The Congress, spearheaded by trumpeter and band leader Marcus Cohen, have been hard at work this past year rounding up the votes to pass their newest bill of jams.
After pulling together a quorum of strings, horns, tight rhythm section and rotating cast of vocalists at Faultline last summer, the mandate gained momentum with the support of Bay Area legend Matt Kelley who helped their first act of 2012 pass with a unanimous vote of smooth grooving.
The soul and R&B inspired cuts are making their way through committee right now, so listen up, because The Congress is in session.
The Bandpage Sessions are a series of recordings and videos featuring local and national acts. This a collaborative effort between Root Music, Volta Videography, Steve Rosenfield Photography and Faultline Studios.
Our first featured artist was Trevor Hall featuring 4 tracks with video. The videos were a hit getting 15,000 hits and downloads!
Go to the Faultline Studios’ Root Music Bandpage to check it the entire series. The audio is available for download on Trevor Hall’s BandPage so, be sure to grab a track or 4!
UnderCover Presents, Faultline Studios, and KALX 90.7 FM are beyond thrilled to announce that Darren Johnston has curated a brilliant Bay Area lineup to reinterpret Nick Drake’s Pink Moon.
Joshua James is an American rock and folk musician currently based out of Provo, Utah. Often compared to Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Joe Purdy, Bright Eyes or Ray LaMontagne, James is known for his intimate vocal style and bittersweet lyrics, often dealing with tragedy, religion and substance abuse.
His original digital release of The Sun is Always Brighter on iTunes reached #1 on the service’s Folk Album list in 2007 and sold in excess of 25,000 copies by the end of 2008.The album caught the attention of the indie folk scene, with Paste Magazine naming him one of their “Next 25 Artists You Need To Know” in their September 2008 issue, prompting artists such as John Mayer, David Gray, Ani DiFranco, and Brett Dennen to have him support their North American tours.
NPR has also recently cited Joshua James in one of their “Song of the Day” publishings. They featured his “The New Love Song” as one of the best new songs from a previously unknown artist in a long time.
Joshua headed back to the studio in late 2007 to record his second album, entitled Build Me This, which was released digitally on September 8, 2009, and physically on September 22, 2009, on Intelligent Noise/Northplatte Records. Paste Magazine dubbed the new work “phenomenal.”iTunes also dubbed Build Me This one of the “Best of 2009″ Indie Spotlight Singer/Songwriter albums.
He performed at SXSW Music Festival, Bonaroo, and XPoNential Music Festival, Fork Fest, etc. in 2010 in addition to a US tour and shows in Japan and UK. James has also performed at Lollapalooza in 2009.
Variety Magazine calls James “a young Midwestern singer-songwriter who writes hard-bitten songs of family tragedies and sings them in a voice that’s as sun-bleached and wind-battered as a Nebraska cornfield.”
A cover of Herman’s Hermits’ “No Milk Today” featured in the Season 3 premier of Sons of Anarchy. James’ own song “Coal War” was featured in the Season 4 premiere of Sons of Anarchy.
James came to Faultline Studios on his way through San Francisco on tour to record a new version of an old song “Doctor” with Starita courtesy of Root Music. Starita used various recording techniques that set the mood of the deeply moving poetry of Joshua. There were times when every hand was on deck to clap, stomp and contribute to the recording. The entire session was shot in HD video by Volta Videography that is soon to be released on Joshua’s Root Music Bandpage. Be sure to check updates so you can get a glimpse of how the magic happened in the studio!
Tyler Bryant, currently 20 years old, is a guitar prodigy who has shared the stage with Aerosmith, Jeff Beck, Heart, REO Speedwagon, Paul Simon, BB King, Pat Benatar, The Arc Angels, Vince Gill and many others. At age 15, Tyler won the Robert Johnson Blues Foundation’s New Generation Award, which recognized him as one of the most promising new artists on the music scene. He has also performed at Eric Clapton’s Crossroads Guitar Festival in Chicago, and was signed by John Huie at Creative Artists Agency on the spot, after his first showcase in Nashville.
Tyler, along with Beck, Santana, and Slash, is featured in the award winning film, “Rock Prophecies,” which is directed by John Chester, and produced by Tim Kaiser (Seinfeld and Will & Grace).
Root Music and Faultline Studios decided to team up and do a show with the band once word was out they were coming to town. Previously, Tyler was on the road without his band for a month doing shows with Jeff Beck and keeping busy writing new tunes for the 4 piece. The day after the Root Music/ Faultline show, Starita and the guys hit the studio to record a new song that the other members of the band had never even heard until they entered the Live room. This obviously was not an issue as the band ripped though an entire day of tracking laying down every part leaving the song only to be mixed. This magical day was fully documented by Volta Videography and will be released on the band’s Root Music Bandpage. Be sure to check their page for the release and catch a glimpse of what life is like in the studio with Tyler Bryant and The Shakedown.
