It was the night after Halloween in Sussex, NJ. All who dared to traverse the wind and rain were met with a field of mud and fans. Twiddle got New Jersey Slipping’ brought the heat to their last drive-in show, this past Sunday November 1 at the Sussex County Fairgrounds. This show featured high energy and dynamic jams throughout both sets. Highlights included a monstrous Gatsby The Great > Slippin’ In The Kitchen > Gatsby The Great in the first set, an incredible Cabbage Face in the second set, and a roaring Juggernaut encore.
Twiddle at the Sussex Fairgrounds Drive In
The line of cars leading up to the show looked intimidating, but cars were being moved to their spots quickly and with ease. Social distancing was enforced and masks were widespread, minimal panic. Goes to show that live music events, even though reminiscent of a futuristic, dystopian, post apocalyptic scenario… can be done safely and successfully.
Lights by Herm Lights
It was raining all day and some at the show. After the sun went down it felt freezing. During a wet, cold night like this it’s vital that the band ‘bring the heat’ to get the crowd moving. In a situation like that, if the music is slow and not captivating people will leave because it’s uncomfortable to stand outside. But if it’s thumping and everyone’s dancing, you bet they’re going to stay.
Ryan Dempsey takes a rare keytar solo
Twiddle brought it. Dynamic, bass heavy, shredding, face melting goodness, no kumbaya sing songy b.s… Okay maybe one “When it Rains It Pours,” but that one’s so catchy and appropriate for the night that we’ll let it slide.
We’re not in Vermont anymore
The first set started out with Polluted Beauty, some positivity to lift the spirits and get the crowd going. Then the monstrous Gatsby The Great >Slippin’ In The Kitchen > Gatsby The Great which took up most of the first set, weaving in and out of intricate grooves. “Syncopated Healing” closed up the killer first set.
Mihali x3
Set two featured the popular “When It Rains It Pours,” a monstrous “Cabbage Face,” and “Frankenfoote” to close up the set. Set two featured a wider variety of songs and grooves. Ryan Dempsey took a key-tar solo, got up on his chair to play with his foot, and threw a pumpkin at the crowd which masterfully bounced on the rail and missed anyone around.
Brook Jordan shining
Twiddle put on an incredible show; their fans were screaming for more. They return with a hard rocking “Juggernaut” encore to close up the show.
Twiddle New Jersey “Juggernaut” encore
My car neighbors mentioned they’ve seen Twiddle twice before and it got me thinking: I’ve been spoiled to see and shoot this band all around the states for over five years now. And I must say that I’ve always like the band, but after this show I think I’m a true fan.
You gotta like apples, man
Twiddle at Sussex County Fairgrounds 11/1/20
Set 1:
Polluted Beauty
Gatsby The Great >Slippin’ In The Kitchen > Gatsby The Great
Musicians For Musicians Founder Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi is the personification of the activist-musician. He’s got the high-energy, super creative foreign import that keeps New York City’s melting pot, eternally percolating.
Born to Iranian parents in Switzerland, Sohrab came to New York in 2008, after living 20+ years in Japan. While there, he honed both his uniquely singular style on the saxophone, while also becoming a 6th–dan master of the samurai sword art of Kendo.
Today, Sohrab is a force not only for the music of his SoSaLa ensemble, but for his tireless advocacy for all music-makers.
In 2015 he founded Musicians For Musicians (MFM), in New York City. MFM is a non-profit dedicated to the realization that: music is a true profession, musicians need to unite if they are ever to be treated fairly and compensated well for their efforts, in live performance and recording.
Through workshops, Meet Ups, a resource rich website, lobbying efforts, Zoom conferences and much more, Musicians For Musicians is helping artists from all genres empower themselves to change the status quo. The group is growing quickly with the addition of a chapter in the Hudson Valley and a forthcoming one in San Francisco. MFM has attracted luminaries like jazz greats Billy Harper, Joe Lovano and David Liebman, Dr. Cornel West and, most recently, The Who’s Roger Daltrey as Board Members and vocal advocate.
Here, we talk to Sohrab about this important work and his latest musical project, a new SoSaLa CD titled Nu World Trashed.
Sal Cataldi: What is MusiciansforMusicians.org? When did you found it and what is its main mission?
Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi: Musicians For Musicians (MFM) is a 501(c)(6)non-profit musicians’ rights organization which I established in 2015. MFM seeks to elevate the work of all musicians to the level of a true profession, one recognized and appropriately rewarded by society. It’s a membership organization and an association of professional musicians with the right to lobby that exists, alongside but separate from, groups like the American Federation of Musicians.
