Northside Festival Preview: June 11th & June 12th

Thursday / Friday

I'll be covering Brooklyn's Northside Festival as press again this year. The music portion of the festival goes Thursday through Sunday, June 11-14.

It's exciting because I saw a lot of really good bands and met some really cool people last year. It's a little scary because humping it back and forth to Brooklyn on a late spring weekend isn't the easiest thing in the world logistically when you're a suburban husband and father of two. We've got guitar lessons, bat mitzvah tutoring, birthday parties, and softball practice. And that's just Thursday and Friday nights. Saturday involves softball games, post-game ice cream, and a swim meet. On Sunday CoolMom leaves for a business trip. I'll make it all (well, some of it anyway) work somehow.

Anyway, today I present the first of probably two previews with what I hope to see on Thursday and Friday evenings, June 11th and 12th. Like last year, I'll probably generally shy away from the big headliners in order to focus on some of the smaller bands playing. There are some headliners I won't be able to bring myself to miss, though.

Thursday, June 11th

Luna at McCarren Park

Here's one headliner I probably won't be able to miss. 1990s dream pop band Luna have reunited for a few dates, and one of them is the Thursday night free show in McCarren Park. Dean Wareham's guitar and vocals will be a beautiful way to ease myself into the craziness to follow.



Expert Alterations / Beverly at Alphaville

The first thing I saw at last year's festival was the Kanine Records showcase at Cameo Gallery. This year, the Brooklyn dream pop / pop label will host their showcase, along with Culture Collide and Terrorbird, at Alphaville. I'm not sure when I'll be able to make it over there, but I hope to get there in time to catch the late sets from Expert Alterations and Beverly.

I just received my Expert Alterations 12-inch EP, and I've been loving their REM / Feelies-inspired jangle pop. I wasn't able to head up to Brooklyn for NYC Pop Fest a couple of weeks ago, so I'm happy to get another chance to catch this Baltimore trio.

Beverly, the project started by Drew Citron and Frankie Rose (since departed), was the secret headliner at last year's Kanine Records showcase. By the time I figured that out, I'd already made my way across the borough and missed them. In keeping with the overall Kanine aesthetic, Beverly are another group that trade in the sounds of dreamy garage pop.



The Muscadettes at Living Room

Another band that do the reverb-heavy, female-fronted, dreamy garage thing are Montreal's Muscadettes. Fronted by twin sisters Chantal and Kathleen Ambridge, The Muscadettes are a band that I stumbled on when they showed up as a last-minute opener for Dead Heavens at Wonder Bar.

They put out the 6-song Side A back in April, and I've listened to it pretty regularly since picking it up with the last few bucks I had on me at that Asbury Show.



Fort Lean at Echo

Fort Lean, who have made a couple of trips to Asbury Park, look poised to blow up at any second. Their debut LP, Quiet Day, just came out on June 2nd. On the singles I've heard so far, it sounds like the band have added a bit more of an electronic / synth-y sound to their jangly guitar pop. "Cut to the Chase" has worked especially well for me. I'll be interested to see how the band have evolved since I last saw them a little more than a year ago at APYC.



Ringo Deathstarr at Grand Victory

I haven't decided if this band have the worst or the best name in the world. It doesn't matter, though, because their combination of influences -- from My Bloody Valentine to Dinosaur Jr. -- make theirs a sound that I can't get out of my head.

They're kind of playing at prime time on Thursday, scheduled for 10:15; so I'll have to sacrifice something to check them out. It is their only scheduled show of the festival as far as I can tell, though.



Sharkmuffin at The Gutter

Sharkmuffin were one of the revelations for me at last year's Northside Festival. Their sound drenches short, catchy pop songs in a swirl of grungy, surfy dirt making the ferocious sweetness of their name wholly appropriate.

They've also just announced that they'll be working with our friends at Little Dickman Records for the release of their debut LP, Chartreuse. I've gotta make to one of their sets to say hi and congrats. Like Ringo Deathstarr, they've got a prime time slot on Thursday; but I believe I've got multiple chances.



