by Zac Taylor (‘10)
Contributing Writer

If you stroll by Wally’s on Massachusetts Avenue and hear original music coming out of the doorway instead of “Giant Steps”, you might be lucky enough to hear the jazzy-cool stylings of Rachel Borovik. Borovik, who released her debut record last month at this world-renowned jazz club, is part 50’s lounge singer and part R&B radio starlet, with some neo-soul to wash it down.

Untangled, Rachel Borovik’s first full-length offering to the world, is a strong album. On the surface it harkens back to the female songstresses of the 90s like Linda Perry, Joan Osborne, or even early Sheryl Crow with feel-good hooks and poise. But when you listen a little closer, a modern jazz nouveau edge is revealed, not unlike Corinne Bailey Rae or Alicia Keys.

The beef of the instrumentation comes from Tom Kain’s tasteful keys, Rhodes, and organ playing. He leaves space, embellishes the dynamic with subtle textures, and knows when to let it all hang out. Mark Hadley’s guitar playing follows suit. His picking and strumming are always in service of the songs, but he lets it rip when necessary, adding a nasty solo to “Unsatisfied.” Meanwhile, bassist Bryan Percivall and drummer Ricardo White lay down grooves that would make both Norah Jones and Prince quite pleased.

Riding on top of the solid instrumentals, Rachel’s voice is the face of the sound. She’s not afraid to lay down some old school scatting, such as in the opening bars of “Middle Ground.”

The album’s standout track is “How To Be A Woman.” The vocals shine as the age-old story of Adam and Eve is funked out and re-harmonized to the ear’s delight.

Untangled came to life at Flying Dutchman Studio. The production has a touch of edgy R&B flavor, which comes as no surprise, as it was produced by Owen Ross of Re-Up. Mixed by Berklee faculty Rich Mendelson and mastered by former Berklee professor Tom Carr, the sound has a radio-ready sheen that is crucial for a young artist starting out.

“My plans for future are to be able to support myself doing what I love most: connecting with others through music,” Borovik says. “I am open to wherever being able to do that takes me.”

At 20 years old, Rachel Borovik is taking her music very seriously; you should too.

For more on Rachel Borovik and her upcoming shows, visit her website: www.myspace.com/rachelboro. Catch her Friday July 2 at Cafe Luna, Cambridge.

by Zac Taylor (‘10)
Contributing Writer

Jared Salvatore Band,  The Neighbors

Hard Rock Café, Boston

May 14, 2010

On a Friday night in Faneuil Hall, past all the tough-guy jock bars and Red Sox fanatics, there was some artful rock and roll happening at the Hard Rock Café. Recent Berklee graduate Jared Salvatore and his band took the stage in front of a three-quarters full room and attained the timbre and richness of a fully-produced pop production. You have to credit the sound guy to some extent, but this band was tight.

Sporting white-rimmed shades and a tie, Salvatore and co. got the crowd moving with pop gems like “Designer Girl” and “Crash Test.” Mark Johnson added tasteful Telecaster textures, while bassist Dave Huddleston and drummer Ben Atkind kept the grooves solid and tight.  A nasty cover of “Use Me” by Bill Withers was a highlight of the set, but Salvatore’s sharp, clever tunes stole the show.

The Neighbors followed Salvatore with their signature mix of Green-Day-meets-Mars-Volta smart rock. Actual neighbors they are anything but; Rossiter lives in New York City while Cadrin and Crepeault reside in the Bay State. The trio nevertheless sparkles with undeniable musicianship and chemistry. Lead singer/guitarist Tom Cadrin seemingly juggles rhythm and lead guitar parts simultaneously, supported by Berklee alumnus Alex Rossiter on bass and David Crepeault on drums. They brought up Myles Reeves to help them out with an N.E.R.D. cover and kept the energy high throughout the set. The Neighbors are currently recording their new EP Nothing is Hidden at Zing Studios to be released this fall.

Jared Salvatore

The Neighbors

Papa's got a brand new Groove.

By Zac Taylor
Managing Editor

You see these beautiful people in this picture? They’re your new snooty music journalists! Get to know them. From left to right, we have Naomi Gingold, Ann Driscoll, Andrew Slotnick, yours truly, Paul Jefferson, Jehad Choate, Christine Occhino, and Rafael Sanchez.

