Amy Helm will release her third album, What the Flood Leaves Behind, on June 18 through Renew Records/BMG. Helm, the daughter of The Band’s legendary vocalist and drummer Levon Helm and singer-songwriter Libby Titus, has successfully stepped out from behind of her parent’s considerable musical shadows and has successfully staked her own claim in the highly competitive music industry.
Helm’s success comes from honing her craft and paying her dues as a founding member of folk group Ollabelle and additionally as a longtime member of The Midnight Ramble Band. The culmination of Amy’s hard work and experience is apparent on this gem of a record which consists of ten tracks of new and reimagined material.
What the Flood Leaves Behind was recorded at the historic Levon Helm Studios located on Amy’s home turf of Woodstock, NY. She also enlisted a group of incredibly talented players to contribute to WTFLB including Kaufman and Phil Cook (keys, harmonica), Michael Libramento (bass, organ, percussion), Tony Mason (drums), Daniel Littleton (guitar), Stuart Bogie (saxophone), Jordan McLean (trumpet), and her son Lee Collins (congas). Helm describes the experience of creating the album at the studio that her father built as a cathartic homecoming.
Going back to the place where I learned so much about how to express music, how to hold myself in music, how to listen to music,” she begins, “it was humbling in a funny way. I could see clearly where I came from and where I am now in my life. I was singing from a different place now and for a different reason.
Amy Helm
Produced by Josh Kaufman, whose credits include working with an eclectic roster of musicians that includes Bobb Weir, Taylor Swift and the Hold Steady, WTFLB reflects a creative working partnership that fits like a glove between Helm and Kaufman. The evidence of this successful collaboration is apparent in adept and deft way that Kaufman focused on Helm’s vocal ability, showcasing it as a major focal point on the record, he explains.
I wanted her to feel like she had that freedom to be herself on the recordings and she just filled up the whole room. Her singing was coming from this deeply rooted place of family and music and wanting to convey a beauty.
Josh Kaufman, producer of What The Flood Leaves Behind
This philosophy is executed brilliantly on “Verse 23,” the first track on WTFLB, which is a soulful ballad from which the album derives its title. The lyrics of the song evoke a rich religious sentiment that when beautifully delivered by Helm’s ethereal voice. The results are sublimely divine.
WTFLB is steeped in fusion of traditional roots, gospel and contemporary music. This is probably most evident on the nineth track of the LP “Terminal B.” The tune starts with Amy playing mandolin, which sets the sonic stage for the piece, which then leads into an organ accompaniment provided expertly by Libramento. The marriage of these instruments transports the listener to a front pew at a rural church service in Anywhere, USA. Lyrically it describes a remembrance of a fleeting Californian love affair that, retrospectively, one could look back on fondly.
“Cotton and the Cane,” WTFLB‘s third number also has a southern sleepy gospel feel to it. Injected with a heavy dose of Hammond Organ, this updated version of a fan favorite is a departure from previous renditions and is a fitting tribute to Helm’s father Levon. It is a definite highlight of the record.
Amy Helm will be touring this summer in support of What the Flood Leaves Behind, kicking off with a pre-release live stream webcast scheduled for June 17. This will then be followed up by a sold out record release event at the Levon Helm Studios on June 19.
Key Tracks: Carry It Alone, Cotton And The Cane, Terminal B
From the post-industrial hellscape of Syracuse, New York comes Trauma Cat, who have delivered to the world their first full length LP entitled Prepare to Apologize which was released in April 2021. This irreverent and ecclectic gem that was co-produced by the band and the elusive St. Julian P. Dingusand, sports 15 tracks (3 tracks including “Joshua,” “Fire in the Jail,” and “Freaks with Wings” are re-issued singles) that span rock genres that include pop, alternative, electronica, and prog rock.
The band has cheekily branded their special brand of musicial gumbo on their website, “Though critics speculate on the band’s true origin and the meaning of their existence, Trauma Cat are widely credited as the founders of “cuck rock,” an indeterminate school of music indebted to incessant apology and shameless cross-genre appropriation. Others have described Trauma Cat’s sound as “uncomfortable art rock,” and their politics as “alt-wrong.”
The Trauma Cat roster is comprised of the musically talented and fashion forward Ralph Kojig (guitar and vocals), Roman Pando (bass and vocals), and Rutger DiBoyere (drums). Together they comprise a wonderfully creative power trio that has been successful in creating a personau that is reminicent of a combination of punk pioneers Devo and Saturday morning cartoon favorites Josie and the Pussycats. The glorious result of this concoction is the band’s demonstrable irreverance and hilarious comedic take on the music biz, and yet despite this silliness, they have created an enjoyable record and that is fun, fresh and creative.
