Filed under: 21+, All-Ages, Festival, Music, News, NHM, Record Releases, Shows | Tags: Anna Liffey's, Cafe Nine, Cherry St. Station, Elm Bar, Manic Productions, Meriden Daffodil Festival, New Haven 375, New Haven Music, NHM, Night Rainbow New Haven, Reverberation, Rudy's, Safety Meeting, The Outer Space, The Space, Toad's Place
Photo by Melanie Stengel
Maybe its the giant rainbow currently beaming across downtown New Haven, last night’s full moon briefly threatening to crush the horizon, or the city celebrating its 375th birthday but there seems to be all whole lot of ‘something’ going on in New Haven right now. That ‘something’ seems to also be manifesting itself in a whole mess of ass-kicking shows this weekend. It would be damn near impossible to cover everything so here’s a rundown of some of the events we’re most excited about….
FRIDAY APRIL 26
Javelin, Jamaican Queens, If Jesus Had Machine Guns (DJ) @ The Outer Space
8pm / 21+ / $10 / Manic Productions presents /
https://www.facebook.com/events/574304069246404/
Garbage Barge, Tester, Nasty Disaster, Javier/Los DishDogs @ Cherry St. Station
8pm / 21+ / $5 / https://www.facebook.com/events/481308508582324/
The Proud Flesh (Record Release), Hanging Hills, Johnny Mainstream @ Cafe 9
8:30pm / 21+ / $5 / https://www.facebook.com/events/419543721462500/
SATURDAY APRIL 27
Meriden Daffodil Festival, Day 1 @ Hubbard Park including Hostage Calm, The Manchurians, The Alternate Routes, Mark Mulcahy, Goodnight Blue Moon, The Guru, 1974, Daphne Lee Martin, Elison Jackson, The Furors and many more.
10am-9pm / All Ages / FREE / http://www.daffodilfest.org
New Haven 375 @ New Haven Green
1-4pm / All Ages / FREE / http://www.infonewhaven.com/NHV375
Lord Fowl, Backwoods Payback, Sun Gods in Exile, Super Machine @ The Space
9pm / All-Ages / $8 / https://www.facebook.com/events/146902925490185/
Howly Dogs, Hubbell Mountain, Orkestar BAM! @ Elm Bar
9pm / 21+ / $3 / https://www.facebook.com/events/536929343024131/
M.T. Bearington, Cold Fur, Life Eaters, Sperm Donor @ Anna Liffey’s
9pm / 21+ / $7 / Safety Meeting Records presents /
https://www.facebook.com/events/536929343024131/
Reverberation (DJ) @ Rudy’s
9pm / 21+ / $ / https://www.facebook.com/events/158509630978557/
SUNDAY APRIL 28
Meriden Daffodil Festival, Day 2 @ Hubbard Park including Little Ugly, Paper Hill Casket Company, The Peacock Flounders, Breakthrough Frequencies, Rob Messore, Christopher Bousquet, The Mold Monkies and more.
10am-5pm / All Ages / FREE / http://www.daffodilfest.org
Titus Andronicus, The So So Glos, Chris Cappello (Full Band) @ The Space
7pm / All Ages / $15 / Presented by Manic Productions /
https://www.facebook.com/events/141319089379559/
The Dillinger Escape Plan, The Faceless, Royal Thunder, Xenosis @ Toad’s Place
7pm / All Ages / $18/$20 / http://www.toadsplace.com/
Best get yourself out of the house this weekend!
Filed under: Fundraiser, News, NHM, Venues | Tags: Darkroom, fundraiaser, New Haven, New Haven Music, NHM, venue
Anyone who has ever spent time in New Haven either playing shows or attending them knows that there is an ever-shrinking number of venues available. In particular, downtown venues seem to be relegated to either 70-100 person capacity dive bars or 750+ plus capacity music halls, with little variation in between. Enter Darkroom.
Located beneath Devil’s Gear Bike Shop‘s former digs on Chapel Street, Darkroom is a new upstart venue aiming to fill said gap between venue types. At a sizable 4,000 square feet, Darkroom represents a great opportunity for locals to create something that New Haven has been in dire need of since the days of the Tune Inn: a downtown venue that can not only host local shows but also bring in regional or even national acts too big for Cafe 9 or BAR but too small for Toad’s Place. In addition to its primary usage as a music venue, Darkroom will also double as a rehearsal space, gallery and photography studio, further increasing its benefit not only for musicians and fans but also for the area’s visual arts community.