Paul, Annie, and I are off to other endeavors; namely, places like New York City and Los Angeles. But we’re leaving you in good hands. Andrew is taking over the reigns as managing editor, Rafael is our new web/graphics guru, and Naomi and Jehad are the new staff writers. And they would like to a) be your friend, b) know what’s cool about music from your point of view, and c) listen to your ideas about how to make the Groove as beneficial to us students as possible.

So that’s about it for me, boys and girls. I’ll probably submit a handful more articles, help the new folks get acclimated, and steal any free pizza that happens to find itself available around campus.

It has been an awful lot of fun writing about all of you, and you have all inspired me in countless ways. This is a fun place, yeah? I’m going to leave you with my graduation speech submission that didn’t quite get the go-ahead for Saturday (I’m sure Jack will do an awesome job); but it’s from the heart and I hope you enjoy it. Hit me up in the meantime if you need some help writing your bio or press release; I’d be happy to help.

Oh, I almost forgot–Come to my CD Release Show tonight (5/6) at Cafe 939!!

“Listen Hard”

You know that feeling music gives you? When the hair stands up on your arms. When those chills surge up and down your body. What is that thing?

When I was ten, I used to listen to Nirvana and Beatles CDs on a Discman (it’s what we listened to before iPods). I didn’t know what harmony meant, or how a groove was supposed to work, or even really notice that there were patterns called verses and choruses. All that mattered was that feeling those sounds gave me.  That thing.

If there’s one thing I have learned at Berklee, it’s that music does different things for different people. It fulfills different needs. Maybe you need a big fat beat to bob your head to. Maybe it’s a catchy pop-country tune. Maybe it’s that first note Jimi Hendrix plays in the solo from “Machine Gun.”

But here, depending on your major, it could be getting the reverb on the snare drum to sound just right. Or planning a twenty-five city tour for an artist that you manage. Or helping a patient recover with some soothing acoustic guitar. Or blogging about Lady Gaga’s dress, or lack thereof.

Whatever the case may be, it doesn’t matter what your thing is, why you have it, or how you came to have it. All that matters is THAT you have it. That it’s yours, and that it resonates with you. And Berklee didn’t give you that thing—you had it long before you got here. What’s cool about Berklee is that it can give you a blueprint of how to stir it up and bottle it.

A blueprint to help you find that special place where your muse hangs out. Where she takes her tea, and what kind of honey she puts in it. You learn how to listen to her, in her language. An Arab speaks Arabic; a Frenchman speaks French; I suppose your muse speaks music. Our hope is to one day be able to access this special place freely and readily; but remember—Luke Skywalker wasn’t always a master of the force, and Neo didn’t make his first jump in the Matrix.  But that didn’t stop them.

During my first semester here, guitar phenom Steve Vai said at a clinic: ‘Find out what you’re good at, and the rest is gravy.’ He was talking about that thing that gives you that feeling.

You don’t have to be famous or on TV to have that thing on overdrive. Most people here know that fame has more to do with money and body curves than anything remotely associated with a passion for music.

I bet you all have a friend that has looked at a famous musician and said, ‘I could play better than him.’ I know I have…But at t his stage in the game, we’re finding out that it’s not about who’s the best guitarist, best singer, best songwriter, or best sousaphone player. Technique can be perfected, but art cannot. The artists that can move you are the ones that A) have that thing spinning real hard for them, and B) also know how to show it to you. I’ve been moved as many times from a performance in a class, coffeehouse, or even subway platform than I have from watching whoever’s on TV.

You walk around these halls, and you see the jazz kids’ brains frolicking through the deepest jungles of harmony. You hear the gospel kids scatting the most ridiculous vocal runs. You see the synth kids chopping up sine waves into a galaxy of otherworldly sounds. You watch the singer-songwriters sending out text messages to get people out to Club Passim. Everyone is frantically pacing around this place in search of the keys to that code to his or her own special thing.

Now here we are in 2010. Ticket sales are way up. Record sales are way down. You have people becoming rock stars on game shows. You have video games with plastic guitars and drums. You have Ashlee Simpson. What does it all mean?

It may seem dire for those of us with a real passion for real music.

But we all have hope—more hope than can be measured. Otherwise we wouldn’t be here today. Sitting next to each other. Making plans for later today, next week, next year. Hey—let’s hang out and listen to that record.

Music is a communal experience.  And of course, us music nerds can sit around a jaw about the EQ of a bass amp, or the lyrical arc of a song, which is all fine and dandy. But real people (non-musicians) need that communal experience, too. You don’t have to know about music to love it, the same way you don’t have to be a cardiologist to know your heart makes you feel good things and bad things. But the cardiologist doesn’t regulate his treatment only to other doctors; he heals real people, the same way musicians have a healing power, and a duty to use it. And any Berklee professor will tell you: if you make music for musicians, you will STARVE.

