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Article: Extended Analysis

Sanguine Hum: What We Ask Is Where We Begin - The Songs for Days Sessions

by John Kelman
April 2, 2016

Few groups in the history of music can be credited with having come up with something as wonderfully absurd (yet, somehow, totally making sense) as Sanguine Hum. On its last album, the two-CD concept album Now We Have Light (Esoteric Antenna, 2014), the group told the story of a Dystopian future where our hero, Don (just ...

Article: Extended Analysis

Time Is A Blind Guide

by John Kelman
March 27, 2016

Over the past couple of decades, Thomas Strønen has become, perhaps, best-known for his unfettered improvisational forays in electro-centric contexts: sometimes freewheeling and frenetic, as in Humcrush, the drummer/percussionist/electronics wizard's hardcore duo with his similarly inclined Norwegian partner, keyboardist Ståle Storløkken (and occasional guest, singer Sidsel Endresen); other times more spaciously ambient in the atmospheric Anglo/Norwegian ...

Article: Extended Analysis

Live in Toronto: Queen Elizabeth Theatre, November 20, 2015

by John Kelman
March 22, 2016

"The best live albums are the ones that make you glad they were recorded while simultaneously regretting you couldn't have been in the venue on the night." So writes Declan Colgan, president of Panegyric Records--the label responsible for, amongst other things, King Crimson's extensive 40th Anniversary reissue series of its initial run of studio and live ...

Article: Live Review

Steven Wilson at Theatre St-Denis

by John Kelman
March 12, 2016

Steven WilsonThéâtre St-Denis Montréal, Canada March 2, 2016 Perhaps one of the biggest signs of multi-instrumentalist Steven Wilson's continued upward trajectory is this: less than nine months after selling out two nights at the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal in 2015, he brought his top- drawer band back to Montreal ...

Article: Rediscovery

Nils Petter Molvaer: Khmer

by John Kelman
February 23, 2016

Nils Petter Molvær KhmerECM Records 1997 At a time when, with the sheer volume of music vying for attention it's almost an impossibility to release a recording that actually shakes the foundation of what music is and what it can be, there was a time, in 1997-98—and in, perhaps, the most ...

Article: Extended Analysis

Michel Benita Ethics: River Silver

by John Kelman
February 22, 2016

It's no secret that music is something that can dissolve borders, transcend cultures, and speak with a language understood by all. That the decreasing size of the world has made it possible for artists from disparate countries to collaborate and create music that is truly greater than the sum of its parts--imbued not just with the ...

Article: Multiple Reviews

Steven Wilson: Maintaining Momentum with Transience & 4 1/2

by John Kelman
February 13, 2016

He is undeniably one of the hardest working men in music. In addition to ongoing work as surround sound and new stereo remixer for bands including King Crimson, Yes, Jethro Tull, XTC, Hawkwind, Emerson, Lake and Palmer, Tears for Fears, Simple Minds, Roxy Music and Caravan, with more groups being added on a regular basis, Steven ...

Article: Rediscovery

Trio Sud: Young and Fine

by John Kelman
February 2, 2016

Trio Sud Young and Fine Dreyfus Jazz2008 It's hard to believe that a guitarist as fine as France's Sylvain Luc has been so overlooked by supposedly comprehensive music sites like All Music Guide--especially with albums like today's Rediscovery, Young and Fine, featuring his Trio Sud group, out in the world. While ...

Article: Extended Analysis

Bill Frisell: When You Wish Upon a Star

by John Kelman
February 1, 2016

While jazz and interpretation are hardly strange bedfellows, few musicians have managed to be both as deeply reverent to his source music and profoundly personal and in his approach as guitarist Bill Frisell. That's not to suggest his re-imaginings of other composers' works have been anything remotely approaching predictable; as early as his first “covers" record, ...

Article: Rediscovery

John Scofield: Live

by John Kelman
January 20, 2016

John Scofield LiveEnja Records1977 After a lengthy hiatus, Rediscovery returns with an album that may not have represented the first time I'd heard John Scofield...but it was certainly the album that cemented my already firm impression that this was a guitarist on whom I'd have to keep a close watch. Nearly ...