Seeing Stars in the New York City Sky
Your last GUNK of 2024, some EOY shows not to miss, and some NYE shows too!
Seeing Stars in the New York City Sky
understanding the world of Nara’s Room & their debut album Glassy star
Shoegaze & dream pop are in their mid-80’s disco era. There’s way too much of it, yet its prevalence and influence are integral to providing a platform for its own evolution.
Pandemic induced solitude, the legalization and increasing use of cannabis, and dissatisfaction with corporate life have amalgamated into the anguish rooted in the soaring supply and demand of shoegaze. Although international, the loudest innovations within these genres have been recently headquartered in the bedrooms and rehearsal spaces within the outskirts of Brooklyn and Philadelphia. Online music communities have spearheaded this shoegaze resurgence and algorithms launched these trends into a hipster mainstream. As a result, a surplus of shoegaze & dream pop music has diluted the genre leaving many once self-identified shoegaze fans dismissive and wary.
Yet, out of this 80's disco period, electronic dance music and house music were born. My point: the best is yet to come.
Like how the Star Wars universe (the original trilogy) pays homage to Dune (the novel) while affirming its own identity in its fantasy world building and genuine character arcs, Nara’s Room’s debut album Glassy star pays homage to the guitar-based maximalist universe it draws from while affirming its own identity in modernized shoegaze & dream pop aesthetics and a strong sense of character.
Similarly to Chris Sunshine’s HELLMAXXXING (Brooklyn, 2024) or They Are Gutting a Body of Water’s swanlike (Philadelphia, 2024), Nara’s Room’s Glassy star tests and extends the limits of digital audio possibilities within the shoegaze & dream-pop frameworks. With intentionality and precision, sonic instances cut in and out of auditory focus with astonishing grace. Picked guitar strings and layered synthesizers blanket the album in a warm glow while astute indie rock drumming and Peter Hook-esque bass riffs ground the high-energy jangle-pop in an audio experience that is felt just as much as it’s heard. An unforgettable, full-hearted, soaring vocal performance unifies the sparkly and sprawling soundscape of Glassy star, declaring this 30 minute no-skip epic as a modern rock marvel.
Glassy star not only explores production capabilities of 2024, but pushes branding and presentation possibilities that only a post-internet age has to offer. General public internet access dissolved monoculture throughout the 21st century, exponentially popularizing diverse influences while simultaneously providing enough context for any style, fad or era to become culturally relevant. For example, online fanclubs and nostalgia influencers have recently reestablished Mazzy Star’s Hope Sandoval as an alternative icon of today (Hot Girls Listen to Mazzy Star by Kurt Suchman). However, the 58-year old Hope Sandoval of 2024 is not the icon young adults are identifying with; instead, it’s the 26 year old representation of Hope trending online. The availability of digital content has eternalized moments in people’s lives into avatars that can emerge in and out cultural relevance as long as the message and style resonate with modern identities.
I Want My NTV
Nara’s Room casually manipulates these post-internet dynamics to obscure the line between the digital past and present. Sonically, Glassy star is so innately influenced by 90’s ethereal wave bands like Galaxy 500, Ride and The Sundays that the band “ties themselves to these originators” (The Chronicles of Doom by S.H. Fernando JR.) of guitar-based maximalism rather than falling referential to them. Visually, Nara’s Room recalls Y2K aesthetics through the use of early 2000’s digital camera photography, videography and graphic design softwares to present the band as an obscure group from 2003 rather than 2024. Glassy star’s cohesive audio and visual presentations intentionally subvert modern standards, convincingly enough that the only thing preventing Glassy Star from existing in 2003 is the fact that it didn’t. And amidst the endless nostalgia marketing in 2024, this clever use of nostalgia is not only refreshing, but positions the band in the same mystifying aesthetic of those 90’s alternative groups that Nara’s Room is so heavily inspired by.
