AltWeeklies Wire
Ladysmith Black Mambazo Gets Historicalnew
Instead of glorifying violence -- Zulu imbued South Africans with an indomitable fighting spirit in the early 1800s -- Ilembe ("The Greatest Warrior") celebrates perseverance and commitment.
Shepherd Express |
Michael Popke |
04-04-2008 |
Reviews
How Vampire Weekend Channeled Africa Through New Yorknew
What is a young artist to make of a post-Giuliani, post-9/11 New York City?
Shepherd Express |
Michael Carriere |
04-04-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tags: Vampire Weekend
Black 47 Makes War Rocknew
On Iraq, veteran Irish renegade Larry Kirwan and his band of pacifists attempt to conquer the current war with a song cycle of previously released and new material.
Shepherd Express |
Michael Popke |
03-28-2008 |
Reviews
Nada Surf Has Maturednew
Nada Surf continues to fill its second act with songs that are rarely too clever for their own good and that are never afraid to reach for genuine emotion.
Shepherd Express |
Jon Gilbertson |
03-28-2008 |
Reviews
Low: The Notoriously Quiet Band Sharpens Its Teethnew
For more than a decade, snickering naysayers dismissed the Wrath of Low as a novelty: a slowcore group fronted by a harmonizing husband and wife that often perform for cult-like, seated audiences.
Shepherd Express |
Evan Rytlewski |
03-28-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tags: Low, Drums and Guns
How eMC Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Leaknew
Thanks to the Internet, you can watch the band work out their response to the leak of its debut in real time.
Shepherd Express |
Evan Rytlewski |
03-21-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
The Many Muses of Mike Doughtynew
While Haughty Melodic presented an organic, sprawling sound, the former Soul Coughing has intentionally reined it in on Golden Delicious, aiming for a more intimate feel.
Shepherd Express |
Paul Smaxwill |
03-21-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tags: Golden Delicious, Mike Doughty
Bob Mould Makes Peace with the Pastnew
For anyone who still associates Mould with Midwestern punk, the cover of his latest solo album, District Line, may come as quite an eye-opener. The art focuses entirely on the sights of Washington, D.C.
Shepherd Express |
Michael Carriere |
03-07-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tags: Bob Mould, District Line
Martin Atkins Wants to Rock Chinanew
Atkins juxtaposes modern and traditional sounds, including DJs, Tibetan chants, mandolin and instruments such as the pipa and hulusi, along with heavily digitized post-production.
Shepherd Express |
Saby Reyes-Kulkarni |
02-29-2008 |
Reviews
Bob Mould Cranks Pain Through Amplifiersnew
On District Line, the unwelcome knowledge is that growing older is no guarantee, where the heart is concerned, of growing wiser.
Shepherd Express |
Jon Gilbertson |
02-22-2008 |
Reviews
Hot Buttered Impresarionew
Isaac Hayes is back in the studio recording his first album of new material in 13 years, due for a September release.
Shepherd Express |
Michael Muckian |
02-22-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tags: Isaac Hayes
They Might Be Giants of Kids' Musicnew
Cleverly designed to teach kids to recognize numbers and how to count, TMBG deploys its usual earnest wackiness with a variety of musical influences, from twisted American folk to '60s rock riffs and '70s soul, as the duo works its way up from zero to infinity.
Shepherd Express |
David Luhrssen |
02-15-2008 |
Reviews
Jon Mueller Decontructs Metalnew
The title of his latest solo album, Metals, refers to his love for the style of music, and one hears the influence of some of metal's greats throughout the record’s three cuts.
Shepherd Express |
Michael Carriere |
02-15-2008 |
Reviews
Tags: Jon Mueller, Metals
Richard Thompson's History Lessonnew
"It's an ambitious, pretentious rediscovery of music," Thompson said. "We try to tackle everything written between 1000 A.D. and 2000 A.D. We're not skilled in all areas, but no one else is, either."
Shepherd Express |
Michael Muckian |
02-08-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tags: Richard Thompson
Dillinger Four, Pretentiousness Zeronew
Formed in 1994 (“The Year Punk Broke, Part Two”), the band has weathered the rise of a mass-marketed underground culture, the birth of the Internet generation and the growth of a political climate that has little respect for dissenting viewpoints.
Shepherd Express |
Michael Carriere |
02-01-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tags: Dillinger Four
