Indie-rock band, El Modernist, has had their newest debut album “Eras” released on Friday, September 2. The group features a trio of members, Will Fredette, who is in charge of lead vocals and plays the rhythm guitar, Will Hahn who plays the drums and uses the electronic instruments, and Taylor MacMillan who uses the lead guitar and creates backing vocals.
El Modernist band
The Albany-based alternative rock band presents listeners with a ten-track compilation of songs infused with elements belonging to ‘80’s style of rock, such as the groovy synths and jazz-tinged bass, while also containing more contemporary components of alternative rock that is present in other upcoming New York-based bands. The tempo carried throughout the debut follows a steady, consistent rhythm and maintains an upbeat air.
Their upcoming tour performance will be at Wild in the Trees Music & Skate Festival in Lake George on Saturday, Oct. 1 and starting at 7PM. You can RSVP and get tickets for the event here.
‘Eras’ Debut Album Cover Photo
Watch the official music for their track, “New Waves” below.
In an interview with Loverboy magazine, Bentley Robles uses a term I really liked: Catastrophize. When he’s in a relationship, Bentley Robles tends to catastrophize. As he put it in his hit single “i hate the weekend,” when his boyfriend goes out on the weekend and the possibility of him sleeping with other men looms, Robles might equate that with the end of the world.
The penchant to catastrophize is a defining characteristic of Gen-Z and Millenials. It’s that ever-present subconscious panic of dystopian apocalypse: climate change, hurricanes, facism, nuclear war. All of those anxieties linger in the back of the youth’s mind, bursting out instead in little catastrophes: break-ups, petty fights. Robles’ new pop-punk break-up anthem, “don’t listen to this song” with fellow queer pop singer Gregory Dillon indulges those little catastrophes with all the weight of something larger.
The chorus of the song is about the antagonist sitting in their car outside the singer’s house — something pretty mundane and inoffensive. But in this case, the tone describing this scene is malicious: “You’re so f***ing stupid / sitting in your Honda, in my drive way.” It’s that crude and irrational anger that sets the song up as a break up song; it communicates the particularly delicious, insatiable feeling of hating on your ex.
“Don’t listen to this song” indulges in those feelings momentarily, but it’s not quite satisfying. It’s oversaturated — like a little too much perfume, too much creamer in your coffee; you’ll lose those woodsy base notes, you don’t get quite enough caffeine. Or maybe it’s too much because it’s not enough. The song is aggressive, confident and proud, but it’s not articulate. That invigorating emotionality and expression is played down by kitschy guitar and trendy all-lowercase titles, it comes across as aloof but forced.
This song lies somewhere between Machine Gun Kelly — pre-Travis Barker — and Charlie XCX, with a big inspiration from Gayle’s “abcdefu.” The guitar’s pace is very MGK, and Robles and Dillon’s voices are auto-tuned to sound sparkly and cyber-y, in a more diluted version of Charlie XCX’s vocals.
Robles and Dillon are constructing their own image as modern pop stars. They are still pretty fresh on the scene, with their spotify’s going back to 2019 and 2018 respectively. Though neither has released a full length album, both have put out EPs and several singles. Robles is from LA, but now based in Brooklyn; he’s played at some of NYC’s iconic spots, such as The Bowery Electric, Mercury Lounge and The Delancey. Dillon is a native East Coaster from New Hampshire. He’s said he moved to Brooklyn in search of confidence as an adult, and has now been featured in numerous publications such as GAYTIMES, BILLBOARD and PAPER.
“don’t listen to this song” is pop-punk, marking a turn for Gregory Dillon from his usual “‘80s stained” sound. Though the instrumentals in “don’t listen to this song” sound computerized, there’s no synth or nostalgia; the song is very present.
With lyrics like “Hate when you hit your vape” and “get the f*** out my face” the duo bridges on satirizing the whole fad of made-for-TikTok songs with obvious lyrics, 15 second choruses and missing bridges. But when the absurdist lyrics are paired with visuals of Dillon and Robles running suburban streets dressed as teletubbies as they do in the promotional materials for this song, it’s more absurdist than mocking, in a fun, albeit unoriginal, way. To see them play live, Robles and Dillon will be at The Public Theater on October 2 and C’mon Everybody on November 15. Pre-save the song here.
