NYS Music 20​18

Category: Genres

  • 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.

  • All-Star lineup featured on Wynton Marsalis ‘United We Swing: Best of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Galas’

    United We Swing: Best of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Galas, is soon to be released compilation of selections from shows that Wynton Marsalis and his Septet performed from 2003–2007. An all-star cast of musicians joins the compilation, set for release on March 23.

    marsalis united we swing

    Joining Marsalis on the compilation are Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, Lenny Kravitz, Willie Nelson, John Mayer, John Legend, Blind Boys of Alabama, Derek Trucks, Susan Tedeschi, James Taylor, Ray Charles, Natalie Merchant, Jimmy Buffett, Carrie Smith, Audra McDonald and Lyle Lovett. Marsalis says of the the release, “On this recording and in these concerts, we came together to affirm common roots, to celebrate the diversity of our creativity, and to pass the reality of our best achievements on to our kids. We were, and are, United in Swing.”

    Pre-order United We Swing here, with all album proceeds supporting children’s music education around the world.

    United We Swing Tracklist

    1. “The Last Time” feat. Blind Boys of Alabama
    2. “It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry” feat. Bob Dylan
    3. “I’m Gonna Move to the Outskirts of Town” feat. Ray Charles
    4. “I’m Not Rough” feat. Eric Clapton
    5. “Creole Love Call” feat. Audra McDonald
    6. “Milk Cow Blues” feat. Willie Nelson
    7. “I’m Gonna Find Another You” feat. John Mayer
    8. “My Baby Don’t Tolerate” feat. Lyle Lovett
    9. “The Worst Thing” feat. Natalie Merchant
    10. “Please Baby Don’t” feat. John Legend
    11. “Mean Old Man” feat. James Taylor
    12. “Are You Gonna Go My Way” feat. Lenny Kravitz
    13. “Fool’s Paradise” feat. Jimmy Buffett
    14. “Empty Bed Blues” feat. Carrie Smith
    15. “I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free” feat. Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks
    16. “What Have You Done?”

  • Consider the Source Announce Coast-to-Coast Spring Tour

    Consider the Source has announced a Spring Tour, spanning the entire country coast to coast over 31 shows across March, April and May.  The first two shows of the tour find the trio opening for Pink Talking Fish at The Capitol Theatre on Feb. 10, and supporting funk/soul legends Soulive at Ardmore Music Hall on March 2. The next night the band then heads into Brooklyn to perform at House of Yes with You Bred Raptors? before taking a few weeks off prior to a cross country tour.

    consider the source coastConsider the Source were recently guests on Adult Swim’s Fishcenter Live. If you missed the episode, stream it here.

    Feb. 10 – The Capitol Theatre – Port Chester, NY*
    March 2 – Ardmore Music Hall – Ardmore, PA#
    March 3 – House of Yes – Brooklyn, NY%
    March 30 – Chameleon Club – Lancaster, PA%
    April 4 – Buffalo Iron Works – Buffalo, NY
    April 5 – Woodlands Tavern – Columbus, OH
    April 6 – Reggies Music Joint – Chicago, IL
    April 7 – Source Public House – Menasha, WI
    April 8 – The Frequency – Madson, WI
    April 12 – The Black Sheep – Colorado Springs, CO
    April 13 – Lost Lake – Denver, CO
    April 14 – The Fox Theatre – Boulder, CO@
    April 18 – Filling Station – Bozeman, MT
    April 19 – Red Room Lounge – Spokane, WA
    April 20 – High Dive – Seattle, WA
    April 21 – Analog Cafe – Portland, OR
    April 22 – HiFi Music Hall – Eugene, OR
    April 25 – The Dip – Redding, CA
    April 26 – Humboldt Brews – Arcata, CA
    April 27 – Alibi Ale Works – Truckee, CA
    April 28 – Bottom of the Hill – San Francisco, CA
    May 2 – Mohawk – Austin, TX
    May 3 – Gas Monkey – Dallas, TX
    May 4 – The Abbey Underground – Denton, TX
    May 5 – The Shrine – Tulsa, OK
    May 9 – Zydeco – Birmingham, AL
    May 10 – High Rock Outfitters – Lexington, NC
    May 11 – Bright Box – Winchester, VA
    May 18 – King’s Rook Club – Erie, PA
    May 19 – Hookahville – Bellefontaine, OH
    May 26 – StrangeCreek Campout – Greenfield, MA

    *w/ Pink Talking Fish
    #w/ Soulive
    %w/ You Bred Raptors?
    @w/ The Jauntee & Sixty Minute Men

