New York-based Provocado – the duo of Derek Chilvers and Eric Essebag (owner and curator of Caché Life) melding eclectic backgrounds with R&B compositions, pop, rock and more, debut with their single “Only You.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOhN63GHCgg
“Only You” features Chilvers’ soothing baritone vocals over meticulous keyboard patterns and Essebag’s unique guitar riffs soar over subdued production. The black and white video portrays a day-in-the-life of a metropolitan woman walking the streets of Manhattan. The viewer observes her as she appears seemingly reluctant to find satisfaction and inner peace from the everyday lifestyles of New York City, but captures the subtleties and nuances of city life in a truly mesmerizing way. Listen to “Only You” on Spotify.
Buffalo-based band Previous Love has debuted their first music video, for their song “Caffeine.” The catchy alt rock tune is from their self-titled EP, which was recorded and released over the summer. The video montage documents their coffee-fueled recording sessions.
“We wanted to really take our fans into the studio with us but still capture the emotion of the song,” bassist Steven Browne told NYS Music. “We get asked a lot what it’s like being in the studio for the first time as a young band. I believe this really captures our experience while still staying true to the intent of the song.”
The video features band members Steven Browne (bass), Charles Campanella (guitar), John Perdue (drums) and Gary Sheedy (vocals and guitar) working alongside producer Jay Zubricky. Filmed in and around GCR Audio, it includes shots of them traveling to the studio, recording, and hanging out. Visual effects such as cross-dissolves, slow motion, time lapse, reverse footage create a surreal effect that suits the “Caffeine” theme.
“It’s exciting being in the studio, capturing those moments that make a record special,” said Browne. “At the end of the video it actually is the footage from the moment we captured the ending to ‘Caffeine.’”
Follow Previous Love on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Their debut self-titled EP Previous Love is available for purchase on Bandcamp (name your price) and streaming on Spotify. For more about the EP, read the NYS Music review.
Rochester alternative folk group Dave DiPrimo Band has released their latest single, “Know You Best.” The song comes from their forthcoming sophomore album Reflections, which is set to release on Saturday, November 25.
“Know You Best” is the first track on the new full-length LP. In this intensely emotional tale of longing for connection, pleading lyrics give way to bellowing vocals in the chorus. The song establishes the nostalgic tone that pervades the entire album.
Dave DiPrimo Band is: Dave DiPrimo on vocals/guitar/keys, Reid Hoffmeier on drums, Ian Benz on bass, and Karis Gregory on saxophone (and sometimes guitar). While based in the folk tradition, DDB weaves in influences from genres as far flung as soul and punk to create a sound that’s both timeless and contemporary.
There is no greater joy in life than discovering music that resonates with the soul, sending spirits soaring into heights of ecstasy. I recently found myself captivated by a performance by Barbarosa. The self-described “loud and pretty” Rochester band combines both male and female vocals over intricately arranged instrumentation. The overall effect is like being guided through a labyrinth in the dewy haze of dawn. I met up with the band’s founder, Kyle Waldron, to discover more about the origin and evolution of this captivating band.
Paula Cummings: What sparked your interest in music?
Kyle Waldron: I’ve always liked music a lot. My dad was a bass player back in the 70’s. He had a lot of instruments. I learned to play bass, I learned to play guitar. I got super into it. It feels like something I was supposed to do. And I used to go to church. That’s how I learned to play in band, in the church. After a while, it was like ‘I want to start my own band.’ I started Barbarosa while I was in college. I’ve always been obsessed with it. There’s nothing in life I’ve ever felt so strongly about.
PC: Why the name Barbarosa?
KW: We were looking for a name for the band and my bass player in college came up with the name Barbarossa. It means red beard. I took out the extra “s” because of copyright with a band in the UK. I’m really into history – I was a history major in college. It’s got historical significance. Barbarossa was an emperor of the Holy Roman Empire and the name of the Nazi invasion in Russia in WWII. It comes back to my interests and what I look like.
