GZA/The Genius is a founding member of the seminal hip hop group the Wu-Tang Clan. GZA boasted some high-profile appearances on the group’s debut album, Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), including one of only two solo tracks, “Clan in da Front.”

GZA’s 1995 solo effort, Liquid Swords, produced entirely by RZA, met with critical and commercial acclaim, and is largely considered one of the best albums to come out of the Wu-Tang camp. In 1998, the album was selected as one of The Source Magazine’s 100 Best Rap Albums of all time. Steve Huey of Allmusic called him “one of the best lyricists of the 1990s,” while the editors of About.com ranked him #17 on their list of the Top 50 MCs of Our Time (1987–2007), making him the highest-ranking Wu-Tang Clan member on the list.

GZA’s subsequent solo projects were all received to great critical acclaim: Beneath the Surface (1999); Legend of the Liquid Sword (2002); Grandmasters (2005) with DJ Muggs (the producer for hip-hop group Cypress Hill) which saw GZA using chess as a metaphor for the rap game; and finally, Pro Tools (2008) featured production from past collaborators RZA, Mathematics, and True Master.

As Carbon Leaf approaches their 20th year of award-winning recording and touring, the band enters 2011 with more creative designs to independently produce a steady stream of new music.

With nine albums under their belt, Carbon Leaf will release a live CD and DVD in early 2011, a full length CD slated for the Fall, and multiple songs and EPs throughout the year.

The Richmond, Virginia-based group began as an independent band in 1992, then signed on with Vanguard Records for a three album stint in 2004. Along the way, Carbon Leaf scored hit singles at both AAA and Hot AC Radio with “Life Less Ordinary” and “The Boxer,” placed first in the International Songwriting Competition, won an American Music Award, and recorded the music for Universal’s Curious George II soundtrack in 2010.

On 11/11/11 the Boston based, Adam Ezra Group, officially released their much anticipated album, “Ragtop Angel.” The CD is their debut on Royal Avenue Records and was produced by multiplatinumproducer Aaron Johnson, best known for his work with The Fray. The group’s live performances, sweaty, passionate affairs that have been compared to those of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, attracted the attention of Royal Avenue Records in 2010. Ezra immediately signed with Royal Avenue and began working on the album that eventually became Ragtop Angel. Royal Avenue paired the group with producer Aaron Johnson who has helped hone Adam’s ramblings into finely tuned pop songs that still retain the power and conviction developed from Ezra’s years of “do it yourself,” grassroots work ethic.

The first single, “Takin’ Off,” has been getting added to playlists on radio stations across the country. The group also released their first video, “Miss Hallelujah,” filmed on location throughout their hometown of Boston. But The Adam Ezra Group (AEG) is not just a band; they are a force to be reckoned with musically, personally and socially. Selling records and tickets is important to AEG, but they are committed to changing the world with their songs and their actions along the way. Ezra and his band are activists and community leaders as much as they are musicians and songwriters. Ezra has spent time living out of a van, farming in Canada, volunteering for the relief effort in Kosovo, and practicing environmental geography in South Africa. Whether as a kitchen hand or carpenter, teacher, athlete, or traveler, Ezra crams it all into the music, always challenging our perspective and often teetering somewhere between the ballsy rocker and sensitive poet. AEG currently contributes 25% of their touring to benefit causes in communities across the country and worldwide.

Having toured with Rusted Root, The Avett Brothers, Jason Mraz, The Goo Goo Dolls, Blues Traveler, Los Lobos, Toad the Wet Sprocket, Dwight Yoakam, and many more, the Adam Ezra Group has graduated from the local Boston scene to the national level with a momentum that is catapulting them towards being one of the country’s most talked about bands.

“Not since Springsteen and Bono have I seen a lead singer with his talent and charisma.” — Jack Casey, General ManagerWERS radio in Boston

Dragging On
By Dan Bolles [02.08.12]
http://www.7dvt.com/2012dragging
 

Recently, Seven Days partnered with local TV station WCAX in order to cross-pollinate coverage via the station’s numerous news broadcast platforms. A few times a week, you can catch our reporters shooting the shit with WCAX anchors about various topics. (And yes, the gratuitous swear was intentional, since we can’t say any of them on the TV. So frustrating.) One evening, Ken Picard or Andy Bromage might be on talking about hard news or politics. The next, you might see Alice Levitt talking about food or …

This Saturday, January 14, Big Heavy World, Halogen Media and consummate Queen City scene booster Joe Adler are hosting the Vermont Musicians’ Summit at the Higher Ground Showcase Lounge. The idea is to offer local musicians, representatives and other assorted folks the chance to gather in one place, swap war stories, network, share ideas and, of course, rock out. It’s like a business social mixer, minus the annoying business people. Also, I’m told there will be hors d’oeuvres.

The First Annual
Vermont Musicians’ Summit
with Kat Wright & Indomitable Soul Band, Soule Monde, Something with Strings, The Human Canvas, The Wind Woods w/ Brett Hughes, The Smittens, Anna Pardenik + More!

Joe Adler (Radio Bean), Jim Lockridge (Big Heavy World), and Justin Hoy (Halogen Media) are partnering up to present “The 1st Annual Vermont Musicians’ Summit”, Saturday, January 14 @ Higher Ground in their Showcase Lounge. This very special event, with the goal of bringing the local music community together, is a call to action directed at Vermont’s musicians and music …