Of Note
I’ll be the first to admit — I never got the Jack Johnson vibe. If I put on a CD by Johnson, within minutes I find myself…vacuuming. But a lot of other people dig his …
You might ask yourself if pop music needs another duo from the Midwest with the last name of White. White Mystery is Alex and Francis White, a brother-sister duo from Chicago. They don’t break any …
Ariel Pink’s new release, Before Today, is widely seen as his commercial breakthrough. It also contains a droning song called “Menopause Man” in which Pink bellows, “Rape me, castrate me, make me gay!” So, let’s …
An echoing, U2-like guitar part chimes along and a high, Jeff Buckley–like voice croons. This is the opening of “Sweet Disposition,” the breakthrough song by Melbourne, Australia’s Temper Trap. It sounds like romance and youth …
In 2006, Richard S. Friedman — an entertainer who fronted the Texas Jewboys, a band known for such songs as “Asshole from El Paso” and “They Ain’t Makin’ Jews Like Jesus Anymore” — ran for …
In 2001 a neurologist named Barry Bittman published a curious study claiming that drumming could improve one’s immune system. “Well, it must,” says Bill Kreutzmann by telephone from Hawaii when told of the report. “I …
“Let’s go where no one can see us and find the difference between us,” sing Jack White and Alison Mosshart on Sea of Cowards, the second album by Dead Weather, the supergroup featuring White and …
A friend of mine who had gone through a long and dateless dry spell had hooked up with a new girlfriend. Time passed, and all seemed good — meaning they were still together. One night …
In early January, Leon Russell underwent brain surgery at an undisclosed hospital in California to correct what was described as a chronic condition. Some news reports also claimed that the 68-year-old Oklahoman had suffered heart …
When Sharon Jones was eight or nine years old, her father took her to see James Brown. The Godfather of Soul made an indelible impression. Decades later, Jones told NPR that she believed she never …
Mr. Tube and the Flying Objects have described their music as “lowrider, Latin dub music,” but that doesn’t do justice to how mysterious it is. Trumpet and sax drift in and out of bass-heavy rhythms, …
Chandra and Leigh Watson are best known for singing backup on Jenny Lewis’s 2006 solo album Rabbit Fur Coat. Lewis — the singer of Rilo Kiley and an indie-rock pinup — got all the attention, …