Artists strive to develop, grow, evolve. Blacktop Mojo’s latest release, Static, is certainly a product of that ethic. A 4 song EP that it is a get in your car, roll down the windows, crank it up, and drive recording. With their first three albums laying the groundwork, Static represents a defining moment in this East Texas based band’s career.
Blacktop Mojo
Issued as an EP, it equates more to a perfect album side. The bond between the songs begs for it to be played in its entirety. No singling out a song or two, you need to play them all. On first listen, I was so hooked that I played the EP through a second and third time before taking a breath. Simply put, this is a rocker. Raw, hard and an unfiltered.
Statoc = Blacktop Mojo
Twist the antenna around
Is there something wrong
There’s nothing but white noise now
The signal’s gone
“Signals Gone” – Blacktop Mojo
Blacktop Mojo has set a high watermark for future projects. If you are new to the band, what a place to start. For those those who have been in the know, Static will live at the top of the collection.
Joe Bonamassa shares perhaps his most monumental rock opus to date, “When One Door Opens,” recorded in the famous Abbey Road recording studio in London, England.
Released in tandem with a music video and co-Written by longtime collaborators, Kevin Shirley and songwriter Pete Brown, this brand new track harkens back to the glory days of Rock & Roll. Harkening back to the 60s/ 70s, ” When One Door Opens” celebrates Abbey Roads iconic history justly. This single marks the second of so far two surprise releases from Bonamassas Abbey Road studio session. Last month, he shared “A Conversation With Alice,” which was a follows in pursuit of Bonomassa instrumental side project, The Sleep Eazys.
Bonomassa is telling fans to keep their eyes peeled, hinting towards future releases. In the meantime, the Non-for-profit, Keeping the Blues Alive Foundation continues to gain support for the recently announced, Fueling Musicians program which has been raising profits for musicians who are feeling the effects of COVID-19s constraints around the music industry.
Visit the Fueling Musicians website to find out more.
Legendary art-rock group The Residents has released their latest single “DIE! DIE! DIE!” featuring Black Francis of the Pixies. Their upcoming album, METAL, MEAT & BONE is based on newly discovered recordings of Alvin Snow (a.k.a. Dyin’ Dog) and includes 10 Dyin’ Dog Demos, 10 interpretations of the demos by The Residents, and six new works inspired by Dyin’ Dog.
The Residents have been regarded as icons in the world of experimental music for almost fifty years. In addition to their groundbreaking work in the areas of trance, world fusion, electronica, punk, industrial and lounge music, the group has also been credited with being among the originators of performance art and music video, with their videos included in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art.
To know the story of Alvin Snow a.k.a. Dyin’ Dog, one must enter the world of an outsider turned bluesman. Born on Friday, January 13, 1939, Alvin Snow was abandoned on the steps of an orphanage. Snow created his own reality from the fragments of life drifting through his consciousness. He endured thoughts that were lined with the feeling life’s out to get him. This explains Snow’s unspoken rage and overpowering air of entitlement that allowed him to evade lawyers, angry victims, and the police. Lurking in the dark creases of his mind was a beast that haunted his every being.
The penetrating sounds of a jukebox pouring out of a small Mississippi town’s bar suddenly stopped him dead in his tracks one day. “Who’s Been Talking” sung by Howlin’ Wolf left Snow mesmerized and an overwhelming epiphany came over him. He began to devour every song recorded by Howlin’ Wolf and became interested in The Blues ever since.
Alvin Snow needed to come up with a stage name and everyone agreed Alvin Snow just wasn’t it. It took some thinking on his part to match the perfect name to his ruffled voice, and even more blemished character. A hospital bed fell on and crushed his dog which give him the inspiration to come up with the name Dyin’ Dog. Before the debut performance of his 10-recorded demos on January 13, 1976, Snow vanished and was never to be heard from again. In September 2019, the Dyin’ Dog Demos were extraordinarily released as a Box Set. The Residents bring these long-lost songs to fans worldwide with the release of METAL, MEAT & BONE on July 10, 2020.
We’ve all been in need of some new live music and thankfully The Mountain Carol has come to our rescue. Their latest offering, How The West Was Won, is a live album containing incredible versions of their previously released work. Around since 2017, they have established themselves in the past with their undeniably unique sound, a combination of psychedelic and atmospheric electro-pop with a low-fi sound that permeates throughout this live release. Oh, and just a dash of alien abductions.
