Tom Gallo is the host of Look at My Records on Radio Free Brooklyn
Radio Free Brooklyn and Bushwick Daily are proud to announce a new weekly local-music column that will focus on artists that call Bushwick home. Each week, a Radio Free Brooklyn personality will pen a record or performance review of a different Bushwick based artist, with a curated selection of the best upcoming local gigs in the neighborhood for the following weekend.
Kevin Alvir has spent the past decade performing with various projects including Lil Hospital, Night School, and most prominently, The Hairs. Though Alvir considered The Hairs his solo project with a backing band, he’s re-branded himself as Kevin Hairs for his latest EP, Freak In The Streets. The name change is fitting, as the six songs on this EP have the feel of a solo artist rediscovering himself on his
own terms in a freeing, whimsical style that allows Hairs to craft delightfully beautiful indie pop songs.
Hairs is a student of Jonathan Richman and Egyptians era Robyn Hitchcock, as his songs capture the conversational lyrical stylings of the former with the vigor and bizarre nature of the latter. He unabashedly shares the unconventional pop sensibilities of both artists, while also incorporating the strummy jangle-heavy psychedelic rock found peppered amongst of their 1980s contemporaries. The instrumentation on Freak In The Streets may be stripped down, but Hair’s guitar is not without effect, as he manages to a maintain a rousing, yet clean sound throughout that meshes well with the propulsion of the drums. Lyrically, Hair’s words have a straightforward, plainspoken appeal, particularly the EP’s lead single, “Kevin Wants A Dog,” but he also traverses in the surreal on the title track, “Freak In The Streets.” Overall, the songs on Freak In The Streets capture a charmingly pared-down aesthetic, as Hair’s giddy arrangements evoke feelings of pure, feel-good indie-pop classics.
You can purchase Freak In The Streets via Bandcamp. A cassette edition is also available for purchase via Bushwick tape collective GP Stripes.
Happy Halloween! There are a ton of great shows going on in Bushwick this week. Don’t miss these gigs:
Elsewhere’s One Year Anniversary Party Featuring Beach Fossils, Wavves, Kevin Krauter, Wooing, Native Sun at Elsewhere
Wednesday October 31st, 2018 at 8 p.m.
It’s hard to believe Elsewhere has only been around for a year! In its short existence, the venue has already played host to a number of memorable live performances, including a rare appearance from New York City proto-punk legends, Television, this past July. Wednesday night is no exception, as the lineup features one of the most prominent Brooklyn bands of the past decade, Beach Fossils, California’s Wavves, and local up and comers Kevin Krauter, Native Sun, and Wooing. Krauter released his debut album, Toss Up, in June on Bayonet Records, while Wooing’s Kate’s single “Could Have Been” was named one of The 20 Best Rock Songs Right Now in Fader Magazine.
Laser Background, Maneka, gobbinjr, Potted Plant at The Glove
Thursday November 1st, 2018 at 8 p.m.
Philadelphia psych-pop outfit Laser Background is celebrating the release of their latest EP, and they’ll be joined by a group of esteemed songsmiths for a packed Thursday night lineup at The Glove. Maneka, the moniker of ex- Speedy Ortiz guitarist Devin McKnight, continues to make waves with his self-described brand of “future-space alien-dream-post punk.” Also performing is gobbinjr, the project of synth-pop songwriter Emma Winter. Though the project has been around since 2015, gobbinjr just released their debut LP, the colorful and quirky ocala wick. Opening the show is the very eclectic Potted Plant.
tUnE-YaRds, U.S. Girls at Knockdown Center
Friday November 2nd, 2018 at 8 p.m.
Two experimental artists, tUnE-YaRds and U.S. Girls, invade the Knockdown Center on Friday night. tUnE-YaRds, the collaboration of experimental musicians Merrill Garbus and Nate Brenner, kicked off 2018 with the release of their fourth studio album, I Can Feel You Creep Into My Private Life, a record inspired heavily by Haitian and Kenyan music. U.S. Girls, the experimental pop project of Meghan Remy, released In A Poem Unlimited, her second full length on 4AD back in February.
Titus Andronicus, Spider Bags at Market Hotel
Saturday November 3rd, 2018 at 8 p.m.
Merge Records labelmates Titus Andronicus and Spider Bags are playing a string of shows in the area this week, including this Saturday night at Market Hotel. Patrick Stickles, the man behind Titus Andronicus for the last decade, release his fifth album this past March, A Productive Cough. It’s a more bare-bones sounding record when compared with his previous releases. Hailing from the home state of Merge Records headquarters, North Carolina’s Spider Bags released their raucous fifth album, Someday Everything Will Be Fine, in August. Expect a sweaty night of high-energy music at Market Hotel on Saturday!
