[Updated and revised ] The Los Angeles band September Mourning is quite lively for looking so dead. It comes off as a sort of radio play, a doomed fairy tale which drags fans in with its macabre grind and death rattle. Leading the whole affair is Emily Lazar, whose singing can take the form of […]
Frank De Blase
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Album review: ‘Back in Time’
Gary Peet and Random Company ‘Back in Time’ Self-released garypeetmusic.com Gary Peet and Random Company cover all the phases of love — from the first kiss to the big kiss-off — on the new release “Back in Time.” The album starts off in breakneck swing mode with the cut “Do You Want to Dance.” From […]
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Album review: ‘Much Much Nice’
Aweful Kanawful ‘Much Much Nice’ Self-released awefulkanawful.bandcamp.com When I first met Austin Lake, a k a Aweful Kanawful, he commandeered the proceedings by setting himself on fire. No shit, on fire. On his new album, “Much Much Nice,” the fidelity runs high — higher than on previous outings. And the man is still on fire […]
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The F Word: the neighbor of the beast
CITY Music Writer Frank De Blase catches an Aaron Winters photography show and a concert from The Iron Maidens at Montage Music Hall.
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Album review: ‘Modern Sounds in Rockabilly Blues, Vol. 1 & 2’
The Manda-Tones ‘Modern Sounds in Rockabilly Blues, Vol. 1 & 2’ Self-released themandatones.bandcamp.com If you’re looking to up the size of your jumpin’ and pumpin’ record collection, you can call the search off and wrap your sticky mitts around The Manda-Tones’ “Modern Sounds in Rockabilly Blues, Vol. 1 & 2.” This is a big collection […]
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JAZZ | Nancy Kelly
Nancy Kelly has been looking back into classic vocal jazz since she was a wee one, just four years old. Growing up in Rochester, she studied piano, clarinet, drama, and dance before settling on voice, which she studied at the Eastman School of Music. Kelly was twice named “Best Female Jazz Vocalist” in the DownBeat […]
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Rochester blues rock band Rain releases ‘The Lost Album’ 50 years later
With help from producer and engineer Dave Anderson, the Rochester blues rock band Rain is now releasing “1971…The Lost Album,” nearly 50 years after it was recorded.
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ALT-COUNTRY | Rhett Miller
Rhett Miller is the king of the murder ballad, the prince of melancholy, the champion of the love song. Best known from his position leading the charge of the alt-country darlings Old 97’s, Miller is one of the precious few who legitimately can call his music Americana and mean it. In a sense, Old 97’s […]
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The F Word: Parkinson’s just got a little cooler
I’m certainly not in the “we’re not handicapped, we’re handi-capable” camp, nor do I want to give Parkinson’s disease too much deference in my life. But my jittery friends Ozzy Osbourne and Neil Diamond recently added their names to the list.
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Album review: ‘Something to Prove’
The Byways ‘Something to Prove’ Self-released bywaysroc.com There’s a lot of “wanna” — actual and implied — on The Byways’ new EP “Something to Prove.” It’s acoustically based, and hits its stride immediately on tunes like “Man I Wanna Be.” It all circles back to the quartet’s principal songwriter and quarterback Alex Goettel, and the […]
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Album review: ‘Superette’
5Head ‘Superette’ Self-released facebook.com/5headmusic It’s like trying to pick your favorite child when you’ve got only one life preserver. The children in this hypothetical exercise are the 13 tracks on 5Head’s new CD “Superette.” The problem here is that I can’t pick just one. 5Head has managed to run the engine clean, despite some grit […]
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AMERICANA | Aaron Lipp & Brian Williams
Multi-instrumentalist Aaron Lipp has a consistent angle he uses to wrangle all he explores: It’s bluesy, and country-politan, and it’s aaalright. Lipp moves between electric and acoustic guitars with a fluidity that’s loquacious and loose — he makes it look so damn easy. He’s played keyboards for Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad and Robert Randolph, […]