  • Carnegie Hall Tribute to Led Zeppelin to feature Betty Lavette, The London Souls, more

    On March 7, Michael Dorf, founder of The Knitting Factory and City Winery, will bring together a wide ranging lineup of artists once again for an annual tribute to a legendary musical act. This year, The Music of Led Zeppelin will be honored by 20 genre-spanning artists at Carnegie Hall.

    carnegie hall led zeppelin

    For the concert, the house band will be led by Tony Shanahan (Patti Smith) and will include Jackie Greene, Andy York, Andy Burton and Dennis Diken. Previously-announced performers for the benefit are Bettye LaVette, The Zombies, Living Colour, The London Souls, J Mascis, Orianthi and Richie Sambora, O.A.R., Erika Wennerstrom of Heartless Bastards and Brian Wheat of Tesla.

    Recent additions to the show include moe. and the return of Bustle in Your Hedgerow, a supergroup formed in 2003 that features Joe Russo, Marco Benevento, Scott Metzger and Dave Dreiwitz. Nicole Atkins, Joseph Arthur, Son Little and Patty Smyth fill out the lineup for The Music of Led Zeppelin.

    The March 7 show will be the 15th annual tribute concert Dorf has held at Carnegie Hall, with net proceeds benefiting music education organizations for underprivileged youth. Over $1.3 million has been raised by the series in since its inception. Benefits in the past have honored the music of Aretha Franklin, Bill Withers, David Byrne, Paul Simon, Prince, Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Elton John, R.E.M., Neil Young, The Rolling Stones and others. For tickets and more info, visit Carnegie Hall’s website.

  • An Acoustic Evening With Trey Anastasio at the Mayo Performing Arts Center

    Trey Anastasio kicked off a nine-night solo acoustic tour at the Mayo Performing Arts Center in Morristown New Jersey on February 8. He performed to a capacity crowd of 1,302 people. Just for perspective, MSG holds 20,789 people. That’s right around 16 times smaller than the room we all just saw him play in 17 times last year. 2018 is starting off a bit more intimate. The audience shared in a bit of back and forth with Anastasio, “If you sing it I’ll Play It,” Trey told fans as they were coaxing out a “Sleeping Monkey”. That then inspired Trey to challenge the crowd to a  “Limb By Limb”. “… But can you do this one?”, he laughed. They could, as both songs feature the audience singing the vocal parts normally done by Page.

    Trey Anastasio Acoustic

    As he has been known to do, Anastasio also took time between songs to share stories and engage the audience. Storytime with Trey. He covered topics ranging from pregnant cow’s milk to the tongue-eating louse, killer of fish. We also heard the tale of poor young Payton Hooten getting lost at his first concert. Don’t worry Trey talked to his mom on the phone, and reunited him with his friends. Trey also took the opportunity to share about the loss of his lifelong friend to cancer, and debut a song he wrote during the experience. He went on to describe the Portuguese emotion of “Saudade” just before he began playing, although the song was not officially named at the time.

    Trey Anastasio continues his acoustic tour tonight in Ithaca at the State Theatre.

    Setlist: Blaze On, Backwards Down The Number Line, Miss You, Strange Design, 20 Years Later, Wolfman’s Brother, Everything’s Right, The Inlaw Josie Wales, Sleeping Monkey, Limb By Limb, Waste, “Saudade”^, Bathtub Gin> Chalkdust Torture> Back On The Train

    Encore: Bouncing Around The Room, Push On Til The Day*, More

    ^ First Time Played, Original- In honor of CCott

    *Unfinished- Played up to “…Pete threw a bomb and rang the pole…” then stopped to tell the story of that lyric

  • Primus and Mastodon Pairing Up For Huge Summer Tour

    Primus and Mastodon are hitting the road together this year for a huge summer tour. Stretching non-step from the beginning of May to early July, the tour will circumvent virtually the entire country.

    Primus Mastodon And talk about a great first show to kick things off! On May 6, the two bands will rage Red Rocks Amphitheater for what should be an especially memorable night. The majority of May will take them through the south, to venues in cities like Dallas, Nashville, Alabama and Georgia, before late May and early June starts their northeast leg. Along with dates in Portland, Asbury Park, Providence and others, they will play three New York venues: Artpark Amphitheater in Lewiston, Cool Insuring Arena in Glen Falls, and Ford Amphitheater at Coney Island Boardwalk.

