Rob’s Album Of The Week: The Slackers
Ska is a genre that has been in a bit of a crossroads over the past few years. It’s kind of in the same position punk rock was in the late 2000s, out of the limelight but still around somewhat, and there’s a dedicated fan base still packing venues to dance to the rhythms. For 25 years The Slackers from New York City have been keeping two tone alive and they’re not going away. Furthering the latter is their brand new self-titled album coming out on February 19. Bringing that trademark jazzy spin on the genre, Vic Ruggiero and crew haven’t slowed down at all since coming up from Manhattan in 1991.
The groovy sextet from The Big Apple incorporates a bit of psychedelia and garage rock in their latest release. Each track brings something different; a few are heavy with the horns while others have the keys as the base of the entire song. It definitely makes the experience a stimulating one. It’ll be difficult to grow bored while diving to this one. Ruggiero also brings that laid back soul he’s known for to keep everything timeless.
Is Ska due for the 4th Wave? Only time will tell. It’ll take a bunch of kids rejuvenating the rude boy ideal and that’s only a small part of what it’ll take. A big part of this weekly review are my top tracks off of the Album Of The Week. Open wide, take a bite, repeat and get your fill.
A haunting intro revolving around poker kicks off “The Boss.” A bit of doo-wop is present while the horns and harmonies rhythmically make the track pop into your ear drums. The keys shout in “Go Go Go” and when everyone else joins in it resonates a pleasant sound. The alto sax from Dave Hillyard adds a different dimension as well. One that’ll get your movin’ is “Pockets Of A Rich Man.” It’ll get you off your seat and you’ll start boogying in an instant.
New England ska fiends can check out The Slackers on the same day as the release of their self-titled album at The Outer Space in Hamden, CT. It’ll be the first show of this year’s tour so why not go see the band fresh out of hibernation? Whereever you see The Slackers this year, grab a copy of their new record. It’ll give you a sensation that’ll take you places.
Pre-order The Slackers’ new album here: http://brainlabgroove.bandcamp.com/album/the-slackers The Slackers’ Website: http://www.theslackers.com
Rob’s Album Of The Week: Moon Tooth’s Chromaparagon
Metal is a wildly diverse style of music, but there’s also redundancy — fans are tired of the same old black metal band or stoner fuzz act playing tiring songs with no substance. There’s an explosive act from Long Island that’s been shaking things up lately that you have to check out. They go by the name Moon Tooth and their new album Chromaparagon is an absolute ripper. It’s incredibly forceful with tons of infectious energy that’ll leave you in awe.
For a metal band, Moon Tooth has a pretty unique sound in a sense that they fuse a lot of interesting dimensions together. Nick Lee’s guitar has a mathy tone while John Carbone sings with a lot of powerful soul. It’s definitely a refreshing brand of rock that blows your mind. The complexities throughout Chromaparagon makes the whole album very enjoyable to blast through your speakers. The unpredictability that each track possesses makes the album exciting and electrifying.
It’s fantastic that Moon Tooth didn’t use a metronome or any tuning software during the creating of Chromaparagon. There’s a genuine quality to the production that you have to respect. To explore the album as a whole, let’s dive into my top tracks off the Album Of The Week.
“Vesuvius” is a two-part song that features guest vocals from Providence’s own Roz Raskin. The track has a lot to offer with multiple progressions and a driving rhythmic force throughout both parts. You can really grab a hold of Lee’s mathy tones in the beginning of “Offered Blood,” but the breakdowns give the track a poetic aesthetic. A thrashing rip-roaring track, “Bats In The Attic” is a scorcher that’s extremely fast and epically amazing. Moon Tooth are currently in the middle of a tour in support of Chromaparagon that’ll be landing them at the Tap House in Norfolk, Virginia, with Savage Kenny and The G-Bombs. Everyone in the area should go because Moon Tooth are spellbinding when they play live. While you’re there, grab a copy of Chromaparagon and get your brain melted.
Stream & Buy Chromaparagon here: http://moontoothny.bandcamp.com/album/chromaparagon
Moon Tooth’s Website: http://moontooth.org
Star Trek: The Ultimate Voyage – Boldly Going Where No Orchestra Has Gone Before
Callling “Star Trek” a successful television and film franchise is a grave understatement. People are addicted to it. They watch every episode of every incarnation, dress up as characters and flock to conventions. On Valentine’s Day at the Providence Performing Arts Center, fans will find one more thing to flock to. There’s going to be a celebration for the franchise’s 50th Anniversary called Star Trek: The Ultimate Voyage. It features a live orchestra performing music from each incarnation of the series accompanied by video footage shown on the big screen. To prepare for this uniquely spectacular event, I had a chat with acclaimed conductor and show producer Justin Freer about conducting when he was a teenager, performing film scores and what the future holds.
