Category Archives: Music

A R&B Don Is On His Way

While he calls his style of music ‘fun music,’ it is unmistakable to fathom the serious efforts implemented by Adoniz to compose such a manifold of music that lets listeners know that he is not recording just for the fun of it.

“I am taking initiative as far as really understanding what it is to prepare and execute my craft,” stated the Brooklyn native who was raised in Newark, New Jersey.

Thanks to his father’s encouragement and guidance, the 25-year-old’s appetite for music would begin to be truly nourished at the ripe age of nine. On that account, he has harvested his art to become: an arranger, producer, songwriter and vocalist.

Even so, the artist acknowledges the business side of the music industry and is not relying on just his skills. Because of this, he has secured the services of Swan Marketing to do a full campaign in order augment his audience.  As of now, the artist has less than 400 fans on his Facebook and Reverbnation fan pages, which is not worrisome thanks to strong, formative years of performing and respected support.

At church, as an adolescent, the smile-happy artist’s fingertips graced his congregation with harmonic tunes by virtue of the combination of drums and piano. He would not wait long to take his blessing from church to real stages. Soon after, he and acclaimed vocalist Kenneth “CeCe” Rogers realized that apart from being a musician, he was also an exceptional vocalist and crowd-pleasing performer.

As a result, Adoniz has performed on the stages of: the New York Jets Training Facility, NJPAC, Karta, the Mary B. Burch Theater, The Multi Media Arts Center and Rutgers University Football Stadium.

Aside from the performances, Adoniz also has several noteworthy collaborations to his credit. He has worked with: fellow New Jerseyan Chad Piff, drummer Kevin Lamar, Mr. West and renowned Jerry Wonda who has worked with a long list of greats, ranging from Lupe Fiasco to Wyclef Jean.

Yet, he has not solely collaborated with Wonda, for the relationship is more of a mentorship. After growing up watching Wonda play the bass at the church both attended in New Jersey, the two have been communicating weekly for a year. Apart from guidance on the business aspect of the muic industry, Wonda’s ocean of musical artistry moistens most, if not all, of Adoniz’s new music to assure it is not cut-and-dried.

“When I have new music, he is one of the first ears I bring it to,” Adoniz shared.

Now, Adoniz is looking to solidify his greatness with his upcoming solo project. The imminent album is set to encompass the same trait the majority of great artists have put into practice when producing their own work, being different.

“My style of music has direction but can be somewhat random because I try not to allow myself to be placed in a box,” Adoniz expressed.

That attribute separates him from indifferent artists. Still, the Alliance for Lupus Research supporter does not want it to be too extreme, for he stated that he wants to avoid being “so much different where I am on Pluto and no one understands my music.”

The fact that Adoniz uses “everyday experiences” as his material to write has allowed him to succeed in avoiding that so far, as his music has been understood and well-received throughout all of his projects in the tri-state. Be that as it may, as he continues to better his craft even further, he plans to expand his scope of projects, and he has the distinct style of music to do so.

When asked how he would categorize his music, he voiced, “I enjoy pop. I enjoy r&b. I enjoy hip-hop. But, I don’t want to be classified as just an r&b singer or pop singer. It’s fun music. We’ll call it fun music.”

Adoniz – Sex With You

Posted in Music | 3 Comments

From a Finnish Small-Town to The Stages of New York

Oskar behind the drums, where he belongs.

To grow up in Finland, in a small-town of 550 people may not sound like every little boy’s dream. But for someone born with a passion for drumming, this might actually be a wonderful opportunity. With the closest neighbors on a safe distance away, it is only your parents who might stop you from drumming in the middle of the night. Or if you are really lucky, your father might just pick up the guitar and join you. For 22-year-old drummer Oskar Häggdahl, this was exactly the case.

“We would have rock´n´roll jams everyday when my dad got home from work. Once I got old enough I also started having gigs with my dad’s different bands. I was about 7 and everyone else around 40 years old, which was kind of cool.”

Oskar Häggdahl has been playing drums for as long as he can remember. It started as playful banging on pots and pans, until he at the age of 5 got his first real drum kit. Today he lives in New York, one of the biggest cultural cities in the world, with a fresh graduation diploma from the drumming school The Collective soon in is hand.

