NYS Music 20​16

Author: Steve Malinski

  • Valentine’s Day Pairs Local and Veteran Rockers at Paramount Hudson Valley

    More than a musical blind date is coming to Paramount Hudson Valley this Valentine’s Day. Veteran indie pop rockers Gin Blossoms will be joined by Peekskill’s own Joe Duraes & The Skills for an exciting Sunday night double-bill.

    Over the past two decades, Gin Blossoms have been a staple in ’90s playlists with their albums New Miserable Experience and Congratulations I’m Sorry peaking high on the charts and each achieving Platinum status. Since the band’s 2002 reunion following a five-year hiatus, Gin Blossoms have recorded two studio albums and continued to tour.

    Complementing the iconic 90’s sound of Gin Blossoms is the hometown outfit Joe Duraes & The Skills, making their second appearance on the Paramount stage. The band drives home their own style of Hudson Valley rock building off of Duraes’ previous solo acoustic songwriter work fit for any house, whether coffee house, theater, or street festival.

    Sunday’s show is set to start at 8pm, and the Paramount Hudson Valley has special prix fixe dinner-and-a-show tickets available through participating Peekskill restaurants. Visit the Paramount’s website for more information on this offer and tickets to the event.

  • Vampire Weekend Looks Ahead with New Album in the Works and Lineup Change

    Vampire Weekend has become a staple in most indie rockers’ playlists, finding a lot of success with their second and third studio albums (their latest, 2013’s Modern Vampires of the City, won the band a Grammy for Best Alternative Album in 2014). The band was again in the spotlight recently performing “This Land Is Your Land” at a Bernie Sanders rally in Iowa.

    Vampire Weekend headlining Governors Ball 2014
    Vampire Weekend headlining Governors Ball 2014

    A few days before that rally, some mixed news bubbled through Twitter and Instagram regarding the band’s future. Rostam Batmanglij, a driving force behind the band’s songwriting, announced on his personal Twitter that he is no longer a member of the band:

    I wanted to let [people] know I’m no longer a member of VW but that Ezra and I will continue to collaborate on future projects + future VW songs. My identity as a songwriter + producer, I realized, needs to stand on its own.

    The same day, Vampire Weekend frontman Ezra Koenig took to Instagram with the following note:

    A couple years ago, Rostam and I sat down at his house & talked abt whether our collaboration was dependent on being members of the same band. We both firmly agreed that nope, it was not. In fact, we agreed that our collaboration was more important. I’m psyched about the work we’ve already begun for LP4 and I’m psyched to hear anything else Rostam is a part of. Also very excited to continue playing music with CT and Baio but there will be plenty of time to talk about that later in the year. For now in the Vampire Weekend universe, it’s all about recording the next album. There will be a lot of familiar faces in the studio but also some fresh, new ones. Working title is “Mitsubishi Macchiato”…for obvious reasons.

    Shout-out to the fans who have been waiting for new music – it’s coming. ?????? Also tomorrow, we gotta talk abt Iowa.

    While the departure of Rostam and lineup change for Vampire Weekend came as an unexpected shock to fans, it should reassure them to hear that he plans to still contribute to the band’s work and that Vampire Weekend has a new album in the works. No details beyond what Koenig’s mentioned regarding Mitsubishi Macchiato are available.

    In the meantime, check out a solo track recently released by Rotsam, featuring an ambient minimalist rock sound.

  • Artwork for David Bowie’s ‘Blackstar’ Released for Fan Use

    Blackstar has come to be regarded as a parting gift from David Bowie gift after it became widely known that he wrote the album in full knowledge of his own mortality.

    bowie blackstarAs a perpetuation of Bowie’s gift, the artwork for Blackstar has been released for non-commercial use. Artist Jonathan Barnbrook has worked closely with Bowie on designing the artwork on several of his albums.

    David Bowie’s Facebook page share the news with this post:

    Barnbrook loved working with David Bowie, he was simply one of the most inspirational, kind people we have met. So in the spirit of openness and in remembrance of David we are releasing the artwork elements of his last album ★ (Blackstar) to download here free under a Creative Commons NonCommercial-ShareAlike licence. That means you can make t-shirts for yourself, use them for tattoos, put them up in your house to remember David by and adapt them too, but we would ask that you do not in any way create or sell commercial products with them or based on them. Any questions or commercial licence usage please contact us.

