Friday, February 3
9pm
with Festina Lente Opening
"Rowe's baritone is one of those rare singing voices that will leave you forever changed. Like Al Green, Van Morrison, or Gil Scott-Heron at their best..." - Metroland Magazine.
On the song "Night," from Sean Rowe's forthcoming ANTI- debut, Magic, the singer turns his rich, baritone to a moment of childhood innocence. Rowe's deep, magical voice is nothing if not wise and experienced; he knows full well that after the innocence comes the fall. This ability to conjure dueling emotions - the elation of childhood versus the bruising of real life - marks the arrival of a skilled lyricist and songwriter.
Chris Neumann and Festina Lente
This is brawny County-Folk of the finest kind delivered by four burly gents with affection for guitar picking, gorgeous vocal harmony and lyrical song writing.
Armed with a suitcase drum kit and three guitars, this is a band that can both rock and show their gentle side. Chris Neumann leads the way and this new incarnation shows a more melodic and sensitive artist in a terrific new band barreling swiftly toward the top of their game.
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Rowe's honest and haunting songwriting have already earned comparisons to Van Morrison's Astral Weeks phase, for his abstract lyric phrasing, and the way he crafts an experience of emotion, rather than telling a linear tale. Most powerfully he brings to mind Leonard Cohen, with songwriting which tends to build into powerful, yet vulnerable, cathedral- like monuments of sound. The song "American," with its yearning strings and earnest piano bring chills and a catch in your throat.
Listening to Sean Rowe, it is hard to decide what is more magical - the dream-inducing songs or Sean's powerful, emotional voice. The big, deep and rich sound pulls on your heart almost to the point of breaking.
Visit seanrowe.net
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Growing up in the historic Treme section of the city, one of the first black neighborhoods in America, Andrews was immersed in the thick of New Orleans culture from the get go.
He was recruited into a brass band led by his younger cousin, Troy Andrews, and played in the New Birth, Lil Rascals, and Tremé brass bands, among others, lending equal measures of musicianship and showmanship to each. Now he fronts his own high-powered ensemble that veers from traditional jazz to gospel, rock, blues and funk, all in the same show.
Glen David has absorbed a fading tradition. He's a link for his generation to something important, but he also has a rare enthusiasm and energy that makes it all special and exciting for even casual listeners. Though most contemporary brass-band musicians have embraced the more funk and pop-oriented sound, Andrews always includes some of the, spirituals and tradional jazz tunes in his performances.
He released a live gospel CD, "Walking Through Heaven's Gate", on Threadhead Records in 2009, probably the first CD to have captured on record the entrancing quality of Andrews' performances at venues like Jazzfest, Lincoln Center, Preservation Hall, Tipitina's, and most powerfully of all, on the streets, where it all began.
He's appeared in season one of HBO's Treme, playing himself and performing one of his original tunes, Knock Wit Me, and has already filmed 2 episodes for season two. He has appeared in numerous documentaries, including Faubourg Tremé: The Untold Story of Black New Orleans, by Lolis Eric Elie, Swiss filmmaker Peter Entell's chronicle of the controversial, post-Katrina proposed closing of St. Augustine Church, Shake the Devil Off, and Spike Lee's two epics about Katrina, When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts, and If Da Creek Don't Rise.
Visit glendavidandrewsband.com
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Friday, February 10, 2012 • Bindlestiff Family Cirkus Winter Cabaret
Bindlestiff Family Cirkus
The Bindlestiff Family Cirkus returns to Helsinki Hudson for the Bindlestiff Family Cirkus Winter Cabaret, a Hudson Valley extension of their 16 year New York City Winter Cabaret tradition.
Audiences can expect the second Fridays of January, February and March to bring a new lineup of Cirkus and variety arts stars, with acts like aerial rope, contortion, ventriloquism, sword swallowing, juggling, physical comedy, burlesque and boylesque, and oddball novelty turns. Live music is a defining feature of all Bindlestiff's Winter Cabaret shows, with witty, original tunes by a variety of NYC's best composers and accompanists. Bindlestiff's unique style reflects deep roots in NYC's underground club scene, nods to political street theater, and a steady respect for the traditions of American popular entertainment and illegitimate theater. Unlike Bindlestiff's family fare at local venues like Bard's Summerscape Spiegeltent, Bindlestiff's Winter Cabaret is for grown-ups only.
