#guitar

Daniel Donato Conceives Cosmic Country On Debut LP

“Guitar is the great lighthouse of my life,” says Daniel Donato. The musician speaks with gusto about his work ─ and for good reason. On his debut album, A Young Man’s Country, he invites the listener into what it must be like for his live shows, and he dazzles not only with his thoughtful...

Bee Scott

PLAYING SEATTLESimon Henneman Explores "Non-idiomatic Shred Guitar" with Cantrip

Cantrip plays the release show for Authentic Luxury at River Dan's on May 4th. Seattle has a vibrant community for free improvisation, and guitarist Simon Henneman is a veteran member. Since the early 2000s, Henneman has been playing at Cafe Racer, a local hang known for its weekly free Racer...

Alexa Peters

LIVE REVIEWAlbert Hammond, Jr. @ Bowery Ballroom

Ysabella Monton for AudioFemme. Any fans of The Strokes can recognize early on that Albert Hammond, Jr.'s rhythm guitar was a heavy influence on driving the band's distinct garage rock sound, so it's great to see him have room to shine on his own. Since he last performed in New York City two years...

Ysabella Monton

ALBUM REVIEWAjay Mathur "9 to 3"

Dig the new dirt on Swiss psych-rocker's Ajay Mathur latest album, 9 to 3. Released this Spring, on May 1st 2015, 9 to 3 is a heady take on Americana, blending psychedelic rock with an international take on folk, for fans of everything from Dead Meadow to George Harrison. Mathur has an eclectic...

Marianne White

VIDEO OF THE WEEKThe Bulls "Come Unwound"

Happy day after Thanksgiving. Let's fade away from sweaters and forced family relations and return to head-in-the-blogosphere normalcy with a viewing of Los Angeles duo The Bulls "Come Unwound." Sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll is a cliché for a reason, the trio go together like turkey, stuffing, with...

Sophie Saint Thomas

TRACK REVIEWSteve Gunn "Milly's Garden"

Steve Gunn. Photo by Constance Mensh Despite his fifteen-year career and numerous collaborations, including work with Kurt Vile's group The Violators, Steve Gunn always seems reluctant to advertise himself. I'm not just talking about advertising in a buy-my-records sense, although there is that --...

Carena Liptak

VIDEO REVIEWCass McCombs "Unearthed"

The contents of Cass McCombs' long and winding double album Big Wheel and Others fall into one of two categories. About half are capital-s Songs, with verses and choruses, beginnings, middles, and ends. The rest of the collection expands, with mesmerizing slowness, to fill less rigidly constructed...

Carena Liptak

INTERVIEWWillie Watson

Willie Watson recorded his debut solo effort, the straightforwardly-titled Folk Singer Vol. 1, over the course of two days at Woodland Sound Studios, the studio owned by Gillian Welch in Nashville, TN. In those sessions, he played whichever songs came to mind: the collection features some...

Carena Liptak

ALBUM REVIEWBarzin "To Live Alone In That Long Summer"

Though his songwriting dwells in intimately confessional territory, Canadian singer/songwriter Barzin Hosseini himself is a pretty enigmatic figure. Publicly, he appears as Barzin or Barzin H, with little biographical detail apart from what's in in his songs. His presence as a songwriter, though,...

Carena Liptak

FLASHBACK FRIDAYKaren Dalton

Karen Dalton's mystique, largely a product of her personal misfortunate, makes her an easy candidate for legend: it's fun to imagine her, half Irish, half Cherokee, in a wooly, bohemian large-pocketed coat, Dalton had thick dark bangs and two missing bottom teeth knocked out when she got between...

Carena Liptak

YEAR END LISTNotes From The Road - Top 5 Musical Destinations of 2013

I took several road trips this year. At the beginning of 2013, adventure felt overdue—something about going to new places, with no routine or expectations, opens you up to hear music you'd never think to listen to otherwise. Below are the five biggest, best surprises from the road—hopefully, you'll...

Carena Liptak

FLASHBACK FRIDAYMississippi John Hurt

Flash way, way back to February 14th, 1928: John Hurt, soon to be better known as Mississippi John Hurt, recorded a two-track 78 rpm in Memphis. The songs, the first two Hurt ever recorded, were “Frankie” and “Nobody's Dirty Business,” and they won Hurt an invitation to come record in New York...

Carena Liptak