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10/31/13

Elektricity 2-Year Anniversary and Powerhouse Fall Lineup

With a new facelift, Pontiac premiere dance club ELEKTRICITY is ready to celebrate two years.  

November 15th is the party and internationally acclaimed and award-winning duo Gabriel & Dresden are set to keep us dancing the night away.  The party is FREE before 11pm too...!!   

Have you seen the schedule for the next couple months?  The crowd at Elektricity tends to vary but with the stellar lineup coming our way, I think a good group of fans might be rolling up to the "P" for some unforgettable Fridays in TRANCEVEMBER

Two of the legendary Paul's, Van Dyk and Oakenfold will also be bringing their tours through on the 8th and 22nd respectively.  Detroit favorite Kenneth Thomas is on the bill, as you'd guess, with Perfecto mate Oakenfold.  With the Anniversary party right smack in between, and Markus Schulz / Audien on either end, November Fridays at Elektricity are going to be amazing.  



Lastly, the first Saturday in December promises to be an epic night.  With a radio and DJ career spanning decades, legendary Pete Tong will be rounding out the first weekend of the new month.  Support by Detroit's Chuck Flask and Keith Kemp.  

I did miss the one chance I've had so far to experience a Pete Tong set, and I think like many, this is an opportunity they thought they may not get! DO NOT MISS THIS!


MCB FLYER DUMP - Happy Halloween Weekend


MCB pick of the week
Bars of Gold @ Loving Touch tomorrow night
Get there to pick up the latest Bellyache Vinyl Release!

Don't let another soggy halloween this year keep you down!

Get on out there and support local dietroit music and art!








DUENSDAY!
Every First Wednesday of the Month @ The Loving Touch
NO COVER!!!

ROCKHOUNDING: Reviews of Emily Kopp, Black Sweater Massacre, Arctic Monkeys & Microtonal live at Trinosophes Detroit by Al Bruting

Welcome to ROCKHOUNDING
a new ongoing review column headed up by the elusive Al Bruting


Emily Kopp, Just Getting Started...
by al bruting

photo by: Shauna Hundeby

email motorcityblog@earthlink.net to win some swag


Emily Kopp just released her first full-length album, Serendipity Find Me, with producer Justin Beckler and producer/co-writer Anthony Battaglia. The Southeast Florida native and recent college grad is also getting exposure to a wider audience by kicking off a tour.

The album also shows balance.  With a combination of soul and folk, she avoids the tired soapbox that folkies perch on to preach.  More interesting still, she still is able to pull in a mild pop element and maintain musicianship because she’s a decent guitar player.

 Flying Blind is the title track and gives us reason to listen further. Opinions vary, but the true showing on this album is Can’t Catch Me.  It demonstrates her ease with vocal quality and stands on its own as a solid offering. 

We’ll continue to watch and listen.  Her record was released on October 15th and tour dates are being announced which hopefully includes a visit to the Motorcity.



Black Sweater Massacre by the Reigning Monarchs
by al bruting





Sweater season is upon us. The LA based Monarchs feature comedian and guitarist, Greg Benrendt paired with the former Boston group, Letters to Clio's Michael Eisenstein.

The new release, Black Sweater Massacre, blends traditional vintage styles into one cohesive sound. Leading in with a surf tone, they incorporate rockabilly and ska, some Mexicali brass with hints of a sixties Farfisa Italian organ.  There's even a track where the brass takes on the style of an Indian snake charmers flute.  What makes this release interesting is the combining of these very distinct, but very different styles into a song and actually pulling it off.

The Monarchs brand of rockabilly, surf and ska wouldn't sound out of place in a Quentin Tarantino or a David Lynch film. Its occasionally slower and more haunting melodies are quickly and mercilessly run off the road by a intensely paced rhythms, darkened with heavy reverb. The tracks are all instrumental on this release, but for live shows they feature guest vocalists

The groups studio versatility has seen them backing names like Norah Jones, Aimee Mann, alt country singer/songwriter Rhett Miller (of the Old 97's) as well as comedians and actors like Ben Stiller, and Jason Segel.

Black Sweater Massacre brings foreword momentum to a band that's been steadily picking up a fan base through its live performances. This release stands out from the background noise around it and is definitely worth giving a listen.



