The electronic music with an angular post-punk edge band called Pons has just come out with their new single. The single,Leland (Club Mix), comes along with a music video on youtube with a spooky and intense overtone.
Pons was started by multi-instrumentalists Sam Cameron, Jack Parker, and Sebastien Carnot. While the studio process is fairly fluid in terms of who plays what, you hear Sam Cameron on lead vocals and guitar, Jack Parker on drums, bass, and occasionally synth, and Sebastien Carnot on auxiliary percussion.
Formed by Sam Cameron and Jack Parker in North Carolina in the summer of 2018, they decided to relocate to Vermont shortly after. They then added Sebastien Carnot to the lineup on the second drum to push their sound in a more angular and percussive direction.
Their performances live are a lot more minimal and primitive with Sam singing and playing guitar and then Jack and Sebastian on drums. They have recently re-located to Brooklyn, NY they thought it was the next step up from their start in Vermont to grow their group.
The “Leland (Club Mix)” music video was shot and edited by Lazy Eye, an LA-based film collective. In total, it took about three months from the conception of the idea until the music video was finished.
Bruce Springsteen will return to Broadway this summer for a limited run of “Springsteen on Broadway” performances at Jujamcyn’s St. James Theatre (246 W 44th Street). Shows begin Saturday June 26, with additional performances taking place through September 4.
Credit: Rob DeMartin
Based on his worldwide best-selling autobiography ‘Born to Run,’ “Springsteen on Broadway” is a unique evening with Bruce, his guitar, a piano, and his very personal stories. The show’s original run included 236 sold-out performances at Jujamcyn’s Walter Kerr Theatre, beginning in October 2017 and concluding in December 2018. Springsteen earned a Special Tony Award for the performances, which were later adapted into a film and a soundtrack album.
Proceeds from Opening Night of the show at the St. James Theatre will be donated to a group of local New York and New Jersey charities including the Boys and Girls Club of Monmouth County, Broadway Cares/Equity Fights Aids, Community FoodBank of New Jersey, Food Bank for New York City, Fulfill (Monmouth & Ocean Counties Foodbank), Long Island Cares, NJ Pandemic Relief Fund and The Actor’s Fund.
Anyone planning on seeing this show will be required to provide proof of full COVID-19 vaccination in order to enter the theater. Tickets for “Springsteen on Broadway” will go on sale Thursday, June 10 at 12 pm ET through the show’s official ticketing provider SeatGeek.
The two-time Grammy award-winning artist Patty Griffin and Grammy award-nominated singer-songwriter Gregory Alan Isakov have announced plans for the co-headline tour “An Evening with Patty Griffin and Gregory Alan Isakov.”
Marking the first live, in-person concert performances for both artists since early 2020, Patty Griffin and Gregory Alan Isakov will be kicking off their tour on October 5th. On the 14-date tour, they’ll make stops at Troy Savings Bank Music Hall and the State Theatre of Ithaca.
Patty Griffin and Gregory Alan Isakov
Patty Griffin is among the most consequential singer-songwriters of her generation, a quintessentially American artist whose wide-ranging canon incisively explores the intimate moments and universal emotions that bind us together.
Gregory Alan Isakov is a singer, songwriter, and performer, beloved by his devoted community of fans and critics alike. Since his debut, Isakov has released five full-length albums including his most recent, 2019’s Evening Machines, which was nominated for Best Folk Album at the 62nd Grammy Awards.
OCTOBER 5 – Knoxville, TN – Tennessee Theatre 6 – Chattanooga, TN – Tivoli Theatre 8 – Charlotte, NC – Knight Theater 9 – Saxapahaw, NC – Haw River Ballroom 11&12 – Alexandria, VA – Birchmere 13 – Charlottesville, VA – Paramount Theatre 15 – Troy, NY – Troy Savings Bank Music Hall 16 – New Haven, CT – Shubert Theatre 17 – Ithaca, NY – State Theatre 19 – Northampton, MA – Academy of Music 21 – Concord, NH – Capitol Center for the Arts 22 – Beverly, MA – The Cabot 23 – Portland, ME – State Theatre
To celebrate Puerto Rican Culture Week, NY PopsUp festival will be having its annual celebration at 52 Amphitheater in The Bronx. The free event will be held on June 6th with live music at 2:30 and 4:30 pm. This is after last year’s Puerto Rican Culture Week celebration was held online.
