Singer-songwriter Natalie Gelman is an amazing singer and musician, and quite adventurous as she embarked on a fascinating musical tour on rollerblades about 10 years ago. She’s played all over the country and has a bunch of great tunes, and with her latest recording, an EP titled Streetlamp Musician, she is looking not to fund the recording (that’s already done) but to employ a team of individuals for campaigning the songs for radio exposure. With some help from the public and Kickstarter, she hopes to make this happen. Click here or on the bottom link if you can spare a few bucks, there may be something in it for you!
Natalie had a few minutes to discuss it! Read the rest of this entry »
Debbie Chou (I believe it’s pronounced “chō”) is a wonderful singer-songwriter in the New York area that is both a solo artist and is also the featured keyboard player in The Barrens. While that band has a much louder sound, the softer-but-still-edgy side of Debbie can be found on her fine solo album titled Lovebug (ACME and Newspeak’s violinist Caleb Burhans, btw, makes a special appearance on this recording). Check the CD out here or on the link on the bottom. Debbie also loves cats, and I really should have asked her to let me see the cats while we were in conference because I could hear them meowing in the background. You’ll also find out here that Debbie herself is an avid meower.
Debbie had some time to talk via skype.
CM: Who was your biggest influence for your songwriting?
Debbie: I was very inspired by Rufus Wainwright and his album All Days Are Nights: Songs For Lulu. I went to see him play at Prospect Park a couple of years ago, and it was just amazing! From that, I just started to write a lot of piano-based music. Read the rest of this entry »
Steve Husted and the Low-End Initiative
Sean Clapis
The Outer Space, Hamden, CT
May 5th, 2012
A very rare thing for me is to go to jazz concerts, simply because I am so caught up in new classical music and rock that I sometimes forget jazz is happening, but this night certainly reminded me that it’s alive, kicking, and ripe for listening when you’re ready for it!
Hamden, CT’s The Outer Space, sister to The Space, was the venue for this evening of both classic and fusion-based jazz. In an area that is mostly coveted by cover bands and sports-like dives, both Spaces are, and have been, wonderful venues for original music from artists and bands both from CT and outside the area, and it was certainly a good place on this night to check out extraordinary performances by a couple of local virtuosos.
Queens-area bassist Steve Husted and his band The Low Initiavtive were the highlight of the evening, but before they took the stage, guitarist Sean Clapis and a small ad-hoc combo of two played a smoking set of classic bebop-oriented tunes comprised of some originals as well as a few older standards. Clapis, a Hartt School graduate, was amazing, and his guitar sound was reminiscent of Wes Montgomery as he and his small combo of bass and drums (played exquisitely by his bandmates; his drummer on this night was a lady that had chops I rarely see in person) provided sort of a laid-back, yet progressive bebop set.
When Husted and his group came on, they proceeded to give a whole ‘nother side of jazz and actively brought us to a later period of a more fusion-oriented sound. The 90-minute set consisted mostly of songs from their latest release Views From The Event Horizon, and Husted’s band had such a good rough-sounding funk combination of bass, guitar and electric piano that reminded me heavily at times of Bitches Brew, and it made me pine for the possibility of them actually playing that album’s title piece in all its 26-minute glory (The only thing missing from this band if they did that is a trumpet player).
Songs like “Cebrez”, “Frustration”, and a song for his wife “Kitty Kat Boogie” were all sweetly rendered, and Husted played at times like a man possessed, as if Jaco Pastorius set up shop inside his soul.
They wrapped up the evening with a wonderful ballad titled “Will I Ever See You Again?”, to which I responded “I hope so!”.
Indie singer-songwriter Kate Tucker is a living reason why some of the best recording artists out there are almost never heard of (or simply heard). I never had, until a friend of mine alerted me to her and the indie-film project she’s involved with called Everything Went Down, a film that hasn’t even been completed yet, yet just the promotional material from it alone has me already proclaiming it as the American answer to Once. The film is currently being funded through a Kickstarter drive, whose link is both here and at the bottom of this page.
Kate’s music also caught my attention, and a lot of the same eclectic single-artist sound that you find in singers like Cat Power, Neko Case and Martha Wainwright, has a place in Kate Tucker’s songs, with some of the Americana of Josh Ritter thrown in for good measure. I guess my point is indie music is awesome, why doesn’t the rest of society agree with me?
Kate Tucker finally has my attention, so that’s all that matters for now.
