By: David Schultz

Whenever anyone describes a band as playing “world music,” it’s usually taken as an oblique way of saying that they play music that derives from Africa or the Caribbean. BuzzUniverse, who takes the universe part of their name seriously, has carved out a nice niche for themselves by putting their own spin on the world music concept, incorporating South American gaucho rhythms and Latin American flair into blend of blues, funk and mountain-class bluegrass. After experimenting with a larger version of the band, BuzzUniverse has stripped back down to their original four-piece configuration: Alex Garay on vocals and lead guitar, Greg McLoughlin on bass, Dave Migliore on drums and Brian Ciufo on sax.

One thing that’s marked BuzzU’s shows over the past few months has been their willingness to experiment and refusal to remain static. Their penchant for incorporating jamband oriented rhythms into the song structure of progressive rock makes many of their songs perfect vehicles for other musicians to join in. At Sullivan Hall, violinist Meredith Bogacz sat in for the heart of their set, inspiring a zany dancing reverie from Garay with a traditional Irish jig and on “All Of My Friends,” blending in with Ciufo’s subtle baritone and soprano sax to provide a wonderful counterpoint to McLoughlin and Migliore’s sinuous beat. Broadening their universe, Aaron Wilkinson of the Honey Island Swamp Band sat in on mandolin for BuzzU’s version of the Marshall Tucker Band’s “This Ol Cowboy.”

BuzzUniverse will be offering a couple free shows in New York City over the next couple weeks. On July 4, they will be playing a 3:00 p.m. set at the South Street Seaport and on July 16, will be entertaining Manhattanites in Union Square Park with a set starting at 6:00 p.m.

Labels: BuzzUniverse

Taking a cue from moe and their now annually successful moe.down festival, the Pawnshop Roses are co-hosting their first annual "Let it Roll" Festival at Sunnyview Farm in Ghent, NY the weekend of September 18th and 19th.

Sunnyview Farm is a gorgeous 1200 acre farm located in Ghent, NY, which is just over an hour north of Woodstock, that has played host to rock and roll royalty over the years including John Lennon, Willie Nelson and Levon Helm.

So far, confirmed acts include Leroy Justice, Teenage Prayers, The Leaves, Dead River Company and BuzzUniverse. Additional acts and headliners will be announced soon. Tickets available here.

Ghent, NY is conveniently located near Albany (45 minutes), Boston (2.5 hours), NYC (2 hours), Burlington, VT (3 hours 45 minutes) and Philadelphia (4 hrs). The “Let It Roll” Festival is an all-ages even and adults 21 and over can enjoy B.Y.O.B. Food and nonalcoholic concessions stands will also be in place. In addition, ample grassy fields will provide parking for cars, RVs, and buses and plenty of room will be designated for setting up camp to spend the night.

Meanwhile, the Pawnshop Roses headline the World Cafe Live tonight in Philadelphia with special guests Justin Jones and The Morning Pages, starting at 8pm.

Labels: BuzzUniverse, Festival News, Leroy Justice, Pawnshop Roses, Teenage Prayers, The Leaves, Tour Dates

By: David Schultz

New York City never lacks for quality concerts on New Year’s Eve: Patti Smith can always be found on the Lower East Side at the Bowery Ballroom, Gov’t Mule usually hitches their post further north and this year, My Morning Jacket headlined Madison Square Garden. For the past three years, U-Melt has offered a late night addendum to the annual festivities, starting their set while most of Manhattan crawls into bed and customarily jamming to the break of dawn. This year, U-Melt moved from the after hours to the main event, ringing in the New Year at The Wonder Bar in Asbury Park, New Jersey with special guests BuzzUniverse, The Point and guitarist Keith Kenny.

