“The Soul Cages,” a Sting album about boyhood grief, remains this strangely powerful if demanding narrative, one with textured song structures and densely emotional themes. Its triumph comes right away, though, on the opener “Island of Souls” — a compellingly dark, perfectly conceived tale of a riveter’s son whose dreamRead More

Some people just have a gift for the odd twist of phrase that makes a song mean so much more than just a bunch of words or even just a mood. Bruce Cockburn, the Canadian sorta-Christian singer/songwriter is one such guy You May Also Like: The Immediate Family, “Cruel Twist”Read More

by Nick DeRiso Maceo Parker — leader of the ferocious JB Horns, James Brown‘s band and musical backbone back in the day — once put it all in perspective, introducing a song from the stage: “We like to play two percent jazz … and 98 percent funky stuff.” You MayRead More

by Mark Saleski This is not about politics. Though I do try to keep a safe distance from it, the volume level of that particular circus has risen to something beyond deafening. You May Also Like: Joaquin Sabina, “Y Sin Embargo” from Yo, Mi, Me, Contigo (1996): One Track MindRead More

by Mark Saleski I’ve been reading bits and pieces of Henry Miller’s The Air-Conditioned Nightmare, Miller’s collection of essays about his travels around the United States. The expatriate writer had wanted to see what his homeland had become, to get to the core of it all. As with all ofRead More

by Mark Saleski “Every man has inside himself a parasitic being who is acting not at all to his advantage.” -William S. Burroughs.This seem true enough, and mine wants to live in that house. He whispers in my ear to leave almost everything behind. We get into these major fightsRead More

by S. Victor Aaron Electric blues guitarist Melvin Taylor had been sporadically recording solo albums for 20 years when Dirty Pool arrived — and was somehow just beginning to find fame. Already a hit in Europe, it had taken a steady run of performing in Chicago’s famed blues clubs toRead More

By Mark Saleski When writing on or near the Thanksgiving Day holiday, it has become the custom to either enumerate the things we’re thankful for or to go the consumerist route and talk about Black Friday. Black Friday? C’mon, when me and TheWife™ got up this morning, the temperatures wereRead More

by Mark Saleski Bill Frisell has often been referred to as the mad scientist of the guitar. His good friend Gary Larson goes the idea one better, that Frisell has a team of mad scientists living inside of his brain. The notion is a funny one, because the stereotype ofRead More

Before there was Sonic Youth, before there was Radiohead, Material, The Flaming Lips or the Animal Collective, there was Curlew. Founded by saxophonist/composer George Cartwright in 1979, Curlew soon became an incubator for just about every important name in the the New York downtown experimental music scene that thrived inRead More