Kissing Candice brought their bloody, gory horror themed show to Syracuse’s newest DIY venue, The Rock Garage on December 18th. Syracuse area locals, The Entropic Principle, Welcome the Ancients, and IMPULSE helped get the crowd warmed up.
The lights go dark, smoke rolls onto the stage, the crowd’s excitement builds as the intro cues up; then the band explodes onto the stage tearing right into “Unloaded” off of their newest album “Blind Until we Burn.” They didn’t waste any time before ripping into “Successful test” and their latest single “Put em’ up.” The band played a very powerful and supercharged set consisting of a mix of songs from their EP “Conjured” and newest release “Blind Until We Burn” including highlights “Tusk” and “Nilbog” to which they pay homage to one of the “best” worst movies of all time Claudio Fragasso’s Troll 2!
Even though it was cold outside, Kissing Candice had no trouble keeping fans excited and engaged throughout their 50 minute set. After taking a short break, the band came out a played a two song encore ending the blood and smoke filled set with a song that that is not often played “Rampage.” The band thanked everyone and invited the crowd to hang out with them at their merch table before they were on their way back to Long Island.
It is certain that with their mix of metal, hardcore and industrial and let’s not forget some very catchy heavy and hook – laden songs, Kissing Candice puts on one hell of a blood and gore soaked show!
November 20 marked the release date of the much anticipated album by EDM artist Space Jesus. The album Close Encounters is okay with a few redeeming songs on the album and as a whole it did not stand out as unique. “HydraBadMan” is one of the better songs on the compilation as Jasha Tull was able to manipulate bass that felt eerie and all encompassing. However dissecting the rest the “HydraBadMan” minus the bass, it felt unauthentic – a feeling reflected in the whole album. The song “The Sultan” felt easily calculated and lacking personal voice. The album does not stand up with the multitudes of other compellingly abstract music that tries to merge Middle Eastern influences into contemporary music of America. Consider the Source for example is a band that does a stunning job of that. Some characteristics of sounds were hinted at but not well represented.
Space Jesus, Close Encounters
The album does demonstrate that the artist has knowledge of this hip-hop style where the bass in smoothed out and slowed down to create what we know as dubstep. The frequencies in the track “Sycamore” are nice and I think that is one of the songs where the whole sound came together. Each entity in “Sycamore” relies on the other for strength and pivot point. This could be a fascinating album if you are looking into electronic music and wanted an album that features a variety of different sounds. However what is lacking here in the CloseEncounters album is connection from track to track. There is no story being told or any sort of desire to transcend the confines of four minutes. The concept of the album is using it as a means of birthing a beast, creating an entity or exploring flow. The experience of listening to a good album for the first, second and third time should be like bearing witness to an inspiration that the musician had a genuine interest in serving out. Yet no relationship could be found between the music and the feelings that were supposed to be alluded by Space Jesus.
Elise Testone has a voice to be reckoned with and she showed it off beautifully at The Hollow in Albany on the 17th of December. Her all-star band consisting of Todd Stoops, Eric Kalb, Jed Lingat, and Brad Williams played great funk, soul, and rock and roll behind her booming voice.
Unlike other recent shows they have done, Elise Testone stuck to playing mostly all original material. The songs were great and show that she has the “it” factor that is needed to succeed in the music industry. Only bigger and better things can be coming for her as we roll into 2016.
Opening the evening was Brian LaPoint & the Joints with set that mixed covers and originals. The Joints are always a rotating cast of Albany musicians and on this night included members of School Bus Yellow, and MONK. Brian is a great band leader and made sure each member got their moment to shine brightly in the various jams that occurred throughout the set.
Glenn Tilbrook and Chris Difford, the masterminded songwriters behind the new wave rock band, Squeeze, rolled out of two makeshift beds in pajamas and instantly pulled in the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall crowd on December 16, as part of the “At Odds Couple” tour. The duo proceeded to rip through two hours of classics mixed in with a few new tunes and works from each singer’s solo careers.
After a brief visit to a set up kitchen table to have a beverage, the dynamic duo kicked off the first set with “Take Me I’m Yours” from their 1978 self-titled release “Squeeze.” Tilbrook briefly exited the stage afterward, to change out of his wrinkled jammies while Difford tackled “Cool For Cats,” one of only two occasions in Squeeze’s grand career where Difford provided lead vocals. Exit Difford, enter Tilbrook for “Black Coffee In Bed,” the only release from 1982’s “Sweets From a Stranger” to chart. The classic tune also featured Elvis Costello and Paul Young on vocal backups. The two ventured back together onstage for six more songs before Difford getting the opportunity to play three solo songs: “Fit As A Fiddle,” “Wrecked” followed by Tilbrook backing on “Cowboys Are My Weakness” providing one of the night’s more memorable moments. “Cowboys,” a tune said to be written for and soon rejected by K.D. Lang, was perfectly accompanied by a video montage of homo-erotic, silly string ejaculate spraying toy cowboys.
