NYS Music 20​13

Category: Features

  • Dark Star Orchestra adds Buffalo and Rochester to Spring Tour East 2013

    If you were one of many Upstate New Yorkers’ who were bummed to learn that Dark Star Orchestra was not coming closer to Rochester or Buffalo on their way to Thornville, Ohio for the Jubilee on their Spring Tour East 2013 then cry no more my friends! With the cancellation of Mighty High Mountain Festival, the band has added shows and they’re commin’ to town.

    Dark Star Orchestra has added May 18th at the Town Ballroom in Buffalo, NY. Admission is $25, All Ages (Under 16 admitted with parent or guardian). Show starts at 9pm and you can purchase your tickets online Here via DSOtix.

    May 19th at Rochester’s Water Street Music Hall the show starts at 8pm, All Ages! Admission is $24 and you can pick up your advance purchase tickets via DSOtix Here or through the venue website Here.

    For more information on DSO’s Spring Tour East 2013 check out DSO Online.

  • The Machine, April 6th, Westcott Theater

    This past Saturday Night I got the chance to experience The Machine at the Westcott Theater in Syracuse.

    The Machine started the set with thumping of a heart beat  from “Speak to me”, then segued into “Breathe”, followed by “Time”, just as on Dark Side of the Moon, drawing everyone to the front of the stage. The entire show was accompanied by a spectacular light and fog show that set the atmosphere for the entire evening. From there, the band played “What do you want from me” and “Happiest Days of our lives”, then took a short setbreak before returning with “Pigs on the Wing” and “Dogs”.

    Later in the show, renditions of “Wish you were Here” and “Comfortably Numb” led to the crowd singing along in unison. There was an eerie circus sound made when the band moved into “Waiting for the Worms” and the “Trial”, off the soundtrack to The Wall. The crowd reciprocated by holding up their arm’s in X’s, just as in The Wall.  The Machine finished with an encore of “Outside of the Wall”, a spectacular way to end the night.

    For more information on The Machine, visit their Facebook and MySpace pages

  • The Big Takeover this weekend in Poughkeepsie & Hudson

    The Big Takeover is a unique concoction of backgrounds and spirits that perfectly creates a version of reggae that is fresh and vivid. With Jamaican born and raised NeeNee Rushie as a captivating and memorable front woman, this movement complete with a playful horn section, pulsating bass and drums, and a hypnotizing rhythm section fills its audience’s hearts with good vibes and solid joy.

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    The Big Takeover is making a return to Ciboney Cafe in Poughkeepsie, NY, April 12th. The show starts at 8pm and goes till 11pm. A dinner menu is available between 5pm-10pm and a Happy Hour from 6pm-8pm. Tickets can be purchased at the venue.

    The band then moves onto a show at Club Helsinki in Hudson, NY, April 13th. Dinner will be served at 6pm and the show starts at 9pm, Rich Shultz is the opening band Saturday night. Admission is $10/$12 and you can purchase tickets online Here.

  • Neal Casal Covers the Grateful Dead’s “Mountains Of The Moon” For Record Store Day 2013

    Neal Casal has announced the release of a limited edition 7-inch single for Record Store Day 2013 featuring his rendition of The Grateful Dead’s “Mountains of the Moon.” The B-side is an instrumental acoustic guitar-based piece entitled “Grimes’ Surf Story.” The 7-inch will be released by Casal’s current label, The Royal Potato Family, on April 20, the date set for this year’s Record Store Day festivities.Cover-MOTM-Casal_art

    Neal Casal is joined by band-mate and keyboardist Adam MacDougall on both “Mountains of the Moon” and “Grimes’ Surf Story”. The duo does a fantastic rendition of Mountains of the Moon with a synthesized keyboards, eerie spacey effects dropped in the background, and vocals quite similar to those of a 1969 Jerry Garcia. The acoustic B-side Grimes Surf Story is a spectacular match for the previous track which lends a hand in transition between the two songs.

    What is Record Store Day?

    Record Store Day was conceived in 2007 as a way to celebrate and spread the word about the unique culture surrounding over 700 independently owned record stores in the US and thousands of similar stores internationally. This is the one day that all of the independently owned record stores come together with artists to celebrate the art of music. Special vinyl and CD releases and various promotional products are made exclusively for the day.

    Stay tuned later this week for our coverage of Record Store Day – the Good, the Bad and the Ugly, from record store owners around Upstate New York.

  • “Songs of The Band” featuring Garth Hudson, Jimmy Vivino and Special Guests coming to the Tarrytown Music Hall on April 19th

    A very unique concert is taking place on April 19th at the Tarrytown Music Hall. “Songs of The Band”. Garth Hudson from The Band and Jimmy Vivino from the Fab Faux and Conan O’Brien are coming together to celebrate the music of The Band.

