Category: Music

Monsieur Job Releases New Album:
Musica para mi Madre
Record and Planned Theatrical Production Dedicated to the Positive Influence Bandleader Toby Halguin’s Mother – and Mother Earth – Have Had on His Musical and Spiritual Evolution

Cali, Colombia (July, 2021) — It was announced today that Monsieur Job has released their new album “Musica para mi Madre”. The inspiration for the record came from the long history of support, encouragement and wisdom imparted by the 82 year old Mother of founder and creative director of Monsieur Job, Toby Holguin. To hear him tell it, she has been a true guiding light for his life and career; his original appreciation of art and culture comes from her and other close family members, and this recording is a full throated tribute to that. The title is also one of dual meaning and purpose, as “Madre” could also mean “Madre Tierra”, or “Mother Earth”, and there is something growing under the surface – these songs are a lead into a theatrical circus presentation that is currently in production based on the sounds and themes of the music and storyline.

LISTEN: Musica para mi Madre on:

 Spotify | Apple Itunes | Deezer

WATCH THE VIDEOS FOR: 

IRONY | BACKSTABBERS

Influenced by artists like Miles Davis, Art Blakey, Bill Evans, Herbie Hancock, and many others in the jazz world, “Music para mi Madre” contains many choice cuts, some of which include the rollicking opener “Capri”, which calls to mind the reggaeton genre while also harkening to more traditional latin rhythms and melodies, the drum and bass meets jazzy horn vibe of “Backstabbers”, the darker, industrial inspired string arrangements of “Irony”, the reggae downtempo beat and wind instrument heavy “Soul Slurp”, the dramatic crescendo building dynamic “Rapsodia”, the old time sounds of dixieland made new in “Da Funk” and “Corre Caballito”, which was actually written by Toby’s mother when he was born, and now has been made into a truly moving ballad, completing the inherited musical circle of a mother and sons talent coming together.

Listen and you will find that these tunes are emotional, they are dynamic, with genre jumping melodies in funk, jazz, r&b and soul, mixed with sounds from the Middle East, Indian “Bollywood” music assisted by Bollywood Director Pritam, and Africa. “Musica para mi Madre” creates a movie in your head that keeps you interested in finding out what happens next. Toby Holguin and Monsieur Job want you to open your ears, get tangled in a dream, and lose yourself in the music!

Some of the best and most accomplished musicians from the region participated in the creation of this special project, including members of Monsieur Job, Leo Jaramillo (clarinet, gaita, saxophone), and Juan Moreno (guitar), plus fantastic performances by Carlos Zapata (trumpet and guitar), Edgardo Manuel (trombone and violin), David Guerra (guitar), Abstain Caviedes (trombone), Miguel Salazar (acordeón) and Camilo Mina (saxophone, xylophone, clarinet, percussion efx). Carlos and Edgardo tour with Groupo Niche as invited musicians. Musica para mi madre was written and produced by Toby Holguin for Basswalk Latino.

TRACK LIST:
• Capri
• Da Funk
• Backstabbers
• Dashat
• Eme Jota
• Irony
• Eduardo y Adelaida
• Madrid 87
• Piel Roja
• I Dream In Colors
• Rapsodia
• Thank You JESUS
• The Guiding Light
• Another Casualty
• Soul Slurp
• Collage
• The Light
• Kiss The Rain
• Uno Con el Mundo
• Varanasi
• Red
• Chinga Tu Madre
• Changes
• Spinner
• Corre Caballito

Straight from Cali, Colombia, a beautiful place high in the mountains above the clouds, Monsieur Job began as a solo project for band founder Toby Holguin, as he released the critically acclaimed album “Bass Pa$$i”. Looking to stimulate collaboration, Toby then decided to form a band with a musician he knew to be top notch, Leo Jaramillo from Bogota, Colombia. Both artists create their own style of music, and combined, Toby and Leo are Monsieur Job – a band that will truly rock your soul and make you move your feet.

