Eight Brooklyn Artists Who Lit Up Our Radar In 2019

Brooklyn Roads interviewed a variety of multi-talented artists this year. They come from diverse backgrounds and play their own unique brand of music. All of them shared with us the many ways in which Brooklyn has helped shape their musical vision.

Megan Palmer / Photo by Quincie Hydock

UNEXPECTED INSPIRATION: Megan Palmer — one of the many standouts at the 2019 Brooklyn Americana Music Festival — currently resides in Nashville, but she told Brooklyn Roads that her six years living in our borough provided “inspiration I never could have expected … a great backdrop for newness and creativity.” She also said she is “still very proud” of Waycross, an album she recorded at Seaside Lounge in South Park Slope, featuring “a batch of songs I’d written [while] living in Brooklyn.”

Pauline Jean / photo by Luis Ysaac

PAYING IT FORWARD: Haitian-American Brooklynite Pauline Jean told us that returning to New York after her college days in Boston gave her “an opportunity to explore my creative outlet with other artists.” Like her frequent collaborator and fellow Brooklynite, Dan Zanes, Jean’s musical creativity has shaped her philanthropic work. She travels to Haiti annually with other musicians to provide aid, hold classes, play concerts and distribute instruments.

‘SKY’ IS NO LIMIT: We interviewed electro-pop artist ESS SEE, aka Sarah Cobb, just prior to her impressive August album release, Waiting for the Sky to Fall. She said that, “All the women I look up to most are musicians,” including Brooklyn artists Carole King (“I’ve always adored her!”), St. Vincent and the late Sharon Jones. Cobb, who like King considers herself a songwriter first and a singer second, calls Brooklyn “an endless well of opportunities to grow as an artist.”

ESS SEE / photo by Jonathan Frey

SINGING THE BOROUGH ELECTRIC: Growing up in Brooklyn in the late ’60s, M. West found that was “music was everywhere” and the borough was “electric with excitement.” His family left Brooklyn in 1971 but he returned in 1981, “and again this town was growing an arts scene of its own” — one he eagerly fell into.” He loves performing at Rocky Sullivan’s in Red Hook, because of its “intimate setting where a performer really gets to engage with the audience,” he told us.

GOOD LORD: We caught up with The Lords of Liechtenstein’s Dan Rauchwerk while he was preparing for a gig at Brooklyn Music Shop Homestead in support of his is first solo album. Living in Brooklyn, he told us, has given him the opportunity to meet musicians whose “diversity of styles and interests has inspired me to evolve as a writer” and musician. The Homestead is his favorite performance venue here because, ”everyone there feels like one big musical family.”

STAYING THIRSTY: Being part of Brooklyn’s music scene fuels Quarter Water’s creativity because, rapper GooGie, the band’s frontman, said, “Everyone [here] is an artist … the dude pouring you coffee might have the album of the year. It keeps you thirsty.” He’s a fan of Gold Sounds because, “It’s a good space for smaller or bigger shows. Also there is a pool table.” Bassist/producer Gabriel Leader-Rose likes both Gold Sounds and C’mon Everybody, where, he told us, “They’ve built an awesome community with the shows and residencies they host.”

David Caruso of AM FM/ photo by Abner James

TRUE GRIT: “I’m always meeting people [in Brooklyn] who are making incredible music, which is super inspiring,” said AM FM frontman David Caruso. “There is a grittiness [here] that is really unmatched by anywhere else and so many different things to pull influence from.” He touted Littlefield’s new location on Sackett Street, telling us that, “The sound onstage is really good and listening out in the crowd sounds good too.”

BRINGING THEIR ‘A’ GAME: Post-punk band Bodega’s lead singer/guitarist, Ben Hozie, said that living in our borough has shaped the band’s style and creativity “quite a bit. Interacting with the many music scenes … has forever changed the way I will think about song and performance.” Brooklyn is also “very tough,” he said. “You have to bring your A-game when you perform on a stage in Brooklyn or nobody will be impressed.” He cited Bushwick’s Alphaville and Elsewhere among his favorite clubs.