Author Archives: Samantha Hilsenrod

Mississippi Rail Company has been releasing their new album a little differently. Their first album Coal Black Train (2012) debuted as a traditional record, but the dapper quartet decided that the format wasn’t suitable for their sophomore effort. Since January they have dropped one single each month, which are available free on their website (although a donation is suggested).

Regarding their untraditional release schedule, keyboardist and bandleader Travers Geoffray said, “We want listeners to hear each track individually rather than hear the songs in relation to each other as a collective work.” With twelve months of new tunes planned, the band is exploring new ground and featuring various genres including blues, swing, gospel, big band, and more.

The September single, “Redwood Jones,” was released last week just in time for their homecoming show at the Blue Nile. After a triumphant summer tour, the stylish group took the stage with Colin Lake and Jonny Sansone (both musicians were guests on the previous single “Three Little Girls.”)

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Marc Stone will premiere an exciting new live DJ and concert series this Thursday, September 25 at the uptown club. Based on the DJ and bandleader’s Soul Serenade radio program on WWOZ 90.7 FM, Stone will bring together the best of Louisiana’s world-class musicians, as well as spin from his personal vintage vinyl collection.

The series will be unique and multifaceted, almost like a late-night television program, but with more focus on music. This week Stone will welcome New Orleans’ number one nouveau-traditional chanteuse Meschiya Lake and the unparalleled organ master Joe Krown. The two guests will give interviews, contribute to the DJ sets, as well as play solo, with each other, and with the Marc Stone Band.

Although she may be known for her brassy and nuanced interpretations of jazz classics, Lake is not to be pigeonholed. She can rock out with the best of them, as proved by her stunning vocal turns with trash rock masters R. Scully’s Rough 7.

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The Good Doctor will take the stage of the newly renovated Joy Theater this weekend, exactly one month and one day after the release of his well reviewed Louis Armstrong tribute Ske-Dat-De-Dat…The Spirit Of Satch.

The album has not just struck a chord with critics and fans alike, but has been sitting at the top of the jazz charts for the past two weeks. A record full of Satchmo songs is a concept the pianist/ singer has been mulling over for a while. Two years ago he played a teaser track as an encore at Jazz Fest.

While the crowd will be treated to fresh and interesting interpretations of such perennial favorites as “What a Wonderful World,” (which the Nite Trippers promise to funkify), and “Mac the Knife” performed as a hip-hop cut on the recent release, the performance will also span the entire half-century career of the Crescent City legend.

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The club formerly known as the Big Top (on Clio, just off of St. Charles) will host the alternative country troubadour. Doors open at 8 PM.

Throughout his fifteen-year career Cory has remained an artist who defies any attempt to pigeonhole and neatly categorize.

Often his songs sound like they just might be at home on a pop country radio station if they weren’t so good. But upon closer listening, his lyrics evoke the painfully poetic Conor Oberst more than Kenny Chesney. (We listened to his most recent album and there was no mention of tractors, sexy or otherwise.)

But not every cut off Cory’s latest album has a Nashville-ready sound. Slower, introspective tracks such as the “The Meantime Blues” are reminiscent of John Prine. To further confound those trying to describe his sound, Branan definitely has a bit of a punk flair.

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It’s pretty rare that a musician decides to share his vomit with his adoring fans, but the Black Lips are not your standard garage rock band and Cole Alexander is not your standard guitarist. He suffers from acid reflux and has often decided he should deal with the accompanying symptoms (vomiting) right there, broadcasting the condition, and all its accompanying glory, with the audience.

It adds a GG Allin-inspired spectacle to the group’s live shows and it doesn’t end with upchucking. the Black Lips are committed to rowdy shows where no bodily fluid is left behind. Alexander once briefly got the band banned from the Bowery’s venues for taking a piss while performing. Jared Swilly, the group’s bassist, didn’t think it was that big of a deal because, “really, its just recycled beer.” Apparently it wasn’t, because the ban didn’t last very long.

The Bowery got over it, because these rowdy, anything-goes performances, along with the no-fi musical esthetic teeming with lyrics that fixate and idealize on the banal, crude and everyday sell out shows, and not just in dingy American bars.

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Back in 2008, it happened on a whim. It was just a block party. The guys at Mad Decent wanted to do something for the kids in Philadelphia who were hanging out in the East Coast heat all summer long. So they got a permit from the city and put some speakers and caution tape in front of “The Mausoleum,” as the then-headquarters of the label was called (the building had actually been a manufacturing site for mausoleums in some bygone, pre- Diplo era). No more than 1,000 people showed up throughout the whole day.

Seven years later, that block party has grown significantly. Now a one-day festival, these ragers welcome thousands of fans in twenty-three individual cities. The lineups have expanded from the Mad Decent roster to include larger national acts and you definitely can’t just show up anymore.

Due to the increased popularity, the organization has made it a ticketed event, instead of the free, first come-first-served party it had been for the five first years. Regarding the change, label manager Jasper Goggins said, “It’s not like the goal is to make money off of this thing; the reason it had to go to a ticketed system this year is because we couldn’t accommodate all the people who wanted to come.”

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The hardcore punk supergroup will come kicking and screaming into New Orleans for a one-night only show at Siberia. Drummer Dale Crover of the Melvins will join them.

Crover is an interesting addition, with a gift for spot-on hardcore timing and power. He also once famously turned down a request from Kurt Cobain to be Nirvana’s drummer (The Melvins were one of Cobain’s favorite bands and the two often played together in the Pacific Northwest punk scene).

OFF! is composed of Circle Jerks/Black Flag singer Keith Morris on vocals, Burning Brides front man Dmitri Coats on guitar and Red Kross bassist Steven Shane McDonald.

