06 May 2003

At the Peaks of Their Powers

By Jeff Ignatius
Most artistically successful groups evolve toward obscurity - think most recently of Radiohead and Wilco - crafting an idiosyncratic vision that wins admirers and praise but threatens to alienate the bands' core audiences.
06 May 2003

System Frontman Offers New Duo on His Own Label

By John James
• Two successful rock entities have jumped fences to their own greener pastures, each with an artist-owned label and upcoming CD. Serj Tankian has created a more personal home for his new Serart side project, a collaboration with multi-instrumentalist Arto Tunboyaciyan, using his clout as the frontman of the System of a Down juggernaut to establish his own Serjical Strike Records imprint.
29 Apr 2003

Peace Gets Its Chance on New Set

By John James
• While America's war with Iraq is wrapping up quickly, Mordam Records has gathered together a peace-movement fundraiser of anti-war rumblings from today's most politically charged alternative artists. Due in mid-May, the two-CD set is simply entitled Peace Not War and features current singles and selected tracks from muckrakers such as Public Enemy, Ani DiFranco, Midnight Oil, Saul Williams, and Chumbawamba.
22 Apr 2003

Future Appletree Debuts Its First Full-Length, and It's a Winner

By Administrator
The local outfit The Marlboro Chorus has an easygoing, ambling style that’s belied by a keen attention to production and arrangement. What you’re left with on the group’s new album, “Good Luck” , is the lo-fi charm of a singer-songwriter such as Elliot Smith combined with playful but meticulous flourishes that remind me of The Flaming Lips.
22 Apr 2003

The Clinton Administration Back in Office

By John James
• This Tuesday brings a new collaboration of jazz and funk masters, all bowing down to the P-Funk manifesto as The Clinton Administration. The new CD, One Nation Under a Re-Groove, also launches Magnatude Records, a new groove, funk, and jam boutique label through Magna Carta.
15 Apr 2003

Upcoming Shows Feature Two Compelling Artists

By Jeff Ignatius
Matthew Clay, Crown Yourself King It’s pretty amazing what can come out of the do-it-yourself movement. Matthew Clay appears to be an artist with a new record on an indie label, but it doesn’t take much sleuthing to figure out that the Ottumwa, Iowa-based Freakin Records (as in, “Give me my Freakin Records”) is a one-man outfit, promoting only Clay.
15 Apr 2003

Symphony Tackles Challenging Work and Triumphs

By Zach Carstensen
William Walton’s classic oratorio Belshazzar’s Feast is a monument in the British musical canon and a perfect example of the British fascination with large-scale choral music. Feast is a synthesis of massive orchestral composition (the work calls for double brass) and towering choral forces.
15 Apr 2003

Blue Man Group Brings Out 2003's First Must-Hear

By Administrator
The first must-hear record of the year comes from the Blue Man Group, a trio of nameless, faceless cobalt-silver surfers of the double helix as both pop-culture artists and electronic-music stream-clashers. With the group's new album, The Complex, this mute alien threesome goes beyond the grid and becomes the grid themselves, collaborating with guest vocalists and lyrics for the first time.
08 Apr 2003

Great Soundtrack Lineup Plugs Holes

By John James
• This Tuesday brings the soundtrack from Holes, one of the season's most anticipated films, with new music from The Eels and a disco-ball salute to Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive" by Stephanie Bentley. While aimed at the teen market, the 1999 Newbery Award-winning novel by Louis Sachar might be one of the freshest plots to knock on Hollywood's door in ages.
01 Apr 2003

Spinal Tap Members Unplug for New Movie

By John James
• Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, and Harry Shearer - the trio that conceived and delivered the hysterically funny Spinal Tap experience - have done it again, this time spoofing the 1960s folk scene as "The Folksmen, reunited for the memorial concert of a recently deceased artist manager.

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