On the evening of February 7th, The Jungle Brothers took the stage at SOB’s in lower Manhattan. It was their first gig in six years, their first since 1997 with all three original members, and a historic evening for any…
Category: Music
Single Review: Dzian!- “Gong Xi, We Are Happy”
Sometimes, there’s a band that seems almost too good to be true. And Dzian! are exactly that, a group making music so thrilling and infectious that I want to play it for everyone I know. They’re an ensemble that exhume…
Record Reviews: Ed “Big Daddy” Roth’s Surf-And-Roadster-Rock Trilogy
In the early 1960s, surf and hot-rod music was all the rage. The Beach Boys ruled the pop charts, with The Ventures, Jan & Dean, The Surfaris, and The Chantays close behind, notching up hit singles by the dozens. The…
EP Reviews: Mobb Deep, Kendra Morris
Mobb Deep- Black Cocaine EP (Infamous Records, 2011) The first release in five years from Queesnbridge’s most infamous duo is something of a mixed bag. The five featured tracks are lyrically proficient, but suffer from overly formulaic production. Mid-tempo synth…
Orchestal Manoeuvres In The Dark: Live at Irving Plaza, 9/21/2011
With a career spanning thirty-odd years, Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark are a difficult band to categorize; they’re really a band with two distinct styles, dabbling equally in experimentalism and carefully crafted pop singalongs, mixing the two in varying degrees at…
Album Reviews: CSC Funk Band, The Meters, West Indies Funk 2 & 3, Kashmere Stage Band
CSC Funk Band- Things Are Getting Too Casual (Fat Beats records, released 8/23/11) CSC Funk Band’s debut album is a thing of mysterious wonder, a heady, sweaty brew of extended improvisations and afro-beat inflected grooves. The group pull a variety…
BETTY: live at the Highline Ballroom, 9/10/2011
Due in part to the sisterly love (and sibling rivalry) on stage, sitting in the audience at a BETTY show feels very much like you’re at your cousin’s wedding. Only the band is actually worth watching. This performance came at the…
Kid Savant live in New York City
Kid Savant are a band from NYC who are beginning to garner acclaim for their high-tension brand of synthpop. Their live show is sparse and direct: four guys onstage, lit only with projections, building anthems from tones and beats…
Album Review: Wu-Tang And Jimi Hendrix
At the beginnimg of 2010, a music teacher from England made available for download an album he’d created that mixed vocal tracks by the Wu-Tang Clan with beats made from Beatles songs. That collection, Enter The Magical Mystery Chambers, created…
Mariachi El Bronx, Legendary Shack Shakers, Two Man Gentleman Band: Live at Brooklyn Bowl, 6/28/2011
On Tuesday June 28th, Brooklyn Bowl hosted a special concert promoted by Sailor Jerry rum. It was a strange bill, each act perfectly compatible with the image of the Sailor Jerry brand, but having very little in common with one…