The music talent will include GRAMMY nominated Bobby Sanabria Multiverse Big Band who will be saluting Puerto Rican composers like Tito Puente, Eddie Palmieri, Rafael Hernández, and more at 2:30 pm. Then at 4:30 pm, they play the complete score from the Grammy-nominated, Jazz Journalists Association Record of the Year, “West Side Story Reimagined”
NY PopsUp is an expansive festival consisting of hundreds of pop-up performances that regularly permeate the daily lives of New Yorkers. It is intended to revitalize the spirit and emotional well-being of New York citizens through the energy of live performance. The programming for NY PopsUp will be led by the interdisciplinary artist Zack Winokur, in partnership with a hand-selected council of artistic advisors who represent the diversity of New York’s dynamic performing arts scenes and artistic communities.
You can attend this event at 52 Amphitheater 681 Kelly St. Bronx, NY. COVID-19 Protocols will be followed so bring a mask.
Jim Furlong is the owner of Last Vestige at 173 Quail Street in Albany. A native of Albany, Jim opened up a mail-order business that also has a storefront, just over 30 years ago. He has moved locations once (across the street) and has had to expand his store further into his backyard.
He stands just over six feet tall wearing a graphic T-shirt, stylishly old jeans, and sneakers to match his thick grey hair that is a bit shaggy at most. He leans back with comfort in his store and folds his arms over his chest as he thinks back to different times when his hair wasn’t so grey, and he was living a bit more of a wilder and freer life; whether it was working odd jobs, going to school, drawing, or moving to NYC with his band. Jim shares his story with NYS Music.
Jim Furlong. Photo: Joseph Regan
The man behind Last Vestige
I grew up in the South End off of 2nd Avenue. It was a good mixed neighborhood, German and Irish, African American, Italian 1950s through 60s early 70s. When I got old enough and I moved out when I was out of high school. I worked factory paper mill, construction, loading trucks. And then I went to SUNY for fine art for a couple of years. Went to New York City with a program through SUNY to study art for a semester in the city. Then I came back and was bouncing around.
Worked at a pizza place called Albany Campus Pizza, which was over in Westgate. Every dorm room had a party. I mean I delivered pizzas there with the Albany campus. I mean, I’d get tipped with bongs and joints. And you got to the room and everybody back then all these Long Island kids that they had these massive stereo systems that they moved up with speakers and you just get to the room, and you’d be hearing Aerosmith blaring from the room. You bang on the door and the door would open up and there’s smoke there’s, there’s beer baby. Yes Sir, no problem. OK, I gotta go back to this pizza place now get another eight more pies that come back up for the next batch.
Then I went to junior College of Albany, which is Russell Sage. Considered now over on New Scotland Avenue and Academy that was Russell, now I think it’s four years but I went there, and I got a two-year degree in commercial art. And then I was working at record stores doing my own artwork.
In 1980. We formed a punk rock band here in Albany when I was in my mid-20s and I was in a group called the A. D’S.”
Jim Furlong in his store- Shot By: Joseph Regan
A Unique History
Anyways we played in Albany for, well throughout most of the 80s moved to New York City with the band. We tried our luck down there for a while, didn’t work out, of course, but it was a good time.
This fella in Manhattan, who had tons of vinyl from his loft apartment over to this shop on West 23rd that we opened up, so I worked for him for a couple of years.
In 1984, I moved back from the city, and I decided to start a Mail Order business based on what I had learned working in New York. And then around 1987 or 1988, like three years into it, I was doing well enough that I just couldn’t do a day job anymore. I was just selling records all through the Mail, all over the world, US, overseas. I built up a good clientele and while a lot of guys were getting rid of their records and because of the CD thing over here plus a lot of the record stores were going out of business or and a lot of guys were buying records. People would walk in with amazing collections and the guys were putting them out at these various stores I travel around the state. You could get albums that were two and three bucks, and I could sell for twelve or fifteen online. So that was a fun gig.
