Steve Lacy sold out the Apollo Theater, his fifth stop on his first ever solo tour, despite touring since the age of 15 with the group The Internet.
Steve Lacy walked on stage in his pink gown and played Apollo XXI end to end. He spent a great portion of the show singing with either a guitar or bass in hand, but ran around with only the microphone for a few bangers. After finishing the album and a couple of his singles, Lacy had run out of music to play. He decided to perform “Dark Red” twice to close out his set.
In the wake of several tragic losses, more than fifty music industry professionals have banded together to create an industry-wide mental health support initiative, Backline.
A hub for artists, industry professionals and their families to quickly and easily access mental health and wellness resources, Backline has partnered with leading support organizations and care providers to streamline access to services specifically geared towards the music industry including Sweet Relief Musicians Fund, Anders Osborne’s Send Me a Friend, VA Way, and more.
Backline’s creation was supported by industry professionals including Ben Baruch (11E1even Group), Nadia Prescher (Madison House), Joshua Knight (Paradigm Agency), Jay Sweet (Newport Folk Festival) & Peter Shapiro (Brooklyn Bowl).
The Backline website will start as a referral-based system, where professionals will assess visitors’ needs and lead them to appropriate resources. Backline’s goal is to provide a network of on-demand mental health services available at no (or low) cost for industry professionals, with a focus on addressing the unique challenges and stresses of our space.
“There are wonderful organizations who have been doing great work to support the health and wellness of the music industry. What we saw was a gap in making these resources easily accessible. Mental health treatment is not one-size-fits-all, so it is our hope that by bringing these organizations together in one place, and providing case managers to guide visitors through the resources, we can make it simple to get the help you need,” says Hilary Gleason, CEO of Level, Backline’s convening body.
Level pairs businesses and bands with non-profit organizations while identifying what resources each has to bring to the table to build innovative campaigns and events that align with each party.
In the coming weeks, Backline’s educational materials and trained professionals will make their way onto tour buses, green rooms, backstage areas, and beyond. “The Relix Roadie Lounge is honored to be working with Backline to show musicians, techs, crew, production staff, and all the hard working people behind the scenes, that there is always help. The road can be a lonely place. Together, we hope to give support and a home away from home with Backline,” adds Josh Rowe, VP of Partnerships & Events at Relix Media Group.
White Denim blew the proverbial roof off of the new White Eagle Hall in Jersey City, bringing their sweet Austin, Texas rock sound to the East Coast and fans throughout the tri-state area. The two-hour headlining set from the high powered rock outfit never skipped a beat and was virtually non-stop. Night after night, this band displays communal showmanship and a loud lesson for how to make rock and roll work very well in 2019. White Denim presented a two hour clinic is proof that a diversified rock sound played by very talented musicians still deserves a spot in the debate of today’s best contemporary music.
The Adirondacks are known for their mountains and beautiful scenic views, but soon they are going to be known for being from where singer-songwriter Ashley Sofia hails. Her new album Shades of Bluedropped on September 6 and is definitely something folk enthusiasts should look into. She not only holds the sole songwriting credit on every track, but also takes inspiration from her travels across America and her own family history to create this unique album in a time when uniqueness is becoming harder and harder to find. With 13 original tracks, the album builds off of Sofia’s Adirondack roots and Nashville sound where she is currently living, writing and recording music.
Album cover of Ashley Sofia’s new Album ‘Shades of Blue.’
The album starts with the track “Slowing Down” which has an eerie violin introduction which bleeds into a soft plucking guitar that builds into Sofia’s vocals stepping out from nowhere. It’s an unarguably folksy sound with Sofia’s ‘just so slight’ country twang that creates a beautiful, and slightly haunting, song that will stick with the listener as feeling familiar yet unknown at the same time just like its subject matter: love. It keeps with the folksy feel while also keeping a bare bones track with just vocals, guitar and violin occasionally dropping by that fits with the bittersweet lyrics.
The track that stuck out the most was “Tangerine and Blue” with the upbeat and full band accompanying the strikingly opposing colors in the song’s name and chorus. “Tangerine and Blue” mirrors the conflicted feelings about leaving that Sofia is singing about within it. There’s something about Sofia’s lyrics that keep her songs fresh even though they are revolving around cliche’ and typical topics. They don’t come off that way though because of her word choices that create vibrant visuals for the listener.
Some of Shades of Blue was hard to really connect with. She has a lot of songs with American tropes like freedom, and dreams, which paired with the country folk sound but wasn’t really my thing. But her song “Looking For America” redeems this aspect of her work for me. It’s not all “rah rah rah” America, it focuses on how America isn’t how it should be. This isn’t something I usually come across in country-influenced folk music. The song revolves around how the American dream isn’t something that’s realistic and how she’s looking for the America she wants to believe in which was refreshing to see within this genre.