New Release “AM” from the Arctic Monkeys 

"These Monkeys are far from Simple"
by al bruting





Looking for a good way to spend 41 minutes? Put on the Arctic Monkeys fifth British release "AM" and enjoy time well spent.  It’s a minimalist sound with genius hiding subtly between iambic lyrical rhythm and percussion that play off each other and create a verse quality more reminiscent to meter found in Shakespearian verse. The result is somewhat nonsensical lines becoming hypnotically rhythmic with vocal melody. 


The closer you listen the more you will find, but they are still just a rock band that haven’t lost what has made them good.  Add to this that they deliver the goods playing live, and this rounds out the package of a group that’s much more than just a studio wonder. If you get to a show, expect to hear releases from the first 5 recordings, but known for their proclivity for covers, the live show takes on an interesting texture.


AM is on target to be the bands best sales week since its 2007 release AND the fastest selling debut album in UK chart history.  So far AM has given the act its first top 10 effort since 2007's "Favorite Worst Nightmare" debuted and peaked


Knowing the Rules and Then Breaking Them...
by al bruting





Clem Fortuna Presents a Microtonal Music Revue at TRINOSOPHES October 18, 2013 featuring Jacob Barton and Andrew Heathwaite, plus the music of Clem Fortuna, Frank Pahl, Joel Peterson and Harry Partch

Microtonal music features music written using unusual tunings. Headlining were microtonal composers, Jacob Barton and Andrew Heathwaite. Also featured were works by local composers Clem Fortuna, Frank Pahl, Joel Peterson, and Jennie Knaggs. 

The venue, TRINOSOPHES is near eastern market and has nicely put back into commission longstanding Detroit brick and mortar.  The two sided structure offers a raised stage and large open area with high ceilings, a library complete with "Pourover Coffee" and a cafe that features guest chefs.  

For workshops, exhibitions and performances, TRINOSOPHES is definitely a place to put on your hit list.




Almost all western music (and increasingly a lot of Eastern Music) conforms to a single tuning using only certain notes. While blues and jazz sometimes slide between these notes, these in-between notes are never treated as "real" notes because they are considered "out of tune". A small number of composers and songwriters have broken ranks and discovered that these "out of tune" notes can open up new undisturbed musical environments or soundscapes. However, playing them requires unlearning everything we know about music, and in some cases building whole new instruments or modifying existing instruments. This concert included works played on refretted guitars, glass harmonica, voices, strings, pedal steel guitar, specially tuned piano, and the "udderbot", a new wind instrument made from a glass bottle and a rubber glove.

Jacob Barton grew up in Virginia Beach, Virginia, where his musical hunger led him to learn piano, saxophone, clarinet, bassoon, and musical saw. He studied composition at Rice University, where he received a BMI Student Composer Award for “Xenharmonic Variations on a Theme by Mozart”. His passion for instrument building led serendipitously to the collaborative invention and development of the udderbot, for which he is the chief advocate and only known virtuoso. Jacob has played the udderbot in traditional bands, children’s concerts, experimental music venues, theater productions, New York City subway stations, and humanitarian clowning missions in Ecuador.

Andrew Heathwaite is a performer, composer, teacher and student, whose work by his own characterization centers around compassionate creative skepticism, trivialization of power differences, and transformation of (at first invisible) constraints to provoke the new. "I no longer want to see micro tonality slip under the radar into pop music without anyone noticing, just to be sold back to us by the greedy kings of copyright. That's not good enough.." As a project of Oddmusic Urbana-Champaign, Andrew refretted a steel-string acoustic guitar to 22 tones per octave in 2009 and a mountain dulcimer to a 20-tone Just Intonation scale in simple overtone relationship in 2010. He also plays cümbüş, a fretless Turkish lute.


DUENSDAY!
Every First Wednesday of the Month @ The Loving Touch
NO COVER!!!

