NYS Music 20​19

Author: Timothy J. Bopp

  • Hearing Aide: The Wood Brothers ‘Live At The Fillmore’

    Since their inception back in 2004, The Wood Brothers have been creating their own flavor of American traditional music on their own terms. The trio is comprised of brothers Chris (bass & vocals) and Oliver (guitar & vocals) Wood , as well as Jano Rix (percussion & shuitar). Together they have been successful in creating  a unique musical gumbo which includes the combination musical styles including Blues, Folk,  Country, and Rock.

    The Wood Brothers also recently received critical acclaim for their latest studio release, 2018’s One Drop Of Truth, which included a Grammy nomination for Best Americana Album. If that weren’t enough to keep the band busy, The Wood Brothers have just released Live At The Fillmore a new live album, their fifth,  that was recorded over a two night stint at San Francisco’s famed musical landmark. The trio is famous for their live performances and the band shines on the stage. The opening track on  Live At The Fillmore  is “Blue and Green,” which is a stripped down, intimate number off of 2011’s Smoke Ring Halo LP. The deft vocals that Oliver and Chris deliver, as well as the ambient noise of the crowd, easily transports the listener to the gig at the historic Fillmore.

    The boys tear it up on the third track “Snake Eyes” with a great percussion intro by Rix, which leads into a nicely executed guitar accompaniment  by Oliver, featuring some heavy feedback. The Wood Brothers infectious performance, along with the a little on stage prompting from Oliver persuaded the audience to join the band in the chorus of the upbeat number, creating a vivid picture in the mind’s eye of the listener. The trio’s harmonies were spot on and the track wrapped up with another nice guitar fill by Oliver.

    The Wood Brothers keeps the energy flowing with “Raindrop,” the fifth track from Live At The Filmore LP.  Oliver and Jano constructed an intro featuring guitar and percussion which effortlessly leads into the jamming number. With the catchy opening vocal “Broke a heart for a cheap thrill.  Seemed worth it at the time. There’s a hundred of ’em out there still.  You can hear ’em all cryin’,”  Oliver is able to evoke the frustration that anyone can feel while trying to get over a painful breakup.

    The sixth tune, “Chocolate On My Tongue,” has an infectious groove that will get your foot tapping along with The Wood Brothers as they expertly ply their trade. Catchy riffs and smooth harmonies make this tune a true gem of a performance and a highlight on the LP.

    Overall the fourteen tracks on Live at The Filmore  are successful in proving The Wood Brothers are at their comfort zone on stage, playing for a live audience. It also illustrates how proficient the  trio, who have had extensive time on the road performing, are able to anticipate and coordinate their playing together as a road tested unit. Oliver Wood once said while talking about selecting songs for a set list:  “Sometimes it is like choosing between your children,  you don’t want to have to do that but sometimes you have to.” Luckily for fans of The Wood Brothers, the band chose extremely well on Live At The Filmore, creating a voyeuristic experience where the listener gets to experience the best of two nights in the life of a great live band playing at a historic musical venue.

    Key Tracks:  Atlas, Blue & Green, Teardrop

  • Till The Earth Live At Chatham Brewery

    Till The Earth will be performing live at Chatham Brewing on Friday September 6 at 9:00PM. The five piece rock outfit has been creating and performing music around the Capital District since 2017 and is primarily comprised of former members of the now de-funk Bohemian Slacker and Conehead Buddha.

    Based primarily in Columbia County, the band features: Tom Williams (bass, guitar, vocals), Seth Falon (guitar, vocals), Scott Basil (guitar, bass, vocals), Eugene Datri (percussion, vocals) and Jack Darraq (saxophone, bass clarinet, vocals). All veteran players of the music scene in Columbia and Greene County, Till The Earth bring a vast collective knowledge to the stage that only performing live can provide.

    Till The Earth brings a jam band sensibility to their sets and have been featured regularly at the Chatham Brewery for past year or so, developing a contingent of loyal fans that grow every time they perform. Their performances primarily focuses on a variety of original works that the players have penned over the span of their musical careers, but also feature covers by bands such as The Grateful Dead, Allman Brothers, Neil Young and more!

