I want to talk about an album that is near and dear to the
ol’ vascular muscle. You’ve never heard
of it. Not in the hipster parlance, but
unless you lived in the small urban haven college town of Lafayette, IN
from 2007 - 09 or so, you missed it. I’m
talking about a little anomaly of a band called New York St. (NYST is the most common way
of writing it).
New York St.
is a real street four blocks from Lafayette’s
burgeoning downtown area. It wasn’t just
a place to live for cheap. It was a way
of life. Part South Side Chicago, part Haight-Ashbury, it was funky. On the flipside, there were plenty of venues
and musicians to play them just a short stroll down the street. I like to say
that you could always find weed on New
York St., just not always a bag. It was that kind of place. The block had it’s own hustle of an
economy. It’s a shady street in more
than one way. It’s one of my favorite
spots on this planet.
Somehow, these guys got it together. Whether it was borrowing a guitar or bailing
someone out, it was really more like a gang.
Scratch that, a tribe. Each tribe
has it’s own groove and these guys really embodied what a group of poor-ass
young adults and teenagers who had to scrape together rent were feeling. All of it.
They put it into song. There
wasn’t an open mic safe from their crowd or the band members themselves. You should have locked up your
daughters. If you heard of NYST from
them, it was already too late. One
night, at the hookah bar I somehow hustled myself into opening (told you it was
about the hustle) the bass player was arrested...on stage. It was a tiny miracle every time they played
a show with all of their members showing up and making it the distance. Fist fights weren’t uncommon. Everything is a struggle. It made it’s way into the music. That’s passion.
So, as far as these recordings go, they are more like demos.
Recording studios or equipment is expensive.
This recording is all about the soul.
It was a tight knit community trying to express themselves. They did it.
It’s here for you to listen to.
Live on stage, on the other hand, was a completely different
monster than their studio work. Mixing
hip hop, reggae, latin rhythms, and rock into a groovy melting pot topped off
with some rather clever and smart lyrical stylings, NYST would have you
convicted about a social issue, questioning your spirituality, and dancing all
at the same time. Imagine your whole
neighborhood singing your songs back at you louder than your pawn store amps
could be. It was kind of like magic when
it happened. That’s what happened often.
The last show they played (a reunion show to help out a
member of the band whose business was robbed), they flew in the singer from California (people from Lafayette love this band, I’m telling
you). When he showed up...at sound
check...he just appeared on stage out of nowhere. He quickly exclaimed, “this is not going to
be enough room”. I informed him that it
was pretty much the biggest stage for 60 miles.
If confidence and attitude count for something, NYST had reserves.
For me, it’s pretty sentimental. I was there and it was one of those time and
place kind of things. I remember when
Marque (the aforementioned singer) waltzed into my work and we talked about
writing a song acapella in a parking garage.
That song became “The Watcher”.
Imagine that when you listen to it.
It’s modern soul music. There
are more stories than can be told in one night about this band's exploits, but
you can listen to their 6 song EP to catch some of them. It’s all true and it’s all there. For the first time, they have made these
recordings available for the people that followed the band. I think there are a bunch more people who
will dig it. I bet you do.
- The Grime
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