An impressive lineup of vintage gear and raw talent thrusts this western Massachusetts band’s third album, Let’s Do Lunch, into the 21st century. Comprised entirely of songs tracked with vintage equipment on a Tascam 4-Track cassette recorder (remember those?!), they manage to sound new and familiar at the same time—but there’s no denying the modern, indie-pop DNA. “This record is different for us,” explains keyboardist Gabe Bernini, “because while recording we used such limited technology that we were able to be much more productive. Without the luxury of having endless recording options, we found that we really like the sound that comes out of us just playing together as a band. Most of the record is made up of second and third takes that were recorded in the same sitting as the writing.” With no place to hide amidst an analog backbone, their expertly performed musicianship is front and center. “I Love You I Love You” is a standout, as is “Scrapsy.”

LuxDeluxe imports many of music’s most popular roots and those influences are interpreted cleanly. Far from sounding dated, the warm sound has a contemporary, catchy vibe and rock quality. The drums are a real standout, crashing and crunching along the rich vocals, spot-on harmonies, and smart lyrics, all woven through some serious musical talent. A bright sounding Clavinet keyed by Gabe Bernini pings fluidly alongside solid guitar chops by Caleb Rosazza, and a steadfast bass line courtesy of Jacob Rosazza.

LuxDeluxe live

The your-in-the-room feel to the album is replicated in energetic live performances; this band puts on an extraordinarily fun show. “New England is a great place to be a touring band,” says Bernini. “Our touring strategy for the past year has been to stop touring all the way to Colorado and back and instead keep hitting cool music cities that are closer to us, more often. We’ve been playing Boston, New York City, Burlington, Philly, Washington DC, and other close-by cities over and over to build our audience, which has been a really great way to make fans and keep them busy!” Fronted by dynamic showman Ned King, LuxDeluxe is engaged and polished like only a band that’s played together for ages can be. Come prepared to participate and dance your ass off, because this is a band having a good time. Catch them on their upcoming tour with a swing through some of New York’s finest joints, finally landing in New England with a Massachusetts gig at Festival at the Farm in Canton.

LuxDeluxe is: Ned King – vocals, Jacob Rosazza – bass, Caleb Rosazza – guitar, Gabe Bernini – keys, Jake Edwards – drums
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The post LuxDeluxe Delivers appeared first on Take Magazine.

This article originally appeared in our April/May 2016 print issue. 

It’s a cold day in January when I speak with Hannah Mohan, guitarist/singer and primary songwriter for the western Massachusetts-based And the Kids, who calls me from amidst a month-long recording session at Montreal’s Breakglass Studios. Friends Share Lovers, the 10-song album they’re crafting with the aid of Canadian producer/musician Jace Lasek, is scheduled for release in June on Northampton, Massachusetts’ Signature Sounds label.

“We’re in the studio only during Mercury in retrograde,” Mohan notes, referring to the astrological phenomenon that’s customarily associated with confusion and delay.

“Isn’t that crazy?”

Part of the reason the band is recording in Montreal is that keyboardist Megan Miller is Canadian and had the unfortunate experience of being deported from the United States a while back. New York native Taliana Katz, who had just begun playing with the band when they performed for National Public Radio’s Tiny Desk Concert series last June, has assumed bass duties and was unceremoniously tossed into “the mom van” for two North American tours with the bands Highly Suspect and Ra Ra Riot, including a stop at Austin, Texas’s requisite South by Southwest rock roundup in March.

“I had just gotten back from India and moved up to western Mass. from New York,” Katz says of her whirlwind induction by fire. “When I got there, we talked about Tiny Desk and decided that it probably wasn’t a good idea for me to play it because I had just started. But when we went to the label to do a preview of the concert, we tried it as both a trio and a Hannah-[and]-Becca-[Lasaponaro] duo, and [Signature Sounds] decided that it would be all three of us. It was a pretty surreal experience!”

When I ask if the band has considered moving to a big city like New York or L.A., their answer is appropriately adventurous.

“We are constantly considering every city we go to,” Mohan laughs. She says she’d like to stay in Montreal but admits that the non-Canadian band members would then likely have similar problems to the border woes Miller has suffered. “Yeah, we already decided—no more deportations.”

