On Wednesday, February 27, The Wailers concluded a classic two night run at the Brooklyn Bowl, showing the life and joy reggae music brings to fans. Lead by famed bassist and founder Aston “Familyman” Barrett and original Wailers guitarist, Donald Kinsey, this band has the roots to carry the incredible legacy that comes with performing these songs. But it is in the youth of powerhouse Drummer Aston Barrett Jr. and lead singer Joshua David Barrett that brings a fresh energy – an exploration that’s new and fresh for the band.
The Wailers Brooklyn Bowl 2.27.19
The Wailers are fan favorites and brought a packed house to the Brooklyn Bowl. It’s amazing to see the vast generations of music fans singing every word to classics hits like “Easy Skanking,” “Stir it up,” and “Redemption Song,” showing the life this music still has, and how good the band that created it really is. The Wailers did not disappoint and brought all that this amazing music has to offer to every show they’ve played, proving why they are still one of the top acts in music.
Setlist: Intro-G Minor, Easy Skanking, Rastaman Vibration, Concrete Jungle,Heathen, Running Away/Crazy, Satisfy My Soul, Johnny B Good, War/No more Trouble, Trench Town, Stir It Up
Encore: Redemption Song, It’s Alright, Punky Reggae Party
Umphrey’s McGee played the second night of a three night run at Brooklyn Steel Friday February, 15. The Jam Veterans moved in an out of their eclectic catalog with crowd favorite “Red Tape” and “Wife Soup.” A highlight from the show was an amazing cover of the Little Feat classic, “Fat Man in The Bathtub” with a guest hot section of Mike Maher (Snarky Puppy), Chris Ott & Dan White (Huntertones). Fans are looking forward to see what Umphrey’s brings for their final night of this Brooklyn Steel Run.
For the first time ever Father John Misty and Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit will be co-headlining a national tour that will run throughout the month of June. The tour will begin June 5 in San Diego and end in Tulsa, OK on June 29. The tour makes stops in New York at Celebrate Brooklyn! on June 19 and at CMAC in Canandaigua on June 20
Father John Misty is currently supporting his acclaimed 2018 release God’s Favorite Customer. While four time Grammy award winner, Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit is touring in support of their album The Nashville Sound. Joining the tour will be Jade Bird, June 6-25 and Erin Rae, June 27- June 29.
Pre-sale tickets begin Wednesday Feb. 13 at 10 a.m. (local), with general public tickets going on sale Friday Feb. 15.
June 6 – Cal Coast
Credit Union Amphitheater*- San Diego, CA
June 7 – Santa Barbara Bowl*- Santa Barbara, CA
June 8 – Greek Theatre*- Berkeley, CA
June 9 – Les Schwab Amphitheater* – Bend, OR
June 11 – Marymoor Park Concerts* – Redmond, WA
June 14– The Armory* – Minneapolis, MN
June 15 – Huntington Bank Pavilion at Northerly Island* – Chicago,
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Galactic brought their deliciously funky Already Ready Already Tour of NOLA Funk to Brooklyn Steel in Brooklyn, NY on Saturday, February 9 to promote their new album with the same title. The New Orleans-based group is one of the original jam bands from the mid-nineties. Their style is often described as a fusion of rock, funk, jazz, hip hop, r&b and electronica, and has evolved over time.
They often tour with a talented vocalist, and Erica Falls is no exception. The native New Orleans singer has a style that is rooted in vintage soul, channeling an earlier era. Erica reminders her fans that, “Vintage soul is not about bringing the listener back to a time of authentic music, it’s about reminding them that it never went anywhere.”
In addition to Erica Falls, Galactic brought their funky NOLA friends The Motet to open the show. The Motet released an album last month titled Death or Devotion as well. Singer Lyle Divinsky raised the band’s energy even higher with his exceptional stage presence at Brooklyn Steel, and got the crowd ready for Galactic.
At set break, the High and Mighty Brass Band entertained fans with marching band renditions of TLC favorites like “Waterfalls” and “Creep.” The High and Mighty Brass Band is still currently on tour opening for Galactic.
