Although most of his early stints were with jazz organists like Hank Marr, Larry Young and Big John Patton, guitarist James Blood Ulmer is inextricably linked with pioneering saxophonist Ornette Coleman. Ostensibly the first electric guitarist to apply Coleman’s harmolodics theory to his own music, Ulmer’s debut finds him heavily indebted to the saxophonist. Tales…
Born out of weekly sessions at New York’s influential floating acid-jazz club Giant Step, Groove Collective is a ten-member combo that successfully bridges the oft-explored gap between hip-hop and bebop. Whereas most fusions of the disparate forms feebly hew closer to one side or another with only empty stylistic nods justifying the blend, the Groove…
Once the young’uns of the New York-area Native Tongues posse (De La Soul, Jungle Brothers), A Tribe Called Quest proved to be its greatest and most consistent exponent. While the trio’s stunning debut quickly aligned them with the others’ formalist revisionism (an expansive range of samples, from Lou Reed to Stevie Wonder) and attitudinal adjustments…
Medeski, Martin and Wood have built an improbable following of dyed-in-the-wool jazz fans, hip acid jazz kids and (go figure) the loyal legions of Phish. Now a bold, revisionist organ trio with Chris Wood’s upright bass taking the traditional electric guitar role and a wide array of non-traditional sources — from New Orleans second-line rhythms…
Nicely updating the stripped-down power and acute melodic skills of Wire with a slightly charming, amateurish rhythmic attack, Washington DC’s Slant 6 offered refreshing primitivism amid the increasingly prog-ish early-’90s Dischord sound. Led by guitarist/singer Christina Billotte with drummer Marge Marshall and bassist Myra Power, the combo delivers succinct but clunky punk rock highlighted by…
Formed by former Squirrel Bait members Brian McMahan (guitar) and Britt Walford (drums) with guitarist David Pajo and bassist Ethan Buckler, Slint ruptured the impenetrably dense facade of late-’80s ugly rock. While the Louisville quartet’s 1989 debut Tweez (actually recorded in 1987, with Steve Albini) posits a variety of then-functionless tactics, approaches and strange sonic…
On their rickety and gutbuckety but nonetheless auspicious debut, this strange Cincinnati foursome (no Wolvertons and no brothers in the bunch, natch) set the general stage for the rest of their extant career. Blending hard-chooglin’ boogie rock, country-fried riffage and feedback-soaked atmospherics, the Wolverton Brothers have shaped a distinct backwoods hoedown marked by a dissolute,…
These folks either wrote reviews that appear on the site or wrote for Trouser Press magazine. If anyone listed below cares to E-mail us with a link you’d like added, just let us know. And ditto if anyone is AWOL from this list. Grant AldenDavid AntrobusJem AswadTroy J. AugustoMichael AzerradCary BakerMichael BakerEmily BeckerJohn BergstromArt BlackJohn…