Nathaniel Rateliff performing with the Night Sweats at Radio City Music Hall
As the Night Sweats ramped up for their opener “Look It Here” off the band’s self-titled debut album, Nathaniel greeted the crowd with “How’s everybody doing tonight?” pausing to take in the crowd’s roar from a sold out Radio City Music Hall. “It’s a pleasure to be here with you, my name is Nathaniel, we’re here with the Night Sweats, and we sold this place out, thank you!” The band went on to play a well-balanced set with songs across all three of their studio albums, Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats (Self-titled), Tearing at the Seams, and The Future, along with a few covers.
Mark Shusterman performs with Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats at Radio City Music Hall
As the band wrapped their eighth song of the night, “So Put Out”, Megafun’s Phil Cook joined Shusterman’s side on stage while Rateliff addressed the theater. “We have an EP coming out to follow up the record.” Rateliff shared, “…and we did another variation of one of the songs off that record called “What If I“. It was mostly Phil’s arrangement and Phil is a good friend and a big part of our family.” In addition to the remixed “What If I”, Phil came back to support Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats with “Out on the Weekend” and their closing song, “I Need Never Get Old”. The audience’s enthusiasm shook Radio City the entire evening, especially for the group’s three-song-encore.
Setlist: Look It Here, I’ve Been Failing, You Worry Me, I’m on Your Side, I’ll Be Damned, Survivor, Baby I Lost My Way, (But I’m Going Home), So Put Out, What If I (Remixed version with Phil Cook), Wasting Time, A Little Honey, Love Me Till I’m Gone, Danny Boy (Cover), Face Down in the Moment, And It’s Still Alright (Nathaniel Rateliff song), Redemption, Hey Mama, Out on the Weekend (with Phil Cook), Coolin’ Out, Intro, I Need Never Get Old (with Phil Cook) Encore: The Future, S.O.B. (with Phil Cook), Love Don’t
NY-based pop band Enrose has dropped their new single “Disease,” the group’s first release since their debut EP Wait, Create in April.
Led by saxophonist-songwriter Gabi Rose, the band’s genre-blurring aim brings together a track with impressive instrumental and tonal variation.
Promotional art for “Disease.”
“Disease” features glossy production from the band’s Anthony Lopardo, with the song opening up with warm saxophone notes and watery guitar chords. The first verse touches on personal isolation, with lines such as “it all came knocking at my door, and now I’m medicating all alone.”
Lyrics such as these come with current event context, with the single’s cover art being a video game depiction of Rose’s struggle through the Coronavirus pandemic, a period of unique difficulty for musicians.
This connection is more explicit on the chorus, on which she sings “no don’t you touch me, I’ve got a disease.” This section displays “Disease” at its most explosive, with blown out drums and interesting EWI touches (electronic wind instrument) leading a catchy and infectious hook.
The track’s vocal performance is just as strong as the instrumental one, as Rose sings smoothly and hits high notes when they come. Verse two shows off the R&B influences on “Disease,” with her adopting a sing/rap vocal delivery that reminisces of genre contemporaries such as SZA.
Switches between musical approaches like these are found from front to back, with the outro featuring a “guitar-inspired” saxophone solo according to Rose.
While relatively new, “Disease” isn’t a rookie effort from Enrose, and it shows. This track that displays a cohesive effort from a group of talented musicians, and it’s one that’s easily enjoyable too.
In celebration of 50 years of Billy Joel, the renowned concert film “Billy Joel: Live at Yankee Stadium” will be released in theaters worldwide on October 5th and 9th. The legendary 1990 concert is one of the greatest concert films of all time. Originally shot in 16mm film, it has been re-mixed and re-edited in 4k with Dolby ATMOS audio.
The new version includes “Uptown Girl” along with behind the scenes footage not seen in the original release. The film initially premiered on basic cable’s Disney channel on March 17, 1991. It was also released on VHS later that year and nominated for a long form video Grammy Award.
Billy Joel at Sag Harbor Cinema 8.22.22
Last month Billy and his wife Alexis attended a preview of the film at the renovated Sag Harbor Cinema. Joel stepped up to help save the theater after it was destroyed in a village fire in 2016. The cinema stood there for more than 100 years and was the center of the downtown. It reopened in June of 2021 complete with state of the art projectors and sound systems.
