Category Archives: Music

Oysterband’s The Shouting End of Life 

With The Shouting End of Life, the Oysterband has put its collective foot down firmly on the rock side of the folk-rock equation. This isn’t a bad thing, though purists may wonder where the trad covers like “Rambling Irishman” have gone. TSEOL is … Continue reading →

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Tummel’s Payback Time

Think about the band playing on while the Titanic goes down. Think of some of Joel Gray’s bitchier numbers in Cabaret. Think of Josephine Baker at her most outrageous taking Paris by storm. Think of a bunch of crazy Swedes … Continue reading →

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Grannar’s Sofiagatan: Folk Music from Southern Sweden; Väsen’s Väsen Street; Kari Tauring’s Völva Songs

“Traditional” is one of those words that gets bandied about a lot these days, particularly when talking about families and music. I’ll leave families to a more political outlet and talk about music here. Now, “traditional” in music can mean … Continue reading →

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Amira Medunjanin’s Damar

I haven’t listened to a lot of sevdah, but I am familiar with Mostar Sevdah Reunion, probably the best-known sevdah group outside of Bosnia & Herzegovina. Amira Medunjanin sang on their 2003 album A Secret Gate before going on to … Continue reading →

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Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt’s The Complete Trio Collection

Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt probably did a lot to establish “Americana” as a category of music with their two Trio albums in 1987 and 1999. Some of the ways they did that, I’m not sure are necessarily … Continue reading →

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The B-52’s Live! 8.24.1979

I don’t have this band in heavy rotation on my playlist, but when I do play them, I very much appreciate how good they are. And they did one of my all-time favorite songs, one I do have in my … Continue reading →

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Gavin Bryars’ The Fifth Century

English composer Gavin Bryars was born in Yorkshire in 1943. He studied philosophy at Sheffield University and, as might be expected, became a jazz bassist during his time there. He’s worked in a number of different idioms and styles, from … Continue reading →

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Maighread Ni Dhomhnaill, Triona Ni Dhomhnaill and Donal Lunny’s Idir an Da Sholas (Between the Two Lights)

Brendan Foreman penned this review. One half of this duo of sisters is actually quite prominent in the world of Irish traditional music. Triona Dhomhnaill was a founding member of three of the most important modern-day Celtic musical groups: the Bothy … Continue reading →

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Band of Hope’s Rhythm & Reds

We’ve had this memorable CD for a long time, and listen to it frequently. Although we once had a brief review of this on GMR (done by Jack Merry), the file appears to have slipped sideways in time, so Cat … Continue reading →

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A Nightnoise Retrospective

Nightnoise were a musical quartet whose career spanned the better part of two decades. Although three quarters of the band came from Ireland, the group was based in Portland, Oregon. Despite backgrounds in traditional Irish music, classical, and jazz, the … Continue reading →

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