Natural Music #7: Summer Concert Preview
A sampling of exciting musical happenings over the next 3 months
Most people, even those who really really love music, don’t go to enough concerts. Sure its a matter of time, and money, but most often I think it’s just a lack of information and not realizing what all is going on. It’s an impossible task to keep tabs on the tens of regular venues and the various one offs always happening.
The regularly updated concert list at the bottom of every post isn’t perfect but its my attempt to address that information gap. This special newsletter transmission is to call out some shows taking place this summer that I think deserve your special attention.
There are promoters in the city that embody this idea (not enough live music) into their event curation like Dripping which does a great job crafting lineups for their Nowadays nights and their annual festival that bridge the gap between live performance and DJs.
29 Speedway is a platform for artists exploring the fringes of interdisciplinary art, featuring forward-thinking improvisational music, live multimedia, and even dance and puppetry into the mix.
Conditioner has also been throwing parties with really strong lineups spanning experimental live music / dj sets and together with 29 Speedway they’ve curated one of the events highlighted below.
And many I’m surely missing — I’ll expand here as I can.
There are a also couple great Substack newsletters that regularly feature and cover other live music happening in spheres that I’m not plugged into that I can’t recommend enough:
- a weekly Bklyn Sounds newsletter calling out interesting shows for the week. - keeps a regularly updated Master List of upcoming performances of interest to the new-music community: contemporary classical music and jazz, electronic and electroacoustic music, and idioms for which no clever genre name has been coined.—
That’s all for now though, enjoy the concert recs below and I hope to see some of you at the shows!
A couple standout shows and tracks from the lineups for the next few months. Many of these shows are free and the first few happen to be this week. A full list of summer shows that I will continue to keep updated is below.
Tue, June 25 - Sen Morimoto, Naima @TV Eye
Naima is potentially the most slept-on discovery I’ve stumbled upon this year. The Queens based artist has just a few hundred monthly listeners but her City Lights EP (highlighted on the last NL) is incredibly vibey, dreamy bedroom r&b perfect for fans of L’rain, Blood Orange, Tirzah, Kelela, or Solange.
Wed, Jun 26 - Horse Lords w/ Leya @ Le Poisson Rouge
Horse Lords is an experimental rock band that makes pulsating music that employs ideas such as minimalist composition, just intonation, polyrhythmic patterning, free jazz and improvisation.
Their 2022 album was described perfectly by one bandcamp comment.
BenPujara - "A jangled euphoric jam like shaking an etch-a-sketch and making Matisse. Masterful."
The band is performing “in the round” at LPR which essentially means performing on a stage surrounded on all sides by attendees and its sure to be an experience.
Fri, Jun 28 - Chanel Beads, Mei Semones @ Bryant Park (7-10pm, FREE)
Chanel Beads is one of the hottest bands coming up in NYC right now. Every show they’ve had has sold out, quickly, and for good reason. When I saw them open for Mount Kimbie they really stole the show for me and I felt more inspired from live music than I had in quite a while.
Shane Lavers incorporates the scrappy sonics of post-punk, the gripping sentimentality of pop tunes, and the spectral artifice of electronic music, blurring the lines through unconventional song structures that build into transcendental climaxes.
Mei Semones is a self described “Jazz influenced DIY artist based” and her recent EP is a wonderful showcase of her unique blend of jazz, bossa nova, and math-y indie rock. Mei’s tender bilingual lyrics float over her intricate guitar work and sweeping string arrangements.
The next day (Sat, Jun 29) The Emerging Music Festival at Bryant Park also features Horsegirl, Hannah Jadagu, Bloomsday, Greg Mendez, @.
My top recommendation for Sunday June 30th to close out pride weekend is definitely Eris Drew b2b Octo Octa for the T4TLUVNRG pride event in the Ruins at Knockdown Center because it’s always one of the best parties of the year but it quickly sold out. If you want to see some live music there are also plenty of options.
Sun, Jun 30 - Lip Critic @ TV Eye
Noisy, twisted electronic garage punk madness that hits like a freight train with massive sub warping bass lines reminiscent of Death Grips, The Garden and Machine Girl.
