Journal

  • Friday, May 17, 2024
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  • Tuesday, May 3, 2011

    The Low Anthem performs live on KUT in Austin, Texas, today at 2 PM CT, prior to tonight's concert in Austin. The band "frequently dazzles on both recordings and in live performance," says KUT. Their recent performances at Philadelphia's Kimmel Center for WXPN and on Mountain Stage are both available at npr.org. The Low Anthem's Hear Ya Live Session is also up now and includes the song "Boeing 737," which Hear Ya calls "triumphant, almost prophetic." Watch it here.

    Journal Topics: Artist News, Video, Radio
  • Monday, May 2, 2011

    Steve Reich's 75th was celebrated in style at Carnegie Hall Saturday night with an all-Reich concert that included the NY premieres of WTC 9/11, Mallet Quartet, and 2x5 and a performance of Double Sextet. Carnegie Hall "assembled a starry roster of new-music ensembles," says the New York Times, "and the results will be hard to top." NPR says the concert showed that Reich "continues to make innovative music and is still one of the most important and influential voices of our era." The pieces "were individually marvelous," says SPIN, "and collectively provided a terrific summing up of what Reich is all about ... [E]very piece of the evening was a small miracle." The composer and performers head next to London for Reverberations, the Barbican's two-day celebration of Reich's work and influences.

    Journal Topics: Artist News, Reviews
  • Monday, May 2, 2011

    Donnacha Dennehy's Grá agus Bás is due out tomorrow. The album—which includes the title piece, inspired by sean-nós "old style" Irish vocal music, as well as the composer’s song cycle That the Night Come, comprising six settings of poems by W.B. Yeats—was featured on NPR's Weekend Edition Saturday. "The singer's plaintive cries sound very much like phrases from Irish folk music," says NPR of the title piece, "while the accompaniment features a kind of pulsating minimalist shimmer." Hear the inspirations behind the album pieces and writing for singers Iarla O’Lionáird and Dawn Upshaw.

    Journal Topics: Artist News, Radio
  • Monday, May 2, 2011

    k.d. lang and the Siss Boom Bang are musical guests on Jimmy Kimmel Live! tonight on ABC and will perform a song off their new album, Sing it Loud. Tonight's performance comes one night after lang and the band closed out the Stagecoach festival at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California. They launch their summer tour at the end of this month, starting in the UK, then return home for a North American tour in June. The Ottawa Citizen gives the new album four stars, saying: "Rarely has lang sounded more engaged and been more engaging than on this collection of pop and country-inflected tunes."

    Journal Topics: Artist News, Television
  • Friday, April 29, 2011

    Carnegie Hall celebrates Steve Reich's 75th with an all-Reich concert featuring the NY premiere of WTC 9/11 performed by Kronos Quartet ... Laurie Anderson emcees Poetry: The Second Skin at NY's PEN World Voices Festival ... Timothy Andres plays from Shy and Mighty in NYC ... Carolina Chocolate Drops have two shows in Virginia ... Emmylou Harris heads to Norway ...  Wanda Jackson, k.d. lang, Punch Brothers play the Stagecoach Festival ... The Low Anthem, Sara Watkins play New Orleans Jazz Fest ... Jessica Lea Mayfield is in California ... Dawn Upshaw sings in Boston ... and more ...

    Journal Topics: On Tour, Weekend Events
  • Friday, April 29, 2011

    Emmylou Harris is featured on today's edition of NPR's All Things Considered. She spoke with host Melissa Block about her new album, Hard Bargain, and what Block calls a "strain of wistfulness" in the songs she wrote for it, including "The Road," about her relationship with Gram Parsons. Harris joins Steve Earle on his Hardcore Troubadour Radio show on Sirius XM Outlaw Country this weekend, featuring solo performances of songs from Hard Bargain and a very special duet.

    Journal Topics: Artist News, Radio
  • Friday, April 29, 2011

    Chris Thile and Michael Daves, whose debut duo album, Sleep with One Eye Open, is due out on Nonesuch on May 10, have premiered the third in a series of performance videos captured live at New York's Rockwood Music Hall: "You're Running Wild," made famous by the Louvin Brothers. Watch it here. The duo will be releasing a 7" single through Third Man Records on May 24. A limited-edition tri-color version will be available at Newbury Comics at Faneuil Hall in Boston that day; Thile and Daves will give a free in-store performance.

    Journal Topics: Artist News, Video
  • Friday, April 29, 2011

    Jessica Lea Mayfield will perform songs from her new album, Tell Me, on KCRW's Morning Becomes Eclectic in LA this morning, in advance of her show at the Troubador tonight. "Jessica Lea Mayfield knocked our socks off at KCRW's SXSW showcase last month," says the station, "and we're excited to feature a live performance with this talented new artist." Mayfield was recently interviewed by Playboy magazine for its annual "Rock the Rabbit" feature and designed a t-shirt for the occasion.

    Journal Topics: On Tour, Artist News, Radio
  • Thursday, April 28, 2011

    Steve Reich and his latest piece, WTC 9/11, are featured in the Wall Street Journal. Kronos Quartet will give the piece its NYC premiere at Carnegie Hall this Saturday as part of an all-Reich, multi-artist concert celebrating the composer's 75th birth year. Time Out New York calls it "a program suited to its festive occasion." The Barbican in London celebrates the following weekend with Reverberations: The Influence of Steve Reich; enter to win tickets and more.

    Journal Topics: Artist News
  • Thursday, April 28, 2011

    Emmylou Harris performed "Six White Cadillacs," off her new album, Hard Bargain, on the Late Show with David Letterman last night. Letterman called her "an icon, one of the greats, if not the best in country music and, just generally, popular music as far as a composer and a singer and an artist." She performed the album's title track on the Today show this morning. Yahoo! Music's Ram Country series features a video interview with Harris and performances of three songs off the album: "Six White Cadillacs," "Home Sweet Home," and "Darlin' Kate." Watch all of these videos here.

    Journal Topics: Artist News, Video, Television
  • Thursday, April 28, 2011

    k.d. lang and the Siss Boom Bang have returned home to California after several weeks' celebration of their new album, Sing it Loud, with TV and radio appearances around the world. They close out this weekend's Stagecoach festival in Indio, California, with a Sunday night set. lang can be heard on BBC Radio 4's Saturday Live this weekend, talking about her passion for martinis. Watch her performances of the Sing it Loud song "Inglewood" from the CBC's Q and ABC Australia's Art Nation here.

    Journal Topics: On Tour, Artist News, Video
  • Thursday, April 28, 2011

    AfroCubism has won the Cross-Cultural Collaboration category in the 2011 Songlines World Music Awards, which recognize outstanding talent in world music. Songlines Editor-in-Chief Simon Broughton describes the band as a "brilliant collaboration." The band will receive the award at London's Royal Albert Hall on June 27, the start of a European tour. The first announced North American date is July 8 at the Oregon Zoo; more dates will follow.

    Journal Topics: Artist News