July 2011
52 posts
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June 2011
52 posts
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Sarah Holtschlag covers Tom T Hall
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Tweedy's Solid Sound Includes Skronk
Was speaking with Jeff Tweedy about Nels Cline, and the conversation trickled into the way that noise has found a natural place in our culture (and therefore our music) at this late date. Wilco’s music has certainly bent to make way for an artful smidge of the stuff. The arrival of Nels a few years ago helped that along. Tweedy and company curate their Solid Sound Festival at Mass MOCA this...
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Box Score: Five Best Moments of Last Night's...
1. Tarbaby’s Can of Whup-Ass
They opened it, they laid it on the floor, and then they stomped the holy hell out of it. The rhythm section is a modern miracle of power-swing, rocking with a Claymore mine explosiveness (and an Art Ensemble playfulness). Oliver Lake’s blowtorch sounded like it had been part of the unit for years.
2. Tyshawn Sorey’s Drum Kit
The Paradoxical Frog...
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Rhymes With Truth
There are a handful of indie women who have a really nice feel for the folky side of country music, nodding to the past while keeping things modern. Laura Cantrell has always impressed; ditto for Kathleen Edwards and Eilen Jewell. With the arrival of Starlight Hotel (Signature Sounds), Zoe Muth should be added to the list. On “New Mexico,” she bumps into a blackbird on her windowsill and before...
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Birth of the Todd Heads
What’s different about my career is that early on I opted out of the celebrity aspect of making music and started producing records for other people. I became very successful at it, and it became my principal source of income. Unlike most other artists, I didn’t have to worry about the commercial success of my own music. I just made it to amuse myself to some degree, and I suppose there’s...
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She’s Not Wearing Purple, Though.
more
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Talking With Tain
barnesandnoble.com: A sideman becomes leader. Have you been waiting for the chance?
Jeff “Tain” Watts: Yeah, it’s time. It feels a bit bizarre, but I can’t wait to see what people think.
bn: Have you always been as physical a drummer as you are now?
JTW: I think so, yeah. The physical side has always been there. At 23, I had recorded Wynton’s THINK OF ONE and...
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The Turnpike Down (1992)
Evan Dando recognizes quality. The day after Mad magazine publisher Bill Gaines died, the Lemonheads singer/guitarist assessed the historical status of smart-assed juvenilia. “Mad was the Oreo, and Cracked was the Hydrox; I always dug Oreos. l used to read my dad’s copy, and I’m sure it helped shape me in some way.” Maybe that accounts for the frivolity on the...
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See Something, Say Something
“Anybody worth their salt in this music is a social observer,” offers Lincoln. “Billie Holiday wrote, `God bless the child that’s got its own.’ Duke Ellington wrote, `All the hounds have been killed, ain’t you thrilled, jump for joy.’ I’m a woman of 68 years: I’m supposed to have something to say. I’m experienced. If I see a hole...
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Ben Allison: Action-Refraction
From Bjork to Black Sabbath, an array of pop artists have had their tunes updated by clever jazz acts during the past few years. It’s a strategy that often provides a refreshing twist while occasionally tilting towards novelty. Except for a pair of John Lennon pieces, Ben Allison has dodged this tack. After eight albums of original tune-smithing, he’s known as a composer as much as he is a...
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Konitz/Haden/Motian/Mehldau (ECM)
Sometimes the measured approach is the exciting approach. When jazz elders Lee Konitz, Charlie Haden and Paul Motian connected with 40-year-old pianist Brad Mehldau for several sets of clever improv at Manhattan’s Birdland in the winter of 2009, there was no exclamation coming from the bandstand. Their ardor was closer in temperament to the kind you’d find in a chess game. Like the Modern...
Played it over and over and over one summer. A...
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Fathers Day in Jazzville
Must be a treat to play music with a parent. In this case, a dad. A recent Facebook chat with a pal reminded me of seeing Dewey and Joshua Redman share a stage at a jazz fest outside Boston back in the late ’80s. I believe it was the first time I’d ever heard Josh play live (also heard him play last night, as fate would have it). There are several sons who have chosen to follow in...
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The Marsalis Men: Working With Dad
Happy Fathers Day to all the dads out there. Here’s a chunk of a recent chat I had with the Team Marsalis for DownBeat magazine.
DB: Sounds like in the back of your mind you knew that’s what your dad would’ve wanted you to do: take care of family.
