subject: Festival Preview: Crossing Brooklyn Ferry [print this page] Over the last few years the festival scene in New York has taken a huge hit. Several large festivals have attempted to come to town, and most have gone completely bust or had to scale back their ambitions significantly. This seems absurd considering there is hardly a better hotbed of musical activity than Brooklyn. Lucky for the music listening public of Brooklyn and New York at large, there are still some enterprising spirited folks looking to put on the festival that the borough and the city deserve.
Highlighting many of the best things happening in music in Brooklyn, the Crossing Brooklyn Ferry festival has been launched under the curatorial eye of local indie-rock heroes The National's Aaron and Bryce Dressner. The line-up more than lives up to its all-star pedigree, incorporating some of the coolest things going on in the Brooklyn music scene. We are not just talking big-box indie-rock, though that is highlighted as well. We are talking about folks working in experimental electronic composition, new classical music and all matters of artistically inclined outsider genres.
This is not to say that a more mainstream taste will not be catered to. To that end, the bill is stacked with big names like The Walkmen, who are about to release a new record and are also celebrating the tenth anniversary of their first album, the classic Everyone Who Pretended To Like Me Is Gone. SPIN Magazine cover-girl St. Vincent will also be headlining one of the show's nights and the third night will be closed out with the beautifully orchestral music of Beirut. Local buzz acts making their rounds on the blogs, like Sharon Van Etten and The Antlers, are also on the bill. Meanwhile Deerhunter frontman Bradford Cox will be bringing his solo Atlas Sound project to the fest.
The folks at the top of the bill might draw you to the show but the people at the bottom are some of the brightest lights in Brooklyn's musical future. The ambient electronic weirdness of Oneohttrix Point Never, or the strange R&B inflected pop of Twin Shaddow, plus a number of experimental acts -the likes of which you may never be able to experience at a more traditional festival. Not to mention stars from Brooklyn's new classical scene, including JACK Quartet, Missy Mazzoli's Victorie, and SO Percussion.
This is a great chance to get into some great new music while seeing some acts you have a long established relationship with. There is sure to be something that flips your wig and gets you running to your local record shop in the days following this festival that is unlike any other on the East coast, or any coast for that matter. Come experience the best in music that Brooklyn has to offer.
