Here’s some photos I shot of Shakey Graves in the Soundcheck studio.
Continue reading Photo Gallery: Shakey Graves, On Soundcheck
Tag: WNYC
Photo Gallery: Jeff Goldblum, On Soundcheck
Had the bizarre pleasure to take photos of Jeff Goldblum — you know, of movies like Jurassic Park, The Fly, The Big Chill, Independence Day, various Wes Anderson films, and so much more. He came to the Soundcheck studio with his jazz ensemble, the Mildred Snitzer Orchestra, play some piano, and generally be delightful. Weird day, but a fun day.
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Photo Gallery: Ryan Adams, On Soundcheck
Shot photos today of Ryan Adams, the manic and brilliant and once-endlessly-prolific songwriter, who has a pretty decent new album of alt-country songs, and a really good short EP of punk bangers. He played a bit of both in the Soundcheck studio.
Photo Gallery: Idina Menzel, On Soundcheck
Idina Menzel might be the biggest star I’ve been around in awhile, thanks to a giant body of work on Broadway, appearances in Glee, and this little animated movie you may have seen called Frozen. Oh yeah, and that whole Adele Dazeem thing from the Oscars. Menzel dropped by the Soundcheck studio to sing selections from her latest production, If/Then. I filmed it and shot photos and sorta just tried not to get in the way.
Quilt: ‘Held In Splendor’ A Comforting Patchwork Of Sixties Pop
For the past few months I’ve had Quilt’s music spinning around in my crappy white earbuds. The band’s delicate but enveloping songs have been a calming force when those commutes feel extra long, when the overloaded trains and sidewalks feed claustrophobia, and when I just want to escape. It may sound hokey, but then, it’s right there in the name.
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Danny Brown: A Motor City Hip-Hop Original
Even in a crowded field of hip-hop megastars, there’s no denying Danny Brown is a straight-up original. Recording since his teens, the dynamic young rapper burst out of Detroit’s underground hip-hop scene — first with his self-released 2010 record The Hybrid, and again with the highly-praised XXX in 2011, an album that pushed Brown to hip-hop’s top shelf thanks to his skillfully concise lyrical voice, a hypnotic flow, and sharp humor.
The Julie Ruin: Kathleen Hanna’s Noisy And Empowering Return
In 1997, Kathleen Hanna — the no-holds-barred frontwoman of the influential ’90s band Bikini Kill and later of the band Le Tigre in the early 2000s — released a solo album under the moniker Julie Ruin. The self-titled album was a lo-fi but fierce collection of bedroom ballads and socially-charged songs that touched on feminism and politics, all in Hanna’s distinctive ecstatic voice.
Now, 16 years after that album — and seven years away from music dealing with a long-undiagnosed case of Lyme disease — Hanna is back with a new record. This time, what was once a pseudonymous side-project is a full-fledged band — The Julie Ruin.
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Swearin’: Honest And Cathartic Power Punk
The Philly-based power punk band Swearin’ is one of the groups that was born after the break-up of P.S. Eliot, a much-loved indie rock band from twin sisters Katie and Allison Crutchfield. While the Crutchfields have gone their separate ways — Katie with her solo project Waxahatchee, and Alison with the noisier Swearin’ — both share an honest lyrical sentiment with songs that reflect on restlessness and crumbling relationships.
Son Lux: A Vivid And Arresting Musical World
Ryan Lott is a classically-trained musician and composer who has written for films, television ads, and dance companies in New York. But since his stunning 2008 debut as Son Lux, At War With Walls & Mazes, Lott has been making lush and experimental songs that blend new classical, rock, electronic music in fascinating and ambitious ways.
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Ben Allison Turns To The Jazz Cosmos With ‘D.A.V.E.’
Bassist Ben Allison is one of jazz’s best “glue guys,” a versatile musician’s musician whose presence in the liner notes enlivens practically anyone’s recording. But it’s as a composer and bandleader where his idiosyncratic musicianship truly shines. Allison has been banging around a good while at this point, with a resume that includes numerous awards (seven SESAC Performance Awards) and notable citations in places like DownBeat Magazine‘s Readers and Critic’s poll. (He even composed the theme for WNYC’s program On The Media.)
Continue reading Ben Allison Turns To The Jazz Cosmos With ‘D.A.V.E.’