Articles related to music. They could be educational, a review of a particular recording or recordings, a report on an event or concert, or a guide to a particular style, composer, or performer.
Editor: Peter D’Amario.
“I was first intrigued with this album because of its cover, images of an abandoned sci-fi pod-style housing project in northern San-Zhr,” writes Walker Burns of M. Ostermeier’s most recent album. “It sounds as if one is exploring the environs of what is depicted on the album’s cover… this is music-on-the-edges of consciousness or the fringe of a dream.”
“It was an early morning in the studio in late April, 1980. Black turned to indigo, then to purple, red-orange and finally a golden sun was in through the high studio windows. It was the first light of the morning, and “First Light” from Harold Budd & Brian Eno’s Ambient 2 – The Plateaux of Mirror was playing. This was my introduction to the first of many Harold Budd works,” writes Walker Burns.
Most audiophiles seek to replicate the sound of live performances in their listening rooms. Having noted that, it’s worth pondering whether replication really is achievable, and under what circumstances…
From time to time, listening to something, or someone new is important to keeping fresh. Peter D’Amario reports on the concert performance of American jazz singer Dena DeRose at London’s Reform Club.
Blue Note Records has, in a long and distinguished history, recorded most of the important musicians in the “hard bop” style of jazz. Jim Goulding looks through his catalog to bring you this list of his ten favorite albums from Blue Note Records.
The recent breakthrough of Bellowhead in the UK is yet another of those moments when the English discover that they have a vibrant, deep and long musical heritage. ‘Deserters,’ from the indefatigable Oysterband, is as good an entry point to this world as any, giving a taste of the old and new, the mellow and the energetic spiced with a lyrical style that is political without being polemical. Mike Barnes tells.
When looking at your music collection, do you sometimes think that you are listening to the same old stuff, and that you would like to discover some new music? Anthony Thompson offers some suggestions.
“The album is an intimate personal meditation, yet is sonically broad like the mountainscapes depicted in the cover art.” Walker Burns takes a chance with Will Samson’s “Hello Friends, Goodbye Friends.”
The Internet opens up new ways to evaluate new music before you buy. Mark Marcantonio takes a look at Pandora Radio. “I began discovering and rediscovering other artists.”
Music, more than any other art form, can exert a tremendous hold on one’s psyche. A song can make you happy by reminding you of something sad. Music can excite; it can calm. It is a powerful force.