CIGARETTES AFTER SEX
April 7th
Cigarettes After Sex is an ambient pop group based out of Brooklyn, NY, performing at Brooklyn Steel at the start of April. Cigarettes After Sex airs of film noir with their hazy, seductive sound – plodding bass lines, echo-y guitars and lightly adorned synths create a captivating, dark ambiance. Their slow, ambient sound floats between Mazzy Star and even Joy Division’s Atmosphere. There’s no dry ice floating off the stage, no overbearing visuals to strengthen the visual elements of the show; it is a breath of fresh air as a reintroduction of a minimalist live show.It’s an atmospheric and intimate sound lending itself poetically to a live setting. It is the art of an understatement as an overstatement.
SAKURA MATSURI
April 28th and April 29th
To honor the end of Hanami (which literally translates to “looking at flowers”), the Brooklyn Botanic Garden unveils cherry blossoms at its picturesque peak for two whole glorious days. The event goes on the last weekend of April. We have our fingers crossed that the cherry blossom trees will be in full bloom (but there is an online tracker you can monitor their growth).The annual cherry blossom festival features a Japanese tea room, an art gallery and a mini flea with wall scrolls, silk wraps and the works. Entertainment includes Shogi, a popular Japanese chess variant game ‑ and many fine performances based on Japanese cosplay, dances and more.
DAVID BOWIE IS
March 2nd-July 5th
This exhibition explores the personal archives of David Bowie, following the creative process of an artist whose reinventions, collaborations, and characterizations revolutionized the way we see music. The exhibit traces Bowie’s creative process dating back to his teenage years in England through his last twenty years in which he resided in New York City. David Bowie is has been touring globally for the past five years and is taking its final bow at the Brooklyn Museum, providing an opportunity to view this one-of-a-kind material.
David Bowie is presents approximately 400 objects drawn primarily from the David Bowie Archive, including the artist’s original costumes, handwritten lyric sheets from famous songs, original album art, photographs, and videos. Arguably, the highlight of the exhibition is the context in which essentially everything can be considered: David Mallet’s landmark 1979 performance video of “Boys Keep Swinging,” with Bowie alternating between playing both man and woman, is spliced right next to a clip from a 1973 British documentary referring to Bowie as “a bizarre self-constructed freak” while mocking his gender-bending.
YO LA TENGO
April 6th
Yo La Tengo is an American indie rock band formed in Hoboken, New Jersey in 1984.
Incorporating everything from cocktail jazz to psychedelic noise freakouts to gorgeous acoustic tunes into their albums, Yo La Tengo have been one of the most restless and most consistently good bands of the past 25 years. The trio has continually explored new musical territory, more interested in innovation that mainstream success.
The group's name means "I've Got It!" in Spanish and was taken from a story about the 1968 New York Mets outfielders, who used to the phrase to claim fly balls to accomodate Venzuelan Elio Chacon, who spoke no English. You wouldn't want to miss 'em, catch 'em at Brooklyn Steel.
Leave a comment