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Archive for the ‘Karina Rykman’ Category

Marco Benevento / Ghost Funk Orchestra (Ardmore Music Hall, Ardmore, PA, April 13, 2024)

Posted in Ardmore Music Hall, Ardmore, PA, Ghost Funk Orchestra, Karina Rykman, Marco Benevento, Philadelphia, PA on April 13, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: April 13, 2024] Marco Benevento / Ghost Funk Orchestra

I have seen Marco Benevento three times live.  Every time has been a wonderful, joyous experience.  And I promise myself I’m going to see him again soon.

I didn’t go to his shows last year because I needed a break from shows that week.

This year, I already had a ticket to see Swans and then my daughter and I were going to go see Jhariah, so I couldn’t go to see Marco this time.    But he’s always playing shows and I’m sure I’ll see him again pretty soon.

Ghost Funk Orchestra has a name that I was bound to love.  And yet when I listened to them I found that i didn’t really like them at all.

Ghost Funk Orchestra is the brainchild of composer/multi-instrumentalist Seth Applebaum. The band draws heavy influence from the worlds of soul, psych rock, salsa, and beyond.

Even that description is perfect for me, but I feel like they take my least favorite elements from all of the genres and I instantly bristled at the vocals and the recording style.

They’re probably a lot of fun live, and I’m sure I would have enjoyed them opening for Marco, but I did not enjoy the album at all.

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Karina Rykman (Milkboy, Philadelphia, PA, December 15, 2023)

Posted in Boygenius, Butthole Surfers, Coyote Island, Karina Rykman, Marco Benevento, Milkboy, Philadelphia, PA, Tom Tom Club, Ween on December 16, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: December 15, 2023] Karina Rykman 

I‘ve seen Karina Rykman play bass with Marco Benevento three times.   She exudes a joy that is infectious.  And her sound with Marco is outstanding–her fuzz bass is unparalleled.

So I’d wanted to see her solo for a while, even though her solo songs are a bit more discoey than I would have liked. She opened for Guster back in April and she and her band blew me away.  In fact, my wife liked her so much that she was totally on board with seeing her again.

Yes, her singing voice is rather discoey (she must use lots of effects on it to sound so echoey and outer-spacey, but man, when she jams, she gets down and dirty and often quite heavy.  But she also steps back and lets her impressive guitar player Adam November take over.  And her drummer Chris Corsico is pretty awesome too.

She sold out Milkboy (I was supposed to see her there in 2020 and I think it would have been a very different show) which she was pretty thrilled about.  And the crowd was 100% dancing to her groove.

She opened with three songs from her album Joyride (which had not come out in April).  “Joyride” and “All That You Wanted” are softer songs that accentuate her way with melody and hooks–the choruses are dynamite. (more…)

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Coyote Island (Milkboy, Philadelphia, PA, December 15, 2023) [KARINA RYKMAN]

Posted in Coyote Island, Karina Rykman, Marco Benevento, Milkboy, Philadelphia, PA on December 15, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: December 15, 2023] Coyote Island

Coyote Island opened for Karina Rykman.  I hadn’t heard of them and when I listened to a song or two I thought they sounded kind of folkie and mellow.  Turns out

Coyote Island is the musical vision of producer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, Mike O’Hehir. For many years Mike travelled the country with guitar in hand. With roots in folk music, the sound quickly expanded into a new genre-bending realm of psychedelic indie. With good vibrations, dancey grooves, and tropical psychedelia, Coyote Island offers you a sonic vacation from the doldrums of existence.

Okay, so that’s promo blather but it’s not far off.

When the band started, they played an excellent instrumental jam.  It rocked and was really grooving.  Their second song was kind of lite-reggae.  I don’t like reggae, but I enjoyed this song because it deviated from the formula in little ways.

Their next song was, as the blurb says, kind of tropical psychedelia.  There’s definitely the tropical element in the drums from Ryan Benoit.  And five-string bassist Garrett Roy Jones played a great low-end.

It was lead guitarist Amir Rivera who really blew me away.  I loved the way he casually played some really amazing solos.  He was fast, but also very clean and tasteful.

I don’t have any song titles, although I do know that they played a super fun and hugely surprising cover of “Can’t Get You Out of My Head” by Kylie Minogue–sung by Amir.  Another really fun moment was when Mike broke a guitar string–a low E of all things–and had to get a new guitar.  He climbed off the stage to their gear which was stacked up in the crowd.  While he grabbed and tuned a guitar, Amir led the rest of the band in this rippling fun instrumental.  None of this is to dismiss Mike, whoc joined in about halfway through and added a ton of little details.

Indeed, Mike is a fun and engaging front man.  He’s got a smooth island-inflected singing voice [I was stunned when he said they were from Maine as they sound like the least Maine-sounding band I could imagine].  He had on a fun outfit and was generally smiling and happy.

When the set was over he walked through the crowd and happily talked to anyone.

Without question they would make an excellent opening band in nearly any situation.  I hope to see them again.

