Posted in Music Reviews, tagged 9/11, Neil Young, presidential election on August 31, 2008 | 1 Comment »
Reviewed by Kit Burns
Steve Pichan/Am I Here Already?
I had become so fond of singer/songwriter Steve Pichan’s Am I Here Already? that actually writing about it proved to be somewhat difficult; after all, what new words could I use to praise a CD that is now so familiar to my ears? The last decade has seen [...]
Posted in Interviews, tagged 3 Doors Down, CBGB, grunge, Matchbox 20, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, rock & roll, Seattle, South on August 31, 2008 | 1 Comment »
Written by Kit Burns
Hailing from the South, the rock & roll band Parallel probably would’ve have existed if it wasn’t for music from the North. The Pacific Northwest, that is. Parallel’s guitar-drenched style is third-generation grunge, the Seattle sounds of Nirvana and Pearl Jam seeding the likes of Matchbox 20 and Live and giving birth [...]
Posted in Interviews, tagged jazz, hip-hop, Arabic music, pop, iPod, Madonna, French on August 26, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Written by Kit Burns
You may think Mary Fakhoury (http://www.maryfakhoury.com) is more than one person. After listening to her EP Universal Worlds, Fakhoury’s unrestrained genre-leaping, cutting through the boundaries of French and Arabic music to vocal jazz and hip-hop, might leave you a tad dizzy. Certainly this is the kind of mesmerizing diversity that Madonna has [...]
Posted in Music Reviews, tagged Big Mountain, Days of the New, Lynn Copeland, peace on August 24, 2008 | 4 Comments »
Reviewed by Kit Burns
The Billy David Band/”All I See Is Hate”
I am hearing a political subtext in the Billy David Band’s intriguing single, “All I See Is Hate.” Maybe it’s because of the upcoming presidential election, but “All I See Is Hate” seems to be acknowledging the hyprocrisy surrounding us, people pretending to care for [...]
Posted in Interviews, tagged A Tribe Called Quest, Americana, Bob Dylan, hip-hop, Public Enemy, rap on August 20, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Interview by Kit Burns
Singer/songwriter Mike Press is one of the few artists who is both influenced by Americana and hip-hop music – and you can actually hear traces of those radically different genres in his songs. While his tunes are colored by lap-steel guitars and country twang, Press’ rhythmic and sometimes funky vocal delivery is [...]
Posted in Interviews, tagged Blink-182, Green Day, Harvey Danger, punk-pop, Superdrag on August 20, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Interview by Kit Burns
Vera Zero offers evidence to the contrary that pop-punk is an annoying, amateurish subgenre. Fronted by Rob Kerr, the Minnesota-based group seem to be direct descendants of old Green Day and Superdrag. Thankfully, the group rips through War & Peace EP without the childish tendencies of the inferior acts (who shall remain [...]
Posted in Music Reviews, tagged acoustic, coffeehouse, Filipino, folk, Frente!, Morrissey, Swing Out Sister on August 18, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Reviewed by Kit Burns
Frances Ancheta/Now We’re Here
Filipino singer/songwriter Frances Ancheta may employ an acoustic guitar, but her quietly pretty songs are more coffeehouse pop than folk, which is fine with me. Given the glut of unplugged young lyricists out there, it’s not easy to encounter someone with a voice that is distinguishable from the crowd. [...]
Posted in Music Books, tagged book, emo, rock concert on August 8, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Reviewed by Kit Burns
Steve Weinberger with Sarah Torribio/No Air Guitar Allowed
If there is one central problem with Steve Weinberger’s humorous book No Air Guitar Allowed, it’s this: Upon reading it, at the next concert you attend your focus might not be on the artist onstage but the kinds of people who are watching. Chapter by [...]
Posted in Music Reviews, tagged jazz, ska, Sugar Ray, surf, U2 on August 7, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Reviewed by Kit Burns
Feed the Need/Feed the Need
Feed the Need is a promising group of youthful musicians from New York. Unlike most other acts their age, Feed the Need look to older bands for inspiration and pretty much ignore the likes of Blink-182 and their pop-punk contemporaries. If Feed the Need can be compared to [...]
