Last summer, we were fortunate enough to catch a couple of shows by *Cathedral Ceilings* as they put together a few weekenders to celebrate what seemed like the end of the pandemic that’s never going to end, and to support the two singles they’d released on Dromedary.
Continue reading Coming May 27: Cathedral Ceilings – “Summer of Misguided Dynamite”All posts by Al
Karyn Kuhl
Hoboken’s Karyn Kuhl has always evoked the hum of NYC right across the river, with all of its tension and light. Her new Dromedary Records single No Traces (produced by Charlie Nieland) is no exception, evoking post-punk with a touch of the ethereal. Karyn draws a scene of loss and transcendence, with her lush voice and icy synths glinting off the driving guitars and drums, all tough and glossy. The Tower (produced by Larry Heinemann) rounds out the two-sided single release, with moonlit swampy grace.
Karyn Kuhl first received national acclaim for her early bands Gut Bank and Sexpod, growing out of the vibrant Hoboken music scene and the legendary club Maxwell’s. Over the past 20 years, she has released nine LPs, EPs and singles under her own name and with her band. With her solo material, Karyn lets the unexpected and the familiar take shape into sculptures of melody and noise, sensual, ethereal and heavy. With her alluring mix of different rock styles, she continues to push the boundaries with No Traces‘ retro and modern sound, finding the enigmatic in the everyday.
These days, she performs both as a solo act and leading Karyn Kuhl & The Gang. In addition to her long-time rhythm section of drummer Jonpaul Pantozzi and bassist Lou Ciarlo, the band now includes guitarist/producer Charlie Nieland (Debbie Harry, Rufus Wainright). Karyn’s music has been used in several films & series and is available on all streaming platforms.
No Traces b/w The Tower will be available as a 7” single and digital download at dromedaryrecords.bandcamp.com
Discography
Overheard
Overheard’s offbeat brand of indie rock is both tender and frenetic. Weaving together elements of folk with rock and grunge, their dynamic and melodic songs shift between delicate moments and knotty catharsis. Originating in the Hudson Valley, Overheard now has members in both Kingston and Brooklyn.
After becoming friends at a dive bar in Kingston, NY, guitarists Erin Barth-Dwyer and Will LaPorte made a drunken vow to play music together. Unlike most promises of artistic link-ups made by 20-somethings, they committed. After adding Kenny Thomas on bass guitar, the group chose the name Overheard for reasons lost to time.
Having formed just before the COVID-19 pandemic, the band spent most of their first year together engaging in socially-distanced backyard practices. During this time, they honed Barth-Dwyer’s tender, folk-leaning songwriting and LaPorte’s tendency toward distortion and hard rock into original songs. Post-lockdown, the band went on to perform at many Hudson Valley staples, including Kingston’s Tubby’s, Catskill’s Avalon Lounge, and Woodstock’s Colony. After releasing their debut single ‘Doesn’t Matter’ in May of 2022, the trio was approached at a house show by Kenny Hauptman (Top Nachos, Larry Locust). Having heard the ghost of his future parts in their performance, Hauptman was an immediate fit, rounding out the group on drums.
Overheard has become known locally for their ‘soft-then-hard’ style. Barth-Dwyer brings intricately finger-picked guitar and a voice that ebbs between soft lullaby and emotional belt, delivering lyrics of being, memory, and home. LaPorte, providing backing and occasionally lead vocals, writes of childhood and what it leaves us, underscored by tastefully chaotic, overdriven guitar melodies. Thomas carries the group through its moments of peace and aggression with their lush and harmonious bass lines, while Hauptman is either a smooth resident of the pocket or a blonde blur behind the kit – all while providing backing vocals.
After a year of dialing in their sound, the band connected with Hauptman’s long-time friend, producer and local musician Dylan Nowik (Camp Saint Helene, Steady Sun). In January of 2024, they spent a week at Dylan’s Pine Knoll Studio in Palenville, NY. Over the course of seven long days, many fresh pots (of coffee), and several sandwiches, the band and Nowik crafted Overheard’s debut LP, the forthcoming indie rock diary, Intertwined.
New cover: “Plainsong”
The latest *Smallpox* cover to be added to The Covers Album is “Plainsong,” originally recorded by The Cure on their Disintigration LP.
Continue reading New cover: “Plainsong”
Sleepyhead
Sleepyhead was formed in a basement room at NYU’s Brittany dorm in the fall of 1989 by drummer/vocalist Rachael McNally, bassist Mike Galinsky and guitarist/vocalist Chris O’Rourke. They released their first 7″ single, the Kramer-produced “Play,” in 1991 on Picture Book Artifact Records. Four full-length albums followed, on three different independent record labels. Punk Rock City USA was released by Slumberland Records in 1993, followed by Starduster (Homestead 1994), Communist Love Songs (Homestead 1996), and The Brighter Shore (Sealed Fate 1999). They toured the United States and Europe throughout the nineties, sharing the stage with such legendary bands as Polvo, Half Japanese, Yo La Tengo, The Grifters, The Dambuilders, Nation of Ulysses, Helium, Royal Trux, Antietam, Luna, Versus, The Magnetic Fields, and Dungbeetle.
After a move to Boston and a few lineup changes, the band released Wild Sometimes on the esteemed Carrot Top Records label, which sadly closed up shop in 2016. Now, with a lineup including multi-instrumentalist Derek van Beever and bassist Ani Somasundaram, the band has found a new home with Dromedary, releasing the single “Hoping That You’re Lonely” b/w “Busted Lullaby” in advanced of a full-length coming in 2025.
Stuyvesant
JERSEY CRUNCH-POP
Our flagship band, STUYVESANT is the reincarnation of two New Jersey rock bands that were born in the early 90s. Footstone and Friends, Romans, Countrymen shared many a stage and a lust for the “have a good time, all the time” ethos.
Comprised of singer/guitarists Sean Adams and Ralph Malanga, guitarist Eric Greenberg, bassist Jeffrey Crowe and drummer Scotty Imp, the band are lovely, mild-mannered gents who bash away at their instruments like deranged dads. Over 13 years, the band has produced a bunch of records and 9 kids, along the way called “A zillion times over more smart and more sincere than the latest batch of ersatz flakes hogging the limelight” by The Big Takeover, with Spin magazine adding “even with the suburban mollification of the Vans Warped Tour, down-to-earth, old-school pop-punk is still spry and kicking.”
