world Archive
11 Feb 2023
Album Review: Amjad Ali Khan et. al. — Music for Hope
Some music based on traditional instrumentation from outside North America (that’s my wordy way of sidestepping the dread “WM” descriptor) can sound a bit, erm, foreign to American ears. Not […]
15 Jan 2023
30 Days Out, January 2023 #2: Andrew Scotchie, ABACAB, Neal Francis, Free Planet Radio
Here we are in mid-January. As I’ve observed countless times before, this is the “quiet season” in Western North Carolina. The weather can be blustery, but the season presents an […]
01 Dec 2022
30 Days Out, Dec. 2022 #1: Blanke, Bill Kirchen, Neighbor, Toubab Krewe
There’s something for nearly all tastes in this roundup of live music in and around Asheville over the next 30 days. Get out there and support live music of both […]
18 Aug 2022
Album review: Azymuth – Telecommunication
It may be difficult to imagine such a thing today, some five decades after the fact, but in the early 1970s, jazz/funk/fusion was more than a blip on the commercial […]
15 Aug 2022
30 Days Out, August 2022 #1: Eleanor Underhill, Interpol, Qwanqwa, Neko Case
One beloved local artist, two top-quality touring and the North American debut of a fascinating group from Addis Ababa: those are the highlights in live music over the coming 30 […]
06 Jan 2022
Album Review: The Beatles and India
Much has been written about The Beatles’ fateful trip to Rishikesh, India, but comparatively little in the way of official documentation of the excursion has surfaced in the ensuing 50-plus […]
14 Oct 2021
Mdou Moctar Plays By His Own Rules
The digital age brought with it some fundamental shifts in music industry paradigms. Tuareg guitarist and songwriter Mdou Moctar was a beneficiary of those changes, leveraging them to catapult himself […]
13 Oct 2021
Combo Chimbita: The Music Tells the Stories
It was five years ago when the four Colombia-born members of Combo Chimbita released their debut EP, El Corredor del Jaguar. At the time — and for a couple of […]
08 Jul 2021
Screen Classic ‘The Goddess’ Gets a Min Xiao-Fen Score
In 1934, writer-director Wu Yonggang’s silent film Shénnǚ (The Goddess) was released in China. Critically praised and popular among audiences, it was and remains an exemplar of China’s cinematic golden […]
15 Jun 2021
30 Days Out, June 2021 #2: Supatight, Min Xiao-Fen, Love Bubble, Dots
Welcome back to the world, friends. I have some exciting musical news to share. I’m happy to say that the four shows spotlighted below are merely a slice of your […]