SC: Networking and education seem to be big parts of the organization. Tell us a little bit about what you do in this area, in terms of your workshops, newsletter and recently launched podcast series.
SSL: During Covid-19, it’s essential that we musicians keep sight of what’s most important in our lives: music! Musical activities, many of which are social, have been dramatically curtailed. There are emotional and financial issues, and the politicization of the virus itself, many of the resources on which we depend have been severely cut back.
We are helping by continuing to run educational ZOOM Webinars with guest speakers in lieu of live events, such as the Online Music Marketing webinar we held in September, while also advising members regarding Unemployment Benefits and other resources available to them. MFM continues its twice-monthly podcast, MFM SPEAKS OUT, with episodes featuring interviews with musicians on their work and the issues that impact them, along with our on-line magazine DooBeeDooBeeDoo NY and via social media. We continue to reach out to pro musicians’ rights politicians and collaborate with other musicians’ rights organizations to improve creators’ lives via legislation.
SC: Your mantra is that musicians have to be treated as professionals, compensated for their talents and time, in live situations and in recordings. Is this situation improving or getting worse? What can be done to fix it?
SSL: Unfortunately, our community is fragmented and we have difficulties to organizing. MFM’s goal is to unite musicians, and musicians of all genres are welcome to join. Unity means real power. Numbers only speak. At the end of the day, we know that the only real way to protect our rights is through legislation. For protecting ourselves against any kind of exploitation of our work, we need to know the business side of making music and have the courage to speak out in an organized form.
The public needs to hear from the musicians themselves that “music has value.” For each work we do, we must be compensated fairly. Musicians must stop playing for free or for donations. MFM is trying to reach out to younger musicians, especially those who tend to play for free, without acknowledging that they’re devaluing their music.
So, answering your question whether the situation for professional musicians will improve or is getting worse, my answer is very simple and short. It depends on the musicians themselves, whether they are willing to do some soul searching, change their attitude towards music and “making music.”
SC: It seems you preach independence and self-help for musicians. How can we do a better job in this area, with musicians helping each other, bookers, journalists etc?
SSL: I’m just talking about facts based on experience and observations made by me, a professional musician and MFM’s president. As musicians, we shouldn’t care about bookers, journalists, etc; we should think of ourselves first. Find out how we can empower ourselves with knowledge and wisdom as a group and as business league. MFM wants to revolutionize musicians’ thinking. Give them some self-respect back. It’s time to do some soul searching…
We should work out a concept and strategy together, how to deal with club owners, bookers, agents, labels, publishers, etc. Becoming equal partners in the forthcoming negotiations. Make them understand that they must compensate musicians fairly. Accept our own contracts with our terms. Musicians don’t depend on them; they depend on us. We bring the food to their table. Musicians are essential workers, essential as doctors and nurses. Music is essential to people’s lives!
SC: With luminaries like Dr. Cornel West, sax greats Dave Liebman and Joe Lovano, legendary jazz man Billy Harper, you have a bunch of heavyweight participants and advisors. How are they active in the organization?
SSL: Yes, we’re lucky to have these heavyweights in our organization. Like any non-profit organization, MFM has three groups running the show: the Membership, the Board of Directors and the Advisory Committee. It’s a very democratic-socialistic organization. All three groups are equal when it comes to making decisions and voting. It’s an organic and active organization.
MFM’s Board includes Billy Harper and the Advisory Committee members consists of educator and activist Dr. Cornel West, Grammy-Award winner Arturo O’Farrill, jazz maestros David Liebman and Joe Lovano, and others with rock, classical and world music backgrounds. All of them have a lot of knowledge, expertise and experience which they share with the organization.
Since 2016, many of them have run workshops and talk events. Billy Harper and I, for example, started the monthly MFM Public Musicians Meet Ups. Board member Roger Blanc has organized mixers at the Zinc Bar. Ken Hatfield, who is a musician’s rights expert, reports regularly about the development of copyright laws and musician’s rights issues in general. Then we have members who are qualified in their respective fields. One of them is Adam Reifsteck, who ran a workshop last year and a recent Zoom Webinar speaking about marketing on Facebook. Another is Dauwoud Kringle, who is a driving force behind our DooBeeDooBeeDoo online magazine and podcast, a great Ethno-jazz electronica musician with his Gods Unruly Friends ensemble. Depending on the topics, we also invited experts from outside to educate our membership. All workshops and talk events are documented on video and uploaded on the membership platform.
