Category Archives: Music

Rabor’s Beyond The Outskirts

Rabor is a Moscow-based ensemble that currently makes ambient folk music based on old Russian folk ritual music. I say currently because until fairly recently they were part of the dungeon synth music scene, of which I knew absolutely nothing … Continue reading

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Shono’s Kolkhozoy Traktor

In this globalized world is there anything as common as a band that blends the traditional folk songs of its culture with modern rock? Or as wonderful when it’s done right, which is what Shono does. Shono, which means Wolf, … Continue reading

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Wolfgang Muthspiel’s Dance of the Elders

Austrian guitarist Wolfgang Muthspiel returns with the same trio that recorded the critically acclaimed Angular Blues, for another outing that seamlessly blends folk, classical and jazz. Drawing on the quieter aspects of the repertoires of bassist Scott Colley and drummer … Continue reading

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Jesper Thorn’s Dragør

It’s not often that a musician, especially a jazz musician, reveals as much about themselves as Jesper Thorn does in conjunction with his new project Dragør. The Danish bassist and composer has previously released two critically acclaimed and well received … Continue reading

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Mohammad Motamedi & Rembrandt Trio’s Intizar: Songs of Longing

As soon as I started listening to “Intizar,” the first and title track on this beautiful album by the Rembrandt Trio and the Iranian classical singer Mohammad Motamedi, I thought I was hearing a santur, the Iranian hammer dulcimer. Then … Continue reading

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The Poozies’ Changed Days, Same Roots

The Poozies include Karen Tweed (accordion, vocal), Patsy Seddon (electro-harp, Aziliz – a small Celtic harp, fiddle, vocal), Mary MacMaster (electro-harp, Aziliz, temple bells, clarsach, vocal), and Eilidh Shaw (fiddle, vocal). This recording is my introduction to the group and … Continue reading

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Rhonda Vincent’s Back Home Again, and The Storm Still Rages

Rhonda Vincent was born in 1962 and first performed on stage as part of her family’s band, the Sally Mountain Show, when she was 5 years old. She has 18 albums to her credit, but these latest two, made for … Continue reading

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Paula Frazer’s A Place Where I Know: 4-track songs 1992-2002

Paula Frazer has a voice like an angel. All her publicity says so. Hmmm. Is this what angels sound like? There’s a bit of Judy Collins in it, maybe a smidgeon of Marina Belica…well, they sound like angels too, so … Continue reading

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Muleskinner Jones’s Death Row Hoedown, and Terrible Stories EP

Muleskinner Jones is the English answer to the Handsome Family, crossed with the off-kilter cowpunk of the Meat Puppets, say, or perhaps Butthole Surfers. It’s a hole in the current musical scene that was just begging to be filled, and … Continue reading

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Johnny Cash’s American IV: The Man Comes Around

The man in black has gone to be with the man in white. After a hard seventy-one years John R. Cash’s big heart stopped beating the other day. Perhaps it was just broken irreparably by the loss of his wife … Continue reading

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