    The evening is promising music from the first four studio albums from The Band as well as The Basement Tapes to be played throughout the night. Members of the Levon Helm Band as well as The Band will be there providing back up to these two great musicians. Garth Hudson is a legend on the keys and it is always encouraged to catch him when you can. Jimmy Vivino is now based on the west coast since Conan moved his show out there, so his east coast appearances are not as often as they had been.

    The fact that both players are coming together in one show is incredible and guaranteed to produce an amazing night of music honoring The Band and the memory of Richard Manuel, Rick Danko, and Levon Helm, who are no longer with us. Tickets can be purchased by visiting Tarrytown Music Hall or going to their box office.

  • Video Release: Surrender the Fall – “Some Kind of Perfect”

    stfpromo2012Attention music lovers! Today, Surrender the Fall dropped the official music video for their latest single, “Some Kind of Perfect.” Watch it below.

    Since the release of their debut record, Burn in the Spotlight, Surrender the Fall has developed a small fan base which continues to grow as the days pass. So far, the band has released two videos for their single – “Love Hate Masquerade” and now, “Some Kind of Perfect” – filled with a explosive riffs and fiery lyrics. Check it out below and let us know what you think!

  • Bella Terra (Aug 15-18 2013) Becoming one of Upstate New York’s Great Annual Festivals

    Bella Terra Festival originated in 2009 as a music, art and culture festival to raise funds for Berkshire County, Massachusetts Arts Scholarships.

    Since 2009, the festival is no longer purely a benefit event, but instead a diverse mix within the art and music scene allowing many artists to showcase their work to a larger crowd. The festival puts a large focus on the green movement, inspiring their patrons to think globally and act locally (after all, Bella Terra translates to “Beautiful Earth” in both Spanish and Portuguese). Over the past few years the festival has shown a wide variety of  support from many different organizations including Strangers Helping Strangers, Berkshire Environmental Action Team, Western Mass Labor Action, The Nature Conservancy and many more. Throughout the festival’s grounds you can see the dedication to the environmentally clean lifestyle. Aside from their righteous goal to the keep the earth beautiful, they also bring some pretty phenomenal musical acts to this quaint little farm town (so quaint, in fact, that you may find your camp site a stones throw from a grazing field of cows.) The location is absolutely beautiful and a great location to showcase a variety of different artists.

    The past few years have boasted names such as Melvin Seals and JGB, Sucker Punch, Immortal Technique, Phutureprimitive, OTT, Max Creek, Lee Scratch Perry, The Mickey Hart Band, BoomBox, Hot Buttered Rum and many, many more. Clearly this festival covers a wide spectrum of musical tastes. This years initial lineup includes Emancipator, Liquid Stranger, Zach Deputy, Max Creek, Minnesota, Abakus, Cinnamon Chasers, Start Making Sense (Talking Heads tribute), Turkuaz, The Alchemystics, Arch Nemesis, Homeboy Sandman, Bastinado (powered by Reactable), Caravan of Thieves, Goosepimp Orchestra, Deejay Theory, Cheat Code, Dj Leila, Leave it On Stage, Digital $torm, Cosmal, The Edd, The Black Rebels, Danny Pease and The Regulators, Orange Television, Mentally Ill, Wolfman Conspiracy, Waylon Speed, Lion-Bird Soudsystem, Digital Dharma, Gang of Thieves, Great White Caps, Mass Air Flow, Voltran, Luzcid, The Chronicles, The Professors, Mass, Tweed, Outer Stylie, The Hornitz, Serotheft, Redshift and Iganic Soundsystem. The second announcement included one of dubstep’s number one names, Datsik, with Michael Menert who is the first solo artist to be signed to Pretty Lights Music. Also added was Ghostface Killah, Wu Tang Clan’s hip hop legend. This is sure to be another great festival for upstate New York.

    The festival will be held August 15-18 on Gardner’s Farm in Stephentown, New York.

    For more information check out Bella Terra on Facebook
    https://www.facebook.com/bellaterrafest?group_id=0

  • 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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  • John Brown’s Body Spring Tour 2013

    John Brown’s Body kicks off their Spring Tour this Thursday in support of Kings And Queens, which is set to be released on April 16, 2013. This tour will bring them to the the Upstate region twice with appearances in Rochester and Buffalo, N.Y. The band is excited to be headlining the Sugarloaf Mountain’s 25th Annual Reggae Festival in Maine this Saturday, April 13th with special guest Mighty Mystic.

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    The band will play Water Street Music Hall on April 26th for the JBB Presents: Big Upstate Reggae Festival also featuring, Dub Trio, Nevergreen, Among Criminals, and Axis Armada. Admission is $14 advance/$20 dos, Ages 21+. Doors open at 8:00pm and the shows starts at 9:00pm. You can get your tickets online here or at the venue box office.