Also in attendance were band members Dave Rosenthal, Tommy Byrnes, Crystal Taliefero and Mike DelGuidice. It was surreal for me to watch the film with the man himself sitting just a few feet away. The crowd in the 240 seat theater applauded after each song making it feel more like a live concert rather than a movie.
After the film concluded, there was a Q&A with director Jon Small and producers Steve Cohen and John Jackson. After a few questions from fans, Joel raised his hand to ask… “When do we get something to eat? I’m starving!.” As I left the theater another surreal moment happened when I saw Sir Paul McCartney entering the lobby with his wife Nancy to meet Billy.
Tickets to the October viewings of “Billy Joel: Live at Yankee Stadium” can be purchased here.
It was officially Fall, and unofficially, Fall weather had also arrived. But for Point of the Bluff Vineyards in Hammondsport, NY on the shore of Keuka Lake, there is still time left for outdoor music. So it was Saturday, September 24 when they invited Shakey Graves and The Ballroom Thieves to perform.
The show got started with some rapid fire questioning from The Ballroom Thieves’ Martin Earley, “You guys wanna party? Do you have your wine? Should we start?” And start they did, just as they do on their new album, with the gently rocking “Worldender,” which included some nifty alternating “oh”s from Earley and bassist Caitlin Peters, creating an acoustically derived digital-sounding effect. They followed with another one off of Clouds, the short and punchy “In the Morning.”
The Ballroom Thieves weren’t just sporting a new album though. Last summer founding member Devin Mauch left the band and this summer Peters and Earley got married. In fact, this show was only their second as husband and wife. The lineup was rounded out by drummer and keys player Kevin Kennedy O’Connell, from not-too-far-off Rome, NY.
The trio found lots of space to explore, mixing up their sound with regularity during their 45 minute set. “Pendulum” and “Bees” saw Peters switching to cello and O’Connell switching to keys for a couple of finger-picked folk beauties. O’Connell left the stage completely for a spell of duo tunes, a cover of Jackson Frank’s “Blues Run the Game,” and “Borderline,” accentuating the couple’s stellar harmonies as they lovingly gazed into each other’s eyes. Then they closed on a trio of grittier rocking with the bluesy “Fistfight” and punchy “Wolf.”
Shakey Graves entered the stage solo, already plucking out some notes on his guitar, holding a glass of wine wearing a dapper brown suit. He climbed up on a riser at the back of the stage and started banging out a rhythm with foot pedals on a cajon and cymbal, playing “Nobody’s Fool.” Before “Square One,” Graves explained how he always wished he could tour the country playing music, and it happened. But then he found that he was traveling too much so he wished he could just pause it for a bit, and unfortunately for the world, that happened too. He said he was sorry though. Then he wished he could drink wine at the top of a hill overlooking a lake and play a show, and poof here he was.
The rest of his quintet arrive on stage, in matching suits, for “The Donor Blues.” Graves added a lot of emphasis to his music, through hand motions and asides sprinkled throughout the set. When he sang, “I got my gall from the boys back east” he added, “That’s you…” pointing out to the crowd. In “Business Lunch” and “Ready Or Not” his hands kept busy acting out various lines.
Like The Ballroom Thieves, Graves kept the set moving with good variety. “Family and Genus” tied together with “Kids These Days” through a short burst of hectic rock, while the latter kept it up with some hard rocking energy behind solid drumming. But then Graves was alone on the stage again, sitting on the riser and picking out a long intro to “Was Here” followed by “Pansy Waltz.”
When the band came back, they were all taking shots from a small jar of brown liquor handed up from someone in the audience. The band crowded around one mic to sing and clap their way through “Unlucky Sin,” their appropriate we’re-under-a-tent “church moment.” And that zoomed up to the off-kilter “Counting Sheep” which burst into an extended anthemic two-guitar outro. On the show-closing “Dearly Departed” the crowd was encouraged to clap along, and eventually would take over the singing duties in full, lifting the tent in voice and making Graves’ dreams come true.
