Jack Klatt doesn’t just write clever songs that shadow assorted genres — he adopts their parlance, their tone, and their idiosyncratic appeal. Consequently, this wily Minnesotan can lay claim to virtually anything that comes out, be it country, swing, rockabilly, or even the blues. But it’s Klatt’s deceptively simple approach to the acoustic guitar, as […]
Frank De Blase
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BLUES-JAZZ | The Occasional Saints
P.V. Nunes tickles the ivories in the quintessential barrelhouse piano style that drifts outta joints in The Big Easy nightly. His band The Occasional Saints is bawdy and naughty, like angels with day jobs, doing the devil’s work. Penned by Nunes, this rockin’ septet’s music is virtually all original — with a subtle boogie and […]
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The F Word: Tears in ¾ time
Got to poke my head into the studio during Scott Regan’s “Open Tunings” broadcast Friday to eyeball
French jazz guitarist Stephane Wrembel disassemble his guitar and the way I
listen to it.
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Album review: ‘If We Ever Live Forever’
Longwave ‘If We Ever Live Forever’ Bodan Kuma Recordings longwave.bandcamp.com After a 10-year hiatus, Longwave — the NYC-based indie rock darlings with Rochester roots — return to the limelight with what could be considered their best record yet. Sure, “If We Ever Live Forever” possesses that indie concern and emotive response to everything. But there […]
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Album review: ‘The Hard Side of the Blues’
Tommy Grills ‘The Hard Side of the Blues’ Self-released tommygrills.hearnow.com Rochester expat Tommy Grills stands ominous, lean, and mean — with nothing but a big guitar between him and the rest of the world. Grills’s name may sound familiar to some blues aficionados; he’s the big brother of hometown bluesman Steve Grills. On Tommy Grills’s […]
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Interview: Jimbo Mathus
Guitarist Jimbo Mathus became a household name as a founding member of the swing-revival band Squirrel Nut Zippers. But Mathus’s latest album, the aptly titled “Incinerator,” is a righteous romp through the swamp.
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JAZZ GUITAR | Stephane Wrembel
French jazz guitarist Stephane Wrembel clearly sits at the foot of Django Reinhardt’s throne. But this amazing guitarist is more than a mere acolyte. There are rock demons in his head, demons that don’t necessarily rise up, but stir the man from within to create music that is both timelessly romantic and beautiful. Wrembel is […]
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Kings of the mountain
Rochester rock trio King Buffalo plays the heavy and finds success abroad.
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ROCK ‘N’ ROLL | Sarah Borges & The Broken Singles
I was looking for some good music on YouTube when I suddenly found Sarah Borges, a New England rocker who skates the razor between sweet balladry and rock ‘n’ roll. She was working it out on Elvin Bishop’s “Fooled Around and Fell in Love.” It was beautiful; Borges’ voice has that sweet Wanda Jackson snarl, […]
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The F Word: Black market prom
Luchadors and velour dinner jackets: CITY Music Writer Frank De Blase catches sets by Los Straitjackets, Televisionaries, Brian Lindsay, and Pentagram.
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Album review: ‘1979’
Motörhead ‘1979’ BMG imotorhead.com We could rave on and on about all the fan-friendly goodies in the new Motörhead box set, “1979,” and wait with bated breath as BMG plans on rolling out future releases. But don’t let the swag overshadow the music. It was Motörhead’s frontman and founder Lemmy Kilmister who once bemoaned that […]
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WORLD BEAT-REGGAE | Root Shock
Sometimes when listening to a reggae, funk or soul-tinged band, you can get exposed to what I like to call “groove hyperbole.” This isn’t a bad thing, but it can confuse you as to who is in charge. In the case of Root Shock, it’s like the Syracuse band’s energy supersedes the band itself; the […]
