There’s a six-day music event coming to New York City. SONOS, the wireless HiFi manufacturers, have announced SONOS Studio NYC, a series of concerts, talks, and new collaboration reveals. In their words, it’s “a week-long exploration of the intersection of music, art and technology in collaboration with New York City.” The fest runs September 30th to October 5th.
Blood Orange (Devonte Hynes) headlines the event, alongside the unique team-up of Spoon and JD Walsh, premiering their work together for the first time. Best Coast will be present to do an “unplugged” acoustic show, followed by the Blood Orange performance and a Q&A session with The New Yorker music critic Sasha Frere-Jones, all in one evening. Other acts include Talib Kweli, Mikky Ekko, Flight Facilities, and more. Sprinkled between daily performances, happy hour DJ sets will provide a social break, sampling music from Kenan, Kray, Chances with Wolves, and others.
The Brooklyn design firm The Principals collaborated with Devonte Hynes (yep, Blood Orange again) for a particularly unique exhibit. A “kinetic quilt,” designed by The Principals, expands and contracts when contacted by light and sound. For the exhibit, Hynes designed specific music to yield fascinating effects. This act will open the event on Tuesday.
On Thursday, a unique workshop will be available to RSVPers. “Build your own DIY speakers with Autodesk—using laser cutters, 3D printers and Sonos components—to explore the impact that design materials have on sound quality and acoustics.” This one is hosted by Sonic Chop Chop: Sonos, and Autodesk Speaker Lab. Immediately after, the “Listen Make Play Project” will give a performance. “Teams from Great Works + Plan8, BBDO, Razorfish, JWT and Betaworks will each interpret a new track and work directly with the band and Sonos engineers. They will then present their innovative projects to the audience and the band for examination, discussion and exploration.”
Signing up takes less time than Tickemaster. You fill out a RSVP checklist, marking each event you want to attend and whether or not you’ll bring a guest. The last step sends you one neat email, allowing you to see which events you’ve been registered or wait listed for. Check out the RSVP site here.