If there’s anything I’ve learned about Boy Jr., it’s to expect the unexpected. Rochester native Erica Lubman has been experimenting with music since childhood, combining her love for garage rock and indie pop with a flair for dramatic fashion. She’s equally likely to turn up on stage in a retro matching tracksuit as a leather skirt and torn T-shirt. As with her wardrobe, she shows off a wide range of songs in her repertoire – from punk to grunge.
Boy Jr.’s latest release “Anyway” shows her ability to continue to stretch and grow in innovative ways. “Anyway” pairs guitar-driven rock with spunky girl power (think Cage The Elephant meets Caroline Rose). Give it a spin!
Go to Spotify to hear more by Boy Jr. and follow on Facebook for upcoming shows.
Twiddle frontman Mihali recently released politically charged single “Fading State” for his upcoming album. The album is yet to be titled and fans are eagerly anticipating a release date. The new single features vocals from Nahko (Nahko and Medicine for the People) and Trevor Hall who support Mihali in this advocacy-driven single. Produced by Johnny Cosmic of Stick Figure, Mihali’s reggae single focuses on protecting the environment and putting aside political agendas for the greater good.
The issue is continuously met with opposition motivated by greed. It’s up to all of us as individuals to do what we can…to do our part to make a positive change in the world. With our current political climate, I think now is the perfect time for this single to be released.
Mihali refers to “Fading State” as the spark that influenced most of his newest musical creations. While the debut album is yet to be announced, glimpses of the anticipated album will show up throughout the course of Mihali’s solo December tour of the Northeast. There are four New York shows lined up in the rapid fire schedule below.
Mihali Tour Schedule:
Dec. 5 – Mercury Lounge – New York, NY
Dec. 6 – Spcae Ballroom – Hamden, CT Dec. 7 – Putnam Place – Saratoga Springs, NY Dec. 8 – Funk ‘n Waffles – Syracuse, NY
Dec. 9 – Portland House of Music – Portland, ME
Dec. 11 – Wonder Bar – Asbury Park, NJ
Dec. 12 – 8 x 10 – Baltimore, MD Dec. 13 – BSP-3 – Kingston, NY
Dec. 14 – Jewel – Manchester, NH
Dec. 15 – Gateway City Arts – Holyoke, MA
Watch Mihali’s “Fading State” music video down below and get a feel for what to expect on his premier solo album.
Editor’s Note: This article was edited to correct the title of the song.
Looking for a new genre of music? Try Funeral Pop, and the sounds of New York based duo MXMS who have recently released their new single “Gravedigger.” The self-produced duo from New York City and small-town Oklahoma have created their own genre, which fuses classic melodic songwriting with dark, unfiltered chaos, driven by a thousand forms of fear. Just in time for the holidays. They’ll perform in Hollywood, CA at underground nightclub Cloak & Dagger on October 30.
MXMS is short for “Me and My Shadow” and brings together singer Ariel Levitan and multi-instrumentalist Jeremy Dawson. MXMS’ debut untitled album will be released on We Are:The Guard/Kobalt Records in early 2019.
Brooklyn-based quintet Phony Ppl have shared their funky new song, “Something About Your Love”, off their forthcoming album, mō’zā-ik, due out Oct. 19. Phony Ppl blend soul, funk, and R&B and are not limited to just one genre, as evidenced by this track mixed by Grammy Award winner Qmillion. Complex premiered the song, who said “Although this track details the experience of heartache and pondering the right time to leave a toxic situation, the band creates a balance with the instrumentation that mirrors the good moments we tend to focus on when ignoring all the red flags.”
Explaining the track, frontman Elbee Thrie noted, “It’s a song about staying in a relationship you know is poisonous. We recorded it at a Universal Audio session in Santa Cruz, CA then finished back in NYC at ‘The Cabin’ at The Manhattan Center” Phony Ppl also earned cosigns from heavyweights Childish Gambino and Tyler The Creator, who named “End of the Night” one of his favorite tracks that year.
Phony Ppl have performed with Erykah Badu and The Roots, along with opening for 2017 breakout star Kali Uchis on her nationwide tour, and individual members have shared their talents on projects from Snake Hips, Princess Nokia, Mac Miller and Odd Future.
All five members of Phony Ppl come from a long line of musical families which helped cultivate their own love for the artform. Each member attended music classes and schools across the country, including Juilliard and the School of Rock, before finding each other in 2009. Those early after-school jam sessions evolved into the band’s current lineup, featuring Elbee Thrie on vocals, Elijah Rawk on lead guitar, Matt “Maffyuu” Byas on drums, Aja Grant on keys and Bari Bass on bass guitar.
