It’s a shame that Martha Wainwright is blessed with such hypeworthy DNA. There are many other interesting, even important things to say about the Brooklyn-based, Montreal-reared singer/songwriter, but her genes won’t cooperate. Demanding obeisance, they elbow their way into the listening experience and prevent us from hearing things we might have noticed if we didn’t […]
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music notes 4-21-05
Fans of contemporary rock and metal should be thrilled about this Low as I Friday night show at Viele’s Planet (126 E. Jefferson St., 525-9029). The local group recently toured briefly with platinum-selling act Saliva. Now with the major label band on hiatus, drummer Paul Crosby formed Solace for Now with old buddies and bandmates […]
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music notes 4-14-05
Rest easy, friends of all ages: Your pals at Bread Stretchers (322 E. Monroe St., 217-753-3366) are back on the booking trail, bringing the finest in all-ages entertainment to downtown Springfield. Paradyme, Forum, and Din fill the floor on Friday, April 15. On Saturday, April 16, So Long Forgotten, Missing the Point, Midnight Falls, and […]
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sound patrol 4-14-05
Never mind that Beck looks approximately 15. Never mind that he previewed songs from Guero, his eighth album, on The O.C. He’s 34 years old, married, and a new father. Is it any surprise that his decision to re-enlist the Dust Brothers, the beat scientists behind his double-platinum Odelay, has been roundly dismissed as the […]
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music notes 4-7-05
Every Wednesday, now through the summer, Recycled Records (625 E. Adams St., 217-522-5122) will feature area music acts from 5:30-7:30 p.m. and stay open until 8. Last week, in case you missed it, Resident Genius played the first concert. On Wednesday, April 13, Josh Reilly, co-host of the Underground City Tavern’s Tuesday open mic, strums […]
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sound patrol 4-7-05
Apart from fame and riches, former Squirrel Nut Zipper Andrew Bird has it all. He is to the violin what Jimi Hendrix was to the guitar, which is to say not merely a virtuoso but also a visionary. In Bird’s delicate hands, the violin is only a vehicle, the most convenient means by which to […]
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music notes 3-31-05
Not every band out of Nashville is country, and making the point is Thornton, a two-man group that performs sexually ambiguous rock material that falls somewhere between cabaret and gospel. The group is described as “experimental,” but the music is too melodic and listenable for that misleading term. Micah Walk, a local singer/songwriter with a […]
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sound patrol 3-31-05
You don’t intend to watch American Idol, really you don’t, but like millions of your lumpen brethren, you find yourself prostrate on the couch every week, gawking at the televised trainwreck. Simon, Paula, and Randy make their predictable assessments, but it’s the viewers who decide, by way of telephone and text messaging, the outcome of […]
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music notes 3-24-05
Born in Mexico and reared in Brazil and Venezuela, singer/songwriter Erika Luckett continued her international upbringing with extended stays in France. She sings in Portuguese, Spanish, French, and English on her latest CD, Unexpected (2005, Birdfish Records), tossing in flourishes of world music as fluently as she soars through the various languages. Luckett aptly explains […]
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sound patrol 3-24-05
Like most worthwhile artists, the Los Angeles-based folk singer Mia Doi Todd is a mess of contradictions. This slipperiness, this ability to be simultaneously one thing and its opposite, makes listening to her interesting, but it makes describing her difficult. How can a singer sound both intimate and declamatory, both pretentious and plainspoken? Where does […]
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music notes 3-17-05
Viele’s Planet (126 E. Jefferson St., 217-525-9029), long the last refuge of Springfield’s still-performing original rock bands, hosts three of the best this Friday, March 18: the Timmys, Abe Lincoln Continental, and Resident Genius. Jay Vanselow of ALC, who is now also a member of Resident Genius, will be doing double duty. But don’t worry, […]
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sound patrol 3-17-05
Besides being a character in a William S. Burroughs novel, Clem Snide is a band, a funny and touching alt-countrified/indie-rock band whose frontman and singer/songwriter, Eef Barzelay, is often accused of being too clever for his own good. For many music fans — especially those passionately invested in their own sense of uniqueness — cleverness […]