I talked to her via Skype about her music and the film. Read the rest of this entry »
New York based composer-performer Noveller (aka Sarah Lipstate), having mostly composed guitar-driven soundscapes for herself, is having a go at composing for other musicians. Her piece Into The Midnight Sun is going to be debuted by the new music ensemble The Low End String Quartet at an upcoming concert in DC (Interestingly enough, this same concert is also going to feature the debut of another piece by a composer-performer–Zoe Keating).
This piece is also the focus of a fundraising campaign for Sarah by the Low End Quartet that everyone can chip in and help out with on the link at the bottom (EDITOR’S UPDATE: The campaign has reached its goal! Thanks to all who contributed!!).
Sarah had a few minutes to talk to The Glass. Read the rest of this entry »
Fred Frith is a such a great person! I feel like leaving it at that!
Frith, the composer/guitarist/improviser and founding member of Henry Cow has agreed to do an interview with me. God does exist!
Since the age of five (longer than I have been alive), Fred Frith has been playing and making music, and in the years since then he has gone on to record numerous albums (consisting of classics such as Guitar Solos and Gravity) and has worked and collaborated with artists like John Zorn, Brian Eno, Iva Bittova, Eugene Chadbourne, The Residents, and Evelyn Glennie (as seen in the film Touch The Sound). He has also founded other bands such as Massacre, Skeleton Crew, Keep The Dog, Fred Frith Guitar Quartet and Maybe Monday, and his compositional work consists of pieces for chamber and bigger ensembles. Read the rest of this entry »
Prester John (From left, David Miller, Shawn Persinger)
“Scientist folk”
Gun-held-to-head, this is possibly the best description that Hamden, CT-based guitarist/singer/songwriter Shawn Persinger has for the music of Prester John, the duo that is comprised of him and mandolinist David Miller. Having seen the pair perform at Funky Monkey Cafe in Cheshire, the guitar master and the Eastman School of Music-educated mandolin player put on a phenomenal show displaying incredible virtuosity and delivering a set of music that varied between power-pop, jazz, alt. country and indie rock–Never the same thing, but done on the same instruments.
“I wish I could say ‘We’re rock and roll, we play rock and roll’”, explains Persinger. “I wish we could say ‘We play bluegrass’–I have no interest in making a genre. I think that’s so empty and pointless. Unfortunately, David and I don’t play rock and roll, we don’t play bluegrass, we don’t play old time music, we don’t play jazz. We’ve struggled with it–we have this new record coming out, and we have these catch phrases; ‘The split personality band’, ‘The pop-art for your ears’, which means nothing; ‘The modern primitive acoustic scientist music’–That’s the closest I’ve come, which also means nothing, and that’s a take from The Minutemen where he says ‘Our band is scientist rock’. Well, I used to say ‘We’re scientist folk, that’s what we do’, but we’re not a folk group, we just happen to play acoustic guitars, so we’re acoustic scientists. That said, I don’t really think we experiment that much, we’re just playing sort of a mix of vocal tunes with more complicated parts.” Read the rest of this entry »
Rosh & One Eye Glass Broken (a string ensemble lead by singer/songwriter Rosh Rocheleau that hails from Boulder, CO) are quite a great sounding group to begin with, but they have also got a very interesting performance angle in their corner: They almost exclusively perform their music in complete darkness at a venue known as The Blind Cafe.
The band had their start in the stairwell at Naropa University in 2007. The lovely sounds of the folk/chamber group playing and being carried by the acoustics of the stairwell had many people becoming fans and ardent supporters. After several years of gigs at local places like The Burnt Toast and The Laughing Goat, The Blind Cafe was born in February 2010.
There are in fact several locations of The Blind Cafe (Besides the one in hometown Boulder, they also opened in other cities like Austin, TX and Portland, OR), but the original one was experienced by Rosh while he was visiting Iceland. Here he explains its impact and what led him to bring it to the US.
“I was inspired by how people’s usual social barriers were broken down by the darkness and I’ve always cared about people connecting and relating with each other more authentically. The darkness does this. It interrupts our usual habitual patterns in social situations and creates an opportunity to experience ourselves and others in a new way. ‘Beginner Mind’ sort of. Each person’s experience is very different and I’m still paying attention and learning how this works on people. I think it takes people out of the past and future while putting them in the present moment”. The Icelandic Cafe unfortunately was missing something. “Their event was only a dark coffee and pastry dark cafe experience. I wish there was music.”
