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Friday, March 05, 2010Friday's Earful: Leroy Justice
By: David Schultz
 Leroy Justice will be in Woodstock tonight, opening for Ireland's Hothouse Flowers at the Bearsville Theater. For those not familiar with the area, this would be the venue that's not located in Levon Helm's home. Last night, the Justice warmed up the Flowers' crowd at the HighLine Ballroom, proving the pairing of the two bands to bit of inspired genius. Getting used to the big stages after playing the Brooklyn Bowl with Assembly of Dust, Justice offered an impassioned, leisurely set, letting songs like "Mickey," "Temporary Cure," "Out To Sea" and "Revolution's Son" unfold. Making their hour on stage a slice of 1973-style classic rock, they broke up the set with their Let It Bleed era acoustic rocker "Bathroom Wall," featuring some fantastic slide guitar from Brendan Cavanaugh. After Woodstock, the Leroy Justice/Hothouse Flowers combo will play one more gig, March 11 at the Fairfield Theater in Fairfield, CT. On March 14, the first off-day of the 2010 Allman Brothers Band residency, Justice will play BB King Blues Club & Grill as part of a benefit for The Allman Brothers Band Museum. The Jamie McLean Band, Lingo and Yonrico Scott from the Derek Trucks Band will also be on the bill. Leroy Justice will remind you why you love rock and roll. Why deprive yourself of that? Labels: Leroy Justice Monday, December 21, 2009The Yearvolution: 2009 In ReviewBy: David Schultz 30. Paul McCartney at CitiField  As The Beatles played the most historic concert in the history of Shea Stadium, it was only fitting that Paul McCartney would play the first live shows at its successor, CitiField. For three balmy (and rainy, well drizzly) nights in July, McCartney gave a show for the ages that appealed to all generations, covering all areas of his Beatles career, offering up the best from his days with Wings and touchingly honoring his wife Linda, George Harrison and John Lennon. Returning the favor from his “Last Play At Shea,” Billy Joel joined McCartney for his opening night encore, adding his own “whooo” to “I Saw Her Standing There.”29. Metric: Fantasies  On “Gimme Sympathy,” Emily Haines poses the age old bar question, “Beatles or Rolling Stones?” Namedropping such classic rock titans gives you a sense that Emily Haines has some grand ambitions for her post Broken Social Scene career. By the time the arena rock bombast of “Stadium Love” closes the album, you can be sure of it. You never love to see any of your underground favorites make an album so broadly appealing that the mainstream homogenization process becomes inevitable. Fantasies makes it a little more bearable.28. Future Of The Left: Travels With Myself And Another  “Come on, Rick,” you didn’t hear of Future Of The Left in 2009? A shouty little band from Cardiff, Wales that boasts 2/3 of mcclusky, Future Of The Left bashes out erudite three minutes bursts of politicized punk; its like The Clash, only without the bouncy traces of ska. Like every great band with punk leanings, attitude and volume can only carry you so far. Without a whit of intelligence, whether academic or street savvy, its all sound and fury signifying nothing. Future Of The Left has the complete package; never has a band’s boast that we need Satan more than he needs us sounded so rational . . . and loud. The memory of LeRoi Moore, who passed away in the midst of the Big Whiskey recording session, looms large throughout the Dave Matthews Band seventh studio release. All of the trademarks you would expect from a DMB album are present - intricate musical arrangements, Matthews’ cycling through his gruff to falsetto vocal range, Carter Beauford’s booming drums – but they seem to be working at a more inspired level. The result is the Matthews Band's most entertaining and ambitious album since their 1994 debut.26. The Dead Weather: Horehound  I think we’re at the point where nothing Jack White does should be surprising. One side project not being enough, White jumped behind the drums, recruited Allison Mosshart from The Kills and Dean Fertita from Queens Of The Stone Age and created yet another great band with hard hitting drums, concise guitar licks and impassioned lead vocals permeating the album. As it has the gritty "Hang You From The Heavens" and the cocky "I Cut Like A Buffalo," it seems like nitpicking to complain that Horehound omits their marvelous cover of Gary Numan’s “Are Friends Electric?”25. Japandroids: Post-Nothing  On their first full-length release, the Canadian guitar and drum duo of Brian King and David Prowse envelop all the wondrous dreams and grand expectations that can only be maintained by the young in a magnificent haze of beautiful noise, drowning shoegazing guitar work in oceans of reverb. On “Wet Hair,” they envision themselves going to France so they French kiss a French girl and on “Heart Sweats,” the chorus needs nothing more than the quaint “xoxoxoxo” to get its point across. Their North American tour was derailed by a medical emergency before it could get off the ground, so 2010 will be the year they bring their music to the people.24. Antony & The Johnsons: “Aeon”  With his ghostly, ethereal voice and