this week in music

LAURIE ANDERSON: THE LANGUAGE OF THE FUTURE

Laurie Anderson is curating and participating in a special series of events for the free River to River Festival this week (photo by Tim Knox)

Laurie Anderson is curating and participating in a special series of events for the free River to River Festival this week (photo by Tim Knox)

RIVER TO RIVER FESTIVAL
Note new time and place: Tuesday, June 18, Stuyvesant High School, 345 Chambers St., free, 8:00
Wednesday, June 19, Rockefeller Park, free, 7:00
Curated programming continues through June 22
www.rivertorivernyc.com
www.laurieanderson.com

Innovative experimental multimedia artist Laurie Anderson is guest-curating five days of special programming for the River to River Festival, including two nights that harken back to her seminal work United States 1-4. On June 18 and 19, Anderson will be in Rockefeller Park presenting “The Language of the Future,” with Tuesday focusing on “Stories” with the Annie Gosfield Trio (with Gosfield on sampling keyboard, Roger Kleier on guitar, and Ches Smith on drums), actor Steve Buscemi, choreographer Young Jean Lee, guitarist Gerry Leonard, horn player Doug Wieselman, and violist Eyvind Kang, while Wednesday will be all about “Songs,” with Richard Devine on electronics, Jacob Garchik on horns, and Jeffrey Zeigler on cello in addition to Wieselman, Kang, and Smith. [ed. note: Because of the weather, Tuesday’s show has been moved indoors to Stuyvesant High School and pushed back to 8:00.] “I wanted to explore how artists use time in their work,” Anderson explains in a statement about the shows. “Each guest artist in this series has a unique approach to time whether slowing it down, rolling it backwards, speeding it up, or pairing it with images in polyphonic ways. Perhaps, my real, and deeper, motive is to create a floating atmosphere that extends the summer evening and makes it all the more dream-like and timeless.” The series continues June 20 at Pier 15 on the East River Esplanade with “An Evening of Live Music and Cinema” featuring documentarian Sam Green, Brooklyn band the Quavers, and music collaborative yMUSIC. Next, Luibo Borissov and Konrad Kaczmarek team up for the interactive Peripatetic Audio Visual Ensemble beginning at River Terrace in Rockefeller Park, with an open rehearsal on June 20 followed by 2:00 and 7:00 shows on June 21-22, all of which require free advance RSVP here. Also on June 21, River to River will screen Chassol’s Indiamore, and on June 22, Andrew Schneider will perform his live multimedia Tidal, both on Pier 15. Anderson fans can also catch her inaugural New York painting and drawing exhibition, “BOAT,” along with a video installation and sculpture, at Vito Schnabel on Leroy St. through June 23.

NORTHSIDE FESTIVAL SONG OF THE DAY: “IN KIND” BY BRAIDS

Montreal experimental art-rock trio BRAIDS will be playing the Northside Festival on June 15, previewing songs from their upcoming sophomore full-length, Flourish // Perish (Arbutus, August 20), the follow-up to 2011’s Native Speaker. The band — which now consists of Raphaelle Standell-Preston on guitar, keyboards, and lead vocals, Austin Tufts on drums, and Taylor Smith on bass (fourth founding member Katie Lee left the group last year) — spent a year writing and recording the album in a Montreal studio, coming up with ten tracks, including “Victoria,” “Hossak,” “Girl,” “Ebben,” “Amends,”and “Juniper.” They’ll be at Cameo Gallery on Saturday night on a bill with Yellow Ostrich, Bell Mare, and Widowspeak.