The group came together at the Institute for Musical Arts (IMA), a nonprofit music education facility in the hills of Goshen, Massachusetts, dedicated to supporting women and girls in music. The camp was cofounded by Ann Hackler and June Millington, the latter a Filipina musician who fronted the trailblazing early ’70s all-female band Fanny. After Mohan and drummer Lasaponaro dropped out of high school, they were encouraged to see what the place might have to offer them.

And the Kids | Photo by Pierre Manning

“Our parents sent us to the IMA to make sure that we were actually doing stuff,” Mohan chuckles. The band’s name stems from a Peter Pan-ish tale of teen rebellion and resourcefulness that brought Mohan and Lasaponaro together during their wayward youth.

“It used to be ‘And the Kids and the Pirates,’ ” says Mohan. “We had a group of friends, and we all lived on this island [in the Connecticut River] for one summer. We built a huge fort out of all these tarps and just…lived on this island,” she laughs. “Sometimes we’d go out for supplies. To everyone else we were just ‘The Kids,’ but to us, we were ‘The Pirates.’ ” The name was eventually shortened to keep it simpler.

The band’s music is, like its musicians, unusually original and not at all constrained by any conventional pop sensibility. Buoyed from a young age by a strong network of supporters, they’ve been allowed to grow artistically in a way that is rare in the music biz—a way that is perhaps aware of the commerciality of the medium but not at all beholden to it or even that interested in it.

Frontwoman Mohan is a striking individual who’s remarkably confident and comfortable in her own skin—skin that’s been customized with unapologetic, unconcealable tattoos including a solid black line that dramatically splits her lower lip and gives her a tribal aura, and the words Folk the System emblazoned across her upper chest.

Her voice sirens in a mellifluous, elfin vibrato from the upper octaves, a sound that makes your spine tingle a little in a rare way, like the first time you heard Judy Garland’s “Over the Rainbow.” Mohan’s singing has been compared to that of ’80s punk/new wave icon Siouxsie Sioux, though she points mostly to more contemporary artists like Feist and Arcade Fire as influences and even some much older favorites like Buddy Holly and Jimmy Rogers.

“I grew up listening to country music. Oddly enough, my parents were really into pop country. And then I met Rebecca, and I started listening to ’60s rock. That’s kind of where I think the structure comes from, and then…I don’t know, I like noise music…a lot of different stuff.”

Lasaponaro has added to the mix some interesting percussion—another quality that gives the band a unique sound—including sleigh bells and glockenspiel, an instrument she describes as “what I imagine magic must sound like.”

She adds, “I think the percussion instruments add a little ear candy to the music—something people are maybe not expecting to hear, and when they do, they’re like, ‘What was that?’”

https://andthekidsmusic.bandcamp.com/

And the Kids – Hannah Mohan, guitar/vocals | Rebecca Lasaponaro, drums/percussion | Taliana Katz, bass | Megan Miller, keyboards
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Photos by Pierre Manning

The post The Kids Are Alright appeared first on Take Magazine.

This article originally appeared in our September 2015 print edition. 

Peter McLaughlin launched his music career in Portland, Maine, and never looked back.

McLaughlin’s work as a drummer, composer, sound engineer, producer, and collaborator makes him one of the highest-regarded champions of the city’s music scene. His new project—Pretty Purgatory, which launched late last year—is both an Americana and folk-focused record label and an art collective. The label has released new offerings by Family Planning; Butcher Boy; Lisa/Liza; and McLaughlin’s own band, The Milkman’s Union. The latest is a split 7″ single featuring Maine’s Jacob Augustine backed by the psych-folk band Bad Braids from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Peter McLaughlin at SPACE Gallery in Portland, Maine.

“It’s easily my proudest release so far—from music, production value, right down to the art and packaging, designed collaboratively by Jakob Battick, Megan Biscieglia, and Tom Ryan,” McLaughlin says.

What is it about this coastal city, with a modest population of just over 66,000 and a reputation that rests more on chefs than musicians, that attracted the Needham, Massachusetts, native? It turns out that while Portland’s culinary diversity lures tourists, its cultural vibrancy has inspired an influx of savvy, dynamic, and creative music makers.

