NYS Music 202​0

Category: Regions

  • 27 Years Later: Phish rocks Jones Beach for two nights

    After performing at SPAC and taking a day off to celebrate the release of A Live One, Phish headed to Jones Beach for their first two-night run at the Long Island amphitheater. Growing their following, especially from New York metro area high school and college students with a summer off, was part of Phish’s broadening appeal as they performed in bigger and bigger theaters.

    Ticket stubs via Shapsio

    The first show on the 28th featured the retired “Axilla (Part II)” and an 11-minute “Foam” demonstrating the patience of the foursome from Vermont. The rest of the set after “Fast Enough For You” reads like a fantasy setlist, and it was only the first set, including one of two “Fluffhead”‘s from that tour.

    Set 2 unleashes a 30+ minute “Tweezer” that is one for the books, so much that it was added to Live Bait 10 (scroll down for video). This experimental version of the jam vehicle included the ever rare “Dave’s Energy Guide” and a jam on The Breeder’s “Cannonball.” If you were still clamoring for more, the “Harry Hood” and “Tweezer Reprise” to close the set are likely to seal the deal.

    Setlist: June 28, 1995 via Phish.net

    Soundcheck: Sweet Home Alabama, Jam, Ginseng Sullivan, Red River Valley Jam, Dog Log (slow)

    Set 1: Axilla (Part II) > Foam, Fast Enough for You, Reba[1], Punch You in the Eye, Stash, Fluffhead > Chalk Dust Torture

    Set 2: Sample in a Jar, Poor Heart > Tweezer -> Dave’s Energy Guide -> Tweezer > Gumbo > Sparkle > Suzy Greenberg, Harry Hood, Tweezer Reprise

    Encore: Sweet Adeline, While My Guitar Gently Weeps

    [1] No whistling.

    Ha Ha Ha was teased before the start of the first set. Reba did not have the whistling ending. Dave’s Energy Guide was played for the first time since March 8, 1991 (479 shows). The secondTweezer included a Cannonball jam with quotes from Trey.

    The next day the fans returned to Jones Beach for another round of Phish, and were greeted with “Runaway Jim” -> “Taste.” The straightforward first set was enthusiastic and energetic, and ended with an acapella “Carolina.”

    If you were getting your first taste of Phish over these two nights, you might think that nearly half hour versions of songs were the norm, and for a time, they were. Both “David Bowie” and “You Enjoy Myself” topped over the 25 minute mark, with “Bowie” taking chances getting spacey, and “You Enjoy Myself” including a bass and drums section.

    From here, Phish would have two more two-night runs, at Great Woods in Mansfield, MA and two-nights in at Sugarbush in North Fayston, VT

    Setlist: June 29, 1995 via Phish.net

    Set 1: Runaway Jim > Taste, The Horse > Silent in the Morning, Divided Sky, Cavern > Rift > Simple > Split Open and Melt, Carolina

    Set 2: Free -> David Bowie, Strange Design, You Enjoy Myself, Acoustic Army, A Day in the Life

    Encore: Theme From the Bottom

    Runaway Jim contained a Cannonball tease.

  • Grateful Dead perform at SPAC on June 28, 1988, ending three year ban

    After being banned from SPAC for three years, the Grateful Dead returned on Tuesday, June 28, 1988 for one final outing at the famed Saratoga Springs venue. This being their first show since the release of 1987’s In the Dark and the Top 10 single “Touch of Grey,” a new generation of Deadheads were seeing the group for the first time, who were disparagingly referred to as ‘Touchheads’ by some veteran fans.

    While this was the final performance for the Grateful Dead’s at Saratoga Performing Arts Center, the band had a strong fanbase in the greater Capital District. Add in a new audience of younger fans and the band would find themselves heading half an hour south for future performances in the region, at the Knickerbocker Arena, starting in 1990.

    Grateful Dead SPAC

    Locally broadcast on WPYX, the Tuesday show was aired on the radio in an effort to dissaude fans from arriving at the show without a ticket. This did not prevent gatecrashing from occuring early in the night, and fans on the lawn were found heading into the pavilion balcony as they did in 1985.

