NYS Music 20​18

Tag: New York

  • Dave Matthews Mixes Favorites and Covers in Albany

    Dave Matthews Band has been on an extensive fall tour this year, making stops all across the United States, sounding tighter than ever and brought an incredible show to the Times Union Center in Albany, NY on December 5.

    Usually, the band makes their way to the Albany area in the summer for their legendary SPAC runs in Saratoga Springs. The group opened up with “You Never Know” into “One Sweet World,” followed by “Samurai Cop (Oh Joy Begin).” Next, Dave Matthews and his band played crowd favorite “Everyday” followed by a cover of Aerosmiths’ “Sweet Emotion.”

    dave matthews albanyThe night was filled with crowd pleasers and hits like “Where Are You Going,” “Don’t Drink The Water” and of course “What Would You Say.” The Dave Matthews Band ended the night with a two-song encore featuring “Granny” and the Bob Dylan cover “All Along the Watchtower.” The group continues their tour through December 28 when they close in Miami, FL. Check out photos from their Albany performance below provided by Vinny Otto:

    Setlist: You Never Know, One Sweet World, Samurai Cop (Oh Joy Begin), Everyday, Sweet Emotion (Aerosmith cover), Minarets, Where Are You Going, Burning Down the House (Talking Heads cover), Crush, Kill the King, What Would You Say, Here on Out, Don’t Drink The Water, Dancing Nancies, Come On Come On, Grey Street, She, You Might Die Trying

    Encore: Granny, All Along the Watchtower (Bob Dylan cover)

  • Celtic Punk Rock Makes a Pit Stop in Central New York with the Dropkick Murphys

    In Big Flats, New York, there isn’t necessarily a lot to see, but it has the Tag’s Budweiser Summer Stage bringing in people from all over central New York. On June 2, the stage was packed with fans of Dropkick Murphys and Flogging Molly with both bands stopping there on their summer 2018 co-headlining US tour.

    Dropkick Murphys performing during encore at Tag’s Budweiser Summer Stage. Photo by Nora Hones.

    Flogging Molly performed first with the Dropkick Murphys following, but nothing about the line-up made it feel like the two bands weren’t equals. During both of their sets, they were constantly boosting each other up and dedicating songs to each other. The set-up of Tag’s Budweiser Summer Stage aided to this sense of equal partnership. The merch was equal, the stage set ups were equal, the excitement from the the crowd was equal.

    Flogging Molly pulled out an array of classics including, “Devil’s Dance Floor,” “If I Ever Leave This World Alive”, and “What’s Left Of The Flag,” but also included new music in their performance that the crowd really seemed to enjoy. Dropkick Murphys also played many fan favorites like “Rose Tattoo”, “I’m Shipping Up To Boston”, and “The Boys Are Back” which the crowd went wild for, and did a multi-song encore, even bringing out some of the members of Flogging Molly on stage with them and pulling up members from the crowd.

    For a pile of punk rockers, the crowd was as pleasant and polite as can be and so were the bands. It was all smiles, laughs and mosh pits. Ken Casey, who is usually the bass guitarist (he wasn’t playing bass during the show due to his recent back surgery, just singing) and co-lead singer and songwriter of Dropkick Murphys, explained to the the crowd the rules of mosh pitting at his shows. Right in front of the stage, it’s an anything-goes, mosh-pit-frenzy, where you can get a sneaker to the face and that’s totally acceptable, but if he sees anyone going too crazy in the outer areas of the crowd, like where there were kids, he made sure that the crowd knew, to use his language, that anyone who starts something where they shouldn’t be has the right to have the shit kicked out of them.

    It was one of the politest crowds and band combinations I’ve seen at a show like this and would be something I would definitely look to attend again. Dropkick Murphys and Flogging Molly continue their 2018 summer tour throughout June and show dates can be found below.

