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Under The Radar
Rhys Chatham & His Guitar Trio All-Stars, Beach House, Religious Knives & Oren Ambarchi/Z’ev | Print |  E-mail
Written by Tom Kressler   
Friday, 04 April 2008

‘Guitar Trio Is My Life’
by Rhys Chatham & His Guitar Trio All-Stars, Radium Records

Written amid the punk breakout of 1977, Rhys Chatham’s “Guitar Trio” is what happened when a band geek (Chatham) somewhat reluctantly went to a seminal but probably rather smelly club (CBGB) to see an incredible, enormously influential band that was probably a bit beneath him musically (The Ramones). The band geek’s mind was blown, and, shortly thereafter, he composed “Guitar Trio,” a seven-plus minute exploration of punk fury fused with minimal composition that could not be more relevant 30 years later.

Proving the point is this three-CD set recently released by Radium Records. In celebration of the song’s anniversary, a silver-haired, axe-wielding Chatham took to the road last year, assembling a new band of Guitar Trio all-stars at just about every stop, and repeatedly playing the hell out of a lengthier “Guitar Trio” manifestation. This release captures 10 live performances from that tour, with a number of guest guitarists, including Chatham contemporaries Alan Licht and Tony Conrad, both members of the Canadian Silver Mt. Zion collective, as well as Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo. I can’t think of any band more indebted to Chatham’s punk rock guitar experiments than Sonic Youth, and their performances with Chatham are among the most spirited.
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Bon Iver; Robedoor; Kevin Drumm/Prurient; Meneguar | Print |  E-mail
Written by Tom Kressler   
Thursday, 14 February 2008

‘For Emma, Forever Ago’
by Bon Iver, Jagjaguwar

Self-released last year, this terrific debut will get a wider release come Tuesday, Feb. 19 on Jagjaguwar. Bon Iver—French for “good winter,” though I hear it’s not spelled right—is the moniker of songwriter Justin Vernon (www.myspace.com/boniver). Legend has it that he retreated to a lonely cabin in northwestern Wisconsin to write and record the songs on “For Emma, Forever Ago.” According to the Jagjaguwar Web site, Vernon spent his downtime “wood splitting” and doing “other chores around the land.” If those hours of man-work were meant to increase his brawn, it didn’t work, because this is some sensitive music for sensitive dudes (and ladies).

There’s nothing wrong with that, though. “For Emma, Forever Ago” reminds me of Iron and Wine’s debut, “The Creek Drank the Cradle,” not so much in style—Vernon’s music is more like minimal soul than folk, and his mostly falsetto vocals are far more inventive—but in substance. Neither album blazes new ground, but somehow they both sound refreshing in their simplicity. There are literally billions of young men who play acoustic guitar and sing (if you listen close, there’s probably one practicing somewhere in your apartment building right now), so it’s truly special when that old formula produces something exciting. Vernon is playing the Middle East in Cambridge on Sunday, Feb. 24 with label mates Black Mountain.

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Sera Cahoone; Heidi Skjerve; Vetiver | Print |  E-mail
Written by Keith Sabella   
Wednesday, 06 June 2007