Ballroom Thieves Setlist: Worldender, In the Morning, Pendulum, Bees, Blues Run the Game (Jackson C. Frank cover), Borderline, Fistfight, Anybody Else, Wolf
Shakey Graves Setlist: Nobody’s Fool, Square One, The Donor Blues, Business Lunch, Ready Or Not, Family and Genus > Kids These Days, Was Here, Pansy Waltz, Unlucky Sin, Counting Sheep, Century City, Dearly Departed E: Late July
While the year 1977 typically, and justifiably, gets a lot of the attention in Grateful Dead lore, the previous year has its fair share of gems too. With the Godchaux tandem now firmly entrenched and the return of Mickey Hart, the band was approaching the peak of its collective power in 1976. A slew of new live material that was unleashed the year before and earlier this summer was proof of this. Today marks the anniversary of the fourth ever appearance in Rochester for the Grateful Dead, last playing here in 1973. A rowdy Upstate New York crowd greeted the Dead for this performance at the War Memorial (now known as Blue Cross Arena) – one that’s filled with a distinct blend of classic songs and some fresher material still relatively new in the live setting.
Tonight’s performance gets a true “rock n’ roll” opener thanks to a lively cover of Chuck Berry’s “Promised Land” that has the Rochester crowd clapping along in time. A couple of impressive guitar licks early on from Jerry Garcia show he’s adequately warmed up and Bob Weir executes the vocals to perfection. Instead of pushing the pace even further, after some brief technical delay the Dead move over to the slow lane for “They Love Each Other.” They still manage to find their way into a nice early groove though, aided by another Garcia solo and some delicate piano work from Keith Godchaux.
After some more extensive post-song tuning, the band then does a slow build towards the intro of what turns out to be an emphatic “El Paso” with Weir once again manning the vocals. This gives way to another first set staple in “Deal” that gets some harmonious assistance from Donna Jean Godchaux on the chorus. She also adds some delightful harmonies to the emotional “Looks Like Rain” that follows and features another organic, slow build of communal energy.
The Dead keep in a similar mode for the slow, near plodding, tempo of “Row Jimmy” that comes next and elicits a few more emotionally-charged guitar solos from Garcia as well as supplemental dulcet tones from Donna Jean on vocals. Once completed, Weir implores the crowd to take place in “America’s Favorite Game: Take A Step Back” to prevent those in the front few rows on the floor of the War Memorial from getting further squished. This seems to call for another cover song and the choice is made for “It’s All Over Now,” a song popularized by The Rolling Stones more than a decade ago.
The first set staples then roll on, this time with “Loser,” another Garcia-dominated number. The soulful, introspective lyrics are matched by a guitar solo that has the Rochester crowd in mass, loud approval. Once completed, the Dead then introduce Rochester to the most recent of their traditional song pairings. This time, it’s the relatively new “Lazy Lightning” and “Supplication.” With both songs making their live debut just months earlier in 1976 at shows in Portland OR, this was undoubtedly the first time this sequence was able to experienced for some East Coast Dead Heads. “Supplication” hasn’t even been given lyrics yet and is played as a sturdy instrumental that the Rochester crowd eats up.
The opening set comes to an end with an interesting pairing of songs. First, it’s a rather unusual late set placement for “Brown Eyed Women” that has some early vocal flubs from Garcia on the intro but then wastes no time rounding into form with the crowd once again lending on-time audible support through applause. “The Music Never Stopped,” another newer song that just came into its own this year which features more vocal interplay between Weir and Donna Jean, then closes the book on the first set.
The second one opens with another relatively fresh tune, this time it’s the Garcia and Robert Hunter composition “Might As Well,” another song that made its live debut just months earlier. It’s supported by another bouncy guitar solo and gets a welcomed reception from the crowd. Afterwards, the recognizable drum beat that begins “Samson and Delilah” ensues and the Dead are off and running with another newer song that’s still finding its footing in a live setting. Weir nails the Biblical lyrics and Garcia provides more than enough support with some fiery guitar licks with bassist Phil Lesh competently holding down the bottom end.
After another band “huddle,” a drawn out intro to “Help On The Way” ensues with the band almost seemingly throwing in a “Music Never Stopped” tease for good measure before fully diving into “Help.” It feels like a slightly quicker version that’s played a little faster than it’s traditional styling yet, nevertheless, still flows seamlessly right into its traditional running mate in “Slipknot!” with no issues. This latter half of the pairing quickly devolves into a free-flowing, improvisational jam with Garcia and Lesh once again leading the way. This yields some of the more intensive and psychedelic jamming of the evening, a perfect springboard into the “Drums” section which soon follows.