Rob Duguay: Which series of “Star Trek” do you like the most?
Justin Freer: The answer is different now than I think it was before I started producing this project, really getting into it and immersing myself into the environment. I was born in 1980, so I grew up with “The Next Generation;” I didn’t have a chance to grow up with the original series like generations before me did. However, while I still love “The Next Generation” very much along with “Deep Space Nine,” “Voyager” and “Enterprise,” the original series has become a favorite for me over the last year or so because of the escapism.
Admittedly, I wasn’t that familiar with the original series before I started immersing myself in this world, but the amount of escapism that the producers, the composers and the actors were all forced to try and create because of limited technology and make us believe that they’re on another planet is staggering. I think being forced into that environment allowed them to have a freedom to create some wonderfully memorable and iconic moments. So much fun was had on that series and as a result, it has become one of my favorites.
RD: To do what they did with the series in the ’60s is pretty amazing.
JF: It certainly is. And one of the most important elements that created this idea of otherworldliness, other cultures and other locations was the music. The music was done by so many different composers, including Gerald Freed or Saul Kaplan. They had so much freedom to experiment and try different things, using traditional instruments and making non-traditional sounds. I think all of these musical elements really contributed to us feeling and believing that we were someplace other than where we really were.
RD: You had your professional conducting debut when you were 16. What was the venue, and do you remember which piece of music you were conducting?
JF: I was conducting a mix of my own music that I composed at that time and some concert wind symphony music that was composed by some very well-known wind composers. There was a work by Vincent Persichetti who is well known within the classical world. We performed it at one of the performing arts centers in Orange County where I grew up, and from then on it’s been a very humbling ride filled with great joy and great musical opportunities. I’ve been very lucky to partake in this “Star Trek” journey. I would have never thought when I was 16, 25 or even 30 years old that I would have had this opportunity to study “Star Trek” lore, “Star Trek” mythology and “Star Trek” music in a way that even my time as Jerry Goldsmith’s student never really revealed. And now it’s a brand new thing.
RD: You’ve also been part of live performances of music from The Lord Of The Rings trilogy, Titanic and The Godfather, among others. Can it be difficult to master the music from movie soundtracks due to their unique progressions?
JF: I think that mastering music comes with a similar set of study tools regardless of the genre the music was written for — whether it was opera, ballet, chamber music or in this case, film and television music. Great music is great music and all great music deserves to be analyzed, studied, appreciated and respected. I think if you go into music with that mindset and that window of opportunity, then it’s a lot easier to humble yourself and immerse yourself in a positive way in these music scores. The added challenge of synchronizing the music to picture is something that you don’t experience in any other genre of music.
You come close with opera and close with ballet because there is synchronization required with the singers, the dancers and the actors on stage, but it’s not nearly as precise because it doesn’t need to be. In that way, I think that there’s an added level of challenge and perhaps an added level of stress that comes with conducting this on stage and restoring it to picture. Along with that, there’s an added level of enjoyment and an added level of restoration that I hope we all feel was worth it at the end of the day. In that way it’s a wonderful opportunity to restore these things and do them to picture, have the wonderful challenge with the musicians on stage — all 80 of us or 20 of us or 95 of us — seeking that same goal and living through that same challenge together.
RD: Have you ever considered writing your own music for a film score in the past or have you ever been offered the opportunity to do so?
JF: Sure, I’ve done a number of independent films in years past. The past few years have been much more conducting-heavy and classical composition-heavy. I still write music for the concert stage, wind symphony orchestras, chamber music, things like that. I certainly would never shy away from an opportunity to write more music for film and television should it come my way. You just never know where your career takes you in your journey. I did a little bit of that when I was younger, but the art form of putting music to picture has been one of my great passions since I was a boy around 9 or 10 years old. I think it’s an incredibly important art form in music history. I hope the universe presents more opportunities for me to immerse myself in it further. It’s a great joy.
RD: Do you plan to perform film scores in the future? If so, which ones can we expect?
JF: My answer to the first part of that question is yes, absolutely. I’m very excited to share some things coming up; we recently added It’s A Wonderful Life to our roster. We restored so much of Dimitri Tiomkin’s unused music from the original Frank Capra classic and now the version with the orchestra in the concert hall to picture is so very beautiful. We’ve done Breakfast At Tiffany’s, which is one that we recently did last year. Coming up we have some really wonderful projects, we’re doing a Dreamworks project where we’re doing a franchise celebration of all the great Dreamworks animation.
RD: That’s cool.