     

     

  • Chris Fisher and Conehead Buddha Gifts Hometown Reunion

    Virginia, there is a Santa Claus; and he has granted all of the good and bad children of the Capital District a very precious present, a Conehead Buddha reunion show! A night filled with frolicking funk and ska that only this classic jam band, formed in the mid-90’s, can provide. Conehead Buddha, once a mainstay of the NYS music scene, will be reuniting for a once in a lifetime spectacle at The Marble Rock House located in Leeds, NY on Saturday July 13 at 9PM. The musical establishment is co-owned by Neil Murphy and long time Conehead Buddha Trumpet player, Terry Lynch, so it will definitely be a hometown performance with their loyal fans in attendance.

    Chris Fisher Conehead Buddha

    Founder of Conehead Buddha and front-man Chris Fisher has traveled back to New York State from his new home base of Brentwood, Tennessee, and along with Lynch they have organized a gathering of Conehead Buddha members, from various iterations of the band’s lineup throughout their 25 year + run. A notable exception to the band’s roster will be the absence of longtime Buddha saxophonist Shannon Lynch whose indelible presence will be missed. Her duties will be expertly filled by Neal Spitzer, who is also a Conehead Buddha alumni.

    The night will be a retrospective of Buddha’s extensive catalog mined from their six LP’s of original material released over the years. Tickets are $15.00 and are expected to sell out for the show, so make sure to purchase them prior at the Marble Rock House website.

  • Hearing Aide: Ignis ‘Mirrorless’

    Albany based duo, Ignis, released their sophomore LP Mirrorless on June 10. The unique styling of the record, comprised of brothers Colby and Tristan Beach. A background in piano from a very early age led both brothers to take on other instruments, and as a result, formed Ignis back in 2017. The brothers have released two self-recorded EP’s to date: Walking, and Cover. In January 2018 they released their first full length album, The Face of Mars. Even though there are issues with the actual production value and execution of Mirrorless, the band is young, with time and perhaps a deft hand in the studio to assist in the production of new material, they will surely be able to overcome these technical deficiencies.

    Unfortunately there are some tracks like “Go With Me” where the guitar is noticeably out of tune. If that was the intention of the duo, it made it an unpleasant experience for the listener. The vocals by lead singer Colby also seem to be inconsistently in tune throughout the LP. Nowhere is this issue more apparent than on both the third song “Fade Away” and the final track “Wombat Master”. There also seems to be some audible timing issues on “Fade Away” as well, which points to potential inexperience at the mixing board.

    There are some positive aspects of Mirrorless that are pleasing. The majority of the musical arrangements show intelligent musicianship. They are able to evoke feelings that Ignis wants to convey to its audience. The duo definitely seem to be working with an extensive musical pallet that includes numerous style elements including keys, percussion and a variety of interesting guitar styles.

    Additionally Mirrorless shows promise with songwriting by the Beach brothers that includes lyrics and rhythms that are both eccentric, introspective and interesting to listen to. Since this is the band’s sophomore effort, there is no doubt that there is still more in store for the future of this group. If the duo continues to evolve and are attentive to the details required of recording, they will be on track towards developing a bigger following and popularity in the Capital District. This of course takes time and experience. That experience comes from playing live and continued time in the studio. If Ignis performs regularly and commits to improving their knowledge of the mechanics of musical recording,  they will be able to develop a more mature sound that will elevate their art to the next level.

    Key Tracks: My Way, Red Dress

  • Hearing Aide: Hasty Page ‘Things To Do Before I Die’

    Hasty Page and their official release party for Things To Do Before I Die is set for June 21 at The Linda WAMC’s Performing Arts Studio located in Albany NY. Tickets are $12.00 and the show kicks off at 8:00PM. The band will be continuing to support their new album with dates slated through the summer.

