NYS Music 202​0

Category: Video

  • Celebrate Cinco de Mayo with ‘Cinco’ from Albany’s Taco Night

    Born out of a local 518 basement, Taco Night is all about good time rock and roll. For the past four years or so, on Friday night, this group of friends has practiced what they love while being inspired and nourished by the tacos they’ve prepared for the evening’s festivities. And boy, do the Taco Night guys know tacos – they even have a few recipes for your Cinco de Mayo dining pleasure!

    Taco Night combines blues, classic rock, funk, and soul with their own spicy blend of improvisation. “Cinco,” which debuted three years ago at their first Cinco de Mayo show has a message of fun, positivity and friendship, something we could all use right now. The catchy chorus will have you asking, “Why can’t everyday be Cinco de Mayo?”

    Taco Night hopes this video helps everyone have a happy Cinco de Mayo. They’ll be diving into their vast archive of tunes and will be releasing more music as we all wait to see what happens to the local live music scene in the Capital District and beyond. Please support your local establishments however you can and hopefully we can all safely see shows again someday soon.

    If you need some taco inspiration or are looking to try something new at home, here are some of Taco Night’s favorites for days like today. 

    Easy Carnitas, Double Decker Tacos, and as seen below, Bacon Fat Tortillas!

  • Juelz Santana Releases ‘#FREESANTANA’

    It seems like not even jail cells can keep Juelz Santana away from what has been his life’s true passion. On March 3, the veteran emcee released the 9thfull-length project of his career, #FREESANTANA. Santana – born LaRon Louis James – was arrested in March 2018 after he fled the scene when TSA found a gun in his bag at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey. Seemingly counting down the days until his rumored summer 2020 release, the rapper’s Twitter page recently posted on behalf of the incarcerated artist, acknowledging the one year anniversary of his incarceration.

    The surprisingly cohesive mixtape is packed with star power, featuring the likes of Lil Wayne, 2Chainz, Jeremih, A Boogie wit da Hoodie, Dipset cohort Jim Jones, and younger Harlem native Dave East, along with samples of Drake’s number 1 record, “God’s Plan.” 

    https://www.instagram.com/p/B9QlboQlOhK/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

    Juelz Santana uses the 36-minute project to touch on a myriad of topics. On records like “23 & 1,” “Do You Believe” and “In My Life,” he raps introspectively about past friendships and relationships, while reflecting on his incarceration. On “Pink Eagle” and “Ez Work,” he spends time reminding listeners that he’s a respected hustler, with plenty of street tales. The project’s outro record is a sample of Jay – Z’s classic record “Dead Presidents.” Titled “The Get Back,” with a feature from A Boogie wit da Hoodie, Santana reflects with a mixture of street tales, lessons and hope for his future post-release. 

  • Thin Lear Releases Single ‘Maniacs’ and Announces New Album

    Indie singer-songwriter Matt Longo, known as Thin Lear, has announced a new album queued for release on April 24. The full-length album Wooden Cave will be released under Egghunt Records and is primed to be a wonderful addition to Thin Lear’s already stellar collection of songs. He has yet to release a full-length album, but has been releasing singles and an EP that solidify the singer as a whimsical and thoughtful songwriter as well. Prior to the album release, Thin Lear put out a new single, “Maniacs.” Drawing from influences that range from Leonard Cohen, Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris, to Harry Nilsson, Randy Newman and Sam Cooke, to the leaders of the ’70s like John Lennon, Paul McCartney and Bob Dylan, Longo creates a vibrant and exciting track that sits perfectly in the pocket and allows the melody to develop.

    Regarding the album as a whole, Longo says, “Disillusioned people getting lost in self-destructive or just generally dangerous thinking is a major theme of this album…the narrator in ‘Maniacs’ is pitching a cult-like community to an alienated, uncherished internet dweller. And you just know it’s going to be a rapid descent for this person, that they’ll soon be indoctrinated. That relentlessly chugging beat and the quick, dynamic changes in the song reflect a desperation and rapidly changing attitude. I wanted the song to feel like one breathless, spiraling fall from the very start, with that mellotron-laden opening. And I knew I needed a wild, unhinged sax solo at the end. It was really the only choice for the conclusion of the track.” And a wild sax solo indeed takes the song out on a more manic note, capping off a great first peek into what’s to come this April.

    Listeners can find the new single on streaming platforms, and can pre-order the upcoming album on the Egghunt Records Bandcamp page. Thin Lear will also be playing at Le Poisson Rouge in NYC on April 16, just prior to the album’s release. Until then, explore and enjoy delving into the deft songwriting Thin Lear is certain to become known for.

