Tag: moe.

New Year’s Eve Across New York State

Don’t have plans yet for New Year’s Eve? Music fans across New York State have got plenty of choices this Thursday. NYS Music helps you get there with the short list of NYE activities.

Albany

Moe. at the Palace Theatre. Tickets start at $42 in advance/$50 day of show

Rustic Overtones at the Hollow with Special Guests Mirk. $10.27 in advance/$15 at the door

Buffalo

Funktional Flow at Buffalo Iron Works with special guests Adam Bronstein’s Freehand Band. Tickets are $10 in advance/$15 day of show.

Lazlo Hollyfeld, Rhubarb, Intrepid Travelers, and Folkfaces at Nietzsche’s. $5 at the door only.

Ithaca

Big Mean Sound Machine and Grey Gary at Upstairs at Lot 10, DJ ha-MEEN and Weazildust Downstairs at Lot 10. $20 in advance

New York City

DIIV at the Bowery Ballroom with special guest Tamaryn. $40

Macy Gray at the Iridium Jazz Club. Tiered pricing tickets are currently available.

Snarky Puppy at the Irving Plaza with special guests Breastfist. Tickets start at $50

The Disco Biscuits and Consider the Source at the Playstation Theatre. Tickets starting at $69.50

Port Chester

Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue at the Capitol Theatre with Soulive. Tickets range between $59.50 to $160

Rochester

Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad at the Historic German House with special guests Danielle Ponder & Tomorrow People and Funknut. Three Heads Brewing Tasting Party start at 7pm with an acoustic jam featuring members of GPGDS and Extended Family. Late night the party continues with Subsoil and Level 7 Hip Hop DJ Set. $20 in advance/$30 day of show.

Mikaela Davis at the Bug Jar with Harmonica Lewinski and The Temptators. $10 in advance/$12 day of show

Saratoga Springs

Eastbound Jesus and Lucid at the Putnam Den. $15 in advance/$20 day of show.

Turning Stone Casino in Verona

Showtime, Gridley Paige, and Last Left at The Gig

Ryan Brooks Kelly, The Beadle Brothers, and DVDJ Biggie at the Tin Rooster

DJ Dread, Caroline D’Amore, and Joe Maz at Lava

Isreal Hagan and Stroke and The Swooners at the Turquoise Tiger

Syracuse

Sophistafunk & Root Shock at Funk ‘n Waffles – Downtown. $20 in advance/$25 day of show.

Erie

Aqueous at the Kings Rook Club. Two sets. $10 at the door only.

Burlington

Gang of Thieves at Nectar’s with The Tenderbellies. Gang of Thieves will be performing Are You Experienced by the Jimi Hendrix Experience in its entirety. $10 in advance/day of show

December 30, 2015
Best of NYS Music 2015: Staff Picks for Out-of-State Festivals

While most might dream of tropical getaways when it comes to vacation time, music fans accrue their days to travel across the country—or world—for weekends jam-packed with live performances, indulgent food and experimental fun. From the east to the west coasts to the Midwest, NYSMusic staffers traveled near and far throughout the year to see their favorite groups in action. Here we give you our top picks for out-of-state festivals of 2015.

Best Small Festival: Arise Music Festival, East Coast Tsunami Festival, Grand Point North Festival and The Werk Out Music and Arts Festival

With the growing number of small-scale festivals that seem to pop up each year, it’s no wonder that our team could not pick just one or two as their favorite—so we decided to include the ones we felt deserved an honorable mention. First up is Arise Music Festival, an event in Loveland, CO, that according to Andrew Wyatt “offers a spicy jambalaya of multi-cultural live music, electronic performances, art presentations, along with numerous workshops centered around eco-activism, social justice, and spirituality practice.” With nearly 100 musical acts, the three-day festival now in its third year featured the likes of the Polish Ambassador, Rising Appalachia, Sister Sparrow and the Dirty Birds, Lukas Nelson, Turkuaz, Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad, Trevor Hall, Emancipator Ensemble, Ozomatli and Joe Russo’s Almost Dead, among others.

Headlined by Wu-Tang Clan and Life Of Agony, the East Coast Tsunami Festival held in Reading, PA, treated hip hop, hardcore and metal fans to two full days of shows, including favorited groups Body Count, Mobb Deep, Murphy’s Law, Madball and more. And despite sound issues during day one, Jay Saint G. still dubbed the festival as “a wave of brutality that every music lover should experience.”

Up next is the Grand Point North Festival held in Burlington’s Waterfront Park with views of Lake Champlain and the Adirondacks. Headlined by Vermont’s sweetheart Grace Potter, the fifth annual installment boasted two nights of music featuring Phish’s Mike Gordon, the Flaming Lips, Shakey Graves, Greensky Bluegrass, Amy Helm and the Handsome Strangers, among others, and special guests like Kenny Chesney who joined Potter to perform their single, “Wild Child.” Alexandra Provost and Laura Carbone noted that “as Potter walked onto the stage, her skin glistening from raindrops, the audience went wild” and that she “put on an astounding performance, showing off her piano, guitar and bluesy vocal skills.”

