Voices to hear

Daniela Mercury: Virtual Vinyl and the Soul of Brazil

2016-01-24T10:16:00.001-06:00

She’s had more #1 hits in Brazil than any other female artist. Globally she’s sold over 20 million albums. Daniela Mercury is a superstar, a true international name. Yet, for all her success, she’s remained a woman who refuses to bow to convention, both musically and personally. Every album is a reinvention, an exploration. And on Virtual Vinyl (released on January 22, 2016 by DRG Brazil) it’s a journey she continues, the latest chapter in Mercury’s story, electric, soulful, and always passionate.

Virtual Vinyl is a glorious fusion of styles, but that’s been a hallmark of her career, starting from the trios eléctricos of Carnaval in her native Salvador, through the adrenalin surge of the regionalaxé music style that made her famous and beyond.

“I always mixed rhythms and styles,” Mercury told Wave magazine. “I am an eclectic artist, open to new things. I like to create… In 1999, I brought, for the first time, electronic music to the Carnaval in Salvador, in 2010 I mixed my songs with my band to the songs of the 2 de Julho Orchestra, there were over 40 musicians, and it was a beautiful show that thrilled the partiers. On other albums, I mixed the beat of candomblé with electronic music, I mixed reggae with rock.”

But always the heartbeat under the global influences has been firmly Brazilian and it remains that way on Virtual Vinyl, as songs like “Tô Samba Da Vida” (“I’m Samba Life”) and “De Deus, De Alah, De Gilberto Gil” (“God, Allah, Gilberto Gil” – a homage to the lauded singer-songwriter who was also Brazil’s Minister of Culture for several years) attest.

It’s the next step from her previous two albums, 2009’s Canibália and Daniela Mercury & Cabeça de Nós Todas from 2013. Both showed her working with perfect confidence, mixing up styles from samba-reggae to Tropicalismo and beyond. This time around the influences are more widespread, from Brazil’s own Carioca funk to the turntable scratching and samples that have long been the rhythm of hip-hop.

Virtual Vinyl is her story, her world, a continuation of her manifesto. That’s apparent even on the cover, where Mercury poses with her wife, Malu Verçosa, in a photograph deliberately reminiscent of some of the loving portraits of John Lennon and Yoko Ono.

Originally trained as a dancer, Mercury made her debut at Salvador Carnaval when she was just 15, releasing her first solo album 10 years later. The first two songs from the disc both became huge hits, and she was set on the road to fame.

By 2000 she was already adding electronic music to her arsenal, and Sol da Liberdade, produced by the late Suba, transformed her into a global name. She’s someone who sees music as a whole, a continuum that’s constantly shifting and referencing its own past, something she acknowledged on Canibália when she duetted with the ghostly voice of Carmen Miranda, Brazil’s first global icon. Even the title of the new album – Virtual Vinyl – shows something beyond the surface, beyond any easy pigeonhole.

“I’m interested in so many things,” Mercury says. “I like to be involved in every part of recording, every part of creating the stage shows. That’s just who I am. Dancing took me to singing, and that’s led to everything else. One thing I’ve never wanted to do is define and limit myself.”

That relentless curiosity has also led her to set up her own foundation to help bring children to the arts, as well as work as a UNICEF Ambassador. She’s a woman who refuses to stand still. In her life, as well as her music, she’s constantly pushing and changing things around her.

“I’m a naturally curious person,” Mercury explains. “I keep listening to new things, seeing new things, and that comes out in the songs I write, or how I approach them. Why not? is always a good philosophy.”

Virtual Vinyl; heartfelt music.

Septeto Santiaguero nominated for Best Tropical Latin Album Grammy

2016-01-24T10:10:00.001-06:00

Latin Grammy recipients Septeto Santiaguero inks Booking Agreement with Cuza Agency and Emerson Bran Management

The Orchestra is available for the Jazz, Salsa and World Music Circuits for 2016.

View the video for 'El lunar' here:
https://www.youtube.com/embed/fXuo12Y8Gt8

Montreal based Cuza Agency has come to a booking arrangement with the darlings of the Cuban Traditional Tropical sound Septeto Santiaguero for the territories ofNorth & South America. The deal comes ‘hot on the heels’ of a couple of prestigious recognitions for the septet, a 2015 Latin Grammy Award (Best Traditional Tropical Album) and a 2016 Grammy Nomination (Best Tropical Latin Album) for their release Tributo a Los Compadres: No Quiero Llanto a collaboration with Dominican salsero José Alberto El Canario.

The 3x Cubadisco Award winners and 2x Latin Grammy nominees whose sound and style is deeply rooted in the musical tradition of their hometown of Santiago de Cuba have toured more than 30 countries around the world. They have performed extensively at the most important venues and festivals in world music, jazz and salsa circuit such as the Bataclan, Frankfurt Opera, Porgy & Bess and Cinema Paradiso as well as renowned events including Womad Festival (UK), Fiesta de los Sanfermines (Pamplona), Veranos de la Villa (Madrid), Festival Jazz Rally (Dusseldorf), Fordefolk Festival (Norway) and Tempo Latino (Vic-Fezensac) just to name a few!

Now with 8 albums under their belt Septeto Santiaguero will continue to expose the roots of Cuban son and guaracha upon receptive audiences under the competent guidance of the Cuza Agency and Bran Management.

The Cuban Press has annointed Septeto Santiaguero to succeed Buena Vista Social Club as the ambassador of authentic Cuban Music to the World

Reviews for Tributo a Los Compadres: No Quiero Llanto

“The album, which came out earlier this summer as a double CD, reupholsters old music with relentless technical perfection. You have to give it space.”
The New York Times

“Taken as a whole this is a fine and musicianly event heartily recommended. If you’re looking for excellent modern recording and clean playing, plus a galaxy of stars that make up the firmament of Cuban – then and now – then there’s certainly much to enjoy and admire In this double CD. This is clearly a project that is invaluable to the literature of Afro-Cuban music.”
Latin Jazz Network

“Septeto Santiaguero teams up once again with José Alberto (they worked together on Septeto’s “Vamos pa’ la fiesta”), but this time as co-leaders, and the results are amazing.”
Salsa Power

“No Quiero Llanto not only escapes the sad fate of less-fortunate projects of this scope, it is also Septeto Santiaguero’s best recording in many ways.”
Timba.com

“No quiero llanto” es un doble disco con mucha música, 18 temas, que consigue fusionar la tradición sonera con gran respeto y una deliberada dosis de modernidad.
Músicas del Mundo

Dinosaur Eyelids

2015-12-04T21:12:00.000-06:00

Dinosaur Eyelids is alternative rock and roll for a new generation. Based in New Brunswick, NJ the 100% DIY band has earned a reputation for incendiary live performances. Their highly-anticipated fourth album "Bypass to Nowhere" was released to critical acclaim and debuted at #1 at WRSU Rutgers Radio. Their third album "Conflagration" was released in 2012 to airplay on 200 radio stations across North America.

They have played over 90 shows throughout the Northeast and are house favorites at The Court Tavern in New Brunswick and John & Peter's in New Hope, PA. Other frequent shows include The Stone Pony (Asbury Park, NJ), North Star (Philadelphia), Fontana's (NYC) and Arlene's Grocery (NYC).

"The LIDS" have opened for Parlor Mob and shared the stage with Dean Ween of Ween. Their debut album "Winter Solstice" was released in 2009. Their second album "Down a River" was released in 2011 to nationwide airplay and critical enthusiasm.

Musical influences range from Soundgarden to Wilco, Ween and The Replacements.

Evan Staats-vocals Scott Staats-bass Patrick McKnight-guitar Mark Leone-drums

Their music is available through Amazon, iTunes and CDBaby. They are on Pandora, Spotify, Bandcamp and Soundcloud.

FAQ: What does your name mean? A: If you close your eyes to reality you hasten your own extinction.

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Brandon Grafius

2015-11-19T20:53:00.001-06:00

With the release of his full length album Another Door, Brandon Grafius brings an alternative Americana feel to classic folk songwriting. Lush with pedal steel, slide guitars, and bopping harmonica, the songs reach towards becoming southern country anthems at times. Though songs are diverse from one another, there is a glue that holds this record together like a concept album. Most importantly, this album never loses sight of the emotional platform great songs are built from.

The first single "Through The Rain", is a rolling country track that quickly becomes an addicting instant classic.

“Through the Rain” came about while I was lying in bed listening to a thunderstorm. I grew up in Michigan, where thunderstorms are common, but during my time in California I might have heard two cracks of thunder throughout the seven years I spent there. So I always appreciate thunderstorms, and remember what it was like to miss them. During this thunderstorm, I was thinking about someone I wished I was with, and imagining the two of us together. In the last verse, there’s a nod to these thunderstorms representing tough times in life - sometimes, in order to ride out the storm you need to find someone to be close to and share a glass of wine with," explains the songwriter of his single.

Although the single speaks volumes for the album, in order to get the full understanding of where Brandon is coming from, it should be listened to in its entirety. From calm and soothing ballads to up beat folk rock, these songs all seem to hit home. A song like "Lilacs" is a classic rock ballad with elements of country scattered throughout.

As Brandon tells it, “Lilacs” is a deeply personal song, even though it’s a narrative about a woman who’s leaving her husband. My marriage of 14 years ended this year - it’s far and away the most traumatic experience I’ve ever been through. There’s a lot of grief, a lot of anger, a lot of bitterness. One of my closest friends was also going through a divorce at the same time, and she shared a story with me about when she knew she needed to leave her husband. She’s always been drawn to lilacs. They had a lilac bush at the head of their driveway, a wilting, spindly thing that really wasn’t very pretty. But it was still a lilac. They argued for years about whether it should stay, and finally she came home from work one day to find that he’d dug the bush up. In my own house, we had a flowering bush outside of our breakfast nook, maybe a gardenia or something. It would always bloom in the spring, and the morning light would hit it while we were eating breakfast. So those two stories contained the germ of “Lilacs.” As I was thinking about the shape the song might take, I started to wonder what it would be like to write a song about divorce that was from a perspective other than mine, as a way to work towards empathy instead of bitterness or anger."

