Tag: Lynyrd Skynyrd

Video by William Ruben Helms

Live Footage: Laura Carbone Performs “Cellophane Skin” at Rockpalast

With the release of her first two albums — 2016’s Sirens and 2018’s Empty Sea — the rising Berlin-based singer/songwriter, guitarist and photographer Laura Carbone received attention across the European Union and elsewhere for a sound and approach that frequently draws comparisons to PJ Harvey, Shana Falana, Chelsea Wolfe, St. Vincent and others. Additionally,. Carbone published a limited-edition book of photography, also named The Empty Sea.

Carbone and her backing band have opened for The Jesus and Mary Chain and The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, developing a reputation for a self-assured and explosive live show, which she further cemented with a headlining tour across Europe last year. The Berlin-based singer/songwriter, guitarist and photographer then followed that up with a stop at SXSW Levitation Festival/Creem Magazine Showcase and a headlining North American tour with The Natvral that included a stop at Baby’s All Right.

Carbone and her backing band were slated to go into the studio in May to record her highly-anticipated third album — but as a result of pandemic-related restrictions, the rising Berlin-based artist’s plans were placed in an indefinite hiatus, much like countless other artists across the globe. Last year, the rising Berlin-based singer/songwriter and guitarist and her backing band performed on the famed German, live concert series Rockpalast — and for Carbone, who grew up in a small town in Southwestern Germany watching the show, appearing on the show was the accomplishment of a lifelong dream: Rockpalast has recorded and broadcasted a who’s who list of influential and important artists, playing some of their most memorable performances, including Siouxsie and The Banshees, Radiohead, Sonic Youth, Patti Smith, Sinead O’Connor, David Bowie, R.E.M., Echo and the Bunnymen, Screaming Trees, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Bob Marley and the Wailers and an amazing and very lengthy list of others.

As a result of pandemic-related shutdowns, an idea emerged with Carbone and her band: “What if Rockpalast would let us release that show as a live album?” Released yesterday, Laura Carbone — Live at Rockpalast is just that. Taken from her Rockpalast set at Harmonie Bonn last October, the live album features a career-spanning set, centered around her first two albums, and an unexpected cover, Hewing as closely as possible to their live sound, the album was mixed in Los Angeles by The Jesus and Mary Chain‘s Scott Van Ryper and mastered by Philipp Welsing at Hamburg‘s Original Mastering with no overdubs.

Last month, I wrote about the live album’s first single, “Who’s Gonna Save You.” The live rendition accurately captures Carbone and her band’s forceful live sound and Carbone’s irresistible stage presence, While the song itself finds the band balancing menace, power and sultriness, it should also serve as an introduction to an artist, who in my book is adding her name to a list of powerful rock goddesses.

To celebrate the release of the album, Carbone released the live album’s second single, “Cellophane Skin.” Performed as the first song of their encore, the live rendition finds the band taking the tension of the original and informing it with a feral and ferocious power, informed by dozens of shows across Europe and North America — and by the occasion. And as a result, the song finds its narrator — and perhaps the artist herself — turning into a seductive and vengeful force of nature, much like the sirens of the ancient myths. At its down core, the song finds its narrator forcefully tearing down the bonds of poisonous social norms that have imprisoned her while demanding that we — particularly men — examine ourselves. Of course, much like its immediate predecessor, the song captures a woman with mighty and fearsome roar.

Directed by Olga Dyer, the recently released video for “Cellophane Skin” is split between gorgeous and seductive footage of Carbone in a black gown being touched by a series of seemingly disembodied hands and black and white footage captured on stage.
“The feminine point of view has always been much more difficult to articulate,” Olga Dyer says in press notes. “And once articulated, alas, quite often it becomes a point of vulnerability, seen through the prism of sexual objectification, helpless stereotypes and indecency. It’s literally stripped of its actual meaning or even possible interpretations. To me, this is what ‘Cellophane Skin’ is about. People jump to conclusions, so quick to assume that they can see through someone. Personally it doesn’t offend me, I only find it banal and boring. I love creating beautiful and dark sequences, inspired by noir surrealism.”

Video by William Ruben Helms

Live Footage: Laura Carbone Performs “Who’s Gonna Save You” at Rockpalast

With the release of her first two albums — 2016’s Sirens and 2018’s Empty Sea — the rising Berlin-based singer/songwriter, guitarist and photographer Laura Carbone received attention across the European Union and elsewhere for a sound and approach that frequently draws comparisons to PJ Harvey, Shana Falana, Chelsea Wolfe, St. Vincent and others. Carbone also published and released a limited-edition book of photography, also named The Empty Sea.

