Sessions at Santa's

                New York Press credits Santos Party House as being the site where a party “resurrected Old New York.” This was a significant victory given the city’s nostalgia for that period of heightened eccentricity. Programming at Santos has a reputation for just that; creating a space where celebration is not restricted to the posh or creatively stunted. The club’s new Tuesday night weekly, Sessions at Santa’s,  takes this concept a step further by deliberately foraying into the unusual. Sure, it’s avant-garde, but it’s also soul, reggae, new wave, punk, disco and afro-beat as well.   It’s not Old New York, it’s outer space.   Old outer space.

                The visionaries behind the night are Stereogum.com and Spencer Sweeney, known for various adventures in sight and sound, including his sculpture Turning A Police Car Back into a Cab into a Disco, multiple paintings and drawings including 2005’s Fun, and his musical production under the nom de plume Housing Projects. With the goal of transforming the club into an installation that features cutting-edge live music   and prime cut spins, he has assembled a roster of curators, each known for making sizeable dents in the creative architecture of New York. This role has been inhabited by Lizzy Bougatsos (Gang Gang Dance), Sadie Laskie (Growing), and Kai Althoff ( Dear Painter). Coming up is Thurston Moore, Don Flemming, Bob Nickas, and Nicolas Vernhes among others. These collaborators oversee the building of experimental decoration schemes that shatter the concept of the traditional “dance floor.” The party features projection artist Alex Bag, who splashes the venue’s walls with stirring and provocative images. The party’s live music roster matches the eclecticism of its curators. IUD and Guest Species in The Conference House have performed. Daniel Higgs and Nathan Bell (Lungfish) are doing a live set, as are Child Abuse, and ¡Apeshit!.   Bjorn Copeland and Matt “Manderson” Anderson hit the one’s and two’s hooked up to Santos’ million-dollar sound system. The buzz phrase is “experimental dance party.” The result is surreal, even for Santos.

                London's art mavens mingle with skateboard virtuosoes, kneeling down on a floor covered in white sheet adorned with reflective designs as she watches MRLL perform a drag set. Packs of clubbers wander through a labyrinth of black nylon while video of frogs eating mole fetuses plays, and a Tanto Metro & Devonte track transitions into a IUD’s live set. This has actually taken place in the span of two weeks. This is not a party for the faint of heart, the faint of mind or the faint of awesome. Sessions at Santa’s is for those who want to be pro-active in shattering their own comfort zones and joining a movement to make the nights longer and weirder.

6/9 THE PSYCHICH PARAMOUNT, ELECTROPUTAS, NECKING, DJ Sir-Franks-A-Lot; Curated by Billy Jones

6/16 DEVIN FLYNN & GARY PANTER, DJ's
Dave & Josh (Animal Collective), Taka Imamura; curated by Sadie Laska

6/23 BIRDS OF AVALON, DJ Ted Leo