NYS Music 20​13

Category: Reviews

  • Upstate Spring Revival in Review Part 3/3

    Editors note: This is part 3 of our 3 part Upstate Spring Revival coverage that features the music from the weekend. Take a look at coverage in Part 1 and Part 2.

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    What a fantastic weekend! Despite possibly the worst weather conditions imaginable from Friday evening through Saturday morning, the State Wide Music staff came through. Kudos to sound man Tim, who gave us one of the best sounding festivals ever; site manager Jeff for his tank-sturdy stages, cameramen Kevin and Brennan for braving torrential downpour conditions with expensive equipment, and most of all, to the bands and festival-goers for keeping an upbeat “We’re all friends” attitude throughout the fracas. Big thanks to Herby One and State Wide Music for yet again delivering the perfect regional festival experience.

    Didn’t have enough yet? State Wide Music has two more shindigs planned for the summer at Miller Hollow in Marion NY.  June 13th-16th will be the second annual Fiddlers Picnic. Spotlighting some of the region’s best bluegrass music,  the festival will include the moe. side project Floodwood, Dangermuffin, The Rumpke Mountain Boys, and many more. July 11th-14th is Upstate Boogie 4, featuring one of the funkiest lineups ever with Kung Fu, Yo Mama’s Big Fat Booty Band, Pigeons Playing Ping Pong, Sophistafunk and more to be announced!

    Here are some of the featured setlists from some of the hottest sets over the weekend at Upstate Spring Revival:

    Flabberghaster

    View From The Mountain, Lies, Stone Free[Hendrix],Hangin’ On The Moss,The Crunge>Dazed and Confused[Zeppelin],Who Put This Spell On Me,Coming Up For Air, Lose Your Shoes, The Machine, Whipping Post[Allmans]

    Mister F

    Deal Breaker, Everything You Say, This One Goes to 11, Jump the Shark,  Treadmill, Bed Intruder Song >Vocoder, Answer the Dog, Hedgehog

    Ocupanther

    I Feel Love[Donna Summer], Pyromancer*, Misunderstanding Hugs, Naga Golokia, Ghostless, Fraktura, Stompgoat

    * Debut

    Formula 5

    Earthbound Tim, King Harvest[The Band], New Untitled Song, The Clear %-> Nu-Gen -> 3 Ring Circus -> The Ride Ending

    % Unfinished

    Dopapod

    Nuggy Jawson -> Priorities -> The National Anthem[Radiohead] -> Priorities, Weird Charlie > Cloud World, Donkey Kong Theme *€> Trapper Keeper*, Bats In The Cave^, Present Ghosts, French Bowling+

    *contained elements of “Another Brick In The Wall Pt. 2” by Pink Floyd
    €debut
    ^w/ Mike Gantzer from Aqueous on guitar for the jam, Dr Dre teases
    +contained elements of “Hey Are You Going To Burning Man?” by Electric Apricot

    Timbre Coup

    Snoop Tiger, July, TheWay > Jam > Roland Opus, I didn’t know She had a Mustache, June, Arnold Schwarzeneggar

    Aqueous

    Skyway, Strange Times, Aldehyde > Uncle Phil’s Parachute >Fur Elise[Beethoven]* >Uncle Phil’s Parachute > Knights of Cydonia[Muse] > Warren in the Window > Timmy’s Blades > Regulators[Warren G]**, Pictures > Origami % > Uncle Phil’s Parachute ***

    * Linus and Lucy tease

    ** With Chuck [Dopapod] on bass, Evan on vocals

    *** Schism teases [Tool]

    % Unfinished

  • Album Review: ONYX by POP EVIL

    71evNyUBTsL._SL1425_Pop Evil released their fourth record, Onyx, earlier this week on May 14th, just before their performance this Saturday at Rock on the Range. This 12 track record is filled with the absolute right amount of explosive beats and killer guitar riffs, all very catchy. This record is one hell of a roller-coaster, so strap in, this is going to be a wild one.

