Tag: review

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Concert Photography

JAWNY at Music Hall of Williamsburg

Performing at the Music Hall of Williamsburg on November 10th, JAWNY walked onto the stage with a cheeky smile as Taylor Swift’s “You Belong With Me” blasted. The song was one of the many mid-2000’s hits that the artist played before his set — all of which the crowd sang along to in unison.

As Swift’s song ended and JAWNY’s time began, he played the opening notes of “Take it Back” before abruptly stopping. A crew member had gotten his attention because an audience member felt unwell and needed a medic. The entire room instantly tensed up — just days before the show, the tragic events at the Astroworld festival had transpired, leaving the concert world in a state of shock and grief. Unlike artists at Astroworld, JAWNY instantly quieted the crowd, made sure the audience member was getting help, and even gave her one of his water bottles.

The crowd cheered as the artist threw a bit of shade,

“This is what we do when someone isn’t feeling good…we stop…the…show” he emphasized.

Despite being visibly shaken up after the incident and having rolled his ankle at the Oakland stop of the tour, the artist put on a stellar performance filled with energy. 

JAWNY interspersed humorous stories in between performing hits such as “Honeypie”, “4Tounce”, and “For Abby”. Known for his witty storytelling, the artist shared that he constantly runs over his set time because he rambles on for too long, and sassily remarked,

“I always go over time and get in trouble with the venue…so I’ll shut the fuck up and play.”

Ironically, the artist ended up performing a multi-song encore for the crowd, though we trust that he kept his word and didn’t go over time. 

JAWNY released his latest project, The Story of Hugo, in July of this year. Listen to the project here.

Article and photos by Ana Medvedeva.

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Concert Photography music festival Music News Reviews

Deep Tropics 2021

Nashville danced all weekend long during the Deep Tropics music, art, and style festival, paying no mind to the sweltering heat. It was a collective agreement that we were all grateful to be together, sharing love and sweating it out on the dance floor after a year where we were all so far apart.

Photos by Lauren Hayes.

One of the coolest parts about Deep Tropics was that it was set to be the greenest festival in the world. If you were there you noticed there were zero trash cans. That’s right! Everything was compostable or recyclable, including all the cutlery and even free ash try pouches. The commitment to being sustainable was refreshing to see, and it was incredible to see so many attendees who were passionate about the environment as well.

Whethan closing out Day 1.

The Friday lineup included Clozee and Whethan on the Meru main stage, and the amphitheater was packed for both of their sets.

Young Bae and Hourglass on Day 2 of Deep Tropics.

Hourglass kicked us off on Saturday. The crowd was slowly trickling in, but she had everyone up and dancing and ready for Day 2 in no time. Cassian and Young Bae followed on the main stage while people flaunted their outfits and much-needed fans.

Qemist and Daily Bread on the Congo Soundsystem stage.

And let’s not forget about the Congo Soundsystem stage! This stage was close to the heart of Tennessee. Memphis-native Qemist performed, as well as several hip-hop artists from Nashville such as A.B. Eastwood, $avvy, Brian Brown, and Tim Gent. The energy around this stage was always a vibe no matter who was playing!

As the night rolled around, more and more people streamed in. Bubbles filled the air, the VIP section was bouncing, and folks were captivated by the poi spinners around the park. Unfortunately, Moon Boots had to cancel on Saturday, whom I know many fans were looking forward to. But CharlestheFirst and Claude VonStroke kept the spirits alive, so any momentary sadness at that news was soon forgotten.

Deep Tropics was an incredible way to close out summer and celebrate the return of music festivals. Hopefully this helped pave the way to making all festivals sustainable, showing that we can do all of our favorite things while saving the planet, too. See you all next year!

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Music News Reviews

KiNG MALA introduces herself in GEMiNi

Areli Castro, better known as KiNG MALA, released her debut EP GEMiNi this month. After several singles were put out in the last two years, we finally have a collection from the alternative soul artist!

“I realized that as different as each song is, the whole EP is just 2 sides of the same coin playing out over and over again, 2 versions of the same character. So that is the reason I chose the name gemini, to represent the balance and chaos between two halves of the same thing,” says KiNG MALA. With that as an introduction to the EP, I was more than ready to dive in.

