New York based husband and wife duo Astroblue Express are incredibly excited to have just released their newest single “Cotton Candy Dreams.” The track is the third song from their upcoming EP The Optimistic Traveler which will be available this fall.
Astroblue Express has a unique sound that encompasses cinematic music, dream pop, blues, and experimental R&B. Their creativity shines in their production, which is done independently by them from start to finish. One of their songs “Here to Dance” was a recent finalist in the International Songwriting Competition in two separate categories.
“Cotton Candy Dreams” is an eccentric song about the universal desire to achieve a specific dream life and how the media distorts our realities of these aspirations. The track makes listeners both optimistic and perspective at the same time, seeing the dark truths of the media that society is saturated in.
One powerful string of lyrics from the track is, “We plug into our own worlds / And forget to connect / But we walk beside each other / Like a flock of wild birds.” The vocals are astoundingly beautiful and the production gives off a chill, euphoric feeling. The video that accompanies “Cotton Candy Dreams” is a masterpiece, featuring bright, saturated colors and clips of the whirlwind that is New York City. The project feels both comforting and refreshing for listeners of all kinds.
“Cotton Candy Dreams” showcases the remarkable talent that Astroblue Express has. Keep an eye out for their EP being released in the fall, as it will provide similar sensory feelings as the wonderful “Cotton Candy Dreams.”
Togs, a new band formed in Brooklyn, are self-releasing their debut EP More of Your Favorites today. Set to a groove-laced indie rock jam, a cyclist out for a cruise gets mugged and chases his attackers into a twisted disco nightmare. The release is accompanied by the adventurous music video for lead single “Disco Ball Shoes”.
“Disco Ball Shoes” via YouTube
After first coming together in 2018, Togs found a new stride while living through the pandemic by playing socially-distant shows from their stoop in Bedford-Stuyvesant. The stoop was upgraded to an outdoor, backyard venue where full-day shows became regular programming. Back in May, Togs headlined a party for a full-house and played the final version of More of Your Favorites for the first time. The band has natural chemistry and were noticeably “at-home” playing in front of friends, family, and strangers who heard the music from the street.
More of Your Favorites Cover Art, Designed by Graci Mills
Specializing in “angular music suitable for aqua-aerobics, wave simulation, and so much more,” the original 4-piece lineup consists of Graci Mills on guitar and keys, Colin Vallee on guitar and vocals, Abbie Krinsky on drums and vocals, and Justin Birmingham on bass and vocals. New member Tony Catalano joined the group in 2021 to round out the live show on guitar and effects.
You can see Togs this Friday, July 16th, headlining a release party at Gold Sounds in Bushwick with support from Night Coast and Plastic Hag. You can find the EP on their BandCamp or Spotify pages.
Togs Headlining the Doomyard, 5/22/2021 – Photo By: BuscarPhoto
Check out more photos from May’s Doomyard show below and keep your eyes peeled for more shows to come this summer.
Vermont band Twiddle has announced the dates to their huge upcoming 2021 Fall Tour. Twiddle will travel across the country with a series of over 35 shows September through November. After kicking off tour at Anthology in Rochester on 9/2, the band will play a series of outdoor engagements, including Adirondack Independence Music Festival in Lake George.
Twiddle is a folksy jam quartet comprised of Mihali Savoulidis (guitar, vocals), Ryan Dempsey (keyboards, vocals), Zdenek Gubb (bass, vocals), and Brook Jordan (drums, percussion, vocals). The band formed back in 2004 when the members were all attending Castleton State College in Vermont.
Photo by Paul Citone
Along with their shows in Upstate NY, Twiddle will spend the first half of October traveling through the South before making their way to the West Coast.
After a Halloween play at Neumos in Seattle, the band will head east once again, making stops in Denver, Aspen, Chicago, Kansas City, and Minneapolis. The tour concludes in Grand Rapids, MI on 11/14, giving the band a two-week break before its previously announced Frendsgiving run at The Capitol Theatre, featuring support from Keller Williams (Night 1) and Eggy (Night 2).
In the meantime, Twiddle has exciting shows in store for this summer, recently announcing two nights of live music at Double Down music and art festival in Burlington, VT. They will take the stage August 6 and 7. Tickets are available for purchase now.
Fall tour ticket sales start Wednesday, July 14 at 10AM venue local time using the password LOVETOUR2021. General on-sale begins on Friday, July 16 at 10AM venue local time.
With the return of live music performances throughout New York State and much of the country, an embarrassment of riches in the form of live music options is upon us. New York City has abundant Broadway and restaurant scenes, but a live music scene that doesn’t get equal billing.
