Category: Band of the Week

Last weekend, I caught Toronto trio Elliott Brood‘s phenomenal performance at the Emerging Music Festival in Canada.  While the four-day festival boasted numerous French-speaking acts, frontman Mark Sasso asserted, “In English or French, we just want you to dance.”

And dance they did.

Perhaps the most energetic crowd of the festival, the audience were on their feet until 2 a.m. stomping and clapping along. With rousing banjo and harmonica coupled with Sasso’s raspy Dylan-esque vocals, the band transformed the church where they played into a loud honky tonk where fans drummed along during their set on makeshift tambourines the band handed out.

Standout tracks like “Fingers and Tongues” impressed while banjo driven “Write It All Down For You” featured heavy hitting percussion alongside Sasso’s relentless singing.

“It feels really nice and hot in here. That’s how rock shows should be,” Sasso commented.

With intricate finger picked guitar and the band’s rich harmonies, their alt-country rock & roll satisfied as the enthusiastic audience hung onto every note played.

Elliott Brood’s new album, Days Into Years, is due out Sept. 27. For more on the band, visit their Web site. Watch them perform “Miss You Now” below live in studio Q from their Polaris Prize nominated album Mountain Meadows.

Earlier this month, I caught Mike Mangione & the Union‘s performance at Real Madrid soccer stadium while in Spain covering World Youth Day. The six-piece band traveled from Chicago and played several showcases throughout the week and I was lucky enough to catch them one of my last days there.

Frontman Mangione has a powerful stage presence and captivated the stadium filled with people from countless countries who most likely didn’t understand every word sung. But, good music transcends language barriers and he had the stadium clapping along throughout the set and at times even singing along.

Songs like the catchy “Darling Little Sister” impressed with violin and cello accompaniment while Mangione’s soulful vocals satisfied. In fact, Mangione brings slight resemblance to Ray LaMontagne with his deep and raspy singing style. After joking that he and violinist Kristina Priceman wrote the song in 1965, Mangione & the Union segued into a solid cover of Bob Dylan’s “Tombstone Blues.” With fast paced guitar and percussion, the energetic number showcased the band’s talent.

“It’s hot. We’re gonna sweat and it’s gonna feel great,” Mangione told the crowd. The thermometer hit the upper 90s throughout his set, so he wasn’t kidding.

Poignant ballad, “You Were Beautiful Once” followed soon after while Mangione’s heartfelt vocals and soaring guitar accompaniment led the track before the band ended their set with the bluesy “Somewhere Between.” With heavy hitting percussion, haunting string accompaniment and riff ready guitar parts, Mangione & the Union left Spain with hundreds of new fans.

To listen to Mike Mangione & the Union, be sure to visit their Web site. You can watch my interview with him below and see some of the band’s performance.

Nashville-based singer-songwriter Mat Kearney’s latest album, Young Love, is 10 tracks of feel good, energetic music, so much so that it’s nearly impossible to not stomp your feet along. Kearney filled fans in on his new release on his Web site.

“Today marks a day I have only experienced a few times in my life; the release of a new record, the preparation for a new tour, and another shot to live my dream. I can’t help but feel freaked out and completely blessed all in the same breath. I have to hold still so that the DJ kid sitting next to me ripping vinyl onto his laptop doesn’t see my eyes fill with tears as I write this.

“Here we go again. We are in this together. If “Young Love” is worth anything it’s because you think it is. I started out making records for my friends. I’d track them down and make them listen to the new songs I had written. It was like I was trying to rip their heart out with a pocket knife and sing the grace of god back over the damage I had done. Not much has changed over these last years. I’ve kept on trying to do that same thing in different ways. And it seems I have made a few more friends than when I started. Thank you for all your support, I hope this finds you well,” he wrote.

Young Love kicks off with catchy first single, “Hey Mama.” With hand-clapped rhythms and a fast beat, its a new side to Kearney than witnessed on previous singles. “Ships In the Night” follows with a striking piano introduction before Kearney joins in on vocals. Blending his eased singing style with spoken word features, the song is refreshingly new.

The beautiful “Sooner or Later” soars with textured guitar and percussion accompaniment while Kearney’s songwriting continues to strike a chord. “We’re all waiting on a dream that’s hard to own, sooner or later/Trying to feel the high without the low, you know/You can feel fire in the night lying here/Baby it’s like we’re walking on a wire through the fear/Take my hand, we’ll get there,” he sings.