Brandon Grafius has been performing for over 20 years an running. Having gigged in coffee houses, churches, bars, concert halls, and outdoor festivals, it's clear live performance has always been a huge part of his artistry. After receiving his MA in English concentrating on poetry, Brandon spent three years at a church in Lansing where he led the contemporary worship service and directed a praise band. It was then that he learned to play banjo to add different textures to the songs performed there. The "Another Door" album is a compilation of life experience and personal spirituality.

"There are several major evolutions to my sound in this album. First of all, I’ve become a much better guitar player over the last few years, and I think it shows. (I’m particularly proud of the finger-picking on “Lilacs.”) I’ve also incorporated my banjo as a major feature of several of the songs - “Keep Knocking,” for example, is almost entirely banjo-driven. In addition, I made the decision early on in this process that I wanted to feature top-notch harmonica, dobro, and pedal-steel players as a way to hang the album together and take some of the focus off one guy and his guitar. I think the sound is still warm and intimate, but also expansive enough to maintain interest and keep the songs moving along," says Brandon of his songwriting process and his upcoming album release.

Brandon has been playing around the Lansing area in support of his release and is planning to expand his performance base in the near future. His album is set to be released in early November of this year and will be available on most digital outlets for streaming and download.

To learn and hear more of Brandon Grafius, please visit: brandongrafius.bandcamp.com

New Life in an Old Ceremony: Elikeh Experiences Its Kondona

2015-11-18T21:40:00.000-06:00

Music can change everything. As the poet wrote, it has charms to soothe the savage breast. And it can also bring a band back from the dead, giving it a new spark of energy and creativity. For Washington, DC-based Afropop band Elikeh, the results of that musical resurrection are proudly displayed on the EP Kondona (released November 20, 2015).

“We were thinking about ending the band,” recalls Elikeh’s founder, Togolese-born Massama Dogo. “We were going to play the shows we had booked and then let it go. We had a meeting to decide what to do and our guitarist kept playing the whole time. He came up with an idea, then someone else joined in with it, and another person, until we were all jamming and we had a song. The sax player recorded it and when we listened back later, we knew it was something great. The feeling was back.”

Going into the studio they recorded the piece, now aptly titled “The Conversation,” along with two other tracks that make up Kondona, bringing the EP out on the fifth anniversary of the band’s first album,Adje! Adje!

“We’re all excited about the band now,” Dogo says. “It’s lucky the guitarist didn’t want to put down his instrument. The EP saved us.”

And as Elikeh moves into its new phase of life, the EP’s title seems just right.

‘The kondona is a ceremony they hold every five years in the northern part of my country,” Dogo explains. “It’s an initiation, a way to welcome the young men into the adult part of the community. It seemed right for what had happened to us, although we still have a long way to go.”

While back in his homeland recently, Dogo witnessed a kondonaceremony and recorded part of it. A chant from that field recording forms the opening of their cover of “Heaven,” by the Ghanaian star Ebo Taylor.

“Being there and seeing that, being back in my village among faces I’d known all my life, it just felt like heaven,” Dogo says. “The sense of the place and the ceremony brought the song into my head.”

With its irrespresible, funky guitar riff, it sits perfectly along the other two tracks, a guitar-driven slice of African music that fires on all cylinders but doesn’t fall neatly into the Afrobeat pigeonhole of so many DC bands.

“We’re Afrobeat but not Afrobeat,” Dogo agrees. “We’re very diverse. With members from all over, that’s inevitable. We’ve never covered a Fela tune, but there are elements of Afrobeat and Afropop in what we do, along with Ghanaian highlife and funk, rock, some of everything.”

But deep at the core of Elikeh’s sound is the abadja beat, common across Togo and beyond.

“We share plenty of musical ideas and rhythms of Africa’s West Coast,” Dogo agrees. “The abadja originated with the Ewe people, and like everyone else, they spread across national boundaries. That’s the beat that powers “The Conversation.” On the record you can hear the trumpet getting wilder and wilder in the call-and-response with the other brass instruments until it’s almost insane – just like the meeting that gave us the tune!”

The beat is there on the EP’s other cut, “Adja.” It’s a cautionary tale, a fable.

“It’s about a big man in the city,” Dogo says. “He comes from a tough place and he’s always the toughest, constantly have to prove himself. But then he’s caught by the police and even his toughness can’t help him.”

With these three tracks released on Ropeadope Records as a foundation for the future, Elikeh plan on recording a full album next year. But the more immediate focus is the big release show at the Rock & Roll Hotel on H Street in Washington, DC on November 6.

The gig will be both a celebration of what they’ve achieved in their five years together, and also the start of their journey into the future; their own kondona ceremony.

“The cover of the record is a stairway,” Dogo recounts. “That’s what this all feels like. We’re slowly making our way up there.”

A great deal can happen in five years. A band can be born, flourish, and then come close to the end. But never underestimate the power of music to breathe new life and offer a fresh start.

“Five years, growing, climbing those stairs, that new feeling?” Dogo asks. “Really, how could we call it anything but Kondona?”

Flipswitch

The DOVES

2015-11-18T21:32:00.002-06:00

W. Wade and Trena Stooksberry (The DOVES) hail from beautiful Macon, GA – a town located an hour south of Atlanta, renowned for it amazingly rich musical heritage (Lena Horne, Little Richard, Otis Redding, James Brown, The Allman Brothers and Capricorn Records, Mark Heard, Mike Mills and Bill Berry of REM, et. al.), as well as its signature antebellum architecture, which was spared by Sherman during his march to the sea. Wade also claims musical DNA from his childhood in Memphis.

They have taken all these influences, and many more, to forge a sound both immediately familiar, and uniquely their own; spanning a gamut from Classic AOR to Adult Contemporary to New Wave, Blues, British Invasion, Southern Revival – and of course, being Southerners, Spiritual.

The DOVES have been capturing attention and acclaim from radio stations and bloggers both at home and abroad: New York City, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Baltimore, DC, LA, Seattle, San Francisco; London, Wales, Germany, the Netherlands, Paris, and elsewhere.

From the “musical smorgasbord” of their 6-song EP, “Day (One)” which ranges from acoustic lament (“Dirty Words”), to guitar-driven New Wave (“Day”), to electronic synth (“Some More Than Others”), to glorious chorale (“Out of the Wood”), to “grunge meets Latin in Motown” ("Angeline"), to soulful blues (“Everybody’s Happy But Me”) –

to their follow-up “double-sided single” of catchy pop-rock, “Wild and Strange"/"Shut My Mouth” —

to their more recent offerings, “Why Did You Hurt Me?” (a universal plaint, Trena’s soulful vocal evoking the classic radio style of Brenda Lee, Connie Francis, Patsy Cline; with Wade’s matching retro guitar work); “Mirage” (a galloping reflection on the boundaries of reality: is our world really a “Mirage”?) and “The Fine Line” (the pathos involved with choosing to “walk the line”, a la Johnny Cash – or not to) —

And now, with their foray into Gospel, “King of Kings” — “an old-fashioned, drop-beat, stomp-your-feet praise and worship song: marked by its stately, unhurried rhythm” (its accompanying video hailed as “Stunning, ethereal, unexpected, joyous…”) — which extols Jesus Christ in HIs exclusive office as Creator of “time and space (and) energy…”

The DOVES express an effortless shifting of musical genres that confirm what Dan Herman of Radio Crystal Blueremarked on his “Novus Ordo” broadcast: “they have something unique up their sleeve…”.

Call it “the superior arrangements… and perfect harmonies of the couple” (German blogger Walter H., “A Few Good Times in My Life”); call it

"Lush melodies, mystery and simplicity,

the profane and the sacred, driving

acoustic lyricism. The alternative to

the alternative”

Whatever you choose to call it, The DOVES hope you will be blessed by “King of Kings”!

_____________________________

The DOVES website:

http://www.thedovesamerica.com

The DOVES facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/TheDOVES2010

CD Baby:

http://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/TheDoves2

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Alba's Edge; A Wonderful Concoction of Scottish Latin Jazz

2015-11-13T09:04:00.000-06:00

Groundbreaking Celtic/Jazz group Alba's Edge recently celebrated the local release of their debut album Run to Fly (Paddledoo Music) in front of a packed house at the back room of the Burren in Davis Square, Somerville, MA.The concert was presented by WGBH's Brian O'Donovan, who called the band “innovative, unbridled, adventurous.” The energy in the room was electric as fans lined up to experience the quartet's enthralling performance and get a copy of the new album. Alba's Edge is fronted by Neil and Lilly Pearlman, a brother-sister powerhouse on piano and fiddle, and grounded by a rock solid bass and drum rhythm section in Doug Berns and Jacob Cole. They have been rapidly garnering industry attention and gaining fans for their original brand of music, the product of their myriad musical backgrounds in Jazz, Scottish, Funk and Latin music traditions.

Run to Fly was produced and mixed by Aidan O'Rourke, the 2014 BBC Folk Musician of the Year, one of Scotland's greatest living fiddle players and a member of the experimental Scottish folk trio Lau (“The UK's best live band” -The Guardian). O'Rourke's involvement in the album marked a major milestone for the band, whose music has been heavily influenced by his work over the years. As Neil puts it, "working with Aidan was a dream come true. Lilly and I grew up listening to his work and couldn't think of a more perfect fit. We were blown away that he wanted to work with us and that he believes in our music." The first full length release from Alba's Edge, Run to Fly presents music written and developed over the past year. The music draws on the imagery of sunrise, life cycles and cosmic cycles, inspired by the double meaning inherent in the band's name: the word “Alba” as both Gaelic for “Scotland” and Spanish for “Dawn”.

