Articles by: Nick DeRiso

Vinyl

Father's Day special: Bruce Springsteen, "You're Missing" (2002)

This song, issued in the wake of the devastating attacks on New York City in 2001, nearly overwhelmed me with grief the first time I heard it. I thought of my father. You May Also Like: How Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Tunnel of Love’ Dug Deeply to Find Hard Truths Remembering 9/11:Read More

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Gary Wright on His Friendship With George Harrison, and Being ‘Connected’: Something Else! Interview

Gary Wright joined Nick DeRiso to discuss a long personal and working relationship with George Harrison and his 2011 LP ‘Connected.’

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Something Else! sneak peek: Ry Cooder, "No Banker Left Behind" (2011)

Tough times call for angry protest records, for political records, for records that produce rueful smiles. Ry Cooder has done that and more with “No Banker Left Behind,” a tart treatise on the recent financial meltdown You May Also Like: Ry Cooder’s ‘The UFO Has Landed’ Finally Put His AmazingRead More

Adrian Belew on songs from King Crimson, his Power Trio and the Bears: Gimme Five

Adrian Belew on songs from King Crimson, his Power Trio and the Bears: Gimme Five

Discover why Adrian Belew likes working with younger musicians, and how he’d like to push Crimson’s double-trio format even further out

Adrian Belew, of King Crimson: Something Else! Interview

Adrian Belew, of King Crimson: Something Else! Interview

We talked to Adrian Belew during an extended hiatus for King Crimson. But it’s not like he’d been sitting idly by.

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Half Notes: Dizzy Gillespie/Sonny Stitt – Duets (1958)

An underappreciated Dizzy Gillespie record on Verve, includes some s-s-smokin’ thoughts of “Con Alma” — two, in fact. You May Also Like: Dizzy Gillespie and Friends – Concert of the Century: A Tribute to Charlie Parker (2016) ‘Hot House: The Complete Jazz at Massey Hall Recordings’ (2023) Wes Montgomery withRead More

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One Track Mind: Katie Costello, "Isn't It Lovely" (2011)

Opening with the old-world charm of an accordian and trumpet, at once lonesome and timeless, Brooklyn-based Katie Costello’s “Isn’t It Lovely” slips into your head like a thief. The whole song has a similar cunning, never going too far yet always beckoning You May Also Like: Animal Logic, “Can YouRead More

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Duke Ellington – Live at the Whitney (1995)

Early on, you never heard much piano from Duke Ellington, a grievous thing. It was only in the twilight of his career that this American jazz master regularly consented to taping some shows where his impish wit at the instrument could be heard front and center. You May Also Like:Read More

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Their Ocean – Still Waters EP (2011)

Their Ocean, ambient then soulful, is one of those amalgams that sounds instantly recognizable, yet completely new. The Chicago-based psychedelic R&B/indie rock group has described itself as “a cross between Hall and Oates and Arcade Fire, if they were friends with the Soulquarians.” As funny as that sounds, it’s aboutRead More

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One Track Mind: Hickoids, "Bennie and the Jets" (2011)

The Austin, Texas-based Hickoids, a shambling, couldn’t-give-a-sh–t group of cowpunk nutjobs, cover their share of oddball Anglophile items on the new Kicking It With the Twits, out on Saustex Media in San Antonio. There’s the Stones (“Have You Seen Your Mother …”). Eno (“Needles in the Camel’s Eye”). The MoveRead More