    The rest of June will take them back out towards the midwest and west, from Columbus to Chicago, to Indianapolis and then farther out to spots like Bonner, Montana, Seattle Washington, and Bend, Oregon. Primus and Mastodon wrap it all up on July 7 at Comerica Theatre in Phoenix, AZ.

    The pairing of these two hard rock titans should be a dream matchup for fans of either band. Primus will be supporting their 2017 release, the storybook concept album The Desaturating Seven. Mastodon is also coming off its own 2017 release, Emperor in Sand. Both albums have received ample praise across the major music news sources, and have certainly resulted in some tremendous recent shows from each artist.

    Tickets are now available for all summer shows, and you can get them by visiting either Primus or Mastodon’s websites.

    Primus and Mastodon 2018 Summer Tour Schedule:

    May 6 – Morrison, CO – Red Rocks Amphitheater
    May 8 – Oklahoma City, OK – The Criterion
    May 10 – Dallas, TX – Southside Ballroom
    May 11 – Austin, TX – Austin 360 Amphitheater
    May 12 – Rogers, AR – Walmart Arkansas Music Pavilion
    May 14 – Birmingham, AL – BJCC Concert Hall
    May 15 – Nashville, TN – Nashville Municipal Auditorium
    May 16 – Atlanta, GA – Fox Theater
    May 18 – Portsmouth, VA – Portsmouth Pavilion
    May 19 – Charlotte, NC – Charlotte Metro Credit Union Amphitheatre
    May 20 – Raleigh, NC – Red Hat Amphitheater
    May 22 – Reading, PA – Diamond Credit Union Theater @ Santander
    May 23 – Lewiston, NY – Artpark Amphitheater
    May 25 – Glen Falls, NY – Cool Insuring Arena
    May 26 – Providence, RI – Bold Point Park
    May 27 – Portland, ME – TBA
    May 29 – Boston, MA – Blue Hills Bank Pavilion
    May 30 – Philadelphia, PA – Penn’s Landing – Festival Pier
    June 1 – Asbury Park, NJ – Stone Pony Summerstage
    June 2 – Baltimore, MD – Pier 6 Pavilion
    June 3 – Brooklyn, NY – Ford Amphitheater @ Coney Island Boardwalk
    June 5 – Columbus, OH – Express Live! Outdoor Amphitheatre
    June 6 – Chicago, IL – Huntington Bank Pavilion at Northerly Island
    June 8 – Pittsburgh, PA – Stage AE
    June 9 – Sterling Heights, MI – Michigan Lottery Amphitheater at Freedom Hill
    June 10 – Indianapolis, IN – Farmer’s Bureau Insurance Lawn at White River State Park
    June 12 – Cincinnati, OH – PNC Pavilion at Riverbend Music Center
    June 14 – Minneapolis, MN – MYTH LIVE
    June 15 – Bonner Springs, KS – Providence Medical Center Amphitheater
    June 16 – Camdenton, MO – Ozarks Amphitheater
    June 18 – Lincoln, NE – Pinewood Bowl Theater
    June 21 – Bonner, MT – Kettlehouse Amphitheater
    June 22 – Seattle, WA – Marymoor Park
    June 23 – Bend, OR – Les Schwab Amphitheater
    June 25 – Troutdale, OR – Edgefield
    June 28 – Avila Beach, CA – Avila Beach Resort Amphitheater
    June 29 – Berkeley, CA –  The Greek Theatre
    June 30 – Lincoln, CA – Thunder Valley Resort Casino
    July 2 – Salt Lake City, UT – The Great Salt Air – Outdoors
    July 3 – Las Vegas, NV – Downtown Event Center
    July 5 – Los Angeles, CA  The Greek Theatre at UC Berkeley
    July 6 – San Diego, CA – Cal Coast Credit Union Open Air Theater
    July 7 – Phoenix, AZ – Comerica Theatre

  • Dream Theater Marks 25th Anniversary of ‘Images and Words’ at Homecoming Beacon Theatre Show

    Dream Theater returned to their hometown for a packed house at The Beacon Theatre on Manhattan’s Upper West Side on November 16. The evening with Dream Theater was a full show put on by themselves; no opening act was needed.

    Dream Theater’s last NYC show was at Radio City Music Hall in Spring 2016 where they told the story behind concept album The Astonishing from start to finish (and purely material from that album). This time around they once again presented an album in its entirety padded by some other compositions from their 30+ year career.

