AltWeeklies Wire
It's Hard to Assign Blame in Seattle Club Shootingsnew
Whether blame was being aimed at Chop Suey, Big Kountry Entertainment, the city's lack of attention to a purportedly growing gang-activity problem, or the music itself, grief quickly manifested itself as cries for culpability. Few viewed it as a failure of club security, but many theories abound when looking closer at the root of the tragedy.
Seattle Weekly |
Hannah Levin |
01-12-2009 |
Music
Fair To Midland's Still Getting Definednew
Audiences are eating up Fair to Midland's newest material, even as the band remains uncertain about it.
Dallas Observer |
Pete Freedman |
01-12-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tags: Fair To Midland
Mayor Urges Public Support to Help Save The Orchestras of Pasadenanew
Pasadena has always had a rich tradition of providing a home for fine orchestras. But today, with the country's teetering economy, something that residents have pretty much taken for granted over more than eight decades may be lost as tough economic times take a heavy toll.
Pasadena Weekly |
Carl Kozlowski |
01-12-2009 |
Music
The Wailers Honor the Memory of Bob Marley by Continuing the Social Revolutionnew
The core of what has become a family tree of musicians began in 1963, when Bob Marley, Bunny Livingston, Peter McIntosh, Beverley Kelso, Junior Braithwaite and Cherry Smith united as a ska band known as The Teenagers.
Boulder Weekly |
Ben Corbett |
01-12-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tower of Power Celebrates 40 Years with Reunions and a Rebootnew
It's not simple luck that Tower of Power is celebrating 40 years as a band. It's more like a freakin' miracle.
Metro Silicon Valley |
Steve Palopoli |
01-09-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
Jazz Trumpeter Freddie Hubbard Diesnew
Hubbard, who died on December 29 at age 70 after suffering a heart attack in late November, remained almost peerless for 50 or so years with his chosen instrument.
Los Angeles CityBeat |
David Cotner |
01-09-2009 |
Music
Who is Brian Wilson?new
Since the first “Brian Is Back!” campaign in 1976, Wilson has developed something like the tidal rhythm of the sea he sang about: sometimes in, sometimes out; sometimes high, sometimes low.
Los Angeles CityBeat |
Chris Ziegler |
01-09-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
A Hawk and a Hacksaw Does Eastern Europe with an American Accentnew
Jeremy Barnes first heard Bulgarian women's choirs while driving through West Texas in 1996, and he was hooked. He moved to Hungary two years ago to live among and learn from some of the area's masters but has always sought to interpret traditional styles through the contemporary lens of his American background.
New York Press |
Amre Klimchak |
01-08-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
Vagabond Opera Sings Outside the Boxnew
It isn't uncommon to be let down by something that comes along calling itself "opera," only to find out that it either has nothing at all to do with opera, or that it's basically a musical. But the Portland, Ore.–based Vagabond Opera actually lives up to its name.
New York Press |
Ryan Tracy |
01-08-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tags: Vagabond Opera
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
Evaluating Leonard Cohen's 16-Year-Old Predictionnew
Cohen's "The Future" celebrated its 16th birthday on November 24. And though it's not entirely fair to judge how accurately Cohen predicted the spirit of our age -- for all its prognostications, the song is really about the Cohen's fear of present-day America -- it's almost eerie how much of it he got right.
Las Vegas Weekly |
Geoff Carter |
01-08-2009 |
Music
Kev Choice Created a Cult of Personality by Straddling Two Worldsnew
Choice's new downloadable album, The Bailout, is a return to the classical mixtape format -- it has three sampled tracks and eighteen original beats, all blended seamlessly together by DJ D-Sharp, all available for free. It's a strange convergence of genres and creative processes, but the result is fascinating.
East Bay Express |
Rachel Swan |
01-07-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
Toxic Holocaust Provides the Soundtrack for a Post-Apocalyptic Worldnew
Joel Grind claims he writes songs about a "Mad Max kind of world" more influenced by science-fiction fantasy or art than today's headlines. Toxic Holocaust isn't trying to provide commentary.
East Bay Express |
Jarret Keene |
01-07-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
How Al Lucchesi Built the Biggest Incubator in Bay Area Musicnew
Over the course of twenty-plus years, Lucchesi's Soundwave Studio and its predecessors have been home to virtually all of the East Bay's biggest names in music.
East Bay Express |
Rachel Swan |
01-07-2009 |
Music
Country Music Rediscovers Its Whiskied Small-Town Rootsnew
Taylor Swift's recent album, Fearless, is such a triumph, both artistically and commercially, that you'd think it would be the answer to all of country music's problems. But it's not -- because it's not really a country record.
Baltimore City Paper |
Geoffrey Himes |
01-06-2009 |
Music