This album was recorded live at Light Club Lamp Shop in Burlington and the band really uses the space to their advantage. The reverberation from Matt Hall’s percussion through the room adds an incredible depth to the overall sound as it blends with the ebb and flow of Charles Bruce’s incredible vocal talent. Charles’ cosmic keyboarding also balances perfectly with Austin Petrashune’s bouncy, spacey but laser-focused guitar playing. From the giddy opening track, “Under Neith” to “Essex Ferry,” the mountainous closer, this entire album is a sonic adventure.
On their Facebook page, The Mountain Carol boldly claims to be “quite possibly the most important band to emerge from the North Country New York music scene.” Having listened to How The West Was Won multiple times, one cannot dispute their claim. Throw this on when you’re socially distancing at your next campfire, driving home from a day hike in the Adirondacks or enjoying the evening on your porch. It is available to stream on BandCamp, Apple Music, Spotify, Google Play Music and YouTube.
Smithsonian Folkways has released an album of recordings from legendary bluegrass musician Doc Watson and fiddle player Gaither Carlton. The recordings on Watson and Carltoncome from two concerts in New York City in October 1962; one concert at the NYU School of Education and the other at Blind Lemon’s (a folk club in the West Village that was gone the next week).
In the early 1960s, Watson was playing rockabilly tunes on his electric guitar near his home in tiny Deep Gap, NC when he was discovered by folklorist Ralph Rinzler. Watson became known for his heartfelt, powerful singing and the distinctive sound of his acoustic guitar.
Ralph Rinzler set up the concerts as Watson’s debut in New York, but it was a young PeterSiegel, who recorded both concerts in New York. Siegel still lives in New York, and founded the Nonesuch Explorer Series. He went on to produce music with Watson, and other talented artists such as Paul Siebel, Tom Paxton, Roy Buchanan. Peter Siegel shared his thoughts on how Doc Watson influenced future guitarists:
Today there are all these great flatpicking guitarists we know about. Clarence White, Tony Rice, all kinds of people. Billy Strings too now. At that time, nobody had ever heard a folk guitar player play like that! In folk music, the guitar was an accompanying instrument, which was usually strummed in a specific way. So when Doc showed up, it blew my mind. It blew everyone’s mind!
The music that is played on these recordings is not the virtuosic guitar style Watson is known for. Throughout the album are songs like “Double File” and “He’s Coming to Us Dead” that are comprised of the fiddle, guitar, and banjo to demonstrate the roots of Scottish and Irish music.
Ella Joy Mier, under the moniker Iris Lune, delivers her debut album ‘Lovelosslovee,’ a poetic and sonic masterpiece that examines the seamless relationship between love and loss.
The Brooklyn native is a songwriter who came inter her own, via the folk music of her heritage, Israel. Bringing a contemporary take on the sounds she is familiar with, Mier showcases her ability to tie rich, sonic passages along with beautiful poetry and wordplay. She exhibits a palpable mystique focus but diverse mood board throughout.
After loosing her mother from a six year battle with cancer, Mier has been desperately trying to piece her life back together, trying to survive in a world without her mother’s physical presence. These songs take the audience through that emotional journey.
The project starts with a well thought-out drum intro, followed by a rumbling, synthesized bass line. Intertwined vocal melodies, textured guitar and well organized percussion hits are a constant throughout the albums track list. With a central theme of love and loss, the tracks on this album mend together creating an emotive and captive tapestry of sound. With a clear knowledge of radio friendly pop structures as well as dreampop-like instrumentation, Mier falls inter her own on this album, creating a space that she is clearly confident in.
The production lets her vocals shine and remain the focal point from song to song. The album being co-written and produced by Asher Kutz, is full of highs and lows along with dynamic songwriting. Lovelosslove fulfils Miers’ want to let us in briefly to the journey of the endless relationship between love and loss.
Music has the power to bring people together in the name of solidarity. Throughout protest history, there have always been songs to aide in carrying the cries for social justice. Protest music came into mainstream popularity during the civil rights movements of the 1960s and 70s, with folk and gospel artists such as the late Pete Seeger and Mahalia Jackson. In todays current political state however, protest music has chosen a different voice. Hip-hop along with punk music have provided the loudest songs of racial protest during the black lives matter movement.