The second set featured three solo performances from Tilbrook including “Still,” a beautiful track from his time with The Fluffers and off the release Pandemonium Ensues in 2009. Beside the obvious highlighted classic tracks like “Annie Get Your Gun” and “Tempted, ” the duo lit up the hall with a brand new track, “Cradle To The Grave” from the band’s 2015 album of the same title. “Cradle” featured an official video on the big screen behind the musicians synced perfectly with Difford and Tilbrook. There was an obvious passion in Tilbrook’s voice during “Cradle” that proves the duo still has what it takes to write a catchy, melody driven pop-rock song. It’s hard to believe that the work on the “Cradle” album features a new batch of songwriting that we have not seen since 1998. The night was finished off with the 1978 single, “Goodbye Girl.” A fitting tune for two stellar songwriters who were saying goodbye the Music Hall crowd but will not soon be forgotten.
Setlist: Take Me I’m Yours, Cool For Cats (Difford only), Black Coffee in Bed (Tilbrook only), Nirvana, Electric Trains, Some Fantastic Place, Beautiful Game, Love’s Crashing Waves, Slap and Tickle, Fit As A Fiddle (Difford solo), Wrecked (Difford solo), Cowboys Are My Weakness (Difford solo), Up The Junction. Second set: Still (Tilbrook solo), Ice Cream (Tilbrook solo), The Elephant Ride (Tilbrook solo), Annie Get Your Gun, Truth, Happy Days, Cradle To The Grave, Pulling Mussels, Is That Love, Tempted, Another Nail In My Heart, If I Didn’t Love You, Goodbye Girl.
Rumble Strips brought to life such sweet musicality and delicate soundwaves at Black Oak Tavern on December 3. A band formed out of Oneonta brought everyone together to enjoy some chill beats and rhythmic tunes. They shook the world in the most gentle way, combining soft jams and uplifting and powerful funk. They put the ‘rumble’ in Rumble Strips.
In his recently released sophomore studio album, The Story of Sonny Boy Slim, Texas blues man Gary Clark, Jr. shows the world the true extent of his versatility. With a mix of blues, funk, and soul, Clark proves, more than we’ve seen from him so far, his ability to produce a multifaceted sound.
The album’s second single, “Grinder,” prominently features screaming guitar solos wrought with a Hendrix influence. On the other hand, “Star” and “Cold Blooded” dial back on the licks and show off a funk-soul combo reminiscent of Stevie Wonder and Curtis Mayfield. Clark brings “Church” in a direction we’ve had yet to see from him: Clark, his guitar, and his harmonica combine to create a beautifully written acoustic track with just the right mix of gospel and soul.
Clark has always shown a natural ability to mix modern soul themes in with more traditional blues themes, but perfects this ability in The Story of Sonny Boy Slim. For example, “Wings” and “Can’t Sleep” contain lyrics appealing to the listener interested in a more modern “party” sound, a la John Legend, but also incorporate classic funk and blues guitar.
The Story of Sonny Boy Slim is an album that can be enjoyed by young and old due to its masterful fusion of classic blues with neo-soul. In addition to the fact that Clark produced the album, true music lovers can appreciate that he also played many of the instruments. As the album is surely his best studio work so far, fans can look forward to a very bright future for Gary Clark, Jr.
A lot of great shows and festivals took place around New York over the course of 2015, from big festivals to small club shows and everything in between. The team at NYS Music loves live music. You can always catch us out and about at live music happenings. Here are what we considered the best concerts of 2015, sorted by region of the state.
Best Show in Western New York: Aqueous Halloween When Aqueous announced they were going to pay tribute to “Dark Side of Oz,” the legendary mashup of Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon and the cinematic classic The Wizard of Oz, their fans were pumped. However, this was a multi-night run, and it wouldn’t be fun without a theme for the first night. Back to the Future was chosen, and the band covered many of the hits off the soundtrack.
Best Show in Central New York: moe. at Saranac Brewery and K-Rockathon 20 Two anniversaries were celebrated in Central New York, and they brought the crowds and rave reviews. New York’s favorite jamband, moe., celebrated their 25 years in Utica at the FX Matt Brewery, home to Saranac beer. The multi-day celebration had a festival vibe with multiple bands performing each day. New York’s biggest rock radio station, K-Rock, celebrated their 20th annual K-Rockathon with headliners Breaking Benjamin and Shinedown.
