We had the pleasure of interviewing Riverside’s lead singer, Mariusz Duda, at the Crossroads Theater in New Brunswick, New Jersey on September 12, 2008. Check out the video to learn a brief history of Riverside, insight into their creative processes, what separates them from the pack, and if/when they plan to take over the world. I had to travel more than 8 hrs each way via public transportation from just outside Boston to meet Riverside… and let me tell you, the show alone was well worth the investment. Don’t pass up a chance to see these guys live next time they come around!

The venue itself was great. The show was sold-out with roughly only 400 seats, which is just about the perfect size in my opinion. There wasn’t a bad seat in the house, but of course Nirav and I were there early and situated ourselves right in the center of everything. Although the show was sold-out, we noticed the average age of audience was mid to late 40’s.  Not that there’s anything wrong with that, it’s just that this supports our notion that Riverside has not yet really hit their key demographic in the US. I can’t tell you how many times I heard the names Joe Satriani, Steve Morse, John Petrucci, etc. I guess my point is that there wasn’t much diversity in the audience. This is just because Riverside is relatively unknown to the US. We think this will change in the not so distant future.

Riverside is the best find I’ve come across since Nirav and I started this site. Riverside formed in 2001, but we only just found them May 4th, 2008. I know this date because I was so excited before even finishing my first listen of Rapid Eye Movement (2007) that I immediately wrote a post and published it that night. Over the past few months I’ve purchased all three full length albums and two EPs. Trust me, if you already have one album and liked it… you need them all. You won’t be disappointed. These guys are only just now breaking into the US, but they’ve made a mark over in Europe between collaborations with other well-to-do musicians and opening for Dream Theater on their European tour. I’ve also learned their artwork was created by the same artist (Travis Smith) who created Opeth’s album artwork. It’s my firm belief that Riverside is going to blow-up in the US over the next couple years, and I feel very privileged to catch their first show of their own in the US as well as meet them.

We want to thank Rob Palmen (Riverside’s manager) for working with Nirav to set-up this interview and for being so helpful and flexible. We’d also like to thank NJ Prog House for managing to book Riverside for their first non-feastival show in the US.

Related Posts: Riverside | Opeth | Indukti | Lunatic Soul

Riverside | MySpace | Wikipedia

What better way to celebrate our 100th post than with a video interview of Jazz artist/composer Avishai Cohen! It’s been three months since I first heard Gently Disturbed (2008) by The Avishai Cohen Trio. Not only have I purchased two more of Avishai’s albums, but I had the pleasure of seeing him live at his first of 8 performances at the Blue Note in NYC this past labor day weekend. To top it off, Nirav managed to secure some time to meet him between his sound check and performance.

Literally within three hours of my Avishai Cohen Trio post going live, we received an email from Avishai’s PR rep showing her appreciation for our post. This was the first anything like that happened to us at Obnoxious Listeners. It feels really good to get that sort of feedback. Well, we managed to keep in touch here and there. Since Nirav and I were planning to go see Avishai the Thursday before Labor Day, he figured why not try to set up an interview? I don’t know how Nirav does it, but I’ll just leave this sort of thing up to him from now on (we’ve got some more really great interviews coming in the near future thanks to him!). The interview went really smoothly and led into possibly one of the best times I’ve had in NYC. I’ll leave the details of the interview to the video itself. The show afterwards, however, was absolutely amazing. Seeing this trio live is a completely different experience than isolating yourself and cranking the album. Nirav and I listened to his albums enough to recognize his songs, but I think he and I were just as blown away as our two friends who hadn’t heard his music at all before. I think David’s man-crush on Avishai extends a little beyond mine, but I’ll let him tell you about that if you know him.

In any case, the studio recordings I have are much more structured than the show which maintains just enough structure to keep the song intact. And just when you felt like all hell had broken loose, they eloquently slap an incredible resolve right across your face. You didn’t even see it coming and it’s over before you know what happened. I wish we had the chance to see at least one more of his shows because I’m sure each one is very different. Lucky for me, Avishai is making his way over to Boston by the end of this month. I guess I’ll find out then.

I really just want to thank Avishai for taking the time to sit down and have a conversation with us, and his PR rep Cary making it possible. I’m pretty sure Avishai really wanted a nap since he had just flown in from Israel maybe 48 hrs before our interview, but he seemed happy to have a conversation despite his jet lag. It was great meeting him and I hope you enjoy the interview as much as we did.

Related Posts: Avishai Cohen Trio

Avishai Cohen Music | MySpace | Wikipedia

2 Russell Simmons Def Poetry Jam appearances, 2 Time SF Bay Poetry Slam champion, and a National Poetry Slam championship all under his belt before the age of 22. And he released an album entitled Dual Consciousness which sold out all its hard copies. Though those are all impressive feats, they seem to fade away when he steps on stage and commences his act. There’s so much more to him than his accomplishments. 

• Dahlak has eloquence down. He speaks from the heart and never misses a line. His soul is always on the table for people to see.
• He has presence on stage. When he pauses, not a single sound can be heard in a theater surpassing 600 people. He commands the audience.
• He’s incredibly charismatic. Smiles, talks with the audience, and very approachable. Niceness is appreciated by us here at Obnoxious Listeners!
• Surprisingly modest. With all his accomplishments, you think he would have atleast a little bit of a big head. No chance.
• And to top it, he’s an artist with a purpose. He knows what he wants and his words speak larger than his actions. I’m glad he has momentum on his side!

I got the distinct pleasure to hang out with Dahlak a year ago after a show we put together for 650 youth that came from all around the nation. And thats when I learned (which many may miss) the vast knowledge he possesses in his mind and the spirituality that leads his life. What do I mean?

