CIRCUS!

Oh sorry about the caps there.

Twig Harper on "Andrew WK", Andrew W.K. and Steev Mike (and lots of acid).

http://heresee.com/twigharper/steevmike.htm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzlmaWukpdk

Hilarious

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41CUklDNYlL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

I love this picture so much...except I just got this in the mail & it's this like infinite regress-type thing. A smaller version of the image of him holding the albums covers the black space where his head is.

And I like THAt even better!

Plus this

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_BzbVmjyhvHI/Szn0MNd0D2I/AAAAAAAABTI/7XtKqHA57tI/s400/AndrewWK_MotherOfMankind_AlbumCover.jpg

AWK is ariel pink's bizarro astral twin (and vice versa), they are both schizo in equal and opposite ways

He looks like some kind of really bad Judy Garland impersonator in that cover and the name of the album (or collection of rarities, I guess) is called MOTHER of Mankind! Is AWK asserting the presence of the divine feminine within his own inner mythos?

http://www.facebook.com/AndrewWKMay?v=wall#!/AndrewWKMay

DMX April is over, and a new month is upon us...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUrnKXEdk34

In the month of May, we listen to Andrew W.K. and party hard every single day.

And Don't forget to party even harder on May 9th to celebrate Andrew W.K.'s birthday.

http://www.last.fm/group/Andrew%20W.K.%20May

http://www.andrewwk.com/cms/data/pictures_images/p_1092.jpg

http://twitter.com/AndrewWK/status/15379574220

My life is proof that you can party as a profession.
about 8 hours ago via txt

http://twitter.com/AndrewWK/status/15162845648

wow http://truthaboutandrewwk.blogspot.com/

In the early 1990's the Universal Group began a coordinated effort in film and especially pop music, in which they created their own robotic actors and performers, who's careers they could design and program from the start. Andrew WK (signed on in '97 or '98, officially launched in 2001) and Lady Gaga (signed on in '03 or '04, officially launched in 2008) are two artists with seemingly nothing in common, but in fact they are both constructed, hired figure-heads for a USA based effort of the occult society, most likely the Freemasons or the Illuminati.

These group's aims are control and power and it uses music, movies and other pop culture media to influence and brain wash the youth population while they play out rituals designed to give them energy while they worship Lucifer. Andrew WK and Lady Gaga both proudly promote that they "come from" New York City, the city of Babylon and the home of the largest Illuminati conspiracy of the past 20 years: 9/11.

Illuminati conspiracies aren't even amusing to me anymore. They're just depressingly stupid.

http://www.youthink.org/Dreamweaver/Student%20webpages/iabeth/DaVinci.jpg

AWK was on Jarvis's show this week. I didn't find the music selection to be hugely inspiring and don't think Jarv is particularly good as a radio presenter but it's a pretty good interview with Andrew, if a little laid back. Starts at about 1:00.

Actually the music was pretty good but Jarvis chats too much so the whole thing seems low-key.

Awesome vid from Andrew's wife:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YR6wtkR9Vp8

http://tweetphoto.com/35218296

http://30.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_la9g7vRWB81qafr4bo1_500.jpg

That's fantastic! and otm.

W.K. sings himself a beautiful birthday song

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8983ceVRgk

Heading to UC Irvine, it turns out...

Cool, hope he does a whole state college tour! Come to UA, AWK!!

most likely the Freemasons or the Illuminati
---SOLD

FFS, NYC isn't New Babylon, Hollywood is New Babylon -- jeez the second-rate conspiracy theorists these days don't even know their Great White Brotherhoods from their Golden Dawns. Not to mention that the home of Freemasonry in America is either Boston or Washington D.C. (take your pick), and the "Illuminati" (if they exist) are decentralized, they don't have an HQ or whatever and if they did it would probably be in Europe.

