Stephen Kellogg and the Sixers to release ‘The Bear’ on 9/8 and play the Iron Horse, their birth mother, on 9/13 with Jeffrey Gaines opening.

On July 1st, Stephen Kellogg and the Sixers (SK6ERS) were honored to perform in Tel Aviv, Israel for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as part of the Ambassador's Garden Party. The experience was one of the many 'who let me into this life' moments that SK6ERS have had while globe trotting this year. For a more down home, every man experience though, observe the band out for a run on the boardwalk in San Diego...As SK says "Rome wasn't built in a day and neither was my physique."

Their new album The Bear is out 9/8 and is produced by Tom Schick (Norah Jones, Ryan Adams, Rufus Wainright) and Sam Kassirer (Josh Ritter, Erin McKeown), ‘The Bear’ finds the band – Kellogg, Kit “Goose” Karlson and Brian “Boots” Factor unveiling their rawest and most definitive album to date.

The twelve songs on ‘The Bear’ each tell heartfelt, deeply honest stories of the highs and lows of life with lyrical finesse and wrapped in explosive touches of soulful classic rock.

The trio also brought in some special guests who lent their time and talents to the creation of The Bear: Canadian stand out Serena Ryder on “See Yourself”, Josh Ritter on “All Part of the Show”, label mates The Alternate Routes and Whiskeytown alumnus Mike Daly.

Stephen Kellogg formed The Sixers in Northampton, MA in 2003. They went on to release four records including 2007’s Glassjaw Boxer which was named one of the “Top Five Records of the Year” by USA Today critic Brian Mansfield.

As relentless road warriors, The Sixers are closing in on their 1000th show and are hailed by their growing legion of fans for their exceptional live performances and skilled showmanship. The band will kick off their national tour this fall and will be joined by Sam Getz, the newest member of The Sixers.

Byrds, Burritos, Manassas, vet Chris Hillman this Thursday at the Iron Horse

If there's a growing body of evidence that country is white soul music, the unplugged intensity of folk-rock veterans Chris Hillman and Herb Pederson would make a fine addition to the swelling pile of exhibits.

Overuse of the word notwithstanding, Hillman is a bona fide legend. He's a founding member of the Byrds, the Flying Burrito Brothers, Manassas, the Souther-Hillman-Furay Band and the Desert Rose Band --- not to mention a virtuoso musician and a Rock n' Roll Hall of Famer. As one of the pioneers of country-rock, he was instrumental in creating the kind of hard-edged country music we now take for granted. Pederson, also a former member of the Desert Rose Band, has played with the Dillards, works with the Laurel Canyon Ramblers and has done sessions for just about every roots musician you can name. Last time Chris and Herb played the Horse, the two lifelong friends harmonized and picked during a 25-song, two-set show. Hillman stuck to mandolin for most of the show, while Pederson played acoustic guitar and handled the high harmonies.

Selecting songs at random from a list of 75 possibilities, Hillman and Pederson blended Byrds songs (Turn! Turn! Turn!, Mr. Tambourine Man, Time Between, Eight Miles High), Burritos gems (Wheels and Gene Clark's Tried So Hard), a couple of Manassas memories (It Doesn't Matter, So Begins the Task) and Desert Rose beauties (Story of Love, I Still Believe In You) with country and bluegrass favourites by the likes of Woody Guthrie, Buck Owens, the Carter Family and Lester Flatt. Their vocal blending was exquisite and their playing just about flawless. Most engagingly, they seemed to be having a wonderful time.

The inherent injustice in someone of Hillman's stature playing for 200 seemed not to bother him. This, then, would be the living definition of a true pro who is in it because he loves what he does.

The two lifelong friends harmonized and picked during a 25-song, two-set unplugged show at One Longfellow Square, a wonderfully intimate, sonically stunning, 200-seat venue. Hillman stuck to mandolin for most of the show, while Pederson played acoustic guitar and handled the high harmonies. No backup musicians were present. None were necessary. The sound was that full.

