NYS Music 20​15

Blog

  • Hearing Aide: Space Carnival ‘Live at the Oneonta Theatre’

    Space Carnival, an Upstate band out of Oneonta has released Live at the Oneonta Theatre from a performance at the Oneonta Theatre in March 2015.  The first song is a weak start. But the second song, ‘Moon Boots’, is really groovy. The track starts out slow then the drums lay a techtonic foundation in which the keyboard and the guitar then take turns being the voice of the song.

    ‘Moon Boots’ has a little flavor similar to the song ‘Funkytown’ by Lipps Inc. It would have been a good idea to drive right into that song ‘Moon Boots’ from the get go. It seems that Space Carnival takes pride on creating an atmosphere that welcomes fun and dancing. They are successful in doing that. This live album is swirling with positive energy.

    space carnival live

    Like most good jam bands they stray away from the vocals in majority of the album; only occasionally throwing in a “Hey! Hey!” Each song is different from the next. The band plays around with a triage of styles. From spacey sounds with slow guitar, to fast, playful keyboard grooving and some Ryan Stasik style-esque bass playing. The song “Uh oh I Slipped my Disco” is huge for this set. It stands out because of the patience the band has. During this song the band slows things down to exploar and really takes some risk. It was their longest jam, totaling 16-minutes, and is entertaining the entire time. The song incorporates playful melodies, slowed down dub and one evil synthesizer.

    Key Tracks: Moon Boots, Uh Oh I Slipped my Disco, Filth

    Check out this live album and more of Space Carnival music on BandCamp.

  • 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.

  • And Your NYS Music March Madness Winner is……

    moe.! It was a close one, but moe. eeked out victory over Eastbound Jesus to take the 2015 NYS Music March Madness crown!

    moe march madnessHow they got there:

    moe., the #1 seed from the Jam/Funk/Reggae region started in the first round beating out #16 Thunderbody by a total of 111-50. From there, the second round saw moe. beat #9 Mister F 130-68, followed by besting #4 Giant Panda 583-378. Moving into the Round of 8, moe. met up with old friends Conehead Buddha, the #6 seed and beat them by a total of 463-345, their closest match yet.

    Moving into the Final Four, moe. met Rock/Metal division winner #10 Wild Adriatic and beat them handily 469-243. It was onto the finals where moe. met Eastbound Jesus, the winner of the Folk/Bluegrass/Americana/Country, who snuck out victory over Jimkata by a total of 391-321. The finals resulted in moe. beating Eastbound Jesus in a squeaker that came down to the last minutes: 659-631

    Congrats to moe. on their victory! This contest is meant to give exposure to all of New York’s excellent bands and venues. Thanks to all our readers and the participating bands for being good sports and having fun with our “madness”. Keep coming back to NYSMusic for coverage of all these great bands and venues – they are all winners to us.

  • UPDATED: Darien Lake Concert Series 2015

    As the weather begins to heat up, so does the line up at the upcoming 2015 Summer Concert Series at Darien Lake. With still more announcements to come, some of todays hottest rock, pop, and country bands will join legends as they make their way through Central New York. Stay tune as NYS Music brings to you the latest on announcements as they are made.

    All Darien shows include free parking. Concert goers can also opt for an upgraded ticket that includes all day admission to the amusement park.

    Concerts In-Park (Free with park admission)

    May 23 – Debby Ryan & The Never Ending
    June 13 – Jake Miller
    June 27 – Shawn Mendes

    Darien Lake Performing Arts Center 2015 concert series

    July 11 – Toby Keith
    July 12 – Def Leppard
    July 15 – Warped Tour
    July 21 – Kelly Clarkson
    July 29 – Slipknot
    July 30 – Tim McGraw
    Aug. 4 – Kid Rock
    Aug. 6 – Zac Brown Band
    Aug. 7 – Nickelback
    Aug. 8 – Florida Georgia Line
    Aug. 13 – Jason Aldean
    Aug. 21 – Darius Rucker
    Aug. 25 – Van Halen – Just Added
    Aug. 29 – Rascall Flatts
    Sep. 3-4 – Luke Bryan

