Albany’s breakout funkateers Hartley’s Encore are slated to release their eponymous debut EP on April 20, and have released the first single, also titled “Hartley’s Encore,” through NYS Music. The track was written by Hartley’s co-founders Luke Malamood and Christopher Oliver, and the album was recorded and mixed by Alan Evans of Soulive at Iron Wax Recording Studio in Millers Falls, MA.
The refrain “Gonna give you an encore” fits perfectly as the last track of this 6-song EP, a party starter live and sure to leave those enjoying the EP wanting more. Driving horns stand out over a rous built by Luke Malamood’s keys and organ. Sax and trumpet interludes from Jeff Nania and Phil Chow, respectively, keep the flow of this funky number moving, just as your feet and hips will be once you get a taste of this funky troupe’s flavor.
Hartley’s Encore will be released on Friday, April 20, with a Record Release Party on Friday, April 27 at The Hollow in Albany with special guest Victory Soul Orchestra and hosted by Guthrie/Bell Productions. They will also perform at Bowery Electric on May 18 in Manhattan. Pre-order the album now.
Ghost Light kicked off the second leg of their debut tour on Wednesday, April 11. The scene’s newest supergroup, consisting of Tom Hamilton (Joe Russo’s Almost Dead, American Babies, Brothers Past, Electron, and former Phil and Friends member), Holly Bowling, Steve Lyons (Nico’s Gun), Raina Mullen (American Babies) and Scotty Zwang (Dopapod), made their east coast debut at Brooklyn Bowl with support from Colorado favourites Magic Beans. Ghost Light’s show consisted of some favourites from Tom Hamilton’s past projects along with some fresh improvisations, and a couple of covers from The Stones and The Dead.
Magic Beans:
Set One:
Give Me Something Real, Mission -> Do Your Thing, Mr Scientist, Lewd -> Lost and Found
Ghost Light:
Set 1: Untitled Jam, Simple Gift of Man *, Streets of Brooklyn
Set 2: Untilted Song> Sway+> Lead Weight > Bullseye Blues
E: Jack Straw&
* Brothers Past Cover, First Time Played
+ Rolling Stones Cover, First Time Played
& Grateful Dead Cover First Time Played
This past weekend, Amy Helm kicked off her second annual Woodshed Residency Tour, a revolving run of shows that is split between three venues across New York State and Massachusetts. Night one was held at Albany NY’s The Hollow Bar, a return venue for Helm, and the ebullient and groovy kickoff show set the bar for the whole trip at a lofty height.
Each stop on the Woodshed Tour will feature guests that Helm has procured from her ever expanding roster of musical friends and colleagues. Rocking night one at The Hollow Bar was The London Souls guitarist Tash Neal, Chris Robinson Brotherhood bassist Jeff Hill, Woodstock-based guitarist and keyboardist Connor Kennedy, and Brooklyn-based Yuval Lion on drums. Just like the late Levon, her old man, Amy Helm seems to have an affinity for not only surrounding herself with incredible artists, but for getting the most out of them on stage. Together, the four-piece made for a seriously airtight jam session that on the one side played Helm’s originals very professionally, but on the other hand had a lot of daring and creative fun with a slew of cover tunes.
But Helm first dove into the former, offering confident and well received versions of songs from her first and latest album, Didn’t It Rain. “Odetta” and “Didn’t it Rain” opened the evening with a grand, almost spiritual feel. Later on, “Rescue Me” from this same album hit off with The Hollow crowd as much if not more than any other tune of the evening.
The show also included a whole mess of other covers, which as Helm has described is another element naturally built into the essence of the Woodshed Tour—Helm’s background has given her an affinity for tributing the rich and expansive americana songbook that makes up her musical universe. Every cover at the Hollow was appreciated in full, as Helm and her jam session put a shine on all of them. One of the first was a Mary Goshen cover upon which the band flexed out a breezy little jam, that eventually cascaded into an “I Know You Rider.” The apex of the evening clearly revealed itself after this in the uptempo version of “Will The Circle Be Unbroken,” for which Helm and crew gathered around one microphone. It imbued a stripped-down feel to the buzz of the night until Neal put a cool, Dick-Dale-style guitar solo on it.
One of the strongest delivered covers was a rousing take on “Michigan” by The Milk Carton Kids—a terrific songwriting duo of brothers out of California. The end of this one featured a frenetic and trilling guitar solo from Kennedy. Other gems included a Ronnie Hawkins tune, sung by, in Helm’s words, “one of the greatest singers of all time” (Richard Manuel), and a bubbly take on The Pointer Sister’s “Yes We Can Can,” which Helm clearly was hip-hop style verses.