Since the age of 12 Häggdahl knew that the only thing he wanted was to become a professional drummer. And even if his small-town childhood might have given Häggdahl the background needed to become the drummer he is today, he knew this was not the place he would spend the rest of his life.

“I remember reading the American drum-magazine “Modern Drummer” when I was about 13 years old, and saw an add in the magazine for “The Drummers Collective“, a music school in New York City. I told my parents I wished I one day could go there to study music and drumming,” Häggdahl says.

Now, ten years later, he is one month away from becoming a successful graduate from the same exact school.

Häggdahl admits, that he knew that everything about coming to New York to study would be much more complicated and expensive than for example if going to England. But at the same time he knew that this was the city where he would be able to find everything about drumming he ever could imagine. He adds, “I think I also in a way wanted to make it as hard as possible for myself – to study with the best teachers and really prepare myself for anything that the future could bring.”

The Drummers Collective is part of the National Association of Schools of Music (NASM) accredited music school The Collective. Founded in 1977, The Collective, was created by a small group of professional New York musicians, and is still today a quite exclusive learning center. The Drummers Collective offers drum set players and percussionists everything from private classes to a full-time two year long program.

Häggdahl is happy with his experience at the school, and says that the all-star faculty is definitely what makes it special. Specific programs and personal focus on each student is also made possible because of the small amount of students the school allows for each year. Häggdahl also stresses the good vibe that he feels among his fellow students and the teachers as one of the advantages of a small school.

The high level of education provided can also bee seen in the tuition. With a fee of $60,500 for the two-year long full-time program, students at Drummers Collective must be ready to invest in their future. For Häggdahl, the choice of moving to New York did also mean giving up the free education that Finland provides. But for this young drummer, the life in New York has been worth every dollar.

“So much have changed in my life since I moved here. Not have I only become a better drummer, but I have grown as a person and gained confidence. In the music business it is all about making contacts and getting your name out there, and New York is the perfect city to do it in.”

According to US Bureau of Labor Statistics about 189,000 people in the United States work as full time instrumental musicians, and over half of them are self-employed. In New York, only 16,670 out of its 8 million habitats are making their living out of music. But off course, one should never stare blindly at statistics, especially in such diffuse category as “musicians.”

Even if the statistics are on the gloomy side, Häggdahl looks brightly at the future. Being far from done with everything this city has to offer, he has no plans on leaving the city, even after graduation. Häggdahl has already found several bands and artists interested to collaborate with him, and plays both in a studio and up on stage on a regular basis.

Bass-player Brian Holz is one of them who frequently gets together to play with Häggdahl. When asked what it is that makes Häggdahl an interesting drummer to play with, Holz seems to have the answer.

“The best drummers are the best listeners. They provide a strong groove that doesn’t make you doubt your own sense of time. In short, they instill a confidence that makes you play better and stretch your abilities. Oskar is such a drummer.”

“Drumming is pretty much all I have ever done, and it’s also the only thing I could consider my full-time job.” Oskar says with a smile, and continues: “I don’t think there could be a better place than NYC for a drummer to have his work and home…”

 

Posted in Music | 338 Comments

Highlights of “A Great Big Pile Of Leaves”

I really love music and whenever possible, I will be listening to music. However, it is rare for me to go to concerts. I used to go frequently when I was younger, but as I grew older, more responsibilities came my way and there was barely any time to go. Having to attend a concert in an effort to covered a band was an awesome opportunity to relive th past years and get back in tune with the concert scene, which is not only about the artists and the music, but also about the environment and the fans.

I recently attended a concert at the Highline Ballroom Located at 431 W 16th St. I had never been there before, but it is a nice looking place with lots of room. When we arrived, the place was empty for the most part but more people kept coming in as the night moved along. The dowm side of such a place is that drinks are expensive and we could not have access to a table unled we paid $10 per person.

The band my group and I decided to covered was called “A Great Big Pile of Leaves”, a band from Brooklyn, NY who decided to mix genres such as indie, jazz and rock in an effort to be creative and unique. Was their goal accomplished? It is fair to say that their music can be somewhat mellow, but it is not great either.

