Leslie Simon

When a band doesn't rely on a set list, musicians often find other ways to communicate on stage during the music. Phish, a band utterly reliant on improvisation, has gotten particularly good at this. In fact, the band has created a whole non-verbal language to let its members know what...

American Babies at the 1Up Colfax 3/4/14 In 2007, Philly-based Brothers Past frontman Tom Hamilton went back to his roots and started American Babies, a band that focuses on songcraft and takes influences from everyone from Lou Reed to the Grateful Dead. The Babies' live shows are high-energy, with surprise...

After a few years of songwriting collaboration with Max Creek's Scott Murawski, Mike Gordon's latest effort is finally ready for consumption with the release of his new album, Overstep. Over the years, the man also known as the bassist of Phish has released numerous albums with his own band, each...

JJ GREY & MOFRO at FILLMORE AUDITORIUM | 2/21/14 This show at the Fillmore offered a full night of funk in various forms, from the cowfunk stomp of Nicki Bluhm and the Gramblers to the slick and polished Motown meets Shel Silverstein funk of Keller Williams, culminating with JJ Grey...

Taking jazzy grooves and elevating them to frenzied funk levels through samples, synths and heavily textured percussion, Lotus played two sets of high energy dance to the younger skewed crowd Saturday night. Though no surprise MCs showed up to perform any songs off the act's latest hip hop release, Monks,...