| Critics' Choice Awards
There's a reason why Calexico's star keeps rising--locally, nationally and internationally. They're a versatile, multinational outfit that can seem to do no wrong, and they've done as much to shine a light on Tucson's music scene as anyone. Whether he's releasing solo albums or with Giant Sand, performing with his Danish cohorts or by himself, switching deftly between guitar and piano, Gelb and Sand have been doing that ramshackle, unpredictable thing they do for more than two decades, and they show no signs of slowing down. Featuring a pair of sisters on bass and vocals/guitar, and a male drummer whose crash cymbal is way too high in the air, The Beta Sweat update Jimmy Page's riffs and adapts them to the punk ethos. Add tension, dynamics and a soulful singer who can whisper or scream, and make you believe both equally.
Daddy Licks guitarist Scott Hott dies in Fla.
When the idea for a Daddy Licks reunion was first floated 18 months ago, guitarist Scott ''Hott'' Schneck had just begun a battle with cancer. A tumor had been found on his left leg, and he was looking at a long period of recuperation after an operation to remove it.
Still, Schneck, who had been living in Florida for the last six years, was excited about joining forces with his former band mates in the R&B-tinged new wave band, which arguably was the highest-profile Lehigh Valley rock act in the early 1980s.
.
Poignant recordings from Cash; navel-gazing from India.arie
The Man in Black returns from beyond the grave with the startling American V: A Hundred Highways, the latest in his series of collaborations with legendary producer Rick Rubin that was culled from the last batch of songs he recorded before his death in 2003 at the age of 71. Cash's remarkable American Recordings series, which began in 1994, has presented the grizzled country vet in an almost frighteningly intimate light, with his weathered voice taking center stage in Rubin's sparse production, which has rarely included more than acoustic guitar. The series found Cash exploring and reinterpreting the works of a wide range of artists, from Tom Waits to Nine Inch Nails. On American V, Cash covers artists from Bruce Springsteen ("Further On (Up the Road)") to Don Gibson ("A Legend in My Time"), and his ailing vocals lend these tracks an added, unnerving poignancy.
|
