Who: White Lung
What: Panorama festival
Where: Randall’s Island Park, Panorama Stage
When: Sunday, July 24, $125, 1:10
Why: A classic punk foursome, Canadian quartet White Lung features singer-songwriter Mish Barber-Way front and center in their latest video, “Dead Weight,” but she’s obviously anything but dead weight, as evidenced on the group’s outstanding fourth studio album, Paradise (Domino, May 2016). In a recent interview with the the Line of Best Fit, Barber-Way noted: “I write for a living, so I’m always reading and researching. I did studies about bestiality, gender politics of pedophiles, female murderers who help their spouses rape and torture, biology, motherhood. I picked the brains of sex therapists, psychologists, white supremacists, cosmetic surgeons (the most interesting doctors to interview), and gynecologists. I was all over the place. This work all informs my lyrics, obviously. It’s what I am thinking about.” Paradise, which was shortlisted for the prestigious Polaris Prize, contains such tracks as “Hungry,” “Below,” “Demented” (in which Barber-Way declares, “I hate all that I see”), and the furious “Kiss Me When I Bleed” and “Sister.” No stranger to New York, White Lung played a gleefully anarchic set at the 2013 4Knots festival at the South Street Seaport; singer-songwriter Barber-Way, guitarist Kenneth William, bassist Lindsey Troy, and drummer Anne-Marie Vassiliou will be back in the city for the Panorama music, art, food, and technology festival on Sunday, playing the Panorama Stage at 1:10; that day’s bill also includes, among others, the Black Madonna, Grace Potter, Kurt Vile & the Violators, and Holy Ghost! You can find the full schedule and set times for all three days here.
this week in music
PANORAMA NYC: ART
Who: Antfood, Dave and Gabe, Dirt Empire, Emilie Baltz and Philip Sierzega, Future Wife, Gabriel Pulecio, Invisible Light Network, Red Paper Heart, the Mountain Gods, VolvoxLabs, Zach Lieberman
What: Panorama: Music • Art • Technology
Where: Randall’s Island Park, the Lab
When: July 22-24, $125 per day ($230 VIP), $369 for three-day pass ($699 VIP), ferry $25 per day, shuttle $30 per day
Why: In addition to featuring such performers as Arcade Fire, Kendrick Lamar, LCD Soundsystem, Alabama Shakes, Sia, the National, FKA twigs, and Grace Potter and some big-time food vendors, the Panorama Music • Art • Technology festival, taking place this weekend on Randall’s Island, where the popular Frieze fair is held, will host the Lab, a collection of interactive and immersive art installations by New Yorkers that offers a respite from what should be large crowds fighting potential rain. Invisible Light Network, Dirt Empire, and Antfood have collaborated on a 70-foot dome with a 360-degree virtual reality theater. Dave & Gabe’s “Hyper Thread” is a 3D soundscape where you can create your own sounds using silk cocoons. Emilie Baltz and Philip Sierzega turn the making of cotton candy into an orchestral experience with “Cotton Candy Theremin.” Future Wife’s inflatable playground, “Visceral Recess,” allows festivalgoers to bring out their inner child. Gabriel Pulecio’s “Infinite Wall,” consisting of mirrors, lights, and sounds, reacts to visitors’ individual movements. Red Paper Heart’s “The Art of Pinball” reimagines the analog arcade game as a virtual digital wonderland. “Gigantic Gestures,” by the Mountain Gods (Charlie Whitney and Sierzega), invites people to tap and swipe a large-scale smartphone to investigate body language. Kamil Nawratil’s VolvoxLabs has created “The Façade,” which transforms the outside of the Lab into a projection screen. And hacker Zach Lieberman uses refraction and caustics in an interactive light table in “Reflection Study.”
PANORAMA NYC VIDEO OF THE DAY: “I’M DONE” BY THE JULIE RUIN
Who: The Julie Ruin
What: Panorama festival
Where: Randall’s Island Park, the Pavilion
When: Saturday, July 23, $125, 2:50
Why: Former Bikini Kill and Le Tigre legend Kathleen Hanna might declare, “I’m done,” on the Julie Ruin’s second album, Hit Reset (July 8, Hardly Art), but the riot grrrl cofounder’s career is far from over. “I’m not here to please you or beg on my knees or be the villain on your show,” she sings on “I’m Done,” adding, “I’m sick of waiting around to be heard from six feet underground.” The track is one of thirteen new tunes on the record, the follow-up to 2013’s Run Fast; the album also features such songs as “Be Nice,” “Rather Not,” and “I Decide.” On the band’s official website, Hanna, whose intriguing life was documented in the 2013 documentary The Punk Singer, notes, “I’ve written about my personal bouts with illness, abuse, sexism, and how hard it is for me to walk away from people even when they are toxic Tasmanian Devils before, but not in this way. Some songs were so close to me I had to stop singing in practice and while recording because I was crying. It’s rare to work with a group of people you feel okay doing that with. But there was laughter too.” Hanna, Kathi Wilcox, Carmine Covelli, and Sara Landeau will be at the Panorama music, art, food, and technology festival on Saturday, playing the Pavilion at 2:50; that day’s bill also includes Flosstradamus, Blood Orange, the National, Sufjan Stevens, and Kendrick Lamar. You can find the full schedule and set times for all three days here.
