Tag Archives: Folk

Through It All with Kye Alfred Hillig

24 Jun

Kye Alfred Hillig

Kye Alfred Hillig has recorded 18 full length albums of original material and has written more than 1,000 songs. He has been the primary songwriter for four bands, been on multiple regional and national tours, and performed many shows in the Pacific Northwest before going solo in 2012. He is the quintessential troubadour; his granular croon and unique brand of folk combine to create original pieces that fill each album with full-blown hits.

So, why do we not know more about Hillig? Perhaps it is because he first went solo last year. Well, if his first two solo efforts are indicators of success, Hillig will soon be a household name for folk lovers. Put simply, this man can sing, write, and play. His twangy croon has elements of Josh Ritter and Conor Oberst, and his lyric balances metaphors, axioms, and personal anecdotes.

While different in voice and lyrical content, Hillig, in his sheer productivity, reminds me of John Darnielle of the Mountain Goats. Similarly, each song of his is original and listenable – a tremendous quality and feat for a musician.

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Together Through it All was written during Hillig’s first months of employment at a funeral home in the Puyallup Valley of Washington State. He gathered several songs for the new album, and, even though it had only been four months since the release of his debut album solo album Aurora (Darnielle-esque!), Hillig is a songwriter and felt the itch to get in the studio and lay down the new tracks for his second release. The album was released in February of 2013.

This song plays right into my weakness. Introductory staccato piano chords and accordion (seriously, I cannot help from being lured by Parisian folk!) So, immediately “An Unedited Presentation of Souls” sent me back to Jardin du Luxembourg. Hillig’s apt vocal, well-placed harmonies, and rapid-plucked acoustic guitar do not hurt. With the fused style of Joe Purdy and the Counting Crows, Hillig allows the song to flourish with rich instrumentals and soothing vocals.

“You & Me & Time” emits a different feel; a folk ballad that moves like calm waves undulating in the ocean. Hillig’s versatility is striking. This song also has some of Hillig’s most inspired lyrics on the album – simple and beautiful:

“And I don’t care if they think we’re wrong
And I don’t care if they hate this song
Let them paint the world so black and white
I’ll take the colors that make up our lives, and baby we’ll paint the night”

When asked about his inspiration, Hillig said:

“The thing that inspires me most in music is the continual investigation of difficult subject matter, the areas and ideas that make most of us uncomfortable. I’ve found that these places are gold mines for creating work that feels meaningful to me. It wasn’t until going solo that I really found my voice in music. Since then it feels like I’ve really discovered who I am as a songwriter. I believe strongly in going to work for my music. Making myself available for songs to happen is a vital part of the process now. I don’t sit around waiting for songs to fall in my lap. I start fiddling with instruments daily like an archeologist trying to unearth something, waiting for something to show itself. Some days I find something worth keeping. Some days I don’t.”

Doesn’t this excellently describe the writing process (songwriting/prose/poetry)? It is like an archeologist trying to unearth something. Luckily for Hillig, he rarely digs without finding precious metals.

Check out the rest of Together Through It All. Follow Hillig on his Facebook and Website

 

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Amanda Merdzan Redraws the Indie/Folk Map

12 Jun

Amanda Merdzan

When astronaut John Glenn orbited above Perth, Australia in 1962, people in the Western Australia capital city turned on all their lights so the city would become a sparkling lightbulb to the orbital viewer; Perth is aptly known as the “City of Light” because of this magnificent communal stunt.

Indie/Folk musician Amanda Merdzan is also from Perth, Australia. What do these two things have in common (despite the similarity of origin)? Merdzan, similar to her hometown, is a “city of light” for Indie/Folk music. Her music dazzles with a powerful edge that shines through her savvy vocals. While a troubadour with a sincere rawness to her tunes, Merdzan juxtaposes this denuded flavor with a striking maturity in her words and musicality. Put simply, Merdzan is a fluorescent light in an often lucifugous climate.

After the release of her debut album in 2010, Merdzan spent three months in the U.S. before going home in 2011 and gigging around Perth. She is now on the heels of her latest release, an EP called The Map Has Been Redrawn.