Upcoming Tour Dates:
Nov. 8 – The Fillmore – San Francisco, CA
Nov. 9 – The Catalyst – Santa Cruz, CA
Nov. 11 – The Pressroom – Phoenix, AZ //
Nov. 13 – Summit – Denver, CO
Nov. 15 – Wooly’s – Des Moines, IA
Nov. 16 – The Rave – Milwaukee, WI
Nov. 18 – Vogue – Indianapolis, IN
Nov. 19 – House of Blues Cleveland – Cleveland, OH
Nov. 20 – The Danforth BIA – Toronto, ON
Nov. 21 – The Fillmore Silver Spring – Silver Spring, MD
Nov. 23 – The Fillmore -Philadelphia, PA
Nov. 24 – The National – Richmond, VA Nov. 25 – Irving Plaza – New York, NY
Nov. 26 – Irving Plaza – New York, NY
While their new album is still under wraps, LongWave has “Stay With Me,” the first single from the NY rockers in ten years. Longwave formed in Brooklyn at the dawn of the New York indie rock resurgence in 1999 and signed with RCA Records where it released the Dave Fridmann-produced (Mercury Rev, Flaming Lips) The Strangest Things, who also produced the EP Life Of The Party. The band has toured throughout the world sharing billing domestically and overseas with their friends The Strokes, as well as The National, The Vines, The Doves, bloc party, Blue October, and Kasabian among others.
The band will embark on a Fall Tour supporting Blue October, kicking off in Royal Oak, MI on October 11th. They’ve also launched a Pledge Music campaign to coincide with the upcoming tour and album release.
Tour Dates
(headlining) 11.17 – New York City, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
(with Blue October)
10.11 – Royal Oak, MI @ Royal Oak Music Theatre
10.12 – St. Louis, MO @ The Pageant
10.13 – Milwaukee, WI @ The Rave / Eagles Club
10.14 – Indianapolis, IN @ Egyptian Room
10.17 – Fayetteville, AR @ George’s Majestic Room
10.18 – Memphis, TN @ New Daisy Theatre
10.19 – Tulsa, OK @ Brady Theatre
10.20 – Dallas, TX @ The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory
10.21 – San Antonio, TX @ Aztec Theatre
Bushicks (pronounced bush-hicks), a power trio based out of the Bushwick neighborhood of Brooklyn with members all originating from Upstate New York, have announced the release of two singles; “When Life Gives You Lemonade” and “Truffle Shuffle” as a Digital 45rpm to all major platforms.
Working with talented Engineer, Phil Duke at Continental Recording Studios in Long Island City, Jonny “Bushick” Patrizio (Guitar/Lead Vocals), Jess Bogwicz (Bass Guitar), and John Adamski (Drums/Backing Vocals) add their own style to the classic sounds of rock ‘n roll. Patrizio’s songwriting and vocal approach adds a fresh take on the genre while making use of the large selection of vintage equipment available at the studio. A 1960’s Montgomery Ward amp was used on both tracks.
Dukes had this to say about the band:
Bushicks are a REAL Rock and Roll band. There are many imitators out there, but these guys don’t need to fake it. Drawing upon inspiration from our heroes of yesterday, I had the pleasure of recording a band that is building for the future and continuing the spirit of great Rock and Roll music. For a young band, I am excited to hear them grow and I hope you do too.
Bushicks will be headlining Brooklyn Bowl on Sunday, Sept. 16 with Johnny Butler and The Epic Fail and Brooklyn natives, Ltrain. This will be Bushicks second Brooklyn Bowl show and their first time headlining. The show starts at 7:30 PM and tickets are $7. For more information, visit the Brooklyn Bowl website here.
T@NE™, a progressive alternative band out of New York City this summer have released their debut single “Rock Joint.”
T@NE is the name for musician, saxophonist, composer, producer and artist Arnold Tone Kaplan Lee. Along with bandmates Taber Gable (keyboards), Andrew Renfroe (guitar), Dan Pappalardo (bass), and Pete Manheim (drums), T@NE and crew are making music for the future. “Rock Joint” is a fantastic debut single and takes the listener on a progressive journey with segments of intricate jazz and rock that you can easily sink into. Lee says of “Rock Joint”: “I chose this track as the first single because before we release music that is more produced (and more post production), I wanted to release a track that has the vibe of us just rocking out and how we play in concert, so we went in the studio and did a take and this what we got.”
T@NE has been performing in the New York City area, playing at venues such as Pianos, Arlene’s Grocery, and Rockwood Music Hall. Catch them on Sunday Sept. 16 at Arlene’s Grocery. Follow T@NE on Instagram and Twitter.
Sister Sparrow has released the first single, “Ghost,” a poppy, energetic club number with hints of Blondie throughout, off Gold, due out on October 12th.
