NYS Music 20​15

Author: Bryan Lasky

  • Shana Falana Start Their Tour on Fire

    Shana Falana who are releasing a fantastic album next week started their tour in support of it at Albany’s The Low Beat.

    Starting off the evening was local duo Moon Magick. With hauntingly beautiful vocals from Laura as well as some keyboard work and endlessly looping guitar work from Phil, the duo set the stage for the evening. Their set up was minimal and the music relaxed everyone into the long evening. Next up was Eternal Crimes who woke up the crowd with their version of English Punk via outer space. The band had a great light show to go along with their distorted vocals that pushed them towards psychedelia as the set continued on. Then despite some early sound issues, a packed house got the chance to witness Shana Falana’s new songs out in the open for the first time. Looping vocals underneath Shana’s beautiful voice merged with her ferocious guitar playing and were pushed along by Mike Amari’s drumming. Video in the background was a great way to make the evening feel like an art show with music at times, which suits the band perfectly. Catch them out on tour throughout the United States this spring.

  • Hearing Aide: Shana Falana ‘Set Your Lightning Fire Free’

    Shana Falana Set Your Lightning Fire FreeShana Falana has been making waves all over the United States and Europe officially since 2011, releasing two albums on Bandcamp and a cassette only document of earlier work, is now releasing her debut LP titled Set Your Lightning Fire Free. The album was put together in just a week and was taken with the approach of think of an idea, get it on tape, and move on, which has not hurt the record one bit. Shana usually is one to labor over arrangements and piecing takes together to make the perfect song, but she wanted to try something different for her first album. Joining Shana full-time now is Mike Amari on drums and he helps a great deal in filling the voids between Shana’s beautiful abstract ideas. Their creative force makes for a great pairing of sound that will make you revisit Set Your Lightning Fire Free again and again.

    The album gets going with “Gone” and has Shana layering her own vocals on top of one another over dreamy synthesizers that is all chugged along by Mike’s constant beat and is a great opener for a record. Right off the bat you are diving head first into psychedelic pop and that is where you stay for the entirety of the record. In songs “Heavenstay” and “Know UR Mine” the ’80s new wave sound, that has slowly making a comeback, has been turned just a little askew and brought into the 21st century by Shana and Mike. “Go” is a heavy song both lyrically and musically, bringing in some middle-eastern instrumentation alongside a howling Shana. “Anything” sees the duo go for an industrial sound that give an early Nine Inch Nails vibe. “There’s Away” has some of the best instrumentation on the album to go along with Shana’s vocals sending the song continuously farther into the ether of psychedelia through the almost six minutes that it lovingly takes up on the record.

    Shana on past tours has used visuals behind her to make the whole show more of an art piece than a concert. The music on Set Your Lightning Fire Free is set up to perfectly go along with these visuals. The pulsating guitar riffs, soaring vocals, and strong drumming on all the new songs that Shana Falana has laid down on the debut record will only be more pleasing in person. Starting with a week run in New York including April 2nd at The Low Beat, April 3 at BSP Kingston, April 4 at Shea Stadium, and April 7 at Bug Jar, the Kingstoners will criss-cross the country through May to support the record. Though it is officially released on April 7th, the band will have copies on tour.

    Key Tracks: Gone, Anything, There’s Away

  • Asleep at the Wheel Spring Albany out of Winter

    Asleep at the Wheel pulled into The Egg along with openers The Quebe Sisters on Sunday night as the city began to thaw from its terrible winter. The groups seemed to not only bring nice weather with them, but they played some scorching hot “Texas swing” for the enraptured crowd. Having this wonderful genre of music played in such a great venue is a treat for Upstate New York, as it’s a rarity for it come around here. To make the evening even better, there was plenty of comedy coming from the stage from both bands throughout their performances.

    BDL Photography

    First up were The Quebe Sisters, Grace,, Sohpia, and Hulda, whom all laid down some amazing fiddle work along with beautiful harmonies. The sisters were joined by Katy and Penny Clark who continuously traded instruments throughout the show including mandolin, piano, guitar, and banjo. The sound that was being made by these amazing women on stage could have been taken from a radio from the 50’s or right off the stage at The Grand Ole Opry. Their set went by in a flash, like their hands playing various instruments, and the crowd gave the ladies a standing ovation as they exited the stage.

