Showing posts with label Your Inner Vagabond. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Your Inner Vagabond. Show all posts
11.10.2008
Resonance at Your Inner Vagabond
Resonance celebrates their CD Release party at Your Inner Vagabond this Friday, November 14th. Check it out!
9.15.2008
Kabile
If you thought that seeing a premier Bulgarian wedding band would bring people dancing an ethnic electric slide, you may have been somewhat right. You may have even guessed, since this band is touring the States from a small, Eastern European country, that they are an entertaining group of entrancing performers playing on exciting instruments. Perhaps you would not have seen yourself being so engrossed in the performance, the atmosphere, and the lovely nature of the evening.
Kabile arrived with just minutes to perform, but when you make your living playing weddings and other high-pressure events, chances are you know exactly what to do to make your band sound the best in any given situation. In fact, it took less than 10 minutes to finish a sound check, including fine-tuning the EQ. For those of you who do not sound tech as an evening job, this is a feat for any band, especially one with five uncommon instruments and two vocalists. One of the pre-show highlights was finding out Croatian words for "high" and "middle" in reference to their preferred sound.
In the same spirit, they wasted little time getting into high energy songs, which quickly got the growing audience up and dancing. The first line-dance was one which anyone who could stand could readily understand. Many of the dancers seemed closely descendant from Eastern European heritage, while many were distinctly American.
As the music played, the dancing got more complex, and was a good litmus test to see who the best dancers were. I could imagine a wedding where the last two co-eds standing would be similar to the results of garder/boquet toss.
The part of the audience that was not dancing seemed entirely engrossed with the musicians and the jovial atmosphere they brought to YIV. While some seemed to inherantly understand the music, others may have been engrosed simply in the ability of these super-capable musicians.
The most locally-common instrument in the bunch - the guitar - played an entirely different role in the band then our US ears are used to. With the bass notes emphasized, and the rhythmic strumming patterns soft in the mix, the guitarist acted more as a liason between the melody instruments and the percussion. The role of lead guitar was picked up by the Accordian player, who not only played the accordian in a masterfully interesting and coherent manner, but he also sang!
And what powerful voices we heard! The male accordianist had a voice as strong as any I'd heard singing this music, and one so provocative and gutteral that it could wind your heart around the center of a yo-yo and toss you out the same way. The low, gutsy female vocalist had the air of wisdom in her voice, as well as a sometimes flirtatious and always sensual element that had me longing for more. A young lady - the guitarist's local daughter - got up on stage a few times during the evening and shared a youthful take on these songs with a voice that had tastefully innocent qualities, which showed serious potential for the future of her singing.
The highlight for me were the melody instruments, particularly the Bagpipist and Flautist. I was blown away with their speed and the character of the tones they could release from their instruments. The piper could bend these notes directly or subtly, and knew when to do each. Likewise, the flute had a dynamic range far beyond seasoned, which could play a primary role in the melody or back into a supportive spot.
On Kabile, from Noel Kropf:
Traditional Bulgarian folk music has attracted worldwide attention and scholarship for its incredible virtuosity and musicianship. Varied rhythms combine with gorgeous harmonies, ancient instruments with modern, and traditional styles are rendered with a modern sensibility to produce an exquisite musical brew that is bound to enthrall roots music enthusiasts and novices alike.
Kabile is a top favorite in the south and east Thrace regions of Bulgaria for weddings, baptisms and other cultural celebrations. Dzhenko Andreev, Ivan Handzhiev, Angel Krastev, Nikolay Doktorov, Nikolay Kolev and Donka Koleva are excellent representatives of this traditional style. Mr. Andreev plays the gajda (bagpipe), Mr. Krastev the tapan (double headed drum), Mr. Doctorov the kaval (shepherd's flute), and Mr. Kolev the gudulka (lyra). Mr. Handzhiev plays accordion and is a vocalist in the traditional Thracian style. Ms. Koleva is also a vocalist in the traditional Thracian style. Individually, each member of the band has an exceptional history of scholarship and performance. Collectively they form one of the most respected ensembles in Bulgarian Thrace.
9.13.2008
Kabile at Your Inner Vagabond
What an awesome show! Full of lively dancing and some of the most talented musicians this side of the equator. Check out the bagpipes!
8.21.2008
Consider the Source Review
What happened on Sunday the 17th was an exceptional example of how Pittsburgh develops a scene. In a crowd of maybe 40 people, I would venture to say that at least half of them were musicians, many from influential bands in the city. This is step one. Step two, which Consider the Source takes care of simply by showing up, is you have to get people's attention.
