The Top 5 Up-and-Coming Brooklyn Bands

The following article is a guest post by Nicolas White of Rukkus. Rukkus is a concert discovery platform that helps you better stay in touch with your local music scene. They provide personalized concert recommendations for you based on your musical taste. In addition, they bring dozens of primary and secondary ticket vendors into one platform so you’ll always get the best deal. 

There must be something in the water in Brooklyn, NY―a strange force that permeates brick and concrete. Though the name for this energy sits just out of reach from the top of your tongue, some call it inspiration. This common bond links many artists who flock to the New York borough, as if dragged by some unseen force.

Brooklyn has become a presence much in the way that Seattle emerged as a breeding ground for the alt-rock of the ‘90s. The opportunities of this music and culture hub know no bounds, since there’s always a place to gig and a captive audience waiting for the “next big thing.” Of course, as expected, Brooklyn culture must absorb the knocks against the “hipsterdom” that it fostered, yet while mainstream America consumes the manufactured image that the scene inspired, Brooklyn music keeps chugging along. It’s an environment so unpredictable, you never know what’s going to catch flame.

If you’ve paid attention to music the past few years, you’re surely familiar with the Grizzly Bear’s and Dirty Projectors’ of the world, but this list provides new insight into a scene that continually recreates itself. With the nation’s spotlight shining down, Brooklyn has become so driven by originality, that bands must search for what’s new, or else face the risk of achieving dreaded self-parody. Here are 5 bands that are making noise in the city that never sleeps.

Oneohtrix Point Never – The electronic project of Daniel Lopatin is born out of ambient drone and sounds plundered from obscure sources. It all congeals together to form a sound collage that’s really quite unlike anything else. His debut with Warp Records came out last year to critical acclaim. Remember this name, however it’s pronounced.

Parquet Courts – These upstarts are one of the first in Brooklyn’s gurgling “second wave.” Their slacker-friendly punk is a battle cry against the gluten-free minutia of a culture that’s become too tame. Parquet Courts is here to shake things up.

DIIV – DIIV’s sound is bathed in watery reverb that originated in frontman Zachary Cole Smith’s bedroom. The project finally caught the attention of fans with their debut, Oshin. Be on the lookout for a new album coming early this year.

Beach Fossils – With Beach Fossils, the intention is to create atmospheres as much as music. The thick shoegaze fog immerses listeners in everything that the lo-fi Brooklyn movement has become known for—laid-back vocals, washed out synths, and prickly guitars.
Small Black – After the tides of chillwave hit the shore and washed away, Small Black is what remains. They’re a hybrid of bouncing synths and dreamy vocals that are best heard stumbling through the half-lit streets of Brooklyn late at night.

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