Marco Benevento's Big Plans

One of our favorite's over here at Back In 15 Minutes, Marco Benevento, has just announced some big plans for the next coming months. His Trio, which has toured virtually non-stop since their debut album Invisible Baby and then the follow-up Me Not Me, will be releasing a new album, tentatively scheduled to drop on May 11 titled Between Needles & Nightfall. A massive May tour is currently being scheduled in support of that album. Benevento, being a man of many, many bands is also slated to tour with his other projects Surprise Me Mr. Davis, Garage A Trois and lucky fans will even get to see a one-off performance from The Duo. Expect more news soon.

The Top 10 Albums of 2009

2009 was a big year for music. It saw folk/punk road-warriors catching the attention of none other than Rick Rubin. Underground indie rappers were popping up everywhere, on the albums of hiphop legends and all over the radio waves. Folk monsters shared an album, and a stage on several occasions. It saw a rapper from Brooklyn top rock and roll legend Elvis Presley as well as indie-godfathers make an extremely accessible album, arguably for their first time. It also saw a jazz pianist embrace wonderful musicians new and old, and newcomers make beautiful roots-rock that would have made Dylan and The Band very, very proud. Ladies and gentleman, here are the top 10 albums of 2009:

1. Dawes - North Hills
These newcomers from California put out a record that hits you from the first listen. It feels like The Band froze some of their creativity from "Music From Big Pink" and donated it willingly to Dawes. Lead singer Taylor Goldsmith's voice encapsulates the soul of Rick Danko while still remaining completely his own. The album is roots-rock at its finest. The production is minimal yet extremely crisp, and every instrument and voice simply shines. The band writes songs that rock veterans may hope to someday write, and this is their debut album. Simply put, grab it now and see what you were missing, I promise you won't be dissapointed.
Key Tracks: When My Time Comes, Peace In The Valley, That Western Skyline
Live Track: Peace In The Valley


2. Phish - Joy
Phish made every hippies dream come true when they decided to re-unite at Hampton Coliseum in 2009. Let's be honest, every fan new that Coventry would not be the band's true farewell, partially because the whole event itself was a trainwreck, and so was lead guitarist and singer Trey Anastasio. Anastasio saw the error of his ways, got clean and got the old band back together. The boys enlisted producer-extraordinaire Steve Lillywhite to produce "Joy", the first Phish album in far too long. Playful tunes such as "Ocelet" and heartfelt lyrics such as those on the title track make this album a strong return from a band who is just beginning to get their groove back.
Key Tracks: Stealing Time From The Faulty Plan, Ocelot, Backwards Down The Number Line
Live Track:

3. Jay-Z - The Blueprint 3
Jigga drops another album full of instant classics. He enlists the help of up-and-comers such as Toronto born Drake and Kid Cudi. Jay also happens to make New York's unofficial anthem with Alicia Keys at his side and proves that none of us have to grow up on "Forever Young". The Blueprint 3 is easily the best rap album of 2009 and helped rekindle my love for hip hop.
Key Tracks: Empire State of Mind, Already Home, Thank You
Live Track:

4. Marco Benevento - Me Not Me
Marco may be one of the busiest men in the music industry today. He plays in like 5 different groups and still manages to put out incredible solo records. Enlisting the help of Reed Mathis (JFJO, Tea Leaf Green) and Andrew Barr (The Slip, Surprise Me Mr. Davis, Land of Talk) doesn't hurt either. Marco covers indie-favourites My Morning Jacket, classic rockers Led Zeppelin and even George Harrison. He also sprinkles in a few of his own sonic gems as well.
Key Tracks: Golden, Call Home, Mephisto
Live Track: Heartbeats

5. The Avett Brothers - I and Love and You
In 2009 the Avett Brothers proved that hard work and determination (as cliche as it sounds) pays off. Rick Rubin, arguably the biggest record producer in the world produced their latest album, and the boys played on national television on several occasions. I and Love and You is poetic and poppy while still remaining true to the signature sound of the Avetts.
Key Tracks: I and Love and You, Laundry Room, Kick Drum Heart
Live Track: Laundry Room

6. Wilco - Wilco (The Album)
Wilco probably pissed off quite a few fans with their latest, humorously self-titled album. At first I kind of felt betrayed too. The album is undeniably poppy on first listen. But like all good Wilco albums, the subtle nuances and instrumental intricacies seep in upon numerous listens. The lyrics are dark (listen to Bull Black Nova), but their is plenty of sunlight on the album as well, as can be hard on You and I (featuring Leslie Feist of Broken Social Scene) and Sunny Feeling. Not to mention, the songs completely blow you away live.
Key Tracks: I'll Fight, You Never Know, One Wing
Live Track:

