NYS Music 2023

Category: Audio

  • Lou Tides Releases Mini-Movie For “Infinite Loop Visual Mixtape” 

    Brooklyn‘s Lou Tides (TEEN, Here We Go Magic) has just released a mini-movie for her Infinite Loop Visual Mixtape following her first track, “Sense of Touching.” Her debut solo EP Infinite Loop EP was released Jan 20th. 

    Lou Tides Releases Mini-Movie For “Infinite Loop Visual Mixtape” & EP

    The 10-minute film includes 5 chapters and a visual ode to each of the EP’s songs. Throughout the film, there are many striking visual elements that bring the viewer through a variety of worlds. This includes a bizarrely drab yet hectic beach dance, to an apartment that feels straight out of a Wong Kar Wai film, followed by a dark void where Lou Tides shines in PVC and mystical movement, then finally in a womb-like creature concert.  

    Nearing the end, we journey deep under the peaceful, blue sea where the transformation is complete. Lou Tides transcends her form, reborn as a radiant human-cetacean hybrid. 

    Lou Tides Releases Mini-Movie For “Infinite Loop Visual Mixtape” & EP

    “I think of these songs as a map. A sequence in time. And the sequence of the songs follows that map, that loop,” says Tides. A veteran of Here We Go Magic and TEEN, she has chosen a solo moniker for her newest project.   

    Performing and producing solo for the first time were natural choices for an EP this personal. Tides made these songs while reckoning with the profound ways she’d been disrupted by her past. “Emotionally this music would not fit into anything strictly shaped or precise, I wanted to embrace the moods of the emotions and how I felt they would naturally flow. Time then felt different, and lush arrangements with stretchy synthesizers felt appropriate. I wanted the music to emulate the natural peaks and valleys of our lives and relationships,” Tides says.

    Of her former band TEEN, NPR wrote, “What makes these wrenching themes resonate is the way TEEN’s music balances darkness with buoyancy and immediacy.” On Infinite Loop, Tides maintains that balance while moving away from previous pop inflections. Opening track “The Rake” uses jagged synths and nets of altered vocal tracks atop a constantly evolving beat. The song becomes a ghostly chorus and a doom-electronica crescendo to mimic dissociation and its effect on intimacy–and it feels totally organic. 

    To listen to Infinite Loop, click the link here. For more information on Lou Tides, visit her website by clicking the link here.

  • Oropendola Releases “Knocking Down Flowers” off upcoming debut album

    Brooklyn‘s Oropendola has announced the release of her newest LP Waiting For The Sky To Speak out on March 17th. Along with this exciting news, she has just released the single track on the album “Knocking Down Flowers,” accompanied with a beautifully hazy and shimmering video to go with it.  

    When listening to “Knocking Down Flowers,” Schubert finds life in the least likely of places: a construction site. Here, she recognizes and illuminates the power of living at the intersection of contrasts.  

    Waiting For The Sky To Speak is Joanna Schubert’s debut album as Oropendola, a word that means “golden pendulum.” The album’s emotional core comes through on roiling ballad “Trust the Sun” and clear-eyed album closer “When You Carried Me,” which both look to the sun, another kind of golden pendulum, as a guiding force.  

    Set to release March 17th, these tracks shimmer with bursts of energy and emotion, swinging from playfulness to earnestness with deft, technicolor brushstrokes. The album is a celebration of choosing life even in the face of its ephemerality, and of finding motion even in the midst of stillness. 

    While much of the rest of Waiting for the Sky to Speak careens across black-ice patches of inner conflict, both these songs offer a tentative hand outward, towards love, friendship, and family. The fixed sun in a changeable sky as she coaxes herself back out into the world. 

    Joanna says of the track and its inspiration, “In January 2020, I started recording myself improvising every morning – “morning pages” inspired by The Artist’s Way, a creative self-help book. I recorded morning pages #1 soon after a pivotal, complicated, on-and-off relationship “reached its end. Round and round we went, addicted to one another, unable to break free of a sticky cycle that prevented us from fully blooming together. That song seed turned into Knocking Down Flowers within a few days.” 

