Six Degree Records has announced a new Witch Camps album, titled I’ve Forgotten Now Who I Used to Be, due for release on March 12th. The album is a collection of exceptional field recordings captured at Ghana’s “witch camps,” the isolated locations where women accused of witchcraft banded together to form a community. Premiered by the release of “Hatred Drove Me From My Home,” the album consists of a vocal/instrumental look into the lives and culture of women accused of witchcraft, held in the camps.
Belief in witchcraft is sometimes also used as simple scapegoating for the arrival of bad luck such as foul weather or illness. More commonly, it is a justification for pre-existing hate and prejudice. A member of my own family was driven out of her village in Malawi as a child after she was accused of being a witch due to having a white father— a fate that could have been my own if our places of birth were simply swapped.
Umuhoza Delli on persecution of women in Ghana
GRAMMY Award-winning producer and author Ian Brennan is taking the lead in producing this project alongside his wife, Italian-Rwandan film maker, author and photographer, Marilena Umuhoza Delli. The couple has dedicated their lives to providing a platform for marginalized and underrepresented voices. This project just another important opportunity to give a platform to those who need it.
Photo Credit: Marilena Umuhoza Delli
Consisting of 20 songs with beautiful vocals in regional dialect, and instruments created from the immediate environment, I’ve Forgotten Now Who I Used To Be is now available for preorder on Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon Music. Listening to the preview alone, it’s incredible to see what these talented women were able to create with objects like corn-husks, tree limbs, tin cans, teapots, and a balloon leftover from a political rally.
Six Degrees Records has shared “Love, Please” the second song to be released from I’ve Forgotten Now Who I Used to Be which arrives via Six Degrees Records on March 12.
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 Paintbox Records Artists Senior Living, The Classical, and many more artists from across the Capital Region and Hudson Valley.
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.
On Sunday, February 7, WEQX will feature four cuts from the newly minted Paintbox Records Pallete release series. Among them are two songs from Senior Living and two songs from The Classical. Paintbox Records happened because the bands, who are all friends, were planning on touring together last year, but the pandemic prevented those road runs from happening.
But COVID-19 couldn’t stop this crew of creatives from making rock happen, thus Paintbox Records was born.
Also featured are new music debuts from two Albany groups – Fine Grain, “Missing Adult,” and Son of Gun “Cry all Night,” the latter off their forthcoming release Turn to Dust, due out February 12
Musicians Mickey Hart, Yo La Tengo and Bill Frisell are uniting to celebrate The Fall of America: Poems of These States 1965-1971, by beat poet Allen Ginsberg, musically interpreting all the poems from the book.
Cover art to Allen Ginsberg’s The Fall of America: Poems of These States 1965-1971.
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the U.S. was involved in what’s often referred to as one of the worst, most pointless wars in history. The Vietnam War sparked hatred across the country, but inspired works of artistic and musical genius. The Fall of America is a collection of Allen Ginsberg poems from 1965 to 1971.
In 1965, Ginsberg began planning an ambitious project, a book of thematically connected poems, a collection that ‘discovered’ America in poetry similar to the way Kerouac’s On the Road had explored the country in prose. The Vietnam War would be a constant presence overhanging Ginsberg’s travel writings like a darkening shadow affecting daily life in the country. It would be a study of contrasts: natural beauty slammed up against an ugliness that rose out of the tensions of violence. The public’s polarized dialogue over Vietnam and, earlier in the decade, the civil rights movement, convinced Ginsberg that America was teetering on the precipice of a fall.
Michael Schumacher, The Fall of America Journals 1965-1971.
The fall of America is a phrase that can be used today because of the treachery our country has been put through in recent times. The racism, the riots, the pandemic and our political divide are all symptoms of a nation falling apart. The Fall of America – A 50th Anniversary Musical Tribute is not only a representation of our nation today, but also all of the proceeds from album sales go to HeadCount, an organization set to spread the importance of democracy and voter registration.