PANORAMA NYC FOOD
Panorama: Music Art Technology
Randall’s Island Park
July 22-24, $125 per day ($230 VIP), $369 for three-day pass ($699 VIP), ferry $25 per day, shuttle $30 per day
www.panorama.nyc
Once upon a time, the food at all-day music festivals was little more than hot dogs, burgers, cotton candy, soda, and pretzels. But the foodie revolution has changed all that, and now festivals of all genres rely on artisinal food trucks and booths to feed hungry concertgoers. Panorama NYC is right on top of the trend with some of the best food vendors in the five boroughs. Taking place July 22-24 on Randall’s Island with such performers as Arcade Fire, Sia, LCD Soundsystem, the National, Kendrick Lamar, Alabama Shakes, and Sufjan Stevens, Panorama also boasts a pretty impressive gourmet lineup of nearly four dozen eateries. Among the food purveyors, with gluten-free and vegan options available, of course, are American Cut, Arancini Bros., Asia Dog, Bareburger, the Beatrice Inn, Dough, Khe-Yo, Landhaus, MatchaBar, Melt Bakery, the NoMad, Pasquale Jones, Roberta’s, Sushi Azabu, Tica’s Tacos, and Waffle de Lys. Although you don’t go to such festivals as Panorama for the food, it’s a lot more fun when you can chow down on some quality eats and drinks while watching eleven hours of music in the hot sun.
PANORAMA NYC VIDEO OF THE DAY: BROKEN SOCIAL SCENE
Who: Broken Social Scene
What: Panorama festival
Where: Randall’s Island Park, the Pavilion
When: Friday, July 22, $125, 5:30
Why: The joyous indie Canadian musical collective known as Broken Social Scene, built by and around Kevin Drew and Brendan Canning, has consisted of a varying panoply of mainly Toronto-based talent with up to nineteen members onstage at times playing an eclectic array of instruments and featuring an ever-changing roster of female singers on tour. But after three well-received albums in four years (2001-05) and one more in 2010, BSS hasn’t released a new record, and it hasn’t performed live in the U.S. since 2011. (The band played a memorable headlining set at the Siren Festival in Coney Island back in 2008.) All that changed last week when the band appeared at a small show at Chicago’s Metro, followed by a full-on concert at the Pitchfork Festival. Exactly one week later they repeat the feat in New York with a small, sold-out Thursday night show at the Music Hall of Williamsburg and a subsequent Friday festival appearance on the Pavilion stage at the Panorama art, music, food, and technology festival, with such other performers as fka Twigs, Silversun Pickups, Alabama Shakes, Here We Go Magic, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, White Lung, and Arcade Fire. You can find the full schedule and set times for all three days here.
SUMMER SOUNDS: STEVE SHAIMAN AND SWINGTIME BIG BAND
Steve Shaiman and Swingtime Big Band return for their annual summer gig in Carl Schurz Park on July 20
Who: Steve Shaiman and Swingtime Big Band
What: Summer Sounds Series at Carl Schurz Park
Where: John Finley Walk, East River Promenade, top of the 86th Street Grand Staircase
When: Wednesday, July 20, free, 7:00
Why: New York-based Swingtime Big Band, purveyors of “Authentic Swing in Living Color,” will be performing a free outdoor concert on July 20 at John Finley Walk in the shadow of Gracie Mansion as part of the Summer Sounds Series in Carl Schurz Park. Led by artistic director, saxophonist, and clarinetist Steve Shaiman, Swingtime’s seventh annual Summer Sounds show will feature the new program “By George,” big band arrangements of George Gershwin tunes from the Great American Songbook. The twenty-member Swingtime Big Band, which consists of reeds, trombones, trumpets, two vocalists, and bass, guitar, drums, and piano, has a busy couple of weeks ahead, with upcoming performances in West Hempstead, Greenport, Rocky Point, Westhampton, and Holbrook on Long Island.
PANORAMA NYC VIDEO OF THE DAY: “GOOD TO LOVE” BY FKA TWIGS
Who: FKA Twigs
What: Panorama Music Art Technology festival
Where: Randall’s Island Park, the Pavilion
When: Friday, July 22, $125, 6:55
Why: British artist FKA Twigs, formerly known as Tahliah Debrett Barnett, self-released her first four-song EP just four years ago, and she hasn’t been off the music cognoscenti’s radar since. Her last two works, LP1 and M3LL155X (pronounced “Melissa”), landed on Pitchfork’s Best New Album list two years in a row. FKA Twigs has been busy on the festival circuit this summer, in July alone playing Pemberton and WayHome in Canada, Pitchfork in Chicago, Flow in Helsinki, and, on July 22, Panorama on Randall’s Island. The singer and dancer, born in Gloucestershire in 1988, is known for her spectacular choreography and deep artistic mystique; a typical Q&A features her and world-renowned curator and art critic Hans-Ulrich Obrist discussing various dimensions of her work, often described as performance theater. Although the celebrity gossip mill is churning because of her rumored possible breakup with fiancée Robert Pattinson over Kristen Stewart, what’s far more important is that she recently unveiled a new show, called “Radiant Me²,” featuring new songs, creative dancing, and her trademark dazzling visuals. The former “Video Girl,” who danced with Kylie Minogue, Ed Sheeran, and Jessie J before beginning her solo career, has also released two other EPs, EP1 and EP2, and keeps gaining momentum with such singles as “Two Weeks,” “Pendulum,” and “Good to Love.” In the past couple of years, she has been described as fearless and a loner while not limiting herself to genres or boundaries; you can watch her continue to spread her wings this weekend when she plays the Pavilion at the Panorama art, music, food, and technology festival on Friday, with such other performers as Broken Social Scene, Silversun Pickups, Alabama Shakes, Here We Go Magic, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, and Arcade Fire. You can find the full schedule and set times here.