herky-jerky stage contortions, gender-neutral Antony Hegarty has always eluded simple definitions He does fall in the category of those performers that need to be seen, if only to prove to yourself that that voice comes from a human being and not an otherworldy aesthete. Probably the most startling track from The Crying Light, which easily wins the prize for the year’s most disturbing cover, "Aeon" puts Hegarty's indescribable talents in their finest light. An absolutely gorgeous song, Hegarty sings with an urgency rarely found in his airy poetic commentaries, his passion rising above the lush orchestration to provide one of the year's most moving songs.23. Living Colour: The Chair In The Doorway  Don’t call it comeback, cause they didn’t go nowhere; Living Colour reemerged in 2009 with the same sonic assault that made them a genre-busting revelation in the pre-grunge era. On The Chair In The Doorway, bassist Doug Wimbish and drummer Will Calhoun operate at a staggering level of speed and sophistication, Vernon Reid crunches through the avant-metal riffs that have become his calling card and Corey Glover offers his customary array of trenchant observations. A cerebral funk-metal band, Reid’s tapping of the spiraling guitar hook to “Behind The Sun,” his slide work on “Bless Those” and Glover’s knockout vocals on “Not Tomorrow” help make this Living Colour’s most eclectic album in years.22. tUnE-yArDs: BiRd-BrAiNs  Girls are still imitating Liz Phair, recording full length albums in the comfort of their own bedroom, only now they have Pro-Tools at their disposal. Merrill Garbus’ uncomfortably capitalized usage is just part of her wonderfully skewed musical vision. Whether it's methodically introducing layered instrumental loops over her sweetly innocent mediations as she does on “Sunlight” or unleashing them in a raga-infused burst like on “Hatari,” With its emphasis on recorded repetition and lack of reliance on guitar riffs and drum rolls, BiRd-BrAiNs offers a glimpse at the lush music textures that will be springing out of home studios across the globe and gives purist's a reason to not dread the future.21. Pearl Jam: Backspacer  Pearl Jam has always been at their best when they feel slighted or unheard, the role of the feisty underdog suiting them better than perhaps any band that's come before them. Now that the Obama era has seemingly left Pearl Jam without a villain to fight, they seem oddly happy. A compact little album, Backspacer zips along, full of moody Eddie Vedder elegies and thrashy little rockers that serve as a pleasant reminder that Mike McCready and Stone Gossard can build a song like no other. Having taken over the means of their own production, the grunge rock stalwarts are settling nicely into their role as stately rockers. 20. Wooden Shjips: Dos  On Dos, the band’s second album, Wooden Shjips offer another dose (see the title works on so many levels) of hallucinatory garage rock, stretching five songs over a quickly paced forty minutes. On “Down By The Sea” and “Fallin’,” the albums two lengthiest jams, bassist Dusty Jermier and drummer Omar Ahsanuddin lock in to a repetitive rhythm, hitting it early and not wavering from it one iota. The subtle repetition lulls you in and when Ripley Johnson unleashes his reverb heavy guitar licks on top Nash Whalen’s Ray Manzarek inspired organ melodies, you get a sense of what the 21st Century Doors should really sound like.19. The BPA: “He’s Frank”  Always the master of finding the right sample for whatever groove he’s working on, Norman Cook nee Fatboy Slim broadened his horizons for I Think We’re Going Need A Bigger Boat, his first offering under the moniker of The Brighton Port Authority, by working with singers instead of snippets. Hearing something in The Monochrome Set’s new wave obscurity “He’s Frank” heretofore unheard, Cook brought in Iggy Pop to lay down his inimitably droll vocals over a revved up funky beat. No one released a more enjoyable song that drips with this much credibility.18. Levon Helm: Electric Dirt  Expanding on the quaint folksy sound of The Dirt Farmer, his Grammy-winning effort from 2007, Helm livened up some standards, introduced a few Americana-sounding originals and plucked “Tennessee Jed” from The Grateful Dead for his follow-up, Electric Dirt. By keeping the recording within his Midnight Ramble family, all of the staples of Helm’s Rambles are present: the horn section busts out a true New Orleans flair on Randy Newman’s “Kingfish” and Larry Campbell’s violin brings out every bit of pathos in Helm’s distinctively raspy voice. Electric Dirt would work in any era but coming now, following his battle with throat cancer, it shows that Helm still has a lot of music left in his soul.17. Dan Auerbach: Keep It Hid  One half of the Black Keys, Auerbach’s debut solo effort was a sparkling affair. The baleful, empathetic acoustic blues of “Trouble Weighs A Ton,” “When The Night Comes” and “Goin’ Home” are filled with a naked emotion and a touch of pathos, generating earnest pleas from the depths of soul. It’s a fine contrast to the menacing stomp of songs like “The Prowl,” “I Want Some More” and the superlative “Heartbroken In Disrepair,”which shows that wherever Auerbach goes, reverb-heavy