Below are my reviews of pop/rock/folk recordings, concerts and a few other related writings. I'm sure some of my things have slipped through the cracks, but I've tried to collate as many things as I could remember/find into this page. They come from various publications such as AllAboutJazz.com, BlurtOnline.com, JazzReview.com, Signal To Noise print magazine, and The Daily Gazette newspaper in Schenectady, NY. The stuff that will be written for this blog will be separate from here and on the main blog page. If you have any comments, questions, corrections or requests please feel free to contact me...
Richmond Fontaine: We Used To Think The Freeway Sounded Like A River (2009)
There’s an old Paul Simon song titled “Some Folks’ Lives Roll Easy.” It
begins by telling the listeners that some people end up living the good life.
Yet Simon quickly gets to the heart of the matter: “But most folks’ lives,
they stumble/Lord they fall/Through no fault of their own/Most folks never
catch their stars.” Willy Vlautin’s songs on Richmond Fontaine’s brilliant new
We Used To Think The Freeway Sounded Like A River (El Cortez/Arena Rock)
are about these same “most folks” Simon sings of. Not only do Vlautin’s
characters miss out on “catching their stars” as in Simon’s tune, but that same
sky in which those stars shine is caving in on them. Freeway is a collection
of alt-country rockers and ballads for the accidental underachiever.
Read the full review here: Richmond Fontaine @ BlurtOnline.com
Rush Documentary (Film Review): Beyond The Lighted Stage (2010)
As blown up as they can be on stage or in a fan’s mind while listening, they each come off as a seemingly contradictory Rockstar Everyman. But it seems they’ve always been that way, and they’re that way today. They’d fit in with any group of friends – so long as those friends aren’t a stuffy bunch. In that way they’re like the Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers of the progressive rock world. Lighted Stage shows the band as they are: three hard working guys who were talented from the start, fortunate early on, and smart enough to follow that fortune while never looking
back.
Read full review here: Beyond The Lighted Stage @ BlurtOnline.com
American Idols Live Tour: 2008 - Concert review for The Daily Gazette newspaper
…But the real star of the show was – the show. Stage runways, large projection screens, MTV-style camerawork, screaming tweens, embarrassed parents, huge arena space, American Idol [AI] theme song introduction to the program – it was all there and all encompassing.
But there’s no escaping the AI duality reality. These Idols are linked to an increasingly tangled web of corporate cross-marketing. The spectacle is awash in a culturally pervasive haze of mindless branding: Get the can of Coke into the hands of the rock star who sang on AI and place their song on a Universal Studio soundtrack with an eye toward AT&T ringtone rights to drive sales of the “tie-in” McDonald’s cup placement which helps promote the Simon & Schuster tween book sales and starts buzz for the Disney Channel spin-off television program. And don’t forget that the 2008 [AI] tour is sponsored by Pop-Tarts: Kellogg’s sugar-coated toaster pastries.
[However], the show was put on so professionally that it almost makes you forget about all that other stuff. Almost.
Read the full online version of the print publication concert review
here: American Idols Tour 2008 @ TheDailyGazette.com
Sweet Billy Pilgrim: Twice Born Men
Twice Born Men is more like a mini opera of the imagination than a collection of pop songs. Like the short story collections of Tim O’Brien or Mary Gaitskill, the whole equals more than the sum of its parts. And while there is plenty of specific imagery, Elsenburg’s writing is open (at times cryptic) enough for the listener to step into the story and wear it like their own personal raincoat against the world. Twice Born Men is one of those records that will likely divide its listeners into two camps: those who shout “Beautiful! Brilliant!,” and the rest who shrug muttering, “That’s weird. I don’t get it. It’s boring and pretentious.” And it’s a shame for that latter crowd because Twice Born Men is a fantastically ambitious near-masterpiece. In a world where ringtones seem to have become the typical musical attention span, music has generally become something to mindlessly consume and excrete rather than something to engage with, experience and ponder. This is not the world of Twice Born Men.
Read the full review here: Twice Born Men @ BlurtOnline.com
Growing Up Dead: The Hallucinated Confessions of a Teenage
Deadhead
(Book review written w/ wordcap due to consideration for print
publication)No Depression: Instruments Of Change (“Book” review)
The bookazine’s lead story by Jesse Fox Mayshark is about Dock Boggs’s banjo. The piece reads like a documentary short with all the drama of a well made indie. Following the 80 year old instrument’s history through its three owner’s (Boggs, Garnard Cheldon Kincer, and Mike Seeger) is like a mini history lesson in depression era America, the American Dream, and family dynamics. In particular, the lesser known Garnard Cheldon Kincer’s (was there ever a name more deserving to be written about?) story of ownership is worth telling: Coal mining, children consistently waking up to their father’s banjo thrum, and a family’s lost dog being found through the banjo’s sound. That’s good stuff man.
