New Pittsburgh releases from Jordan Montgomery, Ryan Haynes, Meeting of Important People, and more

Photo: Keep Pittsburgh Dope (Chancellor Humphrey)

Jordan Montgomery

New releases from Pittsburgh bands/musicians to listen to while social distancing.

The Commonheart - "You've Got a Friend"

From The Commonheart's Nov. 2019 Stage AE performance, with openers

Gene the Werewolf and Buffalo Rose, comes this video of the band playing Carole King's "You've Got a Friend." The show in Pittsburgh was the first time The Commonheart took a stage in their hometown after touring across the country in support of their sophomore album Pressure.

During the tour, the nine-piece outfit traveled with a Spare Change bucket so donations from fans could be collected for the Michael J. Fox Foundation. In this video, lead singer Clinton Clegg shares with the audience why The Commonheart has a personal connection with the foundation. The band raised almost $4,000 during its tour, and are still taking donations here.

Fuzznaut - "Conjunction and Ellipsis"

Emilio Rizzo, aka Fuzznaut, shot the entirety of this music video for “Conjunction and Ellipsis” on an iPhone. He uses scenes from his hometown and live performances, along with experimental video clips, to explore vision, just as his music explores textures and sounds. "Conjunction and Ellipsis" is from Rizzo's debut EP, Form is Emptiness.

Elevations - Elevations Live (Series of Three, Vol. 2)

Jazz outfit Elevations is made up of up a phenomenal group of Pittsburgh musicians: Benny Benack III (trumpet), Michael Stephenson (tenor sax) Brett Williams (piano), Anton DeFade (bass), and George Heid III (drums). The group used to play around the city often, but their performances have become a rarity as most of the members are now in other projects — DeFade plays bass in The Commonheart and Benack recently starting playing with Postmodern Jukebox in addition to his solo career. To reminisce, they released recordings of their 2015 album release concert which took place at MCG Jazz. Warren Wolf joined Elevations on the vibraphone during this performance.

Meeting of Important People - Troika Demos 2012-2015

Speaking of reminiscing, Meeting of Important People released a collection of home demos recorded from 2012-2015 which later appeared on the 2016 album Troika. They note to be aware of your speaker when listening because all tracks are unmastered, therefore they have different volumes.

Jordan Montgomery - Thank You 4 Ur Patience

Staying in the vein of unreleased music, Jordan Montgomery dropped a six-track mixtape of unreleased freestyles from 2018-2019. Features include JM the Poet, livefromthecity, and Coach Jackson.

JM the Poet - COVID CARE PACK
"Only Open In Case Of Quarantine" reads the cover of JM the Poet's two-track release. Well, its time. Maybe JM's raps will cure some of our stay-at-home boredom.

Ryan Haynes - "Outside"
On Feb. 7, Ryan Haynes released the second track from his new project (under his real name, as opposed to his moniker DJ Afterthought). "Outside" deals with coming to terms with a loss, and yesterday he dropped an accompanying music video.

"Sometimes no matter how great things seem it may be much different on the other side," says Haynes in a Facebook post. "People tend to brave a smile while fighting a war on the inside. It’s OK to be scared, it’s OK to miss loved ones, and it’s OK not to have the answers all the time. Remember this and always keep on going no matter how bad it gets."