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I first heard Eli "Paperboy" Reed (nee Eli Husock) when one of his songs was in a Salon song competition with Hallelujah the Hills, who I interviewed last year. About twenty seconds into his song, I started Googling him and was surprised to learn that he was from Brookline, Massachusetts, one town over from me in Jamaica Plain. By the time I finished listening to the song, I wanted to know more: how did a guy so young learn to infuse so many great influences and be able to turn it back into something that is both familiar and exciting?

Exposed to a lot of great soul, rhythm and blues, country, and gospel music from his father, former Boston Phoenix writer Howard Husock, Reed became a fan of Ray Charles, Sam Cooke, Otis Redding, and Al Green as well as becoming something of a historian about less-known musicians working in all of these American genres.

Continue reading Episode 047: Eli "Paperboy" Reed and The True Loves

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Several years ago, right after my wife and I moved to Boston, I did some work with John McGah and a group of wonderful volunteers on fundraising events for Give US Your Poor, a project taking on homelessness. To quote their statement, "The Give US Your Poor mission is to create a revolution in public awareness, dispel myths and inspire action towards ending epidemic homelessness in the United States. It works to affect change at the policy level, engage volunteerism and contributions at the individual and corporate levels through media, technology and education; and to funnel support to partner homeless organizations."

Give US Your Poor is an initiative of the University of Massachusetts Boston. McGah is the founder and Executive Director of Give US Your Poor, a former Senior Research Associate at UMass Boston's Center for Social Policy, and is a recipient of a 2002 International Eisenhower Fellowships.

Released by Appleseed Recordings in September 2007, the Give US Your Poor CD is a diverse and powerful collection of songs featuring collaborations between homeless and formerly homeless musicians and celebrity artists, including Jon Bon Jovi, Buffalo Tom, Mario Frangoulis, Danny Glover, Jewel, Sonya Kitchell, Natalie Merchant, Mighty Sam McClain, Keb' Mo', Madeleine Peyroux, Bonnie Raitt, Tim Robbins, John Sebastian, Pete Seeger, Michelle Shocked, Bruce Springsteen, Sweet Honey in the Rock, and Dan Zanes (who Well-Rounded Radio interviewed a few years back).

Continue reading Episode 046: John McGah of Give US Your Poor

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I first discovered the music of the band Ida in kind of a backward way. As a dad with crazy snobby tastes in kid's music, I had heard Dan Zanes had started making family music about seven years ago when my daughter was born. As a fan of his from The Del Fuegos, I got the chance to interview him for Well-Rounded Radio in 2004. When I asked him about other artists playing "good" family music, Elizabeth Mitchell's name rose to the top (as did Ella Jenkins, who has also become a favorite of my clan).

Not long after I saw Mitchell and her husband, Daniel Littleton, perform a terrific concert at FirstNight Boston in a cavernous convention room and picked up her first two CDs, You Are My Flower and You Are My Sunshine. Any band that plays Velvet Underground covers for kids is alright with me. I was hooked. Digging a bit, I discovered that Mitchell and Littleton actually got started out playing music in the slow core band Ida, so I picked up a bunch of their earlier CDs and was equally blown away. I'll attribute the fact that I was living on the west coast for the latter part of the 90s for why this Brooklyn-based band wasn't on my radar sooner, but Ida has an impressive catalogue.

Continue reading Episode 045: Ida + Elizabeth Mitchell

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Well-Rounded Mix 007 includes music from Billy Atwell, Austin and Elliott, Ave To, Marna Bales, Chris Elliot, The Freys, Dan Gonzalez, Gogol Bordello, Alicia Bay Laurel, Midnight Siren, Leah Siegel, Song Sparrow Research, and ThreeFifty Duo.