Friday, June 12th

Neko Case, Rhye, Magical Clouds at 50 Kent

I'd say Neko Case has a beautiful voice -- and she does. But I feel like that doesn't fully capture the way she puts it to use. It's almost like a weapon, like a superhero's special power. She plants her feet firmly on the stage and -- when she's not playing guitar -- tenses her arms at her sides and just unleashes it on you. All you can do is stand there with your mouth open as it washes over you and maybe even musses your hair a little bit.



Dentist, Vomitface, The Planes at Pet Rescue

Our friends over at Hearts Bleed Radio are holding their 2015 showcase at Pet Rescue on Friday. That show was the source of a lot of fun and new friendships for me last year, so I don't want to miss this one.

Stephen Perry's The Planes, whose single "Evacuation Route" we premiered here a while back, and Jersey City's Vomitface were both standouts for me at last year's festival. And Dentist make their way to Brooklyn for this one. I can't miss Dentist. I love them way too much.



Dead Stars, Slonk Donkerson at The Gutter

Will it finally happen? Will the stars finally align so that I can see noisy / fuzzy / Dino poppers Dead Stars? We'll see. If I miss out -- again -- I think I've got another chance on Sunday, but Sunday's iffy with the CoolMom trip and all. Ugh.

If I do make it to this one, I'm excited to catch Slonk Donkerson as well. Like Ringo Deathstarr, their so bad it's good name is just part of the appeal for me. Their loud, sludgy, guitar-based pop is the real draw.



The Meaning Of Life at Bar Matchless

Matchless. The Meaning Of Life. I could relive one of my favorite moments from last year's festival, Marta DeLeon's smoky vocals filling up the little cave of a performance space in the back of the bar. We'll have to see how geography, logistics, and set times play out for this one.



Mitski at St. Vitus

Unbelievably, I missed Mitski both times she came to Asbury Lanes this year. I've gotten reports from friends that the Don Giovanni artist's sets have been amazing and transformative. This is one I'd really like to make work.



Spider Bags, Ex Hex at MHOW

Spider Bags are heading out on tour with Titus Andronicus. They're also playing at Saturday's Asbury Park Night Bazaar at The Anchor's Bend. I saw them at The Saint last year; and their all-out, southern tinged garage punk blew me away.

I've been kicking myself for the last couple of months for missing Mary Timony's power trio, Ex Hex, when they played WFMU's Monty Hall. I'd love to see them, but it would mean giving up on a few sets I already listed. Decisions.



SLEEPiES at Aviv

SLEEPiES' Weird Wild World is pretty much a masterpiece of intelligent, quirky punk rock. They were one of the first bands to reach out to me in the early days of CoolDad Music, and I've never been able to catch one of their sets. This is a late one, so the only thing that could stand in my way this time is whether I can still stand. I'll make it.



OK. So this list is beyond aspirational. I'm sure that it's physically impossible to do all of this, but in an ideal world... Well, in an ideal world, there's even more stuff I'd like to see. There will be those surprises that happen too, bands I happen upon by accident that could end up as highlights of the weekend.

Back tomorrow with a list of stuff I'd like to see on Saturday and Sunday.

Even More Stuff I Missed from Cicada Radio, Life Eaters, Vomitface

Jared Micah of Vomitface at Silent Barn last June

Roundup 3: Jersey City

In my last roundup this week, I want to mention a few releases from our friends in Jersey City. It's really easy for me to get to shows in the Asbury Park area, and even New Brunswick is only about a 40 minute drive. I tend to focus here, therefore, on the bands I see regularly and get to know.

Sure. Every once in a while a band like Jersey City's Overlake or Bordentown's Roy Orbitron make it onto my radar; but I'm just as guilty of parochialism as the next guy. With that in mind, I wanted to close out this week by taking a look at some releases that have been in my CD pile and in my iTunes library from bands in and around Jersey City.

Cicada Radio, Crime Waves

I first saw Cicada Radio as part of the Tiny Giant Artist Collective Summer Bummer at Asbury Lanes a few years ago. What I've always remembered about them was the intensity they brought to a performance that I believe took place at about 2 or 3 o'clock in the afternoon on a sunny beach day in a dark bowling alley several blocks off the beach. To say that the house wasn't packed at that point would be an understatement, but Cicada Radio brought it as if they were playing to wall to wall sweaty bodies of crowd surfers.