Trauma Cat has released the following “documentary” to introduce listener’s to their own distinct brand of “Cuck Rock” and to “apologize for their new LP.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7DSttG7mx8
The record starts off with title track “Prepare to Apologize,” which is initially a short verbal rant between members Kojig and Pando, that leads into a short but sonically pleasing acapella number. The track seamlessly transitions into the second song on the LP “Indivisible,” reminiscent in musical style to a mash up of Rage Against the Machine and Tool. Heavy on bass and sporting great vocals that are both provided by Kojig, “Indivisible” illustrates why Trauma Cat won the 2021 Syracuse Area Music Award for Best New Artist.
Prepare to Apologize’s third track is “Trauma Cat.” This is a fun and upbeat tune that has all the makings of the band’s offical theme song if they ever decide to create their own must see reality TV series (look out Kardashians). Kojig provides just the right amount of heavy guitar and along with DiBoyere percussion this track will get the listener’s blood pumping.
Another highlight on the record is fourth track “Joshua”, which was originally released as a single by the band back in November of 2020. Trauma Cat deftly released a remarkably professional music video for “Joshua” that was animated and directed by El Salvadorian sensation Lincktendo back in January 2021. Lyrically the song describes a daliance into bisexuality that ends up in a bad breakup which then ultimately ruins a friendship. “Joshua” is a strong tune with loads of pop sensibility which makes it ideal for radio play. It features songwriter Kojig’s hypnotic chorus, “It came over me like a wave”, which is a catchy and memorable hook that will stay with listeners.
“Fire In The Jail” is the eleventh song on Prepare To Apologize. This anti-social anthem promtoes dissent against the world’s demanding vapid conformity. Breaking out of the prision of these imposed expectations. Kojig sings, “I just can’t believe that these people…content to live like sheep following the crowd.” Living on your own terms without worrying about other people’s perceptions an expectations is the core message of this rebellious song, which utilizes a good amount of vibrato on guitar and reverb on Pando’s vocal to evoke a distopian landscape.
Although this trio of self-depricating muscians does not take itself too seriously, the musical craftsmanship and production value of Trauma Cat’s debute LP shows passion and commitment that these Jester’s of “Cuck Rock” have for their craft. Prepare To Apologize is a great album that hopefully will be the first of many that these denzians of musicial mayhem produce for an ever increasingly bleak world that is crying out for more mirth and humor.
Key Tracks: Joshua, Trauma Cat, Lob A Grenade, Fire In The Jail
It has been four years since the members of Melt came together as a band. Co-founders Veronica Stewart-Frommer (Vocals) and Eric Gabriel (Vocals, Keys) both NYC natives, started playing music together in High School. They and some of their friends entered a local battle of the bands competition and won. They took the prize money from that competition and used it to produce the band’s first song“Sour Candy” which was released as a single in 2017.
Melt is a septet, which is comprised of an additional five members: Marlo Shankweiler (Guitar), Josh Greenzeig (Drums), Coulou (Trumpet), Lucas Saur (Bass), and Nick Sare (Saxophone). Melt’s successful debut single propelled the band into the limelight with the strategic utilization of social media and substantial exposure on various internet streaming services. “Sour Candy” holds the distinction of having over 5 million streams on Spotify since it’s initial release. Between this heavy exposure and the band’s high energy live performances, Melt has been successful in establishing themselves securely in the rough and tumble NYC music scene.
Melt has a reached another important milestone with the February release of their Debut EP West Side Highway, which includes six tracks of previously unreleased music. Recorded at the Bunker Studio in Brooklyn, West Side Highway reflects a new level of maturity that Melt has been successful in developing as a band. “Coming into the studio with the goal of creating a longer work, we thought more intently on how each track worked with one another and used the opportunity to weave together the wide set of influences helping to shape a seven-person band,” said Josh Greenzeig (Drums).
“We used the EP format to create a snapshot of what that moment in time was for us, cementing elements of our sound that we love and finding new ones worth exploring.”
West Side Highway starts out with opening track “Don’t Want Me,” a moody number that details a love affair that has gone bad and is still painfully lingering in it’s final death throes. The masterful guitar instrumentation by Shankweiler and the melancholic vocal by Stewart-Frommer both work in concert to create a setting of sad desperation with a longing to be released. It was a great way to start the record and one that was interesting in it’s selection. It set the meditative tone of the EP which is soothing, comforting, and introspective in it’s entirety. This on going theme is again illustrated with third track, the EP’s title track, “West Side Highway,” which can be considered a love letter to pandemic ravaged NYC. This thought evoking number features a wonderfully muted trumpet solo by Coulou that is enhanced with Gabriel’s creative keyboard playing. his type of musical craftmanship results in another gem of a track on the record.