For all 13 artists on this show who wanted to share their music with you, consider buying their music, whether it's on a shiny piece of plastic or as a digital file. Buy a t-shirt or a hat or whatever schwag they're selling. Go see them live or make friends with them at myspace and last.fm or facebook or wherever. Tell a friend about them and share your good taste in music. Sign up to their email list or subscribe to an RSS feed. And tell them Well-Rounded Radio sent you if you can. The way the music business works is changing drastically by the day. Support the music you like and love and help change it.

Continue reading Well-Rounded Radio Mix 007

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The Fleshtones have been making amazing music for more than thirty years, starting off amid the CBGB's scene of the mid 70s in New York City (with the Talking Heads, Blondie, Patti Smith, The Ramones, Richard Hell and The Voidoids, Television, etc.) as a garage band with a lot of soul and ultimately merging into a sound they call Super Rock, which they describe as "a greasy ball of sonic and cultural influences ranging in feel from R&B, disco, and Lost In Space to garage, frat rock, and Mexican horror flicks."

The current band members include Ken Fox on bass and vocals, Bill Milhizer on drums and vocals, Keith Streng on guitar and vocals, and Peter Zaremba on lead vocals, harmonica, and organ. The Fleshtones were also recently immortalized in print with the release of Sweat: The Story of the Fleshtones, America's Garage Band (Continuum Books, 2007) by Joe Bonomo. The book is a fascinating read about The Fleshtones, taking you from their origins in Whitestone, New York (just one town over from where I grew up in Flushing) in the 1970s through a variety of members who have played in the band, countless tours and albums, and up to the present. So, if you want the full story, do yourself a favor and read this book.

Continue reading Episode 044: The Fleshtones

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Well-Rounded Radio sixth Mix show includes Bedouin Soundclash, Ronnda Cadle, The Dave Kain Group, Ecce Hobo, Caitlin Frame, Gillian Grassie, Marco Mahler, Anne Roos, Post Oak Savannah, Eli "Paperboy" Reed, The Silver Lining, Devon Sproule, Stepladder, and The United Steelworkers of Montreal.

For all 15 artists on this show who wanted to share their music with you, consider buying their music, whether it's on a shiny piece of plastic or as a digital file. Buy a t-shirt or a hat or whatever schwag they're selling. Go see them live or make friends with them at myspace and last.fm or mog.com or wherever. Tell a friend about them and share your good taste in music. Sign up to their email list or subscribe to an RSS feed. And tell them Well-Rounded Radio sent you if you can. The way the music business works is changing drastically by the day. Support the music you like and love and help change it.

Continue reading Well-Rounded Radio Mix 006

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When I think back to when I first heard Pylon in 1979, I think it was on Hofstra University's radio station, WRHU, and my favorite DJ there, Jeff Foss, playing the songs Feast on My Heart and Volume amid any night's set list of amazing underground music when I was growing up in Queens, NY. I quickly bought Pylon's album Gyrate and later a 10" EP (with their earlier single and b-sides) and became a long-time fan of Pylon's music.

The band included then, and now, Randy Bewley on guitar, Vanessa Briscoe Hay's vocals, Curtis Crowe on drums, and Michael Lachowski on bass.

A brief history of Pylon? Four University of Georgia art students turned musicians inspired by the debut of music from groups such as The B-52's in Athens, Georgia formed their own band and recorded the single Cool/Dub (1979), albums Gyrate (1980) and Chomp (1983), all on DB Records, and a third album recorded during a reunion, Chain (1990) for Sky Records ...then disappeared again for too many years. A more detailed history can be found at wikipedia, the All Music Guide, and a terrific fan site.

Continue reading Episode 043: Pylon

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I first learned about Jose Ayerve when I interviewed the members of Winterpills (check out their Well-Rounded Radio interview here), who Ayerve worked with on their two releases (Winterpills and The Light Divides), during our conversation early this year.

Spouse's frontman Ayerve sent me their latest release, Relocation Tactics, and, during a recent drive to Washington D.C. for The Future of Music Coalition summit, I listened to the album, once, twice...eventually probably about six or seven times on the drive down I-95 from Boston. Part of me kept wondering why Spouse was such a well-kept secret...and another part of me was wondering how soon I could get them on the show.

