For over 30 years Amadou Diallo studied the rythms of Senegal, Mali and Guinea. People thought he was crazy, everyday singing and playing the Sufi drum (Hrim) on the streets of Dakar, Senegal.
But that was where he wrote so many of M’Bollo’s songs, and he knew one day he would bring his music to a wider audience.
Then in 2001 a miracle happened, and he got a contract to come to the U.S. playing djembe with the African Ballet Bugerabou.
Amadou settled in Rosendale, NY and in 2010 formed M’Bollo with local musicians The Schikowitz brothers.
Mbollo means “be together” and the music brings together the rich tapestry of African rhythms with western instruments and styles.
Together they reunite the western instruments with their African roots. The bass singing the “dun dun” (African bass drum ) and the banjo singing like “Ekonting”( ancient African banjo)
Yard Sale consists of seasoned and talented professional musicians Taylor Davis (banjo/vocals), Charlie Schikowitz (multi-instruments/vocals), and Theo Schikowitz (bass/vocals)and Rick Birmingham(guitar/vocals).
INFLUENCE & INSPIRATION
The outfit, formed in 2010, woke up in the midst of the Great Recession and decided that
American audiences longed to hear authentic tales of classic crisis. Yard Sale tunes are
sung from the heart in 4-part harmony with a sense of pride, purpose, and dark humor.
They deal with topics of country-fried angst like drinkin’ and cheatin’ and going for
broke while going broke. But they also invoke the soulful beauty of R&B, the uplifting
anthems of gospel, the lonesome melancholy of bluegrass, and the steamrolling
syncopation of early 20th century riverboat minstrels and hobo jug bands.
STAGE PERFORMANCE
Yard Sale’s stage presence invokes genuine high-energy Vaudevillian carnival barker
theatrics. Shows typically include amateur auctioneering, for example, and the hawking
of actual garage sale items like used auto parts, secondhand VHS tapes, and dog-eared
romance novels. The cumulative impact is that the band generates the contagiously
explosive spontaneity of a moonshine-fueled barroom brawl. So everyone in the audience
gets swept up in a boot-stomping hoedown of hip-shaking proportions.
“Well, I woke up this Evening feeling purple, pink and green, dressed in black. Looked at my Fears and they told me that they’re never coming back. It Don’t Get Much Better Than That.”
The Brooklyn based songwriter first found solace in her guitar, composing escapist songs with fantastical stories and catchy choruses. A four piece Air Waves serves up fantastic imagery with unforgettable melodies with named influences such as Neil Young, The Clean, and the Velvet Underground. Passive towards trends, image, genre and all things on the periphery of being in a rock band, there is a genuineness in Nicole’s voice that echoes throughout every aspect of Air Waves, cutting straight to the essentials of communicating something larger than words.
Critics have labeled Air Waves as everything from sparse pop to surf rock, a sign that Air Waves does what every great band in their time has managed to do – find a way to be both comfortable and compelling in being themselves while creating a body of work beyond genre classification. Already in a short time span Air Waves have not only made a name for themselves in Brooklyn, but elsewhere by touring extensively down both the East and West coast sharing the stage with such notable acts like Cat Power, Songs: Ohio, Beach House, Dan Deacon and The Rapture to name a few.
In 2010 Air Waves released their debut LP, Dungeon Dots, on Underwater Peoples Records. The newest album to be titled Warrior, coming out in February includes Kevin Morby and Mary Timony. The album further proves Nicole and her bands ability to craft perfect pop tunes.
Albany’s Jouska has been called many things since emerging from up- state New York’s underground DIY scene last year, most of which have little commonality other than clashing definitions: authentic, angsty, dreamlike, discordant, experimental, somber and uplifting to name a few. One blog even categorized the quartet’s debut full-length as “ghost-rock.” It’s a curious term, but apropos as the nine tracks on the gorgeous, captivating Topiary transmit as both otherworldly and achingly mysterious. Nevertheless, for all its ethereal qualities, the album is not unclassifiable … providing you can embrace Topiary’s impressive depth and ambition. As evidence, Jouska expertly navigates post-rock’s ebbs-and-flows and the dreamy, atmospheric soundscapes of shoegaze while exploring emo’s earnestness and simultaneously traversing lo-fi bedroom pop that’s awash in reverb and a lackadaisical-yet-consoling vocal delivery.
