Wednesday, December 20, 2017

MEMPHIS BIG BAND BLUES OUTFIT THE LOVE LIGHT ORCHESTRA EARNING BEST OF THE YEAR PLAUDITS AMONG CRITICS FOR ITS DEBUT ALBUM ON BLUE BARREL RECORDS

Memphis blues big band The Love Light Orchestra – whose players have backed Bobby Blue Bland, Gregg Allman, The Bo-Keys, Don Bryant, Robert Cray, Melissa Etheridge, and Solomon Burke – is earning best of the year reviews of its debut self-titled album. The album features two-time Blues Music Award winner John Nemeth on vocals and was produced by Matt Ross-Spang (Jason Isbell, Margo Price, The Drive-By Truckers). Here’s what we’re reading:
 
“One of the best albums of the year… every song on the album shimmers and shines with a golden light of soul that’s energizing and enlightening.”
- Henry Carrigan, Living Blues, December, 2017
 
“Best of Memphis Music 2017… a thrilling document of the group’s powerful, elegant sound.”
- Bob Mehr, Memphis Commercial Appeal, December 7, 2017
 
“Some of Memphis’ finest session musicians.”
- Barbara Schultz, Mix Magazine, December 12, 2017
 
“Passionate vocals… swinging… soaring spirit.”
- Jonathan Frahm, Pop Matters, October 17, 2017
 
“Magic… The LLO’s big band shows are rare and wonderful things: next time you see them on the horizon, go get some.”
- Chris Davis, Memphis Flyer, December 14, 2017
 
“Fans of Pokey LaFarge, the California Honeydrops, the Dustbowl Revival, and Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats will delight in the debut album by The Love Light Orchestra.”
- Neil Ferguson, Glide Magazine, November 7, 2017
 
“This ambitious undertaking is a huge success as performed by Nemeth and The Love Light Orchestra. The ten members inspire each other and Nemeth has never sounded better. This is a must to own as it just might be the ‘Album of The Year.’
- Richard Ludmerer, Making a Scene, November 7, 2017
 
“Delightful.”
- Iain Patience, Elmore Magazine, November 29, 2017

Wednesday, December 13, 2017

BROOKLYN STUDIO THE CREAMERY OFFERS MIXTAPE 2.0 INCLUDING NEW RECORDINGS FROM ANTIBALAS, INNOV GNAWA, M.A.K.U. SOUNDSYSTEM, AND MORE BANDS TO WATCH FOR 2019 ON JAN 19 RELEASE

Fuck you, playlists of sound-alike bands.  Live from the world’s tastiest melting pot, The Creamery Mixtape 2.O delivers a fresh installment to their second annual mixtape series on January 19, 2018. This 12- song compilation was crafted during a 4-day sprint at the Creamery Studio in Brooklyn and, like a subway car at rush hour, it crams together an eclectic group of New Yorkers into harmony. The groups all share one thing in common: the ability to create great music in front of a tape machine--and fast. Producers Quinn McCarthy and Jeff Fettig run the studio year-round but set time aside for the mixtape as a celebration of the city’s varied music scene and as homage to the live analogue recording art form.
“My personal library of music comes from all different genres and from all over the world. One of my favorite ways to listen to music these days is on shuffle,” says McCarthy.  “I enjoy living in the most mixed up place on earth and the mixtape is our way of capturing that variety with a common lens, since it’s all been recorded in our space and mixed with our ears and our vibe.”  This year’s acts include: Antibalas, the Daptone Records Afrobeat band that has cultivated New York’s Afropop scene for over a decade; Innov Gnawa, a collective that performed Coachella this year, singing a traditional form of Jewish spiritual music that originates from Morocco and Breastfist, a flamboyant funk supergroup composed of some of the Rockwood Music Hall’s greatest backing players.
While taste-makers keep trying to PUSH bands like brands, the Creamery Mixtape broadens the scope of what’s possible to fit under one umbrella.  Available exclusively on digital release through SoundCloud and Spotify. Private link: Password
BANDS ON THE MIXTAPE:
Antibalas – Daptone Records band and kings of Afrobeat in NYC.
M.A.K.U Soundsystem embodies an active quest for identity through sound and bodies in motion, and puts on a party for everyday people. It has played Lincoln Center, Music Hall of Williamsburg, GlobalFest, and more. Although not inherently discernible there are hints of Colombian Folklore, Psychedelic-rock and Caribbean grooves.
Innov Gnawa has played Red Rocks Amphitheatre as well as NYC’s Lincoln Center and Coachella. They play North African music known as Gnaoua and are based in NYC.
OxenFree have earned praise from KCRW, The Wild Honey Pie, and Consequence of Sound, which praised its “poppy melodies and precise, hefty guitar work.”
Lauren Balthrop – Alabama-born, New York-dwelling “absolutely lovely” (Stereogum) songwriter who has also sung with Bob Weird, Kevin Morby, Bejamin Booker, and Lucius.
Nikhil P. Yerawadekar & Low Mentality - The group merges elements of Afrobeat, reggae, dancehall, hip-hop, Afrobeat, and rock music to create deeply funky compositions that balance a compelling new style of songwriting with propulsive, danceable grooves. They have earned over 700,000 Spotify plays as well as praise from Relix, WFMU, KEXP, WNYC, Paste Magazine, NPR, and the NY Times.
The Boobies – It’s garage pop with teeth. Picture the color periwinkle blue, spray-painted by a Ramone, add blistering vocals with traces of southern soul, and a David Byrne sense of showmanship and you get The Boobies.
Queens songwriter Matt Sucich has appeared at Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival, Electric Lady's Heartbreaker Banquet on Willie Nelson's Luck, TX ranch, Firefly Music Festival Newport Folk in Newport, RI, and has supported Levon Helm, Counting Crows, Lucius, Rachael Yamagata, and The Lone Bellow.
Breastfist is Michael League of Snarky Puppy’s favorite live band. It’s a bass-and-drum groove-based duo made up on Alan Hampton (bass) and Bill Campbell (drums).
Magana is haunted alternative-pop influenced by Sharon Van Etten and St. Vincent and based in Brooklyn.