Continue reading Episode 042: Jose Ayerve of Spouse

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As a fan of her work in the band Tsunami, when I first heard that its singer/songwriter Jenny Toomey was working with a group of policy and legislative folks in Washington D.C. at The Future of Music Coalition, I was sort of surprised.

Toomey fronted the indie rock band Tsunami for much of the 1990s and a subsequent solo career that she continues today. She was also the co-founder of Simple Machines Records which, between 1990-1997 released over 70 records for acts including Tsunami, Scrawl, Ida, Grenadine, and Liquorice. Toomey's band mate and business partner was Kristin Thomson, who is also a Deputy and Education Director at The Future of Music Coalition. When you put it all together, though, it all makes perfect sense: Toomey is an independent musician who is still looking out for other working, independent musicians.

Continue reading Episode 041: Jenny Toomey of The Future of Music Coalition

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I first heard Eilen (rhymes with feelin') Jewell's music as she was playing at the Green River Music Festival in Greenfield, Massachusetts in the summer of 2006. Jewell was playing an outdoor stage, under a tent, with a myriad of activities going on around the festival property for both kids and adults, but the crowd was listening with rapt attention...not an easy thing to do when playing in such a setting!

Jewell's debut album, Boundary County, was self-released in 2005 and she subsequently signed to Signature Sounds, which released Letters from Sinners and Strangers in late June 2007. Jewell is playing live in the coming months at various points around the US.

Continue reading Episode 040: Eilen Jewell

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My wife's family lives in and around Portland, Oregon, so at least a couple of times a year we head west from Boston to visit. The last few times I've picked up copies of the PDX Pop Now! two-disc CD compilations that have been released since 2004. Portland, or PDX as the city has been come to be known due to its airport's truncated ID, has long had a healthy music scene, but the compilations showed how diverse and robust the city's musical offerings had gotten. Each year PDX Pop Now! also puts on a 3-day, all-ages, free festival in Portland, usually in late July/early August (this year's dates are August 3-5, 2007) which brings together many of the artists featured on the CDs in a live setting that is nearly impossible to resist.

Continue reading Episode 039: Brent Bell of PDX Pop Now!

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About two years ago I interviewed the members of The Stairs on the eve of their final shows as several members were following the calling of higher education. The Stairs released two albums, 2002's Miraculous Happens and 2005's On Sleep Lab, both of which were brilliant and ambitious pieces of rock and roll with instrumentation and a scale that defied its lo-fi production and budget. So, if you want the full story, make sure you listen to this, too.

Around the same time as The Stairs were ending, Ryan Walsh, vocalist + guitarist and one of the band's songwriters, and Eric Meyer, The Stairs' drummer, formed Hallelujah the Hills and started recruiting new members. The band now includes David Bentley (cello + guitar), Elio DeLuca (organ, Moog, guitar + sampler), Joseph Marrett (bass), and Brian Rutledge (trumpet + melodica). The outfit recorded their debut, Collective Psychosis Begone in 2006, signed to Misra Records early in 2007, and it was just released on June 5th. The band is heading on tour now, hitting a number of cities along the east coast and mid-west.

Continue reading Episode 038: Hallelujah the Hills

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Sonicbids is an online service that offers musicians a way to submit their EPK, or electronic press kit, to a number of outlets for consideration. These including clubs and live venues, compilation CDs, festivals, songwriting contests, film, television, + commercial licensing, magazines, awards, college bookings, podcasts, Internet radio, and plenty of other opportunities, as they call them.

The company was founded in 2001 by Panos Panay and is still run by him today. And as of May 2007, Sonicbids is coming up on 100,000 members and 80,000 promoters from more than 100 countries around the globe.