One reason for this is a lack of a simple guide for live music. There is Broadway.com for all things Broadway, Zagats and Yelp for restaurant info, but nothing of the like for live music. In order to keep track of the sheer magnitude of concerts, events, club shows and intimate performances that may fly under your radar, there is a new way to keep tapped in to what’s going on musically in New York City.
The Tapped In app is one that is especially needed now, as small venues are reopening while larger venues wait for the pieces to fall into place heading into the fall.
The idea for Tapped In originates with founder of NYC Freaks Aaron Stein, inspired by his weekly ‘Shows you shouldn’t miss’ column on Freaks List. In mid-2020, NYC Freaks List member Daniel Saewitz began making an app that used the same information he shared and incorporated the information into maps, building a searchable way to find these shows.
I had been living in NYC for years when I came across Aaron’s weekly concert calendar. I was blown away. Even though I was obsessively seeing concerts across the city, identifying the best concerts was peculiarly more difficult than one might expect. There are concert listing platforms, no doubt. But they are all generally automated scrapers; which leads to two main problems: they list anything and everything and yet, they miss the local gems.
Daniel Saewitz, co-founder of Tapped In
Tapped In app as seen on Android
With Stein’s list of shows shining light on ‘you gotta be here’ shows competing with algorithms and promoted shows, Saewitz aimed to take the overlooked shows that Stein was clued into and get it into the hands of as many people as possible.
Aaron was very open to the idea so we built a quick version and shipped it out to the world in 2019. Over time, we’ve slowly expanded the functionality of the app and have some more plans percolating now that concerts are back in full swing.
Daniel Saewitz, co-founder of Tapped In
But these live music performances are smaller, non-traditional, outdoors shows that are otherwise diamonds in the rough, ones that you’ll not know unless you know. For that, there is a level of curation to Tapped In.
As far as curation, we’re getting back to an almost-full calendar of shows daily in New York City, so my “job,” as it were, is to try and sift through all the options and try and pick out the 10-20 or so that are most noteworthy. Of course, that’s 100% subjective, but hopefully I get it right more often than not. Yes, occasionally I get a note telling me what I’m missing, but not as often as getting a note thankful for the heads up for something that wasn’t on someone’s calendar.
Aaron Stein, co-founder of Tapped In
One aspect of live music that Stein is most excited to see is the return of regular weekly residencies.
Anyone with a long-running weekly gig in this city is doing something right, especially if that gig has survived the past year. If you’re scrolling Tapped In over the coming weeks looking for a sure thing that might not already be on your radar, try Rev Vince Anderson & the Love Choir at Union Pool on Mondays, Slavic Soul Party at Barbes on Tuesdays, or The National Reserve at Skinny Dennis on several Fridays this summer. And if you go, definitely let me know what you think!
Aaron Stein
Tapped In app as seen on Android
The Tapped In app is fully functional and available for both IOS and Android, and with the early positive response, there is the potential to have the app expand to other cities.
The app was designed from Day 1 to support multiple curators. For now, Aaron is the sole curator and he handles the NYC rock/folk/jazz scenes with precision. But if someone came along who was genuinely interested in curating a live music calendar, either for other genres or in other cities, we’d be glad to accommodate them. When I was traveling overseas, a friend pointed me towards a similar curated list in Berlin. I used it every night I was there and it was incredible.
Daniel Saewitz, co-founder of Tapped In
Whether music, Broadway, or any of the arts, there is no competition for a motivated fan with good taste. As Saewitz points out, when it comes to something as disorganized as the NYC live music scene, the experts not only have the technology, but the capability to bring about a positive change for all who seek the best live music New York City has to offer.
With COVID-19 restrictions abating and live music emerging from the shadows, Summerland Tour 2021 is out in full force. It’s a rock ’n roll road show merging alternative acts in a festival atmosphere. The annual tour, conceived in 2012 by Art Alexakis, front man for Everclear, varies the lineup year to year.
Everclear
The Summerland Tour 2021 assemblage consists of Living Colour, Hoobastank & Wheatus and headliners Everclear. Prior to this year’s excursion, Alexakis shared, “After personally fighting Covid—19 for two months and managing the lingering symptoms, I’m so grateful that the numbers are going down, the vaccines are going up, and that we’re getting the chance to tour the U.S. again. I couldn’t be more proud of this year’s lineup of legendary alternative bands.”
Wickham Falls
Opening at the Orange County Fair Speedway stop was Wickham Falls. A local Warwick N.Y. four-piece who shared songs from their debut album To Pluto. With the night’s appetizer served, Alexakis came out, welcomed everyone, and shared praise for the acts on this year’s tour.
Art Alexakis, Everclear
Stepping into Summerland 2021, Wheatus took over. Opening with “Break it Don’t Buy It,” the band flowed through a seven-song set this night. Featured was an AC/DC cover ( “Rock ‘n Roll Damnation”), and they closed with the HBO, Netflix and film -featured tune “Teenage Dirtbag.”
