'Jack' of all trades: White wows C-ville audience
By Stephanie Dodge | October 4, 2012If I could combine the Jack White concert I saw at Firefly Music Festival in July with his concert last weekend in Charlottesville, I’d be in Jack White heaven.
If I could combine the Jack White concert I saw at Firefly Music Festival in July with his concert last weekend in Charlottesville, I’d be in Jack White heaven.
Since the 2007 release of An Ocean Between Us, the Grammy-nominated quintet As I Lay Dying has become one of the crusaders of melodic metalcore, a subgenre whose decline has been marked as its former champions experiment with other brands of metal.
Trying to contain my enthusiasm at finally hearing The Killers’ latest album, I started listening to Battle Born on repeat as soon as the pre-release stream started on iTunes.
Canadian indie pop band Stars brought its month-and-a-half-long North American tour to the Jefferson Theater Tuesday.
The Truth About Love, like most of Pink’s albums, is a collection of rowdy songs with enough enthusiastic beats, trashy lyrics and gentle cheesiness to make them perfect for singing along at an obnoxiously high volume. As the first few songs play, it seems as though the singer’s sixth album will be her most subdued effort to date.
After listening to G.O.O.D. Music’s Cruel Summer, my very first thought was that Kanye West did not need to make this album.
Hold on to your cowboy hats because country’s craziest duo, Big & Rich, has just released its fourth studio album, Hillbilly Jedi. Despite the title, much of the record showcases the duo’s more serious side.
Ben Folds is a busy guy. He has sat alongside fellow precocious pianist Sara Bareilles as a judge on NBC’s The Sing-Off.
It’s been more than 20 years since the Dave Matthews Band was formed right here in Charlottesville.
Bob Dylan sounds downtrodden. And it’s perfect. In his latest release Tempest the 71-year-old Dylan plays the worn, grizzled storyteller, recounting his life and the lives of others in his timeless voice. Dylan’s infamous rasp plods steadily through the album and betrays more raw emotion than most singers could dream of expressing.
You can take the beast out of the jungle, but you can’t take the jungle out of the beast. Until a few years ago, Animal Collective had the peculiar distinction of being the “strangest band alive,” due in no small part to the group’s psychedelic sensibility, radical sonic experimentation and blatant disregard for conventional conceptions of “music.” But in 2009 it looked like the band had ditched its odd routine in favor of the ethereal and accessible pop on Merriweather Post Pavilion, an acclaimed effort that earned the group a broader audience. While writing their next album, all four members of the band moved back to their hometown of Baltimore, Maryland, where as childhood friends they had originally begun playing music.
The xx emerged in 2009 with a captivating and clearly defined aesthetic. The band’s hushed, minimal love songs won accolades, including Britain’s Mercury Prize.
The beauty of the Avett Brothers is their approachability. You hit the chorus, and you can’t help but sing along.
First utilized by musicians of the 1940s and popularized by hip-hop artists of the 1970s and ‘80s, sampling was nothing new when Gregg Gillis became Girl Talk in 2002.
You can always recognize the bands that were bred on a strict diet of their parents’ vinyl. In 2009, when The Heavy released their breakout record House That Dirt Built, it was apparent that they were one of those bands.
Die-hard fans of certain musical artists are often wary of purchasing (or even perusing) a tribute album.
With no opening act needed, the Mickey Hart Band took the stage at the Jefferson Theater last Thursday to a roaring crowd.
In the age of Internet streaming, digital downloads and miniature attention spans, music as an art form has fallen by the wayside.
The Jefferson Theater Thursday welcomes The Mickey Hart Band, headed by former Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart.
R&B singer-songwriter Frank Ocean released his introspective debut album channel ORANGE July 10 to critical acclaim.