Annie in the Water have announced a slate of winter tour dates, ahead of the release of their forthcoming studio album, Sun at Dawn, set to be released Friday, March 4th.
Artwork by Tony Campono, based on a photograph taken by Matt Richards at dawn on Going To The Sun Road at Glacier National Park.
Recorded directly to tape at Artfarm Recording in the heart of the Hudson Valley and mixed by Corey Hayward, Sun at Dawn represents the band’s time spent independently at home, together in the Adirondacks, and on the road again with their fans.
Our forthcoming album Sun at Dawn represents the paths we took in life as individuals and how it brought us together in the band. The album consists of songs that were written along these separate life experiences and are joined by songs that were written together as a band. The sun at dawn illustrates that this is just the beginning of our adventures musically and as friends.
We have a lot planned for 2022. Beyond releasing our newest album we are lining up bigger tours than we have had in recent years. Not only that, but we have also began writing more new material after the recording process of the upcoming album ended. We are fully prepared to hit the ground running when the music scene begins to boom again and we can’t wait to show everyone everything we have been working on!…
Matt Richards, Annie in the Water keys
Annie in the Water’s sound has a groove filled combo of reggae, funk, rock, blues and jam, written with a conscious dose of positive vibes, unique melodies and intelligent lyrics. The group has the ability to fill an entire night with original music and also render well-known covers in their signature style, giving fans extraordinary experiences to share that can’t be seen anywhere else.
Comprised of members Brad Hester (Lead Vocals/Rhythm), Michael Lashomb (Lead Guitar/Vocals), Ryan Trumbull (Drums/Vocals), Chris Meier (Bass/Vocals), Matt Richards (Keys/Vocals) and Brock Kuca (Percussion/Vocals), each performance is another adventure, both exhilarating and everlasting. The group creates a blend of music and entertainment that is inspired by the audience and the moment; the fan-base grows with every single performance in large part due to the indisputable fact that Annie in the Water will make people dance and feel happier no matter their age.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKxG7B35Btg
Annie in the Water Winter Tour 2022 Dates
1.26 Buffalo Iron Works // Buffalo, NY ^ 1.27 Parish Public House // Albany, NY ^ ! 1.28 Sonia // Cambridge, MA ^ 1.29 Nectar’s // Burlington, VT ^ ! 1.30 Portland House of Music // Portland, ME ^ 2.4 Waterhole // Saranac Lake, NY * ! 2.6 Mercury Lounge // New York, NY ^ 2.10 Funk ‘n Waffles // Syracuse, NY 2.11 Froggy Daze // Kerhonkson, NY
^ w/ Eminence Ensemble ! Annie in the Water Headlining show
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 Shortwave RadioBand, Paul Moody, Hanzolo,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.
ShortWave RadioBand
Last week, ShortWave RadioBand released their newest single, “SomeDay.” An upbeat rock song about looking ahead to brighter days, the accompanying music video is on its way. “SomeDay” follows the Schuylerville trio’s debut single, “Don’t Care,” which previously featured on EQXposure in November 2021. Listeners can expect the band to release their first EP later this year.
Paul Moody
Continuing this week’s theme of positivity, singer-songwriter Paul Moody has released “Letting Light In.” The calming folk song is about being receptive to new connections and relationships, particularly with one special person: “I was king of the lonesome, but I gave up the throne / For what good is a kingdom, when you rule all alone?”. While its melody is simple, the song crescendos into a sweeping instrumental halfway, almost mimicking the blooming of sunflowers.
Hanzolo
“Goldmine,” the opening song on Hanzolo’s self-titled album, expertly blends soul, funk and pop. There’s rarely a dull moment on the four-minute track, which smoothly glides along and promises plenty of replay value. Hanzolo, a seven-piece alt-funk band, sounds current and clean while still drawing upon retro influences like Motown.
New York-based songwriter and artist Kevin Devine announced his new album titled Nothing’s Real, So Nothing’s Wrong, as well as its first single “Albatross.”
Kevin Devine’s new single, “Albatross.”
Devine has been making music for a long time. In the early 2000s, he performed with Miracle Of 86, which moved him forward into his own solo career. In 2015, he started his Devinyl Splits 7″ series with a variety of artists. He has also been a touring musician with Frightened Rabbit, John K. Samson, Julien Baker, and more.
Kevin Devine, photo by Erik Tanner.
His new single “Albatross” is a symbolic set of what his new album will be. Heavy drums, synth, and bass accompany Devine as the chorus spews, “If you’re sinking, sing-along/Nothing’s real, so nothing’s wrong.”
Devine decided the album will be titled Nothing’s Real, So Nothing’s Wrong through this song, and speaking of the single itself, Devine had a few words to say.