Read Full review here: Instruments Of Change @ BlurtOnline.com
Multiple write-ups as seen in Chicago Innerview's Lollapalooza 2014: Know Before the Show preview print magazine
Roadkill Ghost Choir
Longhaired brothers Andrew, Maxx, and Zach Shepard form the core of RGC. 2013's Quiet Light EP and the preview track from their upcoming LP In Tongues drift through all manner of folk rock, post-rosk, and whatever-the-fuck rock. But their best tune is also their straightest: “Bird In My Window” is acoustic folk beauty distilled a la Fleet Foxes. Never mind the song's details of man's drift toward suicide. Just cose your eyes and join the choir.
Dugas
Siblings Sarah and Christian Dugas may hail from Winnipeg, but their music's roots are firmly planted in American soul and blues. Dugas' 2011 EP Another Day feels slightly restrained, like a simmering pot of water that you want to boil; vs. when they crank up the heat live. Toward the end of their soulful rocker “One Thing,” it sounds like Sarah is fronting the Black Crowes. When the Tedeschi/Trucks Band cancels, Dugas is the first call.
Desert Noises
Prediction: Desert Noises will headline Lollapalooza in 2-3 years. Kyle Henderson and the Utah crew's strong suit is balls-to-the-wall alt/country-cum-rock n' roll. They can do both Fleet Foxes/Mumford & Sons tent revival as well as indie-folk rave-ups. But their messier, distorted, guitar-driven blasts with soulfully placed vocal harmonies bleeding through the clatter like hard-won sunshine shooting through the clouds win the day. Keep an ear out for the ecstatically anthemic “Out of My Head.”
Wildcat! Wildcat!
Wildcat! Wildcat!'s dreamy yet catchy dance hooks combined with '80s new wave pop and contemporary EDM vibes are designed to lift the room and raise the roof. The L.A. keyboard-based pop rock band's full-length debut No Moon At All drops this August, and the release is bigger in every way than their 2013 eponymous EP. Chiming electronics, sparkly keyboard sounds, heavy synth bass, and shimmering electric piano cover the music in irresistible dance pop glitter.
Delta Rae
Delta Rae siblings Ian, Eric, and Brittany Holljes bring their Clear Channel-ready traveling Budweiser commercial to Chicago. Their recent EP Chasing Twisters is heavily produced pop Americana, country rock schlock bombast – arena-country, if you will. Look for their tunes as product placement in upcoming trailers for formulaic Hollywood dramedies. But when you ighten up and look at it another way, they're just a helluva lot of fun.
Lindsay Lowend
21-year-old Lindsay Lowend refers to his computer-based stylings as neon music: “Comical, flamboyant, bright, colorful, sometimes annoying... It doesn't take itself too seriously,” he says. From jazzy vamps to loungey chill-out grooves that favor a club aesthetic over harmonic and melodic sophistication, Lowend's music is filtered through an idiosyncratic prism of video game DJ sampling culture. Think Squarepusher with less jazz and more Super Mario. Discursive, interesting, smart, young, and annoying, he's the Holden Caulfield of party music.
Warpaint
L.A. quartet Warpaint's eponymous sophomore recording enters your bloodstream like a shot of benign heroin. They come at you as a partially declawed P.J. Harvey and Sonic Youth; or a somewhat darker Cat Power. Whichever dark and trippy way they come at you, resistance is futile. They induce inexplicable dreams that keep you dancing through your disquieted slumber. And when you awake, you're beggin' for more. Did I mention they bring it live, big time? (Warpaint writeup submitted as part of an “interview” process; subsequently unpublished)
Rufus Wainwright @ The Egg, Albany, NY (concert review for The Daily Gazette print publication)
Rufus Wainwright is to mainstream American corporate pop/rock as foreign art cinema is to Hollywood’s blockbuster system: Kurt Weill-ish cabaret populism, 19th century romanticism, Shakespearean references, subtle (and not so subtle) ironic word play, and caustic wit aren’t hallmarks of Clearchannel playlists. The first highlight of many was “The Art Teacher.” Wainwright’s voice is at turns a languorous whine and a plaintive siren. Legato vocal scoops turning upward into long vibrato tones in this song often evoke Radiohead’s Thom Yorke. In fact, melodically and harmonically, this tune could easily be mistaken for a Radiohead tune. But Wainwright’s lyrics are rarely as obscured or abstract in meaning.