Carbone and her backing band were slated to go into the studio in May to record her highly-anticipated third album — but as a result of pandemic-related restrictions, the rising Berlin-based artist’s plans were placed in an indefinite hiatus, much like countless other artists across the globe. Last year, Carbone and her backing band performed on the famed German live concert series Rockpalast — and for the Berlin-based artist, who grew up in a small town in Southwestern Germany, appearing on the show was the accomplishment of a lifelong dream: Rockpalast has recorded and broadcasted a who’s who list of influential and important artists, playing some of their most memorable performances, including Siouxsie and The Banshees, Radiohead, Sonic Youth, Patti Smith, Sinead O’Connor, David Bowie, R.E.M., Echo and the Bunnymen, Screaming Trees, Lynard Skynard, Bob Marley and the Wailers and an amazing and very lengthy list of others. And as a music mad teenager, Carbone often spent late Saturday nights watching the show, watching many of those artists play on national TV.

Interestingly, as a result of those pandemic-related shutdowns, an idea emerged with Carbone and her backing band: “What if Rockpalast would let us release that show as a live album?” Slated for a December 4, 2020 release, Laura Carbone — Live at Rockpalast is just that. Taken from her Rockpalast appearance, recorded at Harmonie Bonn last October, the live album features a career-spanning set featuring material off her first two albums with an unexpected cover. Hewing as closely as possible to their live sound, the album was mixed in Los Angeles by The Jesus and Mary Chain’s Scott Van Ryper and mastered by Philipp Welsing at Hamburg’s Original Mastering with no overdubs.

Laura Carbone — Live at Rockpalast’s first single “Who’s Gonna Save You” accurately captures the band’s dynamic live sound and Carbone’s sultry, self-assured presence — and in my book, the live rendition reveals that the Berlin-based artist is rock goddess you need right this very second. The live rendition finds Carbone and her band balancing menace with sultriness in a way that’s irresistible.

The recently released video for “Who’s Gonna Save You” is split between live footage shot in a gorgeous and broodingly cinematic black and white during last year’s Rockpalast and footage of the gorgeous Carbone in a equally gorgeous red dress wandering around Berlin’s Märchenbrunnen, or “Fairytale Fountain,” in Volkspark Friedrichshain shot by Underground Youth’s Olya Dyer. “To have this immaculate beauty yet melancholic aftertaste blended with the energy of the live performance is incredible. It’s a solitary present mixed with a crowded past.,” Dyer says of the footage he shot.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Follow Rising British Singer-Songwriter Jack Broadbent Across Route 66 in Visuals for “If”

Jack Broadbent is a rapidly rising Lincolnshire, UK-born singer/songwriter, guitarist and producer. Influenced by a diverse array of influences, including Radiohead, Robert Johnson, Joni Mitchell and Davey Graham among others, Broadbent has cited that listening and learning from such a wide array of artists has helped him create a unique style and sound that frequently features and meshes elements from a different genres and styles. Interestingly, over the past few years, the Lincolnshire-born, has been hailed as “the new master of the slide guitar” by the Montreux Jazz Festival and “the real thang” by Bootsy Collins. 

Broadbent has opened for Lynyrd Skynyrd, Johnny Hallyday, Robben Ford and Tony Joe White — and he’s headlined sold-out shows across the world. And building upon a growing profile, the Lincolnshire-born singer/songwriter, guitarist and producer has amassed over 110,000 monthly listeners and over 10 million Spotify streams. Last year’s Bruce Cameron and Broadbent co-produced full-length album Moonshine Blue was released to widespread critical praise. And since the release of the album, the rapidly rising British has been busy on an extensive headlining tour, including opening for Peter Frampton during his upcoming farewell tour in the UK. 

But in the meantime, “If,” Moonshine Blue’s latest single further establishes his critically applauded sound — a warm, radio friendly country-tinged New Orleans-like blues with a soulful and shimmering solo that seems like a synthesis of old-timey blues, Eric Clapton and Dr. John. And while being a perfect road trip jam, the song describes a restless character, who’s out on the road searching for something — primarily himself. 

The recently released video for “If” follow Broadbent was he travels across the States on the historic Route 66. And as he goes from coast to coast, we see the rising British singer/songwriter stopping in a number of locations both big and small, new and worn; but interestingly enough, the video captures the British singer/songwriter observing the country with the awe, joy and bemusement. 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Jack Broadbent is a British singer/songwriter, guitarist and producer whose work has largely been inspired by a diverse array of influences including Radiohead, Robert Johnson, Joni Mitchell and Davey Graham among others. Broadbent has cited that listening and learning from such a wide array of artists helped him to create a unique style and sound, which also meshes elements from different genres and styles.