After the serendipitous first set and set break music, Galactic and Erica Falls took the stage with a bayou-flavored vigor that only Louisiana natives can possess. They played several tunes off of their new album, including “Ready Already,” “Clap Your Hands,” “Going Straight Crazy,” “Touch Get Cut,” and “Everlasting Light.” Ms. Falls lit up the stage with her dynamic and authentic vocals. Galactic showed their incredible improvisational skill with everything from saucy sax solos to funky guitar solos.
The High and Mighty Brass Band joined Galactic on stage again during the encore for “Buckit Like a Horse,” raising the level of funk just one more time.
Setlist
Ready Already* Higher and Higher* Heart Of Steel* Clap Your Hands* Fabuloso Going Straight Crazy* Hey Na Na* You Don’t Know* Doomed>Tiger Roll>Touch Get Cut* Coolin Off Medley Everlasting Light* Right On* Big Whiskers Tuff Love Dolla Diva* Buckit Like A Horse** Never Called You Crazy*
Boston ambassadors of funk, Ripe stopped by Brooklyn Steel on February 8, checking off another sold-out night on their winter 2019 tour. Be sure to check out this seven piece groove-machine as they grow, pushing their music to new heights.
BRIC House Sessions is back for another year with its Thursday night concert series. BRIC House has featured world-class artists that reflect the diversity within Brooklyn. Celebrating 40 years of pioneering the arts and media in NYC as well as one of the leading presenters free cultural programming in Brooklyn. The BRIC organization presents and incubates work by artists and media-makers that reflects New York’s diversity and reaches hundreds of thousands of people each year.
With BRIC House being its main venue, it houses a public media center, a major contemporary art exhibition space, two performance spaces, a glass walled TV studio and work spaces for artists. It also is the space for the Celebrate Brooklyn! Festival in Prospect Park and has BRIC TV, radio and Brooklyn Free Speech media. It’s lead sponsor and supporter is the innovative entertainment and retail destination company City Point, which is 1.8 million square feet of retail, residential, office and entertainment complex at the epicenter of Downtown Brooklyn.
So far this year headlining artists Son Little with special guest singer-songwriter Melissa Laveaux and guitarist Christopher Paul Stelling performing in Fort Greene on Feb. 28. Then on March 7 they have the Electro Arabic act 47SOUL who party with a message, with the female fronted, neo-beat deconstructionist Underground System to open. You can check out other artists performing on their website. Tickets can be purchased online at BRICartsmedia.org.
Rochester/Brooklyn band Maybird will soon be launching their second release on 30th Century Records. The first song off the recording, “Don’t Keep Me Around,” is indicative of the unique sound the band has crafted over the past six years – an amalgamation of indie and roots rock, filtered through a psychedelic veil. The four-piece band consists of singer/songwriter Josh Netsky, guitarists Kurt Johnson and Sam Snyder (aka Overhand Sam), and drummer Adam Netsky. NYS Music checked in with Maybird’s frontman to get the scoop on the inspirations and collaborations behind the new work.
Photo by Teagan West
Paula Cummings: You have a new song out called “Don’t Keep Me Around.” What is the story behind the song? Why did you choose to lead with this one?
Josh Netsky: We’ve been playing “Don’t Keep Me Around” live for well over a year now, so our fans are familiar with it and it’s just been waiting to be heard for a long time. We haven’t really explored many of the other songs on the record in a live setting yet, so it felt right to set this one free first. I wrote this song very quickly during a spontaneous recording session with producer Sam Cohen. Quickly in comparison to my usual writing process, at least. Quick songs are usually better in my experience… if you don’t have to think too much about it, that’s a good sign.
PC: Your songwriting has always been influenced by your own personal experiences. What people, places, or events lit the spark that led to the creation of your new songs?
