NYC Karaoke review

I am my no means an NYC expert, but if there is one area in which I am qualified to give advice, its Karaoke. I love it and I do it often. So... here are the pros and cons of some places I frequent, and one I just checked out last night. All of them are private room places, because thats just how I roll. As far as pricing goes, I have tried to summarize, but please check out the websites or ask by phone when you book to make sure.

Sing Sing
Location/contact: 9 St. Marks Place, Between 2nd and 3rd avenue. 212.387.7800
81 Avenue A Between 5th and 6th street. 212.674.0700
Price: Mon-Thur $7 per person/per hour (pp/ph). Fri-Sun $8 pp/ph
Pros: Best song selection in the city. Need I say more? There is also an open Karaoke bar in the front in case you like performing in front of strangers or don't want to splurge for a room.
Cons: Expensive. Drinks are expensive too. You even have to pay for the songs in the open Karaoke bar. Also, rooms can feel a little cramped.
When to go: When your main objective is for everyone to see how great you are.

BINY
Location/contact: 8 Thomson st, Between Canal/6th ave and Grand. (212)334-5490
Price: Instead of paying per person/per hour, there is just a minimum that you have to spend on food and drinks for the room. Our room held 10 people and was $75 an hour.
Pros: Its a really great deal if you are planning to eat or drink anyways, because then basically the karaoke is free. Also, there is a proper restaurant with good food and an open karaoke bar with free songs.
Cons: Instead of books, all of the songs are on a computer so that only one person can be looking through the selection at a time. Plus, the song selection was a little weak.
When to go: When you are looking to eat and drink and wouldn't mind doing some singing too.
Karaoke Duet
Location/contact: 53 W 35th St, Between 5th and 6th ave. (646)473-0826
304 E 48th St. Between 1st and 2nd ave. (212)753-0030
Price: Weekday: before 8pm $4 pp/ph after 8pm $6 pp/ph. Weekends: before 8pm $5 pp/ph after 8pm $8 pp/ph. Karaoke marathon!!! flat rate of $12 from opening until 8pm!!!
Pros: Great afternoon rates, even on weekends (I recommend the marathon for advanced karaoke-ers only). Nice new clean rooms. Its pretty easy to book rooms last minutes, especially at the 48th st location.
Cons: None really, but you can rack up quite a bill.
When to go: When you need hours of afternoon karaoke fun, for cheap!

iBop (personal favorite)
Location/contact: 25 W 35th st, Between 5th and 6th ave. (646)752-4895
Price: Tues and Wed $6 pp/ph, Thurs-Sat $7 pp/ph
Pros: Cheapest weekend night prices. BYOB. This can really save you alot of money. Plus its a really fun atmosphere including lighting, cool painted rooms, and lots of space for dancing.
Cons: This place is basically staffed by one couple, so they are closed two days a week and it can be hard to get a hold of them to book a room.
When to go: When you are looking to throw a rowdy karaoke party.

Rain rain go away

I had been planning for quite a while to go to the East Village Radio Music Festival at the South Street Seaport on Saturday. But it hurricaned. (They ended up having it Sunday instead).

So, what did I do instead? I stayed inside and listened to alot of Radiohead. Duh. I can't wait to get some decent speakers.

Awesome cover, in case you haven't seen it.

I am not sure how I managed to miss this for months.

I bought 4 CDs

Here is what I jotted down during my first listen while I was at work. This is the order I listened to the CDs, all in a row. Thats important to know.
Loved it from the first track. Very pleasant to the ears. Melodic. They are really singing. Upbeat. Happy. Maybe not so versatile.
Emotional album. If you are craving a little more wailing. Each song consistently good. Felt the urge to immediately listen to it again.
First song great. Rest, eh. Upbeat. Kind of folky. Not my favorite… I have always preferred the bright eyes that breaks your heart.
Super fun. Retro. It makes me want to get up and dance. Unique sound. A lot of diversity within the record.

Overall, I am pretty pleased with my purchases.