Music
by Kendra Thurlow | Nov 20, 2008 | Music
The harp is a symbol of the Republic of Ireland; it is to Ireland what the bald eagle is to the U.S. Fitting, then, that one of the few truly Irish pubs west of Worcester is named The Harp. Located on Sunderland Road in North Amherst, the Harp resides in the building...
by Matthew Dube | Nov 20, 2008 | Music
Northampton band World's Greatest Dad began its existence as a side project when two friends—musicians Luke Degnan and Gabe Sullivan—decided they wanted to stretch out a bit both musically and socially."December, about a year ago, at a party, Luke...
by Gary Carra | Nov 20, 2008 | Music
J. Johnson vividly recalls meeting Melissa Rich Mulcahy at a rock concert. "I was a transplant to the area, fresh from Brooklyn in the fall of 2000," the graphic designer and now singer/guitarist for Easthamp's National Carpet remembers. "Mark...
by Gary Carra | Nov 20, 2008 | Music
As evidenced by a seemingly exponential number of acts these days, there quite simply have never been so many opportunities for musicians to circumvent the conventional system and deliver their music to the masses by unconventional means. Prior to this new age of free...
by James Heflin | Nov 27, 2008 | Music
Scott Ainslie (pictured) can coax a snarling version of Robert Johnson's "Crossroads Blues" from a steel guitar that'll make the hair on the back your neck stand up. It's no wonder—Ainslie is the author of a book about Johnson, and offers a...
by Gary Carra | Nov 27, 2008 | Music
Like many of their contemporaries, Greenfield's Stone Coyotes have been cranking out CDs and hitting the live circuit for years in hopes of securing a national recording contract and perhaps even a little taste of international fame. In a somewhat ironic twist,...
by Kendra Thurlow | Nov 27, 2008 | Music
Nestled in a restored 19th-century residence atop a hill close to the Northampton/Holyoke line on Route 5, the Delaney House is primarily known as one of the Valley's premiere spots for large functions, complete with attentive service and exquisite gourmet...
by Tom Sturm | Nov 27, 2008 | Music
In mid-1992, the world of popular music was freshly ablaze with new sounds and new attitudes; albums like Nirvana's Nevermind, Soundgarden's Badmotorfinger and Pearl Jam's Ten were thrusting a rainy northwestern city onto the chart-owning center stage, and...
by Advocate Staff | Nov 27, 2008 | Music
Richie HavensNobody Left to Crown(Verve Forecast)After recording 28 albums, 67-year-old Havens could rest on his laurels. Instead, he's released a Grammy-worthy record. Havens is in superb voice, his trademark gravel smoother, mellower and sweeter. But time has...
by Kendra Thurlow | Dec 4, 2008 | Music
St. James' Coffeehouse is located in St. James' Episcopal Church on Church Street in downtown Greenfield. Every year from September to May, the coffeehouse, which is handicapped accessible, presents an impressive roster of regional acoustic folk musicians. The...
by Advocate staff | Dec 4, 2008 | Music
Parts and LaborReceivers(Jagjaguwar)When they get cooking, Parts and Labor can sound like a jet loaded with bagpipers taking off in a tornado, which is a good thing, generally. With psychedelic distortion mongers My Bloody Valentine making a celebrated comeback this...
by James Heflin | Dec 4, 2008 | Music
Christmas music often contains more saccharin than a barrel of vintage Tab, but that's not the case with Matt and Shannon Heaton. The duo plays Irish music on flute and guitar with skillful abandon, and brings a sense of history and tradition to a nicely modern...
by Gary Carra | Dec 4, 2008 | Music
Many is the musician who claims a rebellious youth. But few if any appear to have rebel roots quite as deep as Shutesbury's Naia Kete (naiakete.com)."The Black Rebels [roots-reggae band] are my family," the acoustic-leaning rhythm and blues artist...
by Advocate Staff | Dec 4, 2008 | Music
Marnie SternThis Is It and I Am It and You Are It and So Is That and He Is It and She Is It and It Is It and That Is That(Kill Rock Stars)Like that title, Marnie Stern's songs just don't quit. Best known for her formidable guitar chops, Stern crafts tunes that...
by Gary Carra | Dec 11, 2008 | Music
The Nightcrawler recently caught up with radio personality Steve Cantara, ex-co-host of Quinn and Cantara, to talk about his unceremonious sacking at Lazer, subsequent attempt at syndication and his triumphant Valley return—sans a sidekick. Here's how it...
