Category: Regions

BUKU Music and Art Project Celebrates 10th Anniversary in New Orleans

After a pandemic-induced two-year hiatus, the BUKU Music and Art Project made it’s triumphant return to New Orleans this past weekend. The 2-day music festival and art project took place at it’s usual location outside of Mardi Gras World on the banks of the Mississippi river. The project’s 10th anniversary featured a stacked lineup of EDM and bass music, rap, hip-hop, and indie rock. Back in March of 2020, as the stages and grounds were being built, project organizer Winter Circle Productions made the tough decision to cancel BUKU Project just over a week out. Being the first cancelled festival in 2020, it was only fitting that in 2022, a few weeks after Mardi Gras celebrations returned to New Orleans, that BUKU would be the first festival to kick off the season.

Photo by Buscar Photo

The 2022 lineup featured several hold over names from the cancelled 2020 edition including headliner Tyler, the Creator, Glass Animals, Alison Wonderland, Taking Back Sunday, and 100 Gecs. Over the years BUKU has grown into a 20,000 attendees per day festival and the location has proven ideal. A 100 year old power plant with graffiti covered smoke stacks and a vintage riverboat anchored on the Mississippi overshadow the project, reflecting the rich history of New Orleans’ warehouse district.

Photos by Buscar Photo

The Project

BUKU Project attendees were treated to a perfect sunny 75 degrees in New Orleans, a city that was eager to welcome music lovers back into their arms. New Orleans’ famous culture center of Bourbon Street is once again buzzing with music and activity and this was mirrored into the design of BUKU. Organizers weaved the experience of discovering local music into the fabric of the project.

As you walk around the grounds, you find pop-up musical performances, many which were not featured on the lineup. In the fields of the main stage area, there is a small vendor market with bands playing DIY style shows in the center of the market. A mobile rickshaw draped in hundreds of Mardi Gras beads was seen riding around the festival with massive speakers and a DJ playing music off the back. Outside of the ‘Ballroom’ stage, there was a boxing ring where rappers, bands, and interpretative performers played intensely experimental music.

Rickshaw and Boxing Ring “Stages”

Aside from the music, BUKU is also an Art Project that celebrates New Orleans artists. Art installations were scattered around the festival grounds and vendors were selling art and custom clothing. Modern sculptures and lighting pieces were found around every corner of the grounds, provided interesting backdrops to the music and for photos. There were also “live art” areas where graffiti and mural artists spent the two days creating beautiful pieces in the shadows of the music stages. Some of these were sold or auctioned for charity, but many fans just spent time watching the art being created while listening to the music in the distance.

Live Art Gallery

Bass Music and Underground Rap

The backbone of the BUKU Project lineup are the dubstep and bass music artists, with the ‘Wharf’ stage dedicated entirely to the genre for both days. The stage production was top notch and all of the performers took full advantage of the system’s power. Lasers from the stage were projected onto the nearby warehouse and the Louis Armstrong riverboat anchored in the river, creating the feeling of an intimate outdoor club while still housing thousands of fans. Liquid Stranger and Lane 8 headlined the stage on Friday and Saturday respectively, with Svdden Death, Mersiv, Clozee, and Wreckno filling in the days.

The Wharf Stage at BUKU Music and Art Project

“Multimedia aggregate” Lab Group also played the Wharf stage, only three months after the tragic death of member and producer Charlesthefirst. The 25 year old’s death shocked the community, but surviving members Potions and Supertask are keeping the aggregate alive and still performing the music that the group created together. At one point in their set Lab Group paid tribute by playing “Old Ways” which features rap verses from Charlesthefirst.

Lab Group Performs on The Wharf Stage. Photo by Buscar Photo

Underground rap and hip-hop played a large role in the 2022 edition of the BUKU Project in New Orleans. Odd Future founding member and now international superstar and fashion designer Tyler, the Creator headlined the project on Saturday. Ever since his solo debut Goblin back in 2011, Tyler, the Creator has been putting a fresh spin on his sound with each new release. 2019’s IGOR was an ambitious blend of rap and experimental R&B which debuted at No. 1 on the charts. Tyler, the Creator followed this up with Call Me If You Get Lost in 2021 which continued to propel his commercial success.