And finally the Werk Out Music and Arts Festival at Legend Valley, a venue favorited by the Grateful Dead in the ’80s. With a stacked lineup featuring the Werks, Papadosio, Dopapod, Lettuce, Umphrey’s McGee, the Floozies, Consider The Source, Break Science and Tauk, the sixth year for the Thornville, OH, festival “was as always a ridiculously good time for all who made the journey,” according to Ben Landsman. With three stages, a silent disco and one fan wedding,Landsman noted that “between the beauty of Legend Valley, the bright spirit of the fans, the innovative music, this festival is one of the treasures of the Midwest.”

Best Midsize Festival: Green River Festival
Honorable Mention: Aura Music and Arts Festival, Boston Calling, Camp Bisco, DelFest, McDowell Mountain Music Festival

Held at Greenfield Community College in Greenfield, MA, the sold-out 29th annual Green River Festival was “fresh, exciting and invigorating,” according to Eli Stein. Featuring four hot air balloon launches, the family-friendly July event pulled out all the stops with a craft tent, Frisbee dog show, acrobats, karate demonstrations, swimming, a Mardi Gras-style parade and exotic local fare like elk, boar and venison burgers, a Korean food truck and kabob vendors. Throughout the three-day weekend, more than 40 performers ranging from Americana to dance, blues and jam graced the event’s three stages nestled in the foothills of the Berkshires, including Eilen Jewell, the Wood Brothers, Rubblebucket, Marco Benevento, MAKU Sound System, Langhorne Slim and the Law, the Punch Brothers and tUnE-yArDs, which Stein noted was the perfect mixture:

Musically, the festival served up a heaping slab of New England comfort food. The rest aforementioned activity, as they say, was just the gravy. Not only were the band selections great, they were clearly hand-picked and not just pulled off the nearest passing festival train. The music flowed wonderfully from set to set, and built to a nice peak at the perfect times. There was an evenness to the passion and approach of the musicians that made for a smooth transition no matter where you went.”

Best Large Festival: Gathering of the Vibes and Summer Camp
Honorable Mention: Austin City Limits, Bonnaroo, Hangout Music Fest, Lockn’ Music Festival, Peach Festival, Rock Allegiance, Rock On the Range

Celebrating its 20th year, Gathering of the Vibes offered up an impressive lineup with headliners Wilco, Weezer, Tedeschi/Trucks Band, Dark Star Orchestra, Ben Harper, Greg Allman and the String Cheese Incident. The late summer festival returned to Seaside Park in Bridgeport, CT, and treated fans to a super jam called Vibes 20th Anniversary Spectacular featuring Gov’t Mule guitarist Warren Haynes, saxophonist Branford Marsalis, Meters founding bassist George Porter Jr., Marco Benevento on keys and Joe Russo behind the drum kit, plus Jackie Greene on guitar. Although the four-day festival will take a break in 2016, VibeTribers Julia Wolfe and Steve Olker recounted the last day of the 2015 event and dubbed this run as one that would set the pace going forward:

As the sun set over Vibes for the last time, [Ben] Harper closed out with his song “Better Way,” and it was finally time to head home. Seeing so many bands perform was both enticing and overwhelming at the same time, making leaving Vibes even more bittersweet. The range of genre, popularity, age and background is what makes Gathering of the Vibes separate from other festivals. After 20 years, Gathering of the Vibes has remained one of Connecticut’s most well-known festivals, and it’s attention to bringing about change while discovering your own inner peace is what will bring success for future gatherings to come. Until next time, thank you vibes for a real good time.”

With more than 100 bands over four days on seven stages, this year’s installment of Summer Camp Music Festival in Chillicothe, IL, saw a stacked lineup of bands like moe., Umphrey’s McGee, Steve Miller Band, Widespread Panic, STS9, Big Gigantic, John Butler Trio, Krewella, Trampled by Turtles, Keller Williams and Grateful Grass, Yonder Mountain String Band, Violent Femmes and many, many more. Festivalgoers also had access to on-site camping, the infamous late night Red Barn Shows, musician workshops, a nonprofit village, arts and crafts and unique food vendors, plus some impressive improvements. In Pete Mason’s review of the festival’s final day, he detailed what made the perfect ending to the much celebrated event:

The final set of the night to check out was North American Scum, an LCD Soundsystem cover band who might be the best band to close out Summer Camp. Members of the group are formerly of This Must be the Band, a Talking Heads band from Chicago, who have traditionally played one of the final sets at Summer Camp. This incredible two hour set featured the entire Sound of Silver album and, because everyone else was playing Grateful Dead songs, a spirited version of “Scarlet Begonias” to cap the night.”

Read more from Summer Camp Day 1, Day 2, Day 3 and Day 4.

December 28, 2015
Best of NYS Music 2015: Staff Picks for New York State Festivals

Nothing compares to experiencing live music. But when it comes to packing up and leaving the world behind to immerse in a weekend of musical debauchery with a community of like-minded souls, well, that’s the stuff that dreams are made of for music festival fans.

From one-band to multi-artist events and crowd sizes from 2,000 to 50,000, New York State hosts a bevy of festivals annually in some of the most beautiful settings imaginable, and let’s face it, our state knows how to throw a proper fest, as it is ingrained in New York’s rich musical history having put on one of the biggest rock festivals of all time, Woodstock. Here we’ve rounded up our favorites from NYS Music 2015, so sit back, relax and relive some of the festival magic that happened throughout the Empire State this year, because we all know what it’s like to experience those post-fest blues.

