NYS Music 20​13

Author: Jenni Wilson

  • Catskill Chill September 6-8 Initial Lineup Released

    By the end of August it begins to sink in that festival season is coming to a close. It seems the Summer comes and goes in the blink of an eye, and with it goes the music, camping and late nights. Luckily, the season can come to a close with a festival like the Catskill Chill.

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    Over the past few years Catskill Chill has created quite the hype on the East coast festival scene. Not only are the artists, the vibe and the crowd incomparable but they offer real cabins for rent. This is a rare commodity for a festival site. After a long summer of porto-potties and tent showers it is refreshing to be able to return indoors for a quick shower, a quick nap in a real bed and feel refreshed and ready for the next day of music. The festival is set in gorgeous Hancock, New York at Camp Minglewood (also the set for the films Jason and Dirty Dancing.) Although the size of the festival has grown exponentially, doubling each year since 2010, the feeling still remained exclusive and organic. 2012’s Chill reached maximum capacity bringing the energy levels flooding from stage to stage all weekend long. From acts ranging from Yonder Mountain String Band, to Kung Fu, to Lotus it is evident that Catskill Chill covers a wide variety of genres appealing to all musical pallets.

    This years lineup includes, The Meter Men featuring Zigaboo Modeliste, Leo Nocentelli, George Porter Jr, wsg Page McConell, Lotus, Conspirator, Galactic, Lettuce, Papadosio, Tea Leaf Green, Motet, Funk is Dead, Particle, Dopapod, Kung Fu, Raq, Sister Sparrow and The Dirty Birds, Brother’s Past, Orchard Lounge, Eric Krasno Band, Alan Evans Trio, Yarn, Headtronics, Cabinet & Cabinet Dead Set, Biodiesel, Consider The Source (acoustic), Ghost Owl, Jimkata, McLovins, American Babies, Twiddle, Turkuaz, Damn Right w/ DJ Logic, Shmeeans and the Expanded Consciousness, Leroy Justice, Z3, Brock Butler acoustic, Tom Hamilton & Friends, The Mantras, Fikus, Higher Organix, Viral Sound, Spiritual Rez, Lucid, The Primate Fiasco, Wobblesauce, Aqueous, Cosmic Dust Bunnies, Greenhouse Lounge, Cosmic Jibaros, Shwizz, Horizon Wireless, The Big Takeover, Capital Zen, Blueboy Productions (DJ set), Outlet, Speakerbot, Dan Collins, Greg D, Solaris, Cosmal, Fundimensionals and The Brummy Brothers.

    Catskill Chill will be held September 608 at Camp Minglewood in Hancock, New York
    For more information and news check out http://www.catskillchill.com/

    or follow them on twitter https://twitter.com/catskillchill/

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  • Phish Announces Summer 2013 Tour Dates Just in the Nick of Time, will play SPAC July 5-7

    Well ladies and gentlemen, your prayers have been answered. The long waited Phish Summer Tour 2013 dates have been released just before we all lost our minds, and just in their phashion, in the most creative way possible.

    phish summer tour 2013Much like our dearest Phish, most of us had begin to feel that these dates would never be released and our Summer tour schedules would be seriously lacking. As usual, message boards and Facebook feeds began filling up instantaneously with the rejoice over the long anticipated dates. The tour will start off in Maine on July 3rd, stop at Saratoga Performing Arts Center from July 5th-7th and end in Colorado with another three-night run at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park, August 30-September 1 . More dates for the fall will most likely be announced soon.

    The ticketing window for requesting tickets to the first leg of tour is already open. Make sure you put your requests in before Monday, March 12th at 11:59 AM.