“Sound of da Police” by KRS-1
Off of the Bronx natives’ debut studio album, Return of The Boombat, “Sound of da Police” takes a hard look at police brutality. Although released in 1993, the song remains relevant in the current Black Lives Matter movement. Throughout the song, KRS-1 makes comparisons between the police and overseers who would police southern plantations while keeping slaves in check.
Key Lyrics:
“Officer, Officer, Officer, Officer! Yeah, officer from overseer You need a little clarity? Check the similarity! The overseer rode around the plantation The officer is off patrolling all the nation”
“One Four Love (Pt.1)” by Mos Def
The second track off of Mos Defs’ Hip Hop For Respect EP released in 2000 is another song centered around police brutality and racially-centered violence. With a hook that sings ” My people unite and lets all get down.”
Key Lyrics:
“My people unite, hop up and do it right We gotta have what? love peace and understandin One god, One love, One light One aim, One voice, One fight”
“Changes” by 2Pac
Riddled with commentary on the life of an inner-city black man, “Changes” is 2Pac’s timeless meditation on racial injustice. The song consists of verse after verse of 2Pac calling for change.
Key Lyrics:
“I see no changes all I see is racist faces Misplaced hate makes disgrace to races We under I wonder what it takes to make this One better place, let’s erase the wasted”
“Sunshine” by Pusha T
Bronx rapper Pusha-T takes a conscious approach in his 2015 release “Sunshine” telling America that the country is in need of a miracle. Pusha remembers Freddie Gray, another victim of police brutality and neglect.
Key Lyrics:
“These ain’t new problems, they just old ways I see one time turn sunshine into Freddie Gray Just another n**** dead, just another n**** dead Send another to the FEDs, send another to the FEDs”
“Banned in D.C” by Bad Brains
Well affiliated with the Afropunk movement of the 70s and 80s and regarded by many as the pioneers of hardcore, Bad Brains deliver this rage filled track about racial solidarity.
Key Lyrics:
“We, we got ourselves Gonna sing it, gonna love it, gonna work it out to any length Don’t worry, no worry, about what people say We got ourselves, we gonna make it anyway”
“Don’t Shoot” by Dave East
Dave East takes a creative approach, altering his voice to reflect on his encounters and experiences with NYPD through out his childhood, as a teenager, and as an adult. Born and raised in Harlem, Dave East delivers descript bars verse after verse detailing life in the city and coming to terms with racism and police neglect.
Key Lyrics:
“Left and right I’m seeing homies get interrogated, we ain’t safe where we live, this America ain’t it?”
“Spiritual” by Jay-Z
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFW5p2Qlx7M
In 2016, “Spiritual,” was Jay-Z’s first solo release in 3 years. Penning the lyrics after the shooting of Michael Brown in 2014, Jay-Z said he held onto the release because he knew ” his death wouldn’t be the last” in a statement released with the song. Jay-Z calls out police brutality and the cycle of poverty and depression many in the black community are stuck in.
Key Lyrics:
I am not poison
Just a boy from the hood that got my hands in the air
In despair don’t shoot
I just wanna do good”
“Oppressor” By Jesus Piece
East Coast hardcore band, Jesus Piece target the oppressive behavior of police in the song “Oppressor” off of their 2015 EP release. Fronted by Aaron Heard, one of the most prominent black vocalists in the current hardcore scene, the song is delivered along with a brutal instrumental and has since been a highlight of many hardcore festival performances, bringing together people of color in the hardcore scene, all taking turns grabbing for the microphone.
As we enter June, the fourth month where live music performances are postponed until it is deemed safe to have mass gatherings due to COVID-19, we take a look at the music venues across the state that are closed for now, but in the coming months will hopefully reopen.
Working with 13 photographers to document more than 60 venues in 20 cities across New York State, we present this monthly series that will look at the current conditions of these beloved venues. As they reopen, we will provide photo documentation recording the changes over time in all corners of the state.
Great thanks to all photographers and venues who take part in this series.