    It’s been two long years since the Queensbury based alt/indie rock power trio Hasty Page has released new recorded material. Fans will be pleased to know that the wait is over with the release of their second full length LP Things To Do Before I Die, which dropped yesterday, June 20. This 11-track gem is a great follow up to their last release, Distance, and features tasty hooks that give the listener a whole lot. Hasty Page is comprised of Josh Morris (Lead Vocals/Drums), Zane Agnew (Lead Guitar/Vocals), and James Paolano (Bass/Vocals). The band was formed in 2015 and has sound that is reminiscent of such acts as The 1975, Nothing But Thieves and Pearl Jam.

    Morris and Zane Agnew began playing acoustic duo shows around New York’s Capital Region, where they honed both their playing skills as well as their songwriting. A few months in, close family friend James Paolano was added to the roster on bass to fill out the trio. Since then, they have been playing regularly out in the Capital Region at The Hollow Bar + Kitchen, Jupiter Hall, and even made the trip down to the Rockwood Music Hall in NYC.

    Things To Do Before I Die starts out in a very unique way with its first track “Sleep.” The tune is a mellow trance inducing intro that perfectly matches its title. The song features heavy synth and overdubbed vocals that paint a warm spacey dreamscape for the listener. The track quickly crescendos into a shockingly climatic vocal command, “GO TO SLEEP!,” after which the number abruptly ends. The second track, “Wake Up,” is a jolt back to reality that relies heavily on guitar, featuring a tasty musical hook. The song is a sort of call to arms, that lyrically challenges listeners to wake up to the problems that surround them in the world. Morris’ vocal chant, “One in ten of us all pretend,” eludes that people need to take a hard look around themselves and shake off the trance that they fall into while living their mundane everyday lives.

    “Body Shots” is a guitar driven groove fest that highlights both Agnew’s funky guitar playing and Paolano rock steady bass beat. The song is upbeat and perfect for playing out live. The band is tight on this number and the boys are playing to their strengths, drawing on the experience that only a live performance can provide. It features catchy lyrics that reference drinking and sports, a beat made for getting out on the dance floor and moving your feet. “Body Shots” is one of the strongest pieces on the LP.

    Perhaps the most radio friendly track on Things To Do Before I Die is the seventh track “Vices.” The single opens with an orchestrated synth introduction that is reminiscent of The Kings Of Leon and effortlessly transitions into Morris’ infectious vocal. The melody and chorus on this song are so pleasing that it makes perfect sense; Hasty Page would commit their time and energy into creating an expensively produced video for the tune. Although “Vices” features less of Agnew’s signature guitar sound and drifts more into the musical direction of pop, it is a catchy number that is memorable and is destined to be a fan favorite.

    Key Tracks: Vices, Body Shots, Wake Up

  • Hearing Aide: The Slaughterhouse Chorus ‘….In The Name Of Progress’

    Since its inception back in 2009 Albany based punk band, The Slaughterhouse Chorus, have been taking no prisoners with their aggressive, in-your-face musical style. With the release of their fourth record, …In The Name Of Progress, the band has penned its swan song and will be disbanding later this year. After ten years of touring and recording original material, the members of The Slaughterhouse Chorus, which is comprised of Chris Jordan (vocals and guitar), Jay Bonafide (guitar), Bob Watson (bass and vocals) and Mark McKenna (drums), have always steered through the rocky waters of the music industry with honesty and integrity. Initially formed from the ashes of local long-running punk/ska band, Public Access, the band has always had a “do it yourself” mentality that is a hallmark to their popularity and longevity.

    The Slaughterhouse Chorus’ latest effort is a stripped down production that was captured at vocalist Chris Jordan’s rural Rensselear County cabin. Each of the five tracks on …In The Name Of Progress were recorded as a live performance by the band and recorded by producer, Ryan Slowey. The EP is being released by local artist collaborative label, Built4BBQ’s, that the band helped co-found. Their first release since 2014, …In the Name of Progress will be available on 12″ vinyl and digital download.

    The EP starts off strong with the fast tempo punk number “Greenplates.” Fast guitars and booming vocals by Jordan set the testosterone fueled tone for the record. With lyrics that drip with irony and disillusionment, Jordan lyrically recounts a life of toil and hard work with nothing to show for it but poverty and frustration.

