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Grace Potter & The Nocturnals This Is Somewhere (Ragged Company/ Hollywood Records) marks the coming of age of the young, Vermont-based rock band.. To say that this album makes good on the band’s immense promise would be an understatement. While these assertions quite naturally invite skepticism, they respond: "just insert and press 'play'." The album manifests incredible growth in the writing and singing of 24-year-old phenomenon Grace Potter, who has clearly found her true voice in both respects, as well as the instrumental prowess of the band: Potter on the Hammond B3, guitarist Scott Tournet, bassist Bryan Dondero and drummer Matt Burr. On this remarkable record, they make a glorious racket indeed. learn more about Grace Potter & The Nocturnals Far from its initiation, when the Duo was conceptualized for economy, these days the band remains a twosome out of pure artistic desire. "Limiting yourself leads to new discovery,” says Benevento. As an example, he offers that the title track of their new album, Play Pause Stop, was an exercise in stringing chords together from one single note. The restriction resulted in an incredibly creative and entertaining powerhouse of a song. Much like the idea of the Duo itself. Russo began to program some of Benevento’s parts into his drum pads, and Benevento learned how to play foot bass. Time on the road, both on and off stage, has led to a group intuition and collective consciousness. Now that they know how to seamlessly complement each other and custom compose for the Duo, Russo remarks that their unique format has been far more liberating than limiting. "That’s my favorite thing about this," he says. "I don’t feel like there’s a melodic or a rhythmic leader — Marco can bang out these rhythms, and we can go back and forth melodically." Whereas the band once relied on improvisation as it worked through the mechanics of being two musicians emulating more, the band is now focused on its songwriting craft and composing concise rock instrumentals. learn more about Benevento/Russo Duo Chris' solo career took off when he recorded an album for Elektra Records released in 1992,the critically acclaimed Be Headed, which featured guest appearances by Richard Thompson, The Proclaimers, Toshi Reagon and Ween, among others. The relationship with Elektra ended shortly thereafter, and since then Chris has released 6 solo albums on his own label Soul Selects/Black Shepherd Records. All 5 members of Ween have been working and gigging with Chris since 1990, and it was through Chris that Ween ended up getting signed by Elektra in 1992. So, it makes perfect sense that for the first non-Ween release on Chocodog Records would be the new Chris Harford album Looking Out for Number 6. The record was recorded in New Hope, PA and was produced by Mickey Melchiondo (Dean Ween). A prolific songwriter and talented guitarist, Chris has developed a devoted fan base, becoming known for performing marathon concerts with a rotating stable of the region's finest musicians, including many of the aforementioned, the one constant being the name of his band, The Band of Changes. In keeping with that vibe, it is fitting that the only guests on this album (outside of Dean and Gene Ween) are two musicians who Chris met on the day the songs were recorded (and hasn't heard from since). The music is extremely moody and visual as Chris is also a gifted and successful painter. Chris has a massive and diverse back catalog of great songs; his concerts frequently run from 3 to 4 hours and are often performed with no setlist. learn more about Chris Harford
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