NYS Music 20​15

Author: Quinn Donnell

  • Tobias Jesso Jr. Plays to Sold-out Crowd at Brooklyn Venue


    When Tobias Jesso Jr. first started putting his songs up on YouTube as bedroom-made demos about two years ago, the recordings were rough, amateurish masterpieces. The simplicity of the songs was presented in a big, thrilling way, and people caught on pretty quick.

    Jesso was signed to a Beggars-affiliated label, started recording with Chet “JR” White, and prepared to release one of 2015’s most anticipated albums. The final result, Goon, came out earlier this month – and unlike our first glimpse of Jesso via YouTube – the material on Goon shows sprawling instrumentation, skilled production, and an earnestly polished performance.

    On his current tour in support of the new record, each performance features Jesso and his piano – nothing more. In fact, the piano that he brings to each show is the same one he uses at home in Vancouver.

    At Baby’s All Right in Brooklyn Friday night, Jesso shared this bit of information with the sold-out crowd of less than three hundred. “So… welcome to my bedroom!” he said laughing.

    And that’s what his entire sixty-minute set felt like – hanging out with Jesso in a comfortable, intimate space while listening to him play stripped-down versions of songs everyone in attendance knew by heart. Between songs, Jesso would chat with fans, explaining how certain songs were written and answering questions shouted from fifteen rows back.

    There’s a sense of incredibly palpable honesty that shows through Jesso’s music, and it became even clearer watching him from ten feet away. On paper, Jesso’s lyrics aren’t anything special; they’re not particularly complex and they represent fairly common themes and emotions, but they’re expressed in such an audibly genuine way that they become something completely different. It’s a seriously intriguing kind of music, and his personality is one component largely responsible for it.

    Jesso’s current tour will run until mid summer, moving over to the UK, Europe, and ending at Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago. Find tickets to upcoming shows here and stream the entirety of Goon here.

  • Umphrey’s McGee Rocks Landmark Theatre, Syracuse

    Three months from now, Umphrey’s McGee is going to be playing at a festival, outdoors, for a couple thousand fans wearing t-shirts and hula hooping. When the Midwestern six-piece came through Syracuse on Friday night, they packed the lavish Landmark Theatre in a manner that paid no attention to the swankiness of their position. Rather, they embraced the venue’s beautiful architecture and seated floor with a level of welcomed informality.

    umphrey's syracuseWhile Umphrey’s is a regular on the summer festival circuit, it’s not uncommon to see the band play a venue like The Landmark. All six members are incredibly talented musicians, which is an obvious fact to anyone who has the chance to witness their several-hour set.

    Upon taking the stage on Friday, Umphrey’s played for over seventy minutes straight, continuously jamming without pause. The set came in waves, ebbing and flowing in a pattern dictated by the band’s instinctive energy. At times the music would gradually build, then crash in an upheaval of guitar solos and layered percussion. Other times the music would transition without warning, timed by seemingly telepathic communication amongst the musicians on stage.

    Umphrey’s played like a band that had been jamming together for almost twenty years, and they have. Since their formation at the University of Notre Dame in 1997, Umphrey’s have perfected their live performance. Guitarists Brendan Bayliss and Jake Cinninger each took turns playing lead, oftentimes matching each other in brisk, intricate riffs. The two would go between simultaneous playing and a call & response pattern, constantly producing melodies for the band’s remaining members to sustain.

    While bassist Ryan Stasik and keyboardist Joel Cummins laid the groundwork for Bayliss and Cinninger to harmonize on guitar, Andy Farag and Kris Myers made up a percussion section with full, driving instrumentation. Farag’s use of auxiliary pieces – ranging from bongos to rototoms and everything in between – created an almost worldly style of rhythm.

    Umphrey’s ability to diversify their sound is a main component in what differentiates the band from its counterparts. With progressive rock influences fused into traditional world music stylings, Umphrey’s is able to take their performances in a uniquely exciting direction.

    The band has begun to take advantage of this particularly impressive sound, offering fans a product called Headphones & Snowcones. For $40, audience members at the Landmark wore Audio-Technica headphones with a live feed from the soundboard piped directly into their ears. In an attempt to give people the clearest, most pristine sound, Umphrey’s has added this component to almost all of their current tour dates. While only a small handful of fans took advantage of the opportunity in Syracuse, the idea of it certainly says something about the importance Umphrey’s places on their sound.

    Headphones or no headphones, everyone at the concert found a way to tune into the performance. The chance to see Umphrey’s play at the historic Landmark was well worth braving Friday’s winter conditions, and for a couple of hours, it felt just as good as it will in the sun three months from now.

    Set 1: Gurgle > Out Of Order > Mail Package, Miami Virtue > Mad Love, 2X2 > 1348

    Set 2: In The Kitchen > Similar Skin, Puppet String > Believe The Lie, Immigrant Song, Tribute To The Spinal Shaft -> In The Kitchen, Wizard Burial Ground

    Encore: Young Lust -> Puppet String

  • Umphrey’s McGee to Play Syracuse, Albany This Week

    Umphrey’s McGee, the midwestern-based progressive jam rock band, will be playing shows in Syracuse and Albany on their current North American tour. The dates follow recent appearances at The Beacon Theater in New York City and The Paramount in Huntington, where reported on two consecutive nights of fantastic performances.

    The sextet’s first Upstate stop will be the Landmark Theatre in Syracuse on February 20. Tickets are on sale now, priced through Ticketmaster at $39.90. Umphrey’s will be supported by Long Island act, TAUK.

    The tour will make its way to Albany’s Palace Theatre the following evening. Tickets for the show can be purchased for $36.55. An official aftershow at the Hollow will feature local band, Mister F.

    While Umphrey’s McGee is known for its tight, high-energy live sets, the band’s latest studio release, Similar Skin, offers a genuine, accurate presentation of their signature sound. Getting to know the album is a helpful preface to seeing Umphrey’s live show; it can be streamed on Spotify or purchased on iTunes. Additionally, Umphrey’s surprised fans with a release of The London Session, recorded at the famed Abbey Road Studios in 12 hours time.

    Follow for upcoming coverage on both the Syracuse and Albany concerts on Twitter and Instagram.