Tag: Vol. 36 No. 18

Over the past decade jazz pianist Uri Caine has established a niche for himself that might seem like a gimmick if inhabited by a less formidable talent. Since 1997’s Primal Light, a unique and beguiling take on the music of Mahler, he’s used compositions by Bach, Schumann, Wagner, and Beethoven as the basis for radical […]

Deerhoof has slimmed down to a trio on its new album, Friend Opportunity (Kill Rock Stars), but in a lot of ways this bubblegum-prog band is bigger than ever. Never skittish about their disjointedness, they’ve gotten bolder with it: twinkling micropop gives way to manic drum fills and dissonant guitar freak-outs, or symphonic ELO-esque choruses […]

Five young South Africans relive the pain they suffered as children and adolescents at the tail end of apartheid in Amajuba: Like Doves We Rise, created in 2000. One performer was abandoned by her family at eight and faced starvation; another watched his father withdraw from his home and family after forced relocation; another still […]

The line between Dan Whitney and his hick alter ego, Larry the Cable Guy, is frustratingly fuzzy. Like Andrew Dice Clay, Larry spouts obnoxious jokes (on a “retarded” girlfriend: “I’d say tomatuh, she’d say bowling chairs”), and like Minnie Pearl, he’s hyperbolic in his southern dress and dialect. Whitney, however, is far from poor, doesn’t […]