42 North Brewing Company and Holiday Valley Resort have announced their partnership to celebrate the third annual Hilltap Festival at Holiday Valley on July 2nd. From 12pm-9pm this outstanding festival fuses music, craft beer, and outdoor adventure atop the mountain at Spruce Lake.
The Hilltap Festival will kick off with Kody & Herren bringing their roots from Springville, NY as the opening act. Following the guitarists will be the Buffalo-based Ten Cent Howl. The folk band is renowned for their up-tempo, Americana sound. Ionic band, The Probables will be giving a special performance at the base of the mountain for the closing act. Fans can expect to hear their bluegrass, rock and contemporary sounds at the festival as part of their 2023 Destination Tour.
“This is one of our favorite events of the year. There is no better place to merge craft beer, roots music, and adventure. It’s truly a one-of-a-kind venue”
-John Cimperman, 42 North Brewery Founder
Festival attendees will park at the Tannenbaum Lodge and take a chair lift ride to the top of the mountain. Once everyone has arrived at the mountain, a full day of music and adventure can be enjoyed along with thrilling activities such as mountain biking, stand up paddleboarding (SUP), and ax throwing. Furthermore, attendees can fill their stomachs at Fat Bob’s BBQ and Villagio.
Presale tickets are $40, same day tickets are $45 and $50 if you want to transport a mountain bike on the chairlift. Admission provides a lift ride to Spruce Lake, a full day of music, and access to the vendors and demos. Children ten and under are admitted for free if they’re accompanied by a paying adult.
More information about about the Hilltap festival and tickets can be found here.
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, Jim Cesare, North Side Sound and Leyeux
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.
Jim Cesare “Away We Go”
North Side Sound “Take my Time”
For fans of rock, indie, reggae, or funk, North Side Sound, a band out of Albany formed in 2020 and create genre bending music, releasing their EP Take My Time, January 2022.
Leyeux “Tightrope”
Leyeux (Jack Snyder) was born and raised in Central Vermont. He began drumming at the age of 8, and performed as a singer and guitarist in high school, playing drums in the school jazz band and other professional gigs. From 2013-2015 he attended the Berklee College of Music in Boston and joined the a capella group Pitch Slapped, which competed and won the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella in the Spring of 2014.
Renowned NYC-based reggae band Easy Star All-Stars have just released their new album Ziggy Stardub, a reggae reimagining of David Bowie’s The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars.
Their newest track “Rock ‘N’ Roll Suicide” features vocals by the iconic multi-award-winning musician, songwriter, and producer Macy Gray. Offering a fresh spin, the band has created a laid-back atmosphere within the song through a bounding drum beat and swaggering horns.
Michael Goldwasser, producer, arranger, and multi-instrumentalist of Easy Star says, “The main key was finding an emotive and groundbreaking vocalist, and we did just that with Macy Gray, who is truly inimitable in every song that she sings, including this one.” The track is paired with a stop motion video, taking viewers through the journey of two cats during an evening in a paper town.
After a run of sonically mesmerizing singles, the band releases their highly anticipated album Ziggy Stardub on the 21st.The project is a reggae reimagining of David Bowie’s The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, and features guest performances by Maxi Priest, Steel Pulse, Fishbone, Alex Lifeson (Rush), Vernon Reid (Living Colour), The Skints, Mortimer, The Expanders, Samory I, and many others.
Blending musical versatility, instrumental prowess, beautiful vocal harmonies, and a premier rhythm section, Easy Star All-Stars have established themselves as one of the top international reggae acts on the scene for over two decades. The band will also be performing at the Sea.Hear.Now music festival in New Jersey this September.
To watch the video for “Rock ‘N’ Roll Suicide,” click the link here.
NYC based band Sorry Mom has just liberated the punk-rock single “Shaving My Legs” in preparation for the release of their debut album babyface on May 12th. Following the album release, Sorry Mom will be hitting the road for a short northeast run that concludes with a set at Boston Calling Music Festival.
Sorry Mom is an NYC-based femme punk band whose music chronicles queer experiences and suburban despair through a nostalgic punk sound. Their music boasts the lyrical playfulness of Green Day and blink-182, but sonically has a more hardcore edge.
What began as a group of college friends playing music together quickly evolved into something bigger upon the release of Sorry Mom’s debut EP “Juno Goes to the Big House” in April 2021. As of July 2022, the band has garnered 10M+ streams across platforms and 50k+ followers across socials. In Fall 2021 and Spring 2022, Sorry Mom embarked on tours of the Northeast, playing 30 unique venues across the region.