    Rain fell on the crowd as storms passed through, and lightning was seen during the rain-soaked “Candyman,” leading to a chill coming over the crowd as the show wore on. A solid variety in the straightforward first set seemed to swap Bobby and Jerry songs from the outset of “Hell in a Bucket,” and ending with “Victim or the Crime” and “Foolish Heart.”

    More rain came down early in the second set, similar to the rain in 1985 that began during “Fire on the Mountain.” Listen to “Scarlet Begonias” > “Fire on the Mountain” > “Estimated Prophet” > “Crazy Fingers,” and you’d likely be enjoying dancing in the rain as the thousands of fans did that night.

    Following a hypnotic “Drums” and “Space,” a beautiful version of “I Will Take You Home” by Brent Mydland appeared, and a late second set “Stella Blue” found Jerry stumbling just before pouring buckets of emotion into the ending jam. The Dead had left their mark on SPAC, one of the most beloved venues in the Northeast.

    Grateful Dead, Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC), June 28, 1988

    Set 1: Hell In A Bucket-> Bertha, Walkin Blues, Candyman, When I Paint My Masterpiece, Row Jimmy, Victim Or The Crime, Foolish Heart

    Set 2: Scarlet Begonias-> Fire On The Mountain, Estimated Prophet-> Crazy Fingers-> Drums-> I Will Take You Home-> Goin’ Down The Road Feelin’ Bad-> I Need A Miracle-> Stella Blue-> Not Fade Away

    Encore: Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door

  • Discover Local Music With EQXposure Featured Artists Of The Week

    WEQX has long been the preeminent independent station in the Capital Region of New York, broadcasting from Southern VT to a ever-expanding listening audience. Each Sunday evening from 7-9pm on 102.7 FM, you’ll find EQXposure on WEQX, featuring two hours of local music from up and coming artists. NYS Music will bring you a preview of artists to discover each week, just a taste of the talent waiting to be discovered by fans like you.

    Luminous Crush – All The Words And More

    Luminous Crush from Jamaica, VT has shared the stage with Amy Helm, opening for her band at the Paramount Theater in Rutland, VT. Their first album was produced along with Grammy-winning Nashville songwriter and producer Felix McTeigue, and their newest LP Lumina is now available at Bandcamp. This is a new song not found on either of their previous releases.

    Architrave – Yellow Lines

    Check out this Ballston Spa band’s new album This Perfect Day at Bandcamp and Spotify. The Daily Gazette of Schenectady called it the “perfect pandemic album”. This song was inspired by a dream that singer Jen Coleman’s daughter had.

  • In Memoriam: Milton Glaser, Graphic Design Master who inadvertently brought Dylan and the 60s music scene to Woodstock

    Milton Glaser, the master artist who created many of the most popular images of our times, from logos for IBM, DC Comics, UPS, Brooklyn Brewery, and ABC, to the iconic “I ♥ NY,” has passed away at 91. For we devotees of music, and especially New York State music, Glaser also holds an interesting place, as the man who inadvertently helped bring Bob Dylan and many figures of Sixties music and beyond to Woodstock.

    According to Barney Hoskyns must-read history of Woodstock and its music scene, Small Town Talk, it was Glaser who we may largely have to thank for Dylan’s relocation to Woodstock.

    As told in Hoskyns’ book, Manhattanite Glaser and his wife Shirley owned a second home in Woodstock since the 1950s, where they often entertained city friends, including Dylan’s famed manager Albert Grossman. It was natural for Milton Glaser to be drawn to the town since it has a history in art going back to the founding of the still-going strong Byrdcliffe, America’s first art colony in 1903.

    When a large property with 60 acres of land became available in 1962 in adjacent Bearsville, for the then princely sum of $50,000, Glaser immediately thought of Grossman. As quoted by Hoskyns’, “We didn’t know a single person with $50,000 except Albert,” said Glaser. The fact that Grossman resembled a bear may have also played a role in his choice of location, according to Glaser.

