Ophiuchus Butterfly is guitarist/composer Liberty Ellman’s second full-length for Pi Recordings, which is fast becoming one of the most interesting labels on the independent jazz scene. (Though it might seem as if no one cares about jazz anymore — at least no one in the mainstream, or even so-called alternative, media — the musicians remain […]
Music
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Building a better Park
The small makeshift rock club overflows with fans. Kids line the walls, standing on ledges and leaning in to cop a view. The lead singer strikes the first chord on his guitar. The crowd moves and breathes as a single organism. Heads nod in time with the beat; earnest faces mouth the emotional lyrics. Springfield […]
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Self-loathing as art
Lisa Germano’s publishing company is called Emotional Wench, a name that is, to quote Homer Simpson, funny because it’s true. In the annals of indie dysfunction, few singer/songwriters have plumbed the poetics of self-loathing as rigorously as Germano has. Since 1991, when the former John Mellencamp violinist released her solo debut, she’s been singing about […]
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Nuts for these Brazilians
In the music industry, second chances are like flying saucers, so rarely seen that they beg the question “Do they really exist?” And yet, on very rare occasions, a once-promising musician or group, seemingly vanished, will resurface, bigger than ever. Before British folk singer Vashti Bunyan became matriarch to the “New Weird America” musicians, she […]
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Delighting in happy accidents
When the terminally adorable Canadian quartet Shapes and Sizes signed to indie-rock über-cutie Sufjan Stevens’s record label, Asthmatic Kitty, the sudden surfeit of sweetness must have been overwhelming. Surely molars crumbled in its wake; blood turned to syrup; insulin waved the white flag. Only an army of tap-dancing Japanese toddlers, baby spider monkeys in matching […]
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VINYL STATIC
CD EXCHANGE: With R. Kelly busy basking in the glow of his mesmerizing car wreck of a miniseries, Trapped in the Closet, the R&B world has hit a bit of a drought when it comes to male singers. However, this week an album emerged that may have fans of the soulful sire saying, “TP who?” […]
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Showcase
I like American music, and not just the Violent Femmes’ tune, either. This weekend, Taste of Downtown’s American Music Show presents a tiny slice of our vast music scene to entertain the masses. Vinyl Static wants to help you like American music, too — or at least enjoy the out-of-town roots rockers who will be […]
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Testing an illusory world
Lady & Bird is the intriguing, if slight, side project of Keren Ann Zeidel and Bardi Johannsson. Zeidel, an Israel-born Frenchwoman who now shuttles between Paris and New York, has two domestic solo releases under her belt: her English-language debut, Not Going Anywhere (2004), and Nolita, its half-French, half-English follow-up (2005). American critics slobbered mightily over […]
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Matters of the heart
As long as there are girls who are suckers for sad boys, there will be a place in the global economy for the likes of Syd Matters. You won’t hear me complaining. If those girls can be blamed for The O.C. and James “Rhymes With” Blunt, they also deserve the credit for Wuthering Heights and […]
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Goodbye, old friend
GOODBYE, OLD FRIEND: The news was posted, and Vinyl Static heard the line of dominoes fall — furious message-board posts, the rat-a-tat-tat of stunned bloggers, and a collective gasp — as the short and sweet announcement sank in: Sleater-Kinney is calling it quits. If you aren’t familiar with the Olympia, Wash., trio of punk rioters […]
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VINYL STATIC
SINGLES ONLY: Most alternative genres only have a few good years. The success of an insular subgenre can quickly turn free-spirited tunes into novelty tracks for tacky compilations churned out a few years down the road. But in the case of the variety of music often labeled “freak folk” or “the new weird America,” the […]
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No pain, no gain
Listening to Evangelista, Carla Bozulich’s latest album, is like watching someone carve off strips of her own skin, fold them into dainty origami shapes, and present them on a cloisonné tray. The effect is at once horrifying and soothing, visceral and delicate, like Memoirs of a Geisha rewritten by Yukio Mishima. At times, the former singer […]