Continue reading Episode 037: Panos Panay of Sonicbids

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Brooklyn, New York-based Antibalas is a collective of up to 17 musicians whose origins were in celebrating Afrobeat music, made famous by Fela Anikulapo-Kuti in Nigeria in the 1970s. Since their origins in 1998, the Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra has changed their name to simply Antibalas, but continues to infuse Afrobeat, funk, jazz, Latin, soul, and classical elements into their music to keep it growing in new directions.

Continue reading Episode 036: Antibalas

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I first heard Winterpillls when singer and keyboardist Flora Reed sent me a copy of their debut back in 2005. As a publicist for Signature Sounds Records, an independent label in Western Massachusettts with a focus on folk music, she had helped me with an earlier interview I did with Josh Ritter (check out the Well-Rounded Radio interview from when Hello Starling was first released) and Reed sent me a copy of this new band she was playing in.

Winterpills came across as a breath of fresh air: a delicate and perfect interplay of harmonies between a man and woman's voices, chiming, tasteful guitars, but all with an urgency in the lyrics and songwriting which made for an impressive debut.

Continue reading Episode 035: Winterpills

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The first time I learned about Frank Morey was in an article in the Boston Phoenix by Ted Drozdowski a few years back. I found a few Morey's CDs on cdbaby.com and at Boston's now-defunct Hi-Fi Records store and, as cynical as I am, I was a little surprised that Morey was not already some huge musical commodity...

Continue reading Episode 034: Frank Morey

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The first time I saw Flogging Molly was on a Monday night at Molly Malone's in Los Angeles sometime in mid 1997. I was living in LA for a short stint, helping MovieMaker magazine get its office up and running after working with them in Seattle. That night, I went to see a friend of a friend of a friend's band. They were, I have to admit, unremarkable, but toward the end of their show, the tiny, narrow Molly Malone's pub started to fill up. It was a Monday night, in a weird section along Fairfax and the club was starting to get packed. My friend Brian wanted to leave, but I said, "No way...something good is coming up..."

And, of course, what came was a lot better than good.

Continue reading Episode 033: Flogging Molly

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Pandora is a leader amid a growing group of web sites and services that look to the user to provide their insight about what kind of music or media we like and then the recommendation engine offers up other artists and music to help expose us to new music. Some others include last.fm, Tagworld, Mercora, and LAUNCHcast.

I had the opportunity to meet with Tim Westergren, Pandora's Founder and Chief Strategy Officer, who has been traveling across the country in recent months meeting with listeners at town hall gatherings. Westergren was in New England for town hall meetings in Cambridge, Massachusetts and Providence, Rhode Island. To see if Westergren will be in your neck of the woods, visit blog.pandora.com.

Continue reading Episode 032 : Tim Westergren of Pandora

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Merrie Amsterburg starting making music in the late 80's with The Natives, a band that, interestingly, was both signed to Kiss' Gene Simmons record label and worked with producer Richard Gottehrer on a batch of demos. Unfortunately, neither project saw the light of day and ultimately, in 1994, The Natives went their separate ways.

But Amsterburg didn't give up, choosing the role of a singer/songwriter and creating her own distinctive sound and style as she did so. As with two earlier albums of originals, 1997's Season of Rain and 2000's Little Steps, Amsterburg had a low-key, demur style that lures you into her music and makes you pay attention. A good reminder that a whisper can be more powerful than a scream.

Continue reading Episode 031: Merrie Amsterburg

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Okay, so here's how the current lineup of The Rudds came to exist. It involves a bit of a who's-who of Boston music and, of course, a bit of name dropping.

John Powhida broke up his band, the Staziaks in Albany, New York and moved to Boston, Massachusetts in 2001.

Soon after, he met Brett Rosenberg at the Kendall Cafe's open mic night. Rosenberg fronts The Brett Rosenberg Problem, which has released five CDs of garage pop to date and a sixth CD (Drop Dead Air) coming in Fall 2006. Rosenberg offered up his lead guitar skills to Powhida if and when there might be a need...

