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 […]
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REGGAE-FOLK | The Forest Dwellers
Local roots reggae quartet The Forest Dwellers is on a sonic mission to heal its audiences with warm-hearted harmonies and soft, swaying guitar rhythms. Singer-guitarist Joe Kaplan delivers lyrics that are hopeful for a brighter future and melodies full of cosmic yearning, while strumming in a slightly Latin-influenced guitar style. His breezy aesthetic is complemented […]
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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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Vanishing Sun teases 2020 collab with Strasenburgh Planetarium
In a teaser video released today, Rochester funk-fusion band Vanishing Sun announced a 2020 collaboration with the Strasenburgh Planetarium and Director Steve Fentress.
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Classical review: ‘Bach to Bartók’ an RPO journey worth taking
Arnold Schoenberg, Anton Webern, and Alban Berg – great composers but only occasional visitors to Kodak Hall at best — finally made it on the same Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra program last night.
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Opera review: the dark satire of Eastman Opera Theatre’s fall double bill
In staging its 2019 fall double bill, Eastman Opera Theatre and director Stephen Carr had the challenging task of linking two musical theater pieces with seemingly contrasting plots and moods to create a fluid narrative. But the subtle similarities in theme are what bind “Mahagonny Songspiel” and “Der Kaiser von Atlantis” in this highly intelligent presentation.
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Album review: ‘Jazz Shabbat’
TBK Music Project ‘Jazz Shabbat’ Self-released tbk.org The Old Testament has a lot of rules but nowhere does it say Friday night services can’t swing. Tradition, you say? The Jazz Shabbat tradition is pushing 15 years at Temple B’rith Kodesh. And now the program, a collaboration with members of the Eastman School of Music Jazz […]
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Album review: ‘Blooming’
Candy Isle ‘Blooming’ Self-released candyisle.bandcamp.com Originally formed in 2017 as an acoustic duo by college friends Kat Bakrania on cajon and Lydia Dake on guitar and ukulele, Candy Isle now has an amplified, indie pop sound with the addition of its newest member, bassist Allison Froio. The trio’s new album, “Blooming,” shifts through all the […]
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Kings of the mountain
Rochester rock trio King Buffalo plays the heavy and finds success abroad.
