ROCK

Thursday, August 9, 2012 6:00PM

NYC’s ANNUAL FREE SUMMER MUSIC EVENT!

WILD NOTHING
Wild Nothing is the solo-project of Jack Tatum whose music is inspired by a longtime love affair with nostalgia. His debut full length album, Gemini, set to come out on Captured Tracks this spring, is full of dreamy, carefree synth-pop songs that linger with an inexplicable sense of regret.

Prior to embarking on this recent solo-project Tatum sang and played guitar with the Abe Vigoda-ish tropical punk band Facepaint and the singer/songwriter project Jack and The Whale. In the summer of 2009 The Virginia tech-college student decided to embark on his first creative-solo project playing bass, guitar, synthesizer and drums while recording in his home-studio. He soon emerged with a unique brand of dreamy pop-songs influenced by bands like, My Bloody Valentine, Shop Assistants, Go-Betweens and Cocteau Twins. In 2009 he delivered a memorable cover of the Kate Bush song Cloudbusting, making it clear that Wild Nothing transcended the lo-fi pop-mold.

On his debut album, Gemini, Tatumʼs frail vocals come warped in an oozing neon haze. Carefully orchestrated synth-pop arrangements, trebly guitar riffs and tattered drum machines blend together to create an intriguing, texturally rich glo-pop album that could come only from the young at heart.

GRIMES
There is a powerful harmony in Grimes. It is a project that is both musical and visual, embodying the arts of 2D, performance, dance, video and sound. Claire Boucher weaves these together to a strong rhythmic effect, “the marriage between the voice of a human and the heartbeat of a machine” [Bullett Magazine].

Boucher, born in Vancouver, Canada, came to Montreal in 2006. Her experience as a performer is deeply embedded in the illegal DIY loft culture of Montreal, where Grimes was one of the prominent figures in the scene surrounding Lab Synthèse – a 4600sq ft re-appropriated textile factory. She developed in a scene where punk ethos and pop music collide, resulting in a distinct sense of community, religiosity and psychedelic revelry.

Visions, Grimes’ forthcoming record, arises as Boucher’s fourth release in less than two years. Geidi Primes (2010), initially released as a limited 30 cassette run and free download, then followed by Halfaxa (2010) – arguably one of the first witch-house or lo-fi R&B releases. On Darkbloom (2011), Grimes begins taking her first steps as a producer, bringing together the experimentation behind her early work and a cutting edge pop aesthetic.
Each album tackles a different set of influences and styles. Her newest album, Visions, incorporates influences as wide as Enya, TLC and Aphex Twin, drawing from genres like New Jack Swing, IDM, New Age, K-pop, Industrial and glitch. This approach has marked Grimes as a curator of culture, and allowed the project to remain flexible and evolving.

A phantasmic state for the deep listener, sourcing the long forgotten spells running alongside humans for centuries and forcing them through a hyper-futuristic filter. Compositional and vocal delivery are coloured with an emotional trauma. Despite a generally upbeat demeanour, an urgency permeates the music. Calling us between our history and the future it uses the pleasure of minimal rhythms and dance to entice, but beyond its rich, software-sculpted cohesiveness, and vocal energy, runs a very real and odd world.

She describes her work as “the only means through which I can be fully expressive. It is both an ethereal escape from, and a violent embrace of my experience. The creative process is a quest for the ultimate sensual, mystical and cathartic experience and the vehicle for my psychic purging.”

Also on the bill…

DIVE
DIVE, the brainchild of Z. Cole Smith (Beach Fossils), crafts a sound indebted to classic kraut, dreamy Creation-records psychedelia, and the primitive-crunch of late-80’s Seattle – a perfectly fused patch of classic-underground influence.

“Doors” open 6:00 PM

NEW LOCATION: At PIER 84
CROSS AT W.44th St

Prohibited on Pier 84
Pets of any kind
Bikes, skateboards and scooters
Outside alcohol
Glass of any kind
Weapons
Video cameras
Tripods
Flash photography
Coolers
Chairs or beach umbrellas

NOTE: WE MAY USE YOUR IMAGE

By Subway
Take the A, C, or E to 42nd St. walk west and cross at W.44th St.

By Bus
Crosstown M42, M50

Wheelchair Accessible

MORE INFO AT: RiverRocksNYC.com