MUSICMARAUDERS

Words by Stevie Tee It’s that time of year when electronic music fans start their yearly crawl out of darkened night clubs and warehouses to enjoy Spring’s emergence coupled with all of the dance music that the world has to offer. Yes, it’s March Madness, and I’m not talking about college hoops. Transpiring this month are Winter Music Conference and Ultra Music Festival as well as the emergence of tour dates and summer festival lineups that will set the music lover’s schedule for the rest of the summer. This is a controversial year for both WMC and UMF as the two events that used to run in tandem are now separated by more than two weeks. For the next month, we will be spotlighting different artists that will be turning up the heat in Miami, so let’s take a closer look at both festivals... Winter Music Conference Now in its 26th consecutive year, Winter Music Conference is a week-long marathon of music. The clubs in Miami will be stacked with heavy-hitting line ups all week, not to ment...

Words and Photos by Greg Molitor ( ReMIND Photography ) Hey friends! My past year with MusicMarauders has been quite the trip. New faces, new destinations, new experiences, new dreams... my life has been joyously filled with them over the past twelve months. With MusicMarauders, my continual goal is to inspire and share the passion and inspiration I’ve felt from the jamband scene over the past eight years. This endeavor has been more satisfying than I ever thought possible as my excitement for MusicMarauders, living life, and music as a whole has never been greater than it is currently. I am blessed to be where I am today. Before I springboard headfirst into covering this year’s festival season, I want to share with you a bit of the magic that has made MusicMarauders so special for me. For this week’s Jamband Spotlight, I’m highlighting some of my favorite festivals and sets from the website’s first year. It’s been an amazing ride and will continue to be for many years to come. Thank...

Words By J-man When you hear the strength of the opening instrumentation of "Man of Constant Sorrow", one can not help but to picture O Brother Where Art Thou's "Soggy Bottom Boys" (George Clooney, John Turturro, Tim Blake Nelson) singing into a can in an old southern studio. The powerful voice behind George Clooney's character was Union Station's Dan Tyminski. Dan's flawless/powerful lead vocals in that specific track brought great attention to the bluegrass/string genre and inspired a tour featuring Ralph Stanley, Emmylou Harris, Allison Kraus & Union Station and more. Enjoy The above Youtube clip from the Cohen Brothers' "O Brother Where Art Thou" as well as the clip below of Dan Tyminski and Ron Block doing a live version at the Crossroads Festival. If you haven't seen the movie, it's very entertaining and provides an amazing soundtrack. Enjoy! www.dantyminski.com

Grateful Dead Live at Ivar Theater on February 25, 1966. She's On The Road Again, Next Time You See Me, I Know You Rider, Hey Little One, Cold Rain & Snow, King Bee, Caution, Stealin' Words By Andy Zimmer Sometimes it’s nice to feel spoiled. When I spend time perusing the thousands of Grateful Dead concert sources available on the web, and elsewhere, it really hit home how musically-spoiled I really am. What other band out there has such an extensively documented history, and so many archived performances to choose from? Truly, we have been blessed with a unbelievable resource... and it makes my “job” pretty damn easy, and a helluva lot of fun. Today is my birthday and, while I’m not really into self-promoting behavior or flashy celebrations, I decided to dedicate this installment of my Dead Picks to... well, me. While the exact date of the proceeding show has largely been lost to history, several sources have placed it on the 25th of February, 1966. At the time, I was ...

Words By Andy DeVilbiss All Good Festival announced its line-up this week, and Furthur got a headlining slot. Meh. Lots of other good stuff on the bill, but Furthur's not my bag. At least they're not the Dark Star Orchestra. I don't like the Dark Star Orchestra. Some reasons are weather related. It seemed like DSO brought the rain out whenever they played a festival I was attending. It happened enough that we began calling them the Dark Cloud Orchestra. The rest of the reasons can be summed up quickly. They're a cover band. They have a great gimmick and talent, but they're still a cover band. I generally do not dig cover bands. It takes two midget KISS tribute acts feuding with each other to pique my interest. Yes, that actually happened, and, yes, I wish it had been violently and hilariously settled in the Wrestlemania ring. But a well done and unexpected cover song? Good gawd, king! It's like someone bust out a pygmy piledriver. It's a move that makes the ...

