Face’s Upcoming Album and the Glory Days of the Bushwick Loft Scene

We step back to the gritty 2009 Brooklyn loft scene to announce the upcoming Birch Grove Media vinyl release of Fall 2009 by Alan's acoustic avant-garde band, Face. In this episode, we explore the origins of the group, tracking their evolution from high school friendships to playing lost Brooklyn venues like Goodbye Blue Monday and Evening Time Place. Alan breaks down the cast of characters, including the late Andrew Carrico, David Schnug, Pascal Niggenkemper, Cody Brown, and vocalist Matt Scollante—whose intense, yelling spoken-word performance at The Stone gave this album an explicit warning. We also take a clinical look at the realities of early DIY recording, with Alan explaining how he salvaged a highly flawed, 44.1kHz session recorded on cheap gear using modern audio plugins. Packed with stories about the "Almost V-Day Suite" and the parallel run of his electric band Smirk, this episode captures a definitive era of Brooklyn music ahead of the album's double vinyl release alongside Bear Skinner later this year.

Timestamps:

00:00 - Intro: A yelling vocalist at The Stone

00:30 - Announcing the release of Face's Fall 2009 album

01:05 - The cast of characters: David Schnug, Pascal Niggenkemper, and more

02:00 - High school connections and moving to a Brooklyn Bedford Avenue apartment

03:45 - How the band's instrumentation evolved from the "Actually Actually" trio

05:27 - Remembering baritone saxophonist Andrew Carrico

06:43 - Recording the album on Halloween 2009 at the "Evening Time Place" loft

08:19 - The thriving 2009-2012 Bushwick loft scene and lost Brooklyn venues

10:00 - Face as a working acoustic band vs. the electric Smirk project

12:58 - Matt Scollante's unique spoken word performance