Photo: Rudy Lu

WAMC and WEXT have partnered with The Linda to promote and produce a Live and Local Concert Series to highlight the exceptional capital region musicians performing their original music around town. The Linda is an open venue space on Quail and Central in Albany. They support the dance community on Wednesday nights with a live band for their swing dance night. They also do a “Music at the Movies” night the first Tuesday of every month. The Linda is a great place to see jazz, local artists, and unique presentations and performances of all sorts. Check out their schedule to find wonderful entertainment opportunities you won’t want to miss. Live and Local at the Linda will be on the first of the month.

The first act to perform was New American Cuisine. They are a band comprised of Bryce North as the main frontman, guitarist, and singer. Ben Crandell also plays guitar and sings. Jordon Gyarmathy plays bass and does backup vocals, and Henry McCabe plays drums. Ben and Jordan weren’t present for tonight’s performance, but Henry and Bryce were more than enough to fill the venue with a remarkable sound and poetic lyrics. Bryce has a clear, clean, and pristine voice that lends itself perfectly for the original songs he sings. All of the members contribute to songwriting, but the majority of that contribution comes from Bryce and Ben. The New American Cuisine’s set consisted of a lot of subtle singer songwriter tunes, and also included a few upbeat boogie tunes. They have a great sound and profound lyrics. You can check out and support the New American Cuisine at their YouTube page, their Facebook page, their Instagram, and/or by checking out their Spotify. 

Barbie Barker was the next artist to perform. She is also a singer songwriter. Her uncomplicated style of guitar picking is accentuated by her powerful lyrics and creative voice. She’s a little punk and a little rock. She has this incredible way of bringing you in with a clean echoing vibrato and then hits you with a grungy distortion both with voice and on the guitar. The way she has the audience hanging on her every note, with the stillness of hearing a pin drop, was simply haunting. Her performance brought chills and goosebumps over your whole body. She has been embracing her solo career, but also played “Bulldog”, one of her songs from her band Candy Ambulance. “Lazy” was an upbeat, rocking song she played near the end of her set. It was nice to experience her range of emotions and style. Barbie really captures a mood and essence with her passionate growl tone vibrato. It’s like she pulls on ghosts and spirit guides as if in a shamanistic ceremony that is exercising your demons; it’s like she is ripping out all your asshole tendencies and throat punching them in the face! She is quite powerful and simply mesmerizing. She just finished recording a new album that she will be releasing in May. You should definitely keep an eye and ear out for her by following her Instagram and checking out her reels. You can also watch a video of one of her songs on YouTube.

The E-Block finished up the night. They are a 5-piece band consisting of Aaron Shields on drums, Daniel Folds on bass, James Soren on sax, Devin Tetlak on keys, and Luke Pascarella on guitar and vocals. Luke starts the show with a laid back honesty discussing their chaotic day, the anticipation of performing, the relief that this time has arrived, and thanking us for taking this journey with them. This kind of introduction to their performance showed how comfortable The E-Block is with their music, their audience, and themselves. There’s kind of a vulnerability to being that open, which is endearing. They start playing “Greener”. Soft melodies comes out the tenor sax as Luke gently sways his lyrics to Devin’s ambiance on keys. The room is filled with sweet melodies as people enjoy the subtle poetry leading to groovy rhythms. The song has great composition. Their next song is a powerfully funky tune with Luke belting out lyrics accented with some great high notes. He shows he’s got some serious chops. Even all the photographers were bobbing their heads to this one!

The E-Block proceeds through their set with the crowd dancing and enjoying their music. At one point, Luke asks that everyone come up closer to the stage and to gather around and not be shy. He says that we might even make a new friend. As the evening was coming to an end as this show was being recorded and was designated to end at a set time, Devin introduced their last song with an extended piano solo. The guys often like to give time for each other to explore their musicianship and play around with organizing sound. Devin starts playing this beautiful jazzy number while James and Luke chill on the front of the stage. After this melodic interlude, everyone joins in as they play “In Between”. We dance and sway and nod our heads to the beauty of this magical experience. And what do you know, I made a few new friends along the way!

To keep up to date with The E-Block, subscribe to their Youtube page, follow them on their Instagram, and their Facebook, and like and stream their music on their Spotify, and/or their Apple Music. You can also buy some merch at their store from their website.

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