    “Goodbye My Friend” was definitely a good way to start the album and it gives a feel of what the rest of the record is going to sound like, as Leigh Kakaty’s powerful and unique scream accompanies the killer tunes. “Deal with the Devil” carries on the dark, melodic torch that is Onyx, which was followed by the album’s leading single, “Trenches”. This track was the right choice to be made third on the album that way it can keep the listeners anticipating this amazing song; the mesmerizing guitar riffs fill the speakers, then once Chachi hits those drums rhythmically, you know it is time to start rocking out hard. “Torn to Pieces” slows everything down a little bit and it sounds very similar to “100 in a 55”. The pace is then picked up with the ever-empowering “Divide”, the kind of song that makes you bounce up and down as well as bang your head a little bit. The pace is continued with “Beautiful”, a great hard rock love song, with a chorus that will haunt the back of your mind. The record slows down a little yet again with the powerfully written ballad-like song, “Silence & Scars”. This roller-coaster of an album suddenly speeds up with “Sick Sense”, an electronic beat as an intro to the song and Kakaty’s powerful scream brings in the head-banging chorus. This was followed by “Fly Away”, a song with incredible guitar riffs yet it is a song that is a bit hard to describe. “Behind Closed Doors” slows everything down and sets a very dark, heart-breaking tune, especially with some of the lines from the chorus: “Mix a little bit of love and violence / mix a little bit of truth and lies / I see you, I feel you…”. A very love-hate relationship type of song, if you will. “Welcome to Reality” opens the eyes of the listener of the truth of a harsh reality and Kakaty, through his scream, emphasizes that once you enter that reality, “you can never go back”. The final track, “Flawed”, sums up the album through the darkness of the intro, sucking the listeners into the blackness that is Onyx. It is filled with incredible riffs and a powerful yet catchy chorus.

    All in all, Pop Evil did a kick-ass job with this record and they’ve come a long way. Onyx gets Pop Evil‘s fans ready for their upcoming tour and their show this Saturday at Rock on the Range. Onyx is available for digital download and you can pick it up at your local music store.

    Overall Rating: 5/5

  • Upstate Spring Revival in Review Part 2/3: The Sounds

    Editors note: This is part 2 of our 3 part Upstate Spring Revival coverage that features the music from the weekend. Come back tomorrow for our final article, “The Skinny and The Setlists”

    The music started promptly at 7:30pm Thursday night with the combined forces of Carly Jane and Train Rat. The Cohocton, NY band’s melodic hypnotizing jazzy blues with a hidden fury was a great way to kick start the weekends musical expeditions. Along with a slew of originals, they offered up sexy versions of Peggy Lee’s “Fury” and The Devil Makes Three’s “Old Number 7”. Following Train Rat was Springwater’s White Woods with their own brand of Cake-esque alt-rock with extra frosting.  The two bands also collaborated on a song with some expert mandolin play and an audience chanting “Chugging down to New Orleans” right along with the musicians.

    Thursday’s closer was Vermont’s Flabberghaster. While hard to define given their unique flavor, one could imagine AC/DC mashed up with the Allman Brothers and get a sense of their sound. This was some rocking music and the crowd ate it up. Beyond the head banging, the band also went on a number of exploratory improvisations from bare bones hard rock to jazzy percussive clap-alongs. While their set was somewhat cover heavy, they made songs like Led Zeppelin’s “The Crunge” and the Allman Brothers “Whipping Post” their own with no fear of straying from the original song structure. Where’s that confounded bridge? Who cares! The crowd wandered back to their tents completely flabbergasted. True to rock and roll form the band slept overnight on the stage.  

    Friday started out early with Canandaigua’s Upstate. The bands blues based rock and roll with lots of experimentation and fierce peaks got people out of their tents and down to the stages. In the middle of the set they offered a fun mash-up of one of their originals with the new Daft Punk song “Get Lucky”. Following Upstate was Buffalo’s Slip Madigan. The band’s upbeat happy music with funky breakdowns and hints of electronica was a great match to the unexpected sun shining down on the crowd. The newly formed Mister F followed, composed of  3 members of Albany’s Timbre Coup and Scott Hannay from Capital Zen. The F maintains their own sound, which runs the gambits of influences from funk and rock to jazz and electronica. Their self-described genre of “Neat and Clean, Hard and Dangerous” is pretty much spot on.

