It’s funny that people tend to use the same few adjectives–i.e., spooky, swampy, gothic–to describe Trailer Bride’s brand of country blues. It’s funny because, however apt, the words suggest easy pigeonholing or even cartoonish cliché. Well, bub, this ain’t no Flannery O’Connor musical paint-by-numbers. It’s also funny because there’s not a band in North Carolina […]
Gavin O'Hara
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Wycliffe Gordon, The Gospel Truth
On what is bound to become an overlooked masterpiece, trombonist Wycliffe Gordon bravely mines the rich terrain where jazz and gospel intersect. Following in the footsteps of Charles Mingus’ Blues and Roots and mentor Wynton Marsalis’ In This House, On This Morning, he opens his arms to effortlessly integrate spirituals, hymns and four elegant originals […]
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Saxophone Relentless
It’s 1959, the hazy days of late summer in New York City. In the boom of jazz music’s golden age, Sonny Rollins is at the peak of his powers. The 28-year-old tenor saxophonist has already made landmark records like Saxophone Colossus and Freedom Suite. He’s worked with jazz royalty like Miles Davis and Thelonious Monk […]
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For Love, Not Money
Maybe there are still people who join a band as a get-rich-quick scheme. There are those mid-pubescent Mouseketeers who populate that fat guy’s boy-band factory in Florida. And those sick-of-being-poor rappers trying to get theirs the honest way. It used to be the American Dream–start a band, get a record deal and cash in. But […]
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Crooked Fingers, Bring on the Snakes
Last year’s Crooked Fingers debut was such a shock to the system, such a lightning bolt, that it’s difficult to judge its successor with any objectivity. That record saw former Archers of Loaf frontman Eric Bachmann shift from howling over dissonant guitars to painting delicate, semi-acoustic portraits of edge-of-cliff moments and desperate losers. Rest assured, […]
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Jets to Brazil
Would you know “emo” if you heard it? I’m not sure I would. The genre spawned by the vaunted Washington, D.C. hardcore scene of the ’80s has long ago evolved, splintered to the point where most bands still shackled with the tag spend a good deal of their time denying it. Back in the ’90s, […]
Posted inGuides
Fall-ternative
There was a time not long ago–before mumbling singers and faceless DJs roamed the earth–when strong, outspoken personalities dominated underground music. In that sense, Ryan Adams is a throwback–a punk rocker, a pinprick, a buzzing fly in a dark room. If I had a nickel for every time I heard somebody whine about Adams or […]
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The Second-Oldest Profession
Greg Humphreys takes music personally. He gets choked up when he talks about an under-appreciated Hank Williams driving to shows in an old beat-up station wagon. He gets excited when he talks about Marvin Gaye subtly sneaking doo-wop chord progressions into “Let’s Get It On.” And he gets downright evangelical when he talks about how […]
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Songs in the Key of the Elongated Triangle with a Spur at the End
It isn’t meant to be a head-scratcher. “What does your band sound like?” It’s a softball, a knowing seed the reporter plants to bait his subject into a quote. The question falls to Laird Dixon, guitarist and mastermind of the Chapel Hill-based band Shark Quest. He takes a long drag off his cigarette before he […]
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Running with the devil
We had our chance, you know. We had our chance to make a deal with the devil. We danced with him, we flirted a little, maybe we even led him on. But I’m not so sure we ever took his offer. Here’s how it went down. It was the summer of ’92 and scores of […]