Sera Cahoone

With her self-titled debut album, Seattle based Sera Cahoone (www.myspace.com/seracahoone) has stepped out from behind the scenes and into the limelight. Having spent her career as a drummer, most notably for popular Seattle bands  “Carissa’s Weird” and “Band of Horses,” Cahoone has emerged as a singer-songwriter of considerable talent. In fact, NPR’s Stephen Thompson has her on his top 10 releases of 2006. It’s hard to argue the point once you hear this collection of sweet country songs.
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Kristy Kruger; Oumou Sangare; Woven | Print |  E-mail
Written by Keith Sabella   
Wednesday, 16 May 2007
Kristy Kruger’s (www.kristykruger.com) latest album, “Songs From a Dead Man’s Couch,” draws from a variety of American musical styles—traditional country (“Gold Rush” and “Talk Radio”), New Orleans Jazz (“Little Polyanna”), alt-folk (“Blackhole”) and something she calls Ameritronica (“Dark Stranger” and “The Peddler”). Most of this territory she’s covered in her previous albums, but, with “Dead Man’s Couch,” she seems to have come into her own, transcending the forms she employs, creating a quirky, haunting, sexy and original work.
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play what you would play | Print |  E-mail
Written by Keith Sabella   
Wednesday, 11 April 2007
When you think of African-based, rock-influenced music, you might not immediately think of Asheville, N.C. Unless, that is, you have heard the music of Toubab Krewe (www.toubabkrewe.com). When listening to this quintet, it’s easy to believe you are hearing an authentic West African band, complete with kora, djembe and other exotic instruments. And in a sense, you are. They just happen to be American.
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pretty lyrics, pretty landscapes, pretty mysterious | Print |  E-mail
Written by Keith Sabella   
Wednesday, 21 March 2007
The story of how The Weepies (www.theweepies.com) came together reads like a movie script. He (Steve Tannen) is playing a gig at Club Passim in Boston. She (Deb Talan) has played there many times before, but tonight has come to hear him perform. Smitten by his debut album, she has been obsessing over it for about a month. He gets a bit nervous when, looking out into the audience, he notices that she is there. He has been smitten by her debut album and has been obsessing over it for about a month. After the gig they get together, both a bit nervous now, sensing the electricity between them, and trade songs until the wee hours. They’ve been together as The Weepies ever since, and listening to their music is like attending a singer/songwriter master class.
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Pedestrian, Goddamn Electric Bill, Kathryn Williams | Print |  E-mail
Written by Keith Sabella   
Thursday, 11 January 2007
“Hey, how come I don’t know this band?” That’s what your friends will be wondering when you spin some tracks for them from “Ghostly Life” by Pedestrian (www.pedestrian.org). Pedestrian is the creation of Joel Shearer. In fact, you might say that Pedestrian is Joel Shearer. He doesn’t seem to have a steady band roster, and he’s the driving creative force, as well as the guy who writes the songs—very good songs.
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a roundup of the latest local releases | Print |  E-mail
Written by Jon Nolan   
Wednesday, 03 January 2007
The Twitch plays meat and potatoes rock ’n’ roll. Beefy riffs, 4/4 rhythms and even the occasional rock screech are the modus operandi on their self-titled EP, and they slug it out with two guitars, bass, drums and vocals—old-school style. Aaron Katz, best known as a songwriter and drummer for Percy Hill, produced the four-song set.
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it's the holiday season, for folks sake | Print |  E-mail
Written by Keith Sabella   
Wednesday, 13 December 2006
It’s that time of year again when people start writing about that time of year, that is to say, the holidays, family, traditions and the passing of another year. It is a time ripe with nostalgia for times that seemed simpler, more honest and, in a word, innocent. In a cynical age, it’s easy to believe that innocence is just another word for denial of reality, but sometimes something so pure comes along that it chases away our inner Scrooge and makes us believe again.
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squire and brimstone, urban porch | Print |  E-mail
Written by Keith Sabella   
Wednesday, 01 November 2006
“Hymn Noire” might be one way to describe Jolie Holland’s song “Old Fashion Morphine” from her second album, “Escondida.” It’s a dark transformation of the traditional hymn, “Old Time Religion,” sung by someone who is familiar with the church down the lane, but took a left at the crossroads and ended up on Beale Street hanging out with William Burroughs instead.
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strong winds, real life and poetry | Print |  E-mail
Written by Keith Sabella   
Wednesday, 04 October 2006
The title track from Catherine Feeny’s second album, “Hurricane Glass,” feels like driving down a long, straight stretch of highway in an old Chevy. Windows down, music blaring, Lucinda Williams in the passenger seat and Bob Dylan grinning like the Cheshire Cat in the back as she sings, “It’s not what I wanted, it’s not what I planned, it’s not where I thought I’d be.”
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Canadian sirens and a Brit to boot! | Print |  E-mail
Written by Keith Sabella   
Wednesday, 09 August 2006
Brushes on snare drum in three-quarter time set the pace—a slow, spacious dance. Enter bass and guitar, weaving a cyclical pattern. Spare notes on a piano are struck, sustained, released, repeated. A tenor sax whispers, soft, luscious and cool. A vibraphone adds punctuation. Everything flows together now, moving the music forward in a perfect symbiosis of folk and jazz sensibility, rising, shifting. Then, more than two minutes into the song, surprising, yet somehow expected, a clear, high, voice descends on strings into this musical tapestry. Three concentrated, poetic verses on the themes of time, light, beauty, love and loss arrive and then pass. Back to the flow of the instruments and the eventual end.
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Scandanavia’s Aurora Musicalis | Print |  E-mail
Written by Keith Sabella   
Wednesday, 05 July 2006
If you love singer-songwriters in the tradition of Nick Drake, Joni Mitchell, Elliot Smith, Shawn Colvin, Jeff Buckley, etc., you will love what’s happening in Scandinavia these days, especially in Sweden. Here you will find many bright, shimmering musical lights—a kind of “aurora musicalis,” to coin a phrase. (I’ve always wanted to coin a phrase.) So much talent, in fact, a follow-up column may be in order at some point. For now, let’s focus on three musicians who, already well known in Europe, are poised to make some noise here in the United States.
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new music | Print |  E-mail
Written by Keith Sabella   
Wednesday, 31 May 2006
I love hearing music I’ve never heard before. But as a single parent of two kids, I don’t get out much and most of the music I’m exposed to on a daily basis is of the “yo’ bootie, my grille” genre. That’s great for bustin’ a move, but most of my moves are in the closet collecting dust with my platform shoes and polyester shirts, as they should be.
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