After essentially putting the cart (“Space”) before the horse (“Drums”), the Dead jump right back into a high-octane, free wheeling jam that winds its way perfectly into the beginning of a thunderous “The Other One” that shows the band at their improvisational best.
After reaching a climax, the Dead slow things down considerably with “Wharf Rat” which gets another warm reception from the Rochester crowd. Garcia leads the band through this ballad-esque number with typical aplomb and his signature vocal stylings. In a bit of a twist, once completed they actually go back and play a definitive “Slipknot!” reprise for a few minutes, returning to the main theme and a smooth segue into “Franklin’s Tower” that, along with “Help On The Way,” completes a holy trinity of Grateful Dead songs. The band, and Garcia in particular, take their time with this crowd favorite and it results in 17-plus minutes of euphoric musical composition that the War Memorial crowd eagerly soaks up.
The Dead then bookend tonight’s show in Rochester with another Chuck Berry cover, this time “Around and Around,” sung by Weir in his typical increasingly rambunctious fashion. A “U.S. Blues” that doesn’t seem to have made the recording then wraps up tonight’s Rochester show. The band would continue their Upstate New York travels and play a gig the following night at a different War Memorial, this one in Syracuse.
View this and other Grateful Dead shows from across the years in New York State with our interactive map below
Grateful Dead Community War Memorial Auditorium – Rochester, NY 9/27/76
Set 1: Promised Land, They Love Each Other, El Paso, Deal, Looks Like Rain, Row Jimmy, It’s All Over Now, Loser, Lazy Lightning-> Supplication, Brown Eyed Women, The Music Never Stopped
Set 2: Might As Well, Samson & Delilah, Help On The Way-> Slipknot!-> Drums-> The Other One-> Wharf Rat-> Slipknot!-> Franklin’s Tower-> Around & Around
The Capitol Theatre, affectionately known as “The Cap,” lies in the center of the Westchester County village of Port Chester. The historic venue constructed in 1926 has hosted thousands of legendary musical acts (The Rolling Stones, Grateful Dead, David Bowie, Bob Dylan and Pink Floyd to name only a few), but never The National, until Friday, September 23rd.
Marquee | Photo by Michael Dinger
The National are winding down a 12-date tour of North America that commenced at the Moon River Music Festival in Chattanooga, Tennessee on September 10 and concluded at the inaugural Sound on Sound Festival on September 25. The Port Chester show was added to their tour schedule back in June as a special companion performance to their festival appearance at Seaside Park in nearby Bridgeport, Connecticut.
Matt Berninger | Photo by Michael Dinger
Supporting The National was Indigo Sparke, a singer-songwriter from Sydney, Australia named by her parents after the Duke Ellington song “Mood Indigo.” In the summer of last year, Sparke moved to the United States to work on her sophomore studio album, Hysteria, produced by The National’s very own Aaron Dessner. Performing for nearly 40 minutes, Sparke and her soaring vocals were accompanied by Jeremy Gustin (drums), Adam Brisbin (guitar), back-up singer Jackie West and later in her set, by Dessner himself.
Indigo Sparke | Photo by Michael DingerJeremy Gustin | Photo by Michael DingerAdam Brisbin | Photo by Michael Dinger
At the conclusion of Sparke’s set, a brief ceremony followed in celebration of The Cap’s 10-year anniversary of its reopening under Peter Shapiro’s ownership, one of the most successful independent concert promoters in the country. Shapiro’s $2 million plus in renovations has restored “the original rock palace,” with its 65-foot domed ceiling, to its former glory, featuring top of the line acoustics and a state-of-the-art lighting and projection system.
Peter Shapiro | Photo by Michael Dinger
With Port Chester Mayor Luis Marino on hand, September 23rd was also officially proclaimed “The Capitol Theatre Day,” commemorating what The Cap stands for: live music, community and spreading joy into the world through concerts. Shapiro addressed the 2,000-capacity sold out audience, “It ain’t easy to do this, but this is why we do it, for a night like tonight. We are going to do another 10 [years] and hopefully we’ll get The National back if you give it up for them.”