  • Pigeons Playing Ping Pong at Brooklyn Bowl: The Birds Are April Fools

    “Thanks so much” was the only words the Pigeons Playing Ping Pong uttered as the took the stage at Brooklyn Bowl before turning back and walking off. The band is Greg Ormont (vocals, rhythm guitar), Jeremy Schon (guitar, vocals), Ben Carrey (bass, vocals), and Alex Petropulos (drums). Known for their funk sound, tight jams, and goofy on-stage antics, certainly had something up their sleeves for this April Fools Day show. They returned back on stage to open the set with what played out to be the encore, “G Chord Explosion” rocked right out of the gate and played through with the intensity any show closer should, finishing off with Petropulos pounding his drum kit and another “Thanks Boston” from Carrey before the band walked off stage one more time to resounding boos from the NYC crowd. After the gag was over PPPP returned to bring us the type of show you would expect given the bands rising popularity, the upbeat “Time To Ride” highlighted Ormont’s unique vocals before breaking into “Burning Up My Time>Tubthumping>Burning Up My Time” while the 1997 Chumbawamba cover incited equal parts dance moves and chuckles from the crowd, it was reminiscent of Tom Marshall on vocals when Phish covered the tune at the Hampton Coliseum 11/21/98, and to bring things full circle Schon was sporting his best 1998 Mike Gordon shaggy haircut.

    PPPP kept the upbeat jams going with “Live It Up” before being joined on stage by local 24-year-old amazing talent Kyla Moscovich (trumpet, PitchBlk Brass Band) for “Whoopie”, Moscovich laid down brassy solos intertwined with Ormont and Schon battling it out with guitar riffs. “Penguins>Funkijam>Upfunk” was punctuated by a lengthy drum solo by Petropulos, and for “Whirled” Matty Carl (sax, Schwizz) joined in on the fun. PPPP followed by playing “Walk Outside” sandwiched around Carl Douglas’s “Kung Fu Fighting”. The second set was brought to a close with “Julia” a break from the bands usual funky beats to provide more of a Calypso sound. For an encore PPPP returned back to their funk-jam roots for the show closing “Cliffs”. You can catch the Pigeons Playing Ping Pong for three nights at their own music festival, DomeFest, May 28-30 at Trip’s Farm in Terra Alta, WV. Tickets can be purchased here.

    4/01/2015 @ Brooklyn Bowl (Brooklyn, NY)

    Set 1: G chord explosion#, Time To Ride> Burning Up My Time>Tubthumping>Burning Up My Time, Live It Up, Whoopie^, Penguins>Funkijam>Upfunk%, Whirled*, Walk Outside>Kung Fu Fighting>Walk Outside, Julia

    Encore: Cliffs+

    Notes:

    # Chord explosion followed by a “Thank You” and ending hits, walked off stage as if end of the show

    ^ w/Kyla Moscovich on trumpet

    % w/drum solo

    * w/Matty Carl (ShwizZ) on sax

    + w/April Fools day lyrics

    [FinalTilesGallery id=’142′]

  • Sprocket at Fontana’s Bar: The NYC Jam Scene’s Best Kept Secret

    On a Saturday night in New York City your music choices seem to be endless. Do I go see Galactic at Best Buy? Budos Band at Brooklyn Bowl? Or do you go see Sprocket? One of NYC’s fasted rising jam bands, Sprocket is a classic four piece featuring Thomas Thompkins (guitar), Dan Haller (bass), Nate Rosler (drums), and Angelo Milliano (keyboards). Sprocket came out jamming on the melodic original tune “What You Heard,” before tearing into “Headway” off their 2014 debut album Tropical Bushwick. The title track off of their album “Tropical Bushwick” begins as a classically composed song before breaking out into funky upbeat jam.

    sprocketSprocket jumped into a full blown jam segueing from originals “Shroud > POW” before breaking out their first cover of the night Phish’s “Wombat” which lived in a space between a tease and a jam before completing the unfinished “Shroud.” Haller and Milliano took the lead on Bob Dylan’s “Don’t Think Twice It’s Alright” before Rosler drove the set to a close with “Womp” another Sprocket penned track. For an encore the band pulled one more selection off of Tropical Bushwick the hard rocking “Trucks” brought the night to a close and left the crowd wanting more. You can see Sprocket next at Brooklyn Bowl April 21 or in Chicago on July 4 at the Hard Rock.

