Ever since 2009, L Magazine has held the Northside Festival in June at a series of venues in Williamsburg & Greenpoint in Brooklyn – and QRO has been there every year. 2013 was no different, with locals and out-of-towners crisscrossing the north side of the borough, Thursday-to-Sunday, June 13th-16th.
Gimme Tinnitus party @ Silent Barn
Donald Lee started his Northside Day Two early at Gimme Tinnitus’ unofficial party at Silent Barn, with Trabajo, Life Size Maps and Low Fat Getting High:
Low Fat Getting High
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Life Size Maps
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Trabajo
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EULA
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Ted Chase made it Silent Barn in time to join Donald for the more serious than party garage-punks EULA, and the more party than serious punk-garagers Shark?.
The event was ‘unofficial’ (though your festival badge got you two dollars off the seven buck ticket…) because Silent Barn is a little too far south for Northside. It also isn’t exactly a huge or impressive place, with bands playing on the same floor as the crowd (for this event, there were band spots, next to each other, but they were too close for the other band to start setting up until the earlier one finished). It does have a nice & cheap ‘Silent Bar’.
Shark?
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Hearts Bleed Radio showcase @ Bar Matchless
Donald Lee headed uptown to Northside proper for the Hearts Bleed Radio showcase at Bar Matchless, with The Planes, Quiet Loudly, The Beets, pow wow!, and Crazy Pills:
Crazy Pills
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pow wow!
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The Beets
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Quiet Loudly
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The Planes
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Northside showcase @ Cameo
Snowmine
At CMJ (QRO recap), one has to stop off at Rudolfo’s Pizza at least once in the Bowery area, as it’s right next to so much. At Northside, one needs to go to Anna Maria. And there Ted Chase read a glowing article in a free copy of Deli Mag about Snowmine, so headed over to Cameo early to catch them. They have a nice, if not overwhelming, electro-indie sound with tropical elements, in an ‘opening for Yeasayer’ (QRO spotlight on) vibe (think Tanlines or Sinkane – QRO live review together).
Cameo (QRO venue review) has grown since the last time Ted was there (which admittedly might have been the first Northside – QRO recap…), doubled in size, with a classy bar. The stage is also higher – but there are still those lit-up streamers hanging down from the top…
Bear Hands
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But the reason to come to Cameo was an old QRO favorite, Bear Hands. Northside’s a great chance to see where some of your Brooklyn favorites are at these days, and Bear Hands had some great new songs to with their older ones. Also, their Ted, guitarist Ted Feldman, has a mustache?!?
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Other notes:
-Accidentally tweeted that “@bearinheaven” had some great new songs, not @bearhandsband, was corrected by the former (though it’s really their fault for being yet another ‘bear’ band…).
Unfortunately missed:
-MiniBoone (QRO live review) @ Silent Barn. Always a must-see at Northside – but they also play multiple times.
-The So So Glos (QRO album review) @ Public Assembly (QRO venue review).