    To listen to more of Oropendola, click the link here.

    For more information about Oropendola and upcoming tour dates, click the link here.

  • Tune Into EQXposure This Sunday to Hear Rhoseway and More

    Each Sunday evening from 7-9 p.m. 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 Rhoseway.

    Rhoseway

    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.

    There is only one cut this week because Pearson is featuring two songs in a row from a lot of artists to showcase their changes of sound throughout their music. The next two weeks of shows are prerecorded, with the 1/29 the show being from 1/8 and the  2/5 the show is from 1/15.

    Rhoseway – “Cloak and Dagger”

    Rhoseway is the solo project of Albany-based songwriter Rob Fleming. All writing, arrangements, performances, and production are done by himself in a DIY fashion.

  • Conomor Duo Releases First EP: “One Step (At A Time)”  

    Rochester’s Conomor duo has just released their first ever EP One Step (At A Time) on January 6th. The album is heavily influenced by sounds like Daft Punk, Outkast, Damon Albarn, Kendrick Lamar, and many others.  

    Conomor Duo Releases First EP: “One Step (At A Time)”  

    Overall, the songs on the album are solid, have defined identity, and are led by a creative and unique perspective that the duo provides. Songs like “One Step (At A Time)” sound so familiar to Gorillaz/Damon Albarn’s vocals.  

    Conomor Duo Releases First EP: “One Step (At A Time)”  

    Conomor is a duo based in USA and France, made up of Kevin (Vocals/music) and Paul (Music). While going to the same high school, they in the neighborhood hip-hop studio named TCA. Through producing beats and creating their first band Drozophyl, the duo forged a friendship as well as an artistic collaboration that still lasts today.  

    https://soundcloud.com/conomor/sets/conomor-one-step-at-a-time/s-rbB14nHsMC4?si=79f237d1f99e442cb18589060139448d&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

    Conomor is a boundless project made by both Kevin and Paul, venturing between electronic music, trip hop, pop with hints of hip-hop and rock. Both have collaborated on different projects in the past, and have been active in multiple musical experiences in both countries. 

    “I had thought of a wrecked life 

    Rifles screaming into darkness 

    A bunch of dope and a blunt knife 

    It’s as weak as I am 

    I could go lifeless” 

    As life separates the duo geographically, Paul works on many different projects, and so does Kévin after having moved to Rochester. 

    The duo stated, “With this first EP, we demonstrate that, from the complexity of our musical world results a truly universal sensitivity. One Step (at a Time) seeks to be resolutely modern and contemporary without abandoning its traditional musical heritage. Kévin’s instrumental melodies often rely on Paul’s electronic rhythms. The use of machines enriches and sublimates each musical phrase: early, the minimalist One Step (at a Time), alternates between hot and cold, and ends up delivering a rhythmic groove. With Arms, guitars mix with Trap beats, before a harmonica strikes a heady blow. Materialize resonates as a dark electro/club anthem, with its captivating vocal layering. Flower City Groove holds a lively rhythm, evolving into a chanted chorus, an ode to the city of Rochester, NY. Finally, lyrical piano chords accompany elements of a cold ambiance, with synthetic Notes.” 

    To listen to the album “One Step (At A Time),” click the link here.

  • 3 Cards Trick Trio Releases “Songs” EP

    Brand new, NYC-based music label 41st Parallel Records has just made their first release of 2023 with “Songs” by 3 Cards Trick. This instrumental guitar trio is the meeting of three of the most in-demand improvisors on New York’s avant-garde scene: Marco Cappelli (classical guitar), Brandon Seabrook (guitar), and Stomu Takeishi (acoustic bass guitar).  

    3 Cards Trick Trio Releases “Songs” EP

    The trio’s music tastes take influence from various sources including covers, soundtracks, early music, and original compositions. Then, after some sampling with a blend of their own tastes, they land in a new unknown sound territory where everything is possible. 

    3 Cards Trick Trio Releases “Songs” EP

    The all three members of 3 Cards Trick had first met back in 2015 at The Stone, John Zorn’s storied experimental music venue in New York. Since then, the trio has continued to develop its own, unique musical vision.  