In 1986, when (Governor Mario) Cuomo senior made the drinking age 19 and then a year later, they went to 21 that essentially killed college drinking bars in Albany area and New York State for that matter. In 1987 a friend of mine purchased the building that’s no longer across the street, Frank’s Living Room. It was a famous SUNY college bar. It was a notoriously crazy bar. I went in a couple of times because I was a townie, but I mostly went to other places, but I went in there. Place was so small, and people were sitting, and people are shooting darts. I mean, it was insanity.
Frank closed up and I was rehabbing that for her doing some carpentry work on the side with the Mail Order and then she said you want to open a store. I said well I don’t know, you know, I’m doing good with the Mail Order, I don’t want to drop a whole bunch of money on rent because all I got is records. She said, well, you can rent my store out. I’ll do it like a really cheap rental for one year and we’ll see how it goes and all I had to do is remodel it so it was pretty much a wide-open space because they took the bar out before I even got there.
Last Vestige Upstairs Mail Order Room – Photo Shot By Joseph Regan
I opened on Halloween of 1989. And then the store started building up and getting more popular, and I ran out of space.
This was a laundry mat for college kids, but the guy who owned it was a freak and he was a drug addict, and he was kind of a weirdo. But in 1992 it came up on the Albany County auction block because taxes the guy hadn’t paid $60,000 he owed on the building, so they took it from him. I went to the auction. First time I went they wanted to open the bid at $60,000, so nobody bid on it. Then I went back three months later they put it back on the next auction for only $40,000 to start and I was told by somebody that there was a family that were thinking about grabbing it for a restaurant.
The guy said “OK coming up to 173 Quail Street, opening bids is $40,000 and I looked over at them and they just sat there. So, I raised my hand and said “I’ll take 40” and they never countered it, so I was the only guy who bid on it.
By New Years’ of 1993, I opened. In this part here (the main room upon entry), this floor and the one above is added on about six years later, because I needed more space.
My overseas business was spectacular, but the price of postage now is kind of tough. One Greek guy coming twice a year and he would, he would like me. “Hey, Jim! I love your records!” He’s pulling out, you know all the heavy metal Black Sabbath albums. “Looking good! Good!” He’d tell me. But those days are gone now because it’s harder to get that stuff.
Selling Your Records
Their really good stuff goes quick and like I said, I used to have 20 Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Moon in my backup, you know if I sold one boom. Now there’s none and if one comes in, it’s like ‘”Thank you God!” You know same with Led Zeppelin, Beatles, Stones, all the classic rock guys like that all your punk rock or your stuff from the 80s. Any of those albums that come in, I’m lucky if I have one or two in a backup at any given time.
I love when someone walks in with a great record collection to sell and I love getting a phone call from people who say, “You know, I’ve got this big collection, a couple 1,000 albums. Can you come to my house to look at it?” Sometimes you go there and it’s amazing stuff, and sometimes it’s almost all garbage.
One of the T-Shirt Designs Jim Made: Photo By Joseph Regan
Being The Boss
It’s been a rollercoaster ride. You know sometimes there’s a year or years where the business was lean, you gotta just juggle and balance and do what you can and can’t get by. Then there are other years where it’s killer and you’re just thank God you can keep the door unlocked because you know there are certain things that no matter what you do, or how bad, or goo, dit is the prices go up. Nothing cheapens.
You know, I’ve been pretty fortunate. I pay all my bills and everything. I don’t owe anybody any money which is a good thing, but you’ve gotta know what not to buy and what to buy because people, as far as everybody is concerned, they got the best stuff in the world.
Jim Furlong in his store: Photo by Joseph Regan
I’m either the worst boss or the greatest boss in the world. The two guys at the counter have been with me for at least 25 years. The other guy has been with me close to 20. Kim works up in the mail order department, she’s been with me since I was across the street the year after I opened.
I didn’t know in 1989 that I’d still be here in 2021. I wasn’t sure. But here I am, and I own it so.
