// Category Archive for: Reviews

Scala & Kolacny Brothers, S/T

By Christian Lipski

The Stone Age was followed by the Bronze Age, which was followed by the Iron Age. With every new movie that Hollywood releases, with every mashup video on YouTube or “greatest hits” tour by a reunited band, it becomes more and more clear that we are currently living in the Age of the Remake. This is not always the sign of a lack of ideas, fortunately. Often it’s a way to make people look at something in a whole new light.

Listeners may recognize Scala & Kolacny Brothers from the movie The Social Network, which featured their haunting cover of the Radiohead song “Creep.” Their new self-titled CD is their debut in the US, and they obviously hope to capitalize on the film’s great success here.
(more…)

America’s Music Legacy: Dixieland Jazz (DVD)

By Danny R. Phillips

It has been said that Jazz is the only truly American music style. While other genres blend rhythm, tones, and instruments from other countries, Jazz—whether it be Davis, Coltrane, Armstrong, Hancock, Holliday, or Horne (or god forbid, Kenny G.)—was hatched, raised, nurtured, and perfected here within our shores.

Dixieland Jazz, a mash up of blues, ragtime, and other stylings is a perfect choice for the series America’s Music Legacy; it has a rich, colorful history that is explored here by host Al Hirt, the Jazz trumpeter and Dixieland luminary. Much like the Blues installment of the this series, it includes live performances and is packed with clips of giants who have already left us: piano great Fats Waller, Louis Armstrong, and Eubie Blake.
(more…)

Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears, Scandalous

By Paul Casey

The first thing to be said about Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears‘ second LP, Scandalous, is how decent it sounds. The production by Jim Eno emphasizes the rough edges built into these tales of betrayal, sadness, and unusual sexual requests. Joe Lewis’s voice, while not terribly distinctive, has enough energy to keep things flowing. His Honeybears also manage to keep things rocking along, with a solid horn section.

(more…)

Heidecker & Wood, Starting From Nowhere

By Matt Keeley

Anyone familiar with Pusswhip Banggang—the band which started as a sketch on Tim & Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! and later became a real band in Tim & Eric live shows—should not be surprised by the ’70s vibe of Starting From Nowhere, the debut album from Tim Heidecker and Davin Wood (who is also a member of Pusswhip).
(more…)

Siriusmo, Mosaik

By Emily Carney

In the last decade and a half, electronic dance music has been hijacked by French artists, the most famous of whom are likely Daft Punk. “French touch” music—originally associated with funked-up 1970s guitar flourishes, synth swoops, and thumping beats—morphed into something wholly futuristic sounding (for example, “Derezzed” from Daft Punk’s soundtrack to Tron: Legacy, and Digitalism’s “Zdarlight,” which was also a paean to Cassius’ producer Philippe Zdar). Although Digitalism originated in Germany, in many cases that country’s contributions to electronic music tended to be overlooked while French touch music took over everything.
(more…)

America’s Music Legacy: Blues (DVD)

By Danny R. Phillips

The series America’s Music Legacy, with installments on Dixieland Jazz, Folk, Country, Soul, and others has the goal of documenting the foundations of America music. And with this chapter, “Blues,” they do a fine job.

Though it can seem slightly hokey and the performances painfully staged (the performances are set in “clubs” with “customers” in the audience; when the audience does get movin’, it still seems like they’re just playing a role), the real saving grace is the fact that this DVD focuses on the music. Despite the lack of energy and wildness that the blues should inspire and a spontaneous feeling of excitement that the genre can sometimes generate, there are some great performances by great players to be found.
(more…)

Floating Action, Desert Etiquette

By Less Lee Moore

Although the name Floating Action is derived from a vintage Gretsch drum pedal, it’s perfect metaphor for multi-instrumentalist singer/songwriter Seth Kauffman’s latest release. Desert Etiquette‘s ten twangy, trebly tunes are like sugar crystals floating on a stream of golden honey, dewdrops sparkling in the sunrise of a chilly spring morning, or the embers flaring from a campfire in the clearing of the dark, snowy forest. Everything is as natural and comfortable as being outdoors.
(more…)

Frank Sinatra: Best of Vegas

By Emily Carney

Frank Sinatra’s unique brand of machismo and swagger may seem obsolete in 2011. However, his vocal influence is still very much felt; Austrian electro lounge crooner Louie Austen has been known to mix some old Sinatra classics into his current sets. Although big band music has lost its cult luster in the last few years (remember the “swing” revival in 1999, and the Tony Bennett popularity explosion of the mid-1990s?), Frank Sinatra’s voice and legend elevates him far above mere novelty status.
(more…)

PJ Harvey, Let England Shake

By J Howell

If there’s one thing that can be said about Polly Harvey, it’s that she is full of surprises.

While a detailed discussion of the breadth of Harvey’s compelling body of work is beyond the scope of this review, it’s fair to say that while her music has always been inhabited by an often harrowing multitude of characters, the protagonists are generally embattled on an intensely intimate level. Just as often those same characters could arguably be described as victims.
(more…)

Over the Rhine, The Long Surrender

By Magda Underdown-DuBois

I was introduced to Over the Rhine when they opened for Ani DiFranco a few years ago. The girlfriend who bought us the tickets explained to me that the married duo of Karin Bergquist and Linford Detweiler had begun making music in the arena of Contemporary Christian, but had then broadened their reach to incorporate the deeply personal mundane that dominates the singer-songwriter genre these days. When I picked up The Long Surrender, I expected something similar to what I heard onstage so long ago. Their press release and the Notes within (a preface to the duo’s musical story written by their producer Joe Henry) argued against these preconceptions.
(more…)