Also, clearly AWK isn't a robot or mind-slave or whatever, he is a clone of Jesus Christ (one of two, the other being Steeve Mike), and Dick Clark is Melchizedek. This is all just so obvious...

ned, have you changed your mind on Mr. WK from the second post on the thread (where you said, quote, "garg")?

lol

http://twitter.com/#!/AndrewWorKs

my kid watched destroy build destroy every chance I get, budding WK fan now.

still a completely bewildering cultural phenomenon to me (mr wk). what kind of weight do people give the steev mike thing? elaborate hoax? was wk a noise artist hired to be a manufactured artist by the studios or what? i still don't fucking get it. I think about this more than anyone cares to know.

(above post was meant to say: my kid watches DBD every chance HE gets. sorry I have had no sleep)

There's a theory that the "original" AWK is not the same guy that it is now, but I'm not sure if I believe it. There was a site that detailed all this that had some very convincing evidence, but it also had some weird ties into the Illuminati and junk like that, so I think a lot of it is your standard conspiracy stuff.

I'm guessing there's something weird going on with it all since it's effected things like the US release of Close Calls (4 years late) but I do thing AWK is purposely making things ambiguous and vague

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1pckLJ7QL0

I was at an Andrew WK gig last month and it was really quite disappointing. That Alisteir X guy really needs to get off the stage. And the audience needed to be allowed ON the stage. Oh well, never mind. I was lucky enough to be in this video and my pals and I all had a great time. It's a new thing that Andrew did with the Evaporators.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXnmNFHNOuQ

I saw him twice last January (one full-band, one solo @ keyboard and playing classic radio jams for audience members to karaoke to) and both were great; the audience were all over the stage. One 120kg-looking hairy sweatball got upset when the crowd started moving out of the way the FOURTH time he tried to stagedive.

Previous experiences with him have been wondrous but this one was at a shitty venue with terrible sound, too big and too high of a stage which created this distance between him and the audience that I have never experienced before. And Aleister X was onstage with him the whole time, mugging like a maniac and generally dragging things down. I must say that the crowd were as enthusiastic as ever but I just wasn't feeling it.

Touring the 'I Get Wet' anniversary and coming to the UK in April - including Glasgow on 14th April! Really excited!

yeah he's comin to Milwaukee in March, can't wait
also pretty excited about this new album he's doing. his recent stuff has been really great.

http://img51.imageshack.us/img51/959/0000701566350.jpg

Has this been posted? I assume its AWK on keys and uh ---- he's not a bad jazz pianist IMO!

(that said this album is kind of boring to me mainly because its alot of guitar noodling)

Amazing tonight in Glasgow on the 'I Get Wet' anniversary tour.

It was a fantastically fun show; ceaseless energy and a phenomenally positive vibe to everything, right through both AWK's music and the sold-out, ecstatic, fist-pumping, pogo-ing, crowd-surfing, good-natured audience.

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5468/6931942596_823fb1cb52_z.jpg
Andrew WK @ Garage, Glasgow by krakow81, on Flickr

was there too. pretty decent. ive more or less abandoned watching live music as a thing but it was very enjoyable and im glad i went, tho i wasnt partying partic hard and i left before the end, when he played a new song.

You missed his drum solo finale then.

unfortunate! though his bit of soloing on his pizza slice guitar early in the evening was less than virtuoso i must say.

The London gig was hilarious and glorious, it was probably the most up-for-it crowd I've ever seen at a gig. Like there were more people up on the stage by the end than there were in the audience. One of the first people to invade the stage was in a banana suit and Andrew WK was hitting him on the head with an inflatable banana in time with the drums.

He shouldn't have upgraded the venue in London. Upstairs at the Forum was very sparsely populated indeed, though it didn't feel like a dead gig because of the energy from downstairs.

I was there too! I briefly appear in the video on the bottom right about 10 seconds in grinning like an idiot. Hilarious and glorious sums up the experience, can't remember a rock gig when I've seen so many people just smiling.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dkhdrpwc8ZE

haha i went to this too, it was awesome

Does he straight-up run through I Get Wet in a Don't Look Back fashion, or does he play other material?