    The Second track off of …In The Name Of Progress, entitled “Hambone,” brings a taste of country flavor to an otherwise irreverent punk number. The tune lyrically depicts a gloriously raucous road trip to Nashville where a fresh start in life awaits… if they can just get there in one piece. The track features guitar work straight out of the Grand Ole Opry from Jay Bonafide, who deftly picks away like Roy Clark coming down off of a three day bender. “Hambone” is a fun track to listen to and features backup vocals by Built4BBQ’s fellow label-mates, John “Henry’s Rifle” Pipino and Dan Wilson (of Kimono Dragons and the Rechorduroys), adding a bit of flavor to the number.

    Luckily fans of The Slaughterhouse Chorus still have a few chances seeing the local punk favorites live before they hang it up for good. They perform next at their final record release party at Albany’s Hollow Bar & Kitchen on Friday, May 31 at 8PM. They will be accompanied by musical friends Turf ‘n’ Turf, The Death Vacation, and Kimono Dragons. The Slaughterhouse Chorus will play a few more shows this year before taking their final bow sometime this fall, including the sixth annual Built4BBQ Star Spangled Bonanza July 3 at the Hangar on the Hudson, and the Divine Vibes music festival at the Beer Diviner Brewery July 19-21.

    Key Tracks: Greenplates, Hambone, Wellsville

     

  • Hearing Aide: J.J. Cale ‘Stay Around’

    Legendary songwriter, guitarist and singer, J.J. Cale, was taken from us back in 2013, but his musical legacy will live on forever with Stay Around. His catalog of tunes have shaped lives, influenced musical styles and helped make the careers of more than one musical superstar. With songs like “Cocaine,” “After Midnight,” and “They Call Me The Breeze,” Cale’s storied musical catalog will outlast many of today’s contemporary artists. This fact is backed up by one, Mr. Eric Clapton, who has covered  multiple J.J. songs and has described his 2006 Grammy award winning collaboration with Cale, The Road to Escondido as being, “the realization of what may have been my last ambition, to work with the man whose music has inspired me for as long as I can remember.”

    Luckily for fans, Cale isn’t done providing new material just yet.  With the posthumous release of Stay Around, listeners are lucky to be provided with previously unreleased material that has been painstakingly compiled by J.J.’s widow, musician Christine Lakeland-Cale; along with friend and longtime manager, Mike Kappus.

    The result is a 15-track gem of an L.P. that includes unheard material penned by Cale with the exception of “My Baby Blues,” which was written by Lakeland-Cale.  This track captures Cale’s cool vocal style and sets the scene of a funky, smokey Juke Joint somewhere south of the Mason Dixon Line. The multi-layered rhythm guitar is interrupted by an oh-so-pleasing fuzzy guitar lead that effortlessly weaves itself in and out of the tune.

    Another Gem on Stay Around is the tenth track, a stripped down soul cry titled “If We Try.”  Lyrically, the song describes one man’s attempt at saving his relationship with his long term time lady by putting all of their mistakes in the past in an effort to give each other a fresh start.  The song features a solo Cale, starkly playing on the acoustic guitar, which creates a real feeling of intimacy, as if you were comfortably sitting in J.J.’s living room next to a fire while he performs the piece on his strumming guitar.

    Another favorite is the wonderfully produced “Long About Sundown,” the album’s 13th track. They say imitation is the biggest form of flattery. If you are familiar with Eric Clapton’s long musical career you know that there was fundamental shift in his playing in the mid to late 1970s. A good portion of that distinctive sound can be attributed to the fundamental core of Cale’s musical aesthetic. Sundown perfectly illustrates those similarities with an arrangement that could be right off of Clapton’s 1974 release 461 Ocean Boulevard.

    J.J. Cale’s life in music may be over, but his long musical career was one that he lived by on his own terms. His rejection of the big corporate musical industry was the nexus of the man’s music. Truth, honesty and a genuine love for the music that he readily embraced, yielded an enviable body of work that has forever changed contemporary music for the better. Stay Around is a perfect summation of that incredible work by a legendary artist.

