Tag: Dave Yaden

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Artists Worth Checking Out indie music Monday Mashup Singles and Videos

Monday mashup 2020 (vol 4)

What a year this week has been.  It is hard to believe that working at an eating establishment is considered an “essential business.”  At Pizza Hut, they just told us yesterday of the changes they are doing during the COVID-19 crisis.  Starting on Wednesday, our staff has been split into two groups.  We will work alternating days from open to close, and will not be allowed to socialize with the other team.  So one week I will be working four days (between 14-15 hours a day) with the following day off, and the following week three days of work and four days off.  In addition, this “inside crew” will be the only ones allowed inside the store, as all the drivers must wait outside in their cars.  When a delivery is ready, we will dispatch them from inside the store.  We had a trial run on Saturday, and it worked quite well.  Not sure how long this will last, but probably at least through the month of April.

In the meantime, it has been refreshing to hear all of the independent musicians participating in the #LIVEATHOME series.  During these times, we need your music more than ever.  Thank you for providing a refreshing escape from the utter chaos.  We truly appreciate you.

If you are planning on doing this on a regular basis, please let us know and we will get the word out.  In the meantime, here are five new singles and music videos that moved us this week.

NEW SINGLES

This week our first single is from an unknown British band named Tungz, who asks the important question, “Can’t we Just be Friends Again?”  Our overwhelming response is “Absolutely!”  We look forward to hearing more from this interesting and fresh new artist.

Next up is the eclectic artist known as Diners.  His sound is a throwback to pop music of past decades but with a fresh approach to is truly unique.  Check out his first single from his upcoming album, “Learning Curve.”  We think you’ll want to hear more.

Our third single comes to us courtesy of Tunnel, a dynamic duo of unbridled talent.  This song truly stands out with an amazing synth sound and lyrics that bring back memories of 80s symphonic bands.  We are loving them and hope you enjoy “Walking the Waves” as much as we do.

Our next single comes from an artist whose voice sounds strangely familiar, and instantly likable.  His name is Joel Plaskett and he shares his latest single “If There’s Another Road.”  We think this one is worthy of the repeat button.

Our final single this week is “Noon Drunk,” a 60’s rocking tune from Ben Wood and The Bad Ideas.  Even though we don’t necessarily agree with the sentiments, we do love the vibe of this song.  Rock on.

NEW MUSIC VIDEOS

We start off this week’s new music videos with a pair from clients of one of our favorite publicity guys, Doug Deutsch Publicity Services.  First up is Deltaphonic, a funky blues band from New Orleans.  Check out their song “Liars,” which is their take on the current state of the music industry.  Regardless of how you feel about the subject matter, this band has a terrific groove and we could listen to them all day.  Can’t wait to hear more.

Continuing in the funky blues vein is Sean Ardoin, with a new video for his Grammy-nominated single “Kick Rocks.”  We are truly jamming to his sound and will definitely be listening to this tune on repeat.

We knew it was only a matter of time and now it’s here.  Check out indie artist Brian Travis‘ tongue-in-cheek take of life in “The Pandemic Song.”  This one is truly food for thought.

Our fourth video is graphic in content but truly hits home with its interpretation of DV and other aspects of life that are “Unfair.”  Check out the dynamic sound of Deleo.

Last but not least this week is the latest from multi-Grammy winning artist Dave Yaden.  His jazz career is taking off and he shows you why in this video for his latest song, “Herbie,” shot live and all in one take.  Fall in love with this master of the black and white keys.

 

 

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Artists Worth Checking Out Get it or Forget it Reviews Women in Entertainment

Get it or forget it – Foemen, Raquel Bell, Paulaa, Michika Fukumori, The Skiffle Players

As we head into the final week of August, we still have lots of great artists to share with you.  Here are another five for your consideration.

Artist Name:  Foemen

Album Name:  Magntisz 

Label:  Marmallow Pavement Records

Genre:  Electronic

Track Listing:  1.  All Night; 2.  Freedom Rules; 3.  Magnetic Form; 4.  Oh Crooked Crown; 5.  Surrender

Publicist:  The A&R Department

Review:  While not the biggest fan of electronic music, we really like this EP from Australia’s Foemen.  The sound is hot and is good to listen to as well as dance.  We love the songs, which are well written and radio ready as well as the perfect addition to a house mix.  The effects on the vocals are also not the norm, and we like the overall production of the EP.  Our favorite tracks are “Freedom Rules, “Magnetic Form, and “Oh Crooked Crown.”

Recommendation:  If you are a huge electronic music fan, then you must have this one.  For the rest of us, it is still worthy of your attention.

Artist Name:  Raquel Bell

Album Name:  Swandala

Label:  STORBM

Genre:  Experimental Pop

Track Listing:  1.  Stones; 2.  Vibration Carnation; 3.  A Solo to Mars; 4.  Who Gets to Name the Name; 5.  Wizard Liar; 6.  Growing in  Your Mouth; 7.  Swan

Publicist:  Howling Wuelf Media

Review:  The only music that we normally like less than electronic is experimental.  Raquel Bell is changing our perception with her latest collection of experimental songs.  Although we don’t like the first track, “Stones,” at all, there is more structure to the second track, “Vibration Carnation.”  The music on this track is brilliantly constructed and Bell’s voice is ethereal and provocative.  She really hits her stride on “A Solo to Mars,” and the EP gets better with each new song thereafter.

