music-and-concert-reviews-you-wont-see-anywhere-else
When is music not music?
Ever since I got into “alternative music” (right after college, a LONG time ago!-ed. note, it really WAS a long time ago-), I was fascinated by, well, noise. I think it started off with James White & The Blacks, Suicide, and other NYC “noise bands” who blended “skronk” in with their songs to create a unique hybrid that sure as heck wasn’t going to get played on any commercial radio station. From there, I veered […]
The 200-Word Review: Dave Matthews Band’s “Big Whiskey”
Much has been made about the spectre of loss lingering over Dave Matthews Band’s new LP “Big Whiskey & the GrooGrux King”. After all, it’s the first album the band’s released since the unexpected death of sax player LeRoi Moore. Truthfully, though, DMB’s no more fixated on loss on this album than they’ve been at any other point during their career, and “Big Whiskey” is by no means a mournful set. The quartet powers through […]
The Top 100 Songs of the ’00s, #95: “S.O.S.”
It’s amazing what producers and songwriters can do to a blank slate. Rihanna’s debut single, “Pon de Replay”, might get my vote as one of the most annoying songs of this past decade. I remember sneering at the TV every time the video came on VH-1’s top 20. However, just one year later, the Barbadian beauty was well on her way to becoming arguably the best singles artist of the decade (she’s the #2 artist […]