PC: So you and Hannah Gouldrick take turns on vocals on the songs?
KW: Hannah has been helpful with writing vocals. That’s not really my strong suit. I like to come up with songs and guitar parts. Lately it’s been fun. We’ve actually started taking vocal lessons with a coach. So now I feel like “Oh, I can do this harmony.” I just couldn’t do that before. Now I like it a lot.
PC: What is your songwriting process?
KW: Almost always it will start with an idea I came up with on guitar and then I’ll record it. I’ll have someone make drums for the song. And then I’ll go back and flesh it out with bass and vocals. Usually vocals come last. I’ve started changing that. I realized some of the best songs have integrated vocal and instrumental parts. I used to be into post-rock instrumental. Lately I’ve been trying to write vocals, simple songs with chords and then add everything else. I’ve experimented a lot with how I write songs. I strive for not just doing things the same way.
PC: Do you think the changes in the songwriting process have been the result of taking vocal lessons?
KW: I feel like for a lot of musicians, you have a preconceived notion of how you think people write songs. Then you go through it and do it for a while. Then you’re like “Oh, I think there’s a bunch of ways that people do this.” It changes how you think. The more you do it, the more the process shifts. I realized that if I do the vocals first, it would make them more prominent in the song. I think that’s what most people identify with is vocals. I’ve tried hard at improving. Like I said, it was always an afterthought. It’s still a work in progress.
PC: And it’s probably changed as the dynamics of the band has changed.
KW: That’s another major change is getting away from guitar music and into synth – keyboards. I was really into guitar amps for a while but now with the synth… I’m really into gear, so it’s a whole new world to explore. That’s changed a lot too because my friend Nick Maynard did the first two songs on the new EP and he’s a master at that stuff. He has cool synth stuff, vintage gear, and he knows what he’s doing. That helped me out a lot. Nick’s not into doing the live stuff. He loves writing music. He was instrumental in helping me learn that stuff. My roommate also plays keys. Dave Heeks is really into that stuff. He’s going to probably end up being our keyboard player. We’ll be adding keys on more songs. It’s cool because there’s progress. I’ve had three different people work on drums. Matt Battle (of Oh Manitou) was the original drummer. He was on the first song I recorded, “Colorblind.” Then I did another song with him. Then Frank Dicesare, who’s more into hip-hop, which was kind of cool. He plays groovy, and adds stuff you wouldn’t normally hear in indie rock. And then Greg Best. He’s done all the live shows with us. He did the last two songs we put out. Greg is amazing. He went to Nazareth for performance and studied under a famous jazz drummer. He comes up with things in no time at all.
Barbarosa at Wicked Squid Studios
PC: I saw you last month, and you did a cover of a No Doubt song, which was different.
KW: That was Hannah’s idea. We kind of changed it around so it sounded more like Barbarosa. It came together. That’s one of Hannah’s biggest influences in music and she was happy to be able to do that song. Now it’s in our repertoire. Now that we’ve done that, I can see where Hannah gets a lot of her melodies from.
PC: What was the first concert you went to?
KW: It was at Madison Square Garden. It was a Christian music festival. TobyMac and Jars of Clay. That was 5th grade. I didn’t know what was going on. It ended up being “Woah!” It was loud, and you get the adrenalin for the first time. I got into more shows in high school. I saw Balance and Composure in Philadelphia. It woke me up to crowd involvement. And punk shows where people were going nuts and piling onto each other, moshing and stuff like that. That set up my whole idea of playing music. It was a community thing. It was so cool to see so many people in one area connecting. I didn’t know that was possible at that point. That it can make them happy or make them sad. That’s when I realized I want to do this. I want to start a band.
PC: Where do you get inspiration?
