Meet…
New Jersey is Bursting With Talent!
Meet… Francis Fell
Those who saw the brilliant 1994 Jersey-centric comedy Clerks saw Scott Schiaffo as the Chewlies gum representative. With its director, Kevin Smith, inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame this year, we thought it high time to cast our lens on Schiaffo, who, besides being an actor, has a band called Francis Fell that began when he started out as a duo called Chayne with Jack Fellers. Three albums, numerous name changes and many years later, Francis Fell is the self-titled debut EP of singer Fellers, guitarist Schiaffo and producer-guitarist-keyboardist David Biglin.
Meet… Eric Dash
He comes out of Cherry Hill fully formed. Alt-Pop Singer-Songwriter Eric Dash, 34, has now released Bystander. He first scored 11 years ago with “One More Love Song,” produced by Jack Joseph Puig who also twiddled knobs for John Mayer and No Doubt. He started producing himself on 2020’s Unspecified which garnered over a million streams, and featured the impressive “Killin’ Your Lies.”
Meet… Fascinations Grand Chorus
Stephanie Cupo and Andrew Pierce make up the Jersey City duo called Fascinations Grand Chorus. Their Summer Love EP is “color-soaked indie-pop that taps into retro theme park glamor to pay tribute to long summer nights,” according to the duo. It’s music for hopeless romantics.
Meet… The Break Plans
They come out of Freehold all bouncy and energetic like toy soldiers wound too tight. Yet listen closely and you’ll ferret out nuggets of wisdom within their lyrics. (They like to call themselves “poptimistic.”) Mistakes are a Friend of Mine is the debut EP.
Meet… Polaroid Fade
Deep in Cumberland County, in a sleepy little hamlet called Vineland, Polaroid Fade practiced hard. But can you really write a love song to a town? What about to a particular street? Or even your house? Plus, don’t forget, oftentimes, the sound of silence permeates a beach town in the winter. “Delancey” is Polaroid Fade’s mighty impressive new song, the first tune released by the new Shore Points Records in Asbury Park.
Meet… The Mediocre Friends
So the story goes that four high school buddies from Hillsborough in Somerset County start making music together and then stop when real life gets in the way. Thirty years go by. All four are still alive. They keep in touch. They eventually reconvene. Start making music together again. Like what they hear. They each write a song and make an EP. The result could be construed as Power Pop and it sounds pretty damn good.
Meet… Jame Minogue
All he wants to be is in his baby’s arms. Thus, “In Your Arms” is the new single from Perth Amboy genre-bender Jame Minogue who we wrote about last year when his cumbia-styled cover version of Kylie Minogue’s “Can’t Get You Out Of My Head” brought him to our attention. They call him “Latin-Alternative” as he mixes’n’matches bi-lingual alt-rock with electronica.
Meet… Bill Charlap
‘Time’ magazine said of West Orange pianist Bill Charlap that “no matter how imaginative or surprising his take on a song is, he invariably zeroes in on its essence.” Dude needs no band. Under his hands, the piano sounds like a symphony. He’ll prove it July 17-21 when he sits at the bench by himself at the SMOKE jazz club in New York City. The event will be livestreamed.
Meet… Lost In Society
Zach Moyle and Nick Ruroede of the Asbury Park band Lost In Society have been at it for two decades together. Their new song—complete with new drummer Gee Lima and new guitarist Tom Blaney—was inspired by Pavement’s 1994 “Gold Soundz.” It’s called “Wake Up,” is on California label Wiretap Records, and was produced by Pete Steinkopf of The Bouncing Souls (from New Brunswick).
Meet… Neon Rayon
Asbury Park these days still explodes with talent. The debut Arrival EP of Neon Rayon comes like an oddball gift from the cosmos. The rhythms captivate. The melodies are robotic. The beats will move your feets.
Meet… Love Letter
When asked to describe their music, Bergen County band Love Letter (from Westwood) wrote that “Child Of The Earth” is “goth-punk with a thrash breakdown written about a queer child being told by society that they’re confused.” “Inferno” is a “groovy punk song about how celebrities are too materialistic to care about climate change.” “Waste” is a “twisted ballad about being stalked by an abusive ex-partner and the mental trauma derived from that.” “Exodus” is a “dream-like ballad about fighting one’s self in a depressive episode.” All four songs will come out June 14 on their new EP.
