Category Archives: Recordings

Jersey Fresh: Speed the Plough, Wild Carnation and The Thousand Pities

Posted on July 29, 2011 | Leave a comment
Photo by Katie Demeski

Speed the Plough (Photo by Katie Demeski)

It’s a great weekend for New Jersey rock and roll. In one fell swoop, three Jersey bands, all with links to The Feelies, are performing on a joint bill in NYC tonight and New Jersey tomorrow.

Shine is due out Aug. 16

Speed the Plough is using the shows to preview the sounds of its wonderful new album, Shine, which as Will You Miss Me When I’m Gone? has been telling you, is due out on Aug. 16. STP is a real family affair, fronted as it is by the husband-and-wife team of Toni and John Baumgartner and includes their son, Mike and STP co-founder Marc Francia and his sons Ian and Dan. New member Ed Seifert, another fixture on the New Jersey music scene,  is the only person in the band who, as far as we know, isn’t related to anyone else in STP.

 You can get a sample of the warm, rhythmic and familiar sounds of STP’s new work with the first single, “Something to Say,” which is streaming on the band website and on the Dromedary Records site.

STP is inextricably linked to The Feelies, in part through former member Brenda Sauter, who’s the longtime Feelies bass player and also a member of Wild Carnation, another band on this weekend’s bill.  STP grew out of the ashes of another legendary band, The Trypes, which also included Feelies members.

Wild Carnation bills itself as “the best Feelies spin-off band you never heard of,” is also on the bill, along with Montclair’s The Thousand Pities — which includes Michael Carlucci, who plays with Feelies singer Glenn Mercer.

Shows are 8 p.m. today (Friday, July 29) at at Piano’s, 158 Ludlow Street, in Manhattan’s Lower East Side ($10, tickets available here), and tomorrow (Saturday, July 30) at 8:30 pm tomorrow at Tierney’s, 138 Valley Road, Montclair, N.J. (No price announced.)

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Chapin Sisters: Sibling harmony at Rockwood Music Hall

Posted on July 16, 2011 | Leave a comment

The Chapin Sisters: Lily and Abigail Rose (Photos © 2011, Steven P. Marsh)

Abigail Rose Chapin and Lily Chapin have been playing as the Chapin Sisters since 2004, when they followed family tradition and started making music as a trio with half-sister Jessica Craven.

That family tradition runs deep. Their dad is popular folksinger Tom Chapin. He and his brothers, Steve and the late Harry, performed as the Chapin Brothers from the late 1950s into the ’60s before venturing into their own musical worlds. The Chapin Sisters’ grandfather, the late great jazz drummer Jim, was also in the Chapin Brothers band for part of its existence.  Their cousin, Jen Chapin, is also a contemporary folksinger.

Abby and Lily grew up in Rockland County, N.Y., which Will You Miss Me When I’m Gone? calls home. Their mom, Bonnie Chapin, even named her longrunning women’s clothing shop in Piermont, N.Y., Abigail Rose and Lily Too, after her daughters. But they got their careers rolling in Los Angeles seven years ago. So while they’ve toured and played the East Coast before, we hadn’t gotten around to catching them live.

More new york area shows coming up

Proud dad Tom Chapin listens from the bar, leaning against the pillar, right.

Last night (Friday, July 15) we got our opportunity to hear the duo at Rockwood Music Hall on Manhattan’s Lower East Side Rockwood Music Hall. And although they have other gigs coming up in the area — one of them just steps from the family home, at The Turning Point in Piermont at 8 p.m. July 19— their proud parents showed up to lend support.

The lightly attended set was a great treat — and far too short.

The sisters have really perfected the vocal harmonies so closely identified with the Everly Brothers and the Louvin Brothers, tackling classic folk themes and timeless relationship-troubles issues in their songs. Both of them have distinctive, strong, well-controlled voices that can come to the fore at a moment’s notice and then effortlessly dive back into seamless harmony. Lily’s voice is the lower of the two, and she’s a more physically expressive performer than her sister, who takes the high parts and has a sweeter, slightly more subdued approach to her performing.

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Posted in Blues, Country, Folk, Music, Recordings, Review

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Sharon van Etten signs with a new label

Posted on July 14, 2011 | Leave a comment

Sharon van Etten at the Music Hall of Williamsburg in April. (Photo © 2011, Steven P. Marsh)

Powerful singer Sharon van Etten, whose great strength is in the directness of her lyrics and singing, has signed a new recording deal with Jagjaguwar Records, her publicist has announced.