Stephane Wrembel is a composer, teacher, and one of the preeminent guitarists specializing in the Django Reinhardt style of guitar. Wrembel will perform at Caffè Lena on Saturday, June 12 at 5:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.
Wrembel is most known for his Grammy award-winning composition “Bistro Fada” from the academy award-winning Woody Allen movie Midnight In Paris. Since 2001, Wrembelhas released over a dozen critically acclaimed albums including a series of recordings in tribute to Django Reinhardt under the nom de plume, The Django Experiment.
STEPHANE WREMBEL
Founded in 1960, Caffè Lena is a premiere concert venue located in Saratoga Springs, NY known around the world for fostering the preservation and growth of independent music rooted in tradition.
Since 2003, Wrembel has produced the Django a Gogo Festival, bringing together some of the finest musicians in the world to celebrate the Sinti guitar style to perform in prestigious venues such as Carnegie Hall and The Town Hall. This year’s Django a Gogo is scheduled for early June.
The performance at Caffè Lena, 47 Phila St., Saratoga Springs, NY, 12866, are open to patrons of all ages. Seats will be sold in “pods” for 2-4 people. Tickets are $25 per person plus fees. Tickets for the show can be bought here.
Mountain Jam is the largest annual and longest running music and camping festival in the Northeast. Today they have announced that the “Best of Mountain Jam,” an exclusive virtual music experience, will air this Memorial Day weekend.
Mountain Jam 2013
On Saturday, May 29th and Sunday, May 30th fans of the festival can tune in to “The Best of Mountain Jam” for a full day of past performances and backstage artist interviews exclusively on Woodstock 100.1 WDST and on Woodstock’s live stream via the iHeart radio app, and on RadioWoodstock.com.
On Saturday, May 30th Radio Woodstock will stream the entire Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats set from MJ2016. The live-streamed performance will begin at 8 PM EDT on both Woodstock and Mountain Jam’s Facebook pages and YouTube channels.
A live performance from Nathaniel Rateflii & The Night Sweats, with special guest The Marcus King Band will take place at Belleayre Mountain in Highmount New York on July 31, 2021. Tickets are available here.
Listeners can expect to hear performances from past Mountain Jam artists including Robert Plant, The Allman Brothers, The Black Keys, Willie Nelson & Family, Gov’t Mule, Alabama Shakes, Bob Weir and Ratdog, Phil Lesh & Friends, Levon Helm, Jack Johnson, The Lumineers, Michael Franti & Spearhead, Tedeschi Trucks Band, The Avett Brothers, Joe Russo’s Almost Dead, Grace Potter, My Morning Jacket, Beck, Jason Isbell, Steve Winwood, Les Claypool, The Revivalists, Umphrey’s McGee, Wilco, Peter Frampton, Gary Clark Jr., Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real, Chris Robinson Brotherhood, Dave Mason, Mavis Staples, Lake Street Dive, Ben Folds, Robert Randolph, Nathaniel Rateliff, Dispatch, The Head & The Heart, Houndmouth, Martin Sexton, G.Love, Shakey Graves, Amy Helm, Ray Lamontagne, Sharon Jones & The Dapkins, St Paul & The Broken Bones, Lucius, Trombone Shorty, Courtney Barnett, Rag’n’Bone Man, Sister Sparrow, Toots & The Maytals, Twiddle, Marco Benevento, Valerie June, Andy Frasco, Strumbellas, Nicki Bluhm, Dawes, Jade Bird and more.
“Left Side” is the debut single from Endearments (a.k.a Kevin Marksson). The Brooklyn-based songwriter and multi-instrumentalist began writing and composing by and for himself for the first time in fifteen years following the end of synth-pop duo Saint Marilyn in 2019. “Left Side” is definitely a way to start his single career strong.
Album Cover
The song itself is about how O.C.D. (Obsessive–Compulsive Disorder) affects Marksson and his relationships. The resulting track unspools unanswerable questions over mighty pulses from drummer Jonathan Schmidt and Marksson’s own multi-tracked vocals, which flicker, omnipresent and cool, around the edges of the song’s atmosphere. In this song the low-fi beat with his voice is one where you can just close your eyes and vibe out to.
