Saturday afternoon we forded the soul-sucking heat and humidity down to Studio B in Brooklyn for the music blogger-curated After the Jump Festival.

We got there in time to see Eastern European klezmer peasant punk band Golem go hog wild on the mercifully cool and dark main stage. Vocalist Aaron Diskin wailed about sausages, his grandmother, and how sunshine makes him gloomy–at one point hushing the band so he could slap his face like a drum; the monumentally Yiddish Annette Ezekiel dominated the accordion to the accompaniment of a cello and violin. Golem rocked.

Brooklyn-favorites Ra Ra Riot also gave a strong performance, their resilient morale a tribute to drummer John Pike, who passed away this summer. They perform like a family, constantly sharing smiles, guitarist Milo Bonacci and bassist Mathieu Santos moving so close to touch cheeks.

The biggest let down was Spectrum aka Peter Kember from Sonic Boom, the final act at the end of the daytime part of the festival . What started out as a decent sized crowd had dwindled to 15 people midway through Spectrum’s soundscape set which included single notes on a keyboard sustained to the background noise of wind while Spectrum sang lyrics like “I see the artist in the mirror. But I do not recognize him.” It was the wrong kind of music to sustain the show’s momentum.

Studio B cleared out. And by the time the night shows started around 9:30 not many people had returned. We left at 10pm, so maybe the situation improved later.

The most important thing is that the festival was promoted to raise money for NYC music teachers. Congratulations to the coalition of bloggers for curating this collaboration of musical minds. We hope to see ATJF back next year.

.