    The first set took the Beacon through Dream Theater’s catalog starting on a hard note with “The Dark Eternal Night” before wandering through more progressive melodies and riffs from Jordan Rudess and John Petrucci. Mid-way through the first set, bassist John Myung paid tribute to one of his biggest influences, the late Jaco Pastorius, with a solo bass cover of “Portrait of Tracy.” Aside from this tribute, the band didn’t fail to tip their hat to one of their major influences and inspirations, Geddy Lee and Rush, sneaking in a tease of Rush’s “Cygnus X-1” at the tail end of the second set.

    Dream Theater

    Images and Words took the limelight for the second set as Dream Theater’s tour marked the 25th anniversary of that album. Firing through the album on stage with the anticipated skill and precision of a Dream Theater performance was far from any sort of let-down. While singer James LaBrie stepped aside a few times, each of the members had more chances to show their solo chops and expand a bit upon the original studio recordings. The presentation of Images and Words in its entirety had a true classic Dream Theater appeal and was enthusiastically enjoyed by the crowd.

    With just a short break before the encore, Dream Theater came back to play the entire seven-part “A Change of Seasons” off of the EP of the same name serving as a treat to the band’s fans similar to Rush playing “2112” as an encore. It was well-suited for the theme of the night given that “A Change of Seasons” was originally slated to appear on Images and Words before getting bumped to its own EP.

    Dream Theater

    Dream Theater’s performances over the past few years, even through the change of drummers from Mike Portnoy to Mike Mangini, have continued to impress, if not gotten better. For this progressive metal band, the best of times may still be yet to come.

    Setlist

    Set 1: The Dark Eternal Night, The Bigger Picture, Hell’s Kitchen, To Live Forever, Portrait of Tracy (Jaco Pastorius cover), As I Am, Breaking All Illusions

    Set 2 (Images & Words): Pull Me Under, Another Day, Take the Time, Surrounded. Metropolis Pt. 1: The Miracle and the Sleeper, Under a Glass Moon, Wait for Sleep, Learning to Live

    Encore: A Change of Seasons (Parts I – VII)

  • Nada Surf’s New Album Pays Tribute to ‘Let Go,’ Brooklyn Show Announced

    Nada Surf has announced the March 2 release of Standing at the Gates: The Songs of Nada Surf’s Let Go, a tribute album that honors the 15th anniversary of the band’s 2002 release. The album features a diverse list of artists covering Let Go, with proceeds benefiting the ACLU and The Pablove Foundation.

    nada surf let gohttps://soundcloud.com/nadasurf/08-the-way-you-wear-your-head
    Standing At The Gates: The Songs of Nada Surf’s Let Go track list:

    1. Blizzard of ’77 (Manchester Orchestra)
    2. Happy Kid (Ron Gallo)
    3. Inside of Love (The Texas Gentlemen)
    4. Fruit Fly (Ed Harcourt)
    5. Blonde on Blonde (Rogue Wave)
    6. Hi-Speed Soul (The Long Winters)
    7. Killian’s Red (Holly Miranda)
    8. The Way You Wear Your Head (Charly Bliss)
    9. Neither Heaven Nor Space (William Tyler)
    10. La Pour Ca (Adia Victoria)
    11. Treading Water (Eyelids)
    12. Paper Boats (Aimee Mann)
    13. No Quick Fix (Victoria Bergsman)

    Nada Surf kicks off a 15 show tour celebrating Let Go‘s 15th anniversary. The shows are billed as ‘An Evening with Nada Surf, Celebrating the 15th Anniversary of Let Go.’ Each night, the band will perform Let Go, take a break, and return for a second set. Tour dates can be found below. For more info visit Nadasurf.com

    3.07.2018 – Black Cat – Washington, DC
    3.08.2018 – Brooklyn Steel – Brooklyn, NY
    3.09.2018 – World Cafe Live – Philadelphia, PA
    3.10.2018 – Brighton Music Hall – Boston, MA
    3.11.2018 – Horseshoe Tavern – Toronto, ON
    3.13.2018 – Metro – Chicago, IL
    3.14.2018 – Fine Line Music Cafe – Minneapolis, MN
    5.9.2018 – Neptune Theatre – Seattle, WA
    5.10.2018 – Wonder Ballroom – Portland, OR
    5.11.2018 – Great American Music Hall – San Francisco, CA
    5.12.2018 – Teragram Ballroom – Los Angeles, CA
    5.14.2018 – Belly Up – San Diego, CA
    5.17.2018 – Granada Theater – Dallas, TX
    5.18.2018 – 3Ten at ACL – Austin, TX
    5.21.2018 – Terminal West – Atlanta, GA
    5.22.2018 – The Mercy Lounge – Nashville, TN

  • Hearing Aide: Ampevene’s ‘Ephemagoria’

    Complex isn’t always good, but in Ampevene’s case, it’s raw, emotive and highly expressive. The Albany-based quartet will unveil their latest live album, Ephemagoria at The Hollow Bar + Kitchen on Feb. 9 with the helping hands of their friends in Cousin Earth. Having teased fans along the way with the releases of “Valencia” and “Rometheu,”  the complete live effort commands attention from its earliest, distorted notes. Over a 10-track sonic highway, the prog rockers take listeners for a noisy ride as they blend blatant psychedelic rock influences with their own gritty flair and unique cocktail of spellbinding genres. 

