Top SongCherry Blossom Promenade, Carwyn Ellis There’s no way to ignore the last 10 months of our existence. 2020 from February on was a steady stream of atrocities that seemingly had no end. For many, music has been a therapeutic outlet and a blessing. And in trying times, there has been a trove of new …
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FEMME is Laura Bettinson, formerly of Dimbleby & Capper. Truly positive pop. London based. This is still my fave. My dear friend Roger (The Gig Slut) is in this at 1:22. Dy – Peter Dysart
Easily my favourite thing this week with Peter Dysart Freaking Out by Big Thing I love bands that follow songwriting formulas just long enough to set hooks. But that’s where I start looking for the bubbles boiling in pot and the smell of deviated recipes that send wafts of wonderful sounds up to my ears. …
Imagine (Bears and) Dragons — the Magic of The Joy Formidable’s Aaarth A review by Peter Dysart For several years now, The Joy Formidable have been one of the hardest working and most enjoyable bands on tour. The places they’ve toured have covered the globe and the places they’ve called home have moved as well. All along the way they’ve acquired a solid and faithful following and some lasting friendships. That exposure to …
Most of the music reviews come at year’s end. Great. That’s when most people are desperate to catch up on everything they missed in the previous year. I’m fine with that, sitting here with a large stack of unopened vinyl waiting to be heard. But between work life and real life – in the ‘in-between …
Are We Falling In Love?
A review of The Joy Formidable’s cover of Badalamenti and Lynch’s Falling.
By Peter Dysart
I’m typically not a huge fan of covers, especially if the original song was a classic already. I will make exceptions, though.
With their second full album due out in February, Public Service Broadcasting have set their sights high on Race for Space. Beginning with the brilliant teaser video and album presale campaign, it’s been a solid promotional effort. With the first single from the album, ‘Gagarin’, they now have an accompanying video that’s something of a …
It’s been an exceptional year in music, so I’m breaking with tradition to create a “best of” list of sorts. My 2013 list includes nine favourites, actually. Why only nine? It was nearly impossible to name a tenth and leave off everything else, so I’ll leave it there. Subjective though these lists may be, one …
What started out easily enough as an interview with The Joy Formidable this year ended in a fantastic journey. This past spring, I sat down with Ritzy and Rhydian of The Joy Formidable to have an open and frank discussion on the state of affairs in their world and the music business in general. With …
I’ve long abandoned most modern and pop music labels, thinking of them as nothing more than marketing teams testing clever ways to sell products to people with little understanding musical evolution. In the broadest sense, general terms like Indie Rock are perfectly acceptable provided that critics don’t simply slather additional meaningless labels on top of …
MH: OMG, I almost managed a morning start! Not quite pre-noon, although I did manage to get back down to 6th Street in order to catch Feathers play a lunch-time slot. I was curious about these. Their PR image is of a very glossy 4-girl band, almost too glamorous to be real, and I’d been …
PD: Friday morning came like a dull thud. Fell out of bed and down to breakfast just before the kitchen shut. The morning was more challenging than any previous that week, and I hated missing perfectly good sets starting at noon, but there are only so many 03.00 roll-ins one can manage without deleterious effect …
Mike Hughes: Thursday was another hot one in Austin. I was playing with that ‘SXSW conundrum’ — do I go and see British bands, especially ones that are going to be playing down the road from me in a few weeks? The decision today was a resounding yes, so I said farewell for a few …
Mike: Wednesday was going to provide no respite on the sleep front. You gotta have a plan for SXSW and mine was to aim for one or two main ‘must-do’s per day, then fill in the rest. Today’s first imperative was to see Tegan And Sara, who I last saw in 2010 at the Roundhouse …
So, Mike speaking here. I’m sitting in Austin-Bergstrom Airport at the end of my second SXSW. I’ve got the cans on to drown out the sound. You can’t knock it, there’s 3 live bands playing in the airport departure lounge on the Monday after it’s all over, but I need to concentrate. On the way …
