Cuddle Magic is Benjamin Lazar Davis, Christopher McDonald, Dave Flaherty, Alec Spiegelman, Kristin Slipp and Cole Kamen-Green–a six-piece avant-pop band located between Brooklyn and Philadelphia. All six musicians are in-demand collaborators in New York’s musical community and work with a wide array of artists, from pop superstars like Beyoncé to critically lauded independent musicians like Will Sheff (Okkervil River) and Amanda Palmer (Dresden Dolls), as well as with respected figures of the avant-garde like Fred Frith and Ran Blake. The members of Cuddle Magic met as students at Boston’s New England Conservatory.
It’s been a few years since the New Yorker labeled Cuddle Magic’s music “high concept chamber-pop.” At the time, that was a fair statement about a band known to utilize 12-tone rows, odd meters, and extended techniques; a band which had collaborated with new music pianist Phyllis Chen. But with Ashes/Axis, the band’s new full-length record, listeners are less likely to hear echoes of the academy. All sorts of heady compositional devices, both musical and literary, are still present, but the members of Cuddle Magic have learned to bury those influences deeper in the substrate of the music.
Chris Vatalaro is an immensely creative drummer and percussionist, originally from upstate New York, US, and now is based in London, UK. A multi-instrumentalist, Vatalaro has been playing in ‘Antibalas’ since 2003. Known for his amalgamation of orthodox and experimental approaches, he originally started studying music in nursery school and throughout his life has had a great deal of formal training.
Celebrate the release of the Stash Band’s 3rd album, “Chapter 3”!
Referred to by the Boston Herald as a “Sonic Kaleidoscopic of Weirdness and Wonder” the STASH band is bluegrass meeting heavy metal meeting outer space music. Fronted by Stash Wyslouch they play original music on fiddle, guitar, bass and drums combining the song-writing of snarky rock bands of the days of yore and fresh psychedelic bluegrass-metal riffs churned out at lightning speed. Prepare to laugh, cry, jam and mosh.
Rushad Eggleston (“Rushadicus”) is a revolutionary cellist, composer, poet-philosopher, and entertainer whose unforgettable performances captivate and inspire all generations and types. With an intimate knowledge of classical music, jazz, and bluegrass under his fingers, coupled with an infamously infectious sense of rhythm, Rushad is a whole futuristic wonder-band expressed through just one person.
Using his cello (and occasionally a guitar) as the steering wheel, Rushadicus will take you on a rocket-fueled melodic journey through space and time, and from the ridiculous to the sublime. Hopping nimbly around the stage with his cello strapped to his body while passionately singing songs that range from stuck-in-your-head-for-weeks to elaborate yet compelling miniature operas in his own language of Sneth, Eggleston is an incomparable soulful jester of modern times. A fearless improviser, Eggleston spontaneously navigates through his seemingly endless repertoire of instrumentals and vocals, only pausing briefly to set the stage for a battle between him and Bach, or rattling off with incredible speed a 3 page poem of self-fashioned words*.
If this sounds a bit far-fetched or incoherent, make no mistake: Rushad Eggleston is a world-class entertainer, with credentials. He won a full scholarship to Berklee College of Music in Boston and was nominated for a Grammy award while still studying there, a feat which no other member of its laundry list of legendary alumni have pulled off. Eggleston singlehandedly invented bluegrass cello and spawned a huge revival of cello in roots music. Now it seems every other band you see has some transformed cellist jamming along. In addition to acting in television commercials for the likes of Mazda, appearing on movie soundtracks and hundreds of studio recordings, Rushad was also a founding member of the popular alt-bluegrass outfit Crooked Still, legendary stringband Fiddlers 4, and explosive rock trio Tornado Rider. He has performed at renowned venues (including Carnegie Hall) in 45 states and 13 countries, and taught hundreds of youngsters worldwide how to let loose their musical imaginations and rock on the cello.
Irreverent, bold and inventive, Boston duo Mattie & Debbie (Sean Trischka and Stash Wyslouch) straddle the lines of bluegrass, performance art, punk, funk and pop .
The partnership of Sean Trischka (drum set, vox, other) and Stash Wyslouch (guitar, vox, other) manifested in the form of Mattie & Debbie in 2017, in an effort to streamline their musical collaboration. Whether re-imagining a classic cover or churning out one of their many original songs, Mattie & Debbie combine a love for the unknown and unexpected with detail, craft, and a telepathic communication nurtured in years of playing and learning together.
Celebrate the release of Stash Wyslouch’s 6th studio release album, “SOLO.”
Hailed as “the most avant-garde” Bluegrass guitarist, Stash Wyslouch’s music knows no bounds. Navigating an internal constitution featuring equal parts reverence for traditional bluegrass and a penchant for iconoclasm and experimentation, Wyslouch blends entertainment, innovation, and sacredness to make a whole all his own.
With just guitar and vocals, Wyslouch’s new album “SOLO” features interpretations of Bob Dylan, Bill Monroe, Dock Boggs and his signature stream-of-consciousness through-composed odysseys.
Polish-Colombian Stash Wyslouch is an avant-garde Bluegrass guitarist, singer and songwriter. His music delights in story-telling, improvisation and outer-space worthy composition. Despite his Heavy-Metal beginnings in middle and high school, Bluegrass music has been central to Wyslouch’s life for the past 15 years touring and recording with groups such as The Deadly Gentlemen, Bruce Molsky’s Mountain Drifters, The Jacob Jolliff Band, and Tony Trischka’s Early Roman Kings.