    3 Cards Trick Trio Releases “Songs” EP

    Marco Cappelli, also known as 41st Parallel Records, is an Italian-born, Brooklyn-based guitarist and composer. He has carved out an extraordinary artistic path between the worlds of avant classical and improvised music, fluent in both rigorous written music as well the languages of free improvisation. Marco is also member of Marc Ribot’s Caged Funk, Adam Rudolph’s Go: Organic Orchestra, and The Zone with Daniele Del Monaco. 

    In March 2020, the trio was ready to take off on their first ever European tour but backfired due to the worldwide COVID pandemic and lockdown. Thankfully after some time, the tour finally happened during the Fall of 2021.

    Upcoming Tour Dates: 

    2/7  MARCO CAPPELLI – DownTown Music Gallery 6:30 pm / 13 Monroe St, New York 
    2/8 ELLIOTT SHARP / MARCO CAPPELLI / JT LEWIS – Shift 8pm / 411 Kent Ave, Brooklyn 
    2/14  ITALIAN SURF ACADEMY Fake Worlds album release show – The Sultan Room 234 Starr St, Brooklyn     
    2/18  w/ADAM RUDOLPH’S GO: ORGANIC ORCHESTRA & BROOKLYN RAGA MASSIVE Festival in Sons d’Hiver, Paris, France 

    Listen to 3 Cards Trick’s “Songs” by clicking the link here.

  • Deb Cavanaugh and Dandelion Wine Share “Electric Avenue” Cover

    Deb Cavanaugh, an award-winning folk artist from Saratoga Springs, has recently formed Deb Cavanaugh and Dandelion Wine, with their first release a cover of “Electric Avenue” by Eddy Grant.

    Deb Cavanaugh Dandelion Wine

    ​Very much like Deb Cavanaugh‘s former band, General Eclectic, Dandelion Wine’s line-up may vary depending on the venue and availability of musicians. Dandelion Wine is Jared Carrozza on bass and Ben Hart on drums, who also provides vocals and occasional lead guitar.

    The unique blend of blues, rock & roll, and folk is what gives Dandelion Wine a genre best defined as “psychedelic folk.”

    Cavanaugh is a singer songwriter, artist educator, multi-instrumentalist (guitar, mountain dulcimer, mandolin & more) in Petersburg, NY playing feel-good Americana.

    The group have also released a video, “New Age Guy,” recorded at The Jive Hive.

  • Brooklyn MC Skyzoo Releases “The Mind Of A Saint” Album, “Straight Drop” Video

    Brooklyn-based MC Skyzoo has dropped his newest studio creation, told from the point of view of “Franklin Saint”, the series protaganist of FX’s Snowfall. The video for lead single “Straight Drop” has also been released.

    Skyzoo Releases New Concept Album

    Art Imitating Art

    Across this new 10 song character study, Skyzoo puts himself in the mind of the character, and raps about the motivations, surroundings, and the reality of the drug epidemic.

    “When making this album, I wanted to do something that creatively pushed a button.  Something that served a purpose, while trying to understand both sides of the fence that it represents.  The idea of a fictional character, Franklin Saint, and what his innermost thoughts could be when dealing with the worlds he’s caught in between.  What makes it so intriguing is that his character and his world are mirrors of a time and era that really happened.  The birth of one of the world’s most addictive drugs and how its ripple effect took on a life that may seemingly never die. The crack era was one of the worst chapters in black America’s story.  Using the Snowfall series as a vehicle to delve into both sides was truly fascinating as an emcee”.

    Skyzoo

    This companion experience comes at a perfect time, as the sixth and final season of FX’s Snowfall begins airing on February 22, 2023.

    The Mind Of a Saint Artwork
    The Mind Of A Saint, Now available

    A Successful Partnership

    For this LP, Skyzoo once again teamed with D.C based The Other Guys. The production duo of Mighty Joe and Isaiah “Insanate” Mensah follow have been collaborating with Skyzoo for years. Their music chemistry is palpable on this project, which has relatable themes, even to those not familiar with Snowfall. The songs feature thoughtful interludes, and Pete Rock/DJ Premier-style outro beats at the end.

