Review: Tristen – Charlatans at the Garden Gate (2011)
When you return from SXSW, awash in memories and a sheer wall of awe at the volume of participants, often you scramble to remember all musicians you saw. The second is all those you had wished you had seen. The third is reserved to those bands that were not even on the folded map or […]
REVIEW: CRIBSHITTER – CRY A LITTLE RAINBOW (2008)
A bucket of cheese puffs intended for public consumption lies at the front of the Der Rathskeller stage as a decrepit, 50-something rock stereotype wails away (with surprising virtuosity) on his Fender guitar during sound-check. A gorgeous blonde woman in a Betty Draper summer dress
REVIEW: SLEEPER AGENT – CELABRASION (2011)
There’s no escape from Sleeper Agent’s debut album, Celabrasion. It takes maybe five seconds of the opening track and first single, “Get it Daddy” before the Bowling Green, Kentucky sextet has your ear, and they don’t let go until the 35-minute album is finished. Sure, it’s fas
Concert Review: Zaz at Rockwood Music Hall (New York City)
Zaz (Tours, France)July 30th, 2011Rockwood Music Hall in New York City, New York Everyone gets nervous when landing in a foreign country. You stammer with the semblances of the learnt language in hopes that people can understand you. You stumble around hoping you caught the right metro line to the
Review: Sister City – Carbon Footprint (2011)
The Awkward White Boy’s Burden: Writing Poetry with Nothing to Say Adam Linder, songwriter for Sister City, is “that guy.” The guy at the party, who upon finding an acoustic guitar, sits in the kitchen with a PBR tall-boy asking for requests that invariably lead to covers of Ell
INTERVIEW: JEREMIAH NELSON (MADISON)
Aside from Julian Lynch and Zola Jesus, Madison’s most talked about musician since last fall has been Jeremiah Nelson. Before his Drugs to Make You Soberwas released, then-leafless trees were rustling throughout Wisconsin with whispers of how good it was. March 26th rolled in with the album d
INTERVIEW: WHITE WIVES (PITTSBURGH)
HAPPENERS: MAKING THE BEST OF AN “INDIAN SUMMER” Minneapolis, MN7/2/115:02 PM A good musician is a master of time-management, filling a chronological continuum with effectively expressive sound (pretentious labels and alliteration are not required). S/he believes: It’s my time: I’m going to
Interview: Priory (Portland)
As the boys of Priory get ready for their next tour in August they are ripe with gratitude ready to share their special blend of folk-electro fusion. The Portland-based quartet is comprised of Brandon Johnson (vocals, guitar), Kyle Dieiker (acoustic guitar, keys, bells, falsetto), Joe Ming
REVIEW: WHEN SAINTS GO MACHINE – KONKYLIE (2011)
The Danish foursome grew up together in the same neighborhood in Copenhagen. Having worked together on a tech-house side project called Kenton Slash Demon, keyboardist Jonas Kenton and drummer Silas Moldenhawer are well versed in club and house music. While blending jazz and neo-soul is keyboar