more by Christopher John Treacy
[FOLK] If singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Joanna Newsom’s career in music were to end now, she’d still have made her mark. Others have done it with much less.
[ROCK] Originally from Austin, metal quartet The Sword has taken new direction on High Country (Razor & Tie), expanding further beyond the shred-heavy volume of their earlier discs in favor of a tighter, more manicured presentation.
[FUNK] As the name might suggest, Baltimore-based Pigeons Playing Ping Pong brings an amused, prankster-style energy to the stage, making the band a recurring festival draw with its gooey funk amalgam.
[POP] The lone studio project of Katie Lau expands to a trio for the stage, Painted Zeros, allowing the barbed-but-dreamy tones of the Don Giovanni debut, Floriography (out late October), to flourish.
[FUNK] Back in the early-mid 1970s, jazz visionaries like Herbie Hancock and Miles Davis got caught up in the swirl of funk as an off-shoot of soul with more progressive possibilities.
[BLUES] Chris Beard, the son of bluesman Joe Beard imported his family’s Beale Street roots to Rochester, where he was raised, spreading a little Memphis grit through the Western New York blues scene.
[ROCK] You might not be familiar with Mike Dillon’s name, but you may have heard his fine percussive talents on discs by Marco Benevento, Ani DiFranco, Les Claypool, Primus, and/or Garage a Trois.