    Tickets available for both shows, 4/21 Brooklyn Bowl here and for 7/4 Hard Rock Chicago here.

    Setlist:  What You Heard, Headway, Tropical Bushwick, Shroud > POW > Wombat >Shroud, Don’t Think Twice > Womp

    Encore: Trucks

  • FESTY NEWS: MAYFest to Debut in NY Memorial Day Weekend

    The organizers of the ever popular Catskill Chill festival and the folks at Skybaby Yoga & Pilates have announced a brand new festival to take place May 22-24 at Surprise Lake Camp in Cold Spring NY. MAYfest – whose acronym refers to Music Arts and Yoga – will be family friendly and offer a variety of choices among the three themes.  The days of the fest will be focused on art and yoga workshops with much of the music happening in the afternoon well into the late night. Kids will have a ton of fun options including arts, crafts, a basketball court, board games and a chaperoned late night movie slumber party – allowing parents to have some alone time grooving to the tunes.

    Consider The Source 4

    Full weekend early bird passes are available now for $175 and include free camping and parking. Meal plans and on-site cabin rentals are also available for an additional cost. If you’re not the camping sort – single day passes are also for sale.

    Check the full eclectic and outstanding lineup below.

    MUSICAL PERFORMANCES BY:

    MC YOGI
    Nahko & Medicine for the People
    DJ Drez and Marti Nikko
    DJ Hyfi
    Red Baraat
    Sister Sparrow & the Dirty Birds
    Ryan Montbleau
    Consider the Source
    The Primate Fiasco
    Natalie Cressman
    The Funky Dawgz Brass Band
    The Brummy Brothers
    The Breakneck Boys
    Tall County
    Natalie Forteza

    CLASSES BY:

    Amanda Giacomini
    Ashika Gogna
    Bettina Utz
    Dani Locastro
    DJ Drez
    John Smrtic
    Julian Paik
    Justin Wolfer
    Kate Perna
    Kelly Kamm
    Linda Winnick
    Marti Nikko
    Martina Enschede
    Mary Mashburn
    Melia Marzollo
    MC YOGI
    Nadiya Nottingham
    Olgu Merandy
    Sadie Nardini
    Sondra Loring
    Vanessa Alfano

    ART WORKSHOPS BY:

    Robert Sturman – The Garrison Art Center

    ALSO FEATURING:

    Adrienne Goss
    Bradford Teasdale
    Jesse Merandy
    Jonathan Kruk
    Kelley Amadei of Sparkshift
    Maeve Eng-Wong
    SkyBaby Restorative Rhythms Ensemble
    Suzi Tortora

  • This Is Hardcore Festival Lineup Officially Announced

    This week the official lineup for This Is Hardcore Festival in Philadelphia, PA was announced.  Once again it will be held at the Union Transfer on July 23 and at the Electric Factory on July 24-26.

    Tickets go on sale Friday April 3 at 12PM EST and can be purchased here.

    tihc2015_lineup1

    This Lineup in alphabetical order is as follows:

    Absolute Suffering, All Out War, American Nightmare, Bane (last TIHC appearance), Biohazard, Blistered, BreakAway, Chokehold (Reunion), Code Orange, CroMags, Cruel Hand, Defeater, Disengage, Eternal Sleep, The Exploited, Foreseen (Finland), Foundation, Fuck You Pay Me, The Geeks (Korea), H2O (20th Anniversary show), Homewrecker, Killing Time, Lifeless, Malice At the Palace, Mindset, the Misfits (playing Earth AD in its entirety), Morning Again, Nails, Negative Approach, Power Trip, Reach the Sky, Rival Mob, Sand (Japan), Slapshot, Snapcase, Suburban Scum, The Suicide File, Time Bomb, True Love, Turnstile, Twitching Tongues, Wisdom In Chains, and Xibalba

    This should be a VERY exciting and dangerous show.  Again if you are coming from anywhere in New York, do not wear any New York sports gear. You’ve been warned. But have fun and be careful!