Upon his 2010 graduation from Bowdoin College, where he studied composition with celebrated American composer Elliott Schwartz, McLaughlin flirted with the idea of moving to a larger metropolitan area before turning his focus to Portland. “I was choosing between Boston, New York, Portland, and Northampton [Massachusetts]. I thought that the Portland music scene was honestly more interesting. It seemed to be a tight-knit community of people creating exciting music, and I wanted to be a part of it.”

On top of running his record label, McLaughlin also programs SPACE Gallery’s musical performances.

McLaughlin immersed himself in the scene by expanding on his college job experience as a soundman and talent booker for Bowdoin’s campus pub. He landed a gig at the busy nonprofit arts-and-music venue SPACE Gallery. Today he is the organization’s music programmer, bringing in such notable acts as Screaming Females, Death Vessel, and Today Is the Day. It’s a job that allows him the flexibility to continue touring as a musician.

“I’ve hit the road hard these last couple months, doing short tours and multi-week runs,” McLaughlin says. “I’ve traveled all over, and my travels always reaffirm what I know about Portland—that it’s a unique place. You get all the niceties of a small town with many of the advantages of a big city.

“It is attractive to young people, artists, developers, and the folks moving into these developments for the same reasons—it’s a thriving, artistic town,” he says. “And all of these people need to be careful that Portland remain just that.”

Peter McLaughlin’s Five Under-the-Radar Musical Paragons of Maine

Tom Kovacevic
Oud-playing Arabic music cognoscente. Weaver of delicate and idiosyncratic songs like no others.

Caethua
Enchanting hymns truly out of the forest. Makes bleakness resplendent like the winters she knows so intimately.

Big Blood
High priests of don’t-call-it-psychfreak-folk-new-weird-whatever-because-it’s-just-transcendent-goddamn-music.

Asa Irons
Exalted dirges, full of light and grit, like the salt of the New England earth. Always sounds like home.

Colby Nathan
Torch bearer and medium of feelings: nervous laughter, wide-eyed awe, honest tears, and subtle serenity.

Peter McLaughlin – owner, Pretty Purgatory
Portland, Maine
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Photography by Cara Slifka

The post Indie Music’s Maine Man appeared first on Take Magazine.

It’s time you heard about Mammal Dap.

Making melodies so catchy and singular that they feel slightly familiar, Mammal Dap’s EP Deep Field, to be launched February 23, brings listeners more of its signature style of super tight, sometimes funky, always optimistic psych fusion featuring furious guitar (Killian Karlsson), expert beat-keeping (Reed Sutherland bass and synth bass, Colin Jalbert drums and samples), and wild keys (Zack Cross). It’s like these melodies, songs, and tiny electronic musings have always existed, but Mammal Dap was there to tap into the ether, and record them for our eternal enjoyment.

(left to right) Zack Cross and Killian Karlsson

These four boys hail from Western Massachusetts, a region known more for its punks and indie rockers than its exclusively instrumental producers. Mammal Dap, however, seems right at home in a music scene constantly creating something new from something not so old. And The Kids, for example, borrow a bit of their sound from early folk rock, then imaginatively tailor their music and lyrical content for a much stranger, queerer future wasteland. In a similar way, Mammal Dap’s recordings call up a time of quartets and trios, devious jazz fusion demigods and early Moog modulators, all made simultaneously contemporary and timeless through obsessively precise arrangements, intriguing samples and, most of all, a lot of fun.

At times, Mammal Dap’s music gets intense and even heavy, layering lots of deep synth, bass, guitar, and wild fills, but always lands on the side of cool and tight. To get a full range of the soaring solos, catchy beats, earworm melodies, sexy guitar, and breakdowns, peep PRMLMND when the Deep Field drops.

Mammal Dap is one of those rare bands whose live sound is nearly as tight as the record—yet the band isn’t afraid to depart a bit. Since each member is literally a master at the machine they pick and slap, Dap’s members can knowingly improvise and reinterpret their illustrious, sparkling melodies. Solos abound during a Mammal Dap performance, but they’re not the typical extended musical rants that often bog down an otherwise energetic genre. Dap’s members offer mini, often momentary, musical departures from the melodies you love; like the twist end of a short story or a small secret you never knew you needed to know.

