For the fourth year running, L Magazine‘s Northside Festival came to venues in Williamsburg & Greenpoint areas of Brooklyn. Thursday-to-Sunday, June 14th to 17th, the hippest parts of Brooklyn played host to showcases and acts from Brooklyn and beyond.
Just as Northside began, the festival announced that they would be holding performances at The Jameson Lounge. Set up at Good Co., The Jameson Lounge had previously been exclusively for artists and presenters, but the festival decided to have Northside performers do extra acoustic sets in the early evening, and open it up for press. Free drinks + being able to catch acts otherwise would miss = there.
-Ted Chase
Attempted to visit McCarran Park’s highlight shows to hopefully catch Beach Fossils and The Thermals, only to find everything going on in the park except for a concert. Half an hour of wandering later, gave up and headed to Legion.
-Donald Lee
The Jameson Lounge @ Good Co. – Ted Chase
Laura Stevenson, 5:15 PM
Click image for full gallery
The first set at Jameson Lounge was very acoustic, just Laura Stevenson (of Laura Stevenson & The Cans) sitting playing an acoustic guitar. She started on the stage, before moving up closer to the tables and chairs, but still had to deal with airplanes flying overhead, like old Shea. Still, some pretty music – no reason she couldn’t be the next Sharon Van Etten (QRO album review).
backwords, 6:15 PM
Click image for full gallery
backwords brought their full ensemble, though the drummer was reduced to just one snare drum in the acoustic-ness. This all turned their set from their usual psych into more of a sweetness.
Life Sized Maps, 7:15 PM
Click image for full gallery
After backwords, an authentic Irish cooper explained everything that goes into a barrel of whiskey, for an interesting, but extended talk. It did kind of screw over Life Sized Maps, who played solo & acoustic like Laura Stevenson, but many didn’t notice because they were resuming conversations that had been halted by the cooper.
Olivia Tremor Control, 8:15 PM
Click image for full gallery
The ‘special guest’, even the busboy was surprised that this member of the Elephant Six Collective actually played. Olivia Tremor Control‘s alt-backwoods did work in the setting, even if there was no Jeff Mangum (QRO live review) sighting like at their official show the next night.
~
The Whatever Blog showcase @ Legion – Donald Lee
Came to Legion right on time. Right on time for a soundcheck. Thirty minutes early again. Had to miss LUFF on the set, which was is still regretted since they would be AWOL from performing for some time after this.
Alyson Greenfield, 8:00 PM
Click image for full gallery
Multi instrumentalist Alyson Greenfield started the lineup with a few anecdotes mingled with songs invented with many tools, including a drum, a glockenspiel, a synth, and a stubborn Omnichord. Backups to her performance included a violinist, a cellist, and a drummer from the crowd who volunteered for her set.
Crazy Pills, 9:00 PM
Click image for full gallery
Classic garage pop punk from Brooklyn in Crazy Pills. Very old school, almost lo-fi in nature with a very perky attitude to match their dance-friendly beats. Music included a song about taco trucks. Crowd ate it up; how couldn’t they?
The Planes, 9:30 PM
Click image for full gallery
Not to be confused with the band from the U.K., this Planes was another high-energy garage group that kept the same intensity as Crazy Pills but offered with a jangle pop slant in their set list. Still old school, still fun.
Gold Streets, 10:00 PM
Click image for full gallery
Taking a quarter of the Legion’s back room, the audience was still willing to put up with standing room only to catch their sound, With a bragging record for two shows this festival, Gold Streets‘ sound is hard and harmonic. Something of a ‘90s alt-rock punk sound and emo; drummer has a crooning voice that takes me back to the days of Caitlin De Marrais’ Rainer Maria with just as much of the intensity when you catch them live. Kudos to The Whatever Blog for setting up a lineup that was entertaining and complemented each other well end to end, even if I had to miss the tail end.
~
Northside showcase @ Knitting Factory – Ted Chase
These United States, 9:45 PM
Photos of These United States at The Bluebird in Bloomington, IN on May 24th, 2012
Photos of These United States at Webster Hall in New York, NY on April 17th, 2012
Photos of These United States at Northside 2010
Photos of These United States at SXSW 2010 in Austin, TX
QRO’s review of These United States at Mercury Lounge in New York, NY on November 20th, 2009
Photos of These United States at CMJ 2009 in New York, NY
Photos of These United States at Prospect Park Bandshell in Brooklyn, NY on June 27th, 2009
Photos of These United States at Cake Shop in New York, NY on April 10th, 2008
Click image for full gallery
I went to Brooklyn Bowl for The Felice Brothers – but not only was the opener playing, but it was the first opener. James Felice (QRO interview) recognized me (despite that that interview had been years ago, and was a phoner…), and told me that they were playing at 11:00 PM, not 9:00 PM like on the Northside schedule.
So headed over for the second of many Northside acts I wanted to see that seemed to all be scheduled at the same time, These United States. It was an album release party for their new self-titled album (QRO review), but the group still played some fun older songs, as well as the title track from the prior What Lasts (QRO review).
Also ran into Nate Martinez of Thieving Irons (QRO album review) there, of course – had ran into T.U.S.’ singer/guitarist Jesse Elliott last Saturday night at Thieving Irons’ own album release party (QRO photos), not to mention running into Martinez when I had interviewed Elliott (QRO interview) two months earlier…
~
Northside showcase @ The Charleston – Ted Chase
The Dunnie Bobos, 11:15 PM
Click image for full gallery
In the run-up to Northside, I had had a long e-mail interchange with the frontman for The Dunnie Bobos, so pretty much had to check them out – racing from T.U.S., as they were another band scheduled to overlap on Friday night that I wanted to see, but I made it there just before they began.
The ‘venue’ at The Charleston is just a very dingy basement – it makes Cake Shop (QRO venue review) look classy. But The Dunnie Bobos’ garage-party works in such a place. They were also a little tougher than your usual garage outfit (and there are a lot of your usual garage outfits in Brooklyn…), more imposing, but perhaps that was just because they looked so big in such a small place.
~
Unfortunately missed: – Donald Lee
-The Thermals (QRO album review) & Beach Fossils (QRO photos) @ The Heineken Stage at McCarren Park, 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM.
-LUFF @ Legion, 11:00 PM – 12:00 AM. Had to miss LUFF because of long commute home, sadly.
Unfortunately missed: – Ted Chase
-The Felice Brothers (QRO spotlight on) @ Brooklyn Bowl (QRO venue review), 11:00 PM – 12:00 AM. Immediately after The Dunnie Bobos finished, I realized I had lost something and spent the rest of the evening searching for it, to no avail – and thus missed the brothers Felice. Sorry, James…
-Zambri (QRO album review) @ Spike Hill (QRO venue review), 11:00 PM – 12:00 AM. At least I could say that I had seen Zambri the night before (QRO Day One recap).
Other notes:
-Noah Chernin (QRO interview), of the late Sam Champion (QRO spotlight on), is now managing The Felice Brothers, and Seth Pitman (QRO interview), of the late Wild Light (QRO spotlight on), was there, in some sort of clusterfuck of people QRO has interviewed…