Best Small Festival: Buffalove and Disc Jam

The third installment of Buffalove Music Festival saw a venue change from Cole Farm, Panama, NY, to North Fork Music Park, Warsaw, NY, with the new location offering four stages, a private beach, disc golf and wooded-area camping, and a record attendance that doubled previous years. With an impressive lineup including Kung Fu, Pink Talking Fish, Funktional Flow, Particle, Formula 5, Mister F, Space Junk, Dopapod, Aqueous and Aquapod, the three-day June 2015 festival created to celebrate Western New York’s emerging music scene was one for the books, according to Jen Foster and Thomas Sgroi:

Buffalove came through. Co-founder of Buffalive Productions and Founder of Buffalove Cody Conway clearly had one goal in mind: keep the energy as high as possible. Every single band had heads turning and jaws on the ground. There was never a lull, never a band that just played to fill space. Every minute was dance-worthy. If you missed out this year, we can highly recommend you don’t make that mistake next year. Without any problems or unruly attendees, this festival made its mark at North Fork Music Park in Warsaw, NY. The amount of talent coming out of Upstate New York is only paving the road for more incredible shows. Buffalove, you certainly were lovely.”

Another summer fest that saw a venue change was the fifth annual Disc Jam Music Festival, which moved from Massachusetts to New York State—and promoters recently announced that the event will return to Gardner’s Farm in Stephentown for its sixth year in June. Throughout four days of music, camping, disc golf and Flow Tribe, festivalgoers experienced live performances from more than 50 acts, including Lettuce, Electron, Dopapod, Aqueous, Brightside, Kung Fu, Consider the Source, Cabinet, Soule Monde, Roots of Creation, Formula 5, The Hornitz, Soul Rebel Project, Broccoli Samurai, Krewe de Groove and Relative Souls. According to Dave DeCrescente, the festival’s last day culminated with a “healthy dose of guest sit-ins” with jamband Twiddle, noting that:

One of the highlights of the set was the massive guest sit in with DJ Honeycomb, James Woods, and Joe Davis from Formula 5, Scott Hannay of Mister F and Todd Stoops for the ultimate mega jam on “Apples.” The Disc Jam Flow Tribe was out in full force with fire spinners and hooping entertainers that were almost as mesmerizing as the music. The weekend ended just as it started, with mind blowing music and a close knit community who continue to make the Disc Jam Festival special. Tony Scavone and crew did a suburb job of organizing the 5th annual Disc Jam with a new location but still the same friendly, loving festival experience that keeps fans coming back each year.”

Best Mid-Size Festival: Catskill Chill

While Catskill Chill is speculated to make a move to Lake George in 2016, the festival’s last waltz at bucolic Camp Minglewood in Hancock, NY, this September was a success, selling 5,000 tickets, according to Chill promoter Dave Marzollo. Headlined by moe. who kicked off their fall tour at the festival and including other bands like Lotus, Zappa Plays Zappa, Lettuce, Twiddle, Turkuaz, Dopakuaz plays Studio 54 and The Motet, the sixth annual installment of Catskill Chill featured on-site cabin rentals, daily yoga, live art, a farmer’s market, craft and food vendors, a communal bonfire nightly and an open mic. The three-day event was packed with guest sit-ins and collaborations like Dopapod and Turkuaz joining forces to play as Dopakuaz, which Chill organizer Josh Cohen noted is the type of community mindset that sets this festival apart from others its size or larger by creating an environment where rising bands can experiment and grow in a unique setting:

Point is that when comparing us to larger festivals, we’re at this cool stage attendance-wise where in many band’s cases we have the best ‘music’ out there in our prime slots. I love tons of bands who’ve been around since the ’90s or earlier but there’s nothing like seeing musicians in their youthful stages, when creativity is just exploding and you can feel it dripping off the stage as opposed to later-in-their career bands who are playing mostly songs they first wrote and fell in love with decades earlier.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4R6Uk03HW9k&feature=youtu.be

Best Large Festival: Magnaball

It’s no surprise that Magnaball takes the cake for this category. During late August more than 30,000 phans invaded Watkins Glen International race track for Phish Festival 10. And while the three-day event took place at the site of their 2011 Superball IX festival, this time around the setup featured many upgrades, including local and regional food vendors, the five-course restaurant Festival Ate, MagnaWater Program, speciality Phish-themed cocktails and coveted craft beer from Lawson’s Finest Liquids and Hill Farmstead. (And let’s not forget to mention the interactive Glurt Institute, Drive-In movie theater, JEMP Record Store and cornhole tournament.) The Vermont quartet majorly delivered throughout the weekend’s eight sets busting out rare tunes like “Mock Song” and jamming out typical breather ballads such as “Prince Caspian” to uncharted territory, but perhaps one of the highlights was the Saturday festival tradition of performing a late-night set, which according to Pete Mason raised expectations for future secret sets:

Magnaball’s foray into the history of Phish’s special festival sets was the Drive-In Jam and it raised the bar while putting forth a performance on par with the ‘Storage Jam,’ if not exceeded this established upper echelon of improvisation. On a 183-foot movie screen, a wide array of visual treats combined with a progressively growing ambient jam that eclipsed the Lemonwheel by a longshot and morphed into a full on jam for 50 minutes. The Drive-In Set raised the bar for surprise performances and gave fans a treat after the music on the main stage ended an hour prior.”

