This year’s festivities will take place at The Williamsburg Waterfront.

Expect to enjoy the following free gigs:

7/12 – 
Mission Of Burma, 
Fucked Up, 
Ponytail
, Jemina Pearl
7/19 – 
Dirty Projectors
, Magnolia Electric Co., White Denim
7/26 – Trail Of Dead, Black Lips
, HEALTH, 
Grupo Fantasma
8/2 – Deerhunter, No Age, Dan Deacon


8/9 – 
Simian Mobile Disco (DJ Set)
, Fiery Furnaces
, Dark Meat
8/16 – Del The Funky Homosapien, 
Gravy Train!!!
, DD/MM/YYYY
8/23 – 
Girl Talk
, Max Tundra
, Wiz Khalifa
8/30 – Grizzly Bear
, Beach House

For more info, head here.

MP3: Grizzly Bear – Shift (Acoustic)

July 27th’s bill will feature:

MGMT
Black Moth Super Rainbow
The Ting Tings

Not too shabby. For further info, head here.

MP3: MGMT – Destrokk

The JellyNYC Pool Parties might just be the best thing about summer in New York City. Totally fun and totally free. This year’s roster of bands is particularly good, especially this past week’s with Man Man headlining. The evidence of corporate sponsorship this year around was incredibly more evident, with huge banners at the entrances and booths set up. It sort of felt like you were trapped in a commercial, but it is still a great event.

One unexpected irritant were the fans up front acting strange in hopes of getting on camera. L.A.M.E.

Man Man were as great as ever, strange and joyful. Their albums are equally as good as their live show and well worth the purchase.

This Sunday: Octopus Project, Erase Errata, Dan Deacon, OCDJ and The Rub DJs featuring Mark Ronson (!)

Yesterday was the kick off of JellyNYC’s free summer shows in an outdoor concert called Make Music New York. The main event happened on N7th between Bedford Ave and Driggs in Williamsburg but there were supposedly shows going on all over, though the only other ones I saw were on Bedford near the main stage.

The clouds cleared, the sun started to shine and The Soundscapes were playing in front of an out of business Chinese restaurant. Watching them was amazing. It is not that their music was groundbreaking, though it was good and heartfelt, but standing outside, watching a couple of guys sweat and play their heart out right out in the street was magic. It made you remember why you listen, why you go to shows, why you bother standing outside hoping to score a spare ticket – it’s all for the love.

After The Soundscapes, I made my way over to the main stage where one half of Best Fwends was standing in the middle of the crowd dancing around while Matt and Kim egged him on. Apparently Dustin couldn’t be there but A soloed a few songs to the enthusiastic throng. Reminded me a bit of our anniversary show where we had one Gasket do a little karaoke to his own songs, totally fun.

Before the heavens opened up once more, Cheeseburger hit the stage. I’ve been chasing this band for a while and their live show did not disappoint. Fun, funny, full of energy and well worth standing around in the rain for. Their music may sound familiar but it doesn’t really matter, it’s all about having a good time.

Tonight has two insanely awesome shows going on in Brooklyn timed perfectly with each other and set at a price we all can afford- FREE.

First is the awkwardly titled The Williamsburg MAKE MUSIC NEW YORK Stage presented by JellyNYC and featuring Oxford Collapse, Best Fwends and Cheeseburger. All bands are worth seeing so make sure you hop the train right after work to get there by 6pm. The show ends at 10pm when I am sure the coppers will shut it all down.

But have no fear you party animals. After you are hosed off the block party, hop a cab and head to Matchless where one of my favourite new singer, song writer, rockers, Luke Wesley, will make you wonder why you are just getting hip to him now.