7.29 A wknd w/ Nara's Room
The artist on night rides, Egyptian ballads and their solo show TONIGHT at Misfit Kava
HAPPY FRIDAY!
Going to jump right into it today with minimal preamble because we want to use this intro first and foremost as an ode to the individual and artist in possession of what might just be the best ~vibe~ in this whole damn scene (+ perhaps on this planet): Nara Avakian.
There are some people who just walk into a room and make it better. You don’t know what it is, but there’s something that radiates from within—an innate kindness and coolness that extends to everyone around them and automatically and immediately improves and energizes the environment. Like, idk, Febreze—for the soul. (Just go with it.)
Nara is one of those people. There’s never been a time we’ve run into them in the crowd—often behind a hi8, documenting the scene with gloriously grainy footage (#NTV) —where we haven’t felt instantly better than we did before they walked in the door. This type of positive presence is a rare quality, but it’s absolutely undeniable. You know it when you see it—when you feel it—and boy oh boy, do you gotta love it.
So there’s that. Now let’s talk talent.
We most recently caught Nara tearing it tf up on lead guitar for Two-Man Giant Squid at our OWL show on Tuesday (check out the vid here), but what we really want to focus on is the artist’s utterly charming personal project, Nara’s Room, a solo/collaborative endeavor that is currently wrapping up a whirlwind July tour of Brooklyn with a solo show (ft. a 12-string acoustic!) TONIGHT at Misfit Kava with Slow Finn and Nihiloceros.
And once the month concludes, Nara’s not done. Ahead of the SETLIST release, the artist filled us in on a few key items on their August itinerary:
“Nara's Room will be having a live sessions release August 8th!!!!! 8/8, baby! Pre-save if you wanna :). It's a demo EP recorded on Hi8 tape during a live show. I absolutely love gritty, raw, imperfect recording mediums. Hi8 tape distorts the audio, speeding it up and slowing it down, delaying and echoing it. I'm super inspired by Courtney Love's short-lived project Pagan Babies with Kat Bjelland, Janis Tanaka, and Jennifer Finch. You have to listen to their ten-minute demo, it's floating around YouTube. Their track "Bernadine” is a total rip of Cocteau Twins' "Pandora (for Cindy)." Honorable mentions are Joy Division's live recording of "Ceremony" at Birmingham University off of their Still release and American Pleasure Club's I Blew on a Dandelion and the Whole World Disappeared." Oh, and all of Daniel Johnston's discography. Come on out to Purgatory on August 16th, we're playing a full band show to celebrate the release.”
As for your immediate future—beyond tonight’s show, of course—Nara has you covered. Please read on for a lovely itinerary featuring music and culture and the new-to-us-news that they also have a radio show, which we will definitely be checking out.
ALRIGHT! It’s the last weekend of the month, baby! As always, go forth, have fun and enjoy it all~
[BUT FIRST: PRESS PLAY]
FRIDAY
Tonight I'm playing the final show of my impromptu July "tour" of ten(ish) shows at Misfit Kava. I'm doing a solo set on my twelve-string acoustic. Come and hang!
"Can youuuuu believe it? It's a Friday once again!" Lost Highway’s playing at the IFC Center, new 4K restoration! David Lynch is incredible.
Summer night bike ride (safely, of course)! I love to put on some music and bike the long way home with the cool breeze on my face. I've been revisiting a lot of Armenian music I grew up hearing my family listen to, like oud player John Berberian, Samira Tawfik, and Group Knar.
SATURDAY
Every first Saturday of the month, I DJ a radio show called Sounds Absurd on Moon Glow Radio, based out of Los Angeles. I’m recording the next episode, where I'll air Egyptian icon Umm Kulthum's hour-long epic ballad, "Enta Omri," which translates to "You Are My Life." Tune in on Saturday, August 6th at 7pm pst/10pm est;). Trying to keep the tradition of radio alive! Hit me up if you have any songs you want to hear for the next show.
You've got to see Luke Gilford's National Anthem exhibit at The SN37 Gallery at The Seaport. He documents the queer rodeo circuit in rural areas of the country. It's on view through August 28th.
When the day turns to night, you’ve got to hop on over to Bootleg Bar. It’s this Bushwick dive bar. Cheap drinks and great energy. They played soooo much Madonna last time I was there. There's a piano out on their patio that's so fun to play too.
