Sigh. It happened again. After City Councilwoman Diana Reyna stated that “‘hipsters’ may be part of the cause” for the New York City’s inaccurate census results, the media went wild, with L Magazine bringing up the tired “hipsters are too cool” argument, and Metro NY going as far as to accuse hipsters of costing NYC billions of dollars in federal funding. (The Awl has a shot of the even-more inflammatory print headline here).

As we pointed out last April, the “hipster” areas of Williamsburg etc had census return rates that were about on par with the rest of the city, making this more of  a story of media sensation and less a story of substance. It also, as City Limits points out, blatantly ignores very real issues that get in the way of census returns: the fact that so many residents live in inaccessible-to-the-public apartment buildings, that so many residents live in illegally subdivided or sublet apartments, that undocumented immigrants may be less-than-willing to talk about their living situation with a government representative, or that the city’s population may indeed have plummeted due to the this-city-being-so-fucking-expensive-no-one-can-afford-to-live-here-anymore factor.

So can we get over this hipsters-hate-the-census thing already,  and move on to some real problems? Like how you can never reach Northside carservice on weekend mornings, or that it’s been almost two months, and the Weeknd has STILL only put out one mixtape?

ps – you all had better have actually filled out your damn census forms, otherwise I’ll look like a real big idiot.

Last night FREEWilliamsburg hosted its Northside Showcase at Brooklyn Bowl featuring Keepaway, Hooray for Earth, Oh Land, Glass Ghost and The Babies! Thanks so much to everyone who came out to celebrate Northside with FREEWilliamsburg and hope you had as much fun as we all did!

Woods and Vivian Girls side project The Babies kicked off jam packed night with their retro-pop and lo-fi sound. Duo Glass Ghost played an engrossing and mildly ambient set and even poked of their sound juxtaposed with the bowling alley setting.

The gorgeous Oh Land danced around on stage in a Christopher Kane for Topshop crocodile printed crop top and a wolf hat (worn especially for the occasion) and enchanted the audience with her catchy electronic drum hooks.

Hooray for Earth (who were recently touring with Indie sweethearts The Pains of Being Pure at Heart and lo-fi Surfer Blood) launched into a killer set that rocked plain and simple. To close the night, Keepaway fresh from opening for Yeasayer at the Gone to Governor’s showcase played an upbeat set of dance fusion music and teased the crowd with the opening beats of their single, “Yellow Wings”– smirking, “Not yeetttt!”

To learn more about the bands that played last night, read their respective FREEWilliamsburg interviews here: Keepaway, Hooray for Earth, Oh Land, Glass Ghost and The Babies. Also, be sure to check out pictures from the night in the gallery below!

Saturday night, Cantora Records hosted their Northside Festival showcase at Brooklyn Bowl with performances by Brahms, Savoir Adore, Tony Castles and Gordon Voidwell.

From behind a plexi-glass podium, lead singer Cale Parks (who twirled his drum sticks like a smoother version of the wedding band drummer on YouTube) commanded the stage with a collected presence and captivated the audience that could not help but start dancing along. As their show continued, Brahms incorporated a light show. Although the extra stimulus was fun, Brahms’ show would have been just as strong without the added bells and whistles as their infectious energy and dance rock.

Indie pop band Savoir Adore played one their best shows Saturday night and have been adding to their repertoire with fun hooks and singalong lyrics. The crowd was especially excited to hear Savoir’s rock ballad, “TCP”– a rock opera for the Hansel and Gretel fable– and their new song, “Loveliest Creature.”

Check out pictures of Brahms and Savoir Adore along with Tony Castles and Gordon Voidwell in the gallery below!

Just for the Northside Festival, the Street Art loving Gallery Pandemic, on Broadway between Kent and Wythe, is holding a silk-screening party. Street artists buildmore, celso, darkcloud, deeker, gay sex, keely, matt siren, royce bannon and more will put their art on your on t-shirts, paper, tote bags, underwear, or whatever else you want. Stop by on Sunday between 12pm and 6pm, drink a bloody mary, eat some bbq, and get some art on your clothes.

More pics after the jump.

(more…)

Listening to new music that, “can’t be defined by conventional music genres” can often be a taxing chore– like brushing your teeth after a night of binge drinking. The music feels foreign and you’re stimulated by so many elements that you can’t even figure out if you’re enjoying this listening experience. Although duo Glass Ghost combines diverse genres together, their music feels interesting and provocative on the first listen allowing you to immediately dissect and delve deeper into their sound.

Glass Ghost backs lead singer Eliot Krimsky‘s dynamic falsetto with rich and big sounds inspired by hip hop, R&B, electronic, and swelling rock. Most would assume the juxtaposed fragile voice and rich music would compete with (or detract from) one another but in Glass Ghost’s case, the sound surprisingly becomes even bigger– each complementing and completing the other.

Glass Ghost will be playing the FREEWilliamsburg Northside Festival showcase at Brooklyn Bowl this Sunday, June 27th along with The Babies, Oh Land, Hooray for Earth and Keepaway! Click here for more details and check out the interview with Glass Ghost drummer Mike Johnson below!

FREEWilliamsburg: Your songs are packed with so many different variables– a dynamic and expansive falsetto, elements of hip hop and R&B, and a variety of electronic and percussive instruments– it’s nearly impossible for an outside listener to synthesize. How would you describe your music?

Mike Johnson: Well, when it’s working well, I feel like there’s a nice absence of fear in our music. And we’ve played together so much that we don’t have to worry too much about the more fundamental aspects of how our music are working and we can kind of play around a little. I heard someone describe a J Dilla jam as, “The Cosby Slop.” I guess I’m interested creating a kind of slop, probably not a Cosby slop though. We take the songs pretty seriously though too. We really try to respect each song and kind of let it be it’s own world. And we try to figure out where it comes from and what it’s about.

(more…)