Brian Stollery, former Video Director for Relix, brings his more than five years of experience in the music industry with a focus on bringing the best business solution to his clients.
Coptium (loosely, “choose growth” in Latin) is a term that any business, particularly those in the entertainment industry can embrace – in order to remain competitive and successful, you must grow. Alongside growth comes the need for professionals to help small businesses to develop and reach their potential.
Enter Coptium, a management consulting firm that offers an unprecedented, holistic, human approach to traditional consulting and management. With a team including a Fortune 500 marketing company, Madonna’s former business manager, and a team of industry experts, Coptium offers effective, robust accounting, business management, social media and marketing services at a fraction of the traditional cost.
The end goal is simple: A world in which music and art are supported and valued as equally as the corporate dollar. How to tie art with financial freedom? Coptium’s “Launch” series is a new, curated showcase concert series that truly nurtures and artists work, provides and activated community around their music, and compensates them with not only monetary pay, but also business and financial support services.”
Pete Mason: When did the idea to create a business like Coptium come together?
Brian Stollery: When I was creating videos at Relix, it was a lot of fun and something I enjoyed, but I was one person and could only work with one band or artist on a video at a time. It would go online, it would get views, it might move the needle for the band or the event. I quite simply wanted to widen my scope and now I am working with renewed focus on moving the needle of the world. As much as I love making a video with a band, I would much rather step in and help bands really move the needle and really grow their bottom line. And I have found that a lot of bands historically don’t think of themselves as a business. They don’t have a P&L sheet, they don’t generally file taxes as a band, and they don’t think of themselves as a viable financial business entity.
The team I put together can help them do this. Artists can create and do what they want to do while we take care of the rest. With Coptium, we can widen the scope and effect the entire community as a whole, rather than just with one band at a time.
PM: What do you find is the biggest initial hurdle bands face?
BS: Bands rarely have startup capital. Musicians know how to create, they know how to play music and so much of that comes from feeling and emotion and that space in our brain, but bands are never coming from the analytical part, the business side of things. They’re never saying “Let’s form a band, and then reinvest 20% of our gross! Then let’s look into tax deferment and pay our taxes quarterly!” No band ever says that, because they’re musicians and they like to play music. If they wanted to do business, they would have gotten an MBA. If you look at some bands with startup capital that have a business manager, they are the bands still out there today playing and making money.
PM: What is the best advice you can offer bands that are starting out?
BS: Get a band credit card, put all your expenses for touring on that credit card. Log a spreadsheet of all of your income, a note on each performance’s revenue. Create another spreadsheet of expenses, and that’s all you need to always be flat with the IRS. If you have an accountant, that would make their life easier. If you do band taxes through Turbotax or one of those companies, you could do your taxes in an hour. There are a million reasons you may bypass this, but this is your business and you are allowed to deduct business expenses from taxes. If you don’t do that, you are probably overpaying on taxes. It sounds so counterintuitive as a musician to put your income and expenses on a spreadsheet, but it is a very easy way to actually see if you have a profitable foundation for your business.
If you’re interested in performing as part of the “Launch” concert series, or interested in learning more about Coptium’s business services, contact Launch@Coptium.com for more info.
There is a subtle science behind making a good mixtape, and I’m not talking about a musician’s collection of work captured on a flimsy metal strip of magnetized particles of rust. Mixtapes were once ubiquitous to the teenaged way of life. If you survived puberty, it was because you made a mixtape. If Charles Shultz was a kid of the 80s, Linus would have had a Walkman. No doubt. So how does one go about creating a playist?
So, yes. Ask a kid of the 80s the importance of a good mixtape and you’ll start an hour’s conversation on his or her collection, or best yet, shared insight on the process involved on how to compose an intimate audio experience.
It takes more than compiling a group of songs. The fictional Rob Gordon warned us of this. It’s a delicate thing. There are a lot of rules. What rules may apply depends on what your intentions may be for the final product. Is this tape for your own consumption, or are you going to be sharing this masterpiece with someone else? If the latter, then who is your audience and what is your message?
Yeah. There are a lot of questions you need to ask yourself. But, perhaps the best way to understand the complexities behind a good mixtape is to speak to people who mix music professionally.
