Anne Vanschothorst, Ek Is Eik
(Big Round Records)
A Review
Dutch harpist Anne Vanschothorst fears
neither time nor space, luxuriating in vast
silences and in expanded moments that stretch a listener’s anticipation. On her most recent album, Ek Is Eik (Afrikaans for I Am Oak), she reveals herself as one of those
magicians—oh! I meant to type “musicians”—beyond categorization who can drop the
listener deep into a contemplative space of peace and restoration. Continue reading
Category Archives: Reviews
Six Strings and a Soul
Todd Tijerina, Shine On (indie)
A review
Before anything else, this must be said: Todd Tijerina is a stunning and expressive guitarist with an inborne grace. Shine On (available
October 11) is my first encounter with the man, and I could hardly take my ears off his fingers. He combines the rocking power of Stevie Ray Vaughan with the nuance of Blues Boy King in an economical, almost laconic blues style that wastes nary a note. Speed? Yeah, he’s got that, too, but it’s never an end in itself. He harnesses it in the service of the moment, using a flurry of notes here or there for emotional flashpoints. For most of the album, he’s on the acoustic that graces the cover, but he’s equally at home on his electric axe.
Whatever instrument he’s strapped on, he’s got a funky rhythmic sense that makes for
comfortable listening. Continue reading
Quick Hits: Three Reviews
It’s that time of year again: The baseball season is climbing to its climax (and my O’s are very much in the running for a postseason berth), so we spend an indefensible amount of time each game day willing balls and strikes, fair balls and foul, and of course, wins and losses. My
business clients have awakened from their estival slumber and are scrambling to spend their marketing budgets before they lose them. Plus, the late summer weather is so gorgeous that I don’t want to get off my bike. (Wanna ride up to Ojo Caliente tomorrow and have a soak?)
So there’s been less time to spend on music, just as the fall music season—with its raft of
musical releases needing review and incoming artists needing preview—bears down upon us. I’ll do my best in the coming weeks to appease the publicity folks who send out the new releases, and to satisfy your curiosity and mine about what’s going on in our small corner of the musical world.
Let’s start with three short reviews, starring Dave Douglas and Uri Caine, Apuh!, and Elizabeth Shepherd. Continue reading
The Transformative Sound of Butler, Bernstein & the Hot 9
Roots grow, too, you know. So if you think that roots music is something charmingly antique, suspended in the amber of time and space, then Henry Butler, Steven Bernstein & the Hot 9 have one hell of a surprise for you.
Their new release, Viper’s Drag, the first from the resurrected impulse! label, revisits American musical roots in a joyous, ever-surprising romp, making connections that stretch from trad jazz and blues to swing and boogie, from Crescent City Indian chants to Sun Ra and everything in
between. This Friday evening, the multiple award-winners Butler and Bernstein, and friends, will be blowing the roof off the Hiland Theater as part of the New Mexico Jazz Festival.
“Our job is not to make music. Our job is to transform people,” says Bernstein.
They are very good at their job. Continue reading
hONEyhoUSe Keeps It Tender (Updated)
hONEyhoUSe, Sweep (independent)
A Review
Just as plants turn instinctively to the light, so hONEyhoUSe turns to the healing properties of faith, hope, love, sisterhood, and self-
affirmation. They’re healiotropic. Healing is their mission. Their third release, the
beautifully packaged Sweep, delivers the
musical balm that Honeyheads crave.
Mandy Buchanan, Yvonne Perea, and Hillary Smith—with the support of Savannah Thomas on percussion and Maude Beenhouwer on bass—return to the intimate and acoustic setting of their first album, Sun, moving away from the full band setting of their second album, Medicine Lodge. I was not fully prepared for the quieter setting, having recently seen them at the Albuquerque Museum’s outdoor amphitheater, backed by a full band and blasting through a powerful sound system on a lovely summer night. They sounded great, and big enough to fill any arena, indoors or out. But that performance colored my expectations, and it took me two or three listens before I could let Sweep come to me on its own terms. Continue reading