Brooklyn Visits LA

Walt Disney Concert Hall welcomes the NYC borough's music innovators.

If you've lived in Southern California for any amount of time, you know that blanket statements about the cultural scene of an entire city are usually incorrect.

Silver Lake is not downtown LA is not Orange County is not Long Beach. Each of those places have their distinctive vibe, sounds, and style. And so it is with New York City, another megalopolis with a full spectrum of fashions and cultural output.

Brooklyn is practically its own universe in this regard. For well over a decade -- some Brooklynites would say it has been longer, and that's cool -- the borough has been producing all sorts of new things for the world to consume on the entertainment front (let's also give an admiring nod to the borough for being the early home to the facial hair movement, the urban folk wave, chunky eyeglasses, McSweeney's, and city farms).

Now the LA Phil will fete that particular Brooklyn vibe and how it translates into music over a week in April. The Brooklyn Festival runs from April 16 through 22 and will feature the music of Ted Hearne, Sufjan Stevens, The Antlers, and Chairlift, among others.

Alan Pierson, the Brooklyn Phiharmonic's new director, will conduct a program of experimental pieces, too.

Some of the works? They're classical and epic in bent. Others? Highly alt-y. Still others? Doused in electronic-y goodness.

This near-week of shows isn't meant to be just a homecoming for homesick New Yorkers living in LA. Brooklyn really is pushing boundaries in the music world, so anyone who likes an interesting song -- everyone raise their hands, please -- would do well to keep an eye to the east.

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