Selecting songs at random from a list of 75 possibilities, Hillman and Pederson blended Byrds songs (Turn! Turn! Turn!, Mr. Tambourine Man, Time Between, Eight Miles High), Burritos gems (Wheels and Gene Clark's Tried So Hard), a couple of Manassas memories (It Doesn't Matter, So Begins the Task) and Desert Rose beauties (Story of Love, I Still Believe In You) with country and bluegrass favourites by the likes of Woody Guthrie, Buck Owens, the Carter Family and Lester Flatt. Their vocal blending was exquisite and their playing just about flawless. Most engagingly, they seemed to be having a wonderful time.

Sheila Sweeney's Deer Tick gig poster-Try your hand at one!

I mentioned that anyone who has a creative bent that wants to take a stab at designing renegade gig flyers for our shows (to supplement the usual ones we make), I will give you a pair of tickets to the show if we have seats. Just take the basic info, like you see here on Sheila's, and create one. Send it to me at jneill@iheg.com and if we like it, we'll use it! Click for full size. Thanks Sheila!

Sondre Lerche has a new album out 9/8 and returns to the Iron Horse on Saturday, September 12th

"There's a tendency in our time, subscribing to the idea that anything 'authentic' or 'honest' is automatically good," says Sondre Lerche. "I find that depressing. You have to actually create something. There has to be a process. I try to avoid just singing my diary over a couple of chords."

Fighting words? Not quite. Lerche, an award-winning singer-songwriter, newly minted Hollywood go-to man and frequent sighting on critics' year-end "best albums" lists, simply believes there's a lot of work that goes into crafting a song. Heartbeat Radio, his fifth studio album and first for Rounder Records, is proof that good art needs time, thought and careful construction. It is a "generous" album (his words), and a summation of everything Lerche has learned over the last decade of making music.

"The records I do seem to be a reaction to the record I did before," says the Brooklyn musician, who was born and raised in Norway and returned there to record Heartbeat. "My last few records were recorded with my backing band, Faces Down, almost live off the floor. And those were a reaction to my first records, which were more studio affairs. On this album, I wanted both: I wanted the physical force and excitement from the live setting and the patience and the endless possibilities of the studio setting."

Heartbeat Radio is certainly Lerche's boldest and most challenging record. While it maintains the studio polish of his groundbreaking debut, Faces Down, there's also a sense of musical adventure that stems from his later work. The songs mix acoustic guitars with grand gestures of orchestral pop, with elements of anything from 50s Jazz, via 60s and 70s Brazillian psych-folk to state-of-the-art 80s pop masters such as Prefab Sprout, Scritti Politti and Fleetwood Mac.

Lyrically, the album finds Lerche in a variety of moods -- identifying with failed James Bond man George Lazenby ("Like Lazenby"), pondering the failure of love and today's radio ("Heartbeat Radio") and revisiting some sad personal tales from his past ("I Guess It's Gonna Rain Today," featuring strings and horn arrangement by The High Llamas' Sean O'Hagan and the lyrical lament "Oh, the fine between street smartness and a smartass").

Although Radio presents a variety of moods and sounds, the opening track "Good Luck" may best describe the story behind the record. "That was inspired by parts of my last year or two," admits the singer, who went through some drama (good and bad) to get to a finished album. "Sometimes it's really hard getting the songs to the level of excitement you have, and still defining your everyday life. But in the end, considering how unfair this world often appears, it's really about how goddamn lucky I am to make a living writing and performing my songs!"

Lerche's triumphs and travails of the last few years certainly left a mark; he moved to the U.S. and dealt with various practical matters (including some green card issues), forcing some delays. But he also recorded the soundtrack to the hit movie Dan in Real Life ("The director wanted a musician to work with and he convinced both me and the Disney Corporation that I was the only one who could do it.") And, most importantly, Lerche left his major label home and struck out on his own.

"I had done the major label thing, and I had experienced the pros and cons of that world," he says. "I thought this time I'd just make the album, and see who was interested when I was finished." He laughs. "And I didn't want to go to anyone before I was finished -- it seemed disingenuous to say, 'I don't have music, but I have these songs in my dreams.' They probably could care less a bout my dreams!"

