An in-depth look at the work of an musical artist, be they band, duo, solo artist, or composer. The flagship of the Spotlight series run by Group Therapy.
How much can a band change its sound while still being recognizable as itself? Today, I present Exhibit N: the rock group that rocked until it stopped. University students Takada Masako, Zaikawa Yuri, and Himeno Sayaka met at a Tokyo … Continue reading Artist Spotlight: Nisennenmondai
Happy Mardi Gras Day, everyone! In honor of the holiday, I would like to spotlight the musician who, for me, best exemplifies the spirit of the celebration. Mac Rebennack, aka Dr. John, aka The Night Tripper, aka The Gris-Gris Man. … Continue reading Artist Spotlight: Dr. John – All on a Mardi Gras Day
(Check out Part One for 1976-1984: Tumult and Victory and 1985-1993: The MTV Era) 1994-Present: Bearded, Rich, and Cranky In 1994, Tom Petty made a couple of significant changes. First, he broke up with longtime drummer Stan Lynch, who was a solid musician (he wrote … Continue reading Artist Spotlight: The Three Lives of Tom Petty, Pt. 2
Tom Petty, as a solo artist and member of several great rock bands, is a bit of an enigma. Here’s a 44-year-old guy who wins an MTV VMA for a song where he plays a guitar and harmonica country ballad, … Continue reading Artist Spotlight: The Three Lives of Tom Petty, Pt. 1
“DO DRUGS!” anonymous 6’4” 300 lb biker at Monster Magnet concert, circa 1999 Emerging from New Jersey’s….what the hell is in NJ anyway…swamps? Pine barrens? Landfills?….um, landscape in the late 80s, Monster Magnet became one of what Jim DeRogatis calls … Continue reading Artist Spotlight: Monster Magnet – It’s a Satanic Drug Thing, You Wouldn’t Understand
Daft Punk is the House band you’ve heard of even if you don’t listen to House. Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem have actually been collaborating for a lot longer than you might expect. They first met as schoolmates and … Continue reading Artist Spotlight: Daft Punk
Brothers and Sisters! I want to see a sea of hands out there! Lemme see a sea of hands! I want everyone to kick up some noise! I want to hear some revolution out there, Brothers, I want to hear a little … Continue reading Artist Spotlight: The MC5 – A Testimonial
Artist Spotlight courtesy of thunderclap_monolith He’s sold more than 150 million records, won countless awards, and is enjoying his status now as a respected elder statesman – but for the longest time, at least in my experience, it used to … Continue reading Artist Spotlight: Billy Joel
I first became aware of Brian Setzer when he played Eddie Cochran and covered “Summertime Blues” in the 1987 sleeper hit La Bamba. This was pretty inspired casting – most of the big-name musicians in the movie were played by … Continue reading Artist Spotlight: Brian Setzer – Rock ’til You Pop
Chaos Chaos consists of sisters Asya and Chloe Saavedra. Lead vocalist and keyboardist Asya was born in 1992 while drummer and background vocalist Chloe was born in 1994. I mention their birth years only because they released their first album … Continue reading Artist Spotlight: Smoosh/Chaos Chaos
This is going to be a fairly music-heavy spotlight, since I believe that in many cases the music speaks for itself better than I could. Pink Floyd’s origin story is somewhat murky and hard to explain, to make it short, … Continue reading Artist Spotlight: Pink Floyd
The Legendary Pink Dots are a long running psychedelic, literary, industrial, rock band. They formed in 1980 in London, though they’ve been based in Amsterdam since 1984. The band is fundamentally composed of Edward Ka-Spel (born Edward Francis Sharp) and … Continue reading Artist Spotlight: The Legendary Pink Dots
I’m starting this Spotlight with the best tracks first. If you listen to nothing else today, listen to these two songs. http://www.dailymotion.com/… Those are the first and second tracks off of Supermodified, Amon Tobin’s fourth major studio LP, which came out … Continue reading Artist Spotlight: Amon Tobin – Orphan Black, Splinter Cell, and Brazilian Jazz
Kanye West. What a singular artist. No other rap musician has created so many classic albums, each with a unique sound and each so influential in its own way. At the same time, very few figures in any sphere of … Continue reading Artist Spotlight: Kanye West
If you were going on a road trip, this is the CD mix I would be really pushy about making you listen to on the way: “Red Sea, White Sea” There are two schools of thought on how to start … Continue reading Artist Spotlight: Shearwater
Artist Spotlight courtesy of Dragonfly If one were to make the “Mount Rushmore” of Pittsburgh music, who would be on it? Nineteenth century songwriter Stephen Foster is a given, as is legendary composer Henry Mancini. Slot number three would most … Continue reading Artist Spotlight: Donnie Iris
Natural Snow Buildings are a duo from Paris, consisting of Mehdi Ameziane and Solange Gularte. Formed in 1997, they make long droning soundscapes punctuated by psychedelic folk elements, all filtered through an, at times, very lo-fi production. They were extremely … Continue reading Artist Spotlight: Natural Snow Buildings
You might not expect that an optometrist who taught himself modern recording techniques would win a Grammy Trustees Award (i.e., the recording academy’s lifetime achievement honor). But then again, never be surprised by anything you read in an Artist Spotlight. Continue reading Artist Spotlight — Rudy Van Gelder, Jazz’s Most Important Optometrist
I primarily know RJD2 as a DJ/producer who creates R&B/soul-inflected soundscapes from obscure samples, reflecting and refracting their original sources to make music that never existed before simultaneously sound like a reverent homage. But I say “primarily,” because I don’t … Continue reading Artist Spotlight: RJD2 – ’70s Soul, Underground Hip Hop, and Don Draper
Jerry Goldsmith was, in my mind, the quintessential film composer. He might not have been The Best Ever, and feel free to rage about that question in the comments, but he was certainly among the most dependable. His scores often … Continue reading Artist Spotlight: Jerry Goldsmith
Kate Bush released her debut, The Kick Inside, as a 19 year-old. This always amazes me for a lot of reasons – most obviously, just wow, really? 19? It’s a totally self-assured in performance and conception for someone so young. … Continue reading Artist Spotlight: Kate Bush
