9.30 A wknd w/ Monarch.
The Hudson Valley band on Harry Potter bus rides, Botanic band bonding and BDBK BRUNCH this Sunday afternoon at Arlene's Grocery
While as of late, NYC has been obsessed with the spotted lanternfly, we’d like to direct your attention to a far more welcome (not-actually-insect) arrival in the form of Monarch.— the buzzy (sry) Hudson Valley-based band that’s sWINGing (sry sry) down to the city for the weekend for the momentous matinee that is the inaugural BANDS DO BK BRUNCH featuring 3 bands and $5 mimosas at Arlene’s Grocery THIS SUNDAY!
(Plz do not stomp them out on sight.)
ICYMI, a few months ago Monarch. released Sweet Little Things, a stunner of a debut EP for which the band drew on a range of genres to capture a variety of moods, incorporating not just guitars and bass but saxophone and harp, and sourcing inspiration + wisdom from Blink182 and good ol’ Grandma to explore themes of love both sweet and toxic—touching on infatuation, manipulation, growing up and moving on.
OR: As Nick Pappalardo of Monarch. put it, “The songs that we wrote convey stories and that’s what the magic is all about.”
(Read the EP track-by-track here.)
Don’t miss the opp to experience that very Monarch. magic liiiiiiiiive at the aforementioned afternoon show (doors @ 1:30!), where the band will be sharing the Arlene’s stage with BdBK fave Marinara —bringing the ~Sunday sauce~ + serving up new tracks from EAGLE COURT, their forthcoming split with Philly’s Longfriend Timefriend—and NJ indie-rock act Screenager, whose perfect song “burner phone” we’ve been bumping prettttty much non-stop. (This will also apparently be serving as a very (un)official birthday party. Just in case you needed more incentive to celebrate.)
As for the rest of the wknd, scroll on! Whether you’re bussin’ down from upstate or wakin’ up in a bed in Brooklyn (bonus points if it’s not your own!), we’ve got a nice selection of shows to keep your ears satisfied + some (mostly) wholesome and 100% fun recommendations from Monarch. & co.—
We’ll see you Sunday. Until then, go forth, have fun n plz… STAY FLY 🦋
(sry sry sry)
[BUT FIRST: PRESS PLAY]
FRIDAY
Friday truly begins when we take our spaceship from Hudson Valley into Manhattan. Once we arrive we love to go to my all time favorite restaurants in Brooklyn: Chavelas!! (Order chicken flautas, thank us later) After dinner, we read Harry Potter books in Swedish on the bus. Then we crab walk from the bus stop to my front door. We then walk up the stairs on our hands, and go to sleep.
SATURDAY
To start off the day, we fly with our monarch. wings over Greenberg's Bagels, to get egg everything bagels toasted with tofu cream cheese and a pumpkin spice latte at stone fruit to start your day off right (it’s fucking fall baby don’t judge me!!!) After breakfast, Sarah forces us to head over to the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens for a bit while the roses are still in bloom! Then we make our way to the East Village to catch some live music, bar hop, and end up at our fav dive bar, the diviest of bars, DOUBLE DOWNnnnnn To cap off the night/morning, we hit up our favorite diner ever, Neptune Diner II for chocolate chip pancakes baby.
SUNDAY
sleep in…BUT IT’S JESSE’S FUCKING BIRTHDAY AND WE ARE READY TO PARTY AT THE FIRST EVERRRRRRRR BANDS DO BK BRUNCH WITH OUR FRIENDS MARINARA AND SCREENAGER !!!!!
Itinerary above written + submitted by Monarch. Follow Monarch. at @monarchtheband.ny and add their songs to your Spotify playlists!
Feature image (provided by the band): Sydney Tate
MORNING ANNOUNCEMENTS
ICYMI, WE’RE GOING BACK TO OUR SOFAR ROOTS TO CELEBRATE THE BANDS DO BK BOOK! This Saturday evening, we’re taking over a Bushwick residence to present a BdBK-curated show w/ three acts featured within the pages. BYOB, baby! FYI: For this one, you’ve got to grab your tix in advance —and, good news, you can do that here.
Alphaville’s doors are now wiiiiiide open: 7 days a week, 4 p.m. to 4 a.m., with the happiest of happy hours taking place 4-8. Enjoy!
Our (+ everyone’s) pal Mike Borchardt of Nihiloceros wrote a great piece on the series of singles recently released by one of our favorite Brooklyn bands, Color Tongue. Read that here.
RELEASE RADAR
New(ish) stuff from local (+ occasionally, once-local) artists we love, listed in no order whatsoever:
“December Summer” // Work Wife
“The Knife” // Caravela
Three Songs // Soft Yes
Florida // Fat Trout Trailer Park
“About Hunger, About Love” // Pearla
“Horses” // Sam and the Sea
“From The Hill” // Nation of Language
“Daisy” video // Daisy the Great
“ILYAFF” video // Archer Violet
“DOLPHIN SHOALS” video // HYPEMOM
‘In the Van” video // Sunny Delight
IT’S HAPPENIN’
Here’s a look at the events we’ve got coming up. Mark your calendars and come hang!
10.1 BDBK SOFAR SOUNDS TAKEOVER - a BYOB show celebrating the BdBK book + our Sofar roots in a ~secret~ Bushwick location with a ~secret~ lineup that just might include Almost Sex, Edna and Sean Carroll (IDK THO!) (tix here)
10.2 BANDS DO BK BRUNCH - an afternoon show ft. Marinara, Monarch., Screenager @ Arlene’s Grocery (tix here)
10.2 Buff Ginger, Annabelle, JU+DY, Howdy Cherry @ Arlene’s Grocery (tix here)
10.8 BdBK BOOK BASH 2 ft. High Waisted, Kissed By An Animal, NEVVA @ EWEL - DM for address (info here)
10.9 Homade, RONI, Slark Moan, Veronica Everheart @ Arlene’s Grocery (tix here)
10.17 BdBK Presents: O. Wake + Consumables + Flossing @ TV Eye (tix here)
+ ICYMI
Around the blog + on the radio + from the archives:
Listen: BdBK x RFB Episode “60” w/ Lucid Lip
SPOTLIGHT: ‘Imposter’ from Libel
Thx 4 reading! Find more fun stuff at bandsdobk.com and @bandsdobk. <3
Order the Bands do BK BOOK (!) (out now via Lit Riot Press) here.