Rose Lamela's Northside w/ Ought, Common Holly, and More, 6/7 & 6/8/18

Ought at Market Hotel

Brooklyn Rookie

By Rose Lamela

My journey into Brooklyn only began a few months ago. I've been hearing about how "cool" Brooklyn is and how everyone who is "someone" has moved there. I have ignored all of the rhetoric for years and just settled for good ol' Jersey. I'm a total Jersey girl who likes to head into Manhattan when I'm in the right space.

I've been hitting random shows in parts of Brooklyn I couldn't even point to on a map. Thank the technology gods for Google Maps. I'm always lost, but I always can get a damn good parking spot.

When I found out I obtained a photo pass to the Northside Festival, I was a little nervous. I would have to wander the streets and find off color venues, but I knew I would get to hear some great music. I looked at the schedule and made my choices. Here we go Brooklyn.

I drove over the Williamsburg bridge on Thursday for the first time ever. I know. I'm a rookie to these streets. I parked the car and walked over to get what would be my first photo pass to a festival. I'm always nervous in until someone says, "You are on the list." When that comes to an end, I feel like I just won some kind of prize. I fear this feeling will die one day!!!

I headed over to the Market Hotel for my first night at Northside. I got right to the front and made sure I smiled a lot as I might be in everyone's way throughout the night. I then opened my ears to some bands I'd never even heard of before. The joys of being a photographer with a badge.

Elle Barbara's Black Space opened the show with their rhythmic sounds and soulful synthesized riffs. The crowd was very responsive, and it was hard to not want to tap your feet or dance along. After their set, Common Holly proceeded with their melodic tunes; and I was taking in the vocals of lead singer ​Brigitte Naggar. Men I Trust received a very welcoming cheer from the crowd. Even though lead singer Bernache apologized for her singing voice as she was fighting a cold, she sang flawlessly accompanied by her bandmates soothing instrumentations.

Elle Barbara's Black Space

Common Holly

Men I Trust

Ought was the one band I did know going in. My Spotify Weekly introduced me to them a few months ago, and they were the main reason for my venture to Market Hotel. I was, of course, not disappointed. I kept thinking to myself, as long as they play "Beautiful Blue Sky," which has been an integral part of my morning commute, I will be satisfied. They did, but everything before and after on their setlist was what I needed after a long work week.

Ought

My second day consisted of walking around Williamsburg (I think that is where I was) and hitting shows at Muchmore's, Wonders of Nature, and the Knitting Factory. From Gustaf to Peaer, I was showered with a variety of music from blues to nostalgic hints of grunge. Being able to be the girl with the camera occasionally doing my awkward headbang dance move was a dream come true. I hope I cross the Williamsburg bridge into a new world of music heaven next year. Thank you guys for being a part of my soundtrack.

Gustaf at Muchmore's

Blushed at Muchmore's

Tongues Unknown at Muchmore's

Peaer at Knitting Factory Brooklyn

Neck at Wonders of Nature

You can check out all of Rosi's pics from Northside and more over at Flickr.

Just Some New Stuff from Death Hags, Long Neck, and Ought

Ought at White Eagle Hall

Coming Around

I've been moving kind of slowly, sleepwalking almost, as January has progressed. Slowly but surely, though, I'm getting back into the swing of things. I've been exercising more and getting to bed nice and early when I have the chance. Tonight, I'm even going out to shoot my first show of 2018. Getting there.

Anyway.

After a day of kind of floating around, I decided to look through what's been coming in lately. Here are some things that looked really interesting.

DEATH HAGS, "Metal Teeth"

DEATH HAGS is the solo project of DTCV's Lola G. I caught a set from DTCV at SXSW last year and came away extremely impressed. When I saw this one come through, I had to check it out.

After touring the U.S. and Europe at the end of last year, DEATH HAGS released debut single "Metal Teeth" last week. Lola G says that the song "is about personal transformation and women reclaiming their freedom to be angry, strange, loud and dangerous." The song is dark, hypnotic post-punk; and it simmers with some of that anger.



Long Neck, "10,000 Year Old Woman"

Lily Mastrodimos, formerly of the topically-named Jawbreaker Reunion, has taken Long Neck from a solo effort to a full band for the project's upcoming LP, Will This Do?. Following the release of singles "Mine/Yours" and "Elizabeth," which showcased the new full-band set-up, Long Neck premiered acoustic track, "10,000 Year Old Woman" a few days ago.

"10,000 Year Old Woman" is a song about winter and waiting too long. It provides a showcase for Mastrodimos's beautiful voice and vivid songwriting. When Mastrodimos sings, "Let me walk home alone / Let me walk without you," I get this image of someone turning up their collar to the cold and heading into the darkness.

Will This Do? is out via Tiny Engines on January 26th. Long Neck plays Jersey City's Monty Hall on January 28th with Mikey Erg and Adult Mom.