Rufus Wainwright is to mainstream American corporate pop/rock as foreign art cinema is to Hollywood’s blockbuster system: Kurt Weill-ish cabaret populism, 19th century romanticism, Shakespearean references, subtle (and not so subtle) ironic word play, and caustic wit aren’t hallmarks of Clearchannel playlists. The first highlight of many was “The Art Teacher.” Wainwright’s voice is at turns a languorous whine and a plaintive siren. Legato vocal scoops turning upward into long vibrato tones in this song often evoke Radiohead’s Thom Yorke. In fact, melodically and harmonically, this tune could easily be mistaken for a Radiohead tune. But Wainwright’s lyrics are rarely as obscured or abstract in meaning.
Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC) Classic Rockfest (concert review for The Daily Gazette print publication)
The nostalgia factor was high for Sunday night’s classic rockfest at SPAC: Cheap rick, Heart, and Journey played to one of the largest crowds all summer. Time travel may have been the main attraction for some, but much of the music was good as well…
[Journey’s] hits came often: “Separate Ways,” “Open Arms,” “When the Lights,” and the now infamous Sopranos series-closing “Don’t Stop Believing.” As solid as the whole band is, without early members Gregg Rolie and Steve Smith, it’s mainly Neil Schon’s show now. He’s professional and a bona fide guitar god. From his clear, singing tone, to his blistering distorted solos he makes everything look effortless…
[Cheap Trick’s] tunes such as “Surrender” and “Dream Police” didn’t fail to get people on their feet early in the evening. But the backbone of their set was guitarist Rick Nielsen’s showmanship. Constantly prowling the stage, he changed his guitars as often as Sara Jessica Parker changes clothes in Sex and the City. He also wore his signature suit, bow tie, and Angus Young style baseball cap. Just like the old days.
See full online version of the print publication’s concert review here: Classic Rock/SPAC @ TheDailyGazette.com
The nostalgia factor was high for Sunday night’s classic rockfest at SPAC: Cheap rick, Heart, and Journey played to one of the largest crowds all summer. Time travel may have been the main attraction for some, but much of the music was good as well…
[Journey’s] hits came often: “Separate Ways,” “Open Arms,” “When the Lights,” and the now infamous Sopranos series-closing “Don’t Stop Believing.” As solid as the whole band is, without early members Gregg Rolie and Steve Smith, it’s mainly Neil Schon’s show now. He’s professional and a bona fide guitar god. From his clear, singing tone, to his blistering distorted solos he makes everything look effortless…
[Cheap Trick’s] tunes such as “Surrender” and “Dream Police” didn’t fail to get people on their feet early in the evening. But the backbone of their set was guitarist Rick Nielsen’s showmanship. Constantly prowling the stage, he changed his guitars as often as Sara Jessica Parker changes clothes in Sex and the City. He also wore his signature suit, bow tie, and Angus Young style baseball cap. Just like the old days.
See full online version of the print publication’s concert review here: Classic Rock/SPAC @ TheDailyGazette.com
Counting
Crows, Maroon 5, Sara Bareilles @ Saratoga Performing Arts Center - Concert review for The Daily Gazette newspaper.
Of
the three groups, Maroon 5 was definitely the one to be called the dance band.
There’s no getting around the retro funk vibe… They’re a curious mix of ‘80s
synth pop, near disco, power pop, and metal… At times, however, it was like
they were playing “at” you instead of “for” you. They often simply had too much
going on: Lasers, wild lights, dry ice smoke, a near constant discursive
shifting of musical styles. Interesting at times and full of musical ability,
they occasionally came off as an attention-deficit-disordered teenager’s
concert fantasy.
See the full online version of the print publication concert review
here: Counting Crows, Maroon 5, Sara Bareilles concert @ TheDailyGazette.com
Radiohead: EMI special edition releases
But none of that matters when you sit down to listen to
Radiohead’s music – or crank it up at a party/gathering. At their best, they’re
completely awe-inspiring, beautiful, disturbing, ass-kicking, and mysterious.
And as Albert Einstein wisely observed, “The most beautiful thing we can
experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art…” Einstein would’ve dug Radiohead. As do artists from all over the spectrum; for example, America’s best young film director P.T. Anderson recruited guitarist Jonny Greenwood to score his Oscar winning epic There Will Be Blood, and both bluegrass mandolinist Chris Thile and jazz master pianist Brad Mehldau have covered Radiohead material.
Read full review here: Radiohead Special Editions @ BlurtOnline.com
Scott H. Biram: Something’s
Wrong/Lost Forever (2009)
If Reverend Billy
had become a singer instead of a
preacher, he’d have sounded like Scott H.