Originally scheduled to take place at The Stone Pony, the venue where local boy Bruce Springsteen first practiced his craft, the Asbury Park extravaganza had to relocate down the street due to unfinished repairs. Opening with Steely Dan’s “Reelin’ In The Years,” U-Melt - Zac Lasher (keys), Rob Salzer (guitar), Adam Bendy (bass) and George Miller (drums) - peppered their first set with both parts of “A Robbins Tale” and disconnected versions of “Schizophrenia” and “Red Star” Undaunted by the change of venue, U-Melt flourished in the excitement of the waning moments of 2008, shifting quickly into “Auld Lang Syne” as the final grains of sand passed through the hourglass. We’ll discount the fact that they announced 2009 about a minute early; their timing will be much better for 2010.

Prior to U-Melt’s set, New Jersey’s own BuzzUniverse played a marvelous eighty-minute set that gradually and assuredly got the growing crowd into the spirit of the evening. Fresh off of playing one of the final sets at New York City’s Knitting Factory, BuzzUniverse took the Asbury Park stage as a lean, stripped down four piece, with guitarist Alex Garay, drummer Dave Migliore, bassist Greg McLoughlin and saxophonist Brian Ciufo broadening the confines of the intimate stage with grooves like “Hydroponic Boogie,” “In The Sun” and “Hour.” BuzzU’s expertly wrought tunes are perfect for making guests feel welcome on their stage. At their Jingle Jam Christmas party, Jason Crosby seamlessly worked his violin into “This Ol’ Cowboy” and “Earth Is Moving” and on New Years, Lasher provided a potent dose of keys on “Round And Round.”

Seeing as U-Melt wavered slightly from tradition this year by moving their New Year’s after-hours set to prime time, I too will adjust with the times. Every year around this time, I implore you to make listening to U-Melt a part of your New Year’s resolutions; I do not waver on that point but I will broaden it to include BuzzUniverse, another band that is worthy of your attention. Get on this: Now!

Labels: BuzzUniverse, U-Melt

By: David Schultz

When you’ve grown accustomed to playing lengthy shows in the middle of New York City’s Washington Square Park, where do you go to celebrate the release of your new live album? If you’re New Jersey based BuzzUniverse, you move from land and take to the sea – or in this case, the nearest river. With LiveVibes From The Donegal Saloon hot off the presses, BuzzUniverse commemorated the occasion with a sold-out show on the Half Moon cruise ship. With the weather not quite cooperating, BuzzU rolled with the waves that pelted the ship and, along with Leroy Justice, took the crowd on a three hour tour much more enjoyable and way more predictable than the one shepherded by Gilligan.

BuzzUniverse had its genesis when the prog-rock loving pair of guitarist/lead singer Alex Garay and drummer Dave Migliore teamed up with their jamband loving bassist Greg McLoughlin to create a power trio with horns. Although their numbers have grown, they’ve remained true to their vision. Since rounding out the band about a year ago with the sterling brass section of Stefanie Seskin and Brian Ciufo and Bob Ramos’ menagerie of percussion, BuzzUniverse has really started to soar. Finding the common ground between Garay and Migliore’s prog-rock excursions and McLoughlin’s love of the extended jam, BuzzUniverse continuously finds ways to work in traditional gaucho-inflected rhythms, bluegrass-tinged country rave ups, straight up funk and classic rock.

For the boat trip, BuzzUniverse touched on many of the songs captured at the Donegal Saloon, their home venue, for LiveVibes. “You And Me” nicely segued into a lengthy Velvet Underground tinged instrumental passage with Garay at the center and got a nice jolt from The Who inspired horns of Seskin and Ciufo. They sauntered through a bouncy rendition of “Caballo Viejo,” rolled through a fine cover of the Marshall Tucker Band’s “This Ol’ Cowboy” and brought “Up The Mountain” to its customary boil of a hoedown. For “In The Sun,” longtime friend of the band Andy Earl of Moodras sat in providing additional guitar for lengthy opus, closing the show with a funky bang.

