With a debut album entitled The Year of Hibernation and a follow-up entitled Wondrous Bughouse, a blind assumption regarding the artistic direction for Youth Lagoon’s Trevor Powers would probably be accurate. The title, Wondrous Bughouse, certainly suggests a sojourn to the fantastical and that’s very much what happens on the new record. Similarities exist between the two albums, but Wondrous Bughouse is more experimental, more psychedelic, more demanding, and generally weirder. If The Year of Hibernation was Pixar, Wondrous Bughouse is Tim Burton.

It’s always a question of which way musicians will lean after releasing a widely acclaimed album. The Year of Hibernation was easily palatable yet sophisticated enough to avoid being deemed catchy, but what comes next? Stick with the formula? Reverse course? Thankfully, Wondrous Bughouse pushes the envelope in all the right directions. It’s well-produced; the attention to detail allows the depth to reveal itself in layers and the overall level of accessibility is tastefully reduced. It’s a more mature project that disregards immediate gratification and asks more of its listeners.

Hidden Track: Relative to the Year of Hibernation, the new album has a more psychedelic feeling to it. Were there any clever aproaches that you took in the studio to get some of those more experimental ambient sounds?

Trevor Powers: I wanted the music on this record to reflect a feeling of uneasiness. Taking sounds that are foreign but then applying them in ways that still make a bit of sense. A lot of time writing was really spent on exploring the sonics behind everything. Sometimes making music almost feels like some sort of science experiment, only it’s hard to ever feel content with it. There always seems to be more ways to tap into a certain idea. I don’t like recording in traditional ways. I like doing things I’m not necessarily comfortable with because I feel like it bleeds out through the music. It’s strange to look back at a completed work of music because your memory always seems a bit fuzzy about it. Like you concentrate so hard while you are creating that after something is created, you don’t even really know yourself how exactly it was achieved.

READ ON

As I sit outside of his brightly lit, music-memorabilia filled, corner office at the headquarters of Relix Magazine, a publication he’s partially saved from the brink of extinction, and just one of his ventures we will eventually chat about, Pete Shapiro is talking loudly on a conference call with someone from one of his many project managers to bonafide rock royalty. Shapiro is exuding a palpable energy that I can feel through the closed door. I find myself nervously checking my recorder and rehearsing questions over in my mind, despite having written for Relix and attended numerous parties and functions here, knowing that for a number of years THIS was the interview I’ve truly been dying to do.

From my days as a scraggly, long-haired teenager who used to frequent The Wetlands Preserve, the now-defunct hippie haven in TriBeCa, to becoming a frequent at his newest venues of Brooklyn Bowl and The Capitol Theatre, I also realize that Shapiro has essentially grown up, in the musical sense at least. The funny thing is though, I’ve watched him grow up, too.

Shapiro is not only the proud owner of Brooklyn Bowl and The Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, New York; but as he will talk about, is also the publisher of Relix Magazine and runs numerous other ventures. One other such venture is The Hoodie Shop, a store on Manhattan’s Lower East Side that sells just that: hooded sweatshirts. But, as you will see, that’s just the tip of the iceberg. In short, the man seems to have more arms than an octopus.

READ ON

It’s hard to believe just how far Bobby Long has come in the past four years. When we first started covering him back in 2009, we knew he had a powerful voice and a small collection of well-crafted songs, but his biggest claim to fame was the legion of fans that discovered him through his musical contribution to the first Twilight film. While the placement certainly did wonders for his career, we also wondered if it would serve as a musical typecast – if he’d be able to break away from Twilight and strike a chord with a broader audience.

Sure enough, in that short time he’s managed to sign to ATO – the label founded by Dave Matthews and Coran Capshaw that hosts the likes of My Morning Jacket, Alabama Shakes, Primus and Drive By Truckers; complete two full albums and an EP and evolve as a musician. His vocal qualities carry the material, but what a careful listener will notice most over this short time period is the continual reinvention of  the music. What began as mostly singer-songwriter acoustic material has morphed into rock ‘n’ roll replete with distinctive electric guitar licks. Each album in itself is entertaining, but the changes from one to the next are enduring. Here, Long discusses his latest album entitled Wishbone.