Tyler, the Creator at the BUKU Music and Art Project. Photo by Buscar Photo

Aside from the big name headliner, the rap lineup for both days of BUKU was stacked with rising stars and veteran artists. Friday featured ShyGirl and Tierra Whack in the Ballroom with Trippie Redd delivering a fiery set mid-day on the main Skyline stage. On Saturday, fans were treated to a full day of Flo Milli, Vince Staples, Baby Keem, Maxo Kream, and Tyler, the Creator. Another major success of the BUKU Project was that these individual genre lineups had no conflicts and fans who were there for the rap did not have to make any hard decisions.

Flo Milli at the BUKU Music and Art Project. Photo by Buscar Photo

Indie Rock and The Undefined

What festival would be complete these days without the indie kids? The best thing about music today is that anyone can listen to anything at any time. This has cultivated a generation of music lovers with a very wide palate. This was on clear display when Taking Back Sunday took the Skyline stage for their mid-day set. The band is on tour celebrating the 20th anniversary of their seminal 2002 LP Tell All Your Friends and they split their set between newer material and classic songs “Cute Without the ‘E’” and “MakeDamnSure.” The band drew a large crowd for an early festival set and the injection of nostalgia was a beautiful way to kick off the weekend.

Taking Back Sunday at the BUKU Music and Art Project. Photo by Buscar Photo

Friday headliners and Australian psych-rock titans Tame Impala were the highlight of the indie side of the festival. The band is on the second leg of The Slow Rush Tour which was partially postponed due to the pandemic but is back on the road in full force. Featuring a massive lighting rig suspended from the stage, the band’s live production overwhelms any audience they host. The lighting gives the unsettling yet beautiful feeling of coming face to face with a UFO.

Tame Impala at the BUKU Music and Art Project. Photo by Buscar Photo

The band cruised through reworked live versions of The Slow Rush songs “Breath Deeper” and “Borderline” while playing a driving, laser fueled rendition of fan favorite “Elephant.” Two extended releases of confetti during the last two songs “Let It Happen” and “New Person, Same Old Mistakes” felt like a celebration not only of Tame Impala or BUKU, but more of the return to live music in one of the richest musical cities in the world.

Tame Impala at the BUKU Music and Art Project. Photo by Buscar Photo

Given the seemingly endless creative outlets that exist today, there are so many artists out there that defy categorization and cannot fit within the typical genre classifications. 100 Gecs were an early highlight of the day on Friday. Described as “hyperpop,” the duo performs an aggressive and in your face punk-like pop music. Their chaotic style is a great show to see in a small club, but their gigantic sound reverberated across the main stage grounds as if that was their natural setting. Porter Robinson performed his Nurture live show and British indie rockers Glass Animals brought their iconic summer pool staging to same time slot on the main stage on Friday and Saturday respectively.

Glass Animals at the BUKU Music and Art Project. Photo by Buscar Photo

Our Impression

All in all, the return of the BUKU Music and Art Project to New Orleans was a major success. Organizers brought back some of the big names from the cancelled 2020 lineup and designed grounds that were well laid out and easy to navigate. Lines for food and drinks were never too long and there was plenty of free water and “BUKU Budz” throughout the festival supporting attendees. Most festivals with bass heavy electronic music suffer from sound bleed issues, but none of the stages interfered with each other at BUKU. The food lineup featured local mainstays and highlighted the signature creole cuisine of New Orleans.

NYS Music had a great time at the festival and we caught sets from so any different artists and styles throughout the weekend. We enjoyed seeing big names like Tame Impala in their prime, but also discovering new music that will become part of our rotation. Nothing is better than discovering new music live, looking over at your head-banging friends and asking “what song is this?” Moments like this are what we missed most during the pandemic and we are so happy to have back again.

Check out our artist galleries from the 10th edition of the BUKU Music and Art Project below, photographed by NYS Music photographer Buscar Photo.

Artist Galleries

100 Gecs

Lab Group

Tame Impala

Kumarion b2b Reaper

Rezz

Alison Wonderland

Baby Keem

Vince Staples

SFAM

Glass Animals

Lane 8

Amelie Lens

Porter Robinson

Taking Back Sunday

March 30, 2022
Beau Fleuve Festival Announced for 2022

The Beau Fleuve Festival in Buffalo has announced the date for the 2022 festival, which will happen on August 28.

The festival is a one-day music, arts, and cultural celebration held in the city of Buffalo. Standing on the pillars of diversity, the festival merges Buffalo’s historic past with the Buffalo Central Terminal and the continued resurgence of the arts within Western New York.

photo by Madison McCafferty

The annual celebration includes performances on multiple stages from regional, national, and international musical acts, art exhibitions, the silent disco, spoken word poetry, speaker panels, street art, fashion, sports, film, games, food, and more.

