This upcoming weekend, from Thursday, June 6 to Sunday, June 9, the 9th annual Disc Jam Music Festival will once again take place at Gardner’s Farm in Stephentown, NY. The festival is a melting pot of art, music, and disc golf, cooking up relaxed vibes and nonstop good music until 3 in the morning every day. Disc Jam’s dual main stage setup makes catching the next set as easy as can be, only having to shift a couple feet left or right to move to the next stage.
Thursday’s music kicks off on the Tent Stage with Space Junk is Forever, a jazz fusion duo out of Boston, MA that recently formed and recorded their debut album. The Tent Stage has sets going on all day, every day for the whole weekend. Other notable bands on Thursday to check out are Eggy, Of Clocks and Clouds, and Circles Around the Sun’s late night set. On the dual main stages, Dopapod bassist Chuck Jones and drummer Neal Evans’ side project Mom and Dad kicks off the action on Main Stage A (Live For Live Music Stage), followed by Litz and two sets of Aqueous. Main Stage B (Grassroots Stage) features the Connecticut-based group One Time Weekend, Horizon Wireless, Dynohunter, and the musical lovechild of Primus and Nine Inch Nails, lespecial.
Friday’s music starts a little earlier, with Wurliday and Funk Dawgz Brass Band opening up the Main Stages B and A, respectively. Following Wurliday, old school prog rockers The Breakfast will be melting faces, before West End Blend feeds everyone’s souls with the sweet, soothing voice of Erica T. Bryan and the no nonsense funk band behind her. The live electronic band Sunsquabi brings their 3-piece grooves to Stage B, with Ripe closing the stage out with an hour and a half long set. Over on Stage A, The Elovaters follows the Funky Dawgz; the Boston-based group will be bringing laid back vibes to the fest with their reggae sound and fresh new tunes from their recent release Defy Gravity. lespecial plays their second set of the weekend after the Elovaters, followed by saxophone duo Moon Hooch, and closed out by the recently returned prog rockers Dopapod, for their second performance of the year. On the tent stage, performances to keep an eye on are Muscle Tough, Formula 5 for one of their last ever performances, Catullus, and Consider the Source.
Saturday’s lineup kicks off with Audiodacity on the Main Stage B, followed by Paris Monster and Sam Kinninger Band. Root Shock opens up the Main Stage A, followed by Tweed, with Kung Fu chopping up funk grooves for an hour and a half after that. The four big performances on Saturday are Ghost Light, Papadosio, John K’s West Philly Fadeaway, and Lotus ft. Jon “Barber” Gutwillig. Ghost Light is Philly legend Tom Hamilton’s new project, featuring keyboardist Holly Bowling, drummer Scotty Zwang, guitarist Raina Mullen, and recent addition, bassist Dan Africano. The band blends indie-esque songwriting with intricate, weaving setlists and gets deep into improv during their live shows. Papadosio is a jamtronica band from Asheville, NC that uses a lot of electronic aspects in their music. Their shows seem to put out a very strong vibe, through the combination of the music and lights, of just being present in the moment, and experiencing the music as it happens.
John K’s West Philly Fadeaway hasn’t happened before, so there’s not much that can be said about it, other than the fact that it’s the OG Disco Biscuits with John K playing Dead tunes, which should be incredible. Then, finally, closing out the main sets of the night, is Lotus w/ Barber. Fans didn’t and still don’t know what to expect when this was announced, but from what bassist Jesse Miller has said, expect songs where the guitar is relatively clean so they can experiment with the effects. It should also be noted that Barber has played a number of shows with drummer Mike Greenfield and has stated that he’s a fan of Greenfield’s technique and textures, so there’s already a musical bond formed with arguably the most important part of the music. The Tent Stage on Saturday is chock full of awesome bands, though you’re gonna want to check out Timbre Coup, returning to the stage for the second time this year, Strange Machines, Space Bacon, and Chachuba, as well as the Doom Flamingo and CIA & Friends late night sets which will presumably feature some of drummer Allen Aucoin’s Disco Biscuits counterparts.
Sunday is a little lighter than the two days preceding it, with music ending at 8 p.m. instead of 3 a.m. Boston’s Dewpoint opens up Main Stage A, followed by Cape Cod jams rockers The New Motif, and Snarky Puppy side project Ghost Note, featuring MonoNeon and Nate Werth. Closing out Stage A is Pink Talking Fish, a cover act blending Pink Floyd, Talking Heads, and Phish together, who also recently gained a new guitarist, Cal Kehoe. Over on Stage B, Eastbound Jesus will open up the stage, followed by Disco Biscuits drummer Allen Aucoin’s solo project Dr. Fameus. Closing the B Stage out is Star Kitchen, Disco Biscuit bassist Marc Brownstein’s new funk side project that features guitarist Danny Meyer. The Tent Stage lineup for Sunday is all heavy hitters, with Baltimore’s Band Of Tomorrow, Upstate NY’s Space Carnival for their first show back since the hiatus, Brooklyn’s Escaper, and the Capital Region’s hard rockers Wild Adriatic all prominently featured. It would be worth it to check all of those bands out.
For the attendees that purchased a VIP ticket, the VIP lounge will be hosting several special solo piano sets, including Ben Carrey of Pigeons Playing Ping Pong, Aron Magner of the Disco Biscuits, Jonathan Grusauskas of lespecial, and Ryan Dempsey of Twiddle. VIP ticket holders will also receive an exclusive merch package that includes pins, cups, prints and shirts, access to a complimentary craft beer garden, and access to a VIP camping area that includes bathrooms and showers.
For any FAQs or tickets, head over to the festival website. Check in with NYSMusic on Instagram durign the weekend for updates from the festival, and stay tuned next week for full coverage and a photo gallery from the weekend!
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