Put on "Close Calls" and "Mother of Mankind" again. Those are both killer. At his best he's got this awesome Sparks/Cardiacs vibe, but a little heavier. I observed the same thing that someone upthread did about "Kicks and Bricks" - when placed next to everything else, it does really sound like a different person. Of course, maybe he's the same but he just decided to stop singing like that to preserve his voice...?

I admit to being really baffled by the guy. For someone who writes 800-word responses to simple questions in interviews it's crazy how little actual information we have on him. All the stuff contenderizer and co. posted on CCWBW were totally OTM - there's something very sinister about this record, and it doesn't feel contrived or put on or anything, just really bizarre. I wonder if he'll do another one like it.

To answer etc's question, in Milwaukee he played all of I Get Wet, with some interludes of him banging on a piano, then a few from the Wolf, and only one tune from Close Calls ("You Will Remember Tonight"). "Head Bang" from the new EP was played and it's as awesome live as you'd expect.

I mean this raises so many questions:

http://hangout.altsounds.com/features/143838-lowdown-andrew-w.html

no it doesn't

it is highly entertaining though

repping for multinational junk food IS pretty sinister, even if he's being ironic/over-the-top:
"Andrew W.K. - I eat all the best food! Taco Bell, always! And lots of candy, obviously. And I eat tons of Pringles chips, and cheese crackers like Cheese Nips, and I eat lots and lots of microwave meals, like frozen burritos, Hungry Man XL dinners, and Stouffer's meals. And I also love Chunky soups - just all the best tasting food. It's my joy! I eat this food at home too, not just on the road. My goal is always to just eat as much good food as possible, all the time. When we stop at gas stations and truck stops, it's like an amusement park for me! I'll buy three of every single candy bar they have, and then lay them all out on the table in our bus so you can really appreciate the spread and their awesome wrappers. You can have any of them that you want! It's like our own personal candy store. I also get lots and lots of pizza and cheese burgers, french fries, fried chicken. And like I said before, I eat at Taco Bell whenever I see one, even if I'm not that hungry. Sometimes I'll eat at Taco Bell three times in one day. It's all part of my heavenly life. It's just pure happiness. "

i really feel like he and alice waters and michael pollan should have a sitdown.

http://www.factmag.com/2012/11/26/andrew-w-k-recruited-by-us-government-as-cultural-ambassador-to-the-middle-east/

This should go in the 'shit that looks like an Onion article but isn't'.

Next series of Destroy Build Destroy to be filmed in Gaza.

If all else fails, dude! Party on!

Bah, State Department have pulled the plug http://www.avclub.com/articles/andrew-wk-seriously-named-us-cultural-ambassador-t,89082/

strange things are afoot with the W.K.

http://peterslarson.com/2012/12/02/andrew-wk-how-he-almost-became-the-us-cultural-ambassador-to-the-middle-east/

In the days since the cancellation, I’ve received inside tips that there was a passionate debate in the State Dept. about my going at the last second. It’s possible that someone outside of the State Dept. who wasn’t aware of the trip initially became incensed that they weren’t informed before. Apparently some of these unknown higher-up officials were on my side and others were deeply offended by the idea of me going.

http://nakeddc.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/barack-obama_nobel_prize1.jpg

A.W.K trying to break the world record for drumming in a retail store in Times Square, currently on hour 14

what's the previous record for drumming in a retail store?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Qi3JERmk9E

welp

My friend texted me yesterday first thing in the morning to note it was the 10th anniversary of when we got AWK autographs.

And now with a new radio show on...

...Glenn Beck's network?

http://www.mediaite.com/online/andrew-w-k-gets-his-own-show-on-glenn-becks-radio-network/

contenderizer, you're famous!

https://www.stereogum.com/2015589/andrew-wk-steev-mike/franchises/sounding-board/

this article is a wild ride, though it's really long and pontificates a lot. ultimately the conclusion is what I've assumed was true for a while - the entire "AWK conspiracy" is essentially AWK screwing with people

i hate this piece with all my heart

sorry to complain about literally everything this guy writes but it just gets worse and worse

That article made me feel like I was drunk.

thanks I hate it

It's pretty funny to hear norms try to tell a post-internet revisionist history of AWK without being in tune with Bulb/Pterodactyls & all the pre-I Get Wet releases and shows.

is michael nelson the guy who penned that novel-length strokes longread

yes

And replaced MST3K fan favorite Joel iirc

what the

https://i.imgur.com/SWvN2S0.jpg

That's the logical conclusion, no?

