Archive: 2011

UK fivesome Foals have announced their tour plans for this coming spring in support of their latest release, Total Life Forever. The US leg of the tour kicks off in Seattle on April 11th and then continues on around the country until dropping down into Mexico. See all the dates below. Supporting on the majority of the dates […]

Hadestown is unlike any other musical you might have seen in the past ten years. It’s not based on the songbook of some famous artist. It’s not an adaptation of yet another well-known Disney movie. Hadestown is in a class of its own, and as such it’s often difficult to describe. Sure, it’s about Orpheus’ descent into the underground to rescue Eurydice from Hades’ grasp, but what makes the show so successful is its employment of ambiguity throughout the whole ordeal.

On Flags, Brooke Fraser demonstrates that she is not just another in a long line of pop singer-songwriters who get by on their looks and marginal talent. Her observations alone about the human condition cause this collection of songs to rise above the efforts of many of her contemporaries, and her rich vocals combine with the plethora of piano pop rock sounds and sometimes otherworldly accompaniments to make the whole experience even more impressive.

On a day when we honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., it seemed only appropriate to post on another person that was heavily involved in the 1960s Civil Rights movement – folk singer Phil Ochs. In his 1960s heyday Ochs was as synonymous with the Greenwich Village folk circuit as Joan Baez and Bob Dylan, […]

Jam Cruise 9 was all about making good use of every single minute aboard the MSC Poesia for me, a task made easier by rooming with fellow scribe Dennis Cook of JamBase and Dirty Impound fame. Dennis and I met on Jam Cruise 8 and instantly became friends, which thrilled me to no end as […]

Tomorrow sees the release of Low Country Blues, the first new studio album from Allman Brothers Band front man Gregg Allman in 14 years. The 12-track blues covers record, produced by T. Bone Burnett, features Allman backed by Dr. John, Doyle Bramhall II on guitar and Burnett’s studio rhythm section of bassist Dennis Crouch and […]

Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Wanda Jackson, aka the First Lady of Rockabilly, will release her Jack White-produced album The Party Ain’t Over on January 25. In advance of that 11-track release, the duo will visit The Late Show with David Letterman on CBS this Thursday night. Monday, January 17 Film : Dazed and […]

In 2011, it seems that Acoustic Syndicate is really and truly back, at least in a regional sense, with bassist Jay Sanders fully on board, several tour dates in the southeast, and their first new batch of songs since 2004.

A laid back precision may be Bright Examples hallmark.  That place where music surges gracefully like a passing river in a crystal moonlit night.  This music is simultaneously hushed and vibrant, pulsing and meticulous, lucid and a little scruffy. 

Drummer Matt Butler has made his Everyone Orchestra a staple of festivals and live shows for the past 10 years. For the first time in the ensemble’s history, The Everyone Orchestra will enter a Brooklyn studio this week to record an album. Butler put together a ridiculous lineup for the group’s foray into the studio […]