Music
by Gary Carra | Aug 26, 2010 | Music
And you thought you had to wait until November to see a bunch people pretending to be something they are not. Unlike the elections, however, the Northampton Arts Council’s (northamptonartscouncil.org) annual Transperformance concert—wherein local notables...
by Gary Carra | Jul 22, 2010 | Music
Staind frontman Aaron Lewis checked in recently to promote his upcoming benefit at Look Park Aug. 14. The interview that transpired will appear in full in a future installment of this column, but in the meantime, a quick Tivo alert for his fans: catch Aaron with...
by Our Readers | Aug 26, 2010 | Music
Ry CumingRy Cuming(Jive) From the album opener “Some Kind of Love” to the closing meditation “Home” (featuring Maroon 5’s Jesse Carmichael on piano), Australian-born Cuming crafts an engaging debut. He combines cascading melodies with...
by Matthew Dube | Aug 26, 2010 | Music
Magic. That’s how guitarist Joe Belmont and flutist Sarah Swersey describe the first time they made music together. The two musicians traveled far and wide and played countless shows with far-flung musicians before ultimately finding each other, right here in...
by by Advocate Staff | Aug 26, 2010 | Music
Eilen JewellButcher Holler: A Tribute to Loretta Lynn(Signature Sounds) Loretta Lynn was the biggest star in country in the ’60s. Her glow faded by the time the 1980 biopic Coal Miner’s Daughter came out, but Jewell’s stunning tribute is sure to...
by Matthew Dube | Aug 26, 2010 | Music
In So Glad I Made It: The Saga of Roger Salloom, America’s Best Unknown Songwriter, the documentary about his serpentine musical journey, there are a lot of scenes of Roger Salloom walking. These solitary sojourns are designed to represent the Northampton...
by Matthew Dube | Sep 2, 2010 | Music
Brian DiPippo wasn’t too sure he wanted to jam with co-worker Lynn Simonds when the two discovered they were both musicians. “She told me she was a singer/songwriter and I thought, ‘Ugh, no way. Another chick with an acoustic guitar. F that,'”...
by Gary Carra | Sep 2, 2010 | Music
There’s an old school of thought in music industry circles that says it doesn’t matter what anyone says about you as long as they spell your name right. “Forget about spelling,” laughs Ryan Quinn of the former Los Hijos Unicos. “It got to...
by Advocate Staff | Sep 2, 2010 | Music
Bill Charlap and Renee RosnesDouble Portrait(Blue Note) Getting 20 fingers to work together is no easy task. However, the husband and wife team of Bill Charlap and Renee Rosnes does a darn good job of making it work. Double Portrait is an album of piano duets, and...
by James Heflin | Sep 2, 2010 | Music
People get upset when it comes to—well, call it “file sharing” or “music piracy,” depending on your point of view. When Springfield-based WRNX 100.9 FM recently announced that a new album from Ray LaMontagne (who owns an estate in...
by Matthew Dube | Sep 9, 2010 | Music
In 2006, during his (second) battle with cancer, Matthew Larsen was stuck at home most of the time. Rather than sit around and mope, he set himself up at his beloved piano and started writing music again. The results can be heard on the debut album from Matthew Larsen...
by James Heflin | Sep 9, 2010 | Music
In the Pioneer Valley, there are a lot of folks who tell “coming out” stories. So it wasn’t all that surprising to be sitting in Millside Park in Easthampton, enjoying a nice Friday night free concert, accidentally overhearing one of those stories....
by James Heflin | Sep 9, 2010 | Music
When I first arrived in the Valley back in 1995, I promptly started looking for new bandmates. In that search, I came across singer/songwriters, some full of an earnest generosity of spirit, others whose work was inscrutable or even odd. (One of them proudly...
by Advocate Staff | Sep 16, 2010 | Music
AntibalasWho Is This America?(Ropeadope) Antibalas (Spanish for “bullet proof”) seem poised to leave the Brooklyn underground scene for greener pastures, riding a wave of critical acclaim from their musical involvement in the Broadway musical Fela! It...
by Gary Carra | Sep 9, 2010 | Music
They changed the face of local music, and provided a template for venues featuring original acts to imitate. They had art. They championed diversity. In fact, as far as then-scenester Bill Myers recalls, the only thing the former Zone Art Center on Dwight Street in...