Wheatus
As the day transitioned from afternoon into evening, a storm started looming on the horizon. With no regard for the inevitable, Hoobastank kept things moving, performing tunes from their Hoobastank, The Reason, and Every Nan for Himself albums.
Hoobastank
Three acts in, the musical heat was being turned up. But the dark clouds in the west had other plans. As Corey Glover, Vernon Reid, Will Calhoun, and Doug Wimbish were stepping on stage, it started to rain. Without hesitation, the band tore into “Type.” Nature, not to be outdone, then engulfed the speedway in a deluge. As if meteorologically energized, Living Colour didn’t look back and played through, finishing up with “Cult of Personality.” Having left it all out there, both the band and the storm exited the stage.
Living Colour
The house quickly jumped into action to pump out, dry off and prep for headliner Everclear. With the band and crew plugging in for the start of their set, Alexakis took center stage and called out everyone: the audience, crews and house support teams, for their stoicism during the torrent of rain and shared how great it was to be playing out once again. Starting with the apropos “Summerland,” Everclear took the slightly waterlogged but enthusiastic crowd through a thirteen-song set that included “Heroin Girl” and “Father of Mine.”
Summerland Tour 2021 is scheduled through September. So if you can’t get to a festival this year, no worries, let the festival come to you.
The Pursuit of Color is an up and coming psychedelic indie rock artist from Dave Cooper, a guitarist, songwriter, and producer from Brooklyn.
“I just released my first brand new single this week, “Biodiversity”, a tribute to my mother. “Biodiversity” is about trusting the people you love to help you face your fears.” It was released on June 11th, 2021.
Dave Cooper first got into music when he was a young kid. Growing up, his brother would play KROK and Q104.3 in their room, listening to artists such as The Strokes, and Linkin Park. Once he began playing guitar at 9, music was completely interwoven into his daily life.
I got the chance to interview the “Pursuit of Color” artist, answering questions about his music inspirations along with his asperations.
Cooper’s musical influences include Vampire Weekend, GratefulDead, Tame Impala and Anderson.Paak. When asked on how he would describe his music, Cooper says he wants his music to, “Reflect on a collection of everything I’ve ever loved and wanted to make combined together.” Using a funky, pop “Indie jam,” sound, he wanted to make unique music that, “Tugs on the Heartstrings, but also makes you want to dance and smile.”
He describes “Biodiversity” as a “bright and shiny song about a kid’s love for his mother, which is how the world looks when you’re young.” The song has an incredibly catchy beat, able to intersect the lyrics of the song with the vibe it gives off.
Through his music, Cooper tells stories of love, loss, and most importantly – trying to find the color to fill in between the lines of life.
The Pursuit of Color artist would one day love to collaborate with Anderson.Paak. Their styles of music are similar, with transcending beats propelled by a singing voice that blends perfectly with the beat. Take a listen to his brand new single, “Biodiversity,” below or on Spotify.
Intrepid Travelers are all about creating fun and eclectic musical journeys for audiences to enjoy. In exciting news, the Buffalo based sextet has announced new summer shows, including the fifth annual edition of IT Fest.
(L-R): Jon Fohl, Brian Calisto, Zak Beutel, Ellen Pieroni, Adam Bronstein, Donny Frauenhofer
As in previous years, IT Fest V will be held at The “G” Lodge in Hannibal, NY, near Oswego. Last year’s IT Fest was luckily able to proceed with a very limited audience due to COVID-19 restrictions. This year, the two day festival runs on August 6 and 7 and is sure to be a great time, complete with overnight camping and plenty of food options. Tickets are available for purchase here.
Throughout the pandemic, IT have been live streaming performances on Facebook for the first three Tuesdays of each month in a series called “Funnel Down Stream”. These streams have been a great way for the band to share new music and connect with fans, something they undeniably hold dear.
Treating each live show as a journey with the audience rather than a performance, Intrepid Travelers pride themselves on a form of focused, collective expression that showcases a medium where cerebral musicianship meets heartfelt, soulful songwriting.
Intrepid Travelers Bio
IT’s latest releases were two new singles, “You Gotta Work” and “Up To You”, both of which pair jazzy instrumentation with a jam band feel. They also shared a submission to the NPR Tiny Desk Contest last month.
The rest of the summer will certainly be busy for IT as they make several stops around New York. A full list of the band’s summer shows is below, including links to their respective Facebook event pages.
New York, they’re comin home again. moe. will head out on their 2021 Fall Tour in October, making stops at four venues across their home state of New York.
