City Lights and Duke University Press celebrate the publication of
The Williamsburg Avant-Garde: Experimental Music and Sound on the Brooklyn Waterfront
By Cisco Bradley
Published by Duke University Press
Cisco Bradley is joined in conversation by Lee Ranaldo
In The Williamsburg Avant-Garde Cisco Bradley chronicles the rise and fall of the underground music and art scene in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn between the late 1980s and the early 2010s. Drawing on interviews, archival collections, musical recordings, videos, photos, and other ephemera, Bradley explores the scene’s social, cultural, and economic dynamics. Building on the neighborhood’s punk DIY approach and aesthetic, Williamsburg’s free jazz, postpunk, and noise musicians and groups—from Mary Halvorson, Zs, and Nate Wooley to Matana Roberts, Peter Evans, and Darius Jones—produced shows in a variety of unlicensed venues as well as in clubs and cafes. At the same time, pirate radio station free103point9 and music festivals made Williamsburg an epicenter of New York’s experimental culture. In 2005, New York’s rezoning act devastated the community as gentrification displaced its participants farther afield in Brooklyn and in Queens. With this portrait of Williamsburg, Bradley not only documents some of the most vital music of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries; he helps readers better understand the formation, vibrancy, and life span of experimental music and art scenes everywhere.
Cisco Bradley is Associate Professor of History at the Pratt Institute and author of Universal Tonality: The Life and Music of William Parker, also published by Duke University Press.
Lee Ranaldo is a Grammy nominated musician, composer, visual artist, writer, and producer. He is a founding member of Sonic Youth and has recently collaborated with The Glacial Trio (with David Watson and Tony Buck,) the Text of Light Group, Raul Refree, Leah Singer, and continues to work on numerous solo projects. His artwork and videos have been on view in galleries and museums across the globe. He is the author of the books Some Writings on Music and Musician’s, Against Refusing, and How Not To Get Played On The Radio. He makes his home in New York State.
This event is made possible with the support of the City Lights Foundation. To learn more visit: https://citylights.com/foundation/