Archive for March, 2010
4/22: Shaker n’ Bakers / Moodswing Orchestra / Kalashnikov plus special guests.
KALASHNIKOV
Individually they’ve been featured with Bad Brains, the Beastie Boys, the B-52′s, Boredoms, Punk-Rock legends MDC (Millions of Dead Cops), John Zorn, Eugene Chadbourne, Anthony Braxton, Nels Cline, and Laurie Anderson. Collectively they are the anchor for Whoopie Pie, Angel OV Death, and Medieval TV and make up one of the most in demand rhythm sections in NY. Kalashnikov is JAMIE SAFT and MIKE PRIDE- a rhythmic onslaught of epic proportions. Saft’s brutal bass and doom sonics pummel alongside Pride’s death drum and vocal assault. Kalashnikov’s debut release “BANG BANG” was released on Veal Records in spring 2008 and their upcoming 100 song release “1-666-CALL-SAAD” will arrive on Veal Records in summer 2010. Jamie Saft – guitar, bass, keyboards / Mike Pride – drums, vocals
MOODSWING ORCHESTRA
Toiling away in his free time like a mad sonic scientist, drummer/composer Ben Perowsky has brought to life the Moodswing Orchestra, a creation much prettier than Frankenstein’s monster but no less hand-stitched in the laboratory. Featuring a host of NYC’s finest songsters and improvisers, Moodswing carves a bipolar path between hypnotic grooves and body-shaking trances. Perowsky is no stranger to aural collage. It’s been two decades since he co-founded the groundbreaking jazz/rock/hip-hop group Lost Tribe, and in the interim he’s bounced effortlessly between genres – as a first-call drummer for jazz artists like John Zorn, John Scofield, John Medeski and Uri Caine, or as a contributor to rock acts like Elysian Fields, Joan as Policewoman and 101 Crustaceans or clocking session and road time with Rickie Lee Jones, Walter Becker, John Cale and Hercules & Love Affair.
**Expect all kinds of special guests from these camps at live shows.
SHAKERS N’ BAKERS
The Shakers n’ Bakers are an improvising ensemble that reinterprets the music of the utopian religious community known as the Shakers. Their repetoire is primarily drawn from the body of work known as the “Vision” or “gift” songs which sprang from the Shaker community during the period of inspiration from 1837-1850. These visoion songs were received in states of inspiration by young women of the shaker community, and their authorship is attributed to spirits which took possession of the recipients, thus the term “gift” songs. The texts of many of the songs are partially or entirely written in the languages of inspiration; some are identified loosely as African, Native American or “moon” languages. Other texts are in English contain a beautiful poetry echoing the unique worldview of the Shakers. The Shakers n’ Bakers use this body of music as a focal point for composition and improvisation. Orignal Shaker texts and songs are reinterpreted through the lens of Ayler and Lennon. The group is made up of many well known musicians on New York’s “downtown” jazz and new music scene including Mary LaRose and Miles Griffith (vocals), Jeff Lederer(reeds), Jamie Saft (electric harpsichord and other keyboard instruments), Chris Lightcap (bass) and Allison Miller (drums).
4/9: Benji Cossa & Rocketship Park
BENJI COSSA
Benji Cossa makes sincerely beautiful homemade melodic pop with roots. Hear his mad-genius charm, glorious ragged edges, and other-worldly singing. His is direct, joyful, and richly detailed music made by a very nice man who enjoys flying a kite.
Benji Cossa began writing and recording songs in 1995. Since then he’s amassed a treasure trove of undiscovered lo-fi AM gold. Since hooking up with Serious Business in 2007 Benji has released four full length records with a 30 song magnum opus double album in the works. Benji’s world view is simultaneously child-like and astoundingly wise. His voice is beautiful and unmistakable. Perhaps most importantly, every entry in his bulging song-book boasts unthinkably infectious melodic hooks.
People will listen to Benji’s music for their whole lives.
On stage Benji has performed with many shifting lineups of musicians associated with the Serious Business universe including The Tightens, The Cossacks, the Hall of Heroes and most recently the larger-than-life Key Players.
“His voice is endearing and tuneful and his songs unfailingly hooky… Cossa is a small-scale indie pop treasure” –Tim Sendra, AllMusicGuide
ROCKETSHIP PARK
http://www.myspace.com/321rocketshippark
Josh Kaufman makes songs that are hard to forget about. Ultra-melodic, lush, cinema-scope folk-pop about family, life, loss. Tinges of country, Dylan, big hooks.
Rocketship Park’s first album Off and Away came out in 2008 on Serious Business and collected ten dreamy, cinematic pop songs, each distinct in its own right. NPR said the record harnessed “a simple, seemingly effortless beauty.” Josh is currently finishing mixes for his second record.
As a sideman Josh has toured with Caithlin DeMarrais (Rainer Maria), Balthrop Alabama and Dawn Landes. One of his songs appears on Dawn’s new album.
Gary Panter
Long one of his generation’s great visual artists, Gary Panter also has a long history as a musician. He began recording and issuing records on his own back in the ‘70s, but he is probaby best know for the “Tornader to the Tater” single, engineered & backed by the Residents, which came out in ‘81, and the Japanese LP, “Pray for Smurph,” which has recently been reissued in deluxe digital format. His sound is always woozy, but he can play a guitar just like stealing a bell. And considering his history – from Jimbo to Pee Wee’s Playhouse to Dal Tokyo to Pink Donkey and onward – well, what would you expect? His most recent book is the massive “Gary Panter” two-volume monograph issued by Picture Box. Amazing.
Devin Flynn
Devin Flynn is another guy whose visual presence is better known – for now – than his “footprint musicale.” A master of animated insanity, his most revered project may well have been the “Y’all So Stupid” series, which destroyed the line beyween surrealism and Asperger’s Syndrome with all thumbs blazing. What is less known is his deft-ass handling of all-known musical instruments, no matter how obscure. How deft? Deft enough to make Gary sound more like Paul McCartney than a walrus. Which is defter than hell.
Ross Goldstein
Ross Goldstein is the new “secret weapon,” whose presence explodes the duo-infinity of the Panter/Flynn Union into triangulated perfection. Based in upstate New York, Goldstein has evolved into that region’s answer to many questions posed (imperfectly, it seems) by Van Dyke Parks. His first LP, “Trail Songs” (Specific Recordings) is a puff & chug of special merit. His photograph remains classified.