Radio was admittedly a slower process than his previous work -- Lerche was now handling the production of the album (along with long time guitarist Kato Adland), and utilizing a large number of backing musicians in the recording, incorporating violinists, cello players and other assorted string players into the mix. Lerche and Adland were determined to both test out new ways of recording and embrace new influences—most prominently on "Easy to Persuade," which features the singer opening with the very Nelly-like proclamation "Is it hot in here?" and ending the song with dark "Blade Runner" synths, Disney-meets-Thin Lizzy arpeggios and a dramatic bebop solo, half Coltrane, half Miami Vice.

"That song was inspired by things I used to hate but now accept," Lerche says. "As a kid, in the late '80s, I remember moving into this building that had MTV -- I would just sit there and absorb it. And a couple of things would pop up that I couldn't stand -- one was Fleetwood Mac, songs from "Tango in the Night", and the other was The Cure, around "Friday I'm in Love". They both sounded weird to me, yet those songs had a weirdly slick sound. Now, for some reason, I have a real affinity for this kind of sound!"

Fortunately, '80s pop wasn't the only musical influence that shaped his musical upbringing. Born and raised in Bergen, Norway, Lerche was inspired by the music he heard emanating from his older sibling's bedrooms -- be it A-ha, Elvis Costello or classic rock. Inspired, he picked up the guitar at the age of 8, and as a teenager performed at open mics at the club where his sister worked. Before his 16th birthday, he was signed to Virgin/EMI. "I had to start singing to get all these songs out there," he says. "No one else was going to!"

Lerche released his first record, Faces Down, in 2001, and earned a Best New Artist award at the Norwegian Grammys. That record also made its mark here in the U.S.-- Rolling Stone named it one of the 50 best records of the year. Two Way Monologue (2004), Duper Sessions (2006) and Phantom Punch (2007) followed, along with a number of EPs and tours with everyone from Elvis Costello to (no joke) A-ha.

With Radio completed, Lerche plans to head back out on the road. But instead of simply recreating the expansive nature of his new songs, most of the sets will be performed solo (another tour with a regular back-up band will happen later in the year). "I like that contrast," he says. "You get to hear where the songs came from -- just one guitar, one voice, like how I do my demos. It's a fun challenge to try and make it as dynamic and exciting as possible No matter what I do to these songs in the studio, they'll get by on their own. Tickets for Sondre Lerch, Saturday, September 12th at the Iron HOrse here.

The No Nap Happy Hour. Concerts for kids at the Iron Horse. Series debuts Sunday, July 26th at 2PM with Lunch Money.

The Iron Horse is teaming up with WRSI The River’s radio program for kids “Spare The Rock, Spoil The Child” (Indie Music For Indie Kids) hosted by Bill Childs and his daughter Ella - Saturday Mornings from 8-10AM, to present a monthly Sunday afternoon concert for kids at the Iron Horse.

The No Nap Happy Hour will feature the kinds of bands that seem to have taken their cue from They Might Be Giants in believing that kids’ music doesn’t have to condescend or, well, suck.

The first show is Sunday, July 26th and features the band Lunch Money. Lunch Money began in 2003 when musicians Molly Ledford, Jay Barry, and J.P. Stephens (bass, mandolin, harmonica) decided to try their hand at bringing the live music experience to young audiences; the name chosen to honor that first taste of childhood independence and power. They sing about such things as wishing for a pet dog, getting up the nerve to ride a roller coaster, and twirling around in rain and sun beneath an umbrella. The band's debut CD Silly Reflection received a top rating from Nick Jr. Family Magazine and their song "Caboose" reached the #2 position on the XM Kids chart. The band has traveled beyond their Columbia, SC home base to perform at such venues as World Cafe Live in Philadelphia, the New York Public Library in Manhattan and the Summer on Southport Festival in Chicago. Lunch Money delivers a high-energy show that aims to get children and their parents dancing, thinking and laughing. Lunch Money will guest DJ on Spare the Rock, Spoil the Child, on Saturday, July 25 on The River 93.9 FM.

Listen to Lunch Money on NPR's "All Things Considered."

Sondre Lerche's new CD Heartbeat Radio is out on Rounder on 9/8. Sondre plays the Iron Horse on September 12th @ 7PM. Tix on sale now!

