| Webpage: http://www.garthadam.com/Garth_Adam/HOME.html | ||||
| Location: Edgecliff, New South Wales, Australia | ||||
| Description: | ||||
| Biography: Garth Adam is no stranger to the DIY music scene with his seventh solo release the 3 track EP ‘Travelling’ Garth’s music is a mixture of his influences and life. Born in the UK, he spent his early childhood in Africa and Fiji before his family settled in Australia where he eventually worked his way as a songwriting bass player through a variety of Australian bands. Once Garth began to write and independently record his signature brand of melodic and rhythmically-driven songs, several found their way to a respectable amount of airplay on indie radio. Garth was a Finalist in the 2009 International Songwriting Competition for his song ‘The Boat’ and also a finalist in the E Song Competition in 2010 for the song ‘The Distance’. Garth’s songs are not too lo-fi that you wonder if your stereo or ipod battery is trashed, yet not too teeth- achingly over-polished either. Place the Foo Fighters, Crowded House and Damien Rice in a blender and you will get an idea of the range of styles on Garth Adam releases. Travelling was recorded at Linear Recording in Sydney and produced by Melvin Tree. Mastering was by Kathy Naunton at Db Mastering Camperdown Sydney. | ||||
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Spotlight: Garth Adam
Life’s True Roots: The Invented Language and Eastern European Soul of Dikanda On Debut U.S. Tour, September 2011
Ask Poland’s Dikanda what they play, and they’ll answer in a word: Truth. It’s that wellspring of deep emotion that can just as easily arise at village kitchen tables as in global sonic hitchhiking. To reach it, the six-piece band invents languages, re-imagines traditional Eastern European songs, and commits utterly and refreshingly to every performance.
Americans will have their first taste of Dikanda’s lively intensity in September 2011, as the group tours the U.S. for the first time. Hitting world music festivals and venues in New York, Chicago, and Minneapolis, the band brings Polish mountain hollers and Kurdish melodies, rollicking dance beats and searching ballads together effortlessly, in an ever-changing interplay of acoustic musicianship and soulful, soaring vocals.
“Dikanda is about this expression of death and birth, longing and loneliness. Our concerts are not something set apart from the rest of life,” explains singer, accordionist, and group founder Ania Witczak. “People in the audience may not understand what we sing, but they’ll often break into tears. Or into wild dancing.”
***
Witczak calls the coming together of the band “miraculous.” Hailing from Szczecin, an industrial port on the Baltic with mixed Slavic and Germanic roots, the group has long stood out in a music scene dominated by standard-issue pop. Witczak and guitarist Piotr Rejdak teamed up as cash-strapped students to finance a hitchhiking foray to Western Europe by busking. Before they knew it, one jam session and lucky encounter led to another, and Dikanda was born.
They became more than a mere band; they became a tight-knit group of friends—the group’s name stems from an African dialect word for “family”—and that intimacy shows on stage. “When we play a concert, we try to keep the truth of the matter,” Witczak reflects. “In every moment, we hear these voices inside us, the voices of our forefathers and mothers, and then we return to our own voices.”
These voices speak though tight rhythms, swaying fiddle, bouncing upright bass. They also speak their own uncharted language, which the band has dubbed “Dikandish.” For Witczak, it flows from children’s universal habit of making up sounds and remains a way to get beyond the bounds of everyday speech into a deeply personal yet widely comprehensible world of feelings and stories.
“I get a story in my head, and I want to tell it. But I’m not in the right frame of mind to use language,” Witczak says. “When I start to sing, words just come.”
Along with intensely intuitive originals, the group draws on Witczak’s bountiful collection of traditional songs. A life-long singer, Witczak crisscrossed rural Eastern Europe as a young woman, hanging out with elder musicians and learning songs that stuck with her. She never took notes, but remembers hundreds of songs from across the Balkans and Carpathians, songs that Dikanda has transformed together, adding new rhythms and fresh harmonies.
“Our music comes from traditional music, but sometimes it comes from nothing, out of nowhere,” laughs Witczak, “while we sleep or peel potatoes.”
Dikanda’s tour is co-presented by the Polish Cultural Institute in New York.
Americans will have their first taste of Dikanda’s lively intensity in September 2011, as the group tours the U.S. for the first time. Hitting world music festivals and venues in New York, Chicago, and Minneapolis, the band brings Polish mountain hollers and Kurdish melodies, rollicking dance beats and searching ballads together effortlessly, in an ever-changing interplay of acoustic musicianship and soulful, soaring vocals.
***
Witczak calls the coming together of the band “miraculous.” Hailing from Szczecin, an industrial port on the Baltic with mixed Slavic and Germanic roots, the group has long stood out in a music scene dominated by standard-issue pop. Witczak and guitarist Piotr Rejdak teamed up as cash-strapped students to finance a hitchhiking foray to Western Europe by busking. Before they knew it, one jam session and lucky encounter led to another, and Dikanda was born.
They became more than a mere band; they became a tight-knit group of friends—the group’s name stems from an African dialect word for “family”—and that intimacy shows on stage. “When we play a concert, we try to keep the truth of the matter,” Witczak reflects. “In every moment, we hear these voices inside us, the voices of our forefathers and mothers, and then we return to our own voices.”
These voices speak though tight rhythms, swaying fiddle, bouncing upright bass. They also speak their own uncharted language, which the band has dubbed “Dikandish.” For Witczak, it flows from children’s universal habit of making up sounds and remains a way to get beyond the bounds of everyday speech into a deeply personal yet widely comprehensible world of feelings and stories.
“I get a story in my head, and I want to tell it. But I’m not in the right frame of mind to use language,” Witczak says. “When I start to sing, words just come.”
Along with intensely intuitive originals, the group draws on Witczak’s bountiful collection of traditional songs. A life-long singer, Witczak crisscrossed rural Eastern Europe as a young woman, hanging out with elder musicians and learning songs that stuck with her. She never took notes, but remembers hundreds of songs from across the Balkans and Carpathians, songs that Dikanda has transformed together, adding new rhythms and fresh harmonies.
