music scene

Year in Music: The Syracuse countdown
By Nathan Mattise
December 22, 2010 - 12:41pm
As we join Block Party headliner Drake in waving bye-bye to 2010, take a look at the top moments and matters for the Syracuse music scene.

It's the time of year for massive amounts of lists and not even Syracuse is safe. We reached out to some of the movers and shakers in the campus music community to compile some of their own original year-end lists spanning a variety of topics. And, continuing in the spirit of last year, we here at Otto-Tune compiled our second annual year-end list of Syracuse music happenings. Let us know what you think in the comments below.

The man behind the music
By Deandra Modica
September 19, 2010 - 4:07pm
Lost Horizon general manager and local scene-booster Scott Dixon now has 2,000 bookings to his name.

Scott Dixon walked onto The Lost Horizon’s stage on Saturday like it was any other night. Relaxed and clad in a black sweatshirt and shorts, he introduced the first act, Mike Roy, and casually mentioned that the local musician has played 43 shows for him.

Forty-three isn’t a lot of shows to Dixon -- he’s booked 2,000 over the course of his career.

Don't give up the fight
By snbrydum
April 28, 2009 - 3:59pm
The Icon and The Axe bring some "Propaganda" to Aux Records

Aux Records' fifth anniversary show was more than just a party - it was a release show for  the debut album for local band The Icon and The Axe. "Propaganda" is the result of more than a year of hard work for the band, and the show is a sort of homecoming. 

The album has been in the works for 14 months, and both Ulf Oesterle, manager and owner of Aux Records, and the band members said they were excited to see the release.

Sophistafunk
By Melissa Romero
April 23, 2009 - 3:23pm
Syracuse band Sophistafunk is creating a new sound by combining funk and hip-hop.

Adam Gold learned as a Syracuse University student that the city has historically been a test-market for musicians.  If a band could make it in this wintry town, then it could make it in any city. 

“It’s interesting that we happen to be in a specific market that was literally a test market for the past 40 years,” said Gold, 25.

Keyboardist Gold, lyricist Jack Brown, 23, and drummer Emanuel Washington, 25, make up the local Syracuse band Sophistafunk. The local band has grown in popularity throughout the Central New York region the past few years.

Aux for the love of music
By snbrydum
April 22, 2009 - 10:40pm
Aux Records throws a birthday party

Five years ago, Ulf Oesterle took out a $6,000 student loan. But he wasn’t buying a meal plan or textbooks. He was starting a record label.

Today, Aux Records (pronounced like the first letter of Oesterle’s last name) is five years old and still going strong. Aux’s first band, Merit, still holds the label’s best-selling album and has toured the country with its three albums. Aux now boasts nearly a dozen artists.