Posts by Nick Gunther

Rome is an album that you must listen to from beginning to end as a whole, for the tracks that blend common themes will give a deeper understanding of the entire listen.  Reflective of what became the musical basis for Italian Western films in the 1960s and beyond, the combination between Danger Mouse and Daniele Luppi succeed in producing a record of substantial triumph. 

Direct is exactly what you get when listening to Obits’ second studio release Moody, Standard and Poor.  There’s no questioning the foursome’s lean edged gritty basement party-with a flickering light type of sound, except possibly the title of the album.

Two and a half years removed from Dear Science, TVOTR has returned from their “indefinite hiatus” with a record that is thematic of love and the mind/body universal connection. 

While much of the content is forceful, there appears to be more confusion than cohesion present after listening to this album.  In its entirety, the instrumentals and production behind the piano-laced beats that make up much of The Family Sign speak louder than the poetic flow of Slug and the quality of his lyricism.                 

“We finally did it, we finally sold out the TLA!,” Potter said as she thanked fans for spending the evening and staying up late with her and the Nocturnals.  The energy that Grace put forth throughout the entire show was incredible and her passion for music and making music with her friends is a great chemistry to experience live.   

Since the release of his highly acclaimed 2005 album, Live at Stubb’s, Matisyahu has grown as a singer, songwriter, artist and beat box virtuoso.  So when Matisyahu returned to Austin, Texas last August it was somewhat of a homecoming.  Stubb’s [Volume I] was a defining album that separated critics and identified his voice in a music community that, at the time, did not have a Hasidic reggae rapper-singer-songwriter present.

Traveling the world extensively in support of The Sea has supplied Rae with much time for experimentation and personal reflection on songs that have been of meaning, and conveniently, that has shaped her latest set of recordings, a covers album titled The Love EP.

What made Cage the Elephant’s self-titled debut so appealing was that it had both a raw and uncompromising feel to it, while still being a very digestible album.  Matt Shultz was able to capture a live sounding, in-your-face, type of style that applied a choke hold on many a person’s first listens.  Their second record, Thank You Happy Birthday (Jive), continues to have that blend of distorted chaos that combines aggressive rhythmic chords with edgy sarcastic lyrics, though it is slightly more difficult to chew this time around.

With hundreds of multi-colored balloons waiting at bay near the ceiling of the Tower Theatre, fans patiently awaited the arrival of the Disco Biscuits as they returned to Philadelphia the night before New Year’s Eve to close out what has been a fantastic 2010, and a hectic final week, with back to back nights in their hometown.  To complicate matters in a time of great celebration, the band experienced a devastating blow when drummer Allen Aucoin was treated and hospitalized earlier in the week for a serious asthma attack thus being sidelined for the New York and Philadelphia string of shows.

The Roots, completing all of this and more while performing night after night on NBC as the house band for Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, a successful role to which they celebrated their one year anniversary of in March.  So what better a way to celebrate 2010 and ring in a new year than an all-night three set marathon Roots show at the Brooklyn Bowl? 

When you listen to a record like Push, it’s almost like you’re feeling the live show right through the headphones.  Definitely a band with a positive outlook, 40 Watt Hype is a rare breed of instrumental hip-hop soul and the Latin influence that is rooted within the music only gives off more energy.    

Few people have experienced such an event that has featured performances by Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, John Mayer, ZZ Top, B.B. King, Derek Trucks, Sheryl Crow, Susan Tedeschi and Buddy Guy all in one concert, and now everyone has an opportunity to relive the ultimate guitar lover’s dream on the two DVD Crossroads Guitar Festival.

Chamber Music Society, co-produced by Ms. Spalding and Gil Goldstein, embodies a sense of wholeness as the tracks have a flowing connective nature to them.  Deviating from a standard rhythm, Ms. Spalding twines multiple time signatures together on “Really Very Small” which features her free floating vocals and a reoccurring bass line complemented with a tangential piano riff.  

You can immediately tell what light-year a Joe Satriani album is traveling in by the way the first song definitively captures you with your first listen.  The vibrations of his initial entrance are defining points of both his live shows and studio records which electrify listeners time and time again. 

Last week wasn’t the first time Silversun Pickups brought their distinctive fuzz through Philadelphia; in fact, it was their seventh time playing in front of a crowd of Brotherly Love since 2004.  If you were lucky enough to spot this great rock band earlier in their career then you probably made it out to their shows at Johnny Brenda’s or First Unitarian Church back in 2006, but odds are that lead vocalist and guitarist Brian Aubert won’t believe you really did. 

The dream originated in 2004 when Eric Clapton decided to gather the top guitarists in the world to share the same stage for a hot summer weekend festival in Dallas, Texas.  Since then, Crossroads has returned every third year, the last happening at Toyota Park in 2007 and back again at the same venue now in 2010.  Having collaborated with so many amazing musicians over the years and honoring many of the legendary blues guitar heroes from long ago, Clapton has paid tribute to those who have influenced him throughout his career and those whom he admires.  The day-long festival is a benefit for The Crossroads Centre in Antigua, a treatment center for chemically dependent persons, founded by Clapton himself in 1998.  With the help of his friends and peers, Eric Clapton once again succeeded in assembling some of the best collaborative performances on the greatest of stage, and it’s all for a good cause.

As a son of mother earth and a brother to this land, one of John Butler’s goals has been to promote mutual respect and raise awareness toward bettering the environment through music.  April Uprising has been his latest musical vehicle that travels down a revolutionary path and draws meaning from ancient ancestry.  Several days after playing a set at the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival, the John Butler Trio stopped by Great Plaza at Penn’s Landing in Philadelphia to give fans a taste of the latest from the Australian-based roots jam band. 

With the incredible success of his recent collaborations on Possibilities and River: The Joni Letters, music legend Herbie Hancock explores world harmony, peace and greater hope on his newest release, The Imagine Project.  Just in time for his 70th birthday, Hancock creates another musical masterpiece that was recorded all around the world in the collaborators native lands when possible, sometimes even in simulcast.    

As the spirit descended upon the South African band, BLK JKS (pronounced “Black Jacks”), again in the time following their 2009 full length release, After Robots, it brought forth messages of celebration and conveyed new adventures to be translated musically.  The answer to that interpretation has come in the form of their latest release, a five song EP titled “ZOL!,” which will debut on Secretly Canadian just days before the start of the 2010 FIFA World Cup.  The collection of songs is deeply rooted in vast African culture and combines psychedelic guitar riffs with complex drum patterns and echoing vocals.   

To give you an idea of the magnitude of Orchestrion and how Pat Metheny’s system works, imagine a controlled orchestra that at times can respond only to the input of one single instrument, in this case the guitar.  Each instrument is programmed and synchronized to react to what is played on Metheny’s guitar or previously composed and similarly he has the ability to control which instruments are playing at a given time. Last Tuesday was no ordinary show when Pat Metheny brought the tour through the Keswick Theatre in Glenside, PA to an audience that was curious to see the virtuoso in a different element.