A strange phenomenon is going on this weekend: Synaesthesia 2. Synaesthesia is an involuntary condition experienced by some, such as 20th-century classical composers Scriabin and Messiaen. When they heard a sound or musical pitch, they would automatically see, in their mind’s eye, some particular color. This variety of synaesthesia is sometimes called “chromesthesia” or “color […]
Music Features
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Trumpeting new ideas
The leading trumpet players of the last several decades coaxed no shortage of distinctive sounds out of the instrument. Miles Davis was known for evoking extraordinary pathos. Wynton Marsalis can make it sing with astounding clarity. And Jon Faddis can play in an upper register so high that you might wonder if the notes are […]
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Blood and guts
Trying to classify guitarist James Blood Ulmer just doesn’t work. The best term I’ve seen to describe his music had to be invented: avant-gutbucket. Ulmer came into prominence in the avant-garde jazz scene of the 1970s when he was closely associated with saxophonist-composer Ornette Coleman. But Ulmer’s brand of free jazz had generous portions […]
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They’ve got fiddle rhythm
The new album by Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys, Bon Rêve, has been called “the Sgt. Pepper of Cajun music.” After beginning as a traditional Cajun band 15 years ago, Riley and the Playboys veered into experimentation. Riley acknowledges that the previous two albums “jumped all over the place, but this one is pretty […]
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Sweet machine music
In June, there’s good reason to shuffle off to Buffalo: The June in Buffalo festival. To the outside world, June in Buffalo, started by composer Morton Feldman in 1975, is a week of contemporary music concerts hosted by the University at Buffalo. To participating young composers, however, it is a conference of workshops that bring […]
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The man behind the Masque
Some people are lucky: They experience a moment where they realize rock ‘n’ roll can save their lives. You can sit down with a lot of music fans and let them tell you the time they first heard this band, or how their older sibling got them into that band, and the nutty things they’ve […]
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Old punks never die
“Punk rock should be and has always been, to me, about stirring things up,” says D.O.A. founder and frontman Joey Shithead Keithley. “The same way rock ‘n’ roll was when it started up in the mid ’50s. It was about being a troublemaker and changing things and being a rebel.” The man still burns. […]
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Heartland regathers the folkies
Last year Ralph Hunt and Judy Gradford spent a lot of time talking on the phone with Glenn Drinkwater, one of the organizers of the former 12 Corners Coffeehouse. For years it brought A-list folk music acts to the Twelve Corners Presbyterian Church. After moving briefly to RIT, it disappeared. Hunt and Gradford were […]
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k.d. lang still burns the absolute torch
We call my Grandpa Big Frank. Big Frank loves k.d. lang. In fact, he loves music in general — most of it. He digs Sinatra but thinks he was too much of a womanizer. Dean Martin was a drunk. Elvis had a nice voice, but Grandpa considers him part of the ongoing longhaired-pinko menace and […]
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From Nancy, with love
As rock ‘n’ roll’s swagger staggers under the weight of its disproportionate masculinity (you know, too many dudes), women with the appropriate stance and guts are keeping it somehow viable, visceral, and real. It’s still a man’s world, but women like The Breeder’s Kim Deal, Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon, Deborah Harry, or yes, even Madonna […]
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Sophie B. Hawkins
If it weren’t for the warm, husky seduction in Sophie B. Hawkins voice, you’d swear you were talking to a child. Hawkins eagerly leaps at questions and insightfully discusses her life and music. In the background, Spearhead leaks in from the tape deck. We chat via cell phone as she and her band wind their […]
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A long way from Pepticon
“You really don’t want to hear me sing it a capella,” says B.B. King. Of course, he’s wrong. Who wouldn’t relish the opportunity to hear B.B. King sing to them over the telephone? “Here’s the way it went,” he says, before singing a laidback rendition of “Pepticon sure is good / Pepticon sure […]