Over the past handful of years, the British singer/songwriter, guitarist and producer has built up a national and international profile: hailed as “the new master of the slide guitar” by the Montreux Jazz Festival and “the real thang” by Bootsy Collins, Broadbent has opened for the likes of Lynyrd Skynyrd, Johnny Hallyday, Robben Ford and Tony Joe White. He’s also headlined sold out shows across the world.

Written and produced by Broadbent, alongside Bruce Cameron, “Wishing Well” is the first bit of new material from the British singer/songwriter, guitarist and producer in over 3 years — and interestingly enough, it’s the first official single off Moonshine Blue, his forthcoming album slated for a November 15, 2019 release.  Drawing from folk and Mississippi Delta blues, “Wishing Well” is centered by shuffling acoustic guitar and drumming, Broadbent’s bluesy vocal delivery, an infectious hook and a blistering, boozy solo — but what makes the song interesting to me is that Broadbent does this in a soulful fashion, avoiding mimicry and cliched homage.

 

 

 

 

 

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Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Earlier this year, I wrote about the Rutherford, NJ-based indie rock act Garcia Peoples, and as you may recall the act, which is comprised of founding members Danny Arakaki (guitar) and Tom Malach (guitar), Derek Spaldo (bass) and Cesar Arakaki (drums) and newest member Pat Gubler (keys) can trace their origins to sometime between 2011 and 2012 — depending on who you ask and when you ask them. Interestingly, since the release of last year’s full-length debut, Cosmic Cash through Beyond Beyond Is Beyond Records, the band has been ridiculously prolific, reportedly writing and composing several albums’ worth of material at a rate too quick to set time aside to record it; in fact, during an attention-grabbing weekly residency at Brooklyn’s Wonders of Nature, the band barely repeated a song with some local tape recorders noticing newly evolving material.

Slated for a March 29, 2019 release, Garcia Peoples’ sophomore album Natural Facts purportedly serves as an extended introduction to their unique, cosmic take on Americana that finds the band bridging indie rock, jam band rock and classic rock — with the band’s sound and approach evolving quite a bit. Natural Facts‘ first single was the shaggy, psych rock scorcher, “Feel So Great.” Sounding as though it coulda have been released around 1974, the track was centered around Arakaki and Malach’s impressive two guitar approach, thundering drumming and an expansive and trippy jam-band like song structure, capturing a bunch of good friends, who have spent years jamming, bullshitting, playing records, catching bands and coming into their own — with a passionate, muscular, urgency.

Continuing on a similar vein, Natural Facts‘ second and latest single is the Southern fried rock-inspired “High Noon Violence.” Featuring an Allman Brothers and Lynyrd Skynyrd-like, shimmering two guitar attack, twinkling keys and a propulsive rhythm section within a trippy and expansive song structure, the track has a slow-burning yet lysergic vibe with a free-flowing, bunch of good friends jamming together feel; however, unlike its predecessor, it has a darker, murkier undertone.

The band are currently in the middle of a tour to support their forthcoming sophomore album, and it includes two NYC area dates — March 1, 2019 and March 2, 2019 at Brooklyn Bowl. Check out the tour dates below.

 

Tour Dates:

02.26.19 – Boston, MA @ ONCE Ballroom#
02.27.19 – Port Chester, NY @ Garcia’s#
02.28.19 – Washington, DC @ Gypsy Sally’s#

03.01.19 – Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Bowl#
03.02.19 – Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Bowl#
03.03.19 – Philadelphia, PA @ Ardmore#
#w/ Grateful Shred

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Texas Gentlemen Return with Slasher Flick-Inspired Visuals for New Single “Pain”

Earlier this month, I wrote about  The Texas Gentlemen, an act comprised of a core group of bandleader and founding member Beau Bedford, Nik Lee, Daniel Creamer, Matt McDonald, Ryan Ake and a constantly evolving and rotating cast of collaborators and friends, that was initially assembled as an all-purpose backing band for an eclectic array of singer/songwriters including Leon Bridges, Nikki Lane, Shakey Graves, Delta Spirit’s Matthew Logan Vasquez, Jack Ingram, Terry Allen, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Ray Benson, Joe Ely and many others — and in a similar fashion to The Wrecking Crew, The Muscle Shoals Swampers (who once backed Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett and a lengthy list of soul legends), Booker T. and The M.G.’s and The Band. Now as you may recall, the members of The Texas Gentlemen backed the legendary Kris Kristofferson at this first Newport Folk Festival appearance in more than 45 years, and the set lead to a series of critically applauded shows across Texas.

