Even with the Grammys coming up, there were probably few in the audience who were concerned whether or not the Lumineers would win Best New Artist (they didn’t). It didn’t matter as those in attendance felt lucky enough to attend one of the two sold out shows from the folksy Denver-based band at New York City’s Terminal 5. Arriving into the venue, after trundling through the cold weather and past the calls of numerous ticket brokers, the audience was greeted by the music of the openers, Y La Bamba, a folk band from Oregon. After their set, the crowd was still filing in, swelling till they reached the venue’s capacity, awaiting the conclusion of the stage preparation and the arrival of the headliners.

Cameo Gallery is a small but busy venue accessed through a darkly lit tavern in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. A young quartet hailing from New York University called A Beacon School opened the evening. Frontman Patrick Smith creates solid pop guitar hooks, which the band delivers at full throttle while embracing the trend to bury vocals. Brooklyn based quintet Vensaire took to the stage next, a collaborative of musicians including Robert Earle Thomas of Widowspeak. Their down home jams incorporate some light hearted electronic flourishes, yet it’s all heavily structured and presented in a serious manner. (However, if you ask what the band name means you’ll receive a mischievous reply, “It’s a secret.”)  Richard Spitzer’s NYC-based musical project Love Skills followed, with a drummer and rapper layering his trippy synth beats. However, any connection made with the audience during between-song banter was lost while watching the closed-eyed performances.

Classically rock music seemed to hint at a possible alternate existence outside of workaday society. In the late ‘60s and early ‘70s, the music and lyrics of the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, or the Grateful Dead seemed to imply that there was a viable alternative to the humdrum existence of a 9-5, that there was still something mysterious left to find in the world if you looked hard enough.

As time passes and music has increasingly become a heading under the category of the mantra “follow your dreams”, many times fueled by well-to-do parents, rock bands have proliferated that have little to do with alternatives and are more about being a tongue-and-groove soundtrack to the situation humanity has found itself in. Rock songs used to be about how cool the world could be, now they’re just about how goddamned boring it is.

“I love singing the songs I’ve written… part of the reason I decide to go out and play them live is to have that experience again.”
—David Byrne, How Music Works

“A picture is worth a thousand words” is probably one phrase that everyone has heard—it doesn’t need explanation here. That adage applies to event or concert photography. It can be very difficult to capture that “moment” however. Without control over the artist or subject, the right moment is fleeting, but if you do catch it, it makes the effort all the more sweet.

But even then, as I develop my knowledge of the digital darkroom, I explore photo filters like Instagram and plug-ins (such as Color Efex Pro). This makes it more challenging to decide if an image is “final” or finally ready for end viewers. Each new software tool exponentially increases the possibilities for your image. In my images below, the original published version (the ones you see immediately) received only minor tweaks. But if you mouse-over, you’ll see a “revision” I created while exploring filters and effects. The changes could be subtle or very obvious, but don’t expect cropping one head from a file and pasting it into a different one because I still like to post the most genuine images of an event.

The night after the eight piece band Red Baraat played a secret show on the tiny platform of Rockwood Music Hall, the Indian Funk band opened for Antibalas at Brooklyn Masonic Temple (BMT). While I didn’t attend the Rockwood Show, after seeing the band at BMT, I couldn’t imagine how they could possibly fit at Rockwood. And I don’t mean on that stage, I mean the decibel level. The sheer volume of sound from these guys was too much for the larger BMT (though that was likely the venue’s doing). They might have figured the larger sound equated to a bigger party for the evening. Certainly, the audience on the dance floor didn’t stop moving—it should be noted, unlike many indie / hipster Brooklyn bands, Red Baraat (and Antibalas) sure know how to attract a diverse crowd including many ladies—as bandleader Sunny Jain hammered out rhythms on his dhol.

For those familiar with the language, a baraat is an exciting procession for the bridegroom and his family typical to South Asian weddings, so the music of Red Baraat must be equally exciting. Red Baraat played a number of songs off their forthcoming album Shruggy Ji (title track is available to download below) as well as songs off Chaal Baby. Their propulsive music is steeped in Indian sounds and flavors but it’s uniquely mixed with other global elements (their lyrics vary between Hindi and English). Red Baraat’s scintillating New Orleans brass section blends deep reggae strides and jazz freakouts within the outlandish madness of Bollywood and bhangra music. If the BMT performance serves as any indication, their live show is a raucous party all are invited too… just keep your earplugs ready and your dancing shoes shined.