KW: There’s a podcast called Song Exploder. They interview artists and go through their songwriting process. It changed my songwriting process. For one of the songs on the EP, I was reading. I was on a history binge. I was going through a bunch of books about the WWII era. I was reading about the Nazis and how they were on drugs. But it was legal. They had these crazy pharmacies in Germany. Nobody knew what heroin was yet. They were just like, “I take this drug and work all night.” It was basically heroin. It probably helped spur WWII. Hitler was an opiate addict, and I’m sure a lot of the terrible decisions he made had to do with that. The drug was called Pervetin. It was the miracle drug of their day. I took a bunch of quotes from that book, mixed them all up, and picked lines that sounded the best. Then we picked the melodies and crafted the song. And it sounded awesome. It was a lot of fun. I got the idea from the Rivers Cuomo episode on Song Exploder. I never would have thought to do that.
PC: Music is meant to be fun, right?
KW: It got me out of my rut of songwriting. I was like “I’ve got to sit down and write some lyrics.” Some of it you can’t force. When it comes to art, you have to let it burst out of you. If I’m sitting there having fun and trying new stuff, it comes out. I try to do that more often. (At the EP Release show) I’ll be playing in Brotherless, too. For Brotherless, we’re going to be covering a Nirvana song. We’re playing this song and it’s so fun. I get to slam power chords and sing harmonies. It’s so much more carefree. I’ve also been pushing a lot of my music in that direction. I’ve learned to simplify because you realize that no one is going to notice. If you can write a simple song that is entertaining that’s so much more important than being able to write a ten minute song full of guitar solos and technicality. I’ve really toned down the riffage and time signatures. I still want it to be creative, but like a mix or creative but also easy to understand and accessible. Like the first song on the EP is not in 4/4, it’s in 7/8. That’s what I want to do is find ways to impress musicians but also at the same time doing it in a way that people who don’t know these things will understand. If you reel yourself in, then you’re a little more within your capabilities, everything’s a little tighter. People underestimate how important the basics are.
Joywave answered the question off their first LP, How Do You Feel Now? with this year’s second LP, Content. To promote the new album, they spent the summer touring with Young The Giant and Cold War Kids. Now they’re on their own headlining tour. Thanks. Thanks for Coming 2017 tour began on November 11 with a sold out show at Anthology in their hometown of Rochester.
The frigid cold weather didn’t stop people from arriving early. An hour before the show, the line had already wrapped around the corner from Anthology in Rochester’s East End district. Once the doors opened, a smoking hot rock ‘n roll performance by The Demos helped to warm people up.
The Demos
All-female quartet The Aces wowed the audience with their indie pop prowess. Then KOPPS took to the stage, combining vivacious electro-pop songs with synchronized dance moves. By the time the supporting bands wrapped up, the sleek but chic industrial space had filled to capacity.
Joywave started with the title track from their new album. In “Content” singer Daniel Armbruster plays with the homonym ‘content’ and the relationship between commercialism and satisfaction. The theme prevails in other songs from the new album, including “It’s a Trip!” and “Little Lies You’re Told.”
Interspersed between the tracks from Content were songs from across their seven year span, including more obscure tunes like their 2011 single “Golden State” (featuring Armbruster on guitar) and the bonus track from the compilation Swish called “Life In A Bubble I Blew.” They also premiered a brand new song called “Alice.” A Joywave set wouldn’t be complete without songs from How Do You Feel Now?. The crowd went wild with “Destruction,” jumping in time to the beat and singing along, ” Oh my God, there’s nobody who can set me right. I’ve been sent to torch the palace down in broad daylight.”
Daniel Armbruster of Joywave
The tour is called Thanks. Thanks for Coming, so named for one of the tracks on Content. It’s also representative of their immense gratitude for everyone who has been a part of their journey. They took a break between songs to thank everyone, including the supporting bands, the venue, and the local alternative radio station.
The last song of the set was “Going to a Place.” The room resonated with the sound of a thousand voices and a thousand pairs of hands clapping along. Keyboardist Benjamin Bailey extended the outro of the song. He continued to play long after the rest of the band left the stage, before eventually conceding to the end of the song.