So how do you fit into the equation? Well, in order to bring the venue up to code (including the installation of handicapped access, stage construction, acoustic improvements, and an additional restroom), Darkroom needs your help. A donation page has been set up via indiegogo.com that allows you to contribute to the venue’s construction costs. As an incentive, Darkroom has set up a series of ‘perks’ based on donation size, ranging from a free beer on the house to a fully catered party for you and 40 of your friends. So why should you care? Well, Darkroom’s proprietors have come up with a pretty extensive list of reasons to donate, any one of which is worth it in our book. Overall, New Haven needs a venue like this to help present the over-abundance of talent in the local music and arts community that, in recent years, has had less physical space to do so.
Please check out the YouTube video above for a full description of what the venue is about and what it hopes to accomplish. With your support, we can make this happen.
To donate, please visit http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/building-darkroom-new-haven
For more info about Darkroom, visit https://www.facebook.com/darkroomCT
Filed under: 21+, News, NHM, Reunion, Shows | Tags: Cherry St. Station, Die Hipster, Grammerhorn Wren, New Haven Music, NHM, The Defcon Five, The Gr8 Space Coaster, The Lost Riots
So we here at NHM were super-excited last month to hear that one Gr8 Space Coaster, quite possibly one of the best local bands we’ve ever set our eyes and ears upon, had been resurrected. Furthermore, and to our shock and amazement, shows had been scheduled, including their stop tomorrow night at Wallingford’s Cherry St. Station. This will mark only their second show in 12 years (their first show back happened at Elm Bar on March 29th – by all accounts a blowout). We had to go all the way back to 2001 to find the last reference to a GR8 Space Coaster show (at the Tune Inn, nonetheless). If our memory serves us right, those in attendance at tomorrow night’s show are in for a real treat. As stated on the show’s Facebook event page “there is no way to explain them. it is more of an experience.” Indeed, these guys need to be experienced for yourselves. Joining the Space Coaster are fellow New Haveners The Defcon Five (who are themselves in the midst of a now year plus resurrection), The Lost Riots (who have been EVERYWHERE as of late) and Northampton’s Grammerhorn Wren (garage rock from up top). Rock N’ Roll will ensue!
Specs:
Die Hipster presents
The Defcon Five (New Haven garage rock)
The Gr8 Space Coaster (New Haven legends return)
Grammerhorn Wren (Northampton garage rock)
The Lost Riots (Old school punk from New Haven)
Saturday, April 20th
@ Cherry St. Station
491 N. Cherry St. Ext., Wallingford
21+ / 9pm / $5 cover
Facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/144314989074637/
Filed under: 21+, All-Ages, Festival, News, Shows | Tags: 2013, Coachella, Fauxchella, New Haven Music, NHM, Spaceland Ballroom, The Outer Space, The Space
Who needs Coachella when there’s Fauxchella? This Saturday, April 20th will mark the second edition of CT’s own Fauxchella music festival. After the success of last year’s edition (hosted at Bridgeport’s Gallery 305k), Fauxchella returns with more bands and more stages to wet your indie rock appetite. This year’s festival will be hosted at the newly expanded ‘Space’ venue conglomerate (featuring The Space, The Outer Space and the brand new Spaceland Ballroom) located at 295 Treadwell Street in Hamden. All three venues will be staging shows simultaneously for maximum aural impact. Included on the 18 band lineup are local favorites Fake Babies, Ports of Spain and The Files and Fires (all of whom appeared at last year’s festival) as well as buzz bands The Stepkids and The Guru, among others. Tickets for the full day are a reasonable $18 and can be purchased online via E-Tix.
