Archive for June, 2008
Another Empowered Female - Santogold
Author: Andy Sosnowski
Last time I reviewed MIA’s live concert. This time I review Santogold from Brooklyn, as a preview to a free concert that Santogold will be giving on Sunday July 20 in N.Y.C. as part of Central Park Summerstage (see www.summerstage.org). There are similarities in that both make powerful but not (usually) pretty electronica. Santogold has a strong song called Starstruck, M.I.A. has a strong song called Sunshowers. If anything Santogold’s music is more melodic and diverse. Read the rest of this entry »
read comments (0)
I think it’s safe to say almost all of us know who Bill Cosby is: Stand-up comedian. Actor. Jell-o Pudding guy. Fat Albert creator. And of course, Dr. Huxtable - one of the defining characters of the 80s. So when I first got into hardcore beat-digging and record-collecting and started to do my research within those corners of the earth, finding ‘Bill Cosby’ on my want list was a surreal thing, you know? Turns out he’s actually known for creating a few sought-after beats within soul collector realms - “The Mudfoot”, a dope spoken word and beat perfect for sampling, and “Salvation Army Band”, known for its drum break - and come to think of it he did seem to rep jazz a disproportionate amount on the ol’ Cosby show, so wow okay there was something to it.
And that was before Badfoot Brown.
Summer Songs
Author: Dee
Keith Kenny CD Release Party: Limit is the Sky
Author: Leigh Silbernagel
Keith Kenny CD Release Party: Limit is the Sky
June 17, 2008- Keith Kenny is a band that instills new respect for music’s ability to expand one’s horizons and way of viewing the world. Aptly titled, “Limit is the Sky,” Keith Kenny’s first CD (http://keithkenny.net/) is a celebration of classic blues rock combined with country influences, skilled musicianship and demanding instrumental part writing.
Read the rest of this entry »
The Dodos-Visiter
Author: Steven
A few prerequisites before naming your band “The Dodos”:
1. More than 50% of the band should be relatively good looking in an effort to avoid too close of a connection between the band name and the band members
2. Your music should be pretty good so as to avoid the label of a “joke band.” (Note: Most bands should strive to meet this prerequisite, though not all of them do.)
3. You should not take yourself too seriously. I mean…you call yourself The Dodos.
4. I should hope that you really love animals. And not just extinct ones.
Having met these requirements, these two boys from San Francisco (The Dodos!) create a perfect blend of light-hearted music, substantial lyrics, and anthemic drive. Tasteful irony is alive and well in the music world. Read the rest of this entry »
Vision Festival XIII
Author: Anthony Medici
Literally just back from the Vision Festival in New York City by way of Princeton, NJ, and our host, Princeton Record Exchange, where I spent several hours and several hundred dollars on jazz LPs and CDs. I mention that in extenuation of not getting a full-scale blog post done earlier today. I’m late getting this blog posted, but wanted to post a quick entry, for you, dear blog Readers, and for our exacting Blogmaster. What can I say about Vision Festival XIII? Fantastic. Involving. Sublime. Raucous. Loud. Surprising. Challenging. Necessary. Were you there? I will blog more about the festival later this week , but if you attended, I invite you to post your thoughts and comments on this blog entry and open up the discussion.
Editor’s Picks from Jersey Stock
Author: Leigh Silbernagel
June 10, 2008: Last week was my last post as a blogger for Prex. This week is my first post as one of the newly appointed Editors of the Blog, making this my first Letter from the Editor. A response from a reader stated, “I for one am interested in learning about new and upcoming acts, I’m just interested in those that are a little off the edges of typical American pop music.” These are the Editor’s Picks from Jersey Stock 2008 (‘Jersey’s version of Bamboozle): 5 reviews of up and coming local ‘Jersey bands.