By setting their story in the obscured and ethereal nature of shoegaze & dream pop music, Nara’s Room channels the existential and introspective qualities of the genres necessary to safely communicate complex feelings. Nara’s Room is not only a shoegaze Brooklyn based 4-piece formed out of a Craig's List ad listing, but also the shelter of Nara Avakian, a nonbinary, LA native, 1st generation Armenian indie rocker. The music of Nara’s Room serves as an invitation inside Nara’s bedroom. Glassy Star is the diary you’ll find, and each entry is a song.
The entry titled “Razorbraids” warns of manipulations disguised as acts of love and acknowledges the courage required to bring toxic relationships to an end. “Grape juice” reminds us to only take the things that we truly want while also bravely exposing the facade of those masquerading as something they’re actually oppressing. “Holden” translates the diasporic dissonance derived of being a descendent of genocide into J.D. Salinger’s Holden Caulfield, a universal icon of isolation and loneliness. Powerfully and tragically, Nara echoes the Armenian genodice’s generational devastation and lasting hurt. “Holden” helps us understand a specific pain that no one should ever have to experience.
With admirable honesty and vulnerability, Nara Avakian amplifies marginalized perspectives with confidence and grace, establishing Nara as the type of protagonist we love to root for and identify with.
Breathing new life into what’s been sucked out by the hipster mainstream, Nara’s Room re-energizes seemingly exhausted genres, reimagines nostalgia branding, and heck, even makes referencing Catcher in the Rye cool again. With purpose and fragility, and in a city where we can’t see stars, Glassy star shines brightly.
Nara Avakian’s Favorite Songs by Local NY Artists!
fantasy of a broken heart: Mega
Big Dumb Baby: Tornado Chaser
Hausholding: Capo 4 (unreleased)
Sister.: Classon
Raavi: Henry
h. pruz: Hurting
Elijah Wolf: Sense of Time
written by Matthew P. “Lentils” Falcone // Email: matthewplentilsfalcone@gmail.com// Instagram: matthevvfalcone// Substack:
Upcoming Cool End of Year Shows:
12/27 The Felice Brothers, Merce Lemon @ brooklyn bowl
12/28: Franz Charcoal, Emily Yacina, Cameron Wisch, Long Beard, Gabby's World @ Cassette
12/28 Florry, Dari Bay, Robber Robber @ Baby’s
NYE parties???
12/31 xaviersobased, OLTH, Sweet93, Clovis, Oceane (DJ), Goner (DJ) @ Baby’s
12/31 Water from your eyes @ Night Club 101
12/31 Retail Drugs, Laveda, The Donw & Outs, Astoria Oslow, Monobloc (DJ) and guests @ 109 mulberry
12/31 The Dare, Doss, Dylan Brady, Frost Children, Yves Tumor @ Knockdown Center (sheesh)
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We had so much fun at the gunk party and listened to the best lineup of the year if i do say so myself. We sang christmas songs together at the end (thank u dave and paul and alex and diego) and wore matching outfits on accident of course.
We updated the GUNK playlist to all of the songs that have been circling around in our heads in 2024 because on January 1 2025 our heads will go completely brand new. What a M f year!! More on that next week. thank u thank u thank u
xx Ceci and Hannah
ˋ°•*⁀➷ GUNK CLASSIFIEDSˋ°•*⁀➷
is your band (or solo act) looking to connect with other bands or performers to put together a bill for an upcoming show? send GUNK a little intro to your music (no links sorry) including an email address for a reply and we’ll publish the listings!
—> thegunkyard@gmail.com **if you’d rather your email address not listed let us know and we can get you in touch with interested parties**
i saw your classified ad about connecting musicians or bands so they can put a bill together.
my name's franny keeps, I'm an indie/alternative singer/songwriter. i recently released my debut LP and i'm gigging around. would love to connect with other artists in and around NYC and put some shows together
franny@frannykeeps.comI am looking to add a guitar player and a bass player to my two piece project. We primarily play indie pop and indie rock. I independently released a record in 2022 called Hex Sign, and I've been described as a "rock and roll Fiona Apple". If you are interested and want to hear more, reach out to bribarte@gmail.com. |
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