Artists
Artist Profile
The Sway Machinery
- Contact
Management - Alex Kadvan @ Kadvan Entertainment
Label - Aaron Bisman @ JDub Records
Publicity - Emily Goldsher @ JDub Records
- Links
Website - http://swaymachinery.com
The Sway Machinery is an all-star collective of innovative visionaries led by guitarist Jeremiah Lockwood of Balkan Beat Box. The Sway machinery also includes Brian Chase of the Yeah Yeah Yeah's on drums, Stuart Bogie and Jordan McLean of the Antibalas horn section on tenor saxophone and trumpet respectively, and touring member of the Arcade Fire Colin Stetson on bass saxophone.
The Sway Machinery's sound stems from Lockwood's rich musical relationships with his grandfather Cantor Jacob Konigsberg, and with his mentor Carolina Slim, the renowned blues player who fondly guided Lockwood's musical development. Konigsberg, one of the last great exponents of Cantorial singing, guided Lockwood into an understanding and love of the soulful and ancient heritage of Synagogue music. Lockwood's deeply personal relationship to these two musical traditions helped him to forge a unique musical language of his own, as he learned to move from singing in his grandfather's study to playing with Carolina Slim in New York City subway stations. The Sway Machinery was borne out of this dichotomy.
Though The Sway Machinery carefully cultivates Lockwood's deeply felt relationship to his musical roots, his accomplished colleagues bring to the table the sounds of afro-beat horns, unassailable rock beats and an astutely contemporary musical sensibility.
Lockwood layers the haunting notes of his Cantorial-influenced vocals over the energetic, celebratory rhythms of afro-pop, hard-hitting drums and the blues. Hidden Melodies Revealed showcases pieces based on mystical texts taken directly from the Jewish High Holiday prayers and reconfigures them in a startlingly new musical landscape. Lockwood's ambitious melding of styles results in what The Village Voice has called a most “joyful synthesis.”
The latest indie supergroup has a sound that.... well, you just have to hear to describe. Listen now!" - SPIN.com
"Just when you were sure the word "supergroup" violated FCC regulations, members of Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Balkan Beat Box, Antibalas and Arcade Fire are teaming up as The Sway Machinery" - CMJ.com
"Lockwood's arrangements of Jewish cantorial songs whip up a frenzy wherein all the world's music can do that which music does best: celebrate. Such joyful synthesis is what music is all about, not to mention what New York is all about" - Village Voice
Latest_news
Sway Machinery & Antibalas West Coast Tour
7/14 San Diego @ Casbah (2501 Kettner Boulevard)
Doors 8:30 pm, 21+, $14 BUY TICKETS
7/15 Los Angeles @ Echoplex (1154 Glendale Blvd)
Doors 8:30 pm, 18+, $21 BUY TICKETS
7/16 San Francisco @ Great American Music Hall (859 O’Farrell Street)
Doors 8 pm , Show 9 pm, All Ages, $21 BUY TICKETS
7/19 Portland @ Berbati’s Pan (231 SW Ankeny St)
Doors 8pm, Show 9 pm, 21+, $16 BUY TICKETS
7/20 Seattle @ Neumos (925 E. Pike St)
Doors 8 pm, 21+, $16 BUY TICKETS
Jeremiah Lockwood for The Forward
The Sway Machinery’s Jeremiah Lockwood recounted his trip to Mali for Festival Au Desert to The Forward this morning. You can check out that awesome article HERE.
“Ag Mohamed invited me into a Tuareg tent, where men were singing together in call and response. He nudged me into the circle, and we clapped and sang along. Two little girls were accompanying the group with drums, under the watchful eye of their mother, who was coaching their playing. Everyone was laughing and applauding each other’s creativity with raucous catcalls. In my mind’s eye, I saw the needlepoint on my grandparents’ wall, and I could hear the singing of zemiros, or Jewish hymns, and the sound of nigunim, wordless melodies, with my grandfather and my cousins at my grandfather’s tish. I looked around the faces in the tent and saw the kindness born of mutual respect. And I was grateful because I had been blessed to fulfill a verse of scripture: “Behold how good it is to sit in the unity of brotherhood.””
View From The Desert
I’ve been talking a lot about Mali’s Festival Au Desert, which The Sway Machinery just performed at. For some reason, I’m just totally captivated by the idea of a music festival right in the middle of the desert sand dunes. When I found BBC World Service’ gallery of photos from the festival, I knew I had to share some of them here:
Sway in the Desert
Afropop.org has a great article recounting the recent Festival Au Desert, including some great insights on The Sway Machinery and what seems like their multiple collaborations with Malian musicians. You can check that out HERE.
“In the early evening in one of the tents a remarkable collaboration occurred as the American group, Sway Machinery, had a jam session with the Malian band from the city of Gao, Super Khoumeissa. At the outset, their music couldn’t be more different but as they played together a wonderful melding occurred. Super Khoumeissa has a unique sound that immediately hooked both Animal Collective and the Sway Machinery. As Jeremiah Lockwood, the leader of Sway Machinery put it, their sound is a “unique interaction with amplification technology that spins traditional music and repositions it into the realm of hardcore electronica.” The horns of Sway Machinery lent a chromatic depth to Khoumeissa’s already reverberating buzz, and Lockwood’s guitar playing melded perfectly into the mix. The groups made an arrangement to record together in Bamako a few days after the Festival ended so we’ll have to wait to hear what comes out of this meeting in the sands.“
What We Did With Our Winter Vacation
Well, we’re back from vacation, and it’s time to catch you all up on what you might have missed over the break. Here ya’ go:
- The Faster Times included The Sway Machinery and Girls in Trouble in their Best of 2009 Music list.
- The Boston Survival Guide chose Girls in Trouble to include in their 2009 Band Roundup.
- Made Up Disease (MUD) posted a really nice and very thorough ode to JDub, including a whole bunch of our artists, like The Macaroons and Balkan Beat Box.
- Music magazine Blurt included Alicia of Girls in Trouble in their The Artists Have Spoken: Best of 2009 feature.
- JTA’s The Fundermentalist shed a little light on the recent Jdub/Nextbook partnership.
- The Forward listed Soulico and The Sway Machinery as picks on their 2009 Forward Fives list.
- The University of Oregon’s Oregon Voice had a great writeup on Soulico’s Exotic on the Speaker.
- DJ Anjali listed Soulico’s Exotic on the Speaker as part of his Top 5 of 2009 in the Portland Mercury.
- Digital City has a fantastic interview with Dave Schneider of The Macaroons — conducted by Corn Mo’!
- The Sway Machinery is one of LimeWire’s Best of 2009 Staff Picks!
- Jeremiah Lockwood, of The Sway Machinery, published an op-ed in The Forward about the band’s trip to Mali.
- Our friends over at Tablet Mag talk up The Macaroons in a podcast dedicated to the best family-friendly music of 2009.
Last but not least, I’ve posted more photos from Jewltide 7 under the cut! All credit goes to Dan Sieradski.
Video
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The Sway Machinery on PBS
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The Sway Machinery Teaser
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The Secret History of The Sway Machinery
Photos
Web Banners
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Hidden Melodies Revealed 250x250
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Hidden Melodies Revealed
Haunting notes of Cantorial-influenced vocals over the energetic, celebratory rhythms of afro-pop, hard-hitting drums and the blues.
2009
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The Sway Machinery EP
All star band of NYC underground greats featuring members of Balkan Beat Box, Yeah Yeah Yeah's ad Antibalas
2008
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