Category: musicPage 1 of 70

The Dave Brubeck Quartet, Time Further Out – Miro Reflections, 1961 on Columbia

While movie science fiction fans celebrate May 4th as Star Wars Day (“May the 4th be with you”), jazz heads know it as Dave Brubeck Day, 5/4 time…

Maggie Rogers, Notes From The Archive: Recordings 2011-2016, 2021 on Debay Sounds

Like many people, I first became aware of Rogers when a clip of her song “Alaska” being played to Pharrell Williams during a class at NYU Tisch went…

Wye Oak, The Louder I Call, The Faster It Runs, 2018 on Merge Records

The most recent full length from Andy Stack and Jenn Wasner, on Merge. The Wye Oak was the largest white oak tree in the US until it died…

The Housemartins, The People Who Grinned Themselves To Death, 1987 on Elektra

On this record the Housemartins were Norman Cook, Dave Hemingway, Stan Cullimore, Pete Wingfield, and P.D. (Paul) Heaton. Heaton & Hemingway went on to form The Beautiful South,…

Freddie Roach, Brown Sugar, 1964 on Blue Note

Recorded by Rudy Van Gelder, with Joe Henderson, Eddie Wright, and Clarence Johnston joining Freddie Roach. As Roach says in the liner notes, describing folks dancing: “I watched…

Various Artists, Live Forever: A Tribute To Billy Joe Shaver, 2022 on New West Records

Fantastic collection of covers of the original outlaw country troubador. Standouts for me are Miranda Lambert and Margo Price but really all the tracks are wonderful. Produced by…

Wye Oak, Tween, 2016 on Merge

Baltimore’s Wye Oak (who started as Monarch) are Andy Stack and Jenn Wasner, and get described as either indie-rock-infused folk, or folk-infused indie rock. Either way I like…

Cowboy Junkies, The Trinity Session, 1988 on RCA

I could have (and would have) sworn this album was called The Trinity Sessions, plural, but I would have been wrong: it’s singular. (The session was recorded at…

Gary Numan, The Pleasure Principle, 1979 on ATCO/Beggars Banquet

The cover and title echo back to Magritte’s 1937 painting Le Principe du Plaisir. Most people know this album for the track “Cars” but it’s really a more…

Ella Fitzgerald, Misty Blue, 1968 on Capitol

My copy is a pressing on Pickwick/33, “by arrangement with Capitol Records” – not sure what year. (45 Worlds says 1971). These reissues only have 9 tracks where…

SXSW March 15th, 2024

Started my last day at SXSW with the “Hair of the Three Legged Dog” party sponsored by the Austin Chronicle and name in honor of their canine mascot….

SXSW March 14th, 2024

Thursday I started off at the Planetary showcase at Valhalla, with Otto Aday (from Wales): They were followed by Manchester’s Porij who brought an amazing amount of energy…

SXSW March 13th, 2024

I started day three at the Marshall Funhouse, at Parish. Glasgow’s Spyres was not a band I knew before but their set was great, high energy and had…

SXSW March 12th, 2024

On Tuesday I started the night at the High Road Touring SXSW showcase at the Empire Control Room and Garage. Sugadaisy, from Bowling Green, KY, opened the larger…

The Story of the Sphere

This was the only actual panel / conference session I went to this year. (I went on vacation to see music, not as a business trip to go…

SXSW March 11th, 2024

A few highlights of music I saw on Monday at SXSW in Austin. I tried to find the balance between spending too much time getting video on the…

Justin Townes Earle, Live at Grimey’s, September 4th, 2014, on BMG.

Though it was recorded in 2014, and released in 2015 on Vagrant Records, my copy is the 2023 Record Store Day reissue on BMG – two 45rpm records…

The Time, Pandemonium, 1990 on Paisely Park

This was the fourth full length from Morris Day’s The Time, with Terry Lewis, Jellybean Johnson, Jesse Johnson, Jimmy Jam, Monte Moir, and Jerome Benton (who delivers the…

Gang Starr, No More Mr. Nice Guy, 1989 on Wild Pitch Records

Houton’s DJ Premier and Boston’s Guru as a Brooklyn based hip hop duo, sometimes credited as the originators of jazz rap / jazz hip hop. “Words I Manifest”…

David Bowie, Diamond Dogs, 1974 on RCA Victor

Bowie’s eighth studio album, recorded following the disbanding of the Spiders from Mars, working (again) with producer Tony Visconti. The recording band includes Tony Newman and Aynsley Dunbar…