Singing-songwriting couple, Katya Diaz and Chris Hierro, combine artistic forces and sound to form Break Out the Crazy, their soulful band that prides itself on breaking genres and blurring the lines between them. The worldly couple is released their newest single, “Fool For You,” on January 29, a song that explores the theme of risking everything for love.
Katya Diaz has a lengthy background of touring internationally, both a singing and dancing background, for artists such as Passion Pit, Beyoncé, Alejandro Sanz, and Thalia. She worked as a vocalist for Snarky Puppy‘s Family Dinner DVD in which she sang background for Lalah Hathaway’s Grammy-winning live performance of “Something.” For the past five years, she’s shifted her sights onto songwriting, even writing the national commercial for JC Penny’s 2015 spring campaign and getting to work alongside acclaimed writers Itaal Shur and Stewart Matthewman.
Writing and producing Latin music from a young age, Chris Hierro has worked with many popular artists such as Leslie Grace, Eli Jas, and Prince Royce. He toured as a keyboardist and backup vocalist for some of Latin music’s most popular artists, including Jerry Rivera, Obie Bermudez, and Alejandro Sanz. One of his most noteworthy songwriting and producing achievements is reaching the #1 position of the Billboard Tropical Airplay Charts with the hit, “We Never Looking Back” featuring Toby Love.
Together, the recently married duo has composed singles in multiple genres and themes, ranging from soulful love songs to tropical pop songs made to dance to. Their newest single, “Fool For You” is accompanied by a powerful and hypnotic music video showcasing the couple’s passion for both their music and each other.
While the COVID-19 quarantine has pretty much killed the live music business, it has only served to radically stimulate every idle musician’s appetite to record. One of the more interesting ventures to come out of this deluge, in concept and sound, is a Hudson Valley-birthed one, The Seed Project.
The Seed Project was initiated by Kingston drummer/songwriter, Sammi Niss, as a way to stay musically and socially engaged through the COVID-19 lockdown. Last winter, Niss landed a coveted gig as the new touring drummer for indie darlings Real Estate. But by early spring, their entire year of booked shows had been cancelled and, like musicians everywhere, she had lost her livelihood, purpose and primary mode of human contact.
With too much time on her hands and a multitude of beats and melodies dancing in her head, Niss recruited five bandmates and friends—all veteran songwriters, multi-instrumentalists and home-recordists— for a new D.I.Y. project. Her musical partners came from area bands including Frankie and His Fingers, Battle Ave., The Sweet Clementines and Hiding Behind Sound, most of which are associated with SubFamily Records. This label is a tiny but critically-mighty Hudson Valley collective founded by Niss, Frank McGinnis and John Burdick, one that has issued 10 long players since 2017.
The idea was to generate new songs and audio works collaboratively and serially, in the vein of the drawing game Exquisite Corpse. One person would begin a “seed,” which could be anything from a drum beat or guitar riff to a complete song demo. The seed would then advance, by random selection, through all six home studios, before returning to the seeder for mixing and finalization.
Sometimes the projects progressed predictably. A song lacking bass would get a bass part and a conventional rock arrangement would fall into place. At other times, incongruous elements derail the expected path, with choirs, full-on electro-meltdowns and audio manipulations performed by one member upon the contribution of the another.
“The whole thing turned out super interesting, more so than I might’ve expected,” said Niss. “There are some real classic good songs here, of no one genre really. There’s also some experimental art-splats and some really weird shit!”
To me, it sounds a little like each of us, but not a lot like any of us,” added John Burdick, guitarist with The Sweet Clementines and Old 97’s frontman and fellow New Paltzer Rhett Miller. “The process took on a life of its own, a new songwriting voice in which we were all kind of equally powerless.”
“The year 2021 will probably go down as a kind of baby boom for new music and records,” continued Burdick. “Our SubFamily Records family is kicking it off with this huge pile of curiosities, soon to be followed by great new records from Frankie and His Fingers and Battle Ave.”
The Seed Project is a sprawling audio adventure serving up 24 tracks, spanning a host of moods and styles. It was written, performed, and recorded by Sammi Niss, Frank McGinnis, Adam Stoutenburgh, Jesse Alexander, Pete Naddeo and John Burdick.
