Music
Bill Hunt Flies Rite
For Northampton’s Cow Island Music record label owner Bill Hunt, creating a roster is a labor of love. “I do things that are interesting to me, where my talents and resources can be beneficial to people I’m working with,” Hunt says. Because Cow...CD Shorts
Quasi Mole City (Kill Rock Stars) This ninth album from indie rockers Sam Coomes (vocals, guitar, keyboards) and Janet Weiss (vocals, drums) is an ambitious project. Featuring 24 tracks, the record bounces from upbeat pop to more eclectic stylings at a rapid...CD Shorts
Shuggie Otis Inspiration Information & Wings of Love (Legacy) Over the years, Shuggie Otis’s Inspiration Information has achieved classic status for its visionary mix of electronic funk, California soul, and psychedelic blues. In some ways,...
Nightcrawler
Valley boys Gone By Daylight have rocked stages with Brett Michaels and Ed Kowalcyzk and The Misfits in recent months. Now they’ve finally put together an intimate, acoustic set, and they decide to have the performance all the way over in some vineyard in Napa,...
Dog Day Afternoon
Unbuckled Records, brainchild of Longmeadow’s David Smith, is up ‘n’ moving to Boston. To say farewell, Northampton’s The Elevens nightclub is hosting Dog Day Festival, an all-day musical event featuring some 25 bands. Smith, a longtime local...
Big Screen Chills
This week, guest conductor/composer Michael Shapiro and 15 members of the The Springfield Symphony Orchestra offer a live soundtrack to the 1931 Halloween classic Frankenstein. Halloween-ready visitors can show up early for a pre-show costume contest. A few nights...CD Shorts
Wire Change Becomes Us (Pink Flag) Over the course of its long career—including two reunions—Wire has steadfastly refused to trade on nostalgia. Change Becomes Us tweaks its forward-looking aesthetic by revisiting songs written but never properly recorded...
Not Exactly House Music
The best-loved stories of P.G. Wodehouse feature that imperturbable valet Jeeves and his young aristocratic employer, Bertie Wooster, an affable fellow, but unmusical. In the English TV series of the early ‘90s starring Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie, that...
Grilling With Guillermo
Boston band Guillermo Sexto visits the Sierra Grille this week in support of the Sept. 24 release of the new album Dark Spring. True to its name, Dark Spring often offers counterintuitive combinations of sound—airy male/female harmonies sometimes sit atop grungy...
Nightcrawler: View to a Killswitch
The Bay State’s own Killswitch Engage received a rather large honor in the Big Apple last weekend. The Westfield-based metalmeisters were tapped to headline the 2013 CBGB Santos Party House in Manhattan Oct. 12. “Killswitch is one of my favorite...
Northampton, 1806
Once upon a time in the not too distant past, Northampton was anything but a bastion of liberalism. A century before Calvin Coolidge was mayor–two centuries before the town’s lesbians outnumbered its Republicans–Northampton was the site of a public...CD Shorts
Cave Threace (Drag City) On its latest album, this Chicago-based instrumental quartet brings a free jazz-like approach to five songs of varying natures. Opening number “Sweaty Fingers” is a nearly 12-minute exercise in repetition. Featuring a stop-start...
Nightcrawler: Fair Judging
Like many an agricultural fair, Franklin County’s fair (fcas.com)—occurring Sept. 5-8—will include judging of livestock. What makes the Greenfield-based event different than others is that in this, its 165th installment, live musical acts will also...
Sports Fan Erin McKeown
It can be hard to kick the Sunday habit of watching NFL football. Just ask Valley singer/songwriter/activist Erin McKeown. “I’m really having a crisis of conscience with the NFL,” McKeown tells the Advocate, “about what they knew or...