7. Monsters of Folk - Monsters of Folk
This super group made up of Jim James (My Morning Jacket), M. Ward, Conor Oberst & Mike Mogis (Bright Eyes) could simply never live up to the hype. That being said, the album is pretty good. It may be a little heavy on Oberst's "i'm holding back the tears" singing style, but it is rich and texture and has a nice old timey feel to it that would make The Travelling Wilburys or even CSNY take notice.
Key Tracks: Temazacal, Baby Boomer, Man Named Truth
Live Track: Temazacal

8. The Black Keys - BlakRoc
Leave it to blues duo The Black Keys to finally get the recipe for a rock meets rap album right. The low-fi guitar and drums combo enlist the help of some of the best rappers out there including Mos Def, Jim Jones, Raekwon and Ludacris to put together a seriously interesting album. The beats are heavy and trippy and it seems that the rappers really dig the bluesy vibe of the Keys. Check out the webisodes which document the whole making of the album, which took an astonishing 11 days to complete!
Key Tracks: Why Can't I Forget Him, Ain't Nothing Like You, Stay off the Fuckin Flowers
Live Track: Ain't Nothing Like You

9. Kid Cudi - Man on the Moon: The End Of Day
Cudi reached the public ear with virtually endless remixes of his standout hit "Day N Nite". The young MC redefined what a hip hop album should be, enlisting indie-rockers and rapping over seriously unique beats. He also had some of the biggest and best in hiphop lend a hand on a few tracks.
Key Tracks: Simple As, Day N Nite, Make Her Say
Live Track: Make Her Say (feat. Common)

10. The Felice Brothers - Yonder Is The Clock
These roots-rockers bring a vaudeville like quality to their latest release. The group can make things dark and minimalist as can be heard on the track "The Big Surprise" and create an interesting juxtaposition of dark lyrics and upbeat rock on "Penn Station". Yonder Is The Clock is just a great, down home style album that really works and shows the potential of this band.
Key Tracks: Penn Station, The Big Surprise, All When We Were Young
Live Track: Penn Station

Special Mention:
Surprise Me Mr. Davis - Demo
With the addition of Marco Benevento to the group, Surprise Me Mr. Davis' new album which will likely be released in 2010 (its now streaming on their website) is sure to be a winner. This is a band that deserves wide spread recognition and I think they may just find it with this up-coming album. Expecting big things from this band in the new year.
Key Tracks: That's The Way, One Sick Knave, Sleepyhead

Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
The French indie-rock band put out a highly danceable album, and the tracks "Listzomania" and "1901" could literally be heard everywhere, clubs, radio-stations, television shows and commercials and movies since their release. That being said, most of the songs follow a very similar rhythmic formula which to me, grows tiresome. I can pick and choose some of the songs I love and I do thoroughly enjoy listening to them, but I can't listen to the album all the way through, which is problematic for me. All in all, W.A.P. is still a very strong album and people seem to love it so it deserves special mention in this list.

There you have it folks. My favourite 10 albums of 2009. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

Marco Benevento @ Le Divan Orange, Montreal, 2009-05-06

In a city where the night life is notoriously ruled by DJs, after-hours bars, cocaine and hipsters, The Marco Benevento Trio's rocked out psychedelic jazz was a welcomed change of pace. The Trio is made up of Marco Benevento on piano, Andrew Barr (of The Slip) on drums, Reed Mathis (of Tea Leaf Green) on bass, and Jay Cooper who runs tripped out video footage on the side of the stage. The show started off with Benevento’s eerily beautiful take on the Leonard Cohen classic "Seems So Long Ago Nancy". While many people in the small crowd may not have been familiar with Benevento’s originals, this choice cover tune proved that the man has excellent taste in music, as well as the jazz chops to make such a classic song completely his own. The next song of the night was a tom-heavy version of "Heartbeats" by the 80s Swedish pop stars, The Knife. This song demonstrated that the Trio does not take themselves too seriously; as we witnessed Barr humorously mix in electric drum effect fills with Benevento’s acoustic piano playing, while Mathis stayed deep in the pocket. Soon after Benevento picked up the microphone, showing that even though he does not sing, he knows how to entertain an audience. Benevento introduced his band with much applause from the small but attentive crowd. The touchy issue of money was discussed, as Benevento informed us that although the show appeared to be free, this was only due to his lack of personal doorman to collect many. As a waitress walked around with a huge bowl for collecting cash, the performance felt increasingly more intimate due to its college like organization juxtaposed with its first class level of musicianship. The Trio proceeded to run through a tight version of "Call Home" off of 2009s "Me Not Me" before Benevento casually introduced Brad Barr (of The Slip) to the crowd, foreshadowing epic things to come. "Bus Ride" and "Record Book" off of 2007s "Invisible Baby" were explored before Brad, the jam catalyst, took the stage. Strapped with an acoustic guitar, Brad came ready to add some extra texture to the already rich sounds emanating off of the stage. > The foursome launched into a lengthy version of "The Real Morning Party" which featured a nasty drum solo by Andrew as well as some string-vibration wizardry from brother Brad. A jazzy version of the Duo classic "Mephisto" came next, with Brad stealing the song away with an extended guitar solo. "Twin Killers" illustrated just how rocking Benevento can be on an acoustic piano, as well as how comfortable these four musicians are at playing with each other. The night appeared to be over as the band proceeded to leave the stage, taking a few much deserved whiskey shots along the way. A call for encore led to a psychedelic version of "Atari" which was dense in sounds. The Trio left the stage to another standing ovation, but proving to be of the people, Benevento and the rest of the guys stuck around to chat with the fans and party just a little bit more.

