Heads up: The Black Seeds are hitting Amsterdam again!
They’re promoting the European release of the album Into the Dojo, out in this country today. (No, I wasn’t queueing for it. I bought it on their tour here last summer. So there.) In my opinion the album isn’t up to the standard of On the Sun, [...]
Last night’s gig, Katchafire at the Sugar Factory, went off. Those guys were magnificent — deeply traditional reggae by a bunch of Māori fellas, with dense Pacific vocal harmonies and lots of Kiwi warmth and enthusiasm.
They started early, and the crowd was pretty thin even by the end of the show (they played from about [...]
This post combines a short review of Björk’s concert last night (short version: disappointing but good) with a rant about Dutch concert-going habits (short version: they’re tall and don’t care if you’re not).
I’ve been telling people lately about a new instrument I’ve fallen in love with: the baglamas (Gr. μπαγλαμάς). It’s a tiny version of a bouzouki11. Not the same as a Turkish baglama, which is roughly the same size as the bouzouki although I’ve no idea how it’s tuned. [↪], intended to complement my mandola Marama22. [...]
Last weekend: yoga, and Greek folk music. (Ok, that’s not a fair description of rebetiko, but I don’t know any better.) Yay for summer!
Last night’s concert at the Bimhuis was pretty extraordinary. I hadn’t heard of any of these folks before, so many thanks to Marijn and Frans for prodding me into going!
The Belmondo brothers are I believe Paris-based, a brass duo, do not miss an opportunity to see these guys play. Yusef Lateef is apparently a bit [...]
Wow. I finally got around to watching The Blues Brothers on my laptop (yes, it’s downloaded, yes, I’m ashamed). It’s the DVD edition. Meaning … new dialogue in the opening scene, shots of Elwood parking the Bluesmobile behind “Danger, High Voltage” doors at the end of an alleyway and climbing out the window because there’s [...]
(I’m not really here until March, just poking my head up for a short-short review of last night’s concert by The Decemberists.)
The Decemberists rock. I was explicitly planning not to buy the album (there’s about a straight day’s music coming from New Zealand in the post)… but after hearing the concert, I couldn’t pass it [...]
I left Richard Bona’s concert at the Melkweg last night feeling an unpleasant mix of awe and irritation. Funnily enough, both reactions can be traced back to one thing: his professionalism.
It’s crazy busy at the moment, hence the recent shortage of news. But a cd from Mike turned up in the mail yesterday with photos from his visit, and I just had to share the one of Andi (boatmate) rocking it on his cello during our extremely laid-back jam session.
Here’s the photographer; as you can [...]