The Beau Flueve Festival 2022 lineup and early bird tickets will be released in May.

March 30, 2022
In Focus: M. Ward Live at Levon Helm Studios

M. Ward graced Levon Helm Studios with his presence this past Sunday, March 27. The singer-songwriter, and fans alike, waited two years for this Woodstock show, and the wait only made the night more special. For folks who have seen a show at Levon Helm Studios, you know just how incredible the venue’s acoustics are, and M. Ward played the barn’s walls like they were instruments. He opened the show and silenced the crowd without speaking a word.

Ward began with ‘Duet For Guitars #3.’ This started the night off perfectly by showcasing some of Ward’s most intricately dynamic guitar playing. His pinch harmonics resonated beautifully throughout the studio, and his individual style of strumming filled the room with chords that sounded too full to have been made by a single guitar. The crowd erupted after the song ended and they had their first glimpse into what was in store for them.

Ward then rolled into one of his most popular songs with ‘Chinese Translation,’ which allowed his voice to take center stage and play with Levon Helm Studios’ walls. You can take a listen to M. Ward’s 2011 performance of the song that he did for Kink FM in the video below. This clip is a great representation of just how smooth Ward is, both in his guitar playing and in his singing. At times during the show on Sunday, Ward would step away from his mic entirely and allowed his voice to carry itself throughout Levon Helm Studios. There are few venues, if any, that can compare to the sonic experience in this setting with a musician as skilled as M. Ward.

M. Ward played his first of two covers for the night with his rendition of Buddy Holly’s ‘Rave On.’ He slowed things down in the best way possible, and truly made the song his own, almost unrecognizable from the original. Ward’s second cover was one that caused an interesting response from the crowd. The lyrics to Daniel Johnston’s ‘Story of an Artist’ come off as humorous to some when sung in such a new tone. The song was featured on his 1983 album Hi How Are You, and its lyrics explore Johnston’s lack of support and belief in his art from his family. It is truly a sad, sad song, but what brought out the laughter seemed to be the juxtaposition of Ward captivating the crowd with his musical abilities while singing lyrics about a family telling their son that the world will never like his songs. The two observations clash, but the effect is powerful as the laughing fans soon saw and felt the seriousness of Ward’s voice.

The show’s pace picked up for the final few songs as Bat Fangs came out to accompany Ward. The group rocked the barn after an intimate set of songs, and left the Woodstock crowd on cheering on their feet for a few minutes. The crowd cheered until Ward and Betsy of Bat Fangs returned to the stage, and started the encore like the show began, with a song off Ward’s 2003 album Transfiguration of Vincent: ‘Helicopter.’ The duo would go on to end the night by fielding crowd suggestions, and settled on ‘Poison Cup,’ which managed to bring one fan to tears even.

M. Ward just finished up the last of his American tour dates until June, and will be flying across the pond to play three weeks of shows in Europe. When Ward returns to the U.S. he will be playing four shows in Texas before heading back overseas to tour the UK. If you have travel plans, be sure to check out M. Ward’s website. For future shows at Levon Helm Studios, check out their events page.

Setlist (partial): Duet For Guitars #3, Chinese Translation, Fuel for Fire, Rave On (Buddy Holly), Vincent O’Brien, Here Comes the Sun Again, Story of an Artist (Daniel Johnston), Never Had Nobody Like You, To Go Home

Encore: Helicopter, Poison Cup

March 30, 2022
MPTF and Binghamton Local 380 Announce Free Jazz Events

The Recording Industry’s Music Performance Trust Fund (MPTF) and Binghamton Local 380 announced that free live Jazz events will be happening in Binghamton and Ithaca to celebrate Jazz Appreciation Month throughout April.

Grants totaling $235,000 from MPTF will support 224 live, admission-free events throughout the US and Canada. Funding will support professional musicians to perform at different venues and live streams on Facebook.

MPTF sponsored event.

Jazz Appreciation Month was created at the Musuem of American History in 2001, and it celebrates the extraordinary heritage and history of jazz. It was also made to encourage people of all ages to study the music, listen to jazz, read books about jazz, and attend concerts.

MPTF’s Trustee Dan Beck spoke about the new events scheduled for Jazz Appreciation Month.

