Category Archives: Music

Modern Nature’s How To Live

I may not be listening to Modern Nature’s How To Live right, but know what? I don’t care! And somehow I don’t think frontman Jack Cooper would care much, either. Modern Nature is a new project for Cooper, who also … Continue reading

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Locust Honey’s The Low and Low

You know how female country singers have often done “answer songs” that respond to the misogyny and sexism of hits by male country singers? The best known was “It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky-Tonk Angels” by Kitty Wells, which was … Continue reading

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What’s New for the 21st of July: Elizabeth Hand’s favourite libation, Chicago’s ‘Saturday in the Park’ and other matters

Saturday in the park,  I think it was the Fourth of July — Chicago Care to sample our newest Summer ale? It’s called White Chalk Horse IPA and has a nice, light taste. It’s been very popular. It’ll go well with the … Continue reading

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Los Pirañas’ Historia Natural

The three musicians who comprise Los Pirañas have been playing together since they were in high school, 25 years ago, but they only formed this power trio in 2009. The three are based in Bogotá, Colombia, and guitarist Eblis Alvarez, … Continue reading

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What’s New for the 7th of July: Two Batman graphic novels, Terri Windling on hedgehogs, fiction from Hannu Rajaniemi, fantastic Victoriana, 10,000 Maniacs live, Balinese gamelan, and some other things as well…

My grandmother didn’t teach me Appalachian ballads on our back porch and I had no banjo-strummin’ pappy to sing to me in the cradle. I didn’t attend tent revivals. I never saw or heard a chain gang, or worked in … Continue reading

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The Rails’ Cancel The Sun

“Save the planet, kill yourself … it’s the least that you could do,” The Rails sing, slightly tongue in cheek, on one of the standout tracks on their third release Cancel The Sun. It’s a lovely folk-rocker with shimmering electric … Continue reading

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Abdullah Ibrahim’s The Balance

Living legend Abdullah Ibrahim, at age 84, isn’t slowing down much in 2019. Already this year the South African pianist and composer was honored as an NEA Jazz Master by the National Endowment for the Arts, and now he releases … Continue reading

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What’s New for the 23rd of June: Canadian children’s literature, Spanish-born accordionist Victor Prieto live, mythologist John Campbell considered, Horslips perform ‘Drive The Cold Winter Away’, Trad Arranged, Robert Johnson and other matters…

Toss the pot, toss the pot: let us be merry, And drink till our cheeks be as red as a cherry. We take no thought, we have no care, Still we spend and never spare ’til all of money our purse … Continue reading

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Blato Zlato at Podkrepa Hall, Portland Oregon, 9 June 2019

Whenever I hear live Balkan music, I find myself wondering, “Why do I ever listen to anything else?” The wild rhythms, the hair-raising harmonies, the tunes that leap in an instant from the depths of despair to the tallest mountaintop … Continue reading

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What’s New for the 9th of June: Byrds live, C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien, Conan the Barbarian, Indonesian Pop, Elizabeth Bear reads us a story, a history of ice cream and other tasty matters…

Some stories are literally true; some of them are figuratively true; some of them are wrong. That’s the nature of stories, isn’t it? They show us all the highlights of the world, but they never leave us certain we can … Continue reading

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