Brooklyn independent music venue Elsewhere has announced its Fall 2022 season lineup and fifth anniversary celebrations. Performances from September to November will include notable artists Sherelle, Ben Klock and Marcel Dettmann with Levon Vincent, VTSS, IC3PEAK, and Overmono (Live).
Elsewhere
Based in Bushwick, Brooklyn, Elsewhere is a multi-room live music venue, nightclub and arts space that celebrates creativity, diversity and multi-disciplinary artistic expression and experimentation. Founded on Halloween in 2017, Elsewhere have hosted thousands of artists, presented over 20,000 hours of live music, and staged over 600 events each year.
Elsewhere
“There’s a lot of uncertainty in the world right now, but we continue to see that our community strongly wants to be out and experiencing togetherness again. Emerging artists are cautiously and safely making up for two years being unable to tour, and Elsewhere was built to support them and be a cultural beacon for New Yorkers.”
Elsewhere went through the difficulties in pandemic period with continous performances and high attendance rates in 2022 summer season. Their belief of creating a space for all to experience live entertainment that’s reflective of their personal experiences attributed to the venue’s success. In recent months has cooperated with Ray Ban, Brooklyn Magazine and more, connecting its partners with emerging culture.
“It’s all about supporting emerging culture and the best of what’s next. We’ve seen that it will always resonate with people. With the support of our community, we’re already back to pre-pandemic levels of attendance and energy, which is the right way to ring in Elsewhere’s five-year anniversary this October.”
Rosenthal
On October 31, 2022, Elsewhere will celebrate its fifth anniversary as Brooklyn’s leading independent music venue with full details on the anniversary celebrations forthcoming.
2022 Fall Events
Fri, 9/2: Dâm-Funk + Satin Jackets Thu, 9/8: Grace Ives Fri, 9/9: Bad Gyal Fri, 9/9: Darude Sat, 9/10: VNSSA Sat, 9/10: Pangea Fri, 9/16: Sherelle Fri, 9/16: Laylit – 4 Year Sat, 9/17: Olan Tue, 9/20: Tim Hecker Fri, 9/20 + Sat 9/21: Neil Frances Thu, 9/22: Girlpool Fri, 9/23: Ben Klock with Marcel Dettmann and Levon Vincent Sat, 9/24: Omar S Sat, 9/24: LSDXOXO Sun, 9/25: Lindstrøm Tue, 9/27: Cochise Fri, 9/30: Ata Kak Fri, 9/30: Elkka Fri, 9/30: VTSS
Sat, 10/1: I. Jordan Sat, 10/1: Hayden James / Rohaan Sun, 10/2: Tortoise Wed, 10/5: Divino Niño + Little Jesus Thu, 10/6: Trentmøller Fri, 10/7: Township Rebellion / Qrion Sat, 10/8: The Avalanches (DJ Set) Wed, 10/12: Sudan Archives Thu, 10/13: Mildlife Fri, 10/14: IC3PEAK Tue, 10/18: SLIFT Wed, 10/19: Eloise Fri, 10/21: Overmono (Live) Sun, 10/23: Sloppy Jane Thu, 10/27: Mezerg Mon, 10/31: #EL5EWHERE: 5th Anniversary Celebration
National Sawdust announced its Fall 2022 season, bringing worldwide artists to Williamsburg, Brooklyn to share ambitious new explorations in music and performances. The works comprising the season emerge from an America and a world experiencing intersecting crises and urgent calls for change—and respond with themes of healing, metamorphosis, activism, and hope.
National Sawdust
National Sawdust is a nonprofit music producer and venue in Brooklyn founded in 2015 by composer Paola Prestini and attorney Kevin Dolan. With its belief of being an innovative leader in changing the landscape of contemporary music, by bringing all voices to the stage and beyond — artistic representation that reflects the ever-evolving multicultural society in which we live, National Sawdust engages worldwide artists in a wonderful art ecosystem in Williamsburg venue.