    Rochester’s Ocupanther then laid its claws into the audience with their brand of instrumental funk-space-psychedelia featuring the juxtaposing styles of Berkeley schooled axeman Colin Jones and self taught shred wizard Mikey Pantano. They opened with an adventurous cover of Donna Summer’s “I Feel Love” and the audience responded with much love of their own. Friday’s evening journey began with Albany’s Timbre Coup and their deep progressive rock influences, intertwining metal overtones and doses of electronic forays with top notch vocals. As the sprinkles started to turn to rain, true to their name, Project Weather Machine stormed the stage for an hour and a half of Grateful Dead and old school blues inspired improvisations with awesome names like “Nitrous Roxide”. As the rain progressed in intensity festival goers were treated to the first show by Buffalo’s Universe Shark in several months. Despite their hiatus they did nothing but deliver, keeping the crowd dancing in the mud. Closing out the evening was the return of the much revered Schleigho. Their set was nothing short of mind-numbingly brilliant, ranging from pure technical by-the-numbers wizardry to wide open “Space”-esque exploration. Musicians were buzzing about this set the rest of the weekend with phrases like “It was like going to jam clinic” and “I’m not worthy” being thrown about.  

    Saturday started later than anticipated. Stage equipment was all moved to the main stage due to the mud pit in front of the secondary stage. Thankfully the weather cleared, the sun came out, and Ithaca’s Solaris started things off with some excellent intense EDM. Albany’s Formula 5 proved quite the draw in the next spot with their genre-everywhere sound. Funk, rock, blues, jazz, electronic, it was all in the mix as well as a fun cover of The Bands “King Harvest”. The trio of Rochester’s Haewa filled the 5pm slot with some of the most extended jamming of the weekend, more of Colin Jones guitar-pyrotechnics, and a rock solid grooving core.

    The evening lineup of Vermont’s Twiddle, Buffalo’s Aqueous, and NYC’s exploding Dopapod was so hot people were wiring their doctors to re-up their heart medications. Twiddle started it off with a set filled with improv, explosive soaring peaks, and a jam of Phish’s “Contact” that ended up going from “Funkytown” to “Billy Jean”. The centerpiece of the show was a monster version of original “The Box” which simply went everywhere. Aqueous then one upped everyone with the biggest crowd of the weekend thus far, and a hot-as-fire set no amount of liquid could extinguish. Filled with effortless segues, memorable originals, a fun sit-in from Dopapod’s Chuck Jones on Warren G’s “Regulate”, and a brilliantly intense take on Muse’s “Knights of Cydonia”, Aqueous had the audience in the palm of their hand. Brooklyn’s Dopapod closed the evening set with an all out rager, effortlessly gliding from song to song with the best light show of the weekend by far. This band is on fire and should not be missed at any opportunity.  Aqueous’s Mike Gantzer sat in for original “Bats in the Cave” complete with some well placed Dr Dre “Xxplosive” teases.

    Those that survived the onslaught of Aquapod stayed up for the late night set of NYC’s Consider the Source, whose technical expertise may not be surpassed by anyone. Imagine a Primus that got all jammy and had three Les Claypools running the show. Pure intense perfection and an exquisite end to the fest. An incredible weekend of music, with each band bringing their A-games.

    Come back tomorrow for our weekend summation and an assortment of some of the weekends best setlists.

