NYS Music 20​14

Author: Anastasia Michalowskij

  • Turkuaz Is A Class Act

    Winter has finally fallen here in Syracuse. The air is cold and on the trees hang a soft white blanket. While some prefer to warm up with hot cocoa, the crowd at the Westcott was heating up in the musical arms of the joyous soul band, Turkuaz. When drummer Michelangelo Carubba gave the cue, it was game on. The Westcott immediately began dancing as the notes of the opening song “20 Dollar bill” began to blast out of Chris Brouwer’s trumpet. The Turkuaz ladies, Shira Elias and Sammi Garett sang out, “look at how they come and how they go”. The voice of Turkuaz hosted the smoky vocals of lead guitarist Dave Brandwein paired with the jazzy vocals of the ladies to produce an old school vibe. The sound from the stage gives a sexy millennial twist to the big band era style of playing. This in your face funk is the kind of music you feel from the top of your head down to the tips of your toes. This is the kind of music that makes a person feel alive. There was a glimmer of pride in the eyes of each member as they preformed.

    Taylor Shell is a very impressive bass player and a sure sign that the funk is alive. A few points in the night he could be seen standing on the pedestal where the drums were set up, laying down some smooth bass lines. Taylor Shell brings the party. Also, two hands in the air for Craig Brodhead the synth player. He was like a cloud raining down sentences of notes from his synthesizer. The use of the synthesizer added a contemporary aspect to the funk. These musicians have a natural chemistry and stage presence; they were all swinging their hips and all dancing together. Even occasionally throwing in a synchronized dip to the ground as they did in the song “Bubba Slide”. In the midst of the high-fi funk the band did give the lovers and potential lovers in the crowd one slow song. Thursday night was a blast and a non-stop groove party and at the end no one wanted to quit. Turkuaz gives fresh meaning to the saying bigger is better.

    A special recognition should be given the band Annie in the Water who opened for Turkuaz. Their sound is really special. It is as though Rusted Root, Dispatch and Zach Deputy had three acoustic babies whose umbilical chords were plugged into speakers. These are the nights live music lovers live for.

  • Physical Education class with Animals as Leaders

    On December 2 Animals as Leaders came to The Westcott Theatre. The musicians took the stage stoically, then, without words, began playing. Animals as Leaders, genre is, very, experimental metal. A few tunes they played off of their most recent album The Joy of Motion were, “The Woven Web” and “Physical Education.”

    Physical Education Animals as Leaders“Physical Education” is a really fun song with an incredibly catchy hook and slap-ity guitar. Here and there they would play a tune, such as that, that was danceable, but for the most part the crowd was a bunch of bobbing heads and ears wide open. As it goes, the recipe for the more exploratory songs of Animals as Leaders could be described as constructive composition.

    Members, Javier Reyes on the 8-string guitar, Matt Garstka on the drums and Tosin Abasi on 8-string guitar, play with impressive speed, concentration and fervor. Thankfully, repetition is incorporated in their style. They take their well-constructed riffs and repeat them. Then, each member takes an individual excerpt of time to transgress.

    The music does indeed at times have a meditative quality as the notes cascade over each other, but don’t be fooled because the music rides the tide back to solid dark metal. Another impressive quality of this completely instrumental band was the their tightness. They demonstrated this with wonderfully executed rests. This is a quality of music that is not often used outside of classical and Jazz. Animals as Leaders closed out the show with the classic, CAFO, leaving behind a crowd of pleased fans.

  • Turkuaz to Perform at The Westcott Theatre December 11

    Turkuaz, a fun filled funk band out of Brooklyn, NY who are infamous for their matching jumpsuits are playing at The Westcott Theatre in Syracuse on December 11. This large family consists of 8 members; Dave Brandwein on guitar and vocals, Taylor Shell play the bass, Craig Brodhead on guitar and synths, Michelangelo Carubba on drums, Greg Sanderson plays saxophone, Joshua Schwartz also on saxophone and vocals, Chris Brouwers trumpet and keyboard, lastly Sammi Garett, vocals and tambourine. Despite the size of the band, these multi-talented musicians have a unique chemistry amongst themselves. This celebration starts on Thursday, December the 11 at 8pm. Annie in the Water and Ocupanther open up the night. Get your tickets here.

  • Animals as Leaders to play at The Westcott December 2

    On December 2, Animals as Leaders will take to the stage at Syracuse’s Westcott Theatre. This progressive metal band consists of three very talented members, Tosin Abasi, Javier Reyes and Matt Garstka, with the bands’ sound being something of an experimental jazz infused technical metal. MetalSucks has ranked Animals as Leaders Guitarist Tosin Abasi as number 2 on their list of modern metal’s top guitarists and he will surely grace Syracuse’s Westcott with his 8 string guitar. The trio released The Joy of Motion earlier this year and hopefully it will be celebrated on Tuesday night. The show starts at 8 pm with three bands including Monuments, Turn the Tide, and How to Disappear Completely.

    Animals as Leaders

  • A Night of Great Interest: Primus in Rochester

    On a crisp November 2 night, Primus adorned Rochester, NY – a city not unfamiliar to Primus. With the original band back together and the recent release of a new studio album, the crowd was really anticipating the night’s show. At 8PM sharp hundreds of people filled into the Main Street Armory.

    Primus in Rochester
    Official poster by Drew Millward

    The night began and proceeded in a psychedelic punk rock fashion. Highlights of the show being “Jilly is on Smack” and “American Life”. These men are professionals in the art of suspense. What made “Jilly is on Smack” so special was how the band stepped pensively into the song. The crowd was left cliff hanging on the long gut wrenching bow strokes of Les Claypool on the upright bass. With a steady progression they drove deeper. Until finally a drop in by Larry LaLonde, whose guitar riffs sounded electric elastic, reminiscent of rubber bands.

    When executed with as much freedom of control as it was last night, the tune ‘American Life,’ is a testament to experiencing music. As a classic and more pissed off Primus song, the reminiscence of the youth of the band showed through. The pitter-patter of a cold bass line is the cold grey fog cloaking the crowd. Through the muttered mumbles of lyrics, Claypool’s line, “It’s a cold day on Ellis Isle,” can be heard clearly lurking through the fog. When the lyrics ended, the rest of the song was delivered hard. Everyone was rocking out. A compelling victory to end set one.

    To be read in the voice of Gene Wilder: “There is no earthly way of knowing which direction we are going… There’s no knowing where they’re rowing.” If you just shuttered a little, you probably had nostalgia of the Willy Wonka boat ride scene that was so creepy it scared everyone out of his or her little seven-year-old pants. As the curtains opened up to a second set, the stage had been transformed into a whole new place. The usual blowup astronauts were replaced by blowup mushrooms.

    A screening of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory was played as a backdrop. Les Claypool become none other than Willy Wonka. Primus played their version of the musical in its entirety. The audience was one cluster of genuinely happy folk. The acoustic sounds from the upright bass and cello in combination with electric guitar created a rare layering of haunting sounds perfect for a tribute to Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.

    So much of the chilling whimsical experience can be attributed to outrageous sounds coming off of Tim Alexander, better known as Herb, who was completely caged in by a circus of different types of percussion instruments. It truly was a weird psychedelic trip down that same chocolate river on an electric wonder boat that was forcibly propelled through a current of percussion by cello and upright bass. No doubt about it, the Primus in Rochester and the Chocolate Factory experience is a lot of creepy and double the amount weird, but we can handle it, we are big kids now.