December 23, 2015
Best of NYS Music 2015: Staff Picks for Best Shows by Region

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.

Ghost at Terminal 5
L7 at The Warsaw
Faith No More at Webster Hall
Vulfpeck at Brooklyn Bowl
Soulive’s Bowlive VI (and more here and here and here and here and here)

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.

December 21, 2015
10 Amazing Star Wars Music Memories

As Star Wars: The Force Awakens hits theaters this weekend, NYS Music wanted to take a look back at how the epic space opera has found its way into music. Here’s a look at some of the most famous, talked about, and overlooked moments where our favorite musicians have found a way to use the Force.

moe. Wars – 10/31/2015 – Philadelphia, Pa

moe. fans are still talking about Halloween. The band went all out for the festivities dressed in head-to-toe costumes of their Star War personas. But they went above and beyond for the event, not only playing music from the films, but changing existing moe. songs to lyrics inspired by them as well.

Jedi Trey – 6/9/12 -Portsmouth, Virginia

While many Phish fans will argue that Trey Anastasio is a musical Jedi of epic proportions , Jedi Trey proves it – light saber and all – in this “Maze” clip from 2012.

Zappa Plays Zappa – Star Wars Theme

Zappa Plays Zappa is known for playing all manner of covers, but every once in a while, they like to open with the Star Wars theme. Fans at the 2015 Catskill Chill were pumped when they kicked their set off in a similar fashion to this video from Amsterdam this past October.

Weird Al

We’d simply be remiss if we didn’t mention the king of pop parody. Weird Al is a huge Star Wars fans. The films have inspired numerous tunes including “The Saga Begins,” “Yoda,” and “I Think I’m a Clone Now.” This past July at the Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, Weird Al closed out his show with a Star Wars encore that would have even made Darth Vader dance.

Primate Fiasco – Star Wars Mash-Up

Pop-up street band Primate Fiasco likes to surprise fans at festivals with impromptu sets. Their dixieland style of music not only infuses DJ-style house music with folk roots, but also the best in pop culture references. At the 2011 Gathering of the Vibes, the band posted up outside the ferris wheel and created a memorable mash-up of Star Wars favorites.

Bill Murray – “Nick the Lounge Singer”

Saturday Night Live has a history of showcasing some of the best in music and pop culture. The show also has a long history of great musical comedy. This audio clip from 1978 captures the Bill Murray as “Nick the Lounge Singer” paying tribute to the Star Wars phenomenon.

Twiddle – Star Wars Theme/Endor Set

At the 2014 Frendly Gathering, Twiddle perched themselves atop tree stands some 15 feet in the air in a set that has since been coined the Endor Set due to it resemblances to the planet Endor’s high-hut housing. The set closed out the festival and included a switch in mid set from Dopopod. Twiddle is notorious for sneaking in a Star Wars theme from time to time as well. They even dressed as Star Wars characters for their 2014 Halloween show. Here’s a look at the boys with a Star Wars homage mid “Tiberius” in November 2014 at the Met in Rhode Island.

Moosebutter – “John Williams is the Man”

Moosebutter is an award-winning comedy a cappella group that hit internet superstar status when their tribute to the Star Wars theme composer John Williams went viral. The video even spawned several video knocks offs, but nobody does it quite like Moosebutter.

Otaku Gang – Life After Death Star (Notorious B.I.G/John Williams Remixes)

The Notorious B.I.G’s Life After Death is deemed by many to be one of the greatest rap albums of all times. Enter Star Wars fan and rapper Richie Branson. He teamed up with producer Solar Slim and the duo (dubbed Otaku Gang) recently released this epic mash-up of Biggie’s raps crossbred with John Williams Star Wars: A New Hope movie score. You can check out the whole album on SoundCloud.

Meco – Star Wars and Other Galactic Funk

Back in 1977, American record producer and musician Meco released a Star Wars-inspired disco record. The space disco version of the Star Wars theme and the album were both certified platinum in the U.S. and included a No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100.

December 17, 2015
Utica Music and Arts Festival 2015 – A Destination Fest

The Utica Music and Arts Festival has quickly become a must-do summer ending activity in Central New York. The 8th Annual version of UMAF, was held at various venues throughout Utica the weekend of September 11-13. The biggest problem involved with attending this festival is being able to fit in all the great music available throughout the weekend.

Going in without a plan is probably the best way to attack this weekend. Doing it this way, one can experience such pleasant surprises as the young brother and sister combo of Jocelyn and Chris Arndt, who played a Saturday mid-afternoon set at Nail Creek Pub, in the process winning over those in attendance.

Jocelyn Arndt

Joceyln is slight in stature, yet huge in vocal talent. She has a soulful, bluesy voice backed up with power; think Bonnie Raitt channeled through Grace Potter with a visit from PJ Harvey. Jocelyn’s animated vocal delivery commands attention. Her brother Chris, who is also her co-writer, delivers a solid and crisp sounding blues-rock style guitar that is the perfect accompaniment to Jocelyn’s voice.