Sondre Lerche's album Heartbeat Radio is out on Rounder Records on September 8th. Sondre plays the Iron Horse on September 12th at 7PM. Yee ha! All shows will feature opener JBM.

Check out the first single “Ambitious”on Stereogum now: http://tinyurl.com/stereogum-Sondrelerche

For Heartbeat Radio, Lerche embraces new influences and recording methods while bringing together everything he has learned over a decade of making music. The songs mix acoustic guitars and grand orchestral pop (with string arrangements courtesy of the High Llamas’ Sean O’Hagan) with elements of ’50s Jazz, ’60s and ’70s Brazilian psych-folk, and state-of-the-art ’80s pop masters such as Prefab Sprout, Scritti Politti, and Fleetwood Mac.

Though only 26, Lerche is already a musical veteran who released his first album at the age 19 and has toured with Elvis Costello and Beth Orton. He was commissioned by director Peter Hedges to compose music for Dan in Real Life, becoming the exclusive songwriter and musical voice of the film.

I'm a gonna buy me some tickets with a simple click-it.

South Africa’s hugely popular Freshlyground make their Northampton debut at the Iron Horse on Monday, July 20th at 7PM

In South Africa, audiences of every race cram in to see them. Old people get up and dance. Hip black teenagers sing to their lyrics. White kids emulate their moves. The very presence of this band in South Africa is the promise of a harmonious future. But they don't sit still for the picture. Freshlyground adds violin and flute to the familiar band instrumentation of bass, drums, keys and guitar, and sometimes throws in the mbira, a traditional African 'thumb piano' and sax. So typical of African groups, their dance routines are loosely choreographed to allow space for spontaneity, which comes with live-wire energy. "Forget about your destiny, get off your feet and live!" the lead singer Zolani sings, and she knows exactly how to make an audience go wild. Freshlyground draws crowds as they go, making surprisingly good impressions, remarkably large impacts. That's what they've done all along. Bridged historical divides, defied musical stereotypes. And it's about time an Afro-pop band took some of Africa's magical music to the world. It's about time.

Our friend and AIDS activist Steven Kallaugher runs the Young Heroes Foundation. He tipped us to the band. “I learned that Freshlyground, the best and probably biggest band in South Africa, was making their American debut with a few shows -- including the Nelson Mandela concert at Madison Square Garden. Figuring that nothing ventured, etc., I suggested to the promoters at the Iron Horse that they should book them. Lo and behold: Freshlyground right here in Northampton, MA on Monday, July 20 at 7PM! The last time I saw them, they were headlining the Bush Fire Festival for Young Heroes. The time before that, the audience wouldn't let them off the stage until they'd done six encores.” (GET TICKETS HERE)

Another Chaplin Takes Center Stage

When I was 23 years old, I embarked on a grass-roots arts career by renting a 16mm print of Charlie Chaplin’s film, “Limelight,” and renting a vacant grange hall in northern Vermont where I showed the bittersweet comedy to an enthusiastic full house. Buoyed by my success, I not only started a regular film series but I expanded it to include five small north country towns where I built mailing lists and traveled each week, projecting Bogart, Fellini—and Chaplin onto movie screens and cotton sheets stuck on the walls of library basements and school auditoriums.

I showed a different Chaplin film each season—“City Lights,” “Modern Times,” “The Great Dictator,” “Monsieur Verdoux,” and “The Kid” and even collections of the best Chaplin shorts like “The Pilgrim,” “Pay Day,” and “Shoulder Arms.” I loved the films for their feel of startling wit, graceful movement, and comic improvisation.. I also loved Chaplin’s populist spirit, expressed through his irrepressible underdog, the Little Tramp, constantly skirting disaster but always landing on his feet. When I had my own kids, I resisted exposing them to television for as long as possible. Instead, I showed them the Chaplin films. Indeed, my younger boy thought that the black and white films were the only thing you could ever see on the tube. At the age of five, he was still jabbering to his friends about what he’d seen on his “Chaplin TV.”

So, it probably comes as no surprise that when I found myself with the job of producing Vermont’s huge 400th anniversary celebration for French explorer Samuel de Champlain’s 1609 expedition into the lake that now bears his name, I wanted to represent France and seized on the opportunity to program “Aurelia’s Oratorio” – created by French circus innovator Victoria Chaplin who, with her husband Jean-Baptiste Thierree, pioneered Europe’s Cirque Nouveau that influenced the creation of the Cirque du Soleil, among others.