Biram. Or if one could transform the
latent energy emanating from the iconic
Johnny Cash “flippin’ the bird”
photograph into sound, it would come out
something like Biram’s more
righteously angry material. In Biram’s world where
country/blues/gospel meets
punk, telling the world to fuck off comes as
naturally as warning someone off
the Devil.
Read full
review here: Something's Wrong/Lost Forever @ BlurtOnline.com
Clare And The Reasons: Arrow
(2009)
The movie As Good
As It Gets caustically observed ‘the beautiful
people’: “Some [have]
pretty stories that take place at lakes with boats… and
noodle salad. Just no
one [among us]. But lots of people – that’s their story:
Good times, noodle
salad.” Clare And The Reasons are beautiful people. From Arrow:
“Morning comes just in time/
We will have omelettes/ And there will be parties.”
So, ‘Good times, noodle
salad’ becomes ‘parties, omelettes.’ Well la dee
fuckin’ da.
The Reasons’ lyrics and sound (Clare’s voice being
occasionally
charming but mainly cloyingly irritating) are eyeball deep in
clever and
cutesy. Their anal pop string/horn arrangements are so squeaky
clean you feel
you’re walking on polished eggshells. It’s all so precious you
want to smash
it. The clever/cutesy quotient reaches a zenith with an oom-pah
tuba cover of
Genesis’s already forgettable “That’s All.” “Look how sophisticated yet
whimsical we
are. Tubas! Strings! Genesis! Ain’t our record hip?”
No. It’s generally simplistic and rose-colored. Will
someone give the
beautiful people a tour of Afghanistan
please?
Pronto: All Is Golden (2009)
There's a new game in the music world: Six degrees of Wilco. Current Wilco keyboardist Mikael Jorgensen's band Pronto is the latest degree in a wide network of Wilco connections. All Is Golden is Pronto's debut and Jorgensen composed and sings all the material. The musical influences are varied…
Read full review here: All Is Golden @ AllAboutJazz.com
Yes @ Times Union Center concert review (for The Daily Gazette newspaper):
Early-era progressive rock favorites Yes came to The Times Union Center Sunday night with their requisite reunion tour baggage in tow: Lack of original members, widespread fan gossip of band-member infighting, and general discussion of current relevance to the scene.
The main issue is the absence of lead singer Jon Anderson. He’s recently suffered from acute respiratory failure and felt this 40th anniversary tour should’ve been postponed until his recovery. “This is not Yes on tour,” Anderson stated online. Drama aside, Yes’ performance was worthy of a larger turnout than the small but excited crowd in attendance.
Read full online version of print publication concert review here: Yes @ TheDailyGazette.com
Sedona Ecofest (concert review for the Arizona Daily Sun print publication: August, 2000)
The Sedona EcoFest 2000 taking place this Saturday at the Sedona Cultural Park promises to be the concert event of the year. The brainchild of the BeneFest Foundation, the event seeks to combine music with environmental awareness.
“You can’t save the world, but you can make a difference in your own community,” says Philip Walker, executive director of EcoFest. “It’s to our benefit to learn more about this great planet we live on and respect it as well.”
(Online version of this article is unavailable at the Arizona Daily Sun print newspaper website)
Beppe Gambetta Concert/Workshop @ Arizona Music Pro (article for the Arizona Daily Sun print publication, July, 2000)
When you think of traditional bluegrass music, hot flatpicking guitar and mandolins, images of Genoa, Italy aren’t usually the first that come to mind. Kentucky or possibly the Appalachian Hills are the usual suspects. Nonetheless, Beppe Gambetta (from Genoa) is an extremely accomplished flatpicking guitarist in the traditional American style and can hold his own with the best of the American-born players. An “acoustic-guitar-flatpicking-monster” is how he was described by Pulse magazine. Flagstaff will be lucky to have this wonderful, international artist performing and teaching tomorrow night at 7pm at Arizona Music Pro.
Gambetta’s workshop will be an “interactive mini-concert,” said store manager Meg Roederer of Arizona Music Pro. Arizona Music Pro has been having an ongoing series of workshops out of its store in Flagstaff for quite a while now. They are sponsored by Taylor Guitars and are put on by consistently excellent musicians. Dan Crary and Artie Traum are just two of the musicians who have run these workshops out of Arizona Music Pro in the past.
(Online version of this full article is unavailable at the Arizona Daily Sun newspaper website)
Najite Olokun Prophecy: Africa Before Invasion (2003)
Yes @ Times Union Center concert review (for The Daily Gazette newspaper):
Early-era progressive rock favorites Yes came to The Times Union Center Sunday night with their requisite reunion tour baggage in tow: Lack of original members, widespread fan gossip of band-member infighting, and general discussion of current relevance to the scene.