  • Trey Anastasio announces additional Summer Symphony shows

    Trey Anastasio adds to an already busy summer of Oysterhead and Phish with three additional orchestra performances in June. In addition to the previously announced performance on June 20 at Tanglewood with the Boston Pops, Anastasio joins the National Symphony Orchestra on June 17 in Washington D.C., the Philadelphia Orchestra on June 23, and the North Carolina Symphony on June 26 in Raleigh.

    Tickets are now on sale at Trey.com

  • Leap Day at Bowery Electric brings together PEAK, The Phryg and Space Junk is Forever

    Hot Clips Volume 2 is now available on Bandcamp. PEAK brings their own brand of psychedelic-indie funk to Bowery Electric on Saturday, February 29 for a Leap Day show featuring The Phryg and Space Junk is Forever. Tickets can be picked up here.

    NYC’s Peak are off to a hot start in 2020 and in full gear during their winter tour. Following the release of full set video from their Brooklyn Bowl show in October, they recently released Hot Clips Volume 2, the second installment in our live series with selected tracks from fall and early winter tours, featuring new songs and some of their hand-picked favorite jams from the road. 

    PEAK Winter Tour 2020 remaining dates:

    2/26 House of Independents, Asbury Park, NJ*

    2/27 Thunder Road, Boston, MA%

    2/28 The Acoustic, Bridgeport, CT@

    2/29 Leap Day at Bowery Electric, New York, NY**

    3/13 Tellus 360 Lancaster, PA

    3/20 Fete Music Hall, Providence, RI

    3/21 Olives, Nyack, NY

    3/26 Rochester, NY Flour City Station

    3/27 Frankfurt, NY The Bank

    3/28 Albany, NY Parish Public House

    *supporting Rob Garza of Thievery Corporation

    ^ w/ Cold Engines

    # w/ Kluster Phunk

    @w/ Zillawatt

    % w/ Mount Pleasant

    **w/ the Phryg and Space Junk is Forever– 

    leap day bowery electric

  • Zachery Allan Starkey Shares “XXX” off upcoming FEAR CITY LP

    Zachery Allan Starkey has released “XXX,” the dark and melodic second single and video off of his forthcoming album FEAR CITY. Composed, performed, and produced by Starkey, “XXX ” is a symphonic techno odyssey that brings the listener deep into the pure hedonistic ecstasy of New York City nightlife.

    Using analogue synthesizers and intricate arrangements, Starkey creates a throbbing, pulsing arpeggiated Techno bass line, then adds soaring lead melodies and pounding drums and percussion (inspired by the sound of the New York subway system), creating a dynamic club track that brings to mind the best work of electronic pioneers Giorgio Moroder and Patrick Cowley, whilst pushing the track firmly into the future. 

    Starkey says of the latest track: “‘XXX’ is my musical synthesis of a journey I have made literally hundreds of times, finding escape and release from the struggles of daily life on the dance floor. It’s a song for both my journey and the journey I’ve seen many others make in the safety offered by nightlife spaces. ‘XXX’ is about celebrating sex, pleasure, and freedom. Musically, ‘XXX’ is my attempt to marry my love of both techno and symphonic music.” 

    The first FEAR CITY single, the acclaimed “No Security,” discusses the political and economic chaos and fear that is consuming the world in 2020. With “XXX,” Starkey shows marginalized, disadvantaged, depressed, overworked, and economically struggling people escaping the present dystopian nightmare to find freedom, expression, and pleasure on the dance floor. The “XXX” of the title is not only a reference to sex and recreational drugs, it is also signifying the excitement of the unknown. 

    As a whole, FEAR CITY takes the 1970’s nickname for New York City, with a focus on the decadent nightlife, drugs, sex, darkness, class inequality and the opiate epidemic found across the 5 boroughs. It uses hedonism to escape the current, widespread political/economic fears, uncertainties and anxiety caused by the rise of right wing politics around the world. While culling influences from New York’s deep well of dance music history, FEAR CITY is a product of the current times.

    “XXX” is accompanied by a music video created by director directed by William Murray and Zachery Allan Starkey, filmed in the seedy sex districts of Manhattan and late night Brooklyn, and features a cameo by revered Brooklyn House and Techno producer Lauren Flax, as well as Starkey’s live musicians, Laura Holden and Ruby Wang.

  • Spiritual Rez Summer Tour brings Reggae Funk group to NY in June

    Boston’s Spiritual Rez has announced nine summer tour dates for 2020. The band will embark on a run of shows that will take them from the Mid-Atlantic and into the Northeast, with three stops in New York, including the North Country River Jam in Champlain, The Colony in Woodstock and Knitting Factory in Brooklyn. They’ll also make stops in their hometown of Boston, and kick things off on June 4 at Mountain Music Festival in Minden, WV.

