Month: May 2023

RACHEL ANA DOBKEN

(bandleader, drums, guitar, vox, piano, producer) studied jazz at Bard College and describes herself as “My Morning Jacket-meets-Lake Street Dive.” The Asbury Park native has a knack for blending indie-rock and soul, and has been featured by BTRtoday (Understand, Always), Relix, The Deli Magazine, Substream, Guitar Girl Magazine, Atwood, New York Times, Asbury Park Press (Top 12 Songs of 2018 in NJ- “Everybody Wants”, RAD Factor), the Star Ledger (Top 31 Bands to See in 2019), Travel+Leisure, The Aquarian Weekly & more.

She plays regularly with her RAD Band, or solo.

Dobken’s LP, When It Happens To You, dropped Oct. 2018 and features Rachel Ana Dobken (producer, drums, vox, guitar, piano), Dan Haase (bass), Ryan MacLean (guitar), Andy Jackle (drums), with special guests Chris Dubrow (bass), Mark Masefield (B3), Joey Henderson (guitar, vox), Danny Clinch (harmonica) Ian Gray (trombone), Bruce Krywinski (trumpet), Denis Daley (bari sax). Recorded at Cedar Sounds in Oceanport, NJ.

Dobken worked closely with famed music photographer Danny Clinch (who photographed her album) at his Transparent Gallery in Asbury Park, where she is from. She has sat in with national acts Mike McCready, G. Love, Robert Randolph, Rayland Baxter, Brian Fallon of The Gaslight Anthem, Grahame Lesh, Nicole Atkins, Blind Melon, Tash Neal & many more.

Her highly anticipated upcoming LP, “Acceptance” features Dobken (drums, guitar, piano, vocals), her bandmates (Dan Haase- bass, Erik Rudic- guitar, Mark Masefield- keys) and a whole slew of special guests, including members of The Parlor Mob, The Front Bottoms and more TBA soon.

An utterly passionate and dynamic performer who gives his all in every instance. An artist through and through. Emotional. Funny. Self-Aware. Goofy.

Acclaimed Brooklyn artist Bird Streets has returned with Lagoon, an album about separation, rumination, regret, and recurrence. For his second album under the Bird Streets name, songwriter John Brodeur has widely expanded on the project’s collaborative foundation, enlisting production by Pat Sansone (Wilco), Michael Lockwood (Aimee Mann, Fiona Apple), Zach Jones (Sting), and Oscar Albis Rodriguez (A Great Big World), plus guest appearances from the likes of Aimee Mann, Ed Harcourt, John Davis (Superdrag), Jody Stephens (Big Star), and an array of top-shelf session players. With mixing split between Sansone and Grammy winner Michael Brauer (Coldplay, John Mayer), and mastering by Grammy nominee Pete Lyman (Brandi Carlile, Chris Stapleton), Lagoon is an enormous step forward sonically, while musically it’s a tour de force from an artist who has been hailed for his evocative storytelling and keen attention to craft.

Bird Streets was first conceived as Brodeur’s return to a band format after a long stint as a solo artist. The new point of view proved to be artistically freeing, moving Brodeur to officially adopt the moniker as his nom de guerre with the release of a self-titled 2018 LP on Omnivore Recordings. That album, produced by indie-pop hero Jason Falkner (Beck, St. Vincent, Daniel Johnston), was a refreshing blast of classic-yet-modern melodic rock that received accolades from PopMatters (“a rock solid power-pop gem”), The Deli (“timeless and honest”), and NPR Music, which named Bird Streets a Slingshot Artist alongside then-emerging talents like Phoebe Bridgers and The Beths. “Betting on the Sun” received nationwide airplay; the music video for “Direction” racked up thousands of views; tours with iconic indie rocker Juliana Hatfield and pop-folk artist Alana Davis followed, as did a groovy non-album single, “Come On.”

Slow Noche is the moniker of Chris Buccari, a New Hope based classical guitarist and composer, and his collaborator, percussionist Dave ___. Slow Noche weaves classical, island, jazz, and folk guitar styles into sublimely beautiful melodies and harmonies supported by percussive grooves.

Moon Sugar is an instrumental funk/jazz/jam project that fuses elements of Funk, Rock, and Jazz

Experimental – Psychedelic – Groove