Sun, June 30 - Terry Riley's In C (8:00 pm, FREE)
Terry Riley's masterpiece, In C, is celebrated by NYC's longest-running annual concert 8pm at Damrosch park including vocalists, percussionists, guitarists, a full orchestra, electronics, and instrumentalists from around the world, backed by the drum beat of Brian Chase from Yeah Yeah Yeahs.
Sat, July 13 - MIKE'S YOUNG WORLD IV: EARL SWEATSHIRT / SKAIWATER / STACY EPPS / SIDESHOW / MIKE @Herbert Von King Park [Free]
Local hero MIKE has been steadily building a vibrant hip-hop community of like-minded souls at his annual Young World festival. This year the event returns to Herbert Von King Park in Bed-Stuy with Earl Sweatshirt, who has been the voice of a generation and the face of a corner of hip hop for a decade now.
With a focus on black musicians and creatives, the festival provides a fully accessible afternoon of music, visual art, food, clothes, and children’s activities in Bed Stuy. The ultimate goal is to inspire the next generation of black youth to see creative professions as a viable option and create their own creative communities – thus “Young World.
Thu, Jul 18 - 29 Speedway x Conditioner: Arushi Jain, Contour, Daytona 500, Isabella Koen @ Nowadays
Arushi Jain brings Hindustani classical music alive for a new generation. Armed with modular synths and a beautiful voice, she creates an unorthodox vision of centuries-old traditional music through an ambient lens.
Contour’s latest album in collaboration with Omari Jazz is a lushly spirited, sanguine salvo that meditates on matters of “Black being and nonbeing, life and mourning, and the individual and collective” that floats somewhere between neo-soul and ambient classical.
Daytona 500 is the duo of DJ Deadname and Eva Loveless, two important individuals in the brooklyn bass scene that I wrote about in May. I’ve yet to catch them but I have no doubts they’ll deliver a percussive, dextrous excursion into the low end for this 29 Speedway x Conditioner showcase.
Sat, Aug 3 - The Body & Dis Fig w/ Cel Genesis @ Le Poisson Rouge
The Body and Dis Fig find kinship in reimagining what it means to make “heavy music”. Their debut album highlighted back in the march transmission is the perfect synthesis of two forces, twisting melodicism and intoxicating rhythms, layering a dense miasma of distortion with intense beats and a soaring voice clawing its way towards absolution.
I’m unfamiliar with Cel Genesis but two bandcamp comments on their latest album compliment the live experience enough that I’m intrigued.
“See them perform live if you want to experience a true rebirth.”
“One of the best live performances I’ve ever experienced.”
Fri, Aug 9 - Tirzah, Loraine James, Purelink @ Knockdown Center
Tirzah had to cancel half of her North American tour in 2023 after getting sick but she returns to Knockdown Center August 9th alongside UK experimental composer, producer and singer Loraine James, and ambient-dub-techno trio Purelink. Three of the best doing it today and not surely one to miss.
Tue, Sep 17 - Perfume Genius @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
It’s not exactly summer but Perfume Genius is an incredible performer and this will sell out. He moves with grace on stage fully displaying his passion through expressive movements as he delivers stunning vocal performances. This tour is in support of the 10th year anniversary of his excellent break-out album ‘Too Bright’.