Congratulations are in order. It’s a great career move for one of the best, most honest singers active today.

The move puts Sharon in the company of top indie acts such as Bon Iver, Okkervil River, Black Mountain and Dinosaur Jr. Jagjaguwar will release her third album, being produced by The National‘s Aaron Dessner, in early 2012.

The National's Aaron Dessner performing with Sharon Van Etten at the Northside Festival in Brooklyn in June.

Sharon is the second hot artist to part ways with Brookyn’s Ba Da Bing label in recent months. Ba Da Bing released Epic, an album that really boosted her profile, last year. Her connection with the label is even deeper, though. Will You Miss Me When I’m Gone? first met Sharon as a Ba Da Bing publicist, who was representing noise-rock duo WOOM.

Longtime Ba Da Bing labelmate Beirut announced in June that its next album would be self-released rather than on Ba Da Bing. The band is  continuing under Ba Da Bing’s management aegis, however. It’s unclear whether Sharon will do the same.

It looks like Sharon, an amazingly talented and genuinely nice person, is living up to our early expectations. This year alone she’s already played Bonnaroo, Sasquatch, and MusicNow. And she has dates scheduled later this year at  Bumbershoot, Musicfest NW and at the Hollywood Bowl with The National and Neko Case.

We’re thrilled to see Sharon’s continuing success.

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It’s harvest time for Speed the Plough — and The Trypes, too

Posted on May 5, 2011 | 1 comment

Speed the Plough: John Baumgartner, Dan Francia, Ian Francia, Michael Baumgartner, Marc Francia and Toni Baumgartner.

There are some big doings at Speed the Plough HQ. The latest incarnation of the band, a part of network of bands linked to The Feelies, has announced a deal for their new CD.

They’ve signed with Great Meadows, N.J, -based Dromedary Records, which will issue the band’s new disc, Shine, in August.  The lineup for the new album will feature the great guitar and vocal work of new Plough-man Ed Seifert (of Ed Seifert and the Stimulus Package, though you may also recognize Ed as The Feelies’ tech) and guest appearances by two former STPers and current members of Wild Carnation, Brenda Sauter (who’s also in The Feelies) and Rich Barnes.

What’s more, a compilation of tunes from The Trypes, another part of The Feelies’ family, is also nearing completion.

Click through to the jump for the full announcement. And be sure to check out the Speed the Plough website for updates. Continue reading →

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Maybe we haven’t seen the last of The Last Town Chorus

Posted on January 1, 2011 | Leave a comment

It was a real shock to go through the Will You Miss Me When I’m Gone? photo library and discover that there’s not a single image socked away of one of our absolute favorite bands ever: The Last Town Chorus.

And since Megan Hickey, the awesome lap-steel guitar-playing heart and soul of TLTC, stopped gigging nearly two years ago, we had the feeling we might never get a chance to correct that omission.

A new single

Now there’s hope. On Christmas Eve, Megan finally released a new recording, the single “Keep Burnin’,” on iTunes. It seems to be a song she’s been working on since 2008. And it’s the first new track she’s released in that time. Her last new release was the single “Loud and Clear,” which she put out in 2008 as an”album version,” though the album clearly that hasn’t come together yet. (TLTC’s last album, “Wire Waltz,” came out way back in March 2007!)

The new tune is worth the wait. Her voice sounds a little different, more natural and a touch less dressed up than on her previous recordings. It’s a voice that’s as beautiful and clear as a bell as possible. She’s retained her amazing ability to bring tears to our eyes in the way few singers can. We’re looking forward to more track, soon!

So, with a new song out, can performing be far behind? WYMMWIG is eager to see and hear Megan play again. And other fans are eager too.

Even her guitars have been asking questions:

Megan divorced herself from New York City in a long, slow process. You could track it pretty clearly on her blog, The Last Town Chorus’ Travelogue. She started spending more and more (nontouring) time away from New York in early 2009. She started downsizing, selling equipment and finally gave up her record collection. That was a clear sign she was done, done, done with New York, at least for now, if not forever.

But Megan clearly did get the urge for going (as Tom Rush wrote), and so she finally did.

We should have seen it coming. We won’t get into her reasons. She’s told us some of them, and we’re sure there are many more. She can explain it herself if she wants to. The reasons don’t matter. What matters is that Megan seems to be finding her muse again. And our lives will be richer as a result.

We don’t know what’s next for Megan, and we haven’t yet asked. Chances are, Megan, who’s extraordinarily talented, beautiful and an all-around good person, will let us know soon.

