Win tickets to see Raul Midon and Lionel Loueke Live at Shalin Liu Performance Center

The BIRN would like you to win tickets to see guitarists Raul Midon and Lionel Loueke play live at the Shalin Liu Performance Center in Rockport on Sunday, March 1.

Raul Midon

Heralded as a “one-man band who turns a guitar into an orchestra and his voice into a chorus,” (NY Times) Raul Midón has collaborated with such heroes as Herbie Hancock, Stevie Wonder, Jason Mraz, Queen Latifah and Snoop Dogg. Blind since birth, Midón produced-engineered his 2017 album, Bad Ass and Blind, using special computer software for the blind. The album, which confronts the challenges of his blindness with verve and grace, received a 2018 Grammy nomination in the category Best Jazz Vocal Album. Midón’s 2018 follow up release, If You Really Want, featuring the Metropole Orkest under the direction of Vince Mendoza, was nominated for a 2019 Grammy award in this same category.

Lionel Loueke

Benin guitarist and vocalist Lionel Loueke has received critical acclaim from both his idols and contemporaries on his latest release, The Journey. Paul Simon raves that Loueke is “one of a rare handful of guitarists that move effortlessly between his West African roots and modern American Jazz”, and Sting cites Loueke as “one the most original, essential and inspiring musicians on our planet today.” As a Blue Note Recording artist and member of Herbie Hancock’s band for the past 10 years, Loueke has recorded and toured with artists as unique and varied as Terence Blanchard to singers Angelique Kidjo and Luciana Souza. Praised by Herbie Hancock as “a musical painter,” Loueke combines harmonic complexity, soaring melody, a deep knowledge of African folk forms, and conventional and extended guitar techniques to create a warm and evocative sound of his own.

To win a pair of tickets send an email to tickets@thebirn.com with Raul and Lionel in the subject line. Please include your contact phone information. There will be two winners and each winner will receive two tickets.

Good luck!!

For more information about the show, please click here.

The BIRN

birnCORE Live featuring Weakened Friends, Lady Pills and Mom Rock is next week!

Get your tickets to birnCORE Live, fall 2019! The show is next Thursday, December 5 at 8:00 p.m. featuring Weakened Friends, Lady Pills and Mom Rock.

Admission is $10 in advance, with a student discount for $8, and can be purchased here.

To win a pair of tickets to the show send an email with your contact phone number to tickets@thebirn.com. Make sure you have birnCORE Live as the subject for the email! Good Luck and see you next week.

Video: The Accidentals Play BIRN Alive

The Accidentals, a female–fronted, multi-instrumentalist power trio composed of Sav Buist, Katie Larson, and Michael Dause, kicked off 2018 with the release of their album Odyssey, on Sony Masterworks. They followed the release with two hundred days of touring nationally, seventeen festival appearances, placements with Turner Classic Movies and FOX sports, and a RAM Trucks BANDvan #tourtough commercial.

BIRN Alive is home to great live performances and insightful conversation every Saturday at 4:00 p.m. EST on BIRN1.

Album Review: Waves by Anna Clendening

Anna Clendening released her six-song debut EP, Waves, in February, and it is definitely one you don’t want to miss. Clendening is “rebranding what it means to be a pop star by creating uplifting tunes for the betterment of society” (Dominiq Robinson, AXS Contributor). This EP has a perfect balance of familiar yet unique sounds, both production and writing-wise. Clendening’s voice is nice to listen to, and the production of each song leaves you wanting more.

The EP begins with a song titled “Invisible.” The song talks about the struggle of being in love with someone that can’t reciprocate; someone who actually doesn’t know you exist.

“I’m in love with someone who doesn’t know I exist
I stare from afar in my hand-broken heart while I play pretend
I’m in love with someone who doesn’t know I exist
And it’s you, yes, it’s true, you don’t even know it, I can’t ever win”

Continue reading “Album Review: Waves by Anna Clendening”

Listen to Valley Maker, The Palms and Anna Clendening this week on the BIRN!

Tune in to the BIRN for a full week of outstanding live events and special programming.

On Monday, April 22, the monthly Roots Roadshow returns to the Red Room at Cafe 939. The April edition of this celebration of America’s musical heritage features Ariel Wyner, vocalist, mandolinist and founding member of Boston based bluegrass band Ruta Beggars. The show starts at 8:00 p.m. and you can stream it here.

Los Angeles-based band The Palms drops by the Red Room at Cafe 939 on Wednesday, April 24, in the midst of a 12 show North American tour to support their brand new independent release, Televised Daydream. Tune in for a night of psych pop, with a side of hip-hop and folk. The show starts at 8:00 p.m. and you can stream it here.

On Thursday, April 25, the Red Room plays host to two great performers as Greg Holden and Ben Thornewill grace the stage. Holden is a celebrated LA-based singer-songwriter that has placed songs in shows including Sons of Anarchy, Private Practice, and One Tree Hill. Thornewill is the pianist and voice for popular Washington, D.C. trio Jukebox the Ghost. Tune in at 8:00 p.m. to stream the show here.