Ashley Sofia wasn’t someone on my radar before but she definitely is now. Her take on folk country isn’t one that has been overplayed and has lyrical integrity and uniqueness with groovy tracks that build up perfectly which keeps the listener coming back to listen to Shades of Blue over and over again. For more information visit Ashley Sofia’s website.
Key Tracks: Tangerine and Blue, Looking for America
Ty Segall & The Freedom Band are playing extended residencies in cities all around the world. They are playing his new album First Taste in full as well as many of the eccentric artist’s older albums. After a five-night stay at The Bowery Ballroom, the word is out on the amazing double drum, guitar-less new album that fans are boasting is his best yet.
The performance of First Taste really makes the most of the two-drummer setup, with Ty moving back and forth from a kit positioned at the front of the stage at least once every song. It is his great connection with The Freedom Band that blends so many different styles of music, leaving no trouble in making a crazed, heavy and loud as hell rock n’ roll experience.
Willem takes the modern languid sounds of Post Malone, Mac Miller and combines it with the mellow tones of WIlco and Neutral Milk Hotel. He hails from Albany but is currently a musical engineering student at Purchase College. His debut EP uses the elements of his previous collaborations with NRV and SIMONEAR (Tomorrow, Mrs. Rebound) and blends them into a moment leaving you wanting more.
“Hit the Floor” was released as a teaser for the EP in the spring: it’s joyful, flirtatious lyrics are combined with a soft but driving beat that ends with the listener yearning for summer. “November” reminds you of rainy, bittersweet days in bed with a partner and recognizing that winter is coming just like the end of a relationship.
The interlude between the tracks provides the emotional space for one to consider the next song title.
“We Could Be Friends” brings about the renewal and inner maturity needed to release the listener from grappling with the previous tracks themes. With “Lately,” Willem’s voice reaches a place unexplored earlier; he takes it down a step and explores a level a loneliness that resonates with the rest of the EP but holds the potential for more to come.
What more is there to say? It’s short but not in a way that punk, grindcore, or any other genre priding itself in brevity could hope to muster. Willem achieves something that many young artists want but rarely earn: writing a debut worth listening to on repeat and being able to do so if you have more than 10 mins to spare–it’s like Reign in Blood for the digital era, but without the physical sensation of flipping a cassette to hear the same good time again.
Pioneering drummer Ginger Baker, best known for his role in the late ’60s supergroup Cream died Sunday in England at the age of 80.
Baker’s Facebook account published this message Sunday morning.
Baker’s style influenced many heavy metal drummers much to his dismay. The notoriously cantankerous drummer, in a 2015 Forbes interview, when asked about his influence on the metal genre, had this to say:
I find it incredibly repulsive, always have. I’ve seen where Cream is sort of held responsible for the birth of heavy metal. Well, I would definitely go for aborting [laughs]. I loathe and detest heavy metal. I think it is an abortion. A lot of these guys come up and say, “Man, you were my influence, the way you thrashed the drums.” They don’t seem to understand I was thrashing in order to hear what I was playing. It was anger, not enjoyment – and painful. I suffered on stage because of that [high amplifier] volume crap. I didn’t like it then, and like it even less now.
Nevertheless, Baker’s heavy-handed, double-bass style of drumming influenced scores of drummers that came after him. Cream was formed from the ashes of Baker and Jack Bruce’s band, the Graham Bond Organization. Eric Clapton had left The Yardbirds in 1966 and suggested forming a power trio to Baker, including Bruce in the equation. The often volatile relationship between Baker and Bruce led to the demise of several of their early bands, including Cream, which lasted only two years.
In those two years, Cream released four albums that produced such influential singles as “White Room,” “Tales of Brave Ulysses, ” “Sunshine of Your Love,” and “Badge.”
Following the dissolution of Cream, Clapton and Baker recruited Steve Winwood and Ric Grech to form Blind Faith. The short-lived band produced one self-titled album before calling it quits. Clapton went on to perform with Delaney and Bonnie and Derek and the Dominoes, while Winwood and Grech returned to Traffic. Baker moved to Nigeria, performing with legendary Afrobeat composer Fela Kuti.
Blind Faith’s first live performance at London’s Hyde Park in 1969
Baker spent much of the later ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s performing with a number of bands to help pay the bills. One of these bands was Syracuse-based Masters of Reality, a King Crimson and Black Sabbath-inspired band. He joined the group for their Sunrise on the Sufferbus album in 1993. They charted with the single “She Got Me (When She Got Her Dress On).”
Baker, who famously rejected being called a rock drummer, returned to his jazz roots in the mid-’90s, forming the Ginger Baker Trio with jazz legends, guitarist Bill Frisell and bassist Charlie Haden.
