One of the region’s most substantial, current and challenging music and art festivals, Basilica’s SoundScape takes place from September 14 through 16 at the repurposed industrial art space by the river in Hudson. Once again, the promoters reveal themselves as fearless, ambitious and undaunted by logistics and coordination. Consider, for example, one of the centerpieces of this year’s weekend: an orchestral piece composed by Stephen O’Malley of the ambient sludge-rock band Sunn O))) performed by Bard College’s 76-piece The Orchestra Now on Friday night.
Other Friday performances include solo piano works by Grouper and a reading by poet Hanif Abdurraqib. Saturday’s lineup will include Lightning Bolt, a one-time collaboration between the Haxan Cloak and Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ Nick Zinner and much more. “There will be a lot of amazing things happening at this year’s SoundScape: things that will only happen at this particular event,” said Basilica SoundScape co-presenter Brandon Stosuy of the Creative Independent. “We like to avoid the typical festival rut, so we pushed to come up with other things, like site-specific installations by visual artists Laleh Khorramian and Jungil Hong, blended sets by Lightning Bolt and Hisham Akira Bharoocha’s new project Yokubari, a site-specific dance project by FlucT.”
Basilica Hudson’s Back Gallery will feature a group show by Basilica’s recent artists-in-residence. The artist-in-residence series invites artists to explore the location itself as Muse and to create work with Hudson’s eclectic present and past as central inspiration. The group show will feature work by artists including Annie Bielski, the Social Justice Leadership Academy, Jim Krewson and newest resident Roman Horst.
Each night, the festival will close out with an afterparty at Hudson neighborhood bar and venue the Half Moon. Friday’s afterparty will be hosted by Audiofemme, a New York City music and culture blog that showcases the writings of women and non-binary journalists. Saturday’s afterparty will see the welcome return of some Basilica SoundScape regulars, gay metal dance party Rainbow in the Dark.
It’s all a lot to wrap the mind around, but the website will really help you find your path through this astonishingly ambitious festival. For the full (and quite complex) lineup, tickets and all additional information, visit http://basilicahudson.org. Basilica is located at 110 South Front Street in Hudson.
SoundScape, Friday-Sunday, Sept. 14-16, Basilica Hudson, 110 South Front Street, Hudson, www.basilicahudson.org
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