Indie Music Blog

If it’s a eulogy for a show, can it be categorized under “Honoring Lives”?

Melissa — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 01:14:28 +0000

As many know, the MTV show Total Request Live, known by its nickname TRL, ended its ten-year run on November 16. Many fans and musicians, who made their big breaks appearing on the show, attended the “Total Finale Live” special. I’m guessing millions more saw it on television. It was a poignant ending without the fact that it was the end of a [...]

Why Our Jazz Magazines Are Bad…And May Not Get Better

Anthony Medici — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 18:13:31 +0000

Well, it seems as if I have created a bit of a kerfuffle as a result of my post, “Why Our Jazz Magazines are Bad… and Bad for Jazz.” Who knew? It’s nice to know our little blogspot is getting some attention. In fact, Lee Mergner, editor of Jazz Times, on another website that I [...]

The Death Of Rock and Roll, and Progressive

Jeff Boule — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 00:33:41 +0000

I was asked why my blogs do not appear weekly. The simple answer to this question is: life. I am currently rehearsing my solo acoustic show, I am also participating in my company’s Christmas show, so I have to learn three X-mas songs. This should prove interesting, as I am not a religious person. But this [...]

New Arrivals

jon — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 20:35:04 +0000

Early November, 2008 Greetings from Princeton Record Exchange, Recently arrived: over 3,000 Jazz LPs! We have just bought a nice, large jazz LP collection. The majority of these records are 70’s pressings of bop and post-bop small combos along with some traditional and big-band. The records and covers are, for the most part, extremely clean. It is a [...]

Does Keith Jarrett Belong in the Hall of Fame?

Anthony Medici — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 16:15:21 +0000

So, yes, give Keith Jarrett an entry ticket into the Hall of Fame, but slap an asterick on it.

That Guitar Man from Central Park; David Ippolito

Leigh Silbernagel — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 00:02:02 +0000

That Guitar man from Central Park; David Ippolito Self-described as “Acoustic-storytelling like James Taylor might have written if heavily influenced by the Beatles and Broadway.” [The Music] The CD I reviewed was “The People on the Hill” My top two favorites were “Thank God for my Guitar,” and the acoustic version of “The Way you look Tonight” And [...]

Going Dutch in Baltimore

Anthony Medici — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 18:48:12 +0000

My pal and I traveled to An Die Musik in Baltimore, Maryland Saturday night to hear two groups: Trio Bramm, from Holland, and All Coda, all from the Baltimore area with the exception of New York-based saxophonist Tim Berne. There was exciting music on offer, all in a small (perhaps 80 seats), comfortable [...]

Arena = Todd Rundgren + Guitars Guitars Guitars!

Jeff Boule — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 05:00:04 +0000

The story behind the album Arena is simply a tale born out of situational necessity. You die-hard Rundgren fans remember a couple of years ago (around the time the movie CARS came out) Todd had replaced Ric Ocasek in The New Cars (the ‘New’ being added in light of the minority percentage of returning [...]

MGMT- The New Era of Psychedelic Pop

Shira Karsen — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 01:34:54 +0000

MGMT (previously known as) The Management, have been around since 2002 when Ben Goldwasser and Andrew VanWyngarden, two neo-hippies from Wesleyan University, decided to form a band— but only recently have they been put on the indie rock radar. Their most recent album, Oracular Spectacular, (which is reminiscent of the times when Hendrix ruled the [...]

Nick Cave and the Good Show

Lydia Pudzianowski — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 17:31:02 +0000

Technically, it’s still Sunday, making it my designated blog day here at prex.com. Good start, I know. A little while ago, I found out that Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds were playing the Electric Factory on October 7th. While I’m from Bucks County, I go to school in Pittsburgh, and Nick is one of my [...]

Why Our Jazz Magazines are Bad– And Bad for Jazz

Anthony Medici — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 17:59:34 +0000

First, full disclosure: I subscribe to both Jazz Times (JT) and Down Beat (DB) (I liked it better when it was “downbeat”) and have for quite a few years. I also have a subscription to Signal to Noise (STN), and until, recently, Cadence. But this has been the year of my [...]

They were the soundtrack to my 18 year old life

Gary Cope — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 17:30:35 +0000

I remember going into a local record shop in Cypress, California called Bionic Records. I worked up the street and would stop in there each Friday with my paycheck in my pocket. I needed to pay rent and buy food, but I also needed to buy new music. Aaron worked the front counter and would always [...]

FASTER THAN FATE: Pandora’s BOX

Leigh Silbernagel — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 00:21:58 +0000

This band has shown consistently strong song writing skills, as well as ample stage presence. Drawing forces from punk-hardcore-alternative, the result is a unique and innovative sound, remarkable and unforgettable. Despite time and distance, one can not forget the sounds of Faster than Fate. Van Halen’s ‘Eruption,’ Metallica’s ‘Orion (Instrumental)’ and now Faster than Fate’s ‘Pandora’s [...]

Steel Train

Shira Karsen — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 17:30:24 +0000

In the basement of some suburban house in Princeton, New Jersey, four lanky and teen angsty men formed a band. Yes, this does seem incredibly cliché, but Steel Train, a band that easily defies every my-life-sucks-basement-band faux-pas is worth spending time listening to. Their quirky beats and melodramatic harmonies are reflective of their lead singer [...]

Anthony Hamilton: The Point of It all

Leigh Silbernagel — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 21:22:17 +0000

anthony hamitlon/The Point of It All/ So So Def/ Zombra Label Group The six-time Grammy-nominated R&B-soul balladeer croons a melodic picture of life using straightforward lyrics as his mellifluous paintbrush on his junior effort The Point of It All: “Talking about relationships again… everything from making love to building love; having arguments, just life!” The Neo-soul [...]

Idle Thoughts of an Idle Mind

Anthony Medici — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 15:59:35 +0000

As William Congreve (not Shakespeare) once famously said, “Music hath charms to soothe the savage breast” (not beast, although now so often misquoted as to form a standard quote in itself), but it seems rather powerless to cure the sick– at least in my case, as I spent the week suffering from a nasty illness [...]

Jazz- Live! The Duke Ellington Jazz festival

Anthony Medici — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 11:56:35 +0000

I love my records and my CDs, and you can find me holed up with them for hours, but whenever I can I get out and listen to live performances, particularly jazz, I do so. Pickings have been somewhat slim this summer here in Our Nation’s Capital (you know, the place politicians love to [...]

Everything That Happens Will Happen Today. Enough said from Byrne/Eno.

Jeff Boule — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 01:11:58 +0000

It seems that life is so high pressure these days. Economic crisis, housing crisis, Middle East crisis, everything in crisis. Sometimes you need something to bring your stress level down. The new album from David Byrne and Brian Eno is something that can keep your toes tapping while reducing heart rate and [...]

Come Backstage at Princeton Record Exchange

Brett — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 21:13:49 +0000

Have you ever wondered what goes on behind those mysterious doors at Princeton Record Exchange? In our new web videos, we give you a sneak peek into the behind-the-scenes workings of our store, and a whole lot more! For those of you who’ve never been to the store, this is a chance to see and hear [...]

New Arrivals

jon — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 19:55:54 +0000

Mid-September, 2008 Greetings from Princeton Record Exchange, Recently arrived: Rock, Folk, and Blues LPs; Opera CDs The quality record and CD collections just keep coming! This week we have two to highlight. We have just put out a collection of over 2,500 LPs and almost 4,000 CDs of rock, folk, folk/rock, country and blues from the 70s to the 90s. These come [...]