“Our music comes from traditional music, but sometimes it comes from nothing, out of nowhere,” laughs Witczak, “while we sleep or peel potatoes.”
Dikanda’s tour is co-presented by the Polish Cultural Institute in New York.
Simply Six: Michael Lee Band
1. For many artists, they cite a defining moment for themselves when they knew they
wanted to be a singer. For many it was the appearance of Elvis on the Ed Sullivan
show, to another generation it was the Beatles’ appearance on Sullivan half a decade
later. Is there such a defining moment for you?
I'd say I've had two definiing moments... First, when I saw my very first concert as a kid it was a transforming experience. I saw Judas Priest and was mesmerized when the stage was filled with fog & singer/frontman Rob Halford rode out onto the stage on his Harley. I couldn't believe the energy and raw power of that moment. It was so awesome! Then, years later as a performer myself, I was playing a cancer benefit at a Saks Fifth Avenue department store of all places. A friend who had worked with me in television finally got to see me in a different light: as a rocker. She said I looked happier and more at ease than she had ever seen me... And soon after, I realized that I needed to take my music off the back burner and move it upfront in my life. I've never looked back since!
2. When you’re not creating music what are you listening to? Who are some of your
favorites?
I'm actually a TV- and movie-aholic most of the time when I'm not creating music! But I like a lot of different music. I'm a big fan of The Killers and The Bravery. I enjoy indie powersound groups like The Sounds or Ra Ra Riot. I really love the new stuff Billy Corgan is doing with his latest version of the Smashing Pumpkins. That sometimes puts me in a 90s mood to go seek out old Garbage, Gin Blossoms, or Third Eye Blind. On the powerpop side, I really like All-American Rejects, and then newcomers like Neon Trees and Hey Monday. Lately I've really been enjoying the brand new material from The Cars.
3. What would you say is your greatest moment so far as an artist, either on record or
live?
Well, I'm pleased with the reception I've received with my first EP 'Hold On Till Heaven.' Although I don't feel I've managed to record any song yet exactly as I hear it in my head, that's still what I'm striving for. But I like some of the results on this CD, especially with the tracks "Hold On Till Heaven" and "Lost In A Touch." My greatest moment live always comes whenever I do my cover of Billy Idol's "Rebel Yell." That always brings down the house!
4. Do you believe music can change the world or is just something to listen to?
How much can music influence current events?
I definitely believe music can change the world. It can change a mood, change an attitude, formulate opinions and ideas....all through a series of notes and calculated sounds. That's pretty powerful when you get right down to it. Recently at SXSW Boomtown Rats legend Sir Bob Geldof alluded to the recent uprising in Egypt being rooted in the rebellion that is rock -n- roll. Music is really a natural reflection of the human condition....on so many levels.
We live in a world of neverending compromises... Politicians are nothing but professional
compromisers. Corporate America is one, big, giant compromise. The spirit of Indie Rock is to never compromise. Ever. And I love that! That's the spirit of art, and that is me.
5. How has technology affected the music industry? How has technology affected
your career as a musician?
Technology has clearly turned the music industry upside down, almost in the blink of an eye. What was true yesterday may no longer be true today. That's just the reality of the industry. It has been in a state of flux for quite some time now, and I think a lot of people wish things would just stabilize so they could build a firm footing. But you have to deal with the situation as it is, not as you wish it were, and it's definitely an industry full of change. While the traditional labels may be cursing all this change, it has allowed indie bands to build their own revolution, and I'm no exception. In just a few short months, I've been able to use all the technological advances with the internet to send my music out into the world, literally. I now have fans in more than 35 countries, and of course, we're still growing. We haven't even started a support tour anywhere yet. That's building a very non-traditional fanbase, for sure. But technology lit the fuse of today's Indie Revolution...and the explosion continues everyday. I'm happy to be a part of that.
6. Now for my Barbara Walters question: If you were a pair of shoes what type of
shoes would you be?
I'm glad you asked that, Barbara...haha I would definitely be a pair of steel-toed black leather motorcycle boots. Is there anything else more Rock -n- Roll?! That's me for sure! In fact, I already wear those boots onstage. So go get a pair and break me in!
wanted to be a singer. For many it was the appearance of Elvis on the Ed Sullivan
show, to another generation it was the Beatles’ appearance on Sullivan half a decade
later. Is there such a defining moment for you?
I'd say I've had two definiing moments... First, when I saw my very first concert as a kid it was a transforming experience. I saw Judas Priest and was mesmerized when the stage was filled with fog & singer/frontman Rob Halford rode out onto the stage on his Harley. I couldn't believe the energy and raw power of that moment. It was so awesome! Then, years later as a performer myself, I was playing a cancer benefit at a Saks Fifth Avenue department store of all places. A friend who had worked with me in television finally got to see me in a different light: as a rocker. She said I looked happier and more at ease than she had ever seen me... And soon after, I realized that I needed to take my music off the back burner and move it upfront in my life. I've never looked back since!
2. When you’re not creating music what are you listening to? Who are some of your
favorites?
I'm actually a TV- and movie-aholic most of the time when I'm not creating music! But I like a lot of different music. I'm a big fan of The Killers and The Bravery. I enjoy indie powersound groups like The Sounds or Ra Ra Riot. I really love the new stuff Billy Corgan is doing with his latest version of the Smashing Pumpkins. That sometimes puts me in a 90s mood to go seek out old Garbage, Gin Blossoms, or Third Eye Blind. On the powerpop side, I really like All-American Rejects, and then newcomers like Neon Trees and Hey Monday. Lately I've really been enjoying the brand new material from The Cars.
3. What would you say is your greatest moment so far as an artist, either on record or
live?
Well, I'm pleased with the reception I've received with my first EP 'Hold On Till Heaven.' Although I don't feel I've managed to record any song yet exactly as I hear it in my head, that's still what I'm striving for. But I like some of the results on this CD, especially with the tracks "Hold On Till Heaven" and "Lost In A Touch." My greatest moment live always comes whenever I do my cover of Billy Idol's "Rebel Yell." That always brings down the house!