    Asleep at the Wheel strode on stage in all of their glory shortly after and took The Egg to the heart of Texas very quickly. 45 years on the road has not slowed the band down one note. Playing some great tunes like “Route 66”, “Big Balls in Cowtown” and “Miles and Miles in Texas” let the crowd hoot, holler, stomp their feet, and sing along. Throughout the night they paid tribute to Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys and they did a great job honoring the king of Texas swing, as they do on their latest guest filled album Still the King.

    BDL Photography

    Ray Benson is of course the focal point of the band as he has been there since the beginning and he tells some great stories throughout the show, but everyone else was just as amazing. Eddie Rivers blew the crowd away throughout the night on the steel guitar, while Katie Shore did the same on fiddle. Emily Gimble’s hand flew on the piano and her voice was soaring over the crowd. Dave Sanger and Dave Miller on drums and bass respectively kept the train rolling all night. After the show was over, both bands were out in the lobby meeting and signing things for the audience. Hopefully more old-school country can come throughout New York State to keep us warm throughout the whole year.

    [FinalTilesGallery id=’105′]

  • Asleep at The Wheel Coming to The Egg This Sunday

    Asleep at The Wheel will be bringing their tour celebrating the music of Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys to The Egg this Sunday, March 8. Their tribute album, Still The King: Celebrating the Music of Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys came out this past week and included guest appearances from Willie Nelson, Del McCoury, George Strait, Amos Lee, The Avett Brothers, and many more. Asleep at The Wheel has been going strong for over 40 years and show no signs of slowing down.

    asleep_at_the_wheel_cover

    Bob Wills is of course one of the originators of Western Swing and is considered “The King” of it. Throughout the ’30s and ’40s Wills and his Texas Playboys toured throughout the country becoming early stars of American country music. They were a dance band with a country string section that played pop songs as if they were jazz numbers. They have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Country Music Hall of Fame, and Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. Ray Benson has said that he is still amazed me how well this music, born in the 1920s and ‘30s, thrives in the present day.

    This is the only Upstate New York show before the band heads south and west for the remainder of the spring. Tickets are still available at The Egg’s box office and online. The show has a 7 PM start time, so don’t be late for this great Sunday show to finish up your weekend.

  • Hearing Aide: Dave Spadaro Group’s Self-Titled Debut

    coverimageDave Spadaro Group has come out of the gates in 2015 with a great record blending together jazz, funk, blues, and rock. With this self-titled debut, they have let the world know they are here to make beautiful music to put into your ears. The seven song album moves along too quickly in the 42 minutes, it goes and leaves you wanting more. For a debut record, this is exactly what you want from a band.

    “Pushin” starts the record off strong with a great guitar groove from Dave Spadaro, that is accompanied by wonderful saxophone work by Brian Patneaude. Brian takes the song over with wonderful melodies dancing over the great rhythms by Stephen Orsini on bass, Andrew Costa on keyboards and Brandon Isles on drums. The playing between Andrew and Dave in the middle of the song in a call and response before Brian takes back over is a truly beautiful music moment. Like many songs throughout the album, if you close your eyes you can picture the band directly in front of you coaxing those extra notes out of one another to push the limits of the songs.

    dave-spadaro

    Funk and psychedelia take over in the latter part of “The Upside”, pushing the band into new territory and getting more of how the band sounds live onto the album. Although the jam in this song was most likely thought out clearly, the fact that it sounds like a live jam is a testament to how great the musicianship on the album is. “It’s Alright” gives the album its “single” with Josh Farrell on vocals. This is the most radio-friendly tune on the album, which isn’t a bad thing, because the more chance people have to hear this band the better.