If I had to pick a favorite, it would be “If I Try to Find You,” which was released as a single earlier this year. The song weaves us through mellow verses with a simple beat but overlaid with haunting background vocals, and then erupts into a passion-filled chorus.

We get three songs on the EP that we haven’t heard before: “B4U,” “Give Me,” and “Funeral.” In all of the songs KiNG MALA shows us her badass, confident side, but then flips and shows us someone who wants to stay home or escape the life she’s living. And while both of those sides seem so different, she shows us that in life and in music, they are in balance.

Take a listen and let us know what you think of GEMiNi!

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Uncategorized

Miley Cyrus goes glam rock with “Plastic Hearts”

I’m a few days late to this review, but Miley Cyrus’s new album requires some time to sit with to take in the full effect. Plastic Hearts is one surprise after another: with a ballad taking the #3 slot, absolute icons joining for features, live covers, and a whopping 15 tracks. Buckle up, let’s go!

The first song, “WTF Do I Know,” kicks off the album with an anthemic start. Only a few seconds in I was begging that the rest of the album be exactly the same. Miley has already proven she can remake herself and jump between genres time and time again, but I was hoping one day she would bring more rock influence into her music. And she delivered.

Timeless is a word that comes to mind when listening to this LP, and I can surely see us jamming to some of these tracks for years to come. It’s a rare day when I suggest songs for my dad to listen to, but I know we will both be playing the air drums in the car to “Night Crawling” featuring Billy Idol.

The latter half of the album really slows down though, and that was initially a little disappointing to me. I still like the songs, but I wanted more rock ’n roll, more angst, more songs that feature Miley’s incredible vocals that you can hear in her live cover of The Cranberries’s “Zombie.” Am I the only one who was expecting something a little more exciting out of “Prisoner,” her song with Dua Lipa?

But guess what? Miley does what she wants, and her music is primarily for her. And I applaud that. And I will scream from the mountaintops in support of topics she covers: about sexist double standards, about how being LGBTQ+ is normal, and about being unapologetically herself and loving it.

You’ll find me later learning to play “High” on the guitar and being thankful that Miley was able to salvage the music that was lost in the fire that burned down her home in LA.

Categories
Music News Reviews

Shallou creates pure magic on debut album, Magical Thinking

Whether you’re social distancing at home or driving to your (essential) job, consider putting on a track or two from Shallou’s newest album, Magical Thinking. It contains thirty-eight minutes of pure emotional joy that deserves to be thoroughly listened to. The first few seconds of the intro track immediately brought me back to a past summer and pushed all worries I had from this difficult time out of the way. Nothing like a nice drive with ‘‘Forget’’ playing in the background to make you feel like the world is back to normal, even if it isn’t. 

The album surrounds the concept of memory loss, holding onto those intimate moments before they become out of reach. It shifts from the sadness of memory loss to represent the seasons with all of it’s changes and how that relates to people. The album holds an emotional aspect to it; maybe it’s from the introspective lyrics, or the spacious, light tone of the vocals, but it definitely left me with a heavy heart and a breath of fresh air. The production seems slightly opposite from emotional as it stems from joyous electronic pop but does a magnificent job keeping the allure of ‘‘whimsical sadness’’ that Shallou describes in his music. 

The album features collaborators; Ashe, Daya, Zachary Knowles, and many others, that makes it all even more worth listening to as each artist brings their own flair without compromising the overall message in each track. 

My favorite track would have to be, Older featuring Daya. It’s everything you need in a song from the combination of Daya’s vocals, Shallou’s production, and the top-notch songwriting putting it at my number one track on-repeat. The lyrics, ‘‘Maybe one day when I am older, I might understand why love doesn’t happen to everyone who wants it’’ is so beautifully written and performed, it is just the heart-breaking, ambient ear candy we were all looking for. Shallou has built a name for himself as one of music’s most organic artists who successfully gained over three million streams thus far. I cannot wait to hear more from Shallou and expect nothing less than something magical from him on the next release. 

LISTEN HERE