10/30/13

Explore the Day of the Dead in Southwest Detroit

INTERVIEW: Trapping Time with Bear Mountain by Mikel OD


Bear Mountain comes to town this Thursday night (yes, on Halloween) to perform at the Magic Stick Lounge. They bring with them a sound that seamlessly combines catchy electronic synth with indie pop, keyboards flourish and guitar jangles while the vocals soar above it all. Imagine a musical equation that takes take the dance music of Chromeo and adds to it the compelling synth magic of MGMT and you're approaching the territory Bear Mountain occupies.  Bear Mountain also carry along with them a secret weapon in the form of Kenji Rodriguez, a visual artist that creates projections and lights that goes far beyond the typical reds and blues. Their recent release “XO” straddles the line between ep and album with 7 tracks of satisfying dance music.  I had the chance to exchange some questions back and forth with Ian Beavis, the singer and electronics provider of the band, about playing their music live and their influences. 

MCB: Have you played Detroit before? What do you think about Detroit?
BM: We've never played Detroit before. We're really looking forward to it. Detroit seems like a fascinating city with a lot of history, and we get to play there on Halloween.
MCB: Bear Mountain is an effective cross between dance and indie rock – how did your music evolve into what it is today?
BM: I think it came to be this way because we never thought about it too much. We just always followed our instinct and never over think  what we're doing. If there's something that interests us, we try to go with it and see where that goes. Even though we're influenced by Dance music right now, that's not to say that we won't become a psych rock prog band in the next few years. Wherever our interests and influences take us that's where we'll go. 
MCB: Electronic music bands usually bring a visual element to their music but you take it a step further with a member of the band performing live visuals. How did this come about and how do you think your visuals differ from other electronic bands?
BM: Kenji actually saw us perform once and after the show introduced himself and told us that this was the music of the future. He showed us what he had done in the past for bands like Arcade Fire and Purity Ring, so we brought him on as a full member of the band. 

MCB: There seems to be a real renaissance in electronic music these past few years. Can you tell me about what you think about the electronic music scene today?
BM: I think it's really exciting, and there's some pretty incredible music being made right now. It's a great time to be a musician. It will be interesting to see what happens in the next year or too but I think we may have reached a sort of EDM bubble where we're a bit over saturated. On the flip side of that, I think dance music has firmly implanted itself in North American culture, especially on the radio, so it's great to see those barriers knocked down. 
MCB: What’s a surprising band you like or a band that influenced Bear Mountain that most people wouldn’t think of?
BM: I think we're influenced by all sorts of stuff. We're definitely influenced by a lot of pop music, and especially 80’s hits like Phil Collins, Tears for Fears, Don Henley. Between the four of us we listen to a lot of different music, and we're always exposing each other to music we otherwise wouldn't listen to, so that's definitely a factor. 
MCB: Where’s the most exotic place your music has taken you?
BM: We traveled to Mexico this year and played some shows down there. We drank a lot of mescal and ate a lot of tacos. Kenji is from Guadalajara, so it was great to travel to his home town and have a bunch of people come out the show. It definitely felt like a second home down there. 

MCB: If there was any other decade you wanted to be a band, what decade would that be and why?
BM: I think we all used to have a fascination with the late 60’s early 70’s, but I'm not so sure that time was as awesome as our parents made it out to be. I would like to be a jazz musician in the 20’s probably. You get to travel, have a steady job, play music…sounds like a pretty good deal. 
MCB: It’s October, a natural time to talk about horror movies – what’s your favorite horror movie? What kind of movies do you like best?
BM: I actually really love horror movies. When I was 13 I watched every B rated horror movie I could get my hands on. The soundtracks especially in those movies are amazing. The out of tune synths and drum machines…it's amazing. We watched The Conjuring in our hotel room the other night and everyone got pretty scared, actually. I think staying in a lot of hotels on the road you start to develop a fascination with Ghosts…there are a lot of haunted hotel rooms out there. 



This post by Mikel O.D. of MPAD Media

FREE KILLER TICKETS: SLAYER SLAYER SLAYER - Fillmore Detroit - Saturday 11/16/2013

Get ready, Detroit!!!! 

Slayer returns to the Motor City Saturday, November 16, 2013 at The Fillmore in Detroit.  Rumor has it Slayer will perform an "Old School Slayer" set on all North American tour dates.  This is just what diehard Slayer fans need to hear considering the replacement of two of the key band members after Jeff Hanneman's unfortunate and untimely death and Dave Lombardo being forced out of the band in early 2013. 

Can Gary Holt (former Exodus guitarist) and Paul Bostaph (former Exodus and Testament drummer) deliver?  Reviews have been positive since the kickoff of their tour in Las Vegas October 25th. 

