Andrew WK: C/D?

"Close Calls With Brick Walls" is such an amazing record. Much more diverse than what he's known for but just as much fun.

AWK is seriously underrated, imo

Still going w Steev Mike controversy:

http://awilkeskrier.homestead.com/

that page been around a loooong time

Hahaha. Homestead.

i have him on FB and he just linked it even though i don't think it's been updated in years. he's definitely enjoys bringing it up

hell my AWK review page mentioned the Steev Mike thing and his twitter linked to it right away. I wondered how it got 1000 hits right off the bat.

"Close Calls" has a real Roxy Music vibe.

I'm trying to reconcile everything I've read about him with his kids show with Jack Black and Stampy that my 7-year-old likes. Maybe it's better if I just don't bother finding out about Andrew WK. Good show.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-IhSjrfSt7k

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-q-tS27EqFc

just found out he's coming to Milwaukee with a full band in October, I'm beyond pumped

"Close Calls" has a real Roxy Music vibe.

― Emperor Cos Dashit (Adam Bruneau), Saturday, January 11, 2014 2:56 PM (three years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

ive been listening to the Close Calls/Mother of Mankind set again. still feel the Roxy vibe only to be more precise it is a Bryan Ferry goofy crooner vibe ("Can You Dance With Me?" like some weird metal version of "Do The Strand").

some of those tracks feel like 70's Sparks to me, particularly "I Want Your Face" and "This is My World"

feel like you could combine the best stuff from those two discs to make an incredible hour-long album that would be (imo) one of the greatest albums of the decade

Apparently I haven't yet mentioned on this thread that I'm in this video - in the cd library at the very beginning and then jumping up and down on the couch holding a paper mache parrot. This was quite the day.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnzGF0wkeTc

Sorry, wrong link. This is the one.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXnmNFHNOuQ

the conspiracy rabbithole with this guy is intense

best to stay away from imo

took me a full day to recover from that live show but it was totally worth it. consider my life affirmed again

yeah i saw him last night, holy shit, so good!

Glad to hear he's still got it. Seen him twice, both times were incredible. Dude puts every ounce of himself into the performance and gets it back from the crowd. My body might be too old to handle his show nowadays though

I saw him the Sunday before last, I left exhausted and covered with bruises but smiling. An amazing, joyful live experience.

hahah yeah you keep waiting for him to do a slow song so you can breathe a bit but then you remember he doesn't really have any

Never Let Down is slow! So um he has one.

well ok yeah but I was shouting that one at the top of my lungs along with everyone else so it doesn't count as much

I never said it was quiet. It doesn't feel slow, even on a stereo.

hah he did do a 2-3 minute solo synth improv piece, that was a nice break. but yeah a totally unrelenting show of pure joy! the band had the biggest grins on their faces the whole time but esp during dueling guitar solos.

it was a pretty great set, he hit all the high points, stuff from all three albums. took me by surprise when they played "Pushing Drugs" as a first encore! "Party Hard" was the last song they played and he had the crowd count down. the count-down started at 93 so by the time everyone was yelling "ten!....nine!...eight!" the room was about to explode in anticipation

"Take It Off" was so awesome. always liked it as an album track but played live that chorus is like going to church or something.

the opener was a local punk act that had also done stuff in the early 2ks and had reunited so it was very nostalgic. i felt like i was on the verge of flashbacks to the old hardcore scene days RIP

we got the synth break too. he also gave a little speech about...god I can't even remember, I was too worn out. it was cool that nearly all sides of AWK came out at some point (besides the weatherman I guess), including a part where he just stood still on stage alone with his eyes rolled back for a solid minute.

I think the set list must be the same from night to night. I didn't recognize the first song they played (maybe a new one?), other than that it was what I expected. really glad to hear "We Want Fun" too. "Take It Off" was great but "Totally Stupid" was even better. I decided to purposely avoid listening to any of his music when the show was announced so yeah it kinda hit me all over again what an insane amount of hooks IGW has on it. it's basically a perfect album.

yeah i think the first song was a new one! reminded me a little of "Long Live the Party" so that's a good sign.

So jealous of you guys btw

heh i slept on seeing him a few times before (and now i feel very stupid for this) but when i heard he had reunited his full band i just had to go.

it was kind of weird timing, the show i went to last night actually got cancelled and postponed. it was supposed to be the first show of the tour and ended up being the last!