  • Upstate Spring Revival in Review Part 1/3: The Scene

    Family. No other word can describe a regional festival like Upstate Spring Revival festival better than family. Familiar faces from shows over the years. Passing by the same groups to and fro from the campsite, always with friendly salutations and wide smiles. Meeting new people spinning tails of their travels freely as if every soul they meet is an old friend. Sharing toasts and high fives with complete strangers, shyness abandoned. In our modern; smart-phone consumed; too busy to say hello world, this situational rarity is beyond refreshing. It’s a damn good feeling and a great way to spend a weekend in the woods. May 8-11 at The Whispering Pines Hideaway proved this concept beyond a shadow of doubt.

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    The Hideaway is typically an aviary hunting preserve and ATV adventure site, with trap towers, clay pigeon throwers, and rut filled off-roading trails throughout the area. While this may seem an ironic venue for a gathering of peace loving hippies, it proved itself perfect for the weekends experience. Car camping was available throughout the site with a plethora of settings, be it wooded, open field, or just a place to lay down in the grass. Musicians roamed freely through the crowd chatting with fans and fellow music makers. Both secondary and primary stages were located in a lower area, surrounded by trees, but still allowing a picturesque view of the sunset. The stages were minutes from each other with a variety of vending, drum circles and lessons, and glass blowing demonstrations all conveniently located within the main “Shakedown Street”.

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    Weather ended up being better than forecast. Thursday night through late Friday afternoon was beautiful. Friday night through Saturday was a bit rough with blowing rain but everyone kept in good spirits. Many huddled around campfires sharing jovial tales while others wandered the site in rain ponchos making new friends. Musicians plowed through the weather unscathed and everyone delivered excellent sets. Saturday night, between sets, Solar Flare and entourage offered up a spectacular display of pyrotechnic acrobatics.  Other activities included live glass blowing demonstrations, drum lessons and circles, face painting, and much more.

    Come back tomorrow to read our review of “The Sounds” featuring pictures by contributing photographer Kevin Burke.

    Photos by Darren Kemp

    Editors note: This is part one of our three part review of the Spring Revival festival. Each article will include a photo gallery from one of our three featured photographers.

  • Album Review: Positive Mental Trip Releases ‘Change Your Mind’

    Luke Weiler is a busy man, between coordinating the annual Jam for Tots event to benefit the Marine Corp’s Toys for Tots fund, hosting PMT Festival in Northville, New York every summer to support Solid Rock Rescue, and caring for his appropriately named dog, Ruckus, Weiler makes music under the moniker, Positive Mental Trip. Recording with guitar, hand drums, synthesizer and a number of other instruments; Weiler’s music is inspired by everyone from the Simpsons’ Disco Stu to Mozart, according to his FaceBook page.

    Positive Mental Trip

    Positive Mental Trip’s debut album, “Change Your Mind” exemplifies this diverse range of influence, featuring genres like reggae, funk, folk and southern rock. Touching on feel-good themes throughout its twelve tracks, Weiler’s songwriting approach reminds listeners of Jack Johnson’s positive lyricism.

    The album’s opening track, “Brand New Day” demonstrates this style with the lines, “So I put a smile on my face ‘Cause I’m livin’ a brand new day I’m not gonna be afraid of change” on top of smooth acoustic guitar riffs. Continuing the topic of leading life with a positive attitude, Change Your Mind includes two versions of the track, “Smile,” the second of which is titled “Smile (Hip-Hop).” Displaying Weiler’s ability to diversify his music, “Smile (Hip-Hop)” features a more electronic feel than its parallel track, “Smile (Reggae),” as well as a guest vocalist. Based on these tracks, along with the rest of the songs found on Change Your Mind, it’s safe to bet that Positive Mental Trip has a bright future ahead.

    Key Tracks: Brand New Day, Smile (hip-hop), Smile (Reggae)

    Follow Positive Mental Trip on Facebook  | Jambase | Myspace

  • Album Review: ‘My Streets’ from the Bob Polding Band

    99_EdpComing with a strong sound reminiscent of rock’s past is the newest album “My Streets” by the Bob Polding Band.  From the New Jersey, the influence of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, South Side Johnny and the Asbury Jukes, and countless other shore acts is apparent right away.  The music screams of a new “Americana” that is a mix of country and rock.  The entire album is loaded with great guitar riffs and wonderful lyrics that keep the album in constant motion from beginning to end.

