NYS Music 20​19

Author: Eli Stein

  • Western Swing and Waltzes: Colter Wall at the Haunt

    Colter Wall travelled from Saskatchewan in southwestern Canada to grace the stage of The Haunt in Ithaca on Saturday night. Though he had no problems connecting with the sold out crowd. Songs centering around cattle branding, ranching and rodeos were cut with more universal themes like love, friendship, trains, cars and motorcycles.

    He arrived to the stage alone with his guitar and his cowboy hat, appropriately opening the set with the old cowboy song, “Old Paint.” He continued with a more modern tale of his own making, “John Beyers.” His voice, a resonant baritone, is rich like a finely aged whiskey (aged just 23 years in this case) and had a strong presence that echoed throughout the room. Though, possibly, the echo was from the audience, who exuberantly sang along, to each other, to the stage or to themselves.

    A few songs in, Wall’s band joined him on stage. Together a quintet, pedal and lap steels, harmonicas, drums, and bass joined him and his guitar. Each brought their own character to the mix. There was an entire arsenal of harmonicas, and even a jaw harp, to match the mood of every tune. The pedal steel’s howls and whirls intermingled beautifully with the harps in an unexpected and somewhat unusual combination. The steady bopping red and gold paisley covered bass and swinging and tasteful drums held it all together perfectly.

    The set was filled with songs from last year’s release. Songs of the Plains, and 2017’s Colter Wall. The tried and true, the ones everyone knew, were tossed in with something new, like “Western Swing and Waltzes” and also some much older selections, like covers of Ramblin’ Jack Elliot’s “Railroad Bill” and Townes Van Zandt’s “White Freightliner Blues.” No matter their age, coming through the voice of Wall and with the skill of his backing band, it was all sounding great to the adoring crowd.

    Fellow Saskatchewans Kacy and Clayton warmed up the evening. The two cousins played a short set of lovely folk songs but were unfortunately competing with a rowdy crowd anxious to sing and dance to the main attraction. The subtle beauty of their voices and guitars was no match for the clanging of glasses and boisterous barroom conversations, but attentive ears were rewarded with another example of Canada’s increasing and ironic grip on the Americana genre.

  • Hearing Aide: Maybird ‘Things I Remember From Earth’

    Things I Remember From Earth

    Josh and Adam Netsky have been mainstays on the Rochester music scene for the past decade at least. Older brother Josh was writing songs beyond his years, while Adam brought the songs to life both on stage, playing drums, and on screen, crafting accompanying videos. Their creative teamwork reached a new high in 2012 with a song-cycle and experimental documentary about the ghost town of Centralia, PA.

    Part of being a great bandleader is crafting the songs. The other part is putting together the right parts to bring your visions to life. The Netsky’s pulled off a bit of a coup, scoring arguably the two best and most versatile guitarists in Rochester: Sam Snyder (Overhand Sam, Anamon) and Kurt Johnson (Moho Collective, Wallboards). Together they became Maybird, providing a more consistent outlet for their output. The band flourished on the Rochester scene and in 2016 they signed to Danger Mouse’s 30th Century Records, on which they’ve released two EPs, Turning Into Water and Unravelling.

    On Things I Remember From Earth, their debut LP for 30th Century, releasing Friday, the band’s sound takes a huge leap forward. With major label backing and national tours with acts like Portugal. The Man under their belt, the Netsky’s creative visions are finally reaching their full potential.

    The title, “Things I Remember From Earth,” was taken from Kurt Vonnegut’s “The Sirens of Titan,” as were the themes of many of the songs. “Human purpose, holding on to memories, and losing control of your mind/memory are all themes in the book that found a place on the album.” Josh Netsky explains.

    No longer encumbered by the what-ifs of a shoestring budget, colorful sounds explode from the record like tubes of paint being smashed with a hammer. The opening track “In Technicolor (for the first time),” sets it all up perfectly: “If you mix the colors in your eyes / darkened tears will fall / into vivid seas and multiply.”

