Ben Levin Group Announces New Album "Freak Machine" Out 02.10 by Chris Baum

On Freak Machine, the genre-bridging progressive rock ensemble known as Ben Levin Group offers a jarring musical portrait of a man’s experience as his brain destroys itself. Inspired by the absurd sense of discombobulation brought on by unrequited love, the group draws from a vortex of seemingly disparate influences and absurd lyrics that weave together and fire off like neurons during a disaster or coitus. The group hopes to show that no matter how rattled heartbreak has left you, you’re doing a lot better than the guy in this story.

Composer and guitarist Ben Levin has been writing long-form works since 2010’s Pulse of a Nation, each piece continuing to escalate in scope and scale. Freak Machine, a four-movement, thirty-five minute epic, was composed over the course of a summer in Boston. Levin had just auditioned for Lady Gaga, learning her entire repertoire in the process. Dance music ensnaring his subconscious, the project was initiated as a way to pull the genre out of his head. As the writing progressed, however, the piece became much more than just an ironic poke at pop, and by its completion, Freak Machine had transformed into an unsettling personal archive of love and obsession.

There’s a powerful dichotomy between the euphoria and unbearable pain of infatuation, and Freak Machine encapsulates these opposites brilliantly. The beauty in the work lies in its directness, offering an extreme anecdote for rejection without being weighed down by the grace and wisdom of atonement.  The album is by turns crude and elegant, examining the madonna/whore paradox and the suffocating pettiness of an unfulfilled life crumbling in slow motion.

Ben Levin, frequently lauded for his work as a guitarist and music educator, is stunning on recording, his playing more graceful and innovative with each subsequent release. The band - Jed Lingat (bass), Courtney Swain (vocals), Josh Friedman (keyboards), Chris Baum (violin) and Tyler LeVander (drums) - all Berklee College of Music alumni, dazzles as well, navigating the score’s complexity with ease. Freak Machine often feels like a concerto for the human voice, and Courtney Swain’s performance is nothing short of masterful. Having worked with the band for their past three releases, producer Vince Welch has truly come to form in his own right, honing and capturing Levin’s vision and the group’s musicianship masterfully.

A milestone in the career of the young composer, Freak Machine is a true work of art, unabashedly probing the repercussions of obsession and heartbreak. In a musical landscape that often feels bland and familiar, Ben Levin Group’s latest offering ventures down untrodden sonic paths, introducing us to a dynamic, challenging, and exciting new future in the world of progressive music.

Freak Machine comes out February 10th, followed by a performance of the piece in its entirety February 15th at Cuisine en Locale in Somerville, MA. View the trailer at http://youtu.be/p7-UFlKBrU0.

Secret Dog Brigade Label Launch Party 02.15 by Chris Baum

Secret Dog Brigade is a new music label, artist collective, and a community, organized by myself and the good people behind Bent Knee, Ben Levin Group, That One Eyed Kid, Mr. Gavin's Meat Farm, and Justice Cow. With 8 musicians and 5 bands, we've been confusing our friends and audiences about who's doing what in who's band for years, so we've finally decided to come together as an official collective. 

At launch, SDB will be a humble, tiny label in a big sea of music, but we have big aspirations to turn it into a vibrant community and a resource that gives back to the musical/artistic community we're all in. If you're in the Boston area, please join us for our launch party on February 15th at Cuisine en Locale in Somerville, MA. All of the SDB bands will be performing, and Ben Levin Group will be playing the brand new record "Freak Machine" (out February 10th) in its entirety. We'll tell you more about who/what we are, and we'll have sign-ups and resources for future directions and ideas we want to explore. 

We want to connect all the dots between the musicians and artists we've met since we all moved to New England so put on your hippest shoes, pack your business cards, and let's have a great time! 

February 15th | $10 | Doors at 7PM

facebook.com/events/404405169723932

Guy Mendilow Ensemble | Philadelphia Girls Choir Collaboration 04.19 by Chris Baum

Jointly created by Guy Mendilow and Nathan Wadley, with additional composition by Chris Baum, Three Sides to Every Story features the Philadelphia Girls Choir and the Guy Mendilow Ensemble in a semi-theatrical collection of vignettes of struggle, redemption and celebration. We are especially interested in the pulls and tugs of irony, the tensions in stories that should be utterly dark and yet somehow contain bold hope, or moments of peaceful, picturesque beauty with an underlying despair running just skin-deep. From epic to stark to irreverently funny, Three Sides to Every Story explores the ways that contradictions come together to flesh out a story in greater depth and humanity.

Embark on a musical trek from bustling Mediterranean ports and resplendent Balkan capitals to communities shattered in the second world war and all but forgotten. Follow stories of orphan poets, vagabond queens and sailors lost to the sea, all set to spellbinding arrangements worthy of symphonic film scores. Wrap these tales up with lush choral harmonies and soulful vocals evoking Flamenco’s gutsiness set to heart-pounding percussion and intricate soundscapes.

Journey through the Balkans to the Mid-East beginning in Sarajevo and winding through war-torn Salonica. Three Sides to Every Story is a sonic adventure masterfully brought to life by the Guy Mendilow Ensemble, an award-winning quintet of world class musicians from Israel, Palestine, Argentina, and the USA and the Philadelphia Girls’ Choir, quickly establishing itself as one of the foremost American girls’ choirs for the purity and warmth of its sound. In a richly textured experience of haunting beauty, audiences are challenged with ironies and contradictions. What does it mean to feel the hope and wonder of childhood, to play games — in the midst of Auschwitz? To be struck by postcard-perfect countrysides even as the ghosts of a not-too-distant nightmare history can be just barely seen? In a semi-theatrical performance ranging from epic to irreverent, narration and music weave seamlessly to stir images of struggle, of light in the darkest hours, and, ultimately, riotous celebration, reminding us that, indeed, there are at least three sides to every story.

To commemorate the seventieth anniversary of the end of World War II, this concert includes new arrangements of pieces written both during and about Jewish wartime experiences, including seldom heard Ladino songs giving voice to experiences historically left out of World War II conversations.

Three Sides To Every Story premieres April 19th at 4PM at the National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia, PA.