STS9’s latest album, “Axe The Cable,” has one of the most relaxed feels of any album that I’ve ever listened to.
The album has a sort of soulful sound when you listen to it. It causes you to go back in time and think about all of the good things that happened to in your lifetime.
The smooth and urban-y dispatch of their new hit songs like “New Soma,” “The Following,” “Dem Be,” “Re Stereo,” and the other 16 songs on the album literally melted and brought my heart and soul back into the 1960s.
STS9 is making a lot of waves. The band has some very awesome vibes to it. I would classify them as “urban contemporary.” I share this feeling with my boss, Scott Frost. He also thinks the band has a soulful sound and smooth vibes, but also like the trance elements and explosive live show.
I would recommend this album to anyone who likes urban contemporary music with a smooth jazz feel.
Any way you put it, STS9 should stand for “Sounds Too Smooth Now.”
My pick of the album is Track 9, entitled “Lo Swaga”.
STS9 will be performing August 14 at the Festival Pier at Penn’s Landing in Philadelphia. For more information visit sts9.com.
Brian Fallon is an emotional guy. You can hear it in his lyrics. You can see it in his face when he's performing - like here, at the Great Plaza at Philadelphia's Penn's Landing. So On The Beat will play therapist and dissect facial expression by facial expression - for fun of course.
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart perform at The Siren Music Festival in Coney Island.
CONEY ISLAND, NY - New York's The Pains of Being Pure at Heart gushed while taking the stage at Coney Island's Siren Music Festival a few weeks back.
That's probably because their old pros of the annual Coney Island summer event that's been known to feature top flight indie acts before they go pro with the mega festival circuit. Old pros, however, baking in the sun as fans with the only sigh of relief from the heat being the shadow offering of The Cyclone roller coaster.
"Being at Siren Fest ... we think that's so rad," said singer Peggy Wang. "I was at the very first Siren. Saw Rainer Maria and Superchunk and Guided By Voices."
The Pains of Being Pure At Heart's self-titled debut has been on heavy rotation at the On The Beat offices since January - a little late, yes, but so thankful they fell into our lives. The music's sort of synth-pop Morrissey, but cheerful with a sugar base.
Ted Leo and The Pharmacists and Matt & Kim headlined. Missed Matt & Kim, but Ted Leo - who we hadn't seen live in years - was totally explosive. An awesome, energetic set to say the least. The highlight however, was a special appearance by The Screaming Females' Marissa Patemoster. The New Brunswick, NJ, set screamer leapt from behind the scenes with a fury of vocal massacres that pierced ears.
The Screaming Females set for earlier in the day was certainly a highlight. Veterans of the New Brunswick basement scene that produced the likes The Gaslight Anthem, Lifetime and Let Me Run, this might be they band that'll emerge from this year's Sirefest and were already featured in Spin and Rolling Stone and on MTV. Go Jersey!
Singer Brian Fallon of The Gaslight Anthem rocks out at The Great Plaza in Philadelphia on July 29. The New Brunswick diamonds in the rough headline The Stone Pony Summer Stage in Asbury Park Thursday night.
Garden State pride was loud and proud last week when the New Brunswick rockers stormed Philly’s Penn’s Landing Grant Plaza. Were the chants of “Jersey” deafening to be heard across the Delaware? Probably not. But singer Brian Fallon took notice. “It’s like screaming your old girls name at your new girls house,” Fallon said with a smile, a Hall & Oates record draped across the monitor behind him. “We have to be respectful. Plus, the Flyers almost brought it home last year.” Not bad for a band who went from attracting a paying crowd of 20 at Trenton’s Mill Hill Basement in 2006 to now drawing thousands of ink-scarred punk purists and mosh-rookie, meathead frat boys. “American Slang,” the punk band’s new disc, is a slice of shore-bred Americana chock filled with intoxication-induced love ballads that’ll have Bruce Springsteen and Kings Of Leon fans serenading their girlfriends and contemplating matching heart tattoos. That record, and 2008’s “’59 Sound,” will make up a majority of tonight’s set list at The Stone Pony Summer Stage (913 Ocean Ave., Asbury Park). Show starts at 6. Frank Turner and William Elliot Whitmore open. Tickets cost $25 in advance, $30 at the door. All-ages.
Danny Vapid, whose pop-punk resume includes prominent stops in Screeching Weasel and The Queers, brings his more-melodic-less-snooty new band to The Mill Hill Basement (300 S. Broad St., Trenton) tomorrow night. The three-chord energy has this Bad Religion appeal, while the quaint, playful harmonies pay homage to Jawbreaker, Squirtgun and “Kurplunk”-era Green Day – especially in the solemn heart-twister, “A Single Bullet.” Also for fans of The Replacement, Husker Du, “Feel The Pain”-era Dinosaur Jr. and fellow Chi-town indie punks Naked Raygun. Show starts at 10. Downbound City (Verd of 37 Slurp, Joe of Break Away), The Stark Blues and Band of Beards (ex Whiskey Flask Revenge!) round out the bill. Tickets cost $5. 21-plus.
The babe-built Brooklyn foursome’s low-fi art-punk rhythm collisions combine the dark and distorted musical turmoil of the San Francisco ’60s acid-rock scene with the fever-y poetic howl of a Karen O. For fans of “Fever To Tell”-style Yeah Yeah Yeahs, School of Seven Bells and The Breeders. The girls headline The All Call Inn (214 Weber Ave., Ewing) tomorrow night. Show starts at 9. The Timid Roosevelts, Steer and The Vast I Am play, too. Tickets cost $5. 21-plus.