While they were playing, I had to try to focus on their songs, on their music. The enviroment and my surroundings kept me away from what I was there to do. I was more interested in the look of the place, the lighting and the people singing the songs.  I had never heard of this band before and now that I have, I would probably not follow them because, while their music is not too bad, is not music I would enjoy listening while I do my homework, chores or even to dance to in a club. Their music just does not meet the criteria I like when it comes to music.

I did not have a terrible time either. Being there with my group made the experience much more enjoyable and exciting. It had been a while since I had been at a concert, and even though it was a band I had not heard of before, just being there doing something outside of my routine was good enough for me.

Posted in music reviews | 3 Comments

When a song temps you to move, its magic.

It starts out with fast, dynamic rhythms and extraordinary beats. The song “Pearl” featuring Jean Grae from Black Bottom, is one you would enjoy dancing to in a club. Despite it’s repetitive beats, it gets you on the mood to dance nonstop. Even though there were few changes in rhythm that were confusing for as long as they lasted, the song gets back on track tempting its listeners to keep moving to its beats.

Posted in music reviews | 3 Comments

Keishera James Has Soul Flowing In Her

Keishera James

Looking at Keishera James, you can tell that there is something about her. Sitting in class, she speaks with an energy, a confident air and an enthusiasm for learning. But going to a transit-oriented college like Baruch, it is difficult to get to know the life under those first impressions. Fortunately, this time I was able to learn about the exciting life of one of Baruch’s most accomplished artists.

James, who was born in Jamaica, exudes the diva presence of singers who came before her like Tina Turner and Whitney Houston, who are two of her idols. However, her raspy alto voice is reminiscent of singers like Anita Baker and Tracy Chapman, one of the artists who helped James to overcome her past fear of her own voice.

“One of major inspirations to become a songwriter was Tracy Chapman because of the way she writes… she didn’t look like the ordinary pop star but her delivery was so powerful and her subject matters were something you could relate to, or if you could not relate, you could picture it…”

And James’ music is similar in that it is a great mixture of soulful, sensual, honest emotion with a laid-back and cool flow harkening back to Quiet Storm soul and R&B music of the late 70s to early 90s. The hint of her Jamaican accent coming through her songs also provides a distinct vocal touch.

On her own since 16, James’ voice and songs have taken her to several places, like London, Paris and of course, New York City, and she will be taking a semester off from school to go to Berlin to continue her career. However, the road to becoming a star has not always been easy. “It’s a hard road to travel because because there are a lot of talented people, especially in New York City. Every other person is a star…” James even wrote a song about it, called “Wanna Be a Rockstar,” in which she sings, “Everybody wanna be a rockstar/don’t nobody have to work for it/some wanna be an overnight superstar/but you and me we have to work for it.”

James continued that there are also a lot of fickle people who do not keep promises and it is hard to find the key people who will recognize you, but she believes in persistence, taking initiative and having encouraging friends. These three things have helped her to have a number of memorable moments, such as a hit song in Europe with Shaggy called “It Feels Right,” and opening for rapper Common in front of a crowd of 25,000 at the Fort Greene Festival in Brooklyn.

Other memorable moments from her career was dancing with David Beckham at a night club (“he was very polite, very nice”), meeting with Ahmet Ertugun before he died, and interviewing De La Soul and Anthony B. During the past two years, she has gone back to school, first at the New York City College of Technology and now at Baruch, which she attended to prove she could get in and is majoring now in Liberal Arts. However, it seems that this interview has influenced her to do an ad-hoc major in music and journalism.

Royalty Network, who signed James in 2007 to their music publishing company had these words to say about her then, “Keishera’s on her way to proving her ability to stand out as a writer and artist. Since her recent introduction to the business, she’s already appeared alongside Shaggy, and #1 Reggae act in France, Lord Kossity. ….while this star-in-the-making hopes to open minds with her unique vocals and reggae-soul fusion, ultimately, she just wants to make good music.”

In an interview with The Grio, singer and producer Teddy Riley commented on how some of the recent R&B music lacked substance, but now it’s starting to come back. Mary J. Blige made a similar comment in an MTV interview last year. James wants to bring as Blige says that “healing power” back to R&B music.

Planning on creating a style of her own, taking soul and infusing it with a little of rock and reggae, James will be releasing three singles, “Rockstar,” “Say What’s On Your Mind,” and “Think of Me,” soon. Asked how she describes her music, James responded, “Passionate! …My music is my salvation… music has transformed any situation…sometimes it’s just hard; fear sets in when you are a musician and you are creative a lot, and it helps to quiet the mind from all the chatter, doubts and fears…music is a remedy for anything.”

