The State of DIY: An Interview with Todd Brooks of the Pendu Organization
Record Tables at Eye and Ear
If you look at the life cycle of any ‘scene’–Hippies in San Francisco, Krautrock in Cologne, Punk in D.C.–their rise is always met with a climax. In the aftermath they usually remain vital. The media just chooses to turn their heads to something ‘newer’–to another corner of the country waiting to be excavated. I don’t mean to overly romanticize this phenomena. But, I think over the last decade New York (and Brooklyn in particular) has received its generous helping of attention and praise. At some point you stop and think: Has the the wave of creativity finally crested?
I would actually like to revise this notion that creativity might be turning its gaze away from New York. What has been so interesting in the rise of the blogosphere is the ability to continue the documentation process that in an earlier age would have been less available. The ability to do so provides for multiple areas of the country like Portland, Austin, Baltimore and New York to coexist and continue to inform each other.
This brings me to the Eye and Ear festival that I attended in December. The Eye and Ear Festival is a biannual New York-centric music and record festival that brings together some of New York’s most interesting talent (Zs, Ducktails, Cult of Youth and Symbols) with many of the labels (ESP, Wierd Records) that continue to support them.
Such a festival obviously is a huge undertaking for anyone; however, for Todd Brooks and his Pendu Organization, it is one part of his vision for nurturing young creativity. In the future, he hopes to encompass visual and writing mediums as well as music. The following interview touches upon his vision and is a testament to creativity thriving in Brooklyn.
How did you come up with the idea for the festival?
There are so many great labels in NY right now, and I wanted to help shine a light and make those labels more accessible to the public. Even before the recession hit, there has been a noticeable downturn in record sales with an upturn in music downloads.¬† We live in an age where great record reviews in blogs and magazines send people straight to P2P downloads rather than sending them straight to their local record store or mail-order.¬† I’m not against MP3′s or the internet by any means, I think both are a great way for people to learn about new music, but it separates the music from the entire experience. A lot of hard work goes into packaging of DIY records and tapes which are put together often literally by hand.¬† These unique objects are every bit a part of the music.¬† A record or tape is an object to be looked at as well as listened to, thus fitting the title for the festival: Eye & Ear.¬† The record fair is meant to highlight the physical part of the music in an overly-digitalized world of JPEGs and MP3s.
How do you want to expand Pendu’s mission? ¬†
‚Ä®Besides continuing to put on festivals and putting on both art and music oriented shows throughout the city; the goal is to open a physical gallery and bookshop.¬† Pendu is a purveyor of ecstatic arts, so I will continue to seek out great visual artists and musicians and feature their work. I have a deep interest in the occult and eroticism and have plans to expand those themes in future curatorial projects as well.¬† I recently put out a 7” of the first recordings from porn-star Sasha Grey and her group Atelecine on my Pendu Sound imprint and in May of this year, Pendu is bringing Chicago-based, occult-artist Raymond Salvatore Harmon to Brooklyn. At the beginning of this year, Pendu filed for not-for-profit status, so there’s a lot going on.
Touching upon the Brooklyn scene’s life cycle, how does this festival build community?
I noticed right away at the festival that record labels began introducing themselves to each other, trading cassettes and records and zines, asking each other about upcoming projects, and so on.¬† It was amazing to watch a coming together happening.¬† I set up the record fair using long tables positioned end to end to put people directly next to one another so that they would share the tables.¬† I didn’t want a sea of separate islands of tables with people selling their wares like some commercial expo in a suburban mall.¬† I sat people next to each other with the purpose of bringing people together and I think that’s exactly what happened. I think it was a great start.
What do you feel is the DIY community’s biggest threat?
 
Every community’s biggest threat is infighting from jealousy and ego.¬† There’s no way around it.¬† I’m no utopist but I’m not a cynic either.¬† There’s a healthy optimism balanced with healthy skepticism that guides my endeavors.¬† If each label or artist can appreciate and support the work of others around them, then I see the possibility of maintaining a healthy and thriving community.
Do you see the community continuing to expand?  
‚Ä®I certainly hope so.¬† There’s no reason why it can’t.¬† I would like to think that there were some people who came to the NY Eye & Ear Fest and were inspired to start their own record label or start a band because of what they saw.¬† I hope they learn how great making tapes and trading tapes and appreciating other people’s work can be.¬† I hope to see more of us helping each other out and going the extra mile to put out great work.¬† NY Eye & Ear will be a biannual festival and the next one will happen from June 19-21, 2009.¬† I think that we’ll have a great chance to see if the community is indeed expanding. ¬†
Related posts:
- Interview with JPN Founder Byron Kalet
- Rogue Wave Interview
- What Will We Do Without Todd P And Silent Barn?
- An Email Interview with Teenage Fanclub
- Morgan Geist Interview