by Gary Carra | Sep 16, 2010 | Music
Many liken the role of John Juliano, Jr. as talent buyer for the Big E to a life-changing jackpot won on a high-falutin game show. In many ways it is; the affable Agawam native admits it is a dream gig. Then again, when he shifts gears to tell some of the backstories...
by Matthew Dube | Sep 16, 2010 | Music
“We’re just a string band. No more, no less,” says The Fine and Dandy Trio mandolin player Nick “Buxton” Brown. “We don’t have a drummer. We do all acoustic. We do bluegrass, old time, folk, roots, Americana, some blues, some...
by Advocate Staff | Sep 21, 2010 | Music
Dylan LeBlancPauper’s Field(Rough Trade) Growing up around the famed Muscle Shoals studio in Alabama can create unrealistic expectations for a musician. However, such an upbringing can also bless one with an abundance of soul. In the case of Dylan LeBlanc, his...
by James Heflin | Sep 23, 2010 | Music
For this week’s feature “A Charles River Boy,” I spoke to Cow Island Records founder Bill Hunt, who recently moved to the Valley. Many of the bands his label produces make music that’s undeniably country, but also undeniably unlike the meager,...
by James Heflin | Sep 23, 2010 | Music
Cow Island is the kind of label that proudly offers, as the old saw goes, both kinds of music: country and Western. The label’s albums have a distinctively retro look, chock full of bowling alley fonts and vintage-look photos, complete with assurances of high...
by Advocate Staff | Sep 23, 2010 | Music
Singer/songwriterJohn Brandoli PopJohn Brandoli Band If 2009 was John Brandoli’s coming-out party (he gigged incessantly in support of his debut disc, Suspended Disbelief), then 2010 is shaping up to be the year some pretty big names have decided to crash it....
by Advocate Staff | Sep 23, 2010 | Music
In addition to the Grand Band Slam winners, many of our editors’ picks will also take the stage for the Grand Band Slam concert at Chicopee’s Maximum Capacity on Oct. 9. Danny Pease and the Regulators A veritable army of energetic rockers who shined at...
by Gary Carra | Sep 23, 2010 | Music
Like many a local fire department, Ludlow Fire 1840 takes to the streets each Labor Day weekend, urging residents to “fill the boot” for muscular dystrophy. In learning more about the disease and the families that cope with it, however, Dan McKenney and...
by Matthew Dube | Sep 23, 2010 | Music
God is an indie rock fan. Why else would he (or she) keep college radio—the ultimate outlet for new sounds like Holyoke indie rockers NYC UFOs—alive and kicking, seemingly against all odds? Before the Internet’s noisy attempts to announce the next...
by Tom Sturm | Sep 23, 2010 | Music
A lot of bands like to say that the main reason they play music is to have a good time, but many of them, if you peel back the onion skin of personas, don’t really exemplify this motivation. Some believe themselves to be deep, introspective artists that the...
by Gary Carra | Sep 23, 2010 | Music
One could argue that the venue housed at 116 School Street in Chicopee is frequently filled to maximum capacity because it is called Maximum Capacity. But the club’s general manager, Donald Joseph Robert, Jr., is quick to dismiss any notions of self-fulfilling...
by Advocate Staff | Sep 23, 2010 | Music
MenomenaMinesBarsuk Records This “experimental” Portland, Oregon band has a lot of great things going for it, and this album showcases it all: the looped rhythm tracks are awesome, the singing has potential for greatness—most of the vocal tracks...
by Matthew Dube | Sep 30, 2010 | Music
Back in 2008, Kyle Leary went to redeem some empties and ended up with a new band. The Florence guitarist had been jamming with drummer Jeff “Green Machine” Greene for years, but the two were in need of some other musicians to round out the crew. That...
by Mark Roessler | Sep 30, 2010 | Music
I’d been on the fence about going at all. Richard Thompson, the veteran British folk rocker, was coming to town, and for the first time in my memory, I didn’t have a ticket. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve seen the man perform since...
by Advocate Staff | Sep 30, 2010 | Music
Chris IsaakLive at the Fillmore(Mailboat) Chris Isaak’s 2009 studio release Mr. Lucky proved (again) that Isaak is more than a musician who mines the past and possesses an ultra-smooth singing voice. That album is chock full of tasty, almost U2-flavored guitars,...
