If you want to listen to the music while you read — click here for my Spotify playlist featuring the bands and artists mentioned in this article.
Some big festivals and music events are happening over the next week here in New York City. The Red Bull Music Academy enters it's third week, celebrating the creative pioneers and presenting emerging new talent - producers, vocalists, DJs, instrumentalists and all-round musical mavericks from around the world. The Electric Daisy Carnival hits Citi Field Friday & Saturday, with a vast lineup of electronic-leaning acts and DJs including Empire Of The Sun, Richie Hawtin and Nervo. Great Googamooga Festival in Brooklyn's Prospect Park gives you the opportunity to eat and drink from New York’s top restaurants and leading wineries and breweries, while listening to some seriously great music from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and The Flaming Lips. And for a festival with a more literary bent (though with some amazing music programming) catch The Big Sur Brooklyn Bridge.
Wednesday, May 15
Legendary blues singer Eric Burdon made his early reputation as the soulful, nuggety vocalist for The Animals. After scoring a trans-Atlantic chart topper with 1964's "The House of the Rising Sun," the band become one of the most successful bands of the "British Invasion." This year, Burdon released what Rolling Stone described as possibly his most personal album yet, 'Til Your River Runs Dry'. At Highline Ballroom with the Animals. Also May 16.
Also tonight: Foxygen is the Los Angeles-bred songwriting duo of Sam France and Jonathan Rado. They create an impressionistic portrait of sounds with psychedelic tinges that comes across as absolutely modern music. With fuzzy shoegazers No Joy at the Mercury Lounge.
Thursday, May 16
Kurt Vile's fifth album "Wakin' On A Pretty Daze" has been winning him lots of new fans with it's easy pace and organic good vibes. Vile has that rare knack of sounding familiar, but original simultaneously. His songs drift along seemingly aimlessly - seven songs on the album clock in at over 5 minutes - but also offer the power to transport the listener. At The Bowery Ballroom.
Friday, May 17
The music lineup at the Great Googamooga Festival kickoff concert in Brooklyn's Prospect Park features the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Flaming Lips and The Darkness. Chairlift are doing a DJ set. Listen out for the new Yeah Yeah Yeahs single "Mosquito" and fresh tracks from The Flaming Lips' 13th album "The Terror".
Also tonight: Secret Chiefs 3 are a wildly eclectic project of Trey Spruance (formerly of Mr. Bungle and Faith No More). Their latest album is "Satellite Supersonic Vol. 1". At the Mercury Lounge. (Brooklyn's Union Pool on Sunday).
And: 20-time Grammy winner and keyboard virtuoso Chick Corea plays the Rose Theater, Lincoln Center (also Thurs and Saturday.)
And: Australia's electronic pop wizards Empire Of The Sun headline the Electric Daisy Carnival at Citi Field tonight. Their new album "Ice On The Dune" is due in June.
Saturday, May 18
Over the course of their six album, 13 year career, this concert is sure to be one of the most epic Liars has performed. Staged at The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Temple of Dendur — a 2000 year old Egyptian temple carved from Aeolian Sandstone — Liars will be featuring tracks from their most recent album "WIXIW." In conjunction with The Costume Institute's exhibition PUNK: Chaos to Couture, on view at the Met Museum from May 9 to August 14. Presented By Wordless Music. Liars play Le Poisson Rouge (moved from Brooklyn Masonic Temple) Sunday night.
Also tonight: US underground legends The Feelies play an upbeat feel-good indie folk rock sound (not unlike REM). They reunited in 2008 after releasing four influential independent albums between 1976 and 1992. At The Bell House.
And: UK '60s pop legend Tom Jones is enjoying a popular resurgence with a fine new album (his 40th) "Spirit In The Room." It includes interpretations of Tom Waits’ "Bad as Me," Odetta’s "Hit Or Miss," Vera Hall Ward’s "Travelling Shoes" and "Charlie Darwin" by Low Anthem. At The Bowery Ballroom.
And: The music lineup at the Great Googamooga Festival in Brooklyn's Prospect Park today features Matt & Kim and Sharon Van Etten.
Sunday, May 19
The Henry Miller Memorial Library has for years attracted fans of the iconic American writer to Big Sur on the Central Coast of California, where he spent 18 years of his life. For the first time, the not-for-profit library and arts center heads east for Big Sur Brooklyn Bridge, a weeklong festival in Williamsburg where Miller spent his childhood. The programming includes readings, art, comedy, music and movies. Big Sur Brooklyn Bridge will conclude with a concert on Sunday May 19 at Music Hall of Williamsburg, featuring two giants on American contemporary music, Philip Glass and Van Dyke Parks.
Also tonight: The music lineup at the Great Googamooga Festival in Brooklyn's Prospect Park today features Delicate Steve, Cults, De La Souland Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings.
Monday, May 20
Red Bull Music Academy + Deep Space present the NYC DJ debut of legendary electronic music producer and film composer Giorgio Moroder. Born in Italy in 1940, Moroder created waves in 1975 for his work with Donna Summer. Their collaborations on two tracks "Love to Love You Baby" and especially "I Feel Love" transformed the musical landscape of the mid '70s by ushering in the infectious new disco sound and providing a template that electronic music producers have been drawing upon for decades. Also acclaimed as a master film composer, Moroder has 3 Oscars for his work on the soundtracks for "Top Gun," "Flashdance," and "Midnight Express" and has collaborated with David Bowie, Freddy Mercury, Barbra Streisand, Elton John, Blondie and most recently Daft Punk on their "Random Access Memories" album. At Output in Williamsburg.
Tuesday, May 21
Since his debut with The Heartbreakers in 1976, Tom Petty has evolved into one of this country's most iconic rock and roll artists. Born and raised in Gainesville, Florida, Petty's rock and roll fantasy began as a schoolboy. His uncle was working on the set of Elvis Presley's film "Follow That Dream" in nearby Ocala, Florida, and invited Petty to come down and watch the shoot. One of Petty's first bands, Mudcrutch, carried important strands of The Heartbreakers' DNA, starring both Mike Campbell and Benmont Tench. It was when Mudcrutch disbanded in 1975 that The Heartbreakers formed around the core of Petty (vocals, guitar), Campbell (lead guitar) and Tench (keyboards). With The Heartbreakers as his trusty henchmen, Petty penned a string of iconic classic rock anthems throughout the '70s, including "Breakdown," "Refugee," "The Waiting" and "Don't Come Around Here No More," Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers are playing the Beacon Theatre on May 20th, 21st, 23rd, 25th and 26th.
