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09/28 Sunday
4:00 PM Charlie Kohlhase's Explorer's Club
5:00 PM Rick McLaughlin Trio, featuring Russ Gershon and Pablo Bencid
7:00 PM LOST IN THE TREES/WINDMILLS
LOST IN THE TREES is a folk orchestra from Chapel Hill, NC, led by composer/songwriter Ari Picker. The band is currently on tour in support of their second full length All Alone in an Empty House. The new album shows ringleader Ari Picker fully realizing and extending his compelling synthesis of American folk and traditional classical music and showing that disparate musical styles really stem from a common voice. Lyrically, Picker draws heavily from his autobiography, exploring how the relationship between his parents went on to affect his own relationships with loved ones in his life. Picker uses the unifying familiarity of traditional folk to face these haunting issues with optimism, not dread, and uses his orchestra of strings and horns to objectively correlate the feeling of the song to the listener. Thematically and sonically, All Alone in an Empty House is extremely intimate. Live, the band will be performing with a ten piece ensemble of violin, cello, french horn, euphonium, tuba, mandolin, accordion, glockenspiel, and a rock band set up to truly flesh out the songs.
All Alone in an Empty House was recorded by Ryan Pickett (My Morning Jacket) and Ari Picker and mixed by Ian Schreier (Annuals, The Never). The album will be released in one multi-format package which includes a CD, vinyl record, and coupon for a free 320 kpbs MP3 digital download of the album. Lost in the Trees and Trekky Records are offering the new "everything you could ever need" package as a response to the growing changes in the way people buy music.
WINDMILLS is the brand spanking new moniker for the former folk trio DEXTER & ELLIOT, whose quest involves the union between the natural and technological worlds of music. The band plays an ambient folk-pop electronica that has been said to “wrap itself around the listener like a new blanket that's been taken out of an old chest.” This is what the band would ultimately like to accomplish, the melding of an older folk influence while simultaneously integrating the innovations of 21st century electronic music.
Comprised of singer/guitarist Nick Morawiecki, drummer/sequencer Nate Babbs, bassist Ken Woodward, and guitarist Reid Angwin, the group will be performing songs from their latest release, “SOIL & THE COG”, along with brand new tracks off an upcoming album due for a late fall release. If you’ve been yearning to treat yourself to some “innovative, atmospheric folk, perfect for any rainy day” stop by and check it out.
10:00 PM Gill Aharon Trio with Nick Jaina
Nick Jaina at 10pm
GAT at 11pm
www.myspace.com/thegillaharontrio
There is fear all around; fear of being different, fear of being the same--and in the middle is the narrow way, a small path that is hard to stay on, but which leads to very good things. A Narrow Way is an album featuring aggressively memorable songs recorded in a unique way to capitalize on the energy of the live performance skills of Nick Jaina's band, an energy that has been honed by many performances on the streets of this great country. This album was played entirely by ten musicians in the same room at the same time, all mixed live to 1/4" analog tape. This process was similar to the way that albums were recorded in the fifties and sixties, before the Beatles started taking drugs in '65 and giving everyone a different idea of how people should make albums. On A Narrow Way, every instrument leaps off the tape with immediacy and humanity. Meanwhile, the lyrics of the songs deal with the narrow path that people must take to do right in the world.
This album was recorded and mixed live at Type Foundry Studios in Portland by Adam Selzer (Norfolk & Western). If the band needed a hand clap or a tambourine hit, they had to bring in an extra person to do it, instead of just over-dubbing it. As modern recording has diminished the importance of actually performing in the moment, they felt that it would create a sense of urgency to remove all safety nets and technological helpers, allowing the band to play together in a room like musicians used to do. Bands want to play music together in a room at the same time. It's their natural habitat. It makes them happy. Like wildebeests in the Serengeti.
A Narrow Way will be released this fall on compact disc by HUSH Records and on 180-gram vinyl by Jealous Butcher. It will be available in stores and online on October 14th, but the band will have it for sale on their national tour, which begins on September 10th in Boise and which them around the country in a clockwise motion for 25 shows in 40 days. (HUSH Records has released such great artists as The Decemberists, Laura Gibson and Loch Lomond. Jealous Butcher has put out vinyl for M Ward, Laura Veirs and The Decemberists.)
11:59 PM Sasha Allen
Ladybug&Darling Music presents Sasha Allen and the Geminis 2008 North American Tour
Sasha Allen has been branded as "the start of a new era of great singers", and is endorsed by some of the music industry's biggest names. At the young age of 26, she has made a career as a backing vocalist for the industry's best, including Alicia Keys, Leona Lewis, Christina Aguilera, Usher and John Legend. Having demonstrated her ability to support the best singers in the industry, Sasha is taking her rightful place at the forefront of the stage and is currently working on her debut solo album with several legendary producers such as 10-time Grammy winner producer/songwriter Babyface. Sasha is known for her live show and strives to make her name synonymous with acclaimed singers and performers like Whitney Houston, Aretha Franklin, and Celine Dion.
In the past year alone, Sasha has performed on several world tours and platinum albums, including Christina Aguilera's "Back To Basics" World Tour and DVD, John Legend's "Once Again" album, Babyface's "Playlist" album, and was featured on Babyface's "Playlist" World Tour, singing the lead female vocal of the classic hit records he wrote/produced for Whitney Houston, Toni Braxton, Madonna, and more. Sasha's wide-ranging experience also includes tours with Alicia Keys, Leona Lewis and John Legend, performances with Usher and David Bowie as well as records with Celine Dion.
Sasha's gifted artistry was spotlighted on VH1's "Born To Diva", and in the cult film "CAMP", starring as "Dee" (available on itunes). The movie, produced by Danny DeVito, developed a huge following for her by highlighting her acting skills, breathtaking vocal ability and overall star power.
On Sasha Allen's fall 2008 appearances, she is being accompanied by the touring band for New Kids on the Block, including musical director and producer/writer/arranger Rob Lewis (Christina Aguilera, The Pussycat Dolls, Leona Lewis, Diddy, Fall Out Boy, Babyface, Toni Braxton), who will be supervising the show production.