Matisyahu

Matisyahu’s voice crackles through the phone. “I was going over the Brooklyn Bridge, sorry. Any bridge going from Manhattan to Brooklyn breaks up reception,” he says. He is surprisingly soft spoken for such a powerful reggae-rock musician and someone who has a singing voice that soars.

Big Bad Voodoo Daddy

Disneyland was the place of a musical epiphany for Big Bad Voodoo Daddy trumpeter Glen “the kid” Marhevka. Unlike most 11 year-olds, it wasn’t Mickey or Donald that made a lasting impression and he didn’t even go near the rides; instead, it was seeing jazz legend Cab Calloway in full swing that captivated him. “He’s definitely been a big influence on the band, and for myself,” Marhevka says. “We just love his style and energy.”

Real Books or Ebooks?

They weigh 221 grams, hold 1000 books and are sucking the romance out of reading. They’ll “change the way you read forever,” according to the Borders website. But is this a good thing?

Music speaks louder than words

It would be hard to imagine a world without music. Music is a timeless art form that is always present – when we watch television, when we walk through a shopping centre and whenever we turn the radio on. However, aside from entertaining us, the most important and timeless purpose of music is to communicate.

Fame: No Pain, No Gain

Three expressionless faces were looking at me from the table at the front of the room. In the giant mirror behind them, I thought I could see myself shaking as my clammy hands proffered the CD I’d been clutching. Self-consciously I flattened the hastily written number sticking to the stomach of my leotard. For years I had a casual relationship with dance. But this audition was the beginning of a passionate affair.

Ode To Ellie

Are you familiar with the song River Deep, Mountain High? Perhaps you know the Beach Boys and their song And Then I Kissed Her or The Ronettes version of Be My Baby from the Dirty Dancing soundtrack. Or it could be the classic girl group song Leader Of The Pack, again The Ronettes. If you have a best of the 50s or 60s compilation CD, chances are you know Ellie Greenwich.

An American pop composer and producer, Greenwich was inducted into the Songwriters Hall Of Fame in 1991 with her one time husband and music collaborator Jeff Barry. Greenwich discovered Neil Diamond and published much of his early music and in 2004, Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 greatest rock songs included six Greenwich-Barry compositions. Last year I saw a stage production of the story of her life. Sadly, she died on August 26 at the age of 69.

old vs new

Check out the article I wrote about the pro’s and con’s of vinyl for online magazine Upstart. Personally, I love the idea of owning something solid, whether it be a vinyl record or a CD. However, I could never live without my ipod! What do you reckon?

sonic punk

The other day a uni friend of mine mentioned that The Sonics were one of his favourite bands. Cool, I know them, I thought to myself. They’re like the Kinks but American. Apparently not. My friend described them as one of the earliest punk bands. The Sonics I know were around in the early to mid 60s and punk only gained momentum in the 70s. I must be thinking of the wrong band, silly me!

Later that night I trawled through the long-forgotten depths of my ipod and sure enough I came across a handful of Sonics songs. If these were records they’d be dusty but since we’re talking digital files here, I only hypothetically blew the dust off before giving them a spin. As the high energy yet simple guitar riffs peppered with rockin’ sax and crazy vocal screams bombarded my headphones, I realised that with rock ‘n’ roll classics like Louie Louie, Have Love Will Travel, Roll Over Beethoven and Good Golly Miss Molly, it’s no wonder I considered them nothing more than another rock ‘n’ roll band.