Neil and Lilly Pearlman grew up in a family steeped in Scottish traditional music and dance. Neil has gone on to become an innovative pianist who has received international acclaim for his work blending traditional Celtic accompaniment with modern Jazz and Latin piano techniques (“a tremendous pianist” -BBC Radio Scotland). His piano blends seamlessly with Lilly's fiddle. A recent graduate of Barnard College, Lilly is turning heads as one of the top Scottish/Cape Breton fiddlers of her generation, touring the country with multiple projects and teaching at fiddle music camps such as Maine Fiddle Camp and Alasdair Fraser's Scottish Fiddle & Cello Camp at Ashokan. Holding down the low end, Doug Berns brings a wealth of experience to the table from years of playing Jazz, Funk and Afro-Beat in New York City. Doug is a part of countless projects around the city, most notably the Afro-Beat band Emefe, who are on the rise as a new voice in the genre. Rounding out the rhythm section is Jacob Cole, a versatile drummer from California by way of Puerto Rico. Although he holds a degree in Jazz Performance from New England Conservatory of Music, Jacob's varied musical chops have found him playing with established groups in a variety of genres ranging from Indie-Rock (Eksi Ekso) to Ska (The Toasters).

Alba's Edge is the synthesis of these musical backgounds. Their music layers fiddle tunes with cycling and building motifs, Jazz improvisation and Latin/Funk grooves to create a momentum that makes each piece a journey, pulling the listener along for the ride. Run to Fly is available online through iTunes, Amazon and CD Baby.

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Mike Thompson

2015-11-08T20:08:00.000-06:00

On song writing

My approach to creating music is very straightforward and honest. I get an idea for a hook, a melody, a phrase. I kick it around for a while and see where it goes. Does it feel right? Is there some experience in my life that I can tie to it? Is there something to make it be meaningful, moving, or even funny? If it resonates with me, it grows and takes on a life of its own. All that is left is trying to capture the thought so that it can be communicated to others. Rik Emmet wrote that music is "...not just a game of notes, it's the sounds inside your soul." I couldn't agree with him more.

On the new album

I am thrilled at, and fiercely proud of, how well the new album came out. Some of those songs have been bouncing around my head for decades. It’s been a fantastic experience working with the amazingly talented people that came together for this effort. The tracks all have stories of their own. While never intended, there are themes of compassion and caring, nostalgia, love found, and friends lost woven all through the album. It is where I am in my life. Dealing with the loss of family members and friends, the joy and hardships of raising kids, and the bitter-?sweetness of looking back on a life lived. Not every part of every song on there is about my life, but if you listen to it enough times, you will know a lot about me.

On working with music industry heavy-?weights

I was very lucky to have had the opportunity to work with several big names in music. My producer, JJ Crews, arranged for a local session guitarist to lay down the lead tracks for the entire CD. Before that could happen, he was killed in a horrible accident. Needless to say, we were all shaken. Once we got past the human tragedy, we had to find a replacement. JJ told me he would check with some of someone he had worked with in Nashville to find a session player up there. It turns out the "someone" was engineer Michael Wagener, whose credits include work with Dokken, Metallica, Alice Cooper, Queen, and on and on. He made a few calls, and I get asked if I would like to work with Mark Slaughter (Slaughter, Alice Cooper)? I jumped all over that offer! We sent up a few tracks for him to listed to and chew on. After a few weeks, JJ and I flew up to Nashville to work in Wagener’s Wire World Studio. Mark was great to work with. He brought in ideas and angles that really brought the tunes to life. All of which were recorded with Michael Wagener’s signature guitar sounds. Amazing!

Country star Collin Raye has been a friend of the family for the last 5 or 6 years. He has done several shows for varies charities we support. I let him know I was working on an album of my own and joked that he should come sing on it. He said he would love to and I thought that would be the end of that. A few months later I’m chatting with him and he brings it up again. He was good as his word! So, we made the arrangements, he flew down to Panama City to record at JJ Crews’ Boogie Tracks Studio. We decided to do a cover of one of a fun song from Jay Ferguson called Thunder Island. To say that I was a little nervous to be singing on the same song with a guy that has sixteen number one hits is a bit of an understatement! Collin is a heck of a guy and a real pro. He took all the tension out of the room and it was a fun evening of music. He is a closet rocker, and really had it going on in the vocal booth.

While the average music lover might not have ever heard of Eric Conn, the client list of his Independent Mastering service in Nashville ranges from Ted Nugent to Garth Brooks. His final treatment of the tracks was spot on and makes them really explode out of your stereo.

About Mike Thompson

I was born and raised on the beautiful Gulf Coast of Florida. My travels have taken me literally around the world, but I always seem to follow my wondering feet back home. I love the slow pace, friendly people, and the connection with nature that you get here.

I've played in lots of bands, from jazz, to country, to modern rock. When I wasn't being too hard-?headed to pay attention, I learned a lot from all the great musicians and friends that I have had the pleasure to work with. I try to pour all of those lessons and a little bit of myself into everything I do now.

I like to read. I make things. I take pictures. I try to be a good friend, a good husband, and a good father. I like how a great song makes you feel. I love the energy of a concert.

Connect with Mike and his music

Website: http://www.mikethompsonmusic.com

On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/inmikeshead/

On iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/out-?of-?my-?head/id997597694

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Ethno-Chaos: DakhaBrakha Reinvents Ukraine’s Unsung Roots Music With Global Finesse

2015-11-08T20:05:00.000-06:00

A shadowy procession to the pounding of drums, to the murmur of a cello, morphs into an anthem, an invocation, a wild and wacky breakdown. Drones and beats, crimson beads and towering black lambs-wool hats all serve as a striking backdrop for an unexpected, refreshingly novel vision of Eastern European roots music. This is the self-proclaimed “ethno-chaos” of Ukraine’s DakhaBrakha, a group that feels both intimately tied to their homeland, yet instantly compelling for international audience.

“We just want people to know our culture exists,” muses Marko Halanevych of DakhaBrakha, the remarkable Kyiv-based ensemble that has broken down the tired musical framework for Ukrainian traditional music. “We want people to know as much as possible about our corner of the world.”

The quartet does far more than introduce Ukranian music or prove it is alive and well. They craft stunning new sonic worlds for traditional songs, reinventing their heritage with a keen ear for contemporary resonances. With one foot in the urban avant-garde theater scene and one foot in the village life that nurtured and protected Ukraine’s cultural wealth, DakhaBrakha shows the full fury and sensuality of some of Eastern Europe’s most breathtaking folklore.

Fresh from lauded appearances on Prairie Home Companion and at Bonnaroo, the group is touring the U.S. this autumn. Rolling Stone dubbed the band Bonnaroo's "Best Break Out," gushing that they had "one of the most responsive crowds of the weekend."

Refined yet saucy, eerie yet earthy, Ukrainian music has languished in relative obscurity, though its achievements are diverse and sophisticated: complex polyphonic singing with interlocking lines so tight the ears buzz, long and philosophical epics, humorous ditties, instrumental virtuosity, and raucous dance tunes. Ritual and ribaldry, urbane composition and rural celebration, Asian influences and Western harmony all combined to give contemporary musicians a true wealth of potential sources.

DakhaBrakha knows these sources well: the three female vocalists have spent many summers traveling around Ukraine’s villages collecting songs and learning from elder women in remote areas. Like these village tradition-bearers, they have spent years singing together, a fact that resonates in the beautifully close, effortlessly blended sound of their voices. Marko grew up steeped in village life, and draws on his rural upbringing when contributing to the group.

Yet the young musicians and actors were determined to break away from purist recreations and from the stale, schmaltzy, post-Soviet remnants of an ideology-driven folk aesthetic. Urged on by Vladyslav Troitsky, an adventuresome theater director at the DAKH Center for Contemporary Art, a cornerstone of the Kyiv arts underground, the group resolved to create something radically different. They wanted to experiment, to discover, to put Ukrainian material in a worldly context, without divorcing it from its profound connection to land and people. That’s why tablas thunk and digeridoos rumble, filling out DakhaBrakha’s sound, and yet never overshadow the deeply rooted voices and spare, yet unforgettable visual aesthetic.

“The beginning was pretty primitive,” recalls Halanevych. “We tried to find rhythms to match the melodies. We tried to shift the emphasis of these songs. We know our own material, our native music well, yet we wanted to get to know other cultures and music well. We started with the Indian tabla, then started to try other percussion instruments. But we didn’t incorporate them directly; we found our own sounds that helped us craft music.”

Through this experimentation and repurposing of instruments from other cultures to serve DakhaBrakha’s own sound, the band was guided by the restraint, the elemental approach that owed a debt to the emotionally charged minimalism of Phillip Glass and Steve Reich.

“At the same time as we explored ethnic music, we got interested in minimalism, though never in a way that was literal or obvious,” Halanevych explains. “The methods of minimalism seemed to us to be very productive in our approach to folk. The atmospheric and dramatic pieces that started our work together were created by following that method.”

This mix of contemporary, cosmopolitan savvy and intimacy with local traditions and meanings cuts to the heart of DakhaBrakha’s bigger mission: To make the world aware of the new country but ancient nation that is Ukraine. “It’s important to show the world Ukraine, and to show Ukrainians that we don’t need to have an inferiority complex. That we’re not backward hicks, but progressive artists. There are a lot of wonderful, creative people here, people who are now striving for freedom, for a more civilized way of life, and are ready to stand up for it.”

