North Side Fest (NSF) pretty much made Williamsburg and Greenpoint explode this past weekend.  If I hadn’t already been aware of all of the happenings I would be asking questions like “Why the fuck is there a large group of people standing at Meserole and Banker wondering how the hell of get back to Bedford?”  But instead I was giving these people directions.

My NSF experience started by picking up a badge next to MHOW, and taking in the Heineken lounge (for bands, press, badge holders, ect) where gift bags and what not were being given away.  It wasn’t really the type of place I would like to lounge, but then again if I didn’t live in Greenpoint I probably would have found it to be a nice little stop during my days of music. And there was free beer.

After that I headed over to The Cameo to catch Ducktails and Julianna Barwick.  The Cameo is in the back of the Loving Cup Cafe…it is one of these random NYC spaces where it feels like you are walking into a secret club because you have to walk all the way though the cafe, past the bathrooms, and into a large room with a very high ceiling.  The room was black, cold, and had a crazy piece of art hanging above the stage.

Ducktails was as good as I thought he would be, and played for roughly 40 minutes.  A nice set of tropical noise to start the weekend.  While watching Matt Mondanile I realized that he basically plays in the same manner as many harsh noise acts I have seen…lots of pedals, electronics, etc.  Really pretty amazing.  I’m just glad that it was Ducktails rather than someone like Sickness (I have to be in the mood for that).  Also confirmed that the LP is not totally sold out yet, because he had them for sale.

It was actually a really great experience to see him play in such a cold room since his music gives me warm feelings inside.  Sensory overload.

Julianna Barwick followed Ducktails, and while being enjoyable I think that her music is something that I prefer to listen to on recording.  We stayed for half the set then headed to our next show.

(for mp3s of Ducktails and Barwick click here.)

Next up was Marnie Stern and Magic Markers…I’m not going to recap this, because I already did…if you want to know how this turned out click here for my post from last week.  Not fun…that about sums it up.

This was a slow start to the festival.  Only catching two bands on the first day…it picked up though.  Day 2 recap to come soon.

A while back I wrote about Ducktails‘ self titled release on Not Not Fun records, and since then it has arrived at my house.  Not Not Funs’ mail order department is full of great people, who often fill you packages with fun surprises.  Along with my Ducktails LP I got another CD that the label released, and a big wad of string.  I didn’t have much use for the string, but the kitty destroyed it with in minutes…it was lots of fun for her.

This Ducktails record has been the perfect soundtrack to these warm spring and summer afternoons giving me a mini tropical psychedelic vacation with every listen.  It is really amazing the places that Matt Mondanile can take you with his music.  If you haven’t checked out Ducktails’ new LP I highly recommend it:

[mp3] Ducktails- “Beach Point Pleasant” (Buy it from Not Not Fun!) (mp3 via MBV)

Ducktails- “Landrunner” Video

This Thursday marks the beginning of North Side Festival, and what better way to kick it off than seeing  Ducktails play at the The Cameo Gallery.  The Cameo Gallery is the new music venue in Williamsburg located in the back of the Loving Cup Cafe.

Julianna Barwick will be playing directly after Ducktails, and I have been hearing great things about her from McG.

I am pretty unfamiliar with Barwick’s work, but while clicking a little bit I came across her extremely (edit) not-so-recent Day Trotter Session, and I have to say on my initial listens I am pretty impressed:

[mp3] Julianna Barwick- “You Were Waiting” (Currently unreleased)

[mp3] Julianna Barwick-”You Catcher” (Currently unreleased)

Listen to more of Julianna Barwick’s Day Trotter Session here. (Buy her other releases here.)

Barwick has a beautiful voice, and if these tracks are any indication of her live show I expect it to be very enjoyable.  Her vein of spacey atmospheric pop seems to be right up my alley, and should be a perfect follow up to Ducktails.

This North Side Festival Showcase is this Thursday June 11th (currated by Men&Women):

S.S.P.S. (Porkchop from Excepter) @ midnight

Men & Women @ 11pm

Julianna Barwick @ 10pm

Ducktails @ 9pm

Cameo Gallery

Doors at 8pm

$5 cover (or if you have a badge)

Ducktails and Julianna Barwick are the openers so get there early!

Ducktails photo via Impose  Magazine