Finnish experimental musician Jan Anderzen (often known as Kemialliset Ystavat or Tomutonttu) has been a driving force in the Finnish experimental music scene over the last decade and a half; his influence is far reaching — even in Brooklyn– with the likes of Matt Mondanile (Ducktails/Real Estate) and Daniel Lopatin (Oneohtrix Point Never) among former collaborators. Known for his ability to collaborate and orchestrate diverse musical happenings, he has recently taken up residency at Issue Project Room where he will perform a special performance (audio and visual) with a few American collaborators on this Saturday.

While I’m sure many of you might like to know Jan’s philosophy on certain music aesthetics, we thought it might be more interesting, instead, to discuss the work of an obscure Russian/Finnish/American painter Nicholas Roerich‘s paintings after a trip to his museum in the Upper Westside.

This is a special show as proceeds will go to cover medical bills for someone in Excepter personnel. On a more superficial level, it’s a great line-up, including a new personal favorite Blissed Out. The show happens at Shea Stadium tomorrow.

If you’ve been listening to more ambient and electronic styles of music lately, Gold Panda‘s name pops up pretty often. Having seen this man hit the decks at Field Day in London this past summer, I will say that you are in for a huge treat. Below is his full schedule. Do not miss.

18 AOL Spinner show (streamed live at 8.30pm, EST) – invite only
21 Pitchfork Showcase, 9.00pm, 61 Wythe Avenue, Brklyn
22 Webster Hall w/Fourtet show 7.00pm, Webster Hall, 156 Ludlow St
23 Fixed party , TBC (evening show) 70 N 6th Street, Brklyn
23 Urban Outfitters (daytime event, TBC 12-6) Soho Store, 575 Broadway, NYC

Your favorite Foreign Correspondent has made it all the way to Riga, Latvia, to attend the famed Sound Forest Festival that encompasses avant-garde and experimental music from around the world. You may be asking yourself what does this have to do with Brooklyn? Well, you may recognize one of the rising stars of the Brooklyn music scene Daniel Lopatin (aka Oneohtrix Point Never) in the video below.

Daniel and I have been on a few adventures which we hope you will enjoy. For our first chat, we were inspired by the ex-Soviet press conference building, Preses Nams, housing the the festival, so we did a little impromptu press conference. Daniel, being of Russian descent, has a lot to say about Eastern European supermarkets — the quality of their jackets and candy –among other things.

This may be a little late for some of you, but the best acts to come out of the Finnish Freak Folk scene are here at Issue Project Room. May I introduce you Lau Nau and Kuupuu? Bringing together signature exploration with space, noise and technology, Laura Naukerinen and Jonna Karanka produce music that will drift in and out of your consciousness.

prince rama of ayodhya at automatic (chicago) october 3rd, 2009 from acid marshmallow on Vimeo.

Although yours truly is stationed across the pond, I have managed to grow fond attachments for “Sleepy” Doug Shaw’s HIGHLIFE blend of african and pop melodies and the extra awesome psyched out prog of Prince Rama (of Ayodhya). Top this show off with Amen Dunes and the fact that it’s a Showpaper Benefit, and you most likely have a recipe for one of the shows that sticks out of the blur that is Brooklyn’s music scene.
Friday, June 4th @ MONSTER ISLAND BASEMENT
:: SHOWPAPER BENEFIT
:: Prince Rama
:::: HIGHLIFE —– http://myspace.com/highlifehighlife
:::::: Amen Dunes
:: special guest @ 8pm: W.H.I.T.E. — http://myspace.com/whitehorsesintechnicoloreverywhere
| MONSTER ISLAND BASEMENT |
128 River St @ Metropolitan Ave | Williamsburg, Brooklyn
L-Bedford, G-Metropolitan, JM-Marcy | 8pm | all ages | $8
Everything else here.

Many of you may recognize Hisham Bharoocha as former Black Dice member and solo-artist as Soft Circle. However, he has been a keen collaborator and orchestrator of the Boredum’s Boadrum project. Going it alone, Bharoocha will lead a 40 drummer Earth Day celebration today at Loomstate. Other noteworthy drummers include members of Oneida, Lichens, Pit Er Pat, Aa, and Jah Division among others.
Chris Taylor (of Grizzly Bear) will DJ.
Loomstate is located at:
GOOD UNITS AT HUDSON
356 West 58th St (Between 8th + 9th Ave)
More details can be found here.

This New Year’s Eve is, of course, a special affair for Monkeytown. As many of you have heard, Monkeytown will be closing its doors at the end of January. For their last intimate New Year’s bash, they have picked a special family version of an Excepter performance. Over the course of the last four years, the Excepter takeovers of Monkeytown have been my favorite for their utilization of the backroom’s space and their sometimes unpredictable choice of sound and visual aesthetics.
In October Excepter released the album and short film Black Beach on Paw Tracks. Shot on a brief vacation in California, Black Beach finds Excepter mining more chilled-out (sometimes microhouse) sonic territory.

(Daddy’s + Wavves) x The Black Lips = Friday night chaos. My only wish is that, Hipster Runoff, you will treat this with such poetic justice as you have done so before.

Image c/o Gowanus Lounge
In Jack Goldstein and the CalArts Mafia, Robert Longo relays how crazy and different Jack Goldstein was for making his studio home-base in Williamsburg during the 1970s. Like many others of his time, Goldstein was one of the first wave of artists to take advantage of its cheap rent and massive spaces, a situation that gave birth to one generation of artists and musicians to the next.
Jumping to present day Kent Avenue’s glass tower promenade, it’s hard to imagine the opportunity (and poverty) that infiltrated Williamsburg at that time; it seems that those days–if they still exist– are numbered. Loren Munk of the James Kalm Report recently spoke to Art:21 about the last days of artists in Williamsburg. You can read/watch here.