A new music group, Rochester Folkus, is here to promote acoustically based music — whether it’s bluegrass, Celtic, folk, or whatever. And this will be on a semi-regular basis on the second and fourth Wednesday of each month at Downstairs Cabaret. The maiden voyage takes place this week with Sally Rogers, whose storied lyrics are rivaled only […]
Music
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Musicians fight back: protest songs from the first year of Trump
It’s been a long year since election night 2016, but musicians across the country have been saying “fuck that.” Check out a playlist of protest songs curated by alt-weeklies
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Opera review: Eastman Opera Theatre’s ‘L’incoronazione di Poppea’
Eastman Opera Theatre continues to impress with presentations brimming with excellent singers and professional production values. This time around, it was Claudio Monteverdi’s final opera “L’Incoronazione di Poppea.” Performed in Italian with English supertitles, this production of “The Coronation of Poppea” at Kilbourn Hall was also notable for its use of period instruments, and for […]
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Peter Yarrow brings 50 years of folk history to Hochstein
If you came of age in the 1960’s, folk singer Peter Yarrow was probably a part of your life. Before you knew the name Bob Dylan, chances are you heard Yarrow sing Dylan’s most famous song, “Blowin’ in the Wind.” As a member of Peter, Paul and Mary, Yarrow helped usher in a new age […]
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CLASSICAL/KIDS | RPO OrKIDStra
The Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra’s opening OrKIDStra concert last month, a performance of Gilbert and Sullivan’s “Iolanthe,” took its audience on a trip to Fairyland, complete with wands and wings. This weekend’s show, “A Tour of World Flutes with Orchestra,” covers pretty much the entire globe, as represented by 13 different flutes, from pennywhistle to shakuhachi […]
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FOLK | Peter Yarrow
If you came of age in the 1960’s, Peter Yarrow was probably a part of your life. As a member of Peter, Paul & Mary, Yarrow combined activism with music, bringing songs like “Blowin’ In The Wind,” “Where Have All The Flowers Gone,” and “If I Had A Hammer” to the masses. He wrote or […]
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Margaret Explosion has a Marshall plan
The neon flashed “Vacancy” after guitarist Bob Martin packed a grip and skedaddled west to Chicago, leaving a hole in the Margaret Explosion the size of space. The Margaret Explosion is known for its atmospheric, borderless seek and find, and Martin was an integral component. It is the perfect music, really; a narcotic moment in […]
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SOUL | Broca’s Area
Low-slung, polyrhythmic group Broca’s Area is a sincere epitome of how the younger generation will come to appreciate the fathers of contemporary jazz and R&B. Singer Mary Corso’s vocals are deeply soulful and intimate, which accentuates the hip-hop instrumentation and jazz cuts. J Dilla, Hiatus Kaiyote, and the Blue Note Records catalog are just a […]
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Album review: ‘Stubborn Comfort’
Anamon “Stubborn Comfort” Self-released anamon.bandcamp.com It used to take a minimum of two notes to make a minor chord. It’s just simple theory; it’s the rules: a single note is neutral. That is, until it’s part of a scale or chord pattern — or until Anamon came along with “Stubborn Comfort,” its brand new, 12-song […]
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BLUEGRASS | Yonder Mountain String Band
Colorado’s Yonder Mountain String Band has taken a new, bolder form in the last two years. “New Yonder” is now a five-piece jam-grass band after Jeff Austin departed the group in 2014 — the band has since added Allie Kral (fiddle) and Jacob Joliff (mandolin). The band has eased its hesitant, long-time fans into the […]
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Album review: ‘Endless Field’
Jesse Lewis and Ike Sturm “Endless Field” Biophilia Records endlessfieldband.com As a graduate of the Eastman School of Music, Ike Sturm is well known in Rochester jazz circles as a superb bassist. Since moving to New York, he’s played with Wynton Marsalis, Donny McCaslin, Bobby McFerrin, and many others. But on his latest release, “Endless […]
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ROCK | The Big Drops
Goddammit, I’ve apparently been wasting precious time listening to bands that have been trying to sound like New Jersey whiz kids The Big Drops. The band cuts a big swath of atmosphere that reverberates off of itself as it swirls and whirls approaching a controlled infinity. The band’s new album, “Time, Color,” is sweetly psychedelic, […]