JOJO ABOT and esperanza spalding: A GOD OF HER OWN MAKING – September 23 & 24
A GOD OF HER OWN MAKING is a new spiritual and experiential opera of immersive soundscapes and visuals, in which the human vessel serves as a primary instrument and conduit for sound as a healing pathway to the divine. Created, directed, and composed by 2018 Artist-in-Residence artist Jojo Abot,A GOD OF HER OWN MAKING builds on JOJO ABOT’s exploration of spirituality, and incorporates spalding’s lineages and practices of restorative music.
Emily Wells – September 29
Emily Wells
For her third appearance on the National Sawdust stage, composer, producer, and video artist Emily Wells and her band (bassist Dandy McDowell, drummer Addie Vogt, and multi-instrumentalist Alec Spiegelman) will perform work from her 2022 album Regards to the End, Centering the Stories of Artists Behind Early AIDS Activism.
Xavier Foley – October 16
Xavier Foley
Virtuosic Double Bassist Xavier Foley will co-presented with the Sphinx Organization. This performance is one of a series reflecting both National Sawdust and Sphinx’s commitment to empowering diverse voices that are reshaping the landscape of western classical music.
Jean-Michel Blais – October 18
Jean-Michel Blais is a Montreal-based pianist-composer-performer. His debut opus, Il, was written after two years of daily improvisation, recorded with a Zoom H4n in his apartment. It ranked among the Top 10 best albums in Time Magazine.
Niloufar Nourbakhsh’s ‘We, The Innumerable’ – October 21
A Concert of Niloufar Nourbakhsh’s Opera We the Innumerable, Tracing an Iranian Woman’s Heroic Journey After Her Life Is Besieged by State Violence, Co-Presented with the Center for Contemporary Opera.
Ichiko Aoba – October 26
This performance will be the New York debut of Japanese folk musician Ichiko Aoba. She will perform music from her latest album, Windswept Adan, presented by AdHoc.
Ichiko Aoba
Nathan Schram with Special Guests Attacca Quartet, Becca Stevens, & Caroline Shaw – October 29
GRAMMY Award-winning composer and violist for Attacca Quartet Nathan Schram will premiere his new album Nearsided, which released on July 29th, in this multimedia performance. Schram’s latest album tested the power of exploration and the possibilities of what can be created in the studio and on-stage. Nathan Schram and his special guests–Attacca Quartet, Becca Stevens, Caroline Shaw, and more–are prepared for the world premiere of Nearsided in this album release show.
AdHoc Presents: Colin Stetson & Elori Saxl – November 3
Horn player Colin Stetson will co-present with American experimental electronic composer Elori Saxl on November 3rd. Stetson has an utterly unique voice as a soloist, principally on saxophones and clarinets, as well as a songwriter. Elori Saxl released her debut album The Blue of Distance in 2021 which elegantly combined digitally-processed recordings of wind and water with the rich sounds of analog synthesizers and chamber orchestra.
Ami Dang with Opener Roshni Samlal – November 10
South Asian-American vocalist, sitarist, composer, and producer Amrita “Ami” Kaur Dang will bring her experimental ambient music. It referred to her first-generation Sikh-American experience while combined elements of North Indian classical music with noise, dance, and psych music.
PUBLIQuartet “What is American” – November 11
2018-2019 Artists-in-Residence PUBLIQuartet, presented with Sphinx, will perform work from their latest album What Is American, a Call to Ponder the Kaleidoscope of Diverse Genres, which originating in black and Indigenous music.
Michela Marino Lerman and Her Band Love Movement – November 18
Tap dancer and choreographer Michela Marino Lerman and her band Love Movement will present a multidisciplinary musical experience inspired by Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Levels of Love” speech. This will be an evening of dance, music, and therapeutic release.
Margaret Leng Tan – December 3
Renowned Avant-garde pianist Margaret Leng Tan, known as the “Queen of the toy piano” and “the world’s premier string piano virtuoso,” will present a program honoring the late American composer George Crumb and his late wife Elizabeth May Brown.