by Kendra Thurlow | Dec 11, 2008 | Music
Housed in the basement, Easy Street Nightclub in Greenfield is a bastion of all things rock and metal. The club, located on Fiske Avenue underneath the burrito bar Mesa Verde, plays host to a seriously eclectic array of musicians who play everything from jazz and...
by Matthew Dube | Dec 11, 2008 | Music
Steven Wardlaw had a gig lined up, but no drummer. Luckily, Wardlaw, leader of Holyoke post-punk band So Very Small, didn't have to look too far for a stand-in for drummer Teri Morris. In fact, he didn't even have to get off the couch. All he had to do was...
by Advocate staff | Dec 11, 2008 | Music
Jeremy Milligan QuintetStill Moving(Tight Records)Classically trained guitarist Jeremy Milligan likes to find those spaces between the well-travelled paths of genre. His group mixes elements of Latin jazz and classical music with a dreamy sense of song construction...
by Matthew Dube | Dec 11, 2008 | Music
"The first thing I'd definitely like to clear up is that people always think we're talking and singing about ourselves, but we're not—we're singing about the Wolf," says Party Wolf frontman and guitarist Ian Reed.So begins a lengthy and...
by Tom Sturm | Dec 18, 2008 | Music
As was further confirmed by the cover of last week's Advocate ("Turners Falls' Big Screen Notion," Dec. 11, 2008), Turners Falls continues to up the pace for post-factory town renaissances in Western Massachusetts. The past decade has seen the birth...
by James Heflin | Dec 18, 2008 | Music
Andrew Lawrence used to be primarily a singer/songwriter, one of that hardy lot armed with only a guitar and a voice. And he's an exceptionally tasteful guitarist with a sure hand and a melodious solo always at the ready. Still, Lawrence decided to put down the...
by Advocate staff | Dec 18, 2008 | Music
Moussu T et Lei JoventsHome Sweet Home(Manivette Records)Moussu T is a quartet from Marseilles that sings in French, English and Occitan, and that's just the tip of a very eclectic iceberg. The opening track, "La cabussada," leads you to think this is a...
by James Heflin | Dec 18, 2008 | Music
It seems like a no-brainer that jazz with a funky aftertaste would provide the perfect backdrop for hip-hop fueled vocals. That requires musicians with a particularly broad palette and highly developed skills, on the other hand, which may be part of the reason...
by Gary Carra | Dec 18, 2008 | Music
It's been a wild ride for Valley folk-rockers Wild-Wood, who have gone through three singers in as many years. With one Rose Whitcomb-Detmold now firmly planted behind the mic and a debut studio disc finally in hand after two years of toiling, band...
by Matthew Dube | Dec 25, 2008 | Music
"Parking garages sound really pretty," says Trials and Tribulations singer, songwriter and guitarist Jameson Lavo when asked how his band, whose fluid roster at times numbers over 20 members, finds time and space to rehearse."We've practiced in...
by Advocate Staff | Dec 25, 2008 | Music
Roy OrbisonThe Soul of Rock and Roll(Columbia/Legacy)One of the pleasant surprises of the season, The Soul of Rock and Roll spans 15 labels and four decades to offer a complete portrait of Orbison. Though he was best known for his unearthly voice and black sunglasses,...
by Tom Sturm | Dec 25, 2008 | Music
Tight but loose, crisp but a little sawtoothed, The Devil's Moses combines tasty riff-rock, never-beaten-to-death melodies and orc-like throat-ripper screams to achieve a circus of debaucherous-sounding organized chaos. Evoking the sounds of chunk-a-chunk pioneers...
by Kendra Thurlow | Dec 25, 2008 | Music
Each year the Hopitu Shinumu (Hopi Indians) celebrate the winter solstice, bringing "the sun back from its long winter slumber" like a grizzly in the spring. In honor of the Hopi, Shokazoba (pictured) hosts Soyal, a solstice celebration featuring an open...
by Tom Sturm | Jan 1, 2009 | Music
It was a snowy night on February 3, 1959, when a Beechcraft Bonanza aircraft carrying Buddy Holly, 22, J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson, 28, and Ritchie Valens, 17, crashed shortly after takeoff outside Clear Lake, Iowa, killing all aboard. At the time, the...