Seeing regional jazz greats working again, coming out of the past 24 months of the pandemic, is extremely exciting and so culturally important. Jazz Appreciation Month has been a significant focus of the MPTF’s efforts throughout its history.

Binghamton’s Local 380 represents over 160 professional musicians in the Southern Tier and Finger Lakes region of New York.

Schedule

April 3 2PM- Empire Saxophone Quartet (with percussion) @ The Heart at Castle Gardens

April 6 6:30PM- Island Hoppers Steel Band @ United Methodist Homes: Hilltop

April 15 4PM- Alpha Brass @ Willow Point Nursing Home

April 17 3PM- Chris White Trio @ Bridges’ Tudor Houses

April 27 7PM- Southern Tier Brass @ Good Shepard Fairview

March 30, 2022
Honeysuckle and Tough Old Bird: A Night of Folk Duos at the Club at Water Street

The position of the Earth relative to the Sun indicated it was Spring in the Northern Hemisphere. But unsurprisingly in Rochester, Winter was hanging on for one last (we hope) gasp before ceding the floor. On an absolutely frigid and snowy late March Sunday, a duo of duos, Honeysuckle from New York via Boston, and Tough Old Bird from nearby Buffalo, shared the stage at the Club at Water Street for an intimate evening of folk music.

Honeysuckle, Holly McGarry on guitar and vocals, and Chris Bloniarz on mandolin and vocals, were closing out the first week of their first tour since the big live music pause. They released a new album in 2021 but when they were ready to tour behind it COVID reared its ugly head once again. So, they were promoting their “new” year-old album finally, though their set covered the breadth of their full catalog.

McGarry, donned in a flowery dress more fit for the season than the actual weather, tethered the duo to a more traditional folk anchor. Her beautiful singing brought life to reflective, darkened material, floating along her strummed and picked acoustic guitar work. Bloniarz contrasted that with mandolin playing that veered into jamgrass territory, weaving interesting and exhilarating threads in, out, over and through McGarry’s songs. He filtered his instrument through a large bank of pedals, though it never lost it’s mandolin-ity. He set up an occasional loop to increase the duo’s reach, a grooving bass-line or nice vamp to solo over for a few bars.

Their songs often looked into the past. “Shadow Dance” was inspired by an episode of the British show “Repair Shop,” which McGarry binged over the pandemic, in which an old violin was meticulously restored. The tune had an appropriately timeless quality. “Two Stone Birds,” about a stressful trip transporting delicate family heirlooms cross country on a small airplane, was fittingly jaunty and folksily funky. A cautionary tale about exploring your genealogy, “To the Grave” teetered between bright and dark. A rarely played “Crossbow” emerged from obscurity to fulfill a birthday request (as if having the band sing you “Happy Birthday” isn’t enough of a gift!), and proved to be one of the set’s highlights.

Tough Old Bird, brothers Matthew and Nathan Corrigan, opened the show with a set of their gorgeous folk duets. Matthew handled most of the vocal duties while Nathan took care of most of the flashier guitar work. But there was no exclusivity to this setup, these are brothers that know how to share. They are also brothers who knew how to harmonize, like only kin can, beautifully singing about both winter and spring, even if neither or both were appropriate, and songs inspired by their home’s proximity to the Great Lakes. The duo filled out and diversified their sound; Matthew with deft harmonica playing and Nathan switching it up with a banjo and electric guitar, all the while banging out rhythms on a foot tambourine.

Water Street served up a double shot of double folk that warmed the chilled audience up like a double shot of whiskey, from the inside out.

Honeysuckle Setlist: Miss You, Gaslight, Untouchable, Shadow Dance, Two Stone Birds, Little Less Alone, It’s Getting Late, Something Worth Having, Windstorm, Greenline, Firestarter, To the Grave, Darkness Knows, Crossbow, Deep Blue Eyes, Canary

March 30, 2022
Roxy Music’s 50th Anniversary Tour Coming to MSG

For the first time in over a decade, Roxy music will return to the stage, this time for their 50th anniversary tour. The tour will journey from Canada and through the US, eventually ending in London. They will be joined by special guest, St. Vincent.

Roxy Music will be touring the U.S for the first time since their critically acclaimed 2011 “For Your Pleasure” tour. Featuring stops across the U.S, including landmark venues like MSG and The Forum, their 50th Anniversary tour is sure to be the celebration of a lifetime.

