Tag: Piano’s

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Comprised of Nathan Lithow (vocals, bass), who has been a touring and recording bassist for My Brightest Diamond, Inlets, and Gabriel and the Hounds; and Garth Macaleavey (drums), a former Inlets touring percussionist and head sound engineer at National Sawdust, the Brooklyn-based post-punk duo NØMADS have received attention across the blogosphere and from this site for a sound that draws from Nirvana, Fugazi and Girls Against Boys while also nodding at Zack de la Rocha’s post-Rage Against the Machine project, One Day As A Lion  and Japandroids.

After a year hiatus from touring to support their 2014 full-length debut Free My Animal and from writing, the Brooklyn-based duo spent the better part of 2016 writing and recording the material that would eventually comprise their sophomore album, PHOBIC, a concept album in which each song focuses on a different phobia, approached in an abstract, almost clinical fashion, while capturing the innermost thoughts, anxieties and fears of someone in the grips of their own deepest fear; but at the core, is a cautionary message for our heightened and uncertain times — that whenever we succumb to the irrationality of our fears, chaos and self-destruction will be the end result.

Adding to the conceptual nature of the album, each song off the album will be released every month over the course of 2017 with the full-length album being slated for a 2018 release. Now, if you’ve been frequenting this site over the past few months, it shouldn’t be surprising that I’ve written about a handful of singles PHØBIAC — “Achluphobia” focused on a fear of darkness, and throughout you can feel the narrator’s palpable and overwhelmingly primal dread and fear as darkness begins to envelope everything around him  — and it’s further emphasized by angular and forceful bass chords, thundering and propulsive drumming and Lithgow’s growled vocals; the following single “Acrophobia,” focused on a fear of heights and is a explosive instrumental composition that features a rapidly shifting meter paired with a propulsive bass line meant to evoke the sensation of peering over a high ledge of a bridge or some other surface, with the instinctual recognition that solid ground and mortal peril is just below you. PHØBIAC‘s latest single “Axatophobia” focuses on a fear of disorder and chaos and features Lithgow playing an angular and distorted yet melodic bass line, Macaleavey’s forceful and dramatic drumming — while Lithgow’s vocals take on the urgent and pleading air of someone who’s life is throw in disarray in an unexpected way, and they can’t handle the slightest bit of disorder. You can practically sense the creeping dread that subtly permeates the entire song.

The Brooklyn-based post punk duo started a string of tour dates the other day at Third Man Records, Detroit and it includes a month-long residency at Piano’s with sets on May 9, 2017; May 17, 2017; May 23, 2017; and May 30, 2017.

 

 

 

 

 

New Audio by William Ruben Helms

Madeleine Dopico is an up-and-coming Sleepy Hollow, NY-born, Brooklyn, NY-based singer/songwriter, who has received a bit of attention over the past 12-18 months or so — “Nice Boy,” which she released late last year has received just under 220,000 Spotify streams and with the release of her latest single “Me to Bleed,” the Sleepy Hollow-born, Brooklyn-based singer/songwriter has begun to receive press from both sides of the pond. Adding to a growing profile, Dopico has performed at some of the area’s most renowned and beloved venues including a residency at Piano’s in Manhattan’s Lower East Side.

 

 

Just on the heels of her set at The Knitting Factory in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, I spoke to the up-and-coming singer/songwriter in a playful and revealing interview about a variety of subjects including some of the following:

  • the stories and influences behind her three biggest, attention-grabbing singles “Nice Boy,” “Done,” which is one of my personal favorites and her latest single “Made to Bleed”
  • how she could trace her love of music, singing and performing to being a 3 year old, who one day burst into the 4-year-olds’ daycare class and began singing “This Land is Your Land,” complete with a mic drop-like moment
  • what she ascribes to her early successes and the role her supporters have played in it
  • the careful and deliberate ways she attempts to set herself apart from a very crowded and competitive music scene
  • her songwriting process, along with her influences
  • her recent listening, which has included a deeper foray into hip-hop, along with some suggestions by yours truly
  • the moment she took the biggest risk of her life — quitting a successful and secure day job and began focusing on music
  • and much more

Just based on this young artist’s earnestness and determination to succeed, along with pop star belter vocals, I think that 2017 will be a huge year for Dopico. Check out the interview.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

 

With the release of their debut effort Dreaming, the Brooklyn-based trio Graveyard Lovers — comprised of Zach Reynolds (vocals, guitar), Tricia Purvis (drums) and Joel Reynolds (bass, guitar) — quickly received national attention for a sound that was compared favorably to the likes of Pixies, Sonic Youth and others. Building upon the buzz of their debut, the band’s music has been heard in a variety of movies and TV series including Showtime’s Shameless — and they’ll be releasing their album Past The Forest Of The Fruitless Thoughts in two parts, with part one in June and part two slated for release later this year. Part one’s first single “Told A Lie” will further cement the Brooklyn trio’s growing reputation for crafting 90s alt rock-inspired indie rock as the band pairs layers of jangling and buzzing guitars, throbbing bass lines and plaintive vocals with incredibly anthemic hooks — but with some electronics towards the bridge to add a subtly modern touch to a familiar and winning formula.

The band will be playing a Thursday night residency at Piano’s in the Lower East Side with one of the shows celebrating the release of “Told A Lie.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Live Music by William Ruben Helms

Live Concert Review: New Music Seminar, New Music Nights Festival 2015 Misfires in its Attempt to Showcase New Music

Live Concert Review: New Music Seminar, New Music Nights Festival 2015 Misfires in its Attempt to Showcase New Music New Music Seminar can trace its origins back to 1980 when over 200 people gathered at […]

Uncategorized by William Ruben Helms

The Dallas, TX-based quartet Dead Flowers have developed a reputation both locally and regionally for a boozy, blues rock sound that also possesses elements of punk rock in a way that arguably owes a debt […]

Uncategorized by William Ruben Helms

Comprised of Corey Howe (vocals, guitar), Vince Tuley (guitar), Evan Johnson (bass) and Ed Chaney (drums), the Dallas, TX-based quartet Dead Flowers have developed a reputation both locally and regionally for a boozy, bluesy rock […]