Washington City Paper | Brent Burton | Music | AAN.org

John Surman's Jazz Quartet Shakes Things Up on 'Brewster's Rooster'new

Brewster's Rooster is more of an outlier than it might seem. Granted, aside from the occasional skronk, the album is rather tuneful and approachable. But, in a genre that is contracting rather than expanding, what could be more radical than a musician who sees the entirety of jazz as part of a single lovely continuum?

Washington City Paper | Brent Burton | 08-27-2009 | Reviews

Tags: Brewster's Rooster, John Surman, jazz

Crystal Antlers Twig Out on 'Tentacles'new

Tentacles, the first full-length from Crystal Antlers, is the rare psych-punk record that tempers raucousness with rue. Both traits are apt, given the circumstances surrounding the album's release.

Washington City Paper | Brent Burton | 04-02-2009 | Reviews

Tags: Crystal Antlers, Tentacles, indie rock

If Full-Length Albums are Dead, Why Do So Many People Still Want Them?new

Rather than a dying format, the album is perhaps more like the novel or feature-length film -- a good idea that has weathered and will continue to weather technological trends. It's already survived numerous physical products: the vinyl LP, the 8-track, the cassette tape, and the compact disc. Who's to say that it won't survive the digital download?

Washington City Paper | Brent Burton | 01-08-2009 | Music

Tags: MP3s, music industry, digital music, albums

Fennesz's Latest is a Hair's Breadth from Ambient Territorynew

Ostensibly an avant-gardist, guitarist and laptop musician Christian Fennesz has become a traditionalist of sorts in recent years -- his music now has much in common with Brian Eno's ambient recordings of the late '70s and early '80s.

Washington City Paper | Brent Burton | 12-11-2008 | Reviews

Tags: ambient music, Black Sea, Fennesz

Fucked Up Finds Godliness in Down-to-Earth Punknew

The sextet no longer sounds like the sort of band that plays basement hardcore shows; it sounds like the sort of band that would follow a long concept album with another long concept album.

Washington City Paper | Brent Burton | 10-17-2008 | Reviews

Tags: Fucked Up, The Chemistry of Common Life

Nico Muhly: A Touch of (Philip) Glassnew

If classical music had an award for most overexposed new artist, Muhly would certainly be a contender.

Washington City Paper | Brent Burton | 08-07-2008 | Reviews

Tags: classical music, composers, Mothertongue, Nico Muhly

Faraquet Had Novel Ideas About what Guitars Can Do, but Don't Call it Math Rocknew

Of course they could play in odd time signatures. And, yes, they were, at times, willfully obtuse. But at the heart of every Faraquet song is an actual song.

Washington City Paper | Brent Burton | 07-24-2008 | Reviews

Tags: D.C., Anthology 1997-98, Dischord Records, Faraquet, math rock

Nachtmystium Unsettles Black-Metal Formulas on its New Albumnew

In the same way that no one thinks of Ride the Lightning as just a thrash album or Remission as just a metalcore album, on Assassins the riffs are so fierce and the choruses so memorable that it doesn't matter what flavor of metal it is. It's just metal.

Washington City Paper | Brent Burton | 06-26-2008 | Reviews

Tags: metal, black metal, Assassins: Black Meddle Pt. 1, Blake Judd, Nachtmystium

Dizzee Rascal Makes a Hard Climb Toward Mass Appealnew

A flop as a British MC, Dizzee Rascal tries to become an American one.

Washington City Paper | Brent Burton | 05-09-2008 | Reviews

Tags: Dizzee Rascal, Maths + English

Howlin Rain Finds the Link Between Punk and Bluesnew

At some point, trend-chasing music fans -- like those who embrace Vampire Weekend's self-described "Upper West Side Soweto" -- are going to have to struggle with albums like Magnificent Fiend and come to terms with exactly what makes the blues seem so frozen in pre-punk amber.

Washington City Paper | Brent Burton | 03-27-2008 | Reviews

Tags: Howlin Rain, Magnificent Fiend