Radiator Hospital
After the release of their July 2013 album ‘Something Wild’ Radiator Hospital has drawn comparisons to some serious indie royalty across the internet, and for this group the categorization seems to be dead on. There’s a comfort in Radiator Hospital’s tunes that come across in their live performance. They're wildly talented, but their sets can still feel like you stumbled onto your best friend playing in your living room.
During Radiator Hospital’s solo set at Shea Stadium, Sam Cook-Parrott heightens the sweet yearning in the band’s full line-up performances to something that feels like the music you wish you could have written and held onto during your first (or last) crush/relationship/break-up/rebound/etc. The live recording brings his voice to the forefront as he wanders through the tracks you’ll recognize from Radiator Hospital's full band offering – but the songs are now transformed to something both familiar and fresh. - Alexa Atamanchuk
Fletcher C. Johnson
There's a timelessness to Fletcher C. Johnson's tunes. They have a distinct down home feel that might make you surprised to hear they're hailing from Brooklyn and not some different era and place entirely. Which is not to say they don't rock. They most certainly do - and in quanitities befitting of their current home at shred-haven Burger Records.
The band really shines in their live show. There's the hard to pin down but immediately recognizable sound of a band having fun on stage, which can seem like a lost art among droves of artists more concerned with nailing every note with machine-like precision. Their July 27th 2013 set at Shea was a loose affair, made perfectly clear on "Wasted Boys" where it slipped Fletcher's mind that one of his members didn't know how to play the song. And it turned out great - that type of spontaneity in performance keeps the music feeling live.
If you're left wanting more after you've listened to this short 'n sweet set, their latest LP "Salutations" has recently been repressed and is available again via Burger Records. -LC
Ratking
With the recent commencement of the 2014 baseball season, it is hard not to make mention of this classic performance. Although there is little correlation between this Shea Stadium (namesake aside, of course) and the Wide World of Sports, bands have been subjecting their audiences to countless puns and baseball banter (we definitely asked for it) since our very first show.
No one, however, had taken it so far as to project footage of the now infamous and iconic '86 Mets behind them as they performed - until native NY new school rap pioneers Ratking took the stage on an extremely sweaty August night some nearly two years ago. What occurred was a a bizarre synergy of two things that appeared completely unrelated forming a unique and extremely abstract celebration of New York City's culture, past and present. And while the '86 Mets represent a treasure of the city's past, Ratking is very much of it's present.
These recordings definitely do not conjure up any images of peanuts and crackerjacks, but of a New New York City characterized by fast paced environmental changes, unpredictable rhythms, and a sense of impermanence. A far cry from the boom bap styles of Pete Rock and DJ Premier, yet somehow still steeped in its culture, these kids (yes, as they were practically teenagers at the time of this performance) serve as a constant reminder that while it is in a constant state of evolution, NYC will always remain on the cutting edge of hip-hop.
Like our beloved Amazin's, these young MCs will also be kicking off a new season of their own, when their fresh to death debut LP So It Goes drops next Tuesday - may the chances of it's success be exponentially greater than that of the Mets this year. -AR
Flagland
You know your band is on a roll when you play two shows at the same venue, only five months apart, and do not repeat a single one of your songs. While handfuls of bands opt to grind the same half-hour's worth of material, sometimes for years, Flagland spent most of 2013 in perpetual motion, growing their catalogue at an unusually fast pace. If they've made one musical statement thus far, it's that this is not the kind of group that strives to get comfortable. Not unlike bosom buddies Big Ups, their rapid transition from scrappy punk band to one of the more promising and unique bands in Brooklyn has them poised to make some serious waves in this new(ish) year. This progression is particularly evident in these two contrasting performances, the latter of which (from last July) kicks off with a block of tracks from their new 20-track LP Love Hard - their third full length in as many years, the commencement of which will take place on the same stage later this week. And if their track record for fast improvement is any indication, it will likely be their best performance yet. -AR