Each of the four nights of this year’s Millpond Live series will lead you on a musical journey filled with surprise and delight, stirring your soul and your spirit. The music will get your heart beating and your hips shaking. When we book the artists for Millpond Live we go for a variety of genres and exciting juxtapositions. We weigh authenticity, talent, and a certain something we can’t quite name to create a show that is more than the sum of its parts and that will stay with you. Then there’s the beer, food, craft vendors, friends and families that add up to the kind of gathering that we all need so much these days. It’s also free, thanks to generous donations and grants from organizations that support and depend on all of you and see the value in making possible an event that reminds us who we are as individuals and as a community.
Visit the event website at millpond.live.
Say She She
Say She She, the female-led discodelic soul band out of New York and London will transport you with their dreamy harmonies, catchy hooks and up-tempo grooves. Band members Piya Malik (a Londoner) and Sabrina Mileo Cunningham (a native New Yorker) found themselves living in the same building on the Lower East Side and unwittingly began to serenade each other through the floorboards. Once they had connected, they asked long-time friend Nya Gazelle Brown to become the third part of their harmonies and the band was complete. Named as a homophone hat tip to Nile Rodgers’ ‘CHIC’ the band's sound evokes late 70’s girl groups with the three strong-voiced women fronting a roaring 7 piece band.
The band’s debut single “FORGET ME NOT” quickly proved to be a certified dancefloor banger. Written as an ode to New York City’s Guerilla Girls fighting racial and gender discrimination in the art world – it’s a swooning dream of a song with catchy hooks, beautiful harmonies and a groove that ticks all the boxes. They released the protest anthem “NORMA” this June, their response to the then impending decision to overturn Roe Vs Wade is an urgent call for ACTION in support of protecting women’s rights and preserving the right to choose.
Their latest single, “TROUBLE”, which was produced by members of The Extraordinaires (Charles Bradley) was released earlier this month with elements of Chic and Donna Summer, and lyrics that act as a siren’s call to dismantle male dominance.
Their debut LP is set for release this September out on Karma Chief/ Colemine Records.
Mauskovic Dance Band
Amsterdam’s Mauskovic Dance Band are a musical family in the widest sense: not only are four of the five band members related, but like any family they are always on the move. They have been carrying out their experiments in hazy rhythms and dubby percussive workouts since 2017. In the early days, the boys fused their love of Afro-Caribbean poly rhythms with a no-wave sound palette to create their own unique danceable chaos.
Band founder Nicola Mauskovic is a seasoned drummer who finds himself constantly in demand – as part of Turkish psychedelic outfit Altin Gün, on a recent tour with the revival of Zambian legends W.I.T.C.H. (who comes to The Drake in Amherst on October 9th) and on a worldwide tour with psych-pop artist Jacco Gardner, with whom he then went on to form the dance-oriented duo Bruxas.
Armed with an arsenal of hypnotic grooves and airtight arrangements, they cemented their reputation as a live act to fire up dance floors, and took their instruments on the road everywhere from Russia to Mexico, with plenty of European festivals in between.
For their next chapter, the group dove further into their vast array of echos and spring reverbs, and fine-tuned their sound system-inspired, post-punk aesthetic. As one fan noted in a YouTube comment: “Coolest band on the planet.”
Jeremy Harman
Jeremy Harman has performed throughout North America, Europe, Asia, and Africa in orchestral and chamber music settings. Working in the Boston and NYC music scenes for over a decade, he’s shared the stage with Peter Gabriel, Sir Elton John, Lady Gaga, Quincy Jones, Bobby McFerrin, John Williams, Pinchas Zukerman, Tony Bennett, and others in venues such as Carnegie Hall, Radio City Music Hall, House of Blues Boston, Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall, the Kodak Theatre, Walt Disney Hall, and The Newport Jazz Festival.
