NYS Music 202​0

Tag: rock

  • Headcount Host Online Event Raising Awareness For Voter Registration

    Headcount and Fort Williams Artist Management have teamed up to present Vote Ready, a free online Concert for Voter Registration, taking place on Friday, August 14th at 7pm.

    The online event features The War On Drugs, Robin Pecknold, Daniel Rossen (of Grizzly Bear), Christopher Bear (of Grizzly Bear/Fools), Kyp Malone (of TV On The Radio), Jaleel Bunton (of TV On The Radio), Kevin Morby, Waxahatchee, Tarriona Tank Ball, Hand Habits, Ciggy, Kam Franklin (of The Suffers), The Building, and Allison Russell & Leyla McCalla (of Our Native Daughters)

    Headcount voter registration

    Leading up to the event, fans who check their voter registration status via HeadCount.org/VoteReady will receive a free eTicket to the stream. Anyone not currently registered will then easily be able to register to vote through an online form.

    Headcount believes that voter registration is critical, especially this year with the deadlines for registration coming up fast. ” Vote Ready” is unique as the first online music event dedicated to raising awareness for voting registration guidelines.

    This week, Headcount have announced a multi-year partnership with the International advocacy organization, Global Citizen, to further engage young Americans to check their status, register, and vote. Their partnership aims to mobilize support from artists along with entertainers, media, corporations, and nonprofit organizations, to give young Americans the tools to use their voice in the November 3, 2020 election and beyond.

    Headcount have been promoting democracy via music, culture and digital media. Since 2004, the organization has recruited nearly 700,000 new voters while working with a long list of musicians including Ariana Grande, Jay-Z and Dave Matthews Band. Following the COVID-19 outbreak, the organization was quick to switch their recruiting efforts to online. Headcount remains to be one of the most active grassroots organizations in the Country and continues to keep pushing their efforts.

  • Walking in Bendt’s World: Rock Music Beyond the Surface

    An Albany passion project amongst friends has evolved into a molecular musical composition, otherwise known as Bendt. The four-piece rock group strands undoubted rock heritage with a meticulous nuance of modern yet technical tangents. In their most recent, and debut full length, Bendt tells a story that clearly roots deeper than their sonic surface.

    Bendt

    Bendt’s nine track album, Brightness in the Barrens, is sequenced in such a way that provokes the ear. With each track comes a new tone, walking you up a spiral staircase. It’s that moment where you inch closer, adjust your ear and grow more curious with each step. “Encumbered,” marks that sonic threshold where you’ve now entered Bent’s world – The Rock n’ Roll egg has been cracked and mutates before your own eyes.

    A Lonely shadow wearing down

    The flooding ends but the flames abound

    With knowledge worth its weight in gold 

    Encumbered minds best left unsold

    “Encumbered” – Bendt

    Notably, Bendt has made an effort with the albums opening track “Symptoms.” It debuted as a single in January and paired with a play-along music video. You can’t knock a band that leads with their musical foot forward. The opening hook is gritty with drum licks that make the listener jump more than once. Lead guitarist, Carl Blackwood, is impressive as he takes the bridge to atmospherical heights. Each instrument colors the piece in their own right, but Bendt is just getting warmed up.

    Bendt has that iconic rock sound, but thrives in their subtle textures. Tracks like “Dire Elevation,” “13th” and “Don’t” start at utter ends of the spectrum and contrast each other brilliantly. It’s a physical fitness test of the musical minds. Nothing yields way. Everything is continually changing.

    Bendt @ Sonelab Recording Studio 12/16/18 – Bryan Lasky

    Without ample background, Bendt punningly plays on the notes between the notes. Highlighting on a personal favorite, “Knife” cuts right through the bullshit. Downright gritty rock that highlights the strength of each player. Continually throughout the album Blackwood and bassist, John Longo push and pull against Matt Plummer’s lead vocals. Drummer Cody Bingham doesn’t play like an outright rock drummer. His nuance captures the intricate textures that non-chromatic instruments often miss – taking what’s his and bolstering the energy in the room. Then roaring on the floor tom, sharpening the band back into the hook.