JN: Some of the songs go pretty far back – I think the oldest track was written in 2012. So there are a lot of very different answers here from years of experiences and inspirations. But the overall arc of the album deals with a few main themes. Seeking purpose and clinging to memories/trying not to forget are the big ones. Kurt Vonnegut’s novel The Sirens of Titan was a huge inspiration for the album and put these ideas into perspective for me in the first place.
PC: Who did you work with on the album, and how did these industry professionals shape your work?
JN: For “Don’t Keep Me Around,” we worked a lot with Sam Cohen, who’s an amazing producer and our label-mate on 30th Century Records. He also mixed our entire album. Aside from that, we did most of the work ourselves independently. We all have small studio setups of our own, mostly we worked out of a studio that Sam and Kurt had set up in Ontario, NY. A few of our Rochester comrades put down some horn parts and extra instrumentation.
PC: Can you share any details about the new album?
JN: We’re looking at a late spring release, the date will be announced soon I’m sure. But we will be releasing singles up to that point, so there will be a constant flow of music from here forth. Plus we’ve got some videos and other material that we’re psyched to share alongside the tracks.
PC: Maybird’s Spotify playlist contains some great indie music. Which bands or musicians spur you forward by setting a benchmark that you’re striving to reach?
JN: I love having a Spotify playlist and updating it frequently. That’s exactly what it does, keeps inspiration flowing. We call it Maybird Mixtape. The whole thing started with an actual physical mixtape. We used to dub a bunch of tapes and give them to fans at shows to share what we were listening to. Spotify is obviously a lot easier to manage, but we still make the physical tapes every once in a while. I have a very open ear and use Shazam all the time. If I hear something that I would like to examine closer for whatever reason, whether it’s at a restaurant, in a store, on the radio or whatever… always Shazaming. A lot of what ends up on Maybird Mixtape is from that. I found this band Billy & Dolly that way, for example, and their album ended up being one of my favorites of 2018. Excellent songwriting and production. That’s really the only benchmark – to keep pushing forward in the writing and production… Cass Mccombs, Deerhunter, Daniel Ramano, Kendrick Lamar, Tame Impala, The Voidz, Danger Mouse, Wilco, Sly & The Family Stone are a few regulars on the mixtape. It’s all over the place, it’s all just really good. I think our sound is all over the place as well, and that’s the way we like it.
Check out Maybird’s new song over on Flaunt magazine. And be sure to follow Maybird on Facebook,Twitter, and Instagram to catch their latest music and videos and find out about upcoming shows.
Japanese Breakfast had the crowd dancing, jumping and swaying as they shared the band’s enthusiasm on January 18 at Brooklyn Steel. Michelle Zauner’s solo project has developed a fanbase eager to dive into the group’s experimental blend of shoegaze, indie pop and rock. Joined by drummer and producer Craig Hendrix, Deven Craige on bass and her husband Peter Bradley on guitar, this tour features an expanded live ensemble, complete with NYC-based string section Quartet 121, Aaron Rockers on trumpet and Adam Schatz on sax.
Zauner has a persona influenced by Bjork and other animated performers. Walking out in a whimsical white dress with coils of fabric attached, her engaging and infectious attitude transformed the stage into her own personal, musical playground. Kicking off with “Machinist” using modulation effects to augment her voice, the set came alive with colorful lights and large visuals as they went into “In Heaven.”
The band’s energy was dynamic, and Zauner shifted from guitarist to full frontwoman as she sang about lust and indifference to the ethereal, marching groove of “Road Head.” The crowd journeyed from high energy, endorphin-releasing rhythms to the somber admissions of heartache in “Boyish,” a haunting dream-like song, which wouldn’t have been out of place in an episode of Twin Peaks.
When 2016’s Psychopomp was released, Zauner was dealing with the grief of her mother’s death. She continued to channel her thoughts on love, heartbreak and trauma in 2017’s Soft Sounds from Another Planet. At Brooklyn Steel, she gave us her personal story, alongside projected collages of old family photos and videos during a stripped-down acoustic performance of “Till Death.”
