NYS Music 20​18

Author: Zach Culver

  • Rubblebucket Brings Albany To Its Knees… Literally

    On December 6, Rubblebucket brought their tour through Lucky Strike in Albany in support of their new album, Sun Machine. The duo in Kalmia Traver and Alex Toth are keeping the Rubblebucket name alive after a long, tough road. Sun Machine is an album that literally follows their own struggles as an on and off couple and keeping their personal issues aside as they continue to work together. The songs are incredibly powerful and make for what is being considered quite the theatrical performance.

    And The Kids from Northampton, MA opened the show. They’ve been on tour together a few times now as Kalmia and Alex have become close with the members, even having the “Kids” come out on stage with them for a couple songs. Rubblebucket backs themselves with an incredible touring band that changes from time to time but generally stays the same. Mixing their old classics like “Came Out of a Lady” and new ones like “Party Like Your Heart Hurts,” the band puts on an incredible production with shadow screens and, at one point, literally bringing the crowd to its knees and crowd surfing over them while playing their horns.

    Rubblebucket just announced their spring tour, coming back through New York in late January and mid-March before heading west.

      

     

  • The Floozies Bring Their Space Funk To Jupiter Hall

    On Wednesday, December 5, The Floozies played to a packed Jupiter Hall in Albany. SoDown opened the show with an extremely bass-heavy set. The Colorado native brought his unique bass drops to a point of no return, a point the Floozies would have to try and beat. But no headliner brings an opening act they think will outdo them.

    The Floozies duo was joined on this most recent tour by Atlanta’s own Terminal Horns. With their powers combined, they may not be Captain Planet, but they shook the earth that night. With their incredibly funky-yet-heavy lines, they kept the energy up all night. After New Year’s, they have a long run in Colorado before heading southeast and finishing off in Atlanta. After that, you can catch them at Envision Festival and Electric Forest.

  • Lotus Plays Games With Playstation Theater

    Lotus has been on top of their game this year, bringing their heavy bass-line jams across the country and on Saturday, November 24, the quintet came to NYC and played to a packed show at the Playstation Theater in Times Square.

    Set I: 128, Hammerstrike, Inspector Norse > Cosmosis, Cain & Abel, Travel > Greet the Mind

    Set II: Slow Cookin > Wooly Mammoth, Faceblind, Through the Mirror > Sunrain, Spaghetti > Age of Inexperience

    E: Strawberry Letter 23

    You can catch the boys this winter at Dominican Holidaze and on their New Year’s Run. They play the Majestic Theater in Detroit and the Intersection in Grand Rapids before finishing with two nights at Park West on December 30 and 31.

  • String Cheese Incident Finish Strong in Worcester

    After an incredible Suwannee Hulaween and Philly run, The String Cheese Incident finished their Halloween  tour with two incredible shows in Worcester, Massachusetts at the Palladium on November 2 and 3.

    Friday, Night One

    With 7 Hulaween sets and 4 in Philadelphia under their belt in the week prior, fans were unsure how the boys would be feeling coming into the weekend. Starting the first set off with the southern rock hit “On The Road,” they quickly dove into an incredible jam-filled “Sometimes a River.” Michael Kang belted on an 11-minute “Come As You Are” straight into an epic cover of Stevie Wonder’s “Boogie On Reggae Woman.” From Stevie, the boys continued this long string of non-stop jams to their salsa-inspired “Latinnismo,” last played in July of 2007 at Horning’s Hideout. They were really pulling out all the stops.

    The second set continued the high energy of the first with just six songs. There are almost no words to describe how heavy and jam-filled these were, as there were very few words to be heard from the band. After a long “You’ve Got The World” to start, they began what would be close to 75 minutes of non-stop music. Cheese slowed down only slightly for one of Bill Nershi‘s bluegrass classics, “Windy Mountain,” and the set ending with a 20-minute, extremely heavy “Howard.”

    Saturday, Night Two

    There didn’t seem to be any way that String Cheese could match their intensity from night one. Everyone was sure they would have a very bluegrass-heavy night, which would still have been amazing, but they were wrong… very wrong. The first song was a powerful “Let’s Go Outside,” into The Who’s “Eminence Front,” then back into LGO. They began a long string of classic fan favorites with “Little Hands,” covering Bob Dylan’s “Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues,” and ending the first set with yet another full fired rendition in “Rosie”.

    There is a lot of disagreement among Cheese fans about what they’re best at. Many love them for their roots as bluegrass greats, while others can’t seem to get enough of their heavier, more electronic bangers. The final set of the Halloween tour was one that everyone could enjoy. It was almost comical when the band went from one of their heaviest songs “Rivertrance” into “Pretty Polly” and back into Rivertrance. What makes this so incredible is Polly has long been sought after by the bluegrass-friendly fans, as it had not been played since October of 2013. After the set was finished with an eardrum-bursting “Beautiful,” you could tell the band was in high spirits. With incredible jovial energy, they ended their Halloween run with one of their all-time greats, “Colorado Bluebird Sky.”

    Fans old and new agree that these will go down as two of the best nights of Cheese in history, as would quite a few from this run, and a few more this year. The String Cheese Incident is one of the few bands that just continue to get better after 20 years together. They return to Colorado this New Year’s Eve to Broomfield. They also have their Jamaican Incident in January. They have yet to release any other information for 2019, but rest assured, each show and every set will be very Gouda, whether aged or smoked.