‘Albatross’ is a hard reboot, a fragmented emptying-out for us strugglers whose life experience invalidates cookie-cutter solutions or miracle cures or 21st century coping mechanisms. Where do you turn for comfort when the generally-accepted value system and discourse is this degraded and grotesque?
Kevin Devine is releasing his tenth full-length record titled Nothing’s Real, So Nothing’s Wrong on March 25, and he invites listeners in to discover the journey or self-preservation and its meaning. The album is available for preorder here.
The Warp/The Weft is a progressive folk/metamorphic rock band based in Hudson Valley, Poughkeepsie. They have been active since 2012 and have used poetry to influence their psychedelia-style music. Their third LP, Dead Reckoning, was released in August 2019 and a new album is forthcoming.
A Sun-Filled Room, The Warp/The Weft
Recently, they have presented a musicalization of “It May Not Always Be So,” an e. e. cummings sonnet that explores an intense love and, with it, the need to nurture the other’s future happiness. This song was recorded at the Artfarm (Accord, NY) in December of 2021 by Sean Boyd, this is the band’s first recording and release since pre-pandemic times.
It May Not Always Be So, The Warp/The Weft
The Warp/The Weft does an amazing job at captivating its audience’s emotions by evoking intense feelings of love, painful loss and imaginative awareness through e.e cummings,’ “It May Not Always Be So.” Shane Murphy and Trevor Larcheveque do incredible vocals to further express the deep feelings within the song’s poetical meaning. Christian Lark (Drums) and Chris Pellnat (Lead Guitar) help further captivate how powerful the melody of a song could be while using rhythmic beat and heart-felt guitar chords. The lyrics can be interpreted as an experience of a kind of love/relationship that it is possible to let go because you love someone so much you just want them to be happy, with or without you.
“It’s a fun challenge to add music to poetry without destroying the music of poetry.”
The Warp/The Weft
It May Not Always Be So; And I Say, by e.e cummings
it may not always be so; and i say that if your lips, which i have loved, should touch another’s, and your dear strong fingers clutch his heart, as mine in time not far away; if on another’s face your sweet hair lay in such a silence as i know, or such great writhing words as, uttering overmuch, stand helplessly before the spirit at bay;
if this should be, i say if this should be — you of my heart, send me a little word; that i may go unto him, and take his hands, saying, Accept all happiness from me. Then shall i turn my face, and hear one bird sing terribly afar in the lost lands.
To many, the term “hippie” is often associated with counterculture, drug-induced dreamers. Sure, they may have the right societal ideals, but they are often followed by eccentric and unconventional behavior with abstract resolutions instead of anything concrete. Others turn the hippie persona into an identity, becoming a caricature that further discredits a way of life that has many valid ideologies.
As the Hippie persona loses credibility within contemporary culture, up-and-coming duo, dp.thuH and blond.bomber, are looking to revive what it means to be against the grain. Collectively, the Pittsburgh (blond) and Toledo (dp) bred artists are recognized as Hippie Tribe. A fitting name as their blend of rock & roll, hip hop, alternative music along with their live instrumentation and overall mix of musical elements create a magnetic sound that sways further away from popular contemporaries with each listen.
Now, different does not always mean better. Yet, their organic approach to their sound is a direct result of the duo’s realization that some spaces aren’t meant for them and that their niche isn’t any particular sound, but rather an encapsulation of their influences. They don’t occupy a sub-genre of hip hop, or Rock or R&B, they are those genres and whatever else they choose to become.
Operating out of Brooklyn, the duo feel as though they have the world at their fingertips, Assured about what they bring to the table. The duo answered some questions for NYS Music.
NYS Music: What part of Brooklyn are you guys from?
dp.thuH: We stay out in Bedstuy. We aren’t originally from BK. I’m from Toledo, Ohio and Niko’s [blond.bomber] from Pittsburgh.
NYS Music: How did you guys come together?
blond.bomber: We’ve been making music together for about five years now. We met playing ball in college. We spent a lot of time before we decided to make music just talking about it. Freestyling at parties, chatting on why certain albums were better than others. It all happened real organic like.
NYS Music: Your music is very diverse and does not confine itself to any genre. How much do you feel if (any) did your environment play a part in that?
dp.thuH: It played a huge role. And it still does. Growing up in gospel choirs naturally shaped our eclectic ears. You can hear hella genres in gospel music – blues, jazz, funk, rock. Once I got my own headphones and smart phones came around, it was over. So our music is a reflection of the sounds we’ve been hearing our whole lives.
blond.bomber: And playing instruments and producing all of our music gives us an advantage too, we can really manipulate and shape our music so that it’s super palatable to the average listener. But still unique too.