Kim Neaton knows this all too well.
“I’ve made playlists for everything from a baby shower to a six-hour cider festival,” said Neaton. Not to mention, she spent four years programming radio shows at WEQX. “I’ve made playlists for all sorts of occasions and love the topic of making the right playlist depending on what type of event or crowd.”
Auditory chaos
Neaton stands between the bar and the shuffleboards at Franklin Alley Social Club with a beer in hand. The arcade was an off-the-wall idea conceptualized by Frank and Heidi Sicari, owners of Takk House. The front door is in a Troy alleyway. It’s the basement of the old Knights of Columbus from nearly a century ago; a “retro boutique gathering space.” The bar features craft beers and there’s a few classic coin-operated games in the back.
It’s a Thursday night and Neaton is there to takeover the jukebox. It’s an event the Sicaris throw on occasion, allowing a guest to come in and arrange the night’s music. She downplays her responsibility. “We picked a music theme for the night, made a four-hour playlist … plug in and it plays. No real DJ skills required.”
WEQX has been the local authority on alternative music. Its radio signal has washed over the Capital District for more than 30 years. In four of those years, Neaton grew the reputation of throwing an occasional Beastie Boys track onto a show. Before leaving two years ago to join Guthrie/Bell Productions, she was one part of the station’s triumvirate who decided which bands received airtime and which bands did not.
The conversation within Neaton’s circle of friends stops as one song transitions to another. As Neaton said, she’s not chained to a booth. The music is playing straight off a digital playlist she pieced together on Spotify. A four-hour playlist on the popular streaming service can be haplessly curated within minutes, but not the order.
Neaton puts careful thought into what song follows another. Once, she said, a friend asked her to compile a list for a gathering. Neaton couldn’t attend, but gifted her friend a link to the playlist. The following day, she asked how it all worked out. She was met with a hesitant okay. Neaton asked if she had kept to the order. Her friend had not. Instead, she had hit shuffle.
“It’s about understanding the vibe of the audience,” said Neaton. When her friend strayed from her order of songs, she tossed away the segue from one song to another; it introduced an auditory chaos.
Sounds are important
Music is the manipulation of sound. Listen to Adrian Lewis, John Drabik or Chris Arndt play guitar, and you’re fascinated by the dancing of chords. Stripped down, it’s sound produced by vibrating strings. Since the first instrument was created, time has nurtured an appreciation of such sounds orchestrated into composition.
“I’ve learned this from teaching music production and engineering — I’m trying to teach them ear training,” said Josh Mirsky. On top of fronting Mirk, he owns Foster House Studios and teaches Hip Hop Academy. “We work tirelessly on ear training.
For me, that’s one of the most important skills to have when they leave: to be able to hear what’s happening in the song.”
Mirsky has a critical ear for sound. He has produced for Jay-Z. He’s also worked for major record labels and licensed tracks for national television networks, including NBC, VH1 and ESPN.
“I’ll hear something and I’ll get so flabbergasted,” Mirsky said. The producer is able to pinpoint when the marriage of sounds fail. In the studio, the bridgework to a song is laid out into separate tracks. Open GarageBand on a Mac. Each instrument has a unique track. When mixing sounds, he’s listening for how each track complements the others. “Sounds are the most important thing… I spend an hour per sound.
“Either I know the sound I’m going to —because I’ve used it and it’s a favorite of mine — and I know the depth that it’s going to add to the piece, or if I don’t know the sound, but hearing the sound in my head and finding one that sounds similar and manipulate that. It might take me an hour to find that sound.”
The Vibe
Moonshine Records earned meteoric popularity with the emergence of the rave scene in the mid to late 90s. The Los Angeles-based record label owned a stable of popular DJs that included DJ Keoki, Ferry Corsten and Carol Cox. Paul Oakenfold, twice-voted as DJ Magazine’s Best DJ in the World, had his first release in the U.S. under the Moonshine label. In 1997, Moonshine ran its first electronic-music tour through the United States. In each of its four tours, Denver was a stop.
Tim Pittz left the Capital District and stumbled into Colorado’s drum and bass scene. He was spinning records as DJ Canon. It was the height of rave’s popularity, and Denver was the right place to be. But, there was a lot of competition.
