Talk Music Talk with boice

A new Grooms album ever two years is the perfect clockwork for indie rock devotees. As the lead vocalist and guitarist, Travis Johnson heads up the Brooklyn-based band whose debut came out in 2009 wh…

We need more fearless artists like Sarah Elizabeth Charles inhabiting the world. On Free of Form, the vocalist and composer's third incredible album in a row, she continues to question the expectatio…

Eric Morse’s second children’s book, What is Hip-Hop? (produced by journalist Nelson George) is a vibrant picture book on the rich culture and celebrates not only rap music but also breakdancing and …

Maestra Amy Andersson has toured throughout fourteen countries with an expertise that flourishes in a variety of settings. This versatility has allowed her to conduct operatic, symphonic, Broadway mus…

The 150th episode of Talk Music Talk: Grace Upon Grace (Floordoor Records/Already Dead Tapes) marks the return of Public Speaking, the solo project of Jason Anthony Harris. The new album is Jason’s r…

The latest release from Soft Glas, the solo project of João Gonzalez, is a centered meditation on receiving the comfort of loved ones and looking back to appreciate the joy in present moments. Premie…

You have to admire someone whose journalism career owes a debt to Duran Duran. In 1987, for a college assignment, Lori Majewski started a Duranzine about her all-time favorite group. The publication …

A. Savage's solo debut, Thawing Dawn, is the 20th release on his own label, Dull Tools. After five full-lengths (and two EP’s) with Parquet Courts, the Brooklyn-based band Savage founded in 2010, Thaw…

Brazilian vibraphonist Victor Vieira-Branco wants to dirty up the percussion instrument. Perhaps an inspired connection from the São Paulo composer's love of punk music and its spirit. Earlier this y…

The cover of multi-instrumentalist and tape-manipulator L'Rain's debut album simultaneously represents the memory of her mother and the music partly inspired by her. Taja Cheek's solo project is a ph…

It takes a confident artist to title their album Shitty Hits. Singer/songwriter Katie Von Schleicher couldn't care less if you're in on the joke or not because, quite simply, her second release contai…

Whether on record or in a live setting, composer/multi-instrumentalist/vocalist Finnegan Shanahan's The Two Halves is hauntingly ambitious. The album, based on a Hudson River Railroad map (circa 1852…

The best creatives often design from a place of not seeing themselves represented in certain spaces. In the case of Mars Dixon, seven years ago he formed the band Aye Nako because he wanted to see a …

It seems highly unlikely to stumble into excellence. There is a pathway to it regardless of an elusive success or ambitious destinations. The procedures to excellence are what yield artists like rapp…

While everyone is familiar with the term "indie", we just might need more performers like Jazzy Ash to make "kindie" a household word. Independent artists who make music for kids. Over the course of …

For singer-songwriter Nick Pope, musical inspiration is often found in memories. Revisiting those moments, those events with perhaps a little more clarity that is only accessible through distance. Hi…

There's this thing that singer-songwriter Beau Borek does whenever he reaches for his falsetto. His voice catches for a moment and it breaks your heart each and every time. Which is apropos since his…

You know you've entered Gabriel Delicious Country when you hear his irreverent lyrics that scream to be rewinded and eight songs with more hooks than a tackle box. The LA-based singer/multi-instrumen…

New York-based composer Amir ElSaffar has triumphantly found that sweet spot of innovation not reduction when uniting two musical genres. Not Two, his latest release as a bandleader, features his Riv…

Regarding that old adage about asking a busy person if you need something done: well, in the case of bandleader/composer Mary Halvorson it may get completed but you could be waiting a long time. Sinc…