Tag Archives: The Mercury Lounge

Don’t miss TRØN & DVD: Free listening party in Nyack tonight, show in Manhattan Monday

Posted on October 20, 2017 | Leave a comment

TRONcolordad copy.jpgDon’t miss out on one of the best musical events of the year: the release of Nyack hip hop duo TRØN & DVD‘s first full length album.

“Afraid of the Dark,” the tough-but-funny pair’s debut, dropped Friday, Oct. 20, on Kiam Records.

Brothers Norvin and Darian Van Dunk, who perform as TRØN & DVD, sat down with me recently for an extended interview for The Journal News/lohud, which appeared on Page One of Wednesday’s newspaper and is also available online. GO HERE to read the interview. (They also got some love from Nyack News & Views a few weeks back.)

The Kiam Records Shop, the label’s home base at 95 Main St/. in Nyack, is hosting a free listening-and-CD-signing party at 7 p.m. Friday. Label chief Jennifer O’Connor promises drinks and snacks.

On Monday, TRØN & DVD will perform the album from start-to-finish at the storied Mercury Lounge in Manhattan. Tickets are a mere $10 for what is certain to be an excellent show. GO HERE to buy your tickets online.

 

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Posted in Free, Hip Hop/Rap, lohud.com, Music, News, Recordings, Rockland County

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Big day coming for Jennifer O’Connor

Posted on February 23, 2016 | Leave a comment

Jennifer O'Connor

Jennifer O’Connor

Jennifer O’Connor, the singer-songwriter and proprietor of The Kiam Records Shop in Nyack, New York, has a spectacular new album, “Surface Noise,” coming out next Friday, March 4.

That’s the same day she makes her debut at the Tarrytown Music Hall as she enters the home stretch of her tour with bad-ass indie singer-songwriter Neko Case.

I wrote about O’Connor’s album early in February, calling it “the best new album I’ve heard so far” this year. A month — and many other new albums — later and my feelings haven’t changed. It’s a great album that shows off an artist who has grown and developed a richer, more nuanced sound.

O’Connor hits Tarrytown with Case at 8 p.m. Friday, March 4. A few tickets remain in the side orchestra sections at $48, and about 100 balcony tickets are still available at $38. Go here to get your tickets online. It’s a great way to give O’Connor a nice Lower Hudson Valley welcome-home, and to experience a great show. (If you can’t make it to Tarrytown, you have a chance to check out O’Connor’s full set during her official record-release show at Manhattan’s Mercury Lounge on Monday, March 7, with wife Amy Bezunartea opening. Doors are at 6:30 p.m. Go here for tickets, which are $12 in advance.)

Christopher Vaughan of The Journal News/lohud.com, sat down with O’Connor recently to talk about her big day. Go here to read his interview.

 

 

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Posted in Concerts, lohud.com, Music, News, Pop and Rock, Recordings, Singer-Songwriter

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Holly Golightly & The Brokeoffs bring their Red Clay ramblings to NYC’s Mercury Lounge

Posted on April 23, 2014 | Leave a comment
Holly Golightly & The Brokeoffs at NYC"s Mercury Lounge on April 21, 2014. (Photos © 2014, Steven P. Marsh/willyoumissme.com)

Holly Golightly & The Brokeoffs at NYC”s Mercury Lounge on April 21, 2014. (Photos © 2014, Steven P. Marsh/willyoumissme.com)

The first time I listened to the latest album from Holly Golightly & The Brokeoffs, All Her Fault, I was left wanting more Holly and less Brokeoffs. There was something about Golightly’s albums from her early days as a solo artist (post-Thee Headcoatees) in the 1990s that really touched me.

Maybe it was her damaged, smoky vocals or her equally damaged-sounding persona. Or maybe I simply liked her voice.

But all that seems buried in her latest release. I wanted more Holly.

