By:  Alex Templar - MSTv Correspondent

It's not often when you go out just to sample a little something new musically, and have yourself blown away from the experience.  And like many coincidences, the discovery was made purely by accident.

This week I found myself with no specific band to cover for the column.  So wandering downtown Baton Rouge, with a list of all the bands playing the usual haunts, I ended up at The Spanish Moon to check out a band I never heard of called Body Language.

Simply put, to say I was blown away by the experience would be an understatement.  This high energy, mufti-genre music sounding group was a welcome change to the very generic and eclectic music Spanish Moon is known for  

The beats heard from the Body Language sets were a extreme mixture of all gone before, plus styles probably evolving to come.

However, making a statement like that begs for defense.  But being an 80's baby, I'm old enough to recognize their blended styles of electronic, new jack swing, experimental pop, early 90's soul and even, God help em, disco. (ugh..) Yet despite all these different genres, the foursome called Body Language blend them expertly and manage to belt out some great fun and danceable tunes.

From first glance, this Brooklyn, NY based band of old college friends are as diverse as the music the play.

Angela Bess is the lead singer, keyboardist and strangely enough, plays the glockenspiel.  Grant Wheeler plays keyboards as well.  Matt Young is yet another keyboardist, but also multi-tasked as a vocalist.  And rounding out the group is drummer and vocalist Ian Chang.

While the group doesn't describe themselves as a dance-music band, Bass discovered their knack for movable beats might be their niche.  Plus, it hit a nerve with the other members as well. 

"When we were playing live shows and playing a lot of our dance hits, we realized that writing dance music really speaks to us. So we definitely had to pick a side, and that’s what we chose,” she said.

But first and foremost, Body Language is a group of mufti-discipline artists who love being just a little different in the music styles they blend to define their band.  Accepting this makes it easier to take risks and explore the outer limits of musical areas they want to traverse. Be it dark and somber or bouncy dance beats, Body Language intents to tackle whatever piques their varied music interests.  Then, deliver their creations to a rabid and growing fan base.

Unlike most bands, Body Language excels in delivering a great and energetic live show; something the band strives to do based on past disappointing shows they've seen from other groups.

“When you love a group's music enough to pay money to see them live, you want a show. Well, that’s something we hit the stage to do,” Bess said.

Feeling that fans deserve only the best when they pay to see their favorite bands live, Body Language promises a regular set to thrill, chill and wear you out on the dance floor. 

From the applause the foursome received after each song, they didn't disappoint their fans.  Or a BL virgin, like me.

Discover more ab at http://www.bodylanguagemusic.com/.

By:  Alex Templar - MSTv Correspondent

Earl Scioneaux lives a duo life.  By day,  he's a recording engineer for Preservation Hall in New Orleans and works with a trad-jazz ensemble. Sounds of classic New Orleans pervade his everyday life and creative reach.

However, when the call of modern music fusion reaches his senses, Scioneaux becomes techno/electro artist and producer,  Madd Wikkid - the maestro of Matrix styled music!


Though hardly a superhero of his craft, Scioneaux has combined the classic music genre of New Orleans with the fast and furious sounds of today's electronic sounds, for quite some time. 

Culminating into his 2010 album “Electronola,” the brilliant hybrid was littered with local talent, well-reviewed and actually sounded quite cool.

Brassft Punk, a relatively new creation of Scioneaux, was designed to invigorating vintage sounds with contemporary technology.

Inspired by the legendary house/trance duo, Daft Punk, Scioneaux creates music using brass instrumentation, but digitized and synthesized to a sound not produced by any instrument invented after the middle part of the nineteenth century.

Scheduled to perform at the March 8th,  Buku Music & Arts Project on Friday, March 8. Its Bassft Punk's second major foray into a more live audience appeal.  The first was a live performance, last December at Preservation Hall.

In speaking about the evolution of his "identity," Scioneaux states, “Electronola was a project that brought the sounds of N.O. musicians into the realm of electronica. Brassft Punk is a project that brings electronic music into the realm of N.O. musicians.”

Reproduced from: NOLA.com

This weekend, Soul Fest brings two days of music from local jazz, R&B and gospel performers to Audubon Park and to the Zoo. The fest also offers soul food, plus a children's culture tent and wellness info.

Want to go?  Of course you do!  With a line-up to get your heart racing and great food to water the mouth, Soulfest intends to entertain and inspire.

So, make your weekend plans set for the soul!