Speaking of Dr. West, he has a special position in MFM. He will be our “public bull horn” after the November election. He strongly believes in a musician’s social-political role in society, because he calls them “the avant-garde of the artists.” What he’s saying is that if musicians can get their shit together, the whole artist community, including painters, writers, dancers, and many other artists, will profit from it. So, we musicians have got some heavy responsibility on our shoulders.
SC: With COVID, it seems everyone is moving up to the Hudson Valley! You have a chapter up there. Tell us a little about its history and where you see more chapters developing and your upcoming fundraiser.
SSL: I don’t know whether everyone is moving to the Hudson Valley, but what I have known, for a while, is that many working musicians live in the Hudson Valley, and many of them, world class musicians. One of them joined MFM in March 2019, legendary jazz saxophonist Joe Lovano. But my real interest to reach out to the Hudson Valley musicians started when Kingston’s guitarist/band leader (future350 Nu Bossa Quartet) and music activist Stephen Johnson joined in January 2019. He joined because he strongly believed that the Hudson Valley community needed an organization which would care and speak for them. After MFM Board approval, it was established in October 2019. Since then, several musician joined and he organized Meet Ups and Zoom calls. Joe Lovano actually brought his horn to open up one of those meetings.
SC: Any new chapters planned?
SSL: I think San Francisco could be the next one, because we have two members from there. One of them is Mario Guarneri, who runs two musician non-profit organizations: Jazz In The Neighborhood and Independent Musicians Alliance (IMA). IMA is very active in fighting for musician’s rights in that city. Both of our organizations have many things in common.
One big initiative is our first MFM fundraiser,which started October 20 and will run through November 20. It is a great opportunity for MFM to reach out to its members and musicians outside of MFM with the idea that musicians should help each other out first, before they ask for support from outside sources.
Yes, we’re going through an uncontrollable pandemic, but still we should care for each other with whatever money you can spare. I wasn’t sure whether this will work and whether the membership would participate in this fundraiser. Fortunately, it’s working thus far! We’ve collected more than $1000 in the first week, which is super. And most of those contributions came from the membership.
Special thanks must go to MFM members themselves. First off, Keith Levenson, music director and conductor of The Who, and recording engineer Michael Walsh who created a fundraiser video featuring Roger Daltrey of The Who, Dr. Cornel West, Arturo O’Farrill and many other MFM members. The video describes beautifully what MFM stands for.
SC: Tell us a little bit about your life and when and how you first got involved in music. And what musicians most inspired you.
SSL: Iwas born to Iranian parents in Switzerland in 1953. They soon moved to Hamburg, Germany where I grew up. Early piano lessons ended abruptly, after my teacher couldn’t stand my style of playing! In the late 60s and early 70s, I played the drums and flamenco guitar. In 1974, I moved toJapan to study martial arts, eventually settling on Kendo, Japanese swordsmanship. After years of study and achievement in Kendo, I began to think about applying that philosophy, discipline and hard work to music.
In 1979, I bought a saxophone, and six months later, I played my first gig in Osaka. A year later, I played at the Montreux Jazz Festival. Between 1979 until my departure to New York in 2008, I had developed as a professional musician, making a name from myself in the Japanese indie scene. I toured and recorded in Japan, Europe, Hong Kong and the U.S. with my bands and released a couple of CDs. In 1987, I started my indie label Kampai Records and, in 1993, my own music company POP BIZ Ltd. In 2008, I closed that company and moved, with my wife, from Tokyo to New York. I started my career in NYC as a street musician and “jammer/gigger.”
In 2011, I formed the inter-continental collective, free jazz/world music group SoSaLa in NYC.
In the same year, I released my first CD “SoSaLa Nu World Trash” on my own label, called DooBeeDoo Records. The CD was very well received. People liked how I blended my melancholic melodies with those of my native Iran, fueled by improvisation, with lo-fi electronics, the diverse instruments made for an ambient and psychedelic take on World Music. I have also worked with Malian pop star Salif Keita, jazz legend Ornette Coleman and Morocco’s Bachir Attar and the Master Musicians of Jajouka. I became a U.S. Citizen in 2013, then, in 2015, founded MFM.
SC: I understand you have a new album coming out with your SoSaLa and that it features a guest spot by Dr. West?
SSL: Yes, a new SoSaLa CD titled “Nu World Trashed” on DooBeeDoo Records and published by DooBeeDoo Worldwide Music. It will be a limited edition of 300 CDs distributed by CD Baby.
