Bassist Billy Asai and guitarist Phil Reeves have played together in various NYC bands for awhile now, but they seem destined for a new funk frontier since joining up with singer Justice L. in 2011. In their group Mad for Justice, the NY quartet brings out the jams, stacking R&B on top of hard rock in crowd favorite ‘Prove My Love.’ Watch their recent performance at the Delancey, and you’ll see how the band proves old school soul is new again.
Stay tuned for the release of their crowd-funded debut EP set to come out early May, and catch the band at RBar on Thursday, May 2nd. - Mike Levine (@Goldnuggets)
Haybaby is a Brooklyn based group of best friends and poised musicians who create an endearing and intriguing style of psych and anti-folk inspired rock they call "slackgaze" - thumbs up for the neologism. Leslie Hong, Sam Yield and Zach Ellis were performing and recording in other bands and solo projects before they fatefully joined together to eventually decide to slackgaze in the same band. With influences pointing to The Breeders and The Brian Jonestown Massacre, seasoned with your fair dose of quite/loud/quiet moments, Haybaby’s music also borrows some of the lo-fi bands' signature semi-randomness. Simple and at times humorous, the band's lyrics, together with their easy going attitude, make their recordings and live shows fun and a pleasure to witness. Don’t miss their upcoming show at Death By Audio on May 16. - je
New quartet Neonfaith describe themselves online as “just a few kids in Jamaica, Queens making music in the basement.” What goes on down in that basement is anyone’s best guess. By the looks of their recent video, “Escape,” (see it here, song streaming below) it’s a whole lot of thinking about what to do with the past. Answer: Google it and move on. Beneath a boilerplate Portishead beat and a twitchy dubstep production, the video shows NYC denizens passing around old school nightclub flyers and handing out walkie-talkies, moodily suggesting that technology could stand to cool its ass out for a while. A rich soul vocalist cries out, “Hear your static on my radio/Shiver through me, let it go,” a chorus reminding us that utopianism still works best via word of mouth, in the flesh. - Brian Chidester
More praise should be given to musicians who can actually play, because the Brooklyn scene - among other things - is a testament to the fact that mastering an instrument ain't easy. Tauk - a band as jazzy as The Deli can go as far as music coverage (we don't cover jazz!) - is equal parts music nerds with prog/post rock tendencies and soulful songwriters. Often compared to established jam bands like Phish and Lotus - but with a feel all their own for deep groove - the quartet has a rare ability to channel emotional melodic leads, and all without a lead singer. With their next LP 'Homunculus' due to be released April 30th, they're set to continue their fast rise. But instead of waiting for the next Peach Fest or Bonnarroo to see the group's funk and freestyle freakouts, check out the quartet before the album's release this Wednesday, April 24th at Sullivan Hall. - Mike Levine (@Goldnuggets)
Sky-Pony is not the simplest band to classify. They actually may not be best described as a band at all. Sky-Pony could be seen just as well as a burlesque show or carnival of sorts. Whatever you prefer, the rock performance artists have been dotting around NYC for a year now with their flashy costumes and careful choreography. You're never quite sure what to expect from one of their gigs. The Brooklyn group is playing Mercury Lounge on Cinco de Mayo. Be sure to come with energy and panache, and maybe a costume while you're at it. - Mike Levine (@Goldnuggets)
Philly/Brooklyn chamber-pop outfit Cuddle Magic's latest session with Daytrotter is up. You can take a listen to and download it for free HERE (with a membership). (Illustration by Johnnie Cluney)
Body Language’s new video “What’s the Point?” pretty well sums up the current cultural sentiment. Combining silky images of desert landscape over fractal kaleidoscopes and angular digital animation, this psychedelic soul gumbo flows together with such liquid ease that its suggestion of co-existence as the only true enlightenment seems a forgone conclusion. It’s disco. It’s funk. It’s soul. It’s electro. And it sounds sexy cool. Comparisons to Kenneth Anger’s short film “Lucifer Rising” - - about the fall of traditional masculinity -- are appropriate for Body Language’s modern direction here. - Brian Chidester
Brooklyn based Dead Sexy Sheila is a talented psychobilly garage rock band whose wild music and intriguingly seedy antics are inspired by the gritty art house nightlife of Bushwick. The release of their latest album, the surfcentric EP "Death Bat Flies Again" (out on Valentine’s Day 2013) has prompted the band to return to performing live all over Brooklyn this spring and summer.
The band knows how to perform their energetic, fast paced and youthful tunes: you’ll bounce, twist and sweat to their entire set! Make sure you make it out to one of their upcoming Brooklyn performances - the next one is on April 26 at never-heard-before restaurant La Piazzetta on 442 Graham Ave - more shows (at "real" venues like Bklyn Fireproof and The Rock Shop) listed here. - JE
The Whiskey Collection’s name fits their sound perfectly. Both refined and rough at once, like any good collection of brown liquor should be. The New York locals blend virtuoso performances with a rugged and honest folk sound. Front man and songwriter, Cameron Scoggins, possesses a twangy voice that mixes beautifully with the band, and fiddle player, Russell Durham, is heaven to listen to. The group celebrated the release of their debut full length "Letters from an Old Trunk" this past Sunday, Aril 21st at Rockwood Music Hall. - Paul Jordan Talbot
Catey Shaw is truly her own person. She's been known to busk in subways with her lovebird Ketchup and her treasured ukelele. But more recently, she's been seen at the Washington Square club circuit, winning fans with her softly strummed nuggets of truth and life well lived. New song 'Run, Run, Run' (streaming below, video here) finds Catey cast about on a host of issues that any struggling artist will relate to... and boy does she make that clear in the explicit uke jam. Check it out and see her when she plays Spike Hill Spike Hill on Sunday, April 28th. - Mike Levine (@Goldnuggets)
