bang on a can with a stick so it makes a sound

summer in new york: what says it better than a bajillion free concerts?

animal collective is kicking things (read: river to river) off at south street seaport on june 1, which is old news. but i am like hyped 4x for the following day's event, the bang on a can marathon. it will be my second summer in attendance, since it became free, thanks to river to river (read: corporate sponsors), and i am super duper pleased to say that the schedule has FINALLY been announced! last year, i saw amiina, gutbucket, glenn kotche, matmos, and a 100-person tuba army. it was on the front page of the times' art section, which i kept as a sweet memento. anyway, the full schedule is here, and the artists im most psyched about are below, with accompanying mp3s.

whereas last year the marathon only went for 12 or so hours, this year's is supposed to be 26, 26 jam-packed hours of free fucking music. i love new york.

6/2:

bagpipe orchestra 8:00 pm

the books 10:11 pm
"be good to them always" lost and safe

juana molina 2:05 am "rio seco" son

6/3:

dalek 12:08 pm "bricks crumble" abandoned language

yo la tengo 7:07 pm "beanbag chair" i am not afraid of you and i will beat your ass

obviously, there are tons of other bands that i've never heard of, and these are, basically, the most familiar names (to me). there is a bang on a can band, the bang on a can all-stars, who are performing several works, among them thurston moore's "stroking piece #1." there are also many post-classical orchestras (sure, post-classical is a music genre), notably TACTUS, consisting entirely of students at the manhattan school of music. there's an uzbek artist, several percussive ensembles, and a chorus, performing works by composers, both original and canonical. i won't be there for all 26 hours (i'm going to canada partway through), but i'm definitely staying until juana molina plays. i saw her last year at another river to river event, and was really taken aback by her work, which i'm sure has been improved on in the past year.


it doesn't get better than this.