    “As She Moves” brings the album to a slow groove with help from Jeff Nania on sax and flute. Careful guitar interplay by Dave lets Jeff highlight the song. “They Said” and “Fat Tony” bring the album to a close, with “Fat Tony” putting a great cap to the album with beautiful solos by Dave, taking over the song completely, yet not overshadowing the rest of the band. Spanning so many genres, music lovers should have no problem getting cozy with this album through the remainder of the cold winter months, staying warm with the wonderful grooves that the Dave Spadaro Group lays down. The album is available now on their soundcloud page or at live shows around the Capitol Region.

    Key Tracks: Pushin, It’s Alright, Fat Tony

  • Chris Robinson Brotherhood Took Bearsville Higher

    Tuesday nights in February are not the ideal time to be venturing outside of your house, but if there is good music to be had that will warm you up, get your boots on and get to your closest venue. Luckily for many people though, they were close to Bearsville Theatre for Chris Robinson Brotherhood making first area appearance since Mountain Jam. The sold out crowd gave a roar as the band took the stage and ripped right into “There’s a Good Rockin’ Tonight” by Roy Brown, setting the scene for the night showing they were here to rock and jam only as bands should when they come to Woodstock.

    Chris Robinson Brotherhood BearsvilleTouring in support of Phosphorescent Harvest The CRB, as they are known by their fanbase, played a few highlights of the album with “Meanwhile in the Gods…” and “Jump the Turnstiles” in the first set. The band was tight throughout the evening, which was great to see as they are breaking in new drummer Tony Leone. Sometimes when bands change members it takes a while to gel as a group, but The CRB was in fine form. Chris Robinson was in vocally great, as he always is, and even showed off some impressive guitar playing from time to time. Neal Casal handled much of the work on the guitar and it was wonderful to listen to his playing all night. He can solo with the best of them, but can also intricately shape songs without taking over the whole sound. “Tulsa Yesterday” closed the first set out with a thrilling jam that was a preview of what the meat of second set was going to be.

    Chris Robinson Brotherhood BearsvilleAfter a short break they came back out and hit the ground running with “Try Rock & Roll”. Everyone in Bearsville was tuned in to what the band was giving them and smiles were seen on everyone’s face, including the band between songs. Adam MacDougall seemed to be steering the jamming ship throughout the second set with some great work on the keys. The psychedelia was strong from his side of the stage and only pushed the others to join in. Chris Robinson is of course no stranger to that sound, so it was easy to see why he recruited Adam into the band.  Mark Dutton may have gone unnoticed by many throughout the evening on the bass, but he has mastered being the grounding sound during the intense jams that happened. The biggest jam of the night took place during “Vibration & Light” that bled into “Hard to Handle” with a beautiful transition. The two songs were great, but the middle area where the band got weird and just jammed for a while was the clear highlight of the evening. This was followed by “Rosalee” where they once again went off the rails of the traditional song and let the space around them dictate where the song would go. Coming back with a live debut cover of Van Morrison’s “Call me up in Dreamland” was a fitting end to the evening.

    Chris Robinson Brotherhood BearsvilleSet 1: Good Rockin’ Tonight, Jump the Turnstile, Shore Power, Roane Country Blues, Star or Stone, Meanwhile in the Gods…, Tulsa Yesterday

    Set 2: Try Rock & Roll, Beggar’s Moon, Clear Blue Sky & the Good Doctor, Reflections on a Broken Mirror, Vibration & Light>Hard to Handle, Rosalee, Sunday Sound

    Encore: Call Me Up in Dreamland

  • The Chris Robinson Brotherhood Coming to Woodstock

    The Chris Robinson Brotherhood will be taking the stage at Woodstock’s Bearsville Theater February 10. The band, Chris Robinson, Neal Casal, Adam Macdougall, Mark Dutton, and newest member Tony Leone, will be bringing their brand of psychedelic rock to hollowed stomping grounds. None of the members in The Chris Robinson Brotherhood are strangers to Woodstock as they have played at either Bearsville or at Levon’s Barn, which is right down the road, in other bands through the years.