4. Do you believe music can change the world or is just something to listen to?
How much can music influence current events?
I definitely believe music can change the world. It can change a mood, change an attitude, formulate opinions and ideas....all through a series of notes and calculated sounds. That's pretty powerful when you get right down to it. Recently at SXSW Boomtown Rats legend Sir Bob Geldof alluded to the recent uprising in Egypt being rooted in the rebellion that is rock -n- roll. Music is really a natural reflection of the human condition....on so many levels.
We live in a world of neverending compromises... Politicians are nothing but professional
compromisers. Corporate America is one, big, giant compromise. The spirit of Indie Rock is to never compromise. Ever. And I love that! That's the spirit of art, and that is me.
5. How has technology affected the music industry? How has technology affected
your career as a musician?
Technology has clearly turned the music industry upside down, almost in the blink of an eye. What was true yesterday may no longer be true today. That's just the reality of the industry. It has been in a state of flux for quite some time now, and I think a lot of people wish things would just stabilize so they could build a firm footing. But you have to deal with the situation as it is, not as you wish it were, and it's definitely an industry full of change. While the traditional labels may be cursing all this change, it has allowed indie bands to build their own revolution, and I'm no exception. In just a few short months, I've been able to use all the technological advances with the internet to send my music out into the world, literally. I now have fans in more than 35 countries, and of course, we're still growing. We haven't even started a support tour anywhere yet. That's building a very non-traditional fanbase, for sure. But technology lit the fuse of today's Indie Revolution...and the explosion continues everyday. I'm happy to be a part of that.
6. Now for my Barbara Walters question: If you were a pair of shoes what type of
shoes would you be?
I'm glad you asked that, Barbara...haha I would definitely be a pair of steel-toed black leather motorcycle boots. Is there anything else more Rock -n- Roll?! That's me for sure! In fact, I already wear those boots onstage. So go get a pair and break me in!
Video Wednesday
Today we feature one of my favorite bands The Rainmakers. This is from one of their older albums, but they just recently released a new album 25 On.
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Spotlight: The Cornfield Mafia
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| Webpage: http://www.thecornfieldmafia.com | ||||
| Location: indianapolis, Indiana, usa | ||||
| Description: The Cornfield Mafia first jumped into the country music scene in 2009, with an in-your-face sound that captivated audiences. They bring a down home,country music feel with a southern rock infusion. | ||||
| Biography: “The Cornfield Mafia first jumped into the country music scene in 2009, with an in-your-face sound that captivated audiences. They bring a down home, country music feel with a southern rock infusion. Driven by the smooth vocals of co-founder and frontman John Suter, The Cornfield Mafia has excelled in putting together a collection of stories in song take the listener from the throws of heartache, to a party on the beaches of Mexico. The Cornfield Mafia is right at home on any stage and any venue. The band of Darrell McClellan on keyboards, Joe Thompson on guitar, Robin James on bass and Monty Scott on drums not only performs on stage, but have a good time doing it, which gets audiences involved and engaged. Audiences leave as friends and no longer just fans. Be on the lookout for The Cornfield Mafia’s, self-titled, first EP scheduled to be released soon.” |
||||
| Press Release: Indiana's premier Alt.Country Band is on a roll. Opening for the likes of John Michael Montgomery,Randy Houser, Confederate Railroad and others is set to release a much anticipated EP August 29th the buzz is the boys are currently working on distribution and are very close to signing the deal. |
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Simply Six: Deanna Reuben
1. For many artists, they cite a defining moment for themselves when they knew they wanted to be a singer. For many it was the appearance of Elvis on the Ed Sullivan show, to another generation it was the Beatles’ appearance on Sullivan half a decade later. Is there such a defining moment for you?
I was always singing and playing the piano with my grandmothers. I began vocal lessons at 14, and after garnishing the lead in a high school musical, and other featured solos, it was just a natural extension of me. It was who I was.
2. When you’re not creating music what are you listening to? Who are some of your favorites?
3. What would you say is your greatest moment so far as an artist, either on record or live?
Music is a universal language as it speaks to the soul. Music is used in many situations to create a mood, whether it be to excite or relax, create joy or a feeling of sadness. Just think about going to see a movie without music. It saddens me that schools today want to eliminate or cut back on their music programs. Studies have shown that music improves learning, and is an outlet for creativity and expression of one’s self.
6. Now for my Barbara Walters question: If you were a pair of shoes what type of shoes would you be?
I was always singing and playing the piano with my grandmothers. I began vocal lessons at 14, and after garnishing the lead in a high school musical, and other featured solos, it was just a natural extension of me. It was who I was.
2. When you’re not creating music what are you listening to? Who are some of your favorites?
Gosh, I listen to everything! From Classical, Opera, Broadway, Contemporary pop, jazz and country.
My favorites: Puccini and Mozart. Then I jump to Michael Feinstein, Chris Botti, Anne Hampton Callaway, Diana Krall and smooth jazz artists.
3. What would you say is your greatest moment so far as an artist, either on record or live?
Music is a universal language as it speaks to the soul. Music is used in many situations to create a mood, whether it be to excite or relax, create joy or a feeling of sadness. Just think about going to see a movie without music. It saddens me that schools today want to eliminate or cut back on their music programs. Studies have shown that music improves learning, and is an outlet for creativity and expression of one’s self.
When I was a classical singer, I think my performance experience with “The Washington Singers” at the Kennedy Center, Wolf Trap and other exciting venues. As an interpreter of the American Song Book, I think it is the positive reviews of my music and the radio play received.
4. Do you believe music can change the world or is just something to listen to? How much can music influence current events?
5. How has technology affected the music industry?
WOW! I come from the age of “45” records and 33 lp’s. Now, technology is changing every aspect of music from recording to listening to marketing. How has technology affected your career as a musician? In 2005 when I released my first album, I had to develop a website, and that website was linked to CD Baby and I-Tunes. NOW, only 6 years later, more and more music is being heard and purchased through the Internet. It has forced me to utilize social media to market myself. Believe me, this is a learning curve, and takes a lot of time! I am hoping I will reap the rewards.