The Jersey metalers’ Pantera-influenced thrash marches and Hatebreeding tough-core tantrums get the pit-tornado spinning out of control. As for fans of hardcore truth speakers Earth Crisis and Bane, Clive Barker’s mental imbalance and Rob Zombie flicks. The fearsome foursome headlines Championship Sports Bar and Grill (931 Chambers St., Trenton) tomorrow night. Show starts at 9. Mourning, Dark Sacrement, Ollipeist and Machina Infernace round out the bill. Tickets cost $8. 21-plus.
The pro-pot Undead-head and former guitarist for horror-punk icons, The Misfits, plays a solo set at The Record Collector (358 Farnsworth Ave., Bordentown) tomorrow night. Show starts at 7:30 p.m. Ani DiFranco’s bad-boy folkster friend, Hammell On Trial headlines. Tickets cost $12 in advance, $15 at the door. All-ages.
The rocksteady soul-searchers’ “We Can’t Wait” CD hit the streets last week, and On the Beat got saxman Johnny B to drop some knowledge about its musical makeup so that everyone knows what in store for tomorrow night’s live revue at McCormick’s Pub (266 Somerset St., New Brunswick). He said the songs are like “The Skatalites hav(ing) a drink with Memphis (Otis Redding) and NoLa (Lee Dorsey) Soul at the pub with Inspector 7 sitting in the corner waiting for another round.” Yeah, it’s that tight. And heavily jazz influenced, too, for long nights of beer sipping by the lake. Show starts at 10. Tickets cost $3. 21-plus.
Unlike former Up Records label mates Modest Mouse, Doug Martsche’s indie-rock fluttering and caustic lyrical tone never turned out a radio hit here on the East Coast. But that’s never stopped the trio from packing in mid-sized venues and open-air arenas to the seams the last decade, where they mix up favorites with odd covers of M.I.A., Steve Miller and “The Peanuts” theme. Matt Groening is one of the band’s many famous fans that seem to cross all musical planes. Psycho rhyme slayer Cage couldn’t even “get that sound (Martsche) make(s) out of (his) head” when straight-up ganking the jangler “I Would Hurt A Fly” in his head rattler “Ballad of Worms.” Built To Spill makes a local stop at The Stone Pony (913 Ocean Ave., Asbury Park) tomorrow night. Show starts at 7. Tickets cost $25 in advance, $30 at the door. All-ages.
The growls off the Wisconsin death metalers’ new disc, “What Horrors Await,” are reminiscent of “Chaos A.D.”-era Sepultura - where the Larynx isn’t wasted on that wussy emo soft-served fake-core. Also for fans of Obituary and The Black Dahlia Murder. The metal band headlines Championships Sports Bar and Grill (931 Chambers St., Trenton) Saturday afternoon. Show starts a 2. Woe Of Tyrants, Lightning Swords Of Death, Last [Red] Ember, Nightfire, March To Victory, VTT, Orion and The Difference play, too. Tickets cost $12 in advance, $14 at the door. All-ages.
The surf-tinged garage pop from these way-out New Yorkers will get your go-go-ing bum a twisting. For fans of The Monkees and The Cramps. The foursome play Record Collector (358 Farnsworth Ave., Bordentown) Saturday night. Show starts at 7:30 p.m. The Doughboys headlines. Tickets cost $10 in advance, $12 at the door. All-ages.
The local singer-songwriter plays the second day of The Rootstock Music Festival (36 Cpl. Luigi Marciante Jr. Blvd., Jackson) on Sunday. Show starts at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday. The two-stage assault includes sets from original, cover and tribute bands the likes of 15 Keys, Friends of Bill Wilson, Instant Karma, Black Dog, Danny Nova, Matt O’Ree, Yasgurs Farms, Dr. Cheeko, Black Reign and Blondsense. Tickets cost $12 in advance, $16 at the door. All-ages.
The Jammy winners - whose improvisations takes a page out of Iron Maiden and King Crimson’s song book more than Phish and The Grateful Dead – unleash their scientific progressions from The Stone Pony Summer Stage (913 Ocean Ave., Asbury Park) Saturday night. Show starts at 6:30. Tickets cost $27.50 in advance, $30 at the door. All-ages.
The angelic O.C. hard rockers – think a holy-rolling AFI getting paddled with the Ten Commandments by Gravity Kills and Bullet For My Valentine - headline The Wonder Bar (1213 Ocean Ave., Asbury Park) Sunday night. Show starts at 4:30. The Wedding opens. Tickets cost $10 in advance, $12 at the door. All-ages.
The Philly rockers feature an ex member of The Ruining and a peddle-to-the-metal punk stomp reminiscent of an angrier and country-trampled Smoke Or Fire or Off With Their Heads. They roll into Asbury Lanes (209 4th Ave., Asbury Lanes) Wednesday night. Show starts at 8. New Brunswick’s Let Me Run, Trenton’s Downbound City and Asbury’s Taylor Allen (Skull Motion) play, too. Tickets cost $7. All-ages.
Scott Frost’s On The Beat concert listing appears in The Trentonian and at www.trentonian.com every Thursday. If your band is playing around town, email the On the Beat web line at djscott111@aol.com.
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