Full NYC Concert List
Tue June 25 - Sen Morimoto, Naima @TV Eye
Wed, Jun 26 - Horse Lords @ Le Poisson Rouge
Wed, Jun 26 - Whitney Johnson and Lia Kohl + Ka Baird + More Eaze @ Public Records
Thu, Jun 27 - Ethel Cain @ Central Park Summer Stage (sold out)
Fri, Jun 28 - Chanel Beads, Mei Semones @ Bryant Park
Sat, Jun 29 - George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic @ Damrosch Park
Sun, Jun 30 - LIP CRITIC @ TV Eye
Tue, Jul 2 - Hiatus Kaiyote @ Brooklyn Paramount
July 5 - Cause and Effect with Nick Boyd @the office
Sat, Jul 6 - MARISSA NADLER, THE INFINITY RING, CHANNEL VESSEL @ TV Eye
Thu, Jul 11 - Cassandra Jenkins @ Public Records
Sat, Jul 13 - Mabe Fratti @ Public Records
Sat, July 13 MIKE'S YOUNG WORLD IV: EARL SWEATSHIRT / SKAIWATER / SIDESHOW / MIKE @Herbert Von King Park [Free]
Tue, Jul 16 - Snooper @ Elsewhere
Tue, Jul 16 - Sidney Gish @ Public Records
Wed, Jul 17 - Hurray for the Riff Raff @ National Sawdust
Wed, Jul 17 - Cola @ Bowery Ballroom
Thu, Jul 18 - Ben Howard / John Francis Flynn @ Central Park Summer Stage
Thu, Jul 18 - Arushi Jain, Contour, Daytona 500 @ Nowadays
Fri, Jul 19 - MomaPS1 Warm Up: Nick León b2b DJ Python | Safety Trance | Lolina | FITNESSS
Mon, Jul 22 - Hana Vu @ Bowery Ballroom
Wed, Jul 24 - Medhane + Kahlil Blu @ Public Records
Tue, Jul 30 - Lianne La Havas @ Webster Hall
Sat, Aug 3 - The Body & Dis Fig w/ Cel Genesis @ Le Poisson Rouge
Sat, Aug 3 - Drugdealer @ Bowery Ballroom
Wed, Aug 7 - DIIV @ Brooklyn Paramount
Fri, Aug 9 - Tirzah, Loraine James, Purelink @ Knockdown Center
Fri, Aug 9 - MomaPS1 Warm Up: Emma dj | Ash Lauryn | Tongue in the Mind| AVALON
Sat, Aug 10 - Juan Wauters @ Bowery Ballroom
Sat, Aug 10 - CCL (open to close) / Sister Zo + x3butterfly / gbd @ Public Records
Mon, Aug 12 - WILD NOTHING, PEEL DREAM MAGAZINE @ Elsewhere
Fri, Aug 16 - MomaPS1 Warm Up: Kode9 | Cashu | SoFTT
Sat, Aug 17 - King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard @ Forest Hills Stadium
Fri, Aug 23 - Pure Bathing Culture @ Union Pool
Mon, Aug 26 & Tue, Aug 27 - Childish Gambino, WILLOW @ Barclays Center
Tue, Aug 27 - Snail Mail / Tim Heidecker / Fenne Lily @Summerstage Central Park (FREE)
Sun, Sep 8 - Manchester Orchestra / Militarie Gun @ Starland Ballroom
Mon, Sep 9 - MARIKA HACKMAN, ART SCHOOL GIRLFRIEND @ Elsewhere
Tue, Sep 10/11 - St. Vincent / Yves Tumor @ Brooklyn Paramount
Tue, Sep 10 - The Beths @ Sony Hall
Thu, Sep 12 - MAVI @ Webster Hall
Sat, Sep 14 - JPEGMAFIA @ Terminal 5
Sun, Sep 15 - The Killers @ Forest Hills Stadium
Tue, Sep 17 - Perfume Genius @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
Fri, Sep 20 - Magdalena Bay @ Brooklyn Steel
Sat, Sep 21 - Special Interest @ Le Poisson Rouge
Sun, Sep 22 - Rapsody @ Bowery Ballroom
Mon, Sep 23 - Astrid Sonne + Christelle Bofale @ Public Records
Mon, Sep 23 - Luna Li @ Bowery Ballroom
Wed, Sep 25 - JOHN GLACIER, IFE RADIO, ANYSIA KYM @ Elsewhere
Wed, Sep 25 - NABIHAH IQBAL, SUGAR MILK @ Elsewhere
Sun, Sep 29 Mica Levi, Still House Plants, claire rousay @Knockdown Center Ruins
Playlists
quick plug for these regularly updated playlist
It would be amazing if you could share this newsletter with a friend that wants more live music in their life and comment what shows you’re most excited for this summer below.
Thx for reading!!!
- Aleksander