In 2005 he reunited with his Cream bandmates for a series of concerts in London and New York, the former is chronicled on the album, Royal Albert Hall London May 2, 3, 5, 6, 2005.
Cream was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993.
Baker’s health had been deteriorating in recent years, falling victim to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, degenerative osteoarthritis and heart issues, eventually taking him off the road.
Artists worldwide from Flea to Paul McCartney have been paying tribute to the legendary drummer on social media.
Ginger Baker, great drummer, wild and lovely guy. We worked together on the 'Band on the Run' album in his ARC Studio, Lagos, Nigeria. Sad to hear that he died but the memories never will. X Paul pic.twitter.com/Rne4tn6A2i
London-based trio The Comet is Coming present a dark and earthshaking sound with their blend of jazz, electronica and psychedelia. Shabaka Hutchings (also of Sons of Kemet and Shabaka and the Ancestors) plays a frenetic and chaotic saxophone over haunting and pulsing percussion from drummer Max Hallett. Swirling, psychedelic synths by Dan Leavers drown the mix, making the listener feel as if they are trapped in a jazz apocalypse dream.
Fresh off their new LP, The Afterlife, released in September on Impulse! Records, the band began a short October tour on Tuesday night at Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn. A simple stage set-up, with a lone, dim red light illuminating the drum kit center-stage awaited fans as the doors opened. With no opener, Comet quietly took the stage and began playing some lighter jazz progressions as the band was seemingly just loosening up. Then, with a loud crescendo, the band dove right into their heavy jazz rock.
The sound of The Comet is Coming stands distinctly apart from Shabaka’s other projects, and most of the modern jazz scene. The Afterlife can easily be the soundtrack for any number of cosmic apocalypse movies. It’s a raw mix of Sun Ra’s spacey sound with dance-floor ready techno percussions.
For roughly an hour and a half, the band flew in and out of tracks from all of their releases, but relying heavily on The Afterlife. There was no lull to speak of – as one song was coming to an end, one of the musicians was already looping the next track to keep a continuous flow. Each band member took their turn with a solo, which seamlessly integrated into the setlist. A simple back-lit stage cast the band in silhouette – giving the music that extra bit of ominous mystery.
Shabaka Hutchings of The Comet is Coming. Photo by Buscar Photo
The Comet is Coming have cemented their status as one of the more exciting and intriguing modern jazz bands out there. Their live show is a visceral, cathartic experience and each new release sees the band pushing their music further down the rabbit hole of underground jazz. They continue on a short run of dates in early October, ending with a stop at Austin City Limits on October 11 before heading over to Europe.
BHuman has crafted the soundtrack to your next intergalactic dance party. BMovie is a theatrical concept album of interstellar proportions, springing from a love of sci-fi and 1950’s horror flicks enjoyed by Londoner Billie Lloyd and New Yorker Harrison Scott, the members of this queer pop duo.
In dramatic fashion, BMovie offers an overture, intermission, and interlude-providing segues. These futuristic instrumental tracks use clips of dialog, including lines from old movies, serving as a fun way to weave their work with the existing framework of sci-fi pop culture. They also help to lend context to the songs and move the story line forward.
The first song on the album is a cover of Cher’s mega-hit “Believe.” BHuman has stripped back the song to emphasize the bittersweet sentiment of the lyrics, then contrasted it with light and airy percussion and synth. The song debuted earlier this year, just in time for NYC Pride.
As delightful as this opening is, it’s only the beginning. BHuman’s original songs interlace captivating synth pop melodies and fantastical vocal hooks to create soundscapes that are out of this world. The music maintains an ethereal levity as BHuman explores interpersonal relationships and learning how to be comfortable in one’s own body.
The album builds to an incredibly vulnerable and touching climax with “Teachmehowtobeyourgirl.” We’ve moved past believing in life after love, past using people in “Distraction,” through the web of lies that people weave in “Fiction.” Here we enter a space where it is safe accept one’s self, to love another person, and to discover what it really means to be human.
Key Tracks: Distraction, Fiction, The Other Way, Teachmehowtobeyourgirl
With events in Colorado, California and Vermont, WinterWonderGrass Music and Brew Festival has announced the 2020 lineup across all three of their flagship events. Taking place in in Steamboat Springs, CO from February 21st – 23rd, Squaw Valley, CA from March 27th – 29th and Stratton, VT from April 10th – 11th, the traveling music festival will welcome performances from some of the hottest names currently thriving in today’s Bluegrass and Americana music scenes.
