The City Music Project

Philly’s own, The City Music Project, will be hitting some of Philadelphia’s best music venues in the coming weeks in support of their recently released, Visual/Audio. Priding themselves in an eclectic admixture of techno jabs, songwriting hooks and visual uppercuts, they will floor you on the dancefloor in the manner of the most elite dance acts doing it today. Not since the days of Andy Warhol-era The Velvet Underground have we seen such a genre-abridging multimedia extravaganza.
Comprised of Frank (don’t-call-me-Don-Quixote) Cervantes and Adrian Palashevsky, the music mixes everything from guitar to saxophone to electronic wind instrument to get your ear buds salivating, sounding calm but esctatic, through the electrostatic speakers. Recent gigs such as their record release party at World Cafe Live, has got the Illadelph buzzing about our latest/greatest musical native sons. - Culture Mob

The City Music Project is the Philadelphia based duo who split producing and vocal/guitar duties as they craft music that bends genres as much as it invites them over for dinner. No wait, maybe not dinner. More like a soiree. Or a house party. Yeah. Definitely some grooving gonna be going on with these jams. “Million Dollar Friend” has funky beats and head nodding rhythms for miles, not to mention a hook that does it’s job like a champ angler. Some cruising of the Internet may turn up another jam or two so keep your eyeballs peeled. - The Burning Ear

Top 10 Best New Artists of 2010 - The Key >> 88.5 WXPN

Below is a new track “Headlights (ft. Kuf Knotz)” from The City Music Project that is available for free download. It’s from their new RE-VISIONS EP, which also has remix contributions from Norwegian indie folk-pop duo Kings of Convenience and Philly electronica brethren City Rain. You can check out and download the rest of the album for free HERE. - The Deli Staff - Deli Magazine

The show’s headliner, The City Music Project, is a group that should be on everyone’s “bands to watch” list. The duo of Frank Cervantes and Adrian Palashevsky released their debut full-length album Visual-Audio earlier this year and followed it up with an equally-awesome EP Re-Visions. With Adrian on dj-duties and Frank taking lead vocals and guitar, the two fuse many genres into a unique style that they continue to improve and develop. Their live show, as evidenced Saturday night, continues to improve also. With the help of a projector and a sax, TCMP has developed an innovative live experience that keeps you dancing all the way through.

If you haven’t heard their new EP yet, which features a remix by City Rain and a guest verse from Kuf Knotz, I strongly suggest you download it. And if you want to catch them live, they’ll be playing at The M Room this Saturday. - Swollen Fox

The musical collaboration of Adrian Palashevsky (aka DJ goldenSpiral) and guitarist Frank Cervantes is hard to describe. They blend electronic, dub, house, and world music to create something that makes dance floors move. They recorded an impressive full-length at Phil Nicolo's Studio Four in their hometown, Philadelphia, PA, and have been passing around free copies wherever they play. TCMP incorporates an array of visual art to their performance ranging from psychedelic videos to LED lights to hula dancers. - JV Beats

The beauty of The City Music Project’s (TCMP) debut album, Visual-Audio, lies in its perfect balance of style. With the courage to experiment with an eclectic cocktail of percussion loops and sound effects and a sharp enough ear to let only the best into the party, DJ Golden Spiral seasons what might have been a sound a bit too strong for listeners. With a commanding voice and the lyrics to make it worth paying attention to, Frank Cervantes reigns in what might otherwise become a tornado touching down on a lab of sound effects and samples. Together, the pair calibrates the scale to weigh in a variety of tight instruments like saxophone and guitar.

The whole thing swims through a smattering of genres, coming off as everything from a worthy imitation of a Peter Gabriel work on “Struggle In The Streets” to a sweet mix of jazzy synthesizer and bluesy electric guitar, with introspective lyrics to tie everything together on “Oh God.” And just when you think you’ve heard everything, the duo pulls out a hypnotic cycle of a piece that could make you swear you’re sitting in the midst of a street fair of snake charmers and belly dancers on “Automation Love Circuit.”

The group claims to fuse bits of everything from dub to Latin, and such a blend might have yielded a nausea-inducing meal suffering from a bit too many different tastes. But the whole album is pulled off flawlessly, and TCMP holds your hand with a grin to guide you through all of the different soundscapes they have carefully painted.

Regardless of whether or not you enjoy the particular genre they’re playing with, you have to admire the tweaks they turned on each, at once paying homage to and enhancing each. Feelings range from a thrilling joie de vivre to an at once glad and dejected nostalgia to comprise an album that offers a soundtrack to wherever you are, or inspiration to whatever’s in your own head. It will stretch what you thought was possible to come out of your speakers.

