Medeski Martin & Woods' Radiolarians II suggests that each of the three musicians are taking turns setting the tone for the respective installment of the series. John Medeski takes precedence here, but not to the detriment of his partners or the music they create together.
Les Claypool is a rare beast. After being asked to score music for a videogame (“Mushroom Men”) and a horror film about a mutant pig (“Booneville Stomp”) he decided to keep the weird juices flowing and put out a full length album. Maybe he should have slowed his roll a bit. Of Fungi and Foe is a scattered, loose effort that feels like Les is reheating some leftovers.
There was a point in the middle of Leonard Cohen’s performance at the Dodge Theater where he admitted, “I’m very grateful to you all for keeping my songs alive after all these years. “ This was rightfully so, considering his last tour was back in '94. Fifteen years is a long time to wait for this brilliant mind and voice to recreate his songs on the live stage.
Yet with change comes the development of fresh ideas and music. Hot Buttered Rum has always been innovative in their pursuit of pushing their own musical evolution, and since the break up they have added Everyone Orchestra Drummer/ Conductor Matt Butler to sit in as another piece to their dynamic musical puzzle.
If you’re a fan of Maria Taylor’s first two albums, 11:11 and Lynn Teeter Flower, then her newest release, LadyLuck, will seem like an old friend. If you’re new to Taylor’s hushed vocals and overall somber reflections on relationships and life, then these ten new tunes might take some time getting used to.
If you saw Neil Young on tour last year or read about his eco-friendly car in the news, you probably saw this coming. Heck, if you have been following Young’s career for the past 40 years, you probably saw this coming. It’s no secret he does what he wants, when he wants to do it; and he’s done it again
The Clifford Ball is as good a summation as anything else officially available of the instrumental and vocal prowess at the heart of the Phish persona. The seven-DVD set of catches the band on the outer fringes of its innocence, consorting on stage with Ben and Jerry as headlines of ‘The Burlington Free Press’ emblazon the story of the August weekend in a tongue and cheek style that mirrors the quartet’s own sense of humor.
Everything Burns kicks off as a fairly typical post-emo mainstream rock album. There are bits of alt rock and emo tidied up in a nice, easily digestible package and yet…there's something else, something deeper going on with this record.
G. Love and his band stopped in San Francisco to throw down a very buttoned up concert at the legendary Warfield Theater.
San Francisco was treated to some Canadian delight recently as Vancouver’s Black Mountain came through bringing along Toronto’s own The Sadies. Both bands are throw backs to the classic era of rock, yet they’re also wholly indebted to the contemporary music scene.