On Friday, February 10, Bindlestiff welcomes naughty latex balloon sculptress Mistress B; supremely supple contortionist Miss Ekaterina; Nigel Blackthorne, the Rock and Roll Magician; vaudevillianous variety by Mr. Pennygaff; Live, original music and and additional special guests TBA.
Whet your whistle by seeing TheBindlestiffs.com, our web-based reality show. See you at the Cirkus!
Visit bindlestiff.org
You can expect a night of many surprises.
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Upcoming Bindlestiff Family Cirkus at Club Helsinki:
Friday, March 9, 2011 • Bindlestiff Family Cirkus Cabaret returns with a brand new lineup of fabulous performers
For more information:
1.877.BINDLES bindlestiff.org
Bindlestiff Family Variety Arts, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.
This program is supported, in part, by public funds from New York State Council on the Arts.
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Monday, February 13, 8pm
The Backburners
The Backburners are a formidable Hudson Valley based collective steeped in fine musicianship and a near-telepathic way of playing. Vocals are shared between guitarist Kyle Esposito (TN3, Smoke Fish Honey), bassist Doug Marcus (No Brakes) and steel guitarist Kevin Maul (Burns Sisters Band, Lustre Kings) . Harmonies are contributed by the aforementioned as well as drummer Manuel Quintana and keyboardist Ross Rice. Bob Resnick’s percussion adds color and lift to soulful, rootsy originals and covers from bluegrass to classic americana rock and psychedelia.
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Friday, February 17
9pm
A Big BAND Party!
Paying tribute to one of the world's greatest vocalists, Brooklyn Qawwali Party formed to honor the legendary Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, reworking his thunderous songs for an eclectic, eleven-piece orchestra. BQP has five horns, guitar, bass, harmonium, and three percussionists that meld into one buoyant, jazzy rhythm.
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Built on a foundation of hand claps, tablas, harmonium riffs and urgent, husky harmonies, the Sufi devotional music of the Pakistani Qawwali singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan (1948-97) was captivating, his high tenor swirling above the appealing rhythms. In his lifetime, Mr. Khan collaborated with Peter Gabriel, Eddie Vedder and many others. Since his death, his music has been remixed for the dance floor or used in dance-company soundtracks. But the Park Slope-based percussionist Brook Martinez has found the most innovative adaptation of Mr. Khan's music yet: It's the repertoire for an 11-piece big band called the Brooklyn Qawwali Party.
Mr. Martinez, formed the band in 2004, and it soon began playing monthly at Tea Lounge in Park Slope. Its following has since grown via gigs at Joe's Pub and globalFEST.
"I was really impressed with how well they captured the spirit of the music," said Bill Bragin, director of public programming at Lincoln Center, who booked the band during his days as director of Joe's Pub. "It's not a dalliance. Brook has a lot of integrity and a real serious interest in this music."
This is the essential quality BQP has sought to transcribe in their own takes of his music, and by the sounds of their live shows, as well as their self-titled debut recording, they are succeeding.
Visit brooklynqawwaliparty.com
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Thursday, February 23
8pm
"Jill Sobule can claim her place among the stellar New York singer-songwriters of the last decade. Topical, funny and more than a little poignant ...grown-up music for an adolescent age.' - NY Times.
Jill Sobule belongs to a rare breed of artists. Her work is at once deeply personal and socially conscious, seriously funny and derisively tragic. With over five albums and a decade of recording under her belt, her songs cover a huge amount of ground which all benefit greatly from Jill's subtle intelligence and skillful light-handedness. To see Jill live and in concert is a rare treat. It is on stage that she is most comfortable, most powerful, and where the delicacy and range of her work can be best appreciated.
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Jill played in a variety of funk and rock bands in home state Colorado, before eventually making her first, Todd Rundgren-produced, album for MCA, Things Here Are Different. But success knocked on her door, when Atlantic Records released her MTV staple and national top 20 hit, I Kissed a Girl. "That song was a double-edged sword for me," Jill Says. "It was perceived as a novelty hit, but on the other hand it was the first song with an overtly gay topic to be aired on Top 40 radio. I am quite proud of that." The self-titled album also yielded another hit song, Supermodel, included in the Clueless soundtrack. The song also jumpstarted her live music career in a big way, and since then she's had the honor to induct Neil Diamond in the Songwriter's Hall of Fame, to share the stage with the likes of Neil Young, fellow activists Billy Bragg & Steve Earle, and Warren Zevon. Quite the serious guitar player, she even toured the world as lead guitarist in Lloyd Cole's band a few years back.