We shall see. 

Enter to win tickets here on MOTORCITYBLOG and judge for yourself!

email motorcityblog@earthlink.net for your chance to win a pair\




SLAYER WILL PERFORM "OLD SCHOOL SLAYER NIGHT" SET
ON ALL NORTH AMERICAN TOUR DATES

"We're having such a great time rehearsing this 'Old School' set, we've decided to play it on every one of our upcoming tour dates," announced Slayer's Kerry King.  

Holed up in Las Vegas rehearsing for their five-week North American tour that kicks off at The Joint at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino tomorrow, Slayer - vocalist/bassist Araya, guitarist Kerry King, drummer Paul Bostaph, and Gary Holt, still filling in for fallen founding guitarist Jeff Hanneman - have been rehearsing many of the band's most classic and fan-favorite songs, all of which were originally written and released between the band's inception and the 1990 Gold disc Seasons In The Abyss.   

Slayer's "Old School Slayer Night" set will include tracks from 1983's Show No Mercy, 1985's Hell Awaits, the genre-defining and Gold-certified Reign In Blood (1986), 1988's South of Heaven, also certified Gold, and Seasons.

"The final set list is still coming together," added Araya, "but we're going to give the fans what amounts to 'decades of aggression.'  It's going to be a great night of music and moshing for everyone."

Confirmed dates for Slayer's 2013 Fall North American tour are as follows:

OCTOBER
25 The Joint at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas, NV
27 Hollywood Palladium, Hollywood, CA
28 Hollywood Palladium, Hollywood, CA
30 Events Center @ San Jose State, San Jose, CA

NOVEMBER
 1 WAMU Center, Seattle, WA 
 3 Big Four Building, Calgary, AB
 4 Shaw Center, Edmonton, AB
 5 Praireland Park Center, Saskatoon, SK
 7 MTS Center, Winnipeg, MB
 8 Myth, Minneapolis, MN
10 FunFunFun Fest, Austin, TX
12 Bayou Music Center, Houston, TX
13 South Side Ballroom, Dallas, TX
15 Aragon Ballroom, Chicago, IL
17 LC Pavilion, Columbus, OH
19 The Fillmore, Washington, D.C.
20 Stage AE, Pittsburgh, PA
21 Kool Haus, Toronto, ON
23 CEPSUM/University of Montreal, Montreal, QC
24 Pavilion de la Jeunesse, Quebec, QC
26 Oakdale Theatre, Wallingford, CT
27 Theatre @ MSG, New York, NY
29 Susquehanna Bank Center, Camden, NJ
30 Tsongas Arena, Boston, MA

DUENSDAY!
Every First Wednesday of the Month @ The Loving Touch
NO COVER!!!

10/29/13

The Dresses @The Magic Stick


The Dresses
opening for The Limousine, with Mona
Saturday, November 2nd, at the Magic Stick
$14, doors at 8

Sure, you’ve probably heard of a boy named Sue, but what about a girl named Timothy? The distinctive female forename happens to belong to the equally unique singer of Portland-based indie-pop band Dresses. Comprised of Timothy Heller (vocals/ukulele/piano) and Jared Ryan Maldonado (vocals/guitar), the frock-rock duo have been playing music together since January 2012 and are eagerly anticipating the release of their SideOneDummy debut album, Sun Shy, digitally on September 3 and physically on October 22, 2013.

Though Heller and Maldonado, both 21, lived only two miles away from each other in Stumptown, it wasn’t until discovering they had a bunch of mutual friends in common online that they decided to connect and try to write music together. “She was coming over one day after school and I was really nervous because I had nothing to work on. I had never written with someone else,” says Maldonado, remembering the first IRL encounter he had with Heller. “As she was actually getting off the bus, I wrote the first few lines of ‘Blew My Mind.’ She came in, I played it for her and she loved it.”

Not only is “Blew My Mind” the first song Dresses ever wrote together, but it’s also the first single off Sun Shy and perfectly summarizes what the band is all about, musically: Sunny melodies and dynamic guitars with a lyrical undercurrent forced by bruised hearts and broken dreams. Whether listening to “Back To Life,” a playful tale of new love, or “Tell A Lie,” a refined romp about making every moment count, Heller and Maldonado are able to artfully balance introspection with affection. In fact, writing about love comes easy to the couple, which happens to be dating in real life.

