July 24, 2009
Siren Music Festival | 7.18.09
LIVE JOURNAL
JezebelMusic.com @ Siren Music Festival
July 18, 2009 | A Place To Bury Strangers, The Raveonettes, Spank Rock
photo by Zoe Muller
The Village Voice’s Siren Festival draws huge crowds to Coney Island every year with a foolproof recipe for success: a free indie-rock showcase at the beach. With the variety of acts ensuring something for (almost) everyone and the nonexistent price tag, there’s really no reason not to go. Or so every press release accusingly reminds us: It’s free, so what’s your excuse?
At the ninth year of the festival, it was alarmingly clear that the event was no longer all about the music. Like the Voice’s own articles lost in the commercial-stuffed clusterfuck of its website, the bands were dwarfed by advertisements coating every surface. Branded cups and handheld fans are to be expected; banners covering half the stage are not. These were in addition to the Budweiser-sponsored Beer Tents jostling for customers with vendor stands for the Marines, a vaginal contraceptive film, and VitaminWater. Free festivals obviously require tremendous public and corporate support, but the audience came to see the bands perform, not a six-foot Metro PCS banner. On the other end, bands arriving at the festival hoping to be the stars of the show must have been disappointed to find the star positions already filled by beer, phone companies, and hotel chains.
More on Siren Music Festival | 7.18.09
Jay-Z to Replace Beastie Boys at All Points West [NME]
Since Everyone Loves Wu-Tang and Legos: “Da Mystery Of Chessboxin” Video in Lego Form [Prefix]
Ghostface’s First Single From The Wizard of Poetry Bringing Back Autotune Already! Oh Wait, It Was Never Gone… [Idolator]
White Rabbits Provide Soundtrack for Ralph Lauren Fall Season [Stereogum]
Flight of the Conchords to Release New LP, I Told You I Was Freaky [Pitchfork]
Battles, !!!, Prefuse 73 to Play Warp Records 20th Anniversary Show [Tripwire]
A Whale of a Remix! DJ Josh Kouzomis Remixes Mastadon [Sterogum]
Check Out The Raveonettes’ Tour and New LP [The Tripwire]
compiled by Erin Sheehy
