Category Archives: Music

Dick Smith’s Woozy

The band behind one of my favorite CDs of 2002, Dick Smith, is back. Woozy, their third release, finds the Illinois-based trio becoming a quartet, and still making delirious acoustic music about life on the fringes. The addition to the … Continue reading →

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Miles Davis’s Ascenseur pour l’echafaud

This is a one-of-a-kind album, an audio documentary of the making of a movie soundtrack by Miles Davis, as he was poised on the brink of his big popular breakthrough. Davis was in France for a brief tour with a … Continue reading →

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Daniel Lanois’ Belladonna

Daniel Lanois has been known chiefly in the past for his recording work with other artists. He was producer on career-reviving records by two mature, established artists: Bob Dylan’s Oh Mercy in 1989 and a decade later Time Out of … Continue reading →

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Ion Petre Stoican’s Sounds From A Bygone Age, Vol. 1

This record has quite a back-story. Ion Petre Stoican was a relatively unknown musician in the lively Bucharest scene of the 1970s. He had played professionally, particularly for weddings and such, in a port town for some 15 years, but … Continue reading →

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Jolie Holland’s Springtime Can Kill You

Two of the most stunningly original female singer-songwriters in today’s field of American music are both recording for Los Angeles’ independent label Anti-: Neko Case and Jolie Holland. And both redheads have new albums out in 2006, which makes it … Continue reading →

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James Hill’s On the Other Hand and A Flying Leap

James Hill is a ukulele player. “Plunk, a-plunk-a-plunk … ” that’s what you’re thinking isn’t it? James Hill is 23 years old. He graduated from the University of British Columbia’s School of Music, where he studied violin and viola. He … Continue reading →

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Sivan Perwer’s Min bêriya te kiriye

In A Thousand Sighs, A Thousand Revolts, Christiane Bird refers to Sivan Perwer as ‘the most popular of all Kurdish singers.’ Later in the same book, she relates a story about him that she heard from a group of Kurdish … Continue reading →

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Miles Davis’s Kind of Blue

Well. This is a bit daunting. Where to start. Erm … Miles Davis’s Kind of Blue is not only the most popular jazz album in history (recorded and released in 1959, it’s still selling some 5,000 copies every week. In … Continue reading →

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Calexico’s World Drifts In: Live at the Barbican London

It’s such a pleasure when a concert DVD is done right, and this one is an excellent example of the potential of this medium. Of course, it helps when it involves one of your favorite bands. Calexico is one of … Continue reading →

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The Kathryn Tickell Band’s Air Dancing

In a far distant past (1986) I saw the then very young Kathryn Tickell charm an audience at Sidmouth Folk Festival with her Northumbrian pipes and her fiddle. She was named as one of the bright hopes for the future … Continue reading →

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