Ought, "Disgraced in America"

I saw Ought open for Waxahatchee at the end of last year, and they blew me away. They just released the video for "Disgraced in America" off of their upcoming LP, Room Inside the World.

The Heather Rappard-directed, animated video is a sight to behold. It moves and changes along with the music and made me think, "Maybe this is what having synesthesia feels like."

As for the song, I listened and kept trying to put my finger on what band it was reminding me of. Then I realized it was reminding me of Ought. I mean, you can probably pick out some of the influences on this band; but they've put them all together into a sound that is distinctively their own.

Room Inside the World is due on February 16th from Merge.

One of Those Weekend Round Ups Featuring The Brixton Riot, Dentist, The RockNRoll HiFives, L.A. Witch, Honduras, Lyons, Pink Mexico, Waxahatchee, and Ought

Waxahatchee's Katie Crutchfield

Full Weekend

This past weekend will go down as one of the absolute best I've experienced show-wise in a long time. I got to spend lots of time hanging out with friends while seeing some great bands. I went and checked out New Jersey's newest concert venue. I took and edited a whole bunch of pictures, which is why I'm so late getting this recap posted today (well, that and the weird power brownout we had here for about 4 hours).

On Friday night, CoolDad Music sponsored the release show for The Brixton Riot's latest album, Close Counts at Asbury Park Yacht Club. We had our friends in Dentist and The RockNRoll HiFives on the bill, and all three bands delivered big time.

The confetti flew on Friday night.

The Brixton Riot

The RockNRoll HiFives kicked things off; and, even after a full day of work and school, their energy level was off the charts. The floor of APYC was a sea of confetti following their set. The Brixton Riot's Close Counts is song after song of expert power pop, and the band brought all of that great, tight songcraft to their set. Dentist shared some new material, and it sounds like some of their best so far. I'm really looking forward to hearing what they've been doing in the studio. Beyond just the music, though, the show felt like a real party; and it was fantastic to have CoolMom, the Dickmans, Mint 400, and all the bands there to celebrate.

Dentist

Saturday brought a show I'd been looking forward to for what felt like months. Little Dickman Records assembled a bill at The Saint that featured L.A. Witch, Honduras, Pink Mexico, and Lyons. Asbury turned out in force for the show, and the people who were there saw a good one. The sound at The Saint is top-notch, especially with Hinge at the board on Saturday nights. Pink Mexico took full advantage of it and shook all the dust from the ceiling during their set. Lyons played to an enthusiastic crowd of friends and brought out some new material of their own. Honduras are like some kind of psychedelic post-punk combo and BLEW. ME. AWAY. L.A. Witch closed things out in almost total darkness with reverb-heavy, psych rock vibes.

Pink Mexico

Lyons

Honduras

L.A. Witch

A quick stop over to Bond St. Bar to wish a happy birthday to Dentist's Emily Bornemann turned into a not-so-quick stop. It's okay, though, because we gained an hour; and I got home at a semi-reasonable time.

Come Sunday, I was pretty spent. Kind of a weird day in general with the whole reversion back to Eastern Standard Time thing. CoolFamily ate dinner at around 4:30 because we were going by the kitchen clock which nobody had bothered to adjust. That worked out because I had one more show to get to for the weekend, and it was all the way up in Jersey City. I'd be heading up to the brand new White Eagle Hall for Waxahatchee and Ought.

White Eagle Hall is a beautiful venue. Kind of a cross between something like Bowery Ballroom / Music Hall of Williamsburg and WARSAW. Lots of space. Good sound. Food. Access to the bars didn't seem too bad. It also had really nice stage lighting, which always makes me happy. Security were a little weird about wanting to maintain a "buffer zone" between the audience and the edge of the stage. Everybody was relatively laid back, though, so it wasn't really a problem. Looking forward to the next time I can make it up there.

I've been a fan of Katie Crutchfield's Waxahatchee project since its lo-fi, bedroom beginnings on American Weekend. The band has evolved quite a bit since then with the latest record, Out in the Storm, being the most polished and -- I think -- most consistent. I've seen Waxahatchee / Katie Crutchfield in various live incarnations over the years, but it's been a while. On Sunday, I saw a set honed by years of touring and performing. Crutchfield and her band have really taken things to another level performance-wise, and the set touched on most of Waxahatchee's back catalog as well as the new material. There were moments of all-out rock and moments when it was just Crutchfield, her amazing voice, and her guitar.

Katie and Allison Crutchfield

Katie's sister, Allison, is part of the Waxahatchee touring band playing keys and guitar. The pair's voices play off of each other beautifully.

Post-punk band Ought opened the evening and turned in a pretty amazing set of their own. It reminded me how much I liked 2014's More Than Any Other Day, and I spent most of today listening to that. The band have another LP coming out early next year, and people in the audience already seemed pretty familiar with single "These 3 Things."

Ought

So, what is that? Nine bands over three days? Kinda crazy I guess, but I've been happily reliving it all by going through the pictures today. You can check those out in the Flickr galleries or on the Facebook page. I thought briefly about making it four nights in a row by heading out again tonight, but I am totally exhausted. Live to fight another day, I guess.