JF: Yeah, 22 years worth of Dreamworks animation shared over the concert evening. Clips and montages and all the great music from all the Dreamworks animation movies and there’s so much great music there. We’re just about to start doing Braveheart — the brilliant music score by James Horner who was a dear friend and colleague who we lost last year in a tragic plane crash in California. With that comes a very personal responsibility to do it right. So those are a couple of our upcoming ones this year, I’m excited about it and I really hope we continue to do more of these.
Star Trek: The Ultimate Voyage takes place at PPAC on February 14, 2016. For tickets, go to http://www.ppacri.org/events/detail/star-trek-the-ultimate-voyage
Lord of the Wings: A Tantalizing Tour
Since the emergence of the timeless buffalo wing as a popular bar delicacy at the legendary Anchor Bar in Buffalo, New York, during the 1960s, the chicken wing has become an American quick eats staple. You can get a wing doused in multiple sauces and/or spices, fried in batter or without and the price per wing usually amounts to pocket change, and fans of the wing flock to places with the best wings to chow down on. With their third edition of the Lord Of The Wings, RI Food Fights put on a competition during the month of January with 21 Rhode Island establishments entering the competition. Scoring on a scale of 1 to 8 bones (1 being the worst, 8 being the best), I went to each place and picked who I thought should win.
Biergarten (114 Spruce St, Providence) — Mango Habanero There aren’t many places in Providence that made me want to leave as soon as I walked in, but Biergarten was that place. First off you had an Italian guy dressed up in German lederhosen. Second, every waitress had to wear these skimpy little outfits and each one looked like they wanted to quit yesterday. And the menu didn’t even have Habanero spelled correctly. The wings were okay — nothing spectacular. I’ll be surprised if this place lasts more than a year. – 1 Bone
English Cellar Alehouse (165 Angell St, Providence) – Mango Habanero I remember when the English Cellar Alehouse was just a cellar, but now they have an upstairs as well. I got the Mango Habanero wings and they were surprisingly subpar. The sauce was a tad bland with no kick. I’ve gotten the same kind of wings from Domino’s before and they had more flavor. The wings were lacking in size, too. It was disappointing. – 2 Bones
Wings Over Providence (725 Hope St, Providence) – Jamaican Jerk Over in Hope Village, Wings Over Providence is a no-frills establishment where you know exactly what you’re getting when you walk in. I got the Jamaican Jerk wings. They were very flavorful, but also a tad overpowering. A plethora of spices made for an intense eating experience. The wings themselves were great, but the sauce nearly knocked my tastebuds out. – 4 Bones
84 Tavern On Canal (15 Canal St, Westerly) – Kung Pao 84 Tavern On Canal in downtown Westerly has a great happy hour where you can get some amazing brews for cheap. Unfortunately their wings didn’t add up that well, but it was probably because I got the wrong flavor. Their Kung Pao wing was pretty much soy sauce and cashews with a side of greens. The wings were perfectly fried, but they should have upped a bit on the sauce. – 5 Bones
Federal Taphouse & Kitchen (279 Atwells Ave, Providence) – Asian Sesame The name of the place gives away the location and Federal Taphouse & Kitchen is a fairly interesting spot. You don’t usually see places specializing in craft beer in the center of a place like Federal Hill. I got the Asian Sesame wings and the sauce was on point. I just didn’t like how the bones fell apart when I took my first bite. – 5 Bones
Wes’ Rib House (38 Dike St, Providence) – Hot BBQ Wes’ Rib House has been bringing St. Louis style BBQ to the Olneyville neighborhood of Providence and has garnered awards and the good words of Providence’s inhabitants. Their Hot BBQ wings were okay — the sauce has that vinegar taste and the wings were average size. I wasn’t amazed, but I do plan on going back there for other things on their menu. – 5 Bones
GPub (61 Orange St, Providence) – Chipotle Smoked BBQ A speakeasy style establishment in downtown Providence, GPub has an atmosphere that combines the aesthetic of a sports bar and the ambiance of a classy restaurant. I got the Chipotle Smoked BBQ wings and they were outstanding. The wings themselves were hearty and tender while the sauce was robust and flavorful. I wish the sauce was a little warmer, but they were enjoyable. – 5 Bones
Rhode Island Billiard Bar & Bistro (2026 Smith St, North Providence) – Hot Buffalo This place has been a haven for poolhall junkies for quite some time, and it’s also a quality place to get a good beer when you’re running low on cash. Rhode Island Billiard Bar & Bistro is located in the Centerdale area of North Providence and it’s as classic as it gets. I got the Hot Buffalo wings and it was a standard no nonsense, quality and flavorful wing. The boldness of the hot sauce spoke volumes. – 6 Bones
Citizen Wing – Volcanic Ash One of the many food trucks that you can find all over The Ocean State, Citizen Wing lives up to their name by serving delicious wings. I got the Volcanic Ash, which is a sauce made of Honduran coffee, fig jam, cardamom and habaneros and it was very tasty. My only criticism is that the wings were a tad soggy when I got them, but they were also tender and practically falling off the bone. – 6 Bones