“A hundred DJs will have the same f–king records,” said Pittz. “But those are usually the anthems and bangers that get played to death. I would scour record shops looking for something different.”
Europe drove the market. Oakenfold, Tiësto, Corsten, Armin Van Burren were all household names by 2000; all of them developed their names in Europe. Pittz landed a connection that supplied him promotional tunes weeks before the official release stateside.
“So when everyone else was playing record xyz, I had moved on to something else,” he said.
Pittz ran with a crew that consisted of stage names like Fury, Ecco and MC Dino. At their height, they shared the stage with De La Soul, and played the Moonshine Over America Tour when it rolled through Denver in 2000. They played in front of several thousand ravers going “bonkers” insider the Denver Colosseum. He’s now retired and living with his wife in Philadelphia.
Preparing for your audience is key to recognizing the vibe of the room. Each venue was unique. Your time slot, and who you were playing before or afterwards, offered a particular responsibility to how the night was to flow.
“DJ Hype, for instance — I know he’s going to be blowing the speakers out of the room and killing the dance floor with people losing their minds,” said Pittz, “so I viewed it as my job to get heads bobbing by laying the groundwork for that.” That involved playing groovy, catchy tunes, he said. His MC helped engage the crowd. Avoiding the popular anthems was important in order for his crew to stand out, he said. He helped the MC by feeding into his flow with the right tunes. “You just know when something is going to kill, but you can’t just go straight for that,” he said.
“It’s a build-up.”
Understand the vibe.
Sounds are important.
It’s a build up.
Think about all of this when you next compose a playlist.
Lonely Dakota is a UK based southern rock band. What? A UK based southern rock band. If baffled by this identification, the band’s debut EP End of Days will remove any confusion to who they are.
Recorded in April 2019 at Ranch Production House in Southampton, England, End of Days opens with “Victoria,” a bare bones rock anthem. Hearing lead singer Luke ‘VonDee’ Varndell’s raw vocals and Craig ‘The Machine’ Sepala’s authoritative drumming, you’ll find yourself pumping your fist in the air and letting out a YEAH as the song builds. The title track (and first single) “End of Days” follows. The song solidifies the band’s rock status with its hard-hitting drive, highlighted by Paul ‘PJ’ Jackson’s potent guitar work.
Track three is “Medication,” a slight shift melodically from the first two songs but kept to the bands creative dimension. Rounding out the collection are “Overdrive” and “15 Years,” songs that maintain the musical landscape established by the opening numbers.
“End of Day” cover art
So let’s review:UK, southern rock; UK, southern rock. Got it? Doesn’t matter. Just remember that Lonely Dakota’sEnd of Day will rock you, no matter where you are from.
A great movie can act as a time capsule, documenting a specific era in time to relive, revisit and enjoy in the days to come, and that’s essentially what Turkuaz did in late 2018 while filming a live performance, which was promised to be released as a film at a later date.
“None’s A Ton is our first time truly capturing the Turkuaz show experience in a live concert film,” shares Turkuaz frontman, Dave Brandwein, who also co-directed and is credited as an Executive Producer on the film. “It’s something we’ve dreamed of doing for a long time and finally, it has arrived. This film is sort of a ‘best of’ of our favorite moments that have developed on stage over the last five years of non-stop, coast-to-coast touring.”
On Tuesday, September 10th and for one night only, Turkuaz will screen their feature film debut, None’s A Ton, in their hometown of Brooklyn, NY at Prospect Park’s Nitehawk Cinema.
“We feel it’s the next best thing to being at a Turkuaz show (and maybe, it’s even better if you have your feet up with a bowl of popcorn!),” adds Brandwein. “We want you to feel the raw energy, the sweat and the excitement, but from the comfort of your own home, smartphone, or however, you choose to enjoy it.”
For this very special film debut, fans are invited to join members of Turkuaz and the film’s co-director and Executive Producer, Dani Brandwein, for the screening premiere of None’s A Ton over dinner at the lovely Nitehawk Cinema located in Prospect Park, Brooklyn. Directly after the film premiere, fans have the opportunity to participate in a Q & A session with band members and the film’s directors.