guitars will follow.16. Fuck Buttons: Tarot Sport  Naming themselves in such a fashion that assures they will never be written about in mainstream publications, Fuck Buttons work on a level of industrial intensity few others can match. On Tarot Sport, Brits Andrew Hung and Benjamin John Power refine their abilities to concoct hypnotic soundscapes out of psychedelic drone, tribal click-clacks and mechanized noise. Tinkering with each song as it unfolds, adding sounds that didn't seem like they were missing until they appear, Fuck Buttons shatter all modern song structure conventions. Tarot Sport will make you wish you did Ecstasy or at least wonder if their a tab of acid left over from the college days. By combining airy melodies, derivative of wistful Walt Disney soundtracks, with wicked Talking Heads new wave guitar riffs, St. Vincent nee Annie Clark has worked her way into the hipster circle of trust: criticize her at your own peril. The waiflike Ms. Vincent, who bragged about spending while Jesus saved on her debut Marry Me, still dips her toes in the pool of self-aware ennui, this time begging to be saved from her own desires on “Save Me From What I Want.” Take heed though, the Breakfast At Tiffany’s wide-eyed naiveté is all a show, Actor is a savvy little bit of new wavish pop.14. Leonard Cohen Returns To America  When ABBA is inducted to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2010, Leonard Cohen will lose his title of being the most unlikely member of the institution. Returning to the stage after a lengthy absence, reportedly due to crooked financial advisors looting his retirement accounts, Cohen's unretirement tour finally made its way to America in 2009. As if ageless, Cohen mesmerized sold-out crowds with his neo-romantic visions, bohemian patois and preternaturally, oh-so-calm-and-reassuring deep voice. His ability to leave listeners spellbound should be required study for every American Idol candidate that thinks melisma and histrionics are the keys to the entertainment.13. U2: No Line On The Horizon  When you’re the largest and most relevant band in the world, any album, even one that doesn’t break through any barriers or mark a monumental shift in musical focus, rises like cream atop the rest of the year’s releases. No Line On The Horizon may be a bit more of the same from the Irish superstars, but its still a worthy effort. Made for the stadiums in which it would be played, Larry Mullen's drums on "Magnificent" come charging in as if on a thoroughbred and you can still recognize Edge's guitar work from its brilliant simplicity. Oh yes, and then there's Bono. Only the greatest live performer not named Springsteen could propound the simplistic sentiments of “I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight” and make them sound profound. 12. Grizzly Bear: Veckatimest  The Fleet Foxes and Bon Iver benefitted the most from Yellow House, Grizzly Bear’s 2007 release that paved the way for achingly beautiful, methodically evolving chamber room indie-rock. On Veckatimest, the meticulous progressions of “Two Weeks” and “Cheerleader” seem almost peppy by Grizzly Bear standards but at heart, it’s their ability to underscore bucolic harmonies with plaintive, haunting melodies that makes the album such a compelling listen. Depending on what strata of music you’re considering, Grizzly Bear rightfully deserves mention as one of the decade’s most influential bands; Veckatimest surely helps the cause.11. Bob Dylan: Together Through Life  Surprising everyone with his March announcement of its April release, Dylan continued his remarkable renaissance, taking his music to a Mexican border town and letting it wander around in the dust to soak up the atmosphere. Dylan’s forgotten more about traditional American music than most will ever absorb and on Together Through Life, his facility with blues, country and folk makes them all resoundingly come alive. From the Spaghetti western feel of “Beyond Here Lies Nothin’” through the bluesy jazz of “Jolene” to the raucous barroom romp of “It’s All Good,” Dylan shows he’s still got a lot of fuel left in his tank.10. Andrew Bird: Noble Beast  Making use of a violin, xylophone, a looping machine and a marvelous ability to whistle, Bird makes fantastic music out of the instruments most people abandon after elementary school. From "Anonanimal" through "Tenuousness," Noble Beast offers a true cerebral experience, a highly literate effort that truly is one instead of a fancy way of saying that the punk rocker sounds smart. Quirky, almost to a fault, Bird’s masterful grasp of the language and penchant for creative wordplay make a perfect match for his intricately plotted songs. Available for only a limited time, Useless Creatures, an instrumental companion album, showed the even wider breadth of Bird’s creativity than revealed on Noble Beast.9. Leroy Justice: The LoHo Sessions  Leroy Justice is a rock and roll band, plain and simple. Jason Gallagher’s confident vocals, Sloan Marshall’s timeless organ riffs and Brendan Cavanaugh’s Skydog- quality slide guitar burrow into the recesses of the rock and roll soul. Evoking an instinctive yet familiar response that only fine classic rock can generate, The Loho Sessions may