Benjamin Bailey of Joywave
It didn’t take much to convince Joywave to come out for an encore. Armbruster picked up the guitar again, plucking along to the simple but sincere tune “Confidence.” They picked up the pace with “Nice House” and “Tongues.” The evening concluded aptly with a performance of “Thanks. Thanks For Coming.”
Joywave is on tour through the end of the month. They will be joined by The Aces, The Demos, and Maybird on select dates. In addition, they are playing a few shows in December. The second leg of the Thanks. Thanks For Coming Tour was just announced. Tickets go on sale Friday, November 17.
Setlist: Content, Now, It’s a Trip!, Shutdown, Life in a Bubble I Blew, Parade, Traveling at the Speed of Light, Alice, Rumors, Little Lies You’re Told, Golden State, Destruction, Doubt, Somebody New, Going to a Place. Encore: Confidence, Nice House, Tongues, Thanks. Thanks For Coming.
One of the best parts of reviewing albums is being exposed to music that you most likely would have never discovered on your own. At first, I listened to the Rochester-based Jon Lewis Band’s recently-released EP Baby Brother solely for the sake of writing this review. And then, one morning, I woke up with the melodies lodged into my psyche and I listened because I wanted to.
Don’t let the term local singer/songwriter fool you. Don’t let the genre label “indie rock” push this album out of the grasp of your musical appreciation. Baby Brother resonates with a driving sense of urgency, possibly a reflection of the head space Lewis was in when he wrote and recorded it earlier this year.
“After a freak car accident at the end of March, I found myself inspired to write and create music with more of an edgier attitude,” said Lewis. “We were also just returning from a short tour and I was eager to collaborate more on music that would feature the group and the intensity of those live performances. The process was so quick and often had a sense of profound urgency, energy and cohesiveness.”
From the first track “Let Me Go,” the EP quickly seizes your attention with smokey, sultry verses, gradually leading to a bridge that builds into a chorus filled with shredding crescendos of hard-hitting rock. The third track on Baby Brother will keep you “Hanging On” with its yearning, soul-calling melodies, precise guitar harmonies and memorable lyrics.
“What should you say, when my light is fading
And all my bad decisions come collected
To keep me hanging on
Would you keep me hanging on”
Baby Brother travels into familiar territory with hints of grunge and indie rock, yet with enough rock n’ roll and pop to set the Jon Lewis Band apart from today’s age of dime-a-dozen artists.
A full-time musician, Jon Lewis bleeds, breaths and sleeps music. Since hitting the road as an acoustic singer-songwriter playing in coffeehouses and bars in Upstate New York in 2013, he’s released four EPs and two full-length albums – some on his own, others in collaboration with some of Rochester’s well-known and up-and-coming artists, building a solid band of talented musicians along the way. Self-taught and determined to grow as a musician, he’s dedicated himself to producing music at a pace that matches his ambition.
Partnering up with Producer/Engineer/friend Dave Drago of 1809 Studios, Lewis released two EPs in 2014: Trail of Dreams and In Disguise. In 2015, he released his first full-length album Panic Rock on which he collaborated with Jacob Walsh on drums and Shawn Brogan on lead guitar, both of whom are now fundamental players in the Jon Lewis Band.
Soon after, Lewis began production on Out To Lunch which was released in 2016, this time joined by Alex Northrup on keys, completing the five-piece Jon Lewis Band. Wasting no time, the group released their second full length album Exquisite Corpse on May 15, 2017 and immediately followed it up with Baby Brother which was released in September, 2017.
When he’s not on stage with the Jon Lewis Band, you can find him playing fun, educational music to kids at Park’s Departments, birthday parties and other events in Rochester with his wife as “Mr. and Mrs. Loops.”
“It is incredibly rewarding and fun, and an amazing way to instill the silliness that is so easily forgotten in our lives,” he said.
Nominated two years in a row in the City Newspaper’s Best of Rochester Contest, Lewis said the five-piece Jon Lewis Band is focused and hellbent on producing more music and you can expect to see them playing in and around the Rochester area. Be sure to keep your ears peeled. Based on their latest offering, it’s bound to be good.
