By Maria Gotay
Last Sunday welcomed the opening of our borough’s newest flea market, the Brooklyn Night Bazaar, also known as the Dekalb Market. The event ran from 5 pm until around midnight and was a huge hit- at times the space was so crowded it was impossible to move!
The Night Bazaar is an extra special add-on to the market, which had already been around, with the addition of 30+ new new businesses. Now the shipping-yard-turned-market features over 50 stores and food places inhabiting the old metal shipping containers. The space looks spiffy and trendy, with the (actually) vintage feel that the old metal housing provides to the stores. The light installations, by Jason Kruger, were also a nice touch as the sunset faded.
Many different shops have done wonderfully creative things with their allotted space- from light installations to unique paint designs and all-glass fronts. The night was made even better by the special performances of two bands I’m crazy about- Portland’s YACHT and Brooklyn’s own Monogold.
Not to gush, but Monogold is really one of the best bands around Brooklyn. I’ve been spinning their LP The Softest Glow since its release in January and haven’t tired of it yet! To listen is to fall into a cathartic, emotional listening experience. They blend melodic, fall-off-the-bone tender vocals with organic rhythms. I guess the best way to describe their sound is precise- each song perfectly proportioned with intent, not one tangent goes so far as to lose its emotional power. Their sound tends to be minimalist, but it’s never undercooked. It was great to see them performing again, especially with the support of a hyped band like Yacht. They performed with passion as usual to an attentive crowd who rocked their hips to Monogold’s oceanic ballads. Catch Monogold play BirdDog Promo’s FREE CMJ show. Details here.
YACHT– you might have heard about them , but you really can’t begin to understand them until you see them live. Two high-energy, good-looking eccentric Portland weirdos who team up to make spiritual and politically-laden electronic tracks with chantlike, mechanical rhythms. According to the band, Yacht is introduced as “a Band, Belief System, and Business” before delving into a kind of religious manifesto that encourages creativity from the inner soul. Anyway, peculiar cult-like aura that surrounds the band just adds another level to their music and live performance. This was the second time I’d seen the band and I was just as amazed by the purity of their energy (moonwalking, microphone twirling, stage climbing), the mastery of their stage personas (serious, confident, robotic, and definitely sexy), the quality of their live sound (sometimes apocolyptic and gothic-beated, others hip-sop inspired synth-heavy pop songs) and the intellectual charm to their stage banter (including dirty jokes, and a tangent by Claire about why women wear lipstick). Playing mostly songs off of their recent album Shangri-LA they pleased the entire crowd into a futuristic, fuzzy, fun frenzy of all-out dancing. Awesome.
