UP-CLOSE: Multi-Band Multi-Genre Grab Bang
9 Artists. 9 Different Sounds. From Front-Porch Folk/Americana, Confessional Singer-Songwriter and Salsa-Soul-Jazz Fusion to Avant-Garde Bombast, Bedroom Laptop Pop and a Sly Stone Summer Tribute.
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Bike Routes is David Osterhout from Burlington County. “Homeward Bound” is from his Prairie album (Blue Grape Music). The song, according to the artist, is really “about chasing the comfort of home, or a home base. If you’re out on the road especially, no matter how it feels to perform and live out your dream, it can often feel isolating.”
Inspired by a confessional Joni Mitchell aesthetic, this beauty from Montclair’s Lily Vakili and her Live Wire EP was recorded with her Grammy-winning collaborator-producer-engineer Reed Turchi. The video was directed by Robert Edridge Waks, who has worked with Robert Plant and The Black Keys.
Mike Herz is a folk singer-songwriter from Newton in Sussex County who has put out 13 albums in 14 years. He’s performed all over the state, has traveled the country to hit stages far and wide, and continues to do so. This song was recorded at Mix-O-Lydian Studios in Delaware Water Gap, Pennsylvania, engineered by the studio’s owner, Don Sternecker, with bassist Peter Lister of the Joe Cirotti Trio and Joe Palmisano on mandolin. Herz calls it “an intimate Folk/Americana tune with a front-porch feel—upright bass, mandolin, harmonica, and acoustic guitar wrapped around a lyric that finds unexpected freedom in mortality. Weathered yet optimistic, it’s a reminder to stop second-guessing, take your best swing, and live while you can.”
Anthony Almonte—besides being in both Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band AND Little Steven & The Disciples Of Soul as back-up vocalist/percussionist—has a hot fiery solo album out called Conversando Con La Luna. It’s a true fusion of salsa, pop, soul, jazz and rock’n’roll. He recently brought his 12-man big band to Dizzy’s in Manhattan to celebrate the occasion.
This Long Beach Island singer-songwriter used to love playing baseball and swimming but found her voice writing poetry in her bedroom. Now she produces herself on Evergreen, a cinematic, confessional and stark debut, detailing “grief, self-discovery and the quiet chaos of your 20s.”
The Asbury Park entity known as Johnny Nameless—born John Francis Carpenter—has a new album out on Mint 400 Records (out of Hawthorne in Passaic County) called The Tower, eight tracks of bombast inspired by such oddball outfits as the late Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band, Devo, Butthole Surfers, and goth-rock fathers Bauhaus. Recorded in Seaside Heights, it’s a trip well worth taking.
Back in April, we discovered Rand M. Hubiak and his Random Hubiak Band from Asbury Park with an oddball ditty called “A Horizontal Asymptote.” Since then, the band—Adam Silverstein, Paul Galiszewski, Tom Briant, Dan Barracuda—has released the hopefully prophetic “This Will Be Our Year” with a promise for more by August.
The music made by Brian Bannon from Verona in Essex County is just him and his laptop. He reached out to us by saying, “over time, with newer computer advancements, I now have the tools to create stuff on my own. I’m loving it and thought I would share it so what better place to do so than your website.”
Sly & The Family Stone was the best damn band out of all of them at the Woodstock festival in 1969. Sly died last year at 82. His death prompted bassist-percussionist-producer-studio head (Retro Media Sound in Red Bank) John Noll to start The Sly Project and release his version of his favorite Sly song. According to Noll, “as a longtime fan of Sly and the Family Stone, ‘Hot Fun in the Summertime’ has always been a favorite. Its celebratory theme and unique vocal arrangement presented intriguing possibilities for recording a tribute version, but would require a large group to successfully capture its vibrant spirit. The Asbury Park music scene peaks during the summer so I reached out to some friends in that community to see who I could get on board and was able to pull together a diverse group of talented musicians to make it happen.”