Hidden Track: Let’s start out with the recording process. Perhaps you could compare how things played out with this process on Wishbone with how things worked on a Winter Tale, or even before that on your pure solo material.

Bobby Long: Well, this time around we actually had time – more than A Winter Tale at least. I did an EP last year with a backing singer, and we recorded that in about two hours. I like recording fast, but it felt like a nice option to have time on this record where the guys in the band came in for five days and tracked, and then we had an extra week and half afterwards for me to do my work on certain arrangements and stuff like that.

So, it was nice having time. It wasn’t so much time where we felt we were just doing stuff for the sake of it. For the first time ever, I was in the studio where we weren’t rushing to do a certain number of songs in a day.

READ ON

A Friend of Phil, a regular at Bob Weir’s TRI Studios and Weir Here performances, a guest with Kimock, a swingman extraordinaire in the ongoing God Street Wine reunion, a member of Assembly of Dust…Jason Crosby’s been absolutely everywhere lately. And on top of all that, he’s still found time to work on original music and also tackle a series of interpretations tied to Beck’s Song Reader project.

[Photo by Jeremy Gordon]

It seems like a lot. But if you’ve been aware of Crosby for a while – maybe from his stints with the Susan Tedeschi or Robert Randolph bands, maybe as a frequent sit-in guest in the New York area and at festivals, maybe from some other vantage on his adventurous body of work – you know this is how the man operates: his notoriety spreading, his presence ubiquitous, his talents for violin, keyboards and many other instruments in high demand.

In between appointments, Crosby was gracious enough to chat with Hidden Track for a few minutes and catch us up. We touched on pretty much all of his current projects, although it’s clear his recent involvement with the various priorities of Weir and Lesh has him most excited.

HIDDEN TRACK: Well first things first, you are based out West full time now, correct?

JASON CROSBY: Yes. I am in Marin County, specifically Mill Valley. It became official in February though I’ve been out here really since the beginning of the year when I came out to do some shows with Phil & Friends. I decided I wanted to stay a few weeks because I’d had such a great time with God Street Wine out here and wanted to see who else I would run into and meet.

I was considering relocating from New York anyway. And then I reconnected with Bob [Weir] and we had begun working on the Weir Here webcasts, so he was really the driving force to getting me out here. He had heard a bit about me maybe moving, and he said to me, there is a lot of stuff we could be doing if you move here. I could tell by the way he said it and the look in his eyes that he meant it.

READ ON

Upon first listen to Frightened Rabbit’s new album, Pedestrian Verse, it wouldn’t appear that much has changed with the boys from Scotland. From Midnight Organ Fight to Winter of Mixed Drinks to the this, the overall sound has gotten bigger, but at face value it sounds the same. A big difference did occur this time around, however, as this is the first album that came together as a true full band collaboration. Previously, it was really the Scott Hutchison show with the front man writing all the material and penning all the lyrics based on personal experience. The broader group, including Scott’s brother Grant, essentially served as sidemen.

[All Photos by Chad Anderson]

On Pedestrian Verse, that all changed. With a bigger budget and more time to write and record courtesy of this being the first full length since signing with Atlantic, the band opened up the idea flow and started collaborating. We caught up with drummer Grant Hutchison last week to chat about the new record and based on the conversation, it’s clear that the change was a welcome one.

Hidden Track: I wanted to start our talk with the new record obviously  I read about how you had so much more time in the studio for this one. I’m curious, what kind of impact did that have? We’re you able to do some more experimentation this around?

