Selected press highlights:
New York Times: “Dive In, The Music’s Fine”
“The East River Music Project’s programming leans to the noisy: its next show, on July 22, will feature Jonathan Kane, an experimental musician who was a founding member of the famously loud 1980’s New York band the Swans. But as is often the case with concerts presented outside, the environment can have a surprising effect on the sound of the music. “Our bands usually play in tiny, tiny clubs,” Ms. Bennett said. “But in the open air, with tugboats going behind them, it’s strangely ideal. We’ve had noise bands play, and for music that is so discordant, to have it in such a serene setting balances it out.”"
Village Voice Best of 2006
“Braha, who has also curated concerts for the East River Music Project…”
Flavorpill (preview of August 19, 2006 show)
“Brooklyn-based experimentalists Excepter, meanwhile,hone the eclectic sense of sound championed by older acts like Nurse with Wound and the No Neck Blues Band. At times beat driven and at others noisy and free-form, the group’s electro excursions are quick to turn on themselves, morphing into a muddy series of deliciously dissonant blips and bleeps.”
Time Out New York (preview of April 1, 2006 benefit)
“Every summer, The East River Music Project puts on four of the funnest shows of the season at the rickety old amphitheater down at East River Park. Well, the ERMP is a nonprofit, and you know, this stuff doesn’t just happen by magic. That’s right: It’s fund-raiser time on Saturday 1, as Awesome Color, one of our local faves, tops off a day of music and photo-exhibitry at Secret Project Robot in Williamsburg.”
New York Press Best of 2005
“Commandeering an old amphitheater against a riverside view, the festival delivers stadium seating and a domed stage whose adornments would make George Jetson boogie. And the rock-n-roll, from up-and-comers like the Oxford Collapse and local faves like Oneida, buzzes up to the top bench.”
Gothamist (preview of July 30, 2005 show)
“Our pick is brooklyn band Oneida, who just launched their own label Brah Records. Check them out as they play a free show as part of the East River Music Project this Saturday.”
New York Press (preview of June 25, 2005 show)
“With their multi-voiced harmonies, wispy glitter rocking and slithering rhythms, these dreamy kids from Brooklyn have made a Horn of Plenty worth tooting about. But as freeing as Grizzly [Bear] is, there can be no better liberation than seeing and hearing David Pajo on his own.”
Flavorpill (preview of May 21, 2005 show)
“The East River Music Project is a group of New Yorkers trying to foster a sense of community in this beautiful beast of a city. Since the summer of 2003, the crew has produced a series of free events at the underappreciated East River Amphitheater. Tonight, the Project kicks off the season with performances by the Evens, a boy/girl duo featuring someone named Ian McKaye, local acts Parts & Labor and Cause Co-Motion!, and Greenpot Bluepot, a multimedia freak-folk collective based around the conceptual meanderings of artist Natalie LeBrecht.”
Grand Street News: “Summers Are Free”
“At the May show, the audience left their seats to crowd the lip of the stage to be closer to The Evens, heads bobbing to favorite songs about the perils of excessive surveillance in the name of security. At the June show, some listeners spontaneously started doing yoga asanas on the grass, to the eerie accompaniment of Soft Circle’s middle earth drones.”
Village Voice Best of 2004
“What better way to spend a summer Saturday afternoon than chillin’ in the park with the river breeze in your hair and your favorite bands playing for free?”
Petitmort at ERMP: Summer 2004
“Then comes the last group, Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings. ….Sharon, who used to play with James Brown, is a fireball of expression. Her voice soars, her booty shakes and persona and presence cannot be ignored. Their funkified version of This Land Is Our Land is the highlight of the afternoon.”
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