An eclectic and versatile musician in the Latin genre, Toby had the idea to start doing Urban Music besides the Chill Out and Electronic Music he had been creating, which is the vision that created the album “Bass Pa$$i”. Then Toby and Leo started dropping broken beats with a more festive, shaky, groovy Caribbean Latin flavor, turning the tunes into an international mash up of world talents in a unique blend of genres. There is also an electronic division called “EME JOTA BEATBANG” which features Toby alongside super DJ Charlie Illera. Toby and Charlie consistently spin records for top venues around the world.

On their debut release together, “Chow Chow Eyyy Pow Pow”, the record hit the Euro Indie Music Chart at #1 for 9 consecutive weeks as well as progressive singles; “Kick it” Remix feat. Charly Black, “Pica Pica”, Niña Shake Your Body” feat. No Mercy & Vojke Djans and “Chilliando Hangueando” feat. Cholo, and “La Melancolic Happy” feat. Clindistino reaching the #1 position as well, the Digital Radio Tracker Top 10, and Top 200 for Best Albums, #2 for the Billboard Latin Rhythm Albums Chart, and the Billboard Top 10 Heatseekers Albums Chart for their album “Bass Pa$$i”. This album was recorded in Bogota and Miami at Basswalk Studios, and Barba Studios in Belgrade and mastered at Sterling Studios, New York. Zona de Dropeo was recorded in Basswalk Studios in Cali and Bogotá.

Moreover, the next few Monsieur Job studio albums; “Zona de Dropeo” and “Revisited 2020” were released in late summer 2019 and included 15 consecutive charted singles, 11 in the Billboard Top 10 singles and 4 in the Top 20 such as; “A Escondidas”, “Kick it”, “Boogie..báilalo brincao”, “Pica Pica”, “Bájate las Bragas”, “Busque Mal”, “Muero por ti”, “Vos Sos”, “Me Contagié”, “No Voy A Querer”, “Tanto Tiempo Sin Verte”, “Cucaracha”, Gato por Liebre”, “Gucci Celine”, and “La Clave”. They also peaked on the Top 10 Billboard Annual Artists of 2020 for Digital Latin Sales. As for 2021, they have maintained their efforts with six Billboard hits in the Latin Digital Sales list so far this year.

Monsieur Job is managed and promoted by Basswalk Latino, Cali. For booking and availability contact Diego Rodriguez or Stephen Wrench.

www.MonsieurJobOfficial.com

Facebook.com/MonsieurJob

Instagram: @MonsieurJobMusica

For More on Basswalk Latino, VISIT: www.Basswalk.com/bwla/about

New Offering Highlights Strong Songwriting and a Signature Sound 

(Huntington, NY) – Known for their infectious melodies and incredible live performances, Huntington based buzz band Gnarly Karma has just released their latest single, “Rags to Riches” to Spotify and all the major music services.

LISTEN TO RAGS TO RICHES ON SPOTIFY

Co written by Singer/Guitarist Michael Renert and Drummer Jarrod Beyer and recorded in California with Steve Pagano and Mario Borgatta (who have worked with many talented national acts over the years), “Rags to Riches” is the third song to be dropped from those fantastic studio sessions – after the rollicking “Brave” and the fan sing along favorite “Follow Me”.

Jarrod Beyer remarked – “The statements – I love seeing you guys live because of the energy you bring – and – I have you guys on my Spotify but you guys are so much better live – are things we hear all the time. So one day we all sat down and said – how can we make our studio stuff be as energetic and captivating as our live shows?? We have the talent, drive, and chemistry to do it, we just needed a little direction in the studio. We wanted to capture that same energy in the studio that we create when we play live.  I suggested to the band that we fly to California and record with Steve Pagano. We spent a week at the studio and put in hard work, and were happy with the results. You be the judge!”.

Recently featured on News 12 and 94.3 The Shark, GNARLY KARMA is an Alternative/Indie Rock Band from Long Island, New York. The group consists of five members; Mikey “Manicotti” Renert (Vocals, Guitar), Jarrod “J-Rock” Beyer (Drums), Ryan “McMagic” McAdam (Bass), Billy “Bad Bones” Hanley (Saxophone) and Adam “Sklarface” Sklar (Guitar).

