Screaming Females @ Maxwell's

Show review from Relix.com...

The Screaming Females
Maxwell’s
Hoboken, NJ
April 5

The Screaming Females – who hail from New Brunswick, NJ – are made up of vocalist and guitarist Marissa Paternoster, bassist Michael Abbate (aka King Mike), and drummer Jarrett Dougherty. After years of playing in New Brunswick’s famous underground basement venues, the band has become shining example of the town’s DIY music scene, pulling themselves up from their own bootstraps, booking and promoting their own shows, and creating a growing, loyal fan base.

Though the trio hasn’t quite hit the decade mark together as a band (they still have 4 years to go), they have been successful at forging their own unique sound. After drawing comparisons to DIY indie legends Dinosaur Jr. it’s easy to peg the band as indie-punk, but they are much more than that. Their music is constantly teetering between pop with melodic anthem hooks, good old alt-rock, and – more often than not – some serious metal-tinged guitar shredding from the pint-sized Paternoster.

The scene at the dark, intimate back room at Maxwell’s brought back memories of basement parties of my past: crushed solo cups, bodies crowded together, and the distinctive smell of sweat and bad beer. While standing in the audience I couldn’t help but wonder if that evening’s show was similar to the band’s basement sets of yesteryear. There was definitely a “hometown” crowd feeling throughout the show and many of the concert-goers certainly looked like they could be underage. The show also doubled as the band’s record release party for their 5th full-length album Ugly, which only added to the special feeling of the night.

The Females have built up a reputation for their high energy, raucous live performances and this show was no exception. Just seconds after the opening groove of “Starve the Beat” were played I knew that I was standing in an unsavory spot. I found myself right in the middle of a sea of sweaty bodies eager to throw themselves into one another. After re-positioning (and re-orienting) myself I was able to focus on what was going onstage: three musicians pouring all of themselves into their music.

Even though the Females entire set, including the encore, clocked in at just under an hour they were able to fit in plenty of new songs from Ugly as well as some fan favorites from earlier albums. On “Bell” from 2009’sPower Move, Paternoster showcased her lightning fast handiwork on guitar as well as her signature wailing howls. King Mike and Dougherty were prominent figures in the new song “Red Hand” with its Middle Eastern influenced bass lines and unrelenting beats. In an extended version of “Lights Out” Paternoster proved that she was not afraid of the indulgent guitar shredding solo, which only fueled the crowd’s energy even more.

After a fellow concert attendee approached me about “elbowing our way to the front” (I ended up declining), the Females rounded out the night with their pop-punk breakout single “I Don’t Mind It” from 2010’s Castle Talk. The song was met with great approval from the audience as everyone started to sing-along before the band left the stage.

Ducktails/Twerps Review

Another day, another review....

Here's a Ducktails and Twerps concert review I did for Relix.com:

Ducktails / The Twerps

285 Kent

Brooklyn, NY

March 29

As I waited for the doors to open at 285 Kent, the empty warehouse turned DIY music venue literally next door to Brooklyn performance staple Glasslands Gallery, I struck up a conversation with some fellow concert-goers. Many of them had come to see the headliner Ducktails perform, but I did run into a few fans of the Melbourne, Australia indie-pop band The Twerps.

The band, which is a typical 4-piece setup (2 guitars, bass, and drums), took the stage just 20 minutes before midnight to warm up the crowd. Vocalist Martin Frawley shared guitar duty with Jules McFarlane and seemed to be the most excited out of the band to be playing for the group of 20-somethings that had gathered at the space. After a respectable 40 minute set, including a new song that Jules had written, The Twerps ended the night with their chilled out break-up anthem “Who Are You” that nearly had the audience singing along.

“We’re excited to play because we don’t get to play that often,” said Ducktails’ mastermind/guitarist Matthew Mondanile to the crowded audience at 285 Kent. Due to the success of Real Estate’s critic-approved sophomore album Days – on which Mondanile plays guitar – his lo-fi side-project Ducktails has been put on the back-burner, but the Ducks showed no signs of aging as they took the stage and proceeded to shower the room with their own brand of psych-tinged pop melodies.