Grant Hutchison: We had more time even before the studio to write, which was great as well. We were able to go to Atlantic with songs that we thought were right for the album. We haven’t really been able to do that previously. Because of that, we came up with a really strong record. We ended up with a lot more songs than we’ve had in the past. Previously, we would generally record the songs that we had, and they’d go on the record. This time we had a large pile of songs done, maybe twenty songs, so we had to actually cut songs from the record instead of trying to scramble to add more. [laughs]

We had four weeks in the studio as well, which was also great. We still didn’t have everything fully formed when we went in. There were a few songs that were pretty close, but that really came to life in the studio. With Leo Abrahams, our producer, both Backyard Skulls and the Woodpile both sort of took some slight turns when we actually went to record them. We would have had to do those songs as they were if we hadn’t had that time, so that was really good.

READ ON

One of the musicians who stole the show at December’s 12-12-12 benefit for Sandy victims was Billy Joel, who performed a powerhouse five-song set at the Garden backed by his current band of young hotshot musicians. While the “Piano Man” has a pair of festival appearances set for later this spring at the Stone Music Festival in Australia and at Jazz Fest in New Orleans, we haven’t heard anything about the possibility of Joel returning to the road for a tour…until now.

Joel spoke with Rolling Stone’s Andy Greene about his upcoming gigs and much more in a revealing interview. There’s tons of good news for Billy fans within the piece including word that reports of his retiring were completely overblown as the legendary singer-songwriter will use the two festival gigs to put his “toe back into the water to see how performing feels.” If all goes well, Joel told Greene that he’d be open to playing some of his landmark albums in their entirety at future gigs. [We'll use this opportunity to get our request in for Joel to play 1977's The Stranger.]

We’re also excited to see Billy’s open to playing rarities at his shows…

The 63-year-old singer-songwriter is already giving a lot of thought to the kind of show he’d like to present later this year. “I’d like to do more songs that weren’t hits. I got tired of doing the greatest hits set. It was boring playing the same songs over and over. There are a lot of songs the longtime fans want to hear,” he says. “If I was going to play again in places like New York, I would probably feature entire albums. It would give me a chance to do songs we haven’t played. . . We’d do one album and then play some obscurities. I enjoy playing those more than I enjoy playing the hits. . . I’m thinking we’d do these shows in Philly, New York, Washington D.C., Detroit and Chicago.”

Though Joel is wise enough to know much of the audience will want to hear his hits and talks about a Led Zeppelin show that he left disappointed at because they didn’t play Whole Lotta Love. Billy Joel also discusses what he’s been up to the past few years, the potential for new material, the possibilities of performing with Elton John again and much more with Greene in the interview.

[Rolling Stone]

Earlier today The Rolling Stones announced a nine-show North American tour and for many the question wasn’t “where is the band playing?” it was “how expensive are tickets?” Mick Jagger discussed the pricing and answered some questions about the coming tour in a Q & A with esteemed music critic Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune.

One question fans had regarding the May/June swing is why didn’t the band book stadiums instead of the much smaller arenas? “The Christmas shows (NYC and London) were arena shows. We got that going, and we’re content with doing that. We’re doing a few outside festival shows in England, but we just feel more in the groove doing arenas,” Jagger told Kot. Mick’s response to Greg’s question about ticketing pricing doesn’t quite leave us with warm fuzzies, “If you really can’t afford a ticket, it’s sad. I feel bad about that. But there are seats at different prices. We have some cheap ones that are quite good, too. There’s a price for everybody I think.” Jagger also revealed that while he’s got new songs ready, they plan to get through the tour before discussing the possibility of entering the studio.

The Stones lead singer also mentioned he’s open to requests via his @MickJagger Twitter feed, explained why Mick Taylor’s touring with them as a guest and espoused loathing for scalpers. Kot’s article is well worth a read and we’re glad Jagger called him out of anyone.

[Chicago Tribune]

The world “Perpetual” is defined as “never ending or changing” or “everlasting.” For Perpetual Groove and their catalog of music over the past decade plus, this is exactly the mantra that always prevailed in light of the challenge at hand…until now. They’ve experienced the highest of the proverbial highs, and in more cases than they probably care to admit, the grueling lows of lows. Even their favorite venue, The Georgia Theatre, where the band has played so many of their shows over the years represents the band and its lineup shift and other problems, having burned to the ground and eventually having been rebuilt bigger and better than ever. So, it is fitting that they will properly say goodbye on that very stage this Friday at their home base in Athens, Georgia.