The first single “Hiccup” shows the side of Sorry Mom that is incredibly hardcore punk. By using their artform to their advantage, they show how unique they are with powerful lyrics and punk melodies. Overall, “Hiccup” makes you want to jump straight into a mosh pit.
The second single “Shaving My Legs,” released on April 14th, provides a fast-paced intro to the overall album. While tackling feelings of being trapped, promising again and again to start making changes tomorrow, the band shows us that tomorrow never comes.
Sorry Mom is also going on tour for the release of babyface, stopping in Brooklyn’s Saint Vitus Bar. For more information and to purchase tickets, click the link here.
To listen to “Shaving My Legs,” click the link here.
Zach Nugent’s Dead Set kicked off a six-show run across New York State at Garcia’s in Port Chester on Wednesday, April 19.
Performing with members of Swimmer and Corey Wilhelm on Percussion, a wide range of Grateful Dead and Jerry Garcia songs were featured, with a crowd filling the room and enjoying one of the freshest takes on the music of the Grateful Dead you’ll hear.
In concert, Nugent is exhilarating and unforgettable, energizing and inspiring fans, uplifting the crowd from the moment he and the band take the stage, Nugentâs virtuosic guitar playing and deep connection to the music of the Grateful Dead captivates the audience and transports them to another realm.
Urbano Street announced their U Street Music Festival, inviting people of all ages with an appreciation for street art, culture, and vinyl to celebrate record store day and the return of live music. The all-day festival will be on April 22 from 11 a.m.-7 p.m. in Bushwick, Brooklyn, NY on Suydam St. between Irving Ave and Knickerbocker Ave.
The U Street Festival will feature two stages that serve as a discovery platform for multicultural and non-commercial musicians and street artists. Stars such as Rebelmatic, La Sazound, Dubcorps, Spite Fuxxx, Chico Raro, Tambor y Caña, Hecho en Brooklyn, Eclectic Charango Beats, Prince of Queens, Jah Point, Vee Vee, and Wild Roots will take the stage. The festival also emphasizes the long-standing record of street culture and urban art, focusing on BIPOC artists who enrich New York City. U Street is on a mission to support underground and alternative artists in the independent space.
U Street Music Fest is the first street event of its kind, no one has ever attempted to bring subcultural music communities together before. Think of it as a cumbia punky reggae party on the streets of Brooklyn.
– Diana Hernandez, Urbano Street Lead Organizer
The music festival will expose local talent while also celebrating the diversity of its vibrant community which is largely made up of immigrants from Latin America. Although the neighborhood has recently battled gentrification-related tensions, the U Street Music Festival strives to cultivate collaboration uniting its residents with Bushwick’s artistic roots. They also hope to help bridge the generational and socio-economic gap between old and new members of the community.
Urbano Street is a nonprofit organization that relies on volunteers, music lovers, and donors. Whilst focusing on BIPOC artists who enrich New York City. Urbano Street is on a mission to support underground and alternative artists in the independent space, opening doors for underrepresented musicians by bringing them to urban places and shooting music videos, a passport to more gigs, press, and opportunities.
More information about the non-profit organization can be accessed here.
Brooklyn’s indie-dance band Underground System announced that the release of their latest EP, “Looking In” will be on April 26. The band also revealed their series of live spring performances stopping in Ridgewood NY, and Kingston.
Underground System is one of the most exuberant bands to emerge from New York City within the past few years. The five-member band is acclaimed for innovating a brand that fuses various genres of music. Listening to “Looking In”, gives fans the opportunity to see how Underground System recreates, redefines, and reconstructs elements of afrobeat, dance punk, disco and electronic music. The band has also received global attention from outlets such as Billboard, NPR, and The Rolling Stones, crediting them for their true New York eclecticism.
“It was a long form exploration of various genres we like to blend within the band, and a pointed lyrical climax that paints a picture of action in the face of inequality.”
– Peter Matson, Songwriter and Producer
Peter Matson revealed that to achieve the right sound, the band dug further into stylistic gestures first explored on their debut LP. The group opened with chopped rhythmic flute layers that featured the flute played by Domenica as reminiscent of minimalist music. The EP also features drums played by Chris Eggan.
In December 2018, following Underground System’s release of ‘What Are You’, the band dominated the stage at the French tastemaking festival Transmusicales. This launched the band into an 18-show European tour in 2019, rocking the stages at Eurockeennes de Belfort, Fusion Festival in Germany, and Laurent Garnier’s Festival Yeah as a headliner.
Additionally, Underground System’s partnership with Brooklyn based label Razor-n-Tape, and French label Heavenly Sweetness in the EU has led the group into their next era. After the release of “Looking In”, Underground System will drop club-ready remixes to further cement their penchant for clever songwriting that causes listeners to make their way to the dancefloor.