    Though Dylan first came to Woodstock in 1961 to stay at a cabin owned by the family of Peter Yarrow of Peter Paul and Mary, another Grossman-managed act, it was the comfort and protection of Grossman and his wife Sally that finally made him settle, as a way to escape the crazed demands of his stardom. Dylan lived in several homes in the area and was followed up by his backing band, The Band, who took up residency and created a musical workshop at the famed but decidedly humble Big Pink in West Saugerties, from whence the famed Basement Tapes emerged.

    milton glaser
    Lightnin Hopkins album cover by Milton Glaser

    In time, many more would follow to become full and short-time residents including Van Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, Paul Butterfield and Janis Joplin, another Grossman-managed artist, and more recent names like David Bowie, B-52 Kate Pierson, King Crimson bassist Tony Levin, jazzers Jack DeJohnette and Pat Metheny, to name a few. Goldman went on to expand the musician attraction offerings in Woodstock by creating Bearsville Recording Studios and the soon-to-reopen Bearsville Theater.

    Glaser was also famed for his poster art, creating more than 400 at his Push Pin Studios. One of his most famous was one he created for the 1967 album, Bob Dylan’s Greatest Hits. Here, he drafted a simple outline of the singer’s head, based on a black-and-white self-portrait silhouette by Marcel Duchamp, and added thick, wavy bands of color for the hair, forms he imported from Islamic art. Nearly 6 million copies made their way into homes in America, making it one of the most popular wall hangings on the bedrooms of young people in the Sixties. Glaser also produced a slew of album covers for artists including Paul Simon, Peter, Paul and Mary, Doc Watson and Townes Van Zant.

    milton glaser

    For more on Woodstock music history, pick up Barney Hoskyns’ Small Town Talk, which features a handy map to many of the former homes of the music stars. For more on Glaser and his art career, read today’s obit in the New York Times.

  • Sevendust Releases Cover of Soundgarden “The Day I Tried to Live”

    Sevendust announced new music for the first time since 2018 critically acclaimed album All I See Is War. The heavy metal legends released a new lyric video for their Soundgarden cover of “The Day I Tried to Live” on June 26 and is available on all streaming platforms.

    sevendust soundgarden
    Sevendust photo credit to Travis Shinn.

    Sevendust decided it was time to release new music and return to the airwaves after seeing the societal changes happening around the globe. “The Day I Tried to Live” was relevant back in 1994 when it was first released by Soundgarden and is just as relevant today. The message behind the song is all about trying to learn to live a better life which is only possible for everyone if everyone is given equal opportunities to do so.

    The new track was produced by Michael “Elvis” Baskette who worked on the bands latest album. The new lyric video for the song was created by Wayne Joyner  who is known for his work with Dream Theater. The video features a lone figure walking down a road thinking about his life. The video also includes clips of the band throughout it.

    “Soundgarden is such an important band to all of us in Sevendust and this love for them goes all the way back to when we were starting,” explains lead vocalist Lajon Witherspoon. “We discussed trying to do one of their songs and our producer Elvis suggested ‘The Day I Tried To Live.’ I would have been fine with any of those songs personally. When I first heard it, I thought the lyrics were timeless. The lyrics are about trying to experience new things and change the way you live, and we see examples of that every day with what is happening around the world. To have the chance to cover this song and release it is so special to all of us. Thank you, Chris Cornell and Soundgarden.” 

    The song is available for purchase here. For more information on Sevendust please visit their website.

  • Young Culture goes full pop on “I’ll Be There”

    Albany’s Young Culture is known for their pop-punk sound but they fully embrace the pop side on their new single, “I’ll Be There.” While drums and guitar are still present on the track, this song is primed for Top 40 with a boy bander-esque dance routine in the accompanying music video.

    Despite the music video’s washed-out aesthetic, “I’ll Be There” sounds vibrant and ready-made for summer. Referencing another summer anthem, Bob Marley’s “Three Little Birds,” the pre-chorus goes: “Just like the song says, every little thing is gonna be alright.” Whether in relation to the pandemic, current civil unrest, or life in general, the song’s message is reassuring for many reasons. “We’re happy to put out good vibes and hope you enjoy watching it as much as we did making it,” said lead singer, Alex Magnan. Enjoy listening below.