Victoria Chaplin’s daughter Aurelia Thierree, who stars in the show, resist broadcasting their Chaplin link for obvious reasons. The Little Tramp casts an enormous shadow as the first truly “world figure” whose image was recognized long before television, even in remote Asian and African villages. But Aurelia’s link to Chaplin’s craft is unmistakable. The show’s humor and vision are entirely fresh but its warmth and timeless quality conjures the Little Tramp’s earlier worlds of music hall comedy launched an American century of vaudeville, film, and the TV antics of “Monty Python” and “Saturday Night Live.” Chaplin gave heart to what had been a rough and mechanistic mode of slaptstick. He made us care.

Like the character her grandfather pioneered, Aurelia navigates a world that is bigger than she is. A modern day Alice in Wonderland, she encounters and even becomes an array of whimsical and surreal apparitions. Aurelia pops out of a chest of drawers. She watches puppets – performing a show for other puppets and later picks at a stray thread in her lace dress, making herself disappear. Suspended above the stage, she peers down at the kite that is flying her. Like Belle, arriving at the enchanted castle in Cocteau’s dreamlike “Beauty and the Beast,” she emerges whole through red velvet curtains framing the stage.

Aurelia’s theatrical dreamscape reminds me of Charlie Chaplin’s hallucinations in “The Kid,” “The Gold Rush,” and “Modern Times,” where the unsuspecting Tramp gets caught in factory gears. But Aurelia’s dreams come closer to the upside-down worlds we actually experience when we sleep. In an interview by American Repertory Theater director, Gideon Lester, Aurelia referred to her show as “a mad fantasy, a mixture between a spirit and a dream. In your dreams,” she said, “something absurd happens and you simply adapt to it, and it’s only when you wake up that you question the reality of what happened.”

“Aurelia’s Oratorio” is coming to Northampton because I had to ensure the troupe a week of performances and arrange the expedited shipment of two tons of stage gear, props, and costumes from their last tour date in Russia—in order to lure them back across the Atlantic Ocean. We’ll stage three shows Monday and Tuesday July 13th and 14th to conclude our Champlain festival in Burlington. Looking around New England only one other venue beckoned and seemed appropriate. True, The American Repertory Theater in Cambridge jumped on the chance to book a return engagement once they learned that I was bringing the troupe back to the U.S. But for two days and three shows next weekend “Aurelia’s Oratorio” will take the stage at The Calvin Theater —thanks to Samuel de Champlain. -Jay Craven

Aurelia’s Oratorio will be performed live at the Calvin Theater, Friday July 17th at 7:00pm and Saturday, July 18th at 2pm and 7:00pm. Tickets are available at 413-586-8686 or online at IHEG.com.

New Release Tuesday!

Two upcoming IHEG artists have new albums out today:

"American Central Dust" marks the return of Jay Farrar's midwest lament, booming voice, and overall knack for being as prolific as possible in a genre in which the old and done is embraced over innovation. Sonically, it's Son Volt at its best. While the guitar distortion was turned way down this time around, Farrar's vocals are pushed generously into the forefront of the mix spotlighting themes of blue collar lament that have made Farrar a convincing songwriter since the times when he fronted the Americana staple Uncle Tupelo. Considering the straight line progression of Farrar's songwriting, it is no surprise to find lap steel, string and keyboard dressings making "Dust" a solid representation of what Son Volt has always been good at and what they could keep going at foryears to come. -Lee Taylor

Son Volt will be performing at Pearl Street Ballroom on Saturday, September 19th @ 8:30p  for tickets, call The Northampton Box Office @ 413.586.8686 or click here

Listen to the first single off the album below to get a taste
Son Volt - Down To The Wire



