Meet Me in the Bathroom: Part 2
How our NYC scene episode came to be.
If you’re a New York City music geek (or a listener of Lipps Service, as I’ve referenced it many times), then you’ve likely seen Meet Me in the Bathroom. The documentary explores the explosion and influence of the early 2000s NYC music scene, including The Strokes, Interpol, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, LCD Soundsystem, and TV On The Radio.
I’ve mentioned a few times on the show that most of the artists featured in the documentary haven’t actually seen the film. I know this because I’ve interviewed a few of them, and I always got the same response.
Julian Casablanca performs with The Strokes. The Troubadour in Hollywood, 2001. (Photo by Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
Thanks to Ryan Gentles …
A few weeks back, my buddy Ryan Gentles, who managed The Strokes for over 20 years, shot me a message that said:
“There’s something happening in the NYC music scene … It’s like nothing I have seen for 20 years. … I’ve seen it before, I see it happening again. The 20-year rule. It comes around again.”
On that prompt, and because we needed a few more podcasts locked in for summer anyway, as most bands are on tour and traveling, I started to do some digging.
How I learned about the NYC scene
Ryan’s message wasn’t the first time I heard about the new, burgeoning scene. Earlier this year, I saw lots of TikToks about the scene and its hottest bands, but I didn't pay too much attention at the time. My booker Marisa mentioned around the same time that some of her friends are in the scene and pitched the idea of an episode. And just a few months ago, I walked into Silver Lining Lounge and saw this band called The Thing performing onstage.
At first, I’ll honestly admit, like with most new bands playing in my friend’s venues, I wasn’t too interested. After five or ten minutes though, something hooked me, and I soon thought it was a perfect storm. I saw the entire audience singing along to their songs, and the club owners were over my shoulder telling me that “The Thing is going to be huge.”
With all that, receiving Ryan’s email was the final sign I needed to embrace and explore the scene making moves and music today.
The bands and artists of the NYC scene
As we started booking and preparing for the episode, I couldn’t escape people telling me about the hottest new NYC artist, The Dare. Then came a flood of new names, including Telescreens, Pan Arcadia, Sid Simons, Fcukers, and so many more.
As much as we’d love for everyone to join us on the show, that’d be a hell of a lot of footage and interviews. So we wanted to shout out the bands and artists that we’ve been recommended and discovered along this journey.
Here are some highlights:
Pan Arcadia
You can catch this rock six-piece performing at lots of local venues. Rock critic David Fricke is a fan, and so am I.
Geese
I’m blown away by this band’s uniqueness and charisma.
Cab Ellis
They’ve recorded with NYC-bred producers and have released two amazing albums.
Malice K
You might’ve seen him on the cover of NME earlier this year.
Been Stellar
These guys are definitely one of my current favorites.
And here’s our full round-up of contemporary bands making moves and music in NYC today, based on our current knowledge:
(All artist’s Spotify profiles are linked.)
Bec Lauder & The Noise, The Thing, Telescreens, Sid Simons & The Darlings, Malice K, The Dare, Cab Ellis, The Life, The Gasoline, Been Stellar, Geese, Des Rocs, Fcukers, Pan Arcadia, Birthday Girl, Flasyd, Jensen and The Sweethearts, Torture and the Desert Spiders, Nation of Language, Slow Fiction, The Ruckus, The Living Roomers, Gnarcissists, Promiseland, Pretty Sick, Tareneh, Whaat, Clovis, Threshold, GIFT, voyeur, Catcher, The Cave … and likely many, many more.
… If we missed any, let us know in the comments below who else we should check out!
Listen to the NYC scene
Ryan was so kind to make a playlist to share with you all of the bands that were exploding on the scene back when he was booking Mercury Lounge and managing The Strokes. It holds up today, and includes the likes of Interpol, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Strokes, Vampire Weekend, etc. All these OGs have stood the test of time, and in some cases, they seem bigger than ever today.
I made a playlist of the 2024 scene, featuring all the hottest NYC artists making moves today, some of which I discovered in doing this. I had Marisa, Ryan, and Ben, who works with Julian Casablancas, send me the best current NYC artists.
Granted the 2000s playlist has stood the test of time, with some of these tracks being bona fide hits that have grown over the decades, and taking into consideration that not every band on the 2024 playlist has a record deal or big production element, it made me wonder … Who will be our contenders for Meet Me in the Bathroom part two?
Only time will tell my friends …
Who are your favorite NYC musicians?
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