Monday, December 11, 2017

Thursday, December 7, 2017

WILL JOHNSON (OF CENTRO-MATIC, ETC.) AND JUSTIN PETER KINKEL-SCHUSTER (OF WATER LIARS) FORM NEW BAND MARIE/LEPANTO, TO RELEASE DEBUT ALBUM ‘TENKILLER’ ON BIG LEGAL MESS (FAT POSSUM) ON JANUARY 26

FIRST TRACK PREMIERED VIA NO DEPRESSION: http://nodepression.com/article/will-johnson-and-justin-peter-kinkel-shuster-premiere-new-track-inverness

NATIONAL TOUR DATES SUPPORTING PEDRO THE LION ON SALE TOMORROW

Will Johnson (of Centro-Matic, New Multitudes, South San Gabriel) and Justin Peter Kinkel-Schuster (of Water Liars) have collaborated to form “super duo” (No Depression) Marie/Lepanto and will release their debut album ‘Tenkiller’ on January 26 on Big Legal Mess (Fat Possum imprint). No Depression has premiered crunchy first single “Inverness,” praising the band’s “rich vocal harmonies… and careful attention to melody”: http://nodepression.com/article/will-johnson-and-justin-peter-kinkel-shuster-premiere-new-track-inverness

Tickets for a 2018 tour supporting Pedro the Lion go on sale tomorrow.

In the sunken lands of Arkansas along I-55, there’s a road sign that directs you to a pair of tiny, hardscrabble towns in the Delta. It reads: Marie/Lepanto and resides roughly between where each artist grew up: Justin in Arkansas and Will in Missouri. Alternating between lofi folk and distorted indie rock, ‘Tenkiller’ finds their two voices shadowing one another, with Johnson’s battered vocals and Kinkel-Schuster’s wavering tenor complementing one another. Many of the songs then funnel into expansive instrumental breaks. “Inverness” segues into the fingerpicking, creaky “Rest Be Mine.” The widescreen waltz “High Desert” coexists with the ghostly title track, named for a lake in Oklahoma and inspired by Justin’s reading the book Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee.

Long mutual admirers, Johnson and Kinkel-Schuster co-headlined a living room tour, only sparking the idea of working directly together when they toured Sam Phillips Recording in Memphis with producer Jeff Powell (Big Star, The Afghan Whigs). Memphis was then earest big city for both artists growing up.

Johnson has released some seventeen albums in his two-decade indie rock career, including as frontman of Centro-Matic and South San Gabriel, member of New Multitudes (with Jay Farrar and Jim James), as Molina and Johnson (with Jason Molina), as official member of Monsters of Folk (with James, Conor Oberst and M. Ward), with Overseas (with David Bazan), and with the Undertow Orchestra (with Bazan, Mark Eitzel, and Vic Chestnutt). NPR has praised Centro-Matic's "superb rock records" and Johnson's own "great images" and "superb songwriting."

Julien Baker listed Kinkel-Schuster’s 2016 solo album among her top ten albums of the year. The NY Times said that Kinkel-Schuster’s prior band Water Liars’ "dark, lonely roots-minded indie rock is affecting, all the more for its sparseness." NPR called the band "a low-key triumph... prone to fits of stark gorgeousness" and Consequence of Sound said, "Kinkel-Shuster's painted howl will stop you in your tracks."

Marie/Lepanto Tour Dates With Pedro The Lion

February 8 - St Louis, MO – Old Rock House
February 9 - Kansas City, MO – Record Bar
February 10 - Tulsa, OK – The Vanguard
February 12 - Dallas, TX – Trees
February 13 - Austin, TX – Mohawk
February 14 - Houston, TX – Rockefeller’s
February 16 - New Orleans, LA – One Eyed Jack’s
February 17 - Birmingham, AL – Saturn
February 18 - Gainesville, FL – High Dive
February 19 - Orlando, FL – The Social
February 21 - Carrboro, NC – Cat’s Cradle
February 22 - Atlanta, GA – Terminal West
February 23 - Nashville, TN – Exit/In

Marie/Lepanto artwork

Credit: Adam Putman