The new album from Bowerbirds "Upper Air" places this Raleigh, North Carolina duo atop our list of "Duos That Are Better Than The White Stripes." One priority for execution on these new songs is harmony and the guy/girl combination does not fall short. Part of our "Left of The Dial" summer concert series, Bowerbirds is surely "indie" with their conceptual lyric themes and almost math-rock rhythms that seem to convince that a song with just four chords must be dressed with sufficient unexpected parts to call it their own. They go out of their way
to stand out on this album, but nothing sounds forced. Even the simplest, straight-forward song like "Chimes" keeps me far from nodding off. There are no holes to be filled in this release.
-Lee Taylor

The Bowerbirds will be performing with Megafaun THIS SATURDAY, July 11th @ 10pm at The Iron Horse  - for tickets, call The Northampton Box Office @ 413.586.8686 or click here

For a sneak peak, take a listen to the first single off the album
 Bowerbirds – Beneath Your Tree 

Erin McKeown has Cabin Fever...and you're invited.

In the grand tradition of barn-raisings and house-rent parties, ERIN MCKEOWN is inviting you into her living room, onto her porch, into her river, into her yard and asking you to lend a hand. Just as farmers needed their neighbors to help raise the roof and musicians have sung for their supper, MS.MCKEOWN is holding a series of Live Internet Concerts (watch the trailer HERE) with all proceeds benefitting the recording and release of her newest album, "Hundreds of Lions". More info here.

Loudon Wainwright III and Richard Thompson at the Calvin Theatre on Tuesday, October 6th at 8PM

We're all very excited about this show. Either of these guys alone has enough songs, stories, and humor to fill a night. Together the chemistry will be delicious. They'll play together and alone. Get tickets here.

Muddy Waters Band Member Paul Oscher brings his "Alone with the Blues" Show to the Iron Horse at 7PM Thursday, July 30th

Paul Oscher, multi-instumentalist and multiple (W.C. Handy) Blues Music Award winner, is making a rare swing through the Northeast this summer on his first area tour since 1994, when he came through with fellow Muddy Waters alumni Jimmy Rogers, Pinetop Perkins, Luther "Guitar Junior" Johnson, Willie “Big Eyes” Smith, and Calvin “Fuzz” Jones.

Paul Oscher’s place in music history was cemented in the 1960s when he became the first white musician to join the Muddy Waters Blues Band. He has been an inspiration to a host of new generation harmonica players ranging from Eric Clapton’s Jerry Portnoy to Magic Dick of the J. Geils Band and Rick Estrin of Little Charlie and the Nightcats. Oscher toured the “chitlin’ circuit” with Muddy Waters at a time when mixed race bands were not welcome in the Deep South. He learned the nuances of the blues looking over the shoulders of the best musicians the blues had to offer, players like legendary pianist Otis Spann and guitarist Sammy Lawhorn. Paul lived in Muddy Waters’ house on the southside of Chicago and shared the basement with the great blues pianist Otis Spann.

Oscher remained with Muddy Waters until the early 1970s, and stayed active after leaving the group, recording with and accompanying Louisiana Red, Johnny Young, and numerous other blues artists. He also fronted his own group for years under the name Brooklyn Slim featuring Boston’s own David Maxwell on piano. In the late 1990s Oscher began recording again under his own name, and his unique deep blues sound began earning him multiple music awards. His increased visibility led to collaborations with Mos Def, Eric Clapton, Keith Richards, Levon Helm, and Hubert Sumlin, and his songs have been covered by Alligator recording artists Little Charlie & the Nightcats and Blind Pig recording artist Big Bill Morganfield. He has also been quoted extensively in two major books about Muddy Waters, Can’t Be Satisfied and Mojo Man, and an excerpt of Oscher’s own upcoming book appears in the companion book to the PBS series Martin Scorsese Presents the Blues. His latest recording “Down in the Delta” earned him two W.C. Handy Awards: “Acoustic Artist of the Year” and “Acoustic Album of the Year “

For the past several years Oscher has been touring as a solo performer, playing clubs and festivals all over the world. Paul likes this traveling arrangement, as he says "the only one I have to argue with is myself -- me and the band are getting along real good." In his unique "Alone With the Blues" show, Paul tells stories of his life in the blues and sings and plays harmonica, guitar and piano, at times simultaneously. He also carries with him a rare giant bass harmonica that invariably floors audiences. Oscher remains true to the real down-in-the-alley, gutbucket blues -- a sound that is rarely heard these days. He’s been playing those low-down blues for the last forty years and in Oscher’s hands it is as potent and current as it was back in the days of Muddy Waters.