    7/3 Darling’s Waterfront Pavilion, Bangor, ME
    7/5 Saratoga Springs Performing Arts Center, Saratoga Springs, NY
    7/6 Saratoga Springs Performing Arts Center, Saratoga Springs, NY
    7/7 Saratoga Springs Performing Arts Center, Saratoga Springs, NY
    7/9 Molson Amphitheatre, Toronto, ONT
    7/10 P.N.C. Bank Arts Center, Holmdel, NJ
    7/12 Nikon Theatre at Jones Beach, Wantaugh, NY
    7/13 Merriweather Post Pavilion, Columbia, MD
    7/14 Merriweather Post Pavilion, Columbia, MD
    7/16 Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre, Alphraretta, GA
    7/17 Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre, Alphraretta, GA
    7/19 Charter One Pavilion at Northerly Island, Chicago, IL
    7/20 Charter One Pavilion at Northerly Island, Chicago, IL
    7/21 Charter One Pavilion at Northerly Island, Chicago, IL
    7/26 The Gorge Amphitheatre, George, WA
    7/27 The Gorge Amphitheatre, George, WA
    7/30 Harvey’s Lake Tahoe Outdoor Arena, Stateline, NV
    7/31 Harvey’s Lake Tahoe Outdoor Arena, Stateline, NV
    8/2 Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, San Francisco, CA
    8/3 Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, San Francisco, CA
    8/4 Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, San Francisco, CA
    8/5 Hollywood Bowl, Los Angeles, CA
    8/30 Dick’s Sporting Goods Park, Commerce City, CO
    8/31 Dick’s Sporting Goods Park, Commerce City, CO
    9/1 Dick’s Sporting Goods Park, Commerce City, CO

    See you on tour! Check out our coverage from last year’s three-night run at SPAC.

  • Camp Bisco 12: Back with a Vengeance

    It’s about that time of year again when the social media feeds fill with people’s excitement and let downs about their up coming festival season. Every year I find myself in a mad dash to acquire the funds to support my undying love for live music. It seems everyone is in agreement over this past week’s Camp Bisco 12 lineup release. The best thing about Camp Bisco is you never know what to expect. Within the past six or seven years of my own attendance I’ve been able to see such a wide spectrum of music acts all so close to home.

    The past years have included major acts such as Shpongle live, (including Simon Posford, Raja Ramm and the rest of their psychedelic entourage) LCD Soundystem, The Disco Biscuits (of course), Cut Copy, Thievery Corporation, Snoop Dogg (when he wasn’t quite a lion yet), Pretty Lights,  Sound Tribe Sector 9, The New Deal, Girl Talk, and many, many more. Over the past years we have seen Camp Bisco grow from the one stage local festival into a national phenomena attracting individuals from all across America for the longest weekend of their lives. It has been amazing to watch the growth of such an amazing festival over the past few years. This will be the twelfth Camp Bisco and the seventh of which will be hosted at the Indian Lookout Country Club in Mariaville, New York.

    Two weeks ago when the lineup was released the excitement slowly began to build, and will continue to do so until the day we all wait in line in the hot July sun to enter the world of Bisco. “126 days until Camp Bisco”- the banner reads, ticking down every second on CampBisco.net. This years lineup so far includes The Disco Biscuits, Bassnectar, Passion Pit, STS9, Animal Collective, Umphrey’s McGee, Flux Pavillion, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, Lotus, Boys Noize, Wolfgang Gartner, Tommy Trash, Dillion Francis, UZ, Aeroplane, Alvin Risk, Audrey Napoleon, Baauer, Bear Mountain, Boombox, Break Science, Cherub, Chris Malinchak, Clockwork, Com Truise, Congorock, Cosby Sweater, Crizzly, Dan Deacon, Designer Drugs, Dirtyphonics (Live), El-P, Eskmo, Flosstradamus, Free Energy, Gigamesh, Govinda, Gramatik, Grandtheft, Green Lantern, HeRobust, Heroes x Villians, Indobox, Killer Mike, Koan Sound, Manic Focus, M | O | D, Nadis Warriors, Nick Thayer, Paper Diamond, Party Supplies, Popeska, Project 46, RL Grime, Rubblebucket, Ryan Hemsworth, The Werks, Toro y Moi, Twiddle, Vacationer, VHS or Beta, Wick-It the Instigator, and Zoogma.