This single has Marksson leaning into his obsessive tendencies pouring over every sound and lyric, tweaking every riff and arpeggiation to convey the inner workings of his mind: disorder and parallelism.
Photo Cred: Rita Iovine
His chosen name, Endearments, is because “I wanted the name to convey affection, even though I knew the music would almost certainly be sad.” Taking inspiration from auteurs like Peter Gabriel and Justin Vernon, Endearments’ lush sonics and careful songcraft reflect Marksson’s avowed status as a hardware-focused composer. Marksson is a longstanding accomplice in the Brooklyn indie rock scene.
The new album by The Tragically Hip, Saskadelphia, is a compilation of songs recorded by the band back in 1990. Recorded in New Orleans in an old mansion that looms over the neighborhood called Vieux Carré, better known as the French Quarter.
Saskadelphia album cover
The Canadian band that has gathered a large following over the years no longer put out new music after the sad death of their front man, Gord Downie. But the band is happy that they were able to put out a ‘new’ album for all of their fans.
With the only exception of ‘Montreal-Live’- you are able to feel the soul of New Orleans come out whether it be strong vocals or the instrumentals that seem to have a southern twist to them. This entire album comes out in perfect time for the summer one that can be played in the car with windows down and playing the drums on the steering wheel while listening to it.
Songs that stand out are “Ouch” and “Just As Well” that have vocals that could fit any country instrumental but are instead met with a harder rock sound that make them unique and frankly better than a lot of other bands. Then it transitions to “Reformed Baptist Blues” that keeps the country undertone but has a heavy classic rock sound.
Just two songs in, “Not Necessary,” is the best song on the album. This song brings back the angst of the early ’90s and late ’80s to now. This song could not only follow along with the trend of playing it in the car on a summer’s day but also could easily be the end to any classic high school movie.
The Tragically Hip’s album Saskadelphia is not only a blast from the past but has turned into a pleasant surprise that will be being played by all fans and hopefully some non-fans alike.
Key Tracks: Ouch, Not Necessary, Reformed Baptist Blues
First Generation, born in America, and sitting in the back of her Iranian parent’s car, coasting through Northern Virginia as they all sing along to “How can you mend a Broken Heart” by the Bee Gees.
Moments like these are when Susan Darvishi started to feel connected with the music that surrounded her. And with her debut album 14th and 4th, releasign on May 26th, she is able to take her relationship with music and tell the stories of the past five years living in New York City on 14th and 4th, before moving out to California.
Susan Darvishi
Of the album’s eight songs, she is able to cover five years of emotions from living in the constantly loud pumping heart of New York City. Whether it is falling in love in the city (“Polaroid” or “Dance With You”), keeping with girl code and internal struggles with heart break (“Him” and “No Choice”), or the bitter sweet goodbyes you have to make in order to start a new chapter (“New Salvation” and “Drift Away”), Davishi is able to tell her stories beautifully through songs on this album.
Darvishi’s strong voice pairs appreciably well with the beats, giving most of her songs a fun upbeat electronic pop sound to them. That is said with the exception of “No Choice” and “Drift Away” where she is able to pull away from her other songs and use a slower electric sound to really show off her strong vocals and meaningful lyrics.
From her “love [of] Latin music, I listen to in my free time” and then the “Persian music I listen to with my family” she says “sometimes those two blend. They love fast beats.” These influences of music can especially be heard in songs such as “Him” that is a very upbeat song with almost a Persian music sound to it.
This album has a very good mix between upbeat songs that make you want to get up and dance to songs that give you time to reflect on some of your past chapters. Her sound is with similar likes to artists such as Robyn and the sky seems to be the limit for her musical career.
The stories from her songs about her time in NYC still feel as though they are about a time in your life and manage to still be very relatable. Since she left her job in NYC to pursue her career in music right before covid hit she hasn’t been able to perform live but she is just as excited as her listeners for her to start performing on stage in front of a covid free audience.