    Their second Upstate appearance is at the Tralf Music Hall in Buffalo, N.Y. with special guests TBA. Admission is $14 advance/$16 dos, Ages:21+. Doors open at 7:00p.m and show starts at 8:00p.m. Get your tickets online at Ticketmaster or by calling the venue at 716-852-2860

    This week, reggae-rock music blog The Pier features John Brown’s Body’s brand-spankin’ new track “Dust Bowl” as their MP3 Leak of the Week! Head over to their website to get your first ever listen of “Dust Bowl”.

    You can pre-order your copy of  Kings And Queens  over at Easy Star Records, with bundling options available. All pre-orders will receive an MP3 download of the album along with your CD or Vinyl on April 16.

  • Review: OTHERWISE hits the Northeast

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    The crew began setting up the small stage before the crowd, as they began to pile in closer and closer. Band members, Corky Gainsford (drums) and Vassilios Metropoulos (bass) stepped on the stage, preparing their instruments for the exciting night ahead of us. The testing of the instruments and mics had the crowd itching for the band to start playing. Some of the girls cheered and squealed excitedly as Adrian Patrick (lead vocals) passed through the crowd, his hood up, darkening his face, heading towards the bar room, pacing, prepping himself to blow us away with his powerful pipes. Both the other Patrick brother, Ryan (lead guitar), and Andrew Pugh (guitar) stepped upon the testing his guitar, the anticipation rising with every waking second.

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    Finally, the moment everyone was waiting for, the lights to dim and the familiar sound of the very first track on their record, True Love Never Dies, filled the ears of the concertgoers, letting the crowd know the crazy night was to begin. Adrian made his way through the crowd yet again and used two fans (or in Otherwise terms, “Wise Onez”) as support as he stepped upon the stage. The familiar guitar riff began to the tune; “Die For You” got the whole crowd pumping their fists and bouncing to the rhythm, some whipping their hair in a wild manner. Adrian began to sing the lyrics with the voice the crowd all knew and loved. Needless to say, his primal scream blew everybody away. After the performance of the first song and “Lighthouse”, the crowd was really ready to rock to what Adrian said was their “party anthem”, “Vegas Girl”. The catchy guitar riffs played by the incredible Ryan bounced off the walls of the tiny venue, the some of the women in cheered drunkenly as they raised their drinks in the air and moved their bodies to the rhythm of the song. Adrian’s moves on the stage had the ladies cheering louder, whipping their hair crazily. The energy in the room whilst the song was playing was insane; this band knew how to get their fellow Wise Onez going. The next song to play was their latest single, “I Don’t Apologize (1000 Pictures)”, to which the whole crowd sang along to the words heard on the radio. Adrian moved closer to the fans, reached out to them, grabbing their hands, giving them a sense of the connection between the band and their ever-adoring fans.

    The setlist changed to a slower song off their album, dedicated to lost loved ones, “Heaven”. It definitely was a beautiful, heartfelt song that tugged the heartstrings. Some fans pulled out their phones, using the backlight as a lighter and some used their lighter app, they all waved them to the tempo of the song. What was really touching was the passion and emotion in Adrian’s eyes. He then proceeded to tell the fans about their songs coming from the heart, that their music speaks the truth. He also talked about very eerie topics that gave the crowd a bit of the chills including how they have been in car accidents that they shouldn’t have walked away from. The band then played two back-to-back songs, “Shapes of Metal” and “Stop, Drop, and Roll”, both amazing songs that will haunt the back of the fans minds for quite sometime; those songs brought the high-energy vibe. After playing “Crimson”, Adrian took the liberty in introducing his amazing band mates, then Adrian encouraged the fans to scream for the opening bands, to scream for Otherwise and to scream for themselves, introducing, “Scream Now”. His ever-chilling scream had the hairs on the back of everyone’s neck stand. The crowd jumped to the beat of the drums.

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    Soon enough, the crowd got the hint the final act was coming to a close. Adrian stood tall, as did the rest of the band, as he encouraged the Wise Onez to pound their heart with their fist to the following the recognizable beat that Corky was playing. The pounding turned to clapping as Adrian sang the lyrics to the song that helped them become well known, “Soldiers”. He harmonized with the fans and continued to reach out to them, grabbing a fan by the hair, bringing him close and brought the mic to his face for him to sing with him. The connection in the room as the crowd sang along was unbelievable; it was such a strong feeling of engagement, it was almost very chilling. Adrian then jumped into the crowd, continuing to perform and bond with the fans. It was then really shown that this is a band that is passionate about their music; this is a band that is passionate about their fans. The band before the Wise Onez, they are a band of brothers, they are soldiers.

    The night left the crowd in such a buzz. Wild, enthusiastic grins were plastered upon their faces. They got to meet the band, took pictures with them and received autographs. The brisk, cold air washed over the faces of the fans as they left the venue, their ears rang with the incredible setlist played before them. This was a night that will never be forgotten, a night where the spotlight revealed the true soldiers of music.