have arrived more than three decades too late. Were it 1972, we would be talking about it as reverently as we do Exile On Main Street and Eat A Peach. It’s a glorious revelation to know that bands still make this type of music.8. Dirty Projectors: Bitte Orca  To take the term back from John McCain, Dave Longstreth and The Dirty Projectors are part of the New Mavericks of rock and roll. Rather than latching onto a genre, the Projectors simply make music and go in whatever direction it needs to go. If the song doesn’t need a chorus, one isn’t forced in; if a glockenspiel would make things sound better, no preconceived notion keeps it out. Bitte Orca gets better with each listen because there’s so much to hear. New York Magazine seemed to think so. Now that they've gotten around to realizing that there's a music revival going on in Brooklyn, they latched on to Longstreth and his band as the scene's poster children.7. Fever Ray: Fever Ray  A captivating effort, Karen Dreijer Andersson a/k/a Fever Ray has crafted the soundtrack for any episode of Miami Vice where Crockett & Tubbs pensively traveled down the highway in a convertible or required Don Johnson to dump a girlfriend who just happened to be involved with the drug dealer they were about to arrest. Practically subsuming her entire identity beneath studio distortion, Andersson uses her vocals to accentuate the album's wide swath of thumping ambient beats, warbling seductively just as often as she wails away with Bjork-like abandon. Fever Ray is a slyly seductive form of industrial raga, unleashing the Swedish pop demons that lurk beneath the slickest of mainstream hits in a manner destined to appeal to the denizens of the dankest of basement clubs.6. Black Crowes: Before The Flood . . . Until The Freeze  Recorded before a live audience in Levon Helm’s barnyard studio in Woodstock, New York, the Black Crowes rediscovered the Americana soul that has always simmered beneath their Southern soul stew. Luther Dickinson, now firmly in the fold, makes his presence felt adding a surfeit of gritty and sultry nuances to Before The Flood. However, it’s the bonus album, Until The Freeze, that is the true gem. With Larry Campbell sitting in, the music unfolds as if it’s being played around a campfire in the wee hours of the morning under a cloudy, smoky haze, the music spilling forth in a rustic mélange.5. The Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame Shows At MSG  Mick Jagger and Bruce Springsteen sitting in with U2, John Fogerty and Billy Joel joining Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band, Metallica welcoming Lou Reed, Ray Davies and Ozzy Osbourne, Stevie Wonder hosting Smokey Robinson, B.B. King, John Legend, Sting and Jeff Beck. Not a bad recipe for a memorable show. Add in Simon & Garfunkel, Crosby, Still & Nash and Aretha Franklin and you have not only the concert event of the year, but possibly of the decade. When the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame wants to celebrate a 25th Anniversary, they sure know how to do it in style . . . even if they, once again, throw a little passive-agressive missive at Cleveland, Ohio by not hosting in the city they deem worthy to house their hall. It took a while for White Denim’s follow-up to Exposion to make its way to the States, initially being released overseas where the Austin, Texas trio has become quite the sensation. With Fits, they move in new and different directions while remaining true to their overriding mantra of distilling rock music down to its high-octane essence. Flying through songs at a breakneck pace that would impress Usain Bolt, “I Start To Run” percolates on Steve Terebecki’s bass and Joshua Block’s drums needing only shotgun blasts from James Petralli’s guitar and “Mirrored And Reverse” has a steamy undercurrent of garage psychedelia. This is a band that has a ton to offer in 2010.3. Phish Ends Their Hiatus  It wasn’t done with the simplicity of Michael Jordan’s proclamation of “I’m back” but it pretty much had the same effect. By announcing three shows at Virginia’s Hampton Coliseum in March of this year, the venerable jamband titans sent their fanbase, who had been awaiting confirmation of the rumored shows with unprecedented anticipation, into a joyous hysteria that ultimately resulted in the evisceration of Live Nation’s credibility as a major ticket vendor once ducats went on sale. Phish also released Joy, their first studio album in more than five years, but the simple fact that Phish was back, which overshadowed the return of The Dead, trumped everything else they would do in 2009. 