United Sounds NYC announces inaugural festival

A new music festival is coming to Brooklyn this fall. United Sounds recently announced their inaugural United Sounds NYC Festival happening October 25-26 at Pioneer Works in Red Hook, Brooklyn. Boasting a lineup that includes indie acts like Blonde Redhead, The Dismemberment Plan, Sunflower Bean, and more, the festival’s aim is to capture the spirit of fall indie festivals like the long-running CMJ and Coney Island-based Siren Music Festival. Other performers include Model/Actriz, Les Savy Fav, Man Man, Monbloc, Peel Dream Magazine, and more.

But the official announcement of the two-day festival is just the beginning, with additional performers and more events still to be announced over the next few weeks. “We see the festival as a plant-our-flag moment and we are looking forward to expanding United Sounds not only as the annual festival, but also producing a full calendar of events in NYC and additional markets,” said Shay Vishawadia, who co-founded the festival alongside music industry veterans Dipesh Sinha and Diane Perini.

We asked Perini, the festival’s Executive Producer & Talent Buyer, what makes it so unique.

What other iconic festivals, like CMJ, were you inspired by when you first envisioned United Sounds NYC Festival?

Diane Perini: SXSW, but a version of SXSW where you only go to the day parties during the day and showcases at night, skipping all the industry panels. Also inspired by Boise, Idaho’s Treefort Music Fest with their downtown takeover, and Austin’s Levitation.

The FADER: How have you seen the indie scene change most over the last few years?

Indie music encompassing different genres, so there’s so many inspiring line-ups where it’s all not just the same sounding band.

The FADER: The tickets are pretty reasonably priced. What was the thought process behind that?

Everything we do starts with the fans and the artists first. We wanted to come out of the gate with a lower ticket price and fees and will continue to promote our shows that way.

United Sounds NYC kicks off on October 25. Tickets, which start at $50 for a single day pass and $75 for both days, are available now at unitedsoundsnyc.com