    From the driving march of “To You,” to the slinky grooving “Gonna Lose Your Mind,” to the 80’s style bright pop of “Montreal,” track after track, colors are added and the vision becomes more complete and more impressive.

    The band might consist three guitarists and a drummer, but they pushed the studio to the limit, layering sounds upon sounds for a complete sonic scrub that leaves no stone unturned: A perfectly placed horn track, catchy backing vocals, an eerie whistle, a burst of piano, a humming organ, alien bubbles and wails from outer space, not to mention, all of that glorious guitar. A bevy of beautiful and unique choices color the edges of the psychedelic pop songs throughout. Don’t fret about the how’s and who’s, close your eyes and let the grooves wash over you.

    “When you feel it / for the first time / in spectacular color.”

    How will it sound from the stage? Find out at their record release show this Friday, May 3 at Radio Social where they’ll be playing the album front to back. It’s a free show and Maybird will share the stage with Mikaela Davis, Cammy Enaharo and August West.

    Key tracks: Gonna Lose Your Mind, Don’t Keep Me Around, When I Find My Out of the Circle

  • Hearing Aide: Native Harrow ‘Happier Now’

    There’s something familiar behind everything on the gorgeous new album from Newburgh, NY’s Native Harrow. Yet, originality twists through it all, providing a fresh voice for the indie-folk world to fall in love with.

    A flourish of drums and guitar get the album started with a surprising, and refreshing, kick to the ear. Devin Tuel’s voice brings to mind Joni Mitchell, though she doesn’t allow the comparison to define her or the music.

    The Mitchell likeness might come through clearest in “Blue Canyon,” appropriately a love song of sorts for California. Jazz colors the edges of the title track, and “Hard to Take,” with a slight nod to Van Morrison via Ryley Walker. “Something You Have” injects a gospel-fueled soul, powered by some well-placed B3 organ. The energy of the set peaks with earthbound jazz-rock fusion on “Round to Round” that brings to mind the criminally underrated Arc Iris.

    https://youtu.be/7dH5LmX1PrM

    Happier Now cements itself as a great album by saving the best for last. “Way To Light,” a sarcastic fantasy about the love of material goods, is a building slow burn, with a hint of “Dear Prudence” and some fantastically eerie slide guitar.

    Devin Tuel wrote Happier Now‘s nine songs while constantly touring the country in 2017. The songs center around Tuel growing through her twenties and maturing as a human of her own making, no longer encumbered by the strict ballerina life set out for her since she was just three. When it came time to record with Alex Hall (JD McPherson, The Cactus Blossoms, Pokey LaFarge) at Chicago’s Reliable Recorders, Tuel and her trio tracked live in the same room, later adding minimal overdubs. The immediacy and intimacy comes through in the final product. Happier Now is an album to enjoy thoroughly in the present, but also hopefully a sign of great things to come from this budding artist Native Harrow.

    Key tracks: Happier Now, Round and Round, Way To Love

  • Rubblebucket with a Bang in Rochester

    For a band, that by normal band-conventions shouldn’t even exist, Rubblebucket is stronger and as vibrant as ever. Leaders and remaining original members, Kalmia Travers and Alex Toth, have both climbed personal hurdles over the last couple of years, including the end of their romantic relationship. Instead of breaking up the band, they shuffled up the other members and put out a new album, Sun Chaser, last summer. Still in heavy support of their new release, they played through the entire record at their tour opener in Rochester, albeit in a modified order.

    A proper review of Rubblebucket’s show might be a dense word-cloud of adjectives and verbs, all punctuated with exclamation points. The stage was a constant blur of action and color. Their past antics were like a low budget Flaming Lips or Of Montreal, but here it was more reminiscent of the Talking Heads and David Byrne. Less party, more art. White fabric screens were hit with splashes of light, orange and green, red and blue, purple and magenta. Band members turned into psychedelic dancing silhouettes when they went behind the screens.