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Serial Obsession

2015-11-07T22:42:00.000-06:00

Obsession: The total and complete domination of one’s thoughts or feelings by a persistent idea, image, desire…or ROCK’N’ROLL

   New York City’s Serial Obsession is a band that would sound right at home had it emanated from the sleazy Sunset Strip of the late 80‘s early 90s Hollywood where Guns N’ Roses and Motley Crue first held court. Yet they’re on the other coast, bashing away with their stylistic synthesis of hard rock, glam, grunge, classic rock and metal, all with a punk attitude, all original, and instantly memorable as hell. In an era where new, young, exciting, melodic rock bands have decidedly taken a back seat, Serial Obsession dredges up the kind of glory that came with the likes of Cheap Trick, Aerosmith, Velvet Revolver and KISS yet has faded into distant memory.
Until now.
with the release of their 2015 ,4 song EP “Pull The Pin”, Serial Obsession takes their influences from the past and injects a modern attitude that is pointed towards the future.
   Singer Shawn Sugrue has the kind of voice that stops traffic. Emotional, passionate, his pipes are only exceeded by his stage presence. He’s the visual magnet. Bassist Jason Rosin joins with drummer T Motts as the anchor, the tightest rhythm section in town, one that will give your sub-woofer a real work-out. Guitarist Andrew Kadar is under the radar now, but watch out! He’s a six-stringed hero, well-versed in his forebears enough to assimilate the aesthetic of Van Halen/Slash/Page into his own unique captivating style.
   Ultimately, words are meaningless, you have to hear them, see them, feel them. They get under your skin. It’s in the almighty riff, the hummable melodies and the attitude. Their bombast is infectious. Audiences at Irving Plaza, CBGB, BB King’s, The Highline Ballroom and Terminal 5 in Manhattan know. So do crowds in Brooklyn, Ithaca, Syracuse and Connecticut.
Serial Obsession is on a mission to bring back the kind of rock that rolls with soul and doesn’t mind getting up and in your face so that you’ll be reminded of the heights that this great music of ours—rock’n’roll—can still achieve.
   They say that there is no obsession like a serial obsession. One listen and you’ll be obsessed. Mike GreenBlatt-Rock Journalist

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A Freer Sound: Ozere Strides from String Quartet to Anyplace, As Globally Inspired Traditions Collide with Classical Technique

2015-11-07T22:37:00.001-06:00

There’s the rigor and structure of the string quartet. Then there’s the freewheeling ethos of an Irish session, when it’s about participation and camaraderie, not performance. Classically trained, free-spirited Toronto-based violinist Jessica Deutsch has worked to unite both, with her roots-meets-classical group Ozere.

Ozere thrives in that peculiar space where chance encounters--a stranger on a plane’s lively turn of phrase, a sign on the side of a Toronto landmark--spark complex pieces. By turns folky and refined, the band sounds at home inFinding Anyplace (album release: October 19, 2015). Though the strings take center stage, vocalists Emily Rockarts and Deutsch, who found her voice recently, as well as sprightly mandolin (Adrian Gross), expand the sonic palette, as does the subtle edge contributed by David Travers-Smith’s imaginative production.

Marimba and hand drums merge with the band’s core sound. American spiritual gem “Wayfaring Stranger” gets an old-world twist, while pieces like “Anyplace” swirl with melodies that hint at everything from hardanger tunes to Carpathian dances and that converse with all the beauty of classical technique. Deutsch weaves original works with traditional pieces, sometimes on a single track (“This and That Set”). For all its far-flung tendencies, the music feels grounded, of a piece, and yet never too comfortable or settled.

“The identity of the band doesn’t fit neatly into something. There are songs that we can learn by ear, and then there are pieces like ‘Moment,’” notes Deutsch. “It’s a short tune but everyone needs a chart for it. Even then, I don’t want them to do exactly what I’ve written. I want to maintain a freer sound.”

The group will bring this sound to the US for the first time in October, to celebrate the new album.

{full story below}

Deutsch comes by her anyplaceness honestly. She grew up playing music with rather strict, if engrossing classical discipline. Youth orchestras, lots of practice at home, parental insistence. Yet it didn’t change her passion for music. In university, she stumbled across a Celtic music jam at a pub not far from her place in Vancouver. She was intrigued--and when she started to join in, she was hooked.

“Anyone of any background and training could go. It was completely different from my experience,” she reflects. “You could be a complete beginner, or very good. It didn’t matter. You drank beer and learned tunes.That approach to music stuck with me: Learning by ear, jamming, having a drink while you play. I had a thirst for that.”

It proved remarkably freeing. After her studies, Deutsch took to the road, travelling around Europe with a cheap violin, playing anywhere and with anyone. She absorbed tunes from fellow travellers, learned as much as she could, from Barcelona to Istanbul. “When I liked a place, I stayed there,” recalls Deutsch. “I had all these positive experiences of people showing me their music. But I never found one style that fit.”

Her road led back to Toronto, where she became a key player with city’s notorious Balkan-powered party band the Lemon Bucket Orkestra, among other musical adventures. Revelling in her newfound musical direction, Deutsch decided to put together her own group.

“I wanted to put together a string quartet--that’s what I grew up playing--but I wanted to extend the form to include improvisation, to include anything that fit, really. At that time, I happened to be playing a lot with Adrian, the mandolin player, and this made me reconsider the instrumentation. I started to move away from my original idea and to invent something new.”

The group began to evolve, thanks to the musicians who joined Deutsch. Guest singer for a show, Rockarts eventually became a vital part of the sound. Gross’s mandolin begged for bass. Cello rounded out the band and forefronted the chamber sound.

“I teach people the music, but they bring their own sound to it and I wouldn’t have it any other way,” says Deutsch. “The people on the album contributed so much to the arrangements and style, to the vocal harmonies [to lovely effect on “The Keeper”]. I want that input; it’s very important to me.”

Input comes from all around. Some of Ozere’s inspirations are whimsical, offhand comments from fellow plane passengers (“The Sun Ain’t Down”) or Toronto landmarks (“Anyplace” is a wink to Toronto landmark store Honest Ed’s unforgettable signage, which Deutsch glimpsed as she worked on the piece in a cafe). Some are serious, like “Song for Tina,” a tribute to Tina Fontaine and the missing and murdered Indigenous women, or “The Parting,” a meditation on impermanence and mortality.

“This album celebrates Anyplace, that door that opens into a world and reveals all there is to play with and explore,” reflects Deutsch. “There really is no destination, or if there is, it’s always shifting. It’s the best place to be, and I’m thrilled. We’ve really hit our stride.”

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REBELMANN

2015-11-06T22:09:00.001-06:00

Teen Brothers Clayton Mann, 15, and twins Johnathon and Bryce Mann, 18, are REBELMANN. Because of their musical accomplishments, REBELMANN was voted into The Recording Academy, aka The Grammys, in 2013. Working on their debut album, the title track,INDIAN LAND, was released May 1, 2015 along with State of Mind and California Mann.

REBELMANN captured "The Most Talented Teens" at the Chicago Music Award in 2012. The young band of brothers write, arrange, produce, and perform 100% of their own music.

Clayton, Johnathon and Bryce have already taken advantage of opportunities that would make some veteran bands envious. One of their most memorable shows came when the teens opened for LA Guns. Making that performance even more memorable was the fact that it took place on New Year's Eve at the popular Whiskey-a-Go-Go on Sunset Strip in West Hollywood.

REBELMANN is influenced by arena rock acts AC/DC, Guns' N Roses and KISS. REBELMANN has backlined Gene Simmons and Sebastian Bach at Rock 'N Roll Fantasy Camp Las Vegas; rocked the famed Whisky-a-Go-Go on Sunset Strip, the Hard Rock Chicago to Music Row Nashville. REBELMANN placed 2nd at the Hard Rock Chicago Battle of the Bands; and placed 3rd in the Best of the Midwest Battle of the Bands in 2013. REBELMANN has been a touring artist on the anti-bullying The Teen Nation Tour 2013 and 2014.

And while some artists admit to being “late bloomers” when it comes to developing their musical, vocal, and performance skills, it was apparent from an early age that Clayton, Bryce, and John had their combined sights set on careers in the music industry.

John is my twin so we always did everything together when we were younger,” says Bryce. “John started taking drum lessons so I started taking drum lessons too. We can be competitive so I had to be better than him. And now I am!”

John shrugs off Bryce's banter saying he was actually drawn to guitar since he was around five-years-old. He became even more enthralled with the instrument when he started performing at recitals. Clayton tells a similar story.

“I have always loved music. I remember being hooked on guitar after playing in a recital when I was ten,” Clayton remembers. “I knew I wanted to do it again and again. I wanted to take it bigger and to the next level even then.”

Even with such great opportunities presenting themselves for the band, all three members of REBELMANN have focused on keeping their feet on the ground and using their music to help others. They were part of a recent Teen Nation Tour, which reaches out to youth all over the United States to deliver a strong message against bullying. Teen Nation shows saw REBELMANN performing in several states, including Texas, Michigan, Mississippi, Georgia, and more.

“Bullying is such a big problem,” states Clayton. “Making a difference in the schools is a big deal and it is better for kids to hear about bullying from kids their own age instead of an adult. We shared our stories of bullying and that helped them share their stories.”

John echoed Clayton's comments knowing full well what it is like to be a little bit different from everybody else. The energetic guitar player was diagnosed with Auditory Processing Disorder. APD encompasses a wide range of hearing problems but, in John's case, it makes it difficult for him to process differences in vowel sounds.

“Kids are intimidated to tell their stories,” he points out. “No one wants to tell an adult but, after they hear us tell our stories and how we pushed through it, they're more confident to tell their story. But we let them know bullying won't stop us. It just makes me more determined.”

Being involved in the Teen Nation Tour was important to the band not only because of the message the tour carries to children around the country, it was also consistent with the band's emphasis on engaging their fans. While the music industry has become overpopulated by “me first” personalities and egos, the guys making up REBELMANN have made it a point to put fans first.

“Fan interaction is awesome,” says Bryce. “There is nothing like playing live.”

