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.
Stephen Perry, the principal songwriter and frontman of The Planes, finished 2018 by sharing the project’s latest full-length album, Sleep Like A Noble. A mostly self-recorded and produced effort, the songs on Sleep Like A Noble sonically remain fairly constant throughout, as Perry excels at crafting precise sweet sounding guitar pop songs with wistful melodies. Like his previous works, Perry delivers warm, jangly goodness that thematically ranges from sad love songs to poignant political commentary. To coincide with the release, Perry also provides a song by song breakdown of the entire record via the group’s Facebook page, giving his listeners a first-hand account of the overarching lyrical themes and recording process, describing this split in detail.
The type of shimmering guitar pop featured prominently on Sleep Like A Noble typically doesn’t lend itself to political discourse, but Perry manages to seamlessly meld these varied lyrical themes into his bright sounding songs. Sleep Like A Noble features some overtly political tracks, including what Perry describes as the singles off of the record, “Border Wall,” and “Spike,” which touch on the water crisis in Flint, Michigan. Interestingly, Perry directly cites R.E.M. as an influence on the track “Hate Army,” a band known for heavily incorporating politics into their music. The song, which dissects the rise of the far-right in America, has the perfect amount of political charge and jangly guitars found on the Athens’ band’s classic record Life’s Rich Pageant. Perry also shines on the more personal, non-political songs on this record, including the warm “Kill The Summer,” and the softer title track, “Sleep Like A Noble.”
You can purchase Sleep Like A Noble via Bandcamp.
Bushwick Gig Department
Wednesday, January 2nd
Muscle Before Paradise, True Body, Palladino, The Seminals at ALPHAVILLE, 8pm
Brooklyn four-piece Muscle Before Paradise ended 2018 on a high note by releasing their latest album, the post-punk influenced Die In Combat. Also performing is True Body, a synth-heavy duo from Virginia, who is visiting New York as part of a short tour to kick off 2019. Local R&B duo Palladino provide a bit of variety on this bill with their soulful jams, while punk rock outfit The Seminals will open the show.
Thursday, January 3rd
Antibodies, Huh, Gaila at Sunnyvale, 8pm
Sunnyvale kicks off 2019 in style this Thursday by hosting three local acts with strong melodic indie rock leanings. Antibodies, a Brooklyn indie-pop trio whose sound is warmly reminiscent of Midwest emo bands on the 1990s, continue to fine-tune material that will appear on their follow up to their excellent debut cassette, Vessels. Sandwiched in the middle of this bill is another local group with wooing melodic tendencies, Huh. Gaila, an ambient folk trio who shared their haunting debut EP Paradise Shelter last June, performs first
Friday, January 4th
The Wants, A Place Both Wonderful and Strange, Hnry Flwr, gesserit, Cindy Cane at Our Wicked Lady, 8pm
Our Wicked Lady is hosting a stacked lineup on Friday that’s capped off by a set from The Wants, the art-rock project of Lydia Gammill of Gustaf, Madison Velding-Vandam of Bodega, and Jason Gates of Veda Rays. They’ll be performing alongside A Place Both Wonderful And Strange, a goth-influenced, occult-obsessed electronic-pop trio who shared their latest EP, The City Smells Like Cat Spit in August, and have plans for a new LP in 2019. Also performing is HNRY FLWR, the art-pop project of Leopold Bloom, who is currently working on the follow up to his stunning 2017 EP, Flowerama. Rounding out the bill are gesserit and Cindy Cane, who will be showcasing songs from his heavily goth-inspired upcoming EP, Stranger In New York.
Saturday, January 5th
Pylon Reenactment Society, THICK, KAG of Priests at Market Hotel, 8pm
In the early 1980s, Pylon emerged out of the burgeoning music scene in Athens, GA with a fiercely unique sound that blended post-punk, funk, and new wave. After the tragic death of original guitarist Randy Bewley, lead vocalist Vanessa Briscoe Hay formed the Pylon Reenactment Society in 2014, a Pylon tribute act featuring members of the Glands and Casper & the Cookies. This legendary group will be joined by garage punk trio THICK, whose recent EP Would You Rather? was one of the most notable Brooklyn releases of 2018, and Katie Alice Greer of Priests, who will be performing a rare solo set.