Cook & Dagger (566 Putnam Pike, Greenville) – Sweet & Spicy Smoky Jalapeno Right in between Smithfield and Burrillville is the village of Greenville, and that’s where the nice little restaurant known as Cook & Dagger is located. What’s cool about this place is that they have a Wing Du Jour that switches up every day. On the day I went they had these Sweet & Spicy Smoky Jalapeno wings that had a distinctly robust flavor. The wings could have been bigger, but overall it was a great experience. – 6 Bones
Elmwood Diner (777 Elmwood Ave, Providence) – Coca-Cola Wings This old school diner has been getting the word out about their breakfast, but their wings were out of the ordinary. These wings were fried in a Coca-Cola infused batter, and it wasn’t really sweet. You could taste a hint of Cola, but nothing totally crazy. I would have liked to see them do an actual sauce with Coca-Cola though. – 6 Bones
Hank’s Down South (33 State St, Narragansett) – Smoked Buffacue This was my first time being at this place located within the Port of Galilee, and I was impressed. Hank is the dog that greets you at the door and Amy is the kind lady who runs Hank’s Down South. She served these big wings that were smoked and beside them were a bottle of homemade BBQ sauce and a bottle of homemade buffalo sauce she let me use at my leisure. So I combined the two and it was impeccable. Hank’s Down South also does live music on Saturday nights and Sunday afternoons. I suggest you head over there and check out a show. – 7 Bones
Rocco’s Pub & Grub (55 Douglas Pike, Smithfield) – Bourbon Bacon Rocco’s has a cool ambience with graffiti on the walls that I instantly dug right when I walked in. With over 50 sauces to choose from, I decided to go with the Bourbon Bacon. I loved how each wing had the saltiness of the bacon and the sweetness of the bourbon reduction. Definitely an exquisite and delicious taste that made me want more. – 7 Bones
Rogue Island Local Kitchen & Bar (65 Weybosset St, Suite 108, Providence) – Apple Habanero I’ve been going to Rogue Island at the Providence Arcade for a few months now and I’ve gotten to like the place. Very laid back with farm fresh food and an excellent beer selection — you can’t go wrong. They had these Apple Habanero wings that had a great balance of sweet and spicy. Nothing overpowering either so even your friend who doesn’t like spicy flavors would be able to enjoy. They were very satisfying and delicious. – 7 Bones Bailey’s Pub (1910 Smith St, North Providence) – Carolina Gold This place gave me a bit of nostalgia when I walked in due to it being part of my days as a student at Rhode Island College. Bailey’s Pub is a classic Rhode Island dive that has great beer and delicious food. I got the Carolina Gold wings, which were in a mustard-based sauce. A bit sweet and a bit spicy along with having a lot of flavor, I might have to come back again. – 7 Bones
The Fire Brick Oven Pizza & Bar (1874 Mineral Spring Ave, North Providence) – Balsamic The Fire in North Providence has always been praised for their pizza, but their wings are pretty good too. Their Balsamic wings were incredible, in a sweet reduction that stuck to the plate and my fingers with a sweet and tangy taste. I was wowed at how delicious these were, I almost asked for seconds. – 7 Bones
SoulFull – Southern Fried You can find SoulFull among the many food trucks located at Kennedy Plaza in downtown Providence on weekday afternoons. Their southern fried chicken wings had me mesmerized with the combination of spices and a light breading. Next time you’re waiting for the bus go over to where they are by Burnside Park and get yourself something good. – 7 Bones
Pizza J (967 Westminster St, Providence) – Smoked Thai Chili Wings Being the rave of dining out in the city for the past few months, Pizza J has been getting a buzz both because of their pies and their wings. Their smoked wings with Thai Chili sauce were impeccable. The subtle smoky and sweet flavors coming together were truly delicious. The tin pail for the bones, the celery and blue cheese were nice touches as well. – 7 Bones
Boneyard Barbecue & Saloon (2247 West Shore Rd, Warwick) – Honey Flustered Down in Warwick there’s a cool little joint that’s a mix between a sports bar and a rock ‘n’ roll bar. With a combination of honey mustard and garlic with a spicy kick, Honey Flustered was outstanding. The wing was perfectly fried, crispy on the outside and tender with every bite. I almost asked if I could get the sauce bottled, it was that good. – 7 Bones
Boneheads Wing Bar (131 Washington St, West Warwick) – Wrong Side Of The Road Last year’s winner, Boneheads Wing Bar, is a wing lover’s paradise. A variety of sauces ranging from the bold and spicy to the sweet and sticky make it that way. I decided to get the Wrong Side Of The Road — Boneheads’ award-winning wing with their trademark honey sriracha sauce. They were succulent and very tasty, I was left very satisfied. – 7 Bones
Tomaselli’s at Rosario (17 Rosario Dr, Providence) – Pink Vodka Anyone who knows me well knows how much I love vodka sauce. Whether it’s on pasta or on a pizza, it’s a love affair that has never done me wrong. Obviously when I came to Tomaselli’s and saw they had that available as a sauce for their wings I had to try it. I was blown away, simply fantastic. The grated mozzarella that topped it off made it even better. Absolute perfection hands down. – 8 Bones
And the winner is….. In my opinion, Tomaselli’s at Rosario takes the title this time around. Regardless of who won, so many places brought their A game and it made the Lord Of The Wings a wonderful month-long edible journey. In February, RI Food Fights are throwing the 1st annual Italian Grinder Throwdown that’s going on all month long all over Rhode Island. Check out their website and grab your passports before they sell out.