Many acts attempt step two by creating crazy stage antics, constantly bantering with the audience, or otherwise "performing". But Consider the Source is hardly an "act" "performing". It takes a lot of practice to get as good as these guys. I'm talking like, "Congrats on your baby boy! Here, I bought him a drum kit! Oh, by the way I already have the other bandmates lined up for him. Just give me a call when he can sit up straight." Like someone scouted out these angels at birth... Even bands who sign deals with the devil do not wind up this damned good.
From the first song, the audience was speechless. Muted by the complex, yet engaging, melodies and rhythms that CTS winds through their songs. Filled with poly-rhythmic stops and starts, cohesive melodies, consistant and flowing energy, these guys really know how to transport an audience. Damned good.
New song... "This one's a bit hard" Ah yes, because we all followed what you were doing on the other songs anyways. DAMN, you don't even SEE Gabrial's fingers move while he plays! They are a blur of precision! And then, he is suddenly - as if by electronic magic - playing trumpet, keyboards, you name it! All from the same instrument. Magicians. Damned good. Really f*ing good.
Complex Complex was great as well. God, at any other show I would say they are awesome, and I do honestly respect the fact that they performed alongside CTS. But it's the difference between gods and men. Complex Complex were damn good; CTS played the music of the spheres. It's been well over a week, and I'm still reeling from it.
In terms of feel, Complex Complex is very jammy, more in a Sound Tribe Sector Nine way, with elements of the music. It is dancable, thoughtful music that would lend itself well to a group of people dancing. I found it to get a bit stuffy at times, but the bar had been raised. Seriously, I might have to wait to give these guys a fair review. Though they're damned good too.
Can you believe CC had never experienced hummus?! Well, we're glad ours was first, they enjoyed it enough to say so a few times! yay! Now, had they tried the caponata or the spicy feta, they may never have left Your Inner Vagabond.
So, the show ends, everyone stumbles out in a haze, I eat some fire, we all laugh about it, band gets paid, I get my stuff together... Point being, when I'm at YIV, I'm almost always working. I've been asked to jam with bands before, and have almost always declined (at the Jalsah, it's a bit different, because everyone's "working", and everyone's "playing"). However, after we closed, as I was winding up cables, members of both CC and CTS got up on stage.
If playing along would have assured my certain death, I still couldn't have stopped myself. It felt a bit ackward at first (I'm at YIV, I'm jamming, wait, the bass is too soft, i must turn it up, wait, i'm jamming not running sound!), and I never was turned up all the way through the microphone, but damn. I'm glad I didn't wake up going "I totally should've jammed". I just sang along. It was exciting to be inside the music. Damned fun.
VIDEO and AUDIO recordings of the sets and the jam are coming soon. And they are... yep, damned good!
PS - To all the record exec's out there, you've joined the bandwagon too late. I've decided to sign these guys. Forget not having all the resources just yet, where there's a will there's a way... CTS, welcome to Tarsier!! (wake up, emay, c'mon)
Many acts attempt step two by creating crazy stage antics, constantly bantering with the audience, or otherwise "performing". But Consider the Source is hardly an "act" "performing". It takes a lot of practice to get as good as these guys. I'm talking like, "Congrats on your baby boy! Here, I bought him a drum kit! Oh, by the way I already have the other bandmates lined up for him. Just give me a call when he can sit up straight." Like someone scouted out these angels at birth... Even bands who sign deals with the devil do not wind up this damned good.
From the first song, the audience was speechless. Muted by the complex, yet engaging, melodies and rhythms that CTS winds through their songs. Filled with poly-rhythmic stops and starts, cohesive melodies, consistant and flowing energy, these guys really know how to transport an audience. Damned good.
New song... "This one's a bit hard" Ah yes, because we all followed what you were doing on the other songs anyways. DAMN, you don't even SEE Gabrial's fingers move while he plays! They are a blur of precision! And then, he is suddenly - as if by electronic magic - playing trumpet, keyboards, you name it! All from the same instrument. Magicians. Damned good. Really f*ing good.
Complex Complex was great as well. God, at any other show I would say they are awesome, and I do honestly respect the fact that they performed alongside CTS. But it's the difference between gods and men. Complex Complex were damn good; CTS played the music of the spheres. It's been well over a week, and I'm still reeling from it.