The album kicks off with the Elliot Smith-like “Needle in the Hen’s Teeth.” This is a Naddeo-seeded track that typifies the pure pop sensibility that runs through most of the tunes here, even when they dress them in a little Apples, in Stereo-like low-fi weirdness.
Things get more experimental on the following number, by Burdick, “That’s A Very Fine Example of a Metaphor, Child.” It begins with ghostly vocal humming, leading into a whirl of reverb-free distorted guitars, analog synth swirls and a burbling bass sequence. This is all before getting to the actual meat of the song, its delightfully detuned vocals that enter about two-thirds of the way in.
Most of the grooves provided here by drummer Niss, on tunes like “Backhand Slice” and “Double Swish,” are reminiscent of her new band, Real Estate. They are light, sleepy and strangely peaceful for something born during these crazy quarantine times. All the songs here are complemented with smart arrangements and instrumentation, especially the wonderful guitar textures provided by Naddeo, Alexander, Stoutenburgh, Burdick and Niss herself.
One of my faves is “Michigan.” It unfolds with some backwards acoustic guitar, which jump-cuts to some furious strumming and offbeat drum accents for the main body of the song. The track’s highlight is Naddeo’s Robert Fripp toned lead guitar, which dances a bit like Fripp’s own on Brian Eno’s “St. Elmo’s Fire.”
There are some straight-ahead radio-friendly tunes like “CompliKate” and “Rough Quotation,” which owe a bit to the Velvets and Luna. Also radio-friendly, in a decidedly alternative rock way, is “Seedling 1,” a reverb-laden, glacial-paced entry that sounds like a Mazzy Star outtake. On the McGinnis- inspired “State Seltzer,” we get a disco beat and electro percussion, all dressed with some sweet noise guitar, as Niss recites Dr. Seuss’s Green Eggs & Ham. And, far more bizarre, the main riff/refrain is strangely reminiscent of the theme song to The Cosby Show!
The Alexander-led “Richard, Lost in a Long Song” is a bit of waltz time weirdness, a spoken word fable of some otherworldly sort, with dulcimer, toy piano and “synthy stuff.” It’s something that kind of brings to mind the playful weirdness of “Mount Vernon and Fairway,” the Brian Wilson fable from the Beach Boy’s classic Holland album. Another standout is “Mary Heart in a Martha World,” one of the more fully realized and arranged tracks here, a stately ballad with some lovely harmony guitars and vocals from Burdick.
The collective even dips into pure instrumental textures with the somnambulant, Stoutenburgh-seeded “Nadir,” the driving “Pop Discreet” and the electronica noise and rhythmic breakdowns of the album closer, “Oby Award.”
The Seed Project is a strangely unified creation for one crafted by six different minds and musical sensibilities, working in six different locations. What’s most delightful is its looseness, the pure sense of play in it, the alchemy when musicians are closely listening to and complementing each other. It’s an album chockful of memorable melodies, killer hooks and textured detours, where the experimentations always complements and never overtakes the song.
Old Fame, an indie rock band from Rochester today release their long-awaited single “Act II.” With strong influences of psychedelic post-rock and emo, the band follows up previous singles “Short Cub” and “Cumberland” with “Act II,” all part of their EP Nowhere to Be, to be released in the next few months.
Old Fame is Ben Armes (vocals, guitar), Doug Kelley (drums), Evan Clark (guitar), Jay Asarese (bass) and they’ve been a part of projects including Like Vintage, Alberto Alaska, Emulet, and Heavy Lies the Crown.
Due to the chaos of 2020 and the COVID-19 restrictions that shut down the band’s studio, the second half of Old Fame’s EP that was originally meant to be released in 2020, was pushed back to February 2021. With fans eager for the long-awaited conclusion to Nowhere to Be, Old Fame today share their latest, “Act II.”
Given the challenge to describe the track in one word, nostalgic comes to mind first. “Act II” brings the listener back to the days of owning a myspace profile or listening to 92.7. It’s a song full of emotion and passion one can only suppose was strengthened by the hardships of 2020.