“While most people tend to reflect the brightness of the era, Ginsberg didn’t shy away from the darkness. He writes the scene in all its complexity, the busts of excitements and Dionysian excesses as well as darker images, such as the sculpture of the hanged man. He forces us to recognize the children sleeping in the bed and the police cars parked outside, red lights revolving in the trees,” said Hart.
The Allen Ginsberg tribute album is set to release digitally on Feb. 5 and on CD and LP on June 5.
Digital Track Listing:
1) Scanner – Elegy for Neal Cassidy 2) Handsome Family – Hiway Poesy Painted Desert into Albuquerque 3) Shintaro Sakamoto – Manhattan Thirties Flash 4) Thurston Moore & Lee Ranaldo – Hum Bom 5) Aliah Rosenthal – War Profit Litany 6) Ed Sanders (The Fugs) – Memory Gardens 7) Mickey Hart – Drones Du Jour (First Party at Ken Kesey’s with Hell’s Angels 8) ethereal_interface – An Open Window on Chicago 9) Howie B with Gavin Friday – Death on All Fronts (America is Falling) 10) Disco Pusher – A Prophecy 11) Kaya Project – Wales Visitation 12) Angelique Kidjo – Uluru Song 13) Bill Frisell – Over Laramie 14) Andrew Bird – Easter Sunday 15) Devendra Banhart – Milarepa Taste 16) Yo La Tengo – Bayonne into NYC 17) The Good Ones (Rwanda) – Falling Asleep in America 18) Steven Taylor – Continuation of a Long Poem in These States 19) Lang Lee – Pain on All Fronts 20) Social Animals – Falling Asleep In America (Roses Smell Sweet)
Vinyl Track Listing:
Side A:
1)Scanner – Elegy for Neal Cassidy 2) Shintaro Sakamoto – Manhattan Thirties Flash 3) Thurston Moore & Lee Ranaldo – Hum Bom 4) Ed Sanders (The Fugs) – Memory Gardens 5) Mickey Hart – Drones Du Jour (First Party at Ken Kesey’s) 6) Howie B with Gavin Friday – Death on All Fronts (America is Falling) 7) Disco Pusher – A Prophecy Side B: 1) Angelique Kidjo – Uluru Song 2) Bill Frisell – Over Laramie 3) Andrew Bird – Easter Sunday 4) Devendra Banhart – Milarepa Taste 5) Yo La Tengo – Bayonne into NYC 6) Lang Lee – Pain on All Fronts Bonus download:Youth – Iron Horse (An Epic 32 Minute Auditory Journey)
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland announced on December 18th a 100 million dollar expansion headed by New York-based company Practice for Architecture and Urbanism (PAU). PAU was chosen after submitting a request for quotation to nearly 22 other companies. The expansion is set to grow the museums size by one third, including a new band shell that overlooks Lake Erie.
Practice for Architecture and Urbanism / Crain’s Cleveland Business
This expansion was motivated primarily by a desire to add more space for concerts and other events. In the past, the Hall of Fame had ambitions to host huge live shows along the lines of Brooklyn Museum’s David Bowie show but could not due to the lack of space. Greg Harris, CEO of the Hall of Fame, comments on the plans for the new space:
We want to give our audiences the giant wow moment that you would expect from a place of our magnitude.
Greg Harris, CEO
Included in the expansion is the creation of a museum campus compounded with the nearing Great Lakes Science Center, classrooms designed for interactive learning, new workspace along the lakefront, and a number of other event spaces for indoor and outdoor performances. In a press release, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame described these ambitious plans as:
A pivotal moment for the museum, the community and for individuals who champion education and the preservation of rock and roll history.
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
The expansion is set to begin in 2022 with a final design being chosen sometime in 2021.
Fresh Layers Music Festival will take place on January 29, 2021 and will feature big names like Darryl McDaniels from Run DMC. The festival is teaming up with membership live-streaming service, Launch. Fresh Layers will serve as a benefit festival, providing its proceeds to the Felix Organization.
