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Lottery League is a large-scale recurring experiment that brings together diverse Cleveland musicians and forces them to form new bands on the spot with people they definitely have never played with and may never have even met ...
Album Reviews
From the hypnotizing double entendre “Ohm” throughout the rest of the album, Fade is the work of a self-assured, comfortable – but never complacent – group of musicians. Yo La Tengo keeps challenging itself (working...
Q&A
Founded in 1973, Kronos Quartet has been dubbed the most famous new music ensemble in the world and amassed hundreds of works. It’s crossed over into the pop and rock worlds, too, playing music from avant garde singer Laurie An...
Q&A
On Love Sign, Philadelphia indie rockers Free Energy so shamelessly draw from ’70s classic rock that frontman Paul Sprangers admits a track like “Time Rolls On” sounds like it could have been something in his father’s record co...
Q&A
After taking a break from the road in 2010, singer-guitarist Kelly Richey regrouped and put together a new band. She debuts that new lineup in January. After a short tour in early January, Richey will spend most of February in ...
Q&A
Singer Midge Ure is best known as the baritone frontman of ‘80s synth rockers Ultravox, the British synth-pop band that had stateside success with hits such as “Dear God” and “If I Was.” Ultravox has just issued a new album and...
Q&A
On her most recent album, Castor, the Twin, singer and rapper Dessa revisited songs from her back catalogue and put a chamber pop spin on them, adding strings and things to the mix. Dessa, who is part of the Minneapolis-based h...
Album Reviews
We’ve reached the 13th anniversary of the Magnetic Fields‘ landmark release, 69 Love Songs, and – after many recent listenings – it occurs to me this 3-CD set could use a reappraisal. When it initially came out in 1...
CLE
Since forming during an impromptu jam, This Moment in Black History has evolved into one of Cleveland, Ohio’s most durable post-punk bands. Its newest album, Higher Deffer, features plenty of noisy tunes. But it also gets into ...
Art
Over the years, plenty of writers have tried to document the punk rock scene in print. David Markey and Jordan Schwartz’s WE GOT POWER: Hardcore Punk Scenes From 1980s Southern California is one of the best books on the subjec...