    [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bcmo8CxpC3A]

    They are touring in support of their latest release Phosphorescent Harvest, which came out last April. It is the band’s third studio album in under 4 years of being together. The constant output of music by CRB have kept them tight as a band and lets them feel at home on stage playing to crowds all over the country. Chris has a strong love for this band saying that this is his future in music and sees no signs of it winding down.

    Tickets for the show are on sale now and cost $30 for standing room, $49 for balcony, and $59 for the first two rows of balcony. Tickets can be purchased here. The show is an evening with, which means it is going to be a long two set show with a great rock and roll band that will move in and out of psychedelia at will. This is their only Upstate appearance for the band before they play the rest of the East coast, go to Australia, and go back to the West coast so don’t miss this one.

  • Photo Gallery: Normal Instruments and Solaris at The Hollow, January 23

    Normal Instruments, a supergroup consisting of Jeff Bujak, Michael Carter from The Indobox, Jules Jenssen of Higher Organix, and Matt Beckett from Cosmic Dust Bunnies, are currently touring the Northeast on their fourth ever tour and pulled into Albany’s The Hollow Bar this past Friday night.

    A great two set show had a good crowd dancing all evening. Ithaca’s Solaris opened the show with an hour long set of instrumental electric fusion for their first area appearance in a long time. The whole evening gave Albany about three and a half hours to forget about the work week and start the weekend off right.

  • Interpol Announce 2015 Tour

    Interpol have announced a 2015 tour behind their latest album El Pintor. The album has garnered rave reviews from the music community and the band hit markets throughout the country as well as overseas in the fall of 2014.

    These dates also include make up dates for Boston and Montreal from the incredible snow storm that took place last November. Interpol will be hitting Prospect Park Bandshell in Brooklyn on  July 21 and then coming to Upstate Concert Hall in Clifton Park on July 29 to close out the tour. Tickets are on a pre-sale now through the band and go on public sale 10AM on Friday. All tour dates can be seen below.

    Interpol — 2015 Tour Dates

    Wed/Apr-8 – Tucson, AZ – Rialto Theatre

    Thu/Apr-9 – San Diego, CA – Humphreys

    Fri/Apr-10 – Indio, CA – Coachella

    Wed/Apr-15 – Las Vegas, NV – The Cosmopolitan

    Fri/Apr-17 – Indio, CA – Coachella

    Mon/Apr-20 – Reno, NV – Knitting Factory

    Tue/Apr-21 – San Francisco, CA – Warfield Theatre

    Thu/May-7 – Richmond, VA – The National

    Fri/May-8 – Raleigh,NC – The Ritz

    Sat/May-9 – Atlanta, GA – Shaky Knees Festival

    Mon/May-11 – St. Louis, MO – The Pageant

    Tue/May-12 – Indianapolis, IN – Egyptian Room

    Wed/May-13 – Detroit, MI – The Fillmore

    Fri/May-15 – Cincinnati, OH – Bogarts

    Sat/May-16 – Pittsburgh, PA – Stage AE

    Mon/Jul-20 – Portland, ME – State Theatre

    Tue/Jul-21 – Brooklyn, NY – Prospect Park Bandshell

    Thu/Jul-23 – Boston, MA – House of Blues

    Fri/Jul-24 – Boston, MA – House of Blues

    Sat/Jul-25 – Philadelphia, PA – Festival Pier @ Penn’s Landing

    Mon/Jul-27 – Norfolk, VA – The NorVa

    Tue/Jul-28 – Washington, DC – Echostage

    Wed/Jul-29 – Albany, NY – Upstate Concert Hall

    Fri/Jul-31 – Montreal, QB – Metropolis

  • Photo Gallery: Spiritual Rez and Annie in the Water at Rustic Barn

    On Friday night, Troy’s Rustic Barn saw a great show put on by two up and coming northeast bands, including Spiritual Rez.

    Annie in the Water started the evening off with a beautiful mix of rock and folk by the three-piece band. For their whole set they were joined by Mister F’s Scott Hannay. Spiritual Rez then came on stage with their reggae horn infused rock and played to an enthusiastic crowd. The show ended with another sit in from Scott and a cover of Sir Mix-a-Lot’s “Baby Got Back.”