“There is nothing better than being on stage making the fans feel something good,” John says in agreement. Clayton is also a big believer in putting the spotlight on the people supporting their music.

“Living a positive impact on people, on the fans,” he reiterates. “It is about what I leave for them. Not the money you make, not the car you drive, or the house you live in. I plan on making a positive impact on other people's lives.”

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Omara Portuondo 85th Anniversary; Buena Vista Social Club Diva celebrates her music and life

2015-11-06T22:06:00.001-06:00

Buena Vista Social Club Diva celebrates her music and life with a special tour accompanied by special guests

“With our music we Cubans have exported more dreams and pleasures than with our tobacco, more sweetness and energy than with all our sugar. Afro-Cuban music is fire, savour and smoke; it is syrup, charm and relief. It is like sonorous rum, which brings people together and makes them treat each other as equals. It brings the senses to dynamic life.”

Fernando Ortiz

There was fresh spring rain in Havana when I strolled into Egrem Studios in the first weeks of the new millennium, a studio where decades of gorgeous music have seeped into the walls. Hearing the warm voice of Omara Portuondo live and close up is always a joy and there she was, singing her version of “He Perdio Contingo” (“I’m lost without you”) a typically swooning , romantic song. Omara was recording an album “a dark, smoky, two-in-the-morning record, full of yearning and lost love” as producer Nick Gold described it.

The album was her first solo album since the miraculous success of the Buena Vista Social Club. It was through that record and Wim Wenders’ film of the same name that many non-Cubans discovered Omara. For Wenders and so many others, the highlight of the film was the touching duet of her and Ibrahim Ferrer singing “Silencio” “And my soul, sad and sorrowful/wants to keep secret its bitter pain.” As they take the applause, a tear forms in Omara’s eye and Ibrahim removes his handkerchief from his pocket and gently wipes away the tear.

While other much loved Buena Vista stars like Ruben Gonzalez and Ibrahim Ferrer were lured out of retirement. Omara has been continually performing in public since the age 15, a legendary singer whose voice reflects a long, creative life of passion and music. She has been singing professionally for an incredible 70 years, and while revolutions and wars shook the globe, she has carried on, with indomitable elegance.

Omara was born in the barrio of Casa Hieso, in Havana, known for its musicality. There was some scandal in the family. Her mother Esperanza Peláez came from a wealthy family of Spanish ancestry who assumed she would marry a rich, white man with a high social position. In fact, she ran away with a tall, handsome, black baseball player called Bartolo Portuondo. For years they could not walk down the street in public, but the marriage endured. Bartolo was a friend of the national poet Nicolás Guillén and a lover of music and the house, lacking a gramophone, was filled with singing.

As a shy 15 year old, she broke into the lush, sequined world of cabaret, following in the chorus line shoes of sister Haydee, and became a dancer at the Tropicana, the glamorous club that continues still in Havava, a frozen relic of the decadent pre-Revolutionary days. But singing was her forté, and she would spend weekends singing American jazz with the blind pianist Frank Emilio in his band Loquibambia Swing. The band was a mélange of pan-American sounds and they created a new sound called “fillin” –feeling – and Omara was dubbed “La novia de fillin”,“the girlfriend of feeling.

She sang in the in the all girl Orquesta Anacaona in 1952, before with Haydee, with another female group Quarteto D’Aida, a 1950s Cuban Spice Girls, directed and named after pianist Aida Diestro. Things began to really move for Omara and the group were signed to RCA Victor, toured the U.S. and backed up some of the biggest stars of the moment like Benny Moré (“the Barbarian of Rhythm”), Edith Piaf, Bola de Nieve and Nat King Cole at the Tropicana. This was at the peak of the glamour, some say kitsch, of the famous nightclub.

As a soloist Omara accompanied some of the great innovators like Arsenio Rodriguez and Isolina Carillo. Her first solo album was not, as with other Buena Vista Social Club members, after the release of that ground breaking album but was way back in 1959, entitled Black Magic.

After the Revolution of the same year, Omara carried on touring the States until things reached a crisis point with the Missile Crisis and Cuban-American relations were broken off. Omara and the Quarteto D’Aida were in Miami when her sister, along with many other Cuban performers, decided to stay. Omara returned to Cuba and in a way filled a gap left by the departure of so many musicians from Cuba and her career flourished – at first with a reformed Quarteto D’Aida and then, from 1967 onwards as a solo artist. For a while she appeared in vocal events in the socialist world and sang revolutionary songs and songs about Che Guevara and, later, Salvador Allende.

The U.S. was off limits, but she toured with Orquesta Aragon in Europe and in Africa, where they still have a huge following. “Omara is a legend in Cuba, and it’s safe to say there’s no one of my age who didn’t grow up under her influence,” Cuban-born ballet dancer Carlos Acosta says “When I was a kid I’d see her all the time on television, singing the kinds of songs my parents liked.” Omara was a versatile performer, but her speciality was a heart-rending romantic bolero – she was often compared to the great exponents of melancholy jazz like Billie Holiday or Edith Piaf. She married and divorced and her son became her manager. Omara, a documentary film about her career won a prize at Cannes in 1986.

In 1997, just when she had hit normal retirement age and might be expecting to slow down, the Buena Vista Social Club project boosted her profile throughout the world. Ry Cooder had heard her in the mid-90s and she happened to be recording in Egrem when an aborted Afro-Cuban project opened up some studio time . She said she was due to tour Vietnam but immediately recognised the importance of reviving the old school music and became the only female member of the gang. (Another might have been Celina Gonzalez, perhaps the only other female Cuban singer with enough stature but she rolled the santeria cowrie shells and divined the deities were against her participation).

The album ricocheted round the world and novelist Salman Rushdie called 1998 “that Buena Vista summer” . Wim Wenders’ stylish film added rocket fuel to sales of the album. Omara as well as “Silencio” and had another gorgeous duet drenched in nostalgia “Vente Anos”, sung with Compay Segundo, a song Omara had recorded before and had originally learned from her parents.

Her solo album of 2000 picked up a Grammy and was followed by the Brazilian tinged Flor De Amor in 2004 which featured a song with family resonance called “Tabu” about inter-racial love. Other recordings and tours followed – a 60th anniversary album Gracias and stellar collaborations with Cuban jazz pianist Chucho Valdés. She was the first Cuban woman to be an International Ambassador for the Red Cross. In recent years, she’s sung everywhere from he Royal Opera House in London to the Latin Passion festival in Hong Kong.

The best way to celebrate Omara’s 85th year and 70 years of performing professionally? A very special worldwide tour which will include some exceptional invited guests. The great Cuban diva and artistic ambassador of her country wants to celebrate with a grand fiesta which represents the impressive sweep of her career – on every stop meeting with old friends and new to perform together much loved Cuban classics from ‘Besame Mucho’ to ‘Veinte Años.’ The tour will reflect different aspects of her long career, taking it way back to her younger years and her continuing love of elegant cabaret, from the Buena Vista days right up to the present with different tastes and flavours, of what will be a musical feast, full of piquant sabrosura.

As Cuban writer Ivan Garcia put it “Her voice is still lush, as it was when she sang in her parents’ dressing room. In Cuba, some things are lacking. But we do have Omara Portuondo. She still lives in an apartment overlooking the sweep of the Malecon in Havana, and even if her dynamic career slows down it’s hard to imagine she won’t be lured out to some of her old haunts like the Café Cantaté or the Tropicana.

Producer Ry Cooder said about the Buena Vista Social Club musicians, that he was lucky, as we all are to “have caught the tail end of a comet” of a great music culture that was cut off for decades.

Omara Portuondo is a diva in the best sense, an ambassador of Cuba to the world. Now in her mid-eighties, there is a sense in which the curtains of an era are slowly, elegantly coming down. But she will forever, as the old showbusiness adage has it “Always leave them wanting more.”

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Stand By Me: Granpa Elliot

2015-10-25T18:32:00.001-05:00

The second singer in the previous video was Granpa Elliot, a street singer from New Orleans. Here he is singing Stand By Me at the Bourbon Festival Paraty in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil in 2011.

Dock of the Bay

2015-10-25T18:21:00.001-05:00

Cuñao: The Beauty Forged from Desert Sand and Beating Blood

2015-10-24T18:02:00.000-05:00

Stories have the power to connect, to touch lives, sometimes even to change them. The best songwriters weave their words and music together, creating images that envelop and transfix, draw in the listener and make them a part of the tale. That’s what Cuñao does on their second full-length release, Sangre Y Arena (released October 6th, 2015). The people who inhabit their songs build their spaces inside the listeners’ heart.

“In terms of lyrics I’ve always been influenced by the nueva canciónmovement of the 1970s,” explains songwriter, singer, and band founder Julio Montero. “It was very political, very lyrical. It was protest music but it was also poetry. It moved me, and that’s what I want to do to people who hear us.”

Born in Ecuador but raised in New York City, Montero heard plenty of bolero – the ubiquitous romantic music of Latin America - as well as cumbia, rock, and African music that adds up to the transcontinental swirl of sounds that underpins Cuñao.

“We’re quite deliberately an acoustic band with warm textures in the music,” Montero says. “I want to keep it that way. In our early days the sound was more electronic, but this truly evokes all the emotional aspects in the material, even when the songs are more upbeat.”

Cuñao originally came together in 2010, gradually developing and morphing over the next four years into the current five-piece lineup. But the band’s history also informs its present.

“The first four songs on the album are all old tunes from those early days,” says Montero. “They’re pieces we’ve kept playing live and greatly rearranged, like “Mas Alla” and “La Oveja Negra.” And they work better in this setting, it brings out the intimacy inside them.”