6. Now for my Barbara Walters question: If you were a pair of shoes what type of shoes would you be?
A gorgeous pair of red, sparkling high heels!
Monday, August 29, 2011
Spotlight: Lee Hayes
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| Webpage: http://www.jango.com/music/Lee+Hayes?l=0 | ||||
| Location: Birmingham, West Midlands, United Kingdom | ||||
| Description: I am an Original and Honest Singer Songwriter in the classic sense, think Paul Simon/Bowie/Lennon ect... | ||||
| Biography: After being born I was educated (processed) in Birmingham England which is roughly in the middle of England. Enough of that kinda stuff, I’m a wordy person always somewhere else, not quite with it, whatever ‘it’ is, thinking about meanings to songs, especially little throw away lines. I can’t stand this Cowell driven vacuum that exists at the moment, don’t believe ‘bankers’, ‘politicians’ and especially ‘Newsreaders’. I like writing songs that have interesting guitar parts, I feel the words need to flow with the guitar part and have nice hidden meanings (especially the ones I don’t know myself) I still have ten fingers and toes which are the product of 3.5 billion years of evolution, I walk upright and like the rest of humanity often speak before I think but at least I don’t go around killing others after which sets me apart from lower forms of life. So to conclude I wish you peace and happiness and I hope you get away with anything that don’t harm no-one and brings you pleasure. | ||||
| Press Release: Lee Hayes describes himself as a wordy person, but "somewhere else, not quite with it, whatever 'it' is." - his life-view is pretty sound: "I walk upright and like the rest of humanity often speak before I think but at least I don’t go around killing others, which sets me apart from lower forms of life (Tony Blair, George W. Bush, Kim Jong Ill and the multitude of deluded fanatics who follow some old book or whatever...)". As he says, "you can't believe politicians or bankers", but WE know that singers and songwriters heed a higher calling, without truth we are nothing, empty hats, and probably auto-tuned to boot. Listen and download a track if you like it: | ||||
Milkshakes and Brimstone: Guarco’s Afro-Uruguayan Beats, Raw Rock, and Searing Irony Brings Fresh Edge to Latin Sounds
Don’t get Guarco wrong: He’s crashing on the couch to plot a revolution. He’s seen the world end in a carnival flourish, and watched life continue despite it all. He may wink at The Pixies, Lee “Scratch” Perry, and Caetano Veloso, but his heart beats with Afro-Uruguayan Candombe.
The Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter’s long-simmering debut Fiebre (“Fever”) bursts with these tensions. It moves frenetically between pissed-off revolutionary and blasé hipster, between worldly sarcasm and magical realism, between Spanish and English. It shakes, questions, and burns, with help from producer, engineer, and friend Ben Kane (D’Angelo, The Roots, Blitz the Ambassador).
***
In “Immigration Papers,” Guarco—born Marco Fernando Guarino—sings, “I’m just helping the world put up its fences.” Yet he sits squarely between two lives.
In Uruguay, Guarco spent months perfecting his percussive guitar style, playing Afro-Latin percussion with a family of drum builders, and laying down rough tracks of his songs in Montevideo. In Brooklyn, he spent months in living room studios, using 4-tracks to make crazy loops, channeling the ghosts of CBGBs and spaced-out realms of dub, mixing the crunk of urbane irony with the feral rock philosophizing of The Clash.
Guarco’s dual sonic identity means a straight-ahead rock band shares the stage at his live shows with members of Lubolos Macu, a Candombe ensemble from New Jersey. Guarco re-connected with Candombe, a musical form he grew up with, after a mentor in Uruguay told him to phone an old friend in Elizabeth, NJ. The phone call turned into a regular gig.
“We performed for the first Uruguayan carnival in the U.S. last summer in Elizabeth,” Guarco recounts. “And they all really like my music. They dig it. Dig it hard.” Which is why the multigenerational group of drummers often joins Guarco for songs like “Se termino el carnaval.”
Though rooted in serious Afro-Latin grooves, Fiebre runs the gamut. Blithely plucked ballads with a samba beat (“Monster”), fist-pumping rock anthems (“Rey del la Selva”), and Latin-inflected dub (“Que Paso”) all sprang from Guarco’s in-between vibe. With Kane playing the audio wizard to Guarco’s many-headed muse, songs incubating for over a decade took funky, wild shape.
“I like working with Guarco because of his unique perspective of the world,” Kane explains. “My task was to take his ideas and the mood of the songs and make sense of them musically. We wanted to push the sonic and musical boundaries with this album, while still presenting something people could really sink their teeth into.”
Kane worked to highlight Guarco’s lyricism, with his chimerical visions, sense of irony, and clever turns of phrase, which owes much to the Latin tradition of magical realism. “Que Paso” takes inspiration from Brazilian Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist, and uses allegory to impart a message about the need for deep personal change. “Viracocha llora” imagines the weeping of an Incan sun god, while “Se termino el carnaval” evokes the poetic end of the world as we know it and rings with the chaos of a sampled street protest.
All the phantasmagoric imagery isn’t about rapture and brimstone, however. It’s a way of talking about the daunting relationship between global North and South, between rich and poor.
“The North looks at the apocalypse as something that might happen. But for a lot of people in the South, the apocalypse is already here,” muses Guarco. “They are starving to death. They are affected by natural disaster. And we’re still here in New York living this lush life. We’re a part of it, by what we consume. We add to other peoples’ apocalypse.”
The difficulty of confronting injustice, of finding a way to real change and action haunts Guarco, who’s not above pointing the finger back at himself and his screen-hooked generation. It’s often the little things—the dreams of backyard barbeques, the curious name of a sweet treat—that spur his imagination and get at the core of the dilemma.
