Dr. John's Babylon rocks without rocking, swings without swinging, smokes without smoking. Dr. John can't decide whether he should wail from the left channel or the right. Maybe this time he'll hit you right between the eyes. Dr. John is black and he's white, he comes in every color, he's a student, a teacher, and he's dying from stone hunger…
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If you were to judge this album just by its cover, you might imagine the music inside to be weird and awesome. At least that's what I imagined. If you're like me, you'd be absolutely desitively right. Dr. John's Babylon is something else.
It’s been a Guitar Fest here in NYC lately. I’ve seen Bill Frisell (always superb), Kenny Burrell (a very rare pleasure because he hates to fly) and Mike Marino (with new Blue Note pianist Aaron Parks). Tonight is a tribute to Fender's Jazzmaster guitar headlined by Nels Cline, J. Mascis, Thurston Moore and Tom Verlaine. Must be frets in the water or something.
Concord Records, the proud but often confused owners of the wondrous Fantasy Records catalog have made yet another really….um, interesting move by announcing they plan to release a number of new volumes in their ongoing…
As I searched through the new arrivals at the Princeton Record Exchange, I kept coming back to this album. I knew nothing about Oscar Brown Jr.—had never even heard of the guy—but the pain communicated in the album title and cover art intrigued me. Even if it turned out that I didn't like the music, I'd at least get an interesting piece of art. And for just four bucks!
Turned out I liked the music.
In fact, I was pretty much blown away. Again, judging from the album art and liner notes, I was expecting something like a male Nina Simone—a deep…
We have the same birthday. Isn't that nice? Today the blog is 3, and I am 31. Happy birthday to us.
Three years ago, I was just introducing myself. Two years ago, I was staring in the mirror (searching for myself, maybe). Last year, I was crying over the Mets, but I had also just (re)discovered salsa. And this year, I am in love with vinyl LPs.
We can look a bit into the future. We know that I will be purchasing my first real turntable: A Rega P3-24. And we know that I will be helping a friend restore her first real turntable: A Sota Sapphire. We can also assume,…
Music has never made me cry. I have cried while listening to music, with something else on my mind. But music, by itself, while powerfully moving, has never brought me to tears. When others mention that a certain piece of music, or a specific musical performance, touches them so deeply that the tears flow from their eyes, I wonder what it is, exactly, that is happening. What are these people feeling? And why haven't I felt it?
Music has never made me cry. But this recording, Blackjack by Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, nearly did it for me.
I think it was a combination of…
All Together Now, the DVD that details the making of Love the Beatles collaboration with Cirque du Soleil is coming out on October 21 and from the looks of the trailer it could be fun. I hear there are flashes of Yoko being a dragon lady (now there’s a shock), McCartney being a doofus of sorts (another revelation) and some great bits with George Martin which, all kidding aside, might make this worth the price. The subtitle in this trailer that says, “Yoko hates it,” is a classic.
During some 1970's summer, in the housing projects of Newark, NJ, a young Puerto Rican girl would listen as the bold, brassy sounds of New York City's salsa wafted from open windows, like the unmistakable scent of chuletas fritas. (No, that's too obvious.) The bold, brassy sounds of New York City's salsa fell from open windows like newborn babies. (Oh, god, too gruesome.) The bold, brassy sounds erupted like gunfire, falling into rhythm with police sirens and train whistles. (Whatever.) The music was everywhere. Our young Puerto Rican girl listened to it, and fell in love with…
Audiophiles probably know Steve Guttenberg for his writing about hi-fi and home theater in numerous publications, as well as his blog The Audiophiliac. What only a handful of folks know, however, is that Steve is a talented graphic artist, manipulating photographic images to express the world as he (sort of) sees it.
I have always gotten a kick out of seeing Steve's latest opus when we cross paths at press conferences and product launches and, more recently, he's taken to sending me JPEGs of ones he particularly likes. Yesterday, Steve sent me his newest—and it was me.
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The Sumiko needs a cartridge. Any recommendations? It should be relatively affordable (I'm thinking $300 or less) and look good with wood.