Sep 28 : "Live NYC Laundromat Beats" - 185668232 (Brooklyn)

News
185668232 Releases New Video

Today is Saturday, and it's time to do laundry. Luckily we have a sound backup from Brooklyn noise artist 185668232, as he does a live recording of laundromat sounds and works and reworks them into a piece.

Here is the artist description of the video. 85668232 samples a Brooklyn, NY laundromat while waiting for corporate audio engineering clothing to be cleaned. This 365.25 process directly incorporates the world around using battery powered field recorders, microphones, samplers and cameras to build sound scape based songs to recharge the energy of any sentience's ambiance.

"Live NYC Laundromat Beats" was released just this past Wednesday, Sep 25 :::

185668232 has a show coming up soon on Nov 14 at Wonderville. And 185668232 has a new Facebook page. Here's the link ::: 185668232's new page on Facebook (CLICK HERE).

Sep 25 : "Tripping Out" - Sam Seeger (New York)

News
Sam Seeger Releases New Video

About a month ago Sam Seeger released a new video, "Tripping Out". It's a song where he's let go of everything as he's singing while lying on the floor first indoors, then outside.

The instrumentals in this song are moving along in Sam's recent direction of incorporating a little more fuzz than what we heard a couple years ago.

Sam Seeger doesn't have any other shows scheduled for the next few weeks, but here's his Facebook page where you can keep an eye on what he's doing ::: Sam Seeger on Facebook (CLICK HERE).

As sometimes is the case, beneath the carefree surface of a music video we come up with some :::

DEEP QUESTIONS
Suppose his whole band did the lying down thing with him at a show, would the entire audience be lying down as well? Would we get carpets? Do we bring our own cats? :)

Sep 22 : "Checkin' Out Late" - Max Pain and The Groovies (Brooklyn)

Last month I got to see Brooklyn band "Max Pain and The Groovies" for a second time; this was at Mercury Lounge. The first time was about a year ago at a middle-of-the-night show at Baby's Alright. I've attempted to see them a few more times, including another show a couple weeks ago, but something always comes up, a work schedule change or bad days of train cancellations.

Max Pain's music differs from that of some of the other bands I've written about recently in that Max Pain's instrumentals are looser, not as tight as what we've recently heard. True garage rock.

Max Pain's self description on their Bandcamp page is Max Pain and the Groovies is a psychedelic high energy garage rock and roll group from Salt Lake City but currently is based out of Brooklyn. Max Pain and the Groovies established their roots skateboarding together and jamming since adolescence. Drop outta school and smoke bud.

We're traveling across the country, riding in an rv, stopping at a few insane motels, partying, then checkin' out late and moving on the next day. ... Legend has the band going in their rv bus from their home in Salt Lake City across the country and then winding up in Brooklyn.

A year ago last week the band came out with an ep "Music From the Hole". Here is the first track from the album, "Checkin' Out Late" :::

Max Pain doesn't have any other shows coming up in our area soon, they're headed back to Salt Lake City to do a show, but here is the click to their Facebook page in the meantime ::: Max Pain and The Groovies on Facebook (CLICK HERE).

Sep 15 : "Meet Me In Morristown" + Vail Mansion

The last week in August I went over to Morristown one evening after work and went to the final "Meet Me In Morristown" event of the season. This takes place every last Thursday of the summer months and is a time when all the restaurants and shops are open late, and people come to the center of town to "meet" and socialize. Part of each of the last Thursday nights is a featured local band.

On the evening of August 29 it was native Morristown band "Mama D and the Vexations" that was featured. They portray themselves as a cover band. While they do some concerts like other bands, their main efforts seem to be directed towards doing private events and parties. Mama D mentioned that right now she has bookings into 2020 and even 2021 for private events. Here is the click to their web page where you can see their huge repertoire. Mama D and The Vexations (CLICK HERE).

The concert itself took place on the lawn at the Vail Mansion, which was once a private residence of a local industrialist. It later became a government building and today has been reimagined into condos. Here is an interesting background story. Vail Mansion, some background. (CLICK HERE).

I was less than happy with the way this concert was set up. Vail Mansion is in the center of town along South Street, and the concert stage was set up near the street. There were desks and booths of vendors and organizations too close to the music, lots of people milling about and talking. A real distraction from trying to listen to the band. (It reminded me of the old Grape Street in Philly, where everybody talking loud at the bar sometimes drowned out the bands playing only 20 feet away!) ... The bad logistics for this event were just the opposite from the great evening I previously had at a "Meet Me" show at Morristown Green.

So, yes, I will be checking out the "Meet Me In Morristown" events in 2020, with an eye toward only going to those that are held at Morristown Green, not Vail Mansion. While Morristown Green is also in the center of town, it is large enough so that the music is in the center of the square and away from distractions and any noise on the street. Also, the tall trees were great for a summer evening. That was a wonderful experience; will try for that one again.

Sep 08 : "Zoo" - goodfight (New York)

New Music / Freshly Written & Recently Released (July 2019)

A few weeks ago I went to Pianos one evening after work and saw New York band "goodfight". They just released an album in July and played a lot of the new work at the show.

The album is titled "Dac Mcmicken, the Legend Of". A lot of the tracks deal with relationships. We're never completely sure whether the relationships are in a state of flux, just having a couple bumps in the road, or whether the main characters are doing some deep introspection and self-examination. In the first song of the album, "Zoo", we start to get the feel that the main character is at first saying that the relationship might have run its course. This is emphasized by the fact that the two of them are at the "zoo" where they first met, and maybe there's been too little growth in the intervening time. Is it time to move on? Maybe. But there are too many things that keep the main character from driving down the "off-ramp".

While the songs do deal with relationships that are in a state of flux, there's still a sense that all this questioning and self-examination is very natural and does not have the gravity that we feel in songs of other bands. We come to feel that, even if the couple were to break up, it would not be a major upheaval, but just two individuals deciding to casually move off on different paths.

It's not only the lyrics that give us that casual and easy feel, but the instrumentals as well. The song structure is a little choppy and uncertain, but the melodic lines are more light and breezy. ... And at 2:27 on the clock, it's like we are turning off on a different road with a change in feel and change in tempo. Maybe that could be the symbolic off-ramp. .... Or not.

The band describe themselves as: we are power pop, super sultry motley jazz, and made up shoegaze, violent and vulnerable trap, with flowers and indie punk

Here is "Zoo", the first track on the new album, "Dac Mcmicken, the Legend Of" :::

If you want to read the lyrics to "Zoo", here they are ::: "Zoo" lyrics.

goodfight doesn't have any other shows coming up soon, but here is the click to their Facebook page where you can read more about them::: goodfight on Facebook (CLICK HERE).