[Photo by kfishphotography]

After original member Matt McDonald left the band and was replaced in mid-2008 by John Hruby, PGroove changed and continued to duke it out on the road, before McDonald eventually reclaimed his seat at the end of 2011. McDonald chatted with me then, and did so again this past week, about life, the end of PGroove and what is next for him and some of his current and future band mates. So, in typical bittersweet fashion, while one chapter ends, another begins with the trio of McDonald, Adam Perry and Albert Suttle in their new venture, Ghost Owl – who will in a way be ”opening” the show for themselves this Friday before PGroove bids a proper farewell. “I know some people who have been surprised by it. I guess that’s funny from my perspective because I couldn’t think of a better way to introduce what’s new than saying: ‘Hey, before we wrap this up proper, we hope to see a lot of you, and we hope you dig this too and give this a shot,’” exclaimed McDonald.

McDonald, to me, always represented the X factor in PGroove. He is a master of sorcery on the keys, making the notes and knobs bend like a cosmic swirling of sound, with sonic titty-twisters, arcs and crescendos that always complimented front man Brock Butler’s emotional vocals and guitar playing, while the backbone of the band laid squarely on the shoulders of cool-cat bassist Perry and the driving force of rock-solid Suttle on the drums. It’s sad to see them go, as I’ve been lucky enough to call the band friends, but is also something I can genuinely feel in McDonald’s voice as he talks about the next steps for him and his mates, including Ghost Owl. “I feel like we made what our intentions were very clear to each other, the four of us, that this was for the fans and we wanted to go out on a high note. And I feel like musically we’ve done that and feel like we are going to do that,” McDonald excitedly conveys. “But, every day, Ghost Owl has been something that takes up my time, and my mind, and my family’s mind, and everyone around the three of us and it’s been nothing short of amazing.”

READ ON

Nataly Dawn is best known as half of the viral internet sensation Pomplamoose – the musical duo who attracted tens of millions YouTube views with their VideoSong covers of pop songs, developed a large loyal following for their original music and even landed in a Hyundai commercial.

More recently, Nataly Dawn released her solo album How I Knew Her which not only highlights Nataly’s quirky vocals, but also a complex writing taste that employs unique rhythms, clever melodies and weighty lyrical topics. The album also provided Nataly the chance to play with a full band of crack musicians as opposed to the overdub-heavy process of Pomplamoose.

The solo effort proves interesting in that despite the DIY internet explosion of Pomplamoose, Dawn opted to work with a label on the solo project, because even with all the notoriety from Pomplamoose the fickle world of internet attention spans has still made it challenging to attract the same level of attention for the solo career. It’s not quite back to the drawing board, but the solo translation has proved a bit trickier than expected.

READ ON

I first heard about Jon Wirtz’s music a few moons ago, and since then his album Tourist has turned many a morning of mine into a spirit rave up that lasted all day. Shades of Ahmad Jamal are thrown in juxtaposition to minimalist hues full of positive energy and catharsis. The piano is the center of it all, but to label Tourist piano music is misleading. This is music music, and from my interview with him it is clear that Wirtz is a musician’s musician.

The following interview was conducted via email. . .

David Paul Kleinman: How did the song Gratitude come to be?

Jon Wirtz: That was a fun song to watch from its infant to final stages. Originally it was just a simple instrumental gospel groove that I wrote, although I knew I wanted some female vocals in there. After hearing it, it seemed empty without some sort of lyrics, so I asked Stephen Malloy Brackett (Brer Rabbit from the Flobots) to put some words to it. My only instruction to him was that it was a “simple gospel feel, titled Gratitude.” He’s so talented I knew he’d be fine, and I certainly didn’t want to dictate or inhibit his skills as a writer. He killed it. The song was originally twice as long, time-wise, but his verse fit so perfectly that we just chopped out the piano solo which originally followed.

