Category: Music
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John Hammond – Wicked Grin
Artist: John Hammond Title: Wicked Grin Label: Virgin Rating: 8.5/10 It was 1974 when blues master John Hammond met Tom Waits. They had a mutual admiration then, which makes this collaboration twenty-five years later so right. Tom Waits finds himself for the first time producing another artist, and even more bizarre is the fact that…
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Bob Schneider – Lonelyland
Artist: Bob Schneider Title: Lonelyland Label: Universal Rating: 7/10 In his hometown of Austin, Texas, Bob Schneider has won all sorts of accolades. Schneider mixes country licks with a rock mentality. It’s no a new formula. If anything it’s a very stable and well-established mix that has proven many artists for quite some time. “Big…
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Drums and Tuba – Interview
How has touring life been for you guys? Long. We play a couple of tours a year. It’s easier now that we all live in the same city (New York) and not all over. Generally we go a month in, then a month out of playing. It takes us a long time to do the…
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Orgy – Interview [2001]
How’s it going? Pretty good. Just getting ready to go out on the road for hopefully the rest of the year. I was just on pollstar and it looks like you’re doing a tour with Papa Roach. Yeah, we’ve had that lined up for a little while. They’re with the same management, so it’s been…
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Idlewild – 100 Broken Windows
Artist: Idlewild Title: 100 Broken Windows Label: Capitol Rating: 7.5/10 Out of the land of plaid comes the next big rock quartet, Idlewild. Idlewild brings REM together with Nirvana as witty lyrics wrap around glorious hooks that sway but never fall down. The opener, “Little Discourage”, is mostly early REM when they were still a…
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Eve – Scorpion
Artist: Eve Title: Scorpion Label: Interscope Rating: 7/10 Eve is the femme fatale of the Ruff Ryders’ crew. On her sophomore release, she employed the hard hitting beats of all sorts, like Swizz Beats on “Cowboy” and “Got What You Need.” Swizz has some seriously hardcore signature beats. Dr. Dre also gets in on the…
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Vast – Music For People
Artist: Vast Title: Music For People Label: Elektra Rating: 9/10 With bands like Creed selling millions of records, I wonder why a band with the talents like Vast is not dominating North America. In ’98, Vast’s freshman debut, Visual Audio Sensory Theater, showed a lot of potential, enough so that this band should be making…
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Kings of Convenience – Quiet is the New Loud
Artist: Kings of Convenience Title: Quiet is the New Loud Label: Astralwerks Rating: 8/10 Kings Of Convenience aren’t kings and I’m not sure how convenient they really are, but their music sure is pretty. From the intoxicating “Winning A Battle, Losing The War” to the lovelorn “Toxic Girl”, these two nerdy Norwegians sure have a…
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Oleander – Unwind
Artist: Oleander Title: Unwind Label: Republic Rating: 7.5/10 After Oleander’s first release, February Son, and its hit, “Why I’m Here”, took them out of obscurity, it doesn’t seem like it was a long wait for their sophomore release, Unwind. Unwind is straight on rock ‘n’ roll. “Come To Stay” is no-nonsense guitars and melodies. Singer/guitarist…
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Tamia – Interview
I read that you are from Windsor, Ontario? Yep. How far is that from Toronto? Well, about a four-hour drive or a forty-five minute flight on a little prop plane. I haven’t figured out the Ontario thing. It seems like every time I hear Ontario I think people are closer than they are to me…