The band’s tour itinerary is scant during the school year, as both are students at Harvard, but they will be hitting stages across New York in the coming weeks. Check here for dates.

Spending the weekend bouncing between Lukin’s and Nail Creek Pub seemed to be what many people were doing but to do so is to miss out on many of the other acts. Tiny’s hosted several jazz influenced bands, including Notified and the Carmen Caramanica Jazz Trio, while D.A. Bentley’s entertained the EDM crowd with sets from DJ D.A., Vongel and Phungeye among others. Harlee’s Pub & Grille was geared towards the metal. Local favorites Nineball and Street Rock Mafia provided Friday crowds with high energy entertainment at Harlee’s. Nineball is also festival producer, Joe Sweet’s main project.

Lukin’s hosted Conehead Buddha on Friday night. The Albany-area band has been on the jamband circuit for twenty years and showed no signs of wear this weekend. While the band has taken a hiatus here or there within that time, on this night it provided a sharp mix of reggae, ska and jam that has endeared Conehead Buddha to the northeast scene all these years. Also saxophonist Shannon Lynch provided much of the theatrics throughout the set, anchoring the big horn sound Conehead Buddha is known for.

Conehead Buddha

Female artists took ownership of this year’s Utica Music and Arts Festival. In addition to Lynch and Arndt’s performances; on Saturday, the festival faithful were treated to the eclectic mix of jangle pop of Sirsy. Lead singer and stand-up drummer, Melanie Khramer and her partner, guitarist Rich Libutti, had the Nail Creek crowd, the biggest one of the weekend to this point, dancing and singing along. Khramer has the uncanny ability to engage the crowd with humor and powerful vocals with lyrics that may take you to a darker place. The fact that the music is typically so upbeat and Khramer so quick-witted with her banter, may disguise some of the darkness in the lyrics but it also gives the listener pause. Krahmer’s Ella-like voice and stage presence added a terrific touch to the band’s final song of the night, a cover of Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs.”

Melanie Khramer of SIRSY belting it out.

Sirsy will be in Utica again on Dec. 8, performing an all-ages show at The Tramontane (known familiarly as The Tram). The show begins at 8:00 p.m. and will be a celebration of the band’s new EP to be released the week prior.

Exploding onto the Nail Creek stage after Sirsy’s set was Brooklyn’s Shinobi Ninja. With an elaborate and energetic stage show led by lead singer, Baby G, clad in an Iron Maiden t-shirt. It was clear from the start that this wouldn’t be your typical rock show. The band’s uniqueness has been described as being “like the Beastie Boys, Slayer and Lauryn Hill all mixed together.” After witnessing the band’s performance, that is an appropriate description. The following video gives a good impression of a Shinobi Ninja experience. Mix in some metal, reggae, rap, a little punk and a whole lot of jumping and you get this.

The uninitiated looked on in puzzling disbelief once the Ninjas took the stage, however in the short time they performed for the UMAF crowd, most of the leery were won over. The true venue to witness Shinobi Ninja is a live one. If this band doesn’t make some noise on the national scene in short order it will be a surprise.

UMAF faves Hank and Cupcakes followed Shinobi Ninja to a welcoming reception. Also based in Brooklyn, this duo is all about the performance. The husband and wife duo originally began performing together while serving in the Israeli Army at the age of 19. Colorfully dressed and highly animated, lead singer Sagit “Cupcakes” Shir isn’t afraid to get into the face of the audience while performing. In addition to pulling off vocal duties, Shir also drums and plays piano while bassist Ariel “Hank” Scherbacovsky keeps the beat and uses samples while safely tucked away stage right.

Hank and Cupcakes deliver a performance that begs to be seen and the elbow to elbow crowd in front of the Nail Creek’s outdoor staage proved that on a rainy Saturday night in Utica.

Hank and Cupcakes rockin’ the Nail Creek

The other Saturday night headliners performed nearly simultaneously up the street at Lukin’s. Floodwood, a bluegrass based band comprised of moe. bandmates Al Schnier and Vinnie Amico, as well as Jason Barady, Nick Piccininni and Zachary Fleitz, put together a two set show that, unbeknownst to all in attendance, would turn out to be one of the band’s final performances with this lineup. Schnier and Fleitz announced their departure from Floodwood in a release just a few weeks ago.

Floodwood

The band packed the house at Lukin’s, playing right up to the 2:00 a.m. hour, performing Floodwood originals mixed with some moe. covers, Dead covers and other bluegrass. A Floodwood show is always a good time. Varick Street Legend, Rainbow Young even made an appearance opening the set with a rousing version of the “Star Spangled Banner” that included maximum audience participation. Rainbow’s presence was seen at Lukin’s throughout the weekend, cementing the festival as a true Utica tradition.

Rainbow Young, Varick Street Legend, performing the National Anthem prior to Floodwood’s set.

If you’re in a music glut and looking for something new to listen to, the Utica Music and Arts Festival is the perfect venue to get you out of that funk. Festival organizer Joe Sweet and his booking crew go out of their way to include a huge variety of music to the festival each year. The 2015 edition was no different. And at a cost of $10 for a weekend bracelet, the music lover in you simply cannot go wrong attending this destination festival.