Although Mondanile records solo as Ducktails, the set-up that night consisted of his full-on band of five members with two guitars, bass, keys/synth, and drums. Anticipation for the group was at its peak when Ducktails started playing at 12:31am. The set, which relied heavily upon Ducktails’ 2010 release Arcade Dynamics, did not disappoint. The band laid down the music’s signature vibe of repeated synth melodies and ambient noise that created a blank palette for Mondanile’s experimental guitar picking. Halfway into the set Ducktails introduced a new work-in-progress song. The as-of-yet untitled work started out with a groovy bass line before the lo-fi, fuzzed-out guitars and reverb-laden vocals fluttered on top. The show ended with the crowd favorite “Landrunner”, a minimal jam from the 2009 album Landscapes, which left the audience floating down a hazy river.

Oldies but Goodies

Once Upon A Time....

Here are some choice blog posts I did for the Free Music Archive a few years back (2009, that was so long ago!)

6.29.2009

Pandora Records: Variations on a Theme

via flickr

 

Pandora Records is one of the more recent new additions to the Free Music Archive. The label, which is now defunct, had an extensive library of classical music -- posted here under an EFF License -- that I have been rummaging through with the hopes of bringing the cream of the crop to everyone here at the FMA. So now I present to you the first of many more works recorded for the Pandora label.

I’ve chosen to start out with a piece written for two pianos. I’ve always had an affinity for piano…always wishing my parents had molded me into one of those child prodigy piano virtuosos, who play repetoire like Rachmaninoff and Prokofiev at age 8, but instead I chose to play viola and the rest is history. Anyway, what could be better than one piano but two? Pandora has a wide selection of works for two pianos by the duo pianists Neal and Nancy O’Doan. I did a quick google/wikipedia search on these two but was unable to find any dirt on them. So here is what I know from listening to their recordings: The pair are very sensitive to each other; balancing their individual sounds off of one another. One pianist will take off on a scale run while the other plays a lyrical melody all while making a seamless transitions in the music; It’s almost as if it’s one player (Liszt anyone?). Don’t believe me? Take a listen for yourself.

The first work from the duo I’ve chosen to bring to the FMA is Lutoslawski’s Variations On a Theme by Paganini. The piece is just under five minutes, but explores the theme in depth in a variety of different lights. It’s definitely worth a listen, so get to it!

Check back on the FMA in the coming weeks for more from Neal and Nancy O’Doan and the Pandora archives. Happy Listening!

7.12.2009 

Arbiter Channels Blues Roots

Reverend Gary Davis aka Blind Gary Davis

 

Some recent additions to the FMA I’ve been working on are coming from a small non-profit arts organization that goes by the name Arbiter of Cultural Traditions. This organization was created in 2002 by Allen Evans as a way to preserve the late record company Arbiter. In Evans own words, the record company specialized in “saving performances by musicians both living and from the past whose work embodies classical music at it’s height”. The website of the organization offers sample tracks from many of their featured CDs…all of which will be uploaded to the FMA for your listening pleasure!

Now to the music…

This past week I uploaded a track from World Arbiter, a sub-label of Arbiter Records, that really caught my attention.  Fast Blues in A is a toe-tapping, bluesy-folk improvisation on guitar performed by Reverend Gary Davis. This tune features Davis’ famous and influential finger-picking guitar style, which I found to be an addictive listen. The song hails from The Sun of Our Life: Solos, Songs, A Sermon, an album recorded between 1955 and 1957 that features many more of Rev. Gary Davis’ lively performances. The FMA only has this one little tidbit from the album for download, but fear not, the entirety of the album can be purchased online through Qualiton Imports!

Prince Rama @ Glasslands

Hey Guys,

Here's a show review I did for Relix Magazine's website. Check it out below:

Prince Rama
Glasslands Gallery
Brooklyn, NY
February 23

Glasslands Gallery provided a perfect vessel for Prince Rama’s performance last Thursday night. Smoke machines, glowing velodoras, the faint smell of burning incense and glitter – lots and lots of glitter – provided a memorable backdrop for the entire night. Was I attending a concert in a dreamy-haze or sitting in on an initiation ceremony?