In “Esta Heavy Man,” Guarco uses double entendres to capture that sense of self-contradiction and shape-shifting world to which it belongs. “The chorus, ‘vamos a morir soñando,’ means ‘we’re going to die dreaming,’ It’s also the name of a milkshake,” he laughs. “While we were recording, we’d go to a Dominican restaurant where we’d order the milkshake, and we got the idea to juxtapose the name with its literal meaning.”
Such delicious ironies are not lost on Guarco. Packed with carnavalesque dualisms, growling calls for justice, and grooving dirges, Fiebre points to the fevers that plague us—and the bewildering joys. It’s all milkshakes and BBQ, fire and brimstone.
Simply Six: Tricked Out Country
1. For many artists, they cite a defining moment for themselves when they knew they wanted to be a singer. For many it was the appearance of Elvis on the Ed Sullivan show, to another generation it was the Beatles’ appearance on Sullivan half a decade later. Is there such a defining moment for you?
Anthony, Producer of Tricked Out Country. A 16 year old playing drums and singing in a NYC club that I wasn’t even allowed in. I was co-writing the songs and watching the reaction of the crowd. Right there , right then I felt the magic.
2. When you’re not creating music what are you listening to? Who are some of your favorites?
Rush, Duran Duran. Everthing really. I go through love affairs with songs and phases. Right now for example, I am totally digging Eminem – I Love the way you lie – Feat Rihanna. Or…Katie Perry TGIF
3. What would you say is your greatest moment so far as an artist, either on record or live?
Being able to produce fantastic musicians in Tricked Out Country – Each with there own styles They actually listened ! World class Ken Scharf on Trumpet. Ken was a featured soloist for Ray Charles for 12 years. He was a pleasure to work with and amazingly and modestly took my direction wonderfully. Then , the other stakeholder of Tricked Out Country; Neil Scott Johnson, songwriter, guitarist and lead singer. Neil had been playing these songs for a few years when I decided to record and produce them in a very different way. Electric Country With A Hint Of Jazz. There were times were it got tough getting “my way” with the sound production due to Neil being close to his songs for some time. It was however, a great, productive experience for us.
4. Do you believe music can change the world or is just something to listen to? How much can music influence current events?
I do think Music can change the world. There are clear examples of music driven phases in our history and culture; The flower children, anti war culture strongly influenced by the sixties sound, the roaring twenties and their Jazz Age, Even the rock and roll, shiny haircuts of the 50’s.
5. How has technology affected the music industry? How has technology affected your career as a musician?
Technology has made music better !! For example, while I love the Beatles listen to the rough sounding recordings versus a new Train “Hey Soul Sister” recording quality. It is not even close.
6. Now for my Barbara Walters question: If you were a pair of shoes what type of shoes would you be?
Ahhhh. Glad you asked..
How bout a beautiful blue suede PUMA sneaker with a white streak ….
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Simply Six: Esza Kaye
1. For many artists, they cite a defining moment for themselves when they knew they wanted to be a singer. For many it was the appearance of Elvis on the Ed Sullivan show, to another generation it was the Beatles’ appearance on Sullivan half a decade later. Is there such a defining moment for you?
When a friend handed me the lyric booklet to a Pink Floyd album. I fell deeply into the lyrics and realized how profoundly and completely one could express oneself through song.
2. When you’re not creating music what are you listening to? Who are some of your favorites?
I tend to listen to chill music or dance music. I love to make itunes genius mixes with a Portishead or Massive Attack song, those always come out great. I love Florence and the Machine and Glasser these days. Sometimes café style music like Feist. I listen to anything KCRW puts on the air.
3. What would you say is your greatest moment so far as an artist, either on record or live?
When I receive beautiful letters from fans telling me about their lives and letting me know that we have connected. That means everything to me. I think isolation is the worst thing in the world, and if I can be there for someone I feel that my life and music has purpose. I also love that moment during a live show when I feel that all of us in the room are one.
4. Do you believe music can change the world or is just something to listen to? How much can music influence current events?
Music, the human voice, is the greatest and most powerful healing instrument that we have. Shamans use it all the time or any group that chants or sings. It literally transcends language itself. You don't even need to understand the words to connect to the emotions of a singer. And that connection is the healing. Recently, the tragedy in Norway reminded me of this. A piece on KCRW reported the top 3 songs playing in Norway to help in the healing of the country. Each song brought me to tears though I did not understand a word. I just listened and joined with their hearts and supported their healing.
5. How has technology affected the music industry? How has technology affected your career as a musician?
Technology is the most powerful energy source we must grapple with today. It will likely save the music industry even as it has humbled it. An artist can self produce, self distribute and self promote—all independently. And that is how I have released my current album and how I find my fans. Social media is changing music as well as the entire world. I would not be able to sing without technology. I use hearing aids and ear monitors and computers and protools and video projectors to make my live show work. My band is entirely machine, except for my grand piano. This is the central subject matter of my current album, "Tinged With Machine", produced by Bruce Somers of Kidneythieves. I suggest that we need to form a relationship with technology that is conscious. If we do, technology can help us become super communicators. If we are not careful, it can lead us into isolation and pseudo connection. Not even to mention that the age of the machine is predicted to begin in 30 years. Two great resources to read are Ray Kurzweil and Vernor Vinge. And of course, check out my title track, "Tinged With Machine", and its video on You Tube shot by Hisham Abed (The Hills, MTV).
6. Now for my Barbara Walters question: If you were a pair of shoes what type of shoes would you be?
Shiny patent leather platform boots. They even feature in my current album, track 5: "Lick My Boots".
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Brazilian, Cuban, and Jazz Through Flute
The flute is a percussion instrument: Though known for its delicacy and nuance, it can burst, ring, and punctuate. That’s what Zagreb-born, L.A.-based musician and composer Damjan Krajacic discovered as he heard the flute tearing through a Latin jazz number.
Krajacic harnesses the flute’s balance of finesse and force on Glide (RoundTone; October 1, 2011). He explores the Brazilian, Cuban, and jazz sounds and rhythms that first drew him to the instrument, while paying homage to his classical and Balkan past.