Since then, she has made four more critically acclaimed albums, "Happy Town", "Pink Pearl", "Underdog Victorious", and 2009's "California Years", which Jill released on her own record label, Pinko Records.
A veritable gypsy, Jill divides her time between a busy touring schedule and a variety of other projects. She has played the role of political troubadour for NPR and for Air America Radio. She also served as songwriter/composer for the hit Nickelodeon network show Unfabulous. She composed the music for the off-Broadway show Prozak and the Platypus and co-starred in the Eric Schaeffer film Mind the Gap.
Visit jillsobule.com
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Sunday, February 26
8pm
Shearwater continues to explore the beauty, menace, and fragility of the natural world - and that increasingly rare species, the indivisible album.
Their latest, Animal Joy was produced and recorded by Danny Reisch in Austin, Texas.
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Principal players were Jonathan Meiburg (vocals, guitar, and piano), Kimberly Burke (upright and electric bass) and Thor Harris (drums)-all members of Shearwater since 1999-along with guest performers Andy Stack (of Wye Oak) on guitar, keyboard, and saxophone, Scott Brackett on keyboards, Cully Symington on additional drums, Sam Lipman on clarinet, and Elaine Barber on harp. No strings or glockenspiels were touched during the making of this album.
It's been suggested-by fans, detractors, even by the band's founder-that Shearwater and whatever we call underground/indie/whatever-rock in this part of the century are not an obvious fit. And that's true. So much of what we hear these days (the lousy stuff, anyway) is willfully insular; Jonathan Meiburg's songs, by contrast, have constantly tackled bigger questions and been propelled by massive musical ambitions.
We're in an era in which minimalism and lower-than-low-tech have come in vogue. By contrast, Shearwater's recordings-the epic "Island Arc" trilogy of Palo Santo, Rook and The Golden Archipelago in particular-have been expansive (some might say bombastic) in a fashion like none of their contemporaries.
Meiburg has opted to ditch an approach that paid huge artistic dividends over his last three Matador albums for a record that seems shockingly direct, immediate and intensely personal. He's no stranger to lush, crafted recordings, but this one sounds like no prior Shearwater incarnation.
Though it's possibly a wild projection to claim a few years of bouncing through various band lineups, record labels and places of residence have led to a radical reboot, I'm a big believer in citing circumstantial evidence and letting the jury figure it out for themselves. Someone's bound to label this Shearwater's transitional album, but to these ears, it sounds like a thrilling artistic rebirth. Just give 'em the fucking Grammy already!
Visit shearwatermusic.com
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Monday, February 27, 8pm
Sweet Clementines
Smart pop enthusiasts will love The Sweet Clementines. They played their first show opening for Rhett Miller (Old 97’s) and he can’t stop talking about them. Fronted by two guitar-whiz English teachers from New Paltz, The Sweet Clementines live lineup expands to include violin, vibraphone and keyboards, emphasizing the band’s affinity for twisted cabaret ala Tom Waits or Andrew Bird, quirky pop rock, and general musical intricacy.
JOHN BURDICK guitar, vocals, keyboards, and songs
CHRIS TANIS guitar, vocals, ukulele, and songs
JASON SARUBBI electric bass guitar
MATT SENZATIMORE drums
MARIANNE TASICK vocals, violin, and percussion
PAUL CARROLL vibraphone, keyboards and percussion
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Thursday, March 1
8pm
4-piece Indie band, Lower Dens is set to release their long-awaited second album, Nootropics (pronounced No-eh-tro-pics) on May 1st.
The band released their beguiling debut album Twin-Hand Movement in 2010 and shortly after, the album was named on NPR's Favorite Albums of year.
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Swathed in an undersea murkiness, Twin-Hand Movement explores the more ethereal side of freak folk. There's a kind of understated beauty at work here. Rather than sweeping, melodic grandeur, subtlety is the watchword.
Where that album was about community, using the band's native Baltimore scene as a springboard and inspiration, Nootropics is the next step.