    Second leg announcement includes Destroid (Feat. Excision, Downlink and KJ Sawka), Madeon, Danny Brown, Seven Lions, Digital Tape Machine, Bondax, Strip Steve, Moon boots, Perseus, Alpha Data, Autobody and The Manhattan Project. PLUS: Curated tents by Owsla Vs. BoyzNoise Records, French Express and ThisSongIsSick.Com

    Last years lineup included artists such as Bassnectar, Crystal Castles, Amon Tobin, Big Boi and Atmosphere. Just when you think that Camp Bisco cannot out do themselves, they do.

    If you would like to listen to some of the scheduled artists check out Baxstar’s playlist on soundcloud:
    https://soundcloud.com/soulryder-princess/sets/get-pumped-for-bisco-carla-d

    The latest announcements are centered around the highly speculated and exciting performance by Zeds Dead. The festival also welcomed LTJ Bukem, Destructo, Samo Sound Boy and Gravity A for the upcoming festival. The announcement also included the famous Camp Bisco ferris wheel, a Bisco Air Bag, yoga and hooping workshops, greening initiatives and a brand new Hammock Lounge by the Lake. This year there will be increased water stations, new showers and refresh stations with power outlets for all you folks who need to charge up those cellphones. New and exciting things are heading our way for this upcoming festival which is just a few short weeks away.

    Tickets are still on sale at Campbisco.net, stay tuned for more updates

  • The Big Up 2013 – August 8th-10th at a new home in Claverack, NY

    There was an immense amount of disappointment voiced when Shireworks Productions announced the one year hiatus of The Big Up festival in 2012. The mass letdown only fueled the excitement when they announced that they would be back Summer 2013. This year, however, the festival will be held in Claverack, NY which is just a quick 45 minutes from Albany.

    The time has come to start planning your summer festival schedule and it seems like The Big Up is at the top of many festie-goers list this year. The dates are Thursday August 8th – Saturday August 10th

    “Wow! Tickets are flying out the door!”, they posted just hours after tickets went on sale. The first string of artists released for the lineup include  Holy Fuck, Escort, the world premiere of Abakus live band, a DJ set from Chris Keating of Yeasayer, Jojo Mayer & Nerve, the host band Higher Organix, Kung Fu, Dopapod, Brothers Past, Normal Instruments and Party Supplies.  Their second announcement included Beats Antique,  GAUDI, The Egg , Kung Fu,  DrFameus, The Indobox , Consider The Source, Timbre Coup , lespecial, SOUNDUO, Greenhouse Lounge, Cosmic Dust Bunnies, Business Casual Disco,  Former Champions, Jeff Bujak, Blacklight Rukus,  Ian Stewart, The Edd, FiKus, King Holiday, Horizon Wireless, Speakerbot, Richard James & The Name Changers, Formula 5, Color Channel, ConnetICON, Interlopers, Galaxy Dynamite, Laser Sex, Hot Jambalaya, Mister F, Rizzo’s Dilemma, Stokeswood, The Blue Goddess, Aqueous, Spundose, Arpetrio, DJ Adam Amrod, Narkatta, ShwizZ , Sojourner, and SOLARiS..
    Phase three of the lineup announcement  unveiled a huge add on to the list of artists including AN-TEN-NAE, Orchard Lounge

    Kung Fu Prince Tribute set ft. The Motet’s Jans Ingber, Space Jesus Live, IMANGELES, Elephant Wrecking Ball, Jahman Brahman, Dynamo and Badnutbeats, Izahead, I Yahn I Arkestra, Operation Dankstar, Lost Optical, Beat Machine, Baam Bada, People’s Blues of Richmond and Jammin Toast
    Judging by the huge response from social media, if you are planning on getting tickets; buy them soon.

