Tag Archives: Brooklyn

Lady Lamb the Beekeeper – “Ripely Pine”

Lady Lamb the Beekeeper
Ripely Pine
Portland, ME
(Ba Da Bing Records)

“Studio debut album brings new light to live favorites”

It’s always curious when musicians release two full-length albums, separated by several years, and the second contains a number of songs that were on the previous release.  But that’s what Aly Spaltro – also known as Lady Lamb the Beekeeper – did with her latest release, Ripely Pine. Seven of the songs were on her 2010 release, Mammoth Swoon.   And it’s not that they’re bad songs – they’re not.  Spaltro has an unbelievable knack for penning lyrics and arranging music.

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Jarrod Dickenson – “Lonesome Traveler”

Jarrod Dickenson
Lonesome Traveler
Brooklyn, NY
(Self-released)

“Flawless collection of life experience, love letters and heartbreak”

Lonesome Traveler is the sophomore studio effort from bluesy, gritty, folky singer/songwriter Jarrod Dickenson. A Brooklyn-based musician with roots in Texas, Dickenson sounds like a collection of life experiences, love letters, and heartbreak. His voice is earthy, smooth and much more soulful than anything you would expect from someone so young.

Accompanying his vocals are a cacophony of instruments that aid, but never overpower, his lyrics and melody. With songs that express the excitement and heartbreak of young love, like his tracks “Rosalie” and “Little Black Dress,” stories of war on “Bravery (A Bottle of Gin)” and finding yourself in spite of the skeletons in your closet on the track “Ballad of a Lonesome Traveler.”  Continue reading →

Jarrod Dickenson

On Graduating From Laptop-Recorded House Parties to Overseas Touring

Jarrod Dickenson did not plan on becoming a musician.  Growing up in Waco, Texas, he spent his youth playing baseball and later took up golf.  He played all through high school and even intended on playing in college.

And then he learned how to play guitar.

Dickenson had been a great fan of music his entire life, listening to his father’s record collection, which included Cat Stevens, Paul Simon and the Beatles.  But at 18, he decided that he could “kick around and have fun with it,” he says with a laugh.  Continue reading →

Cashed Fools – Self-Titled

Cashed Fools
Cashed Fools
Brooklyn, NY
(One of These Records)

“Rock without the radio-edit”

On their self-titled debut record, Cashed Fools reawakens the idea that rock can be fleshed out and multi-dimensional. The new album is all at once a dedication to punk, metal, funk, blues, and psychedelic rock. If you like Primus and miss the ’90s, you will relish in this record’s diversity, its soul, and its dedication to awakening rock music.

Opening track “Madness” bangs to a start with quick-witted punk rock drumming, tumbling immediately into head-thrashing guitar melodies. The album’s vocal style harks back to the days of Chris Cornell and Scott Weiland, with hints of tomfoolery in the mix. The layered vocals and lost noises throughout the record are simultaneously gritty, harmonious, and quirky. One of the best tracks on the album, “Hobble Bobble,” showcases Cashed Fools’ propensity for oddball vocals, and their upbeat, fun-loving sensibility. The track harnesses the power of deep, dirty bass, popping drums, and Hendrix-infused riffing all under the guise of a relatively catchy tune.

Other notable tracks like the “New Heavy” and “FursDJam” are both strikingly reminiscent of ’90s-era alternative while capturing the diversity of today’s musical landscape.

Produced by Cashed Fools

Recorded at More Sound Studios in Syracuse, NY

Mixed by Andrew Grecian

Mixed and Mastered by Jocko

www.cashedfools.com

Gangstagrass Discusses Mashing Up Bluegrass with Hip-Hop

Instead of writing what we think of the band, we’ll let them introduce themselves in their own words: “Gangstagrass is a dirty fightin’, gator wrestlin’, foot stompin’ bluegrass-hip-hop project of Brooklyn-based producer Rench, who has spent the last decade making gritty, soulful country hip-hop music that you will actually like. Yeah, Gangstagrass did the theme song to Justified. Yeah, Rench and T.O.N.E-z got nominated for an Emmy for it. Yeah, this is real bluegrass pickers and real emcees making music. And yeah, we do it live, too.” Fair enough, now on to the interview…  Continue reading →

Crushed Out On Analog Mixing and Learning From Fellow Musicians on the Road

Three years ago, Frank Hoier and Moselle Spiller probably didn’t picture themselves here: 1,200 miles from home, killing time between tour stops in a Kansas City bowling alley. The duo, known today as rock outfit Crushed Out, began as so many musical projects do: two friends sharing a mutual love of music (in this case, early rock and roll) jamming for nothing more than the fun of it. Yet it’s progressed in a way that many projects don’t, spawning four national tours, a well-received 2010 EP and now a debut full-length, Want To Give (released November 6th via the band’s own Cool Clear Water imprint). What’s made it work? Making sure it never felt like work in the first place. We recently sat down with Hoier to discuss…  Continue reading →

Spotlight on Black Marble

Record First, Figure Out How to Perform it Later

GENRE: Synth-Punk
HOMETOWN: Brooklyn, NY
ARTISTIC APPROACH: Trial and error songwriting and live arrangements
URL: blackmarble.bandcamp.com

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RUBBLEBUCKET: Attacking the Stage with Silver Robots and an Army of Horns

Rubblebucket has embraced the wave of YES that is crashing onto the shores of New York’s music scene. Just a few years ago the eclectic group could still be seen, although with smaller audiences, jumping off stages into the crowd, dropping onto the grass, and billowing wildly into their brass instruments. Since then, saxophonist and front woman Kalmia Traver has come into her own, embracing the kinetic, interactive live show that Rubblebucket swears by. If you thought they were fun to dance to well before the release of Omega La La, you’re in for even more of a treat now.

Traver used to keep her idiosyncrasies hidden behind a mass of hair and horn. Today, those characteristic quirks are the driving force behind a refined artistic vision that has turned Rubblebucket into an act that can entertain main stage festival crowds and late-night TV audiences just as easily as a basement full of kids. Their live shows are known to unleash an entire team of party facilitators, led by Neil Fridd of the band Terror Pigeon Dance Revolt!, complete with giant silver robots, light tunnels, light up vests, and much, much more.

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