Percussionist Ramos pulled double duty, sitting in with Leroy Justice during their spectacular classic rock influenced opening set. With Ramos providing additional rhythm on covers of Led Zeppelin’s “The Ocean” and The Band’s “Don’t Do It,” Justice served notice that it may not be long before they are selling out boats of their own.

On the heels of last week’s celebration, BuzzUniverse continued the festivities by returning to the scene of the crime, performing an acoustic set, their first in three years, at the Donegal Saloon. BuzzU will keep the momentum going with a lengthy free concert this Sunday, October 5th, in New York City’s Washington Square Park.

Labels: BuzzUniverse, Leroy Justice

On September 25th, BuzzUniverse will be celebrating Live Vibes At The Donegal Saloon in New York City with a CD-release boat cruise upon on the Half Moon Cruise Ship. Painstakingly recorded, BuzzU's upcoming album captures the band at the venue they consider their home and contains live versions of birdfishtree's "All Of My Friends," "Lovelight Babylon" and "In The Sun," newer songs like the psychedelically-tinged "You And Me" and a couple choice covers including Pink Floyd's "Astronomy Domine."

The boat will depart from the East 23rd Street Marina at 8 pm. Leroy Justice will open the festivities and then BuzzU will pur forth their progressive blend of rock, blues and funk. There are a few spots left on the boat; get your tickets here.

Labels: BuzzUniverse

By: David Schultz

David Fricke once described the obligations responsible listeners owe to music as the following: “Respect the elders; embrace the new; encourage the impractical and improbable without bias.” For almost a decade, jambands.com has embraced the new and encouraged those doing something unique with their New Groove of the Month; an award it bestows on up-and-coming bands worthy of increased exposure. This past Friday night, Licorice, BuzzUniverse and Bugg Juice converged on New York City’s Ace of Clubs for a triple bill full featuring three past recipients of the New Groove honor. The varying styles of the three different bands demonstrated the variety and breadth of music that falls into the jamband umbrella. Bugg Juice’s set focused on funk and Grateful Dead style guitar-based jams, BuzzUniverse offered an eclectic mix of Latin and world rhythm tinged tunes and Licorice closed the night with a mighty set that showcased the wonderful musicianship that is the band’s signature.

The night’s de facto headliner, Licorice, played a tight set heavy on material from their upcoming EP, A Million Grains Of Sand.” The set list may not look drastically different from their recent shows. However, set lists, like sad songs, can only say so much. Songs that have been staples in their set for quite some time have evolved from free-ranging jams into tightly packed, expertly worked tunes. Getting an assist from Stefanie Seskin and Brian Ciufo, BuzzUniverse’s remarkable horn section, “What’s Your Status In London” and “Freeze” gained depth and breadth. “All Kings Fall” gets a jolt from Matt Epstein’s complex bass riffs and Josh Bloom’s jazzy drumming while the finale of “A Million Grains Of Sand” ranks up there with “Free Bird” as lengthy codas that you wouldn’t mind going on longer. The finesse spreads to newer songs like “Stranger In A Familiar Land” and “Bunnies,” the latter featuring Chad Dinzes reaching Chris Martin levels of layered keyboards. In addition to interpreting The Beatles and Jimi Hendrix, they also reinvented “La Isla Bonita.” With Bloom pounding the drums with his bare hands and guitarist Dave Lott sliding in his customary Santana solo, Licorice freed the inner rocker the Madonna pop classic. On a night of new grooves, they closed the night with a relatively basic one. “Say It (You’re Mom’s A Vegetarian)” may build off a Blink 182 riff, but in Licorice’s hands it becomes a timeless rock anthem.