Best Show in the Capital District:Dead & Company at Times Union Center 2015 was a big year for the music of the Grateful Dead. The much anticipated Fare Thee Well shows in Santa Clara, California and Chicago celebrated the 50th anniversary of the originators of the jam scene. Following the shows, billed as the last shows the remaining four members would play together, Bob Weir, Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann announced they would go on tour as Dead & Company with John Mayer, Oteil Burbridge and Jeff Chimenti. They kicked off their fall tour at Albany’s Times Union Center.
Best Show in the North Country:The Waterhole’s final show with EMEFE The Waterhole, a mainstay in Saranac Lake, shut its doors after over 20 years of providing live music to the residents of the North Country. The venue will be missed by many. EMEFE played on the last night, dedicating the song “Good Future” to the Waterhole staff.
Best Show in the Mid-Hudson:Twiddle at the Rock n Roll Resort The Rock n Roll Resort festival is always a favorite. It takes the best parts of a music festival and brings them to a chic resort hotel. Rising stars from Vermont, Twiddle, took the resort by storm with their headlining set.
Twiddle – Rock N Roll Resort
Best Show in the Finger Lakes:Phish’s Magnaball A lot can be written about Phish’s 10th festival. A lot has already been written about it. Tens of thousands of Phish fans returned to Watkins Glen International, the fabled NASCAR track that was home to 1973’s Summer Jam. Not one fan that attended Magnaball had negative comments. That should say it all.
Best Show in the Southern Tier:Rob Zombie at the Floyd L. Maines Veterans Memorial Arena Rob Zombie brought in the Halloween season with his nightmarish heavy metal show. Fans arrived dressed in costume for the show that was opened by Zombie’s drummer, DJ Ginger Fish. Chris Besaw had the opportunity to sit down and speak with guitarist John 5 before the show about his inspiration and favorite horror films.
Best Show in New York City It’s difficult to pick just one or two shows in a city that has several amazing shows on a nightly basis. Here are some of what we thought were the best shows in New York City in 2015.
Best Show on Long Island: Biohazard, Sworn Enemy and Zire’s War at Revolution Music Hall In a night of hardcore music that rocked Revolution Music Hall, Biohazard and Sworn Enemy co-headlined what was practically a homecoming for them. Life of Agony’s guitarist Joey Zampella started a new band, Zire’s War, that kicked things off.
Sister songwriters Alison and Zoë have assembled a handful of heartfelt folk songs for their debut Ep Home Is… The five song collection released Aug. 19, exudes a nostalgic sentimentality fit to be wrapped in brown paper and tenderly tied together with twine. Their music is less about perfecting instrumentation or inventing a new sound, instead focusing on shaping a familiarity and sharing honest, human stories to connect with listeners. The album was recorded, mixed, & mastered by Jeremy Johnson at Subcat Studios. Ryan B. Curtis cultivated the design and layout of the album cover and CD art, using a photo provided by Elisha Stasko.
Alison and Zoë’s songs act as melodic vehicles, taking the listener on a journey of relatable experience. As is often the case with traditional folk music, various elemental strands are weaved into their lyrics, rooted in the sisters’ adventures or borrowed from other folk songs gathered during their travels through Ireland and Great Britain. The album is an audible patchwork quilt of memories.
“Following That Star” showcases Alison’s rich, sturdy voice with support from Zoë’s delicate harmonizations, accompanied by simple guitar picking. Alison sings: “Our father’s mother said one day she’d get discovered/ And you know they say she sang just like me/ But she crossed to the other side and so she passed it down the line/ Now generations live vicariously through me.” The song centers on the theme of following a star, where the star could be a metaphor for a life path or the intuition to help guide someone down a particular life path. This metaphor would ring true for Alison and Zoë, whose song writing has become an intimately important foothold grounding them to their own individual yet entwined life paths.
The title track “Home Is…” begins with a straightforward guitar rhythm before both sisters chime in. They harmonize about singing together on a train, adding a meta layer to a song seeking to interpret the concept of home. Their lyrics suggest home not as a structural entity, but rather a feeling that can manifest through engaging with others, even in faraway landscapes. “This Song I Wrote” offers the notion of music as a healing mechanism. Alison and Zoë sing in unison: “I saved my marriage with this song I wrote/ I plucked the words out of my chest and I said darlin’ that’s the best I can do for you/ Then we got drunk on honesty and we fell back towards each other/ Remembering all the ways we fell in love in the first place.” The tender lyrics dance through a spectrum of emotions, intimately touching on feelings of love and heartache so accessibly that any listener can identify in some way.
Key Tracks: Following That Star, Home Is…, This Song I Wrote
The past year has been a great year for music. In addition to the great albums released by New York artists, there have been some excellent albums released around the world. The NYS Music team picked their favorite albums of 2015. This is just a sampling of those albums.
