Friday's
Parts and Labor show at the 285 Kent warehouse, with Oneida and
Neptune, marked both their 10th anniversary and their final show before
an indefinite hiatus. After the release of more than 5 Pitchfork-lauded albums, a long string of international tours, and even a stint covering Kanye West for the Onion,
audience expectations for this final she-bang were high.
In addition to being notable for their output, Parts and Labor were frontiersman and frequent faces in a now-storied chapter in NY music history, that of Brooklyn's experimental d.i.y. rock scene, a vibrant community that sprouted bands like the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, TV on the Radio and later, Matt and Kim, bred in warehouses, parking lots, and rooftops. Impose Magazine, in the wake of the show, offers an entertaining selection of Parts and Labors' show posters from the past 10 years.
This weekend, the band went out not with a bang, but with a horn section, bagpipes, and lots of double, sometimes even triple or quadruple-drumming. BJ Warshaw and Dan Friel, the band's core and founding members, who met in the early aughts while working at the Knitting Factory, invited all of the group's previous members (they've had four drummers, two guitarists) to guest-appear in the finale, and their frequent creative collaborator Nick Chatfield-Taylor created a site-specific installation made of roadside-ad ephemera. It was a farewell fitting to the singular sound they've developed: noisy, colorful, chaotic and emotional.
In addition to being notable for their output, Parts and Labor were frontiersman and frequent faces in a now-storied chapter in NY music history, that of Brooklyn's experimental d.i.y. rock scene, a vibrant community that sprouted bands like the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, TV on the Radio and later, Matt and Kim, bred in warehouses, parking lots, and rooftops. Impose Magazine, in the wake of the show, offers an entertaining selection of Parts and Labors' show posters from the past 10 years.
This weekend, the band went out not with a bang, but with a horn section, bagpipes, and lots of double, sometimes even triple or quadruple-drumming. BJ Warshaw and Dan Friel, the band's core and founding members, who met in the early aughts while working at the Knitting Factory, invited all of the group's previous members (they've had four drummers, two guitarists) to guest-appear in the finale, and their frequent creative collaborator Nick Chatfield-Taylor created a site-specific installation made of roadside-ad ephemera. It was a farewell fitting to the singular sound they've developed: noisy, colorful, chaotic and emotional.