The move to this acoustic sound has been organic, a path traced by the band’s releases. After Trabajo Y Ron in 2011, where Latin folk merged with beats and electronica, the 2013 EP Los Testigos offered a deliberate glance over the shoulder to vintage Latin folk. It was followed by another EP, Llano Lllanero, Lloron, which explored cumbia. That release won Cuñao The Examiner Magazine’s 2013 L.A. Music Critics Award for Best International Release, while one of the cuts, “Mi Periquito,” was featured on From Dusk ‘Till Dawn: The Series on the El Rey network.

But Sangre Y Arena finds Cuñao quite literally looking at another landscape. The title, which translates as ‘Blood and Sand,’ was inspired by the desert that surrounds the band’s Los Angeles home.

“The area is a big part of our inspiration on this record,” Montero says. “The desert and the city helped bring this band together and we want to credit it. It’s even there on the cover, which Josel Cruz, our bass player, designed.”

The desert resonates across Sangre Y Arena. It’s not only there in the heat or the lonesome sound, but in the songs themselves. “Niños Del Desierto,” for instance, transports the listener right out into the unforgiving wilderness where death can be a heartbeat away.

“A few years ago I saw a program about kids crossing from Mexico into the U.S.,” Montero recalls. “They’d be caught, then housed in facilities near the border. The images shocked me. The temperatures there are brutal, everything is horrific. I started to think about the kids who attempted that journey but didn’t make it. The song is about one of them. I wanted it to be musically very sparse and light, an innocent contrast to the seriousness of the lyrics.”

The song is in the direct line of nueva canción, political yet personal. It’s a story, beautifully drawn, with a stark reminder that not all tales end in happily-ever-after. “Saana,” too, tells a story of America, but this time from the perspective of an African immigrant.

“That’s the most orchestrated song on the album,” Montero notes. “We added percussion and saxophone. It all began when Wilfried Souly, a dancer-musician and West African drummer from Burkina Faso who lives in L.A. asked me to write something for a show he was doing called Saana. It means ‘Foreigner,’ and the lyrics are made up of African proverbs about foreigners that I translated into Spanish. What it highlights is that we all have many of the same experiences, no matter where we start, and I think showing that is important.”

Connections and empathy. The things that make us human. Montero leads with his heart as a writer. He tells his stories, he draws us in. And through his music he draws people together and holds up a mirror for us to see ourselves. There’s a great deal of beauty to be found in the sand and the blood.

Deborah Crooks

2015-10-24T18:00:00.000-05:00

Bay Area songwriter Deborah Crooks has released three CD's of critically noted original music drawing on folk, rock, Americana and the Blues. Her diverse, ever-evolving artistic career has included studying writing and poetics at The Naropa Institute, voice with Faith Winthrop, Chloe Goodchild and Aambaprasad V Mysore (India), cowriting and collaborating with her Bay Area peers and regularly gigging throughout the Western Unites States. Her songs have been placed on the PBS series Road Trip Nation, in the finals of the 2014 EcoArts Awards and on compilations including the recent Songs From the Fog collection. The East Bay Express described her music as "...a more diverse take on Americana with a distinctly female tone, and quite charming." In addition to her solo work, she collaborates on several projects and bands including Crooks/Walsh Blues (2009) and KCDC with Kwame Copeland, which released a 10-song collection "Your Own Reaction" in 2014.

Desert Alchemy: XIXA’s Psychedelic Rock & Cumbia feedback Feedback Lloop on Debut EP, Shift and Shadow

2015-10-24T00:01:00.000-05:00

“Every time we’d play a chicha song, it would steal the show,” exclaims Gabriel Sullivan of Tucson’s XIXA. He and fellow XIXA member Brian Lopez were touring Europe with Giant Sand, Howe Gelb’s pioneering Americana group. On the road, they started experimenting with chicha, the guitar driven, psychedelic cumbias born in the Peruvian Amazon, after obsessing over cult compilationThe Roots of Chicha, released by Barbès Records ten years ago.

“People would mob us after the show, wanting to know the name of that one song. It was always the chicha cover,” “Cariñito,” an emblematic chicha song that Gelb ended up recording for one of his albums. They took the hint and started their own chicha cover band, pounding hours-long sets. Before they knew it, they were writing originals in the same vein, finding where north and south, rock and Afro-Latin rhythms ran together.

Shift and Shadow, the band’s debut EP (Barbès Records; release: November 13, 2015) shows this easy alchemy, blurring rock, punk, synth-pop, Afro-Latin rhythms, and Amazonian riffs in a north-south feedback loop. “It’s weird. It’s effortless,” states Brian. “I don’t know if it’s our backgrounds, with just enough Latin, just enough rock. Alchemy makes it meld. We never sat down in a room and said, ‘We need to sound like this.’ It’s not contrived. When we started playing chicha covers, we learned songs inside and out, and at some point that filters into your original music.”

Brian was in spitting distance of indie stardom with his band Mostly Bears. Gabriel hit the road with metal and punk bands in his mid-teens, but over the years he found himself fascinated with everything from Howling Wolf and Townes Van Zandt—“They made the most punk music imaginable”—to Prado Perez Perez Prado and Balkan brass music(Gabriel founded his own Balkanesque band, Taraf de Tucson). They both worked with Giant Sand andCalexico, when not pursuing their own solo songwriting. And they both moonlighted with Sergio Mendoza y la Orkesta, falling hard for cumbia and mambo. Then they discovered chicha, and when they saw how fans clicked with the covers, they decided to launch a band that did nothing but.

It felt like a peculiar homecoming. Both Gabriel and Brian, like many young artists in Tucson, are second- or third-generation Latino. Though they never went in search of this identity, it found them in chicha. They felt how that music, those rhythms had always been there.

“All these beats and rhythms are in your brain your whole life, so they make a lot of sense when you start playing them,” reflects Brian. “Latin music is part of Tucson’s sonic landscape.” Only forty miles from the border, the city’s laidback vibe and Mexican communities nurture everything from strong singer-songwriter and hardcore scenes to great cumbia bands playing at out-of-the-way Mexican steak houses on the south side of town. Latin music is everywhere.

“Until you dive into Latin music, you don’t know if you have a strong sensibility for it,” Brian continues. “I grew up speaking English, but went to bilingual dances, was part of a folkloric group, your typical second or third-generation Latino family. My grandparents didn’t want my parents to speak Spanish, or to be Latino. Now, for our generation, it’s almost imperative to speak Spanish, even if you have to go to Barcelona or elsewhere to really learn it.”

They learned to speak chicha fluently, gathering musicians from the Tucson scene to form Chicha Dust, eventually growing to a sextet. “Winston played for Alice Cooper in the 90s. Efren ONLY knows Latin music, and didn’t know Led Zeppelin,” notes Brian. “You put them together,” that core combination of hard rock drums and Efren’s timbales, “and it’s XIXA.”

Without trying too hard, they began to write originals, somehow getting six players on the same creative page with remarkably little stress. “We’ve never had moments when we weren’t sure what to do with our sound,” Gabriel explains.

The effort comes in the studio, a recording space the band members built themselves. They will play with a track until it sounds right. “We come from that indie rock DIY mentality. You sleep in your van. You steal food from big box stores because you’re broke. You scrape together the money to record in a couple of hours,” says Brian. “We’ve come so far, and we realized we could build a studio, record our own songs, and not be satisfied with just anything. We could rearrange our songs until it’s right.”

The cumbia beat sneaks in everywhere, even covers like The Meat Puppets’ “Plateau.” “I was listening to Nirvana’s Unplugged set, and that song came on,” Brian remembers. “The song was perfect for us. The Meat Puppets are from Phoenix, very Southwestern, with that desert mystic feel. I kept hearing this classic cumbia beat behind it, and I suggested we record it and see what happened. The band thought I was crazy, but we just did it.”

“It’s so natural; it’s very strange to me that we haven’t been doing this longer,” muses Brian. “We don’t have to try to make something more rock or to incorporate cumbia into it. It’s just I think what each person brings to the table comes out in this blend of rock, cumbia, chicha. There’s no effort involved.”

rock paper scissors

Remixed World: globalFEST Provokes, Surprises, and Entertains at its Annual Flagship Festival

2015-10-21T20:22:00.000-05:00

“Worlds and Music meet, in Euphoric result” - NY Times

Cultural guardians and ebullient party bands. Soul divas and avant-cabaret performers. Music that addresses current headlines, and sounds that summon age-old traditions.

For one night, New York’s Webster Hall becomes home to all of these ideas and to the many faces and offshoots of world music, as globalFEST returns for its 13th edition on Sunday, January 17, 2016. The annual showcase festival, the flagship project of a rapidly expanding organization that serves the performing arts field, gives an instant entry point into the powerfully diverse, wide-ranging world of global music, from the electronic to the edgy, the beloved to the wonderfully unfamiliar.

The Artists of globalFEST 2016 (globalfest.org)

Astrid Hadad
Extravagant Mexican cabaret with soulful songs and outrageous visuals

Debauche
Russian mafia ballads get a New Orleans punk makeover

Fendika
Masterful dancer Melaku Belay leads Ethiopia’s traditional music revival

Ginkgoa
Vintage Paris chic meets New York cool in swinging electro-beats

Ironing Board Sam
Rhinestone studded electric blues keyboardist and showman from the American South

Lakou Mizik (NY Debut)
Powerhouse collective invigorating Haitian roots and grooves

Mariana Sadovska
The defiant cry of Ukraine, reinventing traditional songs

Stelios Petrakis Quartet
Inimitable virtuosos from Crete weaving melodies across the Greek islands

The Dhol Foundation:
UK’s leading South Asian bhangra crew

Tribu Baharú (US Debut)
Afro-champeta party from Colombia’s Caribbean coast

Somi
Lush Afrobeat inspired jazz, soul, and pop

“We want to introduce new artists into the market, and reintroduce artists who have had success in some parts of the world, but haven’t toured widely across the US,” explains Isabel Soffer, one of globalFEST’s co-founders and co-directors. “I think we have done that really well this year with some artists who are legendary in certain circles, but unknown in others. This year, we have exciting and fun surprises that we feel will do extremely well on the touring market in North America and even abroad.”