Continue reading Episode 030 : The Rudds

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I first got intrigued about Guy Mendilow from an article in the JP Gazette. I was familiar with his work, but didn't realize that he was a neighbor in my hometown of Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts. As I began digging deeper into his music, I got more fascinated: a mixture of folk, jazz, rock, overtone singing, and infused with elements of music from around the world, it really did sound like something completely unique.

Truth is, Mendilow is something of an indication of how small our world really has become. A citizen of the Great Britain, Israel, and the United States, he has lived all over the world (due to his father, a musician-turned-professor who was invited to a succession of teaching posts), including South Africa, Israel, Taiwan, Canada, Mexico, Brazil and the United States. Mendilow's language skills are also telling: he sings in six tongues and is fluent in four: Hebrew, English, Spanish, and Portuguese.

Continue reading Episode 029 : Guy Mendilow

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Sarah Borges has now won the award for most patient subject I've ever interviewed, as I had numerous technical glitches before we even got started with our conversation (thank you very much, Pro Tools) and she was as gracious and funny about it as one could be.

Borges' debut CD, "Silver City," was released in 2005 by Austin's Blue Corn Music and she's been working her way across the US gaining new fans and wowing critics with her songwriting and live shows. Reviews from both her CD and live shows have helped label her this year's "it" girl and the buzz about her work is so strong that it has spread across the country.

Continue reading Episode 028: Sarah Borges

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Jonathan Kane is one of those people for whom music has been such an integral part of who he is that it probably would be impossible to separate him from it or it from him.

Kane played the role of a drummer and percussionist since the 1970's, but recently took the leap to recording his first solo record with last fall's release of "February" (Table of the Elements Records) and his newest disc, "I Looked at the Sun" (Table of the Elements' new Radium imprint).

As a long-time fan of Swans, I knew Kane had played drums in the band, but didn't know about all the other esteemed musicians that Kane had worked with until after meeting his wife, Holly Anderson, who I had a chance to meet via her collaboration with Clint Conley and consonant for a very early episode of Well-Rounded Radio. Having known Kane's earlier work, I was surprised to learn that his first musical love was actually the blues, and its been a form that he's experimented with over the years.

Continue reading Episode 027 : Jonathan Kane

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This is the kind of story that reminds you why it's important not to give up on your dreams.

I first heard Hector Cuevas and The Boston Latin Band by way of Calabash Music after I had found myself listening to a number of Afro Cuban records, including Buena Vista Social Club, Ibrahim Ferrer, Ruben Gonzalez, Compay Segundo, Manuel Galban, and a bunch of compilation CDs tracing the roots and history of Cuban music, including The Music of Cuba: 1909-1951, Cuba Si!, the three Hecho en Cuba discs, and Cuba: The Essential Album.

Hunting around on Calabash Music, I discovered Hector Cuevas and was somewhat surprised to discover that they were based in Boston, Massachusetts.

Continue reading Episode 026 : Hector Cuevas and The Boston Latin Band

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I first learned about Rachael Cantu through Andrea Kremer, a friend who runs the Boston Pop Underground concert series here in Boston, Massachusetts. Rachael sent me a copy of her "Blood Laughs" EP and I was blown away by the songs, the voice, and the intensity of her music.

I kept listening to her CD, and every time a song from it would pop up on my iPod, I'd look to see it was Cantu and think what a distinctive and powerful voice she had for someone so young. I was surprised she was without a record deal given her obvious talents. Well, that didn't last long...

Continue reading Episode 025 : Rachael Cantu

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This month, an interview with Hilken Mancini (of the bands Fuzzy and The Count Me Outs) who recently released a new CD in conjunction with Chris Colbourn (of Buffalo Tom) called, simply, Hilken Mancini and Chris Colbourn.

