Flyer by Ben Higgins, click to RSVP!!!
Lemuria poster by Jillian Yoffe. So cute! Click to RSVP
CONFIRMED! 5.22 AT OTTOBAR
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SINKANE (Sudanese Afro-Funk guitar pop, mem Yeasayer/ Of Montreal/ Born Ruffians)
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+ TBA
Presented by Unregistered Nurse
9pm
$10adv./ $12 dos
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from Pitchfork;
Sinkane
Mars
7.0
“Biography can be overstated when evaluating an artist’s work, but Ahmed Gallab’s story is key to understanding his music. The Sudanese son of two college professors, he moved to the United States with his family at the age of five to escape the country’s fomenting political violence of the late 1980s. The family moved around a bit, and Gallab eventually settled in Columbus, Ohio, when he was 18, where he fell in with the city’s hardcore punk music community. He later found work as a session musician of some demand, drumming and serving as a multi-instrumentalist for Yeasayer, Caribou, Of Montreal, Born Ruffians, and Eleanor Friedberger. Eventually, as these things often go, he made his way to Brooklyn, where Sinkane started taking shape as his primary creative outlet.
Mars is Gallab’s second full-length as Sinkane, and it sounds like the work of a nomadic professors’ kid with equally strong ties to a DIY scene as well as his east African roots, whose creativity flourished on the road with indie vets and in the self-styled cosmopolitan home of 21st-century indie music. Mars is both refined and easygoing, if not a bit aloof at times. It works in multiple musical registers simultaneously and smartly— the syncopated rhythms and breezy guitar figures of Sudanese pop, krautrock, early-70s funk, free jazz, Fader-friendly global indie— while maintaining a clear authorial voice (largely coming from Gallab’s playing multiple instruments on each song).
There’s a loose concept at play on the record: Mars is Gallab’s metaphor for a musical space in which anyone can exist, regardless of background. Though the temptation to refer to the rich tradition of Afro-futurism arises when a guy born in Sudan references interstellar reaches, the connection to Sun Ra, Parliament, or André 3000 is tentative at best. The record’s politics are as abstract as the cover photo, and the album’s mood thermostat doesn’t move much from the “chill” position. There aren’t a whole lot of lyrical specifics, but an abundance of references to the red planet seems less meant to signify escape (as in the Reverend A.W. Nix’s pioneering “White Flyer to Heaven” sermon), or a sign of plain weirdness (as in Lil’ Wayne’s use): For Gallab, it’s more along the lines of a summertime rooftop party, where your affable host greets you without rising from his deck chair.
FULL REVIEW”
CONFIRMED! 5.12
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CONFIRMED! 5.28 AT METRO GALLERY
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LEMURIA!!! (NY, Bridge 9 Records)
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With guests TBA
get tix; HERE
$8/ 9pm
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Without a distinguishable understanding of the pop and intensity, a silent video of a Lemuria show would appear to be that of a blistering hardcore trio. To the viewers surprise, turning the audio on they’d find the stage diving mania and screamers are really chanting “Maybe I should wear lipstick too” or “You fit in my skin, softest I’ve let in” as guitarist/vocalist Sheena Ozzella’s dynamic, melodic voice guides the unlikely chorus.
Lemuria might not sound like they are from Buffalo, NY, but the band was proudly birthed there, following the legacy of an oddly eclectic, if not eccentric, music scene. When you loosen your ears to the sugary indie-pop, you’ll discover discordant notes, odd time signatures, and brutal riffs creating menacing yet catchy music.
Releasing their early 7” EPs and splits on drummer/vocalist Alex Kerns’ label ‘Art of the Underground’, they landed their debut full length ‘Get Better’ on west coast pop-punk label Asian Man Records. Following their debut, and worked into an ambitious DIY touring schedule, they sprinkled 7” releases around on labels such as Hex, No Idea Records, and Suburban Home. Eventually, they would settle in with the Boston-based, notoriously hardcore oriented Bridge 9 Records with their 2011 sophomore album, ‘Pebble’.
Entering the studio soon, expect a triumph from indie darlings Lemuria in 2013.
Another killer flyer by Ben Higgins! CLICK IT
Flyer by Ben Higgins, click it to RSVP
