Unsound Festival New York: Internship + Experience

I had imagined that by early or mid-February I would have noted my worthwhile experiences with the Unsound Festival's first New York installment, but time certainly flies when you are busy. Truly, thoroughly busy. In between blogging all things metal for Noisecreep + booking artists for Forward Management, I lent a hand to one of my favorite established, Brooklyn-based business: Backspin PR. Run by someone whom I respect greatly, I contributed about 10 hours or more of my time each week to blasting through the repetitive but relevant tasks of clipping and organizing the major press efforts launched by Backspin.

The Unsound Festival is a Polish electronic music festival (based in Kraków, Poland) that happens each fall for the last seven years, and its founder - along with several international cultural institutions and consulates - organized a 10-day, city-wide festival that brought some of the most talented electronic music artists to New York. There were over 10 US debuts, featuring artists from around eastern Europe and major outlets in New York (the Times, Time Out, Village Voice) as well as significant online resources (Self-Titled, Brooklyn Vegan, XLR8R, Resident Advisor, Little White Earbuds) all participated in previewing, attending and reviewing with endless praise. It was something that everyone knew needed all cooks in the kitchen to pull off, and would likely be an enormous success.

Experiencing the Unsound Festival was my payoff. I'd written about the opening night, where new muscles were stretched. Warmed up, my friends and I enjoyed some of the best panels, dance parties and cerebral music performances (Tim Hecker & Jacaszek spring to mind immediately) in what seemed like an endless fashion. As if all of this wasn't enough, new friendships were formed with industry folk as well as individuals that I feel confident will be in my life, now, for a very long time.