“Afraid” is the title track off of the 5-song EP. The song bounces with a Mumford and Sons rhythm at its entrance, combining Merdzan’s potent vocal with an excellent instrumental of echoed strings, plucked acoustic guitar, and heavy percussion. The inception of the piece latches on to the listener like a good book to an eager reader; once it pulls you in you cannot stop exploring the created world. And it is quite a world – one full of imagery-inducing harmonies and musical precision. Seriously, the song does not have a flaw.

This live acoustic version of “Each Day Like the First” (the 4th song on the EP) exposes the tenderness of Merdzan’s voice. The song flows with the subtle authority of Fleet Foxes or Tallest Man on Earth. While pastoral, the persistent rhythm maintains an urban quality – a contradiction that works well to create the wonderful aura that encompasses all of Merdzan’s songs.

Follow Merdzan on her website, Facebook, and Twitter.

 

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Climbing Tall Mountains with Sydney Yeo

30 May
Tall Mountains

Tall Mountains

At only 20 years old, Sydney Yeo has already had to climb some pretty Tall Mountains to get where she is today. But one thing is for sure: her love for music trumps all. Yeo, who goes by the apt moniker Tall Mountains hails from Singapore, a Southeast Asian island off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula. After graduating High School, she interned at Snakeweed Studios, an independent recording and production studio in Singapore before moving to New York in August, 2011. Considering that Singapore’s record low temperature is in the upper 60s – a balmy Spring day in New York – she must have felt like she entered a perpetual winter wonderland. Currently, she is studying music engineering and production at the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music and interning at record label Astralwerks – the home of Pet Shop Boys and Swedish House Mafia.

AND…in her spare time she is a musician – and a good one at that. She has performed at the Knitting Factory in Brooklyn and at 92Y Tribeca. Her mellow melodies and soft, reserved voice garners unexpected passion. The saccharine strings blend with spry percussion and robust guitar. While pastoral, there is a certain fast-paced city quality to the music – an eccentric juxtaposition that plays to Yeo’s mixed inspirations. Perhaps this is best encompassed in “Who Told You,” off of the five-song Tall Mountains EP, which was released in November of last year.

See what I mean. Driven by rapid percussion and clear vocal ardor, the song still maintains a string-induced natural pulchritude – much like a pretty girl on a city street. This potent folk/pop is infectious and agrestic – even taking on some country elements.

“Better” has such an authentic 90’s folk feel it’s scary – like straight out of a Romantic Comedy from 1999. This isn’t a bad thing. The song is enjoyable – embracing a tapestry of harmony, vocal strength, and a sweet melody. It also features some of Yeo’s lyrical aptitude with lines like:

The glass on my window is black 
I just swept the gray dust from my floors but I’m sure it’ll come back 
Before I knew you, I was stewing in my own filth 
You made me anew, now I don’t know how to live

Check out more of Sydney Yeo (Tall Mountains) on her Facebook and Twitter.

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Ritter and the Royal City Band Rock Terminal 5

20 May
Josh Ritter and the Royal City Band

Josh Ritter and the Royal City Band

In “Lights,” the concluding track of Josh Ritter’s new album The Beast In Its Tracks,” Ritter sings “Every heart on Earth is dark half the time,” an apt line that seems to sum up Ritter’s unique brand of potent folk/rock and poetic lyric. Ritter, a realistic romantic, paints extraordinary love songs with settings that range from an Egyptian tomb to a government controlled missile silo, but balances these resplendent short stories with tales of lost love and regret. The heart is dark half the time.

But…it’s ablaze the other half of the time, and this vivacious beating organ was on display at Terminal 5 this past weekend when Ritter and his dashing Royal City Band wholeheartedly rocked a packed crowd with a satiating 20-song set.

After The Felice Brothers, a local New York folk/rock band, set a passionate tone with a vivacious opening act fit with sultry Dylan-like folk pieces and perfervid blues-laden songs fit with white-hot accordion, fiddle, and even washboard, Ritter came out alone at around 9 p.m. and immediately sang the soft opening notes of “Idaho,” his tribute to his home state.