Sister Sparrow has released the new single, “Ghost,” ahead of the release of their latest album Gold, a single that Arleigh Kincheloe explains was inspired by “That feeling when someone has rejected you but now suddenly wants you back… that drunken late-night text from an ex out of the blue. Ain’t got time for that. Ghosting someone who really deserves it is what it’s about. Getting even but also ridding your life of the BS that keeps holding you back.” In an unconventional move, Sister Sparrow premiered the unique “lyric” video, which features the lyrics displayed in emojis instead of words, on Snapchat, after leading fans through a social media scavenger hunt to allow them to see the video and hear the single 24 hours before it was officially released.
Gold takes the classic soul-rock sound created by Sister Sparrow and her brass-fueled combo, The Dirty Birds, and turns it into something altogether new, a soul-blasted contemporary pop approach supremely suited for Kincheloe’s immense voice and even greater vision. Produced and co-written in collaboration with Carter Matschullat (Chef’Special, Secret Weapons) at Brooklyn’s DØØM Studio, the new album sees Sister Sparrow expressing herself like never before.
Sister Sparrow will celebrate their new LP with a major U.S. tour, kicking off on Aug. 30 in Athens, New York, and running through December. Check out tourdates here and New york dates below.
Aug 30 Athens Summer concert series, Athens, NY
Sept 21 Westcott Theater, Syracuse, NY
Sept 22 Borderland Music Festival, East Aurora, NY
Nov 10 The Egg, Albany, NY
Dec 1 Irving Plaza, NYC
For a taste of Sister Sparrow’s live sound, check out their NPR Tiny Desk Concert.
Acclaimed guitarist Marc Ribot has released “The Militant Ecologist” featuring Meshell Ndegeocello, the latest track off his upcoming Sept. 14 release, Songs of Resistance 1942-2018 on ANTI-Records. Ribot set out to assemble a set of songs that spoke to this political moment with appropriate ambition, passion, and fury, starting at the end of 2016, not just in response to the American elections but to the political trends he was seeing around the world.
“I am alarmed by Trump and the movement he’s part of,” he says. “I’ve spent a good chunk of my life running around the world on tour—I’m kind of an accidental internationalist—and I see that he’s not an isolated phenomenon. And if we don’t deal with what is going on, it is going to deal with us.” In releasing “The Militant Ecologist featuringMeshell Ndegeocello, Ribot repurposes the popular Italian resistance song “Fischia il Vento” (Whistling in the Wind). Renowned punk rock filmmaker Jem Cohen has also directed a video for the song featuring a green-tinged New York City skyline with a flag whipping in the wind.
For their new take, Ribot and Ndegeocello change the male partisan fighter in the original song to a woman fighting to stop global warming. “We changed the gender in our version and the flag at the end is green,” Ribot explained of his and Ndegeocello’s take on the song and visuals. “But Meshell projects the persona of a resistance fighter going on a mission perfectly: ‘strong her heart, and swift her arm to strike.”
The eleven songs on the record include a few original compositions as well as traditional songs that are drawn from World War II anti-Fascist Italian partisans, the U.S. civil rights movement and Mexican protest ballads. It also features a wide range of guest vocalists, including Tom Waits, Steve Earle, Meshell Ndegeocello, Justin Vivian Bond, Fay Victor, Ohene Cornelius and Sam Amidon.
Over a forty-year career, Ribot has released twenty-five albums under his own name and been a beacon of New York’s downtown/experimental music scene, leading a series of bands including Los Cubanos Postizos and Ceramic Dog. Since his work with Tom Waits on 1985’s Rain Dogs album, though, he is best known to the world as a sideman, playing on countless albums by the likes of Elvis Costello, John Mellencamp, Norah Jones, the Black Keys, and Robert Plant and Alison Krauss’ Grammy-winning collaboration Raising Sand.
Along with his musical efforts, Ribot has also been an outspoken activist/community organizer in a number of causes, from affordable housing to musicians’ rights in the digital age. Portions of the album’s proceeds will be donated to The Indivisible Project, an organization that helps individuals resist the Trump agenda via grassroots movements in their local communities.
Oliver Kennan, a New York City-based indie-soul artist and bandleader, has become known in the NY music scene for his infectious energy onstage and his remarkably tight seven-piece contemporary soul band. Oliver is a retro-soul performer with one foot planted firmly in the 21st century, with influences ranging from Otis Redding to Arcade Fire, Betty Davis to Radiohead, and Wilson Pickett to Amy Winehouse. Give a listen to his first single, “Waiting,” just released via Hornblow Recordings.
“Waiting” is a modern take on the rock and soul of the past and a classic story of a young man searching for love in the loneliest big city in the world, NYC. It’s one part Tower of Power’s up-tempo funk with a contemporary swagger where Oliver plays the lonely loverboy with conviction and good humor. The band channeled the vintage sounds of their favorite records while recording live to tape at The Bunker Studios and Thump Studios in Brooklyn. “Waiting” was written by Oliver Kennan, is published by Easy Coast Music (BMI) and was produced by Graham Stone and mastered by Bob Ludwig.