The young artists who get ahead in today’s industry know about the power of community. You see the amateur MCs free-styling in a group. You see a jazz TRIO trading fours at Wally’s. You see the Monkey Rock Writer’s Circle at All Asia every Wednesday to hang out and play songs for each other.  We’re on the same team.

Some of us will be luckier than others. Some are better connected. Some will just plain work harder.  And the competition is as fierce as it’s ever been. But for the ones with real passion for real music, community will always triumph over competition.

Think of the people you’ve met in Harmony class. The kids you’ve sat next to at Crazy Dough’s. Your humble student newspaper. Of course they’re your friends, but it goes beyond the g-chatting, the Myspace top-friending and the Twitter following. They are your fellow soldiers in this insane industry. They are the ears that will hear your first rough cut. They are the hands that will help you lift that Marshall stack into the back of a Volvo. They are the honest critics who will see you on TV and tell you, ‘You know, the camera really does add about ten lbs.’ They are the ones who will be at your house in sixty years to tell your grandchildren about the time you were in a band together, and you had to lug your drums around on the subway in Manhattan.

Matthews Knowles, music biz heavyweight and father and manager of Beyonce, spoke at David Friend Recital Hall last year. At the end of his conference, he asked all of the singers in the room to stand up. Then the songwriters. Then the drummers. Then the producers. Then the videographers, and so on. Then he said: ‘everyone you need to succeed is right in this room.’

And so it is: everyone, and everything, you need is right here all around you. We’re all on the same team.

Good luck, listen hard, and don’t ever let that mysterious feeling music gives you fade away.

By Zac Taylor
Managing Editor

Photo by Conor Doherty.

You hear her voice and you go: man! You see her photo and you go: huh? It’s a common occurrence for Merrily James , a slender girl with a gigantic voice, who could give Jill Scott a run for her money.

Produced by Darren McGrath, the soulful tunes on Words for Everything are supported by an all-star cast of musicians:  Jake Cohen on drums and Claire Finley on bass laying down dynamic grooves; Randy Runyon on guitar, Dane Farnsworth on keys providing tasty R&B-infused textures; and a host of horns, strings, and backup singers that give all of the songs a lovely listenability.

Perhaps the most easily accessible of the six tunes, “Braver than Blue” could easily be a track on the next Joss Stone CD, minus the accent. A childlike glockenspiel bounces on top of a smoky Wurlitzer as James comes in, “Remember that time we kissed on your front steps?” The chorus explodes with horns and “ahhs” that bury into your brain upon first listen.

In “Street with No Name” a tasteful piano welds together with a heart-rendering string section make certain lyrics like “So you take your faith and you throw it out on the wet ground/Just when you think that love’s keeping you warm, it burns you alive” hit you right in the kisser.

The record takes a bluesy turn on the next track, “Long, Long time.” Saucy organ licks and rhythmic feel changes between the verse and chorus show that James has been taking her gospel vitamins and listening to plenty of Ray Charles; it also illustrates that her songwriting is easily as impressive and mature as her powerful voice.

You can hear James belt it out this Friday night at the Agganis Area for Berklee’s Commencement. 

By Julie Hill
Contributing Writer

David Chesky

David Chesky, a three-time Grammy nominee, who currently holds the position of Composer in Residence for the National Symphony of Taiwan, is without doubt a modern-day Renaissance man. He is the co-founder of Grammy Award-winning audiophile record label Chesky Records, which has recorded hundreds of records with such legends as McCoy Tyner, Chuck Mangione, David Johansen, Ron Carter, and the late Peggy Lee. He is also the co-founder of leading independent music library, Manhattan Production Music. His newest venture is HDtracks.com, a high-resolution digital music store featuring content from such heralded record labels as ECM, the Beggars Group, Favored Nations, Rounder Records and Universal Music.

Julie Hill: Tell us about HD Tracks.

