Category: Music

Happy New Year! – Albums I Loved in 2011

Hi, Everyone!  Well, it’s that time of year again!  The time when I get to pontificate about the top releases of the year.  However, as usual, I have a really difficult time ranking things.  This is something that carries over from my work as a professor.  After all, what is the difference between a 93 and a 94?  I know it when I see it, but just how to explain?  So, I’m just going to wimp out present some of the albums I loved in no particular order.  For those of you looking for a more ordered (and possibly comprehensive) list, I would recommend checking in with Pitchfork, Slowcoustic, or NPR Music.  All right, let’s get on with the show!

Continue reading “Happy New Year! – Albums I Loved in 2011”

Nirvana’s Nevermind is 20 Today.

Nirvana’s Nevermind is twenty years old today.  Of all the sentences I hadn’t been expecting to type during my teenage years, that one really sticks out.  Yet, here we are.  Seventeen years after the band ceased making new music.  And yet, Nirvana lives in the collective imagination in a way that few bands can.  Spin’s recent Newermind project, as well as Deer Tick’s Deervana, are a testament to the continuing influence of the Seattle scene of the early 90s.  Even the New York Times ran a recent article on the legacy of Nevermind.  Crazy, right?  But for me, the best way to remember the band that so changed my life is with a collection of awesome videos.  And that’s exactly what I’ve got for you…

Continue reading “Nirvana’s Nevermind is 20 Today.”

New Music: Sonya Cotton – It Is So

Sonya Cotton’s new album – It is so – (released this week via bandcamp and her personal website) is a beautiful, touching collection of songs dedicated, as Sonya writes, “…to the life and spirit of my mother, Karen Imparato Cotton.”  The album also contains the track “Song For Eric,” a tribute to Sonya’s friend Eric Bayer who died of cancer shortly after her own mother succumbed to the same disease.  Given these moments of great loss, it might be expected that an album like It is so would be somber and funereal.

And yes, there is sadness and loss in It is so. And yet, the album is also a wonderful celebration of life in all its forms.  As Sonya writes: “The album is a tribute to my mother who passed away two years ago; she had cancer.  In addition to exploring loss of many kinds (loss of life, of safe space, of hope,) the songs are also, as I see them, prayers, and celebrations of love.”

Continue reading “New Music: Sonya Cotton – It Is So”

New Music: Fisticuffs – “Would You” (Single)

Fisticuffs is Jordan Kurtz: former drummer for Saskatoon band We Were Lovers, pianist and vocalist of Saskatoon’s Tuxedo Mask, and sometime drummer for his brother Scott Kurtz in Boycott Scott.  He is, as The Sheaf notes, “one busy dude.”  He is also the writer of excellent songs like “Would You,” which is the harbinger of an in-progress EP from the band.

In addition to Kurtz, the single features a number of other musicians on trumpet, bells, drums, mellotron, and a few other sundry instruments.  The effect of all these talented musicians playing together is a single that contains beautiful harmonies, and an atmosphere that moves between quiet introspection and a driving desire to move forward.  It’s quite a span for the six-minute track, but never one that feels contrived or false.

It is, indeed, a refreshing work from a talented singer-songwriter, and one that I think you should hear immediately.  So, just follow me for that…

Continue reading “New Music: Fisticuffs – “Would You” (Single)”

Jason Heath and the Greedy Souls Cover Springsteen

The gang over at Jason Heath and the Greedy Souls sent me over their recent cover of Bruce Springsteen’s “4th of July Asbury Park (Sandy),” and I thought I’d pass it along to you.  The band has some special reason to perform this cover, as it includes Jason Federici, son of E. Street Band member Danny Federici.  It’s a great cover, and one of the songs that my Dad and I would definitely have listened to if he were here today.  Follow me to have a listen, and download the track:

Continue reading “Jason Heath and the Greedy Souls Cover Springsteen”