Just a short ride on Amtrak from Penn Station, Hudson – with its quaint brick buildings, historic architecture<\/a>, and riverside views – has become an enclave for New York City\u2019s artistic expats. One of its architectural centerpieces rises from the city\u2019s industrial past: Basilica Hudson<\/a>, a sprawling 1800s foundry reborn in 2010 as a concert hall and community space, thanks in part to its somehow stunning acoustics. The waterfront land it sits on, just South of the tracks, is bucolic enough that camping visitors are offered tips on tick safety<\/a>, and they\u2019ll need it this weekend, when a few hundred noiseniks, metalheads, vinyl nerds, and lovers of the avant-garde descend on Hudson for the seventh annual Basilica SoundScape<\/a>, taking place September 14th and 15th.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a festival that bucks festival tradition, booking acts whose oeuvre often falls far outside of mainstream tastes for intimate performances in the Basilica\u2019s dramatic main hall. Organized by Brandon Stosuy and Basilica Hudson co-founders Melissa Auf der Maur and Tony Stone, SoundScape kicked off its inaugural year in 2012 with noise artists and their \u201cmachines\u201d and a dance party hosted by queer Satanists, Rainbow in the Dark (the collective returns this year to soundtrack SoundScape\u2019s Saturday afterparty; the other, on Friday, is hosted by AudioFemme). Musical performances are augmented by readings, psychedelic art installations, a flea market, record fair, and local eats. It is, as Auf der Maur describes it, an \u201cimmersive pilgrimage\u201d for those with dark tastes and open minds.<\/p>\n

But beyond engaging its attendees with an uncommon experience, Basilica SoundScape offers experimental musicians something invaluable \u2013 a forum in which to try out new sounds and connect with fans and peers alike. For artists like Spellling (who plays Friday) and L\u2019Rain (who plays Saturday), two very personal projects that defy genre classification, events like SoundScape are a rare and perfect fit. Both acts have found themselves on the bill at a wide range of events, from metal shows to R&B-focused events to jazz-centric salons; both say the fluidity of their styles allows them an opportunity to connect with vastly different audiences \u2013 as long as the crowd is open and receptive. And at Basillica SoundScape, that\u2019s the crux of the whole program \u2013 to bring together disparate styles under the umbrella of experimentalism and offer them to listeners frothing at the mouth for outr\u00e9 encounters.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn my live show I try to make people feel maybe a little bit uncomfortable. Not like I\u2019m doing anything that weird, but I like to reorient them in the space and [make them] more aware of themselves than me,\u201d says Taja Cheek, whose project L\u2019Rain debuted last year with a widely praised self-titled LP built on fragmentary arrangements that drift between shoegaze, sound collage, and soul. Though it started as solo work aided by producer Andrew Lappin, Cheek\u2019s live performances now feature improvisatory musicians Buz Donald on drums, Devin Starks on bass, and Ben Katz on synths and brass. \u201cWe\u2019re on the cusp of a lot of different styles and genres so we\u2019ve done lots of different sorts of bills, which has highlighted different parts of our performance,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n