PLAYLIST: New York Noise
see me, age nineteen, with some dumb haircut from 1960, moving to New York City
New York Noise was a television show that aired on the other Bloomberg Television, NYCTV. It was also incredibly important to me! Watch this promo and you may notice a familiar face:
NYCTV was established by two of Michael Bloomberg’s mayoral aides in 2003 to serve as a replacement for the city’s television channel, which mainly consisted of city council meetings and the like. The new channel would produce slick new shows highlighting the best the city had to offer, basically like if you turned Time Out New York into a television station. There was even a show called Talk Stoop with Cat Greenleaf, which inspired my Comedy Central web series, Autumn With Dracula.
Obviously, one of New York’s greatest exports is its music. The station would occasionally broadcast Central Park Summerstage concerts and stuff like that. They also had an incredible show called The Bridge, where Video Music Box host Ralph McDaniels basically taught the history of hip-hop in the city, which I fully credit to my appreciation of old school. They’d explain the history of beefs like EPMD and Roxanne Shante, and show off cool archival footage of young Biggie, while showing classic clips pop-up video style.
But another show on NYCTV highlighted the cutting edge of indie music. New York Noise was created by then-college student Shirley Braha, also known as the mom of insta-famous rescue shih tzu Marnie the Dog. Despite only being a lowly intern, Shirley had credibility, having created her own indiepop record label in high school.
She was tapped to create a music video show highlighting New York music at one of it’s cultural peaks, featuring big indie acts, underground bands, and New York legends like ESG, Sonic Youth, Klaus Nomi and more. Thurston Moore hosted regular segments, so did senior citizens, children, professional whistlers and psychics. You can see the episode guide here but there were fun ones like:
Tea time with Tommy Ramone
Bishop Allen & Andrew Bujalski host a rooftop barbecue
Aziz Ansari & Rob Huebel portray Pitchfork Media
Devlin & Darko of Spank Rock at the Big Apple Circus
Antique Rockshow at the WFMU Record Fair
Vampire Weekend’s tour of Morningside Heights
Apartment tours with Chairlift & Les Savy Fav
Au Revoir Simone hosts the New York Noise VJ Search
Here are Shirley’s picks from a Gothamist interview:
Do you have a favorite segment? And episode? Right now I feel like one of those people who call every movie their "favorite movie." There are 77 episodes of New York Noise so far, so it's hard to pick favorites. I like some of the weirder stuff.... Adam Green Variety Hour; Blind Date with Nicole Atkins & J from The Cloud Room; Eugene Mirman giving out fried fish; Fischerspooner fighting with each other; Beirut 'Making the Video' parody; My Super Sweet Bar-mitzvah; Siren Fest 06 hosted by a pageant winner; Antiques Rockshow; Battles in Band Therapy; anything with MC Steinberg. I archived some of that old stuff on YouTube.
Who was MC Steinberg?
To put this in context for me, I was the most bored teenager in the world in 2003. I had no money, no internet, no cable television, and I was culture-starved.
I’d read the paper edition(!) of the AV Club, which had local listings, but so much was just out of reach. I didn’t have money to buy records, but I’d read the reviews and concert listings and dream of all the shows I’d go to when I finally move out. I lived in suburban New Jersey—close enough to visit the city but far enough that it was logistically difficult. I had a few adults in my life who could take me to comedy shows at UCB, and the occasional Irving Plaza-type show.
One day I was flipping channels—all I had were the networks: 2, 4, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13 and Univision (I watched a lot of, um, Rebelde). But suddenly 25 was a brand new channel and was broadcasting an interview with Le Tigre! I was cool enough to know who they were but everything else on that show was a huge discovery. Future episodes had musicians, comedians and regular people doing fun fuckaround segments around the city, along with great music videos ranging from popular indie acts to local bands who sent in their videos.
I got so into the show I made a MySpace fan page for it and for years I’d tape episodes and make little video mixtapes with my favorite segments! When Shirley saw that the little teenage dork who loved the show was also trying his hand at comedy via The Best Show on WFMU and Jake Fogelnest’s KRock show, the novelty of having this kid host the show became reality.
In character as MC Steinberg, was tapped to host an episode of the show in 2006! This was THRILLING. This was Win A Date With Tad Hamilton shit.
I covered the 2006 CMJ Music Marathon and interviewed The Shins, Hot Chip, Girl Talk and The Rapture. I got to return to the show a few times and returning to these clips fills me with nostalgia and humiliation. I even had the very first U.S. interview with The Knife and they HATED ME and—oh no oh my god this video has 44 THOUSAND VIEWS:
You can also see how far I was able to make it into this two-minute video before I wanted to vomit. Look, was it my best work? Absolutely not. But I was a child. Still, combined with these other things I had wormed my way into, this was a thrilling time.
But my taste in music was fully shaped by Shirley’s efforts with this show, and there are a few I’d like to highlight. But many of these songs played on the show are collected here:
My Favorite “Burning Hearts”
I think this might have been on the first episode. This song conjures up so many feelings for me. It sounded completely new and mysterious, with lyrics about “saying goodbye in Hiroshima,” which I still don’t understand actually. A beautiful girl was playing a melodica, which I didn’t know was even an instrument. It still gets stuck in my head all the time!
Enon “Daughter in the House of Fools”
Toko Yasuda has such an incredible voice. This song is so great, still sounds fresh many years later. The video, however, is THE MOST 2003 THING EVER MADE.
