Music

Between a Rock and a Hard Place

By:

M.J. Fine, JE Feature

Talk about feast or famine: After a few months with only one or two notable shows, two fiercely inventive singer-songwriters played Philadelphia on the very same night. The enigmatic and nomadic Kristin Hersh brought her mighty Throwing Muses to World Café Live on March 10. It's been six years since the band's last release and nearly as long since their...

Music

Songwriter's Clearly Arrived

By:

Michael Elkin

Up-and-coming, rock-'n'-rolling Erik Janson has discovered that "Morning in Paradise" is followed by afternoons in nirvana. After a terrific reception for his album of folk-rock that folk in all genres took to, the young and ruggedly handsome singer/ composer has found "Morning in Paradise" is the music of the night played by hundreds of stations nationwide. Now, his sound has...

Music

Andrew Lipke: On His Way

By:

M.J. Fine, JE Feature

To be alive is to be beset by death. You can ignore that fact, obsess on it or let it motivate you. Philadelphia's Andrew Lipke gets this, and he uses it as fuel for his songs. His third album, "Motherpearl & Dynamite," begins and ends with glimpses of mortality; in between, he marches slowly but steadily toward the light. Lipke's...

Music

He Can Do That!

Marvin Hamlisch can do just about anything, earning a 'Chorus' of acclaim in the process

By:

Michael Elkin

A singular sensation? How about an octave of 'em! The Jewish genius that is haimish Marvin Hamlisch started at Juilliard, when at age 6, he became its youngest student to snap a piano to attention at the mere tickling of its ivories. Tickle me, Marvin: Audiences have been ever since, as the 66-year-old and his 88-key musical companion have 86ed...

Music

'Songs in Key of Chanukah'? Oh, Is Nice!

By:

Michael Elkin

Dreidel, dreidel, dreidel, they made it out of ... rock? Roll with it, muses Erran Baron Cohen, keying in on some new sound advice for those who want mischievous music with their matzah balls. It's all in his latest, the lyrical "Songs in the Key of Hanukkah." "Ocho Kandalikas," with Yasmin Levy adding her voice to the mix? Rapper Y-Love...