    Show dates:
    June 5 – Masonic Temple Theatre – DETROIT, MI
    June 7 – PMC Amphitheater -KANSAS CITY/BONNER SPRINGS, KS
    June 8 – The Armory – MINNEAPOLIS, MN
    June 9 –  Stir Cove – COUNCIL BLUFFS, IA
    June 10 – Fox Street Compound – DENVER, CO
    June 12 – Pop’s Outside – ST LOUIS/SAUGET, IL
    June 13 – Express Live! – COLUMBUS, OH
    June 16 – RI Bold Point Park – PROVIDENCE, RI
    June 17 – Stone Pony Summerstage – ASBURY PARK, NJ
    June 18 – Stage AE – PITTSBURGH, PA
    June 19 – Red Hat Amphitheatre – RALEIGH, NC
    June 21 – Festival Pier – PHILADELPHIA, PA
    June 22 – Forest Hills Stadium – QUEENS, NY
    June 23 – Bank Of New Hampshire Pavilion featuring Professional Boxing – GILFORD, NH

  • ponder Starting Eight City Tour in June

    Ponder, known for spelling their name with a lower-case “p” and as one of Buffalo’s up-and-coming alt-rock/jam groups, is hitting the road on June 23 in Rochester for their eight city tour across New York and for the first time ever, Vermont.

    Courtesy of ponder’s website.

    Ponder was formed in 2015 as a solo project of songwriter Gabriel Birkby, but quickly morphed into a band and has become a Buffalo fan favorite. This is their first time hitting the road since 2017 when they visited spots stretching from Buffalo, clear through New York City. They’ve undergone some major line-up changes within the last six months and the group is now somewhat of an amorphous funk/rock powerhouse and are known for constantly having their friends in music hop-up on stage.

    The band’s lineup setting out for the summer tour consists of Gabe Birkby on vocals/lead guitar, Andy Hogan on bass, Paul Sottnik on keys, and Rochester’s Marcus Peters on drums.

    Tour dates:
    June 23 – Funk n’ Waffles – Rochester, NY (w/ Mother Funkin’ Planets & Freeway Revival)
    June 27 – Radio Bean – Burlington, VT (w/ The Schroons)
    June 29 – Parish Public House – Albany, NY (w/ Vicious Jimmy)
    June 30 – Lot 10 – Ithaca, NY (w/ Amongst the Monks & Lucky Old Sun)
    July 6 – Thin Man Brewery – Buffalo, NY (w/ Amateur Hockey Club)
    July 13 – Mojo’s – Jamestown, NY (w/ Cold Lazarus)
    July 21 – Funk n’ Waffles – Syracuse, NY (w/ Barroom Philosophers)
    July 27 – Cobblestone Music Festival – Buffalo, NY

    For more information visit their website or their Facebook  or Instagram. Their music can be found on Spotify and iTunes.

  • Hearing Aide: Teddy Midnight ‘French Press’

    French Press Album Cover

    Teddy Midnight, the Brooklyn-based live electronic band, dropped their newest EP, titled French Press, at its release party at Pianos NYC on April 26. The EP has a jazzy feel to it. It’s sample heavy, but it doesn’t feel like it is when listening to it. It doesn’t sound like something you’ve already heard; it’s got its own originality to it. One of the ways it’s able to do this is with it’s blend of new and vintage synths, keeping the music unpredictable. It uses combinations of Disco, Soul, 90s House, New Wave, Techno and a little Hip Hop, into non-stop, dance party vibes to keep itself intriguing to the listener.

    The EP starts off with the song “Say it Loud!” which is an all instrumental track except for the very end when the title of the song is said. It has a very, almost “New Order” feel to it which mostly comes from the repetitive drum machine acting as a backbone to the song. It then moves into the song “Eclipse (Go There)” which is also an instrumental track but more upbeat and best illustrates the intended Hip Hop feel. This sounds like a song that you might hear in a dance club soon. Both songs are good, but slightly repetitive and long. Each song lands close to the six and half minute mark, and for someone not particularly knowledgeable or invested in electronica, it was hard to sit through without having some repetitive pieces of the song to anchor onto, like a chorus.

    Then French Press takes a turn with its next song, “Come Over (feat. Tara Lawton & David Schnurman).” You finally get to hear some vocals and the fact the song is six minutes long is barely noticeable, unlike like the previous songs. The album then goes into “Mind the Gap,” which is another instrumental piece. It is very upbeat and has a lot of change-ups that make it one of a kind and continually interesting; this is important since it’s almost nine minutes long. The next song is “Not Enough” which starts off saying, “It’s not enough baby. It’s just not enough,” building up with the tempo in the song. The techno dance party feel increases with those lines appearing often in the change ups of the song. This song, much like “Come Over,” was easier on a listener like myself who might not have as much experience listening to instrumental electronic music. Even though it only really landed on those simple phrases throughout the song, it acted as a point of destination for the song to loop itself back in. The EP concludes on an instrumental version of “Come Over,” which was good, but knowing what it sounded like with the lyrics it felt like it was missing something slightly important to its overall feel. It was able to convey the emotion through the music but, without the words, the listener is left without a direction in which to run those emotions.