2. Animal Collective: Merriweather Post Pavilion  On Merriweather Post Pavilion, one of the more anticipated releases of 2009, Animal Collective, toned down their wild inclination for experimentation and avant-garde screamfests in favor of an inviting swirl of sound that Panda Bear explored on Person Pitch. Rather than antagonize their listeners, Aminal Collective decided to bring them into their wild world, which turned out to be oddly domestic, albeit in a psychedelically day-glo fashion. In cultivating their electronic pulses and hypnotically repetitive rhythms in their most pleasing manner yet, Merriweather Post Pavilion remains challenging without the Collective having to greatly compromise their slightly lunatic bent. Like it or not, this is one of the more important albums of the decade, its influence will undoubtedly reach well into the next. Hipsters of the future: if you're not listening to this now, learn enough about it; in 2015, you will have to credibly pull off the patronizing declaration that you've been listening to Merriweather Post Pavilion for years. The Decemberists created a rock opera in every sense of the word. A fractured fairy tale that combines the fantasy of a Narnia Chronicle with the fatalism of a Shakespearian tragedy, The Hazards Of Love tells the tale of a swan named Margaret and her star-crossed lover, a shape shifting faun of adopted royal heritage. Exquisitely crafted, the story packs an understated emotional punch, engendering sympathy for its main characters over the course of a one hour album. On the four versions of "The Hazards Of Love," Meloy builds on the thematic and musical structure of the song much as symphonic masters have done for centuries. My Brightest Diamond's Shana Worden gives voice to the evil Queen and Lavender Diamond's Becky Stark brings the avian heroine to life, adding to the theatrical quality by relieving Meloy of the onus of voicing every character. Prog-rock indulgences and bizarre story lines aside, Meloy and The Decemberists have put together a momentous album.Disappointments: These events just didn’t live up to expectations. Enjoyable though they may be, we desired more. Arctic Monkeys: Humbug Ben Harper & The Relentless 7: White Lies For Dark Times Kanye West At The MTV Awards Bruce Springsteen: Working On A Dream The Felice Brothers: Yonder Is The Clock Green Day: 21st Century Breakdown Monsters Of Folk: Monsters Of Folk Wilco: Wilco (The Album) Lou Reed: The Metal Machine Trio The reaction to Michael Jackson’s death The Best Of Earvolution: In case you missed it the first time. Living Colour Returns Woodstock: 40 Years On Gov’t Mule: Rockin’ It Fine At The Hammerstein (a review in verse) Michael Jackson: What Are We Mourning? Labels: Andrew Bird, Animal Collective, Dirty Projectors, Fever Ray, Leroy Justice, Phish, The Black Crowes, The Decemberists, White Denim Friday, November 13, 2009Friday's Earful: Leroy Justice @ Hidden Track
By: David Schultz
 Rather than read my words this fine Friday, I'm going to suggest you go over to Hidden Track where Ryan Dembinsky has a great interview with Jason Gallagher of Leroy Justice. So put on The Loho Sessions, check out Ryan's interview and enjoy the weekend.This will also start an Earful rule: if you mention me during an interview or within an article, I'm going to link to you. (Thanks for the kind words). Labels: Leroy Justice Friday, November 06, 2009Friday's Earful: Leroy Justice @ The Bitter End
By: David Schultz
 With Phish covering Exile On Main Street in Indio and Gov’t Mule and Jackie Greene touching on all sorts of Jagger/Richards goodness in Philadelphia, The Rolling Stones were clearly the Seventies go-to group this past Halloween. Going in a different direction, Leroy Justice looked to a tried and true favorite that unwittingly seems to reside in everyone’s record collection: The Steve Miller Band’s Greatest Hits. One of the more enigmatic rock stars from the Mid-Seventies, the Miller Band walked the line between true Seventies AOR and slick corporate classic rock, yet managed to endure while Poco and the Winter brothers remain obscurities.At the legendary Bitter End in New York City’s Greenwich Village, Leroy Justice uncovered the rock pearls hidden within the Miller Band’s catalog, stripping away the superficial veneer that keeps the SMB from being revered and finding what makes their songs so durable. Clad in vintage Seventies wear, Justice offered a fun hour’s worth of covers with lead singer Jason Gallagher mining the fun to be found in “Take The Money And Run,” “Jungle Love” and the tick-tocks of “Fly Like An Eagle.” Bustle In Your Hedgerow and RANA’s Scott Metzger found his way to the stage for the end of the Miller set and remained on for the second, trading licks with Justice’s own Brendan Cavanaugh on “Temporary Cure” and covers of The Allman Brothers’ “Whipping Post” and Zeppelin’s “The Ocean.” Factor in a measured take on “Revolution’s Son” and a robust “Last 4 Ozs.” and you have the only thing in the venue wittier and more entertaining than the guy in the audience dressed as Burt Reynolds. Labels: Leroy Justice Tuesday, October 27, 2009Tuesday's Earful: Halloween 2009
By: David Schultz