Building on their growing reputation as a go-to backing band, the band signed to New West Records, who will release their full-length debut effort TX Jelly on September 15, 2017. Recorded at FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, AL, the album, which was produced by the band’s Beau Bedford was recorded live to tape over four days in a raucous recording session and features material that touches on the blues, soul, folk, country rock, gospel and Southern rock. As Bedford described the recording sessions to the folks at Paste, “We set up our own version of Rock ‘n’ Roll Summer camp and invited our friends down to FAME studios. We figured at worst, we would have a great time as friends hanging out in one of the most historic studios in America. There was so much mojo once we turned all of the gear on, sounds just started popping out of the speakers, and the songwriters couldn’t help but feed off the energy. TX Jelly is the fruition of years of kinship and a deep hunger by our collective group for American roots music.”

TX Jelly’s first single “Habbie Doobie” was a sweaty, funky and hook-driven bit of down home, Southern rock that sounded as though it drew from The Allman Brothers, The Band, Lynyrd Skynyrd and The Black Crowes but with the free-flowing improvised feel of a bunch of old friends jamming and hitting upon a groove, with each individual musician knowing where the other was going next. And while easily displaying the cool, self-assuredness of old pros, the song is a decidedly bold introduction to the band as an independent unit. Fittingly enough, TX Jelly’s second single “Pain” is a jangling and old-timey boogie that touches upon The Band’s “Up on Cripple Creek,” Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “What’s Your Name,” Stealers Wheel’s “Stuck In The Middle With You” and naturally, much of the sounds of the early 1970s — but much like the preceding single, they do so with the soulful and swaggering self-assuredness of old studio hands. 

Directed by Horatio Baltz, the recently released video for “Pain” is inspired by 70s and 80s slasher flicks and features a gorgeous femme fatale, who causes a hell of a lot of pain for her victims  — victims, who look quite a bit like members of the band. There’s sure to be pain in their lives, and a few bloody deaths, too. 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Goof Off with The Texas Gentleman in the Visuals for Their Funky Single “Habbie Doobie”

Currently comprised of core group of bandleader and founding member Beau Bedford, Nik Lee, Daniel Creamer, Matt McDonald, Ryan Ake and a constantly evolving and rotating cast of collaborators and friends, The Texas Gentlemen were initially assembled as an all-purpose backing band for an eclectic array of singer/songwriters including Leon Bridges, Nikki Lane, Shakey Graves, Delta Spirit’s Matthew Logan Vasquez, Jack Ingram, Terry Allen, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Ray Benson, Joe Ely and many others, and in a similar fashion to The Wrecking Crew, The Muscle Shoals Swampers (who once backed Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett and lengthy list of soul legends), Booker T. and The M.G.’s and The Band. Last year, the members of The Texas Gentlemen backed the legendary Kris Kristofferson at this first Newport Folk Festival appearance in more than 45 years, and the set lead to a series of critically applauded shows across Texas. 

Building on their growing reputation as a go-to backing band, the band signed to New West Records, who will release their full-length debut effort TX Jelly on September 15, 2017. Recorded at FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, AL, the album, which was produced by the band’s Bedford was recorded live to tape over four days in a raucous recording session and features material that touches on the blues, soul, folk, country rock, gospel and Southern rock. As Bedford described the recording sessions to the  folks at Paste, “We set up our own version of Rock ‘n’ Roll Summer camp and invited our friends down to FAME studios. We figured at worst, we would have a great time as friends hanging out in one of the most historic studios in America. There was so much mojo once we turned all of the gear on, sounds just started popping out of the speakers, and the songwriters couldn’t help but feed off the energy. TX Jelly is the fruition of years of kinship and a deep hunger by our collective group for American roots music.”

“Habbie Doobie,” TX Jelly’s first single is a sweaty, funky and hook driven bit of down home, Southern rock that sounds as though it draws from The Allman Brothers, The Band, Lynyrd Skynyrd and The Black Crowes but with the free-flowing improvised feel of a bunch of old friends jamming and hitting upon a groove, with each individual musician knowing where the other was going next. And while easily displaying the cool, self-assuredness of old pros, the song is a decidedly bold introduction to the band as an individual unit.In fact, interestingly enough the recently released video for “Habbie Doobie” features the members of The Texas Gentlemen jamming and goofing off in their Dallas, TX-based Modern Electric Sound Recorders Studio in a way that you’d almost expect them to do. 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Quietly emerging from the breakup of The Black Crowes, the Chris Robinson Brotherhood played 50 shows over the course of nine weeks in California before officially releasing material or doing any extensive touring outside of the state. With the release of two critically applauded albums Big Moon Ritual and The Magic Door in 2012 and a staggering 118 date tour to support both efforts, the members of the Chris Robinson Brotherhood also quickly received a rapidly growing national profile — and in fact, many critics and media outlets considered the band one of the contemporary standard bearers of the old-school blues rock/psych rock sound. Plus, let’s not forget that Robinson is one of the most soulful white boys on the face of the earth.