Two things were made clear Friday night when Maybird commanded the stage at Three Heads Brewing. First, their time hitting the road playing gigs across the country has been paying off. Even in returning to Rochester, playing in front of friends, family and fans old and new, the band has shed that familiar ‘local band’ tarnish. It was still the same band, but tighter, more confident, boasting a more muscular full-bodied sound. The kind of bold sound that has been knocking out audiences far and wide.
Secondly, the band has not forgotten their roots in the midst of their blossoming success and discovery. They were clearly excited to be back on familiar turf, showing their love for Rochester continually throughout their 80 minute set. The oldie but goodie song “One Love” they claimed is played nowhere but Rochester, led one to believe that when lead singer Josh Netsky sang, “You are my one love,” he was talking about his native city. Guitarist Overhand Sam Snyder proudly recounted how it made people happy to hear they were from Rochester when they were out on the road. But just the simple, “It’s sweet to be back home,” uttered a few songs into the set made it quite clear.
From the building slinky psychedelia of “Maybird” to the tight big rock dueling guitar finish on “Turning Into Water,” the set was stacked with tracks from their two most recent EPs. But there were a few surprises as well. They dropped in a brand new tune “Don’t Keep Me Around” with synth-heavy grooves. A few covers were played, spanning the decades. They took on the 60’s with Brenda Lee’s “All Alone Am I,” payed tribute to early 80’s David Bowie with a perfectly funky “Ashes to Ashes” and brought it up to the last decade with a Rosewood Thieves cover, a song which Snyder had originally contributed to and one that their tour manager, Erick Jordan, had actually written. The show closed with a bombastic encore of “Call You Mine,” another older tune, the full sound bubbling over with Kurt Johnson on a ferocious electric lap steel.
The band is about to head back out for more touring, this time sharing the stage with fellow Rochester success story Joywave. If you can’t be home, might as well take a piece of it with you.
Setlist: Nocturne, Maybird, Ashes to Ashes (Bowie), Don’t Keep Me Around, All Alone Am I (Brenda Lee), Bluebird Flew Away, One Love, Grace, To the Stars, (Rosewood Thieves), Two Horizons, Keep in Line, Turning into Water
At times it seems like the world of popular music is caught in a cycle of poppy repetitive chord patterns and excessive autotuned tracks. Diversity among genres is something that is beginning to thin more and more as specific niches become more established. With his new release, EP1, Buffalo-local Jorian Holka aims to break away from the mold, and weave the world back to the days when hard rock and alternative-influenced music reigned supreme with a diverse new collection of songs.
The EP begins with a statement, both musically and lyrically, with the hard-rock anthem “Rock’s Not Dead.” The up-tempo rocker starts off relatively quietly with an energizing guitar riff before quickly exploding into a full rampage, which sounds like a combination of Black Sabbath and the Foo Fighters. The sentiment of “Rock’s Not Dead” is very apparent, as the feeling that our society is losing sight of what true high energy rock music is defined as slaps the listener in the face. As the album continues, it is very clear that Holka yearns to bring back the days of lightning-fast guitar licks, heavy bass lines, and catastrophic drum solos. Elements of alternative, pop, screamo and hard-rock can be found throughout the album, as Holka does a virtuous job at keeping his influences close while establishing a sound of his own.
Influences of Green Day, Billy Talent, Royal Blood, Nickelback, and Avenged Sevenfold, among others, can be heard echoed throughout this debut EP. While most of the EP can be defined as raw, edgy hard rock, there are often glimpses of a more lighthearted musician throughout, as seen in the intro of “Ordinary.” Holka spills his soul into the EP as the sole writer, instrumentalist, and producer, and it clearly pays off. The EP may come as a relief to many with the way popular music has drifted in the past twenty years. For as long as there are still musicians who demand loud, screaming guitar solos and the desire to play until their eyes are burning with sweat, Holka is correct in saying “Rock’s Not Dead.”