 In 1994, Phish played The White Album in its entirety as part of its Halloween show at the Glens Falls Civic Center and began a tradition of donning a musical costume for the holiday’s that has grown beyond the crunchy Vermont foursome. When Phish takes the stage on October 31, to play one of their many sets as part of their Festival 8 in Indio, California, they will reclaim their Halloween legacy when the revive their ritual. What they will play though remains the object of intense speculation. They’ve been killing off albums in a gruesome fashion on their Web site, promising to play the last one standing. A campgrounds map with sites named Kid A, Electric Ladyland, Exile On Main Street, Hunky Dory, Purple Rain, Larks Tongues In Aspic and The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway has found its way onto the Internet, so you would have to think those are the odds-on favorites.Warren Haynes and Gov’t Mule also like to get into the Halloween spirit and like Phish, they like keep their “costume” a mystery until show time. In the past, the Mule have covered Houses Of The Holy and engaged in a little Dark Side of the Mule with a set of Floyd covers. This year’s show at the Tower Theater in Philadelphia, PA will receive ab assist from Jackie Greene, who along with Haynes has a lot of experience playing with the catalog of the Grateful Dead. Too easy, though. It won’t happen. Not every band is keeping their Halloween costume under wraps. Alt-country rockers Deer Tick will pull a complete 180 at the Brooklyn Bowl. After an opening band to be named later offers up a set of Sonic Youth, Deer Tick will become The Sex Pistols for a night. This is pretty much the equivalent of Marilyn Manson dressing up as Michael Jackson for the night. If you show up in costume, admission is free. Otherwise, it’ll cost you $5. Last year, Leroy Justice literally and figuratively dressed up as The Beatles at the Bitter End for a fun romp through Let It Be. This year they will return to the legendary haunt along with guest guitarist Scott Metzger for two sets that will include selections from The Steve Miller Band’s Greatest Hits. Labels: Deer Tick, Gov't Mule, Leroy Justice, Phish Monday, September 21, 2009Monday's Earful: Let It Roll Festival
By: David Schultz
 Ever since Woodstock and Monterey Pop cast a mythological aura around the festival experience, it has evolved into a nuanced creature. Festivals like SXSW in Austin and CMJ in New York City cater towards industry folk; Goliaths like Coachella, Lollapalooza and Bonnaroo attract adventurous fans interesting in the discovery of new music and grand spectacle the event and band-oriented jamfests like moe.down, Camp Bisco and the upcoming Festival 8 slake the thirst of specialized fanbases with multiple performances and hand-picked lineups. There are also a handful of festivals that have more modest aspirations, simply aspiring to be a friendly, peaceful gathering in a panoramic setting with a smattering of fine bands to provide the soundtrack.This past weekend, Number Line Productions in conjunction with Pawnshop Roses hosted the inaugural Let It Roll Festival at the 1,500 acre Sunnyview Farm, a locale that has served as a retreat and recording space for the likes of Willie Nelson, Levon Helm and John Lennon. Having an aversion to camping, I opted against going native for the weekend, choosing instead to make my way to Ghent on Saturday afternoon to catch the majority of the second day. After being greeted at the grounds by Zach Levy, who served as Let It Roll’s de facto Max Yasgur, we were directed up to the campgrounds and performance space. As the festival was well into its second day, things were already in full swing. Small little communities of tents dotted the farm’s sprawling acreage and should the gorgeous mountain view provide too much a distraction, we could follow the siren song of Leroy Justice playing “Temporary Cure.” The main stage occupied the corner of a mammoth (inactive) horse barn that has been modified into a wonderful concert space. Open to the entire crowd, each band could play as if in a quarter-round. The more traditional outdoor stage, which essentially served as a side stage, was set up a couple hundred yards away and afforded the opportunity to enjoy some music while inhaling some fresh mountain air. The crowd for the event included a good number of college age kids, a handful of families with small children and a few of the hairy hippie types without which, any music festival would be found lacking. Ironically, Saturday’s slate of bands consisted primarily of bands that made a similar trek upstate from New York City. In that vein, Leroy Justice’s potent Seventies-era classic rock gave way to the eclecticism of BuzzUniverse, who were joined by violinist Meredith Bogacz and The Jack’s Rosie Lazroe, which then yielded to Let It Roll’s headliner, The Marco Benevento Trio, who on this night were made up of Dave Dreiwitz and Andrew Barr. Philadelphia’s Pawnshop Roses, the impetus and a major motivating force for the festival, played sets on Friday and Saturday. Much like their recent stop at the Bowery Electric, the Roses Saturday set had a harder edge than their previously jangly sound. On the outer stage, Vermont’s Joshua Panda Band, which included Bryan Dondero (Blues & Lasers/Grace Potter & The Nocturnals), moved between bluegrass and blue-eyed soul, comically calling out into the darkness to gauge the interest from afar. From the looks of him, you might not have expected him to bust out an Otis Redding cover. One of the toughest singers to emulate, Panda expertly handled “Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa (Sad Song)” with the aplomb of a master. Anyone that’s spent time around people trying to do anything in the music business knows that ideas are easy, execution is difficult. The number of roadblocks that confront even the simplest of ventures can be stupefying and once those are overcome, you have the daunting task of getting people to spend their money on the event. Given the sprawl of the event, it’s hard to gauge how many people spent their weekend at the inaugural Let It Roll festival. As day turned to night, more and more people made the music barn the focus of their attention, peaking with Benevento’s appearance; an uninformed estimate would have the attendance at a few hundred. A modest beginning for what will hopefully become an annual event. Labels: BuzzUniverse, Josh Panda Band, Leroy Justice, Marco Benevento, Pawnshop Roses Monday, July 27, 2009Monday's Earful: Leroy Justice @ The Mercury Lounge; Phish
