The concert, co-sponsored by the Hopkins Center's outreach program, will be held in Sarner Underground. Each group will play a set, and then the performers will take the stage to present a collaborative piece.
"It's something different for us, but I'm really excited," Friday Night Rock booking manager Gabe Rosenstein '13 said. "Brooklyn Rider is really talented."
Rosenstein views the diversification of Friday Night Rock's traditional scope as one of its biggest successes of the Fall. Continuing this variety is a major goal for him for this term, he said.
"I think that in the past, FNR has been a very indie rock-focused organization," Rosenstein said. "I think we made a really good choice by moving away from that."
Rather than focusing on a specific genre of music, FNR is "just a place for music," Rosenstein said. The group aims to bring musical acts to the College that students would not typically be able to see at other locations like the Hopkins Center, he said.
Friday Night Rock's wide-ranging spectrum of acts will continue this winter. After Thursday's foray into string music, the group's next show on Jan. 26 will feature Escort, a two-man disco revival group that performs live as a 17-piece ensemble. Escort's slinky grooves will be balanced by opener Terror Pigeon Dance Revolt, a performance artist whose Facebook page calls him "The World's Sweatiest Band."
"I'm really excited about [Terror Pigeon Dance Revolut]," Rosenstein said. "From what I've heard, he's just going to be up there on stage with a giant light-up robot, shouting about love."
The group's fall lineup included eclectic acts like Baths, a Los Angeles-based electronic disc jockey Will Weisenfeld, and Colombian Afrobeat act M.A.K.U. Soundsystem alongside more typical indie rock groups like the Dum Dum Girls, praised by the online music website Pitchfork.
The diversity of musical groups has served the club well in bringing in new students, many of whom are drawn in by the pulsating beats and lights emanating from concerts occurring beneath the Class of 1953 Commons.
"I didn't really know anything about FNR before I walked in, but I had a great time," said Alec Tarantino '16, who happened upon M.A.K.U. Soundsystem's show on his way across campus, "I don't know if I'll be a regular, but it was nice to get a little change from the traditional frat basement scene."
Other students were drawn in by the group's promise of an alternative social space, and have found the music to only enhance their experience.
"I went into the first meeting expecting Friday Night Rock," Luke McCann '16 said. "But when I went to that first show and found out it was more like Friday Night Sweaty Dance Marathon,' I was hooked."
Friday Night Rock's final show for the Winter term will feature Doldrums a Canadian artist whose music blends electronic music with elements of indie rock and pop on March 1.
The group's booking staff is still searching for one or two more acts to round out its winter lineup, and Rosenstein is already looking ahead to the spring.
"I'm hoping to get some hip-hop," he said. "We haven't really had anything in that vein since Danny Brown played last year, and it's something I'd really love to see us do again."
Rosenstein said he credits much of the group's recent success to its new home in Sarner Underground, a multi-purpose space that opened new doors for the group since it moved from the Collis Center's FUEL space last term.
"It's nice to have a bigger space, and we've found more people to fill it," Rosenstein said. "It's great to have a real stage, too."
"I think the vibe is a lot better in Sarner," Michael Perlstein '14 said. "It's just a lot more open. FUEL was a lot of fun, but being so packed in, especially with the low ceilings, definitely detracted from the experience a little bit."
However, the improvements Sarner provides bring their own headaches.
"I think there are some bands where it's fun to get a little more up close and personal, and you can't really do that as well in Sarner," Rosenstein said. "We're also still working on the logistics of cleaning up and taking everything down."
Tarantino is a former reporter for The Dartmouth.