The night began with a couple of strong openers. Meg Duffy of Hand Habits played an electric solo set blending vocals, effects and guitar prowess into passionate, sometimes melancholic soundscapes and melodies. Things got moving with Cincinnati-based WHY?, as rapper and singer Yoni Wolf led the band through a tight, eclectic mix of alternative rock and hip hop.
Japanese Breakfast has seen a lot of activity recently including headlining tours, festivals and new releases. The band has also been busy scoring the soundtrack for “Sable,” an upcoming open-world video game, due out later this year. Zauner’s ability to transform her raw emotions into extroverted performances continues to attract and delight new audiences.
Brooklyn collective Jäh Division has released “Isolation Dub,” a reggae-experimental interpretation of rock band Joy Division’s track from their album Closer. Bred in the shadows of the Brooklyn Bridge, 21st Century DIY musicians merge, including members of the pop group Animal Collective, experimental Brooklyn rockers Oneida and Awesome Color (Brooklyn).
This psychedelic twist comes from Dub Will Tear Us Apart… Again, a deluxe edition remake of their 2004 debut. The bonus release includes the reggae-dub version of “Isolation Dub” from Joy Division classics. Dub Will Tear Us Apart… Again proves the sparse musicianship Jäh Divisionparty of the once on-call-Brooklyn party-band has not only resurfaced, but also evolved to greater heights. Their sound stretches from the north-city to Manchester (UK) with Barry London’s Space Echo tape loop.
The reissue is a deluxe version of the original release, the band’s sole output. Initially a 4-track EP, the record has been expanded to include a fifth Joy Division track (“Isolation”), two unreleased originals from a scrapped album and a bonus 7″ with previously unreleased covers of Desmond Dekker and Jackie Mittoo tracks from the original sessions.
The reissue was recorded on a reel-to-reel tape in a single-day session at the Free 103point9 residential melting pot: a performance space, loft and micro FM radio station with windows overlooking the Williamsburg Bridge. What started as ‘a good smoke and a joke,’ said their original 12 Inch Recording label, quickly opened a wormhole of unreleased music, psychedelic lost-voyages and vintage instruments: including a Radio Shack purchased Moog, trash electronic drums and, of course, lots of delay and reverb.
We’re all lucky it’s been a pretty mild winter so far this season. Even so, Cousin Earth invited some friends to the Knitting Factory on January 5 for their annual Wintercourse celebration and they brought the heat.
Brooklyn-based outfit Bushicks started the night off strong with their original spread of rock and roll, staying true to the classic genre. Chunky guitar riffs, no-nonsense lyrics, and a hard-hitting rhythm section of John Adamski on drums and Jessica Bogwicz on bass really drive this three-piece. Front-man Jonny Patrizio shredded his way through the ten-song set featuring mostly originals, a song debut, and some special guests. Saxophone player Dan Visintainer lent his horn skills all throughout mid-set on “BioFunk,” “No Goal,” and an ode to the Bushicks music influence in “Rock Rollin’.”
Former Bushicks vocalist David Schnurman aka “David The Goliath” then took the spotlight behind the mic in his first hometown performance back with them for “No Buts About It.” In a triple threat to close out the set, the trio blasted through their very first single “Truffle Shuffle” before debuting a flawless take on the Rush classic “YYZ.” Finally, Joey Calfa of Cousin Earth appeared on stage while SUNY Oneonta professor Mark Pawkett was brought up for a blazing rendition of Frank Zappa’s “Black Napkin.” As the leader of the SUCO (State University College at Oneonta) Frank Zappa ensemble, Pawkett served as a mentor to Patrizio, Calfa and Nate Searing of Cousin Earth, all of whom were enrolled in the Zappa cover band Mothers of Intention. It was an emotional throwback, solidifying Pawkett’s success as a teacher.
Set break music was provided live in the form of a Teddy Midnight DJ set provided by Teddy Midnight bassist Sean Silva, also a student of Mr. Pawkett. In previous years of Wintercourse there has been a comedian MC’ing between bands, but this year, Corey Feldman took the reigns and introduced each band by displaying hilarious photos of their members in front of the stage.