While fast paced songs like “She Got the Honey” impress, it is on his slowed ballads like “Learning to Love Again,” the heartbreaking “Rochester” and bonus track “Seventeen” that he leaves the greatest impact. His voice is at the forefront, with no distracting drum loops or electric guitars, allowing his tales to unravel. With remarkably descriptive stories the listener can envision himself inside of the tale. It is this moving storytelling that reveals Kearney’s talent.

A few years ago I interviewed Kearney and asked about his songwriting process.

“It’s always different. You never know what’s going to happen. Sometimes there are songs, sometimes it’s a movie, sometimes it’s your friends, sometimes it’s a book, sometimes you’re laying in the bed in the middle of the night and you hear this idea going through your head and so you have to get up and write it down. It’s very different. Sometimes I’m breaking into schools and writing on a piano because I really wanted to write on a piano. It’s very varied. It’s elusive the writing process,” he said.

For my complete interview with Mat Kearney, click here. Be sure to watch him perform on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno tonight and catch him live Thursday at SoHo’s Apple Store.

Related Links:
• Q&A with Mat Kearney
• Song of the Week: “Hey Mama”
• Album Review: Mat Kearney’s “City of Black & White”
• So Long, 2009. Bring on 2010.

Taking the stage shortly before midnight, A Million Years captivated a packed Mercury Lounge Thursday with their anthemic rock. After tours with 30 Seconds to Mars, Phoenix, The Drums, Longwave, One Eskimo and Jesse Malin, their hour-long performance showcased their prowess onstage.

The Brooklyn-based band kicked off their set with high energy as they performed “No Distance.” With Keith Madden’s soaring vocals, solid guitar riffs and heavy hitting percussion it’s easy to picture the band in an arena setting.

Throughout their hour set the band impressed with impeccably layered guitar textures, catchy choruses and powerful musical interludes. The haunting “Holy Ghost Town” featured polished guitar accompaniment while the atmospheric ballad “Incandescent” demonstrated their more serious side with slowed, ethereal vocals and delicate guitar parts.

While they’ve been compared to The Strokes and Queens of the Stone Age, A Million Years continue to set themselves apart with their memorable live show. Watch them perform “Holy Ghost Town” and “Suspicious” below and be sure to check out their Web site for more.

Music has always been the passion in Brooke Annibale‘s life. It comes as no surprise, then, that the 23-year-old just released her third full-length album. An impressive LP, Silence Worth Breaking, debuted this spring and continues to put the Pittsburgh based singer-songwriter on the map. With smooth vocals and thoughtful lyrics, her music is bound to get stuck in your head.

Songs like the emotional “Under Streetlights” are relatable. While her familiar vocals draw the listener in, it is the impressive musical landscape that keeps one’s attention. Strong guitar parts and percussion add to Annibale’s singing style, but never overpower it.

Singing about love, life, and loss, Annibale holds a certain wisdom unprecedented for her age. At times, her raspy and earthy singing style give slight reminiscence to Brandi Carlile while comparisons to John Mayer’s “smoky” quality have also been made. Fittingly, on “Empathy” she sings “I just can’t be someone I’m not” with soaring electric guitar reminiscent to that of Mayer at the fadeout of the song.

While her whispered vocals are familiar to that of Priscilla Ahn and Meiko on tracks like “Feels Like Home,” Brooke offers something fresh with her personal and relatable lyrics. With additional string accompaniment, the song strikes a chord.

Silence Worth Breaking was produced by Paul Moak (Third Day, Jennifer Knapp, Matthew Mayfield, Mat Kearney) in Nashville, Tennessee. After working with Brooke in the studio Moak said, “Brooke Annibale is an artist of true depth both as a writer and a performer. Her ability to draw you in with that voice is equally matched by what she has to say once you are there.”

I couldn’t agree more. Annibale’s emotion fueled vocals captivate the listener, begging him to hit that repeat button. Watch Annibale perform “Under the Streetlights” below and for more, be sure to visit her Web site.

Echo Chamber: Brooke Annibale / Under Streetlights from Draw Us Lines on Vimeo.

Last week, I witnessed The Trews live in Park Slope for a 30-minute stripped down performance before their set at Mercury Lounge the next day. After listening to their latest album, Hope & Ruin, all afternoon on repeat I was intrigued to see just how the Canadian four-piece would sound live.

