Stephen Stills is one of those rare musicians who not only forms the cultural sound and comprehension of a decade or two, he also divines the definition of the spirit of its people. Stills’ career has arced over a half-century of our lives from Buffalo Springfield to Crosby Stills & Nash (and sometimes Young!) to Jimi Hendrix diving into a fine solo career.
Bryan Ferry has always been a magical, musical, mind — and the evidence of that genius can today be found in his new “The Jazz Age” album packed with his current hits, re-performed as 1920’s Jazz standards. Yes, the idea is confounding — making new music sound old in practice and performance — but, in the ear, everything is ultimately pleasing in the effort and effect.
I have long been a fan of Trey Anastasio, lead singer of Phish and extraordinary guitarist who seems to have tried his hand at more styles of music than the average musician. I was first interested in Trey Anastasio as a musician outside of Phish when he released a self-titled album in 2002.
My introduction to the band Of Montreal (who are, in fact, of Georgia) came in the form of a nearly twelve minute song that occasionally played at my last job — I was doing technical support for a small software company and we almost always had music playing in the background. During the occasional lulls in calls it was comforting to break the silence with music and when a song spends a number of minutes getting started and works its way to a fiery climax all while fantastic lyrics are sung. I only wish that I had a bigger music budget when I had gotten into them as there are plenty of records of theirs to buy as well as a lovely cassette box set.
For the last twenty years, John Darnielle has been entertaining and enthralling the world with his profoundly thoughtful lyrics and soulful singing and musical stylings. One of my former coworkers told me that all this would surely end once he had a child and he was quite disappointed last year when I mentioned that Darnielle and his wife had been blessed with a beautiful baby boy. I am here to let you know that his concerns were unfounded because there’s a new Mountain Goats record and it has really shattered all of my expectations.
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