The CD Baby release is planned for beginning of December, but, before that release date, I’ll offer it to my fans as a Collector’s Item signed by me with a high-end price of $50. Why? Because I don’t want to sell it for $5, $10 or $15. My music has more value. I don’t want to adjust to the market which will devalue my CD later. Retailers, such as Amazon, will lower my CD price, for sure. People who buy CDs from Amazon strongly believe that music should be cheap or even free. So, I’m going to sell my CD primarily from my website (https://www.Sohrab.info) before the CD Baby release date. The leftovers will be sold at the retail price of $30. I hope my price policy will succeed and inspire my members to follow in my footsteps.
The album features nine tracks, with five originals. Two of them were recorded live with my New York music project SoSaLa and the other three with various fellow musicians. The other four tracks are a collaboration with two German producers: Berlin’s Genetic Drugs (three tracks) and Konstanz’ Hubl Greiner and his buddy, the New York keyboard Paul Amrod.
This is the first time that I released a CD of this kind. Usually, all my previous released CDs were recorded with my band of that time. Usually in a composed improvised format. But this time, it’s a compilation of 80 percent improvised instrumental music and two tracks with vocals. I’ve never done this kind of album before. The nine ‘nu world trashy’ electronic-nu jazzy-desert blues-oriental-ambient tracks are meant to have the listeners “to sit down, forget real time and let them do some soul searching.”
It’s a concept album with a social-political-cultural message first expressing, musically, anger, especially the track Enough Is Enough. That’s a protest song against NYC’s premier jazz clubs featuring Dr. Cornel West which comes with a video that I hope will become our “hit!” It’s an electronic-African Beat protest song. Though Dr. West is featured only for around 11 seconds, his passionate voice radiates positive energy and expresses perfectly what the song was about. Of it, he said: “I’m blessed to be on it and to groove with the grand artists who made this song! It is soulful, powerful and political! I love it!”
Mystical Full Moon Hymn for Ornette Coleman is dedicated to my mentor, Ornette Coleman, who was the first musician in New York loving the sound of my horn. He told me I was “the freest sax player in rock music.” That and my advocacy efforts to unite musicians through MFM are the things I am most proud of.
Layafette Apple Festival, just south of Syracuse, will enter 2021 as a regular stop for touring bands as we ride out the COVID-19 pandemic, and assuredly should continue to be a destination for live music moving forward. Over October 29-31, The Disco Biscuits performed to large crowds in Lafayette who were hungry for the often imitated, never duplicated release that live music provides, and in doing so put an exclamation point on the Northeast Drive-In season.
Having performed in Syracuse on Halloween in 2015 at Crouse Hinds Hall, and again last year in November at SI Hall at the State Fairgrounds, The Disco Biscuits are regulars across New York State. They’ve hosted their Camp Bisco Music Festival numerous times between Van Etten, Hunter and Mariaville over 2005-2013, and make regular stops at The Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, among other venues.
photo by Dave Decrescente
Even with the rain that pounded the grounds on Thursday night, the staff assisted fans if they got stuck and took necessary measures to ensure a smooth entry and egress from the grounds. The crowd did their part two by following the lead of the staff, abiding by basic social distancing norms and remaining confined to their assigned spots for the evening.
But being ‘confined’ to your car area has its perks. The physical space around your vehicle is greater than you might find perched up in the crowd at a music festival, and with limited interference from others. While at a festival, you have the spatial boundaries to dance and enjoy the performance, but others are close by so your volume and limbic movements are limited by comparison, or at least contrained to social norms and appropriate levels of touching.
During COVID-19 times, touching is limited just to your personal bubble, and within your space at an event such as the Disco Biscuits, or Dirty Heads a week earlier, you have an immense amount of freedom to dance with unbridled abandon and exuberance, having only a thin tape of elastic and the proximity to your car and spot-mates keeping you confined. Even at temperatures hovering around freezing, there were major benefits to the layout of these Drive-In shows.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77sA9org5T4
Thursday night’s performance was marred by an intense amount of rain, which led to the stream on CouchTour.TV to be lost – although they quickly replaced the stream with footage from Drive-In shows earlier in October. The night started out wet, and led to a shortened first set. The crashing of rain and its deafening sound brought out a fitting “Magellan” with a “Widow in the Rain” bustout mixed in between.
Disco Biscuits, Lafayette, NY – Thursday, October 29, 2020
Set 1: 7-11-> Lunar Pursuit-> Minions-> Miracles Set 2: World is Spinning, Magellan-> Gangster-> Helicopters (inverted)-> Widow in the Rain-> Magellan Encore: Frog Legs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUsDCZ9GmPY
On Friday night, the band waited until 7:45pm to take the stage, allowing for all to have sufficient time to enter the muddy grounds and safely arrive in their spot. The first set lasted roughly an hour, and featured one of the new songs performed last fall in Syracuse, “Freebis Slinky.” Entering into set two, “Highwire” kicked things into high gear, while a late set “Pimp Blue Rikki” gave was to rising star of the Biscuits’ catalog, “Clocks.”