The New Alternative Music Festival at Asbury Park's Convention Hall, Night 1, 9/16/16

Screaming Females headlined Night 1 of Don Giovanni Records' New Alternative Music Festival

Live and Commercial-Free

It was a huge undertaking: 3 days and 50-plus bands inside Asbury Park's cavernous Convention Hall without corporate sponsors and without utilizing the infrastructure provided by the major monopolistic players in the live music business like Ticketmaster. About a week before the New Alternative Music Festival started, there was evidence that maybe it was too much too soon. Don Giovanni Records announced the cancelation of Sunday, the festival's third day, lopping off all but one or two of the bands that were scheduled to play that day. They were left with a two-day festival featuring bands like Screaming Females, Downtown Boys, P.S. Eliot, Laura Stevenson, Girlpool, Sex Stains, Ought, and more. Plenty for those of us in attendance to gorge ourselves on and, looking back, more than I could even imagine handling.

The festival had been underway for about 3 hours by the time I arrived after fulfilling my school pickup and swim carpool duties. Ithaca, NY rapper, Sammus, was just setting up; and it was a great start to my weekend. She was able to turn the vast space into something intimate as she rapped about frustration and anger while mixing in exhortations to positivity and self-respect. Sammus ended her set on the floor without a mic, weaving around the audience, shaking hands and thanking almost everyone personally.

Sammus

The huge Convention Hall stage was divided in two with one band setting up stage right as another band played stage left and vice versa. It was like a whirlwind. We sidled from one side to the other as acts took the stage at a relentless clip. Following Sammus, we got The Max Levine Ensemble, California X, Nude Beach, Radiator Hospital, Tenement, P.S. Eliot, Ought, and Screaming Females.

Each of those sets had something great to offer. I've been a fan of California X, Nude Beach, and Radiator Hospital for a while now; and all three were major reasons why I looked forward to NAMF as soon as it was announced. Montreal's Ought came highly-recommended; and, after their set, I'm going spend some more time digging deeper into their music. The highlights of the evening for me, though, were the sets from Tenement, P.S. Eliot, and Screaming Females.

Nude Beach

Radiator Hospital's Sam Cook-Parrott

I've seen Wisconsin's Tenement a few times, always as a trio. They come out onstage and deliver songs at a relentless clip. No bullshit. Singer / guitarist, Amos Pitsch, channels all of the energy from the band and just blasts it out over the audience. For their performance on Friday, they'd expanded with the addition of keys and backup singers. They steamrolled us all and concluded with a noisy set finale that saw the backup singers pick up a violin and a sax to add to the din.

Tenement

Ought

Then, it was back across the floor for the reunited P.S. Eliot. Katie (Waxahatchee, Great Thunder) and Allison Crutchfield (Swearin', solo) have produced some of my favorite music since I started CoolDad Music. Don Giovanni just re-issued the back catalog of the sisters' early band, P.S. Eliot, and the audience were ready to get back into it. A guy standing next to me had flown in from Amarillo, TX for the set and lost it at the opening chords to almost every song.

P.S. Eliot

In all the times I'd seen Katie Crutchfield with Waxahatchee, solo or fronting a full band, I'd never seen her just rock out the way she did with P.S. Eliot. The whole band appeared to be having a blast.

At one point during the set, an altercation over dancing / bumping / personal space erupted between a man and woman in the front row. Katie Crutchfield stopped the band and told both to "chill out" as she was forced to play elementary school teacher and direct a few people to stand between the pair to keep them separated. It was a tiny bump in a fantastic set, and people screamed for more when it was done.

Screaming Females played to the largest crowd of the two days. Things were running a little bit ahead of schedule (surprisingly), and the band started about 15 minutes early. They blasted through a set that was heavy on selections from 2015's Rose Mountain.

Something happens to singer / guitarist Marissa Paternoster when she puts on that black dress and starts to play. The music runs through her and she goes to another place. You can see it flick off when she speaks to the crowd while tuning her guitar, and it flicks back on again as soon as the next song starts. King Mike (bass) and Jarrett D (drums) are right there with her; and the whole band came together on some extended jams, facing each other and kind of reveling in the noise they were making. As the set went on, I could see sound people and techs standing in the wings or massing on the stairs just to catch a glimpse of what was going on onstage.

Screaming Females

When the set was done and Paternoster had thrown her guitar to the floor, several people up front chanted for more; but the band was done. The switch had flicked off again; and Paternoster was calmly shaking hands, introducing herself, and thanking fans for their compliments.

I was bleary-eyed and kind of in a bit of pain feet and leg-wise. Time to go grab a Korean burrito, head home, and re-energize for the next day.

I'll have a recap of Day 2 with some overall thoughts on the festival a little later. I'm still working my way through pictures, but I'll have shots from both days up in the Flickr galleries when I'm all done.