Brooklyn-based Prince Rama consists of sisters Taraka and Nimai Larson. The group came into fruition at a Florida Hare Krishna farm in 2007. After their stay at farm they traveled, with then band-mate Michael Collins, to Boston to solidify their one-of-a-kind eastern-psych-avant sound at art school. After extensive touring throughout the U.S. and recording a handful of exploratory albums the band landed a gig at SXSW in 2010, where they attracted the attention of Animal Collective’s Avey Tare. Prince Rama was signed to the band’s label Paw Tracks the same year. Their most recent album Trust Now, which features the two sisters on their own, is their second release on the label.

Although Taraka explained to the crowd that they were a bit tired and jet-lagged after just getting back from a tour in Australia, their performance proved otherwise. “We’re going to start with an exercise,” Taraka said in a child-like voice. The two entered the crowd with a shaker and tambourine in hand, chanting incantations to the concert-goers before stepping back onto the stage. Using material from their Summer 2011 release 15 Minute Exorcise, the band began a set that flirted with performance art and a full on group yoga-cardio exercise. With gold and blue leotards, legwarmers, and an encouraging voice telling you that “you look great”, the first half of Prince Rama’s set looked and sounded like it was plucked straight from the 1980s VHS workout circuit heyday. “Down! Center! Up! Center! Down!”, recited Taraka happily to the crowd. A few eager participants joined the two sisters in their exorcising workout while the rest of us watched mesmerized.

The second half of the set began in a more traditional way. After a quick wardrobe change, the Larson sisters assumed their positions, Taraka by the mike and synthesizer and Nimai behind the drums, and played three songs from Trust Now. Taraka’s bollywood-tinged vocals hovered above heavy synths and Nimai’s thundering ritualistic drums on their first song “Rest in Peace”. Halfway through the second song “Incarnation” the sisters both raised their hands to the sky chanting, before bring the music back with lumbering beats. They rounded out the set with “Golden Silence” a slower paced gamelan-evoking jam that Prince Rama also used to close out Trust.

The visual element of Prince Rama’s performance is just as important as the music. The band employs the use of video projections, displaying scenes of flowing water and rolling clouds. Taraka’s petite body grooves to the sounds as her fingers move across the keys and Nimai plays sans drum seat. She doesn’t just merely stand there either. Behind the drum set she rocks her body back and forth to the music while her sticks methodically hit the drums and she kicks up her back leg. It almost looks like a choreographed dance.

And just when you thought the show was over, Taraka and Nimai came back out to reprise their exorcise. With the same amount of energy as the beginning of the set, Prince Rama kicked, posed, and stretched their way through the end of the show.

Don't Turn That Dial!

Here are a few short excerpts from a long-form radio documentary I produced entitled Don't Turn That Dial: Perspectives on the Current State of Radio, and Why It Still Matters. It was originally aired on DePauw University radio station WGRE in May 2010.

The two excerpts discuss the importance of radio as a way for consumers to discover new music.

Excerpt 1: Interview with Jeff Hylton Simmons of Radio23




Excerpt 2: Interview with Jason Sigal of WFMU



Contact me if you would like to hear the entire documentary!

JCI Global Entrepreneurship Week Article

Another article for the Independent on Jersey City's Global Entrepreneurship Week and ArtFest.

Free Events, Inspiration and Art for Budding Business Owners at Global Entrepreneurship Week