The Blind Cafe (documentary directed by Devon Walton)
Rocheleau, who, by the way has a B.A. in music from Tibetan Buddhist-inspired Naropa University in Boulder, has also stressed that there is another very strong objective here: Getting people to re-focus, reconnect and listen to music again at live shows without any outside distractions from other people or any kind of physically social things like texting or cell phones. Combining the intimate music gig with the Blind Cafe concept had to be a good way of making that happen.
Love & Rainy Days
Has this experience changed the perceptions of the musicians performing at the cafe?
“Yes, I think the musicians just as the volunteers and the staff all go through some forms of transformation. Personally I’m less distracted by visual stimuli when performing in the dark and get in touch with it the music more through listening.”
Rosh is very interested in bringing more awareness of the event to even more places in the US and abroad: “The view at the moment is to establish ourselves in 10 + cities in the USA and visit them a couple times a year with some international tours thrown in. I would like to create a cross – cultural blind cafe exchange event/happening, bring a documentary film maker and see what happens with The Blind Cafe internationally.”
Tonight
The Blind Cafe
Webpage that includes a page on the band EP
Link to buy/download Rosh & OEGB’s EP on Amazon
Mark Mandeville (vocals/guitar/banjo/harmonica) and Raianne Richards (vocals/clarinet/guitar/ukelele/piccolo) are a folk duo from Massachusetts that are both incredible musicians and wonderful folks in the truest sense of the word. I had known them since they were part of a slightly bigger act: The indie-folk trio The Accident That Led Me To The World (where they were with bassist Zack Ciras). Since their continuation as a duo, they have put out solo CDs (Mark’s is No Big Plans and Raianne’s is Simple In This Place; I highly recommend both of them) and started doing the “Walking Tour” where they’d been playing songs from both releases, and some older favorites in a paired-down fashion. Now, with an upcoming CD titled Old Constitution, Mark and Raianne (After displaying an even straighter folk sound as a duo than TATLMTTW) delve a bit further into the sound of country, and have added some more musicians that they have also been bringing with them on the road. (EDITOR’S NOTE: As of this writing, the music is still under wraps, but I am allowed to say the still-unreleased tracks that I actually heard sound beautiful, and this could very well be one of the most anticipated indie releases of the year). They’ve taken a break from walking to stop and chat.
CM: When you guys had your musical upbringing, was it mostly folk music that was your inspiration or were there other things?
Mark: Chris, until the time that I first began playing guitar, I hadn’t really been exposed to much folk music. Learning how to play guitar, unconventionally strumming chords and singing along, tuned my ear to songs which had this sort of structure – people like Dylan, Baez, Croce and Kristofferson had my full attention. Before I learned to play guitar, I’d been more into angst filled singers like Kurt Cobain, Axl Rose and Steven Tyler – divas really.
CM: This is the second year in a row for The Walking Tour. Is there going to be a Walking Tour each year?
Mark: Of course. It’s going to become a statewide institution, especially if the people keep being as encouraging and supportive as they have been. Walking into towns and playing music for people is the basic foundation of what Raianne and I have been up to all along.
CM: Probably a tired question by now, but why the “Walking Tour”? Is this more out of necessity, or do you guys feel you’re making a much stronger statement by walking as opposed to driving or riding in some other form of vehicle?
Raianne: The emphasis of walking draws attention to slowing down to take in each moment or surrounding. This premise, I think, also encourages people to look a little deeper into our music as well. We do the Walking Tour for the small towns who don’t get music very often to remind them why they enjoy it and to take the pressure off the few people who strive to bring art into the community. We get them involved too, but we don’t ask them to do much. Just attend a free concert in their town.
CM: Would you say these particular outings are more rewarding than any of the ones that The Accident ever had, or just about the same with some differences?
Raianne: Every show we ever played has something rewarding about it. We look at the Walking Tour as more of a way to give back to our community as we spend as much time as we can touring to other places in the country.
Wrong Side of That Line (Live at The Space, CT 9/16/10; I was there! )
CM: The new CD Old Constitution is going to be decidedly much closer in style to country than anything else you’ve done. What was the inspiration for this?
