10 Dec 2002

New Music Fills Holiday Benefit CD

By John James
• My tip of the top hat for best new holiday CD goes to Maybe This Christmas, a 13-track collection on the Nettwerk label benefiting the U.S. Marine Corps' Toys for Tots campaign. Except for Barenaked Ladies & Sarah McLachlan's take on "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" and a few fan-club rarities, the rest are new compositions or re-interpretations exclusive to the CD.
03 Dec 2002

Talent Search Results in Indie Choice

By John James
• This Tuesday the Mod Music label is releasing its Indie Choice 2002 CD, a 16-track collection from its recent worldwide talent search. Grand-prize-winner Angela McClusky is certainly one to look out for, as the former vocalist of the Wild Colonials offers up "It's Been Done," co-written with Nathan Larson of Shudder to Think.
26 Nov 2002

Power-Pop Fans Get a Stiff Tribute

By John James
• One of the greatest eras in power pop has recently been honored in tasty tribute fashion with The Stiff Generation, a 24-track salute to Stiff Records and its stable of breakaway stars in those nutty, new-wave days of the late 1970s and early 1980s.
19 Nov 2002

Band Creates a Soulful Last Night

By John James
• My favorite chill-down record of the moment is the just released Last Night, a soulful, sweet funky breeze from the eclectic entity known as His Name Is Alive. Initially a somber, dark sound experiment by Warren Defever, the outfit has re-invented itself with each album on the 4AD label, this time taking a left into funky café jazz and soft acoustic soul.
12 Nov 2002

Gorilla (Not Gorillaz) Releases Album

By John James
• Prepare yourself for "gorilla-rap" or maybe "gorilla-scat" as lowland superstar Koko has announced the debut of her Fine Animal Gorilla album, the first ever release by, well, a gorilla. The 31-year-old is best known as one of a select group of lowland gorillas raised to communicate in American Sign Language by San Francisco's Gorilla Foundation.
05 Nov 2002

Have Yourself a DVD Christmas

By John James
Retailers are wishing for a DVD Christmas this year, and record labels large and small are releasing tides of great titles. The Cult has just released Live Cult, a 17-track concert CD filmed at Los Angeles' Grand Olympic Auditorium.
29 Oct 2002

Boston Returns with Corporate America

By John James
• For 20 years, Boston held the record for the best-selling debut album of all time, and it's hard to flip through anyone's uncle's record collection and not find a copy of the self-titled monster from 1976. Even though Boston has had just three releases since then, the group is back this Tuesday with Corporate America, featuring guitarist and electronics superstar Tom Scholz and original vocalist Brad Delp.
22 Oct 2002

Label Cooks Up More Live Phish

By John James
• This Tuesday the Elektra label releases the next four concerts in its Live Phish series, volumes 13 through 16, this time featuring the band's much-heralded Halloween performances from 1994, 1995, 1996, and 1998.
15 Oct 2002

Indie Labels Celebrate Anniversaries with Box Sets

By John James
• While record labels come and go, others are destined to define their own sound and culture, offering to the listener a musical manifesto that brands its artists to the label's imprint. With that in mind, let us bow down to two tasty new box sets celebrating double-decade anniversaries of independent record labels that have beaten the odds.
08 Oct 2002

CD Celebrates Collaboration Between Buckley and Avant-Garde Guitarist

By John James
This Tuesday brings the highly anticipated release of previously unavailable demos and live sessions from the late singer-songwriter Jeff Buckley and former Captain Beefheart guitarist Gary Lucas. Entitled Songs To No One 1991-1992, the 11-track collection bears the Knitting Factory Records imprint and features four tracks recorded at the intimate New York City nightclub.

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