YRB Magazine

For those of you that haven't sought out our new Comedy Issue (on newsstands now!), you can check out our Radar profile on UK songstress V V Brown here. But for those of you who would rather see her get busy than make your brain do all that work, you're in luck. New Yorkers, pay attention: tonight at Hiro Ballroom, the singer-songwriter will perform cuts from her debut album Travelling Like the Light, in stores now. V V will be joined DJ GE-OLOGY for her free performance, taking place tonight at 7:30 P.M. RSVP is still open (click here), but before you hyperlink your way over to the other site, watch her video below the cut.

Sad news on the fashion front today. According to reports, the 40-year-old designer committed suicide, days after his mother Joyce passed away last Tuesday. McQueen was found in his apartment in Mayfair, central London, where he had apparently hung himself in an attempted suicide. His company soon released the following statement:

“On behalf of Lee McQueen's family, Alexander McQueen today announces the tragic news that Lee McQueen, the founder and designer of the Alexander McQueen brand, has been found dead at his home. At this stage it is inappropriate to comment on this tragic news beyond saying that we are devastated and are sharing a sense of shock and grief with Lee's family. Lee's family has asked for privacy in order to come to terms with this terrible news and we hope the media will respect this.'”

R.I.P. to one of contemporary fashion's most creative minds.

General Steele, one half of legendary Brooklyn duo Smif N' Wesun, is holding court tomorrow night at the Nuyorican poet's cafe. Known for his politically laced lyrics the Mayor of Bucktown is backing up the music with action. The general is giving marching orders to all New Yorkers to come preview his new album AmeriKKKa's Nightmare Part 2: Children of War, as well as join in on a conversation about the current state of affairs. If you make it out remember either Stand UP or DUCK DOWN!

The ladies were in the house – that is, Santos Party House – this past Friday night for an estrogen-fueled show in New York City. Though the weather was pushing brick status, throngs of concertgoers hit up the smedium-sized venue for an evening of faux raps, skittish electro beats and sputtering flashes of light pounding the stage.

Maluca, a fiery beauty who calls NYC home, thawed the crowd with face-melting renditions of a few tracks, performing her Diplo-produced joint “El Tigeraso” as the crowed began to flesh out. Before she bowed out gracefully, Maluca set the energy on full blast in anticipation of the night’s leading lady Amanda Blank, the Downtown recording artist from Philly who was introduced as having taken the Chinatown bus direct from Phila to NY.

Medieval torture devices. Dancers posing in statuesque form. Solange Knowles. Susan Sarandon spanking a man dressed like a pig, bent over her knee, with a ruler.

That's pretty much the standard for an Of Montreal gig, and Kevin Barnes and the gang kept the surprises coming last night at the Highline Ballroom in New York City. Taking the stage around 10 PM, the Georgia-based outfit kicked off the set with “Suffer for Fashion” after a freak introduction from a dude with a tiger mask on his head roaring into the microphone for a solid minute. The set consisted of standard Of Montreal fare like “Oslo in the Summertime,” “An Eluardian Instance,” “Heimdalsgate Like a Promethian Curse” and “Satanic Panic in the Attic,” during which stagehands brought out a block of green screen that boasted a cornucopia of flowers on the stage projector behind him.

But the most surreal moment of the night came when Susan Sarandon (yes, that Susan Sarandon) came out from the wings during “St. Exquisite's Confessions” and ceremoniously bent a man dressed like a pig over her knee, indulging in a schoolteacher fantasy as she slapped him on the ass with a ruler and pushed up her glasses in frustration. Sarandon later came out during “A Sentence Of Sorts In Kongsvinger” and shot streamers from her hands into the crowd, flitting about the stage before Barnes stripped off his shirt and mounted a makeshift torture rack.

The only new song to get some burn during the show was “Teenage Unicorn Fisting,” while the group threw a cover into the set in the 11th hour as the show closer, bringing out Solange Knowles to duet on the classic Jackson 5 tune. A cover of the J5 was the least surprising concession of the evening – and that's saying something.