Describing the music that he's spent more than half of his 38 years learning to master, blues guitarist Nick Moss states, "There's a lot of nuance that people don't realize," and underscores his point with an unusual - but apt - analogy.
"To me it's like food," says Moss in a recent phone interview.
Listening
to Will Destroy You,
Driver of the Year's release from earlier this year, the first
thing that popped into my head was Flight of the Conchords, the
comedy folk duo from New Zealand that scored an HBO series on which
the band's fan base never grew much larger than one.
To understand the Degree of Difficulty inherent in the Nova Singers' season-opening concert, first imagine singing a particular vocal line - be it soprano, alto, tenor, or bass - against the three other vocal lines, and doing it a cappella, to boot.
For
a band that's had its current lineup for five years, the
Cincinnati, Ohio-based Pike is maddeningly difficult to get a handle
on.
On
"Puttin' People on the Moon," the Driver-By Truckers'
Patterson Hood sings a litany of tragedies personal and regional:
"Mary Alice got cancer just like everybody here / Seems everyone I
know is gettin' cancer every year / And we can't afford no
insurance, I been 10 years unemployed / So she didn't get no chemo
so our lives was destroyed / And nothin' ever changes, the cemetery
gets more full / And now over there in Huntsville, even NASA's shut
down too."
Sean Kelly is the founder, lead singer, and guitarist for the Samples, the Colorado-based bluegrass- and reggae-inspired rockers who make their Rock Island Brewing Company debut on October 13. And if you visit Kelly's MySpace page, you'll find a link labeled "My Musical Family Tree," which includes a list of the musicians who've been members of the band in the years since its inception.
In
November, bluesman Michael "Hawkeye" Herman will spend a week at
a festival. At night, he'll perform in concert halls and clubs.
During the day, he'll play in schools, jails, halfway houses, and
other social-service institutions.
On
its new album, Silver Storms,
the Philadelphia-based quintet The A-Sides has crafted a striking mix
of ephemeral, elusive pop in the vein of The Shins; meaty,
arena-ready guitar parts; half-speed songs with patient crescendos;
upbeat power pop; and surprising accelerations.
Red
Hunter thinks he's pretty good at the music business, which is why
he's doing it all wrong.