NYS Music: Your LP on Apple Music is labeled as “Alternative Rap” but what would you guys label your style as?
dp.thuH: Honestly, I don’t really know. It fluctuates so much. Hip-Pop&B? Alternative Punk Rap? It’s just different for real. In the best ways, like it’s uniquely refreshing.
NYS Music: You call yourselves “Hippie Tribe,” is that because you guys see yourselves as musical outcasts? Or different from the norm? Even your individual names (dp.thuH & blond.bomber)
dp.thuH: I guess so, we definitely go against the grain with our shit. But I think I felt like an outcast my whole life. And it took me some time to accept it too but I realized I was moving further from my purpose the more I tried to integrate myself into places that were never meant for me. Truthfully, it’s not on purpose. I think we’re different because unfortunately, a lot of this world is made up of bullshitters and people looking for photo ops. People who like to hear themselves talk and say things just to say they said them later. We’re not just being different because it’s the cool thing to do. We got chosen for this shit – that’s why we’re different. And that’s why we take it dead ass serious. It’s our job to push the art further, really push boundaries.
blond.bomber: This is just how our brains work. And it’s beyond the music like Dee said, we’re mad unorthodox without trying. We speak in cursive and dream abstract. I don’t claim to be cool or none of that shit and I don’t try to be. I just know God loves me and my shorties love me and I try to treat every breath like it’s my last. We’re here to leave a legacy and you can’t do that tryna fit in. our homies say it all the time, we’ve just always been different.
blond.bomber
NYS Music: Describe your songwriting process.
dp.thuH: I think I’m like 70/30 when it comes to freestyling versus writing so it doesn’t take us long to make records once we have production, or vice-versa. It isn’t hard to produce once we have lyrics or a melody. We feel like we’re vessels so producing records top to bottom comes naturally. And there’s no ego in this so if one of us is like, ‘yo, I feel like you should change the flow here’ or ‘I think we should find a stronger way to say this bar,’ the other is all ears. It’s all about putting the best product together possible.
NYS Music: Why only 2 songs for Gullah Punk: mod 1?
blond.bomber: Gullah Punk: mod 1, is the first of several capsules we’ll be dropping. We’ve always been pretty eclectic with our sound but over the past couple of years, we’ve been really focused on creating dynamics within minimalistic production. We love to rap and we love to rage so rock and hip-hop tethered naturally. This two-pack is littered with those little moments of perfectly balanced raw emotion, vulnerability and disorderliness. These capsules will be both auditory and visual too, we’re releasing a series of film shorts leading up to a short film. We pitched our film to a few directors and now we’re blessed to have a whole ass incredible production company behind us believing in our vision and mission. Along with the drops, we also put together a few community events in Bed-stuy. So this music project has sort of turned into a living, breathing movement.
dp.thuH: The goal for this particular project rollout and accompanying events is two-fold; We love music and the arts so if our presence and efforts allow kids to discover a new passion or encourage others in the community to pursue theirs, perfect. The second piece is probably most important for us… we want to ignite a new mindset in our people that together, we have the tools necessary to rewrite our fate. The philosophy is simple – “Kill your demons”. But in order for us to get that done, we got to shine a light into the dark.”
dp.thuH
NYS Music: Do you guys consider yourselves abstract artists?
dp.thuH: To us, we’re just doing our thing. I kinda feel like we’re Queen when they first wanted to drop “Bohemian Rhapsody.” They’re banging coffee mugs against chandeliers and shit, singing until their voices can’t crack any more. And all that “abstract” stuff was just their process. It’s exactly the only way they knew how to get out whatever it was they were hearing in their heads. So I don’t know if we’re abstract artists. I don’t know if that’s something we can even say because it looks like 1+1 to us.
NYS Music: Is there any particular artist that influenced you guys’ sound?
blond.bomber: Particularly, no. And that’s not to say that we don’t have influences – it’s actually the opposite. We get influenced everyday by everything. You could be sitting at the park and words come to you or, with your homies or, having sex or, dreaming. We just let things flow as organically as possible. So, sometimes Dee will have a beat that inspires me or someone will come in with some bars they came up with on the random. We really just let the universe decide.
dp.thuH: Yea it’s hard to name particular artists because it’s such a fusion of hella sounds. But lately we’ve been listening to a lot of N.E.R.D, Nirvana, Yves Tumor, and Willow…
blond.bomber: Haley Williams.
dp.thuH: Yup. We’ve been getting some gnarly sounds out of it.