More information about Underground System and tickets to their live show can be found here .
Saliyah Itoka is a singer and a songwriter and a model, and if you watch her perform, you’ll realize she does have a plan to kill everyone in the room.
One of the best things about my gig here is that, by default, I have to expose myself to every type of music. I have to challenge myself, because it’s easy to ask a rocker what kinds of strings they use if you’re into electric guitars. But it’s a challenge to run across a singer/songwriter that’s out of your depth.
I connect with Saliyah and we discuss our best cocktail mixes.
Liam Sweeny: I’m listening to What You Doing, the video on Youtube. I love your style, it’s great. A sense I get from you by your lyrics is that you’re a strong, confident woman and you are in absolute command of what’s around you and what’s in your world. How much of what we see of you as a performer and how much is actually you?
Saliyah Itoka: What my audience sees from me as a performer is actually all me. I’m still learning to be comfortable as a performer and that comes from the type of shows I do. And it comes from reading the room and being confident that I can command the room. But everytime you see me hit the stage; I’m aiming to be the best.
LS: I’m learning about you from listening to your videos. You’re a singer/songwriter, and I’ve heard plenty of them, but I’ve not heard anyone bringing what you’re bringing. I fully admit this is me; I’m a rock guy. So let me ask simpler questions due to my own personal lack of depth. When and how did you get started singing and writing songs?
SI: I started singing when I was 3 years old, and I started writing songs at 11 years old. I’ve always loved to write and I’ve always been fascinated with how my favorite artists wrote their songs. I used to open the CD and read the paper insert and see how the lyrics were formatted and I would write them out myself. I studied artists like Mariah Carey, Stevie Wonder, and Sade in regards to their writing and composition. As far as singers, I listened to a variety of artists growing up but I’ve always gravitated towards R&B and the artists that I idolized for singing were Toni Braxton, Aaliyah, Mariah Carey, Mary J. Blige, and Tamia.
LS: Some people have an aim, or an inner vision with what they want to create or produce and they’re never there yet, stuck in a home studio with every instrument on earth. Then there are people who just pick and grin and smile and will pick and grin forever. Do you have a vision for what you write now and what you want to write?
SI: It depends on a few factors. Sometimes, I’ll get a random line or melody that pops into my head and I’ll write it down quickly so I can build on it later. Other times, it depends on the track that I’m given or the vibe I get from the track. And there are instances where the vision of what I want to write about will just appear and I just follow its course until its completion.
LS: Music transcends our differences and puts our hearts in the hearts of others, and that is an amazing property. But music doesn’t exist in a vacuum. None of our lived experiences are the same. As a black woman in America, you have to share your experience to audiences that won’t get it. How do you try to reach them? Do you try?
SI: I believe that being and staying authentic to your true self is how you reach greater audiences. And I also believe that being open to having those conversations and asking the questions is how we reach understanding. As a black woman in America, I want to be able to express my experience in the way that I have lived in and hope for it to be a roadmap or even a glimpse into understanding who I am as an artist as well as a human being.
LS: You were nominated for the 2022 Listen Up awards. As I write this, the 2023 awards are coming. By the time you get this, you might be twice-nominated, or you might be a winner. This is a fan awards thing; we don’t vote for anything. Do you have something to say to the fans? Do you want to nominate anybody?
SI: To my fans, I just want to say thank you for all of the support. It’s heartwarming to be a consideration for a nomination. I appreciate everyone who has taken the time out to listen to my music and have followed my journey and I can’t wait for you all to see what I have in store. As far as me nominating anybody, there are so many people that I can see being nominated. There are a lot of artists who are really stepping out of their comfort zone and really showing their talents from the 518.
LS: You are also a model on top of being a singer/songwriter. I love it when people have some other cool thing on top of being a musician. I figure you have more to pull from. We are getting out of an age where modeling was abusive on women in the sense of body image. How do we reform the modeling industry? Any ways that aren’t easily seen?
SI: I think we should understand that everyone is beautiful in their own way and that there is a market for everyone. I think that the flaws that each of us have make us unique and that not everyone is going to fit into the same category. With that said, there is a market out there for everyone and I believe that every single one should be showcased. It doesn’t matter what size or fit or shape you are, you are beautifully made. I feel that the stigma that a model should only look like this versus a model that looks like that puts unneeded pressure and unneeded expectations on the mind. We are all beautiful and we need to keep an open mind in the discussions of what beauty is because the definition is different for everyone.
This article was originally featured on RadioRadioX
Upstate NY’s The Parlor have just announced their newest LP You Are Love And I Am You, a psychedelic dream-pop record about ecstatic realizations associated with what some call the mystical experience, unitive consciousness, or loving presence.
