Presented at the Experience Music Project Pop Conference, April 25, 2014. Audio is available here: http://aramsinnreich.typepad.com/aram_squalls/2014/04/brooklynsound.html

1. WHY DOESN’TTHE
‘BROOKLYN SOUND’
SOUND LIKE BROOKLYN?
Aram Sinnreich
Rutgers University
School of Communication & Information
!
EMP Pop Conference
April 25, 2014

2. BROOKLYN’S MUSICAL LEGACY

3. SELLINGTHE ‘BROOKLYN SOUND’
NY Magazine, 2009
NYTimes, 2014Bklyn Mag, 2014
NY Mag, 2013Vice Mag, 2012

4. IN SEARCH OFTHE ‘BROOKLYN SOUND’
Grizzly Bear

5. IN SEARCH OFTHE ‘BROOKLYN SOUND’
MGMT

6. IN SEARCH OFTHE ‘BROOKLYN SOUND’
Dirty Projectors

7. IN SEARCH OFTHE ‘BROOKLYN SOUND’
Parquet Courts

8. IN SEARCH OFTHE ‘BROOKLYN SOUND’
Vampire Weekend

9. TRACKING INFLUENCES
Grizzly
Bear
Elliott Smith (Omaha)
Mercury Rev (Buffalo)
Neutral Milk Hotel (Athens)
MGMT
Flaming Lips (Oklahoma)
Sparks (LA)
David Bowie (UK)
Dirty
Projectors
Black Flag (Cali)
Brian Eno (UK)
Fela Kuti (Nigeria)
Vampire
Weekend
XTC (UK)
Peter Gabriel (UK)
Spoon (Austin)
Source:
Music Bloodline,
Rovi

10. THE GREAT MIGRATION
Ben Goldwasser,
MGMT
Ed Droste,
Grizzly Bear
Amber Coffman,
Dirty Projectors
Andrew Savage,
Parquet Courts
Rostam Batmanglij,
Vampire Weekend

11. THE BIGGER PICTURE: DEMOGRAPHICS
2000-2010:
Brooklyn's population grew by 39,000 people.
• White population grew by 38,774
• Asian population grew by 75,838.
• Black population shrank by -49,517
White growth
Asian growth
Black and Latino growth

12. THE BIGGER PICTURE: ECONOMICS
Rising rents, 2004-2012

13. RISING RENTS = SHRINKING BUDGETS

14. THE ‘BROOKLYN SOUND’ OR
THE ‘SEGREGATION SOUND’?

15. Rise of the
‘Brooklyn Sound’
THE ‘BROOKLYN SOUND’ OR
THE ‘SEGREGATION SOUND’?

16. WHAT DOES ‘RETRO’ MEAN?
Antibalas Sharon Jones/Dap-KingsLee Fields/Expressions

17. THE BACKLASH

18. THANK YOU.
Aram Sinnreich
Rutgers University
School of Communication & Information
!
EMP Pop Conference
April 25, 2014
!
Twitter: @aram
sinn@rutgers.edu