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Erika Rasmussen on May 16, 2019
Though it was spawned from a roiling fusion of sludgy blues riffs and occult imagery, heavy metal music shares more common threads with Vivaldi and Wagner than with Johnson and John Lee. Case in point: Tobias Sammet’s metal opera supergroup, Avantasia. Led by former Edguy frontman Sammet and featuring the likes of…
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Bill Kopp on May 1, 2019
In the history of popular music, Tony Bennett stands tall. His professional singing career can be said to have started at age 13 when he began working as a singing waiter in Queens, but it was only after serving in WWII that he landed a recording contract.
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It is derided as a lesser art form—not heady enough for the classical and jazz crowds; not gritty or pure enough for devotees of rock & roll, hip-hop and “real” country. It is manufactured, overly processed, formulaic. It is simple.
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Mike Huguenor on March 6, 2019
Dubstep began in England as a contemplative alternative to the more hard-edged styles of British club music, but by the time Skrillex came around, it was all car commercials, LA skylines and vodka tent pop-ups. Though they aren’t exactly Burial, Canadian DJs Adventure Club keep dubstep leaning back toward its early days,…
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Bill Kopp on March 6, 2019
Sarah Brightman is one of the leading figures in classical vocal music today. Carefully maintaining the sophistication of the genre, Brightman has nonetheless managed to achieve superstar status.
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Bill Kopp on February 27, 2019
In some ways a reaction to the hard rock and psychedelic excesses of late 1960s pop music, the early 1970s ushered in the era of the singer-songwriter. Led by a raft of supremely talented artists who composed their own material, the scene featured acts like Carole King, James Taylor, Joni Mitchell, Laura…
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Yousif Kassab on December 13, 2018
When it comes to music, the very concept of a genre is polarizing. Some artists will bristle at any attempt to pin a label on their work; some will shrug off the practice of categorization as a meaningless but unavoidable convention of the industry; others still will actively tout their given tag,…
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Wallace Baine on December 13, 2018
The celebrated tenor quartet Il Divo is a great example of humankind’s desire to span cultural divides by (literally) singing from the same hymnal. The swoony foursome features a highly diverse cast, with singers from Spain, France, Switzerland and the U.S. The group, which expertly blends classical opera and pop, was the…
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Raunchy dummy jokes a la Jeff Dunham are cool and all, but as they say, variety is the spice of life. Ventriloquist wunderkind Darci Lynne has been making the rounds with a national tour since winning America’s Got Talent last year. She and her colorful cast of characters are double threats as…
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Yousif Kassab on November 21, 2018
Each year around turkey time, the Give Thanks festival rolls into town with a lineup of high-profile electronic acts. This time around they’ve put together a tight trio of shows featuring Swedish progressive house producer Alesso (headlining on Nov. 21), moombahton master Dillon Francis (playing Nov. 23) and Canadian dubstep act Excision…
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