#tomwarren

5G towers in the UK are being set on fire because of coronavirus conspiracy theories. There’s no scientific evidence that backs up a link between 5G and coronavirus, but that’s not stopped the stupidity. Details here: https://t.co/gTJtC67k7V pic.twitter.com/gYEqsLPkL7

This past Saturday, January 4th, there was a big musical get together in a rather cozy space. The popular music loving coffee shop, Village Coffee in Wall Township, New Jersey, held a show put together by Luke Hendricks and Emma Jean Murphey, show casing bands like Big Neil with Tom Warren from The Front Bottoms, Have a Good Season, Soft Fangs, Grand Mariner, The Hills and The Rivers, and Weird and Wonderful Words. While attending the show, two bands in particular really caught my attention—The Hills and The Rivers and Grand Mariner. I was stunned and spun into a vortex from their epic grooves from the first songs to the last.

The Hills and The Rivers!!!

To start, The Hills and The Rivers automatically caught my eye with their band set up. Between their band of a tenor guitar, banjo, vox, tambourine, shaker, harmony vox, mandolin, flute… should I even continue!!!!!……. a djembe, fiddle, trumpet, baritone sax, washboard, accordion, 5 string banjo, a suspended cymbal AND claves!… whoo! This wonder of a band created a new voyage of instrumental power in the crowd as the tightly nit crowd at Village Coffee kept the beat in their hands and feet—I was even thumping on my notebook as I wrote about their music in all its folk-y tuned enjoyment. With songs like ‘In the Spring’and ‘Here and the Gone’ one can not help but be completely submersed my the talent of the band: layered with both harmonic vocals by Noel Mullen and Heidi Hill along side Isaac Hill’s rustic and post-apocalyptic vocals, one cannot help but have a little bit of a smile on their face. This band is so incredibly layered with the sounds of gorgeous musicians and songwriters. They are certainly a band to be reckoned with, especially when you listen to ‘Buskers’ and know the band ‘sings for their whiskey’ and ‘sing just for you’ SO if you are interested in listening to The Hills and The Rivers, take a look at their music at: thehillsandtherivers.bandcamp.com

Grand Mariner!!!

Now Grand Mariners is another absolute favorite from this past Sunday. When the band of Matthew Del Guercio of bass and vocals, Jon Lazzati of drums and vocals, and Justin Lombardi of guitar, keyboard, and vocals, entered onto the playing platform, I immediately wanted to grab a surfboard and head out into the winter waves! Described as a “heavy reverb-surfy-fuzz pop” band, I couldn’t help but smile, also finding some Nirvana-grunge-90’s music influence in their sound as well. As soon as I heard the live version of their song ‘Max Milwaukee’, Kurt Cobain’s face popped up into my thoughts like Jesus Christ trying to tell me something. However, listening to other songs like ‘Summer Wars’ and ‘Dolphine Blood’ I wanted to go jump into a pool of water and dance until my legs fell off (I feel as though such a desire would fuel the grunge and the heavy-reverb-surfy-fuzz pop connection I have made). Laughing aloud at my own thoughts, I danced along with the crowd in Village Coffee that night cat calling the band like they were models for Calvin Klein… when Grand Mariner sings “Do you want to have fun!?” you say “HELL YES!” After the bands last song we wanted more, and we were left wanting more too! If you want to check out this radical band go to: 

Gallery 98 

Online Only  --  gallery.98bowery.com

 COLLECTING COLAB: 

EPHEMERA, PHOTOGRAPHY, & MULTIPLES, 1978 - 1985

The itinerate Portrait Studios that Tom Warren organized in the early 1980s have left an extraordinary portrait record of the artists and neighborhood residents who made up that era’s avant-garde.  For “Collecting COLAB,” Warren has created a special Portrait Studio Portfolio with fourteen photographs featuring the COLAB artists he was closest to back in the day.    

-Dirty Projectors: Swing Lo Magellan, Domino LP

-Portraits, Important Records LP

-Scott Walker: Bish Bosch, 4AD LP

-Pontiak: Echo Ono, Thrill Jockey LP

-The Giuseppi Logan Project: LP

-David S Ware/Planetary Unknown: Live @ Jazz Festival Saalfelden 2011, Aum Fidelity CD

-Sharon Van Etten: Tramp, Jagjaguwar LP

-Neneh Cherry & The Thing: The Cherry Thing, Smalltown Supersound CD

-Laetitia Sadier: Silencio, Drag City LP

-Bill Laswell: Means of Deliverance, Solo, Innerhythmic CD

-Lambchop: Mr M, Merge LP

-CS Yeh: Transitions, De Stijl LP

-Antony & The Johnsons: Cut The World, Secretly Canadian LP

-Flying Lotus: Until The Quiet Comes, Warp LP

-Windy & Carl, We Will Always Be, Kranky LP

-The xx: CoExist, XL LP

-Masaki Batoh: Brain Pulse Music, Drag City LP

-Sigur Ros: Valtari, XL LP

-Mark Lanegan: Blues Funeral, 4AD LP

-Black Dice: Mr Impossible, Ribbon Music LP

-Emeralds: Just To Feel Anything, Editions Mego LP

-Aella: 577 Records CD

-The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion: Meat+Bone, Mom&Pop/Boombox LP

-Charles Gayle Trio: Streets, Northern Spy CD

-The Hive Dwellers: Hewn From The Wilderness, K Records LP

-Walter, Halvorson, Evans: Mechanical Malfunction, Thirsty Ear CD

-Messages: Message Bag: De Stijl LP

-Wooley, Weber, Lytton: Six Feet Under, NoBusiness LP

-Cellular Chaos HD @ Death By Audio, Jan 6 2013: YouTube: Marc Edwards

-Nick Cave & Warren Ellis: Lawless soundtrack, Sony/Music On Vinyl LP

-Fred Frith: Clearing Customs, Intakt CD

-Six Organs Of Admittance: Ascent, Drag City LP

Fave Labels

-Kranky Records

-Important Records

-577 Records

-De Stijl