Bloc Party “Banquet”
Easily my favorite song in high school. Cannot stop myself from obnoxiously air drumming to this. The album came out two years after I saw this on New York Noise and I felt very cool for already knowing about it when the other kids were just learning about it.
Out Hud “It’s For You”
Whenever I make a party playlist, I always add a little Out Hud to it. Usually this song—it’s great!
The Natural History “Watch This House”
This song and video still hold up big time for me.
The Walkmen “We’ve Been Had”
Something about the line, “see me age nineteen, with some dumb haircut from 1960, moving to New York City” was fucking ASPIRATIONAL back then.
Chad VanGaalen “Clinically Dead”
This video was animated by Chad and it’s so hypnotic. Definitely wrote in that title font in my agenda constantly.
The Peachwaves “Too Much Shit”
I was The Peachwaves biggest fan! Like, literally #1 on the MySpace top 8. I loved that DIY music videos from local, independent bands got to share the stage with bigger acts.
The Rapture “House of Jealous Lovers”
This song doesn’t get enough credit in getting indie kids to dance. They even wrote another song about that a few years later and had to talk to teenage me about it.
LCD Soundsystem “Movement”
Imagine you’ve never heard of LCD Soundsystem, and you’ve never heard The Fall, and you hear this for the first time. Mind-blowing. I was a huge fan, but it always bummed me out a little that LCD went more in the dance-pop direction instead of making more no wave electropunk. I went on to play James Murphy on my public access show a few times after…
Jennifer Gentle “I Do Dream You”
This is where I got the name “John Gentle” from years later. I love that the song has a balloon solo!
TV on the Radio “Staring at the Sun”
I remember my first visit to Williamsburg to see some show at Northsix or something, and I was shocked to see like five bands I liked all hanging out on Bedford Ave. Like it was less realistic than I had imagined. I was particularly stoked to see TVOTR, and then I’d proceed to see at least one member of the band at every show or bar I’d go to for like, the next ten years.
The Fiery Furnaces “Tropical Iceland”
Them too!
M.I.A. “Galang”
The hottest any girl has ever been ever. I saw her live two years ago and she still makes me go [love eyes emoji]
Jens Lekman “You Are The Light”
Still have never heard another song quite like this one (but Belle & Sebastian probably have a few I’m not terribly familiar).
Klaus Nomi “Simple Man”
I loved that the show played older clips like this one, too.
The Unicorns “Jellybones”
One of them is a pal now!
The Real Tuesday Weld “Bathtime in Clerkenwell”
The show wasn’t just limited to the “cool” stuff, they also highlighted, to quote Garth Brooks in a dark hotel room, “neat stuff…”
33hz “Hot Flashes”
“slick stuff…”
Jeffrey Lewis “Don’t Let The Record Label Take You Out To Lunch”
“and raw stuff, like this…I like that. :)”
The Bravery “An Honest Mistake”
This song is great! Guilty pleasure? This band weirdly got a lot of shit in a way that, today, would either be exacerbated by social media, or completely non-existent. But it was admittedly funny:
“Even by New York back-biting, playa-hating standards, this is on another level,” says Rolling Stone contributing editor Rob Sheffield.
When the Williamsburg-based band played a sold-out show at neighborhood venue Northsix, wheatpasted flyers went up, comparing the Bravery to bland, prepackaged cartons of milk.
Bloggers dug into the band’s lineage, posting pictures of a then-bleached-blond, dreadlocked Sam Endicott – the Bravery’s lead singer, now of pale skin, black eyeliner, and a carefully-coiffed jet-black mohawk – from his days in a ska band called Skabba the Hut, back, of course, when ska was the prevailing “next big thing.”
“Skabba the Hut remains the most disturbing thing about them,” says MTV News correspondent Gideon Yago.
“But there’s a reason to hate them, and it’s because they are a parody of what the New York rock scene was. It’s now become a fashion endeavor for white kids.”
“It’d be simpler if they were just plain bad,” says Rolling Stone’s Sheffield. “The fact that this record is good is a big disappointment to some people. You’ll hear people say, ‘Officially, I don’t like them, but I kinda like that record.'”
I ate pizza next to Sam Endicott once in Penn Station.
Au Revoir Simone “Fallen Snow”
I interviewed Annie from Au Revoir Simone in a trash can and later she waved at me and my girlfriend from the stage and honestly it was one of the coolest things that had happened to either of us.
The Stills “Lola Stars & Stripes”
I kinda thought this was lame when I first saw it but then the explosions started and I was like “ok, this is kinda cool” and then the song got stuck in my head for the rest of my life.
Adam Green “Jessica”
This show introduced me to The Moldy Peaches who were personally responsible for my shy little ass getting my first girlfriend. But that’s a story for another day.
Le Tigre “Get Off The Internet”
(aka the New York Noise theme song!)
Somehow I had the magic touch of getting deeply involved in things I was passionate about even though the whole “New Jersey” thing had huge limitations. I returned to the show and did more interviews with the likes of King Khan and Woods, while also recording interviews on my own for YouTube with the likes of Ted Leo and Au Revoir Simone. And I got to do some stuff later on, on Shirley’s 2010’s MTV show, Weird Vibes, and we remain good friends!
Here’s a recent podcast where she talks about being a “Syrian-American Anti-Zionist Jewish Lesbian” and advocating for independent artists, overlooked shelter pets, and Palestinian liberation, with some music picks as well in this playlist.
I will always be deeply grateful that I was able to be a part of my favorite TV show, and no matter what cool shit I get to do in my life, this will always be up there.
Three cheers for New York Noise! Hip hip—