With divisions across the country on display through peaceful protest and violence, songs of unity and calm are not the first thought, but can provide an escape, even if briefly, giving pause amid the chaos in cities throughout the state and America. One of those songs is “My Sisters and Brothers”
Originally written by Charles Johnson of The Sensational Nightingales, Jerry Garcia Band would perform “My Sisters and Brothers” numerous times from the 1970s through the 1990s, and is featured on Jerry Garcia Band. The version below is the encore of the October 28, 1987 (late) show from the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre in Manhattan.
Brooklyn based singer-songwriter Lorelei Rose Taylor released a gift to the world on May 22. Stepping into the studio for the first time to record her music gave light to her debut EP, Versailles, which lyrically navigates her own stream of emotion, intertwined with dreamy baroque-pop sounds. As Taylor explained to NYS Music, she treads on the strong influence of The Cranberries’ Dolores O’Riordan, evident in her flawless singing, which also subtly nods to Florence Welch and Lana Del Rey.
Taylor grew up between Texas and Upstate NY and began exploring music on her own at a young age. But it wasn’t until 2017 when her interests returned to music following her college studies. With the help of the friendship of Robbie Grabowski, she began writing her own music and was given the courage to step into the studio in 2019.
Versailles EP
Taylor recently spoke with NYS Music about her experience bringing her music to the world for the first time and some of the inspirations into her songwriting.
Steve Malinski: The Versaille EP is your debut audio portrait to the public. How would you introduce yourself as a musician/songwriter?
Lorelei Rose Taylor: I would introduce myself as someone that’s very consistent in my message and my sound. I think I’m overall pretty melancholy, as much as I try to fight it that’s kind of just what happens.
SM: One thing I noticed about your sound is that it’s very clean and refined – particularly on one the songs, “If You Love Another,” almost right away I can hear the influence Dolores O’Riordan has on your singing. How has she been an influence on you and your songwriting?
LRT: She’s huge. I mean The Cranberries in general…when I think of my past and you know, out of my experiences in childhood that really shaped my direction, she stands out tenfold and it really comes back to growing up. I felt like it wasn’t a glamorous childhood by any means. So I’m in my room and I had this white boombox and I would like to sneak out to the living room. Remember those rotating CD things with the velvet interior that held the CDs? So I’d go in there and grab all the CDs I could find and shove them in the back of my room.
I would just like sit there for hours listening to all the weird stuff, and everything like that. I was kind of obsessive in that way. That was my outlet. No Need To Argue was that album that stayed with me and never left the rotation and I feel that way because I think Dolores sings like there’s a pain in her voice – that’s definitely her style – but she’s also really strong like you’re safe under her wing, in a way. I just I felt very understood by her.
And then “If You Love Another” was actually inspired by W.B. Yeats who is an Irish poet legend. I love the Irish. But yeah, I feel like it’s twofold, like there were a lot of strengths that I was trying to channel which I found in Dolores.
SM: Now that Versailles been released, what does that milestone – reaching that accomplishment mean to you?
LRT: I feel like I’ve always…this sounds so cliche, but like… dreamed of this moment. And now that it’s here, it feels a little bit like that false beginning, you know, when you’re like watching a show and they tease the beginning, and then they start the bullshit of the intro and the music. And I think it’s like the real show, the real beginning. That’s kind of what it feels like for me. Because I think… I don’t think like I’m doing the Lord’s work here. Like, I love the EP, and I’m so proud of it but I think that there’s so much growth to come and like so much exploratory work that I’d love to do from here. So it’s the beginning, but I don’t think it’s like the big moment for me, but I’m excited to see what happens.
SM: You’ve been exploring music since a young age…so what drew you into eventually writing your own songs?
LRT: So growing up, I spent a lot of it solitary and I feel like when you don’t have an outlet you kind of build your own and I feel like the writing and music that I turn to when I’m alone or whatever I was going through experiencing and it just always stuck with me. I recorded the Robbie Grabowski (from I Can See Mountains, Super American) and he like, kind of pulled the rest out of me.
SM: So the motivation to actually bring your material into the studio was that driven by Robbie?
LRT: Oh, yeah. Before that, I was just fucking around, like I wasn’t really… I mean, I dreamed of recording but I didn’t have that motivation or confidence to do anything with it and then he was like, “put your shoes on, we’re going to the studio today!”
SM: So this being your first recording project, how was the recording experience?