    The album opens up with the title track “My Streets” and it is easily seen why this was the name of the album as well.  The saxophone soars throughout the track and is always present in this upbeat number.  The song talks about love, life, and memories of things that have passed long ago.  Like some of the other artists who have come from Jersey and written about their home, Bob has shown how much he loves his home in this opener.  “One Dance” is another wonderful track with great violin work.  The song is about how, sometimes, just one dance can change everything in your life.  It is one of the slower tracks on the album, but maybe it is just a slow dance that you want with that person.  The country vibe to the track melds perfectly with the lyrics and shows the band is comfortable in switching up their music style.

    “Hey Jeni” comes on next with a very catchy guitar riff and is an upbeat country rocker.  The thumping drums keep the track moving along with the pedal steel getting to shine as well.  It’s one of the tracks on the album you’ll be nodding to without even noticing you’re doing it.   “Painted On Smile” is a song that continuously builds with the violin and fiddle going back and forth, almost fighting to see which will take the lead.  The ending of the song is great as the woman who was the focus of the whole song is asked to come take a final leap and go for a ride and have her cares disappear.  “Dam Good Day” is a great country rock song that erupts in the back half of the song with some great guitar work on display.  This will be another song that will get stuck in your head and have you nodding along.  The foreboding keys that introduce “War” let you know this will be one of the more serious songs on the album.  The track builds upon itself creating a daunting landscape that isn’t seen anywhere else on the album.

    The Bob Polding Band has tried to do something that is not seen from many acts that hail from New Jersey, mixing rock and country.  They have pulled it off well here and it will be interesting to see where this direction takes them in the future.

    Key Tracks: My Streets, Painted On Smile, War

  • Sacred Sound: The Slide Brothers Bring a Trio of Pedal Steel Guitarists to Putnam Den

    Robert Randolph introduced a generation of live music fans to the sound of Sacred Steel, that of the pedal steel guitar. Dating back to his performances at The Wetlands at the turn of the 21st Century and leading through the first two Bonnaroos and the rest of the past decade, through Randolph the legacy of a classic sound has found its way into the live music lexicon and numerous festivals at an increasing pace. With The Slide Brothers,  presented by Robert Randolph, the sound of the Sacred Steel is brought to light by four impressive and iconic Sacred Steel players: Calvin Cooke, Aubrey Ghent, Chuck Campbell and Darick Campbell. On a balmy Friday night in Saratoga Springs, all but Darick took the stage for a rare treat; multiple pedal steel players rocking out on gospel and blues numbers dating back to the turn of the past century.

    Opening for The Slide Brothers was Danielle Miraglia from Boston, a true Delta blues guitarist. With just an acoustic guitar and a hollow wooden riser nicknamed ‘Stompy’, she kicked her heel for the beat and played mesmerizing guitar on “Meet Me in the Morning”, a requisite off Dylan’s Blood on the Tracks. Later, two songs stood out among an enjoyable set, a soulful “It Hurts me Too” and “No One’s Listening.” The latter of the two had the opposite effect, as a rapt crowd focused on the gorgeous singer and her powerful vocals. She brought to mind an early Sheryl Crow, with potential for pop appeal based on her songwriting and performance. Check out one of her songs below.

    After a spell of tuning, Ghent, Cooke and Chuck Campbell sat left to right in front of Phil Campbell on bass and Carlton Campbell on drums, both nephews of Chuck. The crowd moved closer to the stage as the band jammed out an instrumental “Jewel” with pace and patience. The night’s second version of “It Hurts Me Too” was soulful and layered. “Catch That Train” had deep guttural vocals from Ghent backed by middle Cooke along with Phil, whose bass was thick and Wooten-esque. While Aubrey Ghent’s steel guitar had a traditional sound, Calvin Cooke’s has a slight bit of reverb on it, making it stand out among the three; Chuck Campbell’s sound was so sharp it could slice right through the air with every slide of the left hand.