    Listen to Young Culture Here.

    In addition to the new music video, Young Culture launched “I’ll Be There”-themed merchandise. Over $1,600 of the total proceeds are going to the Albany and Louisville Community Bail Funds. The shirts depicted the Bob Marley quote and an image from the music video. They are now completely sold out. “We’ve been sitting on this simple song for a while and didn’t know that putting it out right now would give it a whole new meaning for us,” Magnan told Broadway World.

    Founded by school friends Magnan and Gabe Pietrafesa, with Troy Burchett joining later on, Young Culture released their label debut EP in 2019, entitled, (This Is) Heaven. The pop-punk EP reached #22 on the New Artist chart and and #53 on the Indie chart, and maintains a sizeable Spotify presence. One of the songs, “Drift,” was co-produced by Sam Guaiana, as well as Derek DiScanio of fellow pop-punk Albany band, State Champs.

  • Enjoy Summer Quarantunes with Freedom Park’s livestream series

    Scotia Freedom Park’s Quarantunes Series kicked off on Friday, June 20 with a performance from American Idol finalist Madison VanDenburg. The summer concert series, normally held in person, is now streaming online for free from the Freedom Park Quarantune Studio. Through the end of August, new concerts will go up on YouTube and Facebook at 7:00 p.m. each Wednesday and Saturday. Concerts will also be aired live on Spectrum channel 1302 and Fios channel 37.

    quarantunes

    The Quarantune Series is dedicated to the Class of 2020. The series’ headliner, Madison VanDenburg, is a recent Shaker High School graduate who progressed to the top 3 of American Idol’s season 17 last year. Some of her notable performances on the show include covers of Dan + Shay’s “Speechless,” Adele’s “All I Ask,” and Lady Gaga’s “Shallow” from A Star Is Born. VanDenburg’s new song “Reason” was released to Spotify and Apple Music on June 19, a day before her Quarantune concert.

    Other Quarantune Series performers include Celtic quartet Screaming Orphans, local rock duo Sirsy, bluegrass band Skeeter Creek, the Capital District Youth Pipe Band, and more. This season’s lineup is especially diverse, encompassing artists of all ages and genres.

    This season’s sponsors include Berkshire Farm Center, GoToScotia.com, Scotia-Glenville Dental Center, Marshall & Sterling Insurance, and the park’s neighboring Jumpin’ Jack’s Drive-In. Each individual concert is also sponsored by a different local business, such as Stewart’s Shops and Scotia Cinema. While the concerts are completely free, Freedom Park is still accepting donations online via Venmo and Paypal.

    Quarantune Series T-shirts are also available on their website in unisex sizes from S to XL, featuring the season’s lineup with the slogan “The Season That Almost Wasn’t.”

    Check out this stream and more through our series NY Stream and Support, where you’ll discover artists around the Empire State streaming nightly, and ways to support musicians and charitable groups close to home!

  • Flashback: Phish at SPAC, June 26, 1995

    On June 26, 1995, Phish performed for the third time (and second as a headliner) at Saratoga Performing Arts Center. Phish’s 1995 Summer Tour was into full swing by this point with the final 11 shows in the Northeast, four of which were in New York.

    Phish SPAC 1995

    Back in 1995, reserved tickets for this performance at SPAC cost only $20. An “Acoustic Army” soundcheck with teases of “Shine” (six months and a day before “Shine” would debut on New Years Eve during “Fly Famous Mockingbird”), and Little Feat’s “Time Loves a Hero” reappeared for the first time since soundcheck on April 15, 1989.

    A little Led Zeppelin could be found in “Possum” with a “Heartbreaker” tease, and in “You Enjoy Myself” containing a hint of “Immigrant Song.” The highlight of the show is surely a spacey and unfinishes “Down with Disease” that led into a monster “Free,” seen below.

