Over the course of the past two years, Medeski, Martin & Wood has had a very simple philosophy – write, tour and record. The avant-jazz groove-jammers stretched this idea out
Week one of the NFL season is almost in the books and here’s some of the top stories from this past weekend – Urlacher out for the season, Sanchez impresses
Here at Stormy Monday we believe in recycling. Recently, I happened upon a podcast from Philadelphia’s livetronic trio Telepath entitled Telepath Thirty Minute Mix, and found it to be a
I usually have some form of download for you guys; some up and coming mix by the crate digging souls of this great planet. However, I felt that a State of the Union address was important to this column moving forward. We’ve all heard the age old saying that in order to conquer the future, we must first understand our past. In this installment of Wyllys and The World Party, we will give a quick history lesson to educate a generation of people who missed the rave culture at its peak, then move into the present day dance culture to try and understand where the future of dance music is going. School is in session. Grab your Roor. Put on some Aphex Twin…
The story starts in The Bronx on a set of belt driven turntables next to a pile of old funk records. In 1972 Jamaican born DJ Kool Herc had the vision to take these records and isolate the “break” or drum section and mix two records together with an archaic stereo mixer that had a cross fader which was significantly different from the Disco style of mixing at the time, which would just cross fade between two tracks once the original track reached its end. He then took these breaks from the same two records and mixed the two together creating what we all know today to be Hip Hop and laid the base for Turntablism as an art form. Spoken word, or “rapping” quickly caught on fire over these breaks and the MC was born. Grandmaster Flash and Africa Bambatta were two of the first to cop Herc’s style and push the genre forward with great success. Not only were these DJs making history, they were giving the youth of the ghetto a ray of hope that maybe one day, they could MC or DJ and find a way out of the projects for good.
READ ON for more of Wyllys and the World Party…
Most baseball players dream of playing in the World Series, most actors dream of winning an academy award and most musicians dream of performing their compositions at Carnegie Hall with the New York Philharmonic. Last night, Phish guitarist Trey Anastasio got to fulfill that dream when he took the stage with the most legendary orchestra in the world at arguably the most famous venue in the world and he made the most of the opportunity.
[All photos by Benjamin Slayter / Slayter Creative]
Anastasio and the Philharmonic performed two sets filled with songs that sounded so natural in this setting you would’ve thought they were originally written with an orchestra in mind. Israeli conductor Asher Fisch clearly understood the Trey/Phish experience and did an exceptional job of infusing playfulness and frenzy into the performance from the beginning of the First Tube opener through the end of the If I Could encore. There was so much going on between all of the different parts each section of the orchestra brought to each song that it was literally mind blowing trying to take it all in. Luckily a mobile recording truck captured each and every note for posterity.
From the moment you walked through the entrance of the iconic venue and saw more balloons on 57th street than at a toddler’s birthday party it was clear this wasn’t an ordinary night at Carnegie Hall. There was hooting and hollering from the moment Anastasio walked on the stage but most of it was good natured and the orchestra seemed to get a kick out of the love and appreciation that was being showed towards them at nearly every opportunity.
READ ON for more of Scotty’s thoughts and Ben’s incredible photos of Trey Anastasio and the New York Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall…
We’ve gotta hand it to Rhino for unveiling what looks to be the best Grateful Dead archival release in years – Winterland June 1977 – The Complete Recordings. These shows
Jay Leno returns to the airwaves this week with The Jay Leno Show (NBC, 10PM) and in addition to the star power of Jerry Seinfeld, Tom Cruise, Robin Williams and
Over the last 15+ years as a Phish fan I’ve been treated to some magical experiences and last night’s concert is near the top of the list. One of Phish
The HT family has grown a bit over the course of the year, so we couldn’t fit everyone on the deck for last week’s BBQ. We had to have the rest of the gang over this week for part two of our discussion of the Best Albums Of The ’00s. So, we headed back to the store to pick up a variety of our favorite grillable food stuffs and a few cases of Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPAs for another rousing edition of At The Barbecue.
As we mentioned last week, the rules are quite simple. Any album released between January of 2000 and December of 2009 (though we’re not quite there yet) are fair game. So let’s not waste anymore time and jump right into our second installment…
Jeffrey Greenblatt: The Strokes – Is This It?
Over the last ten years I can easily say I’ve consumed more music than I ever have. So, with the scores of albums that went through my Discman (remember those kids?) and have been loaded onto two separate iPods this decade, there have been plenty that were easily forgettable, but only a true handful that have, and will, stand up to repeated listens for the years to come. Among that collection is the debut album from The Strokes – Is This It? – a collection of fuzzy, almost dangerous sounding Velvet Underground-inspired songs that came out at a time when rock needed to be saved.
READ ON for more of the HT Staff’s favorite albums of the ’00s…
After 50 years of drumming Phil Collins is putting down his sticks. The Genesis drummer has a spinal injury that has made sitting at a kit too painful to endure.