The Chris Robinson Brotherhood’s fourth full-length effort, Anyway You Love, We Know How You Feel is slated for a July 29, 2016 release through Robinson’s own label, Silver Arrow Records. As the story goes, the members of the band relocated to California for the writing and recording sessions in a studio that was according to the members of the band located on the side of a mountain, overlooking the foggy Pacific Ocean — and naturally, the members of the band were inspired by the environs. Along with the change of scenery, the sessions were not only their first with their newest summer Tony Leone, who has worked with Ollabelle and the legendary Levon Helm, Robinson left as much open-ended as possible. Rather than coming into the studio with a finished collection of songs ad he had in the past, he presented his bandmates with rough sketches of songs — maybe a verse and part of a chorus, a chord progression here and there and allowed his bandmates the opportunity to improvise and let their collective muses push the material towards the direction it needed to go. As Robinson mentions in press notes the recording sessions for the album were “an opportunity to see where our expression could take us. For us, when it comes to making records, the looser it gets the better. It’s all about taking our intuition and following it to where our ideas can really manifest themselves. This turned out to be the most spontaneous record I’ve ever been a part of.”

Anyway You Love, We Know How You Feel‘s latest single “California Hymn” manages to mesh elements of county, soul, classic rock, gospel and folk music while sounding as though it was equally inspired by The Band, Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Allman Brothers and others in a loose, shambling and shuffling song that possesses an easy-going pious joy over life’s small and intimate pleasures.

The band will be on tour throughout the next three months. Check out tour dates below.

Tour Dates

July 1 – Quincy, CA – High Sierra Music Festival
July 15 – Charleston, SC – The Music Farm
July 16 – Orlando, FL – The Beacham
July 17 – Fort Lauderdale, FL – Culture Room
July 19 – St. Petersburg, FL – The State Theatre
July 21 – Macon, GA – Cox Capital Theatre
July 22 – Augusta, GA – Sky City
July 23 – Wilmington, NC – Greenfield Lake Amphitheater
July 24 – Norfolk, VA – The Norva
July 26 – Asbury Park, NJ – The Stone Pony
July 27 – Annapolis, MD – Rams Head Onstage
July 29 – Fairfield, CT – The Warehouse
July 30 – Beverly, MA – The Cabot
July 31 – Plymouth, NH – Flying Monkey
August 5 – Stowe, VT – The Rusty Nail
August 6 – Hartford, CT – Infinity Hall
August 7 – Newton, NJ – The Newton Theatre
August 25 – Arrington, VA – LOCKN’
September 16 – Morrison, CO – Red Rocks Amphitheater
September 21 – Buffalo, NY – Town Ballroom
September 23 – Pontiac, MI – Crofoot Ballroom
September 25 – Cleveland, OH – Beachland Ballroom
September 26 – Cleveland, OH – Beachland Ballroom
September 29 – Stroudsburg, PA – Sherman Theater
September 30 – Boston, MA – Paradise Rock Club
October 1 – Boston, MA – Paradise Rock Club
October 2 – Syracuse, NY – Westcott Theatre
October 4 – Grand Rapids, MI – The Intersection
October 6 – Cincinnati, OH – 20th Century Theater
October 7 – Nashville, TN – Cannery Ballroom
October 8 – Columbia, MO – The Blue Note
October 9 – Omaha, NE – Slowdown
October 11 – Minneapolis, MN – Varsity Theater
October 13 – Indianapolis, IN – Deluxe @ Old National Center
October 14 – Chicago, IL – Thalia Hall
October 15 – Madison, WI – Majestic Theatre
October 16 – Milwaukee, WI – Turner Hall Ballroom
October 20 – Louisville, KY – Headliner’s Music Hall
October 21 – Charlotte, NC – The Neighborhood Theatre

 

 

 

Photography by William Ruben Helms

Live Concert Review: The World’s Fair Anniversary Festival featuring Charles Bradley and His Extraordinaries with Damien Escobar and Hollis Brown and others, at Flushing Meadow Park 6/7/15

As a blogger, living in New York is admittedly one of the best things you can do; after all, the sheer breadth, quality and variety of music you can cover over the course of a […]