David Chesky: HD Tracks is the world’s only site that gives you high-resolution downloads. It’s CD quality and DVD audio with full PDF liner notes. So what’s cool about it is that a regular download is 128 kilobits per second. Our basic rate is CD quality. That’s 1411 kilobits per second. And our super DVD audio quality is 4608 kilobits per second. And what does that mean? Look…. A jazz musician—let’s say a sax player—spends his whole life to get a great tone, so why destroy that tone at 128 kilobits per second? If a drummer goes out and buys these amazing Zildjian symbols that have this amazing sparkle, why just go out and destroy the sound? The poetry of music is sound. So the beauty of HD tracks is that you really get to hear all the nuances and the tone, the poetry in a download now. And the other really cool thing about this is that you get the liner notes. I mean—what if you buy a really great jazz record online and you wanna know ‘Who’s the bass player? Who recorded this?’ That’s really important. I mean, if you go to the concert hall, how can you listen to a concert with out any program notes? In jazz, the liner notes are the program notes. To have that disappear in a second is really dumb. We need to recognize the great people on the record. By downloading HD Tracks now, you can get the full liner notes and an amazing audio experience.

JH: How did you guys get started with HD Tracks? A lot of people try to get music downloading servers up and running.

DC: This came about because my brother and I own Chesky Records. For the past 25 years, we’ve been developing music recording technology to get a really great sound. I mean, our motto is ‘Great Artists. Great Sound.’ We’re just taking this one step further, putting this idea online. It’s about quality.

JH: Who are you really trying to appeal to here? What do you hope for in the future for HD Tracks?

DC: HD Tracks was designed for people who really listen to music. You know the problem is today that people listen to music while doing anything else but listening to music. They listen while they’re vacuuming, walking their dog, eating dinner, jogging. How many people do you know who actually listen to

music? Our tracks are meant to be listened to. That’s why they’re high-definition. The market is people who really care about quality. And it’s not for everybody. I mean, if you wanna have 9 million tracks walking around with you, we’re not the site for you. But if you wanna have a great listening experience that you can download, that’s what HD Tracks is about.

JH: Absolutely. I think that a lot of Berklee students would like to get into some business that can make quality m

ore accessible. And I think what a lot of people are afraid of right now is that the masses don’t fully realize what they’re missing out on, so they go for quantity. I’m wondering how you guys create a client base that understands quality over quantity in this day and age. You guys have been so successful, and I think Berklee kids would be interested as to how you publicize great things like HD Tracks.

DC: Every musician you know—let’s say a rock band—just spent months in the studio sweating over EQs, mixes, what kind of echo. Do you think that the arena they want their music to be heard in involves 2 plastic speakers while someone is surfing the web? No. The album was intended to be played on big speakers. Sit down on the couch and rock out. So the artists are our biggest supporters. They wanna be on HD Tracks. We’re just trying to do justice to the artist. This is for any artist. I know its true for classical, jazz, rock n’ roll. People work hard to make records. They spend enormous time doing this and they want their work to be shown in the best light that it can. So the artists are our best source of PR, because they tell people about it. And I guess that people at Berklee who are into music will be into it, because they care about music.

JH: Can you tell us about some of the great artists who are on HD Tracks?

DC: Well, first of all, we’re the first people to release the new Keith Jarrett album, Paris. London. We just came out with Robert Plant and Alison Krauss. We have all the standard great jazz from Louis Armstrong to Miles Davis. We have ECM. We have Sunnyside. We just signed Verve. We have tons of great jazz labels on the site. So basically we’re focusing on great Jazz, great Classical, great World artists.

JH: What kind of suggestions do you have for Berklee students who are getting into the jazz realm, either as performers or in the music business sector?

The Chesky Brothers: Norman and David.

DC: My advice is not to rely on other people. Go out, get a band, make your own recording, put it online, and sell it. Get out there and work it. It’s a different world. You have to learn about business. The days of the record company, of managers signing bands and taking care of everything are over. Artists have to be very web-savvy and very business-savvy. That’s the world. The future is going to be a world of independence. You’re going to see lots and lots of artists owning small labels. That’s the way it’s gonna go.

JH: Is there anything else you want to tell us about HD Tracks or about yourself?

DC: You know—I’m a composer. The whole reason for this is that I’m a composer. It’s all about the music. I live, breathe, eat music. Jazz. Classical. I love it. My philosophy is that if you’re going to do it, you might as well make it sound as great as you can, because you’re going to be in the studio anyway. When you make the record, spend the extra 20%. Make it sound good. Especially jazz musicians. I write classical music now, so it’s all written down. But the only real way to document jazz is recording. So you might as well make it sound great for the next generation. Not only are you making a piece of entertainment, you’re making a documentary of a time. That’s why Keith Jarrett puts the same passion and detail into recording and capturing his music as he does playing. Because he gets the whole picture. If you’re lucky enough to be at a Keith Jarrett concert, that’s great. But if you’re in Tahiti, and you can’t be there, then that’s where we come in, trying to bring you as close to the artist as possible.