The Felix Organization provides opportunities and new experiences to enrich the lives of children who are growing up in the foster care system. It was founded in 2006 by Darryl “DMC” McDaniels himself, and Emmy Award-winning casting director, Sheila Jaffe. Both McDaniels and Jaffe were adopted. They were compelled to share their experience to help the lives of children growing up in the foster care system. The Felix Organization strives to enrich children by connecting them with nature with their different programs including: Team Felix, Camp Felix, Camp Felix West, Beyond Camp, Secret Santa, and Felix Friendship Circle.
Fresh Layers Music Festival is working with Darryl McDaniels, but will be featuring a lot of other artists. McDaniels will be performing with Charlie Chan and is headlining the festival. The rest of the lineup includes Young Devyn, Zachary Murdock, Spaceface, Mega Ran, Andre Merritt, Brad Oberhofer, Old Man Canyon, Revenge Wife, The Happy Fits, Big Yuki, Boshia, Eche Palante, Dylan Chambers, Alt Bloom, M.A.G.S, Ben Kessler, Vinyl Williams, Reptaliens, MIGS718, Pearl And The Oysters, Bosley, GRMLN, Masok, Chanteclaire, and Special Guest James Poyser from The Roots.
The festival has three payment options, the first being a $10 monthly recurring contribution including access to the festival, partial proceeds will be donated to the Felix Organization monthly with the recurring contribution. The second option would be a $20, one time payment, that includes access to the festival and all the net proceeds will benefit The Felix Organization. The third option is a $15 charity monthly membership which will include access to the festival and everything on the Launch system. Half of this membership fee goes to the Felix Organization directly. People are able to cancel at anytime.
The Fresh Layers Music Festival is taking place on January 29, 2021 from 9PM – 11:55PM EST and will be available on LaunchTV.
Launch is part of the ArtistShare family. They are known for being the internet’s first crowdfunding website and the most trusted name in artist funding and fan engagement services today. ArtistShare was founded back in 2003 and has been providing premium business services to artists for over 18 years. With Launch Music they have created a simple and effective platform for music creators to fund new works and projects.
For more information on the Fresh Layers Music Festival visit their website.
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, Allyson Smith, Monica Uhm 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, EQXposure features the music of Allyson Smith, spanning her releases. Featured tracks include “Wane” and “Bound2Be” off her release All Good Things, “Vacancy” off the release Carter Creek Choir, and her latest, “The Waves (demo).”
Also featured is the new release from Monica Uhm titled “Prelude.” Monica is a singer-songwriter based in New York known for her catchy tunes, intelligent lyrics and quirky live banter. Her lyrical style is self-dubbed “philoso-folk” given the push-pull in her writing of the big questions in life found in small everyday snapshots. Her musical style is self-dubbed “kitchen-sink twist on Americana” from the eclectic range of influences in her musical tastes and working with a wide spectrum of accomplished and creative musicians and artists.
For the next installment of Phish’s Dinner and a Movie archival stream series, the band goes back to the ‘2.0’ era, revisiting a Phish Summer Tour stop on July 25, 2003 in Charlotte, NC. The next installment airs on Tuesday, January 26 at 8pm
via GolgiProject.com
Previously released on Live Phish, the Charlotte show found the band in the middle of their 2003 Summer Tour that started in California and headed to the northernmost reaches of Maine for their IT Festival. Part of a three-night southern run that included Atlanta, GA and Raleigh, NC, the Charlotte show featured a wide ranging setlist, covering the band’s then-nearly 20 year career. A few monster jams are found in the show, including an 18-minute “Bathtub Gin” and a nearly half-hour long “Harry Hood.”
Fan Poster from Summer 2003
For the dinner portion of the night, the band intends to keep things easy and hearty with Betty Frost’s recipe for Chicken Pot Pies, including a veggie option. The full recipe can be found here.
Meals On Wheels will be beneficiary for the webcast, with all donations made via The WaterWheel Foundation will be given to support vulnerable seniors who are at the greatest risk amid COVID-19. Local Meals on Wheels programs are on the front lines every day, focused on keeping older Americans safe and nourished in communities across the country.
