We are living through a refresh of 2009 business casual attire at the clubs. It’s a new mix of the dichotomy between blue and white collar as going-out fashion. Raw hems on dress shirts, pinstripes everything, oversized blazers over band tees, collared shirts and neckties with Carhartts all seem to be the uniform. Indie sleaze is coming back. The Cobrasnake aesthetic is all I see on my feed these days. It’s that smudged eyeliner hot mess aesthetic in flashes of quick dynamic snapshots. I’m starting to be blinded by glaring flash photography again at functions. The trend cycle has already moved past film photography and I’m starting to see digital cameras and camcorders in nightlife again. I honestly really enjoy hanging around the sweaty chaotic punk-y kids smoking cigarettes between sets.
Last weekend we saw the saucy NYC rock band, Quarters of Change, play a sold-out show at Irving Plaza. It was a culmination of the best of the NYC indie music scene that I’ve been chasing the high of this past year. Quarters of Change have burst through the indie scene so quickly that I might even call them mainstream now. The crowd felt a lot younger than I’m used to. A lot of the kids looked like they had traveled from outside the city and a lot of them were vaping. We even chatted with some girls who traveled from Stamford, CT just to see them. This was my first time seeing Quarters of Change live and they were absolute dynamite. People sang along to their songs the whole show. Snazzy guitar rifts, thunderous percussion, and the booming vocals of their frontman never relented the whole set. I was honestly hypnotized by the way they moved. Something about their tight pants and unbuttoned shirts made them extra cheeky.
The openers were a favorite local act of mine, special guests of the New York show, the Telescreens. A group of local Telescreens fans pooled into one section of the pit and rowdily jumped around the mosh pit the way they usually do at their shows. The Stamford folks seemed really excited about the energy they were bringing. My heart felt full seeing the Telescreens play as special guests to a well-decorated band like Quarters of Change at a huge venue like Irving Plaza.
I’ve accidentally become a Telescreens groupie this past year and I’m still not sure if they know of my existence although I’ve been to a ton of their shows. It all started when I came across an invite to a house show in the backyard of an East Village apartment where they played last spring. I was inevitably blasted into an obsession with live rock shows over the year. At first, it was so intimidating–everyone seemed so artsy and cool and unreachable. Once I realized the bands are usually just a couple of ex-band kids from NYU or some lucky nepo-baby type, any anxiety about not being cool enough to be there went out the window. I keep coming back to Telescreens shows because of their crazy energy and bold sound that is somehow rock, folk, and synth all in one.
The underground DIY music scene, from rock shows to techno raves, feels like a sort of cathartic safe haven to me. It’s fun to dress up and come out and go crazy with friends surrounded by super talented people. I can go all out and jump around and feel good about it. I think there is a musical niche for every community out there–screamo jazz to hip-hop heads to metal techno. I see it as an evolving version of the very white Meet Me in the Bathroom acts–think The Strokes, Interpol, and LCD Soundsystem. In terms of nightlife, I always feel like I can find the party I feel seen and safe in from R&B and hip-hop DJs at I/T Department to jazz nights at Cafe Erzulie or K-pop nights hosted by Bias NYC. The rock scene is still pretty white though. I like to think my presence is helping the cause so please take up as much space as possible, my fellow POC rock fans. Other than that, I feel a true spirit of love for music and the free-spiritedness of rock and roll nightlife culture in New York these days.
That’s all for this week! Here’s a playlist of some local bands I love. Let’s go to a show together soon <3 Peace and love.
P.S. I wanna say thank you to my readers who’ve been keeping up with these! It’s kind of a tidied-up version of my diary so I’m surprised and delighted by the support I’m getting. xoxo