Gregory R. Cristman

members of My Morning Jacket, Yuck, Hospitality & more joined forces for Rock Lottery 3 (pics, streams)

December 4, 2012

Gregory R. Cristman

photos by Greg Cristman; words by Bill Pearis

Jeff Goldbloom / fish. @ Brooklyn Rock Lottery 3

Fish

The third annual Brooklyn Rock Lottery happened at Knitting Factory on Saturday (12/1). Musicians of varying styles and ages met at 10 AM and put their names in a hat and the five drummers picked their bandmates at random out of it. They then spent the day coming up with a name, writing original songs and practicing and made their stage debut that night. Proceeds from tickets and merch went to Hurricane Sandy relief. It was a lot of fun.

Even though the members were chosen at random, it seemed like the bands formed kind of naturally and had a cohesive sound. First up for the night was Jazz Karate, which featured Kenny Bernard (Ra Ra Riot), Franz Nicolay (ex Hold Steady / Against Me!), Pamela Martinez (Teletextile), Matt Singer, and Tom Blankenship (My Morning Jacket). With a harp and an accordion onstage, their music veered towards gypsy jazz and included a song about Tony Danza.

Next was Jeff Goldbloom whose members were Lua Rios (Gold Lake), Nick Sylvester (Mr. Dream), Noah Kardos-Fein (YVETTE), and Craig Lulada Pfunder (VHS or Beta). With a distinct sound — heavy, shoegazy guitar epic-ry — they were definitely the one group of the night that I’d actually want to see again. Good!

Then came the band I was most looking forward to, that had Yuck drummer Jonny Rogoff, Hospitality bassist Brian Betancourt, and Spanish Prisoners main man Leo Maymind, not to mention Dave Harrington from Nicholas Jaar’s band and Gang Signs’ Bryan Quackenbush. I was expecting melodic pop, but their name — fish. — shoulda been a giveaway. They played one 12-minute “jazz odyssey” type jam that showed just how good their collective musicianship was, but this has never been my thing.

Hardcore Lørd were next and it was almost entirely electronic, with tons of gear and lots of wires onstage. The band was Oliver Chapoy (Certain Creatures / ex Warm Ghost), Michael Sheffield (Sweet Bulbs / Heaven’s Gate), Sara Lucas (Callers), and Christopher Puidokas (who toured with Blonde Redhead / The Silent Years). They took forever to set up but were probably my second favorite of the night, warm and ethereal.

The last band of the night was Nylon Guy and easily the most odds-n-sods, with Tyler Villard (Bezoar), Ian Young (touring saxophonist of M83), George Langford (Javelin), Jen Goma (People Get Ready / Sunny Day in Glasgow), and David Sheinkopf (The Subjects). No concessions were made to have a cohesive sound and everybody got to do their thing — Villard doing a lot of hammer-on soloing, and Young smnoothing things out with his horn, and everyone else just kind of filling in the gaps. They did do a decent cover of Bruce Springsteen’s “Dancing in the Dark,” though.

ANIMAL New York were there too and got straight-off-the-board recordings of everybody except Nylon Guy. Check out streams of the other bands, as well as more pics from Brooklyn Rock Lottery 3, below.

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