For an elevated experience and a chance to score some exclusive merch, fans can upgrade to VIP for a meet & greet opportunity, photo with the band and a signed movie poster, in addition to the above offerings. VIP ticket holders must also purchase a GA ticket.
GA tickets and VIP upgrades for the None’s A Ton premiere are .
Turkuaz Fall Tour Dates
9/10 – Brooklyn, NY – Nitehawk Cinema Park Slope !
9/20 & 9/21 – Perris, CA – Same Same But Different Festival
9/20 – 9/22 – Felton, CA – Mountain Sol Fest
9/29 & 9/30 – Tokyo, Japan – Blue Note Tokyo
10/4 – 10/6 – Kings Beach, Australia – Caloundra Music Festival
10/11 – Atlanta, GA – Terminal West *
10/12 – Mills River, NC – Sierra Nevada Concert Series
10/13 – Pittsburgh, PA – Rex Theater ^
10/19 – Washington, DC – Night At the Point
10/20 – Corolla, NC – Mustang Rock & Roast
10/31 – Toronto, ON – Velvet Underground * 11/1 – Buffalo, NY – Town Ballroom * 11/2 – Saratoga Springs, NY – Putnam Place
12/5 – Fairfield, CT – Warehouse ~
12/6 – Philadelphia, PA – Theatre of The Living Arts ~
12/7 – Salem, VA – Salem Civic Center %
12/12 – Kalamazoo, MI – Bells Brewery #
12/13 – Indianapolis, IN – The Vogue Theater #
12/14 – Nashville, TN – Exit / In #
12/31 – Boulder, CO – Boulder Theater$
1/7 – 1/12 – Miami, FL – Jam Cruise
* w/ Wild Adriatic
^ w/ Andy Frasco
~ w/ Great Time
! notes None’s A Ton Film Premiere
% w/ The Isley Brothers
# w/ Paris Monster
Live From Here hosted by Chris Thile will return this month with the fourth season of the weekly variety show from their new home at New York City’s Town Hall. Thile and producers American Public Media announced in May that the show’s creative and production teams would move from St. Paul, MN to NYC.
“Next season, our public radio listeners and live-stream viewers will get the best and broadest selection of music and musicians we can possibly present,” Thile said via press release, “and they can also expect an expanded range of spoken word content, including poetry, literature, comedy and storytelling.”
Live From Here‘s fourth season kicks off Sept. 7, with additional performances on Sept. 14 and 28, Oct. 12 and 26, Nov. 2, 16 and 23; and Dec. 7 and 14.
Guests for the season premiere include Ezra Koenig, frontman for Vampire Weekend, Natalia Lafourcade, Sarah Jarosz, Jake Gyllenhaal, Matt Braunger, and Holly Laurentand. The season continues with The Lumineers, Raphael Saadiq, Aparna Nancherla, Maria Popova, and Rachael Price on Sept. 14, then Jamila Woods, John Cameron Mitchell, Ann Patchett, and Tom Papa Sept. 28.
Oct. 12 brings Trey Anastasio plus The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra featuring trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, Sarah Jarosz, and Tom Papa, and Oct. 26 features Lake Street Dive frontwoman Rachael Price. Guests on Nov. 2 include Gregory Alan Isakov and Aoife O’Donovan. More artists and guests will be announced soon.
Tickets for the fall season are already on sale. To sign up for the Live from Here newsletter and for more information, visit LiveFromHere.org.
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.
The two-day music and arts event, Adirondack Music Festival, returned to Lake George this past weekend for its fifth year in a row. Held once again on the serene LG section that is Charles R. Park, this year’s ADK Fest felt like the most well-received and celebrated yet, as many attendees seemed to vocally attest. If you were in attendance this weekend, you most likely at some point overheard someone discovering the festival for its special charm. Something along the lines of: “I can’t believe how nice this festival this is” and “Well, I am definitely coming back next year.”
As with every year since its start, ADK Fest opted for a classic setup with two main stages of music, set side by side—the style adopted by big-time events like Gathering of the Vibes and the first few years of LOCKN’. This format, which has bands perform back to back without delays, kept the energy on the field, and white hot, from early morning through sunset, as well as kept collective excitement packed into one shifting, intimate crowd.
