Articles Written by:    BEN RATLIFF     

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Music Review | The Pixies: Pixies Celebrate Milestone for Fans of a Cult Album

“Doolittle,” a 1989 album by the Pixies, is an arty, violent, candy-striped record. It has surf music’s reverb serenity, backed by cool and steady-drip eighth-note rhythm patterns. Its singing comes in babbles, yells and coos, its lyrics in drownings, ...

From BEN RATLIFF, The New York Times,  24 Nov 2009
Related Topics: Pixies,  Hammerstein Ballroom,  Kim Deal

Music Review | Savion Glover: Sounding Board for the Dancing That Would Be Music

Savion Glover, the tap dancer, has been performing this week at the Blue Note with four major figures in jazz. It’s all being recorded for video, but also for audio. Audio? Does that make sense? Would you want to listen to it? Savion Glover, with Andy ...

From BEN RATLIFF, The New York Times,  20 Nov 2009
Related Topics: Savion Glover,  Jack DeJohnette,  McCoy Tyner,  Roy Haynes,  Eddie Palmieri

Music Review | Jesus Lizard: Post-Punk Returnees, Definitely Not Unplugged

Can we put to rest this Talmudic thing about band reunions? In the right circumstances, with the right people, they can be very, very good. Does it matter whether the band makes more records, whether it is still a going concern, whether it is part of ...

From BEN RATLIFF, The New York Times,  18 Nov 2009
Related Topics: Jesus Lizard,  Fillmore New York at Irving Plaza,  The Jesus Lizard (musician),  Sean Penn

Music Review | 'Blackened Music Weekend': Repetitive Guitar Strums Rooted in Metal but Not Confined by It

Black metal and doom metal are musical styles, but they are also modes of being. They’re body and brain and nature. That furious black-metal clog of screams, strums and beats is rain or wind or anxiety or catatonic excitement. That deep-frequency ...

From BEN RATLIFF, The New York Times,  16 Nov 2009
Related Topics: Krallice,  Shrinebuilder,  Trey Anastasio,  Scott Kelly (musician),  Melvins (musician)

Playlist: Sounds From Around the World, Some Dark, Others Delicate

The latest on the arts, coverage of live events, critical reviews, multimedia extravaganzas and much more. Join the discussion. For all his importance as an originator of bossa nova, João Gilberto hasn’t written a lot of music. But all the adepts know ...

From BEN RATLIFF, The New York Times,  13 Nov 2009
Related Topics: Krallice,  Jaguar

Dick Katz, 85, Jazzman of Many Gifts Over 6 Decades, Is Dead

Dick Katz, a pianist, record producer, educator and writer whose knowledge of jazz from the stride-piano era to 1960s modernism made him a valuable presence on New York’s jazz scene for six decades, died on Tuesday in Manhattan. He was 85. The latest ...

From BEN RATLIFF, The New York Times,  13 Nov 2009
Related Topics: Teddy Wilson,  Art Tatum,  Fats Waller,  Aaron Katz,  University of North Carolina

Historic Sounds of Newport, Newly Online

As the future of the Newport Jazz and Folk Festivals continues to unfold, its recorded past has suddenly been thrown open. An audience at the 1959 Newport Jazz Festival. In order to view this feature, you must download the latest version of flash ...

From BEN RATLIFF, The New York Times,  10 Nov 2009
Related Topics: Count Basie,  Art Blakey,  Ahmad Jamal,  Joe Williams,  Thelonious Monk

Music Review | Vijay Iyer Trio: Mowing Down Bar Lines in Virtuosic Banter

Vijay Iyer’s trio lights up through improvised, viruslike rhythms. It’s not a situation in which the drummer’s steady swing underpins whatever the pianist is doing; that did happen sometimes at the Jazz Standard on Friday, but it wasn’t where the ...

From BEN RATLIFF, The New York Times,  8 Nov 2009
Related Topics: Vijay Iyer,  Andrew Hill,  Julius Hemphill,  Stevie Wonder,  Jason Moran

Stacy Rowles, Jazz Musician, Is Dead at 54

Stacy Rowles, a jazz trumpeter, fluegelhorn player and singer who had been active on the Los Angeles jazz scene since the 1980s, died on Oct. 27 at her home in Burbank, Calif. She was 54. The latest on the arts, coverage of live events, critical ...

From BEN RATLIFF, The New York Times,  6 Nov 2009

Music Review | Mount Eerie: A One-Man Band Plays Left-Coast Rock

“We’re Mount Eerie, from Anacortes, Washington,” said Phil Elverum, a compact, penitent-looking man with an electric guitar. His audience, on Sunday night at Le Poisson Rouge, cheered at him. “Yes,” he said. “Thank you. It’s a beautiful place.” Mount ...

From BEN RATLIFF, The New York Times,  2 Nov 2009
Related Topics: Mount Eerie,  Neil Young,  Will Oldham

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