New Beard, The Mast, Xenia Rubinos

NEW BEARD is a real band from Brooklyn. A really good, rockin’ creative band, with beards and a tuba. This band cannot be put it into one specific box. It just wouldnt be right to do that to do that to a prog-master drummer, a mysterious blues guitar wizard, a junk-loving girl, and a hobbit with the voice of an angel. And a tuba.

Led and fronted by counter-tenor singer and composer Ben Wigler, this band is the sequel to his previous band Arizona which achieved significant success after relentless touring with bands like the Band of Horses, Derek Trucks, The Slip, Dead Confederate, and the Indigo Girls.

After Arizona, with a more focused lens, Wigler teamed up with his childhood friend and drummer phenom Tony Waldman to get his new project rolling. Some friends from an adjacent avant-garde group suggested they invite notorious tuba-rocker TubaJoe Exley to be the low end instead of a more predictable electric bass. At the band’s sold-out debut in Manhattan, the trio met the kind, hairy, soulful and single-named lefty guitar shredder Yazan and asked him to join them. This freaky Brooklyn-stew of bearded characters then took immediate refuge in a cellar under a dive bar in Williamsburg and tirelessly cooked up an epic LP called NEW BEARD CITY.

A sequel to their successful and radio-friendly EP “Moment of Peace”, “New Beard City” picks up where Arizona’s acclaimed “Welcome Back Children” left off. With influences from Elliot Smith to Megadeath, this massively orchestrated album was tailored by Gustav Ejstes of the Swedish band Dungen. Ejstes and New Beard crafted a beautiful and powerful record which delightfully rolls from Indie rock to prog metal to swing to Japanese folk music with joyous fluidity. After summoning the backing presence of an entire orchestra of the most diverse and creative instrumental voices from the Brooklyn scene (including New Beard’s newest member, the sax-blasting Maria Christina Eisen), Shoulder Tap records’ New Beard City now sets the scene for their live show as they hit the road and trip the heavy fantastic with this powerful
and unique debut LP.

Music maker Xenia Rubinos uses her voice to create beats and harmonies from scratch. American, born to CubaRican parents, Xenia's music tends to play off the cliché of the Latina woman, "It's an image of these magnificent wild women I grew up around, mixed with me today in Brooklyn." Her debut record, Magic Trix, bears traces of indie rock, Spanish folk, R&B, and punk while boldly announcing a sound that's all her own.                                

Recorded in a sweaty Brooklyn basement, Magic Trix is a colorful illustration of both Xenia's quirky songwriting and the band's live show. Co-producer/drummer Marco Buccelli, who helped shape the record's sound, says, "We experimented with distortion and having an electronic aesthetic on my acoustic drum set. Our overall philosophy was to use what we know and what we have around us to strike a balance between analogic live sound and today's digital perfection." The record was engineered, mixed, and mastered by Jeremy Loucas who has worked with Grammy Award winner Esperanza Spalding, Lulu Gainsbourg, and Terry Lynne Carrington, among many others. Buccelli's experimentation paired with Loucas' technical prowess scored the team the punchy, live, aggressive sound they were looking for.

Opening track "Help" tells the story of Rosa, a witch doctor who lives under a bridge with her two children and heals people in exchange for money. Jump-started by a quirky vocal loop, "Ultima" turns into a danceable reggaeton-like proclamation about being the last one in line at a Havana bank. The album's single, "Hair Receeding" is a rocked out slow jam featuring a big crunchy organ sound and head nodding drum beat. Xenia delivers cheeky Spanish wordplay on tracks like "Los Mangopaunos" and "Pan y Café", the latter of which features the band's bassist, Adam Minkoff, on a car engine-like bassline. Buccelli's ecstatic drum theatrics paired with R&B inflected vocals and distorted keyboards on "Cherry Tree" recall a certain Brooklyn indie sound, while maintaining a distinctly fresh flavor. Having toured Europe and US, including showcases at last year's SXSW, the band continues touring in support of their new album this year.

Whether making music on computers or guitars and drums, the Brooklyn-based duo The Mast create an entrancing sound all their own. On May 29th, they released their new single UpUpUp, a post-dubstep, early IDM-inspired track with velvety vocals and an infectious chorus. The single made Beatports top 10 Must Hear Electronic tracks and the video has been buzzing through the blogosphere. Directed and designed by Haale of The Mast, the video features the
LA-based dancer and performance artist, Pandora Marie (Step Up 3D and The LXD: The Legion of Extraordinary Dancers) in chalk-colored body paint popping, tutting, and shaking off dust in a black void. Through the middle to end of the video are flashes of her suited up in cityscapes, jungle foliage, fish scales, and vibrant geometries.
The Mast released their first album 'Wild Poppies' to critical acclaim in 2011. Since then they've been touring, composing, and recording in their Brooklyn studio. Matt is also the Music Coordinator and main composer for Louis CK's Emmy-nominated FX show Louie.