Right after a long performance night (up till past 5am), I get a call from Dahlak around 10am and he says to me, “Hey Nirav, you told me yesterday about some speeches and spiritual mentors around. I gotta be back in NYC for my flight later on, but would you mind if I stopped by for a minute?”. Of course, I dropped everything I was doing and took him to a watch a few of the speakers. I’ll talk and support anyone down to learn more about life and the truth.

But it wasn’t just that which convinced me of his intelligence. In the car, he was reading Waiting for Godot. He spoke about his visits to D.C. and the east coast with his theater group (ya, he acts too). He shared how he would be taking a one month break to bring some stillness back into his life as the performances shift the overall balance in his life. Simple things that you would not hear other rappers and other performers talking about. I did catch him texting like 45 girls, but I’ll keep the names out of this post!

But its these things that define a quality artist. I know that he’ll be huge one day, as he’s already big. And I know with him, that his message of peace and life will pass on beyond simply his life. Good artists become popular. Great artists get remembered and their message lives on through others.

Keep spreading that message Dahlak as we hope to see you performing around here soon ….

Related Posts: Commencement | Dual Consciousness

Official Website | mySpace Page | Youtube Videos of Performances | Crew - iLL-Literacy

George Watsky is another one of my heroes. He’s smart, articulate, artistic, and has a real unique way of entertaining - poetry. I saw him for the first time on HBO’s Def Poetry Jam and I couldn’t stop laughing from his segment. Even Mos Def came out of the background laughing before he introduced the next act. Though I had always liked def poetry, I never saw it done the way George did it nor had I seen topics addressed that George covered. It was amazing and I became a fan instantly.

If this is the first time you’ve ever heard of George, check out the following video clips to get a quick intro:

George Watsky on HBO’s Def Poetry Jam
George Watsky Performs at YouthSpeaks
George Watsky at Blah Blah Blah

What I find really interesting about George is the way he’s created a music career around his art and his skill sets. He’s not limited to just poetry and he doesn’t claim to be. He’s an artist with lots of skills and has been smart enough to diversify his time + performance forms to get paid. And all done without selling out or compromising his ideals.

The interview that we did with George focuses specifically on George’s relationship with his career and the business front. We really dived into how he’s done it, what to look out for if you’re an artist, and how its helped him with his personal goals and vision. I mention a few things in the interview that I wanted to quickly reference:

George’s Keynote Performance at a Green Building Conference alongside Bill Clinton
Michael Cera vs. George Watsky
George’s Official Status: Beefing with Michael Cera

I think all the things stated above and the interview itself show that George is one smart artist and obnoxious emcee. He knows the business end and stays present to it at all times. I think that is what’s lacking in other good artists. They think they can just focus on creativity and have someone else look out for the business details, or they think its all business and lack on the creativity front. The balance is what matters and that’s what makes George one of the best artists in the game. I’m making a prediction (not jinxing it) that he’s gonna become real famous soon! Just a feeling ….

George Watsky Music | MySpace | Facebook

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Download audio file (Pilots-Wish-Interview-7-2-08.mp3)

Our goal at Obnoxious Listeners was simply to provide an easy way for its authors to easily keep each other up to date with new music. We had hoped that our readers would share our passion and tastes. The website launched this hope somewhere we hadn’t anticipated… good music is now finding us! When I wrote my post on the long time disbanded Shun, I was just hoping to get their name out there and let people know what they were missing. First of all, I didn’t realize a few of the members from Shun had formed a new band. At best, I’d expect a reader to pass on the information about what the Shun guys are up to. To my surprise, that reader/commenter turned out to actually be a part of their new project! Check out the post on Shun and read on to the comments to find out what they had to say. This post, however, is dedicated to their new project, Pilot’s Wish. Additionally, all six members of PIlot’s Wish participated in our first interview at Obnoxious Listeners.

Unique, soothing, intricate… magnificent. This EP is a must have. I’d also like to add that it’s not yet been six hours since I downloaded this EP, and I’m already inspired and excited to spread the news. Over the past year, I’ve spent a lot of time writing and composing songs in their entirety. I’ve realized it’s far easier to lay down basic tracks with a technically articulate guitar part, for example, than to bring together several subtle and well crafted parts into one piece as a whole.

There isn’t any one aspect of the music that sticks out, and I mean that as a compliment. The music as a whole grabbed my attention. Usually new bands have one particular aspect that jumps out to me, e.g. guitar work or percussion. Everything about this EP fits and flows very smoothly. I guess if you want to get technical, their composition/arrangement sticks out to me… but that requires cooperation from the band as a whole. Although, I would like to say that vocals are always very important to me as they can more easily make or break a band than any of the other instruments. The singer for Pilot’s Wish sings with the music, not just over it. He’s got a beautiful voice with some well used head-voice and falsetto. I’ve always found those two mechanisms to be the most difficult to pull off without distracting from the rest of the music. But in his case, it only adds to the music as they’re wonderfully executed. Kudos to you Christian. Billy White is a hard act to follow, but you pulled it off. You’ll hear no disappointment from me.

A common trap in rock compositions is to write everything around one particular instrument, e.g. guitar or piano, and then fill in the gaps with the other available instruments. But I find that quality music doesn’t give that impression and Pilot’s Wish certainly doesn’t give me that impression. I love that nearly everyone is doing something different, yet every part stays in sync and never really takes the spotlight… at least not for very long. My one and only complaint is that this isn’t long enough, but then again, it is an EP and I have been assured they’re working on another release. This band is off to a great start, and I’d love to hear how they’ll develop over the years to come.

If by chance you’re around the Nashville area September 27th, be sure to check them out on stage at Rock the Vote!

Pilots Wish on Firepit Friday from Firepit Friday Media Group on Vimeo.

Related Post: Seer