[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/oyStDroPvBk" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/g3OOqPcNQy8" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

Posted in Music | 1 Comment

Nobody Beats CD’s

On my way to Washington D.C. this past weekend, Q104.3 (at this point in the trip just background noise) stopped playing classic rock and turned into gargles of static that no turning of any knob would fix. My parents and I hadn’t noticed until we heard fuzzy chunks of some unrecognizable Police song that tickled our ears with enough familiarity to make us crave music once again. In movies or like that Toyota Highlander commercial, parents are always singing an obnoxious song off of an even more obnoxious album. Luckily an old Bob Marley was in the armrest, left over from a previous excursion Upstate, mixed in with Silvio Rodriguez and Salsa/Calypso mixtapes.

My father initially objected, but tired and reluctant to argue from the demanding drive, he succumbed to the idea. “No woman, no cry,” starts Bob, consoling the masses at a live concert, goosebumps on my skin, raising from the dead some memories I hadn’t touched in a while.  I could feel in our shared silent indulgence, that we all sat and remembered what this song meant to us individually.

Ricardo, my older brother by exactly a day and a year, and I bought that album in the basement of what used to be Nobody Beats the Wiz on Steinway street in Astoria. It was our mother’s birthday present. Big chain music stores don’t really exist like that anymore. I remember F.Y.E. was a block south and if they didn’t have what you wanted there you could hop on the R train and pick it up on 82nd street in Jackson Heights. I used to love Virgin Mega Store at Union Square during the summer. I’d walk in and hope to find something good on sale to spend my money on instead of buying bottled water; the store was always cool. I miss it in Times Square too, before it became Forever 21. I took those escalators up and down a million times over and checked out all their Vinyl, all their eclectic aisles. I could have lived there when they started letting us scan CD barcodes for 30-second previews of every song. I was madly in love with music.

When the song ends we all come back and smile. The silence between the songs is filled up by silent humminh of “no woman, no cry.” When the next track starts it hopes to have the same effect, but we just sing along this time, enjoying a CD for the first time since we bought an iPod.

Posted in Music, Music Rant/ love song | 2 Comments

A Great Big Pile Leaves You Wanting More

When they’re setting up on stage you get a sense that A Great Big Pile of Leaves has done this before. Every tuning solo, every beating of the snare, and even the steps they take over tangled wires connecting guitars to amps to the sound system seem inveterate. I believe this band immediately, at least more than I believed the last group, Two Lights, a band still riding the coattails of the Jonas brothers.

Highline Ballroom is comfortably packed by 10pm when the guys take over the stage. The mostly underage crowd, sober from the previous act, begins to pour from the awkwardly placed dining area on the edge of the venue. Fans scream “Yeah Tyler,” as they come closer to being ready. I remember that overwhelming anxiety when I performed with my band, Pyramus and Thisbe, senior year of high school. The Leaves don’t seem phased a moment away from breaking the silence on stage.

“Why won’t they start already, so we can get out of here,” said Theresa, my classmate, forced to a Thursday show in midtown Manhattan, an hour away from her home in Staten Island.

With a heavy flannel shirt and a heavier beard, the drummer announces the beginning of the set with a banging of his sticks. Immediately I see he is going to be uncomfortably sweaty, but not enough to merit removing his shirt like Travis Barker. The music carries a fast upbeat pace, which burns a significant amount of calories but requires very little skill. The guitarists play bright chords, exploring the clarity of their Gibson’s and Epiphone’s, and the bassist glides between a good range of his instrument. It’s fun, and the lead singer breaks out in fervent staccato grunts that strike emotional chords. His presence is strong on stage, as he strums his guitar with calculated precision that make his biceps swell and his forearms vascular.

He’s less clean cut than in the bands music video for the song Aligator Pop . His beard is scruffier, his shirt wrinkled and his boat shoes worn below tarnished blue jeans. The second guitarist, a hired gun for the tour, is wild and dressed in black from head to toe, appropriate because he kills it the whole night. The bassist looks out of place in this band of hipsters, but after the first song boasts, “It’s good to play at home. Well almost, I’m from Brooklyn.”

