Woe unto the lowly melodica. Why must it be consigned to the Fisher-Price page in the annals of great instruments? I can handle the nicknames: The pocket piano, toot-flute, blow accordion, wind piano, melodeon, melodyhorn, pianaca, and hooter all offend me not. But it still is shocking — shocking! –…
There’s a smart-ass in every crowd. This time it was one of our own, the one cheeky enough to utter the remark designed to get a rise out of former Marilyn Manson guitarist Scott Putesky during the debut of his new band, Stuck on Evil, at the Poor House February…
At least two distinct John Frusciantes exist, musically speaking. There is the brilliantly talented guitarist whose presence in the Red Hot Chili Peppers (after the death of original guitarist Hillel Slovak) brought the band some of its most potent successes (Mother’s Milk, BloodSugarSexMagik, and Californication). And then there’s the brilliantly…
John Digweed is a big DJ. Because of the abundance of breathless praise of his production and remixing skills, the jaundiced eye may take issue with his propensity to lure the wriggling masses of bunny-rabbits-for-a-night to their rapturous climaxes. However, despite a consistency of beat and tone that can border…
The first cut on Tortoise’s new disc is a keeper. Or is it the second? Or maybe just part of the second — the rocking part, before the twittering takes over. Same thing happens way into the disc, too. You have to wade through lots of pretension for the good…
On December 31, 2000, downtown Fort Lauderdale simmered, set to boil over with giddy tourists. Inside Lord Nelson Pub, though, it seemed that Hashbrown’s bubble had burst. The hard-funk quartet had already played one set from its cramped corner of the British tavern and had just launched into its after-midnight…
Life usually doesn’t play fair with Death Becomes You, Coral Springs’ favorite goth-rock horror show. I know this because I’m lucky enough to receive regular transmissions from drummer Christopher Lee, who is more than willing to report, in detail, every happening that shapes the band’s existence. Many of these updates…
Look hard enough and you can see Stephen Malkmus smiling on the inside of his first solo album. He smirks, too — ever heard a Pavement record? — but by the time he gets to the sparkling “Jenny and the Ess-Dog,” he’s practically beaming, finally brushing the hair out of…
Stars Nightsongs (Le Grand Magistery) “Have I been tarred with the brush of Dylan, Beck, and Harmony Korine, who all used down-home imagery ironically to amuse sophisticated urban audiences? Am I a craven and opportunistic rootless charlatan posturing when it suits me, as a Scot?” These musings come courtesy of…
If John Steinbeck and John Ford had ever decided to quit their day jobs and team up for a career recording jazz albums, the resulting collaboration would probably sound a lot like Bill Frisell’s latest, Blues Dream. The guitarist’s newest record unfolds like a trip through time, covering the great…
It sure sounds like a good band on paper: A slightly obsessive-compulsive songwriter named Billy with a shaved head and lots of famous musician pals. A singer (also bald) from a dark, foreboding, prog-metal band that hasn’t released a record in four years yet still boasts a huge underground following…
Report from Lake Worth — there’s no shortage of noise up here! Or at least there wasn’t Friday night when I drove to the quaint hamlet to see 13-year-old Nick Klein (or Prodigy, as he dubbed himself for the evening) and his infamous local cohorts. As promised the eclectic and…
What’s the point of a best-of, anyway? In Blur’s case any self-respecting fan already owns the band’s entire catalog, and the casual fans have either downloaded “Song 2” off Napster or bought the latest volume of Jock Jams. The answer, of course, is money. Take some old tunes, add a…
Once the baddest rapper around, Snoop Dogg, on his last few discs, has shown what happens when you try to plug a G-funk algorithm into the No Limit formula: You get a slew of crappy albums. Tha Last Meal, however, finds the Doggfather returning to what he knows best: laying…
Resurrection finds the former voice of Judas Priest wavering between the classic metal stylings for which he’s revered in many quarters and more-contemporary touches of the type that have made multimillionaires of malcontents who were still sucking strained bananas when Rob and the lads were living after midnight. As might…
Don’t call the Curious Hair classic rock. Don’t call it a jam band. And if you’re a major record label, don’t call it at all. As far as frontman Jeff Rollason is concerned, the industry can kiss his white ass. “It’s not the music business,” he contends. “It’s the business…
Historically the tango has been at least as resistant to change as church music — odd, given that the former was born in the whorehouses of Argentina, the one place you’d think anything goes. But when Astor Piazzolla dared to tweak the rigid dance music’s format in the 1960s, he…
Madrid’s Mus offers plenty enigma on its first album, a moody and contemplative work that picks up where defunct etherealists Cocteau Twins and Dead Can Dance left off. Though the lyrics are sung in Asturian, a rare romance language spoken only in the northwestern part of the Iberian peninsula, many…
Whew! Florida musicians are pumping out product faster than Bandwidth Labs’ techs can take ’em for test runs. Blame it on the rock-bottom prices on CD burners — even small pets and most stuffed animals can make an album nowadays. Here’s the latest assortment to come through my transom, compiled…
Like that soothing feeling that comes after you’ve stopped pounding yourself on the head with a hammer, finding a heavy rock album that doesn’t sling scratching or MC braggadocio on a wall already spattered with the flavor of the month is a welcome treat. Not that not doing something automatically…
I’ve worked with the Jordanaires and D.J. Fontana,” says Elvis Presley, naming his long-time backup vocalists and drummer. Throwing his head back and curling his lip in the lobby of Fort Lauderdale’s Sunrise Musical Theatre January 21, he adds, “I’ve even worked for Elvis Presley Enterprises.” All this may sound…
Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea is a good album. Unfortunately it’s not a good PJ Harvey album. Harvey’s earlier work was brilliant because she tapped into something just below consciousness, something almost primal, an energy that powered her lyrics, voice, and music. She gave the impression that…
