Robert Wyatt belongs to the celebrated cohort of British musical savants from the late 60s and 70s, like Brian Eno and Kate Bush, who restlessly pursue a highly personal expression. In Wyatt’s case, jazz is central to that pursuit, less as genre than as license to explore a fusion of sophisticated harmonic frameworks, global musical […]
Last week my social media feed went berserk with the video of the Halloween reunion of Queens of the Stone Age with founding bassist Nick Oliveri at the Los Angeles Forum. It was just a one-off, only the second time they’ve played together in ten years, but it restored the glory of his contributions to […]
METAL!!! Don’t let this call to arms frighten you — this isn’t the genre you may remember from the days of Beavis & Butthead. For one thing, the tedious soloing and arena-rock choreography are gone, the gods be praised. Metal’s extremes are now the province of nerdy connoisseurs from all backgrounds, cultures, genders and ages, […]
The Brooklyn-based trio Heaven’s Jail illustrates the continuing influence of straight-ahead, AOR-style rock in that musical universe we still call “indie.” That said, they don’t brandish the guitar wizardry of your Kurt Viles and Steve Gunns, or the studio atmospherics of a Phosphorescent or the War on Drugs. Instead, Heaven’s Jail hones its guitar-driven sound […]
Capping off a ridiculously productive 2014, Parquet Courts have announced a new album, Content Nausea, as recorded by their occasional alias Parkay Quarts. While the rhythm section sits this record out (one is finishing a degree in math, the other starting a family), vocalist/guitarists Austin Brown and Andrew Savage are on a roll. The first […]
Isn’t it time you left this world today? Jane Weaver fires up the rocketship on “The Electric Mountain,” laying sunny vocals and sci-fi tones atop a repetitive two-chord jam (sampled from space-rock legends Hawkwind) to hurtle the listener into the interstellar beyond. Over its six-minute length, the effect is unexpected and delightful, like a forgotten […]
The list of musicians who make engaged, relevant music after 50 years in the business is, I think we’d all agree, pretty short. Marianne Faithfull secures her place on that list with her latest album, Give My Love to London. I’ll assume you know Faithfull’s story, which is far better chronicled than her remarkable discography. […]
Kingston, NY’s O+ Festival shines brightly at a time when it’s getting harder to find a music festival outside the usual touring-promotion-merchandising wheelhouse. Held this past weekend and traveling next month to Petaluma, California, O+ works like this: musicians and artists perform in exchange for healthcare and wellness services provided by doctors, physical and mental […]
The music of Xylouris White defies simple categorization. Is this world music? Indie rock? Jazz? The duo comprises heroes of two contrasting musical worlds. From the Greek island of Crete, lute player George Xylouris was born into a family of legendary musicians; uncle Nikos is nicknamed the “archangel of Crete,” and father Antonis achieved global […]
One of the UK’s most celebrated producer-DJs, Jon Hopkins elaborates one dimension of his idiosyncratic techno aesthetic on a new EP of ambient music. “Asleep Versions” dematerializes the visceral textures and decelerates the rhythmic chug of four tracks from his last album, 2013’s Mercury Prize-nominated Immunity. The result is 25 minutes of becalmed, astonishing music, […]