For sure, Helm has implied challenges of stage fright throughout her past, but today it seems that on stage any supposed nervousness washes away pretty quickly. Every single time the music revved back up, almost uncontrollably Helm was persuaded by the energy of the band and the responsive crowd, and repeatedly took command of it all. She became the center of her little musical melting pot, and shined as a lead singer, as a troubadour, as a stage performer.
Helm and her bandmates hung out afterwards around The Hollow’s bar, trading stories with fans and taking photos. It encompassed the spirit that seems to be at the center of this Woodshed Tour, and The Hollow seems to be a no-brainer, choice spot for a tour of this musically rare nature.
The tour continues this Sunday night with another set at The Hollow, among dates at other venues such as Marlboro’s The Falcon, Northampton’s Parlor Room, and NYC’s Rockwood Music Hall.
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.
Cousin Earth are gearing up for the release of Human Music, the group’s second album, and have released the video for “Train Luck,” a rebuke of the NYC subway system and MTA as a whole. The unique lyric video has a late 70s early music video feel, pulling on influences from Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention and overlapping vocals that create a symphonic sound over the ukulele driven solos.
Bassist Corey Feldman shares his frustrations. “As long-time New Yorkers, we have learned to channel our deep hatred for ‘train traffic’ by playing this song. Joe Calfa crafted this tune, and we all immediately jumped on board as we have all felt the wrath of mass transit.” Given recentfrustrations with the city’s handling of the aging subway system, “Train Luck” channels the mood towards the MTA perfectly.
Cousin Earth’s upcoming album Human Music is due out on April 27 on all platforms and they’ll perform that night at Bowery Electric with The Phyrg and Hunt for Hunter.
Cincinnati-based synth-pop troupe, Founding Fathers, today release their sophomore full-length album “Mating Rites.” With influences of Beck, Ween and LCD Soundsystem, Founding Fathers blends new wave, synth-rock and dance to deliver a high-energy performance of infectious music guaranteed to get you moving.
Eric Johnson (guitar, vocals) handled much of the recording, mixing, and mastering process, with production and mixing assistance from Associate Engineer Greg Yock (Bottom Line). Johnson states that Founding Fathers’ “…goal is to infect as many people as possible with our music.” The group’s debut album, Filthy Animals, was released in October 2016.
Woodstock. If you’re not from the Hudson Valley, chances are when you hear that name, you have a similar thought as everyone else: a monumental music festival that took place over three days with a bunch of hippies on some farm in upstate New York that changed the world as we know it. Everyone has a story about their dad’s friend who stayed around for Hendrix’s famous Monday morning set, or their uncle who abandoned their car on Route 17B and walked six miles through Bethel to make it to the free-love oasis. Ironically, the most popular song written about the festival, “Woodstock,” was also written via hearsay and stories from friends by folk singer/songwriter Joni Mitchell, who spent the weekend watching the festival unfold on television as just another fan in a New York apartment.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRjQCvfcXn0
Despite being scheduled to appear at Woodstock, Mitchell cancelled her performance last minute on the advice of her agent, David Geffen, out of fear that she would not make it back to New York in time for her television appearance on The Dick Cavett Show. Watching the television coverage and hearing stories from her then boyfriend, Graham Nash, had such a profound impact on Mitchell that she wrote the ‘60s anthem within a few weeks of the festival and debuted it live at the Celebration of Big Sur festival the following September. Since then, it has been covered by countless artists, including her ex-boyfriend in his folk-rock supergroup Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young.
“Woodstock” tells the story of a narrator who encounters a boy on his way to the festival at Max Yasgur’s farm in Bethel (not Woodstock as originally intended) who explains to her that he is going not only for the music, but also to live off the land and cleanse his soul. She joins him on his journey because she too feels the need for a spiritual awakening and wants to get away from the rigid life she is living. By the time they arrive at the festival, it is in full swing, and even better than what they had hoped. They find a fantastic celebration, and the idea of hope in a time when the world was so unstable.
What inspired Mitchell the most about the event was the fact that people could be so good to each other and coexist without any issues, even if just for a few days. In a 1995 interview, Mitchell said:
“The deprivation of not being able to go provided me with an intense angle on Woodstock. I was one of the fans. I was put in the position of being a kid who couldn’t make it. So I was glued to the media. And, at the time, I was going through a kind of born again Christian trip – not that I went to any church, I’d given up Christianity at an early age in Sunday school. But suddenly, as performers, we were in the position of having so many people look to us for leadership, and for some unknown reason, I took it seriously and decided I needed a guide and leaned on God. …So I was a little ‘God mad’ at the time, for lack of a better term, and I had been saying to myself, ‘Where are the modern miracles? Where are the modern miracles?’ Woodstock, for some reason, impressed me as being a modern miracle, like a modern day fishes-and-loaves story. For a herd of people that large to cooperate so well, it was pretty remarkable and there was tremendous optimism. So I wrote the song ‘Woodstock’ out of these feelings…”
Joni Mitchell
The giving nature and comradery of Woodstock began before the festivities even started, however, when the original site of the festival in Woodstock, NY fell through. Just weeks before it was planned to take place, dairy farmer Max Yasgur offered up his farm in Bethel, NY as site of the festival, anticipating around 40,000 attendants. When it was all said and done, more than 400,000 people attended the festival, making Yasgur a counterculture hero to all those in attendance and countless others.