BuzzUniverse, the most recent of the three New Grooves, showed the many permutations that can arise when you take the basic formula of a power trio with horns and work in elements of funk, country and Latin rhythms. They rolled through the raucous country hootenanny of “Up The Mountain” and rocked a hip swaying version of “Caballo Viejo,” with bilingual lead singer/guitarist Alex Garay’s lyrics giving the song a dose of authenticity. Drummer Dave Migliore and percussionist Bob Ramos, who won the silliest hat of the night award without contest, allowed BuzzU to create their many and varied moods, kicking out blues based bursts with the same frequency as worldbeat rhythms. The spirit of cooperation endemic in the jamband scene manifested itself at the close of their set with Marc Pincus from Bugg Juice and folk-rapper Ross Sandler joining in on a superextended version of “In The Sun,” a marvelous song that goes in many directions, working off Greg McLoughlin’s wickedly funky bass line.

Bugg Juice opened the night with an extended opening set centered round guitarist Marc Pincus, who once spent time in Head Monkey with U-Melt’s Zac Lasher and George Miller. A band of the people, Bugg Juice earned their New Groove status by winning it during one of the months opened to fan voting. A lot of their songs have a bright bouncy feel to them and echo the timeless grooves of the Grateful Dead. Dave Cohen is able to get the same type of bluesy funk out of his keyboards that marked some of the Dead’s more danceable songs. They also worked the double percussion, with Katie Pearlman joining Chaim Tolwin on the drums.

Licorice, BuzzUniverse and Bugg Juice have more in common besides joining bands like Tea Leaf Green, The Slip, Robert Randolph & The Family Band and Grace Potter & The Nocturnals in the pantheon of New Grooves of the Month. For all the differences between the three bands, one thing remained constant, with these New Grooves, things move quick and they never get old.

Labels: Bugg Juice, BuzzUniverse, Licorice

By: David Schultz

The story of the modern jamband slowly building a following through ceaseless performing and constant touring has been an oft-told tale. There are usually different wrinkles, especially in the final act where our heroes ideally become huge superstars, but for the most part jambands usually create their fan base on the road, one listener at a time; rarely do they get a chance to have one built for them by a major label's crafty marketing department. For the past two summers, BuzzUniverse, the New Jersey based quartet made up of Alex Garay (guitar), Dave Migliore (drums), Greg McLoughlin (bass) and Freddy Moises (sax/flute), have adopted a "play all day to whoever is passing" philosophy at New York's Chelsea Piers. The benefits yielded from the venture are displayed on birdishtree, their second full length release.

BuzzUniverse packs a lot on the disc, showing a deft proficiency in a few different styles. Don't get turned off by the squonky horns or the first couple verses of the opening track, "Hour," after a shaky start it evolves into a wonderful groove with the Moises-led horns finding the proper niche. Moises' saxophone and flute provide many of the birdfishtree's finer moments. For the most part, BuzzUniverse works in the horns quite well, avoiding the traditional riffs that many funk bands fall back on like a crutch. They also deftly incorporate Moises' flute, especially on the "Sparkling Path," a pleasant flute and guitar instrumental with Garay.

While there's a lot of quality material, birdfishtree could do with some editing and a tighter presentation. The straining "Mama Down Blues" drearily slows down the pace and the middle of the disc bounces wildly. While the mountain hoedown feel of "Up The Mountain" and the Stones' "Miss You" era groove of "All Of My Friends" stand well alone, they seem mismatched placed next to each other. "Suspicious Activity" and "In The Sun" aren't unenjoyable, but as their reliance on more traditional funk grooves comes across as uninspired.

If anything, birdfishtree is slightly weakened by an uneven presentation that dilutes the wide-ranging talent of the band. BuzzUniverse gives a nice relaxed Sixties-era feel to "Earth Is Moving" and McLoughlin's rumbling bass fuels "Down Low" with a sinewy, smoky blues feel, giving it significant muscle. On "Changes Of Love," they share a bouncy riff with Garay handing it off to Moises on flute as they segue into a cover of the Marshal Tucker Band's "This Ol' Cowboy."

Like most stories worth hearing, birdfishtree makes up an interesting early chapter in what will surely be an eventful tale.

Labels: BuzzUniverse