    Calvin Cooke took the soulful blues route and sang a powerful “The Sky is Crying”, while Ghent and Campbell combined for a tandem duet as the two carried the beat as Cooke sang, hitting the high notes on the steel. The greatest moment of the night came with a base layer of “Green Onions” ilk, leading to a long, slow building instrumental of slide guitar jamming that extended for 20 minutes in the form of “Help me Make it Thru.”

    A finale of “Don’t Let the Devil Ride” and “I’ll Just Wave my Hand” had truly deep bass to accompany the soul driven vocals of Aubrey Ghent. After a short walk off stage, the band returned for an encore initiated by oom-paa drum beats to work a jam into “When the Saints Go Marching in”, complete with a call and response as the crowd sang along with the band. To see a pedal steel player is one thing, to see three and dance to the layered rhythms is another. Great thanks goes out to Robert Randolph for assembling The Slide Brothers.

    Setlist: Jewel, It Hurts me Too, Catch That Train, Don’t Keep Me Wondering, What Happen to Them, The Sky is Crying, Wade in the Water, Help Me Make it Thru, Don’t Let the Devil Ride, I’ll Just Wave My Hand

    Encore: When the Saints go Marching In

  • Album Review: ‘Bound for Abiquiu’ from Dan Johnson and the Expert Sidemen

    Albany native and Vermont resident Dan Johnson, along with his Expert Sidemen, has released his second album, Bound for Abiquiu, on the heels of a successful Kickstarter campaign. With the album release party occurring this Thursday at Valentine’s, along with Driftwood and The Grassroots Rebels, featuring members of Jerkwater Ruckus, Albany is in for a treat, as Dan showcases a classic country/bluegrass sound through superb songwriting and catchy melodies throughout Bound for Abiquiu.

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    Opening with “Adam and the Snake Oil Salesman”, Dan’s country-twinged voice showcases his story telling skills while being complemented nicely by the Sidemen, adding in guitar, banjo and steel pedal guitars. Words of wisdom pour from the chorus, “There’s a road that has no beginning, there’s a great big old place in the sky, there’s an up, there’ a down, there’s a middle ground and you don’t ever have to die.”

    Named for a song and album of the same name by Albany band Knotworking, “The Garden Below” asks questions that lead to a confession, foreshadowing “Utica Blues” later in the album. “My Three Friends” is a truly traditional country tune, in the vein of Johnny Cash and Steve Earle, the way country music should sound, with lyrics on life’s laments and struggles, the sadness of these followed by the hope for better things around the corner. “Come on in my Kitchen” is not the classic blues number of the same name, but instead a pedal-steel accented plea to a lady to come over for dinner; a short, make you smile tune.

    “Another Good Thing is Come and Gone” is a highlight of the album, played and sung in the Del McCoury-style, making it a most traditional bluegrass track. “Dancing Fool”, while not the Frank Zappa song (although Dan’s take on that would be great to hear) is a mellow tune painting a picture of a nervous guy working up the courage to ask a lady to dance, lacking confidence, even calling himself a dancing fool, yet still wanting a dance nonetheless. With a little klesmer intro and accordion adding a nice touch, “Off on the Tide” tells the story of a sailor heading out to sea, sick of the town he’s been at for a spell.

    With a nod to Upstate NY, “Utica Blues” is a gambling song set in Utica, singing the blues about the life of a gambler who comes and goes as he wins and loses.  “Riding into Utica on a dirty old train, when I leave Utica I’ll be riding high again.” For what it’s worth, Utica is the perfect location for this story. Finally, the title track “Bound for Abiquiu” brings a high note to the end of the album, telling the tale of a journey about to be embarked upon. The destination of Abiquiu is a mystery, left to the listener to draw their own conclusion.” Bound for Abiquiu is a perfect album for a sunny summer day or a drive to the Adirondacks or Southern Tier, while picking in the campgrounds at Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival or casual listening to a classic country sound.