Over the past year vacant storefronts in Jersey City have been filling with restaurants, art galleries and other small businesses. Ordinary people with big ideas have been fueling the local economy by adding jobs and increasing consumer business. This week, these and other entrepreneurs will flock to Jersey City to take part in the fourth annual Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW).
Rising Tide Capital, a Jersey City nonprofit specializing in mentoring local business owners, will host the weeklong celebration of entrepreneurship. The organization will throw a series of free events each day, starting with a kick-off today at City Hall and ending with a closing celebration that will include food, music and art.
“Global Entrepreneurship Week presents an opportunity for Rising Tide Capital to spend an entire week reaching out to a wider community of entrepreneurs and those interested in entrepreneurship,” says Rising Tide Capital CEO Alfa Demmellash.
The festival, created by the Kauffman Foundation in 2008, aims to celebrate and inspire small business owners across the world. Rising Tide Capital has hosted the event for the past three years in Jersey City. This year, the celebration will be run under the name “Start Something New Jersey.” Demmellash describes the name as “a call to action” for all New Jersey residents to become innovative entrepreneurs.
Some other changes to this year’s GEW include an expansion outside of Jersey City to Orange, Essex County, and a more streamlined schedule.
“The events are all focused on meeting the goal of inviting entrepreneurs to find local resources, connect to opportunities, and to discover their business dreams,” Demmellash says.
Events include seminars, networking opportunities, and a resource fair for small business owners and budding entrepreneurs in and around Jersey City. Speakers include entrepreneurs of all kinds, from local business owners to government policy makers. The kick-off’s featured speakers include Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno and Mayor Jerramiah Healy, among others.
Jersey City artists will also have a large role in GEW 2011. Nyugen Smith will be a featured panelist in the “Start Something Green” discussion scheduled for Tuesday at City Hall. Smith has made a name for himself in Jersey City as both an artist and entrepreneur.
“I do consider myself to be an entrepreneur,” Smith says. “Not in the traditional sense, but in a general sense. Prior to teaching art full-time, I was able to sustain myself through art by teaching privately, managing a gallery, and translating creativity in a variety of ways to earn a living, while remaining true to my principles and value as an artist.”

The week will end with ARTfest, a celebration of entrepreneurs and small-business owners focused in the arts. This closing event will feature local artists, musicians, poets, and vendors. It will take place at Art House Productions this Saturday.
“Every year we try to incorporate the arts into Global Entrepreneurship Week because we recognize that pursuing your art or turning your talent into a profitable business is very important in an economy that’s not offering too many jobs,” says Rising Tide Capital Program Associate Mary Sansait, event organizer of ARTfest. “It’s recognizing that the arts are alive in entrepreneurship and that you can make it a business.”
Another Jersey City artist showing her work Saturday is curator and photographer Nicole Koupiaris. Koupiaris just recently launched her website for her studio, Soul Shot Photography, and says she hopes to introduce the site to a larger audience at ARTfest.
“I’m really excited because it’s going to be the first art show I’ve done in Jersey City,” she says.
Other acts at Saturday’s event will include the HBO Def Jam poet Gemineye, underground emcees Silent Knight and Rugged N Raw, and spoken word artist Itsrealight.
Koupiaris, who went to last year’s ARTfest, says the event is a great way for Jersey City artists and musicians to connect with each other and the community as a whole.
“Everyone gets to know each other and make the connection that we all live in the same city,” says Koupiaris.
“By coming out to these kinds of events, community members can contribute to shaping not only their own economic future but that of the people and places around them,” adds Demmellash. “This week is an invitation to celebrate and participate in our own entrepreneurial culture here in Jersey City.”
Details:
For a full list of Global Entrepreneurship Week — Start Something NJ events go to startsomethingnj.risingtidecapital.org/events.html

ARTfest
Saturday, November 19, from 1 to 7 pm
Art House Productions
1 McWilliams Place, Jersey City

JCI Jack Parsons article

Here is an article I wrote for The Jersey City Independent in October:

After More than a Year, Jack Parsons Moonchild Reunites for a Show at Art House Productions

It’s an unusually warm and sunny October day in Jersey City. Members of a band slowly trickle in to a rehearsal space; it’s been a while since these old friends have all been in the same room together. The seven members chat and catch up before taking out their instruments. The drummer counts off: 3… 2… 1. No one misses a beat.

It’s been over a year since the original members of the Jersey City band Jack Parsons Moonchild have rehearsed together, but it seems like not a day has passed. Jack Parsons, whose members act more like a family than a band, are practicing for their first live show since May 2010. They’ll be performing their debut album in its entirety at Art House Productions this Friday, Oct. 21.