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November 4, 2015
Floodwood Announces Lineup Change

Floodwood has announced via Facebook that Al Schnier and Zachary Fleitz have left the band.

Floodwood, commonly known as a bluegrass side project for New York’s jam champions moe., will carry on without Schnier, with fellow moe.ron Vinnie Amico remaining in the band. They are currently seeking new members.

While not an audition (or is it?), Floodwood also announced they would be performing a Dec. 5 Holiday concert at the Kirkland Arts Center in Clinton NY with special guest bassist Tony Markellis (Trey Anastasio Band). Ticketing information has yet to be released.

Check out the full announcement below:

Hi Folks,

We know things have been quiet for the last couple of months and there some big changes we want to share with you…

Due to shifts in various life circumstances, both Al and Zach have made the decision to move on from Floodwood. This is a huge change and we will certainly miss their presence on and off stage. Our hope is that occasionally when they have time that one or both of them will be able to make appearances with us.

That said, Vin, Jay and Nick have decided to carry on Floodwood in some fashion or another. You may be wondering what the new band will look like, who will be involved, what it will sound like, etc….. So do we. We have started the process/brainstorming but it may take a little time. What we do know is that we absolutely love to play, love to have fun and of course we love the interaction with our amazing fans. In the upcoming months, we will be making decisions about who we want to be in the band. We are going to be trying some different combinations of musicians/friends until we get that “fit” we are looking for. We hope that you all will come see some of these shows as we try out different things… Please get involved! Let us know what you think about what you hear; we want your input!

To get it all going, we are going to start with a holiday concert at the Kirkland Arts Center in Clinton, NY. We’re excited to have special guest, Tony Markellis from Trey Anastasio Band on bass! Show is December 5, more details to follow!

Thank you all for your incredible support of the band for these past 5 yrs. We’ve had so many great times with you all and look forward to many, many more.

Thanks!
Vin, Jay & Nick

October 21, 2015
A Farewell to Summer and Minglewood

As another remarkable summer festival season draws to a close, the 2015 edition of Catskill Chill also marked the end of another magical era. Dubbed “A Farewell to Minglewood,” festival organizers announced the sixth annual Chill would be the last one at its present and only location to date. Camp Minglewood, an incredibly remote and scenic summer camp in Hancock, NY, has been the festival’s home since inception, but perhaps due to a seemingly yearly growth in popularity the festival announced it will seek new quarters next year. This gave everyone in attendance, collectively known as the “Chillfam” one last time to make memories and enjoy a fantastic lineup of music in a truly special place.

With a steady stream of people still filing in on Friday afternoon securing camp sites and cabin spots, a full three days of music began on the festival’s various stages. Things got funky right away as Funky Dawgz and Natalie Cressman each had their brass powered bands open up action at Club Chill. Definitely more clubhouse than night club, the Club Chill stage is a unique one featuring wooden stadium style seating with multiple levels that were also partially enclosed. Although it was located uphill from the main stage, it featured some of the finest acts of the weekend including a thoroughly enjoyable set from Buffalo’s own Aqueous early Friday evening.

The Nth Power, an emerging funk, jazz and soul hybrid act initiated action over on the main stage. Spearheaded by the drumming prowess of Nikki Glaspie. The lively rockers powered through a set of originals including “Only Love” and also included a cover of The Beatles’ “She’s So Heavy”.

This warmed up the stage nicely for Lettuce, who followed with their signature high-octane brand of funk. Fittingly, they brought former member Nigel Hall on stage for the last few numbers laying down a funky “Sounds Like A Party To Me.” This was only the first of many memorable sit ins and collaborations throughout the weekend. The night continued with spirited set of electronica infused rock courtesy of Lotus, Break Science kept the party going and then some with a set that featured a plethora of sit ins from drummer Adam Deitch’s fellow Lettuce band members.

Meanwhile, Club Chill was packed to the gills thanks to another well-orchestrated collaboration. Members of Twiddle were joined by an all-star supporting cast including Tim Palmieri from Kung Fu on guitar and Tood Stoops from Raq on keys for a Grateful Dead tribute set. A clean run through the Jerry Garcia classic “Birdsong” preceded a thunderous rendition of “The Other One”. Other classics like “I Know You Rider” and “Fire on the Mountain” were met with appreciative roars and applause as this hyped set seemed to live up to its billing. One last mashup of rich musical talent brought things to a close on Friday with Dopakuaz Plays Studio 54. Comprised of members from Dopapod and Turkuaz, the big band ensemble replete with female vocalists did their very best to create an air of a late night disco party at the renowned New York City night club starting with an opener of KC & The Sunshine Band’s “That’s The Way (I Like It)”.

The hits just kept on coming late into the night with spot on renditions of “You Should Be Dancing” and “Get Down.” The group even showed an ability to shift seamlessly between songs which was highlighted by an impressive “Funky Town” >“Disco Inferno” transition.