by Matthew Dube | Jan 1, 2009 | Music
Dan Cashman, aka DJ Cashman, and George "DJ Snack Attack" Myers are self-described music nerds with a need to share their expansive record collections with the greater public. Together, they are the popular Northampton DJ duo Purity Supreme."We started...
by Advocate Staff | Jan 1, 2009 | Music
Flaming LipsChristmas on Mars(Warner Bros.)Due to fiscal limitations and a certain bandmate/cast member's debilitating drug use, the completion of the film Christmas on Mars became Wayne Coyne's Moby Dick or his Chinese Democracy. No one complained much,...
by Kendra Thurlow | Jan 1, 2009 | Music
Founded in 1986, the Northampton Community Music Center moved to its current location—a handsome brick building set back from the road at 139 South Street—in 1998. The nonprofit organization is a member of the National Guild of Community Schools of the...
by Advocate Staff | Jan 8, 2009 | Music
Q-TipThe Renaissance(Universal Motown)It's been almost a decade since Q-Tip's last release, but fans know it's not for lack of trying. The former Tribe Called Quest frontman completed numerous albums over the years, only to have them shelved by various...
by Gary Carra | Jan 8, 2009 | Music
To unearth just how deep singer/guitarist Rory Block's roots run with the subject of her latest tribute CD, Son House, one really has to go back& to the future.Willie Brown's "Future Blues," that is. That's the tune a then-15-year-old says...
by Matthew Dube | Jan 8, 2009 | Music
For Northampton tape collagist Joshua Vrysen, music is as much about process as it is about sound. Performing and recording since 2001 under the name Tumble Cat Poof Poofy Poof, Vrysen has made every album and live show unique. Each project is inspired by environment...
by Gary Carra | Jan 8, 2009 | Music
How does it feel to be on your own, playing the music of the Rolling Stones?Several prominent Valley-based acts are about to find out, courtesy of the latest installment of the Iron Horse's popular tribute night series. It's 'Exile on Center Street'...
by Advocate Staff | Jan 15, 2009 | Music
The SheeDifferent Season(Shee Records)The novelty value of all-female Celtic ensembles went out the window when Cherish the Ladies emerged in 1985 and raised the quality bar. The Shee is Newcastle's answer to CTL, a sextet of young women whose debut album is...
by Alex Ross | Jan 15, 2009 | Music
The band brought its brand of funk from New England to national attention at the 2003 New Orleans Jazz Festival, and now Akashic Record is returning to its Massachusetts roots. Drummer Tom Arey and Hammond organist Beau Sasser, both former members of Boston jam band...
by Kendra Thurlow | Jan 15, 2009 | Music
In 1975, a handful of music students attended a summer jazz program facilitated by the late Atilla Zoller. The informal summer school in Newfane, Vt. proved wildly popular—over the next five years, students traveled from across the country and Europe to attend...
by Kendra Thurlow | Jan 15, 2009 | Music
"I'd rather not discuss that," said jazz vocalist Sarah Elizabeth Charles with a soft chuckle when I asked her if she was getting paid for her upcoming gig at the Northampton Center for the Arts. "The Center does its best to help support...
by Becca Liss | Jan 15, 2009 | Music
Cooped up together with literally nowhere else to go for months at a time, it's no surprise that crews on ships created their own musical genre with sea chanteys. Boasting influences as diverse as the countries the crew members hailed from and a driving rhythm...
by Advocate Staff | Jan 22, 2009 | Music
Animal CollectiveMerriweather Post Pavilion(Domino)Rippling patterns, dizzying reverberations, shimmering echoes, and spectral loops take shape and develop their own contours, rhythmic weight and emphasis on Animal Collective's hypnotic new release. Singers Avey...
by Gary Carra | Jan 22, 2009 | Music
Perhaps Fred Knittle had seen all he needed to see when he closed his eyes in eternal slumber New Year's Day. A WWII veteran involved with the highest levels of the YMCA, a member of countless civic organizations and the vice-president for development at the...
by Tom Sturm | Jan 22, 2009 | Music
From Subaru wagon-driving, tofu-eating social workers to booze-swilling, SUV-revving siding contractors, the Pioneer Valley boasts all types of radio listeners. One thing they have in common: an interest in continuous, eclectic programming that isn't arbitrarily...
by James Heflin | Jan 22, 2009 | Music
Armed with a sweet cream butter voice and fat archtop guitar tone to spread it on, Boston's Miss Tess and the Bon Ton Parade bring a swinging party to town. Their vibe is decidedly old-school, but the brio of their delivery and the jumping jive of Miss Tess'...