RI Food Fights’ Website: http://www.rifoodfights.com Album Of The Week: The Record Company’s Give It Back To You
Music these days is a constantly changing medium. Whether it is how it’s presented, how you listen to it or even the prevalent style of the day, it can be difficult to keep up with it all. What hasn’t changed it that the blues is still going strong. In the 2010s, acts such as Benjamin Booker, Gary Clark, Jr. and My Goodness have been keeping the blues alive with their own brand of rock, evoking sounds of the past. The Record Company seems like they’ll be keeping the trend going with their new album Give It Back To You.
There’s a certain vintage tone coming from this band out of The City Of Angels; you can sense a distinct delta blues influence. A whole lot of rhythm as well makes The Record Company’s sound infectious. Chris Vos croons with incredible range while ripping it on guitar. Alex Stiff holds it down on bass and backing guitar. Marc Cazorla is the backbone on drums while showcasing pristine skills on piano.
The production quality on Give It Back To You has such an old school sound, it makes me wonder if the album was recorded using analog equipment. I guess you’ll just have to ask the band. While you muster up the gumption, check out my top tracks off of the Album Of The Week.
You can hear that twang coming through on “Off The Ground,” a loner’s tale about self-realization and rising above. A jumping beat anchors “Feels So Good” and it’s contagious — an excellent example of how The Record Company’s new album can make you dance. “This Crooked City” is a ballad with a catchy chorus accented by Vos playing slide. Another track with that deep tone is “On The Move,” with its background harmonica making it stand out.
The Record Company will celebrate the release of Give It Back To You in their hometown of Los Angeles at The Echoplex on Friday, February 12. When it comes out next week, grab a copy of the new album from one of the best up and coming bands from the West Coast. Stream “Off The Ground” here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yx2am8wdPmA The Record Company’s Website: http://www.therecordcompany.net
Album Of The Week: Nevermen
Music collaborations seem like they’ve become a yearly thing. Last year pop star maniac Miley Cyrus worked with psychedelic acid punk weirdos The Flaming Lips to put out Miley Cyrus & Her Dead Petz, an album that definitely raised a few eyebrows. This time around we have three different types of artists colliding to create something that experiments and solidifies. Nevermen consists of the soulful Tunde Adebimpe from Brooklyn art rock act TV On The Radio, the crazed genius of Mike Patton who you might know from his work as the frontman of Faith No More, Fantomas and numerous other projects and independent hip-hop innovator Doseone. This little project has their self-titled debut coming out this week and it fires on multiple cylinders.
An album that’s been seven years in the making, Nevermen‘s fusion of hip-hop, trip-hop, avant-garde, synth-punk, soul and triumphant choruses makes it worth the wait. By incorporating so many dimensions, this album is absolutely refreshing; each note takes you to a different place. There’s nothing watered down and nothing bland. All of the colliding styles add a lot of flavor. For example, Adebimpe’s knack for contagious melody and Patton’s aggressive vocal delivery feed off each other. The end result of those two flowing between each other is exciting and invigorating.
With its originality, it’s hard to figure out which tracks stand out on Nevermen’s debut. From front to back each track stands out on its own. It’s a flurry of tough decisions before me, but I think I’ll be alright. Check out my top tracks and encompass yourself in the pristine sounds.
Going out to the downtrodden, “Treat Em Right” has thunderous beats and sly rhymes conveying the feeling of being used and objectified. The beginning in “Mr. Mistake” has a slightly demented festive tone that sounds like it would be part of the soundtrack for a messed up version of a Disney children’s film, but don’t let that fool you. The track’s melodies are catchy and it’s bound to get you grooving. “Hate On” pays homage to the early experimental stages of TV On The Radio by starting a cappella and then a cinematic sound sets in to take you on a rhythmic voyage.