Most notably though, Jouska never loses sight of accessibility. The band’s range is terrific and its mastery over dynamics, restraint and momentum is unmatched. Still, it’s the knack for lush melodies and the ability to continually build upon instrumental passages before hitting critical mass which make for a truly special listen. Simply put, Topiary is spectral and weighty, yet completely satisfying and rewarding. It’s a record that begs to be revisited and gives back with every absorbing spin.
Through her music, Liana Gabel takes seemingly familiar stories, themes, and tropes about being human and transforms them into that which is profoundly unfamiliar and novel, yet warm and comforting. Her observations about the changing landscape of our relationships, the country, the world, clearly inform her work as a singer, songwriter, guitarist, and percussive tap dancer. Be ready, as inspired and encouraged by Pete Seeger, she will get you singing right along.
The YeahTones is the tenacious rock ‘n’ roll brainchild of bandleader and front man Jake Pinto.
Born of a natural healer and a business schemer (read: Florida man), Pinto’s deep-rooted lust for “peaceful” resistance has been long in the making. In 2012, Jake graduated from private university with a degree in music, thousands of dollars in debt and an ample angst for the injustices of the world. Plagued by the typical anger and isolation of a 20 something New Yorker, Jake set aside his pricey jazz education in search of a new more liberating form of expression: enter The YeahTones.
On stage The YeahTones explode with punk energy to deliver the straightforward anguish of Jake’s unassuming songwriting. The band makes audiences thrash and scream then hands out a goody bag of catchy riffs and melodies to take home for later. They do all of this while wearing matching outfits.
The Brooklyn-based band’s debut record, Eviction Notice, released in October 2016 is the first presentation of their fearless, unpretentious rock ‘n’ roll.
NCM, based out of Brooklyn/New Paltz, NY, is an eccentric, eclectic concoction of raw old-school punk, driving rhythms, and acoustic and folk elements, created by the musical alchemist Pete Crotty.
NCM recently started up again in 2017 with Jeremy Boniello on Drums/Vocals and Pete Newman on bass. The band currently started gigging again and hope to record their new album this fall and prepare for a tour.
NCM has released their newest album Vampire Proof, which is tantalizing eardrums worldwide. Vampire Proof was produced by Earl Slick (David Bowie), who also plays guitar and bass on some of the tracks.
NCM has played the Red Gorilla fest that coincides with SXSW in Austin 5 years in a row. NCM played the CBGB festival in NYC, July 2012, and regularly plays venues in New York City and upstate NY. The band has performed in hundreds of venues all around the country in three separate US tours.
Vampire Proof (2013) is NCM’s third full-length album, following Escape from Myopia (2008) and Dharma (2009). NCM’s music has been featured on TV shows such as MTV’s “Real World” and “Parental Control.”
Rosary Solimanto is best known for her interdisciplinary activist based work which explores the objectification she faces battling multiple sclerosis. She encourages discourse on disability identity to unfold to empower the disabled. Solimanto is an emerging artist who has exhibited in New York City, New Jersey, North Carolina, Seattle, Pittsburgh, Hudson Valley, Connecticut, Toronto and Spain. She has performed in the O + Festival in Kingston, NY, The International Human Rights Art Festival In New York City, the Itinerant Festival at the Bronx Museum, did a 12 hour durational performance at the Nuit Blanche Festival in Toronto and exhibited at The Hyde Museum in upstate, New York. Awards include Parnassus Award in Fine Arts at Adirondack, New York; Kulakoff Award at Albany, New York; Art Garden Community Supported Art Award at Arts Unbound, City of Orange, New Jersey and the Sojourner Truth Fellowship at New Paltz, New York. Born in New York, Solimanto has received her BA in English Literature and Fine Arts, from SUNY Albany in 2013, and received her MFA in 2015 from SUNY New Paltz. She currently lives and works in Jersey City area.