The 1969 Woodstock festival put the town Bethel on the map, although many locals were not too excited about the new exposure at the time. Many of his neighbors were against the festival from the get-go and pushed to boycott Yasgur’s milk for years afterwards. However, nearly 50 years later, the site of the festival has only become more famous. Today the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts, a cultural non-profit that hosts concerts and events, exists on the site of Yasgur’s farm and has become a major stop for nationally touring artists. It was added to the National Registry of Historic Places by Governor Andrew Cuomo in 2017 who called the festival “a pivotal moment in both New York and American history.” There have even been talks about a Woodstock 50th anniversary festival being held at the site in the summer of 2019, but only time will tell if if it can summon the same magic that made the 1969 Woodstock festival so historic.
‘Woodstock’ Lyrics:
I came upon a child of God He was walking along the road And I asked him where are you going And this he told me I’m going on down to Yasgur’s farm * I’m going to join in a rock ‘n’ roll band I’m going to camp out on the land I’m going to try an’ get my soul free
We are stardust We are golden And we’ve got to get ourselves Back to the garden
Then can I walk beside you I have come here to lose the smog And I feel to be a cog in something turning Well maybe it is just the time of year Or maybe it’s the time of man I don’t know who I am But you know life is for learning
We are stardust We are golden And we’ve got to get ourselves Back to the garden
By the time we got to Woodstock We were half a million strong And everywhere there was song and celebration And I dreamed I saw the bombers Riding shotgun in the sky And they were turning into butterflies Above our nation
We are stardust Billion year old carbon We are golden Caught in the devil’s bargain And we’ve got to get ourselves back to the garden
Baked Shrimp, one of Long Island’s best kept secrets, recently released their album Feast of Delight, showcasing the band’s various styles and genres, including multi-part compositions, radio-friendly pop songs and even a folk song in the single “Orpheus.”
Since forming in January 2017, Baked Shrimp has broken into the Long Island and NYC jam scene and, over the course of the past year, the high-energy rock trio have played unique shows across the Northeast and are looking to build on that success in 2018 with the release of Feast of Delight that puts front and center a distinct ’90s indie vibe.
“The Manatee,” a 10 minute gentle giant, gets heavy in the right spots, features elements of post-punk emerging throughout and gives off a Disco Biscuits feel with the continuous vibe built throughout. “Dick Turk” has wide ranging guitar play from Jared Cowen, a versatile stand out, especially on “Machiavellian” which contains guitar work that makes the song a distant cousin of Henry Mancini’s calliope in “Baby Elephant Walk,” building firmly and erupting for a fire-y ending.
“Orpheus” is the lightest fare on the album, but the acoustic sing along makes it a perfect single off the album and stands out just before the closing “Chimera,” which has a distinct Ominous Seapods feel, even if the bands are nearly 25 years apart, and a little dose of Talking Heads’ “Cities,” wrapping up an album that will be perfect for afternoon listening and dancing to late into the night this summer. Tune into Feast of Light below, on Bandcamp, and check out live shows from Baked Shrimp on Archive.org
Colorado-based The Magic Beans, currently on tour in support of their latest album Casino Cabaret , found themselves at Buffalo Iron Works on Saturday, April 7. While the calendar may indicate spring, the thermometer said otherwise, but The Magic Beans with support from Formula 5 wasted little time warming up the enthusiastic crowd.
The opener treated the audience to a 20+ minute version of original “Blue” and nearly as much time on a jammed out cover of Don Henley’s “Dirty Laundry.” The Magic Beans put on one helluva show with the crowd dancing straight through until 1am. Highlights included “Mission” and “More” off Casino Cabaret plus a huge cover of Prince’s “I Wanna be your Lover” after “Lost and Found.” The Beans are the real deal when it comes to jams that make you dance, and Formula 5 is right there alongside them.
Check out The Magic Beans this Thursday at The Hollow in Albany with Let’s Be Leonard and, also on Thursday, check out Formula 5 with Goose, Animal Reporters and Bee the Band at DROM in NYC.
On Friday, April 13, Abilene Bar and Lounge will celebrate their 10th anniversary with a special concert featuring JD McPherson, plus Jake La Botz and Woody Pines.