“I never really considered the flute at all,” explains Krajacic, who first came to jazz as a young bassist at his U.S. alma mater. “Then I heard [charangaexpert and jazz educator] Danilo Lozano play. I thought, ‘Wait a minute.’ In Latin jazz and especially in Cuban music, the flute is part of the rhythm section as well, not just a high-pitched color as it frequently is in classical music. I fell in love with its expressive possibilities.”
Krajacic uncovered expanded vocabularies by experimenting with the flute on his own, as well as learning from Lozano and jazz flute legend James Newton. By speaking and singing different consonants or syllables as he plays, a skilled player like Krajacic can get his instrument to hint at a high hat, snap like a snare drum, or create percussive and charismatic effects unique to the flute. To bring out its many colors, Krajacic pairs his instrument with other sounds, such as his voice singing soaring vocables or the mellow melodica that doubles the flute on “In Life.”
Krajacic uses these techniques not as curious ends in and of themselves, but in service of pieces that move from grooving to reflective, from straight-ahead jazz to Brazilian party. Krajacic’s work draws intently on the Afro-Latin roots music and jazz masterpieces he has studied for years, mixing such influences as Miles and Cuban rumba (“In Life”).
In the big sound of samba-afro on “Glide,” the flute takes the unexpected lead, followed by a joyful burst of percussion thanks to drummer and Brazilian beat master Tony Shogren. Krajacic trades focused licks on the grooving, samba-inflected “About Time” with multi-instrumentalist jazz elder Derf Reklaw, who transforms an ordinary bottle into a jubilant cry.
Krajacic plays with rhythm constantly, whether it’s an Afro-Latin beat or the odd dance meters of the Balkans in “Resemblance” (or both, as in “Heartbeat.”) On “Come Play,” Krajacic’s limber, punchy flute line suggests interlocking polyrhythm, alternating with wide-open melodic spaces where his band—featuring Larry Steen’s muscular, jocular bass and Mike Boito’s thoughtful keys—takes over in pensive contrast.
This contrast points to the flute’s other, subtler side: its connection to the quiet rush of the breath and its deeply lyrical resonance, the almost vocal quality Krajacic finds on “Lara.” Learning classical guitar from his music teacher father as a boy in Croatia, Krajacic gained an appreciation for the low-key refinement of an instrument that can’t shout to make a statement but demands close listening and careful arrangement.
“I liked the immediacy the flute evokes,” Krajacic reflects. “You feel like your breath is carrying the music more than the notes you’re playing.” Breath, creating a shakuhachi-like tone on tracks like “Inspire” or the gentle sighs of “Goodbye,” becomes another means of expression, one ripe with timbral emotiveness.
Krajacic’s close attention to nuance flows throughout his work as a performer and composer. Small things—subtle sounds in a quiet house, brief moments of reflection behind the wheel—suggest melodies for pieces like the upbeat and sunny “Morning Smile.” As Krajacic kept a hushed watch over his sleeping daughter, he heard the first few tones of the track’s melody line, as two glasses clinked together.
“It’s that moment that you realize something is more than just a few notes,” Krajacic muses, “that you know it’s meaningful. That’s the real message in my music.”
Krajacic harnesses the flute’s balance of finesse and force on Glide (RoundTone; October 1, 2011). He explores the Brazilian, Cuban, and jazz sounds and rhythms that first drew him to the instrument, while paying homage to his classical and Balkan past.
“I never really considered the flute at all,” explains Krajacic, who first came to jazz as a young bassist at his U.S. alma mater. “Then I heard [charangaexpert and jazz educator] Danilo Lozano play. I thought, ‘Wait a minute.’ In Latin jazz and especially in Cuban music, the flute is part of the rhythm section as well, not just a high-pitched color as it frequently is in classical music. I fell in love with its expressive possibilities.”
Krajacic uncovered expanded vocabularies by experimenting with the flute on his own, as well as learning from Lozano and jazz flute legend James Newton. By speaking and singing different consonants or syllables as he plays, a skilled player like Krajacic can get his instrument to hint at a high hat, snap like a snare drum, or create percussive and charismatic effects unique to the flute. To bring out its many colors, Krajacic pairs his instrument with other sounds, such as his voice singing soaring vocables or the mellow melodica that doubles the flute on “In Life.”
Krajacic uses these techniques not as curious ends in and of themselves, but in service of pieces that move from grooving to reflective, from straight-ahead jazz to Brazilian party. Krajacic’s work draws intently on the Afro-Latin roots music and jazz masterpieces he has studied for years, mixing such influences as Miles and Cuban rumba (“In Life”).
In the big sound of samba-afro on “Glide,” the flute takes the unexpected lead, followed by a joyful burst of percussion thanks to drummer and Brazilian beat master Tony Shogren. Krajacic trades focused licks on the grooving, samba-inflected “About Time” with multi-instrumentalist jazz elder Derf Reklaw, who transforms an ordinary bottle into a jubilant cry.
Krajacic plays with rhythm constantly, whether it’s an Afro-Latin beat or the odd dance meters of the Balkans in “Resemblance” (or both, as in “Heartbeat.”) On “Come Play,” Krajacic’s limber, punchy flute line suggests interlocking polyrhythm, alternating with wide-open melodic spaces where his band—featuring Larry Steen’s muscular, jocular bass and Mike Boito’s thoughtful keys—takes over in pensive contrast.
This contrast points to the flute’s other, subtler side: its connection to the quiet rush of the breath and its deeply lyrical resonance, the almost vocal quality Krajacic finds on “Lara.” Learning classical guitar from his music teacher father as a boy in Croatia, Krajacic gained an appreciation for the low-key refinement of an instrument that can’t shout to make a statement but demands close listening and careful arrangement.
“I liked the immediacy the flute evokes,” Krajacic reflects. “You feel like your breath is carrying the music more than the notes you’re playing.” Breath, creating a shakuhachi-like tone on tracks like “Inspire” or the gentle sighs of “Goodbye,” becomes another means of expression, one ripe with timbral emotiveness.
