Turning 30 is an exciting time. You get more serious about your work. Maybe settle down romantically. And in the case of Langhorne Slim, you start paying rent. Yes, the Americana singer/songwriter managed to make it through his 20s without paying any rent, until recently relocating to Portland, Ore. “It sounds really cool now … […]
Music Features
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Hot wax
Charlie’s Jazz and R&B5114 Classen Circle Charlie’s is famous for not only for its wonderful selection of hard-to-find LPs, CDs and tapes, but for the lively owner and namesake. Charlie makes soul, blues and jazz the focus here, with plenty of rare pieces hidden away. meeting him is a must, and make sure to ask […]
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Soundcheck: The Prids
The pair wound up in Portland, Ore., in 1999, where they started recording a certain subconsciously subterranean, guitar-driven music with catchy, but still literary lines sung boy-girl. And don’t forget the special ingredient: just the right amount of distortion. Last year’s “Chronosynclastic” draws all this musical influence in and emotes it over 15 years’ worth […]
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Taking aim
To say this has been a trying summer for Pennsylvania punk band Handguns would be an understatement. “Touring has been total hell,” said founder and guitarist Jake Langley. “My singer quit, our drummer quit, we got a new drummer, he quit, and somehow, we are still here. I don’t know. We have had to find […]
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Gingerly
Lots of musicians look at music as a sort of therapy, but singer Ginger Leigh needed it to be even more than that. The Austin, Texas-based performer — whose music falls somewhere in the realm of K.D. Lang and Melissa Etheridge — was forced to combat breast cancer this past year, and she is pretty […]
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Good grief
It used to be easy to imagine singer/ songwriter Ryan Lawson as a Charlie Brown type: sweet and sincere, but always a little melancholy with life dumping on him at the worst moments. Naturally, that fed into his music, but as things have turned around, he’s smiling a whole lot more. “A lot of people […]
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Moore, no less
One day, a package arrived in the mail that stirred up hundreds of memories for Ian Moore. It was a copy of an unreleased album he had done with his original band — known simply as Ian Moore Band — that had been shelved and lost in the shuffle. He immediately thought of the era […]
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A Fistful of Dollars / For a Few Dollars More
The first two now join the third in being released on individual Blu-rays each packed with extra material; it’s hard to imagine that they have ever looked better. Donning a now-iconic hat, poncho and soggy cigar, Eastwood makes a strong, silent impression as “the Man with No Name.” Supposedly, he’s playing a different character in […]
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Kanye West and Jay-Z — Watch the Throne
Or … not. This marks three consecutive years of blockbuster hip-hop releases from these two guys who’ve built a close friendship around their megastar lifestyles, respective talents as artists (technical rap wizardry for Jigga, arena-blasting, prog-rap production from ’Ye), and incomparably massive ambition as pop stars. Kanye’s “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy” prompted more sterling […]
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‘Yahu!
“I think, to be honest with you, most people have one thing to say,” Matthew Miller said. “They have one thing to put forward.” For Miller, better-known by his Hebrew and stage name, Matisyahu, that one binding theme is his Orthodox Jewish faith, an ever-unfolding struggle to grow closer to God. From this fount, he […]