Deep Field to be released February 24, 2017 | Cover art by Josh Unsderfer at Conifer Studios

Mammal Dap is a psych-fusion band from Northampton, Massachusetts. Follow them on Facebook and Instagram to listen to their upcoming EP Deep Field, and be sure to look out for their forthcoming New England tour. 

All photos by Coley Krystyna

All video produced for Take Magazine by V. A. Karsaliakos

The post Into the Deep Field with Mammal Dap appeared first on Take Magazine.

An orange sociopath was elected president, David Bowie AND Prince passed away, and Kimmy K may or may not have staged her own assault and robbery to stay relevant. Grab some hand warmers and booze, we’re closing the book on this collapsing star of a year and never looking back.

First Night Hartford, CT
2:00 PM – 12:00AM
Wristband: Adults: $12.00, Kids (3-5): $3
Downtown Hartford

This year will mark the 28th anniversary of First Night Hartford, and, as always, it’s promised to be a multicultural celebration with not one, but TWO fireworks displays—one slated for 6pm for you early birds out there. There will be a vintage 1914 carousel in Bushnell Park, with 48 hand-carved horses and two lovers chariots to revolve you and your boo into the new year. Enjoy ice skating, an Irish sing-along, and visit Butler McCook House to make your very own mask for the crowd-sourced Grand Procession.

First Night Portsmouth, NH
2:00PM – 12:00AM
Buttons: Adults: $15 ahead of time, $25 night of, Kids: $2
Downtown Portsmouth

Be sure to mosey on over to North Church to check out the ice sculptures, which sculptors have been meticulously working on since one o’clock. Starting at 5:00PM, Portsmouth community radio will be providing tunes for you to dance your 2016 sorrows away ‘til the ball drops. But don’t forget to take a break to visit the NH Astronomical Society for some star gazing—2016 was confusing as hell and I think we all deserve answers from the universe.

First Night Boston, MA
10:00AM – 12:00AM
Free and open to the public
Copley Square

Boston is celebrating over 40 years of First Night, an alternative to the traditional booze driven raucous debauchery of NYE. This year, First Night Boston will continue to be an inclusive, family oriented, art-centered celebration to mark the passage of time. Is one night enough to celebrate the end of a consistently backwards year? Hell No. The party don’t stop at midnight—reconvene on “First Day” for even more fun. Whether it be ice skating, taking ballroom dance lessons, or joining the People’s Parade in Boston Common, you’re sure to have a good time in First Night’s birthplace.

First Night Northampton, MA
12:00PM – 12:00AM
Buttons: Adult $16 ahead of time, $20 day of, Seniors $10, Kids 2-10 $8

If you missed the A2Z yoyo team last year, you have another shot at seeing them do a little more than just walk the dog. Not your cup of hot chocolate? Join the folks from Mad Science at John M. Greene Hall and learn how to make potions that explode. Looking for a more sonic experience? Catch the Northamptones, a high school a cappella troupe. Northampton often likes to take the path less traveled. Oh no, they don’t dare let the ball drop, they would rather see it rise. This year gather around the Hotel Northampton for the ceremonial ascent. You might not be able to tell when the ball gets to the top, but hey, that’s what iPhones are for. Smooch.

Sardine Drop | Tides Institute & Museum of Art, Eastport Maine | Photograph by Hugh French

New Year’s Eve Sardine & Maple Leaf Drop, Eastport, ME
11:00PM – 12:00AM
Free and open to the public
Eastport

Who needs a First Night when you can have a Sardine and Maple Leaf Drop?! Eastport, Maine celebrates the coming of the new year with two “balls,” so to speak. On the third floor of Tides Institute & Museum of Art, a giant maple leaf will drop at 11PM (Midnight, Atlantic Time) to honor the Canadian new year. Following the first finale will be a second, appropriately with the descent of an 8-foot long sardine at midnight ET, as a nod to neighboring New Brunswick, home to a booming sardine industry.  A maple leaf and a sardine—an unlikely, but decidedly merry, love affair. Prior to the “droppings,” pop in to Studioworks to make paper party hats and hit the photo booth in style or stop at the Eastport Gallery for hot cider and cookies. Oh, and don’t forget to kiss the Sardine for good luck in 2017…we’re gonna need it.

