NEW ENGLAND MUSIC OFFERING - Engineered, Mixed & Mastered by Jer Coons and Recorded in Burlington, VT at Future Fields, we give you Flesh & Bone (And Everything Within) Side A - a series of smoky new songs from Vermont songstress Xenia Dunford whose career we have been following and championing for a half-decade now.
Dunford has one of great voices in music. Her latest offers more opportunities for the female protagonist making sense of an ever-changing world, lost love and new beginnings from familiar challenges.
Flesh & Bone is an adept, late-night telling of emotive lessons. Important contributions on this record were made by Coons, Dan Ryan, Sean Preece, Kelly Ravin, Zack Dupont, Zac Clark, Eric Maier, Forrest Pettengill and Hayden Turner. Dunford co-produced the record herself. Get ready to fall for this one. Pour yourself a bourbon and get ready to be thoroughly mesmerized.
Recorded in part at Downtown Recorders in Boston in 1988, The Pixies would release Doolittle - one of the most influential records in the modern era and a cornerstone record in Alternative Rock History on April 19, 1989 (that's 29 years ago this week.) This record is legend.
It's a Thursday night in Providence and I'm about to meet a sparkplug of a man who will do everything in his power to celebrate music. This is nothing new. Eric Fontana is something of a music legend in this part of New England and I'm about to find out why.
The 2013 Rhode Island Music HOF inductee has toured with Clarence Clemons and Nils Lofgren amongst others and opened for Ben Folds, Jason Mraz, Howie Day, Melissa Ferrick, and Josh Ritter. And in the studio? Fontana has worked with the likes of Barbra Streisand, No Doubt, and the Dropkick Murphy's. This is going to be a fun conversation.
Ryan: Sometimes the best way to get to know an artist is to watch them create. Can you walk me through one of your songs so folks can get to know you?
Eric Fontana: Okay, let's go with 'Happy Star' off my first record (Sound Station Seven). This one's written about my Grandfather on my mother’s side , Alfred Hynes. He was born in Ireland and his family settled in South Boston for a time before moving to Brooklyn. When I was little we go go on very long and wonderful walks through Forest Park in Queens and rest on a bench to share a soda and a bag of potato chips. This song is kind of a dream like description of the memory of those fantastic moments.
Ryan: I love the childlike sense of wonder on Happy Star. When's the first time you recall being completely captivated by a song? Fontana: I would say the first memory of being really blown over by a song, once I had started playing myself was 'Across The Universe' off the White Album.
Fontana:I had never head lyrics like that or a melody and chords so beautiful and moving. Most recently I think it would be a tie between 'God’s Comic' from Elvis Costello’s ‘Spike’ album and Joan Osbourne’s cover of 'What Becomes of The Broken Hearted.'
Ryan: A lot of people argue the Beatles are unequaled. Were they there since the beginning for you?
Fontana: My first memories of hearing music was listening to my parents copy of “Johnny Cash; Live at San Quentin” and watching re-runs of The Monkees tv show. After that it was all KISS. But once I heard The Beatles, that was it for me – and kind of still is.
Fontana: I taught myself to play guitar at age 12 from The Beatles Complete songbook, and played my first paying show ever at age 14 at my 8th grade junior high dance in Sparta, NJ , with my first band – Glass Onion!
Ryan: Let's make this real.. what are your artist goals for the next 12 months? Fontana: In the next year I’d like to put a full electric band together as well as playing more solo acoustic shows. I would like to finish writing and recording some more songs that are half finished but not yet completed. I have about eight notebooks full of over 200 songs. Eric Fontana has previously released four albums: “Sound Station Seven”, “Hats and Shoes”, “Saving Secret Grace”, and “Studies in R+B.”
Go to a quiet room and turn this up loud. What's at the heart of a movie comes down to this man reaching this point in the film. He's changed. Alec Guinness quietly delivers a triumph of a monologue.
Bridge Over the River Kwai Wiki / Imdb Sir Alec Guinness Wiki / Imdb
FLOTSAM and JETSOM - Well hey hey, you're not all worthless social media account users! We can't be everywhere, all the time and that's where the constant eye-of-Sauron comes into play. We were made aware of this fine example of internet ephemera just last week and I finally had ten minutes to publish and share. Remember friends, sharing is caring. Photo credit: Al Pacino at his over-the-top-greatness in Michael Mann's Heat (1995). Nothing dies on the Web. Thankfully. Happy Friday.
New England is the latest song from northeast songwriter Avi Jacob and it plays out like a waltz and a prayer. Avi Jacob has released one of the most touching new releases of the year on his must-hear EP, Surrender. On that record you'll find some really impressive tellings, arrangements made through work with The Felice Brothers and perfected across a southern summer.
The songs you are hearing here are influenced by personal narrative and made poignant by Jacob's delivery. Get in on this record. Signed with the indie Skate Mountain Records label, this guy's the real deal. The singer rides high here in the region this month - playing on some really great live appearances around New England.
APR 5 THU
Brighton Music Hall w/ Sister Sparrow & the Dirty Birds
Allston, MA
Pale Monsters find vitality and execute with pop grace on their fun new album. The release of which unfolds on Saturday. Pale Monsters are Kevin McGrath (Diamond Mines), Travis Richter (Kingsley Flood, The Motion Sick), Chris Mulvey (Muy Cansado), and Mike Ward (Let's Wait.)
The Band leaked the lead single themselves last year. The album is uncorked tomorrow.
Mass is energy and energy has particles. No matter how you break down the description, Pal Monsters - the brainchild of Boston creator Chris Mulvey, what you're left with is creative brushstrokes of emotion and sound. All This Time We Wait, the celebratory lead single from Are You Feeling Alive? is a throwback joyride and has celebrated as one of the top New England singles in 2017.
Through three albums over much of the past decade, Mulvey led Muy Cansado. When starting Pale Monsters, he enlisted longtime friends and Boston music veterans, Kevin McGrath (Diamond Mines), Mike Ward (Let's Wait) and Travis Richter (Kingsley Flood, The Motion Sick), each bringing their own unique perspective and experience to the project. The full album will be released Sat, March 10th at the Lizard Lounge in Cambridge. Looking forward to having this one unfold live. "I love the connection when you perform to a room full of people, but the songwriting is what's kept me in this for the long haul," says Mulvey. "I love the creative process."