A number of recently highly popular musical acts made their debut at ADK Fest. Midnight North, for starters, features members of The Terrapin Family Band and have been a hot ticket over the last year or so. Dead-relation aisde, Midnight North is its own beautiful creation, an americana powerhouse of band that displays a strong breadth of songwriting through dynamic, soulful musicianship. Members of this band were well connected within this music scene from the west coast and sat-in with many other artists as well.
Other buzz-generating artists performing at ADK for the first time ever were artists like The People’s Blues of Richmond, Marco Benevento, and G. Love and Special Sauce. People’s Blues, PBR for short, surely must have unexpectedly knocked a number of ADK patrons out of their musical comfort zone with their fearlessly-intense style of garage-punk blues. But the trio’s ceaseless, air-tight musicianship won many fans over as well. Marco Benevento’s own power-trio took the main stage just a few hours after them and wielded their own no-holds-barred mash of indie-pop, funk, and glam rock.
It felt strange to see G. Love perform a midday set at three in the afternoon -here was an artist, after all, that surfed high through the 2000’s on a number of big hits, but he was a highly received set nonetheless. In addition to a solo acoustic intro, the guitarist and hip-hop-inspired vocalist careened the edge of the stage above a swath of outward hands and starry-eyed expressions. G. Love’s collaboration with Twiddle frontman, Mihali Savoulidis, saw the two trading vocals for guitar riffs on a version of Hall and Oates’ “I Can’t Go For That,” which was much better than the “What I Got” that happened between the two in Twiddle’s headlining show later.
ADK Fest Day 1: G. Love and Mihali cover Hall and Oates. Photo: James Sullivan
Yet the four man dance-ready jamband, Twiddle, still performed a huge couple of sets to close out Saturday evening, to an elated audience that swamped the park’s concert area all the way to the vendors in the back. Highlights of their two closing sets were a guitar-shredding collaboration with Midnight North frontman, Graham Lesh, on their original “Subconcious Prelude” and then the foursome’s searing finish on “The Box.”
Another artist who met the crowd with a freewheeling sense of stage presence was the northeast jam scene’s golden girl, Hayley Jane. Fronting her band, The Primates, for a midday Sunday set, Jane sang face-to-face with a rail-climbing mass of highly excited young women. Hayley and The Primates as a unit announced their decision earlier this year to go on hiatus. This set at ADK Fest was undoubtedly an emotional one for many, despite the fact that Hayley, in her true style, beamed with smiles and soul through her own set. The joy transcended others that she guested on stage such as with polyrhythmic dub-rock band, Bartika, and then Jane sat in with Everyone Orchestra’s set a bit, after her own.
In a very special move, Adirondack Music Festival booked an Everyone Orchestra set for its day two second-to-headlining spot. EO shows are, of course, completely improvisational from start to finish and are always performed by a mix of artists from different bands. Lake George’s set was pretty substantially stacked for its members. Solo artists Haley Jane and Ryan Montbleau handled lead vocals (with the latter also offering some nice guitar solos here and there), while Deep Banana Blackout’s, Fuzz Giovanni, handled lead guitar work.
Saxaphone legend Sam Kinninger was a secret weapon here, shining up the band’s various types of funk and rock jams with amazing melodic work. Kinniger and the rest played beside a hefty rhythm section that included moe.’s Vinnie Amico on drums, TAB’s Tony Markelis on bass and Steve Moltiz on keys. Highlights here were a belly-laugh inducing, reggae-tinged sing-along about golf pirates. Super creative vocals led by Ryan Montbleau followed with an extremely moving, soul inspired jam which Everyone Orchestra impresario, Matt Butler, built a vocal tribute to the recently passed Neal Casal.
ADK Fest Day 2: Everyone Orchestra Pays Tribute to the late Neal Casal. PC: Miles Hurley
While some roll their eyes at cover bands, Pink Talking Fish works extra hard and thinks creatively to stand out from the ever-growing pack. The quartet began their set with a great surprise in The Beastie Boys’ “Sabotage,” which Phish has covered on rare occasion. In a climax to their set, PTF reprised a bit of the magic from their Junta album extravaganza at The Capitol Theatre earlier this year, which had Pigeons Playing Ping Pong’s Greg Ormont act as Master of Ceremonies. Here at ADK Fest, PTF began with a beautiful segue-sandwich from “You Enjoy Myself” to Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here” and back. Upon returning to the Phish hit, Ormont joined the band mid-song, to first engage in some trampoline-style jumping with bassist, Eric Gould, and new guitarist Cal Kehoe. They finished with a very kooky vocal jam.