    The penultimate performance of The Meditations “Don’t You Want to Go?” was found in the first set, alongside a unique trio of “It’s Ice” > “Dog Faced Boy” > “Tela,” and the aforementioned “Possum.” Set 2 is a fiery one from the start, with a “Down with Disease” > “Free” that Phish.net calls “a multi-movement masterpiece.” A huge “You Enjoy Myself” (seen below) and “Sleeping Monkey” > “Rocky Top” encore are among the many highlights of this stand out show. It would take 9 years before Phish returned to SPAC, shows that stack up well against June 26, 1995. This show was released by Live Phish in 2017.

    Setlist via Phish.net

    Phish – SPAC – June 26, 1995

    Soundcheck: Time Loves A Hero > Dog Log/Time Loves A Hero mashup, Nellie Kane, Santana Instrumental, Rocky Mountain Way

    Set 1: My Friend, My Friend, Don’t You Want To Go?, Bathtub Gin, NICU > The Sloth, My Mind’s Got a Mind of its Own, It’s Ice > Dog Faced Boy > Tela > Possum

    Set 2: Down with Disease [1] -> Free > Poor Heart > You Enjoy Myself, Strange Design > Run Like an Antelope

    Encore: Sleeping Monkey > Rocky Top

    [1] Unfinished.
    My Friend started with a Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1 tease from Trey. Trey teased and quoted Long Tall Glasses in Bathtub Gin. Possum contained a Heartbreaker tease and YEM contained Immigrant Song teases from Trey. Down with Disease was unfinished.

  • Hearing Aide: Animal Sounds ‘Layers’

    One of WNY’s tightest and most eclectic rock groups is back with a new album release on July 3. Rochester based indie rock band, Animal Sounds, has a great discography already, with early material like “Ghosts” paving the way for their first full album, Ennui. It is important to take into context how the band’s music has matured over the past few years. Layers is a whole new beast, with intricately crafted structure and infinitely danceable tunes. Animal Sounds hasn’t compromised on what’s made them an indie staple in the area while continuing to grow.

    The album’s opener, “Layers,” is a great exemplification of how the band can mend and bend the genre’s they write around. The core of the song is a dance-able, Young-the-Giant-type-groove complete with wobbly keys and deft guitar work. While the hook and the vocal performance are worthy of the spotlight, the guitar parts and drum feature early on showcase how technically sound their musicianship is. The song breaks out into a New Orleans style brass section before diversifying into a chill and bouncy bridge. The drop downs in the song really make the chorus hooks shine through. One track in, and the album already makes a strong impression.

    “Rollin,” the second track, hits heavy with a bluesy, Steely-Dan-style guitar lick underneath reverb-soaked vocal ooh’s. Little hints of shoegazy, early Modest-Mouse-type guitar parts play beneath the verse lyrics. The bass thrusts the song onward into an energetic chorus. Again, the musicianship is stellar as the band navigates very tonally different verses and choruses without missing a beat.

    Animal Sounds Layers

    The third track of the album is really a unique sound for the group, with a mix of their essential indie, along with a more twinkly guitar background- similar to some of the tones you’d expect to find on a math-rock album. Some of the guitar parts come off as math-inspired, but they never stray from being rhythmically accessible. The bass tone on this song hits heavy and offers more thickness while the drums provide a straightforward pulse.

    “Blue on Burgundy” yields a nice, solid dream-pop feel that remains energetic but gives the album a great dynamic arc. The guitar compositions and their harmonies are so well written and performed here, hitting that perfect point where the guitars meld together and sound like one single instrument. The band’s foray into more jam-type music here (as well as at various other points in the album) pays off in a big way. The solo sections never hang on too long, and what’s being played never comes off as inarticulate or ‘noodly.’

    Lastly, “The Feeling” brings the album out on a heavy note. The baritone guitar licks match the bass to create a really thick sound. A theme throughout this album has to be the thickness of the low end. It lends to bouncier drums and allows the guitar and vocals to sit well. The mixing holds up really well and offers plenty of easter eggs worthy of searching for indulging numerous listens. A true dance album with wonderfully designed tones and mixes, Layers is a perfect album for summer playlists and heavy listening. Animal Sounds will be doing a live-stream show on July 3rd, to benefit a local Rochester venue, Photo City. Check out the event here, and catch Animal Sounds live on release day!