A Letter From The Editor This first year has been a wild ride indeed. When we started developing the initial concept of MusicMarauders it was nothing more than myself and our jazz columnist Zach Zeidner posting music links to a blog-style site. There was limited "commitment" to say the least. Here we are a year and a half later... Things have changed quite a bit. I'm not going to claim that we are professionals, but we've definitely got our shit together. We're extremely proud of all that we have accomplished in our first year. Regardless of the challenges, criticism and massive amount of work that goes into our publication, 2011 will see MusicMarauders elevated to a new level. It's been one year since we registered the domain MusicMarauders.com and in our first year we have gone national, providing coverage from coast to coast. We've covered countless festivals, shows, and have conducted more interviews and provided more creative/honest reviews than any o...

Words By Zach Zeidner Tell Your Friends It’s very rare you come across a band these days in the contemporary music scene that captures the sheer reminiscence of a yesteryear in music where everything seemingly was perfect. In other words, it’s not quite often you come across a band that so precisely taps into the avenues of the music of the sixties and seventies while at the same time maintaining the ability to remain innovative in a consistently evolving music scene. Snarky Puppy is a Brooklyn-based funk-rock instrumental fusion band that originates from Denton, Texas where the members met and formed the band at the University of North Texas. The band has about thirty interchanging members that depend on where in the country the band is touring at the time and who has what availability. The members include Michael League, Mark Lettieri, Bob Lanzetti, Justin Stanton, Shaun Martin, Bill Laurance, Chris McQueen, Robert "Sput" Searight, Nate Werth, Mike Maher, Jay Jennings, Chri...

Cosmic Charlie's Lexington, KY Words By Burk Fuqua Photos By Rex Thomson There is no better way to warm up on a cold February Friday night than to get out and catch some live music in a cozy downtown club. Lexington Kentucky's hippie haven, Cosmic Charlie's, was the place and Larry Keel and Natural Bridge were the headliners. Lexington's music scene was in full effect for the shortest month of the year. With great nationwide acts rolling through town back to back, it was almost like Central Kentucky was treated with a winter music festival to wet our appetite for the coming season. Taking the stage first was a local trio, cleverly named The Barry Mando Project. The group is comprised of an electric baritone mandolin, along with various bass and percussion instruments. Most of the tunes were original works by mandolin player Danny Williams, however they also play alternative arrangements of songs from a wide range of styles. They have a light and loose Jazz feel to many ...

A Throw-down in the “D” Words & Photos By Brandon Picard I’ll start with this thought: I was unaware of the intensity music lovers could bring to the table on a cold wintery night in Detroit. With this show on my schedule at least a week ahead of time, I had a chance to really sample some of Signal Path's music. With any artist (if I’m a first-timer) I ALWAYS have an open mind. I enjoy seeing bands for the first time. It allows for me to make judgments I never knew I had. Boombox on the other hand I have seen before, and have tended to dislike their shows. Anyhow, this particular evening I decided to take my wonderful girlfriend Katie along for the ride. Being fairly new to electronic music (having really only been to Rothbury), Katie was skeptical to say the least. Arriving around 9:30 (on a Sunday) the place was fairly desolate, as to be expected. The Magic Stick is basically a pool hall located next to the much larger “Majestic” venue. Having seen some extremely intimate sho...

Words By Stevie Tee Photos By Joe Quang I reached the historic Blind Pig at 9:30 as the show was already well under way. The transformed rock club was dimly lit with colored lights and all sorts of devices designed to capture stares. Soulflex’s resident lighting expert Scott Sutterfield provided the environment that set the perfect mood for this evening of beats and spaced out electronic textures. The entire back wall behind the stage was covered in psychedelic, geometric designs that were provided by Austo Design. Canvases flanked both sides of the stage for live painters Seymor and Mary Maz. Grassroots California, Deepblip Records and the respective artists all had merch tables set up in the crammed hallway just inside the front door of the club. Full show production has been a defining characteristic of Soulflex Entertainment, Cirque Du Womp, Deepblip Records and other related promoters. K@dog Grant “K@dog” Jackson has been making a big name for himself after more or less acting as...