Setlist:
Seems So Long Ago Nancy[1]
Heartbeats
Greenpoint
banter
Call Home
banter
Bus Ride
If You Keep On Asking Me
Golden[2]
Record Book
The Real Morning Party
Mephisto
Twin Killers[3]
call for encore
Atari
[1] Leonard Cohen cover.
[2] My Morning Jack cover.
[3] Deerhoof cover.
The show can be downloaded here: http://www.archive.org/details/beneventotrio2009-05-06.superlux.flac16

Here are some videos I took from the show.
Soundcheck Jam:

The Real Morning Party (featuring Brad Barr):

Mephisto (featuring Brad Barr)...don't worry the watermark disappears:

Marco Benevento Trio - Mephisto (featuring Brad Barr) 2009-05-07 from lucas samuels on Vimeo.

Marco Benevento Interview Part 1: The Album

Marco Benevento's latest album "Me Not Me" is certainly one of the best of 2009. It's littered with amazing cover tunes, and a handful of Marco originals. I recently spoke with Marco about the album. Here is what he had to say.

“Me Not Me” has received a ton of press. Was there a sense of urgency towards recording and releasing the album right away in order to keep the momentum of “Invisible Baby” alive?

Marco: There was no conscious effort to release this in the fresh wake of Invisible Baby to keep the momentum alive. I had two days off on our tour (May 2008) and we decided to record some of the newer originals and covers and ka-blammo--I had a new record. I guess I'm going through a "flood" period of recording, producing and composing. I'm working on a new record for the trio right now! And Joe and I are recording and writing new music, Garage A Trois (my band with Stanton Moore, Skerik and Mike Dillon) will be releasing a record soon too. For the trio, I think there will be a lot of casio tone dance party tracks on the next record as well as lots of circuit bent traffic and of course some acoustic piano too.

Bryce Goggin is known for working with artists such as Phish and Akron/Family. Did you find that his production methods translated well to the sonically dense album you were trying to create?

Marco: Don't forget TV On The Radio and Pavement too!!! I just get along with Bryce. His studio is close to my apartment! We both accept each others creativity. I think we get inspired by each other too. I trust his opinion and ideas, he digs the thick, crazy, mangled sounds that I bring him. We just drink a lot of coffee and eat good food, turn on some old tape machines, reamp instruments, and crank up the Optigan and laugh and try not take stuff too seriously. We have a blast mixing and putting the final touches on my edits.

With so many tunes in your musical canon, was it difficult to narrow “Me Not Me” down to just 10 songs? Were there any cover tunes you recorded that did not make the record?

Marco: Fearless by Pink Floyd didn't make the cut. Not sure why. We'll probably get it out there as a bonus track at some point. We were just about to record "Strangers" by The Kinks, but we aborted the mission and wound up recording my new untitled tune (at the time), that eventually became "Call Home." I wanted to record "Kissing the Lipless" by The Shins, but I don't remember why that didn't happen -- anyway - it's not difficult to choose which tunes to record or to keep on the record for that matter. The really good ones always rise to the top and it's almost obvious which ones are the keepers.

It seems a lot of artists are recording cover albums lately, with Vetiver releasing “Thing of the Past” and Phosphorescent releasing “To Willie." Do you have any moral qualms towards profiting off someone else’s songs?