By:  Alex Templar - MSTv Correspondent
18/02/2013

His former royal highness of all-things purple, Prince, has unveiled a new track titled 'Boyfriend.'  But, since he's charging his fans $0.88 to listen to it, you might not have heard it.  At least, not yet.

The singer/pop icon has been posting new music on his personal 3rdeyegirl website since last year.

The new release of "Boyfriend" follows on the footsteps of his single "Screwdriver," which was released on February 11.  Plus, another song titled 'Breakfast Can Wait' also came out earlier this month.

The website Twitter account linked a teaser video introducing three musicians before showing the cryptic message ' Live Out Loud, Coming In February, 2013'.

Last week, in his typical fashion, Prince upset his fans by charging them to see the new video for 'Screwdriver'.  But, this isn't that unusual for the eccentric performer.  

Prince is well know for having a fair portion of all his music and videos, removed from video hosting sites like Youtube and Vevo.  With a reasoning that he considered viewing of his artistic works, being readily available, on these sites as a form of piracy, Prince, has turned to charging fans to view most of his new content.

Though some musicians charge to download their songs and music videos, Prince is unique in that pay-per-download is the only way to see the 'Screwdriver' video or hear the song. 

Speculation based on the release of some new music, plus acknowledgement that he is auditioning a new drummer has sparked rumors that he's working out details for a new tour this year. 

With his last tour being the "Welcome 2," running from 2010 and throughout 2011, a new tour for 2013 would be welcome.  However, so far no dates or plans have been scheduled.

Meanwhile, Prince made a surprise appearance at this year's Grammy Awards on Sunday (February 10), appearing to hand the award for Record of the Year to Gotye.

Reprinted from: Keith Spera, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune

Stephen Rehage has allegedly sold the festival he launched in City Park back in 1999. The festival, formally known as the Voodoo Music + Arts Experience, was reportedly purchased by media mogul Robert F. X. Sillerman’s reborn SFX Entertainment.

Reached Thursday afternoon, Rehage declined to comment on any aspect of the Billboard article. He would neither confirm nor deny that Voodoo has been, or will be, sold.

Sillerman remade the American concert industry by buying up independent, regional concert promoters and consolidating them under his SFX Entertainment umbrella. In 2000, he sold SFX to Clear Channel Communications for a reported $4.4 billion; Clear Channel’s concert division morphed in Live Nation, which merged with Ticketmaster in 2010 to form Live Nation Entertainment.

According to various media reports, Sillerman is pursuing a similar strategy as he did in the 1990s, but focusing on electronic dance music, or EDM. The New York Times reported last summer that his first acquisition was the Louisiana-based Disco Donnie Presents, founded by Donnie Estopinal. Estopinal cut his teeth promoting raves at the State Palace Theater and other New Orleans venues in the 1990s, and has gone on to promote EDM events throughout the country.

With Voodoo, Sillerman would add a second Louisiana property to his portfolio. The Voodoo Fest, which featured Metallica, Neil Young & Crazy Horse, and Jack White as its 2012 headliners, also includes an EDM stage. Skrillex, among the country’s most popular EDM deejays, appeared at the 2012 Voodoo.

Speaking of his recent acquisitions, Sillerman told Billboard, "They're not specifically EDM, but they're great festivals. Voodoo has been operated on as a sole practitioner on relatively small level, and we think it has upside not just in New Orleans but elsewhere. It's a fabulous name, amongst other things, so we think we'll be able to help Steve [Rehage], the owner and operator, take that to other markets."

Sillerman told the New York Times that his intention was to continue to allow the founders of the festivals he acquires to run those events as they see fit.

Rehage, a New Orleans native and special events producer, launched Voodoo in 1999. The festival has been staged at various locations inside the park every fall except 2005 when, two months after Hurricane Katrina devastated City Park, a scaled-down Voodoo was moved to Riverview Park between the Mississippi River and the Audubon Zoo.

The 2013 Voodoo, scheduled for Nov. 1-3, is slated to be the first in City Park’s newly completed permanent festival grounds on the park’s eastern side just south of Interstate 610. No artists for 2013 have been revealed yet, but the deadline for purchasing early-bird ticket packages is Thursday, Feb. 14. Tickets are available through the festival's web site.

Reprinted partially from:
By: John Wirt - Music writer: The Advocate

The vast number of musical activities in New Orleans revolving around the Super Bowl this weekend includes the CMT Crossroads concert by Journey and Rascal Flatts.

Journey, the classic rock band responsible for such enduring anthems as “Don’t Stop Believin’,” “Anyway You Want It” and “Open Arms,” and Rascal Flatts, the big-selling country trio that’s obviously been influenced by classic rock, join forces Saturday, Feb. 2, at the Sugar Mill.