In celebration to the release on May 19th, they will also be hosting an album release show May 20th at Indian Ladder Cidery & Brewery’s Upper Biergarten.
You Are Love And I Am You is like a dream-pop relief compared to their more recent release in 2018 titled Kiku which chronicled the experience of grief and loss. It is meant to be listened to as an album, front to back. There were many that influenced the making of this album, such as The Mamas and the Papas, Tame Impala, Broadcast, Warpaint, Mazzy Star, George Harrison, Velvet Underground, Khruangbin, The Brian Jonestown Massacre, Len, Cults, and Fleetwood Mac.
As a neo-psychedelic dream-pop project made by husband and wife Eric Krans and Jen O’Connor, The Parlor was named after a room in the 19th century farmhouse where they live, farm, and create. The multi-instrumentalist, producer-composers express some of the most powerful aspects of the human experience. Immersive sound scaping and aural synesthetic composition is the vessel through which they share their existence.
The song that has been released as a tease for the album, “Underneath the Universe,” is an absolute hit. It is very reminiscent of Tame Impala, with pretty indie visuals in the video to accommodate the dreamy-like melodies in the song itself.
The band stated, “Things got gloomy for us while touring on the Kiku record. Playing songs about trauma on a nightly basis, and the grueling nature of touring just sort of wore us down. (Jenn Pelly wrote an incredible piece for Pitchfork that relays a lot of what we experienced). Together these experiences ushered us deeper down a dark tapering claustrophobic tunnel with only a pinhole exit. We squeezed through somehow, thanks to meditative practice and sharing our deepest vulnerabilities with each other.”
During the pandemic, additional darkness ensued, but there was only one way out and it was through. We found a deepened sense of presence that felt sacred. By accepting the seemingly unacceptable we were paradoxically filled with awe and wonder. Living was imbued again with light, love and gratitude. That’s the experience this album captures. Us finding ourselves again. The heart of this album is the enigmatic realization that we are and always have been the universe experiencing itself. We exist as manifestations of the universe just as everything else. And when we allow ourselves to be whole and unique, we express the universe in hi-fidelity authenticity. Something about holding that in imagination produces a sense of reverence and a desire to sing and share.
“We got into Carl Jung, archetypal symbolism, alchemy, medieval Christian mysticism, Taoism, Sufism and found hundreds of esoteric philosophical characters that seem to be sharing similar mystical experiences of their own. This album is for them. Our new long dead friends. And everyone we ever met or wished upon. You shaped us. And to anyone out there who has had, or who hopes to have, a mystical experience in their lives that orients them toward abiding presence, awe and wonder, and gratitude for all existence. We celebrate you as us. Everything and nothing is one shining-forth ineffable non-dual eminence. Like dust in the light // Both the dark and bright.”
To pre-order You Are Love And I Am You, click the link here.
Unknown Mortal Orchestra continued their four show run at New York City’s Webster Hall this past Friday night, April 14. Continuing through Sunday to complete their New York stop on The V Tour.
Throughout the night, the group led by Ruban Nielson, blasted through songs from all of their albums, self-titled to the recently released V.
The show slowly ramped up with only a solo keyboardist playing a minimal piano track, leading into the rest of the band coming out on stage to perform the newest album’s opener, The Garden. Some songs seamlessly transitioned between one another, leading to a perpetual sense of musical cohesion.
The whole night felt like a family get together. From the familial themes sung about on V to Ruban’s brother Kody on drums, even their Dad regularly emerging to play saxophone, among a variety of other brass instruments.
Alongside their original material, two memorable covers joined the setlist. The group played The Grateful Dead’s “Shakedown Street” and Billy Joel’s “Movin’ Out,” the latter being a first. The band’s unique melding of psychedelia, rock, and funk blended astonishingly well with these two songs.
The V tour continues on in North America this week, concluding in Boston, before traveling overseas for the remainder of the summer.
Unknown Mortal Orchestra | Webster Hall | New York, NY | April 15, 2023
Setlist: The Garden, From the Sun / Secret Xtians, Swim and Sleep (Like a Shark), Weekend Run, The Opposite of Afternoon, Thought Ballune / Little Blu House, Necessary Evil / Monki, Ministry of Alienation, In the Rear View, Nadja, So Good at Being in Trouble / Waves of Confidence, Layla, Multi-Love
Encore: Meshuggah, Shakedown Street (Grateful Dead cover), Like Acid Rain, Movin’ Out (Billy Joel cover), That Life, Hunnybee, Can’t Keep Checking My Phone
(Note: The tour had a film-only policy for photographers)