Surprises like Astrid Hadad, a cult figure in performance and cabaret, whose off- the- wall musical appeal and wow-effect show presents a surreal view of Mexican folk and pop culture. Or Fendika, one of the foremost ensembles from Ethiopia, who have reinvigorated the traditional music and dance scene in Addis Ababa, and collaborated with such far-ranging artists as previous globalFEST performers Debo Band, and Dutch post-punk icons The Ex.

Younger artists are reshaping the lineages and well-loved ideas of their native regions, finding radical connections and unexpected resonances. With roots in East Africa, Somi looks to Nigeria to draw on the cosmopolitan attitude of Lagos, with modern jazz and soul grooves. Debauche picks up the raucous Gogol Bordello torch and finds the secret tie binding New Orleans and Odessa. Tribu Baharú re-ups the propulsive Afro-Colombian beats of champeta (sometimes referred to as “Colombiansoukous”) with day-glo glee.

The stories globalFEST artists tell, however, go beyond the musicological or entertaining. From the quiet but bloody war facing Ukraine—a subject that fires Mariana Sadovska’s recent work--to the ongoing struggles of artistic communities in Haiti (Lakou Mizik), globalFEST aims to highlight musicians who can speak profoundly to the trials and joys of a place’s musical culture.

“We’ve always been aware that artists are important ambassadors for their local situation and help contribute to the economic well being of the places they are from,” reflects Bill Bragin, another co-founder and co-producer of the festival. “For example, through the years we’ve focused on artists from the Gulf of Mexico and on Haitian artists to give those artists a chance to speak for themselves, to put other narratives out into new markets.”

To bring less familiar sounds into new markets has always been globalFEST’s goal. The 501(c)3 not-for-profit service organization provides artists support, including funds for touring, curates a national 38-market package tour (produced by CAMI Music), and works with music festivals like Bonnaroo and SXSW to expand the scope of their programming.. As the world changes, and as music from all its corners reaches more and more listeners, the organization has strived to keep opening minds and ears to what “world music” can be.

“We keep reevaluating how to define world music, as it’s a very contentious term,” muses Shanta Thake, globalFEST’s third co-producer and co-director. “We do that by presenting everything from a live Punjabi bhangra crew to a Mediterranean string ensemble. We’re saying, this music can be DJ driven, it can be punk. It’s also jazz and regional music and performance art. It can be all of this.”

About globalFEST

Over the last decade, globalFEST (gF) has become one of the most dynamic global music platforms in North America, growing from an acclaimed festival/showcase into a catalytic non-profit service organization for curators, artists, and the performing arts field. Through its work, gF encourages networking and cultural diplomacy; deepens cultural understanding among its constituents; builds audiences for international music and creates new opportunities for artists leading to a more robust and sustainable ecosystem for world music in the United States. Artists that participate in gF programs represent diverse musical styles from all corners of the globe, ranging from traditional to contemporary, and everything in between. Programs include: the gF Touring Fund, which provides direct support to artists to develop new markets; gF On the Road, a tour that brings creatively programmed lineups to venues nationwide; and guest curating in both commercial and performing arts settings, including such influential events as SXSW, Bonnaroo, Lincoln Center and beyond, that serves to raise the profile and visibility of the artists gF works with, and world music overall.

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Laura Berman

2015-10-21T20:20:00.000-05:00

Originally hailing from the NYC music scene, Laura Berman tours extensively nationwide and has reached acclaim for her soul-touching vocal power and accessible yet poetic songwriting style. Laura is called toward an inward journey, and connecting with others through her music and voice, and makes her life work about healing, expression and expansiveness. She has performed alongside best-selling authors Neale Donald Walsch and Marianne Williamson as well as at the renowned Agape International Spiritual Center in Los Angeles. While in NYC, Laura was a session singer as well as a touring singer/songwriter, sang back up for Grammy Award Winner, Enya, on the David Letterman show, and was a featured vocalist in the children's feature film release, "Clifford's Really Big Movie" and accompanying Soundtrack. She now calls the Pacific NW her home, with her husband, songwriter and producer Craig Benelli. Laura's latest CD release, "Everything in Between" speaks to many dimensions of a life journey, and is available now via iTunes and CD Baby.

Wonky Tonk

2015-10-15T21:04:00.000-05:00

With a closet full of boots, a heart full of wander and a soul full of songs, the charming and multi-talented Kentucky “Wonky Tonk” woman releases her debut album Stuff We Leave Behind in hopes of continuing her Wonky ways with a lighter heart in lieu of finding the Neverland in all of us.

Jasmine Lorraine “Wonky Tonk” Poole grew up in the hard scrabble portion of the American heartland. Kentucky, to be precise. Her world of loss and longing is familiar terrain for lovers of country, bluegrass and folk music but, just as Kentucky can be viewed as a bridge between north and south, Wonk’s music blends elements of Indie/Alternative rock with old school country. It’s hard to separate the wonk from the tonk. Nor should you try.

Wonk’s influences, John Prine, Guy Clark, Modest Mouse and Loretta Lynn among them (especially Loretta), are apparent but her music is not derivative. Loretta, Skeeter Davis, Iris Dement and Jenny Lewis come to mind but none of her comparables quite pin her down. Wonk is her own cowgirl. “Cowgirls get up in the morning, decide what to do and do it”, she was told as a child. Fiercely independent but naturally shy Jasmine uses her alter ego and blue cowgirl boots to deal with the notion of impossibly cruel but equally exhilarating existence.

One byproduct of youthful innocence is a constant disappointing, bewildering surprise:

You used to call me baby
You used to call me darlin’
Now you don’t call me at all

Another is vulnerability and manipulability:

In the greasy ballroom
You whispered in my ear
Darlin’ life is a gamble, romance a drug
The whole world is dancin'
Won’t you give in and love

Her eleven song debut release Stuff We Leave Behind deals with the necessity of moving on at critical points in your life. Stuff that once seemed important must be cast aside, ex-lovers relegated to the shadows. “Heartbreak makes the jukebox play”, she was once told. Her song titles reflect her wandering spirit and a fascination with time and place. “Cleveland." “Denmark." “Tennessee." “Montague Road." A veteran troubadour at such a tender age, Wonk has toured Europe with the same restless drive as her native Northern Kentucky.

Tom Robbins told us that even Cowgirls Get the Blues but all is not remorse and regret. Jangly sunshine pops through the clouds unexpectedly, such as in “Parkland Avenue” (arguably the best track). Though softly. Without the glare.

Wonk’s lyrics are worth a read even without the music. The album tracks her evolution as an artist and a person. The gravel, rutted road to an emerging wisdom.

Tennessee didn’t you hear
Money’s not real and neither is fear

Pay attention to Wonk. Not just because she is talented and beautiful. Pay attention because she has an important purpose. To help you remember. To help you forget. Or to help you remember why you chose to forget.

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Midnight Music and Rooftop Freedom: Ballaké Sissoko and Vincent Segal Deepen the Conversation on Musique de Nuit

2015-10-14T19:09:00.002-05:00

French cellist Vincent Segal and Malian kora virtuoso Ballaké Sissoko sat down together, in the wonderful, peculiar hours when all life seemed suspended. And they played together, in quiet dialogue. At night, they felt liberated.

“Night is a special time in Mali,” Segal explains. “It’s a little less hot, and everyone’s asleep apart from the night owls like us. The city’s not as noisy, music mixes with rumor, and there’s something redeeming about simply sitting outside and playing. That’s what we tried to capture here, that freedom the night can bring.”

They channel it via the cello and the kora, the sparkling sound of the heart and the thoughtfulness of the soul, evoking night’s mysterious, exquisite span onMusique de Nuit (Six Degrees Records; release: September 4, 2015), the successor to their rapturously acclaimed first album together, Chamber Music. And it’s a very aptly-titled disc.

Six years have passed since the pair recorded Chamber Music over three days in Bamako, Mali. In that time the world has changed beyond measure. Sissoko’s homeland came under siege from fundamentalist troops for many months, while in Paris the Charlie Hebdo killings proved that violence can spring up anywhere. And that sense of tension, of change flows throughMusique de Nuit.

“What all that gave us was the thirst to play, to sit up there on the roof and explore all the feelings that came out,” Segal says. “We’d never stopped playing together after that first album, and we’ve done plenty of concerts and tours. We know each other well now and we can be free. The music’s less serene than Chamber Music, but so is the world.”

Recorded outside, the ambient noises of Bamako—the call of a bird or the voices just at the edge of hearing—are very much a part of the disc. They bring a sense of intimacy and closeness, of listening in on a private dialogue. “The darkness is very conducive to conversations,” Segal agrees. “It’s right for interactions that aren’t arranged, that just ebb and flow. And that’s what this does. There were no overdubs. What you hear is what the two of us played.”

There are indeed no outside musicians on the record beyond the timeless voice of Babani Koné on “Diabaro.” The simplicity blossoms into subtle richness. Every other sound comes from the kora or the cello, even though other instruments seem to peer in and add color and shade. “We wanted to evoke the sound of phantom instruments,” Segal laughs. “So we made the kora and cello sound like a flute, a ngoni, a takamba. But everything there is us.”

Both musicians bring years of experience to their work together. Segal trained as a classical cellist but he’s worked with artists as diverse as Elvis Costello, Cesaria Evora, and Brazil’s Carlinhos Brown, as well as being an ongoing member of downtempo electronica group Bumcello. Born into a griot family, Sissoko was destined for music from birth. After studying the tradition, he played in a duo with Toumani Diabaté before expanding his horizons to record and perform with musicians from all over the globe, becoming a regular part of the cast used by Italian composer Ludovico Einaudi.