Polar Bear Plunge Newport, RI
12:00PM Sharp
Donations to benefit A Wish Come True
Easton Beach

The people of this port city don’t retire their swim trunks when the temperature drops. In fact, on the first day of the year, it’s all these folks wear. This chilly tradition calls on adventurous locals to submerge into the freezing waves in the name of charity, and of course, a particularly *extra* year. If you have too much sense to charge into sub-40 degree water that will surely lead to your demise, pop on a funny hat and support the brave ones…and be sure to donate! Everyone is invited to the Atlantic Beach Club post plunge for an after party and—pun intended—a cold one.

First Night Burlington, VT

11:00AM – 12:00AM
Buttons: Adults: $18, day of $22, Child Button (ages 3 to 12): $5, Student Button (age 13+ with valid ID): $10, Family Pack: $42
Burlington

In 1983, Burlington hopped on the First Night bandwagon and become the fifth city to join the tradition. The main event of this family-friendly celebration is the Dancing Dragons parade, in which locals march down Church Street in traditional, Chinese-style parade dragons. In addition to the carnival rhythms, First Night Burlington offers a bountiful lineup of local artists, a screening of animated short films by Vermont International Film Festival, and an instrument petting zoo for people, especially children, to explore lesser known folk instruments from around the world.

Top image by Hugh French

The post First Night New England appeared first on Take Magazine.

Something exciting is happening inside of a massive, unassuming warehouse in the Northampton, Massachusetts industrial center. Kyle Richardson, Vice President of the Royal Talens North America branch, and his team are starting to supply the continent with the finest tools for creativity while honoring the legacy of their international company and engaging with the local community all at the same time.

The storied history of this company originates in the Netherlands with Queen Wilhelmina, and now Royal Talens has been producing top-quality paints and supplies for over one hundred years. With locations spanning the globe, and a reputation for unparalleled products, Royal Talens was looking to set roots down in North America last year, but was faced with the daunting task of deciding, simply, where?

Pigments | many colors have names that have historical origins.

Kyle Richardson stepped in to help make this call. Perhaps born from a hometown bias, Richardson couldn’t help but see the myriad ways in which a Northampton base would enrich their company. A community as artistic, tech-savvy, and creative as the Pioneer Valley made  the perfect backdrop for Royal Talens. About a year into moving in, the benefits are already becoming quite clear to Richardson and his team, and the near future is brimming with exciting ideas.

Richardson imagines one wall of the mammoth warehouse space coated in canvas for the public to come and see exactly how their Rembrandt oils and Van Gogh watercolors play out firsthand. “I want to have a space that we can open to the public for events and workshops and tours,” he explained, “a place where people can come and try our products out. We want to open up to the world so people can see us here in person and we can engage with the larger community.”

Images courtesy Royal Talens

The post A Colorful Presence in Downtown Northampton appeared first on Take Magazine.

Sam Chaplin is a social worker and dear friend of Jaclyn Walsh, a full time student at Smith College in Northampton Massachusetts. These two rock-and-rollers, along with an ever-increasing list of rogue queer punks, comprise Eternal Slumber Party. This is the latest in our series of conversations with New England arts leaders.   

Eternal Slumber Party show flyer by Owen Liza

Jaclyn Walsh: Sam — so, how would you explain Eternal Slumber Party to someone who has no idea what it is?

Sam Chaplin: Eternal Slumber Party is a DIY show booking collective that centers women, queer/trans, and POC musicians. When I’m talking to someone who is less familiar with the concept of DIY I’ll usually clarify that this means the shows usually take place outside of typical for-profit venues (bars, clubs, etc.) and instead happen at places like Flywheel Arts Collective or local basements. DIY also means that we’re handling all elements of event production ourselves– including securing a venue, creating the lineup, publicity, and finding volunteers to staff shows (work door, run sound, etc.) It also means that we don’t get paid! I always call ESP a collective because it feels like that’s the dream that I had for it in the beginning, but it’s funny to think of it that way because, in reality, it is mostly just you and I who have carried the collective for most of its existence. Did I leave anything out?