In somewhat of a surprise at the end of last year, the band released the 6-song Crimewaves. I heard "Funeral" on Al Crisafulli's Signal2Noise NJ radio show and decided to check out more. The song is fast-paced and surfy, the vocals coming at you as if from a room on the other side of the house. On the record, "The Patriot" precedes "Funeral" and also comes down on the more indie rock with a hint of surf side of things.

Opener "Carcosa" hews a little more closely to the band's self-professed post-hardcore sound with its orchestral, wall-of-sound guitars and shouted vocals. The title track also swirls around with that same overall feel. The set closes with "Mercenaries" that revels in a lot of Cicada Radio's 90s influences.

Crimewaves is out now on Jersey City's Killing Horse Records. You can stream it over at Cicada Radio's Bandcamp page.



Life Eaters, Life Eaters

Another Jersey City / Killing Horse band that put on a pretty crazy live show are Life Eaters. Featuring former members of Rye Coalition, The Black Hollies, ¡No Pasarán!, and Killing Horse label honcho Mike Sylvia, Life Eaters go all out in their live sets. The first time I saw them, as part of The Everymen's farewell to Maxwell's show, frontman Sylvia came out in a Rip Curl wetsuit in preparation for all the beer that would rain on him from the crowd. He was wise to be so prepared.

The band's self-titled full-length is straightforward hard rock with a heavy blues influence on several of the songs. "I'm The One You Wanted" is a fast-paced opener that features the intertwining, harmonizing guitars of Romel Espinel and John Gonelli. The pace slows down, but things don't get any less heavy on the bluesy, six-and-a-half minute "Man Pain." "Look Out" and "Lock It In" are a pair of punk-influenced jolts that give way to garage rocker "Atom Bomb." "Animal" features more of those dueling guitars. "Lie to Me" starts off with a call-and-response pair of guitar riffs and barrels along like a train before reaching a psychedelic break about halfway through.

There are doses of punk, garage rock, and metal (of the Black Sabbath variety) here. They all add up to a collection of unadulterated hard rock delivered by several veterans of the North Jersey scene.

Life Eaters is another 2014 release from Killing Horse, and you can stream "I'm the One You Wanted" over at Life Eaters' Bandcamp page.



Vomitface, Another Bad Year

We're coming up on Northside Festival again. Last year, I headed over to Silent Barn to catch Big Ups and lost boy ? and ended up being really pleasantly surprised by Jersey City's Vomitface. I remember it being super hot inside Silent Barn. The crowd was a little lethargic, but the loud-quiet-loud noise pop of Vomitface should've had them moving.

Last month, the band released a five-song EP called Another Bad Year. Things start of with "Never Make It." Heavy chords, throbbing rhythms, some discordant guitar noodling; but Jared Micah's vocals come through clearly. He kind of accepts his lot of being a loser, so why try? You know?

"Bruise" combines quirky Pixies almost surf pop with interludes of Nirvana-esque rage. The Pixies / Nirvana influence is evident again on "Did She Come Alone?" The guitar noise and the relentless rhythm section of Peetma Singh and Sam Palumbo give the track kind of a stalker-y feel as Micah sings, "Did she did she come alone or did she have someone? I could I could take her home. I could be her number 1."

Vomitface describe their sound as "black surf," and I can see that. If you dig past the distortion, there are definite hints of surf and pop in these songs.

Another Bad Year is out now on Boxing Clever Records and you can stream it at the Vomitface Bandcamp page.

Northside Festival 2014, Night 1: Piers, Dog Bite, Chandos, Herzog, lost boy ?, Vomitface, Big Ups

Big Ups at Silent Barn

Cameo Gallery / Silent Barn

After several days of unsolicited advice from my Brooklyn born and raised father about how to avoid death and dismemberment in the wilds of Williamsburg, Greenpoint, and Bushwick, I got in the minivan and headed up to Brooklyn for Night 1 of this year's Northside Festival. Getting in from Jersey and finding street parking was uneventful. I went and grabbed my badge and then headed over to Cameo Gallery on 6th Street for the early Terrorbird Media / Carpark Records / Kanine Records Showcase. My plan was to park myself at Cameo Gallery until after Herzog's set and then head over to the Deli Magazine show at Silent Barn for Big Ups and whatever other bands I could catch there. I didn't want to get too ambitious on the first night.