From its opening moments to its last, Nootropics is concerned with texture and timbre: the papery thump of brush on snare, soft subsonic thunderclaps, the glorious clamor of a wall of symphonically stacked electric guitars. And there's the sun-dappled cloudbank of sound of the instrumental "Lion in Winter, Pt. 1." "We'd done noise jams in practice to keep our ears fresh, so we developed this one with a bit of a plot to it," says Hunter. "That recording is the best we'd ever played it. It's one of my favorite things we've ever done."
The album title is a reference to Lower Dens' interest in transhumanism--the use of technology to extend human capabilities. It could just as easily extend to the music itself: "Brains," with its sleek, metronomic pulse, examines our relationship to technology, in particular artificial intelligence and is the perfect entryway into Nootropics' vast & meticulous vision.
Lower Dens, formed by smoky voiced frontwoman, Jana Hunter, quickly gained popularity quickly after the first album and were asked to join bigger and bigger tours, with the likes of Bear in Heaven, the Walkmen, Beach House, and Deerhunter, and wound up playing around 200 shows last year, developing the kind of musical telepathy that only relentless touring can bring.
The band also features, William Adams, bass, Geoffrey Graham drummer, Nate Nelson (Mouthus, Crazy Dreams Band) and keyboardist Carter Tanton.
Visit myspace.com/lowerdens
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Saturday, March 3
9pm
Sunday, March 4
8pm
Two Nights with a Legend in Comedy
David Brenner has had a remarkable career. Beginning with his debut National TV appearance on The Tonight Show, where he went on to make the most appearances of any guest on the show - 158, he has continued to be the most frequent talk show guest of any entertainer, as confirmed in "The Book of List 2." Today, Brenner's act is based on "very" current events and he is recognized as a political pundit, appearing on news oriented shows including, MSNBC, CNN and The Fox Network.
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Then there are the four HBO Specials he has done, including his last one which was performed live, with no safety net, "David Brenner Back with a Vengeance" and proved that once again the Philadelphia native is still "the ultimate comeback kidder." The show was one of HBO's highest rated specials and, among the glowing reviews, The Hollywood Reporter proclaimed, "He's edgier and more insightful in his skewering of popular culture than ever before."
Brenner wasn't always in front of the TV camera. Before stepping on stage, he enjoyed a successful career as the writer/producer/director of 115 television documentaries and headed the distinguished documentary departments of both Westinghouse Broadcasting and Metromedia Broadcasting. Brenner's documentary work earned him a total of nearly thirty awards and citations including an Emmy Award.
"I Think There's a Terrorist in My Soup," Brenner's fifth book, is a guide on how to use humor and laughter to get through personal problems as well as how to cope with the problems of the world. His first book, "Soft Pretzels with Mustard," was a best seller.
This multi-talented man began as a kid in the poor sections of South and West Philadelphia where he was a gang leader who used humor as a negotiating tool. From fourth grade through high school, Brenner was elected class president of his class, as well as class comedian. He attended Temple University where, in spite of being funny, he graduated with honors, majoring in Mass Communications.
After first appearing on the national TV scene, Brenner was asked by a reporter what he wanted to do with his career. He replied "I want to make as many people laugh, as heartily as they can, for as long as I can." His answer is the same today and he continues to do it.
Visit davidbrennersite.com
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Tuesday, March 6
8pm
with Bachelorette Opening
"The Magnetic Fields' Stephin Merritt is a contrarian pop genius." - The New York Times
We are thrilled to welcome The Magnetic Fields as they kick off their Spring tour at Club Helsinki Hudson.
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The Magnetic Fields' Love at the Bottom of the Sea will be released by Merge Records on March 6. The band's tenth full-length album is their first release of new material with Merge since 1999's highly acclaimed 69 Love Songs. The band will celebrate their new album with a North American tour that passes through the SXSW Music Showcase in Austin, Texas.
After putting out three synthesizer-free albums, The Magnetic Fields are returning to the signature mix of synth and acoustic sounds they established in the 90s with Merge releases such as The Charm of the Highway Strip and Get Lost. Stephin Merritt has come back to the synth with a fresh approach: "Most of the synthesizers on the record didn't exist when we were last using synthesizers," he notes. The songs - none over three minutes long - were recorded in Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York with Merritt's usual cast of collaborators: Claudia Gonson, Sam Davol, John Woo, Shirley Simms, Johny Blood and Daniel Handler.