“It’s nice because we enjoy spending time together and I love listening to what she writes and sings,” says Maldonado of the pair’s personal and professional partnership. Adds Heller, “It makes things really easy, nice and comforting. Showing music you’re working on to others can be difficult, but it’s a lot easier to show Jared something personal I wrote because we’re so close.” For now, though, the lovebirds are concentrating on the release of Sun Shy and sharing the beautiful music they make together.

Braids @The Loving Touch


Braids
with Kodak to Graph
Wednesday, October 30th at The Loving Touch
$12, doors at 8

After having released their critically acclaimed debut Native Speaker in 2011, and hot off the heels of their 12" single In Kind // Amends, BRAIDS have returned with their new LP Flourish // Perish out August 20th on Arbutus Records.

Flourish // Perish showcases the strength of the band as a collective, and explores their burgeoning love for electronic music. Here, the band brings their widely disparate strengths together to create a distinctive voice; the organic and complex rhythms dance and spar with sparsely decorative sounds, often fragmented and tampered. Interwoven amongst these threads is the layered voice of Standell-Preston, her engaging lyrics and human performance drawing the listener close.

After 18 months of touring in support of Native Speaker, along with the departure of a band member, the group secluded themselves in their Montreal studio for a year of writing and recording. While Native Speaker was written in an organic and live environment, the group sought to explore a more introspective and electronic approach to songwriting. Sonically, the songs from these sessions are delicate and tight, yet thoughtfully open up to the rich lushness reminiscent of their older material. Lyrically they are honest and vulnerable, demonstrating the group's emotional growth and maturity since their last record.

With Flourish // Perish, BRAIDS marks an exciting new partnership with Montreal-based label Arbutus Records.

Detroit Fanfare – Best Year Yet!

Another Detroit Fanfare has come and gone and with it hundreds of comic fans have come home with great memories and loot from the show.  Having spent time all 3 days at the show I can  tell you this was a carefully coordinated show with the comic book fan as the priority.  

This year’s show hosted 3 large conference rooms, each with their own theme and draw to ensure there was plenty for attendees to see and buy. One room was set aside for the celebrity guests and arts and crafts, another for vendors and comic creators and one more for comic artists and independent publishers. 



For the celebrity guests, Brian O’Halloran of Kevin Smith’s Clerks was a terrific host as he spent ample time with fans and hosted a panel with voice actors from Adventure Time and Futurama. I stuck around in the panel room for a talk with Esme Bianco who played Ros on Game of Thrones. While Ros was more of a secondary character of the show, she had some quite memorable scenes in each season. Esme was absolutely charming and stunningly beautiful. This was only her second Comic Con experience with her first being San Diego.



Sunday was a day for kids at the show with a costume contest and the staff of Detroit Fanfare made sure the kids were entertained in a friendly comic environment.  Both Saturday and Sunday brought good size crowds to the show with many in costume. My one regret from the show was not being able to attend the many activities they had scheduled each night as I’m sure they were all a blast.



With this year’s show being such a success I am already eager to see what surprises Detroit Fanfare has in store for us in 2014.

This post by Mikel O.D. of MPAD Media where you can see more Detroit Fanfare pics

NEXT MONTH: Michael Nesmith @ Magic Bag




MICHAEL NESMITH EMBARKS ON
“MOVIES OF THE MIND” U.S. TOUR
OCTOBER 27-NOVEMBER 24
Career retrospective set will highlight post-Monkees repertoire.
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA — In a reprise of his U.S. tour earlier this year, Michael Nesmith will embark on a 21-date, 19-city tour of the East Coast, Midwest and South from October 27 through November 24. Dubbed the “Movies of the Mind Tour,” the shows will touch on the highlights of Nesmith’s 50-year music career.
Nesmith elaborates on the concept: “This tour amplifies and expands the notion started a few tours ago of the Movies of the Mind. As an introduction the songs are placed in a setting for the audience — just a simple straight-ahead notion of where the song might live — a setting like the setting for a gemstone in a ring or a bracelet or on a necklace. The songs and performances and arrangements remain the centerpiece so it is an evening of music well played. But the Movies of the Mind idea has been so well received that I have refined it and brought a few more songs into the concept.