by James Heflin | Sep 30, 2010 | Music
If it’s music and art that’s far from the beaten path you’re after, well, good luck. The stuff might as well be an illicit substance. The acquisition of a dealer of sorts, an acquaintance who somehow doles out surprisingly appealing sights and sounds...
by Matthew Dube | Sep 30, 2010 | Music
A little singing in the shower spawned the formation of Palmer alternative rock band Mass Theory. On a family vacation to Canada, guitarist Mark Roy heard longtime pal Tim Messier belting out a tune while scrubbing up, and realized that the two could make a dynamic...
by Gary Carra | Oct 6, 2010 | Music
As a member of Northampton’s celebrated Young@Heart Chorus, Fred Knittle served as an inspiration for senior citizens the world over. He was proof positive that it truly is never too late to follow one’s dreams … and that preconceived societal...
by Advocate Staff | Oct 7, 2010 | Music
Alasdair Roberts & FriendsToo Long in This Condition(Drag City) Alasdair Roberts is a profoundly original songwriter whose work combines ancient themes with a lyrical syntax that’s utterly modern. After the tour de force Spoils, it was initially...
by James Heflin | Oct 7, 2010 | Music
When I first meet Matt Lorenz for our interview, he’s crouched low in the kitchen, watching like a lab attendant as the product of his labor bubbles away: a 10-gallon carboy filled with bright wine, busy fermenting and outgassing. In context, that seemed a...
by Matthew Dube | Oct 7, 2010 | Music
Being rowdy punk players, Ready Aim Fired were a little apprehensive about their 2 p.m. time slot for Holyoke’s Labor Day weekend Great Block Party. Once they were convinced that the family-friendly crowd knew what it was in for, they—guitarist/vocalist...
by Advocate Staff | Oct 7, 2010 | Music
TIME OUTSIDE DOWNSTAIRS ...
by Advocate Staff | Oct 14, 2010 | Music
Peelander-ZP-TV-Z(Chicken Ranch) In many ways, “Japanese Action Comic Punk Band” Peelander-Z seem cut out for children’s music, if only because their marginal English borders on childlike. Their alien approach to the world has made them a genuine...
by James Heflin | Oct 14, 2010 | Music
In order to write effectively about the arts, of course, you have to seek out the results of artistic efforts: exhibitions, plays, films and performances of all kinds. That can fill up a calendar in a hurry, especially around these parts. That’s often more fun...
by Gary Carra | Oct 14, 2010 | Music
Its name may be derived from a popular insecticide, but when it comes to the actual band and its ability to survive in an industry with an antiquated business model decimated by technology, Atlanta, Georgia’s Sevendust exhibits an almost cockroach-like...
by Gary Carra | Oct 14, 2010 | Music
Most would consider concluding a decade-long journey at precisely the same point from whence said journey originated as somewhere between “major disappointment” and “colossal waste of time.” Looking back just prior to her “10-year...
by Advocate Staff | Oct 21, 2010 | Music
OasisTime Flies… 1994-2009(Columbia) Brit-pop titans Oasis are the ideal band for a greatest hits collection. Their uneven catalog is ripe for cherry-picking, but so far nobody has gotten it right. 2006’s Stop the Clocks focused too much on rarities and...
by Matthew Dube | Oct 21, 2010 | Music
Easthampton Savings Bank made the similarly named Easthampton Savings Band (often written with a dollar sign in place of the first “s”) an offer: change your band name and our marketing department will design two free logos for you. In response, the Valley...
by Gary Carra | Oct 21, 2010 | Music
Ricky Phillips still isn’t quite sure what was more surreal to him as he sat in a Reno, Nevada movie theater one summer afternoon in 1991: that the feature, Terminator 2, turned out to be a juggernaut sequel to a film he helped score, or that he was flanked in...
by Matthew Dube | Oct 21, 2010 | Music
Glitter Guerrilla works overtime to get bodies on the dance floor. While you’re curled up in bed having work nightmares, members of the Northampton hip-hop collective are pulling all-nighters crafting bootylicious jams. The Northampton hip-hop...
