For the love of music
Back when Talking Heads were taking the world by storm, David Byrne and co. ensured that their music was taken as a whole: respective albums that one could embrace and fall in love with. A few twenty years later, St. Vincent’s Annie Clark shares in the same joy and was famously dubbed an art rock musician, just like Byrne always was and is. … [Read more...]
It’s not often that an album’s title represents its music as specifically and accurately as San Francisco Music Club’s debut, Love and Freedom. Incorporating a wide array of styles, including rock, reggae, funk, R&B, and Afro-Cuban into a sound that erupts with vibrancy, skill, and joy, it’s an engaging and fun way to spend an hour … [Read more...]
What is it about the Rodriguez-Lopez brood that enables such prodigious levels of music? Just trying to keep track of Omar’s output as a solo artist and as the guitarist for At the Drive-In and the Mars Volta is laborious enough, let alone his myriad collaborations and ventures into production. Dude’s also got three brothers who happened to … [Read more...]
Shadow to Shine, the newest record by funk/soul/pop musician Bing Ji Ling, is an extremely enjoyable and impressive work. Full of lush music, catchy melodies, inspiring singing, and a fun vibe, it’s consistently varied and entertaining; in fact, it’s an album you could almost never get tired of. Bing Ji Ling is the nom de plume of NYC-based … [Read more...]
Once again we're thrust into the unknown. Suggestion are back with a brand new full length album titled All For Nathan? Track 11 is called "X On Metal". The guitar sounds like it's culled from the depths of the Iron Maiden treasure trunk. King Bong's speedy, scat like vocals keep the listener on the edge of their seat struggling to catch up. I'm … [Read more...]
People who like their improvisatory music a little edgier than Spyro Gyra and a tad less avant-garde than Mededski, Martin, & Wood are bound to find contentment in the psychedelic jazz of St. Louis guitarist Teddy Presberg. Though his six-string technique has all the underpinnings of vintage soul and blues music, Presberg is not the slightest … [Read more...]
From the spirit that her music carries, to the mind-boggling spectrum of sounds she covers, to the sheer essence and superb skill of her voice, it was always obvious that what Janelle Monáe had in mind for us would be something truly out of this world. But seriously, the woman isn’t even 25 years old yet and her music is the kind of stuff that … [Read more...]
One of the things about Jamie Lidell – that people have yet to fully understand – is that the English-born singer has one of the best voices in the music industry. He’s fashioned a strong sense for the soul leanings of his music, as well as the influences he shares from the worlds of jazz, hip-hop, funk, R&B, pop and more; it’s made him … [Read more...]
The story on Michael Leonhart is that he’s quietly turned into one of the best, young, trumpet players in the country. When you’ve won a Grammy for being the best player in a high school and have developed a list of musicians that you’ve played with that includes David Byrne, Steely Dan and James Brown, then you’re certainly something of an … [Read more...]
"MONGREL MIX is a dynamic and innovative act which draws inspiration from a wide variety of American music genres. Performing contemporary Rock and R&B, Mongrel Mix engages audiences with a fusion of Blues, Rock, Latin, Jazz, and Funk with Afro-Cuban rhythms. Our music is intensely passionate and ranges from acoustic folk tales to angular … [Read more...]