Beard Ball, celebrating all things hirsute

Break out your finest for the Beard Ball.

This February 4, the co-founders of the blog www.build-a-beard.com, which chronicles all things hirsute-related, are throwing a launch party at Matchless in Greenpoint.

The event also serves as a benefit for RightRides for Women’s Safety, a Brooklyn-based program that offers direct services, safety education and advocacy programs to the local NYC area and boroughs, now in its fifth year. All ticket sales, raffles and a drink special will all be going to benefit the organization.

“We figured if we’re going to throw a party - might as well help a local Brooklyn program,” said Kristina Weise, one of the blog’s co-founders, along with Alex Aizenberg.

Helping make this event a party will be three “bearded bands” – Transatlantic FM, Quiet Loudly, and Julius C.

It all starts at 8 p.m., with tickets $5. Matchless is located at 557 Manhattan Ave.

Flyer by Magnetic State

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Kai Altair: the divine feminine

By Meredith Deliso

For an artist who draws very much on the visual and the creative, Brooklyn is the perfect place for Kai Altair.

“Living in New York is inspiring as an artist. Every sort of thing that can help to create imagery and fantasy that you could ever want is in New York,” says the Sunset Park-based musician, who plays Matchless in Greenpoint October 10. “Brooklyn is so good for an artist. It leaves a little more space for your creative mind.”

For Altair, music was her ticket to New York, studying opera at the Manhattan School of Music and then electronic composition at the Brooklyn Conservancy of Music.

“I love opera, but in my heart I always knew I wanted to do a band and write my own music,” says Altair. “At Manhattan School of Music you’re being groomed for the top opera houses in the world, but I really wanted to be drinking whisky and smoking cigarettes with my friends in the West Village.”

Finding her own voice, Altair has developed entrancing, hypnotic music with heavy synth that often focuses on another passion of hers: ocean conservancy. Growing up in the Northeast, as well as the Caribbean, water is something the musician feels a close connection with, and explores in her music.

“It’s kind of unavoidable for me to mention the ocean in my music,” says Altair, whose debut EP, out this month, is called “Star of the Sea” and includes singles like “Mama Ocean,” where she sings, “There’s a hole in my soul that’s lost at sea.” “Not just in a physical sense but also a metaphorical sense – it’s the place where our dreams come from.”

The imaginative realm is an endless source of inspiration for Altair, who’s drawn to the land of “fantasy, stars, oceans, mermaids, fairies and vampires.”

“These are things artists have been interpreting for society for thousands of years,” says Altair. “As a modern day artist, I feel the need to bring a modern day idea to these ideas of mythology.”

Another area of interest for Altair is goddess imagery and “bringing the divine feminine into our culture again.”

“I’m trying to imagine what the goddess image is today through my music and the images I create,” she says.

Through performance, she does just that, with costumes and tribal dance, a modern form of belly dancing, incorporated into her act.

Although she’s just getting started, with her EP out, fittingly, on Halloween, and her musical debut at Matchless in a bill put together by Resonator Magazine, Altair has big plans. She’s looking to amp up her live performance by adding backup singers and dancers, as well as organize a benefit for the ocean conservancy group Sea Shepherds.

And, with a sultry, gypsy-esque video just out for the single “Here She Comes,” she’s ready to get behind the camera once again and add to the iconography.

“I love the act of being a visual performer,” she says.

Kai Altair plays Matchless (557 Manhattan Ave.) October 10 at 10 p.m. With Bears Repeating, The Swear and Tealights, starting at 8 p.m. For more information, 718-383-5333.

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LA's Night Horse runs at full gallop back to Brooklyn

By Meredith Deliso

The last time Night Horse was in Brooklyn is a night the rock and roll band won’t soon forget.

“We had a great experience at a bar called Matchless,” remembers guitarist Greg Buensuceso, who was here with the band last fall to celebrate the release of their debut EP, “The Dark Won’t Hide You.” “When the bar was closing the bartenders said, Oh, you guys can stay, stick around for a bit.”

The Los Angeles-based rock and roll group spent the rest of the night listening to Iron Maiden and drinking shots into the wee hours of the morning.

“We were dancing on the bar. It was the funniest thing that had we had ever done,” says Buensuceso. “It was crazy.”

When the band, also comprised of a couple members from soundscapists Ancestors, comes back to Brooklyn August 16 for a show, they’ll surely be looking for more crazy times at the Greenpoint venue once they’ve finished up their set at Williamsburg’s Union Pool.