Get tickets for Paul Oscher here.

Jurassic 5/Ozomatli's Chali 2NA at Iron Horse on Wednesday, July 15th at 8:30. Good Taste. Tastes Good.

Chali2Na has done it all. From his days growing up on the hardscrabble streets of Chicago’s south side, to his subsequent explosion onto Los Angeles’ burgeoning hip-hop scene, to his tenure as MC for seminal hip-hop group Jurassic 5, Chali epitomizes the portrait of a 21st century artist.

To be sure, with his unmistakable, beloved baritone, Chali has firmly established himself as one of the most distinctive, charismatic personalities not just in hip-hop, but music in general. Only a select few can say they’ve rocked microphones in front of thousands at a sold-out arena in Tokyo with Jurassic 5, spit rhymes at Lollapalooza, painted professional caliber oil color paintings in their California home and lent their distinctive bass-heavy voice, to such mega-brands as Coca Cola and Sega Dreamcast.

Now, buoyed by the wide spectrum of socio-cultural and geographical influences that have shaped him—hip-hop’s renaissance man jas just dropped his first solo album Fish Outta Water. Indeed, this deeply personal body of work reveals a side of the long time Jurassic 5 and Ozomatli front man that his fans have never seen, a story from start to finish of his life, loves, triumphs and let downs, weaving in a powerful selection of beats from the likes of Scott Storch and Jake 1 and memorable appearances from Damian “Jr. Gong” and Stephen Marley, Anthony Hamilton, Beanie Man and others.

“I wanted this album to expose who I am as an artist. The majority of people know me from Jurassic 5 and Ozo, but I felt like nobody knew me as an artist,” Chali says. “I want to show you all facets of who I am. Man. Husband. Brother. Father. Son. Painter.”

Indeed, Chali’s diverse tastes—from the blues he was raised on to the political gangsta’ rap he loved to the graffiti art he sprayed as a teenager—flow from this album, like the oil colors Chali uses for his paintings. There’s the Fury-produced, “Righteous Way,” an interpolation of Curtis Mayfield’s “Nigga,” where Chali tells the story of his life through the eyes of his father, his 17 year-old son and himself. Or the Scott Storch driven “Love Is Gonna Get You,” where Chali offers up his own take on the fabled KRS-One song that inspired this 21st century version. “KRS was talking about how love was going to engulf his brother. This song talks about how love makes you do the strangest things, how it infects your heart and changes you forever,” he said.

Of course, no body of work involving Chali2na would be complete without his trademark, articulate, spitfire rhymes, the sort of fearsome battle raps which first caught the ear of so many back when he honed his skills in Los Angeles' storied underground hip-hop scene of the early nineties. On “Don’t Stop,” featuring the ever soulful Anthony Hamilton, Chali beckons everyone--from revolutionaries to thugs to dime pieces--to leave their troubles at home over a melodic, flute-infused hook.

“Getting sick of the bickering from my peers and such. Bringing lyrics to keep your ears in touch,” he rhymes, daring anyone to test his mettle while playfully requesting that you too take your body to the dance floor in the same breath.

Indeed, Chali’s debut features a seemingly endless litany of groundbreaking tracks, which touch on topics the veteran musician has never bared to his listeners before. Whether it’s the trauma he experienced from the shooting death of a childhood friend to the twists and turns of his own family lineage, to the resistance to injustice that has always been imbued in Chali’s music, Fish Outta Water, is quite simply, a life’s worth of songs in the making.

Says Chali: “I want to free people’s asses and let their minds follow. To not be preachy, but to make them aware of what I’m about. I want to enlighten, but I ain’t trying to be a bumper sticker either.”

No doubt, there’s still plenty of fire in Chali’s lyrical arsenal. His days of training at the legendary Los Angeles hotspot, the Good Life Café, have taught him well. Only now, he’s fused the bass-heavy bravado with his own life’s story, and in doing so, creates an album of work that’s not only superb, it’s important.
Tickets here.

Chali 2na – Comin’ Thru