I first became a fan of Buffalo Tom back in 1988 or '89 when my friend and Falling Stairs band mate, John McGrath, picked up their first album during those days when we squandered all our money on vinyl on St. Mark's Place in New York City and we were willing try just about anything...and certainly anything from Boston produced by J Mascis of Dinosaur Jr.

John made me a tape and I played it to death.

Continue reading Episode 024 : Hilken Mancini

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One of my favorite things about doing Well-Rounded Radio is that, as a result of hosting and producing the show these last few years, people often turn me on to music they think I'll like, so I often get to hear music that I wouldn't have discovered otherwise.

Case in point: Scott Lesniewski, the guitarist whose music I featured in the Downhill Battle episode a few months back, sent me a CD from a band that he had played in called Jeffrey Simmons and the Symptoms.

The CD was entitled "Almost...All the Way...Down" and after a few listens I realized how ambitious the band was and found it hard to believe that it was recorded in local studios on a limited budget. A closer listen revealed deep references to some classic rock and roll acts.

Continue reading Episode 023 : Jeffrey Simmons

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The first time I heard Piebald was about four years ago when my wife and I were visiting Seattle and at the house of my friend Marion Seymour. Her sons, Harrison and Hamilton, were doing some web design work with music blaring, and I said, "Who is this? They're good!"

It turned out to be Piebald and it turned out that they were from Boston, or north of it, to be precise. Over the last few years, I have picked up all their past CDs and they just recently released a DVD and B-sides CD called "Killa Bros and Killa Bees" on SideOneDummy Records.

Continue reading Episode 022 : Piebald

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I first learned about Brad Powell and Calabash Music from a friend of my friend, Marion Seymour, ironically, both of whom live in Seattle, Washington--a city where Powell and I both once lived before both returning east and now living in Boston.

Hearing about what Powell was doing, I checked out the Calabash Music site and found many a treasure from around the world. I then asked Powell to record a Well-Rounded Rave for a previous episode of Well-Rounded Radio where he talks about Oswin Chin Behilia from Curacao.

Since 2001, Powell has been the shopkeep for what he describes as a "carefully curated boutique" of music from all over the world. As he describes in the Well-Rounded Radio interview, Calabash Music now features several thousand artists and about 20,000 individual tracks. He's now attracting musicians from around the world who want to be included in their catalogue.

Continue reading Episode 021 : Brad Powell of Calabash Music

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The first time I heard Great Lake Swimmers was on a Starbucks' Hear Music compliation CD as I was cleaning the dishes after dinner one night. "Moving Pictures, Silent Films" closed out the CD, but it was so stark and beautiful and engaging, I listened, then went back, then listened again, then went back, then listened, again, then...you know, it was one of those moments.

Tony Dekker recorded its eponymous "Great Lake Swimmers" disc alone in an abandoned grain silo outside Port Colborne in Southern Ontario, Canada, near where Dekker grew up. Complete with the audible sound of crickets and a very natural reverb, the debut is a riveting piece of work that has garnered comparisons to Neil Young, Nick Drake, Red House Painters, Iron and Wine, and Will Olham. I also hear a bit of Jeff Buckley in his quieter moments.

Continue reading Episode 020 : Great Lake Swimmers

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In August 2003, Holmes Wilson and Nicholas Reville created Downhill Battle, a music activism organization that wants to create a decentralized music business and a level playing field for independent musicians and labels.

Now, along with fellow Downhill Battlers Tiffiniy Cheng, Nick Nassar, Rebecca Laurie, and a handful of other dedicated staffers, Reville and Wilson work with a myriad of volunteers to spread the word around the US and around the world.

Downhill Battle's web site states its plan is "to explain how the major [record labels] really work, develop software to make filesharing stronger, rally public support for a legal p2p compensation system, and connect independent music scenes with the free culture movement."

