Archive

Of all the blues singers, John Lee Hooker may have been the most productive. A glance at singles and LPs released under his name from 1948 to the posthumous 2003 release Face to Face, reveals one hulking discography of music. This includes studio recordings and live albums, along with all the packaged and repackaged compilations […]

A celebrated album by Brazil’s greatest singer and greatest composer turns fifty in 2024, but many American fans of Antônio Carlos Jobim had to wait until the compact disc era to hear one of the artist’s finest records. In 2001, a group of two-hundred Brazilian musicians, artists and journalists were asked to vote on Brazil’s […]

Burt Bacharach is playing the piano as the well-known arrangement for the second half of “A House Is Not A Home” erupts on the stage at the Saban Theatre in Beverly Hills in December 2019. The maestro stands to conduct the mini orchestra, just as he always had, going back to his early days when […]

The Bath singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist outdoes himself on his recent release Orchestral pop is hit-and-miss. Done poorly, it can ruin a well-written collection of songs. In just a few short years, Alex Pester has learned how to do it remarkably well. Better Days is a majestic achievement. Pester wrote, arranged, produced and mixed the album […]

New England musician takes the reins on convincing second album In 2014, Lys Guillorn contributed the song “Turn the Page” to a local art project. The exhibit featured an old photo album found in a second-hand store in Paris, France, and Guillorn wrote a narrative creating a life from evocative photos of an unknown man. […]

Pond’s frontman bids adieu in outlandish fashion To publicize the Goldcard album, musician/songwriter Charlie Campbell devised an offbeat approach. He sat inside a large box in a Portland record store for several hours while the album played endlessly over the sound system. Fans could talk to him through a slot in the box or slip […]

A bedroom recording with a lonely heart Ryland Bouchard has been releasing quirky music since launching Swim Slowly Records in 2001. He started The Robot Ate Me as an outlet for his own experimental tendencies. True to the moniker, his debut album, They Ate Themselves, has an electronic base with additional sounds provided by the […]

A lost treasure, for now When New York-based On!Air!Library! called it quits in 2005, twin sisters Claudia and Alejandra (Alley) Deheza split off into separate projects. Alley launched School of Seven Bells with Benjamin Curtis, and Claudia connected with Scott Herren, aka Prefuse 73. Initially, both couples were romantic partners as well as musical partners. […]