Formed in 1972, Roxy Music has been regarded as one of the most influential bands of all time. They have inspired a number of big names including Depeche Mode, Nile Rodgers and Kate Bush. The group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2019.

PC : Brian Cooke

Special guest St.Vincent will be joining Roxy Music for all North American dates, except Boston. After originally making her debut in 2007, St.Vincent has been described as one of the most interesting artists in modern music. Her work has been justly recognized, with her 2021 album, Daddy’s Home, garnering universal acclaim.

Artist presale is available from now until 4/1. General tickets go on sale 4/4 at 10 AM. Eight special anniversary editions of Roxy Music’s albums will be reissued throughout the year, with the first two LPs, Roxy Music and For Your Pleasure being released on 4/1.

NORTH AMERICAN TOUR DATES

09/07 – Scotiabank Arena – Toronto, ON

09/09 – Capital One Arena – Washington, DC

09/12 – Madison Square Garden – New York City, NY

09/15 – Wells Fargo Center – Philadelphia, PA

09/17 – TD Garden – Boston, MA*

09/19 – United Center – Chicago, IL

09/21 – Moody Center – Austin, TX

09/23 – American Airlines Center – Dallas, TX

09/26 – Chase Center – San Francisco, CA

09/28 – The Forum – Los Angeles, CA

U.K TOUR DATES

10/10 – OVO Hydro – Glasgow, UK

10/12 – AO Arena – Manchester, UK

10/14 – The O2 – London, UK

March 30, 2022
Priya Ragu, Dan Croll, Anaiis, Obii and Great Calling show the UK’s Talent at Pop-up Shows across Manhattan

In an effort to expose up-and-coming UK artists to American audiences, GREAT Campaign partnered with SoFar Sounds for the week of March 21, 2022 to put on numerous performances across New York City featuring some of the biggest names on the rise.

In an interesting way to gain access to the show, one had to pick up a ringing telephone within a classic English-looking telephone booth (many of which were spread across Manhattan). The phone would relay a message detailing the shows for the week and their locations.

Priya Ragu at Great Jones Distillery Co.

The purpose for this campaign was due to the UK still considered underrated, in terms of being a cultural musical hotspot. Massive current artists, like Harry Styles, Dua Lipa, and Ed Sheeran all hail from the UK, showing its constant relevance in the global music scene. There are many artists in the UK that are starting to rise and are nearly about to break into the mainstream American industry.

become incredibly popular in the past year, with the prestigious BBC Sound of Music giving her a nomination in 2021 and Vogue India listing her as one of the 6 artists that are going to blow up in 2021. On the other hand, Dan Croll (hailing from Liverpool) graduated from the Paul McCartney-founded Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts and has been on the scene since 2011. Both of them put on an intimate show for an adoring crowd, wowing them with Dan Croll’s indie-pop crooning and Priya Ragu’s energetic pop performance.

Dan Croll at Great Jones Distilling Co.

Many of performances occurred that week, ranging from Penelope Isles to Rose Betts. All of which showcased these rising stars and their immense talents.

Riya Ragu at Great Jones Distilling Co.

Some of the UK’s most talented singers Anaiis and Obii showed their skills in a Red Hook ice cream factory on Friday, March 25. As you walk in the door behind the ice cream shop counter, you go into a room with views of the factory through the window. The room was full of music enthusiasts and people there for a good time. The artists held a captivating show and kept the audience involved throughout the duration of it. This showcase exemplified the powerful voices that come from the UK and gave an idea of the future of UK artists and their abilities.

Great Calling – The National Arts Club – March 29 (review and photos by Michael Dinger)

The last of four shows performed at iconic spaces in Manhattan and Brooklyn over the past week, the Great Campaign’s final act took place at The National Arts Club at Gramercy Park this past Tuesday night. A collaboration with SoFar Sounds, these intimate gatherings have showcased homegrown artists from Great Britain that are all on the verge of stardom. The featured musicians of tonight’s festivities included Rose Betts (singer/songwriter), Geo Jordan (multi-instrumentalist/producer/writer) and Hamzaa (R&B singer/songwriter). If witnessing the talent of these young musicians was not enough, guests were also immersed in the expressive, wondrous paintings of the contemporary Cuban artist Carlos Quintana, which hung from the walls throughout the performance space. His exhibition, PHySIKA, is on view until April 8^th.