    While not new to the ‘conceptual album” as evident on his previous projects,  this is definitely Skyzoo’s most ambitious, and often grueling project.

    “It was one of the most intense projects I’ve ever written.  The idea of becoming a fictional character, which represents actual real-life events, making sure to hit every detail, from both the show and our real world, was a writing exercise like no other” Skyzoo claims.  “I’m honored to have been able to do so, and I’m honored that The Other Guys trusted me to step outside a box, and truly push the envelope with this.  Enjoy, and remember, like they told us in the ’80s: Just Say No.” 

    Skyzoo’s The Mind Of A Saint is now available at all DSP’s via First Generation Rich/HiPNOTT Records.

  • De La Soul share “The Magic Number” ahead of Digital Catalog Release on March 3

    After years of delay, De La Soul will release their catalog on streaming services on March 3, 2023, the 34th anniversary of the release of 3 Feet High and Rising the Amityville groups’ debut release. The album, which went platinum, reached the top of the R&B chart, and even made it into the Top 40 of the pop music charts, including the single “The Magic Number.”

    de la soul the magic number

    The influential Long Island group, including members Posdnuos, Trugoy the Dove and Pasemaster Mase found new life for “The Magic Number” after an appearance in the credits of Spider-Man: No Way Home in 2021. The song would sample from the 1973 Bob Dorough song “3 is the Magic Number” – Somewhere in this hip-hop soul community / Was born three Mace, Dove, and Me / And that’s the magic number – as well as sampling James Brown, Johnny Cash and Eddie Murphy.

    In addition to the digital reissue, “The Magic Number” has also been made available in a handful of physical formats, including a 7″ single and a cassette single.

    The group revealed in 2019 that their six albums released while under contract with the Tommy Boy record label would be on streaming services soon. Disagreements with the label, as well as an exploitative contract that cut royalties for the group also made it difficult to clear samples used on the album. After Tommy Boy was acquired by Reservoir Media, a resolution was reached in 2021, leading to the six albums – 3 Feet High And Rising (1989), De La Soul Is Dead (1991), Buhloone Mindstate (1993), Stakes Is High (1996), Art Official Intelligence: Mosaic Thump (2000) and AOI: Bionix (2001) – to appearing on streaming services, effective March 3, 2023.

    De La Soul’s last album was 2016’s And The Anonymous Nobody…, featured Talking Heads’ David Byrne, Little Dragon, 2 Chainz, Snoop Dogg, Samon Albarn, Estelle, Usher and more and was nominated for a Grammy Award in the Best Rap Album category.

    de la soul the magic number

    The band, in speaking with Apple Music, reflected on their catalog, with Trugory saying “3 Feet High and Rising was inspired, maybe just the state that we were in as kids, just not afraid to say, ‘This is me.’ At the same time, it also gave birth to an era, a sound, a style in Hip Hop.”

    Posdnuos added: “Dealing with how the media was labeling us, purposely putting us as the champion of gangsta rap or… None of that really mattered to us. We’re part of something that’s truly bigger than us, so now it’s even another thing of having a responsibility to continue on just for, one, three being three Black men who stuck together; two, being a part of a culture that wasn’t supposed to happen.”

    The hip-hop collective will be touring the UK in April, playing shows in London, Glasgow, Nottingham and Manchester.

  • WNYC Studios Announce the Second Season of Podcast on the Puerto Rican Experience

    WNYC Studios and Futuro Studios announced that a second season of the critically-acclaimed, pioneering dual-language podcast, La Brega: Stories of the Puerto Rican Experience, will premiere on Jan. 26.

    La Brega

    La Brega: Stories of the Puerto Rican Experience was hailed as one of the “Best Podcasts of 2021” by The New Yorker and The New York Times. Each episode in season two will be devoted to an iconic Puerto Rican song, as the island has a dizzying breadth of musical expression. The second season of La Brega will concentrate on the lyrical boleristas of the 1930s, the electric salseros of the 70s, and the reggaetoneros of today who have taken this music and spread it globally.