Looking like a character from American Psycho is partying.

https://i.imgur.com/SWvN2S0.jpg

WHEN IT'S TIME TO STUDY WE WILL ALWAYS STUDY HARD

http://i47.tinypic.com/16h5l08.jpg

is a nice one, although I'm still partial to his look at 88BOADRUM.

Something new to add to the confusion and mythology side of all things AWK...

To everyone asking about these “andrew wk journals”, that was all before my time. I wasn’t even part of it back then. So there’s no way I could have done it. https://t.co/cmIxVPwcep

— ANDREW W.K. (@AndrewWK) October 9, 2020

which links to a reddit post where this pastebin link was posted which contains nine links to images of a diary, supposedly written by "andrew wk" from 1998 onwards:

https://pastebin.com/VBdLVWC7

Huh, I assumed the revive would be this, which has been doing the rounds.

Andrew W.K. is a Libertarian "Classical Liberal" who believes in American Exceptionalism & a "big fan of Breitbart". He was a regular on Fox News show 'Red Eye' for years w/ his friend Gavin McInnes (Proud Boys) & even had his own radio show on Glenn Beck’s TheBlaze radio network

— Heresy Labs (@heresysquad) October 10, 2018

I hadn't seen any of that before. Most of the people and organisations mentioned I don't really know, but I get that they're unsavoury associations. Is the consensus that there is something to it all?

AWK seems to have deleted the tweet that I posted above. I feel less enamoured by the mystery in the cold light of day and guess that the (supposed) 1998 diary is something created to help promote new music coming soon.

Honestly, I don't see a lot there beyond "Andrew W K isn't that bright or politically involved" - the only thing that bothers me is the quote about him loving Breitbart, and the source of it is - an article on Breitbart.
There's what seems to be an informed rebuttal here: https://www.reddit.com/r/AndrewWK/comments/9mvw92/andrew_wk_has_long_extensive_ties_to_rightwing/e7i30hz/

Yeah AWK is about as apolitical as it gets

yeah, weak tea guilt by association shit. he's about as guilty as Damien from Fucked Up in that case.

That's all good to read, thanks.

I feel less enamoured by the mystery in the cold light of day

I love that he still finds it fun to generate intricate layers of confusing backstory and then publish disinformation about the stuff he's put so much effort into.

Thanks for that rebuttal link, AF.

uhh what

https://www.instagram.com/katdenningsss/

jenny4twnty
The shower drain must be a nightmare

Speak of the... devil?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mj8C7hKpBNA

this new album's gonna be pretty heavy huh

Wow this song rules

Incredible album title + cover art combo too

that track is a snooze im sure his fans from his Glen Beck network show will dig tho

I've never been an AWK fan, but the video has a Matthew Barney-ish feel that I'm into. The song's...fine, but nothing without the visuals.

The "Babalon" video is quite something as well.

OK, just watched "Babalon" and that is legitimately great (song and video). If he'd sounded like this all along I'd have been a fan 20 years ago.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oI8y36733ag

apparently an entire journal of his from 1998-2000 leaked online

https://awkshare.com/files/7d756f81-e197-4711-9101-fd042ca3d17b

feels wrong to be reading this but it's pretty fascinating, hundreds of pages not only detailing the entire Andrew WK persona but also a man at war with himself. seems to explore the whole "use actors for the first few years/make it seem like everyone else is doing the work" idea. at some point he lays out his first 9 albums, #5 being "The Devil's on Your Side" and #6 being "The Party Gods"

obviously a good chance this was all made in the last couple of months but still, pretty crazy shit here

"i'm in heaven" is so good

xp "leaked"