Avant-garde (Music)
Sxip Shirey's 'Bottle of Whiskey' Is A 21st-Century Music Creation
Shirey mixes dry vocals with multi-instrumentalist stylings on his new album. Critic Milo Miles says A Bottle of Whiskey and a Handful of Bees is an original and engaging work.
No Hits, No Problem: Captain Beefheart's Major Label Run
In 1970, Warner Bros. Records had an unusual philosophy: they'd sign artists and, instead of wanting a hit single immediately, they'd develop them over several albums. Hence, Captain Beefheart.
Box Set Illustrates Clifford Jordan's Impeccable Taste In Musicians.
Starting in the late 1960s, the jazz saxophonist produced a series of recordings that came out on the musicians-owned Strata-East label. Those seven albums are now collected in a box set.
On 'Hard Working Americans,' Songs For The Ordinary Joe.
Todd Snider, Widespread Panic's Dave Schools and Duane Trucks perform in a new band that specializes in covering working-class songs.
David Bowie Awakens To 'The Next Day' Of His Career.
The icon's new album plays like a collection of discreet singles, with each performed in a different style, genre and mood. In this way, the album isn't a return to form, in part because David Bowie never took one form to begin with.
The Arc of The Velvet Underground.
Rock historian Ed Ward remembers The Velvet Underground. Andy Warhol produced their first album in 1966.
An Acquired Taste Worth the Time.
Kevin Whitehead reviews saxophonist Evan Parker's new release, "Conic Sections" on the Ah Um label.
The Clunky and the Weird with Hal Russell.
Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead reviews the new CD by avant-garde multi-instrumentalist Hal Russell, "Hal Russell and NRG Ensemble, The Finnish/Swiss Tour" (on ECM)
Mixed Feelings about "New Music America," 1989.
Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead reviews the annual New Music America festival just completed in New York and sponsored by the Brooklyn Academy of Music and corporate donations. Whitehead questions the value of the 10 year-old festival.
Laurie Anderson and Janet Jackson.
Rock critic Ken Tucker review the new albums from Janet Jackson and Laurie Anderson. Ken says the two performers are seemingly miles apart...Jackson's the sister of Michael Jackson and her albums are huge urban contemporary hits, and Anderson's a product of the New York performance scene...but there is common ground. Both albums (Jackson's is called "Rhythm Nation 1814" and Anderson's is titled "Strange Angels") have unifying themes and draw heavily on the latest technology.