Continue reading Episode 019 : Nicholas Reville of Downhill Battle + Participatory Culture

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Few bands can claim to be born because of a lawsuit settlement with a local cable operator, but that's indeed the case for The Stairs. The lucky recipients of a grant from this settlement helped a group of aspiring musicians begin to give their music some shape, and the recordings developed into their debut, Miraculous Happens, released in 2001. An EP, Chime Away followed in 2003 and The Stairs released their third CD, On Sleep Lab, on June 21.

The week before I interviewed The Stairs, however, I went on their web site to discover that they just announced their imminent break up--and right before this third release hits the racks.

Continue reading Episode 018 : The Stairs

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Jimmy Ryan just released his second solo release, an EP that goes by the name of Gospel Shirt and released by Hi-n-Dry Records. A singer, songwriter, and mandolin player, Ryan is an artist who clearly loves both the traditional bluegrass music of Bill Monroe as well as classic rock and roll like Creedence Clearwater Revival and The Rolling Stones.

As a founding member of the Blood Oranges, who released three records (Corn River, Lone Green Valley, and Crying Tree) in the early 90s, and a gifted mandolin player who has performed and toured with dozens of other artists, Ryan has amassed an impressive amount of experience that translates easily into his melding of bluegrass and rock and roll.

Continue reading Episode 017 : Jimmy Ryan

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Bill Janovitz has been busy making music since 1988, when his first band, Buffalo Tom, released its eponymous debut. In the next ten years, Buffalo Tom released five more albums and become a favorite on college and modern rock radio, but Janovitz did not stop creating when the band decided to take a break.

Pete Miser began making music with the Five Fingers of Funk in the mid-90s in Portland, Oregon, moving to New York in 1999 to work on solo projects as well as touring around the world with Dido as her live band's DJ.

Natalie Flanagan didn't start making music until she was 27, but since then, she has grown in her reputation and experience that's led her to make a great her first full-length CD with "Let."

Continue reading Episode 016 : The Paste Magazine Interview Hour Pilot

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When you ask people about what the future of music will look like, you'll often get a wide variety of ideas on the subject. It's probably because in the last ten years, so much of it has changed (largely due to the Internet becoming a delivery method) that it barely resembles the old model. Since all the rules are changed (and are continuing to change each day), the time is ripe to make up "new rules."

But as Dave Kusek (co-author of "The Future of Music: Manifesto for the Digital Music Revolution" and Vice President of Berklee Media at the Berklee College of Music) details in the new book, the new model looks an awful lot like the model from 70 years ago, where musicians made their money from performing and other revenue sources and not from discs made of shellac, wax, vinyl or plastic where were released by record labels (or your friendly neighborhood multi-national conglomerate) and sold to you and I. But where does that leave the record labels?

Continue reading Episode 015 : Dave Kusek, co-author of "The Future of Music" book

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Born in Mali, West Africa in 1972, Balla Tounkara is a griot or djeli, an ethnic group dating back to ancient times whose people functioned as musicians, storytellers, singers, and peacemakers. Attracted to music at an early age, Tounkara received his first kora, a 21-string harp, from his grandfather, Batouroue Sekou Kouyate, one of the most respected kora players in the world. Tounkara is also a nephew to Djelimady Tounkara, famous for his Super Rail Band from Mali.

I discovered Tounkara's music as I was searching for some calming music for a cranky two month old--my son, Declan--and with a bit of help from calabashmusic.com, found how truly soothing the sound of Tounkara's kora could be (both for me and for Declan!).

Continue reading Episode 014 : Balla Tounkara

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Boston, Massachusetts is a town known for its musicians playing in multiple bands and juggling various projects--and even by those standards, Bill Janovitz is one busy guy. In addition to his solo music, continuing shows with Buffalo Tom, The Bathing Beauties, and writing a book, Janovitz has a new release on Q Division Records with his new band, Crown Victoria. Entitled "Fireworks on TV!," the CD will be released September 7th and shows are confirmed for Boston, New York, and beyond.