10-Year Commemoration | Photo by Michael Dinger
As Leonard Cohen’s “I Can’t Forget” played over the house PA, the quintet from Cincinnati, Ohio comprised of Matt Berninger (vocals), twin brothers Aaron Dessner (guitar, piano) and Bryce Dessner (guitar, piano), and brothers Scott Devendorf (bass) and Bryan Devendorf (drums) took the stage to thunderous applause. Accompanied by Ben Lanz (trombone, synthesizers) and Kyle Resnick (trumpet, keyboards), The National’s opening number was “Don’t Swallow the Cap,” taken from 2013’s Trouble Will Find Me.
Aaron Dessner | Photo by Michael DingerMatt Berninger | Photo by Michael DingerBryce Dessner | Photo by Michael Dinger
The indie rock veterans who formed in Brooklyn in 1999 would go on to play for two solid hours, bestowing to their fans a 24-song set that would include a representative sampling of their impressive music catalog, including “Bloodbuzz Ohio” (High Violet, 2010), “The System Only Dreams in Total Darkness” (Sleep Well Beast, 2017) and “Light Years” (I Am Easy to Find, 2019). Berninger and his bandmates also treated us to four new songs, including “Moon Drop Light” which was written only the day before, “This Isn’t Helping,” “Tropic Morning News (Haversham)” and “Weird Goodbyes,” the lead single from their forthcoming album featuring their friend Bon Iver.
Matt Berninger and Indigo Sparke | Photo by Michael Dinger
Berninger exuded frontman charm throughout the entire evening, shining the spotlight back on Sparke as she reappeared onstage for “Rylan,” another offering from I Am Easy to Find. “Graceless,” from The National’s aforementioned sixth studio album Trouble Will Find Me, was proceeded by “Fake Empire” (Boxer, 2008), widely considered to be one of their best songs. A five song encore followed as Berninger, in typical fashion, thrilled fans as he left the stage during “Mr. November” (Alligator, 2005) and waded through the entire floor crowd, reappearing momentarily at the opposite end of the venue, before trekking back to the stage. The epic evening unfortunately came to a close at 11:15 pm, but not before a goosebump-inducing, crowd sing-along of “Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks,” a second contribution from High Violet.
The crowd sings along | Photo by Michael Dinger
The National Setlist: Don’t Swallow the Cap > I Should Live in Salt > Bloodbuzz Ohio > The System Only Dreams in Total Darkness > I Need My Girl > This Is the Last Time > Slow Show > This Isn’t Helping > Wasp Nest > Moon Drop Light > Conversation 16 > Tropic Morning News (Haversham) > Day I Die > Rylan (with Indigo Sparke) > Light Years > Pink Rabbits > England > Graceless > Fake Empire > Encore: Weird Goodbyes > Mr. November > Terrible Love > About Today > Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks
On Friday, September 23rd, 2022, Josiah Johnson gave a heart-felt performance at the Takk House in Troy.
Josiah Johnson was originally part of the indie-folk band, The Head and The Heart band from 2009-2016. He left after his realization that his struggles with drug addiction needed to be put in check. After entering rehab and working on himself, Johnson came back to begin his solo career in 2020 with his album Every Feeling on a Loop. Today, he continues making indie-folk music with his most recently released song “You Had One Job.”
This was not a typical show were guests showed up, saw their favorite artist perform, and then went home. Before the music, there was an all vegan, four course dinner catered by Meadow Lark. The artists and the guests shared a dinner between four tables in front of the stage. The dinner lasted two hours before the opening act.
The Sea The Sea is an indie-folk pop duo out of Troy with Chuck E. Costa and Mira Costa have released three full-length albums. Their most recent album being Stumbling Home released in 2020. They are currently on tour with their next show being in New York City on September 27th.
The Sea The Sea opened up the night to an audience of about 50 people. The local artists played an hour long set with a mix of released and unreleased songs. After a fan yelled asking were they could find ” I Recorded The Sound Of Rain For You,” Mira replied that most of their music could be found on Patreon. They were anecdotes before almost every song and lots of jokes about making their songs “25 years ago in 2020.” The anecdotes combined with their Indie-Folk style of music made it feel as though a story was being told. The duo ended the set be going to the middle of the room and singing their last two fans with members of the audience.
The stories continued when Josiah Johnson came to the stage. He also gave the audience a brief history of how the preceding song came to be. He mentioned his struggles with rehab and relationships that gave his performance a different meaning. The audience was already mostly comprised of friends of the artists, but once it over, it felt as if everyone had known Josiah for 10 years. His intimate feeling set lasted for about an hour and also ended with him and violinist M’Gilvry Allen playing in the middle of the room. In this instance, The Sea The Sea joined them to close out the night.