Writing new songs gave us time to refocus on the world around us and incorporate our feelings in response to current events into the songs. We spent many weeks file sharing home-recorded demos back and forth until covid restrictions were temporarily lifted allowing us to safely rehearse and head into Wicked Squid Studios to record with Ian Fait & Josh Pettinger.
Doug Kelley
The build-up and flow of the song are impressive given the band’s smaller presence in the alt-rock community. The EP in its entirety showcases the band’s journey, as well as shows what they’re capable of, paving the way for future works to crush the scene.
Below, you can find the link to their newest song as well as explore their music in its entirety. If you’re a fan of alternative rock, they might be right up your alley.
Mikaela Davis has put the Flower City in Upstate New York on the map as a region where the harp and its sound has spread from Rochester to across the world. The last time we spoke to Mikaela was back in 2012 and was anticipating on what the future would bring for her. She took some time with us in the beginning of 2021 to talk about her past, present, and future music experiences in New York State.
The harp has been known since antiquity in Asia, Africa and Europe, dating back at least as early as 3000 BCE. The oldest description of a harp can be seen in the wall paintings of ancient Egyptian tombs in the Nile Valley. In the Americas, harps are widely but sparsely distributed, except in certain regions where harp traditions are very strong.
Matthew Romano: Who was involved in your musical education for the harp in New York State?
Mikaela Davis: Cynthia Andrews, who just retired this past year, she started me on the harp at Penfield School District in Rochester. I think Penfield is the only public school in Rochester that offers harp, then private lessons with Grace Wong who was the principal harpist in The Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. I joined the Rochester Philharmonic Youth orchestra, that toured Canada and Europe. Then I went on to college at SUNY Potsdam to learn under Jessica Suchy-Pilalis at Crane School of Music.
MR: Are there any live music experiences in New York State during that time that stood out, that influenced you?
MD: Well, I remember in High School I used to ask for a Jazz pass for Christmas every year. Me and my high school buddies would go to every show at Rochester Jazz Festival we could, from 2007 to 2011. I’ve gone to so many concerts at this point they all blur together. At Mountain Jam 2016 where I sat in with Marco Benevento, Wilco played, after seeing them for the first time it confirmed that this is my favorite live band, it was the best live show I have ever seen.”
MR: Tell me about your history of the collaborations with Marco Benevento over the years?
MD: A friend of mine, who has a recording studio in the Catskills, where Marco lives, had passed my info along. Then he had me go open for him solo on the West Coast for some dates. That was where we met. My first time playing at Levon Helm Studios was with Marco. We’re really good friends, my band and his band and his family. We always play a couple shows together every year, I love hearing from Marco to play a show and it’s great, always a fun time. We joke about going to his studio to record a country record. It was his choice to cover David Bowie’s “Heroes” and to hang out at Mountain Jam to have me sing on it.
MR: How did your first collaborations with Bob Weir and Wolf Brothers come to fruition in Syracuse at The Landmark Theater and in Buffalo at Shea’s Performing Arts Center?
MD: Someone sent a live video of my band covering “Down by the River” by Neil Young in London to them and said, hey this harpist is cool she should guest with Bob. The Wolf Bros usually have friends sit in with them from around the world and they didn’t have anyone scheduled for Syracuse. That’s how it happened, being at the right place in the right time I suppose.
Mikaela Davis and Southern Star covering “Down By the River” in London
MR: How did you land on the song selections for the set?
MD: Bobby wanted me to play on “Birdsong,” I suggested “China Cat” into “I Know Your Rider,” and “Wharf Rat,” maybe. Yea, then last minute I suggested “Down by the River,” three days prior they said Bobby hasn’t done that before, let’s do it. So that was really magical, really fun. That was probably my favorite sit in, even though I was so nervous to play with these legends, Don Was, he’s incredible and Jay Lane
Jay Lane, Bob Weir, Mikaela Davis, Don Was
MR: Was the second encore at Landmark where you all did “Ripple” planned?