By: David Schultz
If this were 1973, the Mercury Lounge would not be the locale for a Leroy Justice gig, they would be further uptown headlining Madison Square Garden as part of a rambling caravan style tour. Alas, in 2009, heartfelt Let It Bleed style rock and roll that soars to enthralling levels when aired out on stage doesn’t have the ready-built audience that it did in the Seventies. The Baby Boomers that would eat this stuff up won’t put up with the dearth of parking spaces for their minivans on the Lower East Side and they have likely lost their ability to feel comfortable within the Spartan conditions of the Mercury Lounge. It’s truly a shame that classic rock radio, where it still exists, doesn’t reach down to find those bands keeping that spirit alive. Unless you are NPR-approved indie rock or singer-songwriter mooted Adult Album Alternative ready, there’s no way to connect with an audience that’s unlikely to leave their living room on a weekday night.Leroy Justice’s Thursday night set at their hometown digs served up liberal spoonfuls from The Loho Sessions, their recently released sophomore effort. Opening with a gritty version of the loping “Temporary Cure,” whose guitar riff immediately brings you in to Justice’s world, they offered up an inspired version of “Mickey,” with its marvelous singalong chorus and a measured version of “Out To Sea.” With Bradley Wegner and Josh Karis providing the rhythm, Justice’s set gave you an idea of what some early Black Crowes shows must have felt like, even down to the American flag draped over Sloan Marshall’s keyboard setup. Marshall emerged from behind the keys to add some harmonica flourishes to a bluesy stripped-down version of “Revolution’s Son” and they closed their set by restoring all the bar-band glory to “Last 4 Ozs.” Brendan Cavanaugh is emerging as a genuine powerhouse of a guitarist. At their last appearance at the Merc, a release party for The Loho Sessions. Cavanaugh dazzled with an amazing array of slide guitar licks. Showing his versatility, he set aside the slide this evening, his solos fitting more into the classic rock mode, picking and choosing his spots with the finesse of Warren Haynes. A more animated presence on stage, lead singer Jason Gallagher exudes the confidence of a consummate frontman, his infectious enjoyment of being on stage quickly spreading throughout the crowd. If you’re growing weary of cycling though your well-worn copies of Cream, Rolling Stones and The Allman Brothers, rest assured, there is Justice is in this world.  LAST HALLOWEEN, AT THE BITTER END, Leroy Justice offered up a start to finish cover of The Beatles’ Let It Be, tapping into a tradition of donning a musical costume that dates back to Phish’s late 90s shows which included All Hallow’s Eve covers of The Who’s Quadrophenia and the Velvet Underground’s Loaded. After playing a Where’s Waldo style game with their fans in releasing the location, Phish will be reclaiming their legacy this October in Indio, California, the site of the annual Coachella activities. Hosting Festival 8, a three day festival of eight sets, one of which will be a resurrection of the “costume” gimmick, Phish has started speculation over who they will be for Halloween.Labels: Leroy Justice, Phish Friday, June 19, 2009Pawnshop Roses to host "Let it Roll" Festival; World Cafe Tonight 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 Monday, June 15, 2009Monday's Earful: Leroy Justice; Bonnaroo
By: David Schultz
 Leroy Justice is a rock and roll band. There was a time when that was all that needed to be said. Were this 1973, Leroy Justice would be heralded within the pages of Rolling Stone and The Loho Sessions, their superb recently released sophomore effort, would provide ample fodder for free form AOR rock radio. Unfortunately, Jann Wenner’s mag seems too preoccupied with Britney Spears, The Jonas Brothers and the sexual politics of Adam Lambert to care about the American rock and roll scene and true rock and roll has long vanished from the terrestrial airwaves with satellite radio programmers now acting as the guardians of the gate. Despite feeling forsaken, true rock and roll still exists. It may not be as prevalent as it once was in the collective mindset but it has yet to be driven back underground.On their sparkling debut, Revolution’s Son, Leroy Justice served notice that they could be the wild-eyed menacing stranger that kicks in the door of the saloon and demands to be reckoned with. On The Loho Sessions, the New York based fivesome shows that behind the