My friend Liz DeJesus, aka DJ DeJesus, was tapped to provide the music for the launch of KNO Clothing. KNO is the brainchild of two Messiah graduates who want to help the homeless. Basically, you buy a t-shirt or hoodie and 50% of the cost is either donated to homeless shelters or used to provide direct aid, like warm clothing, to local homeless people. They wanted some hipster music Liz didn't have, so she asked Jared (The Hound) and I to come along. Between presentations by the founders and a formerly homeless man, we pumped out jams by Phoenix, Passion Pit, Chiddy Bang, and LCD Soundsystem while the guests socialized, ate delicious food courtesy of venue Passage to India Restaurant, and watched as the KNO line was modeled by various friends of the company. We threw together this special "Foxy Jesus" edit of Matt & Kim's "Daylight" and the Ninjasonik rap version for the occasion that got a pretty good crowd response.
Now that I'm moving into the SALT House in Harrisburg, it may seem a little late to cover these as an outsider, but since I was supposed to run audio in both cases it doesn't make much difference. My friend Phil Wilmot, formerly of hardcore act Judges as well as folkies The Legacy of Joseph-Michel Montgolfier[reviewed here], used some contacts in the underground house-show scene to get touring bands to drop by on their way to more important places in exchange for a place to crash. The first show I was involved in warmed up with acoustic sets by Kyle Rictor, Nathan Leigh, and local Trunks & Tales in an apartment before moving downstairs for the sonic assault of punks Run, Forever and post-rockers Deadhorse.
Rictor, a Messiah dropout based out of Nashville, performs with backing vocals by his wife Kelsey in an intimate style perfectly suited to the small room. Their intertwining voices mesmerized the small group that gathered with gentle guitar accompaniment that belied his imposing frame. His songs have since been regularly featured on The Fox and the Hound Show, and will soon make it onto a mixtape for my girlfriend.
Nathan Leigh is Brooklyn to the core, splitting time between indie-pop outfit Super Mirage and Latin post-punk band A Thousand Ships. With day jobs designing sound both for musical theater and Keroscene Records, his sheer output of work is incredible. Though on record much of his solo work is electronic-inflected, Leigh live is an engaging acoustic act, filled with anecdotes about his songs peppered with a biting wit. He has also received some airplay from my radio show, and "Letters, Postcards, Telegrams" will be on the aforementioned mixtape. Letters, Postcards, Telegrams by nathanleigh
Trunks & Tales, once a duo, is now the solo project of Daniel Anderson, whose negative songs about touring are only matched by willingness to play shows. His most recent effort is an album of covers of everything from Further Seems Forever to Counting Crows, which, like the rest of his music, is available at whatever price you choose to name on Bandcamp.
[insert reference to previous Monty Python reference and how much more appropriate it would be here if I hadn't already used it in the previous show review] I actually did run sound for Run, Forever, putting my 1100 watts to use to make the vocal audible over their guitar and bass amps and drum kit in the tiny space of the SALT House lobby. After a brief but enthusiastic set, my task switched to making a keyboard audible over the wail of postrock guitars being put out by Deadhorse. Since their enormous amps and proclivity for walls of distortion made this virtually impossible, it did not surprise me when we were shut down after a song or two due to noise ordinances of some kind. I probably would have been more impressed with both acts in a larger room, but in such close quarters their emphasis on noise and disregard for my equipment began to make me feel like an old man.
You may remember producer CJ Luzi and OnCue, the rapper he most often works with, from my previous posts. Around Thanksgiving, OnCue dropped the cleverly-titled Leftovers, featuring tracks that didn't make the cut for Cuey Sings The Blues, including a few with beats by Luzi. You can find that tape for free download here. [photo by Erika Ricchini of Troubador] CJ and mutual friend and producer Bryan "Pianoboi" Porter, who was actually the entertainment during the dinner of my junior prom, were part of the iStandard producers showcase at Fluid just off of South Street, at which Luzi was dubbed the crowd favorite. The biggest development is the launch of cjluzi.com, the front page of which links to the two OnCue tapes and my personal favorite track, "Lucifer and Friends", Luzi's contribution to Mick Boogie & Terry Urban's Viva La Hova re-release. For those who didn't cop it the first time out, Viva La Hova is a mixtape mashing Jay-Z vocals with Coldplay-sampling instrumentals. For those who did, make sure you grab the remastered version here, and especially the bonus tracks to get this jam from Luzi.
Due to Christmas break, there were only two shows in Messiah's b-sides series this month, but lack of quantity was made up by quality. The first of these two trios was The Wiyos, a nostalgic-folk act that made me feel like I was seeing all the best bits of my grandparents' record collection performed live. Fresh off a national tour with Bob Dylan, who handpicked them to open, the tightly harmonizing multi-instrumentalists enthralled us with a ridiculously wide variety of original compositions ranging from bluegrass to polka, including a soon-to-be recorded suite based on The Wizard of Oz. Their impressive array of instrumentation included everything from upright bass to kazoo, the latter even managing not to come off kitschy; kitsch could hardly come from such impeccably dressed, consummate professionals. As John Cleese was fond of saying, "And now for something completely different..." The Andreas Kapsalis Trio is an instrumental group centered on guitarist Andreas Kapsalis, who plays a percussive fingerstyle not far removed from that of Alex Brubaker, a friend of mine who has been covered here before and was influential in bringing him to Messiah. Not content to play solo, Kapsalis spices things up with a pair of percussionists, adding propulsive polyrhythms to his original film scores and interpretations of other improvisation-oriented musicians' work. A perfect close to the semester, the trio provided excellent background music for those studying for finals while captivating those who needed a break with an intense and technical performance.
Those of you who have heard me DJ may have been lucky enough to hear one or two of my exclusive edits of various tracks. I just got a Soundcloud, so here are my first and most recent remixing efforts for your listening/downloading enjoyment: Lollipop [Foxy Remix] by thefoxandthehoundLike A G6 [Foxy Remix] by thefoxandthehound
My friend Liz DeJesus, aka DJ DeJesus, was tapped to provide the music for the launch of KNO Clothing. KNO is the brainchild of two Messiah graduates who want to help the homeless. Basically, you buy a t-shirt or hoodie and 50% of the cost is either donated to homeless shelters or used to provide direct aid, like warm clothing, to local homeless people. They wanted some hipster music Liz didn't have, so she asked Jared (The Hound) and I to come along. Between presentations by the founders and a formerly homeless man, we pumped out jams by Phoenix, Passion Pit, Chiddy Bang, and LCD Soundsystem while the guests socialized, ate delicious food courtesy of venue Passage to India Restaurant, and watched as the KNO line was modeled by various friends of the company. We threw together this special "Foxy Jesus" edit of Matt & Kim's "Daylight" and the Ninjasonik rap version for the occasion that got a pretty good crowd response.