I like what Kanine are doing as a label. Eternal Summers, Bleeding Rainbow, Fear of Men, Beach Day. There's lots of reverb and lots of post-punk sounding pop. In between the early sets last night, Kanine's label head was spinning tunes from the likes of The Smiths and The Jesus and Mary Chain. I knew we were on a similar wavelength.

The front of Cameo Gallery is a nice little bar. The performance space is in the back, down a narrow hallway and through a door. It has a little bit of an extra-legal feel to it (Though, it is without a doubt totally on the up and up.), but it's open with a tall stage. It's dark, though, except for some sea anemone-looking fiber optic lights that hang from the ceiling.

Brooklyn's Piers started things off and played just the kind of pop you'd expect at the Kanine show. They were a little more rocking than they sound on the 7" they recorded under another name, but that could be because they were down a keyboard player and playing as a power trio.

Carpark Records -- home to bands like Speedy Ortiz and Cloud Nothings -- also had a hand in curating the show. One of the bands on their roster, Atlanta's Dog Bite, were next. I enjoyed their set as well. Somewhat more downbeat than Piers, but still plenty of reverb. A Strat and a Jaguar. My thing.

Food truck taco break.

Things got a little punkier for Chandos from Allston, Massachusetts. It was buttoned up and very polite between songs punkier, but I liked it.

Herzog took the stage right on time at 8:30 and played a set heavy on songs from this year's Boys. Dual guitarists / vocalists Nick Tolar and Dave McHenry did a great job reproducing the record's big sound of huge guitar hooks and multi-tracked vocals. As the final jam on "You Are Not The Villain" ended, I started making plans to head over to Silent Barn. Before leaving, I did manage to grab a few minutes with Nick Tolar and, hopefully, put a bug in his ear about keeping Asbury Park in mind for any upcoming tour plans.

Attending a festival in a minivan proved advantageous as Silent Barn is a good 2 miles from Cameo Gallery. I rolled over to Bushwick and got to the venue a few songs into the set by lost boy ?. Silent Barn, like a lot of the DIY-type venues in Brooklyn, is an art space as well as a music venue. It's got large murals on the walls and a garden outside. Talk about your "extra-legal feel." There was a guy selling beers out of a fridge, and there was free water with a sign next to the cups: "Save your cup. Save the planet." I drank my water and stuffed the paper cup in my back pocket.

Oh, and it was about a million degrees in Silent Barn.

lost boy ? play some enjoyably heavy guitar pop and appeared to have lots of friends in the audience. I feel like maybe Butter The Children, who I really wanted to see, were a late scratch from this event; but I may have just missed them. At any rate, Jersey City's Vomitface were next. They experienced a few technical difficulties and equipment malfunctions, but I liked their set of 90s-infused, quiet-loud-quiet rock.

The crowd was, surprisingly, pretty stoic for the set. It was weird. I could tell they liked it, but nobody was really moving. Maybe it was the heat. Frontman Jared Micah remarked on it a couple of times. I realized then that, while I don't do the mosh, circle pit thing; I do enjoy being on the outskirts of it, being pushed around, feeling like something is happening. None of that for the short set.

Brooklyn's Big Ups were the act everyone was waiting for, and they are having a bit of a moment now. 18 Hours of Static is an excellent half-hour or so of post-hardcore emo. Frontman Joe Galarraga dispenses with the overly testosterone-driven act and, instead, opts for a punk Mick Jagger style of performance art. Barefoot and shirtless for most of the set, Galarraga contorted his body and face, posing or writhing on the stage, as he delivered the lyrics.

A pit kind of got going during the set -- if about 8 guys literally running around in a circle counts as a pit. At one point, Galarraga got down from the stage and did a few laps with them.

"Thanks, guys." And the set was done. A few guttural growls from guys in the crowd, which was weird, and my night was done. I thought about humping it back to Cameo to catch the pre-record release performance from Beverly, but my journalistic curiosity bowed to exhaustion.

Back tonight. I'm thinking maybe Sharkmuffin, Tweens, and Marnie Stern.

Here are some pics from last night.