Patrick O'Heffernan | Music Junkie Press

SISSTER wows LA at the release party for her debut self-titled EP; San Diego’s is next, then the world.

February 11, 2019

Patrick O’Heffernan (Los Angeles) SISSTER wowed a n LA audience when she released her self-titled EP last week and demonstrated why she is so popular and so beloved. You could feel the love in the air at the Sunset Blvd multi-venue Los Globos when SISSTER strode onstage. Barely reaching my chin but with the power to fill a room with sound, the brilliant soloist, singer and composer from Chula Vista, California, blew the roof off of the club as she belted, wailed, and sailed through a kinetic nine-song set list and then came back for an encore. Produced by LA’s prolific The Living Sessions promotion group, the event was the LA release party for her new CD, Sisster – she has also scheduled a San Diego area party on Feb. 23 at Chula Vista’s Manhattan Bar. The diverse audience that crowded into the main venue at Los Globos were treated to an unforgettable experience, both in its musical power and prowess, but in SISSTER’s refreshing ability to connect lovingly and honestly with her [Read More]

BINX at NAMM. Learning to DJ on the Hercules Controller. By Patrick O’Heffernan

February 5, 2019

Patrick O’Heffernan (Anaheim, CA) I have never DJ’ed nor used electronic musical instruments. I play the Cajon – about as nonelectronic as you can get. But, while I was at NAMM last week I decided to take advantage of the opportunity for a 15 min lesson at the Hercules booth on their DJ equipment. I got to try out their new Inpulse 300 Controller, and look at the DJ starter kit. It was one of the high points of NAMM for me. One of the Hercules staff took me through the basics – beat matching, effects, etc. It was a lot easier than I thought it would be, with some of the tasks semi-automated so a beginner like me could do them. At the end of the 15 minute, I understood what a DJ controller is, what it does and what you need to be an entertaining DJ. In my case, the last part was a problem because what you need most to be a DJ is talent or at least a knack [Read More]

X.ARI at Sayers Club in Hollywood: agony and ecstasy in a wonder to behold

February 4, 2019

Patrick O’Heffernan (Hollywood, CA) X.ARI not only brings a high level of creativity to her music, but a kind of creativity that is unique, that stands out in a very crowded space, not because it is loud or shocking – which it sometimes is – but because it is hers; it comes from a depth and a life that generates a musical agony and ecstasy that is a wonder to behold. That wonder was on full display this weekend at Hollywood’s upscale Sayers Club for the release of her new video and song “Break Point”. For the packed crowd in the newly revamped club, it was an unforgettable look into the mind and talent of a contemporary millennial who has made the journey from agony to ecstasy many times, a journey that some in the audience make also and many struggles to circumvent. “Break-Point” is about PTSD — which is not limited to soldiers – and the moments before breakdown, specifically her breakdown in late 2016. “Having a mental health breakdown doesn’t just happen [Read More]

Freshly Cut: jazz, blues and something extra in The Strands debut album.

January 30, 2019

Patrick O’Heffernan Freshly Cut, the debut full length album by The Strands, will not only excite their local following, but introduce the wider world to Amanda Campbell’s languid pop/jazz and incisive love lyrics that manage to simultaneously chronicle ordinary life and higher principles. While evoking the smooth performances of the band’s beloved live shows, branded by Amanda Campbell’s slender swaying body and undulating voice and Paul Campbell’s perfectly pitched bass, the album expands their sound and emotional valence. Nine songs in all, and each one precisely crafted and accurately pointed to the listeners’ hearts and minds. “The Time is Right for Love” moves gently forward with a delicious hook that tells of the importance of timing and patience in romantic growth, while “Change of Heart” speaks to the same of romantic termination. In both , Campbell is talking both to the listener personally, as if they are in her personal drama, and to a wider audience grooving on the physicality of her notes. The pace picks up perceptively with “Everything Can’t Always Go [Read More]

NAMM wrap up. Sunday. By Patrick O’Heffernan

January 27, 2019

(Los Angeles) Sundays at NAMM start late – or early, depending on your point of view. As the clock struck midnight, Sunday concerts began on the hotel stages with Gene Navarro, Goodnight Sunrise and Russ Parish. After a break for sleep, things cranked up again at 8 am for the Best in Show Awards Breakfast, where products that caught the prize panel’s eye were honored in the categories Best Add-Ons, Gotta Stock it, Companies to Watch and Best in Show company. The vendor booths fired up at 9 am with demonstrations led sonically by the Incredible Drum Corps Snare try-out, plus demos of new guitars, DJ controllers, mixers and microphones. Outside, Earth Harp installation artist William Close was playing from a platform in front of ACCNorth with his instrument’s strings stretched up to the roof of the main Convention building. The ethereal sounds floated through the plazas and into the din of the technology booths, calming, rather than adding to the cacophony. Inside the building and the adjacent hotels were lectures on The Future of Music, [Read More]

The fire this time, and its impact on music in California. By Patrick O’Heffernan

November 15, 2018

Patrick O’Heffernan (Los Angeles) As a high school student in Los Angeles in the 60’s I was volunteered to help with firefighting in the Hollywood Hills. We didn’t actually fight fires – we removed debris, shoveled mud, and cleared streets of fallen trees and other obstacles so firefighters and emergency workers could get through quickly. I remember that the destruction taught me the power of fire and water. But his week, I learned another lesson: fire and water have no respect for fame or talent. The two fires now ripping across Southern and Northern California have leveled the lives of the famous, the up and coming, and the heroic. With the Woolsey Fire only 47% contained as I write this and the Camp Fire gobbling up another 5000 acres last night and raising the death toll to 59, it is far too early to take account of the devastation. But one thing is certain, there will be an impact on music in California. What I know so far about the Malibu [Read More]

Nancy Sanchez’s Angel Baby video: a musical touchstone for America

October 23, 2018

Patrick O’Heffernan (Los Angeles) It is hard to make me cry at a music video, and even harder to make me introspective. I see so many of them and so many of those I see are very good, but they don’t touch my crying nerve and they don’t stop me in my psychic tracks. Now one has. “Angel Baby”, just released by Nancy Sanchez makes me cry and has set off a wave of introspection about myself and my country that is unstoppable. Sanchez’s “Angel Baby” is far more than a beautiful work of emotion and music; it is a brilliant work of cultural communication that delivers a message desperately needed in our country today. It is not only Grammy-worthy but Pulitzer-worthy. Sanchez is a rising but under-recognized artist who, by all rights, should have a national profile. With an angelic voice, awards as a jazz singer, collaboration in a bilingual Latin folk-rock group, and sings in her dad’s Mariachi band, her talent array is amazing. Her albums have ranged across all [Read More]