My Fake Funeral performing at SXSW in Austin, TX.

By Zac Taylor
Managing Editor

Heavy Rotations’ number one zombie flick aficionado has dropped her name in favor of a more fitting, group-oriented moniker. Ann Driscoll has renamed her solo project My Fake Funeral, derived from the name of a one-act musical theater piece she penned last year. The band still features the same cast of topnotch musicians: Bruno Esrubilsky on drums, Dabbo Caucci on bass, and Justin Hancock on guitar.

MFF broke in their new name last Saturday, April 17 at Church. The crowd danced and sang along with Driscoll and the boys; imagine In Utero-era Nirvana fronted by Fiona Apple with an orange Grestch guitar. The quartet is still tight from a number of SXSW showcases, and are currently compiling material for a record sometime this summer.

Also the front person for all-girl dance rock band Mrs. Danvers, Driscoll’s catalog continues to define itself as dark and edgy content juxtaposed with super-catchy melodies and highly sing-along-able choruses; the tunes “I Wanna Be Your Zombie” and “I Wanna Believe You” perhaps exemplify this delightful contradiction.

You can catch My Fake Funeral this Sunday, May 2 on the roof of 173 Newbury Street at 2pm. Check them out at myspace.com/myfakefuneral.

iSight? On the 1 Bus? Why not.

By Zac Taylor
Managing Editor

I’m writing this from the back of the 1 Bus from Harvard Square to Hynes. People are looking at me funny. So what else is new…

The next couple weeks are typically the most fun of the year: turning in all the assignments you’ve missed, cramming for proficiencies (which is typically reserved for this upcoming Sunday), and for us graduates, figuring out what we’re going to do on Monday, May 10.

My time (or reign, if you will) as managing editor of your humble student newspaper is coming to an end; and I like to think I left it better than I found it. For instance—you see how you’re reading this on a screen and not on paper? Still a pretty new thing. And have you notice the new content uploaded everyday? Pretty nifty, right?

I have been interviewing for an entire new staff (with the exception of our Promo Director Christine), and I think you all will be very pleased with the new batch; unlike Saved by The Bell: The New Class. While it has been enriching and inspiring to write about my fellow musicians, it has often been a pickle to swap out my journalist hat for my musician hat and back again. I’m indeed looking forward to having my hands on a guitar and microphone more than a Macbook and mouse.

Speaking of which, I’m releasing my first record, Salesman, next Thursday May 6 at Café 939. My friends Nini + Ben and Kris Roche will be opening up the show, and all of our parents will be in town for graduation. So I guess it’s kind of my senior recital, too (Mainly because I forgot to book 1A in 1140 in time…).

We’ll chat once more before I sign off for good. In the meantime—get those melodic minor runs together, or the terrorists win.

P.S. John Mayer’s not really coming back to Berklee. Gotcha.

By Zac Taylor
Managing Editor

Better in the Summertime, Natalie Smith’s debut EP, opens with: “Boys and girls go through each other like disposable toys, taking out all the joy.” This opening track, “Call it Off,” is the first of five tunes that weave together sharp, straightforward lyrics and pop textures with dirty electric guitar and driving keys.

Smith’s punchy and, at times, gritty vocal delivery finds a balance between Alanis Morissette’s confessional attitude and Ingrid Michaelson’s bubble gum charm.

The record was recorded this past fall; it’s no wonder that the wretched New England weather has given this California native the wintertime blues. The title track, a melancholy power ballad, finds Smith coping with an everyday case of seasonal affective disorder: “Somewhere between the autumn leaves and the equinox I buried my hopes in all of the snow,” she sings.

You can clearly hear a Ben Folds vibe in the tune “Never Gonna Be,” complimented by producer/keyboardist Matt MacArthur’s contributions on both sides of the glass. This comes as no surprise, considering that Smith actually sang back-up for Folds for his performance at the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Clearly a well-trained singer and songwriter, Smith always keeps the song at the top of her priority; no excessive vocal runs or any other showy elements that would distract for her stories.

These songs have the grrl power substance that pop tarts like Avril wish they could write (or have written for them). There is an uplifting thread that tie the narratives together in a well-produced, radio-friendly package—just in time for summer—when “hope is finally in bloom again.”