CD Shorts
Fiesta Brava This Is Us Tomorrow (Lost Bridges) Valley band Fiesta Brava offers a blend of big guitar chords, vocal harmonies and emotion-fueled playing. The band’s brand of rock is decidedly pop-oriented, with layers of triumphant guitar sounds and...CD Short: Cass McCombs
Big Wheel and Others (Domino) In press materials accompanying this latest release from solo musician McCombs, the tag “double album” is shrugged off with a line that says such labeling implies “bloat, prog, and concept.” Instead, listeners are...
The Celtic Bard
In the late ’80s and early ’90s, one version of The Waterboys—a moniker which has mostly meant Mike Scott and Anthony Thistlethwaite plus various supporting casts—became widely known, thanks to two albums paying homage to traditional Irish...
Nightcrawler: A Tor-rid Affair
Ah! It’s that wonderful time of the year again when everyone masquerades as people they are not in hopes of securing treats and goodies. But enough about Election Day. It’s All Hallow’s Eve! And not surprisingly, a couple of the Valley’s more...
Nightcrawler
After more than three decades of performing and recording with his Asbury Jukes, Jersey’s own “Southside” Johnny Lyon released a CD, Songs From the Barn, with a backing band dubbed The Poor Fools earlier this year. This Friday, Sept. 13, said tunes...
Behind the Beat: Room Service
Culled from a list that reportedly included hundreds of possible names, the moniker of the new Northampton band Mother Elk is more than just a tribute to a maternal mammal. Said to represent “fertility, pacing and growth,” the name is also fitting for a...CD Shorts
Weird Owl Healing (A Recordings) Though it consists of only five tracks, this third album from a quartet of Brooklyn-based psychedelic rockers is an expansive journey into far-off musical territories. Opening cut “Change Your Mind” features singer Trevor...CD Short
Costa Blanca (Trouble in Mind) French duo The Limiñanas swim in groovy waters. Maybe it’s the baritone spoken French vocals that lead off the album, or maybe it’s the floppy ’60s bass tone, the 12-string guitars and sitar sounds, but this...
Nightcrawler: Snow Job
In 2005, singer-songwriter Declan O’Rourke was approached by someone who identified himself as both a fan and a musician in a little band of his own. “He said it was called Snow Patrol, and I genuinely replied, ‘I think I might have heard that...
Nightcrawler: Fleury of Activity
As its name implies, Agawam’s Crestview Country Club (crestviewcc.com) has always boasted visual appeal. Perched on a panoramic seat overlooking the Pioneer Valley, the 400-acre estate has offered breathtaking views to its golfers and diners at its restaurant...
Nightcrawler: Have A Hart
Comedian Dave Chappelle resurfaced at a Chicago nightclub earlier this month and shed some light on his recent Hartford, Conn. walk-off the week prior. Some had initially suspected the episode was either a publicity stunt or another meltdown for the funnyman who once...
Nightcrawler: Smith and Lessons
As a former member of the CBS Records band 8084 who has shared stages with Celine Dion, Jon Bon Jovi and Cyndi Lauper (to name a choice few), singer/songwriter Randy Smith certainly exemplifies the oft-recited idiom of “being in the right place at the right...
Behind the Beat: Dapper Mammals
Things get off to an interesting start on Mammal Dap’s new EP, 5lbsHigh5. The band’s members may look a bit young and scruffy in that indie kind of way, but the sounds that regale you from the first note have a lot more to do with 1973 than 2013....CD Shorts
Çigdem Aslan Mortissa (Asphalt Tango) Stick around long enough and dive music becomes hip. Think honky-tonk, tango, the blues, fado, and Greek rebetiko. A superb practitioner of the latter is Turkish-born, London-based Çi?dem...CD Short: The Wiyos
The Wiyos one more for the road (independent) The Wiyos make a mighty big noise for three guys playing old-fashioned acoustic instruments. The trio’s list of instruments includes foot percussion, washboard, harmonicas, and “sundries.” In the...CD Short: Paul Simon
Over the Bridge of Time (Sony Legacy) Love him or hate him, there’s simply no point to a conversation about the past six decades of songwriting that doesn’t include Paul Simon’s name. This 47-year retrospective offers 20 tracks that take us from...