Nesmith is a musician, songwriter, actor, producer, novelist, businessman and philanthropist, well known for his start as the singing, wool-capped, Gretsch guitar-slinging co-star of the Monkees television series (1966-68). His songs were recorded not only by the Monkees (“Papa Gene’s Blues,” “The Girl I Knew Somewhere,” “Mary, Mary,” and “Listen to the Band” among others) but also by Linda Ronstadt & the Stone Poneys (“Different Drum”), the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band (“Some of Shelley’s Blues”) the Butterfield Blues Band and Run-DMC (“Mary Mary”). 

He executive-produced the movies Repo Man (1984), Timerider, and Tapeheads and founded Pacific Arts, a record, film and video production house and book publisher. He was the first and only winner of the Grammy Award for Video of the Year for his 1981 long-form video Elephant Parts. He is also the inventor and founder of Videoranch3D, for which he holds a patent.

With the notable exception of “Listen to the Band,” the tour will focus primarily on Nesmith’s post-Monkees work, both solo and with the First National Band. This body of work has been described by Rolling Stone as “the greatest music never heard.”

 “I hope these tours will increase the interest and serve as a way for people to discover this music,” Nesmith adds. “It is a lot of music created over a lifetime and I believe people will enjoy finding it once they do. I am having a lot of fun and loving the performances, so I want them to grow in attendance and frequency and do more. The players are all wonderful and inspired by the show so it is a great evening.

“We are going back to many places we have already played — where the shows were sold out and there was a demand for repeat performances — but for the most part this tour goes to new venues in new areas where we hope to introduce new audiences to this music and presentation.

“I think it makes for a great evening out,” he concludes. “At least for me it does.”

Michael Nesmith’s Movies of the Mind U.S. Tour
Sun., Oct. 27  PHOENIX, AZ MIM Music Theater 
Tues., Oct. 29 AUSTIN, TX  One World Theatre
Wed., Oct. 30  DALLAS, TX The Kessler Theater  
Fri., Nov. 1  BIRMINGHAM, AL The WorkPlay SoundStage 
Sat., Nov. 2  ATLANTA, GA Variety Playhouse
Mon., Nov. 4 VIENNA, VA (DC metro) The Barns at Wolf Trap  
Tues., Nov. 5  ANNAPOLIS, MD Rams Head On Stage 
Thurs., Nov. 7 BAYSHORE, NY YMCA Boulton Center for the Performing Arts 
Fri., Nov. 8  PHOENIXVILLE, PA (PHILADELPHIA metro) The Colonial Theatre 
Sun., Nov. 10  SHIRLEY, MA The Bull Run Concert Series 
Mon., Nov. 11  FALL FIVER, MA Narrow Center for the Arts 
Tues., Nov. 12  ENGLEWOOD, NJ Bergen Performing Arts Center 
Thurs., Nov. 14 ELYRIA, OH (CLEVELAND metro) Stocker Arts Center 
Fri., Nov. 15  CHICAGO, IL City Winery 
Sun., Nov. 17  FRANKLIN, TN (NASHVILLE metro) The Franklin Theatre 
Mon., Nov. 18  FRANKLIN, TN (NASHVILLE metro) The Franklin Theatre
Tues., Nov. 19  ST. LOUIS, MO Old Rock House 
Thurs., Nov. 21 FERNDALE, MI (DETROIT metro) The Magic Bag
Fri., Nov. 22  BLOOMINGTON, IN  Buskirk-Chumley Theater 
Sat., Nov. 23  CHICAGO, IL City Winery (encore performance)
Sun., Nov. 24  MILWAUKEE, WI Turner Hall Ballroom
  






TONIGHT: Folk-pop lady trio Laura Cortese and the Dance Cards play Lo and Behold Records in Hamtramck October 29

Folk-pop lady trio Laura Cortese and the Dance Cards play

Lo and Behold Records in Hamtramck October 29

 

October 29, 7-10PM: Laura Cortese and the Dance Cards, Laura Cortese (fiddle, vocals), Mariel Vandersteel (fiddle/hardingfele/vocals) and Valerie Thompson (cello/vocals) will take their contemporary folk trio sound to Lo and Behold Records October 29 in Hamtramck 7-10PM.  Laura Cortese and the Dance Cards will be of particular interest to 20 and 30-something audiences who are into stylish Americana/folk with smart, sophisticated musical arrangements.