MD: No, he threw that one at me, “lets go do ‘Ripple,’ come on”, he does that every time I sit in with him. “Hey I want you to play on this too,” so I have to be ready. Cian McCarthy, my band mate, who’s a massive Dead fan, helped me learn all these songs inside out and assisted me in the back with the chord changes
MR: Hearing your harp on the song “Peggy O,” a cover of an old Scottish ballad from 1644 that the Dead made popular inside the Shea Theater in Buffalo,. really made that venue come alive with art and history
MD: That’s great, that was magical too, I forgot about singing “Peggy O” with them.
Mikaela Davis with Bob Weir & Wolf Bros at Shea Theater in Buffalo, NY
MR: Did these collaborations help influence you and Southern Star to cover the Live/Dead 69′ Album in October of 2019?
MD: Oh yea definitely, that’s why we chose to do it , learning Live Dead was really fun and difficult, we rehearsed like twice a week for a month because we really wanted to play through like the record with no stops. It gives me so much respect for that band, they were really innovative and incredible in what they were doing. I think “Feedback” was possibly my favorite.
MR: You and Southern Star stayed at Stone House Cottage on Oneida Lake in Summer of 2020 for a recording of “Cumberland Blues” How was that experience?
MD: There was five of us in this tiny house, we rented it and hung out on the lake, played music and did psychedelics. We just played that live with two microphones and recorded it for an Australian Radio Show for the 50th anniversary of Workingman’s Dead.
“I don’t know now, I just don’t know if coming back again” Oneida Lake 2020
MR: In Summer of 2019 you were in attendance for The Particle Kid, Lennon-Claypool Delirium, Flaming Lips Concert at Saranac Brewery in Utica, NY between Southern Star shows that also had Krist Novoselic from Nirvana in the crowd, any cool takeaways from that night on the town?
MD: That was honestly one of the most magical shows I’ve been to in a while, My friend Jake Engalls is in the Flaming Lips so we got to hang out, I’ve often collaborated with him for his solo band “Spaceface” A quick Hey thank you for being you was said to Krist Novoselic. Sean Lennon and I exchanged information and I was going to play with him for a residency he was planning at The Stone in New York City that unfortunately got postponed due to the pandemic
MR: You started 2021 with a show at Caffe Lena in Saratoga Springs where Bob Dylan played in 1960, isn’t your harp named Luna?
MD: Yea , I named her Luna when I was a teenager, I guess I named her that because she comes alive at night
MR: You debuted new material that night that came from a Seven day songwriting session with the band Rubblebucket, I think “The Pearl” was a standout as a musical analogy on what’s going on with the world inspired from a story by your Aunt Julia who referenced the dirty muck that we are all kind of stuck inside America right now
MD: Oh thank you, Yea that’s what I thought when my Aunt was talking to me about it , and she’s been wearing her pearl earrings a lot so, I truly believe ya know something great can come out of terribleness, I suppose if an oyster can make a pearl, so can we.
Caffe Luna January 9 2021
MR: At the end of the Caffe Lena Show you said “ I feel alive again, well see ya again soon, cheers” What’s on the horizon for 2021?
MD: I am hoping to make a record with my band, actually not hoping we’re going to do it. we’re going to make a record this year, we have enough songs and basically just trying to figure it out to do it remotely or safely gather and find a spot to record
MR: Marco Benevento or Sean Lennon’s studios in the Hudson Valley could be a great spot or maybe even with the virtual options you can gather a group of friends remotely for a cover of Talking Heads “This Must Be the Place”
MD: Yea great tune, well have to keep that in mind, yea well anything is possible that’s for sure, it’s a new age
Atlanta-based artists Outkast and TLC received shout-outs during the ‘Blue Georgia’ sketch, and The Office theme song finally gained lyrics courtesy of John Krasinski.
For his first song, Machine Gun Kelly sang “My Ex’s Best Friend” The punk-lite track recalled Sum 41’s performance on October 6, 2001, the second episode after 9/11. Kelly channeled Gen Z’s muffled rage, throwing his guitar into the crowd at the end of the song.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rd7APH5XeFc
MGK performed “Lonely” for his second song, an emotional song about his father who passed away in July 2020. Both songs are from Machine Gun Kelly’s fifth album Tickets to My Downfall, released in September 2020.