Marco: Recording other people's music has be going on since recording was invented, so the concept has been around for a while; in folk music, jazz music, classical music, in all music. And I've always wanted to make a record of covers, maybe mixed with some originals. I guess that came from my jazz background. What's funny about the whole "profit" mention in your question is that the person who wrote the song is profiting from me recording it. For example, I have to pay Beck Hanson for "Sing It Again," Jim James for "Golden," etc. Ultimately there is not qualm. It's a great feeling to be able to play a song you love that you find so moving, even though you didn't write it. And ideally your own song should sound like it came from somewhere else, like it reminds you of something, or sounds like another song, a cover. I find that putting cover tunes on "your" record helps the listener connect to what you like to listen to. And maybe it brings you into a new circle of listeners as well.

Your original composition, “Mephisto”, has taken many different forms throughout your career. The Duo version is a slow jazzy ballad, while the version you played with the MK Groove Orchestra was big band and fast tempo. Was it difficult to conceptualize another version of “Mephisto” that would sound different and original?

Marco: Not at all. As a matter of fact I first wrote that tune on the piano and I always wanted to record it with a bass player and a drummer. I've been fortunate to hear it in all sorts of different contexts: on the Rhodes with my band from 1999 The Jazz Farmers, on the Wurlitzer and Hammond with Joe, a big band with MK Groove Orchestra. I actually felt like Mephisto needed another try with Matt Chamberlain, Reed Mathis and the PIANO! I really like the groove Matt came up with so spontaneously in the studio. The big band version came to fruition after I had a dream (on an airplane) about a high school marching band playing it up-tempo. I told them about it and they literally made my dream come true.

Is “Friends” a song you have played before with your Led Zeppelin cover band Bustle in your Hedgerow, or is it brand new to the Trio?

Marco: Joe and I used to play it at The Knitting Factory, and then it became more of a B list tune over the years. BUT it fits perfectly with the trio. There's lots of room for rhythmic play and harmonic freedom over the solo section at the end -- AND - the tune is just awesome - I love Zep ! Never played it with Bustle in Your Hedgerow...... Yet!

You are one of the artists at the forefront of expanding and evolving psychedelic music as we know it. Amongst your use of feedback and your wide array of effects pedals, you also utilize what you call “circuit bent toys”. Can you give us some more detail regarding these toys?

Marco: Just You Tube it--no seriously circuit bending is taking off! They have circuit bending conventions in NY and many other places in the world! I met Tom Stephenson, a circuit bender in Chicago and my life officially started! In short, it's a toy with a pitch knob (custom made by the circuit bender) or a switch that has interrupted or diverted the flow of signals or circuits - hence the name "circuit bender." I love the lo-fi, clitched out sounds that they almost accidentally make!! That's why the song "Now They're Writing Music" has that title--sometimes in the middle of the night they turn on and make there own music!

At the beginning of May I will be sitting down with Marco once again to discuss the tour supporting "Me Not Me" and a whole lot more. I encourage everyone to buy Marco's album. You can find it on amazon.com ( http://www.amazon.com/Me-Not-Marco-Benevento/dp/B001O2ZVTS/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1237826777&sr=8-1 ) and itunes ( http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?id=303264210&s=143441 ). Stay tuned for Part 2 of the interview.

Here are some sweet videos of Marco's show at the Bell House in New York City. The Trio that night consisted on Andrew Barr on drums, Marc Freidman on bass. Joe Russo, Marco's partner in crime for the Benevento Russo Duo was also on hand to add some extra percussion. Brad Barr opened the show, adding guitar work on a few tracks. With The Slip boys at hand, as well as Joe, you'll see just how amazing the show was.

"RISD" featuring Joe Russo and Brad Barr


"Heartbeats" featuring Joe Russo

Marco Benevento - Me Not Me

Marco Benevento plays favourites, and chances are some of his favourites are your favourites too. “Me Not Me” covers classics like Led Zeppelin and Leonard Cohen, but it also focuses on indie rock like My Morning Jacket and 80s dance kings, The Knife. “Me Not Me” is Marco’s second solo record and it is dense. It’s a kaleidoscope of sounds, both psychedelic and classical. It truly displays Marco’s whimsical personality which can be both silly and serious. His jazz chops are on full display on his original piece “Mephisto”, and his progressive songwriting shines on “Now They’re Writing Music” which Marco claims the circuit bent toys wrote themselves. But let’s give credit where credit is due. Marco Benevento is the current king of modern day jazz piano and one listen to this album will explain why.

Check out the brilliant promotional video by our friend Karina Mackenzie over at Shine A Light Productions (www.shinealightproductions.com).

Here is one incarnation of the Marco Benevento Trio featuring Marc Friedman of The Slip on bass and Josh Raymer on drums playing My Morning Jacket's "Golden" and Marco's original "Bus Ride" from the album "Invisible Baby" released in 2008.