    Hosted by Alana Casanova-Burgess, the podcast will once again bring together a collective of Puerto Rican journalists, producers, musicians, and artists. Some notable people this season that are featured include Salsa legend Rubén Blades, Latin Grammy award-winning singer-songwriter Susana Baca, Puerto Rico-based hip-hop DJ, producer, and MC Andres “Velcro” Ramos, and Independent Puerto Rican journalist Bianca Graulau, best-known for her documentary, Aquí Vive Gente (People Live Here), featured as part of the music video for Bad Bunny’s “El Apagón.”

    Kenya Young, Senior Vice President, WNYC Studios, spoke about La Brega in a statement.

    La Brega was a pioneer of the dual-language podcast format, and it’s fitting that the second season spotlights and honors Puerto Rico’s influence on music and culture over time and across languages. These sound-rich and deeply reported stories embrace a nuance and beauty not always found in coverage of Puerto Rico. WNYC Studios is incredibly proud to partner with Futuro Studios to bring listeners a second season of La Brega.

    Kenya Young

    Burgess also said that the season will “shed light on the songs that reflect what it means to be Puerto Rican and part of the diaspora — about the pride and yearning we feel for home, and that resonates with people everywhere. They capture joy, frustration, love, loss, and wonder of the human experience — in short: la brega.” The Greene Space at WNYC and WQXR will be hosting a La Brega Season 2 Launch Party in New York on Jan. 26 at 7 p.m. featuring the host, the band Balún, and DJ Christian Mártir for a night of music and dancing in celebration of the new season. Tickets for that are on sale now.

    La Brega: The Puerto Rican Experience in Eight Songs will be available in both English and Spanish here and on all other platforms where podcasts are available.

  • Raegan Sealy Drops Soulful Pop Hit “Make ’em Jealous”

    Brooklyn soulful pop artist Raegan Sealy’s newest single “Make ‘em Jealous” just dropped on January 12th, an upbeat, indie soul piece set out to reframe the cliché of being stuck in a toxic relationship, with a satirical spin.

    Raegan Sealy Drops Soulful Pop Song "Make 'em Jealous" Today

    “Make ‘em Jealous,” featuring The Gang of Angels, an all-female choir from Nottingham, UK led by Honey Williams. Taking her inspiration from a diverse range of artists like the Arctic Monkeys, Lana Del Rey, Marina, and more, Sealy fuses her soul-pop vocals with an infectiously recurring beat.

    Sealy’s new single shines optimism on the self-delusion that so often keeps us from moving on. “Make ‘em Jealous” reclaims the hope of strength and courage in the healing part of a breakup. With lyrics such as, “Everyone wants a sip of my love, but they just get a taste,” Sealy shows off her undeniable confidence and spunk.

    “What is it that we tell ourselves in order to ‘stay?’ How does our ego react to accommodate disrespect? And how hilarious is that, when you think about it? This emotional push and pull in these dynamics is truly often like a Laurel and Hardy sketch,”

    Raegan Sealy, on her new single.
    Raegan Sealy Drops Soulful Pop Song "Make 'em Jealous" Today

    Outside of music, Sealy is an advocate and teaching artist, and received a Fulbright Scholarship in 2015, one of the most prestigious academic scholarships in the world, along with her MFA from The New School. Continuing to sing and perform her own poetry, she has opened for Shane Koyczan, Kae Tempest, and Ice T. She even gave the first official TED Talk entirely in rhyming verse in 2019 which you can watch down below.

    Now officially based in Brooklyn, Sealy has beautifully fused her musical and writing talents to tell her story as a soul-pop singer-songwriter. “Make ‘em Jealous” is the first in a series of singles Sealy will be releasing throughout 2023. But this new soulful single is sure to leave her listeners feeling more confident than ever.

    To listen to Reagan Sealy’s new single “Make ’em Jealous,” click the link here.

    To find more information on upcoming releases from Reagan Sealy, click the link here to access her website.