Sofiane Pamart – December 5
French pianist Sofiane Pamart, a.k.a. ‘Piano King,’ has made a name for himself by bridging the traditionalist western classical world and the always-innovating realm of hip-hop. Pamart’s collaborations with rappers like Koba LaD, Vald, Joey Starr, and more have helped piano music shed its staid facade and become more accessible to new listeners. Pamart delivers performances that are visually and technically stunning, and his film-inspired aesthetic has led to partnerships with fashion houses like Yves Saint Laurent and Dior Hommes. A classically-trained pianist with a rapper’s flair for storytelling, Pamart aims to bring people together through the emotional vibrancy of his piano compositions. For his only East Coast tour stop, Sofiane Pamart will take piano music into the future with a mix of western classical works and his own hip-hop-classical fusions.
Juilliard Blueprint Bridge Fellowship Concert – December 11
The Blueprint Bridge Fellowship partner with The Juilliard School, is an annual National Sawdust mentorship. The 2022 winning composers – alumni composers Eugene Astapov, and Lingbo Ma, and current student composers Nicole Balsirow, Aidan Gold, and Sia Uhm – were commissioned to a dream work that the National Sawdust Ensemble will workshop and perform at National Sawdust.
Matt McBane and Sandbox Percussion – December 16
Chamber quartet Sandbox Percussion will perform composer and violinist Matt McBane’s Bathymetry in its entirety in this celebratory album release concert featuring an opening set by Matt McBane. Bathymetry will be out on October 22, 2022 via Cantaloupe Music.
On Friday, July 29, indie and alternative R&B artist Charlie Burg released his newest single, “Ohh! Sumthin’ New” from his upcoming debut album, Infinitely Tall, out on August 19.
Photo credit: Dannah Gottlieb
The artist was born in Detroit, Michigan but previously studied at Syracuse University’s Setnor School of Music, and is now based out of Brooklyn. His upcoming album, Infinitely Tall, takes place across three spaces: Burg’s childhood home in Detroit, his beloved college house in Syracuse, and finally his experiences in NYC.
In the single, “Ohh! Sumthin’ New,” Burg explores the story of a character yearning for fresh and authentic experiences. With upbeat instrumentation and lyrics which critically examine the world around him, the track entices while simultaneously offering deeper meaning.
Of the track, Burg shares that it “celebrates and laments the rootlessness of youth … the world of social media makes the protagonist feel like a poser and a fraud, mostly because of how much they subscribe to and partake in its evils. The protagonist desperately wants a change of pace, which is ironic in the face of their desire for solid ground to stand on.”
Painting: Charlie Burg / Editing: Corinne Ferman
With soft vocals and acoustic guitar suddenly transformed by the sounds of electric guitar,”Ohh! Sumthin’ New” takes listeners through a whirlwind. Burg incorporates unexpected backing vocals, sounds, and lyrics to keep you guessing and embodies the phrase “a change of pace.”
Burg’s previous releases, including “Channel Orange in Your Living Room” and “I Don’t Wanna Be Okay Without You,” garnered him much attention, but his upcoming release marks a new shift in sound and ambition for the artist. The young 25-year-old expands on his previous works and leaves nothing behind in this new record.
Burg will hit the road this fall across the EU, UK, and North America in support of the upcoming release from September through November. Get tickets now via charlieburg.world. To see the complete list of U.S. tour dates, see below.
On Wednesday, July 20, St. Ann’s Warehouse in Brooklyn began its summer series, Get Back! Summer Concerts 2022, which will continue every Wednesday through August 10 beginning at 7:00 pm.
Get Back! Summer Concerts began in 2020 during the pandemic, and took inspiration from the Beatles’ 1969 rock event. The series aimed to provide and surprise people with live music and entertainment as they strolled through Brooklyn Bridge Park. Due to popular demand, the concerts have continued at St. Ann’s Warehouse.