Uproxx notes how fitting the second song is, “not just because of what he shared about watching the show being a family affair, but because these emotions of loss, grief, and loneliness are pervasive right now during the coronavirus pandemic that has been plaguing the world since last year.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_djsCw1iS8
To close the night, Machine Gun Kelly attempted to pick The Dirt co-star Pete Davidson, allowing hilarity to ensue.
Alternative duo Yo Kinky is in its nascent stage, with members Tom Unish and Laura Wight meeting in early 2020. The duo immediately felt a musical bond, and started crafting songs together.
Laura Wight and Tom Unish of Yo Kinky
Queens-based band Yo Kinky follows their first single “Somebody That I Used to Know,” with the second single, “Resistance.” The song is delicately created, yet exudes a confidence created by Tom Unish’s spaced-out guitar licks. The sonic landscape undulates with hypnotic layers of sound; the song yearns for the intimacy long lost by social isolation.
Laura Wight sings “Love is all we breathe,” and “Swing me off my feet,” transporting the listener to a beautiful place where love is all-surrounding. “Resistance” is an ode to the sanity one has during this time by finding delight in the small things in life.
“Resistance” follows their first single “Somebody That I Used to Know,” which, albeit its darker vocal passages, is playful, seductive and clever. It has received heavy play on WFMU’s radio station, as well as named as one of the best tracks of 2020 by Three Chord Monte. The band is beaming in their own path as they create and release more infectious music.
Over 2020, Yo Kinky self-produced and are releasing their first, self-titled EP. This collection of songs addresses trust, communication, love, loneliness, freedom, identity, and expectation. The group combines drum machines and bright, buzzing synths and guitars that shimmer with reverb and delay.
Yo Kinky’s music is reminiscent of Blondie, X, Mitksi, and Soccer Mommy, as they blend the pop and rock elements of indie into an incandescent artwork. When shows are possible again, Yo Kinky looks forward to playing locally, nationwide, and beyond.
Yo Kinky’s debut EP is due out on February 26, 2021.
The Kind is Garneau’s fifth studio album and resonates with the themes present in his debut album Music For Tourists. This album was written and recorded during a rough time in his life when his father passed away. Garneau goes through the motions and expresses grief and transparency. It serves as a release of emotions and explores his relationship with his father, setting boundaries, growing into and accepting self, and resilience. With every song, you feel the authenticity in his lyrics and empathize with his journey. The Gay Times presented the record and acclaimed it as “beautifully haunting.”
Along with Garneau’s candid lyrics was the production coming from versatile musician Patrick Higgins. Their creative collaboration thrived through patience and understanding. The album was carefully crafted and made with the intent of staying true. Higgins respected the time Garneau needed to tap into his most artistic self, leading to every song’s completion before entering the studio. His mellow instrumentals complemented the mood of the words in each track. The beats didn’t overpower the words, it helped bring them to life.
Garneau announced that he’s playing a live-streamed release show in New York’s oldest theater, Hudson Hall Opera House, on Feb. 14. Higgins will join him and play the drums, bass, synth, and programming. They are performing the whole album onstage. The show will be airing at 3 p.m and tickets can be found on Dreamstage.
Each Sunday evening from 7-9pm you’ll find EQXposure on WEQX, featuring two hours of local music from up and coming artists. Tune into WEQX.com this Sunday night to hear new music from Bendt, Rhoseway and many more!
WEQX has long been the preeminent independent station in the Capital Region of New York, broadcasting from Southern VT to an ever-expanding listening audience. NYS Music brings you a preview of artists to discover each week, just a taste of the talent waiting to be discovered by fans like you.
This week’s featured artist on EQXPosure is Bendt. With gritty, dynamic, and atmospheric rip-roaring creative rock music, Bendt celebrate the release of their new single “January,” released on Friday January 29. On Sunday evening, we’ll also hear three from last year’s release, Brightness in The Barrnes.
Benddt – made up of Matt Plummer (singer and guitar player), John Longo (bass), Carl Blackwood (lead guitar) and Cody Bingham (drummer) came together 2015 with a mutual love of hard rock, metal, and sounds in-between. Bendt has a sound that is evocative, personal, as well as searingly loud and at times perfectly aggressive. Riffs that rumble are balanced by unique chord stacking and brilliant melodies and solid perfroamces of each song.