Here’s a rundown of the complete schedule:
The Spaceland Ballroom (21+)
4:00 27 Prophets
5:10 Political Aninals
6:35 Milksop: Unsung
8:05 Moon Hooch
9:50 The Files and Fires
11:45 The Stepkids
The Space (All-Ages)
4:00 Great Caesar
5:00 A Paper Tugboat
6:00 Ports of Spain
7:00 The Guru
8:00 Modern Merchant
9:05 Bear Hands
10:25 Head With Wings
The Outer Space (21+)
4:40 Erik Lamb
5:55 Party Horse
7:20 Fake Babies
9:05 Jus & Co.
11:00 Kool AD
Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/FauxchellaCT
Tickets http://www.etix.com/ticket/online/performanceSearch.jsp?performance_id=1708589
The NHM/New Haven Music local music blog has been re-activated. Initial focus will be placed upon blog posting/social media with gradual updating of the shows calendar and resource pages. Apologies to everyone who messaged us but did not receive a response; we are slowly going through 12+ months of backlogged messages and will respond in due course. There’s lots of exciting music happening in New Haven and CT now. All we want to do is help promote it and keep the momentum going. Thanks for your patience and remember to SUPPORT LOCAL MUSIC!
Filed under: 21+, Artists of the Month, Music, News, NHM, Shows | Tags: Artists of the Month, Cafe Nine, Chas' Place, Farewood, Legion, New Haven Music, NHM, Ovlov
I know, I bet you thought we forgot about our Artists of the Month series. What’s that? There’s only 10 days left in July you say? Well at least we remembered before August. Ohh? You think we’re nothing but lazy sacks of s***..Hey now! Lay off the expletives will ya? There’s kids here! So we we’re a little late…sorry!
Anyway, this month’s Artists feature a band formed in the 90′s and another band which sound like they could have been formed in the 90′s. Yup, we’re talking about none other than Farewood and Ovlov, the July 2011 NHM Artists of the Month.
Farewood is husband and wife songwriters Lou Lorenzo and Leah Booker. Formed in the mid-90′s, Lorenzo and Booker’s brand of indie rock retains a timeless quality that comes across as both heartfelt and genuine, never contrived or schticky or old. Featuring influences like the Afghan Whigs and the Cocteau Twins, Farewood’s songs are driving yet weather-worn, almost as if they are absorbing the world wholesale into their compositions. The band’s biography attributes much of this old-soul influence to their hometown of Meriden, CT (aka ‘The Silver City’). There the real-life scenes of post-industrial urban blight would work well as a music video to any one of their songs. Rather than sounding grimey or abrasive though, Lorenzo and Booker seem to find beauty in such surroundings and, as such, write beautiful songs filled with warm vocals, yearning guitars and burning melodies. For anyone looking for great indie-rock with a soul, Farewood is what you want.
Although never truly going away, Farewood has found more time lately amongst family obligations to play some higher profile shows. Most recently they landed an opening slot at one of Manic Productions’ Wednesday night BAR shows opening for ExitMusic. In addition they have begun work on a new album that they hope to have out sometime in 2012 (despite their longevity, this will only be their fourth long player).
Better yet, Farewood will be performing tonight at Cafe Nine opening for German singer/songwriter Maren Parusel. You can also catch them Friday, July 29th in their natural environment of Meriden, CT. at Chas’ Place along with Treebeard and Old Man Lady Luck. These both look like killer shows so make it a point to check them out if you can!
Ovlov (yup, that’s Volvo backwards) are an indie rock quartet based out of Newtown and New Haven, CT. Pretty much any description of the band’s sound (including their own) mentions influences like The Lemonheads and Dinosaur Jr. In addition, I would like to throw in a little Blue album era Weezer as well as a whole lot of World of Noise era Everclear. Heck, even hints of Built To Spill and Ash pop up from time to time. Notice a trend here? Ovlov’s brand of super-catchy indie-rock (dare I say grunge?) could have easily fit into 1993 without anyone thinking different. As with Farewood, Ovlov do not sound dated in anyway though. If anything its exciting to hear classic indie rock being reinvigorated so well, and with such authenticity. Overall the band’s attack is relentless and their songs, heavily melodic.
The band’s latest EP (released July 11th) What’s So Great About the City? sees Ovlov turning up the guitar fuzz a bit but also aiming for the pop fences a bit more, especially in the songwriting department. Having just completed a series of shows leading up to their dual record release shows this past weekend, Ovlov’s next scheduled live show as of press time is not until August 20th at Brooklyn’s Legion along with fellow locals Eula. You can listen to the What’s So Great About the City? in its entirety on the band’s Bandcamp page and, if you wish, download it for a price left for you to decide.