There will be a limited-edition eggshell-colored vinyl available exclusively to those who pre-order the album at the Merge Records store. The first 100 people who order the album from Merge will receive a free signed poster and a Magnetic Fields button, as well. The Merge online store can be found HERE.
The Magnetic Fields' debut album Distant Plastic Trees was released in 1991. In 1999, The Magnetic Fields' three-CD collection, 69 Love Songs, established Stephin Merritt as one of his generation's most talented songwriters. That breakthrough was followed by three albums on Nonesuch Records: i in 2004, Distortion in 2008 and Realism in 2010. Between Magnetic Fields releases, Merritt has recorded side projects and albums with his various other bands, Future Bible Heroes, the Gothic Archies and the 6ths, as well as soundtracks to the films Eban and Charley and Pieces of April. In 2006, Nonesuch also released a collection of songs Merritt wrote under the name The Gothic Archies to accompany the Lemony Snicket books, The Tragic Treasury: Songs from a Series of Unfortunate Events. In 2009, Merritt scored the Off-Broadway adaptation of Neil Gaiman's novel Coraline.
Visit houseoftomorrow.com/tmf.php
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Saturday, March 10
9pm
Cyril Neville - Percussion and Vocals
Devon Allman - Guitar and Vocals
Mike Zito - Guitar and Vocals
Charlie Wooton - Bass
Yonrico Scott - Drums
Before they even hit a chord, Royal Southern Brotherhood have your attention. In the US South, where music is religion, two rock ‘n' roll bloodlines tower above all others. The mere mention of the Allman and Neville Brothers casts a magic spell.
These aren't just bands, they're gods, and with a lineup that includes Cyril Neville and Devon Allman, Royal Southern Brotherhood come pre-loaded with expectations. Don't worry: they can match them. The family tree might be auspicious, but this new band trades on talent, not genealogy. It's not about rock history: it's about the here-and-now.
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Right now, the buzz is all about Royal Southern Brotherhood's debut album, bottled with producer Jim Gaines in Louisiana.
This lineup has talent to burn. You'll already know Cyril Neville: percussion master and perhaps the South's last great soul singer. At 63, this is the latest chapter in a career that began with 1970's debut solo single, Gossip, and his touchdown in the lineup of older brother Art's funk outfit, The Meters. Cyril lent percussion and vocals to classic albums including 1975's Fire On The Bayou, and when über-fan Mick Jagger invited The Meters to open the Rolling Stones' stadium tour of 1975, he suggested Cyril took vocals (they agreed).
Post-Meters, he's been key to the rise of The Neville Brothers, created alchemy with Bob Dylan, Bono and Willie Nelson, toured with funk act Galactic, led his solo band Tribe 13, and made TV appearances on Jimmy Kimmel Live! and HBO's Treme. It's one hell of a CV... but he's only just getting started.
Likewise Devon Allman. As the son of Gregg Allman, the 36-year-old has rock ‘n' roll in his DNA. Refusing to trade on his celebrity surname, Devon's formative influences took in everyone. In 1999, he hit the radar as leader of Honeytribe, whose fearless albums announced him as a next-generation guitar hero, but by his thirties, the pull of his Southern heritage couldn't be denied, and he willingly fell into the soul-drenched blues-rock style that recalls his key influences like his uncle Duane Allman.
In the last seven years, Devon has plotted an old-school ascent, crossing 14 countries on tour, blowing the roof off a new venue each night, and watching as fans and heroes alike fall under his spell.
There's been a Top 10 hit in Spain with Javier Vargas, albums alongside Jack Bruce, jam sessions with heavyweights like Les Paul and Billy Gibbons, even the launch of his own signature amp with Fuchs Audio Technology. When Devon takes the stage - either with Honeytribe or during cameos with his father and the Allmans - fans are wowed by a guitarist who can be smooth, savage or seismic, but it's in Royal Southern Brotherhood that you'll hear this modern master playing at full-throttle.
Not many guitarists could stand toe-to-toe with him. Step up Mike Zito: the blues ace whose ear for melody provides the counterpoint to his wingman's rocking tendencies. Nominated in 2011 for the Blues Music Foundation's ‘Best Blues Rock' award, and winner of 2010's Blues Music Award for ‘Song Of The Year' with the title track of Pearl River (a co-write with Cyril Neville), few stars are rising faster.