Recommendation:  Forget the first song, but the rest of the EP is worthy of your attention.

Artist Name:  Paulaa

Album Name:  Fall In

Label:  Self-released

Genre:   Trip-Pop

Track Listing:  1.  Fall In; 2.  Commit; 3.  All These Stories; 4.  Done; 5.  Call me When you Wanna Try; 6.  Know You

Publicist:  Mystic Sons

Review:  Paulaa has a beautiful voice that lifts her songs to the stratosphere.  The title track is a masterpiece and deserves heavy airplay on the radio.  She is from London and her music is just the remedy that our current American radio needs.  Not only does she deliver on the title track, but she delivers on every other track as well.  She is definitely becoming one of our favorite UK performers, and we are putting her EP on repeat, especially “Call me When you Wanna Try.”

Recommendation:  Definitely Get this one!

Artist Name:  Michika Fukumori

Album Name:  Piano Images

Label:  Summit Records

Genre:  Instrumental  Jazz

Track Listing:  1,  Colors of Blues; 2.  Into the New World;  The Seasons; 3.  The Answer is . . . (Winter); 4.  The Story I Want to Tell You (Spring); 5.  The Days we were Smiling (Summer); 6.  Tomorrow is Full of Promises (Fall); 7.  Where or When; 8.  Palco (a Little Dancer); 9.  Chovendo na Roseira; 10.  My Muse; 11.  Oceans in the Sky (ft Steve Kuhn); 12.  Luiza; 13.  Ev’ry Time we say Goodbye

Publicist:  Mouthpiece Music

Review:    As most of our readers know, we are huge jazz lovers, and we seldom get piano jazz, although one of our favorite musicians, Dave Yaden, is a maestro on piano and can play just about every genre.  Thank goodness for Michika Fukumori, a native of Japan who now calls New York City her home.  She came to America to study jazz and we think she nailed it.  We love how she mixes blues, ragtime and her own soulfulness into her jazz.  Whether she is playig a jazz standard or her own composition, Fukumori delivers beautiful music.

Recommendation:  If you love jazz, you owe it to yourself to add this one to your collection.

Artist Name:  The Skiffle Players

Album Name:  Piffle Sayers

Label:  Spiritual Pajamas

Genre:  Folk

Track Listing:  1.  Glow in the Dark Scratch and Sniff; 2.  Jonny Todd; 3.  Stagolee; 4.  Dearest; 5.  A Blessing in Disguise; 6.  Slippin’ and Sliding’; 7.  John O’Dreams

Publicist:  Spiritual Pajamas

Review:  They consider themselves folk musicians, but the first track has all the makings of classic psychedelic rock.   True to their word, the rest of the songs are more traditional folk.  The band is composed of a group of friends that originally got together for a single concert, but liked what they had so much they decided to keep doing it.   The result is a concise and cohesive sound and the skillful telling of some great folk traditions.  In addition, the acoustic guitar work is exquisite, especially on “Dearest.”  We can hardly wait to hear their next full length album.

Recommendation:  By all means, Get this one.

 

Categories
Fringe Shows

HFF16 – Day Five

Wednesday was another beautiful day in Los Angeles which started off with a much needed visit to the home of my friend, Grammy winning musician Dave Yaden.  It was so relaxing to just sit in his backyard and catch up on his career, while enjoying the company of one of my oldest and dearest LA friends and his sweet son, Wolfie.  Wolfie (age 2), who I had never met before, came out and greeted me as soon as I arrived, and made me feel very loved and accepted.  Our time together could not have been more therapeutic, and set the tone for the rest of my day.

Not wanting to sit on the 5 Freeway, I decided to take the scenic route home and wandered through downtown LA via 7th Street, veering over to Wilshire and taking it west.  I took a detour and stopped at the La Brea Tar Pits for a bit before continuing my journey, and arrived at the world famous Johnnie’s Coffee Shop which had been converted into “Bernie’s” (i.e. Sanders) for the California primary.  From there I turned north towards Santa Monica Boulevard and then east to the Fringe, arriving just in time to be able to park for free on the street near Sacred Fools.

My first show of the night was Please Stand Clear, the Doors are Closing at the Lounge Theatre.  This one-man show was profound and funny as David Harper took us along on the Metro, introducing 12 amazing characters with a myriad of things to say.  My favorite was the Grim Reaper commuting to work, but the entire show is non-stop fun.  Christopher Game did a great job of directing this show which belongs on the “must attend’ list of all Fringe attendees.

Stand Clear

We are proud to recommend this show, which has two shows remaining on June 24 at 6 p.m. and June 26 at 11:55 a.m.

Next up was the latest from another of my favorite Fringe performers, John Grady.  I met John back at the first fringe when he was performing Dog Years at Theatre of NOTE.  His latest, The Old Woman, is a brilliant piece of theatre, and reinforces my belief that some of the best work in theatre comes from the Fringe.

