Most of us know or associate with the cello as a staple of the classical and post-classical world, an instrument whose deeper breaths can elicit comparisons to the bowels of sadness. (Jazz polls, for example, list it under “Miscellaneous.”) In Queens-by-way-of-Chicago musician Tomeka Reid’s hands though, the thing swings. Reid recently released the second outing…
Feature: Record Store Day, Black Friday (2019)
Here are my top three picks (well, four, technically) for what to keep an eye on when fingering through vinyl on Record Store Day: Black Friday. Frank Zappa – Peaches En Regalia Even in death, Zappa remains a vinyl God. UMe on Record Store Day: Black Friday is set to release a 10-inch picture disc…
Profile: Revival Choir (2019)
Sean Atkins understates things. His band, Revival Choir, quietly released its debut LP, Finn, in September. Nobody ever shot-gunned out press releases, blitzed social media or even threw a release party. “Some people were like, ‘You gotta build it up. You gotta start a ground-swell,’” says the Pittsburgh singer-songwriter, whose day job involves accounting. “I got…
Video Premiere: Rachel Grimes – “For So Long”
Rachel Grimes is a Louisville-based musician who was a founding member of post-classical chamber ensemble Rachel’s (incidentally, not named after her) and, since the mid-2010s, has been staking a bold claim as a composer to watch. Today, as the world debates whether Columbus “discovered” America or merely raided it, we here at MusicTAP provide the…
Review: Brat Curse – S/T
Brat Curse writes in earworms. That’s the only logical conclusion you can come to after listening to the Columbus, Ohio quartet’s new self-titled outing, which features hooky blasts of noisy and multidimensional punk-pop. The record’s available now. It’s hard, to some degree at least, to pin down Brat Curse’s sound. At one point, say on…
Review: The Zells – “No More Heroes” EP
The Zells’ No More Heroes EP – the six-song follow-up to 2018’s excellent Failure to Slide, out today via Pittsburgh indie Crafted Sounds – starts with reverby, almost spacy guitars and glitchy percussion, a far and intentionally removed cry from the seat-of-your-pants garage-rock on which the band cut its milk-teeth. By the end of opener…
Review: Dizzy Blip – “Laundry” EP
50 words on Laundry EP– a capsule of sorts. Pittsburgh’s Sam Yeaton, a.k.a. Dizzy Blip, direct descends from Brainiac/Enon’s John Schmersal, writing angular noise-pop on detuned guitars but lacing them with reverb-polished vocals. New three-song EP, out last Monday, is a kiss on the cheek while treading unsteady boards. “Upper Fixer” is the take-away. Name…
Review: Slund – “Slundcore Superhero”
50 words on the new Slund LP, minus those. Slovenia’s Slund can slam grindcore with the best of them but its new LP, Slundcore Superhero, out yesterday, is a generic blur. Guys provide great titles – “Insulting You Disney Style,” natch. When only one track breaks 20 seconds, meltdowns (there’s 20) get a little monotonous….
Review: Eric Bachmann – “Misinformation Age”
Only Eric Bachmann could make rage over the Trump era’s alienating 24-hour-a-day mind-fuck seem elegiac. His new, one-off single, “Misinformation Age,” out yesterday via Merge for $1 on Bandcamp and also available on streaming platforms, is a bruising missive on the information saturation of the 2010s. And it’s all set to glitchy percussion and overpoweringly…
Concert Review: Melvins (2019)
Melvins know no years. They’re just too fucking good to be bothered with them. So, seeing the trio, now nearing its fifth (!) decade in existence, destroy a stage live is a bit like hovering above the historiography of it all. All content, no context. The trio – Buzz Osborne, Dale Crover, and Steven McDonald…