In 2006, Downtown Records formed Downtown Events, LLC, an events and lifestyle brand. Two years ago, to celebrate the fifth anniversary, they held a series of sold-out performances as the Downtown Festival (with the likes of Santigold, Major Lazer, Miike Snow, and more). Now, Downtown Records & Events are holding Downtown Festivals across the country – starting in New York, of course, Friday & Saturday, May 10th & 11th:
FRIDAY, MAY 10th
Bowery Ballroom, 6 Delancey St. (QRO venue review)
Palma Violets 11pm
Guards 10pm
The Orwells 9pm
Downtown Music Festival welcomes a bunch of buzzed-about up-and-coming acts, and maybe nobody’s got more buzz than the garage-psych Palma Violets. The Lambeth, London band gained a lot of attention from the get-go through social media, Arctic Monkeys (QRO live review) style – though presumably not through MySpace…
Cake Shop, 152 Ludlow St. (QRO venue review)
Beach Fossils 12am
Cosmonauts 10pm
The Garden 9pm
Relax for the relaxed indie-rock of New York’s Beach Fossils (QRO photos outdoors), even if their garage-rock (QRO photos) on this year’s Clash the Truth (QRO review) wasn’t that impressive.
Capitale, 130 Bowery
Black Hippy 1am
Fat Tony 12am
The biggest act at Downtown NYC ’13 has to be hip-hop supergroup Black Hippy, with high-profile West Coast rappers Kendrick Lamar (QRO photos at a festival), Schoolboy Q, Jay Rock, and Ab-Soul.
Andrew Wyatt 9pm
D’Eon 8pm
Andrew Wyatt got serious notice as frontman for Stockholm’s Miike Snow (QRO photos at a festival), with their combination of indie-pop & electro-dance, especially live (QRO live review). He comes to Downtown New York (where he currently lives) behind his new solo record, Descender, his first since last year’s Miike Snow release, Happy To You (QRO review).
Element, 225 East Houston St.
Earl Sweatshirt 10:30pm
Antwon 10pm
Ryan Hemsworth 9pm
Branchez 8pm
The massive hip-hop collective Odd Future (QRO live review) keeps giving – there’s frontman Tyler, the Creator (QRO album review), R&B star Frank Ocean, and now Earl Sweatshirt, who’s also worked with the likes of Flying Lotus (QRO live review), in Lotus’ Sealab 2021-inspired alter-ego, Captain Murphy.
Mercury Lounge, 217 East Houston St. (QRO venue review)
Sky Ferreira 1am
Teengirl Fantasy 12am
SZA 11pm
S+M 10pm
Mess Kid 9pm
Pianos, 158 Ludlow St. (QRO venue review)
Royal Teeth 11pm
Rush Midnight 10pm
Sparxx 9pm
NSR 8pm
Rockwood Music Hall, Stage #1 196 Allen St. (QRO venue review)
Jenny Ray 12pm
Derek James 11pm
Plume Giant 10pm
The Loom 9pm
Noble Hunter 8pm
Josh Elkes 7pm
Rockwood Music Hall, Stage #2 196 Allen St. (QRO venue review)
Wooly & The Mammoths 12:30am
Port St. Willow 11pm
Anais Mitchell 10pm
Alice & The Glass Lake 9pm
Belle Mare 7pm
Tammany Hall, 152 Orchard St.
RINSED 2:30am
Nguzunguzu 1:30am
Kingdom feat. Kelela 12:30am
Kilo Kish 11:30
Nire feat. Nani Castle 11pm
RINSED 10pm
SATURDAY, MAY 11th
Bowery Ballroom, 6 Delancey St. (QRO venue review)
Purity Ring 11pm
Mas Ysa 10pm
From north of the border, Montreal’s Purity Ring (QRO photos) bring some of the new indie-electronic (QRO live review).
Cake Shop, 152 Ludlow St. (QRO venue review)
Trash Talk 1am
Cities Aviv 12am
Low Fat Getting High 11pm
Shackletons 10pm
One of the most praised bands in today’s revival of hardcore is Sacramento’s Trash Talk (QRO photos). Judge for yourself what all the Talk is about – just don’t get caught in the pit if you want to survive!
Mercury Lounge, 217 East Houston St. (QRO venue review)
DIIV 12am
Lodro 11pm
Xray Eyeballs 10pm
DJ Dog Dick 9pm
Brooklyn shoegaze outfit DIIV (QRO live review) – previously known as Dive (QRO photos) – come home, after releasing debut Oshin (QRO review) last summer.
Pianos, 158 Ludlow St. (QRO venue review)
Inc. 10pm
Autre Ne Veut 10pm
Weeknight 9pm
DJ Thanksgiving Brown 8pm
Rockwood Music Hall, Stage #1, 196 Allen St. (QRO venue review)
Steady Sun 1am
Brendan Rivera 12am
Clementine and the Galaxy 11pm
Raveena Aurora 10pm
Cheap Blue Yonder 9pm
Town Hall 8pm
Wyndam Baird 7pm
Mary Beth Doran & Amy Vachal 6pm
Tiger Darrow 5pm
Andrew Berger 3pm
Rockwood Music Hall, Stage #2, 196 Allen St. (QRO venue review)
Rocket and the Ghost 12am
Ducktails 11pm
TEEN 10pm
The Chevin 9pm
San Fermin 8pm
Jade <3 and Blind Benny 7pm
Tammany Hall, 152 Orchard St.
Hefna Gwap 2am
Farrington 1am
Ratking 12am
Black Dave 11pm
Vashtie 10pm
Mr. Muthafuckin’ eXquire 9pm
AWKWAFINA 8:30pm
Hefna Gwap 8pm
Hit up the hip-hop at Tammany Hall with the likes of up-and-coming Ratking and already-there Mr. Muthafuckin’ eXquire.
Here’s a handy map of the participating venues:
View QRO Magazine Downtown Music Festival 2013 in a larger map
For festival website, go here: http://thedowntownfestival.com/