Tag Archives: song-to-know

Think of Greg Fox as an avant-garde Steve Gadd. Whereas Gadd specializes in bringing immaculate grooves with him wherever he goes, Fox — a thirty-something New York drummer renowned for his fierce yet supple attack— is the guy you call if you’re looking to infuse your band with a kind …

There are songs you need to know, and there are songs you need to hear to believe they existed in the first place. Such is the case with this newly reissued cover of the Beatles‘ “Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)” by the long-defunct Hour Glass, the short-lived band featuring …

Who but Sparks would release a bombastic song about being modest? “Self-Effacing” comes off their upcoming album, A Steady Drip, Drip, Drip (out May 15th), and it’s just what you’ve come to expect from the art-rock duo: grand vocals, dramatic music, and pure camp. Coming in on waves of “na …

It’s been a little while since Sam Hunt dropped a certifiable banger. The country-pop innovator, loved and hated in equal measure, has largely stuck with the moody introspection of “Downtown’s Dead” and “Sinning With You” since dominating American radio with 2017’s “Body Like a Back Road.” But he’s made it …

Decades before Lana Del Rey introduced Joni Mitchell to millennials, Judy Collins was spreading the Canadian bohemian gospel. Mitchell’s heart-wrenching Christmas classic “River” has just received its 687th cover, and it’s arguably one of the best: Collins’ rendition, released Friday off her new record Winter Stories, gives the piano-laden track …

Empath made a big impression with last year’s Liberating Guilt and Fear EP, a radical 16-minute rush of basement noise and sky-high melody. It was an exciting tape to listen to, in part because it suggested so many possibilities for the future of this band as it continues figuring out …

Like countless other Americans, drummer Antonio Sanchez was appalled by the anti-Mexican rhetoric Donald Trump spewed during his presidential campaign. On his 2017 album, Bad Hombre, the Mexico City–born jazz artist — best known for his groundbreaking solo-percussion score to 2015 Best Picture winner Birdman, as well as his extensive …

This triumphantly sad-sack ballad first surfaced in 1963 as a b-side from Bobby Darin, then an icon of aspirational cool thanks to his definitive version of Brecht/Weill’s “Mack The Knife.” Then, in ’64, Sammy Davis Jr. released an even sadder version of “Not For Me,” with potent subtext added to …

When it comes to improvised music, there’s something about duets with drummers. Ever since the 1974 release of John Coltrane’slandmark Interstellar Space session, on which the saxophonist was joined only by drummer Rashied Ali, countless musicians — from fellow saxists to trumpeters, pianists, guitarists and even double-bassists — have squared …