NYS Music: What are your goals in the music industry?
dp.thuH: Because we’re super-producers, we’ll be a powerhouse label soon, with some of the dopest artists under our wing, all while producing and writing songs for the biggest acts in the world. We’re going to have a full-blown production and multimedia company soon too. We’re already writing, directing and scoring our own visual projects so, we feel confident that with the right infrastructure, we’re going to make some serious noise before people can even blink. And we’re going to debunk the whole notion of celebrity. Because, we’re giving it all back to the streets. We’re about to revamp Bedstuy to be the hub for the best art, regardless of medium, in New York. Studios on every block, random installations on the sidewalks and in parks, immersive programs. We’re about to turn it all up.
Long Island singer-songwriter Jason Flashner is gearing up to release his third studio album, Rocks and Roots, on March 11, 2022. The new LP ends an almost eight-year gap between his last effort, 2014’s Indie Tale, and falls on the tenth anniversary of his first album, Acoustics and Stones.
Rocks and Roots comprises two parts: one with a full band (although Flashner plays every instrument), and the other with acoustic versions of the same songs. Flashner debuted the first song, “Alive, Awake!” at the tail end of November, and has more waiting in the wings. The album’s second single, “Like Nobody’s Watching,” premieres today.
“Like Nobody’s Watching” is an upbeat, breezy guitar tune perfect for warming our hearts in the dead of winter. The lyrics are about taking a bad day and turning it around, using dance and music as a remedy. Accompanying the song is a homemade music video, with clips of children dancing happily. Before the release of Rocks and Roots in March, Flashner plans to release one more single, “This Wave,” in February.
Jason Flashner, who also goes by Jay, is an independent artist through and through. He’s learned the business side of music by himself, watching tutorials to learn how to promote and pitch his work. He recalls an incident earlier in his career when his hard drive stopped working and he lost an album’s worth of music, and didn’t have it backed up. Going forward, Flashner used the experience as a learning opportunity:
If we learn from our mistakes, we minimize that from happening, so whenever something like this does occur, I try to remain as patient as possible and know that there will be something to learn from it. It is all a marathon rather than a sprint, and we can all get there with patience.
Jason Flashner
While he never lost an album again, Flashner re-recorded Rocks and Roots multiple times until he felt confident in his work. Given his patience and perfectionism this time around, it might be his best yet. Listen to it on March 11, 2022, on all major streaming platforms.
Rob Derhak, bassist for moe. on Tuesday released a surprise solo album titled Songs For Other People, on Bandcamp. A project that came together over the pandemic while touring was paused, the eight track LP includes compositions commissioned by fans.
Album art and design by Becca Childs Derhak
Performing all vocals, as well as guitars, bass, keyboards and drum programming, Derhak is joined only by his daughter Emma, who performs backing vocals on “Beautiful Mess.” Emma recently joined moe. on stage at The Capitol Theatre on December 11.
Rob Derhak shared the following about Songs For Other People:
This album is a collection of songs that I wrote and recorded during moe.’s time off the road during the pandemic. It was an experiment in song writing for me. They were commissioned pieces, in which fans provided the initial catalyst, and subject matter. I put some of the proceeds in my pocket, and the rest into a fund that was set up for our road crew. I learned a ton doing this, and found out that I enjoyed writing in a “Tin Pan Alley” style. I also found that writing and recording everything by myself is an insane amount of work, and in the the end, because I’m a perfectionist, I found that I probably made about 5 or 6 bucks an hour. I found that the feeling I got from writing and recording in my little studio space was beyond satisfaction. I seriously hope you appreciate the album, as much as I do. It is a departure from the music I write for moe. and is not a collection of jams or serious instrumental pieces. These are all fairly simple songs that are written from the heart, for other folks. They’re a combo of mine, and their experiences, and processed through my weird brain. Enjoy.
Rob Derhak
Listen to Songs For Other People below and pick it up on Bandcamp.
It’s almost time for an annual North Country tradition as Saranac Lake Winter Carnival gets ready for the 2022 edition. The Upstate winter fest has been held since 1897, making 2022 the 125th annual celebration, with a theme of “Totally ’80s.”
Saranac Lake Winter Carnival features a great deal of events, including a Royal Court, arctic golf, ski and snowshoe races, curling and woodsman exhibitions, parades, fireworks and the annual highlight, the Ice Palace.
As always, the Waterhole will be the center for live music during Saranac Lake’s Winter Carnival 2022. Appearing over seven nights are 14 bands from both national and regional touring artists.
Full week VIP passes for Winter Carnival at the Waterhole are available for $80, which grants entrance to every show of Winter Carnival from Feb 4th to Feb. 13th, 2022. The lineup can be found below, with tickets available here.
