Still recovering from all the music this past weekend.  I didn't see as much as I'd liked, but you know you can only do so much.  For example, I missed, both Oh My Goodness and MiLO.  And I'm bummed I missed Art Terry's set on Thursday night.  He's someone else I've been in touch with via the Internet, so it was good to finally meet him. Art also has an interesting story, much like Stew's which formed the basis for Passing Strange.  Originally from LA, he currently lives in London, where he does a cool Internet radio show is my man Yinka from Sabatta called Is Black Music?, which can be heard on ResonanceFM.com via this link.  It's on at 4PM PDT/7PM EDT/12midnight in the UK.

At Harlem School of the Arts, I came late and only caught Dearling Physique's performance.  This is a quartet out of Minneapolis, MN led by performance artist Domino (above).  He channels equal parts Laurie Anderson, Grace Jones and Bowie's Ziggy Stardust, all underscored by muscular beats and atmospheric effects.

At 92Y Tribeca, I did get to see Leila Adu perform with a full band.  That is, she had drums and bass.  This was a great experience, particularly having seen her do the solo thing last year.  Usually, when a singer-songwriter strips a song down to just voice and piano, it provides for more space around the song, and lets it breathe.  In Leila's case, she's dealing with such melodically dense concepts that the addition of the other instruments actually served to better ground me as a listener. Funny, but more instrumentation helped me hear the pieces as wholes. Sometimes when she goes solo piano, the piano threatens to take on a life of its own, so there's this piano thing happening and there's this vocal and lyric thing also happening.  The additional instruments help you experience her on a macro level.  And that's good, because what she's exploring is sonically compelling and adventurous.  Finally, it just may be the case that my ears are starting to hear the nuances in what Leila's doing.

Check out some shots from the URB Alt Fest:

URB Alt changes gears, shifts back to Manhattan and adds film to the mix

Things kick off at 7PM with a feature (Jim Fielder's Phlo) and a short (Tim Fielder's Matty's Rocket).  Then, the music kicks in with performances by MuthaWit and singer-songwriter Leila Adu, who will be performing with a full band.  Very cool.

6/25-92nd Street Y
200 Hudson @ Canal Street
Downtown NY, NY
$10 Cover, Tickets online
7:00PM – Wear White!
Film Screenings: "Phlo" & "Matty's Wold"
Live Performances by:
Leila Adu & MuthaWit Orchestra

Additional link:

• More info on the 2010 URB Alt Fest

The 2010 URB Alt Fest picks up even more steam as it heads into its final three days.  This time the venues switches to Galapagos in Brooklyn.  In addition to the lineup of unique artists, get ready for Boston Fielder's homage to Miles Davis' seminal album Bitches Brew. Yes–and especially if you missed that extravaganza in Prospect Park–you have a chance to see how the URB Alt Orchestra runs the voodoo down.

The artists performing on Thursday:

1)Oh My Goodness – Therese Workman, a wiggy lyricist mashed into a
potato of dadaist beat-smithery, pushes the boundaries of alternative
pop music. If you listen closely you might find Therese and her
production partner, Tyler Woods, rollerskating while wrestling
crocodiles in a song. What?!

2)Art Terry – Art Terry is a London, England based multi-instrumentalist
wordplay-meister. He will be touring the US in support of his brilliant
album, "Anutha Kind of Brutha," where he displays twisted
pop/soul/baroque songs with layered lyricism and piano mastery. Art is
also a former bandmate of Stew ("Passing Strange") from back in the day.
Very cool!

3)URB ALT Orchestra is a specially organized group of some of NYC's
finest improvisers who play in homage to Miles Davis' classic "Bitches
Brew." Anything can happen when this mutoid crew of musicians, visual
artists and vocalist gather in the same room.

$10 Cover night of show or $5 in advance with the special code “DISCUA”,
Tickets online: http://url4t.com/gbS

More info on Galapagos Art Space here

Later this week will mark the second part of the URB Alt Festival, as well as the start of the Afro-punk Festival.  To mark the start of AP, I'll be talking with Walt Chastang of The 54.  While you may remember them from the "Domination" video, you'll get a chance to see them live on Saturday, June 26.  So, I'm thrilled to get a few minutes to talk with Walt, who handles guitar duties in the band.  He'll be on the air around 930pm.

As ever, the Tuesday night WRFB broadcast schedule looks a
little somethin' like this:

• 7-8pm  YankeeZulu's Time Machine
• 8-9pm  The Flying Perfect Parlor with Christian John Wikane
• 9-10pm Boldaslove.us/Sounds from the New Black Imagination
• 10-11pm Shelley Nicole and her themed shows

UPDATE: Tune in at 8pm and you'll hear Christian's conversation with the one and only Dionne Farris!

Click
here to listen

Additional link:

• All
  WRFB posts

Tune into my show, Sounds from the New Black Imagination, on WRFB-Radio Free Brooklyn on Tuesday, June 15 and you'll get your dose of more tasty musical treats, plus a special interview with URB Alt Festival founder and MuthaWit Orchestra bandleader Boston Fielder (above in a photo by Richardine Bartee).  Of course, he'll be talking about the launch of URB Alt Festival 5 as well as the imminent release of the new MuthaWit album Men & Women or la Revenge de Uncle Baldy.

As a reminder, the Tuesday night WRFB broadcast schedule looks a little somethin' like this:

• 7-8pm  YankeeZulu's Time Machine
• 8-9pm  The Flying Perfect Parlor with Christian John Wikane
• 9-10pm Boldaslove.us/Sounds from the New Black Imagination
• 10-11pm Shelley Nicole and her themed shows

Click
here to listen

Additional link:

• All WRFB posts

Day 2 of the 5th URB Alt Fest keeps it uptown for a FREE afternoon in St. Nicholas Park.  Bring the kids, your parents, or that girl you're trying to impress. 