“We have to go back there,” says Buensuceso. “We had so much fun being out in Brooklyn. The people there were all so friendly.”

Since the release of “Dark” last fall on Tee Pee Records, comprised of six sonic blues-tinged hymns that honor the likes of John Lee Hooker and The Allman Brothers Band, while paying nods to such contemporaries as Harvey Milk, Down and Priestess, the band has delivered the goods once again. Over the course of several months, they’ll be rolling out three split singles, the first of which is out now on Tee Pee.

The single, “Good Bye Gone,” is a small yet powerful dose of the rock band, featuring more of their dual guitar driven jams, while like-minded roots rockers Dirty Sweet of San Diego provide “Marionette” on the B side. Other split singles to come are with classic rockers The High Saints and blues rockers Sea of Air, both also out of the LA area.

“They’re a fully kickass band,” says Buensuceso of Sea of Air. “I’m really excited for those ones to come out.”

Night Horse has been busy out West playing shows with their fellow album-mates on these split singles, but when they come to the East Coast, it’s all about “The Dark Won’t Hide You.” And maybe a couple shots at Matchless.

“I’m excited to see more of the city and hopefully meet some more cool people,” says Buensuceso. “I think New York’s my favorite place to go. It’s a nonstop party.”

Night Horse play Union Pool (484 Union Ave.) August 16 at 9 p.m. Ticket cost TBA. With Orphan and Tournament. For more information, go to or call 718-609-0484.

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The Static Age overcomes separation anxiety for BK debut

By Meredith Deliso

While one half of The Static Age lives in Brooklyn and the other Vermont, the separation hasn’t prevented the band from making music; if anything, it’s prevented them from performing here.

On June 18, that’s lifted as the post punk band plays its first local show with a gig at Greenpoint bar Matchless.

On their road to Brooklyn, The Static Age began in Burlington, Vermont, with band founders Andrew Paley and Adam Meilleur growing up in that city’s punk scene.

“There’s a pretty vibrant punk scene in Burlington, Vermont,” says Paley, the lead singer of The Static Age. “I’ve been in every possible loud noisy band iteration under the sun.”

Never settling down in a place no more than six months while on tour with bands like Tiger Army, Street Dogs, and Theo and the Skyscrapers, last summer, Paley set up camp in Fort Greene and doesn’t have any plans on moving just yet.

“When it came time to settle down for a little bit, I decided I wanted to move back to New York,” says Paley. “One of the things I really like about Fort Greene is the space. I’ve been able to build a studio over the past year in my apartment.”

This setup has allowed the musician to do his own recording here and then send Meilleur demos, getting together every month or so to rehearse with the rest of the band, drummer Dave Joyal, another Vermonter and the current drummer for the post-hardcore band Silent Drive.

“Whether you’re demoing them five miles down the road or 3,000 miles, it doesn’t really matter. The process is the same from the beginning,” says Paley. “Though it can be a pain in the ass, we make it work.”

Indeed, after taking some time to work on side projects and writing, the band is currently at work on its fourth album, tentatively titled “I/O” (as in “Input/Output”), scheduled to come out in September in conjunction with a three-week tour in Europe.

With albums previously out on Primary, Tarantulas, and Reignition Records, the band decided to undertake their latest effort themselves.

“This time around, because we’ve been recording the way we have been, we’re doing it all ourselves,” says Paley. “We found out there are good sides and bad sides to that, but for me at least, the good outweighs the bad. It’s fun to have an unlimited amount of time and to make mistakes and learn how to fix them.”

The result so far has leaned towards a fuller sound, with the band leaning towards recordings of the full live band, with not as many studio-constructed as before.

“We were able to pull from some other places that we weren’t able to before,” says Paley. “Previous recordings were not a live band situation. I think this takes that and runs with it more.”

After taking a break from live gigs as of late, The Static Age will break out these new songs in Brooklyn at the Matchless gig. Also on the bill are familiar local acts The Royal Chains, Ivana XL, and Systems, friends that the band reached out to in joining them on the bill.

“I’ve always been amazed as I get to know more people around here by the subcircles of bands,” says Paley. “I kind of love Brooklyn for that.”

The Static Age play Matchless (557 Manhattan Ave.) on June 18 at 8 p.m. For more information, call 718-383-5333.

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