Empire Fulton Ferry Lawn provides the perfect scene for free live performances which include a wide array of talent and entertainment. The opening concert brought Nigerian-born, New York- and Los Angeles-based multidisciplinary sound artist, saxophonist, DJ, composer, and producer Eli Fola. Fola is a fan favorite and returns to the lineup after performing at Get Back! In 2020 and 2021.
Two acts, the Queens-based band duendita, and DJ nicole misha, will take the stage for the night of July 27. duendita is a collaborative multi-medium project made with family and friends while nicole misha provides audiences with sets that span across categories.
Melanie Charles with Zacchae’us Paul will bring the concert series into August on the 3rd. Audiences can expect jazz, soul, experimental, and roots music with Charles’ unique style and commitment to exploration. Atlanta-native Zacchae’us Paul’s original music takes inspiration from Marvin Gaye, and The Black Panther Party, and is sure to be a crowd-pleaser.
To close out the 2022 season of Get Back!, the program, Ode to the Black Fiddler, will showcase multiple professional string performers of color. These artists include dancer, vocalist, and violinist La Lulu; violinist Lee England Jr.; and immersive sounds by DJ Sunny Cheeba.
One of the major highlights of producing these outdoor concerts with St. Ann’s Warehouse has been observing how free access to the arts naturally creates diverse spaces for different communities to come together—especially youth—and find sparks of joy, express themselves, and be present.
– Curator Khadijat Oseni
Be sure to check out the concert series as you wrap up the summer! More information about the most up-to-date schedule and inclement weather announcements can be found on the St. Ann’s Warehouse website, here.
‘New NYC supergroup, Fantastic Cat, are a new instrument-swapping rock/alt-country/folk band made of singer/songwriters Anthony D’Amato, Brian Dunne, Don DiLego, and Mike Montali. Their debut album The Very Best Of Fantastic Cat just came out on July 29. Likewise, they’ll also be celebrating at NYC’s Bowery Ballroom with an album release show the same day.
So far, their newest record has been praised by Atwood Magazine, No Depression,The Boot, Bluegrass Situationand more; the singles have been added to multiple 1M+ Spotify playlists including Fresh Finds and All New Indie. The band also have a CBS Saturday session confirmed for the end of July which will air in early/mid-August.
The first single, “C’mon Armageddon”, is an incredible A24-style music video featuring Marc Geller who plays Kier Egan on the hit AppleTV show Severance. Along with this, the music video for the single “The Gig” shows the band playing a gig on The Staten Island Ferry after being told by their sleazebag manager he booked the band on “one of those concert cruises that are all the rage.”
Captured in the wilds of the Pocono Mountains, the album shifts between genres and different decades of music. By mixing electrified 60’s folk and 70’s AM radio gold with 80’s heartland rock and 90’s alt-country, it encompasses a raw feel of longtime friends making music for the sheer joy of it.
“Their music is at once fun, freewheeling, achingly intimate, and beautifully honest. They can joke about themselves and the state of things while tapping into deeply meaningful and relatable emotions… Fantastic Cat’s songs are a reminder that, even in our darkest moments, we can find a little light and love to hold onto.”
Along with the great music the band produces, they have a very fun and humorous vibe in all their videos and photos. Particularly, the photos and videos where they wear the giant cut out cat heads. Fantastic Cat has impressively made its way into the spotlight collectively. Through the four transcend their respective roots, they have emerged as an instrument-swapping, harmony-trading, tear-jerking, wise-cracking rock and roll cooperative far greater than the sum of its parts.
On September 10 and 11, AFROPUNK Festival returns with headliners The Roots and Burna Boy. This fall homecoming marks the first time the fest has come back to Brooklyn since 2019.
AFROPUNK began as a single-day event in Brooklyn in 2004 before evolving into a worldwide phenomenon. This year’s lineup brings some of the most exciting artists to Commodore Barry Park for two days of celebration.