    The crowd was engaged 110% from note one, moving and grooving with every beat, singing along with every lyric. When prompted to help out with the chorus of “Annihilation Song,” they needed no instruction,  already acting as the collective backing chorus. Crowd and band merged at the inevitable march of the horns, including new trumpet player Sean Smith, down the length of the venue and again at the post-encore acoustic session in the back by the bar. Kal heaped praise on the Rochester audience frequently, even calling out a trio of front row fans with matching rainbows, who gifted her with a rainbow boa.

    The new rhythm section was a crack trio of New York City musicians (Ryan Dugre on guitar, Noga Shefi on bass, Jeremy Gustin on drums) who were more than up for the task, but mostly stayed in the background. As a bit of a palette cleanser after the set, they emerged on stage first for the encore, showing off their wares more overtly with a few minutes banging deep grooves.

    The night began with Alex Toth who mixed his live guitar and trumpet playing with effects pedals and pre-recorded material including beats, cellos, backing vocals in a preview of what is sure to be a very good album out in May.

    Mikaela Davis then showcased her harp-led pop-folk from her superb 2018 album Delivery, adding in a few new songs which mostly featured her playing keys. Her band was joined by Maybird’s Kurt Johnson on pedal steel and guitar throughout the entire hometown set. Davis, who sat in with Bob Weir in Syracuse last November, added a beautiful cover of “Brokedown Palace” to close out her night on stage. Davis will rejoin Rubblebucket midway through their tour, which will wind it’s way back to Upstate New York with a show at the Westcott Theatre on April 25.

     

     

  • Aqueous Goes Big in Rochester

    It was an unremarkable day on the calendar and a fairly unremarkable day outside, but inside the doors of Anthology in Rochester big things were happening. Buffalo’s Aqueous, who’ve called Rochester their second home since near their inception, were moving on from their frequent and beloved haunt Flour City Station. Like a hermit crab, they shed that shell and crawled the short distance down East Ave and nestled into the much larger Anthology. Remarkably, the band sold the venue out on their first visit.

    Everything about the move was big, The crowd, the stage, the lights, the sound. The crab had long outgrown its shell and was just yearning for this expansion. In other words, Aqueous wasn’t overwhelmed by the shift. On the contrary, it allowed for a huge release long in the making. To celebrate the occasion, the band planned to even make the show bigger, by adding a third set. And not just any set, plopped right in the middle of two regular-sized Aqueous sets was a fully improvised second set.

    It was a risky endeavor, but at worst a ho-hum jam set had the safety of being surrounded by two strong Aqueous sets. Ho-hum it wasn’t. The band found theme upon theme upon groove in five to ten minute segments pieced together seamlessly for a full 65 minutes. During that hour all in attendance were equals. No matter if this was someone’s first show or someone’s 100th, no one knew what was to come, band included.

    The set had no lulls and little to no meandering. It was defined and refined jamming. It felt familiar, until it didn’t, until it did again, mixing and matching genres along the way. It was EDM, then, “Oh damn!” It got Dead-y, then deadly, Phishy then fizzy, went from metal to meta, Ska to “Gah!” PeAQ Aqueous. When the band revisits the recording of the set they could easily mine a few new songs from it.

    The middle set was the highlight of the night, but of course there was plenty to love about sets one and three. “The Median” opener blasted the evening open with a soaring fiery jam. “Origami” got disco funky before a slow building theme peaked and exploded. “Good Enough” contained one of the more beautiful segments of the night, with a progression reminiscent of Jerry Garcia Band’s version of “Dear Prudence.” And “All In” and Pink Floyd’s “Run Like Hell” were a fun big rock combo to close out the third set in the wee hours of the morning.

    Anthology still has that new venue smell and is ripe for the taking. Friday night, Aqueous put a stake in the ground. All that’s left to do is raise the flag. Their new Rochester home is well underway to being claimed.