Ya think Boston's excited about his lineup?  Check out what he has to say about the Day 2 artists:

1)Uninterrupted ft. Moon – DC's RAWKINGest Rock Band. Uber siren, Moon,
is one of those in your face artists that mughs can't stop talking about
after the experience.

2)Ben Tyree – Avante garde jazz with a punk attitude

3)Stoni Taylor and Miles of Stones – ATL's hip soul
SANGER/guitarist(Indigo Girls) returns to the Apple with blazing band in
tow. If you were at the URB ALT Fest Finale last year you kinda know
what's coming!

4)Faith – LES reggae/rock/alternative legends bring the beautiful
vibrations. Frontwoman, Felice Rosser is a force of nature.

5)Twin Shadow – Former Madman Films frontman, George Lewis, Jr.
introduces his cool new electro/dance rock/Orbinsonesque group to
Harlemites. They are recently signed to Grizzly Bear Chris Taylor's
Terrible Records.

RAWK!

Location:

St.
Nicholas Park @ 135th St. Pavillion
Street: 135th Street and St. Nicholas

Additional link:

• More info on the 2010 URB Alt Festival
  

The URB Alt Fest kicks off its 5th year with a benefit for Harlem School of the Arts, one of its longtime locations that's in need of the community's financial support.  Let's all come out, start the festival off the right way and support HSA, so it can continue providing arts education to our kids.  Here's the deal:

6/18-URB
ALT Launch–Tribute to 2001: A Space Odyssey
The Harlem School of the Arts
645 St. Nicholas Avenue
Harlem NY
$10 Cover for most, $5 for students and teachers(much respect) and free for
kids under 15.

7:30PM

A, B, C, D trains to 145th St. Station then walk South 2 blocks.

Of the artists performing that night, Boston writes:

1)Jneiro Jarel – Dr. Who Dat?, Shape of Broad Minds, Master of Android
Boombap and LowEnd Feedback. Label Who/Lex Records' avant garde hip hp
artist brings the BASS uptown in his own unique way.

2)Dearling Physique – Minneapolis' electronic/rock outfit creates a
strangely cool experience that toys with pop forms, musical dissonance
and theater that is unlike anything else out there.

3)MiLO – LA art rock band introduces their angular slow burn to
Manhattan. Fronted by chanteuse Lola and musical directed by Mikael
Sandgren(Bill Viola), MiLO is all about a darkly elegant mood.

4)MuthaWit with special guests will raise their songcraft and
improvisational vibration to the fore in celebration of the release of
their new album "Men & Women or the Revenge of Uncle Baldy."

Additional link:

• More info on the 2010 URB Alt Festival

Congrats to Boston Fielder and the URB Alt team, which is celebrating its fifth festival next month.  Looks like a great lineup, and we'll be sure to have more info on the artists going forward.  In the meantime, mark your calendars for June 18, 19, 24, 25, and 26.  Info on artists and venue for June 26 is forthcoming.

Additional link:

• URB Alt main site

In a few months, it'll be time for the 5th URB Alt Festival.  While Boston Fielder hasn't unveiled the lineup for this milestone event, he has released the second URB Alt Music Sampler, as he calls it, "more genre-bending sounds from around the globe."  The compilation collects songs by various eclectic artists including Gil Scott-Heron, Grizzly Bear, MuthaWit, Meshell Ndegeocello, Toro y Moi, No Bra, BLK JKS, Free Moral Agents, and Leila Adu among many others.   From the press release:

URB ALT founder Boston Fielder says, “Critics suggest that pop music is pointless while avant garde music is aimless.  When a soul legend like Gil Scott-Heron covers MS Delta bluesman Robert Johnson’s “Me And The Devil” and plays back alongside rising young creators from Germany, London, South Africa and Brooklyn the vibration is hella expansive.  I’d like to think that the 18 exciting artists on URB ALT Sampler – Dos agree that nothing is more paradigm changing than great pop and nothing insures popular longevity than heartfelt experimentation."

URB ALT Sampler-Dos is available for free as an album-only digital download at the URB ALT site (www.urbalt.ning.com), Amazon.com and ITunes. 

Tracklist:

1. MuthaWit – Give It To Me
2. Divisible – Calm, Collected
3. Gil Scott-Heron – Me And The Devil
4. Leila Adu – Train
5. Grizzly Bear – Cheerleader
6. Free Moral Agents – Aravand(live at the prospector, LBC)
7. California King – Whiskey Glass
8. No Bra – Noise Pollution
9. Ezekiel Jiminez – Wee Wee Wata Knot Belly 5
10. Paris Suit Yourself – Brainwash
11. Meshell Ndegeocello – Lola
12. Art Terry – Future
13. The Dolldaze – The Hard Way
14. Toro y Moi – 109
15. Uninterrupted – Regret
16. BLK JKS – Lakeside
17. Fat Transfer – Now You’re Back
18. Swallowing the Seas – More Than Water

Click here to download the FREE URB Alt Sampler-Dos.

Jimi would've been 67 next week.  Very cool that MuthaWit Orchestra and Leila Adu team up to celebrate his birthday in grand style: Avant, yet fresh-to-death!

MuthaWit at Harlem Stage (photo: Ed Marshall)

Leila Adu performing @ this year's URB Alt fest (photo: Ed Marshall)

URB ALT: Jimi Hendrix Tribute
Friday, November 27, 2009 – 10:30pm
$10

LOCATION & DIRECTIONS
Galapagos Arts Space

16 Main St at the corner of Water Street in DUMBO, BK
F train to York Street, A train to High Street or 2/3 train to Clark Street

My man Boston Fielder writes compellingly about this event here.

Additional links:

• URB Alt
• MuthaWit
• Leila Adu