New Portland band, The Weather Machine, has released a fantastic first self-titled album. Sisters native Slater Smith was instrumental in the group’s formation, and the result is a melodic album (evocative of Josh Ritter, The Tallest Man on Earth and Gregory Alan Isakov) anchored by Slater’s seductive vocals. The 23 year-old vocalist left Willamette University…
Who is Seth MacFarlane other than the most recent multi-talented Oscar host? Actually the credits are numerous: actor, singer/dancer, animator, screenwriter, comedian, producer and director: creator of the show Family Guy, co-creator of American Dad! and The Cleveland Show for which he also voices many of the show’s various characters. MacFarlane may have come under…
The English techno-pop band, Depeche Mode has release their new CD, Delta Machine and the cyber world has come alive with overwhelming response. Made up of members Dave Gahan, Martin Gore, Andrew Fletcher and Vince Clarke, Depeche Mode began in 1980, in the blue-collar London suburb of Basildon. Often taking the train to their early…
Award-winning vocalist Madeleine Peyroux’s new album, The Blue Room, features a fine selection of original and covered tunes, highlighted by her soulful, Billie Holiday-esque voice. Peyroux’s album sees the genre-blending singer with her husky voice reworking some landmark musical charms, in collaboration with longtime Peyroux producer Larry Klein (Joni Mitchell, Walter Becker, Tracy Chapman, Herbie…
The wonderfully melodic and meditative album, At Peace, is the second studio venture by Malian musician Ballake Sissoko and French cellist Vincent Segal. The pair teamed up two years ago after a chance meeting and produced their first album, Chamber Music. Sissoko plays the traditional West African 21-string harp called the kora, and his Mailian…
Named after the famed New Orleans Mardi Gras parade float, Smokey Mary, singer/pianist Harry Connick, Jr.’s 2013 studio album coincides with the 20th anniversary of the Krewe of Orpheus, the Mardi Gras super krewe which Connick co-founded in 1993. The parade’s massive, multi-unit Smokey Mary float was named for the coal-burning train that, in the…
Radiohead’s side project, Atoms for Peace, is an experimental rock and electronic group which released their new album, Amok, in February. The group was formed in late 2009, but was nameless for quite some time, often being referred to as simply Thom Yorke’s band (lead vocalist, head songwriter, guitarist and pianist for Radiohead). However, Yorke…
Contemporary blues singer Janiva Magness has been nominated for the 2013 Blues Music Awards / B.B. King Entertainer of the Year, Album of the Year– Stronger for It, Contemporary Blues Female Artist of the Year, Contemporary Blues Album of the Year– Stronger for It and Song of the Year–I Won’t Cry (by Magness and Dave…
Yvonne Ramage, an acoustic solo artist, wrote and produced a CD called K.O.K.O, featuring her funky-folky mix of upbeat pop sounds. Ramage returns to her roots in the Pacific Northwest after touring internationally and living in Las Vegas performing original music and polishing her songwriting skills. K.O.K.O showcases Ramage’s smooth vocals while on guitar and…
I have to admit that until very recently I had not heard of Iris Dement. But when I saw the cover of her new CD I had to hear what she had to say in her new book of songs. Just by looking at her I was positive that this was a singer with deep…