Andy maybe we’ll get to fill that blank in our photo library.

In the meantime, we have “Keep Burnin’ ” to keep us going. Thanks, Megan.

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Posted in Country, Folk, Music, News, Pop and Rock, Recordings

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Great news: As predicted, Wilco’s Solid Sound Festival returns to MASS MoCA in 2011

Posted on December 17, 2010 | Leave a comment

When Wilco arrived at MASS MoCA last summer, the band even took over the museum's sign. (Photos copyright 2010, Steven P. Marsh)

Fantastic festival can only get better

We don’t like to brag (well, okay, sometimes we do), but Will You Miss Me When I’m Gone? predicted that Wilco’s Solid Sound Festival would become an annual event — even before this year’s inaugural gathering wrapped up.

Wilco HQ announced the news with an email this morning:

Greetings and Happy Holidays. We’ve got a last bit of news before heading home for the break. The big story here is that Solid Sound 2011 is officially ON and happening the weekend of June 24-26, once again at MASS MoCA in North Adams, MA. if you were there last year, we know you’ll be back. If not, well, this year you should know better. Ticket information and more will be announced on January 18. So keep an eye and ear out.

Safe travels and sweet holidays to you all. Thanks again for another great year in Wilcoworld. We’ll see you in 2011 with what will undoubtedly be a whole bunch of news regarding Wilco tours, records, the festival and so on. Cheers.

the HQ Staff

This years three-day event was held  in mid-August. It gave thousands of fans of all ages the run of the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA) in the Berkshires town of North Adams, Mass. Participants got to hear lots of music from Wilco, the side projects of band members like Jeff Tweedy, Nels Cline, Pat Sansone, their friends, and got to sample comedians and films along with the spectacular art on the gritty former factory campus. It was well run, well curated and surprisingly chill.

The music was great, the scheduling tight without being overwhelming, the facilities were superb and the food and drink never seemed to run out. Everything worked together to make it one of the best and most memorable festivals around.

Wilco perfoms on the main stage in Joe's Field at MASS MoCA.

Museum management was thrilled to have as many as 5,000 well-behaved patrons on site at once, and obviously saw the festival as something worth bringing back. Museum Director Joe Thompson was singing the praises of the event all weekend, and made no secret of the fact that he supported the idea of doing it again in 2011.

And Cline brimmed with excitement about the festival when we spoke with him at Joe’s Pub in New York City, where he and fiancee Yuka Honda were checking out Sean Lennon and Charlotte Kemp Muhl‘s new project, The Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger.

Next year’s festival is earlier in the summer — June instead of August. So save the date and stay tuned for an update in a month.

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Posted in Art, Blues, Concerts, Contemporary, Contemporary Classical, Country, Folk, Humor, Jazz, Music, News, Opera, Pop and Rock, Punk, Recordings, World Music

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Buke and Gass: watch the new video for ‘Page Break’ (plus tour dates)

Posted on October 28, 2010 | 2 comments

Buke and Gass (Photos copyright 2010, Steven P. Marsh)

You sure can’t accuse Brooklyn duo Buke and Gass (Arone Dyer plays the buke, a seriously modified baritone ukelele, and Aron Sanchez on gass, as in guitar-bass) of being ordinary. The just-released video for “Page Break,” a song from the band’s fantastic new album Riposte (on the Brassland label), is as choppy and head-spinningly wonderful as the music.

This band is loud and sweetly folkie all at once, and this video really brings things together nicely.

Here’s what Arone says about the video: “Intentions are best left at the base of one’s backbone, unless heeding to impulses actually gets one somewhere, in which case, trouble might arise and one must be prepared with ones pants belted tightly.”

Check it out for yourself:

And since this video is most definitely a road video, it makes sense to announce the band’s newly announced tour dates, too, which bring them back to NYC in early December:

Thu. Nov. 4 — Princeton University Art Museum
Thu. Dec. 2 — Boston, MA @ TT the Bears w/ Talk Normal
Fri. Dec. 3 — Montreal, PQ @ Casa Del Popolo w/ Talk Normal
Sat. Dec. 4 — Toronto, ON @ Sneaky Dee’s w/ Talk Normal
Mon.  Dec. 6 — Chicago, IL @ Empty Bottle w/ Talk Normal
Tue. Dec. 7 — Cleveland, OH @ Grog Shop w/ Talk Normal
Thu. Dec. 9 — Washington, DC @ Rock and Roll Hotel w/ Talk Normal
Fri. Dec. 10 — Philadelphia, PA @ Kung Fu Necktie w/ Talk Normal
Sat. Dec. 11 — New York, NY @ Mercury Lounge w/ Talk Normal

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Posted in Concerts, Folk, Music, Pop and Rock, Recordings

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New Music Bake Sale: Music, Conversation, Beer and, yes, actual baked goods!