by James Heflin | Jan 22, 2009 | Music
Just as you might turn a corner in some apparently remote end of the Valley and find a quaint coffee shop or an achingly pastoral farmstand, turning up surprising musical talent here is remarkably easy. And the caliber of that talent is often very high. Take, for...
by Sarah Gibbons | Jan 29, 2009 | Music
Those expecting a rehashing of Sebadoh's 2007 reunion tour might be disappointed—Jason Lowenstein (one of the band's three members) has indeed taken on a new project, but the 4/4 rhythm and formulaic verse/bridge/chorus structure of so many Sebadoh songs...
by Advocate staff | Jan 29, 2009 | Music
WatcherInto The Woods(independent)By now, Watcher must have garnered some comparisons to The Strokes; the lead vocals (by Ben Coe) are quite similar in delivery to Julian Casablancas' meandering, Morrissey-esque melodies that tend to linger on sevenths and major...
by Kendra Thurlow | Jan 29, 2009 | Music
In 1867, shortly after the end of the Civil War, Oliver Kelley founded the first Grange (otherwise known as "Patrons of Husbandry") with the purpose of "promoting the spiritual and social well-being of farm families."As farmers settled the plains...
by Gary Carra | Jan 29, 2009 | Music
Leave it to scene stalwarts Bourgeois Heroes to transform a well-respected audio institution like The Elevens into one of the CD-iest places in town this weekend.The Great Mix CD Mix-Up on Jan. 30 invites attendees to bring in discs of their favorite song, which will...
by Gary Carra | Jan 29, 2009 | Music
Dr. King had a dream. Jo Sallins has… well, reached almost incomprehensible levels of proficiency on a multitude of instruments. And has become acquainted with several similarly skilled friends along the way. On Friday, Jan. 23, the Valley music scene veteran...
by Matthew Dube | Feb 5, 2009 | Music
Holyoke's Arc City Angels want to bring their high-energy music to as many people as possible, and take other local artists along with them on their way up. Between their live shows and the Internet, the four are busy doing what they love best: playing and writing...
by Tom Sturm | Feb 5, 2009 | Music
Northampton businesses have always been welcoming to arts and music, and the community continues its philanthropy-by-default through a host of newer venues willing to embrace the croonings and noodlings of local bards and banterers. Places like Sam's Pizza, the...
by James Heflin | Feb 5, 2009 | Music
Yosl Kurland, vocalist for the Wholesale Klezmer Band, delivers his songs in an expansive current of emotional depth and mellifluous tones. He is a latecomer to the language he usually sings in, Yiddish, but he is a big fan of it: "A single Yiddish word in a...
by Tom Sturm | Feb 5, 2009 | Music
There've been many versions of the "power trio" to grace the Archie Bunker-esque, living room-flavored stage of the now-legendary Baystate Hotel. Perhaps the most famous among them was Morphine, though memorable performances were turned in by many...
by Gary Carra | Feb 12, 2009 | Music
Love 'em or hate 'em, the melodic rockers of The Room have a special Valentine's Day present guaranteed to warm the most tepid of cockles this Saturday.In what must be the first such billing of its kind, the band's Feb. 14 Max Cap engagement is being...
by Matthew Dube | Feb 12, 2009 | Music
Scott Brodeur was barely in his teens when his first band was tapped by John Eddie to open up some shows."I was 14 years old, and John was the biggest thing in Philly, where I was growing up," Brodeur recalls. "Him, The Hooters and Robert...
by Becky Everett | Feb 12, 2009 | Music
At Whiskerz Pub in Easthampton, many patrons proudly sport facial hair of all sizes and shapes. Besides beards, Whiskerz promises "bikes, beer, and babes," and delivers on all counts. In season, motorcycles line the street outside the pub, and their riders...
by Advocate Staff | Feb 12, 2009 | Music
Ethiopian musicians Debo Trio play for the opening reception of IMAGinING TOBIA and Ethiopia Whispers, exhibits including video installation by Salem Mekuria and paintings by Sofia Kifle (whose work is pictured), on Thursday, Feb 12, at 5:30 p.m. The exhibit runs...
by Gary Carra | Feb 12, 2009 | Music
With an enviable track record of attracting some of the biggest names in folk, jazz and rock and an impeccable pedigree, Northampton's storied Iron Horse Musical Hall has established itself as an industry thoroughbred.And although the Horse narrowly escaped a...
