Journal
- Friday, September 20, 2024
"On Hurray for the Riff Raff's latest album, The Past Is Still Alive, songwriter Alynda Segarra acts as a reanimator, casting the old American cowboy myth in a new light, crafting heroic legends for long-lost friends of theirs, and finding ways to commune with their father, who they lost right before recording the album," Raina Douris, host of NPR's World Cafe, says of her guest. "I love this record." You can hear their conversation here. Segarra was also on ABC Radio National's The Music Show ahead of their Australian tour next month.
Journal Topics: Artist News, Radio
- Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Alfred McMoore, the Akron artist who inspired Dan Auerbach and Pat Carney to choose The Black Keys as their band name, died last Friday at the age of 59. Pat's father, Jim Carney, a staff writer at the Akron Beacon Journal, has written a beautiful remembrance of the "outsider" artist he came to know as a friend. "There was no way to resist Alfred McMoore," writes Carney.
Journal Topics: NewsTuesday, September 29, 2009Christina Courtin is set to hit the road again this weekend with shows in Boston and Brooklyn before heading off on a three-week tour with Elizabeth & the Catapult next week. Just in time comes a music video for "Bundah," a song the Knoxville News-Sentinel notes for "Courtin's dulcet voice" and the "florid acoustic guitar swaying through" the track.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009Chris Thile brings his Mandolin Concerto to the third city in as many weeks in a performance with the Alabama Symphony Orchestra in Birmingham tonight. Thile joined the Oregon Symphony this past weekend for the West Coast premiere of the piece. The Oregonian called it "nothing less than a reinvention of the possibilities of his instrument" from the "mandolin wizard."
Tuesday, September 29, 2009Wilco's 1995 debut, A.M., is now out again on vinyl. The band is set to begin a three-week tour this Thursday in the Main Lounge of the University of Iowa's Memorial Union. This afternoon at 3 PM CT, the band stops by the studios of radio station WXRT in their hometown of Chicago to talk about the tour and play guest DJ. The North American tour culminates with two shows in Chicago on October 18 and 19; Wilco heads to Europe in early November.
Journal Topics: Album Release, On Tour, RadioTuesday, September 29, 2009Uncut magazine celebrates its 150th issue in November with a list of the 150 Greatest Albums of the 21st Century (so far). On the list are several Nonesuch releases, including three Wilco records, Brian Wilson's SMiLE, Ry Cooder's Chávez Ravine, Emmylou Harris's Red Dirt Girl, and Scritti Politti's White Bread, Black Beer.
Journal Topics: Artist NewsTuesday, September 29, 2009Paul Jacobs's 1970s recordings of Debussy's Preludes for Nonesuch have been added to The NPR Classical 50 list of essential recordings. On the show, critic Ted Libbey calls them "quite remarkable" and dubs Jacobs "the gold standard for the piano music of Debussy." Says Libbey of the Preludes: "What you hear is so extraordinary."
Monday, September 28, 2009Joshua Redman and his trio gave an Opening Night performance at the Indianapolis Jazz Festival earlier this month that All About Jazz calls "a brilliant start" to the festival, which ended yesterday. The set featured songs from Redman's latest Nonesuch release, Compass, review calls "another exquisite journey" from Redman.
Monday, September 28, 2009Shawn Colvin gave a trio of performances on the East Coast late last week, beginning with a set at Infinity Hall in Norfolk, Connecticut, that showed off her "quirky, thoughtful charm," says the Hartford Courant. Colvin "forged riveting moments" and "eased through a selection of tunes that brought out the luster in her singing."
Monday, September 28, 2009Nearly 25 years before Steve Reich was awarded the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Double Sextet, its precursor, Sextet, received its UK premiere in 1986. In London for the event, Reich spoke at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in an interview just made available online through the British Library Sound Archive, along with hundreds of previously unpublished talks with leading cultural figures.Journal Topics: WebFriday, September 25, 2009Adams leads London Sinfonietta in Son of Chamber Symphony UK premiere ... Byrne bike book tour rolls into Austin ... Carolina Chocolate Drops begin tour of Midwest, South ... Colvin comes East ... Glass performs solo sets in Europe ... Kronos brings Floodplain to Berlin ... lang sings at SF benefit ... Low Anthem plays Paris, London ... Thile, Oregon Symphony perform Mandolin Concerto ... Toussaint tickles ivory in Chicago, Minneapolis ... Watkins works solo and with WPA ... and more ...Journal Topics: On Tour, Weekend EventsFriday, September 25, 2009Alarm Will Sound's Nonesuch album debut, a/rhythmia, is out now and features works that take a different approach to rhythm. The Guardian gives the album a perfect five stars, citing the group's "technical virtuosity" and the album's "exuberant mix" of pieces, "dazzlingly well played, and a startlingly good beginning to their association with Nonesuch."Wednesday, September 23, 2009The cast recording of Stephen Sondheim's Road Show was released this summer. Sondheim and the writer of the show's book, John Weidman, discuss the work on KCRW's Bookworm Thursday afternoon. Host Michael Silverblatt tells the Los Angeles Times that Road Show "is, and will be, the classical American musical. It will be on the special list of things that shape America, the way Americans look at themselves."Journal Topics: Radio