Music Blog
Much in the way hair metal briefly blinded us with Aqua Net and eclipsed heavy metal, New Wave in its androgynous fervor shanghai'd the spotlight from a period and style of music that never really got classified. Sure, it's all rock 'n' roll in the whole grand scheme of things,
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The Cult's show Saturday at the Armory had me torqued with nervous anticipation. This was a band I loved -- yet a few red flags had me a little nervous. Ticket sales were slow initially. and the band was not doing any press. No photographers were even allowed in the
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Tranquilatwist tranquilatwisted the dressed-up-to-get-messed-up crowd for the Devil's Night Fetish Masquerade at Water Street Music Hall Friday. Singer Karlie Cary Lanni seduced and we succumbed as she wailed bitter and sweet beneath a pillbox hat and fire-engine red tresses. She was a captivating chanteuse within the band's potent swirl.
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Good jazz often hits me like a cool blast of eucalyptus: it gets the flow flowing, the go going, and the going gone. Drummer Harris Eisenstadt and Canada Day served up a slinky, sultry groove in the Bop Shop Atrium last night. It was just the right mix of exploratory
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Arrived at the Main Street Armory Friday night as Aussie duo An Horse pumped out a big sound a la Sleater-Kinney. Cage The Elephant followed with a frenetic strain of Kentucky-fried indie rock set to a kind of accelerated funk groove. Singer Matt Shultz raved about the stage, shaking his
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Emmylou Harris' name was written in the big letters on the marquee, but it was Buddy Miller's show Wednesday night at The Auditorium Theatre. It isn't just the fact that I root for the underdog, spin the B-side, constantly look below the radar, and thrive on music traveling the airways
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Pushing a mix of cuts off the new "Crash Love" CD and older stuff, AFI rocked Water Street Music Hall Friday night with a full-throttle set and a lightshow that would give the planetarium penis envy. Singer Davey Havok has changed since I saw him rock Darien Lake two
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Playing straight-up, straight-ahead, straightened-out garage rock, Phoenix quartet The Love Me Nots knocked out a super-catchy set to a modest but super enthusiastic crowd Thursday night at the Bug Jar. The two-guy, two-gal line-up was tight with its relentless 4/4 beat, choppy guitar, all just dripping with greasy Farfisa goodness.
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Let me just begin by saying, "Holy shit." I've seen the Israeli rock trio Monotonix before, I've interviewed them, I think I know what they're about. But last night's show at the Bug Jar was a cross between Caligula and the ball pit at Chuck E. Cheese, and one of
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Over the rest of the weekend-long fest I caught more primo sounds. I'd heard some of Dan Eaton's stuff before, and my wife always comes running to the TV for new recipes whenever he's on, but I'd always pegged him as a mellow rocker. That's not the case at all.
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I'm not defending this town, I'm not making excuses, but I've lived here long enough to know she's a fickle gal. You've gotta repeatedly ply her with bon bons and flowers and reassurances that you won't split after she puts out. And last night we barely got to first base
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Visiting from the land of big shoulders, singer/songwriter Dan Coyle took the Boulder Coffee stage unassuming and barefoot Thursday night. Unassuming I admire, bare feet on stage I don't get. Anyhow, Coyle fits nicely between folk insight and a clever musicality that avoided minor chords where you'd ordinarily expect them,
Music Blog
Sometimes it all just clicks. All those crucial aspects of self-expression masquerading as entertainment come together and the music transcends style, time, and even ownership. Without getting too touchy-feely here, I gotta say that Dean and Britta's performance at The Lovin' Cup Saturday night was a low-key celebration with the
Music Blog
Visiting from the land of big shoulders, singer/songwriter Dan Coyle took the Boulder Coffee stage unassuming and barefoot Thursday night. Unassuming I admire, bare feet on stage I don't get. Anyhow, Coyle fits nicely between folk insight and a clever musicality that avoided minor chords where you'd ordinarily expect them,
Music Blog
No, I don't think i'm settling down, or settling for music I don't like. I honestly think that several musical styles I have been vocally opposed to for all these years have actually expanded and improved. Perhaps I've gotten a little more open minded and more willing to give things
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I remember buying an old record player at a garage sale years ago that actually had a 16 RPM speed as well as 45, 33, and 78. My friend Jason was ecstatic. "Do you know what this means?" he asked. "Now you can listen to Sabbath even slower." Well that is
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There ain't nothing new, and I'm not sure I care - as long as it sounds good. There's new to you, fresh takes, twisted interpretations, mash-ups, and shit that ain't worth listening to in the first place. But I'm afraid we've done run out of new. I'm surprised we made
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I went down to Water Street Music Hall last night to dig Friday in America. No, it wasn't a Supertramp tribute band, though that concern could be considered logical. My man Ben Rossi was on stage, and if his work with Jae Mood were any indication, this was going to
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Syracuse's Legendary Jones Gang has a new album with arguably one of the best titles ever: "Thank Drugs We're Not On God." The trio, led by ex-Dracula Jones guitarist and namesake Jeff Jones, played a tight, no-frills set in front of a packed Saturday night Bug Jar crowd. At one
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What's in a name anyway? I'd heard of The Almightys before and pictured them as you might have -- Pentecostal, majestic, perhaps even blind, rendering their testimony down upon us. So I slipped over to The Keg Thursday night to get my dose of sanctified what-for. Well, the majesty was there,