Disco Biscuits, Lafayette, NY – Friday, October 30, 2020
Set 1: Portal to an Empty Head, Freebis Slinky-> Rock Candy-> Grass is Green (inverted)-> Rock Candy Set 2: Highwire-> Astronaut-> Crickets-> Mindless Dribble-> Pimp Blue Rikki, Clocks Encore: Station
photo by Dave Decrescente
One thing that is amplified in the Drive-In setting is behavior that would otherwise be incidental at a normal show. Case in point, leaving a show before the encore. Normally, you would just excuse yourself, walk out of the venue without issue, and there’s a little more space for everyone else to enjoy the encore. This happens, rarely with cause for event, and is a forgettable exchange at best.
But at a Drive-In show, the counterpart to leaving early is a bit more engaging with your neighbors than just ducking out to beat the crowd. Provided there is no medical emergency, the act of starting your car, turning on headlights and beginning to drive out while others nearby are still enjoying the show is rude and, when weather is mixed in, can be dangerous and obnoxious. If not a venue policy, the general norm of not leaving until the show is fully over should be considered for all Drive-In shows, for safety and general courtesy of all who paid top dollar for these limited live music experiences.
photo by Dave Decrescente
Halloween found the band walking out wearing sweatshirts that bore V, O, T and E, making it clear what their message was this Halloween – let’s get down, then on Tuesday, let’s get down to business and vote.
“Rockafella” launched the first set into the night, giving way to an unfinished “Little Betty Boop,” which led into a large “Morph Dusseldorf” sandwich, layered with a tease of the James Bond theme (in honor of Sean Connery, who died earlier that day), “Feeling Twisted” and a thorough “Abraxas.” After an incredibly lengthy set break, the band returned with “Save the Robots,” taking a patient stroll through the composition’s open space, leading to an extensive, tension building pause where the band got spooky, before finally dropping back into the jam, spawning an eruption throughout the audience.
photo by Dave Decrescente
A monstrous “Orch Theme” arose with the ominous synth out of the year-old “Running Into the Night,” which did the heavy lifting in following the top notch “Robots” and kept the set flowing from jam to jam. An inverted “Humuhumunukunukuapua’a” surfaced before diving down into a nasty “The Great Abyss” before returning to “Running Into the Night.”
For an encore, Gary Numan’s “Cars” was the most fitting song of the weekend, if not the whole run of Drive-In shows. The first cover of the song in over 10 years, “Cars” let the band stretch their legs in the New Wave classic, before shifting into the semi-rare “Naeba” and back into “Cars,” a perfect encore choice after a high energy second set, keeping up the dance vibe all throughout. With post-show music of Poolside’s “Harvest Moon,” the crowd carefully made their way out of the grounds and off into the night.
Disco Biscuits, Lafayette, NY – Saturday, October 31, 2020
Set 1: Rockafella, Little Betty Boop (unfinished)-> Morph Dusseldorf-> Feeling Twisted-> Abraxas (unfinished)-> Morph Dusseldorf Set 2: Save the Robots, Running into the Night-> Orch Theme-> Humuhumunukunukuapua’a (inverted)-> The Great Abyss-> Running into the Night Encore: Cars-> Naeba (inverted)-> Cars
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uz8BpvENlg
Hopefully this isn’t the last Disco Biscuits show of the year, but it likely won’t be the last at Lafayette Apple Festival. We look forward to 2021 mixing Drive-In shows with the return of live music to the venues across New York and the rest of the country.
In honor of hip hop icon The Notorious B.I.G.’s induction into the Rock Hall of Fame, Pepsi released the remastered version to his one-of-a-kind Pepsi freestyle from 1997. The brand-new audio sparked online conversation about whether or not it was meant to be an ad. Nonetheless, the marketing tool was a success and brought attention to the fallen legend’s upcoming ordainment into the Rock Hall.
Furthermore, Pepsi have doubled down on their celebration of the “Juicy” rapper with a newly announced “BIG Pepsi Freestyle Challenge.” Partnering with flagship New York radio station, Hot 97 — where B.I.G.’s original freestyle was recorded – Aspiring recording artists will have an opportunity to showcase their lyrical prowess with the ability to earn numerous prizes in the process. Using a beat provided on Hot 97’s website, entrants are to deliver their best freestyles mentioning Pepsi along with posting it on their social media outlets using the hashtags #BIGPepsiFreestyle & #Hot97Contest. A winner will be named a Champion plus four free nights of studio recording time and one week of digital market on Hot 97. Freestyles must be submitted by Friday, November 6 at 11:59 p.m., while official contest rules can be found here.