READ ON

In the late 1960′s and early 1970′s, the Village Voice ran a column by Howard Smith known as “Scenes,” which served as the pulse of both the Village in its cultural prime as well as the underground culture in general. The author, Howard Smith, went on to become a bit of a legend in the annals in rock journalism, conducting historically critical interviews with members of the Beatles (shortly after the breakup), Pete Townshend, Jerry Garcia, Bill Graham, Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin and countless others.

Recently, Howard Smith’s son, Cass Calder Smith, unearthed countless hours of audio interview footage from his nationally syndicated radio show. In conjunction with Cass Calder Smith, curator Ezra Bookstein has brought these interviews to life, releasing them as a monthly series known as The Smith Tapes. We chatted with Ezra Bookstein about getting involved in the project, his personal favorite interview segments and Howard Smith’s journalistic integrity as an interviewer.

Hidden Track: So, I listened to your conversation with David Gans and heard how Howard and his son Cass were originally looking to sell the reels after finding them in the attic and then a friend called you. What was your experience with Howard prior to this project? Was it more the rock and roll history and chronology of counterculture that attracted you, or was it a familiarity with the Village Voice segment and Howard’s other work?

Ezra Bookstein: I hadn’t known about Howard Smith before this project. When a friend of mine, the record dealer Josh Rattner (Salvage Sound), was approached about selling the original interview reels, he thought of me – that this was something right up my alley. When he told me about them I flipped and asked him to get me in the room with the Smiths. I’m a big fan of the music from that time. But who isn’t. The period that these tapes covers, 1969-72, is incredibly deep with heavy and influential albums. And to be able to hear the artists interviewed in that time, in the context of their lives and the culture of that time, without the fog of decades in the way- I knew these reels were too important to let them just get put on some collector’s shelf. There would be a lot of people excited to hear them.

READ ON

Craig Myers, percussionist and kamel n’goni player, has had an extremely full plate the last several years. However, touring and performing as a member of both Mike Gordon’s band and Rubblebucket left less time to devote to his own two bands, Barika and N’goni Trio.

2013 brings a bit of a change as Myers left Rubblebucket in September to focus on Barika.  The band fuses West African influences with a poly-rhythmic, funk laden sound that has doses of psychedelia and R&B with complex rhythms and infectious grooves. The band is getting ready to release their second album, Rise, and has asked fans to contribute to the process. We recently spoke with Myers to ask about the new album and his plans for 2013.

Parker Harrington: Great to talk to you today, Craig. Thanks for taking the time out of your schedule. We talked to you a couple years ago on the heels of the release of Barika’s debut album, Remember. Now, you are getting ready to release another album, Rise. Can you tell us a little bit about the evolution of the band’s sound and what might have changed since Remember as well as give us a little background on this new album?

Craig Myers: Remember was our first album of course and we had been a band together at that point for two-plus years. Rise I feel is both a deepening and a continuation. But also there’s lots of evolution that happens the more any musicians play together. The more shows you do, the deeper you connect with each other and the deeper the music can get. So at this point, there are some things that are similar to Remember but there’s a lot more richness and more deep harmonies in the music, especially with the horns. There’s also a lot surprises that I want to keep from people and let them hear it for themselves.

READ ON

If you’re a hardcore Deadhead that seeks out the best recordings of that band, odds are you’re familiar with the work of Charlie Miller. Over the years Miller has taped and transferred thousands of tapes and you know that when he’s involved, it’ll sound good. Grateful Dead scholar Blair Jackson said it best, “My own rule of thumb with Archive Dead shows is I look for Charlie Miller’s name, and if it’s attached to a recording, I’ll usually check that out first, since his name is synonymous with the highest quality transfers and upgrades.” With that in mind we were excited a few days ago when we saw Miller’s name attached to a number of uncirculated Phish audience recordings popping up on bt.etree.org, so we reached out to Charlie to talk about his new found appreciation for the Vermont quartet.