We are proud to announce a Music + Tech Mixer with Root Music THIS THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 3RD! Guitar prodigy, Tyler Bryant, will be performing solo and with his band The Shakedown.
Tyler Bryant is a guitar prodigy who has shared the stage with Aerosmith, Heart, REO Speedwagon, Paul Simon, Jeff Beck, BB King, Pat Benatar, The Arc Angels, Vince Gill and many others. At age 15, Tyler won the Robert Johnson Blues Foundation’s New Generation Award, which recognized him as one of the most promising new artists on the music scene. He has also performed at Eric Clapton’s Crossroads Guitar Festival in Chicago, and was signed by Creative Artists Agency on the spot, after his first showcase in Nashville.
We invite all members of the Faultline Family to join us in this epic event!
Event Info:
Thur Nov 3rd @ 330 Ritch, SF
RootMusic Presents: VIP Bay Area Music + Tech Event featuring Tyler Bryant and the Shakedown.
7:30-9pm: Music + Tech Mixer- Come mingle with the bay area’s music/tech community.
9-10:30p: Intimate Acoustic Session with guitar prodigy Tyler Bryant. (Said to be a future guitar god by Jeff Beck, Vince Gill, and Steven Tyler) and Rock and Roll show by Tyler Bryant and the Shakedown – http://listn.to/tylerbryant
Raised on a steady diet of classic rock and punk, Genius and the Thieves are five guys who spend their days writing celebratory, rowdy, rock and roll with a distinct blues edge and a dash of indie sensibility thrown in for good measure.
With a sound that has been compared to bands ranging from The White Stripes, to The Clash to Portugal. The Man, Genius and the Thieves pride themselves on creating music that is both intricate and accessible. As an added bonus, they are relentless in their pursuit to get the crowd moving. Concertgoers be forewarned: dance parties and sing alongs are sure to ensue. Whether you like it or not…
The band just finished their new EP and will be celebrating the release at The Rickshaw Stop TONIGHT, October 26th. Be sure to stop in and grab a free copy for your listening pleasure!
“It’s irresistible. You can enjoy a night of mad waltzes, crazy polka-esque jives, or hot jazz all in one setting when The Inheritance is in the house. And really, that’s not even a complete description of what they do.
This multi-faceted Austin sextet deftly combines the melodies and rhythms of Eastern European folk music with modern and experimental twists and turns. It’s little wonder that their unique sound gets the room moving.”
That’s exactly what they did at Faultline Studios. The band came through on there way on tour for 3 weeks playing many cities across the U.S. It was an interesting day of recording as we set the whole band up in a circle in the live room to capture their dynamic improv sessions and classic Eastern European gypsy grooves.
We were happy to have such an eclectic band through the doors of Faultline and look forward to the release!
Faultline Studios donated $1000 worth of studio time to be bid on at the Power to the Peaceful silent auction.
The 12th annual Power to the Peaceful, one of the largest free annual festivals, was a great success this year, bringing together 70,000 people to “highlight and celebrate the diversity between us all.” Music, art and a great afterparty….Faultline’s Michael Starita joined Michael Franti and the Rockin’ Head (Talking Heads Tribute) on stage at the Fillmore, along with special guests Jerry Harrison (original member of the Talking Heads), Crystal Bowersox, Rebelution, and the flowbots. The band delivered a high energy rundown of Byrne and Company classics funked up with Franti’s signature vocal stylings. Watch the video below and see the sold out crowd rockin’ the Fillmore.
Recent visitors to Faultline have probably noticed a pretty significant change. Studio B is gone! In it’s place we now have a dedicated 2nd tracking room.
More and more tracking has taken place in this room over the past few years: congas, horns, lead guitar players with gigantic pedal rigs… It just made sense to finally dedicate this space to the creation and capturing of sounds.
With line-of-sight through the Live Room and into Studio A, tracking in the Guitar Room feels as intimate as everywhere else and it’s 17′ ceilings and dedicated isolation booth mean there are plenty of sonic possibilities.
And don’t cry too long for Studio B, pretty soon we’ll be unveiling the new improved version, Studio C, located just down the hall. All the same great synths and outboard gear with it’s own vocal booth and an even better layout.
Faultline Studios donated $1000 worth of studio time to be bid on at the Power to the Peaceful silent auction.