It was another strong move to have Pigeons Playing Ping Pong return to close the festival Sunday evening, just as they did last year. These four jam-funk players having seen a truly meteoric rise recently (they will be headlining Explore Asheville this coming December). A few highlights for their near-explosive set included an electronically charged collaboration with Steve Moltiz on their own tune, “Live it Up,” and a very colorful jam on Deee-Lite’s “Groove Is In The Heart.”
Major music events in Lake George, NY like Adirondack Music Fest often share in a little community-favorited crown jewel—a post festivities top-off at local music hub, King Neptune’s Pub. Being a time-tested spot for upstate bands to play, King Neptune’s always sees great crowds, but then really turns out when late night performances go down.
For Saturday night’s musical extend, nearby favorites, Funktional Flow from Buffalo, and New Haven, CT’s, Eggy, offered a proper finish to a full first day of music. Eggy, coming from the fertile music scene in New Haven, made a grand introduction for themselves in this venue, and they rocked the opportunity big time. The groove rock four-piece blasted their way through intense versions of originals like “Shadow” and “One More Dance,” along with improvisationally-heavy takes on covers like Traffic’s “Low-Spark of High-Heeled Boys.” For a set-topper, Eggy invited Midnight North keyboardist, Alex Jordan, for a blissful and high-powered take on the band’s “Buying Time.”
ADK Fest Day 1: Eggy rocks late night w/ Special Guest Alex Jordan. PC: Miles Hurley
While night one’s crowd was impressive, festival buzz Sunday afternoon must have spread like wildfire to make late night two’s crowd even more massive and energetic, for Neptune’s at the tail end of the weekend was nearly flooding out the door. After Sunday night’s originally scheduled openers, psychedelic funk outfit The New Motif, had to cancel their slot and the evening switched around to second act, Annie In The Water, opening before a festival-family superjam close out.
Annie in The Water thus kicked off with a very uplifting display of original music, with some cover hits thrown in for good measure. A presentation of styles ranging all the way from folk rock to reggae to even some hip-hop was connected via strong, confident solos and endearing vocals. Members of Lucid, Magic Beans, Pigeons Playing Ping Pong coalesced into one family-type super jam set, for a final set at Adirondack Music Festival, that seemed to represent everything this dynamic music scene is about. At one point in this performance free-for-all, three keyboardists—Magic Beans’ Scott Hatchey, former Formula 5’s Matt Richards, and PTF’s Richard James—hammered away on one rig at the same time, for a spectacle that was also technically impressive.
As with any festival, there’s more musical experiences than can be reported on. From piano wizard Marco Benevento and his trio debuting material from their new record (Let it Slide), to upstate jam favorites Lucid commanding the main stage mid-Saturday as they do with fervor every year, ADK Fest’s fifth year was artistically overflowing. All of this top-notch live music was met resolutely throughout the weekend with a positive and welcoming vibe, upheld via a sense of strong community and creativity. For mid-size festivals Adirondack Music Festival is one of the best you can experience in the ever-musically-fertile land of upstate NY—yet here’s to a steady growth from mid-size to who knows how big.
Check out a gallery of images of Adirondack Music Festival 2019 below, courtesy of photographer James Sullivan.
Lake George native and indie-rock singer/songwriter Frank Palangi has released a new video for his fans. “Set Me Free” is the title track off his self produced and mixed EP. The video was directed and edited by Cameron Gallagher.
After having the opportunity to work with Brian Craddock of Daughtry on his first single “Break These Chains,” Palangi returns to serve up edgier deep and gritty vocals while maintaining a positive, passionate attitude. “Set Me Free” showcases an artist’s struggle to break free from the control of a bad deal.
The video release comes in the midst of Frank
Palangi’s regional tour. Palangi plays King Neptune’s Pub in Lake George on
Sept. 7. See the full list of tour dates below.
