![]() ![]() Getting a crowd of older fans waiting on Brian Wilson dancing is not an easy task, but Calexico was able to do it with the latin-rock jam. They played a set heavy on songs from their most recent work Edge of the Sun, adding a cover of Love’s “Alone Again Or” and a smart cover of Joy Division’s “Love Will Tear Us Apart.” The highlight of the show was “Cumbia de Donde” off the new album. The band worked smoothly through their set list mostly acoustically, offering a different style to fans of the band that are used to the bigger band sound. The band stripped down a bit for this set and didn’t have their full roster of normal members, but you wouldn’t know it by the quality of the show. The band played a sold out show at Noon on a Friday, opening for legendary Beach Boys founder Brian Wilson. Tucson Americana act Calexico brought their Tex-Mex Indie rock to Non-COMM on Friday in the most difficult schedule placement of the week. Set List: Loser, Cross My Heart, All Wet, Alice, Your Love, Mother, The River Philadelphia is a on a bit of hot streak churning out rock stars and it looks like they have another one in Son Little. The hometown crowd responded at the set’s finish. It gives you the feeling of riding on a heavy steam train barreling straight up a mountain. The song remains on the precipice of losing steam but never quite does. The slow-burning classic soul song was followed by a rollicking version of “The River,” a song that fights to maintain a steady momentum throughout. His newest single, “O Mother” is a beautiful soul track that was written as he was overcome with emotions regarding racial injustice and the events of the past year. The two songs that closed out the set were the highlights. The growling blues vocals are similar to those that Livingston added to The Roots’ 2011 album Undun. The framework of the songs is similar to the electronic soul-rock that Livingston created with Icebird, his collaboration with DJ RJD2. Fragments of Livingston’s past projects are littered throughout his work as Son Little. Philadelphia’s own Aaron Livingston, now known as Son Little, led things off on Thursday with a tight set of tracks off his debut EP, Things I Forgot. From emerging artists like Leon Bridges to music legends like Brian Wilson, Non-COMM 2015 had something for everyone to enjoy narrowing it down to the ten best performances was a harrowing task. ![]() This year’s iteration had performances from over 30 artists from across the spectrum of the music industry. The highlights of this unique event each year for music fans are the music showcases. Non-COMM also hosts workshops and invites speakers from within the public radio community. This genre-melding event held at World Café Live in Philly has been taking place since 2001 and has hosted performances from the likes of Willie Nelson and Phoenix to My Morning Jacket and Dr. Although recorded in a bar in front of a capacity crowd, it’s not until the album’s final moments that the fourth wall is dropped and the listener hears the crowd’s raucous applause.Last week, WXPN’s annual Non-COMMvention in Philadelphia brought together music industry members, artists and music fans for three days dedicated to cultivating and celebrating public radio and live music. Like their live set up, Bill’s guitar can be heard on the left of the stereo picture and Ryley’s on the right. Guitar tone was a key element when selecting the tracks that made the cut. Songs run the gamut from fingerstyle ballads to psychedelic waltzes and raga-inspired blues. Land of Plenty is completely instrumental and falls somewhere between Ryley Walker’s album, Primrose Green (Dead Oceans), and Bill MacKay’s highly melodic work in Darts & Arrows. Each week, songs took on new shapes, while others were written and added to the always-evolving set list. The overall spirit of the residency was that of a creative workshop producing music that ran in directions as wide as the duo’s interests. In January 2015, Bill and Ryley took up a month-long, Friday night residency at The Whistler. Over the course of the year, an impressive repertoire of new songs and ideas coalesced. ![]() The duo quickly developed their own musical vocabulary and the resulting sounds drew on traditional folk music from Appalachia to Northern India, as well as jazz and blues. They soon began meeting at Bill’s southwest Chicago home to write and improvise together on their lived-in dreadnought 6-string guitars, with Ryley’s 12-string and Bill’s requinto making frequent appearances as the year wore on. ↳ Chicago-based guitarists Bill MacKay and Ryley Walker met in 2014 at a friend’s birthday party where they discovered a mutual admiration for Albert King, Laura Nyro, Nick Drake, Bert Jansch, Ali Akbar Khan and Jimi Hendrix. ![]()
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