    Key Tracks: Another Good Thing is Come and Gone, Come on in my Kitchen, Dancing Fool, Utica Blues

  • Hearing Aide: Van Gordon Martin Band ‘Take The High Road’

    After releasing their first album, No Limit to Love in 2010 and touring with the Skatalites throughout the United States, making stops at major music festivals like South by Southwest and Austin City Limits, the Van Gordon Martin Band has returned with “Take the High Road”, 12 tracks of funk-infused R&B and dub reggae. This eclectic blend of genres is a result of Martin’s role as a guitarist for number of other groups, including The Dub Down Crew & Scotch Bonnet Band, Sparkplug Tribute to Melvin Sparks, and The Nephork! All-Starts.

    Van Martin, second from left in hat
    Van Martin, second from left in hat

    Martin’s experience playing with a wide range of musicians influenced the recording process of Take the High Road, as the album features appearances from members of John Brown’s Body, Club D’elf, The Slip, Dub Appocalype, Otis Grove, and former Spiritual Rez horn alumni. These musicians, who contribute funked-out bass riffs, heavy horn sections, and groovy drum beats are some of the best that the east coast has to offer.

    Together, they have created an album that explores an array of musical styles. Between the breezy “Another World,” featuring clean guitar riffs and a smooth saxophone solo, and the jazzy organ-filled “Hard Decision,” which transitions into a reggae a influenced chorus driven by off-beat guitar licks, Take the High Road provides 43 minutes of crafty musicianship and epic jams.

    Key Tracks: “Dreams,” “Another World,” “Hard Decision”

    Van Gordon Martin on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube

  • Too Legit To Quit: Rochester Supergroup, Legit, Debuts at Roam Cafe

    4-DSC_0072When musical forces combine, the people shall align. So they came to Rochester’s Roam Cafe on a chilly Monday night in May to witness the birth of Legit. The band is composed of Charles Lindner of  The Manhattan Project on keys, Wil McKenna of the much missed Roots Collider and local drummer extraordinaire Matt Ramerman of The Teressa Wilcox Band. One could say Matt is from the band ‘Everything’ as he seems to be everywhere weaving his percussive magic. Busting out of the norm, Wil appeared on bass instead of expounding his usual shred-Jedi guitar licks and laid down thick grooves all night.

    The denizens of ROC-city are truly lucky to have such a thriving musical scene with major artists coming through consistently and local musicians collaborating multiple days every week. Many of these shows are free and the Monday shows at Roam are no exception. Roam is an Italian style cafe with a full bar, friendly staff, and good drink selection. New to the Park Ave. neighborhood, it is run by Drew Nye, who also owns the Dubland Underground.

    The first set featured visiting friend and musician, guitarist Paul McArdle from Austin, Texas. The foursome went through about an hour of pure improv with sounds ranging from smooth jazz and chilled out blues to exploratory psychedelia. At times one could hear a multitude of influences from Steely Dan to Pink Floyd and even Ween. Four musicians at the top of their game making up music on the spot just can’t be beat.

    05-DSC_009605-DSC_0096Set two was the true threesome of Legit playing original tunes. While the tunes definitely had a raw flavor, they were interpreted flawlessly, and the possibility of future explorations was evident in every track. Halfway through the set the band offered up a spot on bacon delicious instrumental rendition of The Beatles “Eleanor Rigby”. They finished up and spent the setbreak mingling with the virtual “Who’s who” of Rochester musicians in the house.

    A third set followed featuring Paul again, who showed off his deft knowledge of the fretboard until the end. A great night for all and at a price no-one could poo-poo. encourages all our valued readers to support these free nights at Roam along with all the instant supergroups that “Roam where they want too” around the city. Examples being the RocCity Pro Jam (most Tuesday’s at assorted venues) and the free shows most Wednesday’s and Friday’s at Temple Bar and Grill. No parachute pants required!

    Catch Legit’s 2nd show Friday May 17th at the Montage Music Hall in Rochester NY with Haewa and the Heady Yeti’s. 5$ 18+