Eclectic Vibes - January 2018
by Andrew Frey
Leo Pellegrino of Too Many Zooz showing off his shake - photo by Andrew Frey
Rip the head off of 2017 and send it to the shitter. It’s time to move on to 2018! May this new year be filled with awesome opportunities, grand fulfillment, love, gratitude and joy!
TOO MANY ZOOZ
On the same night that corpse paint reject Marilyn Manson desecrates the Orpheum Theater in Madison, WI, the bombastic errant “brass house” trio known as Too Many Zooz will be blasting Mad Town. Their hair raising energy and explosive on stage activities are a marvel to behold. I have never seen a sax player do the things with his body while playing that Leo Pellegrino is able to pull off. See what I mean on 2/2 at High Noon Saloon in Madison, WI. toomanyzooz.com
TOP 2017
While fear and angst were hot topics in 2017 and continual political shenanigans erupted like fireworks, brave whistle blowing woman became empowered and changed the landscape of the famous to infamous. Personally I dealt with the tumult, chaos and rewards of reopened my retail store, Cosmic Delights, as well as the excitements of winning the Annual Manual’s Best Karaoke with Cosmic Star Karaoke at The Ohio Tavern. Music for me was clustered around and viewed largely while I attended and vended most of Madison’s Street and city festivals in addition to key events at Harmony Park in Minnesota.
High consciousness purveyors Satsang, Nahko Bear, Polish Ambassador and Wookiefoot were my top live musical memories, along with Red Baraat, Datsik and Too Many Zooz. Genre wise I feel that electro-swing is gaining more popularity while hyper-diversification in the electronica realm continues unabated. Surprisingly, the most influential release of the year for me came from former electropop diva Ke$ha. Now simply Kesha, her universally acclaimed, Grammy nominated, top charting album, Rainbow, showed such diversity, depth and raw renewed power that it caught me totally off guard and blew me away! Sure to be a classic on dance floors, at parties and karaoke bars for years to come. www.keshaofficial.com
SLEEPYTIME SWITCH
Another large yet subtle musical change for me in 2017 was the switch from listening to the “Calm Meditation” Pandora channel as I floated off to sleep to enjoying night time YouTube ambient drone meditations by NuMeditation Music. Ranging in length from 1-10 hours, these dream-time treasures focus on particular styles of sleep states ranging from lucid dreaming to Solfagio frequencies as well as Chakra healing and Angelic tones among others. facebook.com/numeditationmusic
MICRO REVIEWS:
This Month's Rating Scale is from 1 is Cataclysmic thru 10 is Enrapturing
Mass Relay - Star Born
Mass Relay
Album title: Star Born
Record Label: Daly City Records
Rating: 9
Futuristic electronic soundscapes snap and sparkle with funky punches, glitch hop gurgles and bubbling rhythms when this duo flexes their festival ready improvisational IDM skills on this 7 track release. Protruding soni-scapes are fed compelling guitar lines and thick beats that in turn shiver the rhythms with funky blues and rockin interlludes.
(1572) Page Views
Mass Relay online:
• Website
• Download Star Born from Amazon
Planewalker - Planes of Consciousness
Planewalker
Album title: Planes of Consciousness
Record Label: Street Ritual
Rating: 9
Weaving mystical rhythms and sacred invocations into tribal electronica propels this journey of higher ‘Planes of Consciousness’. Displaying great production and a diverse eclectic otherworldly musical perspective complete with deep bass lines and an occasional mantra are what create the need for repeated plays.
(1548) Page Views
Planewalker online:
• Website • Facebook
• Download Planes of Consciousness from Amazon