Indie Curators - National Sawdust

Ric Leichtung

Curator

AdHoc is a monthly print publication and events collective founded by Ric Leichtung and Emilie Friedlander after their experimental music blog Altered Zones dissolved from Pitchfork. A multi-faceted arts and culture initiative, AdHoc’s prestigious editorial and events have a symbiotic dynamic where longform music writing about punk, noise, forward-thinking dance music is brought to life from the page to the stage with adventurous curation. Initially operating from 285 Kent and now Market Hotel, AdHoc paints a living landscape of the underground music scene and cultivates community online and IRL with DIY shows at Palisades, Trans-Pecos, The Silent Barn, and Shea Stadium among others. AdHoc also brings its community-driven ethos to the traditional venue, having helped launch Baby’s All Right alongside fellow Sawdust curator Billy Jones and in its alliance with Webster Hall, the largest independently owned and operated club in New York. Known for pushing the boundaries of the live event space, the publication often uses non-traditional settings like local bodegas and delis, dim sum and soul food restaurants, vacant rooftops and abandoned warehouses, beautiful churches, and massive car washes in its mission to showcase artists in settings as unique as the company it keeps.

Caroline Polachek

Curator

Caroline Polachek is vocalist/multi-instrumentalist/composer/producer in NYC pop duo, Chairlift. Although music was Caroline’s love since her early childhood in Tokyo, a year studying art in Brussels at the Académie Royale Des Beaux Art lead Caroline to pursue BFA at NYU in video art, while recording with Chairlift in spare time between jobs. An unexpected use of their song in an Apple commercial in 2008 exposed the young group to mainstream audience, propelling them onto a 16-month international tour and a deal with Columbia Records.

Chairlift’s critically acclaimed sophomore album Something was released in 2012. While touring, Polachek began her first solo album, composing “electronic pastoral” songs entirely in MIDI. The project was completed while in residency at the Villa Medici (French Academy) in Rome. Under the alias Ramona Lisa, Arcadia was released in February 2014, followed by a ten-show international tour in trio format. Chairlift’s third record, Moth, was meanwhile written and recorded in a former pharmaceutical factory in Brooklyn, and was released in January 2016, hailed as Chairlift’s best work.

Constantly collaborating, Polachek has worked with fashion designers such as Proenza Schouler and J.Mendel to create runway and video soundtracks, as well as recorded collaborations with contemporaries including Blood Orange, SBTRKT, and PC Music. “No Angel”, a song Caroline wrote and produced, was performed by Beyonce on her self-titled “Beyonce” album, and nominated for a Grammy in 2015. Her instrumental compositions have recently soundtracked performance works at Signal Gallery, Knockdown Center, and Red Bull Studios Gallery. Recent performances include benefits for The Guggenheim Museum, The New Museum, and The Kitchen.