- Despite the number of talented artists living in New York, not to mention all the promoters in the city, it sometimes feels like the native scene is drowned out by international artists flown in from abroad. Bossa Nova Civic Club, a bar tucked under the M train in Bushwick, has played a prominent role in fostering local talent by hosting two monthly residencies focused on New York DJs: Confused House, which is run by three L.I.E.S. associates, and Industry Of Machines, a series devoted to industrial and noise-influenced sounds. On September 19th, Gunnar Haslam and SSPS joined fellow Brooklynite Willie Burns at the Bushwick hangout for the latter.
As usual at Bossa Nova, there seemed to be a lot of locals in the crowd, which added to the casual, weeknight vibe. NYU students and girls in furry hats mingled with Brooklyn artists and DJs who had come to support their peers. The party started slow—around 11 PM, the club was mostly empty, and it took a while to warm up the crowd, who mostly chatted and smoked in the backyard for the first few hours. SSPS's set did little to motivate them. His live PA inspired a mostly motionless ring to form around and ogle him, in part because had arrived in costume, wearing his signature sailor hat and a collared shirt. He had some trouble managing all the moving parts of his set—he was switching between a guitar, mic and laptop, and eventually had to take a break to fix his microphones.
Gunnar Haslam and Willie Burns were faced with the task of bringing the energy up and getting partygoers to dance. Both supplied rugged house and techno beats, but the floor remained mostly empty until around 1:30 AM, when Burns was at the controls. Eventually the club had hit full swing: bodies jostled and bobbed against one another in the hazy space to off-kilter tracks from artists like Oni Ayhun, whose "OAR-004" injected a buoyant energy into the audience. Though it might have seemed dodgy earlier in the night, by 2 AM it was clear that Industry Of Machines has helped carve out a nurturing space for local talents.