Next up was the incredibly high-energy Funky Dawgz Brass Band of Connecticut. As the rhythm section of tuba and drums laid down the first groove of the set in “I Like It,” the rest of the six-piece horns came out dancing which quickly spread throughout the willing audience. From the bands anthem “Dem Dawgz” to the party track “Beyond the Void,” the Funky Dawgz showcased their infectious mix of NOLA funk, R&B, and twists on classic pop hits. As the crowd inched closer to the stage, an all-out dance party broke out for Michael Jackson’s “Don’t Stop Til You Get Enough” before trumpet player Aaron Eaddy took a turn with vocals on the hip-hop track “Live Ya Life.”
Each member of the band was given time to shine as they traded solos throughout the hour long set, mixed vocal melodies with horn parts, and hyped up the crowd. Taking advantage of the welcoming listeners, saxophonist Tommy Weeks hopped off stage and weaved his way through the crowd during a peaking solo. The Funky Dawgz didn’t let up once, keeping the crowd moving and energy way up as they closed the set with “Love Don’t Cost A Thing.”
After a short break, the night’s hosts “Cousin Earth” quickly set up and opened their Wintercourse set with the Queen staple “Bohemian Rhapsody,” highlighting newest member Melissa Goscinski’s beautiful falsetto, much to the delight of everyone in the room. With their unique ukulele arrangements and stage antics, Cousin Earth provided a set full of surprises. “When The Dinosaurs Come Back From Outer Space” saw the appearance of a dancing dinosaur in the crowd before they launched everyone back into the stratosphere with the dance track “Super Fun Laser Beams.” The funky “Alive,” from the recently released album Human Music, paved the way for former vocalist Tara Lawton to come out and rejoin the group on Aretha Franklin’s “Rock Steady.”
The whole Cousin Earth family was in high spirits, joyously singing and dancing together before breaking out into an rocking “Outrage” by Soulive which saw Calfa trade his ukulele for an electric guitar. Continuing in their space-themed tradition, a new song was offered in “Please Don’t Kill Us,” a humorous plead to extraterrestrials to spare planet Earth. “Soft Shell Crab Nebula” took things up one last notch before The Beatles’ “Helter Skelter” ended the nearly 80-minute set and brought us all home.
Shortly after midnight, and with the crowd still eager for more, Bella’s Bartok gladly provided. Bassist Dan Niederhouser noted the Massachusetts band’s love of playing in New York City and it was obvious the feeling was mutual with the Brooklyn crowd. Kicking off with “The Strigoi Waltz,” the six-piece band of gypsy-rockers captivated the audience with their speakeasy attire and lively stage presence. It was a fitting set for the late night crowd as fans sang along and swung to “Frankenstein’s Monster” and “The Fiddler and The Devil” as if they were suddenly transported to a dance saloon, if there ever were such a thing.
Toward the middle of the set in “Satan’s Song” the band had already weaved their way through a genre bending selection of original material, commanding the music like a witchdoctor. Singer Asher Putnam hypnotized the venue during the circusy “Masquerade” and joyously lead the Beetlejuice-infused dance party on stage through “Creepster,” “Bones,” and “Zora.” With such unique theatrics and an array of influence, it’s difficult to describe Bella’s Bartok other than completely original. They have managed to take Eastern European folk sensibilities and mix them with Americana, pop, and punk traits, all while keeping the vibe fun and joyful.
The crowd was left fulfilled and spent as the 8th year of Wintercourse proved Cousin Earth knows how to throw a post-New Year’s party. Going on almost a decade for this event, one thing is certain: everyone loves having Wintercourse.
The band’s energy was dynamic, and Zauner shifted from guitarist to full frontwoman as she sang about lust and indifference to the ethereal, marching groove of “Road Head.” The crowd journeyed from high energy, endorphin-releasing rhythms to the somber admissions of heartache in “Boyish,” a haunting dream-like song, which wouldn’t have been out of place in an episode of Twin Peaks.