Wynton: Nah, he wasn’t like that. My daddy was taking care of his situation. Plus, he’s not the type of person to force you do stuff. He...
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Tara Jane O'Neil & Nikaido Kazumi
Falling in love with this record, believing it to be a mix of
http://www.rhapsody.com/peter-brotzmann/schwarzwaldfahrt and http://www.rhapsody.com/lisa-germano/lullaby-for-liquid-pig—reincarnate-music-id279795
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Raymond Pettibone - Birthday Boy
THE BELIEVER: To what extent did your art come out of the punk scene?
RAYMOND PETTIBON: The art preceded punk. I don’t know if it’s really possible to trace back and see if there’s a progression, a timeline, in any coherent sense, to my style. I wanted to retain the writing and representation, the figurative imagery, the people and places from that time, and to do that within my own means and...
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Elvis Costello on Marc Ribot
When I first saw Marc with Tom it was as startling a foil role as I’ve ever seen anyone play. When I saw him on stage it reminded me of the relationship between Robbie Robertson and Bob Dylan in the mid 60s.
If you listen to the way Marc plays on Tom’s “Make it Rain” you can hear the Wilson Pickett he’s absorbed. And certainly when he first played in the studio with me on Spike...
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Jeff Tweedy on Nels Cline
Maybe it’s a bit naïve on my part, but I always assumed that guys with Nels’ kind of chops shunned more traditional kinds of guitar playing. Then I saw him with the Geraldine Fibbers playing a Neil Young cover and he played circles around everybody. He seemed so conversant with a rock ‘n’ roll approach. It was eye-opening and great.
I told him I had confidence that there’d be room for both of...
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Ansel Adams & Roy Orbison: Chatting with the...
Here’s a chat I had with the Flatlanders in 2004.
VH1: So I’ll throw out a few topics and you guys can kick ‘em around. What about…Ansel Adams? Butch Hancock: He’s my man. The zone system applies to the whole universe, man. It’s a cool thing. VH1: Synopsize it for us. BH: It’s the idea that there’s less light in the shadows and more in the...
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WatchPatrick McHale’s “Efforts” video for Lake
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Maher/Lynch Weiner Texts Made Me Think of Loudon
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Wayne Coyne on Bitches Brew
Even with these three records you start to see that it’s not about precision, it’s not about songwriting. It’s about getting into another realm of the way you can make music. I try to forget about writing songs sometimes, because it can be a trap. You think about it too much. A lot of times the greatest music comes from playing it, then organising it later, you know? You have to...
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Ray Is Only Human, Too
Songs like “Sunny Afternoon” alluded to the downside of the rock-star lifestyle before that was common.
What amazed me are things on [1966 album] “Face to Face,” like “Too Much on My Mind” and “Fancy,” which internalized the surprise of being famous at 21 or 22. Songs like that were written by somebody looking inward for a way to express emotions...
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Misha Mengelberg Before & After Test
Before: [chuckles] Sounds like Ellington a little bit, the calmness of the piano playing. It’s done with necessary precision and calmness. That is old Ellington I think. Sounds good. Those people can do probably anything they would like to do. That lady I have heard in the Concertgebouw. Maybe in 1947 or 48. She sings ok. She’s not going into astonishing voice gymnastics. She does what he does.
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15 Tunes For WeinerGate
Pictures of You, The Cure
E-Mail My Heart, Britney Spear
Underware, The Magnetic Fields
I’ve Only Myself To Blame, Doris Day
Don’t Tell My Wife, Rodney Carrington
From Afar, Van Halen
I Apologize, Husker Du
Only Human, Jason Mraz
Tell the Truth, Derek and the Dominos
Cyber Sex, Alien Sex Cult
Let Me Look At You, Bing Crosby
Liar, Liar, The Castaways
I Can Never Recover,...
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WatchKeep watching the sky, McIntyre
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Jimmy Durante, Hildegarde, and the Beach Boys:...
“About 30 years ago Derek Bailey invited me on a Company tour of Britain. Evan Parker, Steve Lacy, Misha Mengelberg, George Lewis, Jamie Muir, Derek and I traveled by van for 3 weeks from Brighton to Edinburgh. George Lewis (then as now always ahead of the pack) brought a walkman. The walkman changed everything. Being able to choose your own playlist and listen to it privately made traveling...
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