More of my capsule commentaries.<\/p>\n
Sixpence None the Richer<\/b> Brother Ali<\/b> Mannheim Steamroller<\/b> Loom<\/b> Pink Talking Fish<\/b> More of my capsule commentaries. Sixpence None the Richer This alt-rock band originally from New Braunfels, Texas is something of an outlier in the world of popular music. Fronted by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28414,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28806","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-essay","cat-27-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28806","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28806"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28806\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28807,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28806\/revisions\/28807"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28414"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28806"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28806"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28806"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nThis alt-rock band originally from New Braunfels, Texas is something of an outlier in the world of popular music. Fronted by singer Leigh Nash, Sixpence None the Richer has fund its biggest successes \u2013 in the form of two of its most popular singles \u2013 by covering songs that were massive hits for other artists. Both \u201cThere She Goes\u201d (originally by Liverpool Britpop band The La\u2019s) and \u201cDon\u2019t Dream It\u2019s Over\u201d (by New Zealand\u2019s Crowded House) were major hits for the group in the 1990s and early \u201800s. An original song, \u201cKiss Me\u201d was in fact a bigger smash, climbing to the Top Ten in six countries. Sixpence None the Richer is also one of few bands to find success on both pop and Christian charts. The band took a three-year hiatus but returned in 2007; since reforming, they\u2019ve released two albums including a Christmas album (The Dawn of Grace<\/i>) and their most recent full-length to date, 2012\u2019s country-flavored Lost in Transition<\/i>. A new EP, Rosemary Hill<\/i> was released in October, and the group is currently on tour with all its original members, celebrating Sixpence None the Richer\u2019s 25th<\/sup> anniversary as a band.<\/p>\n
\nIf there is such a thing as a typical rapper, Brother Ali doesn\u2019t fit that description. The Minneapolis-based member of the esteemed Rhymesayers Entertainment collective turns out rhymes that are often political in nature, but the 47-year old rapper is more interested in focusing on the positive. And that positivity comes naturally; Ali doesn\u2019t employ a studied approach to songwriting. Converted to Islam at age 15, he follows a religious path that values harmony among different faiths, one that fits in with the realities of 21st<\/span><\/sup> century life. Yet his nuanced political sensibility shines through in tracks like 1997\u2019s \u201cUncle Sam Goddam,\u201d inspired by a legendary civil rights-era song by jazz icon Nina Simone. Put another way, Brother Ali combines firsthand personal experience with a big-picture approach when crafting his lyrics. To date he has released ten albums; his most recent is Satisfied Soul<\/i>, a collab with producer Ant. In fact Ali is a frequent collaborator, having guested on more than a dozen releases by other artists including Atmosphere, Chuck D, Talib Kweli, Del the Funky Homosapien, G. Love & Special Sauce, 9th<\/sup> Wonder and more.<\/p>\n
\nOriginally conceived by Omaha-based Chip Davis in 1974 as a sort of proto-New Age musical endeavor, Mannheim Steamroller gathered commercial success with a series of albums under the Fresh Aire<\/i> banner. A decade after Mannheim Steamroller\u2019s recorded debut, Davis recorded and released Mannheim Steamroller Christmas<\/i> on his own American Gramaphone label. A runaway success, that album landed both with critics and the listening public. Mannheim Steamroller Christmas<\/i> took on a life of its own: to date Davis has released 30 Christmas-themed albums, including compilations and titles under his own name. And his success has been consistent; more than a dozen of those albums soared into the Top Ten on the New Age and\/or Holiday album charts; eight went Platinum or multi-Platinum. The next logical step for Davis was to take the project on the road. This he did, eventually employing two complete musical casts, crisscrossing the country during the yuletide season, bringing joy to concertgoers far and wide. The groups gear up every year around September, honing the arrangements before setting out on a schedule that brings Mannheim Steamroller\u2019s Christmas show to 85 cities in seven weeks.<\/p>\n
\nImprovisation is music\u2019s wild card. At its worst, it\u2019s a noisy train wreck. In a better form, it can still sometimes come across as insular, the musical version of an inside joke that only the players get. At its best, however, improvisation energizes the musicians and engages the audience, creating a never-before (and, by definition, a never-again) experience. The latter is the target at which SLC-based Loom aims. Combining a dizzying array of musical styles \u2013 country, disco, funk, jazz, rock and world \u2013 Loom seeks to weave a sonic tapestry that works for listening as much as it does dancing. The group\u2019s aesthetic is squarely focused on the here-and-now, creating auditory atmospheres that celebrate those shared experience, breaking down perceived barriers between band and audience. The band \u2013 Billy Rogan (guitar), Vince DiMichele (bass), Tyler Troy (keyboards) and Carlos Bible (drums) \u2013 fashions original material, but Loom also applies its musical character to existing and well-known songs, endeavoring to make cuts like The Meters\u2019 classic \u201cCissy Strut\u201d their own. While improvisation (or jamming, if you prefer) is Loom\u2019s specialty live onstage, in the studio (as showcased on \u201cWhat I Mean\u201d) the quartet takes a tightly focused approach to its craft.<\/p>\n
\nWhat do Pink Floyd, Talking Heads and Phish have in common? One of the most successful bands of the rock era, Pink Floyd pioneered space rock and concept albums. During the new wave era, Talking Heads incorporated dance, funk and world music textures into art rock. And as the post-rock era dawned, Phish picked up the jam band torch of the Grateful Dead (along with music of that group\u2019s fan base) and ran with it. Put simply, to the uninitiated, there\u2019s virtually no<\/i> overlap among the aesthetics of the three aforementioned bands. But clearly no one explained that to the members of Pink Talking Fish. This tribute\/fusion act draws from the repertoire of all three landmark acts, leaning into a free-for-all jam style that allows room for the arrangements to breathe, stretch out and take on an exploratory character. Pink Talking Fish \u2013 Cal Kehoe (guitar), Eric Gould (bass), Richard James or Stephen Learson (keyboards) and Zack Burwick (drums) \u2013 serves up both well-known classics and deep album cuts, weaving them into a set list in which the band highlights previously unnoticed connections between the music.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"