Every note on Musique du Nuit comes from what they’ve both learned, and what they continue to learn, as two artists interacting. “This isn’t Africa meets the West,” Segal insists. “What ‘West’ would we be talking about, anyway? Since my teens I’ve played with musicians from all over, and Ballaké has performed with people from China, Iran, America, and more. Like everyone else, our influences come from all over. Artists have always soaked up what they hear and brought it out in their music, and we’re no different. Music isn’t something from one nation, even when we think it is. Think of the Bach Cello Suites; they have French minuets and gavottes, as well as English jigs. There’s no need for national ownership of music. There is simply the freedom to have fun.”

There’s absolute delight in the playing, the entire spectrum of the night in the music, from the joy and hope that arrives with nightfall through to the quiet, introspective hours before dawn. “Samba Tomora” is a gleeful, graceful dance, while “Balazando” takes the duo into wilder territory that draws on modern jazz and the moods of electronica in parts before the breathless delicacy of the title track brings a soft, thoughtful close to the disc.

It’s music built on empathy, the bond that’s built from hours and months of playing together. Perhaps even more, it’s founded on the trust of being able to push each other, to listen as much as play. “Chamber Music is where it started,” Segal agrees. “But all we’ve done together since then has reinforced our collaboration. And this is where we are now, the two of us together.”

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Lyndzie Taylor

2015-10-14T19:03:00.001-05:00

What do you get when you combine catchy pop melodies with passionate performance and pixie good looks? Some might describe Lyndzie Taylor as the "whole package," but what is for sure is that this singer/songwriter is a fiery new voice on LA's music scene.

Inspired by classic pop and rock artists like the Beatles, Queen, and Michael Jackson, Lyndzie has been writing, performing and recording her own original music since she was young. With comparisons to power house vocalists such as Pink and Ann Wilson, Lyndzie would describe her sound as high energy, soulful acoustic/electric pop rock. Her voice is a powerhouse of emotion and intensity; whether backed by a full band or just her acoustic guitar, Lyndzie rocks every venue she plays with the utmost passion.

Lyndzie has released several projects as an independent artist, including two EP's and a full length album. Her latest record, "Phoenix," tells a pop driven yet heart-wrenching story of love, pain and rock and roll. Lyndzie is ecstatic about the release of "Phoenix" and looks forward to sharing her new sound with her growing number of fans around the world.

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Ryan Adams - Shake It Off (from '1989') (Audio)

2015-10-12T20:14:00.001-05:00

Found in the Shuffle: April Verch Dances (and Fiddles and Sings) Deeper into North American Roots Music on The Newpart and on Tour

2015-10-12T18:45:00.001-05:00

Fiddler, singer, and stepdancer April Verch knows how relevant an old tune can be. She grew up surrounded by living, breathing roots music—her father’s country band rehearsing in the “Newpart,” the beloved Verch family room; the lively music at church and at community dances; the tunes she rocked out to win fiddle competitions—and decided early she wanted to be a professional musician.

She took that leap, and has been quietly leaping into new, nuanced places for more than two decades. Moving from exuberant stepdancer to fiddle wunderkind and silver-voiced singer, Verch may still spend many a fond hour rehearsing in the Newpart, when at home and not on tour, but like tradition itself, she has never been content to stand still. “When you really know and love this music,” Verch reflects, “you want to go deeper, to bring out new dimensions, without straying too much into novelty.”

Now on her milestone 10th album The Newpart (release: April 7, 2015), with producer Casey Driessen, Verch digs deep into songs and tunes from the era before the often-mined mid-century heyday of bluegrass and folk. Harkening back to vaudeville and beyond, Verch and her fellow trio members pare down their arrangements, highlighting the simple pleasures of upright bass, guitar, clawhammer banjo, mandolin, voices, fiddle, and stepping in intimate conversation. At the heart lie Verch’s delicate voice, energetic footwork, and stunning playing, a trifecta of talents she brings together simultaneously for the first time on stage and on The Newpart. It all works to insist that, “these songs don’t need to be revived,” Verch exclaims. “They are timeless. They are still very much alive and relevant.”

Check out the video for "Belle Election" on YouTube.

The album’s title pays tribute to a special space in the Verch family home, where old meets new. The house, a one-room schoolhouse her parents attended, received a new addition the same year Verch was born. It was dubbed “The Newpart." With the exception of the large collection of trophies April and her sister won for their music and dancing, it hasn’t changed much over the years, right down to the 70's shag carpet. To Verch, it’s the perfect symbol of family, tradition, and music, the things she values most: “It’s the place we gather to jam, to practice songs for family baptisms, funerals, and weddings. It’s where I practiced countless hours and wrote many tunes, including the songs on this album. It’s where we take family pictures, visit and entertain our guests. It’s the most special place in the house, the scene of my most cherished memories.”

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Many years ago, Verch was up on stage at the county fiddlers’ monthly dance event in her native Ottawa Valley. She was a darling among the fiddlers there, a cute kid who could play beautifully, and the more seasoned players encouraged her. But April noticed something: “When I played a waltz, even though I had decent tone and technique, the floor didn’t fill up. At the urging of my Dad, I began to listen to the way elder fiddlers played, and watched how, even if they were a little scratchy, they got people dancing.”

Verch marked that lesson well, even as she plays with the tradition she inherited. She keeps the community-fired celebratory side of her music at the forefront, honing a keen awareness of how to engage contemporary listeners. With ten albums and years of touring under her belt, Verch has moved from upstart prodigy to mature and reflective songwriter, interpreter, and storyteller.

Verch realized, for example, as she worked on her new arrangement of bluegrass legend and fellow stepdancer John Hartford’s “Bring Your Clothes Back Home,” that she needed to shift the shuffle, a basic stepdancing move, from its usual beat. The result: the more intimate feel she craved, that Hartford had delivered in a stripped-down performance Verch loved. “You don’t have to be complex or insanely novel to add another dimension to the material,” Verch notes. “A simple shuffle and the way you use it, can highlight a certain rhythm, and provide the groove that a percussionist might.”

Verch’s inspiration often comes from unexpected quarters: the mix made by a dedicated fan or regional music aficionado (how Verch discovered many of great Old-Time American tunes in her repertoire), a field recording played in the tour van that left Verch and her two trio-mates (guitarist Hayes Griffin and banjo/bassist Cody Walters) dumbstruck. The rough blues gems, the ballads with roosters crowing and dinner cooking in the background: Old recordings often touch Verch, Griffin, and Walters profoundly.

Many of the sourced pieces on The Newpart stem from Dust to Digital’s striking collection of early 20th-century recordings, rare glimpses of the world of American popular music before World War II, when vaudeville and other lost styles still held sway. The styles may be old, but the feelings are fresh; sentiments in songs like “If You Hadn’t Gone Away” and “Montana Call” still ring true today.

Spare, raw recordings present their own special challenges, opportunities that Verch and her band mates embrace as they get to the heart of the song. “Dry Bones” was a free-flowing solo performance, just voice and banjo. Verch wanted to keep the rhythmic feel, but had to incorporate the whole trio while keeping their version moving forward. “I listened to the original repeatedly and then made up my own version in my head,” recalls Verch, “then we tweaked it as a trio. We made the last verse a bit more uneven, a little tribute to the original.”

Older renditions, captured in the middle of family or community life, often follow their own structure, their own musical logic. “Cruel Willie” was buried deep in background hubbub and had a wild series of changing sections. “When we were learning and arranging it together, I realized we could play all three parts of the tune simultaneously on our various instruments, and it worked,” Verch says. “So that’s what we did the final time through. We also mix up the parts of the tune throughout just like our source did. Not knowing what part is going to come next adds a certain flavor to the tune you can’t accomplish any other way and was one of the things that drew us to the tune in the first place.”

Putting together unexpected pieces comes easily to Verch, as “Midnight Wheeler” proves, an organic move from a Virginia fiddle tune (“Midnight Serenade”) to a more “crooked” (uneven meter) métis Canadian tune (“Stern Wheeler”). Or the trio’s lovely “Polska from Kumla,” a tune Verch picked up at a Swedish jam session that eases wonderfully into the old-time and other North American traditions.

On this tenth album, Verch pushed gently but surely beyond her comfort zone, thanks to her fellow Berklee College of Music-alum and The Newpart producer and engineer, Casey Driessen. “Casey nudged me in many ways, including the idea to write something just for my feet,” she recounts with a smile. “He asked, ‘Why haven’t you done this yet?’ It was really fascinating to me when I started working on it. What works visually is completely different when it’s only audio. What I thought was a great move turned out to be way less effective when you couldn’t see the step. It forced me to think of my feet as purely an instrument playing music, and to find new ways to accomplish that goal.”

Driessen and Verch started experimenting: Driessen built a platform for Verch to dance on, a wooden structure he could mic many ways, including from underneath. She tried different steps, as well as metal, wooden, and leather taps to get different percussive effects. It worked beautifully, enhancing Verch’s first solo footwork piece (“Gilchrist,” named for Ottawa Valley stepdancing master Donnie Gilchrist) and her first times playing fiddle, singing, and stepping at once.

Driessen was equally instrumental in prodding Verch to tie together the loose ends of several originals, songs, and tunes that she sent to him in snippets from rough voice memos she’d made over the course of several years, including the tribute to the music-making room that gave the album its title. (And yes, she completed these compositions in The Newpart.)

Yet Verch never forgets the roots of her music, that connection to the people out there in the audience, on the dance floor, to the community sparked by a good song. It’s about doing less to engage more. “I’ve lived with these songs and tunes, and my job is to get out of the way and let them hit the listener. To let them shine on their own and to leave space for interpretation,” Verch muses. “It’s all about touching people, about bringing them together in a community to celebrate music. I’ve understood that better and better as time has passed: how to take this music that is at the center of my life, and make it live and breathe for other people.”

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