But like Cyril says, it's all about making "a good gumbo", and that's where God's own rhythm section comes in. Giving Royal Southern Brotherhood its hip-shaking groove are bassist Charlie Wooton and drummer Yonrico Scott: both heavyweight names in their own right, with Charlie's bass chops celebrated on the Southern jam scene for his sets with the Woods Brothers, and Yonrico hitting the skins for luminaries including the Derek Trucks Band, Gregg Allman and the Allman Brothers themselves. When these five stellar musicians come together as Royal Southern Brotherhood, the planets align.
Visit royalsouthernbrotherhood.com
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Saturday, April 7
9pm
"High praise for Seun Kuti, who makes the biggest, wildest, livest music on the planet" - Brian Eno
Torchbearer and soul-incarnate of Fela Anikulapo Kuti, Seun Kuti and the famous Egypt 80 Band, carries on his father’s musical message against corruption, injustice and the many problems affecting Nigeria and all of Africa.
With his new release, Africa With Fury: Rise, Seun Kuti heads up Egypt 80, the extraordinary combo first fronted by his renowned father. The album follows Kuti's critically praised debut, 2008’s Many Things, which was unanimously hailed for continuing Fela's musical legacy. From Africa With Fury: Rise sees Kuti finding his own idiosyncratic voice as songwriter, singer, and band leader.
Produced by Brian Eno, the album captures Seun and Egypt 80's extraordinary power, fraught with the scorching rhythms and kinetic funk energy that has earned the band worldwide acclaim as one of today's most incendiary live acts.
With Kuti's booming vocal stylings at the forefront, songs like "African Soldiers" and "Mr. Big Thief" are fueled by call-and-response hooks, breakneck tempos, and combative, topical lyricism which firmly sets the classic Egypt 80 sound in the modern era.
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Born in 1983, Seun first began performing with Egypt 80 at the age of nine, warming up audiences with renditions of his father's songs. After Fela's death in 1997, Seun stepped up to the front of the band, leading the celebrated combo as both lead vocalist and saxophonist. While his father's influence cannot be understated, Kuti was determined to cut his own distinctive musical path, incorporating contemporary influences into the traditional Afrobeat approach.
"What inspires me is the time that I live in," Kuti says. "Basically what is happening today in Africa are the same things that were happening 40 years ago, when my father was songwriting, but they're happening in different ways. So when I write my music, it's from the perspective of a 27-year-old man living in 2011, instead of a 30-year-old man living in the 1970s."
Kuti finds himself challenging many of the same injustices his father fought in his heyday, from corporate greedheads to militaristic leaders to the ever-futile war on drugs.
Kuti compels listeners to fight "the petroleum companies" that "use our oil to destroy our land," "the diamond companies" that "use our brothers as slaves for the stone," and "companies like "Monsanto and Halliburton" which "use their food to make my people hungry." But where Fela's work often featured an explicit call to revolution, Seun's goal is subtler. He sees his role as that of an educator, speaking truth to power in order to provoke awareness and debate throughout his beloved homeland.
"In Africa today, most people are struggling in silence," Kuti says. "The systematic oppression of the people has made them blinded to their reality. Everybody's just thinking about survival. I'm trying to make people think about these things that they are forgetting. I want to inspire people to want things to change."
Seun Kuti is determined to speak to the new generation of young Africans born after his father's glory days. If he learned but one lesson from Fela, it is that no one has greater impact on hearts and mind than the true artist. As such, his powerhouse protest music found serves as a kind of musical antidote to the corporate pop that he feels is polluting Africa's airwaves, distracting its citizens from the things that truly matter.
Visit myspace.com/seunkuti
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Friday, April 13
9:00 pm
A Night of Belly Dance and a Great Double Bill
"The Underscore Orkestra is a romping mix of Balkan, Klezmer, gypsy jazz, swing and Belly Dance, this 6-piece crew will get you up and dancing." - New Haven Times
The Underscore Orkestra transforms every venue they play - from living rooms, to bars, to dance halls - into a festive party of super-charged, crazy folk tunes and achingly sweet waltzes. The Portland Oregon-based ensemble plays a little bit of everything, including traditional folk songs, swing standards and slow, gorgeous instrumentals, including Klezmer, Balkan, Gypsy jazz and Swing.
