Monday, February 28th kicked off the Bushmills Since Way Back music series at the Hotel Chantelle in the Lower East Side of New York. The evening was curated by Theophilus London, a Brooklyn rapper, songwriter, and producer, and Michael Williams, the founder of men’s style blog A Continuous Lean.
Other participants of the series include Chromeo, Fool’s Gold and DFA Records. The idea is intended to gather creative forces that have known each other “since way back,” and put together some kick ass parties with music. These are always fun events, the last one I attended was the previous summer when Neon Indian played Governor’s Island in the New York harbor.
The Hotel Chantelle is a new hot spot in New York, with a non-descript door and three floors of music. Most of the festivities took place in the lower level (SGT’s) where DJs Va$htie, Adam Pavao, and Nick Catchdubs of Fool’s Gold (A-Trak’s label) played into the early morning.
It was Theophilus’ birthday and at midnight, the crowd sang happy birthday and watched as he blew out the candles on a tray of cupcakes adorned with little Bushmills logos. Theophilus didn’t perform, but he grabbed the mic at times and added some rhymes to the music. If you haven’t checked out Theophilus London, he was one of my favorite acts during CMJ this past October, and you can read the review with photos from the epic Green Label Sound party. His new EP Lovers Holiday is out now and he is set to release his debut album later this year.
