JellyNYC Pool Parties
June 24 – August 19, 2007
McCarren Park Pool, Brooklyn, NY

So this time around, I’m going to compress this summers’ Jelly NYC Pool Parties into one post featuring a bunch of photos. Words won’t do justice to the great job that the Jelly crew does every summer to bring us these amazing free concerts. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to cover all of them, but I hope these pictures get the point across. The hyper Tom Waits-ish chaos of Man Man, the masked laptop insanity of OCDJ and claustrophobic dance party of Dan Deacon, along with the swamp-pop of Tommy McClain (backed by Yo La Tengo) set the tone in the first half of the summer, while performances from Blonde Redhead, the hard hitting double bill of The Thermals and Ted Leo, culminating with Ghostland Observatory with surprise guests Spank Rock kicked our asses and left us all hoping for another summer of fun.

Siren Music Festival
July 21, 2007
Coney Island, NYC
(Click thumbnails to see larger images with captions.)

The seventh edition of the annual Siren Music Festival, sponsored by the Village Voice, could possibly be the final chapter of this indie rock staple of New York City culture. With the impending destruction of Coney Island, the fans and bands made sure that today would be something to remember. Unfortunately technical difficulties at the start of the festival created conflicts between acts on the two stages, but once again, it was an incredible time.

After early sets by White Rabbits and Elvis Perkins, the afternoon got fueled by a triple threat of London’s Noisettes, The Detroit Cobras and Atlanta’s Black Lips. Noisettes frantically plowed through its set, with singer Shingai Shoniwa winning over the slack-jawed newly converted in the crowd. The Cobras were solid as usual, combining their R&B and garage styles to tear the Stillwell Stage audience a new one. However, the most insane performance of the day (no offense to the NY Dolls) belonged to The Black Lips. The set consisted of new tracks from Good Bad Not Evil, as well as the band's previous noisy/sloppy masterpieces, in addition to spit swapping and a live chicken affectionately named “Popcorn.”

After sets from Lavender Diamond and We Are Scientists, things kicked back up when Matt and Kim devastated Stillwell Ave. I had never heard this duo before, but it was one of the biggest dance parties I have ever witnessed. The crowd, the VIPs, and everyone on the stage were jumping around and shaking to the driving rhythms of Matt Johnson’s keyboards and Kim Schifino’s drums. This set the stage perfectly for the trifecta finale. Gathering the largest crowd I’ve seen in Siren’s 7-year history, Maya Arulpragasam a.k.a. M.I.A. was the show most people were anticipating. Along with DJ Low Budget and singer/dancer Cherry, and a whole lot of bass, M.I.A. ran through fan favorites from her debut album Arular, as well as a slew of tracks from the forthcoming Kala. Though seeming a bit tired at times, she proved to everyone that she was the true headliner of the festival, even inviting fans to dance with her onstage (too bad security didn’t quite agree with her). Those who weren’t lucky enough to catch M.I.A. saw a set from flavor of the moment Voxtrot before making way for the legendary New York. With only two original surviving members (David Johansen and Sylvain Sylvain), the Dolls played old favorites such as “Trash”, “Pills”, and “Looking For A Kiss,” new ones like “Dance Like A Monkey,” and a rousing cover of Janis Joplin’s “Piece of My Heart”. Johansen and Sylvain still have it after all these years, but it was a bit disheartening to see the crowd thinning out during the set. Nebraska veterans Cursive closed out the festival during a beautiful sunset over the beach, perhaps putting an end to one of the greatest musical traditions in New York today.