    Also follow The Big Up for more updates on Twitter and Facebook.

  • Cinnamon Chasers, Digital Dharma and more energized Red Square in Albany on March 1st

    Red Square began filling up the moment the doors opened, with people from all over the Northeast eager to see the legend that is Russ Davies (Cinnamon Chasers). The night began with a bang as DJ duo PartyHorn took the front stage at Red Square spinning some classic disco remixes. The vocal samples were perfectly entwined with the light and whimsical beats these guys pumped out. Halfway through their set they busted out a fun rendition of Tina Turner’s “What’s Love Got to Do With It?” and the crowd couldn’t get enough. Partyhorn played in between every band to keep the energy high throughout the night.

    Organik Time Machine took the stage back with a funky blend of jamtronic beats with the accompaniment of a female singer. It is very rare to see a female singer heading a band, especially for more that just a few vocal samples. It was definitely refreshing to see something different done so well. Each song created its own energy and permeated throughout the Red Square. The light show these guys brought with them was absolutely phenomenal and only further bettered their already amazing set. From the front of the bar I heard the opening chords to the Sound Tribe Sector 9 song, “Ramone and Emiglio.” I can honestly say this is the first time in my life I have ever seen a band cover a STS9 song and I was pleasantly surprised to see them do it so well. Then it was Digital Dharma’s time to shine. I was greatly impressed by how far these guys have come since the last time I had seen them live. The amount of energy and passion these boys pour into their music is evident the moment they take stage. Steve Mink tore up the heavy bass lines while Jess Radosti threw out some guitar riffs that were reminiscent to that of Jon Barber from The Disco Biscuits. Elliot Kershner used the synth as a vehicle to carry each song and jam to further and further depths. It was seriously flooring to see how far these boys have come since they first took stage two years ago.

    At this point in the night Red Square was packed wall to wall and the excitement was eminent as Cinnamon Chasers got ready to take stage. Cinnamon Chasers is a side project of Abakus’ Russ Davies (son of legendary Dave Davies of The Kinks) infusing electronic and disco to make a master mix for a serious dance party. Cinnamon Chasers played well into the early hours of the morning with the high energy crowd doing their best to keep up. Some of the samples and remixes included Bill Withers’ “A Lovely Day” and The Clash’s “Rock the Casbah.” He also pulled out many song from his album Dreams and Machines, including “Flash gun,” “Hyper waves” and “Have I Said Something” . The entire set was filled with an outrageous amount of energy from both Davies and the crowd. For the encore he played “Night Walker” and “Diametric.” I left Red Square almost delusional from the exhaustion of dancing for five hours straight but needless to say, completely content. Truly an amazing show by all artists involved.

  • An Interview with Jeremy Salken of Big Gigantic

    The first time I saw Big Gigantic, I was floored by the amount of energy exuding from the stage to the crowd. They have all the aspects of any amazing electronic show: the mind blowing light show, the high energy and the improv jams, but also the jazz stylings that you would only find in a classically trained saxophonist. Dominic Lalli (sax and production) and Jeremy Salken (drums) have pioneered their own genre of music fusing together electronic, bass-centered music with smooth jazz and acoustic drums.  Their sound is truly one of a kind and they have made their presence well known in the electronic scene. I had the pleasure of chatting on the phone with Jeremy just days before their show in Clifton Park at Upstate Concert Hall.

    Jenni Wilson: Alright, we’ll start off with a little history behind Big G. When and how did you two meet?

    Jeremy Salken: We met through the Boulder, Colorado music scene. We both were playing in funk and jazz bands, any gig we could get and we kind of met through that and ended up moving in together. Dom found a computer and started making some beats and it all kind of progressed from there.

    JW: Who would you say are some of your biggest influences?