Krajacic’s close attention to nuance flows throughout his work as a performer and composer. Small things—subtle sounds in a quiet house, brief moments of reflection behind the wheel—suggest melodies for pieces like the upbeat and sunny “Morning Smile.” As Krajacic kept a hushed watch over his sleeping daughter, he heard the first few tones of the track’s melody line, as two glasses clinked together.
“It’s that moment that you realize something is more than just a few notes,” Krajacic muses, “that you know it’s meaningful. That’s the real message in my music.”
Simply Six: Krissi Moses
1. For many artists, they cite a defining moment for themselves when they knew they wanted to be a singer. For many it was the appearance of Elvis on the Ed Sullivan show, to another generation it was the Beatles’ appearance on Sullivan half a decade later. Is there such a defining moment for you?
2. When you’re not creating music what are you listening to? Who are some of your favorites?
3. What would you say is your greatest moment so far as an artist, either on record or live?
4. Do you believe music can change the world or is just something to listen to? How much can music influence current events?
5. How has technology affected the music industry? How has technology affected your career as a musician?
6. Now for my Barbara Walters question: If you were a pair of shoes what type of shoes would you be?
I’ve always been a singer, since I was a little kid. When I was 17 I had my first big breakup and wrote my first song about it. I’d be at parties and my friends would say, “Play that Playstation song!” Eventually someone said, you should be a pro singer! So I got some of my friends who had a home-studio to record and produce the song, and the song called “You’re Forgettable”.
2. When you’re not creating music what are you listening to? Who are some of your favorites?
I’m totally ADHD on music. My playlists have everyone from Lady Gaga, Katy Perry and Kreayshawn, to Rage Against the Machine, NIN, and Incubus.
3. What would you say is your greatest moment so far as an artist, either on record or live?
I played a show last summer for 2500 peeps. It was epic! Little kids were running up to me after wanting my autograph and everything!
4. Do you believe music can change the world or is just something to listen to? How much can music influence current events?
Depends on the music. Vladimir Mayakovsky said, “Art is not a mirror to reflect the world, but a hammer with which to shape it.” I think art can be both. I think it’s harder to change the world to the better today, cuz almost everyone is over-stimulated and under-educated. I try to do both with my music.
5. How has technology affected the music industry? How has technology affected your career as a musician?
There’s a lot more opportunity out there now, from what I understand. But the labels kinda require you to actually build yourself up (image, music, fans, etc) before they even look at you! That’s why there are hundreds of semi-famous new artists, and only a couple brand-new HUGE artists hitting the airwaves. Labels don’t want to gamble!
6. Now for my Barbara Walters question: If you were a pair of shoes what type of shoes would you be?
4 ½” Leopard print pumps, with chrome bottoms and hammered stainless steel stiletto heels… with army boots for back-ups.
Friday, August 26, 2011
Red Hot Two Step: Zydeco Scion C.J. Chenier Shows the World That It Can't Sit Down
C.J. Chenier talks a lot about energy. Ask him why he recorded a certain song and he’ll tell you he likes the energy of it. Why does he love zydeco music? It’s the energy. And so it should come as no surprise that C.J.’s new album,Can’t Sit Down (World Village, Tuesday, September 13, 2011) is so jam-packed with energy it could power a small city!
Recorded live in one session at Rock Romano’s Red Shack Studio in Houston, Texas, Can’t Sit Down is all about truth in advertising: give it a spin and watch your feet get to work whether you want them to or not. C.J.—whose father was the late Clifton Chenier, perhaps the most celebrated zydeco musician in the genre’s history—cut the album live in the studio quickly, in order to capture the freshness—the energy—of the material. For that reason, he dispensed with a producer, opting to handle the task himself.
“I figured that nobody knows better what I want than I do,” he says. “Nobody knows better how I want my accordion to sound. Nobody knows better how I want my band to sound. So I decided to stop going with other people’s ears and start going with my own.”
The 11 tracks on Can’t Sit Down are among the most potent of C.J.’s long career, starting with the album-opening title track, written by Clifton. “I play that song pretty much how I played it with my daddy,” C.J. says. “I really liked it so I said, ‘OK, let’s try this one,’ and everybody fell right in. It just clicked. That’s a sign that something is a keeper, when everybody can fall in and it feels good.”
“Hot Tamale Baby” is the other Clifton-penned tune on the album, and then there’s “Paper In My Shoe,” a song written by Boozoo Chavis and Eddie Shuler and usually credited as the first zydeco hit. But some of the songs on Can’t Sit Down come not from the zydeco world at all but from unexpected sources, especially “Clap Hands,” penned by the great singer-songwriter Tom Waits. “I didn’t understand Tom Waits at first,” confesses C.J. “But my guitar player is a Tom Waits freak and one day he brought a video of Tom Waits. That’s where I learned to appreciate what he was doing. When I heard ‘Clap Hands’ I said, ‘I like that song. I can do something with that song.’”
Three blues staples bring even more variety to Can’t Sit Down: Joe Williams’ classic “Baby Please Don’t Go,” John Lee Hooker’s “Dusty Road” and Richard M. Jones’ “Trouble In Mind.” Explains C.J., “You gotta add flavor. When I started playing with my daddy, he played flavorful all night. He played blues, some boogie, he played some waltzes. He mixed it up. You put a good blues on there and it’ll energize the rest of the album.”
One last cover song on the album holds special meaning to C.J., Curtis Mayfield’s “We Gotta Have Peace,” which closes the CD. “That song reflects what I’ve been feeling,” C.J. says. “We need peace, we gotta have it. That’s why I have my grandson talking in the beginning, because if we don’t get it together, where is his future?”
Rounding out the album are three C.J, Chenier originals: “Red Shack Zydeco,” which C.J. calls “a true zydeco song”; “Zydeco Boogie,” which he co-authored with an old friend, Wilbert “T.A.” Miller; and “Ridin’ With Uncle Cleveland.” Uncle Cleveland would be Cleveland Chenier, Clifton’s late older brother and the acknowledged master of zydeco washboard. Says C.J., “He’s the grandfather of the washboard. Nobody has the technique he had. My uncle Cleveland used to call me sometimes on Sundays and he’d say, ‘I’m coming to pick you up. We’re gonna take a ride.’ We’d go ride around. He’d always have a half pint of Crown Royale in his top coat pocket. He’d pick me up on Sundays and him and me would hit a club here and hit a club there, and just have a good time.”
