“Anti-New Wave, No Wave, Punk Jazz, Noise Rock...” Ah, the good old days on the Lower East Side. The 1980’s: when experimental music was commonplace and groups like the Lounge Lizards, DNA and Ambitious Lovers (born of the neighborhood) could be seen playing on any given night in any given dive bar or club. If you are nostalgic for this period, are a music aficionado, or just want to hear some really cool sounds, Arto Lindsay, a member of all three of the aforementioned groups, will be performing selections from his entire career this Friday as part of the New Museum‘s “Get Weird” series. The performance is also in conjunction with the Museum’s exhibition, “Come Closer: Art Around the Bowery, 1969–1989.”Lindsay, a wears-all-hats kind of musician, has been a force at the intersection of music and art for more than four decades, collaborating with both visual and musical artists including Laurie Anderson, Animal Collective, Marc Ribot and Ryuichi Sakamoto. His work with John Lurie helped create the totally unique and subversive sound of the Lounge Lizards. His life long habit of crossing both geographical and musical borders—he was born in the United States and raised in Brazil— lead him to develop a new hybrid of American and Brazilian music as bandleader for the Ambitious Lovers.
For a taste of the downtown avant-garde music scene, you can’t miss with Arto Lindsay. For a visual intro to this period in downtown history, be sure to check out the exhibition before the show.
Get Weird // Arto Lindsay // New Museum // Friday, November 30 // 7pm / $15.
