Monday: Chris Forsyth and The Solar Motel Band
Art rock? Cosmic Americana? Experimental folk? Whatever you want to call it, Chris Forsyth’s sound is attracting national buzz. Long active in the improv/experimental underground, Forsyth has released a series of acclaimed records under his own name including Paranoid Cat and Kenzo Deluxe, but has recently reinvented himself as the leader of The Solar Motel Band. Forsyth’s latest release with The Band, Solar Motel, has been called one of 2013’s best releases by the New Yorker, Uncut, Aquarium Drunkard, Frontier Psychiatrist and Pop Matters. In support of his many releases, Forsyth has toured throughout Europe and the US sharing stages with the likes of Steve Gunn, Grouper and Sic Alps.
Related Artists: White Fence, Amen Dunes, Steve Gunn
Tuesday: Spirit Family Reunion
From the street corners, farmer’s markets and subway stations of New York, Spirit Family Reunion is bringing their brand of homegrown American music to the Entry. With fiddle, banjo, guitar and washboard all gathered around a single microphone, this Brooklyn-based group brings a special kind of “open-door gospel” – gospel music free from any particular religious ties. Instead, they provide an opportunity for the community to gather and rejoice in sound, eliminating any divide between performer and spectator. Blurring the lines between the sounds of the past and present, Spirit Family Reunion curate a special new old-timey feel that gets you stomping, clapping and shaking along.
Related Artists: Hurray For The Riff Raff, Dawes, Dead Man Winter
Wednesday: Amen Dunes
Amen Dunes, the solo project of Damon McMahon, is known for the originality of his largely improvisational body of solo work. With is newest release, Love, McMahon is expanding his sound – commissioning the help of Dave Bryant and Efrim Menuck of Godspeed You! Black Emperor, and Colin Stetson and Elias Bender-Ronnenfelt of Iceage. Moreover, on the new record, McMahon and his simple melodies and distinct spirit-evoking voice touch on more accessible themes of time, love and memory, engaging the listener even more than his earlier experimentation. The product of a year and a half of continuous work, Love is a platform for McMahon’s sound to shine through brighter than ever.
Related Artists: White Fence, Crystal Stilts, Beaches
Thursday: Reignwolf – CANCELED
Friday: Andrew Jackson Jihad
Andrew Jackson Jihad (AJJ) are considered everything from indie rock and folk-punk to anti-folk and Americana. AJJ is held down by the duo of Sean Bonnette and Ben Gallaty, with a rotating cast of drummers. Lyricist Bonnette calls on his experiences volunteering at a suicide prevention hotline for teenagers and working with the homeless men and women of Phoenix, Arizona to evoke the themes of social anxiety, poverty, humanity, religion, existentialism and politics that are clearly highlighted in their songs. Having played along side Flogging Molly and Authority Zero these boys know how to put on a show – they sometimes even cover Neutral Milk Hotel. AJJ is not to be missed!
Related Artists: Title Fight, Why?, The Hold Steady
Saturday: Ought | Dub Thompdon
Ought is a techy art-punk group made up of a collection of expatriates who found comfort in the Montréal DIY arts community who were initially attracted to the city for the winters and university tuition in Canada. This summer they are touring North America and Europe with their most recent release More Than Any Other Day, deemed Best New Music by Pitchfork. Frontman Tim Beeler (New Hampshire) has a past decorated with protest poetry, so it isn’t surprising that politics plays it’s part lyrically throughout the album. This is music that is meant to make a difference, so if you’re looking to be moved or inspired, look to Ought.
Dub Thompson is comprised of 19 year-olds Matt Pulos and Evan Laffer. Their musical influences travel from the Midwestern malaise of Big Black and Pere Ubu, to Kraut pioneers Can and Kraftwerk, while bowing to the British belligerence of The Fall and This Heat. 9 Songs, their first collection of songs, slyly unties the shoes of genre and convention, shapeshifts mischievously, and tramples on the promises delivered on the name itself – there are only eight songs on this rangy debut. Intense blasts of hook-filled noise rock (“Hayward!”), rocksteady marionette stomp (“No Time”), hypnotic bouts of doomy poetics (“Epicondyles”), outlandishly sexy groove rock (Dograces), and a number of other bite-sized forays into parts unknown are made manifest across 9 Songs.
Related Artists: Mikal Cronin, Speedy Ortiz, Parquet Courts
Sunday: Richard Buckner
Richard Buckner’s debut 1994 album, Bloomed, has been remastered and re-released by the indie rock hotspot Merge Records, and Buckner is now touring in support of the exciting reissue. The Californian singer-songwriter has established a cult following in the years since the initial release of Bloomed, and he continues to earn critical acclaim with singles such as “Rainsquall” and through his persona as a mysteriously bent country musician. This completely essential record embodies the full-bodied classic sound that Buckner deals out.
Related Artists: Neko Case, M Ward, Cass McCombs