    What do you think of this years lineup?  Sound off in the comment section below.

  • Meet Your NYS Music Staff Writer: Kim Neaton

    Kim Neaton has been lucky enough to find a career in the music world, where her obsession and over analyzing of it has a purpose, instead of just making her friends and family wish she’d just shut up about it once in awhile. Born and raised in Cohoes, NY, about ten miles north of Albany, being the only child in the house led to a lot of time being alone with music. Between sitting in front of a radio and scanning through stations and genres, and obsessively watching ‘Behind The Music’ type programs on VH1, she not only gained an interest in the music itself, but also the industry behind it.

    kim neatonThe pressure to go into a more “normal” field lead her to attending SUNY Albany where she received a BA in psychology and sociology. However, while working in group homes for at-risk youth for several years, and spending the majority of her paychecks on concerts and festivals she thought “There’s people out there that make a living being involved with concerts and festivals, why not me?” After a couple years of internships, and part time work at several small local festivals and radio stations she is now Music Director and midday host at WEQX 102.7fm based in Manchester, VT. When she’s not at the station or attending shows throughout NY’s capital region, she’s likely sitting on the couch at home in the hills of Valley Falls, NY listening to records with her cat and boyfriend Chris, who also, thankfully, can’t shut up about music. Whether it’s good music, terrible music or bizarre music, the research, debate and conversation is never-ending.

    While radio is one way to share music with people, Kim wanted to branch out in new ways that may allow her to help others discover and fall in love with new music, this is what led her to becoming involved as a contributing writer with NYS Music. She is very supportive of Albany’s local music scene and appreciates the community aspect it has along with the wide range of genres and truly amazing talent. You’ll find her at shows ranging from metal to jam and from punk to bluegrass, and she feels fortunate that Albany is home to excellent examples of each.

    Her longtime addiction of seeing live music has led her to being able to cross off many acts from her live music bucketlist, including: Beck, Beastie Boys, and Rage Against the Machine. Bands she wishes she could see if time travel were an option: The Band, R.E.M, and Talking Heads.

  • Seplophile: Breathing New Life Into Death Metal

    At some point over the last few decades, the foundation of death metal began to crack, and through these cracks came a flood of sub-genres, such as, ‘deathcore‘, ‘melodic death’, ‘progressive/tech death’, etc. This made a lot of traditional death metal fans feel as though their beloved genre was turning into a faraway thing. With a slew of  bands manifesting themselves under these new and now prevalent classifications, it’s no wonder that a solid band of talented guys, dedicated to going back to death metal’s roots would gain some serious attention. The band is called Seplophile and they’ve spent the last few years making waves in the name of death metal.

    Their debut album Mesonoxian is a true testament to what the band stands for and any death metal veteran would have to agree. It was released in February of 2013 on Butchered Records and is still regarded by most scene supporters as one of the best heavy metal albums to come from a Buffalo local in years. The band is comprised of Shawn Gomez (From This Day) on bass, Matt Backlas on guitar, Greg DiPasquale (Sons of Azrael, Herod) on guitar, Allen Malkiewicz (From This Day) on drums, and Colin Winkelman on vocals.

    SEP1

    While still playing the occasional show, they are currently in the process of writing their greatly anticipated second album. They’ll also be playing with New York death metal legends Incantation at Broadway Joe’s on Sunday, April 26. Also gracing the stage that night will be Rochester’s Order of the Dead and Buffalo thrash legends Hellcannon.

    So, if you haven’t checked out Seplophile yet, and you’ve been yearning for a heavy dose of death, the likes of which would appease Chuck Schuldiner (Death, Control Denied), take a listen to the track below and watch them perform with Incantation in just a few weeks!