NORTHSIDE FESTIVAL VIDEO OF THE DAY: “HELLO LOVE” BY THE YOUNG THINGS

New York quartet the Young Things will be playing the Northside Festival on June 14, celebrating the release of their debut album, Hello Love/Goodbye Sexual (Battle Worldwide, June 4). On the record, Mike, Josh, Neil, and Jon channel the Beatles circa 1966-68, with some Queen and Pink Floyd thrown in for good measure, creating a garage-based kind of NYC Britpop — the LP was produced by Lenny Kaye — on such tracks as “No One Taught You How to Fall in Love Alone,” “All Human Life,” and “Sore Eyes.” On “Hello Love,” they sing, “Hello, love, I’m writing you to tell you how I’ve been / Money’s tight and times are tough across the Brooklyn Bridge.” They’ll be on the Brooklyn side of the (Williamsburg) bridge Friday night at the Grand Victory with the Boxing Lesson, Purple, Spires, and headliners Har Mar Superstar, who make a guest appearance on the Young Thing’s “Goodbye Sexual.” (For a look at Mike playing two acoustic tracks from the record on Jon Chattman’s “A-Sides Sessions” Huffington Post video show, go here and here.)

NORTHSIDE FESTIVAL VIDEO OF THE DAY: “CHANNELING” BY THE LUYAS

Montreal-based five-piece the Luyas are on the road in support of their most recent album, last October’s Animator, which features such tracks as “Montuno,” “Fifty Fifty,” and “The Quiet Way,” exploring dreams, death, and the natural environment. “Your name’s mostly water / It is mostly the sea / I wanted to hold you like the beach holds the ocean / Like the wind holds the trees up so slightly,” Jessie Stein sings on “Your Name’s Mostly Water.” Stein, Pietro Amato, Mathieu Charbonneau, Bucky Wheaton, and Sarah Neufeld will be be at 285 Kent at the Northside Festival on June 13 for the Infinite Best showcase, on a bill with Lush Life, Ava Luna, Julian Lynch, and Twin Sister.

VIDEO OF THE DAY: “THANKSGIVING” BY STEPHEN KELLOGG

After a tumultuous 2012 that included the birth of his fourth child, the loss of his grandmother and mother-in-law, the renovation of his house, an inspirational TEDx talk (titled “I Can’t Get No [Job] Satisfaction”), and the Hi-Ate-Us Tour, after which he and his longtime band, the Sixers, went on hiatus, self-effacing American singer-songwriter Stephen Kellogg has encapsulated his unique world view in his beautiful new solo album, Blunderstone Rookery (Elm City, June 18, 2013). Kellogg is bold and blunt throughout the record’s eleven tracks, evoking Lyle Lovett, Bruce Springsteen, Justin Townes Earle, and his personal favorite, Tom Petty, on guitar-driven songs that examine love, heartbreak, hopes, dreams, home, and family. “What can I possibly say? / I’m not even sure if I think you should stay / It’s like I don’t know where to start / Do I set it on fire just to protect my heart?” he asks on the opening number, “Lost and Found.” Kellogg gets swampy for the blues-infused “The Brain Is a Beautiful Thing,” channels Petty and the Boss on “Forgive You, Forgive Me,” goes country on “Crosses,” and adds a horn section on “Good Ol’ Days,” on which he declares, “Sometimes the best thing that can happen is / you take a punch in the face.” But at his heart, the thirty-six-year-old Kellogg is a positive, upbeat guy who loves and celebrates the gift of life and family, as evidenced by the ten-minute acoustic opus “Thanksgiving,” with Kellogg explaining, “In America, this is home / Stories, everybody’s got one / This is mine, you will have your own / Nothing like the real thing, nothing like it.” The Connecticut-based Kellogg has been telling the stories that populate Blunderstone Rookery on YouTube, sitting down by a fire and reading the lyrics to each song as if they were chapters in a book. Kellogg will be at Rockwood Music Hall on June 14 ($20, one-drink minimum, 7:00) for a special Countdown to Blunderstone show with special guest Seth Giler. In addition, earlier that day, at 3:00, he will take part in a Livestream Session, spinning the whole record, answering fan questions, and playing live.