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Tomorrow night, Jefferson Parish venue Southport Music Hall will host indie rockers The Gallery and a special local opening act. 

Since arriving in 2008, The Gallery have made a name for themselves in the alternative country-rock scene. They even caught the attention of Rolling Stone magazine, which featured the group as contenders for the fan driven “Choose the Cover” edition in 2011.

The group gravitates towards classic song structures and they sound a bit like Tom Petty with a modern LA vibe, although they hail from a small town in western Massachusetts.

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Tomorrow night, July 25th, The Den at the Howlin’ Wolf will host New Jersey based reggae group Quincy Mumford and the Reason Why. On the road in support of their fifth studio album It’s Only Change, we caught up with the band to find out why they are especially excited to stop in New Orleans and why they are inviting local musicians to jam.

“We’ve never been to New Orleans before,” said Quincy, the front man and primary songwriter for the Reason Why, “and we all love New Orleans music so much. The Neville Brothers, the Meters, Jon Cleary, these are all major influences on me. I grew up listening to New Orleans funk and I think the super jam portion of our set will be incredibly special here if we can get the local musical community on board.”

He continued, “We really enjoy playing with other musicians and there are so many great players in New Orleans. We dig brass bands, so we’re hoping we can get some horn players on board. It’s a musical community we would love to get familiar with.”

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Saturday, July 19, The St. Jude Community Center will hold its 4th annual Sounds of New Orleans Benefit Concert. The Community Center houses working homeless women and volunteers rebuilding the city, serves breakfast and lunch on weekdays, distributes food for Second Harvest Food Bank, and collaborates with Responsibility House in serving addicts. Last year the event raised over $50,000, and so far the center has utilized more than half of the funds to pay its insurance ($21,00) and fund salaries.

The concert doesn’t just have a great cause though. It has a great line-up too! Local greats Paul Sanchez, John Boutte and Shamarr Allen; Broadway star Michael Cerveris, singer and June OffBeat magazine cover Erica Falls, and the legendary Allen Toussaint will all grace the stage at the Mahalia Jackson Theater.

We chatted with Shamarr Allen, who was recently named a cultural ambassador for the State Department, to talk about the upcoming gig and his connection to it.

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Beloved uptown music venue Gasa Gasa is celebrating its first birthday this weekend! On Saturday, July 19, there will be an art market in the courtyard (or artyard in this case) to celebrate the occasion. The market starts at 2 PM and runs well into the evening.

Booths will include a vinyl sales pop-up curated by DJ Brice Nice and the folks at Inner Recess Studios, the Warehouse District recording facility that has released work from a diverse group of artists from Nigerian born singer-songwriter Blessing Tangban to beat maker Nessy Phips.

The videos above and below are part of a mix curated by the staff at Gasa Gasa and are representative of some of the music and artists you might find at the pop-up. More details are here.

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The hip-hop duo known for soulful, R&B flavored tracks that showcase Nicolay’s conscientious beat making and Phonte’s spitfire rapping and heartfelt vocals, will be performing at Tipitina’s.

Last Monday, Pont:Productions and TVD co-hosted a listening party for the album at Gasa Gasa in preparation for the show. We gave out stickers, t-shirts, and tickets to Sunday night’s performance. Additionally, attendees were given free invites to Nicolay’s DJ set at Eiffel and enjoyed happy hour drink specials. There was a great turn out, with a full dance floor grooving to the tracks off the album.

DJ RQway, who will be opening the show, also spun a bunch of funk, house, R&B, and hip-hop numbers from artists as diverse as Curtis Mayfield, Nas, and his own homemade beats.

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We at TVD NOLA are happy to announce an exciting event series in partnership with Pont:Productions on Mondays at Gasa Gasa. Berenice Mondays is a chill but focused happy hour featuring progressive and alternative music from both local and touring artists.

The listening party will feature a different new or upcoming release each week from an act with an upcoming show. DJs RQaway and OttO will also keep the party going, spinning an eclectic mix of underground hip hop, dance music, batucada, soul, rock-n-roll, funk, afrobeat, and more—with much of it coming from the DJs’ vinyl collections.

This week listeners will sample the Grammy nominated electronic infused hip-hop of the Foreign Exchange with their latest release Love In Flying Colors. The Foreign Exchange is a fascinating group, partly because they couldn’t have existed before this millennium.

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The Swedish electronica band will be performing at the Republic in support of their new album Nabuma Rubberband. The album draws from a host of R&B influences such as Prince and Janet Jackson, as well as continuing to push forward with their new wave influenced sound that took the world by force after their chart topping 2011 release Ritual Union.

Nabuma rubberband also showcases the group’s newfound maturity. The synth pop sound their fans are familiar with is given depth with a darkness the group says was inspired by the cold Swedish winter.

Last Monday, June 2 Gasa Gasa on Freret Street hosted a listening party for the new album. The Vinyl District worked the crowd and got some feedback from fans. The consensus among those present was solid approval, with singles “Klapp Klapp” and “Paris” being real crowd pleasers.

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While the rest of the local buzz about this evening’s concert at One Eyed Jacks revolves around alt-country favorites, the Old 97s, we’re especially pumped about the opening act.

Rolling Stone featured Lydia Loveless as one of their “10 New Artists You Need to Know” this past January on the strength of her new album, Somewhere Else. Fans of the alt-country genre should make it a point to arrive early for the show.

Consider the magazine’s description: “Sounds like: Loretta Lynn and Patti Smith slamming shots at a Midwestern dive bar while cowboys and punks brawl out in the back.” Sounds like a killer party.

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