Unsound Festival New York: Internship + Experience

I had imagined that by early or mid-February I would have noted my worthwhile experiences with the Unsound Festival's first New York installment, but time certainly flies when you are busy. Truly, thoroughly busy. In between blogging all things metal for Noisecreep + booking artists for Forward Management, I lent a hand to one of my favorite established, Brooklyn-based business: Backspin PR. Run by someone whom I respect greatly, I contributed about 10 hours or more of my time each week to blasting through the repetitive but relevant tasks of clipping and organizing the major press efforts launched by Backspin.

The Unsound Festival is a Polish electronic music festival (based in Kraków, Poland) that happens each fall for the last seven years, and its founder - along with several international cultural institutions and consulates - organized a 10-day, city-wide festival that brought some of the most talented electronic music artists to New York. There were over 10 US debuts, featuring artists from around eastern Europe and major outlets in New York (the Times, Time Out, Village Voice) as well as significant online resources (Self-Titled, Brooklyn Vegan, XLR8R, Resident Advisor, Little White Earbuds) all participated in previewing, attending and reviewing with endless praise. It was something that everyone knew needed all cooks in the kitchen to pull off, and would likely be an enormous success.

Experiencing the Unsound Festival was my payoff. I'd written about the opening night, where new muscles were stretched. Warmed up, my friends and I enjoyed some of the best panels, dance parties and cerebral music performances (Tim Hecker & Jacaszek spring to mind immediately) in what seemed like an endless fashion. As if all of this wasn't enough, new friendships were formed with industry folk as well as individuals that I feel confident will be in my life, now, for a very long time.

Jeff Mills for Resident Advisor & Fuck The Facts for NoiseCreep

One of my highest priorities is to post my writings right about the time they're published, but from time to time it's difficult to stay on point. I'm still living on a fantasy summer island, but have been keeping myself plugged into my two favorite genres: metal and techno. Before I left for Fire Island, I spent my final, epic weekend with a string of memorable nights. On Wednesday, my friend Mattis and I drove up to Boston for a RBMA Thomas Oberheim workshop and Le Loup at Midweek Techno. Thursday was Raster-Noton at Make It New, and Friday - the day the up button broke on my car stereo's volume - we drove back to Brooklyn with a full car for Bunker, which featured R-N and Insideout (I think Grant is my new hero) and an epic 6hour tagteam between Jan Krueger and Derek Plaslaiko. The following night was Jeff Mills at the Sullivan Room, topped with a Cadenza party on the Bar 13 rooftop the following afternoon. Easily one of the best (and longest) weekends of my life. My review of Mills was a feat - making sense of one night amongst all of that can be difficult when you consider how much one event will blend into another. It was truly a weekend of loving life, and Mills' set (especially when he played "The Bells") was the opposite of a heartbreak.

True love?

Secondly, I'm on the verge of digging into new metal, and I have big plans with NoiseCreep that hit on a very personal level in the near future. Still, we wanted to know what Fuck The Facts couldn't leave home without - aside from, of course, instruments and merch - because they are just an awesome band. Please go see them if they're coming to your town.

You can read the reviews, posted here:
Jeff Mills @ Sullivan Room for Resident Advisor
Fuck the Facts Hit the Road With Five Essential Items

GAS @ Miller Theater for Resident Advisor

I've always appreciated ambient music, but my love always rested with IDM. In the earliest part of this decade, Autechre, Squarepusher, Jega and sometimes Funkstorung were in heavy rotation, and Chris Clark's Clarence Park is one of my all-time favorite albums. Ambient music is definitely a cerebral kind, with its most base use being to simply "chill out." Much like other genres, though, there are so many offerings to choose from...many of which suck. On the opposite end of the spectrum sits Wolfgang Voigt, who dominates the ambient realm with his GAS project from the turn of the last decade. I'm still so impressed by his performance at the Miller Theater, which was the closest I was able to get to Mutek this year.

You can read the review, posted here: GAS @ Miller Theater for Resident Advisor

Movement 2009 In Review for Resident Advisor

I've already mentioned several times here how Detroit was an incredibly enriching experience for me. In fact, I called it before I even went, but it was a bit of a give-in. Myself and a handful of other Resident Advisor contributors covered most of the festival, and I was lucky enough to be assigned all of my favorite highlights. I'm most thrilled that Monty Luke was pleased with the Mothership review, as he and everyone else from the San Francisco-based community conscious label had a blast that night. The other major point for me was Cassy, a female DJ who's come blasting through the doors and taken a seat at the table of my favorite DJs. I'd seen her before, but her set at House 'n Home at Oslo is the first thing I've been mentioning when people ask me what I liked the most. I can only hope that dubbing her "the Sophia Loren of DJs" goes viral and she gets properly appointed. Damian Lazarus wins Breakthrough Artist in my own personal awards ceremony, and I still watch YouTube videos of Adam Beyer's set on a regular basis. Viva la Beatport stage!

You can read the review, posted here: Movement 2009 in review

Hell & Heaven @ a secret location for Resident Advisor

Everything that I could possibly say about Hell & Heaven was published in Resident Advisor this week. Rarely do I not enjoy the large variety of live music events that I attend, but this was an exceptionally brilliant night. ReSolute and the promoters with whom they teamed up with ran this warehouse gig so smoothly that I can bravely assume on everyone's behalf that no one noticed any operational issues that might have come up. Also, I was in heels for about 9 hours and am fairly certain I did not sit down at any point. For that, some of my toes are still numb, but I would never complain. Journalist or not, there have been so much monumental live music I've experienced, and this night was definitely one of them. Accompanied by such a great set, I've also praised DJ Hell's forthcoming album, Teufelswerk, which redeems any qualms I had with N Y Muscle and the fashionable electroclash front that Helmut had on for years.

You can read the review, posted here: Hell & Heaven @ a secret location for Resident Advisor

Bpitch Control 10th Anniversary @ Studio B for Self-Titled Magazine

It's incredible how New York continues to book high quality acts on a Friday night. So many, in fact, that I often find myself wanting to attend at least 4 or 5 events in one night. Such was the case this past Friday. Converge was at Europa, Henrick Schwarz was playing live with Ame at Le Poisson Rouge, Obits were having their CD Release party and The Gaslight Anthem were at Webster Hall. Ultimately, a friend flew in from Boston and we went to go see Gui Boratto - the Brazilian producer who was performing live, sandwiched on the bill between Bpitch Control DJs Thomas Muller and Ellen Allien.

Last year, I was a major part of booking Gui Boratto for his first Boston performance at Great Scott as part of Basstown. It was a Monday night and 18+, but it sold out and made us many new friends. Tagged on to his lineup that night was his friend Drika, the club flyer designer in high demand who also DJ'd under the moniker DRI.K, opening with her own style of what goes down in Sao Paulo. To this day, Boratto is hands down the most charming booking we'd ever had at Basstown events so it was no surprise that, paired with his endearing new album, it would be a good show.

It turned out that Converge, just down the street, was so damn good (no surprise) that Self-Titled magazine's editors never made it out of the venue. In later conversation, I was asked to review the gig that S-T had never actually made it to, and accompanied with a few shots from a friend's digital camera. It was a good night...good enough to dispel any regrets of not spending more than $600 (that I don't actually have) on a last minute flight to Miami for the Winter Music Conference. The week is already half over, and I already see the forthcoming weekend - with all of its endless choices - fast approaching.

You can read the review, posted here: Bpitch Control 10th Anniversary @ Studio B for Self-Titled Magazine

VGS