Filed under: 21+, Artists of the Month, Music, News, Record Releases, Shows | Tags: Artist of the Month, Cafe Nine, New Haven Music, NHM, Old Man Lady Luck, Snake Oil
So, eleven days into June and we’ve finally selected our Artists of the Month (yeah, we know, about time!). Without further delay, the NHM Artists of the Month are….(drum roll, please)…Snake Oil and Old Man Lady Luck!
‘Snake’ who? ‘Old Man’ what?
Snake Oil is a new instrumental collective spearheaded by drummer extraordinaire Jason Labbe. Comprised of current and former members of Weigh Down, Titles, The Mountain Movers, Atrina, Charles Burst, Latitude/Longitude and Meridians (among others), Snake Oil was initially conceived as a recording-only side project to Labbe’s former main band, Weigh Down. After Weigh Down ran its course, Labbe began dedicating more and more time to working on Snake Oil, in the process bringing in a dozen or so musicians to assist on the project. After a few months of production, the collective had finished a cache of recordings which ultimately formed the running order of Snake Oil’s fantastic self-titled debut album.
Self-released by the band this past Tuesday (June 7th) in vinyl and digital formats, Snake Oil is nothing short of a revelation for those unfamiliar with Labbe’s never-ending well of creativity. Beats (both acoustic and electronic) collide off bass grooves, guitars, keys, synths and percussion with utmost ease as if the instrumentation itself were always meant to be combined in this way. Equal parts funky and spacey, Snake Oil is the rare instrumental album that keeps your attention throughout and doesn’t let go until the final drum hit. Its as if your mind and ears have no other choice but to submit to the aural sermon that is Snake Oil, blindly following each snare roll and bass lick ad nauseam. No other God or stimulation required. Of course, this is not to suggest that Snake Oil overstays its welcome at all. At 9 tracks and just over 30 minutes, Snake Oil avoids the common instrumental album mis-step of overwhelming length, instead focusing on quality not quantity. And with a production this adept at sonic placement and attention to detail, each subsequent listen yields more rewards. Be sure to pick up a copy via the band’s website snakeoilsounds.com or at Redscroll Records. In addition, you can catch Snake Oil live next Friday, June 17th at Cafe Nine as they celebrate the album’s release with fellow locals Atrina and DJ Shaki.
Photo by Miss Angie Chambers
Old Man Lady Luck fit the definition of ‘power trio’ to the T. Featuring members of gonzo-riffsters like the Vultures, Bloarzeyd, Humanoid, Murdervan, The Black Noise Scam and Atrina, Old Man Lady Luck knows how to bring the rock (and also the roll). With this said, don’t expect to hear some kind of boogie-woogie old-time music or an endless barrage of guitar pyro-technics, these guys are HEAVY (with all caps). Inter-changing between funeral pace doom and mid-tempo evilness, Old Man Lady Luck succeeds well at keeping things interesting. Their willingness to experiment with and evolve their riffs especially helps to break up any monotony created by tempo and tone. Although all three members are locked in throughout, bassist Warren Brelsford and guitarist Phil Law seem particularly well paired, playing off each other with ease. In addition drummer Andre Roman’s propulsive percussive work never lets the band’s songs become too sedentary.
This past May, Old Man Lady Luck celebrated the release of their debut self-titled album with a now rare Sunday performance at New Haven’s BAR. Recorded in Chicago with legendary producer (sorry, ‘engineer’) Steve Albini (and mastered by Bob Weston), the album is comprised of six tracks, all untitled. The production and performance is warm, full and crisp, showcasing the band’s unique interplay and dirgy sound in a way that only Mr. Albini could capture well. Be sure to pick up a copy on vinyl via the band’s Bandcamp page or, if you need your fix quicker, download a digital copy free. Old Man Lady Luck will be performing tonight as part of a four band riff-fest at New Haven’s Cafe 9 along with Skeletons In The Piano, VRSA and Treebeard. Bring earplugs and a neck-brace.