    Check out the photos from both nights below by Zatchmo Lives Media!

  • West End Blend Fill the Hollow Void With Funk

    The Hollow was home to Connecticut’s own West End Blend on Friday, October 12. The jam-friendly funk group brought The Age to open and then put on a funk clinic for a packed room. Erica T. Bryan‘s soul flowed through the band as their jams crashed onto the dance floor again and again.

    West End Blend has quickly worked their way up through the ranks to become one of the best live acts touring the northeast. You can catch them this weekend at Disc Jam Presents Holloween Horror Camp. And, if you can’t make it to one of their shows coming up, you really ought to pick up their new live album, Live at the Waterhole, because there’s nothing like listening to a jam band jam.

    Photos by Zatchmo Lives Media

  • Turkuaz Put Putnam In Its Place

    It’s always going to be a fun night when a band sells out a show. It’s going to be even better when that band is Brooklyn’s own, Turkuaz as the funk power house came to Putnam Place in Saratoga Springs on Saturday, October 6. Butcher Brown opened the show with a very groovy set with lots of peaks and valleys. They’ll be starting off each night of Turkuaz’s tour this month. Make sure to get there early and check them out.

    This show was truly one for the fans. With a rare “Gremlins” opener, the band played a slew of incredible classics from their beginnings to start their extra long single set. The energy was peaking for what seemed like the entire show, and with a back to back “Everyone’s a Winner” and “Life in the City,” you could only hope the night would never end. The balance of all the instruments, all the harmonies, all the raw power came together to finish the night with an energetic “Monkey Fingers.”

    You can catch the band around the country for the next couple months. They are down south this week before coming back up to Northampton MA, Providence RI, and a finishing their northeast run with a huge show at the Capitol Theatre in Port Chester. They will also be sharing the stage with tons of amazing talent, such as Cory Henry & the Funk Apostles, Lettuce, and Rubblebucket.

  • The Motet Sell Out Paradise Rock Club

    On April 7 Denver based powerhouse, The Motet, brought some serious funk out to Paradise Rock Club in Boston, MA. With Front man Lyle Divinsky, and Guitarist Ryan Jalbert both being from New England, and with Boston’s own Strange Machines opening the night, this show had a hometown feel to it.

    The sold out crowd was packing in fast as Strange Machines was getting into their set. The band fed off the crowd and played what seemed like a continuous set. The quartet rocked a seamless cover of Blackstreet’s “No Diggity” and then into a Golden Rule > Remote Dream > Golden Rule. Remote Dream was a  nice throw back to their 2014 album, Turn the Tide, while blending with Golden Rule, of their new album, Voice of Color.

    The Motet came out to a sea of crazy Bostonians who only got wilder when Lyle opened his jacket to reveal his Celtics’ Larry Bird shirt. The band was high energy from the beginning and never seemed to slow down. Fan favorites “Keep on Don’t Stoppin” and “Closed Mouth Don’t Get Fed” were met with an uproar. The crowd was also happy to hear a couple new tracks from the group, along with recently released singles, “Get It Right” and “Supernova”. The guys played a long set, ending with a beautiful rendition of George Clinton’s “Knee Deep”.

    The show in Boston was the Motet’s last of their Spring tour, and the band as of now has only one show between now and their Red Rocks headliner on June 2, which is the Sweetwater 420 Fest in Atlanta, Georgia. Check out pictures of both bands below via Zatchmo Lives Media.

  • Michal Menert and Breaking Biscuits Blow The Roof Off The Fillmore

    Michal Menert wanted to have a party in Denver, Colorado, so he invited a few of his friends to come rock out  at the Fillmore. His “Big Band,” The Pretty Fantastics, is a compilation of incredible musicians that accompanied him the night of January 26. And when he says big band, he means it. With horns sections, a cellist, violinist, drummer, DJ, and a backup singer/ keys player, the possibilities were endless.

    The lineup for the night was packed. With openers Elliot Lipp, Dynohunter, and Late Night Radio, they got the night started off right. The energy was high right out of the gate, and you could feel the crowd surging. The bill included another heavy hitter, Breaking Biscuits, a mashup of jam-legends, The Disco Biscuits, and electro-funk greats, Break Science. The super group made their debut at Brooklyn Comes Alive back in 2016, and fans have eagerly awaited their return.

    Breaking Biscuits began their set on a mile-high note, not letting the crowd forget who was on stage. With covers of RJD2’s “The Horror” and Daft Punk’s “Robot Rock,” the quartet blew the roof off the Fillmore. They were on fire and you could see it in their eyes. After Breaking Biscuits was done throttling the Denver crowd, Dynohunter rocked out a quick intermission set from the soundboard while the plethora of gear and instruments were brought out for The Pretty Fantastics, and the ceiling was reattached.

    Michal Menert is not only a very talented producer, but also an incredible guitarist and singer, and his big, massive, gigantically talented band touched all genres. Menert even gave Break Science a nod as he played a couple songs they co-produced together on their EP, Twilight Frequency. Between the horns, strings, and the heavy, heavy bass, you could say they were more than “pretty fantastic.”

    Check out photos below, courtesy of Zatchmo Lives Media.