In A Word: Abounding



—by Travis Downs, May 18, 2011 - The Aquarian Weekly

After an electrifying performance of their latest album, Visual/Audio, at the World Cafe last month, Frank Cervantes and Adrien Palashevsky of The City Music Project are back to take Philly by storm with several upcoming performances as part of their east coast tour. They’ll be hitting The Note on April 2nd, G Lounge on April 7th, Silk City on April 27th, and Triumph Brewery on May 20th.
With Adrien behind the mixing board and Frank tearing it up on guitar and vocals, the duo’s live performance is well-produced, artistically executed, and comes to life in a whole new dimension with video art and live dancing. Even without the visual effects that accompany their live performances, their music is very visual in nature, built on multiple instrumental layers, ripping saxophone solos, and sophisticated rhythms.
A well-crafted amalgam of rock, jazz, hip-hop, trance and beyond, their songs run the gamut of genres and moods. That is what makes their music so accessible- it’s bound to have something that everyone will like- from the bluesy “Struggle in the Streets” to the chill, reggae-esque “Dream-State Eternal”. Adrien’s production of dance-able beats will have you groovin’ in your seat, while Frank’s traditional songwriting ties many of the tunes into the familiar vein of instruments and melody. Even if your musical taste buds are new to the synth/club scene, you might just find something you can relate to within TCMP’s music.
When they perform, the group usually includes a saxophone player or other musical guest. For their CD release party at the World Cafe they had a jazz musician play an EWI, which stands for ‘electronic wind instrument’. Similar in look to a soprano saxophone, the instrument is part synthesizer and is connected to a MIDI interface to produce all kinds of digital sounds. Needless to say, the EWI was an amazing addition to the group- the solos were incendiary!
Adrian and Frank have taken two very different musical journeys to create an eclectic mix of sounds that is sure to catch your ear whether you’re a jazz cat, hip-hop-maven, progressive-rock-patron or funk-fiend. The City Music Project is a true partnership of creative songwriting and skill behind the mixing board.
The performance at G Lounge is part of a showcase presented by the arts organization Raw: Natural Born Artists. In addition to TCMP as the musical guest, the evening will feature a film screening, fashion show, art gallery, performance art, as well as a hair stylist and make-up artist. The evening promises to be quite a whirlwind of local artistic talent!
For information on show times and to purchase tickets, visit the following links: thenote.tickets.musictoday.com, rawartists.org, silkcityphilly.com, triumphbrewing.com

The Note: 142 E Market Street, West Chester, PA; G Lounge: 111 S. 17th St. Philadelphia; Silk City: 435 Spring Garden St. Philadelphia, PA; Triumph Brewery: 1117 Chestnut St. Philadelphia, PA - Culture Mob

Dream-State Eternal - The City Music Project (Philadelphia, USA)

The City Music Project began as a pairing of the prodigious songwriting and lyrical abilities of Fank Cervantes and the rich musical and rhythmic sound-scapes of Adrian Palashevsky AKA Golden Spiral. The project, a well-balanced hybrid of electronic and traditional musical components, is meant to be danced to and experienced live. Comparable to sounds of Thievery Corporation, Gorillaz, Pretty Lights, and MGMT’s Oracular Spectacular, TCMP’s live performance integrates vocals, instruments and studio/performance-based production hardware and software. It also incorporates elements of video art, live dancing, and lighting, along with cameo appearances from a number of different guest musicians involved, “giving the audience a transcendent experience,” describes Palashevsky.

The City Music Project released their self-titled EP (including this track, Dream-State Eternal) in April 2010, followed by a successful run of shows in their hometown of Philadelphia which showed the duo’s potential together.

Their full-length album Visual-Audio is set to be released in April, one year after the release of their EP.

Live shows:

03.23.11 R Bar New York, NY

03.26.11 The M Room Philadelphia, PA
- Suffolk 'n' Cool (UK)

I got an email from these guys the other day giving me a heads up about their tracks. I had never heard about the City Music Project before I was contacted and, I must say, I’m very happy they gave me a shout out about their music. The group is comprised of a DJ, and a guitarist/keyboardist (I know, sick combo) and a step in saxophonist. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again… anything electronic that incorporates a saxophone is cool with me.

I cant quite place my thumb on The City Music Project. A couple of their tracks are so chilled out, mellow, and relaxing – others have energy and make me want to do something active; and then all of a suddem BOOM – a tribal/Indo sounding instrumental. Either way, it’s safe to say I like every song off of their EP. - PlayThisSongLoud.com

The City Music Project, one of my new favorite Philly bands opened up for The Indobox this Saturday at The Blockley. The duo is made up Frank Cervantes and Adrian Palashevsky, who combine traditional songwriting elements with electronic music to create music that defies the confines of a single genre. The band has an amazing knack to cover a wide variety of musical elements, all while making sure you’ve got something to dance to.