Montreal band Venus Furs share visual for their song “New Inspiration,” a trippy video that taps into the core of the track. The track premiered on website Under the Radar to high praise from fans and critics alike. “New Inspiration” was directed by Justis Krar of IMMV Productions, who has previously worked with Zoon and Mundy’s Bay.
Venus Furs is the brainchild of Paul Kasner, a multi-instrumentalist, writer, producer and self-described “perfectionist.” Kasner has gone under the banners of The Horrors and The Twilight Sad as he worked to discover exactly what Venus Furs was meant to be. After years meticulously crafting a standout product, Kasner is on the verge of releasing Venus Furs, a rigorously crafted set of songs that voyage heedlessly through sonic and mental terrain in a way that could only come from one singular vision. This speaks to his remarkable determination to create the album he long envisioned, and has now realized with the dazzling Venus Furs.
I wanted to present the visuals as a relation to both the lyrical tone and musical tone of the song. Heavily affected visual effects layered onto night time footage created a lushness that I feel when listening to the song.
Justis Krar, Director
The record invites you to bare witness to a world of sound that sits at the nexus of psych rock and garage rock, shot through with grand melodic hooks that echo the British alternative scene that he’s always had an affinity for, all produced with a careful attention to detail.
This album, for all intents and purposes, is just a huge experiment in dealing with minutia,
Paul Kasner
This collection of songs came to fruition after a year long process. At first, Kasner just sat with his guitar or piano and organically let the music form a rough outline, he then meticulously layered, carved and contoured them into songs, eventually reaching a harmonious balance between edge and polish. While Venus Furs is filled with furiously-pitched guitars, walls of sound and driving rhythms, the intricate instrumental aspects are not lost; each can be picked out wall of sound, but in unison they enhance each other, creating a polychromatic and passionate whole.
Everyone knows Boston is a mecca for musicians, but few have heard of the nearby city of Lowell, just to the northwest. The place is a bastion for independent artists. Fans of The Pixies know it as the place where Live From The Fallout Shelter was recorded back in ‘86. Bibliophiles would recognize it as the birthplace of Jack Kerouac. Throughout the years, it’s remained a haven for people who thrive in the fringe. People like the members of Inspector 34.
I met them a few years ago when they were passing through New York on tour. Frontman Jimm Warren and his band of merry misfits shook things up at our funky little community space. They gave off a hippy indie folk vibe, but their music was tight. This wasn’t some shtick. These guys could play.
Fast forward to the present day. While everyone has been finding their own ways to cope with current events, the members of Inspector 34 were funneling their creative energy into a full-length album. Lest you think Love My Life is full of romantic ballads, one glance at the cartoon engulfed in flames on the cover would immediately disavow you of that notion.
On first listen, the experimental nature of the music can be a little overwhelming. It’s a roller coaster of a journey. There are wild cacophonies that make the more ambient segments seem almost nihilistic in comparison. Think Joy Division meets Weird Al on the Beatles’ Magical Mystery Tour. It’s crazy, but somehow it works.
On second and third listen, it’s easier to pick out the lyrical themes and musical motifs that weave through this work. The tracks tracks “Love,” “My,” and “Life” present interludes between acts. The repeating mantra “I love my life, everything is wonderful” cleanses the palate and preps the listener for the next course. There is indeed method in the madness.
I didn’t expect to find one album that so encapsulates the past year, but Love My Life fits the bill. I’m still peeling back the layers. There’s a lot to unpack here.
“Everybody” is a stream-of-consciousness commentary on social interaction these days, when everyone’s live-streaming play-by-play narratives of the banalities of their lives:
“I know all the people in the world each and every single person in the whole entire world and me and them are all hanging out at the same time and you can see what we’re doing we all can see exactly what each other’s doing and sit and wonder what we’re gonna do next what are you doing?”
Probably the most mainstream song on the album is “The Gray House.” If you like indie punk, this one’s right up your alley. With driving guitar riffs and gang vocals along with super catchy la da da da’s, I’m betting this will be the fan favorite when they get to take these songs on the road. Never mind that it’s a song about existential dread while the world is crumbling all around, and grasping for a reason to hold onto hope. It’s fun to sing along to.