Tour Dates:
Sept. 7 – King Neptune’s Pub – Lake George, NY
Sept. 14- Our Place Bar & Grill – Mechanicville,
NY
Sept. 21 – Abrews Tap & Grill – Dracut, MA
Oct. 19 – The Towne Tavern – Averill Park, NY
Nov. 2 – Fort Orange Brewing – Albany, NY
Nov. 8 – Bourbon Street Bar & Grill – Schenectady,
NY
The Disco Biscuits are back. The Philly-based trance-fusion band has announced an extensive 23-date winter tour with several multi-day runs, including SI Hall at the New York State Fairgrounds in Syracuse on November 22 and 23, 2019.
The tour kicks off with two dates in McKees Rocks, PA at the Roxian Theatre on Nov. 14 and 15. The tour also includes the previously announced four-day run at the Playstation Theater for New Year’s Eve. The run marks the band’s 40th and final time performing there as the venue announced it will be closing at the end of December.
Photo: Stephen Olker, NYS Music
Tickets for the tour go on sale Friday, Sept. 6 at 10:00 a.m. local time. Ticketing information can be found on the band’s website here. See the full list of dates below.
The band issued a statement regarding the tour and timeline for their upcoming album:
“We’ve been teasing this for some time now, it feels so good to finally be able to share it with you. We are back…and back in a big way. New tours. New music. New Jams. 2019 and 2020 are going to be our best years yet and all of you are at the heart of it. Expect to see us a lot, expect the unexpected.
The first thing we’ve got for you is our winter tour starting in just a few weeks. We’re coming back to a few places we haven’t been to in a while, and others that we’ve seen a lot through the years. All will be sweat dripping off the ceiling, Bisco fire fueled nights.
The second is a new album…we’re already burning the midnight oil on this, and can’t wait for you to hear it. We plan on teasing some of these soon, and dropping them individually in early 2020, then a full album next summer. ‘Til then, we’ll be seeing you all quite a bit and spending every waking hour making sure this is the best of the Biscuits for all of us.”
Disco Biscuits Winter 2019-2020 Tour Dates: Oct. 5 – Breckenridge Brewery Hootenanny – Littleton, CO Nov. 14 – Roxian Theatre – McKees Rocks, PA Nov. 15 – Roxian Theatre – McKees Rocks, PA Nov. 16 – The National – Richmond, VA Nov. 17 – The National – Richmond, VA Nov. 20 – Higher Ground – Burlington, VT Nov. 21 – Higher Ground – Burlington, VT Nov. 22 – SI Hall – Syracuse, NY Nov. 23 – SI Hall – Syracuse, NY Dec. 11 – House of Blues – Orlando, FL Dec. 12 – Jannus Landing – St. Petersburg, FL Dec. 13 – Revolution – Ft. Lauderdale, FL Dec. 14 – Revolution – Ft. Lauderdale, FL Dec. 27 – PlayStation Theater – New York City Dec. 28 – PlayStation Theater – New York City Dec. 30 – PlayStation Theater – New York City Dec. 31 – PlayStation Theater – New York City Jan. 2 – Riviera Theatre – Chicago, IL Jan. 3 – Riviera Theatre – Chicago, IL Jan. 4 – Riviera Theatre – Chicago, IL Jan. 15 – The Ritz – Raleigh, NC Jan. 16 – The Fillmore – Charlotte, NC Jan. 17 – The Fillmore – Silver Spring, MD Jan. 18 – The Fillmore – Silver Spring, MD
Every third Thursday of the month, starting September 19, Buffalo is going to be getting funky at MFDF Funk Nights at Nietzche’s, presented by NYS Music.
Guitarist Matt Fantini of Space Junk and keyboardist Donny Frauenhofer of Intrepid Travelers, DF3, & THE TRUTH will be your hosts, bringing in a rotating cast of local, regional, and national artists each month for a night of improvised heavy funk. This month will feature John Fohl from Intrepid Travelers/Big Martha on drums, James Benders from grüvology/DF3 on bass, and Ellen Pieroni from Folkfaces/THE TRUTH on saxophone.
Admission is $5 at the door, and the events are 21and over unless accompanied by a guardian. Upcoming dates for MFDF Funk Night are Sept. 19, Oct. 17, Nov. 21 and Dec. 19.