Also featured on EQXposure is new artist Rhoseway with a pre-release cut “Deep Valley,” which hits all streaming sites on February 5, 2021. Rhoseway is very creative and the music takes many interesting musical turns. This is a very exciting artist to keep an ear out for.
It was January 29, 1990 in Central New York and, yes, it was snowing. Fans who attended the Phish show that night at The (original) Haunt in Ithaca did so battling a blizzard and poor roads, which caused the band to arrive late, quickly set up and, after a live soundcheck, got the show on the road.
Phish has played sporadically in the Fingerlakes Region of New York throughout their career, most notably and recently, Superball IX, Magnaball and shows in Canandaigua at CMAC. Their early years in the college town of Ithaca proved to be formative, bringing the band to town multiple times between 1988-1992 before graduating to larger venues like Finger Lakes Performing Arts Center (now CMAC).
The Haunt in Ithaca c.1990 (photo is not from the 1/29/90 Phish show)
From Phish’s bar years, this is an early era show that captures the band when they played to their early fans, many seeing the Burlington group for the first time. After a three-night run in May 1988, Phish would return to The Haunt in Ithaca for a show on January 29, 1990, with a loud and rowdy 18-and-over audience.
The partial tape of the show starts in the middle of “The Lizards” and continues through a “Harpua” and “Fire” encore, a setlist that is culled together thanks to David Schanker’s and Todd Ahrens’ audience recording. Thus, there is no known first set for this show.
You can hear the audience from this show quite distinctly, elated when each song ends, and fans screaming out requests despite the band being barely six years old. You may even catch drunks screaming into the mic, which was set up on the bar. One patron this night can be heard saying “Nothing like this has ever been done at The Haunt, unbelieveable man!” Quite the frozen-in-time seal of approval.
Recording aside, this is a smoking show musically, particularly for the “Weekapaug Groove” and a “Harpua” that has a tough to discern narration but full of “Purple Haze” teases. That said, you’ll get a fair idea of what it was like to see Phish at the original Haunt in Ithaca.
Dan Smalls, Ithaca-area promoter and head of DSP Shows was at the January 29, 1990 show and shared his recollections with NYS Music:
It was about as classic a Phish set as you get from the very early days. I always loved how they chose popular and also odd songs to cover, teases in jams and the like. That was a part of who they are today and was a huge bit of fun at the festivals we produced where they would learn a song backstage between sets.
My recollection is also vague but the room was solidly crowded in this era (unlike 1988 when we had a handful for those first few shows) and the band was on the cusp of the next step at this point. I remember that the band was playing The Haunt at least once a semester and often 3-4 times a year in these days. It’s where I got to know them and these shows were always fun because Fish’s parents would come down from where they lived outside Syracuse.
Phish would go on to play The Haunt another four times in 1990, then move up to the State Theatre of Ithaca for two shows in 1991. They returned the next year to perform at Cornell University campus in November 1992, the last shows for the band in the city.
Rocker Frank Palangi brings the fourth installment of his music video series with “Bring on the Fear.” Following “Break These Chains,” “Set Me Free” and “Gone Mad,” Palangi brings COVID-19 to light with a tale of caution, shedding light with the message that we are all in this together, to use faith to face your fear, without hate.
The video and song is a statement for the times, saying we are in this together, to not to be afraid and face the fear.
For this video, I reached out to fans from the U.S., Canada, U.K. and Turkey to send in their video clips to be edited into the video. I always like to include them and due to COVID-19, I thought it was perfect since in the song I ask them to sing “Bring on the Fear.”
“Bring On The Fear” is the first self directed, produced, written and all in-house edited production from Palangi Films. Palangi notes that he always loved making films since a young age and figured now would be a great time to put that to work. The video is a one-man show in this regard, and due to COVID-19, he had to get creative. His friends and he would make small shorts with only two or three people, and that past experience was good prep.
Frank Palangi an indie rock recording artist is freshly homegrown in Upstate New York who pours the fuel on the genre that refuses to die.