 

While lush fiddle stylings root their music in a folk tradition, Cortese's vocals are as modern and savvy as they come.  The trio's creations are dark and dreamy: multi-textured gritty and personal original songs with plenty of inspiration from Americana and pop greats.  Vandersteel's sensitive fiddle accompaniments, and Thomspon's rock-solid cello grooves are all over Cortese's latest album "Into the Dark" (released spring 2013). The project has been widely celebrated in music outlets such as No Depression, and Beat Surrender, who describe the album as "a musical landscape [that] is one to admire from afar and in its minutiae." Critic Bill Copeland says, "There is nothing as successful in music as an artist like Cortese who can make you feel the complex emotions of her poetry."

 

During the "Into the Dark" CD release tour, the trio decided to hang their stars together and form the group Laura Cortese and the Dance Cards. Says Cortese, "From the first gig we just felt like we were in it together. Real camaraderie...all of us mischievously looking for fun on and off stage." Among their tour essentials are "a phone charger and a disco ball for the van".

 

The group recently announced that they have been selected out of 400 bands to participate in American Music Abroad, a program sponsored by the US State Department, to represent American music in a month long cultural and musical exchange in developing countries across the world. They're required to keep mum for now about where American Music Abroad will send them, but they will be hitting the road starting on January 25th.

 

More information: http://amvoices.org/ama/ensembles-2013-2014/laura-cortese-acoustic-project/

 

 

Tuesday: 7pm -11pm Lo & Behold Records 10022 Jos. Campau, Hamtramck, Michigan 48212      

$5 - $10 suggested donation

 

Venue Website:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Lo-Behold-Records-Books/169273005881

 

10/28/13

Show Review: Gungor @ St. Andrews Hall 10-26-13


Imagine if a cello and a banjo had a baby, and then someone put a pedalboard and synthesizer in its crib. This is one way Gungor (rhymes with hunger) describes its musical sensibilities: alternative, folk, textured and experimental.

The alt-folk collective - fronted by husband/wife team Michael and Lisa - brough its 60+ city headlining tour to Detroit on Oct. 26.  The "I Am Mountain" run of shows follows Gungor's Sept. 24 release of its 12-track album of the same name.

An amazing group of musicians with an awesome mix of instruments makes for a truly unique and moving show.  The strongest song of the show was by far the title track from the new album "I Am Mountain".  Check out the video below and do yourself a favor and check them out live!



For my photos from the show click  HERE.

To see what others are saying about a couple of songs check out these articles.
USA Today
American Songwriter
 
For more information on Gungor, visit:
http://www.gungormusic.com/
https://twitter.com/gungormusic
https://www.facebook.com/gungormusic

 

SHOW REVIEW: Judith Hill live at Palace of Auburn Hills by AmyW

After attending Josh Groban's concert Wednesday night,
its obvious why he chose Judith Hill as his opener. 
 
While she may have been a relatively unknown name to many at the beginning of the show, it didn't take long for her to make her name a memorable one for everyone that was fortunate enough to be there and experience her outstanding performance. This young woman's vocal talents were clearly and quickly made known to all in the packed the Palace of Auburn Hills last Wednesday night. Reminiscent of a young Diana Ross, Hill held a captive audience as she beautifully demonstrated all octaves while singing anything from soft, passionate ballads to powerful and energetic soul.  Her acapella  piece had the stayed crowd waiting for the crescendo and inducing goose bumps for many. She has an understated, yet confident presence- analogous to her dress that was elegant and simple, yet, a bold electric blue.
 
Judith Hill is refreshing and natural.
 
Unlike other musical artists her age, Hill's performance  wasn't filled with antics and choreographed moves- it was purely and simply about her extraordinary vocal talent. She didn't seem to need or demand the spotlight as she gracefully moved about the stage amidst the other musicians. She accompanied Josh Groban for two of his songs and she was easily a welcome addition and held her own.
This audience clearly enjoyed, appreciated and respected her skills. Judith Hill has the style and diversity to capture audiences of all ages. 
 
It's easy to see how she is a rising star and certainly a name we will be hearing more of in the future. 
 
Get more info here on Judith Hill