Adebimpe, Patton and Doseone are due to go out on tour in February in support of the Nevermen album, but there haven’t been any dates announced as of yet. Let’s hope they bring this brand spankin’ new project to New England so we can check it out live. Until then, grab Nevermen’s exemplary self- titled debut when it’s released on Friday, January 29.
Stream “Mr. Mistake” here: https://soundcloud.com/nevermenmusic/nevermen-mr-mistake
Nevermen’s Website: http://nevermen.com
Artist Tom West in the Pigeon Hole
Tom West; Photo by Lisa Gourley
The art scene in Olneyville is flat out legendary. A DIY lifestyle encompasses it all with an endless amount of creativity transforming abandoned warehouse spaces into havens of aesthetic beauty. A new gallery is opening up in the epicenter of Olneyville called Pigeon Hole. It’s a giant space that’ll be covered with art — no blank space will go neglected. Dedicated to making difficult art work for the artist and promoting the dark, weird and stupid as a basis for everything, the gallery have its grand opening on January 29.
Showcasing the work of local artists such as Arthur Cayo, Chris Heon, Tim Batty, Daniel Tanner, James Lastowski, Jolly Day, Mackenzie Elizabeth, Robert Houllahan and many others, Pigeon Hole will celebrate Providence’s artist community through diverse pieces of art work. I had a chat with one of the owners of the gallery and a pretty damn fine artist himself, Tom West, about what made him want to create, his love for Andy Warhol and what people can expect at the opening. Rob Duguay: When did you realize you wanted to become an artist?
Tom West: Ever since I’ve been out of the military, I’ve always been art inclined. What I learned while in the military is that you can do anything you put your mind to, so immediately after getting out I wanted to pursue art. Regardless of whether my friends or family thought it was financially viable, I knew I could, so I pursued it immediately afterward.
RD: Your style of art is comparable to Andy Warhol in the sense that it stems from the realm of pop art. Is Warhol an influence of yours?
TW: Warhol is a huge idol of mine. Pop art definitely sang to me as a young person. In becoming an artist I used pop as a platform; I didn’t see the art that I wanted to see after that era. I feel like I’m a continuation of it in a way, but I also tackle more serious issues in terms of religion, education and war as opposed to pop culture, which normally went at the powers that be, the wealthy or whatever. I thought it was important to dig in deeper at the community level, education at the national level, war at the world level and religion. I just felt that it was a very powerful outlet, not full to the extent of what I wanted to see happening in art. I got into art to make what I wanted to see that I wasn’t seeing before.
RD: You take political stances using the pop art style, which has never happened before.
TW: Yeah.
RD: With Pigeon Hole, how long have you and the other people involved had this space?
TW: I’ve been in this space for two years and I feel it’s time to start using it for more than just a craft space. It’s so big, it’s humongous. My friend Ben gave me this space for a great rate, and I’m just taking advantage of it because why not?
RD: Along with a bunch of artists showing their work, what else can people expect from the gallery opening?
TW: As an opening night, it’s a call of forces. There’s going to be a bunch of people coming together showing art, of course. Secondly there will be a gallery DJ throughout the night spinning all sorts of music. We have sponsors, there will be food being served and adult beverages available to people over 21. We’re going to be having some live performance pieces. There will be an area showing video art. The gallery opening will have so much stuff going on, so people can expect to see a lot.
RD: A lot of mediums have transitioned because of the internet — journalism, radio, music and even art where people sell and show their work on their own websites. With all of this happening, what is your vision of art and what it’ll become over the next 5 years?
TW: In Olneyville, the area in general is such a huge hub that the nation is looking at it to be the future of art in Providence. A lot of the organizations that I’ve sat with and talked to at round tables and at board meetings seem to be focusing and telling me that the nation is looking to Olneyville. I don’t know what that’s going to become, I know I’m here with my feet on the ground running and I want to be part of whatever big thing is coming to the neighborhood. I want to be part of it and be relevant within it.
Event page for Pigeon Hole’s Gallery Opening: https://www.facebook.com/events/538393362979716/ Follow Pigeon Hole on Tumblr: http://pigeonholegallery.tumblr.com/
Album Of The Week: Ty Segall’s Emotional Mugger
It hasn’t even been five months and Ty Segall has another album coming out. The last release he was associated with was Fuzz’s II back in October, a ’70s heavy metal adorned garage rock opus that topped the end of the year list of yours truly a month ago. This time around, Segall is going back to doing the solo thing with Emotional Mugger, which is his weirdest release to-date. The California whiz kid is never afraid to push the envelope and he pushes it even further with complexities that promise to flow around in your mind. Plug in to this one and chances are that you’ll feel a little freaky.