    Album outliers “Open Spaces” and “Something” round out this debut and make way for a suspenseful setlist if weaved carefully as interludes, or stacked as dreamy encore.

    Bendt is a hip rock band that plays outiside the box. My guess: their live performances will keep the eyes and ears on edge, trying to absorb what’s actually going on. Gridlocked by the pandemic “Brightness in the Barrens” has not had its chance to bloom.

    Be sure to check out Bendt’s 2017 self titled EP that holds its own against Brightness in the Barrens eye for eye – or mixed on shuffle. “Odyssey” is a mysterious harmonic that lurks in the musical mastermind of Bendt – giving way with long-winding strums – so you can take it all in once again. It grows.

  • Hearing Aide: TIP ‘Full Swing’

    Back with their second full length album is Albany based TIP. They’re an alternative rock group that skips across congruous genres, creating another in depth, unique collection worth diving into. TIP is Chris Caimano, Conor McDonald, Mike Cesario, Terence McDonald shared the responsibility of writing songs on their release Full Swing, while also constantly switching instruments, which would explain the eclectic styles we see across the album. In an interview with CT Verses, the band explains their intentions for the album and their goals to grow as a band. “We are constantly riding the line between trying to improv but also (try) not to lose the power of the song.” said Chris Caimano. In this album, it seems like they have found a good balance between those two sides of music, and it pays off. 

    Throughout this album, we hear a number of different influences that pair perfectly with their instrumentation. The groups pulls influence from Steely Dan, (“the best pop band that ever lived,” according to Caimano), The Beatles, John Mayer and James Brown. In their interview, they spoke so passionately when it came to who inspired them. Surprisingly, the iconic sounds of their beloved influences do not come through in an obvious way. They manage to be original and unique, a sign of an impressive group and an even more impressive album. 

    Throughout the album, the group flaunts their ability to be powerful but reserved, thanks to their instrumentation. We see this on “Five Becomes Seven,” “Canadian Coins” and “Me & My Girl.” Their tone is a little gritty, their time signatures are unique and their tone is ever-flowing. But their songs have power, direction and energy, without overwhelming the listener with overly-abstract tones ideas. And most importantly, they create a space for improvisation. But the licks that lead them to that space are unique and graspable, ensuring that they don’t “lose the power of the song” that Caimano had mentioned. 

    “Lavender Burns” is their jam-heavy hit that has lots of potential to blow people away on stage. The group creates a mysterious but comfortable space that could go absolutely anywhere. On the record, this song is reserved and a bit predictable but has a lot of live potential. As straightforward as it is, there are still some delicious layers laced within the track that make it spectacular. 

    “Caravan” is a straight up flex and a testament to their skills as musicians. This is a cover of a song written by Duke Ellington in 1937. It became a jazz standard over the years and was widely recognized as a song that changed the rules of jazz, due to its avant garde times signatures and key changes. So it only makes sense for TIP to go off and create their very own, remarkable version of their own. It’s rocking, it’s dissonant, it’s edgy – it’s awesome. 

    “Spreading Mud” is their example of how they execute acoustic grunge. It almost sounds like a missing track from Alice in Chains’ Unplugged album – and illusion sold by the unbelievable vocal harmonizations on this track. It’s hard to give credit to the singer, because they whole groups shares the mic throughout the album – regardless, it works and it makes for an ethereal track with an ebb and flow of tones and attitudes. 

    This whole album is like an open world for listeners to explore. There are layers and layers of sounds and events in each track that give it depth and replay-ability, that will hopefully shoot TIP into the limelight. But once again, we stumble upon a band that would really flourish in a live setting. Each track is a launching pad into an improvisational wonderland of opportunities. Hopefully, we will get to witness them soon. Find the album on all major streaming platforms, or here for a list of their information.

    Key Tracks: Canadian Coins, Brainfreeze, Spreading Mud