While their website credits them as a duo, they are actually supposed to be a trio, as they have a saxist both on their upcoming debut album and on stage when they play live. Unfortunately, their saxist couldn’t make Saturday night’s show, so they had to get the crowd dancing without one of their strongest tools. Fortunately, they rose to the occasion and delivered a great performance that even had me dancing (and that’s a hard thing to do).

The band’s debut record, Visual/Audio, will be out next month and they’ll be celebrating the release with a show at Downstairs Live at the World Cafe on March 3rd. It’s one of those great records that you discover something new with every listen, no matter how many times you’ve heard it before. And Saturday night was enough (even without the sax!) to prove to me that they can bring it live too, which is what it’s really all about. If you don’t have any plans yet, I’d say mark off Thursday March 3rd on your calendar and get yourself a ticket, it’s sure to be a great show. - Swollen Fox

The collaboration of singer/songwriter Frank Cervantes and producer/DJ Golden Spiral (Adrian Palashevsky) brings us a spellbinding blend of vocals and sounds both instrumental and electronic. The City Music Project goes deeper than your average techno trance electronica and gives the listener a music experience worth having even if at first glance it does not seem like your type of music. - Origivation Magazine

The City Music Project, Philadelphia’s multi-genre electronic rock duo will be performing two exciting shows! First they will hit the The Blockley on February 5th, sharing a stage with Indobox and the Juice. On March 3rd they are celebrating the release of their latest album, Visual-Audio at World Cafe Live. Les Professionnels and Tigersapein will also be performing.


A collaboration between singer/songwriter Frank Cervantes and producer Golden Spiral, aka Adrian Palashevsky, this dynamic duo’s music has gained much praise in Philadelphia- XPN named them one of the top ten local acts of 2010. Their music spans various genres, including hip-hop, reggae, progressive rock, dub, trance and funk, to name a few. The two put out their debut self-titled EP last year, and are very proud to be finished work on their first full-length album.

Having performed as a solo artist and as the front-man of indie rock group The Once Was, Frank’s songwriting know-how is top-notch. When put in tandem with Adrian’s electronic beat-making and technological artistry, it yields truly unique compositions. Some of them will make you want to get up and dance, others will make you want to sink into the deep recesses of your couch and just let the music wash over you.

No two of the City Music Project’s songs sound alike, and that’s the way it should be when writing music- each song should have a life and voice of its own. Many instrumental components are at work in their music, such as guitar, vocals, saxophone, electronic beats, synths, and samples created from music software programs such as Reason. Frank and Adrian have definitely forged unique and creative voices that blend the “hipness” of electronic music with the traditional elements of acoustic instruments and vocals.

Visual-Audio is rife with versatility. It really showcases the spectrum of styles that contribute to the two musicians’ sound. “Struggle in the Streets” depicts fairly brutal fight scenes in alleyways, enhanced by blues-y, repetitive guitar riffs and sirens in the background. The song “Chemistry” is a relatively slow-paced dance song built on reggae-grooves and melodic guitar lines. “Automation Love Circuit” features Middle-Eastern-esque melodies and rhythms, including exotic-sounding bowed strings and fast-paced percussion. The upbeat “Far Away” is a Latin/jazz-style number with syncopated rhythms and a saxophone solo that is off the hook. The musical diversity on this album is so refreshing, as is the teamwork involved in incorporating so many instrumental facets.

In addition to acoustic instruments, mixing boards and performance software, the City Music Project’s live performances frequently include riveting visual art, lighting, and dancers, all in sync with their music. Their performance at the World Cafe will include all of these theatrical elements.

On their website, Adrian and Frank have posted a video documenting their experience in the studio while recording Visual-Audio. Check out the video, music and more at thecitymusicproject.com.

The Blockley show is 21+, costs $10, ($8 with a student ID) and starts at 9pm. The venue is located at 38th and Chestnut in Philadelphia. The World Cafe performance starts at 9pm and is $15. It is located at 3025 Walnut St. in Philadelphia. - Culture Mob

The City Music Project is a collaboration between Producer/DJ Golden Spiral and Singer/Songwriter Frank Cervantes. Their soon to be released self titled CD dates back to their high school friendship and more recent collaborations that started three years ago in a studio in Old City Philadelphia.
Golden Spiral (pictured above) is a DJ/Producer from Philadelphia, as well as a classically trained musician, and a formally trained engineer.
Frank Cervantes is a singer/songwriter from Moorestown, New Jersey. He performs mainly as a solo artist but for years was frontman for the indie/rock band The Once Was.
Their collaborations are full of passion and evoke a sense of musical intimacy. Like what you hear? Check out their CD Release Party!

April 28th @ Silk City, 9pm ($6 cover) - 88.5 WXPN