Saturday saw more musical tributes and artists joining forces with beautiful results. Shwizz and Fikus combined for a Shwikus Plays the ’80s set that was very well received. They were followed by yet another super group as the ChillFam All-Stars, which included Steve Molitz from Particle on keys and Mike Greenfield from Lotus on drums, paid musical tribute to the great Herbie Hancock.

Club Chill was enraptured as the All Stars pulled off a set that included hits like “Watermelon Man” and “Rockit”. A tribute of another sort took place later on the main stage as Dweezil Zappa brought his Zappa Plays Zappa band for a set of his father’s music. Their current tour is celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention album One Size Fits All so a steady diet of tracks from that were played in addition to other classics like “Don’t Eat the Yellow Snow”.

The main late night musical acts for Saturday featured two bands who are at very different points in their respective careers. Venerable upstate New York jam legends moe. were given the headlining slot for this year’s Chill, the first one they’ve ever played. A set opening “Seat of My Pants” was jammed to perfection and a rousing segue into “Recreational Chemistry” had hopes high for a special set. However, they didn’t dig too much deeper into the musical vault as the rest of set featured staples like “Happy Hour Hero,” “Spine of a Dog” and “Buster,” which served as closer. On the other end of the spectrum is Twiddle, a Vermont based rock quartet that is growing in popularity each passing day. They seem to have already developed a young and enthusiastic fan base and their performance this weekend surely opened some eyes. Playing with a noticeable energy and excitement, the group sent everyone back to their respective homes smiling with a set that saw Todd Stoops sit in on “Brown Chicken Brown Cow” and an impressive display of talent by keyboardist Ryan Dempsey on “Jamflowman” which featured a fun give and take jam with guitarist Mihali Savoulidis.

With two incredible nights of music in the books, Sunday offered no rest for the weary as another full schedule lay in store. Turkuaz got things started in the early afternoon with their customary explosive big band sound. They were followed by The Motet who ran through a set of their own funky hits including “Funny Bone” and “Like We Own It”.

Up at Club Chill, another of New York’s own, Solaris played to a small but rapt crowd as they delivered their version of electronica which included a fun take on the theme from Tetris. Shortly afterwards, it was time for Dopapod and their set on the main stage. With the sun beginning to set behind the trees, a beautiful canvas was naturally created as the group seemed to soak up every minute of their set which was littered with teases of “Funkytown” throughout as a nod to Friday night’s performance.

Additional Saturday highlights included Electron, an old Disco Biscuits side project featuring Marc Brownstein on bass and Aron Magner on keys who were joined by Tom Hamilton on guitar and Mike Greenfield on drums. This was as close to an actual Bisco performance as you can get as the old friends ripped through a set that included classics like “Shelby Rose” and “42” as well as a sterling cover of Pink Floyd’s “Have a Cigar”. Not to be outdone, Pink Talking Fish, a band that melds the music of Phish, Talking Heads and Pink Floyd, played perhaps one of most enjoyable sets of the weekend afterwards that featured other Pink Floyd covers like “Money” and “Eclipse”. The highlight may have been the performance of “Pigs (3 Different Ones)” that was dropped right in the “pause” section of Divided Sky.

To close things out, Catskill Chill had Particle, the only band to appear here every year, play a farewell set that featured sit ins from start to finish. Members of Dopapod, Turkuaz and Electron all jumped on stage at some point for a truly fitting farewell. The family atmosphere this festival has naturally developed was highlighted by the closing selections of “Family Affair” and “We Are Family”. Particle keyboardist/leader Steve Molitz urged everyone to remember the good times created at this special place before everyone went on their way and the book was closed on another special weekend. Some say the month of March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb.

While it may be debatable as to when summer festival season exactly comes in, there’s no doubt after a weekend of music like this one that it goes out with a Chill.

September 28, 2015
Catskill Chill: Where Young Bands Come to Grow Up

The 2015 incarnation of the Catskill Chill Music Festival may serve as a farewell to host site Camp Minglewood, but since its inception, the festival has really been a big introduction to new music and groups, while also bringing in established bands that many people know.

For instance, this year’s lineup features moe., Lotus and Zappa Plays Zappa as the headliners, while groups such as the Motet, Lettuce and Electron also support the bill. Just like all festival flyers, the headliners get the most ink, while the font size shrinks with each passing line.

Twiddle

Enter Twiddle, on the fourth line of the Chill’s flyer. Just three years ago, it seemed Twiddle was a name at the bottom of so many festival advertisements. Yet, now, the group from Vermont has risen steadily up to headlining smaller festivals such as Disc Jam, while throwing down what band members describe as one of the best sets the group has ever played at this year’s Bonnaroo.

At the Chill last year, Twiddle played a normal set, and a Grateful Dead set, the latter being one of the most well-received sets in the history of the festival. Since then, Twiddle has exploded, headlining tours and playing venues such as Red Rocks in Colorado.

“One tidbit I often appreciate about our fest is what is great about a lot of small-to-medium size fests, which is how great it is to hear bands who are still in the early stages of their career on the main stages and in prime, night time slots,” Catskill Chill organizer Josh Cohen said in an email.

He went on to specify about Twiddle: “For instance … Twiddle. Twiddle always plays daytime sets at larger festivals, even have at the Chill the last couple years actually, but their Dead set was at night. Anyway, (they’re playing a late-night Dead set this year) and I’m pretty sure that’s going to make a lot of Twiddle fans very happy (including me!).”