NEW YORK – JULY 23: Rappers Tupac Shakur, The Notorious B.I.G. aka Biggie Smalls (Christoper Wallace) and Puff Daddy (sean Combes) perform onstage at the Palladium on July 23, 1993 in New York, New York. (Photo by Al Pereira/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)
Known for his mind-blowing freestyling, songwriting, intricate rhyme schemes and off-the-cuff delivery, The Notorious B.I.G.’s Rock Hall of Fame indication comes as no surprise. He will headline the 35thannual class of Rock Hall inducteeswith the likes of Whitney Houston, Nine Inch Nails, The Doobie Brothers, amongst others. With a short career spanning only four years (he debuted in 1993 and was shot and killed in 1997), The Notorious B.I.G was able to transcend pop culture with his debut LP, Ready to Die, along with his posthumous diamond double-disc album, Life After Death. With hit records such as “Juicy,” “Hypnotize,” “Mo Money Mo Problems,” the Brooklyn bred emcee set a standard for lyrical competence combined with stylish bravado, leaving many following in his footsteps.
Greenwich duo Phantogram played their hit song “When I’m Small” for the new artist den series, Live From My Den. Recorded live on Friday, the performance was released on Wednesday, November 4.
The performance was filmed from Harmonie West, frontwoman Sarah Barthel’s home studio in Los Angeles. They named the studio after frontman Josh Carter’s family’s upstate New York barn, Harmony Lodge, where they wrote their early music. Barthel and Carter originally performed under the name Charlie Everywhere, but changed it to Phantogram in 2009.
“When I’m Small” first appeared on Phantogram’s 2010 debut album, Eyelid Movies. The song is told from the perspective of a woman in an abusive relationship. While undeniably pop, “When I’m Small” is still dark and haunting, with cryptic and ominous lyrics: “Lucy’s underground, she’s never coming back.” Back in 2014, Phantogram told NBHAP that the line was a nod to the Beatles’ “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds,” but wanted to keep its meaning ambiguous. That year, they appeared on the Flaming Lips’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band cover album, With a Little Help from My Fwends.
Phantogram has released four albums total. Their newest LP, Ceremony, was released on March 6, 2020. The lead single, “Into Happiness,” peaked at number 21 on the Billboard Alternative Songs chart. In 2012, they collaborated with rapper Big Boi (OutKast) on two songs from his second solo album Vicious Lies and Dangerous Rumors. They went on to form a trio, known as Big Grams, and released an EP of the same name in 2015. Phantogram’s music has also appeared on the original motion picture soundtrack for The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.
You know the feeling; you walk into a crowded venue, bumping shoulder to shoulder with like-minded fans. The music swirls around from the sound system as more people shuffle their way into the room. The lights dim, and you feel the weight of the entire crowd push forward against your back as the opening act comes out on stage.
There’s nothing like the concert experience; the palpable energy, the high volume, and the shared euphoric feeling of seeing your favorite band in action. Music events tend to be the site of thrill and excitement for everyone in the crowd. That is, unless, you’re one of the three million people living in the United States with epilepsy.
Three million is a small number, only making up less than 3 percent of the total population however, the lack of warnings for hazardous lighting at music events can and should be recognized as dangerous for people with epilepsy; whether in the crowd, part of the production crew or, an artist on stage.
November is Epilepsy Awareness Month, and one grassroots organization, Lighting & Epilepsy Awareness Development, aka L.E.A.D DIY, is spearheading the music scene’s efforts to raise epilepsy awareness.
Founded in 2017 outside of Allendale, New Jersey, L.E.A.D DIY is dedicated to educating artists and venues about the effects that stage lighting can have on individuals in the audience with photosensitivity.
By handing out informational pamphlets and tabling at shows across the country, L.E.A.D has been reaching thousands, fulfilling their goal of spreading epilepsy awareness across the music scene.
L.E.A.D DIY has made it their priority to hand out flyers and warning signs made in house so that venues can post warnings about their lighting exposure throughout the show. By handing out three different types of warning signs: low risk, caution, and warning (high risk) indicating how safe the environment will be for those with epilepsy. Additionally, the organization hands out informational flyers detailing what one should do in the event of an epileptic seizure and how to recognize the onset symptoms of generalized and petit mal seizures.
