Stony Brooklyn brings Exitmusic and Milagres to SBU

Slowly but surely, it seems the boiling Brooklyn indie music scene is making inroads to Long Island.

The occasional shows featuring indie bands that happen east of the Cross Island Parkway are still nowhere close in frequency to the daily performances held in the aforesaid city borough. Interestingly, a major portion of these indie acts (“indie” as in “independent” of major commercial record label backing) are also from Brooklyn, and while many cities across the county clamor for live music that hails from Kings County, the music scene on L.I. barely receives these practically local artists at all.

But, so far in 2012 there have been notable exceptions. Examples include such scene-popular acts as Marah performing at Grey Horse Tavern in Blue Point back in June, and Montauk’s Surf Lodge putting forth of weekly indie sessions during the recently-past summer. However, perhaps the leader in bringing such bands out beyond the NYC city limits is the ongoing Stony Brooklyn concert series held at Stony Brook University (100 Nicolls Road, Stony Brook, 631-632-6000, stonybrook.edu).

The name tells the story: “Stony Brooklyn” (stonybrooklyn.com) brings bands with buzz based in the previously mentioned borough to the school’s University Café for shows. The latest is set for Sept. 27, with bands Exitmusic and Milagres.

Milagres (lead singer Kyle Wilson, guitarist Eric Schwortz, pianist Chris Brazee, bass player Fraser McCulloch, drummer Paul CJ Payabyab) has appeared in such music-minded festivals as CMJ and South by Southwest, and have a fairly straightforward, fuzzed-pop sound that drives both the group’s slow-paced and dance-worthy tracks.

Exitmusic is quite different; the vocals of lead Aleksa Palladino are ghostly and impassioned, and she is backed by a crew including guitar player (and husband) Devon Church. Also incorporating drummer Dru Prentiss and electronic musician Nicholas Shelestak, the band’s sound is layered but crashed together into a rich, thick, cushion for Palladino’s vocals, and is capable of tempered, mid-tempo rock and gloomy-yet-touching ballads. (Fans of HBO series “Boardwalk Empire” may also recognize Palladino from her turn as character “Angela Darmody.”)

Doors open at 8 p.m. for no cover (21-and-over only); for more information check out universitycafe.org.