Friday was day 1 of Hillstock, an annual music festival in Clinton Hill founded by members of the Never Break Down music collective.
After earlier gigs at the Putnam Triangle Plaza, the evening’s events continued at “Free Candy,” an former-warehouse-turned-art-gallery-slash-part-music-venue-part-nightclub
Bands like The Toothaches got things rolling nicely— hovering over keyboards and other instruments with a dilligent sense of purpose, they nonetheless got the crowd pumped.
Next up were Eskalators, a Brooklyn-based steampunk and vegan musical collective, puppeteering ensemble, and experimental street mime troupe. Known for holding elaborate, public performances, fire poi artistry, and subway flash mobs without the formal written consent of the MTA, on this occasion their lead singer added an ability to simulatenously stage-dive while singing to their repertoire, while other members threw down in the mosh pit, unwieldy instruments in hand:
But the night’s events were by turns raucous and soothing, with a plethora of space for attendees to find their preferred environment:
Concluding the evening was Riot of Spring, a “rock band” ensemble consisting of two keyboardists, four guitars, two basses, drums and percussion, playing The Rite of Spring (Le Sacre du printemps) by Igor Stravinsky (who says the kids aren’t cultured these days?)
The conductor, James Landrum, advised that the ensemble was composed of members primarily from two other bands: Turbosleaze and No One and the Somebodies. Not only did the group only rehearse a couple of times, the performance was pretty much the first time Landrum had conducted. And yet, the result was spectacular.
“Riot of Spring is the brainchild of our third guitarist, creative director, and head arranger Steve Yankou (No One and the Somebodies and TURBOSLEAZE) whose dream this has been for years,” write Landrum in a comment to OTBKB. “He put together the ensemble and we collaborated on the arrangement along with help from our second keyboardist Julian Bennett Holmes. He is not only the impetus, but the very spirit of this piece, and I couldn’t be more proud to work with him.”
Robert Dvorkin, a pianist and teacher in Brooklyn, contributed reporting to this article.