Mark: The inspiration for my songs, I think, has always come from both a conscious and unconscious attempt at explaining how things appear to be. In this case, Old Constitution holds two meanings. One, I haven’t worked with a live band with a drummer since before The Accident That Led Me To The World, hence, an old way of doing things aside from ensembles and duets. Two, lyrically I try to convey that there is a “right” based on a history of human understanding. Things have been written down, a “right” has been more than established by countless generations. I think songs like “Underneath The Cost” and “House of Stone” touch that sense of doing things not only for personal gain and immediate satisfaction, but rather for a greater sense of purpose, taking into consideration both the past and the future…That one’s actions set precedents and we, most of all, make choices which ultimately come down to one side or the other.
As for a country style, those responsible are the musicians on the album. Pete Hart (dobro, pedal steel) and Doug Williamson (piano, upright bass) are mainly responsible for the authentic, recognizable character. And Raianne and I might be vocally twang-i-er than usual, but the tunes seem to call for that.
CM: One of the songs that I’ve actually managed to hear is called “Land of Plenty”, and from what I understand, it sounds like you are addressing current events.
Mark: I guess so. I mean, not in a topical sense. “Land of Plenty” appears to mention the topic of foreclosure, which harkens maybe economic woes but it’s more a song of faith that people can do good amidst a sea of poor decisions. “Their hearts ain’t empty, but their moves are slow…”
Live at Table Coffee Shop, PA 4/17/2011 (Songs: ‘Best Advice’, ‘I Ain’t Goin’ Out There’, ‘No Secrets’)
CM: Can you talk about the new guys, Zach Peckham and Dylan S. Clark and how they have been to work with on this recording? Mark: Raianne and I have been blessed to work with musicians we have admired for years. Zach Peckham plays in a post fusion rock duo called Motel Mattress and having him join was partly out of recruiting the most unlikely lead guitarist one could place in a country/folk outfit. I remember watching Dylan Clark perform with the indie band Tiger Saw and thinking that he was the most heartfelt drummer I’d ever seen – I was consciously ignoring the whole of what was going on as he rose and fell from his throne onto the rest of his set. As for ever’one else, I only wish I could put them all on a bus and really show the world what we have. There will be certain shows where we all will be on stage together, but the fall tour will be mostly the four of us.
CM: [to Raianne] Very happy to hear you are bringing back the clarinet, it was greatly missed (EDITOR’S NOTE: Raianne had left it behind on last year’s WT, but she does play it on “Calm Down” from Simple In This Place). Remember that time I asked you about its use on the TATLMTTW songs, if you were playing it like a blues instrument similar to the way it’s used on Gershwin’s “Rhapsody In Blue”, and your response was, “No, I just like the sound”! Do you still feel that way or do you think maybe there’s some aspects of the instrument that do relate to that style since blues and folk (at least from what I understand) have a shared history?
Raianne: I have played clarinet since I was a little girl. It has been part of my life for so long that I just hear a calling for it on a song sometimes. I think it can obviously be used as a folk instrument, but in my experience this is unusual. It is much more common in blues than folk.
House of Stone (Live on WSCA, NH 5/20/11)
CM: Thus far, I have loved everything you guys have done, and it has been all acoustic (And I wouldn’t change a thing). Do you ever think about going electric for just one record (or even just a song) or is this 100% unthinkable?
Mark: Aw shucks. I think the major difference to date is that Raianne and I now have a live band, where throughout our past solo recordings, we’ve taken a more ”studio” stance, recording multiple instruments ourselves on record, then performing as a duo. Not to mention that TATLMTTW was strictly acoustic and never strayed. As for the question of ee-lec-tris-i-tee, we’ve both had electric guitar and bass on our previous records, but the Old Constitution will certainly be more amped than people are used to. However, I still think of songwriters like Jim Croce and Kate Wolf, or Melanie…in that they presented folk music with accompaniment like electric bass, or electric guitar and even drums. The challenge is making the distinct categories of music fans out there understand that we’re still songwriters, certainly sensitive of the “listening room” nature/volume of our music/presentation, and just because we have a drummer does not mean we’ve taken the path of some 12+ dB basement band. Music fans, especially the folk crowd, are finicky people – they want to understand only “solo human with an acoustic guitar,” but we’ve been that, and now we are growing up.
EDITOR’S NOTE: I believe this is another new song of theirs: Ted Kaczynski Blues (Live on WSCA, NH 5/20/11)
MarkMandeville.com
Mark’s official site Raianne.com
Raianne’s official site
The Glass is an online webpage for giving people an opportunity to see the arts world both through my words and the words of the artists themselves. On this page I hope to also give the cross-section of audiences an opportunity to read up on artists they possibly haven’t discovered ... Continue reading »
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