 

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Karina Rykman / Guerrilla Toss (The Wonder Bar, Asbury Park, NJ, September 21, 2023) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Asbury Park, NJ, Guerrilla Toss, Karina Rykman, Wonder Bar on September 21, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: September 21, 2023] Karina Rykman / Guerrilla Toss

I’ve only been to The Wonder Bar once and I really liked it.  Strange how in all these years since there haven’t been any bands I’ve wanted to see there (not exactly true, but the few I’ve wanted to always conflicted).  Then Karina Rykman announced a surprise show there.

My wife and I saw her open for Guster and she was great live.  I’ve since listened to a bunch of her live shows online and she’s a great performer.

When I saw that this tour promised that Guerrilla Toss was opening, I needed to go.  So, even though I had a ticket to see Boris, a band I never want to miss when they come here (especially since they almost called it quits recently), I grabbed a cheap ticket to Karina just in case it sold out.

Then Melvins drummer, Dale Crover injured himself and was going to miss the tour.  I actually wondered if it might get postponed.  But no.  But Karina announced a show in Philly at Milkboy an I grabbed a ticket for that.  It doesn’t look like Guerrilla Toss is going to play that show which is a bummer.  But Karina is worth schlepping into center city Philly in December.

I don’t exactly remember what first attracted me to Guerrilla Toss.  I had heard very good things about them, although I don’t remember what.  I also don’t think I heard about them before 2014 when they were apparently really crazy as this clip from Impose notes:

What I loved about that band in 2014 is not what I love about them now. As long time fans of Toss know, the band is much different now. They’ve ditched the nudity, the three-song sets, the mindless and sometimes violent thrashing. Guerilla Toss brought this hurricane of inescapable absurdity and frantic release; there was always a feeling of, “I need to get this out of me, whatever it is, right fuckin’ now.” On the last three releases, they’ve synthesized the pop even further into a truly danceable and quite accessible experience, one that retains the absurdity and the anxiety that Toss fans have always really appreciated. The reason I love Guerilla Toss now is because not only can I continue to move to their music, but it’s entered a space that ultimately does not push out those who might be afraid to mix with the obscure, the scary, the sometimes absurdly violent environments that the old Guerilla Toss would bring with them everywhere they go. And yet they haven’t fully ditched that angle either. Guerilla Toss, the way I see it anyways, is a chance for experimental, fans-of-the-fringe, noise heads to fuck with mainstream indie-pop, and for mainstream indie-pop heads to fuck with the noise.

I have to say when I listened to them recently I thought they sounded really safe, so maybe they have matured really really far in ten years.  I wonder if their shows are still fun.  And I suppose there’s still a chance they’ll play in Philly.

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Guster (White Eagle Hall, Jersey City, NJ, April 6, 2023)

Posted in Guster, Jersey City, NJ, Karina Rykman, White Eagle Hall on April 7, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: April 6, 2023] Guster

It was only a few months ago that we saw Guster in Montclair.  And yet here they were back again in New Jersey!

They’re playing Philly tomorrow night and it was be incredible to see them two night in a row, but the second night is the same as night as the five-times rescheduled Bikini Kill show. so, you know, priorities.

Karina Rykman’s set was so much fun but we had no idea how good this night’s set was going to be.

This is my tenth time seeing Guster and my wife’s ninth (she couldn’t make the Free at Noon that I went to).  So we pretty much know what to expect at a show by now.

But the guys really mixed it up quite a lot for this one.

In addition to their super fun set design (desk lights suspended from the ceiling all set up with LEDs to glow different colors), they also played a setlist that was totally killer. (more…)

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Karina Rykman (White Eagle Hall, Jersey City, NJ, April 6, 2023) [GUSTER]

Posted in Guster, Jersey City, NJ, Karina Rykman, White Eagle Hall on April 6, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: April 6, 2023] Guster

I’ve seen Karina Rykman play with Marco Benevento three times.  She is an amazing bass player with a great sound, great instincts and great jamming skills.

I was supposed to see her a few times, but the shows were cancelled for one reason or another.

So how awesome was it that she was going to open for Guster?

I didn’t really have a good sense of what her live show would be like.  Her recorded solo stuff is rather synthy and kind of discoey, which I really didn’t expect.  So who knew what we were going to get.

Well, her band, Chris Corsica on drums and Adam November on guitar were outstanding.  The songs had a kind of disco feel (especially from the guitar playing from November) and the occasional very disco bass line that Karina threw in.  But they felt modern as well.

The songs grooved and were groovy, taking the most fun aspects of disco and marrying them to a heaviness and thumping sound that worked really well.

I hadn’t really heard Rykman sing before and her voice is quiet and somewhat angelic.  She must have some kind of processors on her mic because it sounded like there were harmonies a lot of the time. (more…)

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Marco Benevento / Mike Dillon’s Punkadelic ft Nikki Glaspie & Brian Haas (White Eagle Hall, Jersey City, NJ, March 10 & Underground Arts, Philadelphia, PA, 11, 2023) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Jersey City, NJ, Karina Rykman, Marco Benevento, Mike Dillon's Punkadelic, Philadelphia, PA, Underground Arts, White Eagle Hall on March 10, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: March 10 & March 11, 2023] Marco Benevento / Mike Dillon’s Punkadelic ft Nikki Glaspie & Brian Haas

I saw Marco Benevento at Ardmore Music Hall about a year ago.