    JS: Everything. Herbie Hancock, John Coltrane, all jazz music. Radiohead, a bunch of new stuff like Skrillex and Bassnectar. We get influences from everywhere. We are always looking to push ourselves. Dom’s always trying to push the way we make music and the angles its coming from.

    JW: You have clearly forged your own path in the electronic music scene, but being that what you play is still so different from other acts, how would you go about defining your music  to someone who has no connection to the electronic music scene?

    JS: It’s really hard to explain, honestly. It’s one of those things were still kind of trying to figure out. Its really not jazz and electronic. We call it electronic dance music or live electronic music. We take so many different styles from drum and bass, hip hop, dubstep, sometimes moombahton.

    JW: What exactly inspired you to blend live sax and live drums with electronic?

    JS: Dom has been playing sax for  a while he has his masters in jazz performance. I’ve been playing drums since I was a little kid, self-taught. Naturally we wanted to bring different instruments together and we wanted to find a way to fuse electronic beats. We wanted to be able to throw a party and keep everyone dancing but still get to play our instruments and improvise and build and drop.

    JW: Your tour schedule looks jam packed. Is this busiest you guys have ever been?

    JS: It’s pretty normal, we’ve stay relatively busy since we started so it feels very natural. We have more time coming up than we ever have. Things are kind of chillin out. We have a nine-week tour in the fall, so this five-week tour is  a short one compared to that.

    JW: The last time I saw you guys was main stage at Camp Bisco and I know you guys ended up playing some of the top U.S. festivals last year. What festivals do you think you’ll be leaning towards this summer?

    JS: We’re on Summercamp and Snowball in March, but we played so many last year this year will be more mellow and we try not to repeat festivals. A lot of festivals don’t like to repeat. We’re working on our new album and doing a big tour in the fall. We’re also working on a Red Rocks gig. There are also a couple of other festivals that I can’t really announce yet.

    JW: What is your favorite part about playing a festival, and how does that compare to playing a headlining tour?

    JS: It’s definitely different. We love playing festivals because Dom and I have been going to festivals before we were in this band. We’re huge fans of the festival vibe. It’s awesome playing in front of so many people with a huge crowd and massive energy. But we also love getting indoors and containing all of that energy and playing with a more intimate crowd.

    JW: You guys have put out an album almost every year since 2009, is there any new material planned for 2013?

    JS: We’re working on an album for the fall now hopefully before our tour. And hopefully we’ll have that and ya know, that’s been kind of the main focus.

    JW: Will your show at the Upstate Concert Hall be your first trip to the Albany area, aside from Camp Bisco? What can we expect from you guys at this show?

    JS: No we’ve been to Albany a bunch, probably our third show. We played The Big Up Festival, and we’ve also played in Rochester. We played a sports bar (Jillian’s) about a year and a half ago in Albany. We try and hit that area (Buffalo, Rochester, Albany)  because we love coming to the Northeast. It’s gonna be a party. I wouldn’t miss it if I were you guys. We have a new light rig that we dropped on New Years and we’re bringing that out. We’re playing a bunch of new music, Dom’s been working on some new stuff so it’s gonna be a non-stop party.

    JW: Alright last question. There have been rumors floating around that you and Jennie Garth recently started dating. Is this true?

    JS: True. I haven’t been asked that on an interview but I’ve been asked it more and more since Jam Cruise. Our story broke in the National Enquirer with a bunch of false information. It said I was 41, which I wouldn’t mind if it was true but it’s not. It was funny being in the National Enquirer because obviously they don’t have reputable news. They called every member of my family and Dom trying to get all of this information and obviously nobody gave them anything so they ended up making everything up.  They said we met at Coachella and have been dating for a really long time. That isn’t true. We didn’t meet at Coachella, we met in October so it’s impossible. It’s pretty nuts what kind of information they’ll print. Even with no information they will print whatever they want.

    You can catch Big Gigantic at Upstate Concert Hall in Clifton Park on February 12th  and at Water Street Music Hall in Rochester on February 17th.