January 2012
8 posts
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I'd Like To Introduce Tyshawn Sorey to Kendrick... →
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Here's To Death!
I recall a pal once deeming O’Death as “the evil Fleet Foxes.” That’s not exactly true. The harmonizing roots outfit that dropped Outside (Ernest Jenning Record Co.) last year is a bit more barbed than the harmonizing roots outfit that dropped Helplessness Blues (Sub Pop) last year. O’Death doesn’t bevel the corners the way the Foxes do; there’s more idiosyncrasy at work. That kind of thing can be...
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Nils Petter Molvaer Baboon Moon (Thirsty Ear)
Miles Davis created a brilliant juxtaposition when he made the music for In a Silent Way and Jack Johnson during a chunk time that stretched from 1969-70. The first album was a tactile dreamscape, the second a muscular implosion. For the last decade or so Norwegian trumpeter Nils Petter Molvaer has perused and personalized his mentor’s accomplishment, creating music that’s a seductive blend of...
Leonard Cohen - The Complete Columbia Albums...
Now that “Hallelujah” is being sung by every Tom, Dick, and Rufus, it’s time to discover the man behind it, as well as a wealth of songs that are equal in wordplay, spirit, and catchiness. Cohen started as an erudite novelist inspired by “real” poets as well as Bob Dylan, and, after umpteen records of rather consistent quality, moved on to define the notion of the sophisticated folkie. Except for...
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WatchJonsi “Gathering Stories”
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Keith Jarrett Rio (ECM)
The old tightrope-walker cliché that gets used in jazz reviews actually takes on an irrefutable resonance when applied to the way Keith Jarrett has approached his solo shows through the last four decades. There is something truly daring about sitting at the piano and holding forth for 120 minutes of unscripted improvisation. It’s a big old crap shoot: will the resultant music be engaging enough to...
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WatchEveryday He’s Hustlin’ - Especially His Birthday
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Love Goes To Buildings On Fire: Five Years in New...
Mick Jagger recently told VEVO that New York was a swirl of cultural action back in the mid ‘70s – punk mixing with disco mixing with rap mixing with art. Rolling Stone critic Will Hermes feels the same way. The sweep of his investigation into the Big Apple circa ’73-’77 is enticing. From the Bronx salsa dances to the Bowery punk escapades to the free jazz blowing that took place in downtown...