Indeed, C.J. Chenier has been having a good time doing what he does for more than three decades. He was still in his teens when he started out, playing in funk bands in his hometown of Port Arthur, Texas. C.J.’s life changed when Clifton asked his son—who had played saxophone and keyboards before picking up his dad’s instrument, the accordion—to join his Red Hot Louisiana Band. “My mother told me that he was always saying that when I get old enough he was going to try to get me in his band,” says C.J. “I never thought it was gonna happen.”
When that time did come, C.J. admits, he didn’t quite “get” zydeco music at first. “I just didn’t understand it. It all sounded the same to me. Until I started playing it. Then I was able to understand what was going on. But every time I heard it my feet were tapping and my head was boppin’. It was such a fun music and the people partied so hard that I fell in love.”
By the time Clifton passed away in 1987, C.J. knew that his life’s calling was to continue his father’s work—not to play the way Clifton did but to bring zydeco into the present. “My daddy always told me to do the best I can do in my style,” he says. “You master what you do. He told me, ‘Be yourself.’ Clifton Chenier already did his thing. I’m trying to just be C.J. Chenier.”
Make no mistake about: C.J. Chenier is a master too, and Can’t Sit Down is surely this master’s masterwork!
Written by: Jeff Tamarkin
Recorded live in one session at Rock Romano’s Red Shack Studio in Houston, Texas, Can’t Sit Down is all about truth in advertising: give it a spin and watch your feet get to work whether you want them to or not. C.J.—whose father was the late Clifton Chenier, perhaps the most celebrated zydeco musician in the genre’s history—cut the album live in the studio quickly, in order to capture the freshness—the energy—of the material. For that reason, he dispensed with a producer, opting to handle the task himself.
“I figured that nobody knows better what I want than I do,” he says. “Nobody knows better how I want my accordion to sound. Nobody knows better how I want my band to sound. So I decided to stop going with other people’s ears and start going with my own.”
The 11 tracks on Can’t Sit Down are among the most potent of C.J.’s long career, starting with the album-opening title track, written by Clifton. “I play that song pretty much how I played it with my daddy,” C.J. says. “I really liked it so I said, ‘OK, let’s try this one,’ and everybody fell right in. It just clicked. That’s a sign that something is a keeper, when everybody can fall in and it feels good.”
“Hot Tamale Baby” is the other Clifton-penned tune on the album, and then there’s “Paper In My Shoe,” a song written by Boozoo Chavis and Eddie Shuler and usually credited as the first zydeco hit. But some of the songs on Can’t Sit Down come not from the zydeco world at all but from unexpected sources, especially “Clap Hands,” penned by the great singer-songwriter Tom Waits. “I didn’t understand Tom Waits at first,” confesses C.J. “But my guitar player is a Tom Waits freak and one day he brought a video of Tom Waits. That’s where I learned to appreciate what he was doing. When I heard ‘Clap Hands’ I said, ‘I like that song. I can do something with that song.’”
Three blues staples bring even more variety to Can’t Sit Down: Joe Williams’ classic “Baby Please Don’t Go,” John Lee Hooker’s “Dusty Road” and Richard M. Jones’ “Trouble In Mind.” Explains C.J., “You gotta add flavor. When I started playing with my daddy, he played flavorful all night. He played blues, some boogie, he played some waltzes. He mixed it up. You put a good blues on there and it’ll energize the rest of the album.”
One last cover song on the album holds special meaning to C.J., Curtis Mayfield’s “We Gotta Have Peace,” which closes the CD. “That song reflects what I’ve been feeling,” C.J. says. “We need peace, we gotta have it. That’s why I have my grandson talking in the beginning, because if we don’t get it together, where is his future?”
Rounding out the album are three C.J, Chenier originals: “Red Shack Zydeco,” which C.J. calls “a true zydeco song”; “Zydeco Boogie,” which he co-authored with an old friend, Wilbert “T.A.” Miller; and “Ridin’ With Uncle Cleveland.” Uncle Cleveland would be Cleveland Chenier, Clifton’s late older brother and the acknowledged master of zydeco washboard. Says C.J., “He’s the grandfather of the washboard. Nobody has the technique he had. My uncle Cleveland used to call me sometimes on Sundays and he’d say, ‘I’m coming to pick you up. We’re gonna take a ride.’ We’d go ride around. He’d always have a half pint of Crown Royale in his top coat pocket. He’d pick me up on Sundays and him and me would hit a club here and hit a club there, and just have a good time.”
Indeed, C.J. Chenier has been having a good time doing what he does for more than three decades. He was still in his teens when he started out, playing in funk bands in his hometown of Port Arthur, Texas. C.J.’s life changed when Clifton asked his son—who had played saxophone and keyboards before picking up his dad’s instrument, the accordion—to join his Red Hot Louisiana Band. “My mother told me that he was always saying that when I get old enough he was going to try to get me in his band,” says C.J. “I never thought it was gonna happen.”
When that time did come, C.J. admits, he didn’t quite “get” zydeco music at first. “I just didn’t understand it. It all sounded the same to me. Until I started playing it. Then I was able to understand what was going on. But every time I heard it my feet were tapping and my head was boppin’. It was such a fun music and the people partied so hard that I fell in love.”
By the time Clifton passed away in 1987, C.J. knew that his life’s calling was to continue his father’s work—not to play the way Clifton did but to bring zydeco into the present. “My daddy always told me to do the best I can do in my style,” he says. “You master what you do. He told me, ‘Be yourself.’ Clifton Chenier already did his thing. I’m trying to just be C.J. Chenier.”
Make no mistake about: C.J. Chenier is a master too, and Can’t Sit Down is surely this master’s masterwork!
Written by: Jeff Tamarkin
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