The rest of the concert neither added nor detracted from the enthusiasm of the crowd.  The same trio screamed “Yeah Tyler,” the same fans danced, and people who knew the lyrics sang bashfully. “It felt like one long song,” adds Theresa as she exits the venue, disappointed. I nod and agree, but it’s one long song I enjoyed listening too.

Posted in Music, music reviews | 231 Comments

An artist for the ages

Singer-songwriter Ari Hest

Singer-songwriter Ari Hest is something of a self-made musician. He learned a little piano as a child and taught himself how to play guitar at 15. Shortly after, he started writing songs and performing. While in college at NYU, Hest produced two EP’s on his independent record label, Project 4, and decided to make a career out of his musical enterprises. Now the artist is releasing his fifth studio album with Downtown Records, Sunset Over Hope Street.

A child to musical parents—his mother, a cantor, and his father, a former jingle writer and sax player—perhaps music came to him quite naturally. But during college, it just made sense.

“I put the books down and started playing more,” he said. Still, it’s his talent that has brought him this far. That, and his affinity to explore and experiment with music.

"Autumn Songs From 52" is one of the season based albums prior to "12 Mondays."

Sunset Over Hope Street is the Riverdale, Bronx native’s latest release in four years. Before this, he’d worked on 12 Mondays for a solid year. It was the culmination of a project where he’d recorded and released a new song to online subscribers every week for 52 weeks; 12 of these tracks were selected by fans for the record.

Another project, The Green Room Sessions, was recorded on Hest’s personal laptop solely using Apple’s GarageBand to include acoustic guitar, electric guitar, bass guitar, keyboards, harmonica, and percussion to accompany his vocals. Such ventures of artistic expression are what make Hest a very unique and innovative musician.

His manager, Michael Solomon agrees. “Ari […] brings the rare combination of songwriting, performing and profound musicianship together with a sense of creativity and fearlessness which allows him to try new and adventurous projects. […] He is a true visionary.”

Ari Hest's fifth album is a surefire pleaser.

Meanwhile, Sunset Over Hope Street shows Hest at his finest and most structured. It’s a mature record with a distinct vocal sound and firm instrumental background that explains Hest’s four year hiatus, over one of which was spent working on it.

“I took my time with it,” he said. “I think my taste has changed. I think I’m a little more cognizant of what it takes to arrange my songs.” Hest also said he’s gotten better at editing and weeding out “songs that really don’t make a difference.”

No wonder Hest calls Sunset Over Hope Street “an album about transition.–Musically speaking, personally, politically.” The album is about things Hest said he’s observed and noted in himself and in others. They speak volumes about anything from relationships to politics and change in the world.

“I think the most natural thing for me to write about is seeing people go through something and talking about it,” he said. “I kind of need to hear about things that are going on that are either interesting or happy or sad or angry or hopeful, all these different factors kind of just add up to writing songs that have more meaning.”

And his songs certainly do have meaning. From the title track, which he described as “a song about learning to let go of someone emotionally that has left you,” to my personal favorite, “Swan Song,” which he said is the only one written out of his imagination. Though it was based on a strange dream he had, he said it might be about global warming. Its lyrics seem to prove that: “The earth below/Drowns in sorrow/Unprepared for/The sudden distress.” => “Swan Song

Lyrics aside, Hest’s solid vocals are firm and edgy yet gentle.  He has a voice close to folk-pop artist Matt Kearney’s, and set to jazzy music akin to Frank Sinatra’s era, his works sound like modern classics.  On this record, the two features are married almost perfectly. Just like music critic James Zahn commented, “[…]Hest’s vocals drive the record – a spacious affair accented by lush instrumentation and ambiance.”

Hest believes this is because he finally took a step back from the do-it-yourself approach, or trying to handle all aspects of a song. Instead, he focused more time on polishing the sounds with the help of producer Alex Wong and performing with other musicians. This evolved approach shows well even in Hest’s  live performances, 29 of which he’s played since the album released in March.

Hest engages with crowds in intimate settings while getting well absorbed in soulfully performing his instrument and his voice. A video of him singing “How Would I Know” at the Mill in Iowa City earlier this year gives you a glimpse into that performance persona. His performances are thoughtful and do justice to the music, especially when Hest himself feels the energy.

