Feb 19 : "Red Dress" - Sleepy Hahas (Buffalo)

Another band I heard at Pianos last week for the first time was Buffalo garage band "Sleepy Hahas". They did a powerful high-energy show. I liked it and am ready to see them again!

There's a lot going on in their music, and you've got to listen to the songs a few times in order to catch everything. Not only to catch all the instrumental nuances, but I would say you've got to read the lyrics as well (which happen to be printed on their Bandcamp page). Here again is some intense writing, but also with some subtleties that only come through after a few reads. Intense, passionate, and raw.

The way the music was mixed last Thursday at the Pianos show, the keys really stood out, maybe more than in the recorded versions. One of the songs that appears on both their Soundcloud and Bandcamp page is "Red Dress", which is the seventh track on their 2014 album "Dull Days".

========================================

6/27/20 ::: UPDATE! ::: OOPS! Sleepy Hahas appears to have removed the song from their page, and they seem to have removed their entire Facebook page!

========================================

Here is the click to the band's Bandcamp page showing the lyrics to "Red Dress". From there you can find links to the other songs in the "Dull Days" album ::: "Red Dress" music and lyrics on Bandcamp. And here is the click to the band's Facebook page ::: Sleepy Hahas on Facebook (CLICK HERE).

Feb 11 : "Dance (Get Off Your Ass)" - Queen of Jeans (Philly)

New Music / Freshly Written & Recently Released

Philly Music!

I thought I would make last Thursday "music night", so I went to Pianos after work, and, coincidentally enough, heard a band from Philly!

"Queen of Jeans" is a women-fronted rock group from Philly. They've been busy working on a new album which they released just a few weeks ago, and they played a lot of the new work at the Pianos show on Thursday. There were beautiful vocal harmonies which were much more pronounced in the live performance than on the recorded versions. Also interesting guitar work and instrumental arrangements.

Here is a sample song, "Dance (Get Off Your Ass)", which they played at the show and which is the lead song on their Soundcloud page :::

If you would like to hear them live, you're in luck! They're doing two live shows next week, one at Johnny Brenda's on Feb 19th and the other at Cake Shop on Feb 20th. Here is a list of their upcoming shows on Songkick. And here is the click to their Facebook page ::: Queen of Jeans on Facebook (CLICK HERE)

Feb 01 : "Keep Myself to Myself" - Repelican (Baltimore - Philly)

Back to the music. January 22 I went to Johnny Brenda's. This was my first full night out since last Spring, having had foot surgery with an unexpectedly long recovery.

First up for the evening was Baltimore & Philly - based artist, "Repelican". If there ever was an example to illustrate my suspicion that "Openers steal the Night", this was it. I was drawn into the performance right away. Even though this was a "solo" act, the sound was full and textured. At times the vocals would be live with a background of recorded percussion, or maybe a live onstage guitar with other instrumental backup, or maybe spoken word, or maybe rock, or maybe noise, or maybe jazz, or maybe a news recording. And how about if all this was in just one song? There were some shorter standard-length songs as well as a couple long pieces that included a little bit of just about everything.

In listening to Repelican, I never knew where we were going to go next. The instrumental arrangements were different in each piece, as were the tempos and stylings. Yet, pulling it all together, there was a "Replican" sensibility throughout. He also had some very engaging melodic lines.

I really enjoyed this show and am clicking in all the right places to find out about the next one. Can't be in two places at once? It seems he just might be. On Bandcamp he's based in Baltimore, but on Soundcloud he's based in Philly.

Here's a sample of some of the newer work he has posted. On Bandcamp his most recent album is "Pall Mall Blues". This is the second track, "Keep Myself to Myself". It starts out with a long intro, and the vocals join in at the 1:14 point :::

Repelican doesn't have any upcoming shows listed at the current time, but here is the click to the Facebook page, where you can find out more ::: Repelican on Facebook (CLICK HERE)

Jan 31 : "Lovely" - Melanie Marie (NJ)

"Valentine's Day, it's not just one day a year," says NJ artist Melanie Marie at the end of her video, titled "Lovely". Recorded previously, here it is as we get close to Valentine's Day 2016.

Last Summer and Fall I was unable to go to live shows because I had to limit being up and around after foot surgery. I was pretty much restricted to just going to work. But one night on my way home from work I did happen to hear Melanie Marie doing a live show at Hoboken Terminal as part of New Jersey Transit's "Music In Motion Concert Series". The way my schedule worked out, her show was the only one I caught this season.

Here's the video of Melanie Marie's original song, "Lovely" :::

At the present time, Melanie Marie doesn't have any upcoming shows listed on her page, but if you would like to keep an eye out for her next performance, here is the click to her Facebook page ::: Melanie Marie on Facebook (CLICK HERE)

Melanie Marie ends her video by saying "Valentine's Day, it's not just one day a year; make sure you always show how much you love your special people in your life."

Jan 17 : "Sun Goes Down [Remastered]" - The Once Was (Moorestown)

New Music / Recently Uploaded

This is my first post in a very long time. I had foot surgery over the summer and have had an unexpectedly long period of recovery. I haven't been out to a night of music since May! May 28 to be exact.

The last band I saw before I went into surgery was Moorestown band "The Once Was". On May 28 they did a good show to a packed room at Bourbon and Branch. Still don't know whether it was advisable to go out to hear music when my foot was in pain (Dr. won't catch me now hahaha), but I hadn't heard The Once Was in quite a while, and I wanted to hear some good music before I entered what I knew would be a long period of uncomfortable music "withdrawal". :)

Frank Cervantes is the mastermind of The Once Was as well as City Music Project. I've been following both bands for a few years, but hadn't heard either in a while. So May 28 was almost like hearing a new band because it was the first time I had heard most of those songs live.

The Once Was has a huge amount of work posted on their website. Their lead song on their Soundcloud page is "Sun Goes Down [Remastered]" :::

If you like what you hear and want to see them live, you're in luck, because The Once Was is doing a show at Silk City tonight at 9pm! If you can't get there but want to listen to more of their music on line, here is the click to their Soundcloud page: The Once Was (on Soundcloud)