Bill's Northside Fest picks (Day 2)

by Bill Pearis

Iceage

Night two of the Northside Festival (6/17). Lots of good options. This is what I recommend.  Whole schedule is here.

Apart from the outdoor Beirut show, I think the only show that is gonna prove to be tough to get into (for badgeholders) is the Sacred Bones/Stereogum showcase tonight at Public Assembly, due mainly to it being the U.S. debut of Denmark quartet Iceage. Their sound is on the punkier side of post-punk, slashy and tense and not without melody. Their live shows, in Denmark at least, are intense. Mind you, this won’t be NYC-ers only chance to catch them.

The show is sold out so if you have a Northside badge you probably want to get there early. And of course Iceage are not the only reason to check out this show, and know if you like Iceage most of the bands should probably appeal to your sensibilities as well, even if you’re going in blind. The Men were apparently awesome the other night at DBA, slaying down some sludgy Dino Jr style punk; and Cult Of Youth are like the Birthday Party doing sea chantys (kind of?). There’s also Purient (Dom of Cold Cave), Pop. 1280 (anthemic indie rock w/ synth), Lost Tribe, Yellow Tears and Anasazi.

Selebrities

If you’re over that way and find yourself shut out of Public Assembly, you might want to amble on down to Music Hall of Williamsburg just to check out the scene. I don’t know a lot of the bands on the bill but I do like Selebrities who make New Order style pop. Their EP, Ladies Man Effect, is a free download over at their website and is worth doing so. Also playing MHoW are quality yelpy indie rockers Darlings, plus Like Diamonds, Rocky Buisness and Memberz Only.

Grooms

Other good options for friday: Kanine Records has, like, most of their bands playing at Knitting Factory tonight, including Surfer Blood who’ll also play the outdoor Guided by Voices show tomorrow. Also playing: Grooms, whose new album, Prom, is out next month; Eternal Summers who I think just keep getting better (and are pretty rockin’ as a trio now); indiepop combo Dream Diary, Pepper Rabbit (folk pop from L.A.) and the tribal sounds of Zambri.

Or you could go to Glasslands to see Frankie Rose which is likely to be her last show for a while as she’s gonna concentrate on making her second album for Slumberland. Her San Francisco pals and labelmates Brilliant Colors are also on the bill, who I like a lot too. There’s also Regal Degal whose Speckled Fruit EP is worth seeking out at the merch table, plus Sherlock’s Daughter (a band I thought only existed to open for canceled Charlatans shows).

What else? Woods will sound nice at St. Cecilia’s Church (after a set by Ed Askew).

I caught Aaron Pfenning’s (ex-Chairlift) new group Rewards a couple weeks ago and was impressed, they play Cameo tonight at 9:15.

You could also blow off Northside for what might be cool overload at Bed-Stuy’s Sugarhill Disco for Gavin Russom’s Crystal Ark.

And if you need some new tunes, my new Summer Fridays mix is up over at Sound Bites. Flyers below…