    Setlist:
    I: The Median, Kitty Chaser (Explosions) > Undone – The Sweater Song (Weezer) > Kitty Chaser (Explosions), Origami > Good Enough > Complex I, Warren in the Window
    II: Improv
    III: 20/20 > Aldehyde, Underlyer > Marty, All In > Run Like Hell (Pink Floyd) > All In
    E: Jam > Triangle

  • Punch Brothers Entrust Ithaca with 2019 Kickoff

    Chris Thile, taking a break from his day job as host of the radio show “Live From Here,” got the band back together for a spring tour with the Punch Brothers with a tour that started with a return to the State Theatre in Ithaca. A place that banjoist, Noam Pikelny deemed to be too trusting due to the fact that on their last visit, a stranger on their flight offered them a place to stay just a few minutes after meeting them.

    The show was mostly a get-down-to-business affair, songs flowed effortlessly into each other and chatter was held to a minimum. Though some songs required further explanation, such as when they featured two different Tiki drink-themed instrumentals in the set. First the World War II drink “Three Dots and a Dash.” Later it was “Jungle Bird,” which Thile eloquently provided the recipe for. This then devolved into an argument with Pikelny over the meaning of “cheeky bit.” It was a comedy bit reminiscent of “Live From Here” and a welcome comedy break.

    The show concluded with an encore played unplugged and front of stage. The crowd was whisper quiet and the acoustically-sound room carried “The Hops of Guldenberg” to the furthest reach without issue. Without prompt the crowd joined in for some hearty “Oh Boys” for the show closer. The trust was warranted.

    Opener, Gabriel Kahane, played a short set of solo piano and guitar pieces. After the 2016 election, Kahane spent two weeks traveling by train with no phone or other modern technology, passing the time conversing with passengers in the dining cars, trying to understand and connect with people. He wrote an album’s worth of material about the experience and played some of it in his set, beautiful and meandering piano pieces. As about as stark a contrast as one could imagine, he sandwiched in a group of mini songs based on bizarre and comical tweets he read, with subjects like killer cats, Marie Kondo and Mr. Peanut.

    Setlist: Movement and Location, My Oh My, All Ashore, Flippen, Boll Weavil, Alex, Angel of Doubt, Three Dots and a Dash, Just Look at This Mess, Jumbo, Another New World, Passepied, New York City, Julep, Jungle Bird, Skeleton Key
    Encore: The Hops of Guldenberg, Oh Boy

  • Dead Horses and Honeysuckle Play One for the Folks at Good Luck

    Dead Horses, a duo from Wisconsin, and Honeysuckle, a trio from Boston, met somewhere in the middle Tuesday night – geographically in the middle via Rochester, NY to be exact – as a part of the latest show put on by Honest Folk. The show itself also met in the middle musically, landing squarely within folk traditions both new and old.

    Honeysuckle opened the night. Guitar, mandolin, banjo and a kick drum blended into a joyful swirl of acoustic strings and beats. They played some new, as-yet-recorded songs to keep them “on their toes.” Though early in the set, “Catacombs,” off their 2017 release of the same name, kept the audience on their toes as well. An airy and floating psychedelic segment broke into a full-fledged mandolin-led jam before slinking back into the main song.

    They weren’t afraid to break free from folk and bluegrass expectations, mixing the two and then splashing in some more modern elements from pop, rock and jazz. Most noticeably, Chris Bloniarz’s mandolin was being fed into a rather large bank of effects pedals. He used them subtly, allowing his playing to shine through and it never overwhelmed the acoustic three-piece sound.

    On a new song, “Windstorm,” lead singer and guitarist Holly McGarry explained that it was written as a reaction to someone who once wrote a mean poem about her, saying she dressed like an old woman. She wore it like a badge of honor though; old women are great dressers! Appropriately enough, their music also had a timeless quality to it, but in a youthful and new body.

    The band exhibited wonderful three-part harmonies throughout the set, but truly flexed their vocal chords with, as they deemed it mandatory, a cover of Crosby Stills and Nash’s “Helplessly Hoping.” They nailed it, silencing all doubters, if there were any remaining at that point in the set.

