St. Vincent headlines BAM on May 4.

​The Brooklyn Academy of Music has announced the inaugural running of Crossing Brooklyn Ferry, a three-day music, film, and art extravaganza put together by the National's Bryce and Aaron Dessner, and set to take over BAM from May 3 to 5. Named after a poem by Walt Whitman, the festival has a lineup stacked with the borough's biggest musical names on the rock side of things—The Walkmen, St. Vincent, and Beirut will headline, while the lineups are rounded out by quite a few YIMBY alums, including Zs, Oneohtrix Point Never, and Skeletons. Full lineup and ticketing info below.

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© Stefan Cohen

​
Music of Steve Reich
Bang on a Can All-Stars and Friends (feat. Bryce Dessner), eighth blackbird, Kronos Quartet, So Percussion
Carnegie Hall
Saturday, April 30

Better than: The ritual, anniversary replay of news broadcasts from the morning of 9/11.

There is no other way to begin but by acknowledging that this review of a classical music concert from over the weekend was re-written after word spread, on Sunday night, of a successfully lethal military strike by U.S. forces against Osama bin Laden.

Your individual mileage may vary, in terms of whether you think that a mockable reality. Though even before news of bin Laden's death crossed social media wires, there had been a feeling that the window for critical commentary on Saturday night's concert at Carnegie Hall would need to be held open for some time--if only to accommodate reflection, let alone breaking news developments. The show was two things, at least: an evening-long celebration of New York musical eminence Steve Reich's 75th birthday this year; and the local premiere of his long-anticipated, only recently completed work about 9/11 and its aftermath.

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What they looked like, just for reference.

So the big whoop during this year's slate of Yo La Tengo Hanukkah shows was the final night's long-rumored opening set from the National, deigning to play a venue just ever so slightly smaller than what they're used to these days. Even if you're still way more into YLT, this is a sufficiently momentous occasion to consider consulting NYC Taper's inevitable bootleg, no?

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Welcome to Sound of the City's year-in-review rock-critic roundtable, an amiable ongoing conversation between five prominent Voice critics: Rob Harvilla, Zach Baron, Sean Fennessey, Maura Johnston, and Rich Juzwiak. We'll be here all week!

Happier times for us all

​My friends,

It's the conflict-averse, namby-pamby Midwesterner in me that's triggering this urge to defend every artist this panel has so far attacked. Quite a list we've got going so far, guys!

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Welcome to Sound of the City's year-in-review rock-critic roundtable, an amiable ongoing conversation between five prominent Voice critics: Rob Harvilla, Zach Baron, Sean Fennessey, Maura Johnston, and Rich Juzwiak. We'll be here all week!

​Dear Rob, Sean, Rich, and Maura,

I believe, as per our esteemed colleagues over at ILM, that the tortured anagram that Rob is looking for here is BLAND: Beach House (it's like you knew!), LCD Soundsystem, Arcade Fire, the National, and Deerhunter. I like exactly one of those records, so fine with me, but before I start gassing on about how inspiring I found James Murphy to be in 2010, I believe there was a sprawling three-part opening question to be addressed. Let's take a moment to recall that at roughly this time last year, two smart critics, Sasha Frere-Jones and Simon Reynolds, were gently declaring hip-hop as we knew it dead. (Sasha: "If I had to pick a year for hip-hop's demise, though, I would choose 2009.")

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Georgia, Ira, and the Clean's Hamish Kilgour, leading a drummer summit. Pics by Liz Clayton, more below.

​Yo La Tengo/The National
Maxwell's
Wednesday, December 8

Better than: The other seven nights, kinda.

Nels Cline sitting in Tuesday was pretty sweet. Ditto Jeff Tweedy a few nights earlier. Likewise (of course) when the Feelies showed up last Thursday, celebrating the 26th anniversary of Yo La Tengo's very first show, on this very same Maxwell's stage. And no way to deny Will Oldham singing The Bells-era Lou Reed, also on Tuesday. But, despite a worshipful opening set by the National (whose over-politeness was well served by the Maxwell's stage and, in the Hanukkah spirit, might be left at that), the final stand of Yo La Tengo's eight-night Hanukkah run is absent big, click-through names. Instead, fans get the band's longtime pal, Hamish Kilgour, drummer for New Zealand indie-pop staples the Clean, to assist in perhaps the most satisfying performance of the eight-day week.

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The National
Prospect Park Bandshell
Tuesday, July 27

It's great fun, actually, to watch National frontman Matt Berninger get steadily more and more intense during his 90-or-so minutes onstage, pacing the stage manically, jumping up on his monitors even though he's like seven feet tall, wielding his mic stand as though he intends to throw it like a javelin, constantly threatening to jump into the crowd to just wander around, and slowly eroding his dulcet baritone down to hissy-fit shrieks of "MY MIND'S NOT RIGHT!" or "WHY DO YOU DRESS ME DOWN AND LIQUOR ME UP?!" or "I WON'T FUCK US OVER!" or "SQUALOR VICTORIA!" The less sense he makes and the more ridiculous he looks, the better.

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​Our affection for this guy is well documented, but if Matt sits next to you in an airport lobby, you best get the hell out of there to beat the crowd. Spinner reports that the dude recently wound up in federal custody on suspicion of terrorism, prompted what might be the worst gag souvenir imaginable:

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​For context, Vampire Weekend sold 120,000 copies of Contra, good for a #1 debut; the National, 50K copies of High Violet later, just attained their best chart spot ever, at #3. (2007's Boxer only reached #68.) Working against them? The fact that their record came out in May, rather than January; a tattooed heartthrob by the name of Justin Bieber (#1 at 60,000, the second worst top sales effort since 1991); and the fact that the moody, lugubrious strains of the National--though they play well to the elite, from the New York Times to D. A. Pennebaker--just don't quite have the same demographic oomph as their lighter-hearted fellow New York denizens. A good day for critics and Brooklyn dudes who drink wine; a terrible one for pretty much everyone else who depend on record sales for their livelihood. [Billboard]

Thousands of folks watched in real time as Voice cover boy Matt Berninger wandered semi-aimlessly through the crowd at the gala, D.A. Pennebaker-assisted, live-streaming BAM spectacular Saturday night, a benefit for the Red Hot organization. A lot more tunes available here. We should write a cover story on the drummer next. (Though we probably won't -- sorry, dude.)