instrumental Archive
29 Jul 2016
Album Mini-review: Dhani Harrison & Paul Hicks — Seattle Road
File next to: Vangelis, Tangerine Dream, thenewno2 When George Harrison first stepped out of the shadow of the Beatles, he did so with a pair of albums that few heard. […]
05 Jul 2016
Hundred-word Reviews for July 2016, Part 2
More quick reviews. Some good’uns in this batch, including titles from the always-reliable Omnivore Recordings. Brian Cullman – The Opposite of Time Moody and atmospheric are the first two adjectives […]
09 Jun 2016
The Bo-Keys: Today’s New School of Old-school (Part 1)
One of the most intriguing album releases of this year doesn’t sound like a new record, not at all. Recorded in Memphis, Tennessee and featuring veteran musicians from the city’s […]
08 Jun 2016
The Digs: Travel to the Beat of a Different Drum
“We’re pulling from a lot of places at once, trying to create our own thing,” says Ram Mandelkorn, guitarist and songwriter for Asheville-based soul/jazz/funk outfit The Digs. “And we’re getting […]
19 May 2016
Asheville Electro Music Festival: High Technology, Human Scale
In his influential 1982 book Megatrends, author John Naisbitt observed that “whenever new technology is introduced into society, there must be a counterbalancing human response, or the technology is rejected.” […]
12 Apr 2016
Album Review: The Deadly Ones — It’s Monster Surfing Time
Two of pop culture’s kitschiest phenomenons collide on this new reissue of an ultra-rare LP from 1964. Not counting revivals and renewed interest, surf rock was popular from about 1962 […]
06 Apr 2016
Album Mini-review: Matthew Bourne — moogmemory
File next to: Philip Glass, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, Brian Eno The Memorymoog was the last synthesizer produced by Moog Music during the original company’s run; while a deeply […]
15 Mar 2016
Album Review: The Dining Rooms — Do Hipsters Love Sun (Ra)?
More even than the album title, the title of the tenth track on Do Hipsters Love Sun (Ra)? sums up the musical approach of The Dining Rooms on their twenfth […]
09 Mar 2016
Album Mini-review: Dr. Lonnie Smith — Evolution
File next to: Jimmy Smith, Jimmy McGriff, Shirley Scott The title might be taken as a hint that the music’s going somewhere it hasn’t been before, but that’s not really […]
24 Feb 2016
Hundred-word Reviews for February 2016, Part 3
Today’s five hundred-word reviews are all in the jazz category. All new music, too. Jim Clayton – Lenny Jumps In Soulful, piano-led jazz pop is the purview of Jim Clayton […]