Born closer to the Hills of Beverly than Appalachia (her parents were writers for the Carol Burnett Show), Gillian Welch’s (pictured) folksy music transports a listener to the threshold of present and past, a musical dream-state Bob Dylan referred to in a recent album title as Time Out of Mind. Performing with her partner and […]
Michael J. Kramer
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Merge ahead
“I believe in rock ‘n’ roll,” declares Ivan Howard of the Rosebuds on the Raleigh band’s debut Merge Records effort, Makeout. This faith manifests itself on all the new releases this season from Merge Records, local label of Superchunk’s Laura Ballance and Mac McCaughan. Superchunk’s own Cup of Sand, Matt Suggs’ Amigo Row, East River […]
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In modern love
There’s always something about Jonathan worth listening to, especially in these troubled times. The troubadour of modern love (pictured above) carries on his affair with ice cream, roller coasters, dinosaurs, Spanish ballads, Paris, girls, and romance. His last record, Her Mystery Not of High Heels and Eye Shadow, was in the tradition of Richman’s simple […]
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Rock Me, Amadeus
In its 23rd year of existence, the Duke music department’s Encounters: With the Music of Our Time presents crossover music in the truest sense. Moving intelligently across the genre lines of classical, rock, jazz, experimental, pop, and more, the compositions in the performance don’t simply contrast different musical styles; they deconstruct genres into their components […]
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In musical humor
If Fountains of Wayne proffers wry pop commentary from the Jersey ‘burbs, Guster’s precinct is the Boston college circuit. Since forming at Tufts in the early ’90s, the trio (pictured above) has crafted sticky-sweet sounds cut with sardonic lyrics about starting the world over on a deserted island, or writing to a friend lost in […]
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As you stare into the vacuum of his eyes
” … you are right john cohen–quazimoto was right–mozart was right … there is no eye–there is only a series of mouths–long live the mouths … ” –Bob Dylan, liner notes to Highway 61 Revisted, 1965 “I got new eyes, Everything looks far away” –Bob Dylan, “Highlands,” 1997 John Cohen’s photographs look eerily familiar. A […]
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In jazz/classical
Taking on the virtuosic vocals of the late jazz diva Sarah Vaughn is no small task, but Dianne Reeves won a Grammy doing it on The Calling: Celebrating Sarah Vaughn. The N.C. Symphony joins her for what is sure to be a regal evening of classical-inflected jazz under the stars on Saturday, June 7, at […]
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Lambchop
Nashville’s Lambchop, a gigantic ensemble of 10-plus musicians, remains the biggest band to consistently sound so small; they’re capable of whispering the wispiest, gentlest, sweetest sweet-nothings in your ear. The kind of group that seems so mellow that you forget your feet have started moving, you’re so intent on listening. The key to Lambchop’s brilliance […]
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Whereto, Indie Rock
The guitar is unmistakable. Neil Young’s reverberating six-string dinosaur roar. But it’s not Neil Young. It’s Doug Martsch of Built To Spill. “Something is wrong, something invisible is gone,” he laments, lyrically considering his own plight as an aging indie-rock guitar god in relation to the baby-boom rockers like Young who, despite his name, is […]
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Rebecca Gates
In her continuing effort to become the Britney (no, that’s Liz Phair) or Christina (no, that’s Cat Power) or Mariah (no, that’s Juliana Hatfield) or even the Jessica Simpson (no, that’s Mary Timony) of post-alternative indie-rock, Rebecca Gates steps out solo from The Spinanes, which on their last album, 1998’s fabulous Arches and Aisles (Sub […]