In terms of feel, Complex Complex is very jammy, more in a Sound Tribe Sector Nine way, with elements of the music. It is dancable, thoughtful music that would lend itself well to a group of people dancing. I found it to get a bit stuffy at times, but the bar had been raised. Seriously, I might have to wait to give these guys a fair review. Though they're damned good too.
Can you believe CC had never experienced hummus?! Well, we're glad ours was first, they enjoyed it enough to say so a few times! yay! Now, had they tried the caponata or the spicy feta, they may never have left Your Inner Vagabond.
So, the show ends, everyone stumbles out in a haze, I eat some fire, we all laugh about it, band gets paid, I get my stuff together... Point being, when I'm at YIV, I'm almost always working. I've been asked to jam with bands before, and have almost always declined (at the Jalsah, it's a bit different, because everyone's "working", and everyone's "playing"). However, after we closed, as I was winding up cables, members of both CC and CTS got up on stage.
If playing along would have assured my certain death, I still couldn't have stopped myself. It felt a bit ackward at first (I'm at YIV, I'm jamming, wait, the bass is too soft, i must turn it up, wait, i'm jamming not running sound!), and I never was turned up all the way through the microphone, but damn. I'm glad I didn't wake up going "I totally should've jammed". I just sang along. It was exciting to be inside the music. Damned fun.
VIDEO and AUDIO recordings of the sets and the jam are coming soon. And they are... yep, damned good!
PS - To all the record exec's out there, you've joined the bandwagon too late. I've decided to sign these guys. Forget not having all the resources just yet, where there's a will there's a way... CTS, welcome to Tarsier!! (wake up, emay, c'mon)
6.23.2008
Uni & Tippy Canoe
Last night at Your Inner Vagabond, the stage was graced by some dynamic and magnetic women. On tour from San Francisco, Uni and Tippy Canoe performed pass-the-baton style for an enthusiastic and attentive audience here in the 'burgh, with our very own Midge Crickett performing her tear-and-knee-jerk original tunes. I laughed, I cried, I danced. What more could a gal ask for on a Sunday evening?
Before the show, I was unaware that the uke was an instrument born from Portugal. What a country, this Portugal! How fitting to also have the lovely and evocative paintings of Portugese painter Joana Ricou lining the walls of YIV. And one step beyond that, the evening and the art resonated within this sense of feminine power: not in the attention-demanding, confusion-inducing, end-all-to-be-all way that masculine power has become in our current patriarchy. No, it was much more of a "we are beautiful, yes, and we have much control over our lives and our situations, sure. But we do what we do out of authority, as we understand ourselves and the ways of our world in the simplest way: by growing up female."
If that doesn't make sense (I'm still deciding if it does for me), perhaps it is also apt to describe this feminine energy as one that frees minds to dreams, hopes and possibilities, while grounding us in the reality that everything we do ultimately effects all of existence. It is an intelligent power, one with the grace and security of trees.
Opening the set on her Cello, Midge Crickett set the night on fire. She is full to the headstock of witty observations, clever connotations, and awkward hilarity. Song themes range from being state educated (and therefore never quite knowing what to call the country or the people of Prague) to pirate shanties about skin afflictions and STD's (a character piece of the highest order). A perfect pick for any cabaret event, your next house party, or opening for a famous stand-up comic: Midge Crickett is a songstress and performer ready to write songs and shed humor upon whatever wacky thing life throws at us.
Uni's ukulele jack got jacked (appropriately enough), so she was instead billed as Uni & Tippy's Ukulele. Having recently left her job at the awesome Amoeba Music in San Francisco to pursue her musical dream, her first step was booking a European tour! What awesome gonads, girl! A song which describes this reach for the stars held the line "What is most important can take a while." An insight of wisdom that more people should reference.
Atop her beautiful performing style, her grace on stage, and her fun, inspiring songs, what struck me most was her voice. With a delicate control which often reminded me of Joana Newsom, she embraced the full range of emotions, topping out at a wail akin to Alanis Morissette or Ryat of As Human. For those of you who know my taste in female vocalists, you know how much I appreciated Uni's dynamic stylings. And if you don't know my tastes, perhaps it is best said that I have no doubt in my mind that Uni and her delightful ukulele could ensnare an audience of any size, in any country, at any time in history.
