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Modern English, Primitive Programme, Regina Spektor, STS9 and more
By Bill Kopp, Brian Staker, and Lee Zimmerman
Music history quiz: What popular British new wave/post-punk band began life as The Lepers? Modern English! (Did the header give it away?) But did you know that, as The Lepers, the English band's sound had more in common with post-punk gloom merchants Joy Division than the sunny synth-pop heard on Modern English's 1982 hit "I Melt With You," which made them a flagship band of the '80s, a time when the Union Jack again ruled the musical world.
The Infamous Stringdusters, Ghost of Paul Revere, Mighty Mystic, Red Sage and more
By Randy Harward and Bill Kopp
Founded in Charlottesville, Va., in 2006, the Infamous Stringdusters navigate the path between traditional bluegrass and a modern jam-band aesthetic. The quintet builds its music on a foundation of old-time folk and bluegrass, and its arrangements allow for plenty of jamming in a live setting.
It once seemed surprising that an unassuming Scotch-English folkie like Al Stewart would end up with a mega Top 40 hit, given an early musical style that so closely tapped traditional templates. Nevertheless, when it was released in July 1976, Stewart's seventh album Year of the Cat (RCA) and its title track—with those infectious guitar and sax solos—made this unassuming singer-songwriter a household name.
Guitar virtuoso Eric Johnson gets a spark out of playing acoustic—and piano.
By Bill Kopp
Ever since his breakthrough third album, Ah Via Musicom (Capitol, 1990), Austin, Texas, guitarist Eric Johnson has been a widely admired guitar hero. From the start, he wedded dazzling technique to a strong melodic sense, gaining a reputation as a guitarist's guitarist along the way.
The Pimps of Joytime, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic and more...
By Randy Harward, Lee Zimmerman, and Bill Kopp
Growing up as a Kiss fan, I wanted everything associated with them: the records, the cheap iron-on transfers for my Hanes undershirts, the lunchbox—and, seein' that it was issued by Kiss' label, Casablanca Records, Parliament's Live: The P-Funk Earth Tour (1977).
City Weekly music writers reflect on the best and worst of 2016 in 250 words or less.
By Randy Harward, Kimball Bennion, Bill Kopp, Brian Staker, Lee Zimmerman, and Alex Springer
Ubiquitous, obligatory, pedantic and rote, the year-end wrap-up piece is also a wank. All year long, music critics foist our opinions upon you, the readers.