In yesterday's Northside Festival preview, I focused on bands playing the festival with whom I had some level of familiarity. Today, I'm going to try and list some of the bands that for, one reason or another, I feel like I should make an effort to check out and get to know better.
I still have no idea if I'm going to be able to see everything I want to, or if I'll just eventually get too exhausted. But right now, energy and hopes are high.
Again, kind of alphabetically...
Alvvays
Toronto's Alvvays (love the Google-optimized band names) are playing Brooklyn Bowl with Eleanor Friedberger on Sunday night. I remember really liking their "Adult Diversion" single when it came out at the end of last year -- sunny, jangly, California-sounding pop. Even if I can't make their set, their presence at the festival has reminded me to take a longer look at them.
Ava Luna
Ava Luna released an album earlier this year called Electric Ballroom. I remember hearing a track and thinking that it had kind of that off-kilter R&B vibe of someone like Dirty Projectors. They play the Western Vinyl Showcase on Friday at Union Pool with...
Grooms
Our friend Stephen Stec from Paper Streets has been talking up Grooms to me for a while. They will be joining Cymbals Eat Guitars at Asbury Lanes, with Stephen's band, in August. This could be my chance to study up before then.
Butter The Children
What I've heard so far -- shoegazy riffs, post-punk pop -- sounds like my thing. They're playing the Thursday night Deli Magazine Showcase at Silent Barn with Big Ups, so that could be an early festival stop for me.
Creepoid
Philly's Creepoid played that free Converse Dinosaur Jr. show with Screaming Females that "sold out" within seconds. I heard that one of the members took a pretty serious spill while stage diving. Hopefully everyone's OK. They're playing the Exploding In Sound Showcase with Baked, Ovlov, and more on Sunday at Baby's All Right.
Hey Anna
I missed the Brooklyn / New Jersey quintet when Jeff Raspe brought them to Langosta for his Thursday night Locals Live series back in April. What I've heard so far is poppy and infectious. They play at a day show for Deli Magazine at Silent Barn on Sunday.
Operators
Wolf Parade. Handsome Furs. Divine Fits. Dan Boeckner has a track-record of doing stuff that I love; and his secretive new project, Operators (w/ Divine Fits' / New Bomb Turks' drummer Sam Brown), is playing the BrooklynVegan show on Friday at Baby's All Right.
Pharmakon
Dissonant, aggressive, and noisy, Margaret Chardiet's Pharmakon sounds pretty far outside my usual pop-based preferences; but something there interests me. Pharmakon play two shows on Saturday: A late Sacred Bones Records showcase at Baby's All Right that follows an earlier Pitchfork show at St. Vitus that also includes Sacred Bones labelmate...
Marissa Nadler
The Boston singer / songwriter released July earlier this year, and I just haven't managed to get to it.
The Blind Shake
Amy over at Little Dickman Records can't say enough about this band. That leads me to believe they are more than worth the effort it would take to check them out. They play with Thee Oh Sees at McCarren Park on Saturday afternoon.
Tweens
Garage-y, girl group-y pop is what I've heard -- and liked -- so far. They play with guitar goddess Marnie Stern at Rough Trade NYC on Friday night.
Again. No way I'm seeing all of this. Maybe not even a fraction. But if you're going to the festival, then maybe this will help you decide what to do. Even if I miss most of the acts on both of these lists, I know whose music I'll be listening to over the coming months and which bands I'll be keeping an eye out for or trying to convince to come visit us down here on the Shore.
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