SUNDAY
The day of rest! Crack open a cold one with the boys, watch some NASCAR, and blast Glen Campbell's "Rhinestone Cowboy." ;)
Find a patch of grass or a rock to sit on along the waterfront at WNYC Transmitter Park and soak up the sun! Bring a nice book (I'm reading Patti Smith's M Train right now), a cold beverage, and a slice of hot honey pizza from Paulie Gee's.
Hop over to Ilegal Mezcal too to check out Nico Malvaldi's photo exhibit, "MANI: A tribute to the rock and roll lifestyle in New York City." On view until August 1st! I may or may not have captured some highlights from their opening night on my Hi8 ;).
Itinerary above provided by Nara Avakian. Follow Nara’s Room at @narasroom, buy music on Bandcamp and add songs to your Spotify playlists!
Feature image (provided by the artist): Yan Kogan
MORNING ANNOUNCEMENTS
Our first book event is in the… uh… books! NEXT SATURDAY (8/6) at the Macon branch of the Brooklyn Public Library, we’ll be putting on a FREE outdoor show featuring artists included in the book as part of Open Streets, with lil performances from Slight Of, Olivia K and Ok Cowgirl. We’ll also be raffling off copies of the book before its ~official~ release next month. Please RSVP here and join us—
+ While we’ve got you, please save the date for two very special release shows (TBA): 9/17 and 10/8.
Speaking of our friend.Olivia K, catch the artist live before then at Joe’s Pub THIS TUESDAY, where she’ll be celebrating Caribbean Emancipation Day. “Mixing traditional Guyanese drumming with poetry, dance, covers, and crowd favorites, Olivia K is back to stampede the stage again!” Grab tix here.
Stoked to share we (k, me) (that’s Sam) have (has) (this is confusing) joined the team at Arlene’s Grocery as a talent buyer! We’re so hyped to follow in the steps of BdBK BFF Rich Weiss of Bloodless Management and become part of the team at a legendary LES venue. We’re getting onboarded as we speak, so please holla for booking: sam.arlenesgrocery@gmail.com.
RELEASE RADAR
New(ish) stuff from local (+ occasionally, once-local) artists we love, listed in no order whatsoever:
As Long As You Need // Plastic Picnic
Grits // Grandpa Jack
Tell Myself video // THICK
“My Youth Is Wasted” // Kids in America
“I’ve Been Down” // Forever Honey
“bubbly” // ÊMIA
IT’S HAPPENIN’
Here’s a look at the shows we’ve got coming up. Mark your calendars and come hang!
8.15 BdBK x New Colossus Summer Sunday w/ Elizabeth Wyld, Moonglow, Atlas Engine, Stranger Waves, Two-Man Giant Squid @ 18th Ward Brewing (FREE! Deets here.)
+Events mentioned above. :)
A LOOK INSIDE THE BOOK
Leading up to the 9/6 release of Bands do BK — THE BOOK (avail for pre-order here), we’ll be dropping in *short* snippets from the 18-chapter ~manifesto~ that’s equal parts Brooklyn guidebook (by bands), oral history and music-fan memoir.
Luke Santy: ABC Power Hour has been going on for a minute now. I guess if we’re all getting together for Jeopardy at seven, we have to start watching like, David Muir at six-thirty and see what’s going on with America, and then afterwards you might as well do Wheel.
Do or Dive will turn on just Jeopardy. Like they have a couple of old black-and-white TVs in there. And most of the time, they’re just doing the jukebox or playing loud music, but from seven to seven-thirty, they turn on Jeopardy way too loud so no one can enjoy themselves unless they’re there to watch Jeopardy, and we love it. It’s just so fun. Really cheap beer-and-shot deals, but they do not let us watch Wheel there.
Colin Lord: It’s a pretty hard line.
Luke Santy: I mean, they have, like, laughed in my face. I went there on my birthday, I think. I was like, “Please, can we watch Wheel?” and they were like, “Get out of here.” They really don’t mess with Wheel.
[ HYPEMOM on Do or Dive. Catch the band WEDNESDAY with The Big Easy, Sharkswimmer and Well Wisher at The Knitting Factory! ]
+ ICYMI
Around the blog + on the radio + from the archives:
PREMIERE: Sip Sip from Hot Tea
PREMIERE: Visual Snow from The Next Great American Novelist
Thx 4 reading! Find more fun stuff at bandsdobk.com and @bandsdobk. <3
Pre-order the Bands do BK BOOK (!) (out 9/6 via Lit Riot Press) here.