What L.E.A.D DIY is doing makes them one of a kind in the punk music scene and community. The nonprofit has made an outstanding grassroots effort to raise awareness of epilepsy and other photosensitivity diseases. L.E.A.D DIY continues to grow and expand its efforts, reaching venue staff and fans raising awareness, and teaching people what to do in the event of an epileptic emergency.
To learn more about L.E.A.D and to request your own light-exposure warning signs, visit their website.
Rochester-based synth pop outfit Soviet Dolls have emerged from the cocoon of their retrofitted studio. Their third EP, Keep Sweet, swathes the listener in an ethereal neon sheen of electronica. It’s lighter fare than their previous releases, but then we could all use a little levity these days.
New vocalist Emily Brown made her debut with Soviet Dolls earlier this year on their cover of Bananarama’s “Cruel Summer.” She’s a natural fit for the band’s original work as well. Her subtly nuanced vocals temper the robust instrumental textures. She keeps the vessel on an even keel as the music careens between the distinct twinkle of keyboard runs and segments awash in fuzzy reverb. The digital sound is augmented by analogue processes and instruments, marrying the nostalgia for 80’s culture with the sophistication of modern techniques. All funds raised by album go directly to help Rochester Hope for Pets, an organization created to assist pets in the greater Rochester area whose owners are facing financial difficulty. Donate $5 or more via Play It Forward to get the Keep Sweet download code via email. Follow Soviet Dolls on Facebook for more information and updates.
Order of Operations, a Brooklyn-based synth-pop project released their cover of “Psycho Killer.” This is the first to be shared off of their upcoming Talking Heads covers EP. It is the solo project of musician and producer Alain Paradis. This is the first recorded output from Paradis since 2014. The EP, Love Me Til My Heart Stops, is available November 19.
Order Of Operations is the solo project of Brooklyn musician Alain Paradis. The group spans the spectrum of future-looking indie — from austere cold wave, to noisy post-punk & dream pop, to Big Chair-style synth ballads in search of a John Hughes film.
The group debuted with 2014’s EP Constrvctive Delusions. Love Me Til My Heart Stops marks his second release, as he works towards his next original music venture. Alain Paradis lives in Bushwick, Brooklyn, NY with his synths and his regal-looking Persian cat Zoe.
Photo Cred: Brennan Michalowski
There’s a symmetry present in Order Of Operations reimagining the music of Talking Heads in 2020. Caught up in a cacophony of crises, NYC has begun to mirror the rumbling streets of the late 1970s that Byrne and company first crawled up from the cracks of. Alain Paradis sends a bright and lucid current through these songs, replacing irony with something that feels more like empathy. Additionally, the skittish no-wave originals are remade into evocative synth-pop anthems, spun through a kaleidoscope of chillwave and bedroom pop influences, until they seem to exist in their own unique time and space.
These were days when metal giants still walked the Earth, and on this day on 1988 a bulletproof triple-bill played at a packed Mid-Hudson Civic Center in Poughkeepsie: California thrashers Slayer, legendary British underground gods Motörhead, and NJ heavies Overkill, who opened.
photo by Mark Kurtzner
At the time, Overkill were supporting their then-new third album, ‘Under The Influence’, and played a short set featuring new bruisers such as “Shred” and “Welcome to the Gutter,” along with a few classics like “Rotten to the Core.” Said frontman Bobby Blitz a few years later about opening for Motörhead – Overkill, were, after all, named after a Motörhead song – “touring with Lemmy was like touring with GOD! I’d be sitting next to him, taking pictures, asking ‘Can you sign another album, Lem? It was great.”
photo by Mark Kurtzner
Motörhead played second – odd to see them open for Slayer, a band who’d been wearing Motörhead shirts on the inside sleeve of their first album five years earlier, and a band about 10 years behind of Motörhead in terms of when their first albums came out – but Slayer had hit big with their third record ‘Reign In Blood’ a couple years earlier, while Motörhead were still – and always would be, In America – beloved underground veterans. This did not stop Lemmy and his bands of rogues from stealing the show. They were then promoting their second live record, ‘No Sleep At All’, and Lemmy strode out on stage and barked “We are Motörhead, and we play rock’n’roll”, before the band blasted into “Dr. Rock”, the ’Orgasmatron’-era pounder which also started the new live record.