But maybe that’s exactly the idea — to leave the listener wanting more. It takes a bit of active listening to get to that, but the eureka moment is well worth the effort. Itstrikes me as more personal and less superficially accessible than those that came before. But it winds up being a brilliant, honky-tonk-inflected personal statement of a pretty together couple. Continue reading →

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

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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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The Extra Lens (John Darnielle & Franklin Bruno) and John Vanderslice at the Mercury Lounge

Posted on October 22, 2010 | Leave a comment

John Darnielle makes a point at The Mercury Lounge on Oct. 21, 2010. (Photos copyright 2010, Steven P. Marsh)

Dan Mangan played, too

Once again, we missed Dan Mangan. The up-and-coming Canadian singer-songwriter opened the John Vanderslice-The Extra Lens early show at The Mercury Lounge on Thursday night, Oct. 21. But we arrived too late to hear him. This is the second or third show we’ve attended recently where Mangan finished his set before we arrived.

The Extra Lens

Luckily, though, we still got to talk to Dan Mangan. Well, the other Dan Mangan, who’s not a singer-songwriter at all (at least as far as we know), but a writer for the New York Post.

But there was little time to waste, as John Vanderslice had already taken the stage. Vanderslice did an all-too-short set of song from all parts of his fictional storytelling repertoire, charming the audience but failing to pass any baked goods or announce a dance party location. (When he headlines, Vanderslice typically has some form of home baked goods to distribute to the crowd and follows his set with a DJ dance party.)

The highlight of the evening was The Extra Lens (former The Extra Glenns), a band that sounds an awful lot like The Mountain Goats — mostly because the Goats’ frontman, John Darnielle, is half of the ensemble. The extremely talented and unassuming Franklin Bruno of Nothing Painted Blue is the other half. (Bruno is a visiting professor of philosophy at Bard College.)

Darnielle fixes the mic for Professor Bruno.

The Extra Lens rocked out with occasional help from Matt Houser, a drummer formerly with Palomar.

The only real downside to this is is the fact that it was part of the CMJ Music Marathon, so all the sets were way too short and the room to crowded — making it tough to get close enough for good photography without being a total jerk. Surprisingly, the audience was less chatty and more respectful than you sometimes find at CMJ shows and other showcases. That was a blessing.

John Vanderslice at The Mercury Lounge.

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Sharon Van Etten: It may be twisted love, but it’s definitely love

Posted on October 9, 2010 | Leave a comment

 

Sharon Van Etten and her band at The Rock Shop in Park Slope, Brooklyn, on Oct. 8, 2010. (Photos copyright 2010, Steven P. Marsh)

 

We liked Sharon Van Etten from the very first time we heard her, just her with her guitar, strumming her introspective songs. Her style and sound reminded us from the first of anti-folkie Diane Cluck (who has a date at Zebulon in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, at 9 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 13). And sure enough, on her MySpace page Sharon lists Diane as one of her influences.

 

Sharon Van Etten's harmonium powers the wall-of-sound that is "Love More," the signature song from her new album, Epic.

 

And now, with her new band and a second album under her belt, Sharon seems to really be coming into her own.

Her songs veer between powerful, emotionally draining near-howls to intimate prayers. Love is a regular theme.

Despite some initial technical problems, Sharon exuded charm and talent on Friday night, Oct. 8, at The Rock Shop in Park Slope, Brooklyn, one of the newest music venues in the area. (And home of what seems to me to be the first rock club I’ve encountered to chard $7 for a 10-ounce draft beer!)

Sharon spent much time on the material from her new album, Epic (BaDaBing Records). But she wasn’t afraid to hit the audience with something so new that it’s still untitled. Go here to listen to the new song. And she spent the end of her set alone onstage, with the band watching from the wings, as she recapped her earlier solo material.

She left the sold-out crowd thrilled and wanting more. And it made us, to borrow a phrase, love more.

If you can, go to The Mercury Lounge tonight (Saturday, Oct. 9) for more of Sharon. She’s continuing her CD-release celebration there at 10:30 on a bill with Kyp Malone of Rain Machine and TV on the Radio fame. The Mercury Lounge is at217 East Houston St New York, NY. Click here for a  map. $12.

 

Sharon Van Etten.

 

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