Another song on this album that really spoke to me was “Thick Bologna.” In a recent interview, the members of Inspector 34 reveal that it is simply a song about running out of cheap bologna from the local chain store. Even Freud said that sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. But I think there is license for the listener to interpret this as a song about longing for any enjoyable thing they are missing. The day my Keurig broke during quarantine, I probably could have written prose in such detail and description as to rival Nabokov’s meditation on a pencil stub in Transparent Things. Inspector 34 turned running out of bologna into a fat-riffed lament.
Overall, I find the album a cathartic experience. It’s both a poignant social commentary and an experiment in amalgamations of sound. It’s something you can zone out to in the psychedelic parts, and howl along with in the noisy dissonant parts. It’s dark, but in a satirical way. It’s a road map for getting through these chaotic times. And when all is said and done, and the crisis is over, Lowell is the #1 place I’d like to travel. Seeing Inspector 34 play live in their hometown is the newest addition to my bucket list.
You can find Love My Life at select record shops across the country. It’s also available for purchase digitally or on vinyl at Bandcamp. Or stream on Spotify. Follow Inspector 34 for updates and news.
Over the course of the election, President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris have gained support from famous musicians across the nation. ‘Team Joe Sing’s‘ was a masterful idea to get people to go out and vote. Now that Biden is about to take residence at the White House and Harris at the Naval Observatory, they have a slew of celebrities and talented artists coming out to celebrate the inauguration, and not just for one night.
President-elect Joe Biden (left) and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris (right).
On Jan. 20, Tom Hanks will host, “Celebrating America” Primetime Special with performances from Demi Lovato, Justin Timberlake, The Foo Fighters and more. The night will also include a performance by the United States Marine Band, who have chosen talented musicians from all over. Kim Archer was selected to compose a new fanfare for the inauguration ceremony. Out of Tacoma, WA, Archer leads an award-winning band, commanding the stage with her guitar in-hand. This virtual event is set to air on Inauguration Day, but it’s not the only one with well-known faces.
Leading up to the special day, the Presidential Inaugural Committee will also host numerous events to commemorate the inauguration and beyond. The Biden Inaugural website says that on Jan. 17, they kick off the week with the “We The People Concert,” which is more of a celebration of the “grassroots supporters who have pitched in to restore the soul of our nation.”
Jan. 18 is the National Day of Service, so while celebrating Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Americans will also unite to serve at a time when the pandemic needs the strength of community.
The Biden/Harris administration swept the nation with the promises of changing the nation’s racial injustice and our global climate crisis while also improving our current economic disorder. It comes as no surprise that this inauguration is a complete flip from President Donald Trump four years prior.
Speaking of the hope that the new administration presents, the day after the Inauguration is yet another musical event coordinated by Deep Tones for Peace. On Jan. 21 at 8 p.m., 90 artists are set to perform and will end when everyone has been heard. “Change Has Come” is an event to commemorate the new leadership and the hope that it represents.
Deep Tones for Peace is a performance lead by Mark Dresser and William Parker that includes meditations and healing. The nine-year-old music initiative spent 26 weeks nonstop live streaming meditations for peace and is set to end on this performance.
Whether you’re a Biden/Harris fan or just a lover of music, this week is a whirlwind of fantastic performers and supporters who’s real initiative is promoting peace and unity. “Celebrating America” will air at 8:30 p.m. on Wednesday.
“Celebrating America” Primetime Special (Jan. 20 at 8:30 p.m.) – This 90-minute TV special, hosted by Tom Hanks, will celebrate Biden’s inauguration with performances from Demi Lovato, Justin Timberlake, Jon Bon Jovi and Ant Clemons. Bruce Springsteen, the Foo Fighters, John Legend, Eva Longoria and Kerry Washington will also make appearances. The program, airing on ABC, CBS, CNN, NBC, MSNBC and PBS, will also honor American heroes who are serving their communities, including frontline, health care workers and teachers. h/t Variety