Next year, Andrew W.K. will release his first new album since 2009. Today, he’s revealed the record’s title: You’re Not Alone. It arrives March 2 via RED/Sony. W.K. has also shared the tracklist and cover art, which was painted by Boris Vallejo and Julie Bell. Check those out below, and watch W.K., Vallejo, and Bell discuss the painting here. This past September, W.K. said of the album: “I’m going for the sound of pure, unadulterated power; every emotion, every thought, every experience, every sensation, every fear, every joy, every clarity, every confusion, every up, every down... all extruded and concentrated into one thick syrup of super life-force feeling, and then psychically amplified by the celebratory spirit of glorious partying.”

You’re Not Alone:

01 The Power of Partying
02 Music Is Worth Living For
03 Ever Again
04 I Don’t Know Anything
05 The Feeling of Being Alive
06 Party Mindset
07 The Party Never Dies
08 Give Up on You
09 Keep on Going
10 In Your Darkest Moments
11 The Devil’s on Your Side
12 Break the Curse
13 Total Freedom
14 Beyond Oblivion
15 Confusion and Clarity
16 You’re Not Alone

https://pitchfork.com/news/andrew-wk-details-new-album-youre-not-alone/?mbid=homepage-more-latest-and-video

i really want to hear "The Devil's on Your Side"

jk i want to hear the whole thing

That album artwork is incredible

also the posts at the start of this thread (all the way back in 2002!) really confound me. How could anyone dislike andrew wk!? even if you don't like his music, it feels impossible to dislike his spirit and positivity

I think "Music is Worth Living For" was the song he opened his show with last month

anyway I'm definitely springing for the vinyl on this, just cuz I want to hang it on my wall

XXp if you can't believe that then you're in for a feast of incredulity here - https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/184-i-get-wet/

what a fool schreiber is/was

that album got a lot of shit from a lot of (stupid) people

man, I remember reading that review way back in the day and thinking "hell, that sounds kind of awesome"

didn't actually hear the album until 5-6 years later, but hey I was right

I'm glad they gave it a reevaluation:
https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/16836-i-get-wet/

hahahaha

I have friends in a band who opened for Andrew W.K. and he was reportedly kind of shitty to them. They were fans and happy to meet him and he basically refused to interact with them or address them in any way, until they left. I think there might be a difference between the public and private personae.

Partying takes its toll

But he was a total sweetheart when I saw in like 2003. Stood outside in the freezing cold and entertained the kids with pics and autographs and general friendliness after the show for a long time.

Classic album.

hah I've heard the exact opposite, that he's exactly the same in private

that said don't forget there are two AWKs, maybe your friends met the grumpy one

isn't he famously something of an anguished existential philosopher type, and partying his chosen lifestyle to dispel the doom

he's a man of mystery. he loves midtown.

Where do you go for a drink?
Any and all bars that don't have dress codes. The best one is Gabby O'Hara's on 39th Street—because they have the best bartenders. I also really like Kabooz's in Penn Station because of the atmosphere and location.

isn't he famously something of an anguished existential philosopher type, and partying his chosen lifestyle to dispel the doom

the track listing above reads like the chapter titles from a selp-help book for sure.

Oh lol, I missed that.

new song is fucking sick

there's a dropper of Adrenochrome on the sink in the beginning of the video, lmao nice touch

a guy with a pretty deep understanding of the occult chimes in here:

https://codexastarte.wordpress.com/2021/02/17/andrew-wk-revisited-babalon/

that deserves some sort of occult Pulitzer and also convinces me that AWK simply must work with Liturgy some day

surprised there's no chat about the new album yet. its definitely big on the power ballads but it's got a pretty thundering sound to it. it's probably his heaviest album overall. "I'm in Heaven" is pretty brutal

for ILXors there's a special surprise, the end of "My Tower" is a total Neu! groove which comes out of nowhere

The two advance singles and first two tracks were great but the album isn't close to his best thereafter

As in, the two advance singles are the first two tracks

I liked the first two singles (and I haaaaated this dude for years) but haven't gone back to the album.

I like all 4 singles, kinda wish the rest of the album was as diverse/powerful. in particular the last 3 tracks (on the LP, not the bonuses) are kind of a slog, but I've been digging them a bit more on further listens

also "Remember Your Oath" is about as meta as he's ever gotten with the whole industry plant/Steev Mike/two Andrew WKs thing

was able to score a copy of Close Calls off eBay, I'm in awe all over again at how cursed it sounds. so many bizarre decisions made on this record. like wtf with the crazy instrumental intro on "When I'm High"?? his weirdly on-point David Lee Roth impression on "Mark My Grace"? the mixing which seems to emphasize the wrong instruments all the time? truly a baffling album

btw he seems to have completely disappeared from the internet as of last week, all his tour dates are cancelled too