Thursday, January 28, 2010

There's Room in the New Decade - Live!


Life is Grand and then it's cruel, minds change and then they are set, feelings fly and then they die, but there is always the music, that dome of warmth, that cathedral of sound, that welcoming ROOM. So we hope you come down to Fat Baby at 112 Rivington Street btw. Essex and Ludlow on the Lower East Side and revel with us in tunes and harmonies. The more, the merrier - bring your friends, wealth managers, agents, parachute testers and fish cutters. Don't worry, the music will not be as heady as these words, it's only Rock'n'Roll...

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Early Spring With Kerry Kennedy - Rise, Ghostwise!


It's here. In my arms. Kerry Kennedy's album. There's no graphic artwork yet, but the work of art is revealed when I put the CD in the stereo: A stunning, sophisticated, mature, yet fresh long player, an aural pleasure from start to finish, with each song embedded into a unique sound, fitting Kerry's distinct voice that at times seems to almost caress you. The songs are yearning, soulful tunes, mixing folk with pop, think Portishead crossed with Morricone or PJ Harvey sleeping with the Carter Family.
Live at Small Beast, Kennedy was in the best of moods, obviously proud of the record and her great band, that now features Paul Wallfisch on keys and Heather Wagner on drums. The Ghostwise band with Nathan Halpern and Jason Binnick on guitar and bass, sounded warm and full of energy. The set included most of the album, with "More from the Mountain", "Son of Sons" and "As You Are" standing out, but don't let me be the judge, you gotta get that record as soon as its out!


Mr. Paul Wallfisch in good spirits, celebrating one year of free weekly "Small Beast" events at the Delancey. More about his new amazing record with Botanica on this blog soon!

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Welcome 2010 With Enormous Painhead


There's a small town at the Eastern end of Switzerland with a big name - Rorschach. And it's testing, let me tell you. Each year the little town's very own cult band Painhead invites friends' bands to play a show with them - two nights in a row. All you gotta do to get in is bring a can of beer for the band, and that alone guarantees a full house. Check out the series of cool classic punk groups that are putting the sound to the eastern swiss valleys: Enjoy Violet & The Pony's raw energy on "Shall I" or the gothic anthem "Spinning Room" by Herr Bitteror watch the fun punk rock party of Sullen Crook. Made me feel proud of my hometown, but also old... Anyway, The Roman Games played on Saturday. I had the honor to make music with rhine valley drum legend Carlo Lorenzi and the bass wonder Sandro Heule who both learned the whole set in one afternoon's session. And the guy who made the most mistakes on stage, of course, turned out to be me. Still, it was a lot of fun and one can't say it often enough: Painhead is Rorschach's first true supergroup.