by James Heflin | Oct 28, 2010 | Music
Some years ago, up late on one of those winter nights when dark seems to fall a few minutes after sunup, I sat in front of my keyboard, nursing a hot beverage. I couldn’t concentrate on writing, so I switched on WMUA 91.1 FM, the UMass-Amherst station. To my...
by James Heflin | Oct 28, 2010 | Music
If newsprint could play audio, it would be easy to explain why seeing French Gypsy jazz guitarist Dorado Schmitt is a very good idea. His song “Bossa Dorado,” a true classic of modern Gypsy jazz, is an infectious listen. It comes sneaking in with a James...
by Advocate Staff | Oct 28, 2010 | Music
The BooksThe Way Out(Temporary Residence) The Books are practically their own genre. The duo employs spoken-word samples, electronic textures, an array of live instruments, and vocals to create a sonic patchwork that combines classical minimalism, electronica, folk...
by Matthew Dube | Oct 28, 2010 | Music
Connecticut ’80s hardcore punk band 76% Uncertain broke up in 1989, the year Jon Bartlett became active in the genre—crafting zines, booking shows, and forming his own band. Two decades later, 76% Uncertain are back and Bartlett, who grew up in Connecticut...
by Matthew Dube | Oct 28, 2010 | Music
A fair amount has changed in the short time since we (read: I) declared Turn It Up! the last game in town for buying music. In the last few months, we’ve seen a little bit of old, a little bit of new, and a little bit of corporate moving and shaking in our Happy...
by Advocate Staff | Nov 4, 2010 | Music
Sharon Van EttenEpic(Ba Da Bing) There’s something about Sharon Van Etten’s voice that bleeds European, like a thick ichor of mead flowing from the pierced heart of an injured goddess. In fact, she’s quite American, and there are noticeable traces of...
by Gary Carra | Nov 4, 2010 | Music
How do you spend the down time between the culmination of a nearly three-year tour behind the best-selling disc of your career and entering the studio to record the next? If you’re the Florida-based foursome Shinedown, you offer your fans “Anything and...
by Gary Carra | Nov 4, 2010 | Music
Most people would probably never forget the sight of Jimi Hendrix walking through their front door—guitar in one hand, all his worldly possessions in a bag in the other—pausing only to say, “Hi, I’m Jimi. Thank you for letting me stay at your...
by Advocate Staff | Nov 11, 2010 | Music
Various ArtistsG.I. Disco(BBE Music) Somehow I never thought of disco as being a major U.S. export to Germany. But G.I. Disco: The History of the Cold War’s hottest ’80s club music in West Germany, an entertaining and informative collection compiled by two...
by James Heflin | Nov 11, 2010 | Music
Goshen’s Institute for Musical Arts seems a modest place. It consists of just a house and outbuildings. Enter one of those buildings—the big red barn—however, and it becomes clear that what’s inside is much larger than the building’s...
by Gary Carra | Nov 11, 2010 | Music
The recent recession was enough to force Connecticut-based Skipping Stone Records (skippingstonerecords.com) to skip what would have been its sixth annual Popfest showcase last fall. And while the popular series will resume again this weekend at The Elevens in...
by Matthew Dube | Nov 11, 2010 | Music
We’re not giving her back. Now that Eilen Jewell has settled in Massachusetts, she’s one of ours. The singer/songwriter has now lived in the Commonwealth for the better part of the last decade after a spate of roaming, and she’s carved out a nice...
by Matthew Dube | Nov 11, 2010 | Music
Multi-instrumentalist Matt Weston is a hard guy to pin down. One night you might see him ripping guitar riffs for Thrillpillow, and the next he might be scraping cymbals solo or with experimental outfit Barn Owl. He’s worked with legends like composer Bill Dixon...
by Gary Carra | Nov 18, 2010 | Music
When it comes to organizational skills, graphic design, even dee-jaying—Noel Ramos’ credentials are impeccable. From a strictly marketing perspective, however, one cannot help but at least raise an eyebrow at an independent music conference that prides...
by Advocate Staff | Nov 18, 2010 | Music
Nu Shooz OrchestraPandora’s Box(independent) Nu Shooz was a footnote in ’80s dance-pop music, but more than 20 years later, the husband and wife team of John Smith and Valerie Day have remade themselves as a small-scale jazz orchestra, crossing classical,...