“There are moments when I’m on stage when you just feel into what you’re doing and it’s almost like an out of body experience […].”

Yet he said, “The feeling of finishing a song, a well written song, and knowing that you have something significant in your hands, is probably my favorite feeling.”

Although songwriting is his favorite aspect of music, arranging songs has been a growing part of his expertise and Hest would still advocate creating music via the GarageBand type of software.

“That falls under the category of musical self exploration, trying to see whatever you can accomplish on your own without the help of others, without the help of a studio.”

Certainly attesting to being an artist for the ages, Hest looks forward to this new stage of musical arrangement.

“I do think that’s where music is headed more and more. You know, the more you can do by yourself, the better, I think, and technology allows you to do that. So, it’s great.”

Posted in Music | 2 Comments

New Rap City: A Conversation with Group Member Tech Chambers

Luck is said to be when preparation meets opportunity. That saying rings true for how Tech Chambers met C-Style to form New Rap City.

One day while hanging out with one of his friends at their house Tech Chambers heard

Tech Chambers From New Rap City

music coming from a back room. Curious to find out who the rapper was he asked his friend. To his amazement he found out that the person on the track was sitting in that same room.

Two weeks after meeting each other they entered their first competition which they won.

Raised in Harlem the music of New Rap City reflects the desires, struggles and hopes for the future of both C-Style & Tech Chambers. Having both lived less than idea childhoods listening to rap and hip-hop was a way they could both escape the hardships of life.

At an early age C-Style, who is now 26, new that being in the world of rap and hip-hop was exactly where he was supposed to be. At nine years old he began to record himself on his karaoke machine.  With the help of his karaoke machine he made his first mix tape which he titled “In the Time of Crisis.”

By the time he got to high school he was selling CD’s in the hallways. The title of the CD was “The Resume.”

Tech Chambers, who is now 25, grew up in a family where both of his parents were addicted to drugs and his father was truly never around. His brother dropped out of school to get a job and support the family.

The earliest memory he had surrounding music was his brother rapping “Children’s Story” from Slick Rick to him so that he could fall asleep.

C-Style was not available for an interview, but his partner Tech Chambers spoke about the path of the duo and their new album.

When asked about what makes their music different from the rap music that is out there today Tech Chambers said that it was their versatility and their ability to hit multiple different genres and markets. He said “we can use street music, we can do commercial music, we can do dance music, party music. It doesn’t matter it depends on how we feel when the beat is on.”

When it comes to their music they say that they are trying to show people that there are other ways to express oneself other than violence. “If you listen to it it’s not ‘I’ma shoot you in the head, I’ma rape your mother’ kind of music. We inspire people.”

http://youtu.be/q_0IcWmLXLg

Tech Chambers says that his biggest influence, when it comes to music, is Tupac:

“Because he elevated rap to what it is today. Without him, and unfortunately without Biggie [Smalls], rap music wouldn’t have had as strong of an impact as it has. He wasn’t afraid to be versatile. He could make a song like “Ambitious as a Ridah” where he’s talking about being a real dude and doing what he has to do to make it then he can make a song like “Brenda’s Got a Baby”, “Keep Ya Head Up”, “Bomb First” and “Dear Mama” where he’s talking to his mother. His versatility made him shine out through everything else.”

On the website ReverbNation the music of New Rap City is described as “a mix between 50 cent and Cassidy with the chemistry of Redman and Method Man.”

So far they have entered 39 competitions. They have won 37 of them. The biggest monetary award that they have received is 500 dollars. They worked with Paul Wall and DJ Jeevus in the production of their first album. The largest crowd they have performed in front of was 400 people.

ReverbNation goes on to say that for winning a showcase “their grand prize was a mix tape hosted by the Rap Champ Paul Wall, a slot of the highly acclaimed hip hop website www.allhiphop.com and an album release party in the heart of Manhattan.”

With a song like “Pick Up a Book” New Rap City rap about learning through education and striving to be someone good in life. Letting young people now that it is your intellect and not your “street swagga” that gets you places.

However those positive words get drowned out when in songs like “Goldfish” and “It Don’t Make You a MC” the ‘n’ word is used repeatably. I am not here to argue about the meaning of the ‘n’ word or if it has changed, what I am saying is that these guys have major talent and great beats and lyrics, but the overuse of the ‘n’ word makes it so that is all you hear when you listen.