    Eleven different elements from the album’s artwork are can be downloaded from bowieblackstar.net. Remember that the content is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-ShareAlike (a copy of the details of that license are included with each download from the site). Inquiries for commercial use can be directed to the Barnbrook design agency.

    Check out an interview with Jonathan Barnbrook regarding the meaning behind the art of Blackstar here.

  • Robert Plant Kicks Off Spring Tour in March; Led Zeppelin Reunion Still Just a Rumor

    Robert Plant is back on the road soon with his band The Sensational Space Shifters. The former Led Zeppelin singer is embarking on a short tour in the South, kicking off at the Okeechobee Music & Arts Festival in Florida, but made no hint of a reunion.

    From Plant’s website:

    “I’m always eager to return to the hospitality of the Southern states,” Robert said in a statement. “Towns and cities that hold fond memories for me personally, places that gave birth to so much of the music I love.”

    He continues, “Our recent travels have taken this wild whirlwind of a band though many incredible and inspiring places. Having just begun work on our new album, we thought we’d take time out to raise a little sand and welcome springtime with one more adventure, another celebration of life and song.”

    Plant’s most recent solo album Lullaby and the Ceaseless Roar was released Sept. 8, 2014.

    Jimmy Page had confirmed late last year that he will do some sort of tour this year, leaving out further details. At the same time, he suggested that he had hoped for more Led Zeppelin shows after the 2007 reunion at the O2 Arena; whether or not the two are open to more reunion shows would be speculation at this time.

    Check out the full list of tour dates for Robert Plant and the Sensational Space Shifters below.

    March 4-6 – Okeechobee, FL – Okeechobee Music & Arts Festival
    March 6 – St. Augustine, FL – St. Augustine Amphitheatre
    March 7 – Mobile, AL – Saenger Theatre
    March 9 – Jackson, MS – Thalia Mara Hall
    March 10 – Baton Rouge, LA – River Center Theatre
    March 11 – Shreveport, LA – Shreveport Municipal Auditorium
    March 13 – Cain’s Ballroom – Tulsa, OK
    March 15 – The Bomb Factory – Dallas, TX
    March 17 – San Antonio, TX – Tobin Center for the Performing Arts
    March 18 – Midland, TX – Wagner Noel Center Performing Arts Center
    March 20 – Austin, TX – ACL Live at Moody Theater

  • Clearwater Will Take Hiatus in 2016, Return Next Year

    The Great Hudson River Revival, popularly called The Clearwater Festival, will take a break in 2016. The festival was founded in 1966 by Toshi and Pete Seeger as a series of fundraising concerts to support the Hudson River Sloop Clearwater organization, and by 1978 had settled into its home at Croton Point Park in Westchester County.

    Clearwater is currently facing some financial strains due to an extensive restoration of the sloop Clearwater, costing upward of $5,000 a day. Since hosting the large, two-day festival concurrently with the restoration project would be a struggle for the organization, several smaller fundraising concerts are being planned throughout the year. In the meantime, Clearwater is looking for support from the community here.

    Sloop Clearwater
    Sloop Clearwater

    The festival draws an average of 15,000 attendees each of its two days and has played host to a variety of local and nation folk and roots-rock artists. While the festival will not be held this year, the organizers plan for it to return in its usual form in 2017.

    Read the letter below from Clearwater below:

    Dear Friends,

    We are saddened to announce that Clearwater will not be holding its Great Hudson River Revival this year. As you may have heard, the sloop is undergoing its largest restoration ever. It is a restoration that costs $5,000 a day and will run until at least June 2016. We must take this time to focus our effort on making sure the boat can sail again this year. The sloop Clearwater is the foundation of our organization, the vessel that brings people to the Hudson River and an inspiration to all who love her. Our work to protect the Hudson River is still our primary mission.

    While we will not be having a Revival this year, we will be holding a number of smaller fundraising concerts and events up and down the River throughout the year, and hope to have a larger riverside concert in the fall. Stay tuned and please join us!

    If it were not for our members, volunteers, vendors, artists, and many supporters, there would not be a Clearwater. We appreciate your unwavering support as we navigate this difficult time. We ask you to stay with us so that we can Float the Boat and come back stronger next year with a celebration truly worthy of 50 years and an incredible Great Hudson River Revival in 2017.

    The Felice Brothers
    The Felice Brothers – Clearwater 2015

    While we wait for the festival to return next year, revisit NYS Music’s recap of the 2015 Clearwater Festival here.