Meet… Sergio Michel
Metal Guitarist Sergio Michel was born in Hoboken, grew up in Hudson County’s West New York and went to college in Paramus. Fresh off appearing at the seventh annual Metal Hall of Fame gala in January, performing two Dio-era Black Sabbath tracks with vocalist Mike Terelli (Riot), keyboardist Eric Ragno (London), bassist Becky Baldwin (Merciful Fate) and drummer Nick Mason (Pretty Boy Floyd), his histrionic over-the-top performance was reviewed by ‘Metal Asylum’ as being a blueprint for “how you deliver cover tunes.”
Meet… RVRE
There’s a real scene bubbling hot in Jersey City and Union County vocalist RVRE (pronounced RARE) is right in the thick of it. Graduating From Warren Hills High School in Washington (Warren County), he knew exactly where his priorities were. There’s a swagger to his sound, an unbridled sense of confidence. Lately, he’s been working with the artist known as Cito On The Beat, a Jersey City Dominican-American rapper-producer, who was seen in Season #1 of ‘Love & Hip Hop: New York.’
Meet… The Dust-Ups
With members from Roselle Park, Somerville, Hasbrouck Heights and Belvidere, The Dust-Ups lace their Americana with alt-country, honky-tonk, rock’n’roll and folk. Their self-titled upbeat 10-song debut came out digitally last month containing a road anthem with plenty of pedal steel, a rockin’ murder ballad, a country power-pop synthesis plus nods to Cajun and Surf Rock.
Meet… George Becker
Singer-Songwriter George Becker grew up in Rahway listening mostly to rock’n’roll but soon discovered he had a passion for real dirt-road country music. Three decades later, he’s still at it, recording and touring. Although his band certainly owes more to country-rock than barroom country weepers, his acoustic solo side shows his devotion to pure country.
Meet… N’Kenge
Jersey City chanteuse N’Kenge just might give you a “Goosebump Moment” with her funky new worldbeat single. The multi-genre vocalist has sung pop, jazz, soul and opera—besides appearing on Broadway—in five octaves and 11 languages over 20 years.
Meet… Brock & Sgro
The fourth studio album from Alan Brock and Chip Sgro, ‘Cut The Wires,’ streamed live last week. Brock (Mountain Lakes) and Sgro (Boonton) are augmented by drummer Ken Trimmer (Lavallette) and bassist Rich Santiago (an out-of-state foreigner).
Meet… Sonic Blume
Call it Asbury Park Alt-Pop. Max Connery (vocals/guitar/synthesizer), Noah Sullivan (guitar/synthesizer) and James Waltsack (bass) are, collectively, Sonic Blume. The band was hatched in 2016 as musically-curious high school students, then bloomed out of the shore like American Beachgrass. Their combined love of sumptuous ‘80s synth-pop galvanized them to create their own.
Meet… Studio D’Lux
Studio D’Lux is led by keyboardist-vocalist Doug Kistner (Trans-Siberian Orchestra/Blood Sweat & Tears/John Waite) from Verona in Essex County. His band is super! We’re talkin’ drummer Liberty Devitto (Billy Joel), guitarist Jon Herington (Steely Dan), New Brunswick singer Glen Burtnik (Styx), Asbury Park singer Reagan Richards (Williams Honor), bassist Malcolm Gold (Sheryl Crow) and saxophonist Tom Timko (Gloria Estefan). The new single—“Silence Is Louder”—is out now.
Meet… Scott Anthony
Scott Anthony says “I Don’t Like New Songs.” He’s the co-owner of Storybook Sound Studios in Maplewood, a producer, an engineer, and, now, for the first time, at 57, a singer-songwriter. After working with The Feelies, Seal, The Beastie Boys, beat poet Allen Ginsberg, Henry Rollins, The Cucumbers and hundreds of other artists, it took the death of his dad and 25 years of yoga to push him into making his own music.