Their music is most often associated with that of The Revivalists, Sublime, and Mumford & Sons, but their sound is not restricted by genre. Each member brings a wide and varied range of influences to the table, equating to the group’s unique style. The band’s eclectic blend of genres and spirited live performances has led to a feature in Newsday and a mention in The New York Times. Gnarly Karma has had the honor of playing Great South Bay Music Festival in 2017, 2018, & 2019 (supporting acts including Sublime with Rome, 311, Slightly Stoopid, The Wailers, Less Than Jake, and Dirty Heads), The Paramount multiple times (supporting Tim Reynolds of Dave Matthews Band, and Everlast), The Wellmont Theater (supporting Edgar Winter and Robbie Krieger of ‘The Doors’), SXSW, Alive After Five, Montauk Music Festival, My Father’s Place, and more! 2020 was a writing year amidst the pandemic with some amazing new music 

For More on Gnarly Karma, VISIT:

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Following the debut EP, “The Synaesthetic Picture Show Now Playing, Pt. 1”,  the second highly anticipated Elektragaaz EP is out June 8 on AIS Records via The Orchard

The release of “Pt. 2″ follows hard on the critical success of “Part 1”, the initial release in what is planned to be a series of ongoing gifts of fine musical madness from Elektragaaz. Reviewers for “Pt. 1.” have weighted in with such comments as “a whirlwind of sonic energy….joyous atmospheric harmony, “a towering lunge toward the heavens,” “spectacular….blows our mind,” “sharply written, gleaming….” and “fabulous….truly excellent.”

The group headed by the mysterious and reclusive young Frisian composer Poppo Redband, or Redband as  he is generally known, features a raft of the finest up and coming and most musically literate young talents in the New York metropolitan area, plus a fair sprinkling of seasoned old hands. The music is a cinematic mix of electronic music and instrumental music referencing genres as diverse as indietronica,  eletro-pop, funk, jazz, rock, dance, club, techno and classical music.  Much of the cinematic color of the music apparently comes from the unique vision of Redband who is said to actually see music as shapes and colors as well as hearing the music as he composes . 

In addition to musical references, the Elektragaaz sound references a broad swatch of popular cultural references including  film noir,  space operas, comic books and video games, a reflection of Redband’s intense interest in popular culture. 

The latest Elektrgaaz EP will be available on Apple Music, Amazon Music, Spotify and on every major music platform. 

Here’s a free preview of “The Synaesthetic Picture Show Now Playing, Pt. 2″ on Soundcloud. Or you can listen on Spotify.

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Scottish Punk Icons SKIDS Celebrate The Release Of Their New Album, Share Acoustic Performance Video Of “Rock On!”

Los Angeles, CA – The wait is finally over, friends! Veteran punk rock outfit Skids have just released their brand new studio album, a collection of electrifying cover tunes that pays tribute to the band’s hometown venue, the historic Kinema Ballroom in Dunfermline, Scotland. Songs From A Haunted Ballroom offers unique and superbly arranged new versions of tracks by some of the groups that inspired Skids, bands such as The Clash, The Adverts, Ultravox, Sex Pistols, and Magazine. They even turn in a couple supercharged versions of their own early hits “Into The Valley” and “The Saints Are Coming!” 

To celebrate the album’s release, the band shares a special acoustic performance video of David Essex classic “Rock On” that originally aired on the band’s April 24 live stream concert. Sure, Essex’s original version is better known for its laid back, too-cool-for-school vibe, but in the hands of vocalist Richard Jobson and guitarist Bruce Watson along with his son Jamie Watson, the song becomes a snarling, percussive anthem that showcases the decades’ worth of rock experience that has honed and shaped this band.

Watch the video: https://youtu.be/k2wxCV2CnBo

Songs From A Haunted Ballroom is now available on both CD in a deluxe 6-panel digipak and in a gatefold jacket with colored vinyl as well as on digital platforms everywhere!

Order the CD & vinyl: https://cleorecs.com/store/?s=skids+songs+from+haunted&post_type=product

Stream/download the digital: https://orcd.co/skids_songs_from_a_haunted_ballroom

Lush Lyrics and Brooding Bass Give Listeners an Aural Fix

(New York, NY) – Emerging Singer/Songwriter Robert Eberle is set to release his new single Novocaine to Spotify and all the major services today Friday April 30th, 2021.