His shows are so much fun.  He’s a fantastic performer and his band is terrific.

The fact that he was playing two venues within easy driving distance of me seems like a no-brainer in terms of me going to see him.  And yet, I felt that I needed a week without shows since I have a bunch coming up.

Sorry Marco.  I still love you. (more…)

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Marco Benevento (Ardmore Music Hall, Ardmore, PA, February 25, 2022)

Posted in Ardmore Music Hall, Ardmore, PA, Deer Scout, Elton John, José González, Karina Rykman, Leon Russell, Marco Benevento, Philadelphia, PA, Pink Floyd, The Knife on February 26, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: February 25, 2022] Marco Benevento

Almost exactly five years ago to the day I saw Marco Benevento headline a show at the Ardmore Music Hall.  That show blew me away, it was so much fun.  The whole band: Marco on keyboards, Karina Rykman on bass and Andy Borger on drums were terrific.  And the three of them laid down a fantastic groove all night.

The trio was almost the same tonight. This time Dave Butler was on drums, but it was still Marco and Karina.  I looked up Karina and found that she is 23, which means she was 18 last time!  She was fantastic then and even better tonight.

There was supposed to be an opening act: Deer Scout.  But for whatever reason, they didn’t come and it was announced a few days ago that Marco would play two sets.

I arrived a little later than I wanted to, but he didn’t go on exactly at 8, so that was fine.  I was also amused because for the first time in a while, I was one of the youngest people there.

Joe Russo’s Almost Dead had played three nights in Philly a few weeks ago and it was clear that people who were at that show were here as well (Marco plays with JRAD, although his music is not similar at all).  There was a lot of tie-dye and a lot of long gray beards.  I decided not to get mixed up with that crowd so I hung back a bit. (more…)

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Karina Rykman / Heaven Man (Milkboy, Philadelphia, PA, May 16, 2020) [POSTPONED]

Posted in Coronavirus, Heaven Man, Karina Rykman, Marco Benevento, Milkboy, Philadelphia, PA, Postponed, Quarantine on May 16, 2020| Leave a Comment »

[POSTPONED: May 16, 2020] Karina Rykman / Heaven Man

indexI know Karina Rykman as the bassist for the Marco Benevento band.  She is without doubt the happiest musician I have ever seen.  She is also so much fun to watch and just exudes how much she loves what she does.  Her bass playing is fantastic as well–such a great sound.

I really don’t know much about her solo music.  She has two songs out and they are kind of electronic (and neither one is all that exciting).  There’s no jamming bass work or anything.  But who knows what she’d do live.

If it was a choice between her and The Lemon Twigs (playing the same night), at first it would have been her, but I think The Lemon Twigs would have won out.

Heaven Man is a Philadelphia based trio who plays a kind of psychedelic garage rock. I’ve listened to a few songs and rather like them musically (I’m not sold on their singer though).

I have to wonder if this was her choice for opening act, if she was going to play similar music.

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Marco Benevento (Ardmore Music Hall, Ardmore, PA, February 10, 2017)

Posted in Ardmore Music Hall, Ardmore, PA, José González, Karina Rykman, Marco Benevento, Philadelphia, PA, The Claypool Lennon Delirium, The Knife, The White Stripes on February 10, 2017| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: February 10, 2017] Marco Benevento

2017-02-10-23-18-04Back in August I saw Marco Benevento open for The Claypool-Lennon Delirium.  I didn’t know Marco, but his show was so much fun I promised myself I’d see him again.  So I was pretty psyched to see that he was playing at this venue.

Marco’s show back in August was just so much fun–I had arrived late, after being caught in traffic, and within minutes he had totally uplifted my mood.

So I was thrilled to find the Ardmore such a small venue where I could get up so close–check out the bottom of the page for the up close look at his modified piano.  And when he show began, I was right up at the front of the stage.

2017-02-10-22-12-11In addition to Marco, who is a fantastic entertainer, his band consists of drummer Andy Borger (whose drum set includes a cowbell and what looks like the alarm bell from a school) and my new favorite bassist Karina Rykman.  2017-02-10-23-37-07It was actually Rykman who first won me over back in August because she was just so happy.  I don’t think I’d ever seen anyone have so much joy playing on stage before.  And this show was exactly the same.  Of course it helps that she’s a great bassist with an amazing sound.  She doesn’t do a lot of fancy stuff, but her groove is spot on.

The three of them came out and started playing the suite from The Story of Fred Short.  It’s a series of seven interlocking songs with a great groove and a lot of room to jam.   I walked in the middle of this suite when I saw them this summer and I was really excited to hear it again.  I love the bass lines and, in this case, the whistle in “Walking with Tyrone.” (more…)

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