Rose Betts, originally from London, was the evening’s first performer. After being introduced by Adam (the night’s emcee) as having “a voice that melts like butter,” Betts sat down before a Steinway for the first of five songs, while accompanied by Emmanuel Ventura-Cruess on an upright bass. Featuring songs from her newly released debut album, White Orchids (RAB Records), Betts introduced “Foolish” as “one of the few songs [she’s] written about love.” The songstress concluded her opening set with “Think Of You” and “Recovery,” a tune that Betts exclaimed to the audience was “the first song where [she] allowed [herself] to be vulnerable.”

After a brief intermission, Geo Jordan was the second British artist of the night to entertain the intimate crowd of approximately 100 souls in attendance. While on guitar, Jordan opened the set with “Let Go,” taken from the 5-song EP Technicolour (August 2021). This EP was self-produced by Jordan, a Trans artist who uses his music to explore topics such as identity and acceptance. Moving over to the piano for “The Colour Of You” (the title track from his 2017 EP), Jordan revealed, “I never know quite what to do with applause, thank you.” With a guitar back in his hands, Jordan went on to perform what can best be described as progressive soul pop tracks such as “Forever,” taken from the EP titled The Colour Of You (2017) and “Irreplaceable,” from the album Remember Me Pt. 1 [MD1] (2019).

The final act of the night was Hamzaa, a soul artist from Hackney (East London) who has been writing her own songs before she was even a teenager. Accompanied by Jeffandy AllTogether (guitar) and Chad Selph (keys), the first of her 6-song set was “Unlucky,” taken from Phases EP (2019). After bringing back Emmanuel Ventura-Crues for a guest appearance on bass, the highlight of the night was still to come. Hamzaa’s blissful closing number titled “Sunday Morning,” also from Phases EP, captured the cheerful mood of the event, with the audience singing the chorus in unison – “You make me feel like it’s a Sunday morning” . . . even on a Tuesday night.

You can learn more about GREAT Campaign and SoFar Sounds here.

March 29, 2022
Watch Sy Ari Da Kid and Jadakiss Team Up For “Unbreakable Promises”

The Bronx-bred rapper/singer Sy Ari Da Kid released his newest debut album, The Shadow In The Shade which features multiple artist throughout the album. Sy Ari Da Kid features Yonkers hip-hop icon Jadakiss on the album with track, “Unbreakable Promises” along with recently released music video.

Sy Ari Da Kid and Jadakiss met up in Virginia to shoot the music video for “Unbreakable Promises” that would celebrate their success while also shedding light onto the hurdles they faced with the soulful track produced by Vtng Jag.

The new album, “The Shadow In The Shade” appeared on New Music Friday select playlists by XXL, Brooklyn Vegan, and Essence. A variety of artists are showcased on the debut album that helped Sy Ari Da Kid bring his project to life, artists like Jadakiss, T.I.. Benny The Butcher, Big K.R.I.T., Trouble, Lloyd Banks, Ransom, Mickey Factz, Cyhi The Prynce, Shawn Ellery, JR Writer, Raekwon and Bumpy Knuckles are featured on the tracklist.

“Some rappers sprint to the tape but Sy is running a marathon with no finish line in sight. He just keeps going.”
-RapReviews

Growing up between the Bronx and Atlanta, he quickly started his career right after high school and became a battle rapper. Working on numerous of other projects throughout his career such as Alone but Not Lonely, S.O.O.N, Better Safe Than Sy Ari and others, which led to him releasing his own that he had in the works for long time for his rap fans.

The album consists of 21 tracks with brazen but vulnerable lyrics that allows for fans to connect and relate with. Sy Ari Da Kid’s sound is versatile which ultimately makes his fans equally crave his deep hip hop cuts and his continue uphill climb will keep his fan wondering what will be next for him.

March 29, 2022
Eastbound Throwdown Returns Sept. 9-10

The annual Eastbound Throwdown Festival will return to the Irwin Family Farm in Salem, NY on Sept. 9-10.

This year’s festival will feature Eastbound Jesus and Guthrie/Bell Productions.

Attendance at last year’s event was capped at 1,000 people due to COVID-19. This year attendance has been increased to 1,00 guests.

Two-day passes, which include camping, are available starting April 1 at 10am. Single day passes for Saturday, Sept. 10 are also available. Eastbound Jesus will be performing on both nights of the festival.

Since Eastbound Throwdown is a family event entrance for all attendees under the age of 15 is free.