    Key tracks: Lights Down Low, Tell Daddy, Long About Sundown

  • Hearing Aide: Carly Beth ‘Sleepless Lullaby’

    Twenty year old piano prodigy Carly Beth Hand has matured considerably in her musical evolution since her first LP Taking Flight was released at the tender age of 15 in 2014. Beth, who is a native of the sleepy little town Grand Island, NY which is located northwest of Buffalo near the Canadian Border, showcased her considerable musical talents on Taking Flight as a classical pianist and vocalist. This inaugural work gained considerable interest in the States as well as in China, mostly due to her active promotion on social media platforms. Her online live-stream performances on Facebook were received positively by an eager audience in China which she adeptly leveraged by learning to sing, speak, and read in Chinese.

    The newest Carly Beth single is “Sleepless Lullaby,” which was released in March and co-produced with Jimmy Bralower, has embraced her evolution from classic pianist/vocalist to pop princess. On this tune the piano takes a back seat to heavy synth and a creative dance/vocal  backing track.  This newly minted musical style may be the result of Beth’s recent relocation to London, England where she is now pursuing her music career and finishing studying at University.  The overall effect of this production is a slick radio friendly number that is contemporary and relevant.

    Carly Beth has not forgotten her musical roots and what has propelled her musical career up to this point.  Along with the release of this club friendly tune, she co-released a stripped down acoustic rendition of “Sleepless Lullaby.”  This distinctly different version of the song focuses on Beth’s  piano playing and removes the dance beats, while leaving some of her stark overdubbed vocals.  The listener will have to be the judge as to which of Beth’s styles they prefer.

    Carly Beth Hand will be performing along with Christina Custode at The Mug and Musken in Youngstown NY on July 19th during their Songwriter Concert Series.

  • Hearing Aide: The Wind + The Wave ‘Human Beings Let You Down’

    The Austin, Texas based duo, The Wind and The Wave are no strangers to hard work. Since their formation back in 2012, Dwight Baker and Patty Lynn have recorded three full length albums, multiple EPs, endured an exhausting roller-coaster of extensive touring, created their own podcast and have developed a rabidly devoted fan base.

    the wind + the wave

    It is evident that their hard work is paying off. Their latest effort, Human Beings Let You Down, which was independently released by The Wind And The Wave, made it in the top 10 most downloaded albums on iTunes during its debut week, late October 2018. The band has been prominently featured on the longtime ABC medical drama Grey’s Anatomy, which provided coveted national exposure for the pair. 

    Baker and Lynn provided the show’s producers with refreshing interpretations of a multitude of cover tunes that were featured on the successful drama. These original adaptations of classics include “Chasing Cars” by Snow Patrol and the Simple Minds 80’s classic, “Don’t You Forget About Me.” Lynn and Baker vocally put a definitive Wind and Wave spin on these covers, in turn creating a sound distinctly different than the original compositions.

    Lynn’s writing is always extremely personal and in the title track she lyrically accesses where her life’s journey has taken her, while following her passion of music. She recounts that this journey, while ultimately rewarding, can sometimes be extremely overwhelming. “Follow Your Heart Around,” is a catchy tune that musically illustrates the cohesion and trust that the duo has developed over many years together, making their third full album top notch.

    One of the most interesting songs on the record is the third track, “Lay Me Down.” Lynn skilfully describes what a grind touring on the road with a band can become. With lyrics like: Standing weak beneath the shower head or faced down on a bleached out bed, thinking about what I miss the most, Patty illustrates the flip side to the excitement and glamour of performing music on stage. The lyrics are a huge contrast to song’s upbeat tempo and joyful rhythms that the duo created musically for the piece. Those stark differences between these two characteristics create a complex and layered listening experience.

    Overall the tunes on Human Beings Let You Down are more cultivated and refined than its predecessor, 2016’s Happiness Is Not A Place, which had a distinctly raw and unpolished theme to its production. The final result is a work that is reminiscent to their debut release, 2014’s From The Wreckage. This similarity may also be due to the fact that Baker was at the helm producing both of those records; and is illustrative of his sensibilities behind the mixing board. The final result is a strong and moving group of very personal songs penned by Lynn that will keep the listener grooving to the musical beat of this very special duo.

    Key tracks: Neon Prayers, Human Beings, Follow Your Heart Around

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