I can’t recall the last time a song had me at a single listen. No, that’s not true. I do recall and it just so happens it was from same band. So what is it, exactly, that’s going on here? “This Ladder Is Ours” is the third new release from TJF and the second song …
This is a job for… Binder Woman! Enforcer of the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, defender of office moms who cook but don’t use assault weapons. – Peter Dysart Binder Woman will make sure that all women have the right to affordable contraceptives, even those who work for Catholic universities. Up, up and away! – …
It’s been nearly a year since the debut of Ben Howard’s Every Kingdom album and less than that introducing the young Devon, UK native to American audiences. But already the evidence of his success is clearly visible. The more obvious signs are his sold-out gigs and teams of Ben fans cropping up on social media, …
Of course, leave it to Joni Mitchell to bring together one of the hippest ensembles of jazz musicians to her Shadows and Light tour. Jaco, Mays, Alias, Brecker and Metheny showed their American R&B chops like few rock groups before them. Back in 1980, this was as big of a sonic production as anything Messrs …
Going on three years now, my favourite band has been The Joy Formidable and I have done little to hide that fact. They are easily one of the highest energy and emotionally satisfying acts on tour and the gigs are mounting, each one better than the last. One hardly notices that their debut album is …
Happy accidents are a rare pleasure in music. However your marginal propensity of discovering a good new band are roughly multiplied by a factor of 100 when you attend a major music event like SXSW. So luck was running high when my colleague Mike Hughes and I were midway through a solid week of bands …
Ridley Scott has thrilled and frightened audiences for more than 30 years through a mixture of rich storytelling, diametrically opposed characters, and complex environmentally driven plots that clash in varying degrees of discovery, conflict, destruction and resolve. Prometheus is another fine example of this type of film making, and without going too far into this …
[Update 4/19/2012 – On his website, the family of Levon Helm has announced, “Levon Helm passed peacefully this afternoon. He was surrounded by family, friends and band mates and will be remembered by all he touched as a brilliant musician and a beautiful soul.” The material below was posted earlier in the week, prior to …
Williamsburg hipsters from Greenpoint to Bedford-Stuyvesant have been flocking in droves to hear tributes to The Ink Spots at local watering holes and music venues. From what we can gather, a full-scale revival Ink Spots revival is in progress. “This has gone critical,” sneered one local Williamsburg hipster standing outside the Trash Bar. “Yeah, we’re …
I met with The Joy Formidable this past December prior to their last show of the year at the Vogue Theater in the Broad Ripple, Indiana. With my better half in tow, Pam and I sat down to a lengthy discussion with a band on what has been a very long and successful year for …
This is a good article about a great band. The second I heard Closing Time there was no doubt this song would be a keeper. On the flip of that, I scratch my head why FNT and its massive hook weren’t just as big. The first time I heard Semisonic (then Pleasure) at the old …
Of all the great choral works of Christmas, the many compositions of “O Magnum Mysterium” including those by Poulenc and Victoria stand apart in their power and beauty. But Morten Lauridsen’s more recent composition of “O Magnum Mysterium” has an inner emotional strength and beauty that I’ve seldom experienced in sacred music. This is a …
Over the decades and centuries of Western culture no other holiday music has proliferated or endured like Christmas music. From old English carols to the present favourites, Christmas music can make up a considerable portion of your average collection, which is such the case with my own. When we’re all tired of hearing the same …
So much has already been written about The Joy Formidable that its nearly cliché to discuss the band’s size, sound, attitude, relationships, or comment on all the attention they’ve recently been paid by other musicians, the press, or the late night show circuit in America. However, one common theme that keeps being bandied about is …
There’s an inherent risk for some musicians to slow the tempo down, decrease the volume and eliminate most of the effects. It’s the risk that you might be giving away the secrets of your technique. For others it’s the risk of exposing that there’s truly little secret to any of what you’re doing. When you …