Segall fanatics don’t worry, Emotional Mugger isn’t weird in the sense that you’ll be alienated. You’ll still have to listen to it loud and there are those trademark fuzzy riffs and heavy amounts of distortion. It’s weird in the sense of how Frank Zappa was weird. There’s definitely an odd vibe to each track in a similar way to how Zappa was with his music in his prime. It rocks, but with a style and structure that’ll make you think of how Segall formulated each song the way he did. There’s an enthralling quality that’ll make you want to listen to it over and over again just to pinpoint the progressions and multiple tones.
You like noise? Then you’re bound to fall in love with Segall’s new release. It’s like he thought to combine the avant garde with rock music like The Velvet Underground did, but took it even further by being multidimensional with an array of sounds. To get a closer take, dig into my top tracks off of the Album Of The Week:
High chords from the guitar kick off “Candy Sam” in spine tingling fashion; when the downbeat combines with the chorus, you’re going to be boppin’ your head. “Diversion” seems to be carried over from Segall’s recording sessions with Fuzz and he decided to include it in this album. The heavy bass stands out in this one a whole lot. With a laid back and hypnotizing way of singing, “California Hills” has Segall going slow on the vocals with very fast breaks of guitar progressions to keep things interesting.
New England music fans can see Ty Segall with his backing band The Muggers perform at the Royale in Boston on March 1. It’ll be interesting to see how it all comes together on stage and Segall is spectacular live. Grab a copy of Emotional Mugger while you’re there; it’s a tad different, but you’re bound to love it.
Pre-order Emotional Mugger and listen to “Candy Sam” here: http://www.emotionalmugger.com
Ty Segall’s Website: http://ty-segall.com
Motif Interviews Mauricio Ossa of Bellerophon
An electronic act recently started in The Creative Capital that has the potential to get a buzz going in 2016 is Bellerophon, the brainchild of musician Mauricio Ossa. Ahead of the band’s show at Dusk on January 16 with Attleboro synth rockers Cat Has Claws and fellow electronic act Favourite, I had a chat with Ossa about how he ended up in Providence from Chile, his punk rock roots and what Bellerophon’s plans are for the rest of the year.
Rob Duguay: For starters, how did you end up in Providence? You’re originally from Chile, you went to school in Miami and now you’re here.
Mauricio Ossa: I went from Santiago in Chile, my home city, to Miami and I stayed there for a while. Then I realized that I wanted to do more things with music so one day I packed everything, picked up my bass and went to Montreal. A lot of good music was coming out of there at the time — this was 2007. I was following a lot of the bands that were in that scene.
RD: You had Arcade Fire. MO: You had Wolf Parade, Tokyo Police Club and all of these other bands. It wasn’t really anything new and it was recycled, but there’s something different about those bands. When I went there I just had my bass, a cable and nothing else to play with, barely any money, so then I realized that I had to get back to the States. So I signed up for school at Johnson & Wales and that’s how I ended up in Providence. From Providence I kind of ended up moving to other places but coming from Montreal to Providence was pretty surreal. At the time I hadn’t lived in the States for around three years and then I just moved to the East Coast. Everyday it kind of shocks me a little bit that I live in Providence because it’s really random. I’ll ask myself “How am I here?” But it just happened and that’s pretty much the whole story.
RD: Providence is one of those places that if you stay around here long enough you kind of don’t want to leave. You want to stick around and see what’s happening next. What was it like for you growing up in Santiago? Were you exposed to a lot of music?
MO: Yeah, it was amazing. Actually I had a band there, we started as a sort of pop punk band and it was fairly popular. We would do shows where we would cover Millencolin songs and a bunch of other Swedish punk bands we listened to. We’d have a small draw, like 200 people and all that stuff. We started getting really into it, writing our own songs and leaving the covers behind. Then we had a transformation in the early 2000s where we had to go emo. It was new and fresh at the time and those haircuts were new and everything. I remember when we used to do shows together and we’d release demos and stuff like that. This was before Facebook was big, so we would put posters all over the streets and hand flyers to people. We would play shows with friends who had bigger bands and we would open for them and that was the first time I played in front of 1,000 people.
RD: What was the name of the band?
MO: It was called Eimy, pronounced like the girl’s name. We still have videos on Youtube from back then that have 250,000 views. It was really cool growing up because it wasn’t short of any city you could play in. If you wanted to do a show and you had a little bit of money you could just do it. Take the bus or the subway and you’re still in Latin America so there’s still a Latino culture, but you’re influenced by all the outside things. I guess that’s why it wasn’t hard to move to the States because there was already that culture infiltrated into it.
RD: You’re already listening to the music from the States so it wasn’t that hard to adapt.