NORTHSIDE FESTIVAL 2013

Danish punks Iceage headline MHOW show on opening night of Northside Festival

Danish punks Iceage headline MHOW show on opening night of Northside Festival

Northside Festival
Multiple venues in Greenpoint and Williamsburg
June 13-20
www.northsidefestival.com

Now in its third year, the Northside Festival features four days of indie music followed by four days of films, along with a two-day conference that examines the future of technology and business. Greenpoint and Williamsburg will be more alive than usual with the sounds of bands filling the streets and clubs June 13-16. Eighty-dollar badges are still available for the music events, or you can get individual tickets to the shows, which will be held at such locations as Union Pool, the Glasslands, the Trash Bar, the Gutter, Bar Matchless, Europa, Saint Vitus, Cameo, the Music Hall of Williamsburg, and many more. In addition, more than thirty films will be screened at Nitehawk Cinema, Williamsburg Cinemas, Videology, UnionDocs, and other locations. Below are our recommendations, organized by day; keep checking back for updates and changes.

Thursday, June 13
Monarch presents Julia Haltigan (8:00), Wyatt (8:45), Cole Williams (9:35), Aabaraki (10:20), Kendra Morris (11:15), Bar Matchless, $10

Iceage, A Place to Bury Strangers, Lower, Bennio Qwerty, and Bambara, Music Hall of Williamsburg, 8:00, $15

Pitchfork presents: Foreplay (8:30), Majical Cloudz (9:15), very special guests (10:00), Body/Head (Kim Gordon & Bill Nace) (11:00), Saint Vitus, $15

JD Samson presents Pat Party: with DJ sets by JD Samson, Amber Valentine, Will Automatic, and Sveta, Union Pool, 9:00, free

A musical number by drag persona Ruby Roo, including scenes from I Love Lucy and more, Sugarland, 12 midnight, free

Friday, June 14
Surprise guest at the Jameson Black Barrel Lounge at Villain, 3:00

Dear Georgiana (7:30), the Sundelles (8:15), and Sonny & the Sunsets (9:00), Knitting Factory Brooklyn, $12

Sally (8:30), Vivienne Eastwood (9:30), Radical Dads (10:30), and Black Wine (11:30), Legion, $8

Whatever Blog presents Libel (9:00), Butchers and Bakers (9:30), the Meaning of Life (10:00), Lazyeyes (10:30), and Shilpa Ray (11:00), the Gutter, $5

Gigawatts presents Sham-Poo (9:00), Le Rug (10:00), SHAPES (11:00), and the So So Glos (12 midnight), Public Assembly, $10

Saturday, June 15
Zachary Cale (4:00), Mappa Mundi (5:00), and Whale Belly (6:00), Pete’s Candy Store, free

Whatever Blog presents the Veda Rays (8:00), Low Fat Getting High (9:00), American Darlings (10:00), Dead Stars (11:00), and Clouder (12 midnight), Legion, $5

New York Night Train presents the Gories and Daddy Long Legs, Brooklyn Bowl, 8:00, $12

Metal Sucks presents Scale the Summit, Mouth of the Architect, Inter Arma, and Sannhet, Saint Vitus, 8:00, $15

PopGun presents DJ sets by Flying Horse and Ladyhawke and live performance by French Horn Rebellion, Glasslands, 11:30, $15

Sunday, June 16
Stereoactive NYC & Hillytown present JPK (1:00), Lisa/Liza (2:00), Owel (3:00), Coalsack in Crux (4:00), Leda (5:00), Ball of Flame Shoot Fire (6:00), Cultfever (7:00), Weird Children (8:00), Sunset Hearts (9:00), MiniBoone (10:00), Shark? (11:00), Clouder (12 midnight), Spike Hill, free

Rocks Off presents Subhumans, Adolescents, Drunken Rampage, the Krays, Music Hall of Williamsburg, 7:00, $15

Monarch presents sami.the.great (8:15), Heloise & the Savoir Faire (9:00), Something in Spanish (9:40), Hank & Cupcakes (10:25), Bright Light Bright Light (11:15), and My Midnight Heart (12:15 am), Public Assembly, $10

Grooms (8:30), Pop. 1280 (9:30), and the Soft Moon (10:30), 285 Kent, $15