The dismal realities, political or otherwise, that are part of our modern world naturally influence our creative voices. It is in this context that White Hills re-evaluated their approach to creating a new album. Having continually refined their sound, pushing the boundaries of psychedelic music, White Hills flipped the script on Stop Mute Defeat. Dave W. and Ego Sensation have brazenly produced an industrially-charged record that pulsates unlike anything they’ve released before.
Hard-line, gritty, and intellectually engaged, Stop Mute Defeat is a New York record through and through. With this in mind, White Hills drafted Martin Bisi (Sonic Youth, Brian Eno, Afrika Bambaataa) to mix. White Hills recorded with Bisi on two of their previous releases, Frying On This Rock in 2012 and its follow-up So You Are…So You’ll Be, however Stop Mute Defeat is the first time they worked with Martin “The Beast” Bisi in control of the mixing board. A native New Yorker who made his name in the city’s early hip-hop and no-wave scenes, Bisi was attracted to White Hills’ new material for its distinct early-80s Mudd Club feel. A dance hall, drug den, and bar, the Mudd Club was one of New York’s legendary haunts in the late 1970’s. As a center of a distinct art scene the club served as a major influence for White Hills and Stop Mute Defeat’s sound.
Following similar techniques to those propagated by William S. Burroughs (a regular at Mudd Club), Stop Mute Defeat sees White Hills break free from the guitar-driven structure of their earlier releases. Reassigning William Burroughs’ word “cut-up” technique to music, Dave W. and Ego Sensation deconstruct sound clips to create minimalist but rhythmically complex phrases. Title track ‘Stop Mute Defeat’ layers turbocharged bass loops with squalling guitar samples, to create a sound that calls to mind Xtrmntr-era Primal Scream. “If… 1… 2” goes even further down the rabbit hole, oscillating into the experimental electro-sound of early 80s Sheffield, UK band Cabaret Voltaire. Meanwhile the taut brawny grind of ‘Attack Mode’ industrially hardens White Hills’ rock boundaries to tribal densities.
Appalled by the rampant consumerism and the proliferation of ‘post-truth’ mythology, White Hills’ defiant lyricism is at their most philosophically scathing. Condemning doublespeak as “Subliminal seduction…a serenade with a grenade,” the song “Overlord” laments political and economic opportunism, where “In travesty, [there’s always] another dollar to be made.” On “Attack Mode” meanwhile, a clenched-jawed Dave W. channels the perverse cynicism of Throbbing Gristle, throwing scorn on “societies where misogyny leads and the objectification of young girls runs free.” Exposing Western vulgarity in bright light, Stop Mute Defeat is a fearless and necessary denunciation of the political and economic powers that be.
Between the release of 2015’s Walks For Motorists and the making of Stop Mute Defeat, members Dave W. and Ego Sensation took time out to focus on other artistic endeavors instead of keeping up their pace of an album a year. Diving deeper into the world of video, Ego has produced and exhibited a series of “Moving Stills”: videos that imbue static images with a subtle, uncanny motion. In these pieces, realism morphs with itself to create abstract visions. Through Dave W’s obsession with meditation, he was drawn back to his love of form and image, creating a series of sculpturally based hallucinatory abstract paintings in which the viewer is sucked into infinite space. These forays outside of music were instrumental in the shaping of Stop Mute Defeat.
Writing in his seminal postmodern oeuvre Naked Lunch, Burroughs states: “Desperation is the raw material of drastic change. Only those who can leave behind everything they have ever believed in can hope to escape.” Rethinking their musical norms, personally and musically diving into uncertain waters, White Hills at once embrace and demonstrate the raw power of such abandon.