Old Woman

There are actors and there are storytellers, and Grady is most definitely a storyteller.  His latest masterpiece is a loving look at his mother’s influence and her struggle with dementia, capped off with the most moving ballet I have ever seen.  The audience was packed with Fringe participants, past and present, including Alex Knox, Michael Shaw Fisher and Bill Ratner (one of the best storytellers of all time), and every one of them stared in wide-eyed amazement at this performance.  This is what Fringe is all about.

Do whatever you have to, but DON’T MISS the one remaining performance of The Old Woman on June 18 at 8 p.m. at the Lounge Theatre.  You’ll thank me for it later.

My final show for the evening was the virtually sold out performance of All the Best Killers are Librarians at the Sacred Fools Second Stage.  I had been looking forward to this show, which took home the trophy at Season 10 of the Serial Killers series at Sacred Fools.

Killers

The play had previously been performed as seven separate episodes of the Serial Killers competition, and Fringe was the first time that all the story was told in a single performance.   This may account for the show’s only flaw – pacing that was too slow and which took away from the comedy and humor of the show itself.

Despite the pacing issue, and some technical difficulties that all Fringe shows experience, the brilliant script by Bob DeRosa and the incredible cast, led by Lauren Van Kurin in the title role, with assistance from Eric Giancoli, Pete Caslavka, Jennifer C. DeRosa, Carrie Keranen (star of Lamprey), Mike Mahaffey and Monica Greene, saved the day and kept the packed house in stitches throughout.

Sacred Fools not only has a beautiful theatre complex, but their company of actors is top notch.  It has been a pleasure to attend shows in their spaces and to see the level of quality that epitomizes their shows.  Thank you Sacred Fools for your graciousness, your friendliness and for making this Montana writer feel like he never left the Fringe.

Catch one of the two remaining performances of Librarians on June 18 at 4 p.m. or June 25 at 3:30 p.m.

Happy fringing!!

 

Categories
Fringe Shows

HFF16 – Day Four

Tuesday at the Fringe and not much was happening.  I only had two shows on my schedule and was looking at an early night, but things can change rapidly at the Fringe if you are willing to be flexible.

My first show of the day was 30:30:60 – A Competitive Birthday Event at Three Clubs, my first time at this venue this year.  Despite starting late (a violation of one of the Fringe’s cardinal rules), This was an improv show, actress and writer Anne Brashier did her best to adhere to the ending time, sacrificing some of her material to ensure the show ended on time.

30

The show was stimulating and fun.  Brashier portrayed a retired tennis star approaching her 30th birthday with a desire to accomplish 30 goals in 60 minutes.  The premise succeeded, in no small part due to the likability of the character and the humbleness with which Brashier embodied her.  She had the entire venue rooting for her success and willing to do just about anything to help her.

If you like improv, check out the show at her final performance on June 20 at 9:45 p.m.

I was scheduled to see Washed in the Blood next.  Unfortunately, I headed to the wrong venue, and could not get back in time.  One of my cardinal rules is to never enter a show after it has begun, so I headed over to Fringe Central instead.

As I thought about my other options for the night, I noticed that Bumpersticker the Musical would be starting shortly next door at the Dragonfly, and decided to see if I could crash the party.  Producer Michael R. Blaha was running the box office and was happy to let me in to the almost sold-out performance.  I was not prepared for what happened next.

Bumpersticker

Bumpersticker was an impressive musical featuring the songs of Gary Stockdale and Spencer Green.  Directed and choreographed by Michele Spears under the musical direction of David O, this politically charged piece was set during a massive traffic jam and featured songs about all the bumper stickers drivers are forced to view as they are held captive in their vehicles.

The songs were well written, but the brilliant cast, which featured Nadia Ahern, Jahmaul Bakare, Lamont Dozier, Jr. (son of Lamont Dozier, Sr,, who was one-third of Motown’s incredible songwriting team of Holland-Dozier-Holland), Zachary Ford, Eliot Hochberg, Lauren Rubin, Jennifer Leigh Warren and Anne Yatco, brought them to life with their incredible voices.

Bumperstickers is a great piece of musical theatre that is this year’s hidden gem.  We strongly recommend the show, with remaining performances of June 18 at 2 p.m. and June 22 at 7:30 p.m.

After the show, I headed over to Butter’d Up, which is the renovated version of Room 5.  My friend Dave Yaden was playing jazz, and I wanted to check out the venue and see and hear this virtuoso of the keys.  Needless to say, it was an amazing night of music from Yaden and his band, with special guests Lio Nicol, Sean Hill and TJ Gibson.  There were also songs from Yaden’s business partner, Mike Rossi and Greta from Iceland, who will be a special guest next week.  It was also nice to see Justin Hopkins (The Voice) and Darwin Johnson (Colbie Cailat’s bassist) in the audience.  The event is free and open to the public every Tuesday night beginning at 10 p.m.  We highly recommend you spend some time at Super Tuesdays Live at the Butter’d Up.

DY Jazz