NYC has been losing a lot to LA lately. The two coastal cities have been in a battle for cultural dominance of North America since the beginning of time, and at the moment it seems LA is winning.
Case in point, The Sonos Studio on Fairfax in LA. The permanent gallery and event space has been pushing the boundaries on the West Coast for a few years now. However, if you’re on the East Coast and looking for some Sonos love your out of luck until last week. The Sonos Studio took over the basement of Midtown’s NeueHouse, creating a pop-up venue merging art, culture and sound.
The week-long venue included appearances by Danny Brown, Aloe Blacc, Best Coast, Flight Facilities and more. The venue was also capped with three installations highlighted by Devonte Hynes (Blood Orange) which allowed users to manipulate a roof-mounted sculpture by voice and sound.
The highlight for me however was the generically named Sounds of NYC Installation produced by Big Noble (Daniel Kessler of Interpol Joseph Fraioli). Wave your hand and the massive installation would play music from a particular borough. Trust me, it looks better than described on this post.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDC2gIR6efI[/youtube]
All in all, the week was great however the space was quite small. No doubt many of y’all have noticed this when you tried to RSVP. The response is prompting a return to NYC soon, and hopefully a more permanent installation is in the works for the East Coast.