O Be Joyfull Is A Preservation of Old Tunes
Author: Melissa
Yesterday, I was in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, as part of a volunteer program that does work to preserve the battlefield. As part of our reward for painting barns, building fences and other things in 95 degree-weather, we were treated to a concert by Rick Garland and his lovely musical presentation O Be Joyfull. In a nutshell, O Be Joyfull is a sampler of Civil War music as well as stories behind several of the songs. But I am not here to give you a nutshell, am I? Read the rest of this entry »
M.I.A. live concert at Maccarren Pool, Brooklyn
Author: Andy Sosnowski
M.I.A. played the last concert of her current tour to promote the CD Kala Friday night Jun 6. Pity, because it was a wonderful live show in a very cool venue that itself resides in a fun neighbourhood. The audience stands right within the former pool with traces of blue paint remaining on the bottom; the surrounding buildings have dramatic towering red-brick arches unlike any swimming pool or concert venue I’ve ever seen. Read the rest of this entry »
The Ruby Suns
Author: Steven
It’s always risky to pass judgment on a band solely based on their live performances without ever having listened to their recordings. Especially when you convince yourself after a live set to buy the bands’ CD’s. We’ve all been there: “God this band is good…so tight, so energetic. I’m going to buy their album after the show…” Then you realize that the band that you’ve just spent the last 45 minutes of your life watching loses quite a bit of…of something…in their studio recordings. It’s unfortunate. So unfortunate, in fact, that for the next however many minutes, my desperation will be channeled into writing this blog post. The band in question? The Ruby Sun. The venue? Terrace lawnparties. The CD? Sea Lion.
Read the rest of this entry »
Velocifero
Author: Carl Homrighausen
When Velocifero was first pulled into the CD player in my car’s dash, I really didn’t know what to expect. Ladytron is a band that has stunned me more with each album they release, just picking up speed as they go. As the motor pulled their most recent effort into the player, I thought to myself how their last release, Witching Hour, is the pinnacle of what Ladytron can do. I thought to myself that after observing their maturation over various releases, there was no way they could beat that album. I thought wrong. Read the rest of this entry »
How’re we doing?
Author: Brett
I dunno if you readers out there are interested in sharing your thoughts, but I’m definitely interested in hearing them. What kind of blog posts do you like the best? Is there anything we could be doing better? If you’d like to help shape the future for this blog, throw in your 2 cents and post a comment here.
Click here to go to the comment page
Not So “Sly”!
Author: Dee
Back in late November, 2006, while I was still digging on “The Information” by Beck, there was one song that caught my ear.
Sherazada: Honest, Epic, Solid
Author: Leigh Silbernagel
Alternative Rock/Post-Hardcore brings back solid alternative rock, honest musicianship, epic-romantic lyrics, and a quality stage show
June 3, 2008: Sherazada (Bergen County, NJ) was still in its forming stages when I met Stephen Nahorniak, lead singer of Sherazada, at a party at The College of New Jersey in December 2006. Six months later, he sent me an invite to the Sherazada Facebook group. I first saw them perform at the Bogota VFW in September 2007: I blew off tailgating at a TCNJ football game to drive an hour and 45 minutes to see them perform a short set on a small stage. On May 28, 2008, I was listening to “Let it Go” downstairs, my brother heard the song, came down from upstairs and asked, ‘what band is that?’ I said, ‘Sherazada.’ He said, ‘I know the lead guitarist.’ I said, ‘I know the singer.’ My brother and I never agree on anything; but on that Wednesday, we agreed that Sherazada should have played Bamboozle 2008.
Dissin’ Wynton and Other Pretenders
Author: Anthony Medici
Last week I blogged (I suppose one can’t say ‘wrote’ anymore) about some of my jazz faves. Yawn, right? Anyway, continuing the theme, this week I’ll blog about some of my –well, what is the opposite of “favorites” anyway? Whatever it is, these musicians are it. Some pretty famous names are on this list of those that I just don’t dig. For one reason or another, these folks are either underperformers, overrated, or artistically stale. You listening, Wynton?
Animal Collective-Water Curses
Author: Steven
Although I’ve been listening to this EP since it leaked on March 12 (nearly 2 months before its scheduled release date), I somehow haven’t lost interest in its pop-driven goodness and atmospheric “mysterrrry.” Enough online music blogs have creamed themselves over this band and everything they do [pitchforkmedia.com, looking at you, buddy], so I’ll save readers from the digital hand job that this band really deserves. And believe me…they deserve one.
Because really…they’re amazing.
Really. Read the rest of this entry »
Indian Summer
Author: Rob White
I noticed a fellow blogger tried desperately to categorize emo music in three paragraphs, this is not a good idea. Emo is difficult, its hard to understand. With all the bullshit press and hype around emo bands these days, its hard to really know when anything began or (in most peoples opinion) ended. Sure, you can say that Weezer’s “Pinkerton” is the most defining emo album of the nineties, and once you drink your cherry coke and sit back and agree that Rolling Stone is still relevant, you can bob your head to the new Death Cab for Cutie album on mtv’s “leak” Read the rest of this entry »