JW: I think that pretty much covers it. I just want to clarify that when we talk about “shows,” we’re talking specifically about shows with bands, like rock shows, y’know? Think Blink-182’s 2001 smash hit “The Rock Show.” I’d also add that it kind of does feel like a collective, because in DIY a lot of times bookers and bands rely on their friends & communities to help make shows happen, and run smoothly. We’ve definitely gotten some collective help from the community and friends along the way! Speaking of the community & possibilities that exist within the world of punk and DIY shows, what is it that drew you to DIY when you first started booking?

Eternal Slumber Party show flyer by Phoebe Harris

SC: I came up as a performer in a theater world, and it always felt like I had to wait for someone else to give me permission to make art. There’s all this gate-keeping, like auditioning for roles or trying to get opportunities to perform other people’s work. When I started going to punk shows, my world was really shook up by this concept that you can make stuff happen without anyone’s permission. Beyond the experience of performing, it’s also really cool to be a spectator to DIY because it makes critical engagement with art accessible and interactive. I can watch a band, pay attention to the details of their performance, think about the references that are coming to mind, and then I can usually talk to the musicians directly because I probably know them already. That’s exciting to me. Thinking beyond the general appeal of DIY, I’m wondering what specifically feels exciting to you about the booking role? What keeps you in it?

JW: I mean, there’s honestly so much, but at this point it feels pretty second-nature to me. I’ve been pretty obsessed with the ideology and dynamics of DIY music since early high school (shout out to Kurt Cobain), and I’ve been going to shows for years now (shout out to all the queer freaks who were booking shows in Boston back in the day). I think what’s kept me in it for so long is a mix of the music, the space that DIY culture allows for care and attention, the emphasis that it places on political thought, and the possibilities that exist for reciprocity and mutual support among creative folks. It’s really cool to be surrounded by and in touch with people who are endlessly inspiring and freaky, and to watch and help each other grow. Booking is something that makes sense for me to be doing as a musician myself, and as someone who is interested in making connections with and supporting other politically-minded musicians. This all feels weird and sappy to say because I’m already half-jaded, but when done with care and a community who gets it, DIY can be totally transcendent. I guess that’s what keeps me around.

SC: I’m always blown away by the wildly innovative music that gets made by people who are just regular guys like us, who show up in our small town to play in basements for donations and sell a few cassette tapes. Beyond the connections made with musicians, it seems like there are a bunch of awesome booking collectives cropping up in different areas. Is there anyone that you feel is especially kindred to ESP in the booking world?

Eternal Slumber Party show flyer by Sam Chaplin

JW: Absolutely! Right now, I’ve been getting stoked on work my friend Mary is doing over in Long Island with her booking collective, Long Island Ladies. capitalH records is doing really cool shit over in Connecticut. All Mutable collective in Philly are doing amazing stuff as well. For Western MA: SALT is amazing. That all being said, I wanna shout-out some booking collectives that were foundational to what I wanted to do…I first realized I could do a collective like this when I read an interview with Unregistered Nurse booking (based in Baltimore) in The Media back in high school, and it helped a lot to be surrounded by cool people in Boston booking shows by and for queer punks, Smash It Dead Fest folks, Kimberly who was doing work over at the Democracy Center, etc. There are countless bookers I could directly shout-out, but it comes down to this: I am endlessly inspired by any DIY booker who’s not a straight white dude. I am endlessly inspired by any DIY booker who makes a point of not booking over-saturated straight white dude bands. And I am endlessly inspired by any DIY booker who still cares about and centers radical politics in the work that they do.

(left to right) Sam Chaplin, Jaclyn Walsh

Be sure to follow Eternal Slumber Party on Tumblr, Facebook and Twitter, and get to the gig featuring Sad13 (Sadie Dupuis of Speedy Ortiz), Vagabon and Maxi’s World at 13 Queen in Northampton Massachusetts on November 16 at 8pm.

Top photo Eternal Slumber Party show flyer by Joe McCann

The post The Insider’s Take: Eternal Slumber Party appeared first on Take Magazine.