    Tour dates and more information can be found at spiritualrez.com

    Spiritual Rez 2020 Summer Tour

    June 04 Minden WV – Mountain Music Festival

    June 05 Harrisburg, PA – The Abbey Bar at Appalachian Brewing Co.

    June 06 Champlain, NY – North Country River Jam

    June 07 Woodstock, NY – The Colony

    June 10 Portsmouth, NH – The Press Room

    June 11 Brattleboro, NH – The Stone Church

    June 12 Cambridge, MA – The Sinclair

    June 13 Wakefield, RI – Ocean Mist

    June 14 Brooklyn, NY – Knitting Factory


  • Mihali to perform at The Strand Theater on April 1

    On Wednesday, April 1, The Strand Theater in Hudson Falls will welcome Twiddle frontman Mihali Savoulidis, with a special guest yet to be announced. Mihali has a long history performing in the greater Capital Region, both with Twiddle and solo side projects that have sold out Putnam Place and Pearl Street Pub in the last year. The show is part of the A.I.M. for Spring Concert Series, presented by ADK Music Festival.

    Tickets can be purchased here or via ADK Music Fest.

  • Mount Sharp share new single and video ‘Ordinary’, perform in Brooklyn Feb 22

    Mount Sharp is back with their first release in five years, That Shadow, due out on February 21 via Dadstache Records. They’ve just released the single and video for “Ordinary” ahead of the album’s release and their record release show at Gutter in Brooklyn on Saturday, February 22. 

    The first taste of the new record came with their first single, “Apostate.” Post-Trash, who premiered the video, said,”Our first taste of the band’s long-awaited new music comes in the form of ‘Apostate,’ a song that pulls from the band’s more serene end, a dreamy song to melt away to during this heat wave. Built on a resonant twang and a pulsating rhythm, the song breathes at a natural clip, drawing between a soft intimacy and a thick fuzzy build up by the bridge. There’s a syrupy quality to the vocals that stick with you after the song has ended, and while you may not instantly remember the lyrics, the melody is now part of consciousness, like a distant memory that repeats in your mind.”

    Mount Sharp began on a rooftop in Brooklyn, or on a boat in Maine, or perhaps somewhere in between. The band grew around the bittersweet, poetic songwriting of Swood (Sarah Wood) paired with Bryan Bruchman’s noisy, chaotic tendencies around 2012. On 2014’s WEIRD FEARS EP (with the rhythm section of Ryan Zumsen and Maia Macdonald), the band exhibited a blast of unbridled energy, excitement, and confusion –  a fitting soundtrack to a brief, blissful, carefree time before so much changed. The band – now with Sal Garro and Jonathan Pilkington Kahnt firmly holding down the drums and bass – has matured, and the songs are maybe a little more serious, maybe a little more reflective, but no less cutting and catchy. Taking inspiration from the cosmos, sci-fi TV, and the messed up state of the world, Mount Sharp puts all the feels into song.

    That Shadow follows, too. It’s full of sticky melodies, lyrics that cut, and surging waves of noise. It’s designed to get under the skin. Inspired by years of watching all the assholes they know win, figuring out how to be kinder to themselves, and all the beautiful and tragic machines in space, the band says the record is everything that pulls them to look behind themselves. They believe we should be looking up and dreaming.

    All tracks were produced by Brian Sendrowitz (Beat Radio) at Miracle Flag in Bellmore, NY, mastered by Sarah Register (Talk Normal, Protomartyr, Caroline Rose, Chastity Belt, Big Thief, Lower Dens, and Big Ups), and with artwork using images of textile artist Jenna Breiter’s work, including an original illustration for the LP cover.

  • NYC Electronic trio Pool Cosby share “Day Breaks” off upcoming album

    Pool Cosby, a sample-based electronic band from New York City consisting of producers Jacuzzi Jefferson, Kevin Kuh, and Otto Botté, is kicking off 2020 with the release of their brand new single “Day Breaks,” featuring vocals from Ivy Sole.

    “Day Breaks” is the follow up to their most recent single and accompanying video, “I Like You,” featuring vocals from NY’s own indie-pop artist, denitia.

    Both tracks can be found on the group’s upcoming full-length album, Day Breaks, slated for release on March 6. The record will feature guest performances from Soren Bryce, Ivy Sole, Denitia, Tiger Darrow, Yoh, Rochee, Mr. Muthafuckin’ eXquire, Bill $aber, and Kiah Victoria.

    By combining their diverse musical and cultural backgrounds, Pool Cosby has consistently pushed the boundaries of their music over their career. The group aims to contextualize the artists they collaborate with as well as challenge the traditional ideas of musical genres.