New Pornographers at Terminal 5

The New Pornographers, the effervescent Canadian pop gang led by red headed-songwriter AC Newman and red headed-chanteuse Neko Case, strolled into town last weekend for headlining shows at Terminal 5 and Bell House. They played a generous 24 song set before a packed crowd at the former Saturday night, barely pausing as they jumped from song to song, each stuffed with dementedly catchy hooks upon hooks. It was as sugary as a Snapple, but Newman is a tricky songwriter, always finding ways to subvert expectations and throw in the surrealist lyrics imaginable. The band played the bulk of new album Together, along with raging highlights from their whole discography, including "The Electric Version," "The Laws Have Changed," "Myriad Harbour," and five songs from their masterpiece, Twin Cinema. The night ended with a rendition of "Testament To Youth In Verse," with an extended audience singalong of "no's" led by the ever compelling Dan Bejar. If you enjoy pop music in any of its wild forms, you'd be remiss in missing The New Pornographers next time they're in town: their jelly donuts are filled with substance.

Northside Festival
Last night we kicked off this years Northside Festival, the four-day music extravaganza hosted by L magazine taking place in various venues across Williamsburg and Greenpoint, with our own showcase show at CoCo66. But there are tons and tons more cool bands worth checking out throughout the weekend. Some highlights: tonight, you can see The Fiery Furnaces with John Mulaney at Brooklyn Bowl, Tame Impala and Amazing Baby at Glasslands, and Real Estate and Woods at Music Hall of Williamsburg. Tomorrow, you can see Twin Shadow headline an evening show at Berry Park, Twin Sister and Memory Tapes at Music Hall of Williamsburg, and Liars and Fucked Up playing Newton Barge Park. Finally, on Sunday, you can catch Elvis Perkins in Dreamland during the day at Newton Barge Park, and Les Savy Fav with Polvo in the evening there. The full lineup, including film screeings and other events, is available here.

A Cavalcade of Weekend Shows
But wait, there's more! Not only do you have a myriad number of Northside Festival shows to choose from, but also several other ways to commemorate the passing of June! That includes the Afro-Punk fest, happening in Fort Greene's Commodore Barry Park, which features performances by Bad Brains, Game Rebellion, P.O.S., Ninjasonik, 24-7 Spyz, The Cool Kids, J*DaVeY, Martin Luther, The Memorials and Bad Rabbits. Tickets are available here. Then there are the final two Voxtrot shows, tonight and tomorrow night at Bowery Ballroom. Tickets are available here. And power pop band Apples in Stereo are headlining a free show at Pier 17 at the South Street Seaport tomorrow night.

Also this week:

  • Miles Davis's groundbreaking jazz fusion double LP Bitches Brew was successfully revisited at the Prospect Park bandshell.
  • In the wake of the near-riot at Drake's South Street Seaport show, Paper magazine has cancelled several other planned concerts there, including one by Ke$ha...so perhaps we should be thanking Drake...