While an energetic plugged in set tends to captivate the concertgoer, often it is a stripped down performance that best showcases a band’s talent. Having toured with everyone from the Rolling Stones and Robert Plant to Kid Rock, The Trews didn’t disappoint.

The band kicked things off with energetic title track, “Hope & Ruin” as frontman Colin MacDonald’s powerful vocals led the song. With catchy “woah-oh’s” and dynamic guitar interludes, The Trews captivated the room. The tongue-in-cheek “I’ll Find Someone Who Will” followed with beautiful harmonies and more aggressive guitar and percussion.

Next track, “One By One” continued to showcase the band’s talent with a solid guitar breakdown mid-track coupled with MacDonald’s wavering vocals and a fitting percussion beat while the energetic “Paranoid Freak” saw fans dancing along. Mid-song, the music stopped to showcase MacDonald alone. As the room stood silent, it was evident that the band left a mark on listeners.

Stand-out track “Poor Ol’ Broken Hearted Me” began a cappella before a funky bass and percussion beat took the lead. An impressive stripped down sound, I wish I could have witnessed The Trews plugged in set.

The band closed their performance by taking requests. Slower ballad “Stay With Me” continued to impress while the up-tempo “Hold Me in Your Arms” set the band apart with soulful vocals and powerful instrumental features. As the band ended their performance, they reminded the room that they’d be playing NYC’s Mercury Lounge the next night.

“Come on out and bring a date. If you don’t have a date, bring one of us,” guitarist John-Angus MacDonald said.

Currently on tour promoting their latest release, Hope & Ruin, be sure to catch The Trews live. Stay tuned for my interview with the band.

Earlier this week, Virginia-based band River James released their debut four song EP. No strangers to the music industry, frontman Vince Scheuerman, formerly of Army of Me, and drummer Jacob Marshall, formerly of MAE, met while on tour years ago. Bass player John “Scoops” Hutchins and guitarist Tyler Strickland were added to the mix during a canoe trip along the James River in Virginia. After 410 miles, much soul searching and bonding, they decided to tell their story to the world in song.

The songs were recorded live with the goal to produce an organic and raw sound. With honest lyrics and light music accompaniment, each track allows room for Scheuerman’s delicate singing style to leave a lasting impact.

“We would like to keep it organic, with acoustic guitar or piano in each song. And the idea is to run the gamut of dynamics, from the whisper of one man and his guitar, to the full band hitting you with everything they have,” Scheuerman said.

The EP begins with the haunting “Avenue A.” A song that discusses the struggles of alcoholism, crushed dreams and soul searching, the stripped down track strikes a chord. With light guitar strumming and Scheuerman’s questioning lyrics, the song has an intimate feel, as if the band is letting the listener into their recording studio with them.

“I’m wondering is this all that I get, everything I worked for/The few that I called my dear friends have finally walked out the door,” Scheuerman sings. This begins the constant questioning of one’s path in life, a theme frequently portrayed throughout the EP. Mid-song the beat picks up with wavering electric guitar and background percussion as Scheuerman continues to sing with passion.

Standout track “Heart Of Love” follows suit with Scheuerman’s familiar whispered vocals. With fitting percussion and soaring guitar parts, he sings of love. A beautiful tale, the song was inspired by one woman’s heartbreaking discovery.

“I wrote this song after I’d heard the story of a woman who found out she had terminal cancer and one year to live. There was no treatment option for her. So her husband took the next year of his job off, and just spent that year with her. They travelled and did all the things that she wanted to do before she died and he just enjoyed the time that he had with her, knowing that it was limited. The song is meant to be his words to her,” Scheuerman writes.

The EP continues with a new relatable issue: the universal desire for intimacy. Influenced by a Bruce Springsteen song, “In My Blood” embodies striking vocals while a steady percussion beat and guitar accompaniment  round out the track. The album comes full circle with last track, “Dreams.” A song about struggling to pursue your dreams in the midst of endless obstacles, it strikes a chord.

“I pray we not forget our dreams” Scheuerman sings, convincing the listener to pursue his passion. No doubt influenced by his own experience, the listener finds solace that if River James didn’t leave their dreams behind, we shouldn’t either.

For more on the band and to listen to their music, be sure to visit their Web site. You can watch the video for “In My Blood” below.

River James – In My Blood from RiverJamesMusic on Vimeo.