LRT: Oh my god. terrifying. I think it was last August [2019] – was the first time I’ve ever sat down in the studio. I was just right in front of a mic, that’s not my comfort zone. I don’t pretend to be a performer. So it was traumatizing. And I’m really grateful that I recorded with Robbie and Stephen Kellner and Jesse Cannon and Roderick, kind of like this very tight-knit circle which I’m grateful for. So Robbie just became a mentor and he was just like “pick up from the beginning, relax, chill out, it’s gonna be fine,” because I was terrified and it’s really difficult.
And you know, I learned a lot because when you’re singing a cover, for instance, “When You’re Gone,” that came super easy because I was just spinning the musical machine, you know, you have to channel the emotion, the performance, are you on TV?, the lyrics…there’s so much in one moment that you have to articulate and get right and I was just learning a lot the first time. I think “Casanova,” the first track on the EP, was the first song that Robbie and I wrote together, the first one we took to the studio and it took me probably eight months, nearly a year to like come around with that song and say “okay, we can just push it to the public,” because I just hear fear and I hear trauma because I was so scared in the studio. I guess it adds to the vulnerability a little bit.
SM: So now that you’ve learned a lot from that experience, do you think that might influence how you write your songs going forward? Or do you think you’ll still have the same approach?
LRT: Yeah, I’ve learned so much. And I think like, it really comes down to going back to being alone and just alone with my thoughts and not having to worry about any other element. It’s just me and the music and I feel like, especially during quarantine, recording by myself, there’s a different… It sounds very different when I’m writing alone and recording alone. There’s a different confidence. There’s a different way. I’m excited to share what I’ve done now alone in my own little studio to bring that to studio that’s going to be very different.
SM: You’re very introspective with respect to writing your songs and the emotions flow from what you’re feeling in that moment. So, when you go and you listen back to the songs especially in these current times, do they have a different meaning to you?
LRT: Yeah, I definitely think so. I mean, from like a personal standpoint…My favorite piece of was that our job is not to like our own music. It’s just to like keep making it. And I feel like the biggest thing in quarantine and creating (or trying to), removes that element to it. Hearing back the EP there’s so many moments where I’m like, “oh, I wish I did that differently” or “I wish this was scratched completely” but I think that removing that and just living in the moment more… I mean with COVID there’s just so much that we took for granted and I feel like just so lucky to be in a position to keep making music and I’m eager to get back to it. I feel like I’m more grateful for the music that I’ve made and more proud of it. I hope to make… all I have right now is that fucking record, so I hope to make happier ones because everything is very sad right now.
SM: You’ve also had a full length album in the works too?
LRT: Yeah, that was in the works. I mean, I’ve been writing for so long, but with everything that happened I didn’t have time to go back to the studios. I was like, well, I could either release an EP now or just have radio silence for the next… who knows how long. But yeah there’s a full album which will likely be called After Party. And it’s nearly done. It’s just like, you know, the finishing touches. But to your point now that everything has happened, I suppose there’s gonna be a lot of changes that I want to make to it with so much time to think.
SM: Have you been able to create any new content in this quarantine?
LRT: I’ve written one song from beginning to end. I was sad one day about two months ago and I was like, I’m clocked out, I’ve got nothing. So much of what I write is thriving off other people’s energy and people that I meet and see and right now I’ve only seen one human being for a few months now. It’s just very hard to find that inspiration. But I did write one song, a demo I recorded which was really an interesting experience because I wrote the whole track. I bought a MIDI controller and I produced the whole thing which I…that’s not my element… so I sent it to Robbie and he was just like “okay keep going.” It was kind of like a little pat on the back like, “okay this probably sounds like shit but like, I’m not gonna tell you that.” But yeah, great to bounce ideas off of him. Hopefully I have at least one more on the way in this infinite era.
SM: Once this whole thing blows over and you’re finally able to get the album recorded, what do you think you’re gonna be up to as far as live shows? Do you want to go out and perform these or just share them?
LRT: Yeah, definitely performing is on my roster. Especially around New York. New York has been home to me for eight years so there’s like a bond I have here. I’ll probably get back up to Syracuse. I spent a lot of my time there and all my friends are there, having like that space to have the energy to go off of which is very nice to perform to. Looking forward to that, looking forward to the album. My first music video for Versailles will be out soon, waiting for the final cut and my album will be out sooner than later.
You can stream Lorelei Rose Taylor’s EP Versailles below.