Continue reading “Listen to Valley Maker, The Palms and Anna Clendening this week on the BIRN!”

Album Review: English Rose by Connie Constance

At only 24 years old, Connie Constance has already made quite a name for herself and is continuing to leave a lasting impression on people with her music. Originally from Watford, the British artist grew up feeling like the odd one out as a mixed-race child. Her album, English Rose, perfectly  conveys the emotions Constance was struggling with at a young age. Between emotive vocals and a diverse sound of production throughout each song, this album is definitely one you will want to dive into.

The title track takes the listener through her emotional journey of feeling like an outsider. “Constance’s should-be-definitive version takes the historically white privileging term ‘English rose’ and re-figures it as a symbol for the porous, prismatic nature of British identity,” (Owen Meyers, Pitchfork). The track is filled with beautiful vocals and piano arrangements, really conveying the sense of sadness Constance is trying to let the listeners feel.

Continue reading “Album Review: English Rose by Connie Constance”

Show Review: Emily King Live at the Sinclair

Following the release of her long-awaited album Scenery, Emily King is currently finishing up her 2019 tour, with Boston as her third to last show.

King’s opening artist, Jennah Bell, left the audience speechless with her performance. Bell is a Berklee alumnus, which made the Boston show extra special for many of the audience members. Jennah is a singer-songwriter originally from Oakland, California. Her influences are pulled from genres such as folk, soul, R&B, hip-hop, and bluegrass. Her quirky yet fluent style of writing is both compelling and easy to listen to. Her lyrics will hit you hard, and her melodies will leave you wanting more. Not only is Jennah a monstrous musician, but her presence has a surprisingly unique calmness to it. I had the pleasure of speaking to Jennah after her set, and she shared some encouraging words with me without hesitation.

Considering that I had never seen Emily King perform live, I had no idea what to expect from this show other than the fact that it was going to be great. King opened the show with her song “Remind Me,” the first track on Scenery. The moment King strutted out on stage in a show-stopping two piece black outfit with matching sunglasses, I knew this show was going to be one I would be talking about for a while. Her energy was infectious, and everyone in the audience was jumping and dancing around from the moment the song started. Between the tasteful choreography and the tight connection between the band and background vocals, it was impossible to keep your eyes off of the stage. There was entertainment at every moment, and King did not miss one note, even when she was running and dancing around the stage.

Continue reading “Show Review: Emily King Live at the Sinclair”

Featured Article: Who is Nick Hakim?

Get to know singer-songwriter Nick Hakim in advance of his solo performance at birnCORE Live, Friday, April 19 at the Red Room at Cafe 939.

Nick Hakim has made it, or at least he is on his way to making it. The 26-year-old musician and songwriter has had a unique path to get to where he is now. The Berklee graduate has reached millions of SoundCloud and Spotify users and is now signed to ATO records, which is home to the Alabama Shakes, Emily King and David Grey, to name a few. Nick’s success, however, is not by just luck. His upbringing and the struggles he faced as a teen directly lead to his raw talent and a strong drive to succeed.

Hakim’s parents emigrated from Lima, Peru, to New York City in the early ’80s after his father received a Fulbright scholarship to study economics at the New School in Manhattan. His family moved to Washington D.C. shortly after, where Hakim was born and raised. “He was surrounded by a diverse array of sounds at home,” said an interviewer from Pitchfork. “There was the Nueva cancion—political folk music—of his mother’s native Chile; ’60s and ’70s touchstones like the Beatles and Al Green; D.C. hardcore bands like Fugazi that were beloved by Hakim’s older brother—though Nick preferred the reggae-infused Bad Brains, especially since one of his teachers performed regularly with the band’s vocalist, HR; and Latino rappers like Big Pun and Fat Joe”(Moreland, assistant editor of Pitchfork).

April 19: birnCORE Live featuring Nick Hakim with Danielle Ponder

ATO recording artist and Berklee alumnus Nick Hakim is the featured artist at the spring 2019 edition of birnCORE Live, a live music series that presents some of the most creative, cutting edge performers working in the industry today. Prior shows have featured Taylor Mcferrin, Kaki King and Margaret Glaspy.

This semester’s birnCORE Live takes place on Friday, April 19 at the Red Room at Cafe 939. Hakim blends experimentation and psychedelia with classic soul, and his solo debut album, Green Twins, was praised by Pitchfork as “full of life and energy, often operating at a fever pitch.”

Hakim is joined by Rochester, New York’s Danielle Ponder, a vocalist and songwriter whose voice ranks with the best working in the industry today.

Student tickets are $15 to this must see show and you can get them here. The show starts at 8:00 p.m. EDT.

Click here to listen to birnCORE!