The Beets at Goodbye Blue Monday, by kustomkitten

On Saturday I decided I had to see what was going on at the Jamaica Bay Experimental Marsh Restoration show put on by sleepwhendead, Entertainment4Every1, and showISmonster. After an early morning change of venue and a rain delay, the So So Glos arrived to start the party, toting with them some acoustic guitars, hand drums, and what looked like a toy keyboard. They played a few songs on the platform to a good amount of onlookers and the occasional train full of confused/semi-amused/completely indifferent passengers that rolled through. Near the end of their set everyone piled into the train. Reactions on board were mixed. One older lady seemed angered at the lack of train etiquette, what with people standing on the seats and blocking the doors and all. The woman’s friend was trying to convince her that it was all in good fun, but she wasn’t having it. Another older woman remained unfazed in the middle of the party, silently eating her sandwich.

As we emerged into some unexpected sun on the Williamsburg Bridge the Eskalators took over with some poppy ska tunes, and subway surfing met crowd surfing for maybe the first time. The party continued on the platform, while I ducked out to grab some lunch at Wyckoff Starr with a peach to snack on at Angel’s Fruit Market by María Hernández Park. When I got back to Goodbye Blue Monday, Radiates was playing some new-wave type punk; a mix of thrash punk and atmospheric keyboards with some Portishead-like wailing thrown in for good measure.

Lidia Stone followed with some energetic synth-based hardcore out in the covered portion of the junkyard. The acoustics here were surprisingly really good, given that it is made of corrugated metal and cement blocks. Thompson played next indoors. They had a cool sound going on, but struggled with some equipment problems at the start, so we ducked out for a bit of sun. Apparently they fixed the problem rather quickly as when we returned we had missed the whole set. I liked the little that I heard though, so I guess I'll just add them to my ever growing list of bands to check out this summer.

USAISAMONSTER played next outdoors. These guys are incredible. They've got a mix of dark, stoner metal and prog rock going on with lyrical themes of colonialism and occupation. One of the best bands I’ve seen at seamlessly incorporating a wide range of influences without ever verging on derivative. Fiasco played next and I kind of came in and out of their set since I’ve seen them a couple times lately. Although, I like these kids more and more every time I see them. I was a bit ambivalent on The Beets. They came off to me like a whiny acoustic pop band who reeeealllly like Bob Dylan. Eh. The next band, Puttin' On the Ritz, were about what you about would expect from their name. They played some really fast and loose big band standards. Not too much going on.

Consider the Source was the next band of note. They played some Middle Eastern influenced jazz/tech/space-metal. Funky bass grooves and crunchy riffs give way to "Enter the Machine"-era Floyd parts. A friend of mine at work has been urging me to check them out for a long time and I should have heeded his advice earlier, because I was pretty blown away. After that, Aa played outdoors. With multiple percussionists and vocal cadences that draw from hardcore punk and hip hop, they take their new-wave and no-wave influences to a whole new world. They use sound, light and motion to create sci-fi tribal dance full of polyrhythms, delayed shouts, space gun keyboards, feedback soundscapes, blips, and dissonant noise. If you've never seen Aa live I urge you to. Seriously, how do you write something like this? You don’t. But Aa does.

At long last, nearly 7 hours after the party began, Knyfe Hyts closed out the bill. Featuring members of Ex-Models, Oneida, and Pterodactyl, these guys play feedbacky cock-metal, with tense rapid fire guitars that get faster and faster before exploding into machine like noise that fit perfectly with their junkyard surroundings.