The legendary hip-hop band The Roots will headline night one. Their expansive set will cover decades of the bands’ music as they celebrate 30 years together. On the night of the 11th, Burna Boy will close the festival and promote his upcoming album Love, Damini.
Other performers include TDE rhymer Isaiah Rashad, Lucky Daye, Freddie Gibbs, Tierra Whack, Earl Sweatshirt, and many more. AFROPUNK also welcomes Brooklyn-based artists to the lineup, including rapper Rodney Chrome, R&B artist Alex Mali, and hip-hop artist Talia Goddess.
AFROPUNK aims to highlight the diverse talent and depth of the Brooklyn Black music community. Audiences can expect performances from various genres and origins including rock, R&B, AfroBeats, and more.
The festival offers more entertainment than just a place to enjoy live music. Attendees will be able to peruse local foods from NYC chefs and food trucks at AFROPUNK’s Bites ‘n Beats. The Spinthrift Market will also operate, providing event goers with makers and curators from the area.
After hosting festivals around the world, including Miami, Atlanta, Bahia, and Johannesburg, AFROPUNK’s long-awaited return to Brooklyn is sure to be one to remember. More additions to the lineup, as well as more entertainment with added activations, are set to be announced. Stay tuned with the festival on Instagram here, and visit their website for tickets, here.
From October 6 to 8, Kings Theatre in Brooklyn will host the national R.E.S.P.E.C.T. tour, which celebrates the iconic Aretha Franklin and brings the ultimate concert experience.
After a national search for the perfect cast, the performers were recently finalized. Brooklyn native Trejah Bostic will lead the band, and vocalists Meghan Dawson, Nattalyee Randall, and Ashton Weeks will also act as hosts. Directed by Broadway’s Christina Sajous (Spongebob Squarepants, Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark), the show follows the life of Aretha Franklin using her biggest hits to tell her impressive story.
I am super excited to be a part of this amazing cast and I’m looking forward to going on this journey and experiencing all the beautiful audiences that we will come to meet.
-Trejah Bostic, Lead Singer
Audiences at the Kings Theatre can expect to hear fan favorites such as “Natural Woman,” “Think,” “I Knew You Were Waiting for Me,” “Chain of Fools,” and many more to celebrate the Queen of Soul. The soundtrack, with musical direction from Darnell White, explores the human condition intertwined with the timeless music from Franklin.
The Kings Theatre in Brooklyn recently reopened in 2015 and provides the perfect venue for large-scale entertainment such as the R.E.S.P.E.C.T. tour, with over 3,000 seats available. The architecture was inspired by the French Renaissance Revival style of the Palace of Versailles and the Paris Opera House – making it a beautiful addition and atmosphere for any entertainment.
All shows from October 6 through 8 will begin promptly at 8:00 pm and tickets range from $35 – $75. For tickets and more information about the R.E.S.P.E.C.T. tour, visit the Kings Theatre website, here.
Brooklyn‘s Wilder Maker have just released two of their latest singles, “Static” (ft. V.V. Lightbody) and “Against Numbers” (ft. Katie Von Schleicher). The band is also preparing to release their latest album Male Models on July 29, the album tells tales of unrequited love, drunkenness, and desperation, and more.
Following up on previous singles “A Professional” and “Letter of Apology,” “Static” is the third track from their upcoming album. Gabriel Birnbaum says, “it touches on how violence in our culture tends to simmer under the surface in subtle ways that we overlook until they explode into something really horrific. It’s loosely inspired by a friend I had who used to get drunk and bait people into fights that he meant to lose. It features my friend V.V. Lightbody on vocals, an amazing singer and multi-instrumentalist from Chicago whose solo work I’m a huge fan of.”
Photo credit: Ebru Yildiz
We all listen to playlists a lot, even us album diehards. I’ve been keeping an ever-expanding playlist of songs that I never want to skip, with all of these different voices back to back. I wanted to make a record that sounded like a playlist in this way; it became a kind of songwriting challenge for me.
