Mar 28 : "After the Storm". - Panophonic (Philly)

New Music / Freshly Written & Recently Released (Nov)

Philly Music!

RECOVERY

I've been watching Panophonic for a long time. The first time I saw Panophonic, it was a one-man outfit, with Tom Lugo playing live along with some pre-recorded accompaniments. But the lineup has been fluid with extra band members added when he headlined at the Popnoise Festival at The Fire back on February 23. Tom is also the mastermind of Popnoise Festival as well as an indie recording company, Patetico Recordings.

One thing that hasn't changed, though, is Tom Lugo's commitment to helping important causes, both local and world-wide. I first have to say that, on the very local level, he donated merchandise to our community org when we were doing a fundraiser. He's selflessly helped to promote many musicians here in Philly and beyond.

On the national and world-wide level, Tom has brought together many of the artists he has known to do benefit albums to help those who have been stricken by major natural disasters, most recently the victims of Hurricanes, Harvey, Irma, and Maria. He brought together fellow musicians to create a FIFTY-SIX TRACK ALBUM called "Rock Back: Stronger Than the Storm". Tom traces his own roots back to Puerto Rico.

The concept of the Rock Back compilation series was born in 2011 when disaster hit Japan and Tom Lugo, Patetico Recordings’ label owner who is very passionate about helping causes and non-profit organizations, decided to reach out to the community of artists he has in his network to put together a compilation with profits being donated to relief efforts. The response was overwhelming, over 100 artists all over the world joined to together in the efforts. What was to be a single CD compilation grew to an 8 disc compilation titled “Rock Back for Japan”.

The compilation series hit the top 10 Indie Rock releases on Amazon's chart for several weeks as well as certain volumes holding the number 1 spot.

Since then Patetico Recordings has released the benefit compilations “Rock Back: Animal Rescue”, "Rock Back for Nepal", “Rock back for Ecuador”, “Rock Back for Haiti”

“Whenever Tom Lugo reaches out to his musical family you know it’s for a crucial and essential cause, The Rock Back for Nepal CD compilation is no exception. I’m proud to be part of this relief effort / fund raiser for anyone affected by the recent earthquake disaster in Nepal and if I can help or contribute in some way to aid support and assistance to the many displaced people I will without question. Please support this cause and donate as generously as you can.” -Dean Garcia

“It is a horrible tragedy this destruction of culture and life. I feel lucky that I can use my craft and contribute a song to this fund to help them raise money for relief. If we can all do something to help and give relief for the people of Nepal we should do it now.” – Oliver Ackermann

On this most recent album Tom's own musical contribution via Panophonic is the last track on the album: "After the Storm". The track's instrumentals show a quiet yet strong resolve :::

Here is the link to all 56 tracks: "Rock Back Stronger Than the Storm" (CLICK HERE)

And, again on a personal level, when I first became interested in hearing local bands, Tom educated me on what was going on in the Philly music scene. Thanks, Tom!

Panophonic doesn't have any other concerts coming up soon, but here is the click to their Facebook page so you can keep an eye on them: Panophonic on Facebook (CLICK HERE).

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RECOVERY EFFORTS in Puerto Rico have hit the news a couple times recently.

Last Week

Last Wednesday, "Democracy Now" did an entire show on the recovery efforts in Puerto Rico. Here is a link to that episode ::: "Democracy Now" March 21 Show on Puerto Rico's recovery (CLICK HERE).

This Friday

This coming Friday, March 30, there will be a symposium at Rutgers in Camden, titled. ::: "A Call to Action: Future Challenges for a New Puerto Rico" (CLICK HERE). The Honorable Carmen Yulín Cruz Soto, Mayor of San Juan, will be the keynote speaker.

Mar 11 : "Invisible Lines" - Dani Mari & Brooklyn Shanti - Invisible Lines (Rap Mix) ft. Kid Graavity (Brooklyn)

At the Popnoise Festival at The Fire here in Philly on February 23, were there going to be six bands, five bands, or four? I wasn't sure. "Dani Mari" was listed in some of the publicity for the February 23 show, and "Primitive Heart" was listed in others, and both were listed in still others. It turned out that Dani Mari was performing as "Primitive Heart", her solo project, but also playing solo versions of music from bands in which she played. And maybe some solo work pre-Primitive Heart. Not sure; the lines were a little blurry as to what was which.

Dani Mari is a prolific writer whose work spans many genres. A look at her Soundcloud page shows work in many styles played not only as solos but also as collaborations with an impressive list of other musicians from many backgrounds.

Here is an excerpt from her web page: Dani Mari is a multi genre music producer and visual artist that works with artists from all over the world. She is currently working on a solo album as Primitive Heart and her love for shoegaze has brought about collaborations with Violentene, Omega Vague, Xeresa and more.

As a visual artist, Dani Mari creates live visuals for her performances and other events. She is a huge horror fan and created a series of songs & horror films inspired by Dario Argento's movies about witches (Suspiria, Inferno & Mother of Tears) with Johnny Butler for Cruel Beauty Productions & premiered them at the Brooklyn Horror Film Festival.

Dani Mari is the founder of Female Frequency, a community dedicated to empowering female, transgender & non-binary artists through the creation of music that is entirely female generated. She created an album made entirely by women with co-founders I Am Snow Angel & Claire London, Madame Gandhi, Ryat and many other female producers & engineers.

Even though there's a huge amount of work on her web pages, this was one of those situations where the live performance bore little resemblance to what's on line. I actually enjoyed her live style much more than the web music. One of the qualities I liked best about her performance that night was a dynamic similar to what I had heard by the musician in my previous blog, that there were a couple of different tempos and textures operating at the same time. I couldn't find anything on the web pages that resembled that. While the tempo and tonality of her vocals at the show were similar to what we hear on much of her page, the accompaniment at the live performance was in many instances a fuller, up-front, slow-moving bass. It was a solid foundation to the words she was singing. I'm intrigued by the combining of textures.

Of the music on her page, one of the tracks I like the most is "Invisible Lines". While she has a few renditions of the song, this is one with Brooklyn Shanti and Kid Graavity.

If you'd like to see Dani Mari live, you're in luck. She'll be doing a show on Tuesday, March 20th, at Brooklyn's "C'mon Everybody". In the meantime, here is the click to her Facebook page: Dani Mari on Facebook (CLICK HERE). And here is the click to her Soundcloud page where I'm sure you'll be impressed by her wide variety of work: Dani Mari on Soundcloud (CLICK HERE).