    Dead Horses, comprised of Sarah Vos on guitar and Daniel Wolff on double bass, played a set of sparse, sometimes dark, folk songs with their Midwestern charm shining through. They met and matched their openers in vocal prowess with Vos carrying the bulk of the load. As lyrically excellent as their songs were, some of the most captivating vocals were ooh’s and mmm’s or the chills-inducing extended and repeated “sweeeet”s during the song “Brothers.” In “Turntable” Vos sang, “If my heart was a turntable, and my belly was the speaker and my soul the needle,” which just about sums up their songwriting as well as one could.

    Wolff’s bass carried the heft of the instrumental melodies, plucking out the bottom, bowing higher registers and banging out rhythms off the body, at times all in the same song.

    The band has been writing songs and releasing them as singles when they’re ready, not waiting for a full album to emerge. New tunes like “Birds Can Write the Chorus,” “A Mighty Storm,” and the “Family Tapes” show how the band is still developing their sound. On the latter, in a short span, the song moved through at least three distinct sections, stepping away from a more traditional structure.

    Generally a taboo question for a band, Dead Horses were forthcoming about the origin of their band name. Named after a friend who died of a heroin overdose, they feel a need to be open about it since it is such a prevalent issue that needs even more exposure than it currently is receiving.

  • Hearing Aide: Reed Foehl ‘Lucky Enough’

    Americana journeyman Reed Foehl was on his way to make a new home in Nashville, looking to expand on the success he found in co-writing “Fly” off of Lee Ann Womack’s Grammy-nominated album The Way I’m Livin’. But then news came from Massachusetts where his mother was diagnosed with lymphoma. Without hesitation, he dropped everything and flew to Massachusetts to be by her side. While he cared for his dying mother he continued to write his music. Foehl’s latest solo album, his fifth, consists of the music written during this trying time in his life. Lucky Enough, released February 1, is dedicated to the memory of his mother, “the Queen of Everything,” who instilled a love for music in him at an early age.

    The songs, borne from loss, are steeped in deep reflection, but also instill a sense of hope and love while exploring themes of lifelong friendship. Foehl employed the help of friends in bringing his new tunes to life, with Austin’s The Band of Heathens fleshing out a full band sound. They also recorded in the Heathens’ new studio with guitarists Gordy Quist and Ed Jurdi co-producing as well.

    The short but dense set opens with a nugget of folk perfection. “Stealing Starlight” is one of those tracks with nary a false note or turn. Every moment was meant to be, from each cymbal crash and sparse piano plink, to the mysterious wailing noise emerging midway through. You’ll likely want to hit rewind a play through a couple of times before moving on.

    When an album opens that well, the rest is just gravy. But here it’s still damn good gravy! It’s chock full of catchy new-folk hooks, country bar singalongs, and twangy ballads all featuring an earnest down-home voice with plenty of range. Familiar enough to sound like it’s coming from your front porch but good enough that you’d want to see it played in a beautiful old theater.

    Key tracks: Stealing Starlight, Wish I Knew, He’s On an Island

  • “Massive Tuesday in Ithaca”: Rayland Baxter Captivates the Haunt

    On a snowy night in Ithaca on the precipice of the deep freeze, known as the Polar Vortex, a young college town crowd braved the elements to warm up to folk-rock breakout, Rayland Baxter and his 5-piece band. In the midst of a lengthy tour promoting his critically-acclaimed new release, Wide Awake, the set expectedly concentrated heavily on the new stuff, but sprinkled in songs from his entire catalog for a dynamic show.

    The set list looked a bit like a roll call. Present was “Mr. Rodriguez,” “Angeline,” Willy, “Sandra Monica,” “Olivia,” Larocco and “Amelia Baker.” But all eyes, ears and minds were set on Baxter himself.

    The frontman commanded the stage and audience like an old pro. The crowd was amped and excited; Baxter was game for a little friendly banter, going so far as to join in on a FaceTime with someone’s father. The obligatory “How’s it going?” query was answered, “It’s a massive Tuesday in Ithaca.” Baxter agreed, then took it and ran, describing his day flying in from Nashville. Later he would introduce “Olivia” as a Massive Tuesday for sensitivity dot com. When asked about his shoes, Baxter promptly took one off and put in a pitch for All Birds, followed by a pitch for his toothbrush brand of choice, of all things.