LISTEN TO NOVOCAINE ON SPOTIFY

Produced by Donnie Klang, (The winner of MTV’s Making The Band and the producer who has worked with artists like Madison Beer and Sky Katz) Novocaine is Eberle’s second single release this year.

Featuring elements of Lofi-Pop, Alternative & Pop Rock to create a dark, but upbeat vibe, “Novocaine” is ultimately about a relationship falling to pieces. Picture this, you’ve just gotten out of a relationship that was very all over the place all the time. After the breakup, you can’t figure out whether you love or hate the person. You keep going through the memories that you made together and realized that person really just numbed your pain. 

For More Information on Robert Eberle, Go To:

www.RobertEberleMusic.com 

Instagram: @roberteberle1

Facebook: @roberteberlemusic 

Twitter: @EberleMusic

YouTube Channel

About Robert Eberle:

Robert Eberle is a young, versatile singer & songwriter. Robert writes all of his own music, lyrics and works with various producers to create unique moments within his songs. Each one of Eberle’s songs are stories and moments into his life and others around him.

Influences from an eclectic group of artists such as FINNEAS & Billie Eilish all the way to Madison Beer and Panic! At the Disco have helped to create Eberle’s genre bending darker-alternative to traditional Pop Rock.

Singer/Songwriter/Performer Enlists Heavy Hitters to Back Brilliant Project

(New York, NY) – Prolific New York based performing singer-songwriter Marshall Oakman is releasing his single At The Boiling Point (featuring legendary New York musicians Kasim Sultan on Bass, Liberty Devitto on Drums and Paul Pesco on Guitar) on Tuesday March 30th to Spotify and all the major music services.

PREVIEW AT THE BOILING POINT HERE

LISTEN ON SPOTIFY HERE

The song showcases vibrant, iconic pop/rock shimmers with Beatlesque harmonies, blending timeless themes, thoughtfully embraced and melded to magnetic melodies. Listeners will find themselves hitting repeat and play, over and over again.

At about six years of age, Marshall first fixed his eyes on a piano. Pressing down on the black and white shapes, he discovered a timbre and texture that revealed magical keys to open doors that never close. As time passed, songs were born, flowing with a life of their own. Over the years, Oakman has honed his craft, creating a vast catalogue spanning a lifetime.

Marshall has energetically driven his skills as a spirited performer in regions along and beyond the East Coast such as the New York metropolitan area, upstate New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia, Washington, D.C. and Chicago.  

His recorded songs include top musicians who have performed and/or recorded with Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel, Daryl Hall, Madonna, Hall & Oates, Steve Winwood, Jennifer Lopez, Bon Jovi, Celine Dion, Richie Sambora, Indigo Girls, Cheap Trick, Joan Jett, Blue Oyster Cult, Todd Rundgren, Patti Smith, Meat Loaf, The New Cars, Alicia Keys, Gary U.S. Bonds and Mitch Ryder. 

In line with the positive spark of his song, Nothing’s Holding Me Back, which is part of the soundtrack for the independently produced film,Townies, from Marshall’s album entitled 24/SEVEN, Marshall is hopeful his music will encourage and inspire fans to appreciate and enjoy the gift of life every day.

For More on Marshall Oakman, VISIT:

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March 23, 2021 (New York, NY) — Over the last quarter century, Long Island Singer/Songwriter Chris St. John has truly led a diverse and successful professional career in the field of law as a prosecutor, judge and practicing attorney. 

LISTEN TO I’M DREAMING ON SPOTIFY HERE

Now, his dream of lateral success in the music business is starting to become a reality, as his LP, I’m Dreaming, is now available on www.chrisstjohn.com, Soundcloud and all the major services. His instantly satisfying first single from the record “I Called You Rose”, hit Number #3 on the Euro Indie Music Charts and #8 on the World Indie Music Charts – with a second tune “I’d Send You My Heart” – hitting the airwaves now.

The album includes 13 original songs plus a cover of Peggy O’ and a musical score that connects two compositions.

