The brutal reaction of police towards #occupywallstreet protestors in New York City, of campus police at UC Davis to students, and in many instances around the country have only inspired thousands more to fill American streets with their voices. That inspiration, a reawakening within the spirit and mind, is contagious – in my case, it came at a personal cost many years ago.
Brooklyn’s O’Death return with its third LP Outside after a year-long hiatus and a clean bill of health.
And now, a follow up. BrooklynTheBorough.com noted a Lou and Laurie sighting in December when local duo Buke & Gass played a homecoming show at Mercury Lounge. We had no idea the evening would end with the couple asking the band out for slices of pizza – or a full blown collaboration.
The Buke & Gass duo, featuring Arone Dyer and Aron Sanchez, highlights precisely what’s frustrating about small scene independent sound these days from New York to Portland – they always leave us wanting more.
Through December 11, local investigative theater company The Civilians are staging In The Footprint: The Battle Over Atlantic Yards at Fort Greene’s Irondale Center, mere blocks from where this long-debated project is currently underway. We caught up with Michael Friedman, the show’s lyricist and composer, to ask him about process, community dialogue and his personal views on the project.
Brooklyn locals Atomic Tom released the homemade video for their latest single on October 14 and nearly two million YouTube hits later found themselves charting below Lady Gaga in iTunes sales for the week — all without touching an instrument that does not require charging. The viral video features the band playing “Take Me Out” using their iPhone instrument apps to a sparse crowd on the B train as it crosses the Manhattan Bridge.
On October 12 Brooklyn’s interstate sensation Sufjan Stevens will release The Age of Adz, the highly anticipated follow-up to the critically acclaimed Illinois, after nearly six years in the making. It’s an ambitious record — dense, cryptic, beautifully melodic and at times a terrifying headphone listen from the online stream alone. News hit last week that Sufjan would ask fans to purchase the record from his Bandcamp site.