CMT’s Crossroads series specializes in pairing country acts with rock, pop and rhythm-and-blues acts. Collaborations have included Carrie Underwood and Steven Tyler, Bon Jovi and Sugarland, and Def Leppard with Taylor Swift.

Journey and Rascal Flatts previously appeared together at the 2012 CMT Awards. The two groups closed the show with a joint rendition of “Don’t Stop Believin’.”

“That was unusual for a rock band,” Journey charter member and bassist Ross Valory said last week. “But it was just a great experience and well received. We made some good friends with the boys in Rascal Flatts.”

Besides their Crossroads show with Rascal Flatts, being in New Orleans during Super Bowl weekend, in the midst of Carnival season, makes Journey’s visit all the more exciting, Valory said.

As long ago as 1978, the year Journey released “Lights,” its first hit featuring singer Steve Perry, the group believed its music could cross over into country. The band’s manager, Walter “Herbie” Herbert, even approached the powers-that-were in country music with the idea.

Journey was ahead of its time, at least in country music. But in the decades since, country music has gone electric, rock, pop, even hip-hop. 

“Ten years later, or less, country music had absorbed all styles,” Valory said. “When was the last time you didn’t hear an electric guitar solo in a country song?”

In the pop world, Journey went on to record a run of powerhouse hits, including “Lovin’, Touchin’, Squeezin’,” “Who’s Crying Now” and “Any Way You Want It.”

Journey’s hits of the 1970s and ’80s remained popular through succeeding decades. The inclusion of “Don’t Stop Believin’ ” in HBO’s The Sopranos’ 2007 finale and a 2009 episode of FOX’s music-filled Glee brought the song even more attention.

“That’s the blessing, that the music is still popular,” Valory said. “It’s become part of everyone’s lives. ‘Don’t Stop Believin’ ’ is an anthem for graduations, weddings, professional sports teams. You hear it everywhere, because it’s got a simple, universal message that is applicable to so many different things.”

“But Arnel not only makes that music his own, he brings the Journey signature to songs that we’ve recorded more recently with him. But for the bulk of our set, we give the audience what we call the dirty dozen: At least a dozen hit songs that we know they want to hear us play.”

On a side note, Valory used his Super Bowl week in New Orleans to promote his animated shirt line, Mouthman. He and other members of Journey, NFL stars and more sports celebrities gathered on Jan. 31 at Razzoo Bar & Patio on Bourbon Street for the Mouthman launch party.

Printed with animal images, such as a shark, raptor, frog and T-Rex, the shirts appear to be moving creatures when the wearers move their arms and elbows.

The Super Bowl is the largest sports event in the nation with all eyes fixed on the game come Sunday. But New Orleans is making the time leading up to the main even well worth it with a four-day festival of live music and food at Woldenberg Park on the Mississippi River.

The irresistible, Jazzfest-worthy lineup gives visitors another reason to stay and enjoy the city, Mardi Gras being a given, and fall in love with N.O and locals another reason to be glad we live here.

By: Alex Templar - MSTv Correspondent

We thought it was too good to be true.  But, isn't it always the way? You get someone all hyped up on a possibility, then "bam," Destiny's Child ain't reuniting during the Superbowl half-time show!  Damn, damn, damn!!!

Ok, our "Florida Evans" moment is over, but it still doesn't make us as fans feel any better.  However, even though the ladies aren't kicking off the reunion tour during halftime, their hot new single "Nuclear" is still out there; with a new album soon to follow.

I'm sure all the numerous fans were hoping; like we were, that Beyonce, Kelly and Michelle had put their differences behind themselves and had eyes on a brighter future. All the possibilities hinged on the basis' of Beyoncé's posted Instagrams promoting her halftime concert.  But, it looked really bleak when Michelle Williams shot down all the reunion rumors by saying the reports just were "not true."

The entire fever began last week when several reports rose aligating  Michelle and Kelly would hit the stage with Beyoncé for Feb 3rd's Superbowl halftime show.  The rumor was that this was the trio's first step towards a very public reunion where they were poised to perform a medley of their greatest hits.  To this, Williams continues to deny this being the case.

"I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry," she said. "But we did record a song with each other before the holidays."  That single, "Nuclear," is their 1st new recording together in eight years and off their new album Love Songs. 

But even though Michelle Williams has flat our denied the reunion gossip, Kelly Rowland took a slightly different take on the matter when asked about it by the media.

