Category Archives: Reviews

Concert Review: Mathias Kunzli CD Release Show…dreamy soundscapes and heavy hitting beats

Date: October 26, 2011
Venue: Joe’s Pub (NY)
Concert review by Dante Mann

Photo by Dante Mann

Since Photo by Dante Mann

Since 1998 Swiss drummer and percussionist Mathias Kunzli has been all over the place in the New York music scene.  He has been performing with artists and bands of many genres, such as Moby, Lauryn Hill, Yo-Yo Ma Silk Road Project, Vieux Farka Toure, Marc Ribot, John Zorn’s Electric Masada, The Paul Winter Consort, Keyhan Kalhor, Azam Ali, and many others.

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Concert Review: Secret Chiefs 3 exposing people to new and different combinations of sound from around the world

Date: October 21, 2014
Venue: Le Poisson Rouge (NY)
Concert review by Dante Mann

Photo by Dante Mann

Photo by Dante Mann

Secret Chiefs 3 (SC3), an instrumental rock band formed by Trey Spruance played a show for an enthusiastic crowd in the round at Le Poisson Rouge, October 21. SC3 is the name for seven different groups of musicians and has a rotating roster of members, each representing different facet of Spruance’s musical eccentricities. While I consider SC3 firmly in the rock genre, there are many other facets to their music (Cuban, Motown, Indian, Arab, death metal, and in particular Persian), Spruance’s interest in Iranian music, culture, and philosophy has given SC3 a distinctly Persian flavor.

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CD Review: “Big Apple Blues” – Tomás Doncker and Yusef Komunyakaa Join Forces to Extend the Blues Tradition

Tomas Doncker Band CD coverArtist: Tomás Doncker Band
Title: Big Apple Blues
Label: True Groove Records
Genre: Blues/nu blues

CD Review by Dawoud Kringle

Let’s face it; the blues have been done to death. Far from its African roots, its American tradition, during the 60s and beyond, the blues were looted by the (sometimes well meaning) British and Americans. With only a few exceptions, it seemed to have been squeezed for every drop of essence it had, and what was left was sustaining mostly unimaginative musicians who were seduced by its romance and deceptively simple musical structure, and die-hard traditionalists who struggle to preserve the tradition.

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Music Actvism: Defend Artist’s Rights – Economic Justice in the Digital Domain! A Benefit for Content Creators Coalition!

Crossing The LineDate: October 18, 2014
Venue: The Roulette (NY)

Event review by Dawoud Kringle

“Google is in the process of systematically destroying our artistic future. If the creative community doesn’t intervene now, we will be bound to a multigenerational clusterfuck that will take 40 to 50 years to unravel.”
(Kurt Sutter; from a guest column in Variety Magazine).

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Concert Review: Felabration! – New York’s Official Felabration Party featuring Chop & Quench (the Fela! Band), Debo Band, ?uestlove, presented by Okayafrica

Date: October 15, 2014
Venue: Le Poisson Rouge (NY)

Concert review by Dante Mann

A birthday tribute to the late renowned Nigerian artist and activist Fela Kuti on October 18th brought together a diverse crowd and fun mix of performers for a night of extraordinary music.

Photo by Dante Mann

Photo by Dante Mann

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