Key Tracks: Rocks’ Not Dead, Terrible Paradise, Party Lines
If you’ve ever experienced live music in Western/Central New York, the chances are you’ve heard Collin Jones. Whether he is out playing with Haewa, Ocular Panther, Stereo Nest, or collaborating with other local artists, the man exhales music. His new EP Specimen is a beautiful assortment of innovative folk-inspired melodies, and a raw reflection of the true essence of human existence.
The first notes of Specimen transport the listener to a different dimension. The intricately woven acoustic rhythms and spacey loops featured throughout create an aura that is somewhere in between the past and future, but certainly not in the now. If you close your eyes and dig deeper into the EP you may suddenly get the feeling that you are alone, lost on a farm in Medieval times. However, you cannot be sure you have gone too far into the past as spaceships and the glowing effects of technological advancements cautiously linger above. The combination of folk-influenced songwriting with psychedelic loops throughout create a futuristic Americana sound that can delicately be defined as an Emersonian audio experience.
It would not be fair to single out any particular track when discussing this EP, as each individual song molds together to create a magnificent sum. Had Jones decided to record the songs as a string of instrumental tracks it would be worth your listen, but thankfully he chose to layer it with soothing vocals and thought-provoking samples. The theme of the album can be heard scattered throughout, and demands that you truly examine the human condition. He asks substantial questions like why are we here, and what’s it all for? However, he dares not provide answers, but rather guides the listener to an optimistic acceptance of the world we live in. As you reach the end of the final track, ‘Chapel Perilous,’ you are a caught in an anxious daydream of wanting more with the feeling of being lost in a snowstorm and glad to have nothing left to do but keep wandering. It would not be inappropriate to queue up “Throw Hands” again, and spend a little more time in the angelic world of Collin Jones.
Syracuse’s Jess Novak Band will release its new album, Fireworks & Fairytales, Friday November 10 and to celebrate, the band is throwing a CD release party at Turning Stone Casino Resort’s Turquoise Tiger Lounge in Verona Friday beginning at 9:30 p.m.
The free show will feature the four-piece Jess Novak Band that includes Novak (violin, vocals, guitar, percussion), Mark Nanni (keyboards, accordion, vocals), Anthony Saturno (guitar) and William Harrison (drums, bass). The band will be joined by the horn section that contributed to the new CD – Melissa Gardiner on trombone and Nick Fields on trumpet. Several special guests who contributed to the making of the album may also appear alongside the band.
JNB blends pop, soul, blues and rock, leading the audience on a voyage through the Stax vaults and down through the juke joints of the south. Terry Roland of No Depression magazine said of the band:
There are those rare moments in music when the dynamics of sight and sound converge into a near-perfect storm. Then it rains down talent and a connection of musical and personal chemistry create something that is irresistible….Their music is a blissful shot of Americana blues-based soul music.
The album is the Jess Novak Band’s third and the sixth overall for Novak. The first video from the album, “Do to You,” was released Nov. 5 and has received an Akademia Music Award for Best Pop/Rock. You can see the video below.
The band plans to begin a cross-country tour in early 2018 in support of the new album. In the meantime, you can catch them gigging throughout Central New York. In addition to being available at JNB shows, Fireworks & Fairytales will be available for streaming and download through iTunes, Spotify and Amazon.
The EP 
The first notes of Specimen transport the listener to a different dimension. The intricately woven acoustic rhythms and spacey loops featured throughout create an aura that is somewhere in between the past and future, but certainly not in the now. If you close your eyes and dig deeper into the EP you may suddenly get the feeling that you are alone, lost on a farm in Medieval times. However, you cannot be sure you have gone too far into the past as spaceships and the glowing effects of technological advancements cautiously linger above. The combination of folk-influenced songwriting with psychedelic loops throughout create a futuristic Americana sound that can delicately be defined as an Emersonian audio experience.
The free show will feature the four-piece