Music and food are the central elements of any great party and Backyard Brunch Sessions brings you both. BBS began as a music industry supper club hosted by SoundCtrl blog editor, David Chaitt, and evolved into the food and music showcase that takes place in his Williamburg backyard today. Teaming up with NYC Taper and West Egg Productions, Chaitt produces ten-minute video shorts, part cooking show part music video, in which he and the band cook brunch for their backyard audience before the performance. For this innovative series, Chaitt asks acts to play an acoustic set which, in many instances, challenges musicians to re-imagine their songs. Even if you’ve heard the bands before, BBS captures them in a new light. Chaitt is now bringing back some of his favorite Backyard acts with their usual instrumentation for a showcase at Brooklyn Bowl on November 8. The night, aptly named Brunch After Dark, will feature Oh Land, The Canon Logic, Fatty Acid, ARMS and The Courtesy Tier. Look up the previous BBS episodes on the Youtube Channel and catch them at Brooklyn Bowl on November 8th, doors open at 6:30. – Jenny Luczak
Brooklyn based, No Sleep Records signees Atlantic/Pacific formed in 2008 and feature Garrett Klahn of Texas is the Reason and John Herguth of House & Parish. The band played at the Bell House in Gowanus Brooklyn this past Friday celebrating the release of their first album, Meet Your New Love, and in true promotional indie work ethic played 10 songs entirely off the new record. The sound of their music loosely fits within the all encompassing genre of Indie but has inflections of acoustic folk as well. It is sentimental rock with unpolished instrumentals and crooning vocals. The band’s influences range from Fleet Foxes to The Smiths. Ian Love of Rival Schools contributes guest instrumentation as well as production to the project and recorded the album at his Brooklyn Love Studios. Atlantic/Pacific has performed in New York and Europe, and in the fall of 2009 they self-released an EP called Autumn Edition Volume 1, which led them to start work on their full-length debut. This fall band is going on their first American tour across the United States. – Alex Borsody
The first image of Nocturne is two snowflakes adrift on the ocean under moonlight, to indirectly quote singer Jon Barthmus. The image of the lone snowflakes is vast while the glow of the moonlight reflected off the water can actually be heard and felt as warmth within this album. The moon orbits these songs with ever-present waves of angelic undertones and glistening chirps of percussion.
The album opens with the distant and dreamy “Infinity”, which builds into a gossamer mural of sound depicting the snowflakes on the ocean. The album flows effortlessly from song to song, picking up speed on “American West”, a song that sounds as if Julian Cassablancas’ electronic experimentation happened while with The Strokes instead of solo.
The highpoint of the album is centered around the interrelated songs “Oh, Naoko” and “Waiting On You” that are both based on the book “Norwegian Wood” by Japanese author Haruki Murakami. The novel has an air of nostalgia that captures a tragic love story involving the “beautiful yet emotionally troubled” Naoko. These songs again manage to evoke emotional complexity by utilizing delicate, bouncing percussion, ethereal melodic atmosphere and declaratory narration by Barthmus. While Nocturne of Exploded Crystal Chandelier manages to retain a comforting feeling throughout, there are songs that distinguish themselves and prevent the record from bleeding together. This is the case with the bombastic “Shared Piano”that is built on a frantic, staccato piano sample and ebbing vocal clip. The lyrics are witty and imagistic and the music is reminiscent of a more sprawling M83. The album comes to a somewhat cacophonous close with “Five Years” which grows into a collage of motifs before drifting away into silence.
Nocturne of Exploded Crystal Chandelier succeeds in its balance. The emotion pulls at heartstrings but never overwhelms with sentimentality. The beautifully constructed melodies avoid pop clichés by wrapping themselves in intricate sonic blankets. Sun Airway created an extremely focused album that harnesses a tranquil harmony of lush atmosphere and directed song crafting. The album delivers and shows more than a bit of promise for this young project. I expect them to be spending plenty of time in the skies in the near future. You can purchase Nocturne of Exploded Crystal Chandelier by Sun Airway via Dead Oceans here. – Adam G.
