Universal Music Classics artists, Twin Danger is the love child of heroin jazz and seductive darkness. Vanessa Bley and Stuart Matthewman. Two hearts beating as one; risk takers with an appetite for the unknown.
 
The daughter of avant garde jazz piano great Paul Bley, Vanessa is a guitarist, pianist, singer, and songwriter. Her voice is as fragile as it is pure. It is the sunshine after the rain, however she best lives the meaning of Twin Danger. While not crooning along side Matthewman, she plays with her pop rock outfit Beast Patrol.
 
Stuart plays guitar, for sure, but his tenor sax is what gets under your skin. As a core member of Sade, this makes sense.
 
Together, Bley and Matthewman make music that is sleek, sexy, and sultry. Jazz- swing meets heartbreak-pop; cinematic blues for the modern romantic.
 
Twin Danger’s eponymous debut album is the soundtrack of today’s Jack Kerouac- hued speakeasy, transporting listeners to another time and place, while being firmly planted in the here and now. It is music to unwind to, to escape into, and fall in love to. “Pointless Satisfaction” is what you play when Saturday night becomes one with Sunday morning.
 
The collection of 10 songs commences with “Pointless Satisfaction” and closes with “Take It From My Eyes.” Throughout, Stuart’s cinematic musicianship and Vanessa’s yearning vocals reign supreme. “Coldest Kind of Heart” is the kind of song that becomes a classic. “When It Counts” and “In Many Ways” are thoughtful meditations fusing jazz and blues, while “Save It” and “Past Yet Untold” swing with mellow buoyancy.
 
The musical union of Vanessa and Stuart is a natural one. “We talked about music,” Stuart recalls. “I said I’d written these chords with a dissonance that I liked, but that I didn’t know what to do with.” A few hours later, Vanessa sent Stuart a finished song. “It was as simple as that,” Stuart says, smiling.
 
It is this pure, natural approach to music making that makes the music of Twin Danger so very intoxicating. Lost in music, indeed.
 
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As presented in the New Yorks Times, The New Yorker, on NPR, MTV Iggy, NBC, and Univision, Mariachi Flor de Toloache makes New York City history as its’ first and only all­ female mariachi band. Founded in 2008, Mariachi flor de Toloache is co­directed by lead singers Mireya I. Ramos (founder) and Shae Fiol (original member). Reminiscent of the early days of mariachi the group started as a trio, Harp, Violin and Vihuela. Today the band performs as a full mariachi ensemble.The members’ different cultural backgrounds span the globe which defines their unique sound and appearance: from Mexico to Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Cuba, Colombia, Germany, Italy and the United States. The end result of this cultural bouquet is an edgy, versatile and fresh take on traditional Mexican music. They coalesce as would a band of sisters, with a grace and vibrant beauty that casts a spell over their audiences like the legendary Toloache flower still being used in Mexico as a love potion. Their intoxicating performances have illuminated world renowned stages abroad in India, Spain, and Bahrain and at home at venues such as the Blue Note, Prospect Park Band Shell, Dodger’s Stadium and The Kennedy Center. While they work to preserve the centuries old tradition of Mariachi, inevitably their special tincture of the traditional with the modern pushes the boundaries of the genre and brings Mariachi music to places it has never been.
 
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El Mariachi Flor de Toloache ha hecho historia como el primer mariachi de la ciudad de Nueva York compuesto por todas mujeres, consiguiendo así cobertura de publicaciones como The New York Times y The New Yorker y medios como NPR, MTV Iggy, NBC y Univisión. Fundado en 2008, el Mariachi Flor de Toloache es dirigido por sus dos cantantes principales, Mireya I. Ramos (fundadora) y Shae Fiol (miembro original). En sus comienzos, el grupo evocaba los días tempranos de la tradición del mariachi, consistiendo en un trío de arpa, violín y vihuela. Hoy por hoy, sin embargo, han crecido hasta componer todo un conjunto con miembros de distintos trasfondos culturales de todo el planeta: desde México y Puerto Rico hasta la República Dominicana, Cuba, Colombia, Alemania, Italia y los Estados Unidos. Esta variedad cultural ayuda a definir el sonido distintivo y la apariencia única del grupo. El resultado final es un bouquet cultural que interpreta la música tradicional mexicana de maneras versátiles, intrépidas y frescas. Las miembros logran entremezclarse como hermanas musicales, con una gracia y belleza tan deslumbrante que efectivamente encanta a sus audiencias, tal y como la legendaria Flor de Toloache que aún se utiliza en México como una poción de amor. El grupo ha logrado llevar su embriagante espectáculo en vivo a tarimas de envergadura a nivel mundial, tanto en India, España y Bahrain, así como en salas locales como el Blue Note, Prospect Park Band Shell, Dodgers Stadium y Kennedy Center. Mientras laboran arduamente para preservar la antigua tradición del mariachi, su receta especial de mezclar lo tradicional con lo moderno logra retar los límites del género, así como llevar la música del mariachi a lugares donde no se había disfrutado antes.
 
photo credit: Andrei Averbuch