While it would be unfair to judge dear Tippy Canoe's voice or performance, simply due to a killer case of the plague she picked up on tour, I still have much praise for her. She chose to still perform as well as her voice would let her, and she did it with a sense of humor and graceful wit, advising the audience to refer to her as Mr. Waits, and sipping off a small flask of "Canadian perfume" for healing purposes. Also a particularly friendly and open person, something this agent *never* takes for granted, I do hope she returns to Pittsburgh with her voice and her band, The Paddlemen.
Video of the YIV show:
Before the show, I was unaware that the uke was an instrument born from Portugal. What a country, this Portugal! How fitting to also have the lovely and evocative paintings of Portugese painter Joana Ricou lining the walls of YIV. And one step beyond that, the evening and the art resonated within this sense of feminine power: not in the attention-demanding, confusion-inducing, end-all-to-be-all way that masculine power has become in our current patriarchy. No, it was much more of a "we are beautiful, yes, and we have much control over our lives and our situations, sure. But we do what we do out of authority, as we understand ourselves and the ways of our world in the simplest way: by growing up female."
If that doesn't make sense (I'm still deciding if it does for me), perhaps it is also apt to describe this feminine energy as one that frees minds to dreams, hopes and possibilities, while grounding us in the reality that everything we do ultimately effects all of existence. It is an intelligent power, one with the grace and security of trees.
Opening the set on her Cello, Midge Crickett set the night on fire. She is full to the headstock of witty observations, clever connotations, and awkward hilarity. Song themes range from being state educated (and therefore never quite knowing what to call the country or the people of Prague) to pirate shanties about skin afflictions and STD's (a character piece of the highest order). A perfect pick for any cabaret event, your next house party, or opening for a famous stand-up comic: Midge Crickett is a songstress and performer ready to write songs and shed humor upon whatever wacky thing life throws at us.
Uni's ukulele jack got jacked (appropriately enough), so she was instead billed as Uni & Tippy's Ukulele. Having recently left her job at the awesome Amoeba Music in San Francisco to pursue her musical dream, her first step was booking a European tour! What awesome gonads, girl! A song which describes this reach for the stars held the line "What is most important can take a while." An insight of wisdom that more people should reference.
Atop her beautiful performing style, her grace on stage, and her fun, inspiring songs, what struck me most was her voice. With a delicate control which often reminded me of Joana Newsom, she embraced the full range of emotions, topping out at a wail akin to Alanis Morissette or Ryat of As Human. For those of you who know my taste in female vocalists, you know how much I appreciated Uni's dynamic stylings. And if you don't know my tastes, perhaps it is best said that I have no doubt in my mind that Uni and her delightful ukulele could ensnare an audience of any size, in any country, at any time in history.
While it would be unfair to judge dear Tippy Canoe's voice or performance, simply due to a killer case of the plague she picked up on tour, I still have much praise for her. She chose to still perform as well as her voice would let her, and she did it with a sense of humor and graceful wit, advising the audience to refer to her as Mr. Waits, and sipping off a small flask of "Canadian perfume" for healing purposes. Also a particularly friendly and open person, something this agent *never* takes for granted, I do hope she returns to Pittsburgh with her voice and her band, The Paddlemen.
Video of the YIV show:
6.14.2008
The Gypsy Nomads
Another lovely band to grace the stage at Your Inner Vagabond. This kind and artistic duo was a pleasure to watch, not only because their stage presence and songs were exquisite, but also as an inspiration to expand my percussion on stage during solo shows.
French-born nomad Samantha was a beautiful singer, dancer, and percussionist. She passed out shakers and tambourines during one song (which the audience played and even ended on cue - amazing!). She spoke only french during their second set.
Scott not only played guitar, percussion and looped (and sang on a few songs), he also designed the beautifully sensual and psychadelic artwork which graced their merch table (some of which I have hanging on my wall at the moment). Lovely poses of bodies turning into trees which then grow fingers.
Love it!
We recorded their set with our Zoom H3 and a video camera, and will get some of that goodness up. In the meantime, please enjoy this clip:
French-born nomad Samantha was a beautiful singer, dancer, and percussionist. She passed out shakers and tambourines during one song (which the audience played and even ended on cue - amazing!). She spoke only french during their second set.
Scott not only played guitar, percussion and looped (and sang on a few songs), he also designed the beautifully sensual and psychadelic artwork which graced their merch table (some of which I have hanging on my wall at the moment). Lovely poses of bodies turning into trees which then grow fingers.
Love it!
We recorded their set with our Zoom H3 and a video camera, and will get some of that goodness up. In the meantime, please enjoy this clip:
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