photo by Mark Kurtzner
The band were still playing many songs from the most recent studio record, ‘Rock’n’Roll’ (4 songs, plus ‘Rock’n’Roll’-era b-side “Just Cos You Got The Power”), and “Eat The Rich” from that record got a big reaction, even from the younger Slayer-heads who knew it from MTV. Unlike their later years, where the majority of the set was from the ‘classic’ pre-1983 Fast Eddie years, this night most of the songs played were from the then-recent records by the newer 4-piece Motörhead with guitarists Wurzel and Phil Campbell, including “Dr Rock”, “Built for Speed”, a grinding “Orgasmatron”, the minor hit “Killed by Death”, and the aforementioned slew of ‘Rock’n’Roll’-era songs. The band did play a few vintage songs though, including “Stay Clean”, “Metropolis”, eternal favorite “Ace of Spades” and the world-flattening and opening-band-inspiring “Overkill”. A ear-destroyingly killer show, and with 3 of these 4 men now in Valhalla – Lemmy, guitarist Wurzel and drummer ‘Philthy’ Phil Taylor – a lineup that will never be seen again.
photo by Mark Kurtzner
Slayer, of course, were also mighty and unstoppable. The pit was huge, sweeping away any who wanted to merely stand and watch, and the west coast thrashers opened with “South of Heaven”, title track from the then-new record, before mayhem erupted with song #2, “Raining Blood”. This was the ‘classic lineup’ – Tom Araya, Kerry King, drummer Dave Lombardo, and the late, great Jeff Hanneman. There was no rest thereafter, and the band leaned on the new record heavily – 8 of 15 songs played were from ‘South of Heaven’, with more vintage neck-snapppers like “Black Magic”, “Chemical Warfare”, “Necrophiliac”, “Postmortem” and “Kill Again” also played, before the show wrapped up – as would usually be the case, until Slayer’s 2019 conclusion as a touring band – with ‘Reign In Blood’-era skull-smasher “Angel of Death.”
photo by Mark Kurtzner
Motörhead setlist: Doctor Rock, Stay Clean, Traitor, Metropolis, Dogs, Eat the Rich, Built for Speed, Just ‘Cos You Got the Power, Orgasmatron, Stone Deaf in the U.S.A., Killed by Death, Ace of Spades, Overkill
Slayer setlist: South of Heaven, Raining Blood, Silent Scream, Read Between the Lies, Black Magic, Postmortem, Necrophiliac, Behind the Crooked Cross, Kill Again, Mandatory Suicide, Chemical Warfare, Ghosts of War, Spill the Blood, Live Undead, Angel of Death
Katie Rush, a Brooklyn singer/songwriter, is the latest artist to combine politics and music with the release of her latest single “World Leader.” The song encourages the importance of voting and speaking up for what is right in all communities as the 2020 election approaches. “World Leader” is a protest song that combines pop/dance music to address the troubles of the U.S. political climate and delivers a call to action for Americans to get out and vote.
Rush released “World Leader” on October 27, which Sam Mehran produced and Vincent Cacchione mixed/mastered the track. Marissa Alper edited the music video. “World Leader” was one of the last songs where Rush worked with Sam Mehran. Mehran, who was an American-Australian musician/songwriter/producer that co-founded the punk band Test Icicles, died on July 29, 2018.
Here is a look at the lyrics:
Never in my life
Have I seen a World Leader
Who could take us to the very edge
Never in my life have I seen a great pretender let me down
I still believe In the right for this land to be free
Oh, I embrace the people
Not the king
But we know with every leader
They will guide or we resist
And we will count on each other
Not to make the same mistake
And maybe down the line
To have support of our country
When we’re old or poor or sick
Never in my life have I seen a great destroyer who could tear apart our very land
Never in my life have I seen such a liar put us down
I still believe that we have the power
Won’t stand for this, can’t get us down
Still gonna win
We look to our future leaders
To guide the human race
And we still stand together
Despite our politics
And maybe down the line
We’ll place our faith in them
Something better will come of this
Not only has Rush released a single just in time for the election but she also has Rush also released a special edition “zine” (short for magazine) to accompany her “Natural Mystics” song released on September 17. The “zine” is a 16-page story by Taraka Larson and Annabelle Weatherly created the art for the project. Rush describes “Natural Mystics” as an “Italo Disco inspired dance floor burner dedicated to all of the visitors from other stars.”
“I am frustrated but I am hopeful. I know a lot of us are. Let’s talk about the troubles in our current political climate. There are so many disservices in the world right now but there are also so many strong individuals challenging what is happening and leading us into the future. My new single “World Leader” expresses just how I am feeling. One of the final works I made with Sam Mehran this is probably the most personal and politically charged song I have ever released. Encompassing all my love and passion, I present “World Leader.”