Josiah Johnson continues his tour with a show at The Sultan Room in Brooklyn on September 27.
The Sea The Sea setlist: Restless Heart, Rainstorm, I’ll Be Loving You, I Recorded The Sound Of Rain For You, A Thousand Years, Everybody, Let Our Kites Fly, The Story That They Gave To Us, Not The Same As Goodbye, Stumbling Home, LWAWL, This Is The Way
Josiah Johnson setlist: False Alarms, Warm, Nobody Knows, Honey Come Home, Woman, Futile Devices, Josh, Hello Hello, I Wish I Had
Chuck E. Costa (left) and Mira Costa (right) of The Sea The SeaChuck E. Costa performing at Takk HouseThe Sea The Sea performing at Takk HouseMira Costa performing at Takk HouseThe Sea The Sea performing at Takk HouseThe Sea The Sea performing at Takk HouseThe Sea The Sea performing in the middle of the audience at Takk HouseJosiah Johnson performing at Takk HouseM’Gilvry Allen performing at Takk HouseJosiah Johnson performing at Takk HouseM’Gilvry Allen (left) and Josiah Johnson (right) performing at Takk HouseJosiah Johnson performing at Takk HouseJosiah Johnson and M’Gilvry Allen performing at Takk House The Sea The Sea and Josiah Johnson closing out their performance at Takk HouseM”Gilvry Allen hugging Mira Costa
On Syracuse pop rock duo Elephant Back’s self-titled debut album, the group dabbles across genres in an impressive scale across a short period of time.
The record, released on August 5, asserts its ever fluctuant musical identity from the start, with the quiet desert rock grooves and varied percussion of opener “Hier Kom Die Olifant” being directly followed by the loud drums and noisy guitars of the melodic “Kiss The Sky.” The album isn’t shy about its array of inspiration, with Jimi Hendrix’s famed “excuse me while I kiss the sky” line being interpolated at the center of the song.
Cover art for Elephant Back’s debut album.
“Shifting Gears” almost seems like a tribute to Sonic Youth, with abrasive guitar riffs complementing lustful, spoken word vocals that ring similar to Kim Gordon. “Come over here so I can annihilate you, violate you,” the song finishes with, adhering to the intimate aggression which characterized the indie rock legends. This is by far the most lyrically violent moment on the project however, with subject matter being quite optimistic and straightforward for the most part.
The menacing guitar and frenetic drum playing of “Take My Stance” is underscored by optimistic lines such as “the truth will find what’s inside, one love to find” on its hook. The cheery, glittery piano rock of “Believe” complements claps of woodblock and cowbell with pristine imagery with its closing lyrics: “open your eyes, sunshine blue skies, no reason to hide, relax and unwind.”
While Elephant Back displays strong musicianship across the record, the album’s percussion is a high mark in this department. The anxious blues rock of “Can’t Stop” is highlighted by its entertaining drum fills and hissing maracas. The infectious chorus of late album reggae track “Get It On Right” is enhanced by some impressively technical and subtly quick work on the drum set.
With how diverse this album is, moments of intrigue are found all around. The delicate acoustic folk of “Amaranthine” doesn’t wait around for the subsequent contrast of the boisterous following track “Go To War” with its Led Zeppelin-adjacent vocals and arpeggiating guitar solo. The slow “I, Wonder” rings of Creedence Clearwater Revival in a romantic moment, with lines such as “you’re more than just a conversation, and I can see it in everything you do.”
The record’s mixing has some rougher areas, with the vocals on certain tracks sounding either quiet or somewhat overpowered. It also ends on a bit of an odd note with “Holiday,” a strange 40-second hodge-podge of banjo and synth.
In total though, the positives reign supreme. Elephant Back’s debut album is an incredibly wide-ranging project that showcases tight musicianship and plenty of experimentation.
Upcoming Elephant Back Shows:
October 1st – Green Jello Studios Los Angeles, CA
October 6th – Funk N Waffles Syracuse, NY
October 29th – The Downstairs Ithaca, NY
December 11th – The Bowery Electric, NYC
More info regarding the band can be found on the Elephant Back website.