After stopping Upstate at Apple Valley in early August, moe. heads out to Summer Camp Music Festival in Chillicothe, IL. They’ll headline ADK Independence Festival over Labor Day weekend, and the head to the rescheduled New Orleans Jazz Fest in early October.
Town Ballroom hosts moe. for three nights in the town where they started, followed by a three night run in Chicago. moe. performs on Long Island at The Paramount in Huntington in late October, with a Halloween-Eve show at The Fillmore in Philadelphia the next night.
In December, moe. will stop at Brooklyn Bowl for an intimate show, followed by two nights at The Capitol Theatre and four nights at The Sinclair in Boston.
Tickets go on sale Friday, July 16 at 10 AM ET – get tickets here.
moe. Fall Tour 2021
Oct. 8-9 – The Civic Theatre – New Orleans, LA
Oct. 14 -16 – Town Ballroom – Buffalo, NY
Oct. 21-23 – Thalia Hall – Chicago, IL
Oct. 28 – College Street Music Hall – New Haven, CT
Oct. 29 – The Paramount – Huntington, NY
Oct. 30 – The Fillmore – Philadelphia, PA
Dec. 9 – Brooklyn Bowl – Brooklyn, NY
Dec. 10-11 – The Capitol Theatre – Port Chester, NY
Alt-folk singer/songwriter EVVAN is marking this year’s International Non-Binary Day (July 14) with a personal essay about her journey to come out, as well as a live video for a previously unreleased song, “Falling Into You.”
The Long Island native is known for her distinctive voice, textured melodies and layered harmonies. She is inspired by the works of Fleetwood Mac, Foy Vance, and Brandi Carlile. She evokes a nostalgic spirit through her use of delicate guitars and ethereal vocal lines.
Released today, “Falling Into You” is the first song of her series written about the phases of a relationship.
This song is about falling completely into the person you’re pursuing and all that goes with that, the good, the bad, and everything in between. For me, part of what I perceived as ‘bad’ was my inability to understand who I was at that point.
EVVAN on “Falling Into You”
The second part of the series is “Falling Over You,” featured on EVVAN’s April 2021 EP, Home, which explores the experiences of dealing with unrequited love and the inability to let go of the feelings expressed in “Falling Into You.”
EVVAN’s Home EP reflects a period of personal awakening during which she used to revamp her writing style and artistic identity. The lyrics discuss themes of sexuality and gender, self-discovery and acceptance, and relationships both beginning and ending.
When I look at myself, I see someone lighter, someone who can act how she wants and dress how she wants, and not care about whatever pushback comes along with it. I finally found myself and instead of wearing countless masks, as I have in the past, I can just be simply me.
EVVAN
The heartfelt and airy sounds of “Falling Into You” is sure to strike an emotional chord, beautifully expressing the frustrations of finding oneself and moving forward. Although growing from misfortune is difficult, EVVAN’s signature folky-voice reassures listeners that good comes from change.
My journey coming out as non-binary was a long one and it was full of worry that I’d never live a life without judgment, mainly judgment of myself. Over a year after writing this song and coming out, we filmed a live performance and just watching it fills me with courage.
EVVAN on coming out
Read more about EVVAN’s journey through her self-reflective essay “Taking the Mask Off” here. A live performance of “Falling Into You” is available to watch on YouTube.
EVVAN has also announced her return to live performances with a show at the Rockwood Music Hall (Stage 3) on July 28. More information can be found here.
Brooklyn-based band Wild Yaks have shared a blistering live rendition of the fan-favorite track “Strawberry Wolf” from the upcoming Live At Rippers, their fifth LP and first live album, due July 16. Wild Yaks play an ecstatic fusion of punk rock and big-city folk reinforced with passionate vocals (often delivered in unison by the full membership).
Fittingly for a band that played the last show at Rippers before last year’s pandemic-related shutdown (at which this album was recorded), Wild Yaks are proud to be the first band back at the venue in 2021, setting a performance there for July 17th. In addition to this sure-to-be-wild night, the band has announced a record release party at Ridgewood, NY venue TV Eye on July 23rd.
The band was formed in the fall of 2007 in Brooklyn by singer/guitarist Rob Bryn and drummer/vocalist Martin Cartagena. While many players have made their way through the Yaks’ over the years, today’s lineup is Jose Aybar (bass), Patsy Carroll (guitar), Giovanni Kincade (Farfisa), Matt Walsh (guitar), plus Cartagena and Bryn.
The Yaks’ discography also includes the EP 10 Ships (Don’t die yet, 2009), and full-length albums Million Years (2012), Rejoice! God Loves Wild Yaks (2015), and Great Admirer (2019). The band’s music has been featured in numerous television shows and films, most notably their live performance in an episode of Law and Order SVU. They are hard at work writing new songs in Rockaway Beach and preparing for a summer of charged performances and communal magic.
