Rock music has had its share of two-drummer bands, but how many groups have sported three? Enter Bling Kong, a 15-member Brooklyn power-pop ensemble with a taste for chunky speed-metal guitar, electronic textures, and raunchy lyrics. Their EP Do the Awesome is the next thing in
If there's a TMN house band (besides Trail of Dead), it's Soft, a Brooklyn-based quintet currently blowing up with a finally-released EP. How five guys manage to recreate the Manchester sound--guitars ready for stadiums, hooks big enough for groupies--and still make it
In Sheffield, England, Richard Hawley's hometown, Coles Corner is the place where lovers meet before an evening of romance. No other word could come as close to describing what his newest album, Coles Corner, feels like: romance. As a guitarist Hawley is an an ex-Longpig and ex-
I just discovered Dolly Parton's 1999 album The Grass Is Blue, a collection of sincere bluegrass interpretations of country classics. Sneering poseurs might shake their heads at Dolly, but they can listen to the boring new Death Cab while I listen to Dolly break my heart over and
Just like Ethiopian soul in the '70s, Cambodian psychedelic garage rock from the '60s, called "circle dance music," was eventually crushed by the incoming political regime. The Khmer Rouge imprisoned and killed off most of the artists, but these compilations are put together from the few
You cannot listen to Voxtrot without thinking of the Smiths or Belle & Sebastian--distinct echoes of each are all over this Austin quartet's Raised by Wolves EP. But when you hear their heights of soulful melancholy in treats like "Long Haul" and "Wrecking Force,
Next month Troy Coleman, aka Cowboy Troy, will perform at the Country Music Awards in New York City. Cowboy Troy is one of Nashville's hot young stars. But unlike most country superstars, he raps, laying old-school rhymes over pedal-steel guitar. Far from just scoring points for
All of these unlikely musical pairings are bound to get unlikable soon. But rest assured somebody out there will still appreciate the effort. Reviews of the very last of the famous international long-playing records.
Pulsating, hypnotic beats, Latin rhythms, funky bass, and blazing horn arrangements combine in Yerba Buena's latest release, Island Life, a musical celebration of Manhattan's cultural diversity and unique island lifestyle. Founder Andres Levin has produced a stunning followup to the group's Grammy-nominated President
What happens when traditional instruments won't produce the sound the composer wants? Then new instruments have to be invented. A discussion about deconstructing, reconstructing, and ways to break the barriers of sound.