The topics include the loss of love at a young age; the loss of his parents; the birth of his son John (now 18) and life with his wife of 27 years Elisabeth; a surprise DNA discovery; a serious illness where he was put in a medically induced coma, and a nurse sang him back to life; the loss of a young relative in a car accident and the subsequent climb out of depression; alcohol addiction and recovery; and a gift from his grandmother that he intends to return to her someday.

“My professional career is what I do. These songs are who I am. They are about my personal life. The songs have been written over about 30 years, with four new ones written in the last several months to finish up the album,” he added.

Chris also worked in the State Department, participating in the Reagan-Gorbachev Summit in 1987; and lived, studied, and taught in China later that year. He was also a Congressional Aide and is now a volunteer firefighter.

In 2015, he and his friend started a not-for-profit charity called HALO Missions, which provides medical care, clothing, food, farming equipment, and surgeries for AIDS orphans and the extreme poor throughout Africa, Central America, and the Caribbean. 

St John remarked, “The title of the LP is ‘I’m Dreaming’ because some of these songs were dreamed in my sleep and written down when I awoke. Others came from daydreams.  There are so many references to dreaming in the album. I guess I like to dream. People have told me I should write a book or make an album. This is both to me”.

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Linda Ronstadt, the acclaimed, multiple Grammy Award–winning singer and author of the 2013 best-selling memoir Simple Dreams, is writing a new book that has been acquired by Heyday, an independent, nonprofit publisher founded in Berkeley in 1974.

Feels Like Home: A Song for the Sonoran Borderlands— a collaboration with Lawrence Downes, a former editor and editorial writer for the New York Times, and Bill Steen, a noted author and photographer whose grandfather came from the same Arizona town as Ronstadt’s—is a love letter to Ronstadt’s Mexican American roots. It tells of her coming of age in the world between Tucson and the Rio Sonora region of northern Mexico, presented through stories, photographs, and recipes. It will also include watercolor illustrations by Linda’s father, the late Gilbert Ronstadt.

“There’s a Mexican story that isn’t often told,” said Ms. Ronstadt, “about the desert and the families who live there. It takes cooperation and ingenuity to survive and build a beautiful life in such a harsh environment. This is Arizona, where I was born, and Sonora, where my soul is anchored.”

“Heaven to me is a long ride with Linda and Bill from Tucson into Mexico and down along the Rio Sonora,” said Lawrence Downes. “There’s deep beauty and mystery in these borderlands, and those two know how to take you there. When you’re with them, you listen and learn, laugh and get hungry, and then you eat. If we could have done it, this book would have no words, just Linda’s voice, Bill’s photos, and plates of carne asada and frijoles and bottles of mescal bacanora.”

“Feels Like Home is an expression of my love and affection for the people, culture, landscape, and the traditional foods of Sonora,” said Bill Steen. “It’s a story that revolves around culinary traditions that are simultaneously simple and complex, that have evolved as creative yet practical responses to the harsh and arid landscapes of Sonora. The lack of pretense and conviviality present among friends at the Sonoran table, while sharing homemade flour tortillas, fresh regional cheese, chiltepin salsa made from wild chiles, dark sugar-roasted coffee, a shot or two of mescal bacanora, can render a glamorous feast totally unnecessary.”

Steve Wasserman, publisher of Heyday, commented: “We are delighted to welcome Linda and her team to Heyday. We look forward to publishing this exciting book in the fall of 2022. For me personally this project is a thrill and a privilege as I first met Linda when I helped play a role as midwife to the birth of her exquisite musical memoir, Simple Dreams, a decade ago. I’m honored that Heyday will be her home for her new book.”

Linda Ronstadt knows her roots. Long before she was a music legend, the iconic voice behind 100 million record sales across genres, bushels of Grammys, an induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and an honor from the Kennedy Center, she was Linda Maria Ronstadt from Tucson, the granddaughter of a Mexican immigrant, and a child of the Arizona-Mexico borderlands. 