Miller grew up and lived in Long Island for 25 years before moving west. “I saw every band in the ’70s at the Garden or Nassau,” he explained. How old was Charlie when he saw his first Dead show?  ”I walked into the show when I was 15, when the show ended I was 16. They started the encore at five after midnight,” the recording/sound engineer told us about catching the Dead on his birthday in 1979.

• BT.ETREE.ORG: Charlie Miller Phish Transfers

Now that he has his sights focused on Phish, how did he pick which shows to transfer? “I was asked to sort through my friend’s Phish collection and [etree Phish admins] Terry Watts and Jason Sobel went through the list and gave me a color-coded excel spreadsheet that indicated what shows were in circulation and what shows had unknown CD generation(s) (involved in their lineage). Since I have a DAT I can do a better transfer.”

READ ON

Unlike their genre contemporaries, who they are consistently lumped in with, Lotus brings a more diverse and varied sound as evidenced in the new repertoire of music recently released on Build. The new album adds another layer of musings from the well-traveled and still burgeoning band.

[All Photos by Jeremy Gordon]

A live touring juggernaut, currently scheduled to be at a venue near you, complete with a stellar light show experience, a beat and melody that is unpredictable and a unique sound with a slow build-up, Lotus is jamtronica at its finest, a musical force known to pummel your senses and leave one gasping from air from the relentless euphoric grooves. It ultimately leads to a monumental crescendo that allows participants to bask in its afterglow.

Fresh off a successful turn at sold-out venues in New York City, Hidden Track caught up with guitarist and synthesizer player, Luke Miller.

Hidden Track: I have been enjoying the new album, Build. Can you share how it is different from the band’s previous studio albums?

Luke Miller: We try to record most of our albums live in the studio which does not necessarily mean that every instrument is played live simultaneously but we try to do the majority of it live yet some of the electronic elements are added afterwards. I think it is a little more focused, a little less eclectic than our last album. We recorded 2 1/2 albums worth of songs, so we chose songs with the same kinda up-tempo sound on this one.

READ ON

Just like Jethro Tull is not the name of the guy who plays the flute (shame on those people, that’s Ian Anderson), Ivan & Alyosha is not the name of a duo. It’s a Seattle band named for a literary reference. The band is a four piece rock/folk ensemble with an eagerly anticipated full length debut called All the Times We Had due out on February 26.

[Photo by Kyle Dean Reinford]

After two well received EPs, the band experienced a bit of a tumultuous process on their way to finishing the proper full length which involved a few location and production changes. In the end, the old “If you want something done right” mantra proved true, and the end result was worth the wait. In anticipation of a big year, we spoke with Tim Wilson to learn more about the group and discuss the upcoming record.

Hidden Track: To get us rolling, I was hoping to get a little background. For starters, please tell us how you and Ryan [Carbary] met and how you started the band?

Tin Wilson: Ryan and I met through some old bandmates of mine. This is probably eight or nine years ago. I was playing in another band and Ryan was a young dude, probably just a few years out of high school and he was at audio engineering school in Vancouver, B.C. and he came home. He actually grew up in town just east of where I was born up in Snohomish, a more rural area north of Seattle. So, we kind of had this mutual friend and an old bandmate of mine. Ryan came to birthday party of mine and I had been writing more pop, whereas the band I was in was more experimental, Led Zeppelin, and they were huge into M83 and some more electronic stuff, New Order. I wasn’t super into all that stuff, I was just kind of more into popular music in general. So I had been writing these songs and Ryan came up to me and said, “Hey, I heard your songs. We should record those sometime.”

And that was pretty much it. We started hanging out and we eventually started making music together. Long story short, he actually married a very good childhood friend of mine and my brother Pete’s. So, he certainly fit right in, so we kind of went from there.

HT: In terms of the album, I wanted to get some perspective in terms of how you approached it, where you worked on it, for how long and who you worked with.

READ ON