We were sad to see the news that guitarist Gary Moore passed away early Sunday at the Kempinski Hotel in Estepona, Spain. Moore is best known for his work with
For every important musical movement of the last 60 years, there has always seemed to be a venue that has played a pivotal role in helping to foster and cultivate
Ozomatli @ Irving Plaza – February 3rd, 2011
Jam bands tend to try and be a little bit of everything to everyone. And a lot of the time they just fall flat as pale imitators. Hip-hop acts tend to recognize their “roots.” Sometimes this comes off as phony; just another way to try and gain “street cred.” Last Thursday evening at Irving Plaza, there was a party goin’ on. Sly would have said that at moments, it was worthy of a riot. But what exactly was being played? I’m still not totally sure. But I know one thing: Ozomatli rocked the house making a cold Winter Thursday night feel like a “Saturday Night.” And the audience in attendance could have cared less what type of music was coming from the stage.
[All words and photos by Marc Millman]
According to Wikipedia, in a 2007 NPR interview, band members Jiro Yamaguchi and Ulises Bella described Ozomatli: “You drive down Sunset Boulevard and turn off your stereo and roll down your windows and all the music that comes out of each and every different car, whether it’s salsa, cumbia, merengue, or hip-hop, funk or whatever, it’s that crazy blend that’s going on between that cacophony of sound is Ozomatli, y’know?” And if you dance your way through one of their almost two hour sets, you will see that this is the perfect description. The band has varied in size since its inception in 1995. Thursday night’s shows featured seven members that included the core six found in every incarnation.
Over the course of an 18-song set, the band bounded from rock to soul to funk to reggae to hip-hop to cumbia and back again. One really did feel as though they were making their way down Sunset. And while Asdru Sierra (lead vocals, trumpet), Raul Pacheco (lead vocals, guitar) and Justin Poree (rap vocals, percussion) led the band through their paces, the crowd got a taste of all sorts of genres. But never without a bit of rock to smack your ass while you were busy shakin’ it.
READ ON for more of Marc’s thoughts and photos on Ozomatli…
As we continue to shake off today’s Super Bowl stupor, we thought we’d turn to the lovely ladies of Those Darlins to help us get through the day. Last week,
Sir Elton John will be all over the small screen this week with a series of appearances to promote…the adoption of his baby? It’s more likely Elton is promoting his World
The Sasquatch! Festival will return to The Gorge in George, WA over Memorial Day Weekend boasting a lineup jammed packed with indie faves who are on major labels such as Wilco, the Flaming Lips (performing The Soft Bulletin plus more), Modest Mouse, Death Cab For Cutie, Chromeo, The Decemberists and the Foo Fighters.
Four-day all-inclusive passes are currently available for $285.
[via Pitchfork]
READ ON for the full initial lineup…
American music fans have an unprecedented opportunity to hear two masterful groups explore the common ground where bluegrass and jazz meet when the Del McCoury Band and the Preservation Hall
It may have been a cold night on the streets of New Orleans but inside the legendary Howlin’ Wolf, it was hot with the sounds of the soulful rocking of Devon Allman’s Honeytribe. Traveling approximately twenty-two hours just to rock Louisiana, you couldn’t tell that these guys were actually on the verge of exhaustion. Playing with an uninhibited fire, this is what rock & roll is all about. If this band didn’t cause a jolt of energy in your bones, you weren’t listening.
Where previous releases found the band plodding along with ten to twelve minute meditations about murderous butchers, mysterious fowl, and shape-shifting lovers, The King Is Dead hearkens back to the earlier days of the band where Colin Meloy and company littered albums like Castaways and Cutouts with compact, yet charitably worded, pastoral folk rock. Boosted with appearances by alt-country superstars Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, and graced with guitar stylings courtesy of the legendary Peter Buck, this album gallops along like a pleasant country breeze, projecting an aura of calmness and satisfaction and providing a concise rejoinder to the stylized grandeur of releases like The Tain EP and The Hazards of Love.
Atmosphere, the preeminent independent hip-hop duo comprised MC Slug and producer Ant, will be releasing their most realized, streamlined effort to date, The Family Sign, due April 12th on Rhymesayers