In addition to her seminal work in rock, pop, folk, country, opera, and the American songbook, she has made blockbuster Spanish-language albums, starting with Canciones de Mi Padre, a collection of traditional Mexican songs that became the best-selling non-English-language album in American history. But beyond those beloved records and the early pages of her acclaimed musical memoir, Simple Dreams (2013), there is a deeper, richer vein of stories that Ronstadt has never before told in full. Feels Like Home is set in the world between Tucson and the Rio Sonora region of northern Mexico, in the land of her ancestors and her own free-range childhood in the 1950s and 1960s. It’s where vaqueros once herded cattle through cactus and mesquite. It’s where Linda learned to sing harmony and ride horses and cook wild doves, where she traveled with her father in search of the crumbling adobe home where her grandfather Federico was born in 1868. It’s where she sang hymns with nuns in a Benedictine convent, and joined her family’s lavish production (and consumption) of green-corn tamales and high-octane eggnog every Christmas. And it’s a troubled region where she has watched, with anger and sorrow, as shifting border politics have inflicted untold cruelty on immigrants and refugees.

Ignorance and fear have left America deeply estranged from its southern neighbor. Too few native-born voices has led to too little understanding. There is one picture that tends to dominate, of narcos and migrant caravans and desperation along a frightening and fortified border. Feels Like Home offers another perspective, one built on Ronstadt’s deep connection to a land lavish in natural beauty, old traditions, deep friendships, and delicious food. Feels Like Home will be a compelling confection of memoir, photo album, and cookbook that doubles as a traveler’s meditation on the singular beauty of a region and its people, one that will stand the test of time in your kitchen or on your nightstand or coffee table.  

LINDA RONSTADT, the great-granddaughter of Frederick Augustus Ronstadt and Margarita Redondo of Sonora, Mexico, is one of the world’s most acclaimed singers. Her six-decade career encompassed rock, folk, country, light opera, Mexican songs, and American standards. She has sold more than 100 million records, has won 12 Grammy Awards, and is in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice, directed by Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman, just won a Grammy for best musical film at the 63rd Grammy Awards on March 14, 2021. She lives in San Francisco.

GILBERT RONSTADT, husband of Ruth Mary and father of Linda, Peter, Suzy, and Mike Ronstadt, was a longtime business owner and civic leader in Tucson. He ran the family hardware store and led efforts to improve the downtown and to preserve Spanish missions on both sides of the border. Besides being a gifted singer who appeared on radio and in local clubs and theaters (and was once offered a spot in Paul Whiteman’s orchestra), he was a skilled watercolorist.

LAWRENCE DOWNES, a writer and editor in New York, is a longtime newspaper journalist who worked at the Chicago Sun-Times, Newsday, and most recently the New York Times, where he was an editor and an editorial writer. He covered New York and national politics and disability rights, among many other things. He wrote often about the border and the struggle for immigrant rights and dignity. His feature writing includes articles about traveling in the footsteps of inspiring figures like Linda Ronstadt, Ry Cooder, Ken Kesey, Flannery O’Connor, and Mark Twain. 

BILL STEEN is an author and photographer with deep family roots in Sonora and Banámichi. The latter part of his life has been a love affair with rural Sonoran culture, lore, and cooking, and with making friends in the region. He grew up in Tucson and lives with his wife, Athena, in southern Arizona, where they run the Canelo Project, which works to connect people, culture, and nature. Their book The Straw Bale House is a bible in the world of sustainable and renewable homebuilding.

Heyday is an independent, nonprofit publisher founded in 1974 in Berkeley, California. It is a diverse community of writers and readers, activists and thinkers. Heyday promotes civic engagement and social justice, celebrates nature’s beauty, supports California Indian cultural renewal, and explores the state’s rich history, culture, and influence. The publisher works to realize the California dream of equity and enfranchisement. Heyday’s books are distributed by Publishers Group West/Ingram.

Catch Up with the Fresh Faced High Spirited Youth

MusicIntroducing: Animated Young Actor Daniel Bintsanya! Curious and imaginative, the fun loving nine year old boy has always had the natural ability to make people laugh. “Home Alone” has been a Christmas tradition and it’s been said that sometimes Daniel is a lot like the rambunctious Kevin McAllister from the film! Recently, Daniel was cast in the HBO Michael Che (from SNL) Sketch project and is awaiting call backs from several big auditions. 

In the meantime, the versatile Daniel has been keeping himself busy with acting, vocal, dance and piano lessons with some of the best coaches around. Other activities include basketball, virtual arts and karate.