By Less Lee Moore
“A musical and melancholy sound” is not just a lyric from “Nightingale,” the title track from Erland & The Carnival‘s latest album, but also a perfect description of the band. They weave both musical references and literary allusions into their distinctive melodies, creating an evocative, intoxicating musical tapestry that is lush and extraordinary.
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By Less Lee Moore
The Ramones have infiltrated pop culture to the point where one can hardly imagine a world without them. Yet out of the original lineup, all have passed away except for Tommy. Dee Dee died in 2002; Johnny died in 2004. Joey died from lymphatic cancer in 2001. His brother Mickey Leigh started writing I Slept With Joey Ramone not long afterwards, with the help of longtime friend and punk writer Legs McNeil.
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By Chelsea Spear
Exhibit at The Aidekman Center for the Arts
Medford, MA
Free association: When I say the words “Pop Art,” what comes to mind? Screen-prints of Brillo boxes and Campbell’s soup cans, Ben-Day dots on comic-strip women, cartoon collages. And pop artists? Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Richard Hamilton, maybe Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg. Like most art movements, Pop Art is considered to be a boys’ club. “Seductive Subversion” seeks to turn this misconception on its head.
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By Matt Keeley
Most of the Japanese bands I listen to seem to draw their inspiration from the late ’70s. Shonen Knife are heavily influenced by The Ramones and the Buzzcocks, while POLYSICS draw from DEVO, XTC and M. The Zoobombs on the other hand, while also influenced by the ’70s, draw inspiration from the earlier part of that decade. Their new collection, La Vie En Jupon, is much closer to Black Sabbath than punk. And, as far as Sabbath goes, they are less “Paranoid” and more “Electric Funeral.”
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By Less Lee Moore
My interest in this documentary on some of the bands in the mid-80s L.A. punk scene was piqued by the inclusion of Redd Kross, which, as anyone who knows me will attest, is my all time favorite band. Not because they are necessarily the best band in the world, or the most famous, or the most infamous, but because they forever changed my life for the better, a topic too lengthy to get into here, but which is, unsurprisingly, completely relevant to a discussion of A History Lesson Part 1.
This is not your standard glossy, let’s-explain-why-punk-rock-is-so-important documentary. It’s comprised of old footage shot by Dave Travis, a fan and friend of the bands featured—The Meat Puppets, The Minutemen, Twisted Roots, Redd Kross—interspersed with current interviews from members of those bands. The immediacy and importance of all the bands is captured in the grainy footage, and rather than coming across as embarrassing, it’s completely invigorating.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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