MO: We didn’t sing in English, we sang all of our songs in Spanish ,but there was still a heavy American influence.
RD: Bellerophon has a synth pop sound that’s completely different than punk rock. What made you want to go that route when you started this band?
MO: Well, two main things. The first one was that I took a long time off from music so when I got back into it I felt like I had to do something and I just did the same thing again. I tried to replicate the band that I had before and you can’t just do that. Eventually I started shifting toward music that involved looping and things like that, stuff I could just do on my own. The first thing I did was get an old school machine but it’s kind of shitty, it’s a Roland MC-303. It’s a synth and you can put compressions, but it’s not analog or anything.
RD: Fatboy Slim did a song called “Everybody Needs a 303.” MO: There’s a bunch of stuff that’s been done with a 303 and I started getting into that. I used to listen to bands like The Knife and LCD Soundsystem and I thought it was really cool because it’s the same harmonies but they’re all mechanized. People in those bands play instruments on top of that and it made me want to try it. I naturally moved away from acoustic instruments, full drum sets and vintage amps to instruments that wouldn’t require as many people, but with the same energy of what I did before. In the beginning I tried adding members but then I realized that I couldn’t work with other people so I just took it all on myself. I find comfort in music that is acceptable but still challenging. It’s all real instruments with a sample and I feel that it’s a natural evolution. Before I wanted to be in a band with people and make music together, and now it’s just a sound that I want to show to people.
RD: You see that happening a lot lately with musicians who’ve been out of bands wanting to do something by themselves, and with technology today you can do that with loop pedals and different kinds of software. You can make anything on a laptop these days.
MO: Say you have a project that you start on your own and you put it out yourself without the help of anybody. It’s just your sound, and if you bring other people into the fold they might change it completely. If you really want to stick to the way you sound you have to go independently.
RD: Absolutely, just do what you want and not have to deal with anybody else.
MO: When you’re 21 you don’t have anything to care about so you’ll more likely want to be in a band. You’ll start caring about other people’s decisions and then life starts getting a little more fast paced and you’ll want to just do things for the reasons why you want to do them.
RD: Very true. As of right now, Bellerophon only has a demo out. Can we expect an actual EP or album in 2016?
MO: Well I just started collaborating with John DeTora from JD Holiday on a new EP. We did some recording at Machines With Magnets and that’ll be out within the next few months. It’ll be six songs and it’s coming together pretty nicely.
Event page for Bellerophon’s show @ Dusk on 1/16: https://www.facebook.com/events/857982577655306/ Bellerphon’s Website: http://www.bellerophonmusic.com
Rob’s Album Of The Week: Radiation City’s Synesthetica Portland, Oregon, act Radiation City convey this synthy style of dream-pop that takes over your senses. Reminiscent of Portishead and Roxy Music, the band takes bits and pieces of trip-hop and art rock and blends it into an art form that’s truly their own. Their upcoming album, Synesthetica, has tracks that’ll entrance you while others will have you shaking your hips. From start to finish, each song brings something different to the table, but the whole album has a distinct flow. Portland has a wonderful music scene, and Radiation City’s new album is an excellent example of that city’s unique culture still going strong.
It’s hard to believe that before Synesthetica was conceived, Radiation City was almost going to call it quits. The base of the band is centered around the songwriting partnership of Cameron Spies and Lizzie Ellison, who are also a couple. Their relationship was falling apart and then they both started recording new songs. Through that they rediscovered the magic of their music. Sometimes the best art comes out of the toughest of times, and Synesthetica is proof of that. The impeccable rhythms promise to make the album one of the best early releases of 2016.
About time I got back to writing this thing, huh? It’s been a tad chaotic start to the year for yours truly, but it’s definitely satisfying to get back to diving into this weekly write-up. Speaking of diving, take a dive into my top tracks off of the album of the week:
The subtle rhythms and beats in “Oil Show” start the track in fantastic fashion, but when the guitar kicks in you’ll be absolutely floored. “Juicy” is the first single off of the album; it has ambient qualities and even a little bit of shoegaze. The beat sets the tone for a groovy track that’ll hook you. With more of an electro-soul vibe, “Milky White” will hit you straight in the heart.
Radiation City will start a tour of the United States and Canada shortly after the official release of Synesthetica on February 12 with Seattle indie rockers Deep Sea Diver. Both acts will make a stop at Great Scott in Allston, Massachusetts on March 3. It should be a rad time, so you should absolutely consider going if you’re in town. While you’re there, pick up a copy of the new album from Radiation City. It’ll take your senses somewhere else and you won’t even have to leave your seat.
Stream “Juicy” on Radiation City’s Bandcamp: https://radiationcity.bandcamp.com/track/juicy
Radiation City’s Website: http://www.radiationcity.net