Live Music all day from 2:00PM — 11:00PM
This year’s newly established music festival features an eclectic lineup of independent artists. Music is presented on 2 different stages at the Abrons Arts Center — the outdoor Amphitheater, and the Experimental Theater. General Admission pass grants access to the Amphitheater show only. Plus and V.I.P. passes grant you unlimited access to ALL SHOWS. Curated by Vishal Nayak.
Photo by Janice Chung for HFNM 2019.
Theodore Jahng
2:00PM — 2:45PM
Amphitheater
Theodore Jahng is a music supervisor, programmer, and disc jockey based in New York City whose interests intersect at the crossroads of music, design, and food. He co-hosts a monthly Sunday show called Playhouse at The Lot Radio in Greenpoint. Theodore currently spends much of his time as the general manager of The Metrograph in the Lower East Side; naturally, he manages the music there, too. @theodorejahng
Photo by Janice Chung for HFNM 2019. Music Video: Chalo by Kohinoorgasm.
Kohinoorgasm
3:00PM — 3:45PM
Amphitheater
Kohinoorgasm (one word: ko-hee-noor-gasm) is the lo-fi experimental pop music project of queer, mixed, desi artist Josephine Shetty, who uses minimal dance beats and susurrate vocals to create hypnotic environments in which she hopes listeners can reflect and replenish. As a self-managed, self-produced, and self-releasing solo artist, critical elements of Kohinoorgasm's ethos also include advocating for the rights of independent artists, affirming the legitimacy of marginalized work, and uplifting grassroots initiatives. @kohinoorgasm
Photo by An Rong Xu for HFNM 2019. Music Video: Devil Girl by Nathan Bajar.
Nathan Bajar
4:00PM — 4:45PM
Amphitheater
Nathan Bajar is a Filipino American artist living and working in Brooklyn, born and raised in New Jersey. Bajar learned how to play guitar from his father as a teenager, and cites Stevie Wonder as one of his biggest musical influences. After his roommate showed him how to make beats on Ableton, he started writing and releasing his own music in 2017. He just released his entirely self-produced debut album PLAYROOM on July 8, 2019. @nate_nate
Photo by An Rong Xu for HFNM 2019. Music Video: Jinx by Ushamami.
Ushamami
5:00PM — 5:45PM
Amphitheater
Ushamami (Mena Sachdev) is a producer, multi-instrumentalist, and vocalist who fuses RnB, experimental pop, house, and more. She found her musical roots playing guitar in neo-soul and jazz bands and listening to bhangra and 60’s rock at home. Ushamami’s art centers her identities as a queer non binary South Asian; she has committed her musical career to creating space for queer futures, disrupting the expectations of a recording artist. Her recent single “Jinx” is an 80’s-inspired assertion of queer desire, style, sound, and connection. @ushamamii
Photo by Stephen Yang for HFNM 2019.
DJ Ushka
6:00PM — 6:45PM
Amphitheater
Ushka is a Sri Lankan-born, Brooklyn-based deejay traversing genres across electronic club & bass music. Ushka deejays from the perspective of a dancer, blending a wide range of club music from soca to dancehall, hip hop to South Asian rhythms, Baltimore / Jersey club to baile funk, vogue cuts to kuduro, azonto to afrobeat and more. When she isn't crafting dancefloor spaces, Ushka is a political and cultural organizer. Ushka is also the curator and moderator of “Solidarity or Appropriation? Asian & Black Influence in Music Videos and Pop Culture” at 8:00PM in the Underground Theater. @ty_ushka
Photo by Stephen Yang for HFNM 2019. Music Video: You Really by Lionmilk.
Lionmilk
8:00PM — 8:45PM
Experimental Theater
Lionmilk is Moki Kawaguchi: A 25-year-old jazz pianist, singer, songwriter and multi instrumentalist. With a vastly eclectic musical vernacular he combines elements of oddball tropicalia, electronic funk, blistering metal doom-scapes and melancholic stoner beats. Take the dive to reemerge in a heightened state of consciousness. @heylionmilk
Photo by Stephen Yang for HFNM 2019. Music Video: Spiritual Leader by Ian Chang.
Ian Chang
9:00PM — 9:45PM
Experimental Theater
Ian Chang makes electronic music physical. Using drums to control and manipulate samples, Chang brings human fluidity to a metronomic genre. The result is a seamless marriage of raw performative intensity and sophisticated sound design. In 2015, Chang started beta testing Sunhouse’s Sensory Percussion. This new technology translates the nuances of drumming into sample-based sound worlds. Through testing and developing Sensory Percussion, he discovered a new creative voice and released his debut EP “Spiritual Leader” with Kowloon Records in Fall of 2017. The project explores the relationship between human and machine, redefining drumming and electronic music. @ianyhchang
Photo by Stephen Yang for HFNM 2019. Music Video: Invisible Tan by NEW OPTIMISM.
New Optimism
10:00PM — 10:45PM
Experimental Theater
New Optimism is the new incarnation of shapeshifting artist Miho Hatori, each song on her debut EP is a magic curveball zig-zagging between pop, electro, hip-hop and experimental. Hitori makes music that’s moving, genuine and emotionally-driven with sounds inspired by art and philosophy and pumped up with dance hall, trap and Caribbean influences. Live, she’s playful and captivating. “Amazon To LeFrak” is as much a bouncy and carefree record than it is smart, sophisticated and precisely shaped. Born and raised in Tokyo, New Optimism has chosen New York as her home, and just like the city, she’s vibrant, quirky and always on the go. @mihohatori