“It’s with a mountain of intention, huge hearts, humility and a commitment to delivering the hottest and sweetest artists that we present to you the 2020 WinterWonderGrass landscape,” expresses festival founder, Scotty Stoughton. “Each year, the hardest thing to do is not heed our desire to return to each and every band–and by virtue of that, friends to WWG–year in and year out. It is our sincere desire you’ll find new lifetime favorites on this lineup, have the chance to be reunited with old loves and step out of your comfort zone with open arms to new experiences.”
“WinterWonderGrass has become a home for artists, fans, staff, locals, businesses, skiers, riders, their families and all of the like,” adds festival Director of Marketing & Ticketing, Ariel Rosemberg. “We pride ourselves on creating a sustainable, safe and receptive environment, bound by the marriage of the best in bluegrass, folk and Americana, and the undefeated nature of American ski culture.”
Returning to Colorado for its eighth consecutive year, and its fourth year located in the pristine ski town of Steamboat Springs, CO, WinterWonderGrass presents headlining performances from Greensky Bluegrass, Billy Strings and Margo Price over its three days this coming February. Additional artists on the bill include Keller & the Keels, Della Mae, Travelin’ McCourys, Nikki Lane, Molly Tuttle, Horseshoes & Hand Grenades, Bluegrass Generals (Chris Pandolfi & Andy Hall of The Infamous Stringdusters), ALO, Lindsay Lou, a collaborative set from the WinterWonderWomen, Pickin’ on the Dead, Che Apalache, Cris Jacobs, Twisted Pine, Jon Stickley Trio, Meadow Mountain, Jay Roemer Band, Buffalo Commons and Bowregard, as well as special guests Andy Thorn, Jennifer Hartswick, Bridget Law, Pappy Biondo and Will Mosheim.
Over March 27th – 29th, WinterWonderGrass makes its way to the Tahoe region of California for its sixth consecutive year presenting three days of music at the base of Squaw Valley Ski Resort. Headliners for this festival stop include The Devil Makes Three, The Infamous Stringdusters and Billy Strings (two sets). Peter Rowan, Fruition, Keller and the Keels, The War and Treaty, The Lil Smokies, Brothers Comatose, Della Mae, Larry Keel Experience, Kitchen Dwellers, Andy Falco & Travis Book (of The Infamous Stringdusters) Perform Jerry Garcia, Cris Jacobs, Trout Steak Revival, Midnight North, Town Mountain, Pickin’ on the Dead, Pixie and the Partygrass Boys, Old Salt Union, TK & the Holy Know-Nothings, Rapidgrass and Twisted Pine also join the bill, alongside special guests Lindsay Lou, Bridget Law, Will Mosheim and a collaborative WinterWonderWomen set.
The Vermont stop of the festival takes place over April 10th and 11th at Stratton Mountain Resort in Stratton, VT. Previously held in December, this year’s festival stop in Vermont was scheduled to coincide with the ski resort’s closing weekend. Headliners for this iteration of the festival, billed as WonderGrass Presents: Sugar & Strings, include The Infamous Stringdusters, Cabinet, Della Mae, and Molly Tuttle. Additional artists on the two-day lineup include Kitchen Dwellers, Andy Falco & Travis Book (of The Infamous Stringdusters) Perform Jerry Garcia, Twisted Pine, Che Apalache, a special WinterWonderWomen collaboration, Saints and Liars, Dead Winter Carpenters and Damn Tall Buildings, as well as special guests Jennifer Hartswick, Bridget Law, Pappy Biondo, Will Mosheim and more.
Additionally, the Grass After Dark Series will return for post-festival programming with more details coming soon. Resort lift tickets, Mountaintop Dinner tickets (Colorado and California only) and Grass After Dark tickets are not included in regular festival admission and should be purchased separately.
Tickets for all three festivals are on sale now: | |.
This month, Caravan to Wondergrass events are taking place in Denver, CO, Tahoe City, CA and Manchester, VT.
The Denver event takes place on October 3rd at Cervantes Masterpiece Ballroom and Cervantes Otherside, with an October 11th Steamboat Springs presentation of The WinterWonderGrass All-Stars happening at The Depot Art Center.
The California Caravan takes place in the coming weeks with a Tahoe Food Hub Event on October 17th, and performances by Midnight North at Moe’s BBQ in Tahoe City, CA on the 18th, and Alibi Brewing in Truckee, CA on the 19th.
Vermont’s pop-up Caravan stop happens at the end of the month on October 26th at Earth Sky Time in Manchester, VT for a special Halloween-themed event, featuring music performances by Andy Falco (The Infamous Stringdusters), Saints and Liars and Terrible Mountain String Band.
A limited quantity of fee-free tickets to WinterWonderGrass festival stops will be available for purchase during all Caravan to WonderGrass events. Click here for tickets and more information on specific Caravan events.
