Unit J showcases a full night of Brooklyn’s best artists as part of Northside Festival

Northside Festival, now in it’s 10th year, is New York City’s longest running music and innovation festival and runs from June 6th until June 10th. On June 9th, Unit J, for their third year in a row, will showcase a full night of Brooklyn’s best music across 2 stages as part of the festival. Located in Bushwick, Brooklyn, Unit J is a collaborative initiative of artists co-founded by musician Dru Cutler, who, with 5 other artists, converted their loft into an intimate space for live music, film screening and a record label. Unit J is an exciting part of the music scene in Brooklyn and has become a staple for Brooklyn artists as a place to collaborate and thrive. Having been involved in the Unit J collective over the past year, these bands will all be together across two stages so that the crowd can check out the best that Brooklyn music has to offer! You can find the set times and schedule of the Unit J artists set to play below. Here are a few of the Unit J featured artists to check out:

Taylor Plas: Plas is a Brooklyn-based American/Soul/Funk singer-songwriter who has had her music described as “raw”, “powerful” and “controlled chaos”. She has a sometimes dark, haunting sound and is dedicated to truthful, theatrical storytelling. Although Plas often performs solo, she also plays with several other Brooklyn bands including Noise Downstairs (soul/pop), Mama Juke (pop/roots/country) and as a soul/folk duo with Rashad “Downtown” Brown. She is hoping to release her debut album next year!

Belle-Skinner: Brooklyn artist Belle-Skinner (aka Maria Brosgol) is known for her dark, nostalgic indie-folk and jazz and is a singer-songwriter, guitarist and producer. With a beautiful, lilting soprano and innate sense of melody, she crafts tales that bridge the gap between past and present. Influenced by everything from French chansons and Russian folk to modern alt-pop and rock, she has drawn comparisons to Jeff Buckley and Angel Olsen. Having already released 2 EP’s, 2013’s Operator and 2016’s We Shut Our Eyes, she currently lives in New York City and performs solo as well as with a band. She is currently working on her third album.

Martina San Diego: Martina San Diego is a New York City based alternative folk singer-songwriter. Although she lives in NYC, San Diego’s music enjoys airtime on the radio station in her hometown of Cebu in The Philippines. She plays the guitar, ukelel and piano and sings heartfelt and whimsical lyrics, serenading her audiences with wonderful stories. In June of 2014, San Diego was named NY singer-songwriter Sessions Artist of the Month, as well as a Breedlove Guitars Artists in July of 2014. She released her latest EP Illuminate in January of this year.

Kate Vargas: Kate Vargas is a Brooklyn-based indie Americana/Folk artist. Vargas was born and raised in New Mexico and has been called the “outlaw Americana” singer-songwriter for challenging country music to expand its own horizons. With a blend of folk, blues and rock, she plays gritty music with lots of personality and soul, a delivered with her undeniably unique voice.

By Emily May

CLUB STAGE:

7 PM: DOUGMORE
8 PM: Pale Ramon
9 PM: Dru Cutler Music
10 PM: Meg Farrell & Friends
11 PM: Pete Lanctot & The Stray Dogs
12 AM: MAMA JUKE
1 AM: Olu Bliss

BAR STAGE:

5:30 PM: Dru Cutler
6 PM: Kate Vargas
6:30 PM: Martina San Diego
7 PM: Alivia George
7:30 PM: Meghan Rose
8:30 PM: Marcus Jade
9:30 PM: Belle-Skinner
10:30 PM: Bryan Dunn
11:30 PM: Taylor Plas
12:30 PM: Conor Grant of Tongues Unknown