AltWeeklies Wire
Is Phil Lee the Best Songwriter in Nashville? If Not, You Tell Himnew
Long before he ever threw his first knife, Phil Lee was no stranger to sharp points and edges. He writes songs full of them: character studies that sidle up to folks we'd normally shy away from, pretty ballads that turn staggeringly bleak, ambiguous odes to rough living too laugh-out-loud funny to be considered cautionary tales.
Nashville Scene |
Jim Ridley |
07-31-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
Soul Sister: Teresajenee Debuts Her New Album, 'The Ecklectic'new
What anchors The Ecklectic is Teresajenee's expressive voice, which can coo like a new mother or wail like a church soloist. Think Lauryn Hill or Erykah Badu -- and that just scratches the surface.
Riverfront Times |
Annie Zaleski |
07-31-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tags: Teresajenee, The Ecklectic
At the Hollywood Bowl, Grace Jones Proves She's, Well, Just Differentnew
In case you need reminding after all these years, Grace Jones isn't like us. If, halfway through her astounding show Sunday night at the Hollywood Bowl, a flying saucer had descended from above and carried her away, few in the crowd would have been too surprised.
L.A. Weekly |
Randall Roberts |
07-31-2009 |
Concerts
Charlie Parr: Time Out of Mindnew
Charlie Parr talks Piedmont blues, monophonic recording and internal combustion cuisine
Colorado Springs Independent |
Bill Forman |
07-30-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
Down in the Dumps With the Trashcan Sinatrasnew
Scotland also has a more pastoral pop tradition. From '80s bands to more recent groups, these ambassadors can, in fact, be a pretty mopey bunch. And the Trashcan Sinatras are really no exception.
Colorado Springs Independent |
Bill Forman |
07-30-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
Sonic Youth Contemplates Life With No Expiration Datenew
One of the great pleasures of following Sonic Youth comes from balancing the weight of its history and impact against the beauty of its ongoing metamorphosis.
Colorado Springs Independent |
Jason Notte |
07-30-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
By the Power of Zeus, Mumpsy Takes on Religion and Boredomnew
Mumpsy mastermind Jeff Ilgenfritz is, if not a Dos Equis–style "“most interesting man," certainly in the running for the title of Orlando’s Busiest Man-Pixie.
Orlando Weekly |
Justin Strout |
07-30-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
Gallows Shows Off its Unhesitant Death Rattlenew
With Grey Britain, South London hard-core quintet Gallows unleashes a devastating screed against the stupider features of 21st-century English life.
Tucson Weekly |
Jarret Keene |
07-29-2009 |
Reviews
Discovery's 'LP' is Faddish Yet Funnew
Listening to Discovery's LP reminds us that synthpop is the "sound of the aughts."
Tucson Weekly |
Sean Bottai |
07-29-2009 |
Reviews
Sax Ruins Breaks Down Category Wallsnew
Just when you thought nothing more could be done in the jazz-based idiom with a saxophone and a drum kit, along comes Sax Ruins, a deadly duo featuring improvisational sax player Ono Ryoko and Ruins skinsman Tatsuya Yoshida.
Tucson Weekly |
Jarret Keene |
07-29-2009 |
Reviews
The English Beat Continues to Hone its Reggae/Punk Blendnew
The English Beat may have become a beloved footnote in the history of college music if a funny thing hadn't happened in the United States in the '90s: An entirely new generation of kids became enamored with the 2 Tone sound and started forming bands of their own.
Tucson Weekly |
Stephen Seigel |
07-29-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
Cartographers Get By With a Little Help from Their Friendsnew
The lyrics for every Cartographers song, personal or poetic as they sound, begin as "placeholders," Jackson Albracht says, strung together to chain all those chord changes into songs, coherent musically if not always lyrically.
San Antonio Current |
Jeremy Martin |
07-29-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tags: Cartographers, San Antonio
Why is Jack White Playing the Drums for the Dead Weather?new
It's perplexing that in the Dead Weather, White's current project and the most ubiquitously publicized band of 2009, he's playing ... drums? It feels like a novelty for novelty's sake, like Michael Jordan trying baseball.
Bud Melvin Mixes Banjo, 8-Bit Nintendo and Karaokenew
Melvin creates a solo novelty using the banjo and chiptunes -- music produced by older video game and computer systems that generate sound in real time. It's both retro digital and pastoral, an unlikely combination that interacts with the dynamism of yin and yang.
Weekly Alibi |
Jessica Cassyle Carr |
07-28-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tags: Bud Melvin, Popular Music
The Brash and Ballsy MC Amanda Blank is Here to Take What's Hersnew
With equal connection to Philly's electronic music and hip-hop worlds, Blank is an anomaly: Laurie Anderson with a dirty mouth and better dance steps, Karen Finley without the yams.
Philadelphia City Paper |
A.D. Amorosi |
07-28-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
