interview Archive
02 Nov 2016
Esperanza Spalding’s Musical Evolution (or D+Evolution?), Part One
Note: portions of this feature appeared previously (and in different form) in altweeklies in Asheville NC, Chicago and Salt Lake City. — bk Cross-genre sensation Esperanza Spalding is something of […]
01 Nov 2016
Fantastic Negrito: Fantastic Reinvention
The story of Fantastic Negrito is the stuff of Hollywood legends. But it has the distinction of being true: the man born Xavier Dphrepaulezz taught himself to play a multitude […]
25 Oct 2016
Rhys Fulber Hates Laptops
The ambient electronic music of Rhys Fulber‘s Conjure One is a far cry from the music he made in his industrial group Front Line Assembly. And it’s also not very […]
24 Oct 2016
Conjure One’s Emotional Electronica
Though he initially made his name as part of industrial band Front Line Assembly and as a producer of other artists, these days Vancouver-born Rhys Fulber makes highly melodic electronic […]
21 Oct 2016
Analog Moon: Transcendent Men
Winner of the 1999 National Medal of Technology and Innovation, technology futurist Ray Kurzweil has some controversial – and inspiring – ideas. Kurzweil is an outspoken theorist who believes that […]
20 Oct 2016
River Whyless: Out from Behind the Tiny Desk
When beginning work on what would be their second full-length album, the four musicians of Asheville-based River Whyless decided to change their approach to songwriting. The result of that change […]
19 Oct 2016
Underhill Rose: Thorns and All
Editor’s note: The shows previewed here took place in September 2016; the album is due out in 2017. — bk With three enthusiastically-received studio albums to their credit, Asheville-based Americana […]
18 Oct 2016
Musician’s Workshop: An Asheville Institution
Musician’s Workshop is a North Asheville landmark. While other business – not to mention entire buildings – have come and gone along the Merrimon Avenue corridor in the last half […]
12 Oct 2016
Nada Surf Still Believes in the Rock Album
Brooklyn-based Nada Surf has been called an indie rock band and a power pop group. Drummer Ira Elliot is less concerned with how the group is labeled than he is […]
07 Oct 2016
John Mayall: “Live in 1967” and Live in 2016
Though he doesn’t actively encourage the label, John Mayall has for many years now been known as “the godfather of the British blues boom.” He’s revered in blues and rock […]