Words by Greg Molitor ( ReMIND Photography ) Longevity is an oft overlooked element when measuring a band’s successes. Many acts have made their millions and slipped away into the dark. Whether they sell out, buy in, or whatever phrase it’s called to help with sleep, there’s no faulting musicians for trying to make money. It is a business, after all. The truly great artists throughout history, however, aren’t in the biz for maximum financial gain. There’s something more to their craft than the bottom line. They realize the importance of longevity, the ability to provide as much to the individuals that appreciate their art for as long as they possibly can. Blues Traveler is one of these artists. After its fourth album, Four, was released in 1994, the band broke through for huge commercial success. Blues Traveler reached its peak after seven years of relentless touring...the band had finally made it. Consequently, the height of success becomes a crossroads for any band. What do we do n...

Words By Zach Zeidner String Cheese Incident Live at Telluride Bluegrass Festival on June 20, 1996. Telluride Town Park is one of the most beautiful outdoor venues in the country. Surrounded by mountains in a secluded little town, this venue has always been a favorite of The String Cheese Incident. SCI and Telluride go together like peas in a pod. SCI has always loved playing in Telluride since their days playing in the One World Café, to their debut at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival in 1996. Telluride Bluegrass Festival has hosted String Cheese Incident numerous times, but their first appearance was June 20th, 1996. This set demonstrates String Cheese Incident at that vital moment when their music truly began to evolve. In 1995, SCI added Kyle Hollingsworth to keys and diverted from the tradition bluegrass sound they were going after. After realizing the increased recognition as a result of Kyle’s addition, everything began to happen for the band as their fan base increased throug...

Words By Andy Zimmer Grateful Dead Live at Miami Arena on October 26, 1989. I decided to pick this particular show this week as a counterpoint to anyone who thinks that, after the 60’s and early-70’s, the Dead could never really get into deep, psychedelic, far-out places with their old “jam standards” (Dark Star, Morning Dew, etc.) the October 26th show from Miami Arena was the tour closer from a very strong run in the Fall of ’89. Particularly, the second set really gets me going. Fans of “Blow Away” will really enjoy this exceptional version of Mydland-Dead. However, the “Dark Star”>”Space” segment is the crème de la crème for me. While it may be hard to top the 60’s “Dark Stars” in terms of how they broke open the mold of rock songs and allowed the Dead true freedom to bring in aspects of psychedelia, jazz, and anything else into the mix; the musicianship and jamming on this version are top-notch. The boys truly delve into dark, almost scary, alleys of the human psyche. If you...

Bands I’d Love to See at the All Good Music Festival Words By Andy Devilbiss The All Good Music Festival will announce its preliminary line-up and open ticket sales on February 22. This festival holds a special place in my heart, as it’s put on by the great Baltimore/DC-area company Walther Productions. I was at the first, and I’ve been at most since. Lately though, the line-ups of the past few years have not exactly inspired me to track my funky booty up to the Mountaintop, especially when I’m guaranteed several days of back pain from hauling camping gear. Sticking strictly to American bands, here’s five funk acts I’d love to see on the bill that would encourage me to make the trip to West Virginny. 1. Orgone You know I love me some Orgone. Give em a late-night set. They proved they could rock one at moe.down last fall. Orgone 9.4.10 - moe.down XI 2. Lubriphonic “The Gig Is On” is getting a lot of play round Casa DeVilbiss, AKA the Funk Shack, but I’ve never seen these guys. Ja...

Words, Photos & Videos By J-man Umphreys McGee Live at The Fillmore on February 11, 2011. Umphrey's Mcgee is one of the top bands on this scene of ours. That being said, folks were really looking forward to that Friday evening's show in Denver. We would be joined by Particle Saxophonist Pete Wall for the evening. We pre-gamed with a bottle of wine and made our way on foot the few blocks to the Fillmore Theater. We grabbed our credentials and made our way to the line that wrapped around the block. On the way to the back of the line, we passed an open door to the theater and could hear the Kyle Hollingsworth Band performing. The line would have taken us forty five minutes to get through, so we made our way to the front of the line. We explained our predicament to a kind security guard and he opened the gate and slid us thorough. Inside of the Fillmore people were getting excited. We hit a wall of sound upon entering and we were ready to get down. Carly and Pete grabbed drin...