    Branching off of Gabe Stallman’s solo project as a guitarist, Ampevene is completed by Stallman on guitar and vocals, Mack Hogan on bass, Brian Fahey on drums and Ava Smith on keys. Seeing a minor lineup change, Fahey is the current drummer who took over for Darryl Kniffen, the recorded drummer on the album. The first few tracks come as an attack on your senses, kicking off with a myriad of sound and distortion as an 8-minute journey unfolds within “Florida.” While the group is undoubtedly influenced by psychedelic rock before its time, (think Pink Floyd’s Syd Barrett era) Ampevene channels those visceral tendencies and matches them with the gripping mood and scaling of metal progressions and often hard to compute math-rock.

    Just when you get settled into a groove, it doesn’t last for long before you’re tossed into new kaleidoscopic arrangements and time signatures. The first half of the album relies solely on storytelling through music before a 12-minute “Rometheu” introduces the first glimpse of vocals on the album, although that’s not the pinnacle of the track. While fleeting, Stallman’s vocals are comparable to the tone and echoing of groups like Circa Survive and the Mars Volta, with the latter covered later on the album. With the first and fourth beats emphasized in each measure, the song picks up speed with compositional mastery as the foursome jerk the steering wheel into fresh segments, a common thread throughout Ephemagoria.

    “Hill” comes as a hard-hitter with all the focus placed on tight drumming at the album’s peak with an explosion of sound before introducing the first cover in a somber, slowed down version of Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” With a new age take on a beloved classic, the warped arrangement and unique style almost makes the song unrecognizable at times, if not for the lyrics. A second cover comes as a crisp version of the Mars Volta’s “Goliath,” mimicking the song’s natural sound and Omar Rodriguez-Lopez’ distinct vocal inflections.

    The live album as a whole features classic and never before recorded Ampevene songs as well as covers, capturing the feel of a live performance at The Recording Company in Esperance, NY, and mixed by Tim Lynch with mastering by Alan Douches of West West Side Music. Ampevene has the raw talent of making their multi-segmented tracks seem like effortless jams spliced together at all the right, unexpected times. With the ability to entice fans to try to follow along and eventually surrender to the flow, the quartet seems to have mastered their live presence and execution while diving deep into guitar solos, exploratory jazz segments and thrash metal elements.

    Catch the high-energy release Friday night when Ampevene takes The Hollow stage at 9:30 PM!

    Key tracks- Rometheu, Hill, Tumultuous

  • Gary Numan Brings ‘The Savage North American Tour’ to Brooklyn Steel

    A relatively mild December evening and a quick walk from the L train brought us to another excellent show as part of Brooklyn Steel’s inaugural year. Gary Numan, who first gained notoriety in the late 70’s as a member of the band Tubeway Army, was welcomed to the stage by an opening set from NYC’s own Me Not You.

    Numan’s tour brought the live debut of songs from his 21st and latest studio album, Savage (Songs From A Broken World) released September 2017. The album dons a rather tasty industrial synth sound. When performed live at Brooklyn Steel, many more nuances were uncovered in the songs through Numan and his band’s theatrical performance.

    Though Numan has so far had a long career, his performance had a freshness untinged by the years. During his set, Numan tapped albums from throughout his career including a track he performed in the 1970’s prior to going solo with the band Tubeway Army. Along with his band, Numan locked in a steady power between his older songs and those off of Savage.

    After seeing Numan’s performance – the energy, enthusiasm (from the whole band, too), and creativity in the new music from Savage – he shows that there is still a drive at this point in his career to continue being a creative force in electronic music.

    Setlist:

    Ghost Nation, Metal, Everything Comes Down To This, Films, Bed of Thorns, Down in the Park, Pray for the Pain You Serve, Here in the Black, Mercy, Love Hurt Bleed, My Name is Ruin, Cars, When the World Comes Apart, A Prayer for the Unborn

    Encores: M.E., Are ‘Friends’ Electric?, I Die: You Die