"I love the Super Bowl," she stated, "but I love my sister [Beyoncé] more, so of course I'll be watching."

Well, with all this confusing news now in the light, are you guys as bummed as we are?  I mean, Beyonce' is cool (I'm a Kelly fan myself) but are you disappointed Destiny's Child won't be sharing the stage?  Or better yet, do you even care?

Reprinted from: John Wirt - Music writer for The Advocate
January 24, 2013

Keller Williams calls his solo act his day job. By means of his Gibson Echoplex Digital Pro looping units, he transforms himself and his instruments into a one-man band in real time.

Williams also moonlights with bluegrass band the Travelin’ McCourys; members of the Grateful Dead; his reggae-funk band, Kdubalicious, and his recently launched soul-funk project, More Than a Little.

Like so many others, Williams started his career as a singer-guitarist on a bar stool performing other people’s songs.

“The idea from the beginning, since I was a kid, was to be in bands, share that camaraderie and make music with humans,” the traveling Williams said from Little Rock, Ark.

But Williams, for many years, could not afford to pay humans to be his band. Even so, he rejected the option of working with an invisible band by means of pre-recorded tracks.

“I wanted to create samples more organically and do it on the fly,” he explained.

So Williams began making loops, recording sounds on stage that can be played back repeatedly and seamlessly blended into his live performance.

“I got lucky,” he said. “Once I brought the bass into the loops, it really started to change. People started dancing and listening, buying tickets and coming to shows.”

Williams’ success as a one-man band made having a band unnecessary.

“I could actually afford humans, but it was already working as a solo act,” he said. “There wasn’t a need to fix something that wasn’t broken.”

In addition to his three synced Gibson Echoplex Digital Pro looping units, Williams’ conventional instruments include a Fender Precision bass, a Gibson Chet Atkins guitar fitted with a synthesizer pickup and a Martin acoustic guitar.

Working without a band leaves Williams free to perform any song he wants, whenever he wants.

He heard all kinds of music in Fredericksburg, from D.C.’s go-go music — a Latin-spiced funk style popularized by Trouble Funk and Chuck Brown — to Virginia’s traditional bluegrass. And he was especially fond of the Grateful Dead.

“The Grateful Dead had this incredible mix of an Americana kind of bluegrass and country music with a psychedelic tinge,” he said.

Even when he’s working with the Travelin’ McCourys, a group he considers bluegrass royalty, Williams follows the Grateful Dead’s lead in improvisation and genre-blending.

“We do some reggae and fun stuff like that,” he said. “In my solo show, I definitely do different genres. I love so many types of music and I don’t want to play one specific genre. I could have a slight touch of attention deficit disorder as well, but I have not been officially been diagnosed.”

 By: Conner Mitchell - MSTv Correspondent
additional info by: BBC Newsbeat

In the summer of 2011, Louisiana's Mikky Ekko arrived on his own in London. He frequently got lost, felt miserable and was lonely.

During that time, he wrote a song called "Stay."

Eighteen months later, the single has become a UK top 10 hit after it was recorded by Rihanna. "She sounds amazing on it," says Ekko. "I think it's really brave to sound so vulnerable on a record like that."

He's still not sure exactly how the duet came about but says Rihanna was the one to champion the song.

"I will say that's one of the most intense experiences of my life, having to get the track finished for her record.

"It was a total madhouse, they're moving at a million miles a minute and she's at the centre of that hurricane. The way her people work is really inspiring."

The trip to London, last year, was the 27-year-old's first to the UK. It was the summer of the English riots and the weather was balmy. 

He says some of those solitary moments he had in the city lent themselves to create some "really beautiful songs".  These songs and images will be released on his debut album. (for an example of his incredible sound, check out his video: "Feels like the End" below)

Since those simple beginnings, Ekko began his professional music career by posting his solo material online. With his first single, "We Must Be Killers" accumulating over 100,000 views on Youtube, notice to his talents began in earnest.

The video for his second official single, "Feels Like the End"(above), was uploaded to YouTube on September 25, 2012, with Ekko's third single, "Pull Me Down", released on October 30, 2012. The trax was remixed by Ryan Hemsworth and was featured on Rihanna's album, Unapologetic, on the track "Stay" which he wrote and later became a single.  All in all, not a bad way to end up for a Louisiana preacher's son.

But when asked to describe his sound amid his growing success, in five words though, he thinks about it, remains silent, before saying "sounds like me, I suppose". Five words exactly.  That's very Louisiana...