This kind of exposure can do wonders for a band, especially in the jam band scene, where people listen with the most open of ears.

Just ask Ryan Dempsey, keyboardist from Twiddle.

“Last year at Catskill was one of my favorite Twiddle sets. Ever,” Dempsey said. “I thought we were all very connected and we had the privilege to have some of our mentors and favorite musicians from the scene sit in on our songs with us.

“It was also the debut of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles hats idea that took on as a fad even after Catskill.”

That statement says a lot about just what the Chill has done for Twiddle. In the last year, every Twiddle show is littered with fans wearing Ninja Turtles hats, shirts and even full-on Turtle costumes. It also helps that Twiddle has one of the most dedicated young fan bases in the entire scene.

Mihali Savoulidis, guitarist for Twiddle, summed up his thoughts on Catskill Chill in a few short words.

“Bottom line is Catskill creates a super creative environment that I believe all the artists can feel and feed off of,” he said.

This year, Dopapod and Turkuaz are collaborating on a late-night set that Cohen referred to as Dopakuaz, saying this type of community mindset is what sets the Chill apart from other festivals its size or bigger.

“Point is that when comparing us to larger festivals, we’re at this cool stage attendance-wise where in many band’s cases we have the best ‘music’ out there in our prime slots,” Cohen added. “I love tons of bands who’ve been around since the ’90s or earlier but there’s nothing like seeing musicians in their youthful stages, when creativity is just exploding and you can feel it dripping off the stage as opposed to later-in-their career bands who are playing mostly songs they first wrote and fell in love with decades earlier.”

Dempsey echoed that sentiment: “They are a great ally of ours and have helped us play in front of new and old fans. They have a strong and professional staff and crew along with a lot of great music and people.”

Camp Minglewood has a unique setup which allows attendees to rent cabins if the traditional tent-style camping is not wanted. Savoulidis closed his interview by summing up not only Twiddle’s experience at the Chill, but also spoke for fans, calling it one of the best festivals he has had the opportunity to play.

“Catskill is one of our fans’ favorite festivals,” he said. “It gives them the opportunity to see us play and interact with our fellow artists in an incredibly unique setting. The way that Minglewood is set up provides a very cool experience for both the festival goers and the artists. I believe this is our fifth Chill and each year is better than the last. Our career has grown as the festival has and it’s usually the last one we do of the season so I think whenever we play at Minglewood all our creative juices are primed from a long summer of shows enabling us to come up with some really strong performances. This year should be no different.”

If hearing these words from the Lion’s mouth got you as pumped as I did writing this, clear your weekend plans and get yourself to the Lion’s den. It’s an experience that cannot be recreated anywhere else.

September 17, 2015
The Catskill Chill 2015 Music Festival: A Farewell to Minglewood

The sixth annual Catskill Chill Music Festival – A Farewell to Minglewood – is set to take place this weekend on Sept 18-20 with this year being the last time at Camp Minglewood in Hancock, NY. The Chill gathers fans from all over the North East to the beautiful, secluded Catskills for a three-day camping summer music festival finale. The Chill has called Camp Minglewood home since the beginning and it’s sleep away camp setting of multiple concert halls, cabins full of friends and tents scattered over the hills, all within short walking distance made for the ideal festival grounds. The Catskill Chill motto holds true to “All Love, All the Time” as you can see and feel it all around you with nonstop smiles, hugs, high fives and the radiating positive vibes that keep Minglewood clean and fun.

This coming weekend will be a time of reflection of all the wonderful moments of Chills past. We’ve endured all types of weather: perfect sunny days, light rain, the Tornado of 2012 and those cold, cold, cold early fall nights of NY. The little to no cell phone reception is a painful delight as we are given a chance to truly enjoy all that the Chill has to offer with both hands and a focused mind. The Catskill Chill lines up talented regional and national musical acts of all genres that connects us to each other and the dance floor. The bands love the Chill as much as the fans do with major returning acts such as Lotus, Dopapod, Particle, Lettuce, The Motet and Kung Fu.

One of the best features about The Chill is the abundance of guest sit ins and collaborations from over the years such as Shwizz and Fikus will join forces to become Shwikus, the late late night Sunday set of Dopadosio, Bobby Paltauf with The Meter Men, Todd Stoops with Twiddle plus so many more. The number of artists has dramatically increased over the years with a jam-packed schedule that doesn’t stop til you do. With more bands comes more stages and those cabin porches serve more than neighborly meetups, Solaris is no stranger to the late night porch shows. Acoustic Junction was a great addition to The Chill with memorable acts from The Brummy Brothers, Consider the Source and Primate Fiasco, guaranteed to rock your socks off electronically or acoustically.

Be mindful to savor every beautiful minute of music and scenery because we’re so lucky to have them together. Don’t miss out on one hell of a going away party and buy tickets now (available here). NYSMusic is grateful to share the bittersweet goodbye of Camp Minglewood and looks forward to more memories of The Catskill Chill.

Check out past NYSMusic Catskill Chill Reviews and Photo Galleries: 2012, 2013 2014

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

September 15, 2015