We were able to get some time with Melt co-founders Veronica Stewart-Frommer (Vocals) and Eric Gabriel (Vocals, Keys) in order to discuss the band and it’s debute EP – West Side Highway.
Tim Bopp: How did the band Melt form and what were the circumstances that caused the genesis of the band.
Eric Gabriel: Veronica and I went to High School together and towards the end of high school we had some more time to kind of start playing with people around the city and that was really the first iteration.
Veronica Stewart-Frommer: The first call we made was Marlo who is our guitar player.
TB: How did you come up with the band name Melt?
VS-F: The funny thing about that is that we actually had the song even before we had the name for the band. Suddenly we were sitting with this single and we were like, “Alright and we kind of want to put this out there but we don’t have a name.” So we went down this very long list of random names. The night before we were going to release “Sour Candy” we actually made a Facebook page called Big Deli Chain. We were like, “That is it! That is the name! We are going to be Big Deli Chain (laughing).” At some point between 2AM and 4AM that night I was just like this band can’t be named Big Deli Chain and we changed it to Melt. It was so random.
TB: How has the Pandemic Affected the band and the new EP West Side Highway?
VS-F: The EP really is a product of the Pandemic. In a lot of ways, it feels like an entirely new Melt. This was such a unique time for us. Something that is interesting about us is that during the year we are all either doing our day jobs or even in school. A lot of us are still in college. So we do this kind of funky long distance band thing where we unite for these crazy weekend shows and then go our separate ways. In a lot of ways due to the Pandemic, if we wanted to work, we had to live together for multiple weeks in order to justify moving anywhere. It was kind of the first time since four years ago when the band started that we were able to settle down and really be together for weeks on end and write and hang out. We are such a live band that our songs are usually tested over months and years at live shows and they are based on what the audience reacts to and how we are feeling at the show but there was none of that this time.
EG: We have mostly been thought of as a live band. On most of our singles we typically try to document that energy that we all love about playing together at a live show. This EP we kind of wanted to go into a different direction. I think it is much more chilled out and doesn’t really have as much of that live band sound. The individual tracks we kind of wanted to take a different approach in the crafting of the songs.
TB: What are some of your musical influences?
VS-F: Part of what makes up the Melt sound is that we are seven people and some of us went to school for Jazz music and some of us studied political science and were raised on the Beatles and Bob Dylan. A lot of us have been into the Jam scene. That is actually how I met Marlo, through Phish and the Grateful Dead. I think we are kind of all over the map on that. Obviously as a singer I really adore a lot of artists like Aretha Franklin, Etta James, Otis Redding. That is where I fell in love with that genre and that type of singing. We are really all over the place. Right now a lot of us are into Phoebe Bridgers and the more Indie scene. I think that comes through on this EP.
EG: I grew up with a ton of Bruce Springsteen. More recently I listen to more folk music like Adrianne Lenker and also bands like the National. That kind of music.
TB: So, are you two the predominant the songwriters for Melt?
VS-F: Typically, that is how it has been. In the past, Eric and I usually write the lyrics to the songs that we sing, but we edit with each other and with other members of the band. Usually, it will either be one of the two of us will start a song and then bring it to the band. It evolves into a completely different direction from there. For this EP, since we were all together and couldn’t perform live, we wound up focusing a lot more on the production side of things as a band. Our bass player Lucas is really skilled at recording and in engineering production. He played a huge role in creating the foundation for the songs on the EP. We experimented a lot on this record this time around.
EG: This time around we started with Josh the drummer literally laying down songs, sometime just on his own. Then we would add the bass track and then that leads us into the guitar and usually vocals at the end. We really just build it up.
VS-F: We don’t know which way we like better. Maybe in the future we will go back in and play everything as if we are playing live. I think part of the beauty of Melt is that we are so young, so we don’t feel tied to any of our ways and we like to try out new things and see how it goes.
TB: How long did it take a band like Melt to complete the West Side Highway EP?
VS-F: Start to finish it was like two months. We were really lucky to be able to record the EP at the Bunker Studios in Brooklyn. We had a really wonderful producer and engineer named Aaron Nevezie who mixed some of the tracks as well.
EG: Some songs were written earlier, like Hours I wrote about a year ago.
TB: What does the future have in store for Melt?