Posted on September 27, 2010 | 1 comment

Arturo en el Barco's Bake Sale table featured cupcakes and particularly tasty flan de queso. (Photos copyright 2010, Steven P. Marsh)

The 2nd Annual New Music Bake Sale took over the decrepitly beautiful Irondale Center’s space in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, on Saturday, Sept. 25 for more than six hours.

The concept was pretty simple: Bring together a bunch of people who make new music — performers, producers, record companies and the like — in a place where they can make music, talk about music, drink beer and sell sweet and savory baked goods to raise money for their efforts.

Kathleen Supové at her Bake Sale table.

We don’t know how successful the financial part of the evening was, but the place was constantly full of people and activity throughout the event. We sampled the food, beer and music and found it excellent — especially the Sixpoint Sweet Action!

Many of our favorite New Music folks were there throughout the evening, including, but hardly limited to, Todd Reynolds, Matt Marks, Mellissa Hughes, Courtney Orlando, Ken Thomson, Jessica Schmitz, Ted Hearne, David T. Little, Steven Swartz, Glenn Cornett, Franz Nicolay, Caleb Burhans, Kathleen Supové and Oscar Bettison.

Todd Reynolds and Ken Thomson perform Ken's "Storm Drain."

We can hardly wait for next year’s event.

But enough words. Let’s get to the images. Click through to the jump for more photos. Continue reading →

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Posted in Classical, Concerts, Contemporary, Contemporary Classical, Folk, Free, History, Humor, Movies, Music, Opera, Readings, Recordings, Uncategorized

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Legendary Ronee Blakley to play her first New York City gig in 20 years

Posted on September 26, 2010 | Leave a comment

 

Ronee Blakley in Ropbert Altman's "Nashville."

 

TICKET UPDATE: $25, CLICK HERE

Showtime update: Starts at 7:30, Marie Gabrielle opens

We just got some amazing news in our inbox. It was in the form of a note from the great singer/actress Ronee Blakely. She’s returning to New York City to perform next month — for the first time in two decades.

She writes:

I’m coming in to NYC to play the Bitter End Oct 13 … I hope you’ll come to the show.
Thanks.
Ronee

How awesome is that?

For those you don’t remember, Ronee produced two amazing albums, Ronee Blakley and Welcome, for Elektra in the 1970s. They were rereleased by Collector’s Choice in 2006. She’s also revered for her acting — particularly her portrayal of Loretta Lynn-esque country singer Barbara Jean in Robert Altman’s 1975 film Nashville. She also recorded the duet “Hurricane” with Bob Dylan for his 1975 album Desire, and was part of Dylan’s Rolling Thunder Revue, which also had its genesis in 1975.

Her October show will celebrate the release of two new albums, The River Nile, a pop record, and Grief Holes, an experimental collection in tribute to her mother, who died last year. Both are available from CD Baby.

This show is not to be missed. It’s a one-time-only event that’s slated to happen at 8 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 13 at The Bitter End, 147 Bleecker Street (between Thompson and LaGuardia), New York City. No ticket price has been announced, but call the club at (212) 673-7030 or email info@bitterend.com for more information.

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Lucinda Black Bear gearing up for new album release

Posted on September 22, 2010 | 3 comments
Lucinda Black Bear (Chad Hammer, Christian Gibbs, Kristin Mueller, Mike Cohen) onstage at the Knitting Factory in Brooklyn in February. (Photos copyright 2010, Steven P. Marsh)

Read on to download a free track

It’s good to see Lucinda Black Bear gearing up for a new album. And the first track, “Percival,” is out and it’s great. It’s also a song that conveniently references bears — in this case dancing bears, a subject that might get PETA interested!

Lucinda Black Bear is an energetic country-folk-rock band fronted by one of Will You Miss Me’s favorite musicians, Christian Gibbs. We discovered him when he joined the band for Passing Strange on Broadway, and quickly revealed himself as a fantastic guitarist and an all-around charismatic presence.

Continue reading →

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Posted in Concerts, Music, News, Pop and Rock, Recordings

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