Category Archives: Music

Perry Silverbird’s The Blessing Way; Tokeya Inajin’s (Kevin Locke) Dream Catcher; Mary Youngblood’s The Offering; Bryan Akipa’s Mystic Moments: Dakota Flute Music

As I listen to more traditional music and more music from non-Western sources, I begin to realize that the blithe use of the word “traditional” is tantamount to making your own noose and putting it around your neck. This was … Continue reading

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Elftones’ Elftones, Mist-Covered Mountains and The Moon and Seven Stars

The Elftones are a duo from North Carolina, Mara Beamish on violin and Roger Gold on acoustic guitar. They describe their music as a blend of Irish, Scottish, Canadian, old-time and original tunes. A lot of their work is playing … Continue reading

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Bert Jansch’s Living in the Shadows Part 2, On the Edge of a Dream

This is the second installment of a massive archival re-release project of Scottish troubadour Bert Jansch’s latter-day studio recordings. This four-LP or -CD box collects Jansch’s three studio releases from the 2000s: Crimson Moon (2000), Edge of a Dream (2002) … Continue reading

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Clumsy Lovers’ Barnburners

The Clumsy Lovers play raucous, uptempo Celtic-based rock with all kinds of Pacific Rim influences. Based in the Vancouver, B.C., area, the Lovers incorporate Californian and Hawaiian folk-rock, reggae and ska into their lively musical brew. The band writes much … Continue reading

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Clumsy Lovers’ Smart Kid

Craig Clarke penned this review. The Clumsy Lovers released my favorite album of 2004. After the Flood, with its pop-oriented blend of rock, bluegrass, country, Celtic, and whatever else the band decided to throw into the pot, struck a chord … Continue reading

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The Mollys’ this is my round 

For most musicians in this misbegotten age, concerts are merely a means of advertising their CDs. Then there’s a small minority — the Radiators, for one — whose discs are advertising for their live gigs. “C’mon,” the music says, “you … Continue reading

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A Consumer´s Guide to Fairport Convention

Preliminary Note: This guide deals only with the official studio and live albums released by Fairport Convention through 1999. No samplers, collections or unofficial live albums are mentioned. The albums are graded as follows: (****) = A classic. Should be … Continue reading

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Agnus Dei’s Gaia

Agnus Dei was Gerald and Hilde Krampl; Hilde, a poet, died of cancer in 2002. This album, of piano works by Gerald based on Hilde’s last poems, may in some sense be taken as a tribute. Gerald Krampl was a … Continue reading

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Bert Jansch’s Living in the Shadows (Part 1)

Bert Jansch, who died in 2011, was quite a prolific musician for quite a long time. I was a rather casual fan of his — well, actually I was an intense fan of one of his albums, and a casual … Continue reading

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Antonio Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons

Terje Tønnesen, soloist and conductor on this recording of Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons, includes a liner note to the effect that the performance “represents a form of time travel in which we attempt a ‘correct’ reading of history while at … Continue reading

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