feral façade, there is a wickedly keen intelligence and to be the gunslinger that underestimates the savviness within is to risk dire consequences. Finding the intersection of Exile-era Rolling Stones, the Allman Brothers Fillmore odysseys and the Let It Be Beatles, The Loho Sessions documents the band’s evolution from barroom blues rockers into a mighty rock and roll band. Getting past the distracting similarity between the opener “All My Life” and Billy Joel’s “The Stranger,” Jason Gallagher’s confident vocals, Sloan Marshall’s timeless organ riffs and Brendan Cavanaugh’s Skydog- quality slide guitar burrow into the recesses of the rock and roll soul and evoke an instinctive yet familiar response that fine classic rock can generate, only without the nagging tug of nostalgia. It’s a glorious revelation to know that bands still make this type of music. At their recent “raveup” for The Loho Sessions’ release at New York City’s Mercury Lounge, Leroy Justice hit the majority of the album’s multitude of high spots, more than holding their own on a bill with Backyard Tire Fire and the Hill Country Revue. On many numbers, like “Steel Girl,” “So High” and “Temporary Cure,” which floats on an absolutely fantastic Cavanaugh slide-guitar riff, Justice wound their way through to masterful denouements, bringing the instrumentals into the forefront with gratifying skill. The slight twang that occupies Gallagher’s vocals gave the proper desolate feel to the easy acoustics of “Bathroom Wall,” an aching, southern-rock style ballad and invested “Mickey,” his character study of an aging veteran, with the right amount of empathy. With “Out Of Sea” marching to the same cadences set on their early album, Justice slowed down their version of their debut album’s title track to a deliberate and strident beat. Tapping into the vein of the classic rock era, their closing cover of “Whipping Post,” couldn’t have been a more natural or befitting end to the set. For those who worry if the rock and roll they grew up on had entered its death throes: fear not, you shall be served well by Leroy Justice.  OTHER THAN WATCHING A COUPLE sets on the AT & T Webcast, I came nowhere near Bonnaroo this weekend. However, the Hidden Track folk and the Jambands.com crew made their way down there and have compiled their own reports and the best of others. The festival is too big to offer true comprehensive coverage but between HT and Jambands.com, you'll not only get a good sense as to what transpired in Manchester, TN but probably more news and opinions on Phish's participation than you ever thought could exist.Labels: Leroy Justice Wednesday, November 05, 2008Consider Yourselves Served: Leroy Justice Cover Let It Be For Halloween
By: David Schultz
 On October 31, 1994, Phish famously donned a musical costume at the Glens Falls Civic Center in Glen Falls, New York, and covered The Beatles’ “White Album” in its entirety. When over the next four years, they added Quadrophenia, The Talking Heads’ Remain In Light and The Velvet Underground’s Loaded to their All Hallow’s Eve resume, they gave birth to a tradition of bands reproducing famous classic rock albums as part of their Halloween sets. More than a decade after the last of Phish’s musical disguises, Leroy Justice is but one of the bands that picked up the gauntlet this past Halloween, tackling The Beatles’ Let It Be at New York City’s The Bitter End, just blocks away from the oddity known as the Halloween Parade.Through attrition, The Bitter End, which opened in 1961 is New York City’s longest running nightclub. For Halloween, the well worn venue got into the spirit, decorating the club appropriately with ghostly webs complete with giant spider. Leroy Justice dressed the part as well with guitarist Jason Gallagher donning the Lennon specs, bassist Bradley Wegner looking like a wooly McCartney and Sloan Marshall sporting a vintage ‘fro as 5th Beatle Billy Preston. On their debut album, Revolution’s Son, Leroy Justice showed a fine aptitude for 70s era Rolling Stones finesse and brawny, whiskey-soaked bar room rockers. In covering Let It Be and songs that The Beatles never played live anywhere but a rooftop, Gallagher, Wegner, Marshall, guitarist Brendan Cavanaugh and drummer Josh Karis pushed themselves to a high level of musicianship. On early versions of “Two Of Us” and “Dig A Pony,” they seemed a bit unsteady with the material. Once they started interpreting rather than emulating The Beatles, they hit their stride: an upbeat version of “The Long And Winding Road” led into a wonderful renovation of “For You Blue” and a rousing finale of “Get Back.” For Justice’s main set, they offered a muscular and powerful dose of rock and roll, including an inspired version of “Revolution’s Son,” a cover of “Don’t Do It” that owed more to The Band’s version than Marvin Gaye’s and a stirring, smoky run though “Bring It On Home To Me.” Playing well into the night, Leroy Justice left to no doubt that in the future, Justice will be served. Labels: Leroy Justice Thursday, October 02, 2008River To River: BuzzUniverse Celebrates Release of LiveVibes From The Donegal Saloon
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
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