At any one time Jack Parsons Moonchild may have between four to eight band members, but the nucleus of the group consists of three musicians: lyricist Cris Nyne, guitarist Colin Comstock and singer Sarah Comstock. The band came to be in 2009 after Nyne had an extended stay with Colin Comstock.

“I’d known Cris through the Jersey City arts scene for a few years and was a huge fan of his work,” Colin says. “He was traveling for a bit and when he got back he ended up crashing at my place for a little while. One day I picked up my guitar, started playing a groove and he started putting words to it effortlessly.”

After a few weeks of nonstop writing, the pair asked fellow musician Sarah Comstock to join their collaboration.

It’s hard to exactly peg the sound of Jack Parsons Moonchild. Nyne, with his background in poetry, wrote and MC’d the hip-hop-tinged lyrics. Colin Comstock, who has a solid background in rock and soul, laid down the basic guitar grooves. And Sarah Comstock added her haunting and beautiful vocal harmonies to the mix. It took only a few months before they started frequenting Jersey City open mics and live music venues, building up a small, but dedicated fan base in the process.

“After about three shows, the feedback that we had and the following that we built up gave us the confidence to know that we were on the right path,” says Nyne.

Colin Comstock agrees. “The Jersey City arts scene is an incredibly vibrant and unique place, filled to the brim with characters,” he says. “We couldn’t have chosen a better city to be from. There has been a very mutual relationship with love and support between us and the folks in Jersey City.”

Encouraged to grow by the positive response to their Jersey City shows, Jack Parsons added a drummer and a bassist to the mix. Now they had all the trappings of a traditional rock ‘n roll group.

In early 2010, about a year after the first initial musical meeting between Colin Comstock and Nyne, Jack Parsons Moonchild released their self-titled debut album. The 11 tracks on the album were cut from about 30 songs the pair had written together. The debut included even more sonic layers beyond guitar, bass, and drums with instrumentation that included the saxophone, flute, and cello.

“It was unlike anything I’ve ever heard before,” says Sarah Comstock, the lead vocalist. “We have several other super talented band members now who have brought all kinds of other things. It makes for a very fun, experiential sound.”

Although Jack Parsons Moonchild was a relatively young band then, the amount of works created and general buzz surrounding their live shows was substantial. After only a handful of shows in Jersey City they were approached to open for some up-and-coming bands in New York City.

But some differences within the core of the band kept Jack Parsons’ rocket from going up any further, and the band played their last show in May 2010. During their break, the band reached an almost cult status within the Jersey City arts scene and many of their fans wondered if they would ever play together again. It seemed as though the short, prolific life of Jack Parsons Moonchild had ended.

But after Nyne took time off to travel and Colin and Sarah started a family, the pull of their once beloved music collective got the better of them. Nyne says there was a need for a break. “I feel like it’s only human for the transition. There just needed to be time for us to re-evaluate what we all wanted,” he explains. “Within a few months, we still felt strong about our music and we didn’t want that to die. “

Art House Productions will host the band’s first live show since the break. Art House’s artistic director, Jack Halpin, is a longtime friend of the band and will be helping them set up the show.

“I think they’re smart, original and daring,” says Halpin. “We’re excited and grateful that Jack Parsons Moonchild will be playing at Art House.” Not only is this the band’s first show in more than a year, it will also serve to raise funds for Art House’s largest fundraising event of the year, the Snow Ball.

So what will come of the band after the show? No one knows for sure, but if a recent rehearsal, full of influential musicians and artists, can serve as an indication of the band’s longevity, it seems like Jack Parsons Moonchild will have many more moon-children to come.

“That rehearsal blew my mind, how cohesive it was. It was so reassuring,” Nyne says with a look of amazement of his face. “This show is going to be magic.”


Jack Parsons Moonchild performs at Art House Productions this Friday, Oct. 21 at 8 pm. Tickets are $5; all proceeds benefit Art House Productions’ 2011 Snow Ball gala. Art House is located 1 McWilliams Place, Jersey City.