One of the most striking features of a Josh Ritter performance is how happy he is to be on stage performing to a crowd. As a listener, you get the sense that he would be beaming even if he was performing to a group of 20-or-so listeners. He has a clear love for music, poetry, stories, and performance. This warmth was echoed by the audience that sang along to most of the songs – even providing the much-needed background to the end of one of Ritter’s most serene and melodic songs, “Change of Time” (below).

Ritter displayed why he is a true troubadour in his between-song monologues where he talked about his life – including a candid expression of divorce and love.

Each song was tinged with a calm force that washed over the crowd like a breeze. But of all the songs I wanted to hear, I was most excited for “The Temptation of Adam,” which was the song (off of the 2007 album The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter) that first attracted me to Ritter’s music. This uber-creative love song that links the transition between attraction to deep (but somewhat apprehensive) love with a “top secret location 300-feet under the ground” (a missile silo) is as eccentric and zany as it is wondrous and impassioned. Ritter demonstrates his remarkable ability to write witty and brilliant lyrics that flow perfectly with the song. While I do not have a recording of his performance from this past Saturday, I do have one (Youtube) from 2011, also in Terminal 5.

Excellent concert! If Ritter and the Royal City Band is performing near your town, I seriously suggest you go to see them!

 

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The Top 3 Concerts at Summerstage 2013

22 Apr

Summerstage

While the cold air continues to linger over New York, one of the first signs of summer presented itself in the form of an e-mail this afternoon. The 2013 Summerstage calendar has been released. Summerstage, a product of the NYC City Parks Foundation, is a uniquely New York. From June 4 – August 29, Summerstage provides over 100 free music, dance, film, comedy, family and theater programs in 17 parks across all five boroughs of NYC. It is an ubiquitous city-wide arts fest and all are invited. The schedule, like in year’s past, is packed with several savory events, including a few premier cost events – like the ones I will discuss in today’s post.

While I urge you to check out the Schedule when you have an opportunity, I am going to preview three events I am most excited about, all occurring at the 69th St. & 5th Ave, Central Park location.

3.) Bobby McFerrin – Tuesday, August 20th at 7:00pm EDT

No, this famous song of sincere contentment was not created by Bob Marley. The song was released seven years after Marley’s death, and, last time I checked, Marley is not 2Pac. “Don’t Worry Be Happy” is the wise advice of Bobby McFerrin, and, in some form of twisted irony, this simple ditty of humorous happiness that is clearly his most known work suffers from authorship mistakes and does not do McFerrin justice. McFerrin is a tremendously talented musicians with a perspicacious musicality that shines through everything he creates. Although I am still trying to figure out the “Don’t Worry Be Happy” video that truly marks the song as one of the weirdest pieces to ever hit the top spot on the charts, I’m sure McFerrin will put on a very “happy” show in August.

2.) The Zombies/Django Django/Adam Green and Binki Shapiro/DJ Modest P – Saturday, June 15th at 3:00pm EDT

Wow. This is an eclectic mix of old/new musicians. The Zombies released Odessey and Oracle in 1968, and those who have listened to it can attest to it being one of the better rock albums of the 1960s. The band combined pop/rock with prog/psych to establish an intriguing blend of 60s genres. I saw them at a previous Hippiefest, and they were quite good.

Django Django released their self-titled debut in 2012, and it’s combination of electronic rock and indie influences is upbeat and poppy with Franz Ferdinand influences. Heck, there is even some embedded 60s pop in the music. Take a listen to “Hail Bop” below. Enjoy the odd video.

Of what I know about the other two performers, Adam Green and Binki Shapiro are folk/pop artists with a pull towards the 60s and DJ Modest P is a skilled New York spinner known for his long time Saturday night residency at the legendary East Village club Nublu. I’m interested to hear what kind of show this will be.

1.) Airborne Toxic Event – Tuesday, June 18th at 7:00pm EDT

I have had an itch to see the Airborne Toxic Event for quite a while. The Californian Indie Rock band – with a name alluding to my favorite Don DeLillo novel – saw well-deserved success with the release of their sophomore album, All At Once, and, by the time this concert rolls around, will be supporting their third release, Such Hot Blood, set for release in late April. Quite simply, this will be an awesome show. Perfect band for the Summerstage.

Those are my top three. Feel free to check out the schedule (above), and you can follow Summerstage on Facebook or Twitter

 

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