BKLYN Yard and the Greenpoint Food Market may both be gone, but that’s not stopping Asobi Seksu and the market’s artisans from doing their thing.
The indie band recently rescheduled its first Brooklyn gig of the summer, which was originally set for June 16 at BKLYN Yard on Carroll Street but canceled when the Yard’s landlords refused to renew the Gowanus Canal-adjacent space.
The upcoming show will be on Aug. 21 across the street from the former Yard space, of all places — at 383 Carroll St. — and will also feature another crop of shafted artists: Sandwich Friend, Empanadas DPM, and four other Greenpoint vendors who lost their marketplace when its organizer shut it down under pressure from the city.
“The minute these small businesses become a trend, the government tries top stop them,” said Dan Edinberg, co-founder of Empanadas DPM. “But we’re really glad to be able to work at the Asobi Seksu show and make a connection that way.”
Like the empanada hawkers, who will be offering both beef and sweet corn versions of their savory Latin American pastries, Asobi Seksu is also hungry to please. The duo, made up of Yuki Chikudate on keyboard and James Hanna on guitar, hopes to wow fans with new material they just finished recording this month.
“The new records are going to be much more captivating live because they have a lot more synthesizers and guitar effects,” Chikudate said.
The group’s latest brand of alternative, sonically enhanced sounds (members consider their music to be of the dream-pop and shoegazing genres) are for its fifth album, which Chikudate says will be released in early 2011.
Asobi Seksu 383 Carroll St. (between Nevins and Bond streets in Gowanus, no phone), Aug. 21 from 6-9 pm. Tickets $15 in advance, $18 at the door. For info, visit www.meanredproductions.com.