Eric: We cannot wait to start playing shows again. We are really looking forward to playing out. The last real show Melt played was at the Sinclair in Cambridge last February. It felt like that at that show we all came together and we were fully on it. Our trumpet player Aaron even stage dived at the end of the “Sour Candy” solo that night.
VS-F: That show was awesome. It wasn’t the biggest room we have played, but just the layout of the place was great. It went straight back so you could see everyone and there was great energy that night. I also think the Knitting Factory show we played in Brooklyn. That was the first time we played “Waves.” Before a show we are always saying to the band don’t go too fast let’s keep the energy contained. Once we get out there it is just like an explosion and we are always playing at 100%. We don’t have many moments during a set where we just drop back and take a moment to breathe. In the bridge in “Waves” there is a moment where everyone drops out and it is just me and Eric. That was really a special moment. I always think about that moment when I picture live music coming back. It was the first time that we had ever played the song and I think the audience was psyched to hear a new song and it was kind of a sentimental little moment. It was really cool.
Key Tracks: Don’t Want Me, West Side Highway, Waves
Milwaukee, WI based lap steel guitarist, Sean Williamson, is back under his alter ego Velocihamster, with the release of his sophomore album Balls to the Wall. Williamson, who also plays guitar in R&B Milwaukee based bands Shonn Hinton & Shotgun and The Bryan Cherry Band, decided to make the best out of the pandemic induced time-out, from touring and live performances, by focusing his time wisely in the studio with his signature Morrell SW Custom 6 Lap Steel guitar.
With contributions from talented musicians like bassist Matt Turner and drummers Eric Kummer, Chris Oelke, Sean Smith, Terry Jeanes Jr., and Matt Rhyner the Balls to the Wall album was born. As Williamson notes himself:
With a raging pandemic putting all musicians in purgatory, my idle lap steel has proven to be the ‘devil’s playground,’ inspiring me to give this project the full attention it needed. The world needs more steel guitar superheroes and I hope this record can expose a new audience to its limitless potential.
Balls to The Wall is not representative of your Great Uncle Vern’s taste of Steel Guitar stylings in his Country and Western collection. Williamson, a devotee to both Heavy Metal and Prog Rock, has followed in the footsteps of fellow pickers like Robert Randolph and Ben Harper and took an instrument that is classically known for its deep country roots and made it rock. There are no fluffy ballads or love songs on this instrumental juggernaut, just straight up in your face high energy music that has been self-categorized by him as “slidecore.”
The glorious result is a nine track LP that is comprised mostly of original material penned and produced by Williamson, and additionally features two classic covers including a heavy metal interpretation of surf rock legend the Dick Dale’s “Misirlou” (made famous by Quentin Tarentino’s 90’s classic Pulp Fiction) and Phish’s jam band classic “First Tube,” which was featured on their ninth release Farmhouse back in May of 2000. Both renditions due justice to the originals and have been masterfully reimagined and given the “slidecore” treatment by Velocihamster.
Williamson’s lap steel is most definitely the star of the show on these tracks, but both tunes are additionally supported by some great musicians including Chris Oelke’s bombastic percussion on “Misirlou” and Paul Kneevers’ organ accompaniment on “First Tube” which elevates the jam track to the next level. It should be noted that even though there was a large roster of different players accompanying Williamson on Balls to the Wall, the record is still an exceptionally cohesive work that never suffers from a deficincy in musical talent or spotty production work.
Photo by Greg Vorobiov
This level of craftmanship is also evident on the album’s fourth track “Fall,” an original by Williamson, which highlights his playing and production skills. The layered and distinct guitar parts elicit a feeling of a musical melee between opposing forces, that clash and eventually crests to a natural climax by the end of the song. Another notable original by Velocihamster is “Bury,” the sixth track on the Balls to the Wall LP. Williamson jumps right into action with a psychotic sitar sounding intro which grace the beginning bars of the tune which will eventually transition into a middle eastern influenced sonic journey, featuring a heavy dose of fantastic percussion showcasing the double kick bass drum.
Although the recent pandemic has had an awful effect on the music industry in general, one silver lining in the whole COVID-19 nightmare is that the break from the grind of touring and performing has provided an opportunity for talented musicians like Sean Williamson to be able to concentrate on their craft and create some incredible music. Like Jeff Goldblum’s character Ian Malcome so aptly states in Steven Spielberg’s classic 1993 film Jurrasic Park, “Life finds a way.” Williamson, with his passion project Velocihamster, has been able to do just that by taking life’s lemons and creating heavy metal musical lemonade.
Velocihamster’s Balls to the Wall is now available on digital formats via Born Free, Then Caged Music& full length vinyl LP shortly thereafter.