The main issue is the absence of lead singer Jon Anderson. He’s recently suffered from acute respiratory failure and felt this 40th anniversary tour should’ve been postponed until his recovery. “This is not Yes on tour,” Anderson stated online. Drama aside, Yes’ performance was worthy of a larger turnout than the small but excited crowd in attendance.
Read full online version of print publication concert review here: Yes @ TheDailyGazette.com
Sedona Ecofest (concert review for the Arizona Daily Sun print publication: August, 2000)
The Sedona EcoFest 2000 taking place this Saturday at the Sedona Cultural Park promises to be the concert event of the year. The brainchild of the BeneFest Foundation, the event seeks to combine music with environmental awareness.
“You can’t save the world, but you can make a difference in your own community,” says Philip Walker, executive director of EcoFest. “It’s to our benefit to learn more about this great planet we live on and respect it as well.”
(Online version of this article is unavailable at the Arizona Daily Sun print newspaper website)
Beppe Gambetta Concert/Workshop @ Arizona Music Pro (article for the Arizona Daily Sun print publication, July, 2000)
When you think of traditional bluegrass music, hot flatpicking guitar and mandolins, images of Genoa, Italy aren’t usually the first that come to mind. Kentucky or possibly the Appalachian Hills are the usual suspects. Nonetheless, Beppe Gambetta (from Genoa) is an extremely accomplished flatpicking guitarist in the traditional American style and can hold his own with the best of the American-born players. An “acoustic-guitar-flatpicking-monster” is how he was described by Pulse magazine. Flagstaff will be lucky to have this wonderful, international artist performing and teaching tomorrow night at 7pm at Arizona Music Pro.
Gambetta’s workshop will be an “interactive mini-concert,” said store manager Meg Roederer of Arizona Music Pro. Arizona Music Pro has been having an ongoing series of workshops out of its store in Flagstaff for quite a while now. They are sponsored by Taylor Guitars and are put on by consistently excellent musicians. Dan Crary and Artie Traum are just two of the musicians who have run these workshops out of Arizona Music Pro in the past.
(Online version of this full article is unavailable at the Arizona Daily Sun newspaper website)
Najite Olokun Prophecy: Africa Before Invasion (2003)
Read review here: Africa Before Invasion @ JazzReview.com
Jonas Hellborg/Shawn Lane/Jeff Sipe: Temporal Analogues of Paradise (2003)
Read review here: Temporal Analogues of Paradise @ JazzReview.com
Joe Bonamassa: Had To Cry Today (2004)
Read review here: Joe Bonamassa @ JazzReview.com
Jason Crigler: The Music of Jason Crigler (2008)
Read review here: The Music Of Jason Crigler @ AllAboutJazz.com
Kerri Powers: Faith In The Shadows (2009)
Read review here: Kerri Powers @ BlurtOnline.com
Shawn David McMillen: Dead Friends (2010)
Read review here: Dead Friends @ BlurtOnline.com
Martin Bisi: Sirens Of The Apocalypse (2008)
Read review here: Sirens Of The Apocalypse @ AllAboutJazz.com
Big Joe Duskin: Big Joe Jumps Again (2004)
Read review here: Big Joe Jumps Again @ JazzReview.com
Schenectady’s Music Haven Concert Series featuring Maura O’Connell (concert review)
Read online version of The Daily Gazette print publication here: Music Haven @ TheDailyGazette.com
Jonas Hellborg/Shawn Lane/Jeff Sipe: Temporal Analogues of Paradise (2003)
Read review here: Temporal Analogues of Paradise @ JazzReview.com
Joe Bonamassa: Had To Cry Today (2004)
Read review here: Joe Bonamassa @ JazzReview.com
Jason Crigler: The Music of Jason Crigler (2008)
Read review here: The Music Of Jason Crigler @ AllAboutJazz.com
Kerri Powers: Faith In The Shadows (2009)
Read review here: Kerri Powers @ BlurtOnline.com
Shawn David McMillen: Dead Friends (2010)
Read review here: Dead Friends @ BlurtOnline.com
Martin Bisi: Sirens Of The Apocalypse (2008)
Read review here: Sirens Of The Apocalypse @ AllAboutJazz.com
Big Joe Duskin: Big Joe Jumps Again (2004)
Read review here: Big Joe Jumps Again @ JazzReview.com
Schenectady’s Music Haven Concert Series featuring Maura O’Connell (concert review)
Read online version of The Daily Gazette print publication here: Music Haven @ TheDailyGazette.com
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