As frontman, singer, guitarist, and songwriter for Buffalo Tom, Janovitz released a total of six original CDs with the band: 1988's "Buffalo Tom," 1990's "Birdbrain," 1992's "Let Me Come Over," 1993's "Big Red Letter Day," 1995's "Sleepy Eyed" and 1998's "Smitten." The band also released two compilation CDs, including "A Sides" in 2000 and "Besides: A Collection of B-Sides and Rarities" in 2002.

Continue reading Episode 013 : Bill Janovitz of Crown Victoria + Buffalo Tom

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The Howard Fishman Quartet is not a jazz band, though sometimes they improvise as in that musical form. They aren't a blues or a folk band either, but you'll hear those influences at play, too. A little swing, a little soul, a little rock...the Howard Fishman Quartet will make you recall a wide variety of American music, but it's put together in such a natural, effortless way that it sounds like an entirely new form.

Josh Lederman y Los Diablos call themselves "The Kings of Irish-Jewish folk-punk," so it's safe to assume you're going to get a musical concoction that you've not heard before. Self-professed fans of Tom Waits, The Pogues, Leadbelly, and Johnny Cash, the band got their start playing at Boston-area weddings before leaping into the club circuit with a live show that embodies the spirit, if not always the sound, of punk rock. Like the Howard Fishman Quartet, Los Diablos mix together so many American musical styles you'd be hard pressed to describe them in a few words.

Continue reading Episode 012 : Howard Fishman + Josh Lederman

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Mum (pronounced 'moom') started making music in Iceland in 1998 after Gunnar Tynes, Orvar Smirason and twin sisters Kristin Valtysdottir and Gyda Valtysdottir brought together their love of classical, hardcore, and computer music to create something completely unique.

Mum is a mixture of the old and new, technological and acoustic, male and female, structure and mood and atmosphere. Incorporating instruments as diverse as the melodica, glockenspiel, accordian, keyboards, trumpet, viola, stroh-violin, bowed musical saw, pump organ, Chinese harp, and banjo, Mum revels in both the warmth of these instruments and in laptops and computers to create a cooler, less-than-human touch. Together, Mum creates hypnotizing songs and soothing soundscapes.

Continue reading Episode 011 : Mum

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This past winter saw the release of two debut CDs from two great pop bands that are really the perfect soundtracks for summer: New York's The Baskervilles sound right on breezy, sunny days and Boston's The Douglas Fir are the perfect accompanyment for driving around on warm, summer nights:

Continue reading Episode 010: Douglas Fir + The Baskervilles

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In 1983, Mission of Burma were on their way out. Years of loud music had damaged the hearing of guitarist and singer Roger Miller. His case of tinnitus, a condition marked by ringing in one's ears, had reached unbearable levels.

While Miller, bassist and singer Clint Conley, drummer and singer Peter Prescott, and tape manipulator Martin Swope were finding acceptance in critical and indie circles, Miller's hearing was getting worse by the show. The decision to stop making loud music was an obvious one.

After one amazing 45 ("Academy Fight Song" b/w "Max Ernst"), one bold six song EP ("Signals, Calls, and Marches"), and one album that brought together the wonderful chaos and synchronicity of four distinct musicians playing (and looping) their hearts out ("Vs."), it was all coming to an end.

Or so it seemed...

Continue reading Episode 009 : Mission of Burma

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Michael Tarbox has held a variety of jobs over the years, including a cab driver, freelance editor, landscaper, factory worker, and record store clerk. Now in his 48th year, the singer/songwriter is using all these real-life experiences for full effect while writing riveting original blues, gospel, and Americana music with his band, Tarbox Ramblers.

The Tarbox Ramblers' eponymous debut was released in 2000 by Rounder Records and featured eight covers of songs from Bukka White, The Memphis Jug Band, and an assortment of traditionals. Their second release, "A Fix Back East," released by Rounder in January, features mostly originals, varying from smoky blues to lively rock and roll, from jug band music to country-tinged, front porch sing-a-longs.

Continue reading Episode 008 : Tarbox Ramblers