    The six song EP has a run time of 41 minutes, which is long but, if you’re into mellow synthesized electronica, this definitely could be an album for you. Even the dance party songs have very mellow undertones to them to make the EP something the listener can just close their eyes and disappear into. Not being someone who previously listened to much electronica music, this album wouldn’t necessarily be something I would pick up to listen to regularly, but it was a satisfying mix of those mellow, almost entrancing, undertones, and upbeat, “can’t sit still while listening to” overtones. First time listeners might want to start by dipping their toes in and starting with “Come Over” or “Not Enough.”

    Teddy Midnight will perform next on June 1 at Olives in Nyack, NY. And be sure to check out the entire EP available on SoundCloud and Spotify

    Key Tracks: 

    https://soundcloud.com/teddy-midnight/not-enough

    https://soundcloud.com/teddy-midnight/come-over

  • NYC Brazilian/American Alt-Rock Band, Added Color Release New EP ‘Mr. Industry’

    Brooklyn-based Brazilian/American rock band Added Color have released a their second EP Mr. Industry, featuring a unique blend of funk-infused alternative rock. The five-track release pulls on their Brazilian roots with pulsating energy and blend together a myriad of sounds, genres and inspiration into the album.

    Based in Brooklyn, Dan (drums/vocals) and Kiko Freiberg (guitar/vocals), are brothers hailing from São Paulo, Brazil, and joined forces with Tim Haggerty and Danny Dahan, for a fusion of backgrounds to form the band’s unique chemistry. Embracing and celebrating their widespread connections, the band has toured across the U.S. and toured internationally in Canada, Morocco and Brazil.

    Mr. Industry comes as a reflection and personification of the current state of the music and arts industry. “The character (Mr. Industry) represents the corporate mentality that has taken over the industry in a time where it is going through a crisis,” said Added Color. “Mr. Industry cares only about putting artists in a creative box and marketing them. Basically, if you sound like everyone else, it’s easier to associate you to other acts and sell you. The idea behind the EP connects with our overall message, which is about being yourself at all times no matter what. Mr. Industry is the force that we are fighting against as we live for honest and original music.”  Mr. Industry was recorded at state of the art Silver Cord Studios in Brooklyn, NY by Jamie Uertz (Blind Melon) and Grammy nominated Johann Meyer (Gojira/Roadrunner Records).

    The video for “‘Same Place’ documents their 2017 Spring Tour of Morocco, during which they played seven shows in seven different cities. The video’s trippy feel matches the theme of the song, which is about a dream in a dystopia where people conform to social norms and obligations as they get older.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-FBYpuBV4Q

    Added Color will return to Morocco later this month, for a week-long string of dates, followed by a series of U.S. tour dates kicking off in late May. Stay tuned for the animated music video for “Panic Attack” coming soon.

    Added Color Morocco Tour Dates
    April 28 – Layounne, Morocco, Layounne Concert Hall, 8 PM
    May 1 – Safi, Morocco Safi Arts Center, 9 PM
    May 2 – Youssoufia, Morocco, OCP Place, 9 PM
    May 3 – Benguerir, Morocco, Benguerir Theater, 8 PM
    May 4 – Casablanca, Morocco, Megarama, 8 PM
    May 5 – Khouribga, Morocco, Mohammed VI Auditorium, 9 PM
    May 6 – El Jadida, Morocco, Performing Arts Center, 9 PM

    USA TOUR DATES
    June 1 – Northampton, MA, Fitzwilly’s, 9 PM
    June 15 – Portland, ME, House of Music, 9 PM
    June 16 – New London, CT, 33 Golden St, 10 PM
    July 12 – Manchester, NH, Shaskeen, 9 PM
    July 13 – Florence, MA, 13th Floor, 10 PM
    July 14 – New York, NY, Rockwood Music Hall, 11 PM
    July 20 – Fayetteville, NC, Drunk Horse Pub, 10 PM
    July 21 – Willmington, NC, Calico Room, 10 PM
    July 27 – Beckley, WV, Melody’s, 9 PM
    July 28 – Marietta, OH, Adelphia Theater, 9 PM
    Aug 2 – Chicago, IL, Tonic Room (Fuckapalooza), 8 PM
    Aug 4 – Pittsburgh, PA, Sound City Grille, 10 PM

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