    Even more, he controlled the crowd through music. At the powerful highs of “Everything to Me” and the extended jam of “Amelia Baker” they followed along in full rock out mode. They sang and danced together to the catchy hooks of “Hey Larocco” and “Casanova.” When Baxter broke it down in a mid set solo excursion, exploring some of his older, folksier material like “Dreamin’” and “Willy’s Song,” the ambient noise in the bar was dropped to an almost indistinguishable murmur. Respectfully and incredibly quiet to enjoy Baxter alone with his guitar, voice and an airy whisper of a whistle blown through his teeth.

    Illiterate Light, a guitar and drum duo out of Harrisonburg, VA, warmed up the night with selections from their just-released EP, Sweet Beast. Bombastic drumming played from a standing position, fiery guitar leads and quality vocals, reminiscent of Jim James, put the stamp on an opening set that checked all the boxes. The venue had a room full of patrons from the get-go: the headliner had a crowd thoroughly ready for their set, the audience had an introduction to a great young band, and Illiterate Light had themselves a bevy of new fans.

    Setlist: Strange American Dream, Mr. Rodriguez, Freakin’ Me Out, Everything to Me, Angeline, Sandra Monica, Young Man, Dreamin, Willy’s Song, Olivia, Hey Larocco, Casanova, Amelia Baker, Yellow Eyes, Let It All Go Man

  • Wild Rivers Open Their Tour at Good Luck

    Toronto quartet Wild Rivers returned to Rochester after their set this summer opening for Donna the Buffalo at the outdoor party, Band on the Bricks. Now it was winter, and the eternally gray skies were falling in the form of cold rain. The venue was cozy and warmly lit. Good Luck and the crowd was the highly attentive audience who frequent Honest Folk’s productions. Dancing feet were replaced by listening ears and Wild Rivers’ brand of poppy folk would hold strong across that divide.

    They opened with their first written song, “Wandering Child,” a song which opened quietly before exploding with a full folk sound. Later, they introduced “Moving Target,” which is still two-weeks out from officially being released. Guitarist Khalid Yassein switched to keys and the band went fully electric, becoming more moody and ethereal. The set closed with a stunning, near-acapella, front-of-stage performance of “Howling.” Wild Rivers performed songs oldest to newest, electric to completely un-mic’d acoustic and the rest of the set was a healthy blend of everything in between.

    Yassein and bassist Devan Glover traded lead vocals song to song and verse to verse. In the moments when their criss-crossing met with two-part harmonies, musical sparks ignited. Lead guitarist Andrew Oliver added in tastefully restrained yet intricate leads and also took over on bass for a couple tunes. Drummer Julien Laferrière kept everything humming along, from the slowest slow to rocking highs, matching the mood perfectly throughout.

    Local singer-songwriter Cammy Enaharo opened the show with a short set. In the Swiss-Army-Knife of the Rochester music scene Enaharo has been a go-to vocalist for bands of every ilk. But tonight, it was just her and a baritone ukelele. Her rich and smooth voice was more than capable of carrying the day. Put them in front of her honest and personal songs and 30 minutes just had us hungry for more. Originals like “Neighbors,” “Home,” and “Mermaids” matched wits with her emotional cover of Desiree’s “You Gotta Be.”

    If you like to see live music, but are not a fan of standing around in a crowded bar waiting around until late at night for the bands to finally take the stage, give Honest Folk a try. They start promptly around 7pm and don’t ever go past 10pm, so even on a weeknight you’ll be home at a reasonable hour. The shows are seated, the decibel level doesn’t require earplugs and most importantly the music is top notch. Their next show is March 12, back at Good Luck, featuring Dead Horses and Honeysuckle. Tickets are on sale now at early bird pricing.