    Animal Sounds is comprised of Erick Gordon (vocals), Shawn Brogan (guitar), Alex Brophy (guitar), Zach Jonas (bass), and Angel Figueroa (drums).

    Key Tracks: Layers, Blue on Burgundy

  • The Next Great American Novelist Releases Single and Music Video to “Drag” from upcoming album

    Brooklyn-based indie rock band, The Next Great American Novelist (aka NGAN), share their new single, “Drag,” from their upcoming sophomore record, Careless Moon. Written before the pandemic and a better-late-than never Civil Rights revolution took the main stage of society. The new single, “Drag,” works to show that there was never a comfortable or correct “normal” in life when times were “precedented,” fully working for everyone.

    Songwriter Sean Cahill explains the new single, saying:

    I love New York City, though, some days it feels like a dysfunctional landscape of ill-routine. Living here, you realize you’re functionally necessary but of small significance or importance within the larger enterprise. I’m immersed in a series of habits: standing in line, getting on a train, heading to work, buying coffee, buying booze… Are these choices I want to make or am I just keeping the machine going.

    Cahill was on the verge of ending his The Next Great American Novelist project before it really even got off the ground. He recalls his experience saying:

    I was working in life insurance, and I had a gig at some small venue in Bushwick. I almost didn’t do it because I was so depressed from my living situation and work. I knew nobody, and my girlfriend didn’t show up. I played the show solo, and I was so over everything. I just didn’t give a shit, so I was very open and honest on stage. And this guy who was super shy came up to me afterwards and was like, ‘Hey, I really like your music. I’m a sound engineer, you should come by my studio,’ and gave me his card.

    That shy fan was Justin Helm, an engineer at New York’s The Cutting Room. Cahill later stopped by the studio and met the in-house producer, who happened to be Cummings. The two quickly hit it off, connecting over a love of The Beatles and Dirty Projectors. With Helm co-producing and engineering, Cummings would go on to co-produce and play on I’ll See You in the Art You Love, Cahill’s partially crowd-funded debut as The Next Great American Novelist. 

    It wasn’t long before the pair went from friends to true creative collaborators. As soon as Art You Love was completed, they started approaching a few dozen bedroom demos Cahill had written. Eventually, Cummings expressed a not-so-secret desire to join NGAN, and Cahill was happy to welcome him to the foil. From that moment, the band’s trajectory dramatically changed.

    Cahill had never fostered a strong ambition to take his music beyond a personal escape. He’d studied classical guitar in college, but left the program when the criticism and perfection of academia began to suck the fun out of the art. Now with Cummings to play off of, Cahill was rediscovering the joys that attracted him to writing and performing in the first place. The duo have applied creative efforts outside the band as well, writing jingles for everything from Swedish Fish to dog medication.

    More than ever, Cahill wanted NGAN to become a band people brought their friends to come see live. United, Cahill and Cummings set to work creating new songs that would “make sense live.” It all came together in the studio with drummer Danny Sher of Horse Torso (his outfit with Baroness bassist Nick Jost) laying down the rhythm live to tape as they built towards their new record, Careless Moon.  

    Careless Moon is about the relationship between romance and indifference. How it’s possible to see different concepts in the same symbol. One night, you could look at the moon and see an illuminating presence, brimming with light, offering clarity to a sky that is otherwise shrouded in darkness. The ridges of its surface appear as something familiar, a face, looking down and bringing you comfort. Other nights the moon can seem callous: an indifferent rock suspended unwillingly by gravity. You remember that the moon drifts from the earth by 3.8 cm each year, orbiting away from you as it barrels out into space. Your life changes but the moon doesn’t, each night you can find it waiting for you. When you realize that it has no attachment to you, it is frightening.

    Sean Cahill – The Next Great American Novelist