It Came from Brooklyn
Guggenheim Museum – New York
10/30/09
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Don’t miss this month’s concert at the Guggenheim as experimental outfit Yeasayer will perform their psychedelic 3D light show within the museum rotunda walls. A limited amount of 3D glasses will be handed out for this rare performance of light and music. Brooklyn’s Tanlines will also perform in support of the band, along with readings by fiction writer Rachel Sherman, whose work has been published in McSweeney’s and n+1. Comedian Max Silvestri will host the night’s events. Concertgoers will also be able to access selections from the ongoing Kandinsky exhibit.

Yeasayer is a Brooklyn band that defies classification and mixes genres to create both live and in-studio “communal ecstatic revelry, jovial chaos,” according to band member Chris Keating. Formed in 2006, the band is influenced by Bollywood soundtracks, Thomas Mapfumo, Sacred Harp singing, and Celtic music. Like the band Animal Collective, Yeasayer developed an effortlessly enigmatic sound by masterfully blending four-part harmony and tribal rhythms with big hooks and melodramatic vocal workouts. With no advertising and no marketing budget, the quartet was able to sell well over 60,000 copies of its extraordinary debut LP, All Hour Cymbals, on the strength of its performance alone. Yeasayer has toured with MGMT, Man Man, Beck, and Bat for Lashes, completed its own sold-out headlining tour across the country, and brought its often genre-bending and psychedelic concert experience to a range of music festivals. Currently, with the help of engineer friends, Yeasayer is building a studio in upstate New York in which to record its second album.

Tanlines is an experimental pop duo based in Brooklyn and comprised of Eric Emm and Jesse Cohen. Blurring the line between producers and band members, Tanlines is equally influenced by the overproduced, studio pop music of the 1980s and 90s and underground music cultures from around the world. Tanlines blends these styles against a backdrop of pulsating psychedelic rhythms, hypnotic guitar lines, and bold melodies to form what sounds like pop music from a country that doesn’t actually exist. The band’s first proper release came in December 2008 with the euphoric 12-inch “New Flowers” on Young Turks/XL, and was followed by the low-key, but bongo-heavy jam “Bejan,” released as part of the influential French compilation series Kitsuné Maison. Tanlines is known for its YouTube channel, where the band regularly posts original tracks and remixes accompanied by self-made videos, creating a bizarre and playful visual experience of its music.

Rachel Sherman’s novel Living Room will be published this month by Open City Books. She holds an MFA in fiction from Columbia University. Her short stories have appeared in McSweeney’s, Fence, Open City,Conjunctions, and n+1, among other publications. Her first book, The First Hurt, was short-listed for the Story Prize and the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award, and was named one of the 25 Books to Remember in 2006 by the New York Public Library. She teaches writing at Rutgers and Columbia University. From getting her gallbladder attack diagnosed at Methodist Hospital to meeting her future husband in Fort Greene Park, Sherman has experienced most of her adult milestones in Brooklyn, where she has lived for the past ten years. Currently she resides in Ditmas Park.

Max Silvestri is a comedian, writer, and actor living in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. New York magazine recently named him one of the Ten Comedians People Find Funny, which means at least one person who works at a magazine thinks he is funny. For a long time he hosted a popular video podcast for VH1 called Best Night Ever, which was big with high-school students and still gets him lots of unsettling Facebook requests. He writes weekly about how much he loves eating and drinking in New York for the Onion’s AV Club NY column and also takes writing about Top Chef for the Web site Eater too seriously. He’s also written for Gawker, the Huffington Post, and other Web sites. Along with Gabriel Delahaye, he makes videos as Gabe & Max for places like Details.com. Max has been in some TV commercials. He cohosts Big Terrific, Time Out New York’s Best New Variety Show, every Wednesday in Williamsburg alongside Gabe Liedman andSaturday Night Live’s Jenny Slate. Also, he once hosted a comedy show at MoMA, so he thinks he really gets museum audiences.

All proceeds support the series and the Guggenheim’s exhibitions and programs. Online ticket sales close at 6 pm on Oct 30. Tickets may be available at the door if space allows.

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It Came from Brooklyn Concert Series

via EM Staff, 26 October 2009 9:17am | |