The Violent Femmes have a long history with New York (Brian Ritchie lived here for a decade, Gordon Gano longer than that, and Brian Viglione now) and a longer history making distinctive music – some visceral, some cerebral – always honest. The veteran proto-alt-rockers tore it up at Rough Trade […]
Interview
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In this John Patitucci interview he is quick to give credit to some of the great jazz artists like Chick Corea and Wayne Shorter who encouraged him and were important in his career.
John Patitucci is among the most accomplished bass players in the world. His latest project has JP focusing on the electric side of his playing with his longtime collaborator – Brian (one of the most exciting drummers alive) Blade plus a pair of shining guitarists: Steve Cardenas and Adam Rogers. […]
An important reason Canadian singer-songwriter Bruce Cockburn writes such powerful political songs is his first hand experience. A new memoir Rumours of Glory from the folk-rock artist recalls visiting places around the world, often places wracked by war, that informed his lyrics. He highlighted the songs he wrote about in his […]
Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell have a way of bringing out the best in each other and that is the best of Americana music. The pair drew upon their 40 year kinship and upped the ante on their Grammy winning album of 2 years ago by penning half a dozen […]
Courtney Barnett was the ‘it’ girl at SXSW this year… everyone wanted to see her. After I saw her, I wanted to see her again…and again! Here are my favorite moments that will give you a good flavor for the indie rock singer-songwriter from Melbourne, Australia who will visit New […]
A live band up there with Bad Brains and Iggy Pop for manic energy and reckless abandon: Fishbone was featured in the very first Sound Advice report (along with Roger Waters) on NY1 in July of 2012. A couple of months before my third anniversary at NY1, The Bone was […]
One of the most memorable shows at this year’s South by Southwest Festival was the one, in a church no less, from the group led by Hull, England’s Stuart Matthewman who co-wrote just about every Sade song that’s ever existed as well as played sax (& some guitar) on them […]
Here comes a Sydney, Australia outfit led by singer-songwriter Tim Rogers, aka Jack Ladder – he of the weighty baritone voice and wryly melancholic delivery – and supported by his accomplished backing band, The Dreamlanders, featuring guitarist Kirin J. Callinan who has a solo career as well. (Try his album […]
Here’s bonus Kurtis Blow interview material featuring more of his rap as well as KB giving credit to the artists who set the stage for his becoming the first Hip-Hop artist to sign to a major label – The Sugarhill Gang. Plus he speaks about his work as a minister, […]
The 35th anniversary of The Breaks presented a brilliant opportunity to speak with Kurtis Blow who very succinctly explains how Hip-Hop was born. “The Furious Five, Kurtis Blow, Run-DMC are no different from Robert Johnson and Charley Patton and Blind Willie McTell.” – Jack White at Madison Square Garden 1/30/15 […]
Freedy Johnston plans to play the last Thursday of every month (for an unspecified period of time!) at the lovely and intimate Rockwood Music Hall beginning next Thursday April 30th 2015. Here’s a peek at a Joe’s Pub show and our chat shortly after he moved back to New York […]
A powerful film Don’t Think I’ve Forgotten is opening in Greenwich Village today for a one week run at the Film Forum about how the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia targeted artists among so many others and how their music has ultimately survived. I spoke with director John Pirozzi…
San Fermin, who knocked my socks off at SXSW, release their new album Jackrabbit tomorrow and are a doing a pair of shows in Brooklyn this week. Here’s a look at their show in Austin and a conversation with Ellis Ludwig-Leone, Allen Tate, and Charlene Kaye …
We lost R&B legend Percy Sledge this week at the age of 74. It was an honor to chat with him in the fall of 2013 when he was doing some interviews surrounding a documentary about Muscle Shoals. Here’s the story of truly one of the greatest songs of all […]
Flashback to a quick Record Store Day 2013 hang with the mighty American musical pop artist Marshall Crenshaw 2 years ago…
Record Store Day…What an excellent idea! It’s not only really just become a thing. It’s really just become a great thing! Record Store Day 2015 is this Saturday, April 18. As a guy who worked at Second Coming Records (the one between Harvard Square & Central Square in Cambridge, MA […]
I used to see The Sheila Divine a lot while living in Boston in the late 1990s. They were the kind of band who brought so much energy and power to the stage that I’d want to catch them any chance I could. I had my first chance to catch […]
New York Before The War is Jesse Malin’s first record in 5 years. The quintessential New York rocker spoke to me about it and let me roll some video on his mean band in their Lower East Side practice space. He’s at the Bowery Ballroom next Saturday…
You don’t have to be a Jesse Malin fan to appreciate this interview although it might make you one of the veteran rocker – only someone who loves New York…
Austin orchestral rock band Mother Falcon and South Florida hip hop string musician duo Black Violin both have roots in high school orchestras, are both wildly original and creative, and both played at St. David’s Bethell Hall as part of the SXSW Universal Music Classics showcase. There are few similarities […]
Soyul, Way, and Choa of South Korean girl group Crayon Pop make some comments about their new album FM and we get some dancing and hand-signs too!
Despite being attacked by a bouncer on Thursday, London’s Palma Violets tore it up in their inimitable way at SXSW in Austin on Friday. This was the third (of the 4 times) I had a chance to chat with this band. The first one reveals just how quickly they were recognized as an exciting […]
The debut studio album from Big Data, “2.0”, features songs inspired by the likes of Snowden/NSA and the Facebook mood experiments sung by an impressive gaggle of guests like Rivers Cuomo, Jamie Lidell, Twin Shadow, and Joywave. In the studio, Big Data is Brooklyn-based producer Alan Wilkis (whom I spoke with at […]
English singer-songwriter Laura Marling released her new album Short Movie today and is in Brooklyn at Warsaw tonight! Here’s a bit of our conversation a couple of days ago in Austin at SXSW about the record and how America, and Americans, affected the artist and played a role in its […]