Courtney Barnett released her critically acclaimed debut Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit back in March. The 27 year old Australian singer/songwriter has received nothing but praise. Will Hermes, reviewing it for NPR, says:
Barnett’s facility for wordplay and compressed narrative has more in common with great rappers than pop songwriters, and her debut is the best rock record I’ve heard this year. She’s a poet of panic attacks and short attention spans and the kind of heartbreak that always seems to be following right in your blind spot.
In his five-star review for The Guardian, Everett True writes “listening to most – if not all – of Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit is a richly rewarding experience, one that increases with each listen.” Rolling Stone’s Jon Dolan gave the album 4.5 stars and said “wherever Barnett ends up, we’re going to want to go with her.”
Holly Bowling has been getting the attention of Phish fans around the nation with her solo piano covers of their repertoire, the most well-know of which being the “Tahoe Tweezer.” The release of her crowd-funded album, Distillation of a Dream, was much anticipated. Bringing a fresh look at the music of Phish, it’s no wonder everyone who gave it a listen fell instantly in love. The first disc of the double album offers her interpretation of studio tracks, while the second disc covers live jams as performed by Phish. Bowling “does justice to the variety of songs she chose for the album.” Reviewing the album, I wrote:
Overall, Distillation of a Dream is a solid, creative tribute to Phish. The album reflects the difference between studio Phish as heard on disc one, and live Phish as heard on disc two. Bowling’s musicality, experience and talent are in full display on this album. The creativity and effort put into the re-creation of these Phish songs and jams make for a fun and interesting listen.
The NYS Music team has voted and these are what we chose as the best albums released in 2015 by New York artists. Turkuaz’s Digitonium, Lettuce’sCrush and Consider the Source’s World War Trio Parts II & III each received multiple votes from the staff.
Turkuaz’s Digitonium is “the future of retro pop funk.” Turkuaz has been quite busy lately, having recently completed an extensive fall tour that spanned the continental U.S. Featuring great tracks like “Nightswimming,” “Percy Thrills the Moon Dog” and “Doktor Jazz,” the album is “the ideal listen for any pre-party or when you are just ready to share in the groove.”
The 23 track album is a mature testament to the bands growing sound that continues to push the boundaries of funk with heavy ’80s influences. The album is full of instrumental segues of experimental melodies that set the stage for evolutionary funk tunes with classic, raw Turkuaz energy. Digitonium is built upon layers of exploratory themes, characters and repetitive lyrics that get the listener to pause, rewind and think outside the album.
The latest release from Lettuce, Crush, is the first album in three years from the seasoned funk band. Jeremiah Shea calls it their “most aggressive, ambitious, and funkiest album to date.” With highlights, such as “Phyllis,” “Trilogy” and “Pockets of Change,” this is a must-hear album.
If you’ve never had the opportunity to dive into some Lettuce head first, now might be a better time than ever. Crush is the convergence of road tested and polished material, musical exploration, deep pockets of groove, and a band that is simply on top of their game. With a discography full of hits, this album somehow stands above them all.
Sticking to the funk theme of the other albums is Consider the Source and their latest effort, World War Trio Parts II & III, the follow-up double album to last year’s World War Trio Part I. In reviewing the album, Shea says “If pop music is reading at an elementary level, World War Trio Part II + III, is at least a 400 level college course.” The Middle Eastern sci-fi psychedelic funk fusion trio has been quite active in recent years. This album was no small undertaking. Of its 20 tracks, “This Dubious Honor,” “Up to, But Not to Exceed… Whoa,” “I’ll fight for the Imp” and “You are Disappearing.”
Never before though has the band done it this masterfully and with such vision. This isn’t just food for thought, but a feast, with such lush sonic depth that can’t simply be explored in one pass. This is music that commands focus in a time when fans are more flippant than ever. You could say the band is fighting a natural progression, but I applaud the effort and what they force a willing listener to listen to. The continuity between songs is beautifully orchestrated and only possible with an overall delivery being kept in perspective from the onset.
The lights go dark, smoke rolls onto the stage, the crowd’s excitement builds as the intro cues up; then the band explodes onto the stage tearing right into “Unloaded” off of their newest album “Blind Until we Burn.” They didn’t waste any time before ripping into “Successful test” and their latest single “Put em’ up.” The band played a very powerful and supercharged set consisting of a mix of songs from their EP “Conjured” and newest release “Blind Until We Burn” including highlights “Tusk” and “Nilbog” to which they pay homage to one of the “best” worst movies of all time Claudio Fragasso’s Troll 2!
It is certain that with their mix of metal, hardcore and industrial and let’s not forget some very catchy heavy and hook – laden songs, Kissing Candice puts on one hell of a blood and gore soaked show!
The album’s second single, “Grinder,” prominently features screaming guitar solos wrought with a 
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