Oct 1, 2011,
By David Weiss
Prepare to meet one of Ireland’s most audacious exports in some time, but first a little history—or rather, a lot of history when you’re talking about singer, composer and orchestrator Julie Feeney. Of course, you could simply absorb her most recent album, Pages (2009, mittens), without knowing any history about Feeney, and that alone would be sufficient. A 12-song collection, Pages instantly hooks listeners with its remarkably adept merging of influences classical to thoroughly modern.
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Oct 1, 2011,
By Sarah Benzuly
Fans of heavy-metal pioneers Anthrax have been holding their breath, unsure of where their band would land next. Their last studio album, We’ve Come for You All, was released in 2003, followed by the shocking announcement that original vocalist Joey Belladonna was returning to the fold—albeit only in stage form—for their ‘80s-era reunion tour. Then, nothing. The tour ended. They still needed a singer.
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Oct 1, 2011,
By Tom Kenny
Produced by Chris “Wolfdog” Schneider and recorded and mixed at Pressure Point Recording (Chicago) by Steve Kovacs, The Night I Was an Alpha Male from Chris Mathien (lead vocals, guitar, programming) and band—bassist Mike Schiff, drummer Aaron Bouslog and keyboardist Peter Wilkkins—provides a full-blown album experience. A regular resident of Pressure Point, Mathien has crafted a sound that is old-school and thoroughly world-beat modern.
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Oct 1, 2011,
By Matt Gallagher
Los Angeles–based producer/composer/musician Adam Hamilton christened his new home studio by producing a new release for William Shatner titled Seeking Major Tom, a “concept record” inspired by David Bowie’s astronaut character and 19 cover songs.
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Sep 1, 2011,
By Blair Jackson
There have never been so many ways to have a hit. Take Christina Perri’s surprise 2010 smash “Jar of Hearts.” On June 29, 2010, Perri was an unknown 24-year-old singer/songwriter living in Los Angeles. Originally from the Philadelphia area, she’d knocked around L.A. for a couple of years looking for a break, moved back to Philly near the end of 2009, wrote the emotional “Jar of Hearts” during her time there and then returned to L.A., where she worked as a waitress by day and did some recording.
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Sep 1, 2011,
By Barbara Schultz
Charlie Rich had made the rounds. He’d joined and left several labels by the time he signed with Epic in 1967 on the recommendation of producer/executive Billy Sherrill. He’d worked as a session musician, playing piano for Judd Phillips’ Judd Records, and then for Judd’s brother Sam at Sun Records and the Phillips International label, where he also wrote and recorded a few cuts of his own, including the Elvis-esque hit single “Lonely Weekends.” And he’d done “Big Boss Man” for RCA/Groove and “Mohair Sam” for Smash Records.
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Sep 1, 2011,
By Blair Jackson
At the ripe old age of 24, Joss Stone is already a wily record industry veteran. The gritty and passionate British singer made her initial splash in her mid-teens with the trans-Atlantic hit album The Soul Sessions, which played beautifully into England’s long love affair with American R&B, and in retrospect helped pave the way for later UK “blue-eyed soul” sensations such as Amy Winehouse and Adele. More chart successes followed in Britain and America. She’s been nominated for numerous Grammy Awards and always seems to be available for high-profile benefit concerts when they crop up, from Band Aid to Live 8 to Live Earth, and many more. She’s nearly as famous for her collaborations as her own records, having worked with everyone from Melissa Etheridge (a heart-stopping duet on two Janis Joplin tunes at the Grammys) to Herbie Hancock, Patti LaBelle, Stevie Wonder, Common, Jeff Beck and countless others. What could be considered her ultimate collaboration—the group SuperHeavy, featuring Stone, Mick Jagger, Dave Stewart, Damian Marley and A.R. Rahman—is hitting the stores this month.
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Aug 1, 2011,
By Blair Jackson
It only seems as though Beyonce has been a superstar forever. Since her days fronting the hit machine known as Destiny’s Child in the late ’90s, she has conquered the world with her four solo albums—selling 75 million records and picking up 16 Grammys along the way—triumphed on a succession of increasingly extravagant tours, been praised for her acting in several major feature films, launched successful fashion and fragrance lines, and become one of the highest-paid commercial spokespeople in the U.S. Her latest album, 4, was an instant smash when it was released in late June while she was on tour in France; two days after it came out, she headlined the Glastonbury Festival in England in front of 170,000 people. She’s beautiful, talented, independent—and driven.
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NAMM 2011: Fairlight CMI
State of NAMM 2011