Voodoo Music Experience, Day 2: 10.29.2011
To say that Gordon Gano, lead singer of the hugely influential Violent Femmes, has completely eschewed the lazy exclusivist aspect of being an artistic icon of post punk and an originator alternative rock would be a monumental understatement. Though you could have found him collaborating with icons like John Cale, Lou Reed, PJ Harvey and [...]
Voodoo Music Experience, Day 1: 10.28.2011
Though it would probably be overstepping to grant Morphine the kind of singular distinction usually thrown at the likes of jazz fusion pioneer Miles Davis or Barryfest-endorsed darkly sarcastic American duo Steely Dan, it would be incredibly disingenuous not to acknowledge that this Boston-bred oddball of the 1990s – adept at melting fiery blues and [...]
Prom Date: 09.30.2011
It may indeed be the case that as a bona fide genre, dance-punk has never been anything more than the product of a subculture media hellbent on fabricating its own buzz or simply an example of the post-millennium tail-wagging-the-dog phenomenon at work in the arts. After all, detractions like these have asterisked nearly every claim [...]
MyNameIsJohnMichael + G-Eazy + Christoph Andersson: 09.15.2011
There was a lot to be excited about before last Thursday’s show at Tipitina’s. While rising hip-hop impresario G-Eazy spent the last month on a series of late summer mini-tours, we spent it listening to his latest full length release – August’s The Endless Summer – on repeat. He’s been a fixture on the local [...]
Mahayla: 09.15.2011
When local indie veterans Big Blue Marble abruptly announced an indefinite hiatus earlier this year, it came as a huge disappointment to many not simply because they’d represent yet another on the lengthy list of ultra-talented New Orleans-grown rock outfits that eventually give in to the perpetually evasive illusion of mainstream success and throw in [...]
Futurebirds + J. Roddy Walston and The Business + New Grass Country Club: 09.13.2011
Last Tuesday, Simple Play Productions’ Ron Richard partnered with One Eyed Jacks to offer a symposium on all that is alive and well in Southern music. Local wonder boys New Grass Country Club, Baltimore-by-way-of-Chattanooga Southern gospel/ rock band J. Roddy Walston and the Business, and Athens Georgia’s alt-country group Futurebirds descended on the dimly lit [...]
The Dodos + The Luyas: 09.04.2011
If the ninety-six hour annoyance that was Tropical Storm Lee taught New Orleanians anything about ourselves, it’s that we’ve come to expect the worst case scenario whenever mother nature even hints at showing the city a piece of her unforgiving wrath. Admittedly, that’s a good thing: though many people probably have fond memories of bar [...]
Orca Team: 08.12.2011
The crapshoot dynamic of New Orleans as a viable tour stop for national acts of every size and rank is such an oft-treaded discussion that in some ways it’s nothing more than yet another unspoken piece of the shorthand “Only in New Orleans” ideology. Whether it’s dealing with underwhelming crowds, bar and venue owners or [...]
Native America: 08.06.2011
After spending the summer as a duo specializing in fuzzed-out ambient/acoustic drone suites performed on dozens of prepared synthesizers, Native America‘s Saturday night return to the stage as a three-piece rock outfit did nothing if not show the versatility of lead singer and renaissance man Ross Farbe’s hardly-can-be-considered-a-side-project-anymore side project. What started as a one-man [...]
