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Us v. Them
The Age of Indie Music and a Decade in New York (2004-2014)
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A sweeping and in-depth history of the Brooklyn music scene over ten years in Bloomberg's New York, from a writer and concert producer who had a front-row view of it all
In the tradition of Just Kids and Our Band Could Be Your Life, Ronen Givony’s Us v. Them chronicles the generation of young artists who came to Brooklyn in the mid-2000s: a small but seismic scene that coalesced under a billionaire mayor, a series of forever wars, and a music industry in free fall.
In tandem with the impresarios and unlicensed venues that lined the Williamsburg waterfront, combining elements of noise and pop, a few became unlikely superstars. Meanwhile, countless flared and vanished, reminders of an unusually fertile moment—the age of indie—that now means little more than a term of marketing.
Through reporting, research, and interviews with musicians, industry insiders, and individuals from Pitchfork, Vice, Scion, and the Red Bull Music Academy, Us v. Them examines the rise and fall of indie music in a post-Napster landscape, marked by vast disruption in technology, politics, economics, journalism, and patronage.
At once a social history and an eyewitness account of an improbable decade, Us v. Them gives a critical analysis of what indie music was, is, and will be again in New York City.
In the tradition of Just Kids and Our Band Could Be Your Life, Ronen Givony’s Us v. Them chronicles the generation of young artists who came to Brooklyn in the mid-2000s: a small but seismic scene that coalesced under a billionaire mayor, a series of forever wars, and a music industry in free fall.
In tandem with the impresarios and unlicensed venues that lined the Williamsburg waterfront, combining elements of noise and pop, a few became unlikely superstars. Meanwhile, countless flared and vanished, reminders of an unusually fertile moment—the age of indie—that now means little more than a term of marketing.
Through reporting, research, and interviews with musicians, industry insiders, and individuals from Pitchfork, Vice, Scion, and the Red Bull Music Academy, Us v. Them examines the rise and fall of indie music in a post-Napster landscape, marked by vast disruption in technology, politics, economics, journalism, and patronage.
At once a social history and an eyewitness account of an improbable decade, Us v. Them gives a critical analysis of what indie music was, is, and will be again in New York City.
Praise for Us v. Them
It would have been easy for Givony to appeal to millennial nostalgia with simple reflections on more popular musicians, but, as he notes, "the Brooklyn scene was overwhelmingly white, male, and privileged, at every level." Instead, he writes about the underdogs of the time, many of them women and people of color-which makes for an inclusive and eye-opening read.
Kirkus
Givony captures the era's energy in vibrant prose. The result is an effusive and intimate ode to a heady period of music history.
Publishers Weekly
With Us v. Them, Ronen Givony pulls off an extraordinary feat: a work of nostalgia untainted by self-indulgence, absolution, or cheese. Givony gives us not just a meticulously researched history of Brooklyn indie rock's flaws and triumphs, but a riveting insider's perspective, too. Required reading for anyone who wants to learn how the era came together, or how it fell apart.
Us v. Them proves that New York City's nightlife and music scenes never truly die; each new generation redraws the city's landscape in their own image. You may have never heard of some of these bands or artists or clubs-some are overlooked or unsung-[while] others had a brief moment in the sun before burning out. But for the people who were there, these moments were as formative as punk rock and CBGB in the '70s or the 1950s Greenwich Village jazz scene.
About the Author
Ronen Givony is the founder of Wordless Music, an orchestra and concert series that has worked with artists across genres, from Sigur Rós and Mica Levi to Terrence Malick and Paul Thomas Anderson. A curator for music festivals and venues in the United States and abroad, he is the author of two other books: 24 Hour Revenge Therapy (or, The Strange Death of Selling Out) and Not For You: Pearl Jam and the Present Tense. Born and raised in South Florida, he now lives in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn.
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