S Album of the Week: the Slackers
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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.