Journal
- Thursday, November 7, 2024
"Music is a powerful tool. In an instant, it can change your mood, your perspective, or your life," Stacey Abrams says on her Crooked Media podcast, Assembly Required, introducing her conversation with Rhiannon Giddens. "No matter the motivation, music is an outlet, a force that builds us up or keeps us steady. It holds the capacity to move millions and to resonate with each individual, and every lyric, every note, every beat has the potential to share a message." You can hear their conversation here. Giddens's new album with Silkroad Ensemble, American Railroad, is out next week; their fall tour begins tonight.
Journal Topics: Artist News, Podcast
- Monday, June 23, 2014
Toumani & Sidiki, the new father-and-son recording from kora master Toumani Diabaté and his son Sidiki, has been named one of the Best Albums of 2014 So Far by Los Angeles Times music critic Randall Roberts. "It’s a beguiling sound, and when two geniuses bridge generations, you can hear echoes of a continuum stretching back centuries," says Roberts. He calls the album "a mesmerizing listen from first to last," on which the father-and-son duo "offers breathtaking synchronized sound."
Journal Topics: Artist News, ReviewsFriday, June 20, 2014Iron and Wine plays Firefly Music Festival in Delaware, then heads to upstate New York and MASS MoCA ... The Black Keys launch tour in Germany ... Alarm Will Sound close out Met Museum residency ... Jeremy Denk, Timo Andres take music of Ojai Music Festival to Ojai North in Berkeley ... Bombino is in Switzerland ... Carolina Chocolate Drops are in the Virginias ... Dr. John headlines Bayou Boogaloo ... Emmylou Harris, Rodney Crowell join Merle Haggard in Seattle ... Pat Metheny Unity Group tours Italy ... Robert Plant tours Europe ... Punch Brothers return to Telluride Bluegrass Festival ... Steve Reich joins performance of his Music for 18 Musicians in Buenos Aires ... and more ...
Journal Topics: On Tour, Weekend EventsFriday, June 20, 2014The Black Keys kick off their Turn Blue world tour with a month of European summer festival dates, starting with two shows in Germany this weekend, follwed by stops in Croatia, Switzerland, Holland, Poland, France, Belgium, Italy, Portugal, Spain, and the UK, including a set at the Glastonbury Festival. An extensive North American tour begins this fall. The Black Keys performed two songs off of Turn Blue for the French TV show Le Grand Journal: "Fever" and "Bullet in the Brain." You can watch both here.
Journal Topics: On Tour, Artist NewsFriday, June 20, 2014Rokia Traoré joined the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) at a refugee camp in Burkina Faso to meet and hear from those displaced by the troubles in her home country of Mali. In honor of today's World Refugee Day, Traoré has written about the experience in an essay, which you can read here.
Journal Topics: Artist News, Artist EssaysThursday, June 19, 2014The cancellation of The Metropolitan Opera’s worldwide HD broadcast of The Death of Klinghoffer has been widely reported in the press over the last several days. The Death of Klinghoffer has been met with controversy since its premiere in 1991, but the work has endured and received many new productions since then. The New York Times reports that the decision was made after discussions between The Metropolitan Opera and the Anti-Defamation League. Adams responded to the cancellation a day later, also in the Times, and today both the paper's chief classical music critic, Anthony Tommasini, and Editorial Board explain why they believe the Met's decision was a mistake.
Journal Topics: Artist NewsThursday, June 19, 2014The 41st Anniversary Telluride Bluegrass Festival kicks off in Telluride, Colorado, this morning and continues through the weekend to coincide with the summer solstice, with performances from Chris Thile, who opens the festivities, Nickel Creek and Punch Brothers, as well as workshops from Sara Watkins and Sean Watkins, and Punch Brothers' Chris Eldridge and Noam Pikelny. As has become a Telluride tradition, Punch Brothers close out the weekend's proceedings with a late-night show in Sheridan Opera House Sunday night. The festival will stream live from KOTO.org.
Journal Topics: On Tour, Artist NewsThursday, June 19, 2014David Byrne and Fatboy Slim's Here Lies Love premiered at New York’s Public Theater in April of last year and returned this spring. The Washington Post's chief theater critic Peter Marks returned to see it, too, exclaiming: "It was a revisit that confirmed it as one of New York’s most exhilarating musicals–far sharper than any of the musicals that opened uptown in the Broadway season that just wrapped up." Ruthie Ann Miles, who plays Imelda Marcos, is "superb."
Journal Topics: Artist News, ReviewsWednesday, June 18, 2014Nonesuch Records releases the soundtrack to Richard Linklater's film Boyhood on July 8, 2014. Shot over 12 years with the same cast, Boyhood is a groundbreaking story of growing up as seen through the eyes of a child named Mason, who literally grows up on screen before the viewers’ eyes. The soundtrack spans the story's 12 years, with songs ranging from the year 2000 (Coldplay's "Yellow" and The Hives' "Hate to Say I Told You So") to 2013 (Yo La Tengo's "I’ll Be Around"). The album also includes the classic "Band on the Run," by Paul McCartney and Wings, and the debut of a new song written by Jeff Tweedy and performed by the father/song duo Tweedy, "Summer Noon."
Journal Topics: Album Release, Artist News, FilmWednesday, June 18, 2014The Museum of Modern Art has announced it will present a full-scale retrospective dedicated to Björk and her multifaceted work. The exhibition, simply titled Björk, draws from more than 20 years of the artist’s projects and her seven full-length albums—from Debut (1993) to Biophilia (2011)—to chronicle her career through sound, film, visuals, instruments, objects, costumes, and performance. The exhibition will be on view from March 7 through June 7, 2015. MoMA recently announced the acquisition of Björk's Biophilia App, the first app to enter its collection.
Journal Topics: Artist NewsTuesday, June 17, 2014Saxophonist Joshua Redman’s Trios Live is out now. The album was recorded at New York City’s Jazz Standard and Washington, DC’s Blues Alley during stands with two different trios—Redman and drummer Gregory Hutchinson with bassist Matt Penman (Jazz Standard) and Redman and Hutchinson with bassist Reuben Rogers (Blues Alley). Trios Live features four original tunes by Redman and interpretations of three additional songs. "It’s a great set," raves the Financial Times, "full of muscular rhythms and the abandon of live performance, yet as tightly argued as a rigorous studio date."
Journal Topics: Album Release, Artist News, ReviewsFriday, June 13, 2014Jeremy Denk, Timo Andres perform at 68th Ojai Music Festival, of which Denk is Music Director ... David Byrne gives TimesTalk at Luminato Festival in Toronto ... Carolina Chocolate Drops play Chicago Blues Festival (as does Dr. John) and Bonnaroo ... Richard Goode is in UK ... Jonny Greenwood, LCO play music from his film scores in UK ... Gidon Kremer, Kremerata Baltica play Bach in France ... Pat Metheny Unity Group tours Italy ... Robert Plant is in Sweden ... Rokia Traoré is at Fès Festival ... and more ...
Journal Topics: On Tour, Weekend EventsFriday, June 13, 2014The Black Keys' Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney recently stopped by Grimey's record store in Nashville to look through the vinyl stacks and talk with CBS's Anthony Mason about the recent resurgence in vinyl. The piece, titled "Vinyl's Got Its Groove Back," which aired on today's CBS This Morning, delves into what makes vinyl so special, looks at how it's made, considers its unique sound and feel, and talks to the band mates, "avid fans of the vinyl LP," about why it was so important to them that their latest album, Turn Blue, as with all their earlier albums, be released on vinyl. Watch the piece here.
Journal Topics: Artist News, Television, Video