I am aware that many rappers use that word the way the stereotypical person from the Vally uses “like”, however aren’t they trying to be different?

If that word wasn’t said so much their message would come through much clearer.

On their Facebook page they have 32 ‘Likes’, on Myspace they have 99 friends and on Twitter they have 120 followers.

They have performed at Club Element, Sultra Lounge and the Secret Lounge.

Tech Chambers wants many more things in the future. He wants to go into acting, producing, directing and writing: “anything where I can express myself in; that I can turn my talent outward for people to recognize.”

The duo is currently working on a new, as of yet untitled, album. Some of the issues that they touch on in the new album have to do with the status of the music industry.

One aspect is what they see as the radio being one-sided. “You could listen to the radio for five days straight and it will be the same ten artists all day and that’s not exciting” says Tech Chambers.

They also discuss the issue of how, in their opinion, when it comes to the music business it is not talent that gets you noticed, but who you know. If you are not lucky to know anyone in the business then you will be “sitting at home working at Home Depot.”

“The first album was just me letting you know I was here. This album is letting you know that I am serious about making an imprint. I don’t want to be one of those rappers that you see everyday that come out with a hit then two years later they don’t have no more music on the radio cause they just stopped their inspiration’s gone.”

When asked if there was anything else he wanted to say his final words were “watch me.”

Posted in Music | 5 Comments

Aburrido

Quimbombó

Fri, Apr 22, 2011 at 9 PM

Whether it costs money or the admission is free, music could be just loud and obnoxious sometimes.  Free concerts sound like a great idea, but there is a reason why the music is free.

The Bamcafé holds many events that include free performances. The BAMcafé is a small part of the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), which was founded in 1861. This makes BAM America’s oldest continuously operating performing arts center.

Located on 30 Lafayette Avenue, Brooklyn, BAM consists of a 2000-seat opera house, a 800-seat theater, and four other cinemas. Because an escalator can only be able to hold so many people, space in BAMcafé becomes a priority. Just like any other building, it can only hold as much as regulated. If you are even a minute late, you can still miss the show.

Once one enter the caliginous hall, the first thing you may see are the arrays of individuals just standing. Seating is limited, which means one must come at least a hour in advance to each event. One may order food as well if they are seated. The ones who are left standing are left to gather around the bar, where anyone could like the music that is played.

From April 22nd till June 4th, the BAMcafé will add a spice to their everlasting melting pot of cultural events. This spice is the ¡Si Cuba! Festival, which is from March to June. It is held throughout fourteen New York City locations to celebrate or showcase Cuba’s rich culture. BAM will feature seven Cuban bands that includes Quimbombó.

Quimbombó is not your typical plate of gumbo. It is not spicy and it is quite loud. With congas, trumpets,  saxophones, and flutes Quimbombó is as traditional as the spicy dish.  On Friday, April 22, 2011, Quimbombó performed at the BAMcafé.

Quimbombó includes: Nick Herman (director, composer, and arranger), David Oquendo (lead vocals and  guitar), Igor Arias Baro (lead and background vocals), Steve Gluzband (trumpet), Alex Fernandez Fox (third lead vocals), Ricky Salas (congas, vocals), Arun Luthra (tenor and soprano saxophones, flute and clarinet), and Jorge Bringas (bass and vocals). Although the band has eight members, their performance at the BAMcafé included only five with David Oquendo as the main vocalist.

Oquendo, a native of Havana, founded the Latin Grammy-nominated group, Raices Habaneras. He has personally worked with many top artists including Paquito D’Rivera, Cachao, Willie Chirino, Marc Anthony, and Johnny Pacheco. When Oquendo sings, it becomes amateur hour on the dance floor. As young couples look like fools when trying to do the samba, Oquendo pours his heart out on stage. While some were dancing and enjoying themselves, I could not help but feel distant from the music.

No yo no gusto Quimbombó. For those who do not understand spanish, I just said I do not like Quimbombó. The music did not connect with me but it can for other people. Maybe I should have enjoyed the bar like the others did.

[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/P4kjr-OCEdM" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

Posted in Music, music reviews | 2 Comments