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The sounds The Underscore Orkestra create are largely mysterious and utterly compelling and the infectious energy leaves none out of its wake. A ticket to an Underscore Orkestra show is a truly invigorating experience. The band members are not only musicians, but some kind of shamans - modern day punk edged, lyrical, brilliant shamans - and the music they create transcends time and space.
The Underscore Orkestra will also be featuring a Music and Belly Dance extravaganza called Revel Me! The performance seamlessly blends Belly/contemporary Dance vignettes with syncopated compositions. A true experience you have to see and hear to believe.
Visit theunderscoreorkestra.com
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The Lucky Five, also on the night's extravagant billing is hard swinging old-school jazz at it's best. The quintet, featuring musicians from a handful of popular outfits between New York City and the Berkshires is not unfamiliar to Helsinki Hudson. Many of the band have played for the wildly popular, Helsinki Swing Dance nights throughout the winter.. The band brings vitality, high energy, and an unpredictable impulse to the tradition of jazz from the 20's, 30's and 40's, grooving deeply, and will keep your feet moving on the dance floor with their fantastic repertoire.
The Lucky Five is currently in the process of recording their debut record, due for release in spring '11.
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Classic soul and R&B, jazz, and British invasion form the backdrop for the quirky and irreverent brand of pop for which Lake Street Dive has become known. Combine this with the unstoppable joy of their live shows and near viral collection of YouTube videos and you get the sum of the Lake Street Dive equation: pure pop/soul music fun. Knock- your-socks-off vocals and virtuosic instrumentals top it all off, and with the release of their third and self-titled record on Signature Sounds, which Popmatters calls a staggering, monumental disc, this group is only getting hotter.
This Brooklyn based quartet is garnering a growing fan base in and beyond their native East Coast. Incorporating the unlikely elements of upright bass and jazz-inflected trumpet along with more traditional rock staples, drum set and electric guitar, Lake Street Dive are equally at home in a jazz club, a dive bar or a festival stage
Miss Tess is a New York City based songwriter and performing musician, who tours regularly with her band, as "Miss Tess & The Bon Ton Parade". In addition to Tess's tasty licks and prowess on her 1940s archtop guitar, the current lineup includes Will Graefe on guitar, Danny Weller on upright bass, and Matt Meyer on drums. Inspired by styles of vintage swing, blues, country, and folk, Miss Tess draws comparisons to artists such as Patsy Cline, Willie Nelson, Peggy Lee, and Chuck Berry, but maintains a style all of her own. "She's a musical chameleon, recalling at various moments Tom Waits' barfly humor, the cabaret-rock of Beirut, or even the wink-wink wit of early Bette Midler." - Holly Hughes, Blog Critics.
Miss Tess has just released "Live Across the Mason Dixon Line", a double album featuring two live shows - one from the Regatta Bar in Cambridge, Massachusetts and one from Eddie's Attic in Decatur, Georgia. This release proves to be a valiant effort by the band, Miss Tess & The Bon Ton Parade, to blur the lines that once clearly dictated style, genre, and location. Stemming from the truest meaning of the word "Americana", the band pushes their influences into the current music scene with something totally fresh and soulfully timeless. The skilled musicianship of the quartet combined with Tess's heartfelt songwriting and powerful stage presence creates a live experience that is more interesting and engaging then most by popular musicians today.
Visit lakestreetdive.com
Visit misstessmusic.com
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Saturday, April 28
9pm
8pm
"A garage band reimagined by mathematicians, a psychedelic band with no illusions, a
folk-rock band hypnotized by repetition, a punk band for introverts..." - Jon Pareles, NY
Times
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The influence of legendary avant-pop band, The Feelies can't be overstated. The twin-
guitar attack of songwriters and founders Glenn Mercer and Bill Million is the infectious
sound of the group. Paired with driving drums and percussion, it has left an indelible
mark on the landscape of rock and roll.
The band has returned with a vengeance. Here Before, (April 2011, Bar/None Records)
their first album of new material in 20 years, captures all the ecstatic energy of their
legendary 1980 debut Crazy Rhythms. The new album of all new original material on
Bar/None Records touches on different styles from the Feelies' long history while adding
new grooves and musical ideas to the mix. Electric and acoustic guitars melt together in
archetypal Feelies fashion on all the new material.
Visit thefeeliesweb.com
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