Behind the Beat: Ides of March
Jim Peternik recalls the day some 20 years ago when he came home to find a message from Sylvester Stallone waiting for him on his answering machine. “Answering machines were still something of a novelty back then,” the singer/guitarist told Songcrafts.com....
Nightcrawler: Birthday Kiss
As recently as a month ago, local scenester Crystal “Kissy” Willard wasn’t sure of the exact date, lineup or even venue for her 30th birthday bash. But she knew there would be cupcakes. Oh, yes. There would be cupcakes. “I have girlfriends...
Nightcrawler: A Molly Hatchet
Good golly! UMass has cancelled two more electronic dance shows due to concerns about “Molly”—a high-powered, powdered form of Ecstasy. And not surprisingly, the man behind the music—UMass grad/NV Concepts founder Tim Bonito—is none too...
Aces High
Family bands aren’t a new concept. The Osmonds, the Bee Gees, even the current indie darlings of Haim—these groups and many others have formed from sibling bonds and a shared love of music. In the Pioneer Valley, one group that has followed suit is Show of...
Nightcrawler: Proof of Life
Valley veterans Danny Pease & The Regulators have added a dash of special guests and new songwriters to the sonic stew they’ve been brewing at AQ Creative Production Studios in Chicopee. This Friday, Oct. 4, they’ll be ready to release their...
Nightcrawler: Whiskey A Go Go
Like any self-respecting moonshiner, Susie Hanna says she is tweaking the multi-act musical mash she named The Whiskey Treaty and loosed on the masses in 2012. “Last year was kind of a test run,” she says of the second annual event that will see five...
CD Shorts
Lucy Wainwright Roche There’s a Last Time for Everything (1-2-3-4-GO!) When you’re descended from as much folk royalty as Lucy Wainwright Roche, you’d better be able to deliver. With this, her second full-length, Roche obliterates all doubt...
CD Shorts: Shanta Paloma
Shanta Paloma (independent) The songs on local singer and songwriter Shanta Paloma’s debut disc can be heard pretty often in the Valley these days—Paloma holds down an every-Tuesday gig at Elizur’s Pub in Holyoke. She can also be heard on...
CD Shorts
Speedy Ortiz Major Arcana (Carpark) Northampton’s Speedy Ortiz began as the vehicle for the songwriting of Sadie Dupuis, who came to the Valley to study poetry at UMass-Amherst. Now the band is a quartet, and the four create some major noise. This is...CD Shorts: Mutual Benefit
Mutual Benefit Love’s Crushing Diamond (Other Music Recording Co.) Mutual Benefit is primarily a one-man operation. That one man, Jordan Lee, has wandered from Austin, Texas, to Ohio, Boston and Brooklyn, collecting collaborators in the process....
Nightcrawler: Season?s Greed-ings
Iconic singer/songwriter Neil Young has announced that he will follow up his four-show stand at Carnegie Hall early next year with four more aimed at clamping down on oil pipelines and production in his native Canada. Dubbed the “Honor The Treaties”...
Nightcrawler: Striking a Local Chord
Super Typhoon Haiyan may have unleashed its deadly winds and surging tides some 8,000-plus miles away last month. But as the Valley’s own Jennifer Matias explains, the devastation the tropical cyclone literally rained down on the people of Southeast Asia a month...
In the Box
If you never use the “shuffle” setting on your audio player and you really like to dig into recordings, it’s a fine time of year. That’s because record companies tend to go after your holiday wallet with their most spectacular Hail Mary, the...
2013 Nightcrawler Notables
Submitted in no particular order—and created for no particular reason, for that matter—here are the winners in installment number one of the 2013 Nightcrawler Notables awards. The “If You Can’t Be Him, Join Him” Award: Michael...