– Gabriel Birnbaum
Male Models can be described as Birnbaum’s tales of unrequited love, drunkenness, and desperation. The album feels almost voyeuristic, as if you were sitting in a crowded cocktail bar, sneaking glances at nearby tables.
Wilder Maker features a dynamic roster of musicians that includes singer-songwriter Gabriel Birnbaum, Nick Jost and Sean Mullins as the core trio. Male Models also features guest lead vocal spots from Adam Duritz (of Counting Crows fame), Katie Von Schleicher, Felicia Douglass (Dirty Projectors, Ava Luna), Alex Schaaf (Yellow Ostrich), V.V. Lightbody, and Mutual Benefit.
Male Models succeeds in truly capturing the energy of a crowded party and its accompanying playlist. Musically, it also changes shape constantly. The album has an electrified soul, featuring heartfelt folk songs, indie rock, and searing barn burners, all of which are expertly tethered by Birnbaum’s sardonic and doom-laden storytelling.
On June 3, Brooklyn-based emo band, Stay Inside, released their newest work and 5-track EP, Blight, via No Sleep Records.
Stay Inside consists of Bryn Nieboer (vocals/bass), Chris Johns (guitar/backing vocals), Chris Lawless (guitar/backing vocals), and Vishnu Anantha on drums. Blight is the band’s newest release since their critically acclaimed 2020 album, Viewing.
Jon Markson of Drug Church and Koyo returns on production for the Blight EP which showcases a more intense side of the emo Brooklyn band. Although only totaling five songs, the lyrics and carefully executed instrumentation put the release on a caliber of its own.
The opening track, “Eraser,” starts slowly, with an emotional rhythm and vocals to draw you in before an intense build with drums and guitar. “Hollow,” plays with a unique beat and engaging message, with the lyrics “so I just sit there with my arms wide / I think I used up all my good lies / Oh god you started losing everything before you try to tell yourself to stop.” The EP was written while NYC was experiencing intense lockdown, and it fully represents the extreme feelings of the time.
Other tracks, such as “Fracture” and “Spore” are great additions to the EP, bringing even more depth and experimentation to the work with addictive drums and melodies. Stay Inside is surely growing and expanding with this most recent EP, Blight.
This summer, the post-hardcore band perform at the Saint Vitus Bar in Brooklyn on July 22. Be sure to keep up with the band on Instagram here and Twitter here, and take a listen to some more of their music, available below.
On July 1, Dogwood Last, Fysics, and Rose Porn – three acts from the Brooklyn area – released their single “Straws” on July 1 via Dogwood Last, Fysics, and Rose Porn
The single was written and produced remotely over the last 12 months and combines the aesthetics of all three Brooklyn acts’ sounds. Dealing with some serious topics such as depression, a lost love, and more, the single combines a feel-good groove with hard-hitting lyricism.
Kory Burrell, a member of the band Dogwood Last, developed “Straws” with signature drum programs and synthesizers as Zach Rosenberg of Rose Porn worked on the production. The outstanding lyrics and many of the vocals come from Josef Lamberti, of the band Fysics.
Long before the groups worked on “Straws,” they were friends first and foremost. Of the track, the group shares, “We spent over a year crafting this song and the production, knowing we were getting at something greater than the sum of our parts. It was the dream quarantine collaboration.”
And a dream quarantine collaboration it was. The “Straws” single will surely draw the attention of fans of popular artists such as Frank Ocean, Jim-E Stack, and Dijon. With a calming opening mixing in tech beats and warped vocals, the song continues to develop into a track meant for indie-pop playlists and your next emotional summer drive.
Fysics
We feel like it’s the summer bangerLil Peep would have made if he were a successful liberal arts undergrad.
– Dogwood Last, Rose Porn, and Fysics on “Straws”
If you are interested in hearing more of this music live, on stage, and right in the moment, catch one of the three acts off of the “Straws” single, Dogwood Last, on August 19 at Pete’s Candy Store in Brooklyn. To hear more music from some of these talents, see below.
