Michael Petzel, aka Shlump, made his musical start on classical guitar, but in 2009 began an electric portion of his career. His production and composition style resonates a balance of electric-pop, glitch-hop, and even hardstyle — subtly reflecting a sound design like duo Dodge & Fuski. His Soundcloud profile proclaims the moniker “Alien bass music.” Also on the […]
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JAZZ | Joe Policastro Trio
The Joe Policastro Trio has all of the ingredients of a typical jazz trio, with Policastro on bass, Dave Miller on guitar, and Mikel Patrick Avery, drums. But this Chicago-based outfit has a sound all its own. Each musician is a phenomenal player capable of reinventing his instrument and expanding its horizons. Even the repertoire is nicely […]
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SPECIAL EVENT | DMC In-Store
It’d be hard to overstate the impact Darryl “DMC” McDaniels, Rev Run, and Jam Master Jay had on music as Run-DMC. The first rappers on MTV, the first on “Saturday Night Live,” and the first on the cover of Rolling Stone, Run-DMC built on the foundations of musicians like Afrika Bambaataaa and Grandmaster Flash and […]
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The Crooked North digs the dark dichotomy in bluegrass
The Crooked North blends bluegrass and old-time folk with a diesel kick that is both sharp and clean. It’s yesterday played today, and it comes on like a veritable freight train. But The Crooked North is playing with you. It candy coats its lyrical darkness in the light of its exuberant bluegrass. Bluegrass by its […]
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Album review: ‘Jazz Flute Traditions’
Néstor Torres “Jazz Flute Traditions” Alfi Records nestortorres.com Maybe it’s a macho thing. Saxophones are bigger and bolder and trumpets are downright brash, but there have been relatively few great jazz flautists. Perhaps that’s why one of today’s reigning flute champs, Néstor Torres, has recorded a tribute to his predecessors, “Jazz Flute Traditions.” The album […]
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FOLK | Magpie
Multi-instrumentalists Terry Leonino and Greg Artzner have been performing together as Magpie for more than 40 years, a testament to the staying power of their 1960’s-era folk revival sound. Grounded in Artzner’s dependable acoustic guitar work, the music really takes wing with the duo’s impassioned vocal harmonies — Artzner’s voice in particular has a buoyancy […]
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AMERICANA | King Cardinal
What started out as a solo recording project, King Cardinal founder Brennan Mackey has since fleshed out into a deluxe, five-piece band. The changes came once he pulled a Hail Mary and moved from Chicago and into Denver. King Cardinal calls to mind early Ryan Adams, and flirts with a profane sadness that’ll make you […]
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Album review: ‘Silent Dreamer’
Tobias Meinhart “Silent Dreamer” ENJA Records tobiasmeinhart.com One of the best things about reviewing music is putting on a disc by an artist I’ve never heard of and being blown away by it. “Silent Dreamer,” by German saxophonist Tobias Meinhart, is one of the best CD’s I’ve heard this year. Meinhart had racked up a […]
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There’s a long road behind DakhaBrakha
DakhaBrakha has found the Holy Grail in world music. The Ukrainian band of multi-instrumentalists — Nina Garenetska, Olena Tsybulska, Iryna Kovalenko, and Marko Halanevych — performs traditional Ukrainian songs in nontraditional ways, making compelling tunes by stitching together its native folk melodies with a grab bag of unexpected styles from all over the globe. The […]
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BLUEGRASS | Evie Ladin & Keith Terry
This ain’t your daddy’s folk outfit. Evie Ladin and Keith Terry play a very percussive style of old time music that incorporates a mixture of Appalachian clogging and hambone to accent the duo’s otherwise traditional approach to traditional music. It’s fresh and clean and original while somehow remaining classic. It’s infectious. Evie Ladin & Keith […]
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METAL | Survival of the Fittest Fest
It’ll be a hellaciously hard and heavy night of music with this year’s Survival of the Fittest Fest. The show features local mavens like Diluted, Rip Open The Sky — don’t get it confused with the Christian rock album by Remedy Drive — one of my favorite hardcore bands, A Fitting Revenge, Undead Messengers, Plagues […]
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CLASSICAL | ‘British Buddies’
In the provided information about First Muse’s next concert, “British Buddies,” Artistic Director and violist Melissa Matson is pretty direct in describing the program. “The genesis of this concert was my desire to collaborate with tenor Anthony Dean Griffey,” she says. Griffey, a Grammy-winning vocalist, recently joined the Eastman School of Music as a professor […]