CD Shorts: James Keelaghan
History: The First 25 Years (Borealis) Twenty-three years ago I interviewed, for this publication, an up-and-coming Canadian musician. The flowing locks are gone, but everything else about James Keelaghan confirms my initial impression that he is among folk...
Uke Joint
Spend a few minutes in the Northampton home of Bruce Kriviskey and it quickly becomes apparent that the he’s got a lot of talent in his hands. Just to the left of the entryway is an intricate and wonderfully detailed ship in a bottle that the one-time architect...
Nightcrawler: Merry KISSmas
Swapping out calendars for the new annum, the Crawler would be remiss not to mention the early Xmas present he and other card-carrying members of the KISS Army received earlier this month. Much like the plight suffered by fellow multi-platinum rockers Rush that was...
Behind the Beat: The Brown Piano
Carrie Ferguson makes music in her garage, a small, pleasantly cluttered building that’s withdrawn slightly from the side of the road. It’s a creative, homey space, well-lived in, full of instruments in various states of repair, concert posters, and...CD Shorts: Jamie Kent
Embers & Ashes (independent) The term “folk rock” has been around for a long time, but there are performers such as Richard Thompson, Ellis Paul, Stephen Stills, and Ray Lamontagne whose cadences, sensibilities, and musical souls are such that...
CD Shorts: The Callas
The Callas Am I Vertical? (Inner Ear) From the first strains of The Callas’ Am I Vertical?, there’s an air of confident, weird cool. This is a band that seems to be saying, “We wear better shoes than you, and we always will.” Brothers Lakis and...CD Shorts: The True Jacqueline
If Afrika Bambaataa was looking for the perfect beat and Kinks singer Ray Davies was searching for the perfect riff, then Northampton’s noise-pop trio The True Jacqueline continues to explore some combination of both with their latest EP Like Way Out, which...
Nightcrawler: Impromptu Erna
Many is the unsigned act that has tried to ingratiate itself with a national notable by stroking said national’s ego. When it comes to the curious case of Last Laugh singer Devin Cordeiro and his newfound kinship with Godsmack mouthpiece Sully Erna, however,...
Pix Elation
It’s a good time to be a Pixies fan. The last year brought the first new music in ages from the seminal late ‘80s alternative rockers, and now the band is embarking on a tour to bring the music to live audiences. That would be good enough news alone, but...
CD Shorts: Leyla McCalla
Vari-Colored Songs: A Tribute to Langston Hughes (Music Maker) Leyla McCalla sounds like an emissary from an alternate history. Even when her music is familiar in its chord progressions or melody, she’s prone to using her cello to send her sounds for a spin...
Nightcrawler: Striking a Chord
A Green Mountain State-based Americana band is looking to raise some greenbacks for a dear friend in a dire situation. And anyone even remotely familiar with the Vermont quartet The Joinery wouldn’t bet against them in their quest to pack Putney’s 160-seat...Nightcrawler: Lou-sing an Icon
It’s a fact that the Velvet Underground’s first release only sold in the thousands. It’s widely rumored that nearly everyone who did buy that fateful 1967 full-length, The Velvet Underground and Nico, was so inspired by what they heard that they...
CD Shorts: Oxen
The Glass Coffin (independent) The Glass Coffin is the four-song debut EP from a “heavy transcendental” rock band out of Holyoke. Ben Reigle (guitarist/vocals) and Hans Dalhaus (drums) formed Oxen originally to “channel their influences.” They...
Nightcrawler: Bottled Up
St. Louis-based roots rockers The Bottle Rockets have recently replenished the stock of their long-out-of-print first two albums, Bottle Rockets and The Brooklyn Side. And to celebrate the completion of the remastered two-disc set, the Bottle Rockets...
Casting A Spell
A quarter-century is, by any marker, a milestone. But for a music series—a phenomenon which seems so often born of good will but raised by bad parents—to last 25 years is a testament to something deeper than just survival. To last in that arena, a series...E-Edition
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