March 29, 2022
Luscious Dissonance with Thollem, Cline, Wimberly & Bisio at Lace Mill

For six years, acclaimed bassist Michael Bisio and his artist wife Dawn have been bringing some of the jazz world’s finest to Lace Mill, the 55-unit affordable artist housing, gallery and performance space in Kingston that is also their home. On Thursday, March 24, the Bisios presented yet another astounding hour of improvisational invention in their long-running performance series, when the bassist was joined by guitar great Nels Cline, pianist Thollem and drummer Michael Wimberly.

Bisio has been called “a poet, a wonder and one of the most virtuosic and imaginative performers” on the double bass. He has over a one hundred thirty recordings in his discography, more than two dozen as leader or co-leader as well, as a dozen more documenting his extraordinary association with piano icon Matthew Shipp. His newest release which dropped a few days back, MBefore (Tao Forms), is an already critically-raved about work that finds Bisio in the company of another Hudson Valley great, world-renowned vibraphonist and Creative Music Studio founder Karl Berger, along with Mat Maneri (viola) and Whit Dickey (drums). Guitarist Nels Cline has been featured on over 200 recordings over the past few decades in every conceivable genre. But Cline is best known for his 17-years and counting stint as lead guitarist for Wilco. Drummer Wimberly has propelled greats like Charles Gayle, Henry Rollins, David Murray and Steve Coleman’s always excellent 5 Elements ensemble, while the perpetually globe-trotting Thollem has recently completed a 25-album cycle, one that found him collaborating with over 70 musicians worldwide.

The 40 or so attendees who packed the small performance space at Lace Mill included quite a few of Bisio’s fellow musicians and collaborators including the aforementioned Berger and Juma Sultan, the forever young percussionist best known for his appearance with Jimi Hendrix at Woodstock.

Bisio and company collectively conjured two, 30-minute improvisations during the concert. These were really ever-evolving examples of spontaneous composition, ones that demonstrated both their individual instrumental mastery and the resources in seemingly shortest supply among musicians – the arts of listening and injecting silence to give oxygen to the music.

The first improvisation kicked-off with Bisio moving from resonant chording to drone-like bowing, then to rubbing the strings behind the bridge and even punching his double bass. Pianist Thollem alternated between machine gun runs a la Cecil Taylor and tapping, plucking and even drumming the insides of his instrument. A master of stomp box f*ckery, Cline kept a clean and relatively untreated sound on both improvisations, crafting new harmonic avenues for exploration with his spare but richly intelligent chord structures and his darting leads. It was a place where subtlety and cacophony co-existed, all within an arresting, ever-spiraling musical architecture, one that seemed to evolve into whole new nations of sound every four or five minutes. The piece concluded with a thundering solo by drummer Wimberly, who used sticks, brushes, mallets and his bare hands to wrestle unique sounds from the world’s oldest instrument.

The second improv commenced with Thollem singing and whistling into his piano. He was soon joined on the vocalese by drummer Wimberly, who together created a sound resembling the chanting of monks, a Cambodian temple music of sorts. Cline added to the drama by getting percussive on his Fender Jazzmaster guitar, now outfitted with two sticks to mute its strings. The whistle of a passing freight train on the tracks adjacent to Lace Mill only added to the otherworldly ambience. In this latter musical adventure, Bisio took a masterful 5-minute solo. It concluded with his bowed bass generating high-pitched overtones that sounded like a Shehnai, a double-reeded Indian wind instrument heard on tracks like The Beatles’ “Inner Light,” or a flock of seagulls caught up in a typhoon! There was a wonderful guitar solo from Cline propelled by Thollem’s thunderous chordal comps and Wimberly’s circular drum rolls and shouts.

Bottomline? Dissonance never sounded so luscious!

Bisio will be back at Lace Mill on Sunday, April 10 at 4 pm for a performance with the quartet featured on his new release, MBefore (featuring wonderful cover art by his wife Dawn). Hudson Valley guitar aficionados can catch Nels Cline on Saturday, April 2 at 8 pm at Colony Woodstock.

Bisio, Berger, Sultan and many more of the Hudson Valley’s most creative jazz and electronic improvisers are being featured at a new concert series at the Kingston Library curated by another Lace Mill resident, Daniel Rhiner of the Kingston Artist Collective. More excellent improvisational ensembles are being presented regularly, both live and via concurrent livestreams curated by owner D.b. Schnell at Green Kill, his long-running art and performance space at 229 Greenkill Avenue in Kingston.

March 29, 2022