Album Review: Azel, by Bombino

Sun, 04/03/2016 - 11:22pm | Scott Korinke

Azel is the third album from Bombino, an international rock and blues musician from Niger. Following political and civil unrest in his homeland, Bombino taught himself how to play guitar and now,15 years later, is considered by many to be one of the finest guitar musicians in the world. His guitar work is simply brilliant on Azel, with the frantic energy to match any rock band and the blues sensibiliby of Jimi Hendrix. All the lyrics are sung in Bombino's native language of Tamasheq. He sings about both the geopolitical situation in Niger and Africa, along with extremely personal songs about love and friendship. The production is tight and simple, allowing Bombino's skill to shine, especially on tracks like "Iyat Ninhay / Jaguar (A Great Desert I Saw)," which feels like an endless, hypnotic stream of great guitar solos.

Catch 3rd Streaming with Gary Chew, April Fool's Day Edition

Fri, 04/01/2016 - 2:01pm | Jess Goddésse

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Gary Chew photo
Catch an all new 3rd Streaming with Gary Chew, locked and loaded for Friday afternoon at 3p PT on KDRT. Given that it's April Fools' Day, Gary expects to turn the show upside down with music that bends your ear in a different direction. Let's just say that Gary will kick the program off with a first movement of Mozart's 40th symphony like you’ve never heard before. Gary will then regale you with choice picks of great “April-ish” songs and tunes, totally sucking you into the fact that spring really has sprung, with none of this “Fall Has Fell” stuff. Expect surprises throughout Gary's hour of a music mix that's heard nowhere but KDRT. Stream live on Friday at kdrt.org, or take a “your-choice” approach of when to listen via the 3rd Streaming archive.

Album of the Week - Elvis Costello & The Brodsky Quartet - "The Juliet Letters" - TH 3/31

Thu, 03/31/2016 - 4:49pm | Jess Goddésse

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The Juliet Letters cover art
This week's featured album is The Juliet Letters, by Elvis Costello and The Brodsky String Quartet, released by Warner in 1993. Costello first encountered the Brodskys in 1989 at a performance of Shostakovic string quartets. They met in 1991 to begin their collaboration on this album, the concept of which is letters written to Juliet Capulet. Both Costello and the quartet members--Ian Belton and Michael Thomas, violins; Paul Cassidy, viola; and Jaqueline Thomas, cello--collaborated on the compositions.
 
The Juliet Letters seems a timely selection because E.C. is top of mind--he performed at the Masonic in San Francisco this week. It's also a wonderful example of genre-mingling, drawing fans of classical or modern string quartets into the rock/pop world and vice versa. If you were lucky enough to catch a full live performance at, say, Davies Symphony Hall, this may bring back some nice musical memories.

Jazz After Dark March 29, 2016

Tue, 03/29/2016 - 7:40pm | Don Shor

An hour of mellow mostly sax tonight. Nat King Cole on vocals, then: Lester Young with the Oscar Peterson Trio * Johnny Hodges * Art Pepper * Ella Fitzgerald with Duke Ellington * Gerry Mulligan * Paul Gonsalves * Stanley Turrentine * John Coltrane * Cannonball Adderley * Wes Montgomery * Paul Desmond * Rahsaan Roland Kirk * John Klemmer

Davisville, 3/28/16: A talk with Paul Boylan, Davis un-candidate

Mon, 03/28/2016 - 6:05pm | Bill Buchanan

Paul Boylan, a Davis attorney, was going to run for Davis City Council this June, then needed to withdraw from the race. This created a chance for me to talk with someone who had done the homework to run for office, and has shown a preference for plain talk in his comments on the Davis Vanguard, but now wouldn’t need to couch his opinions in the usually careful language of a political campaign. We talk about political donations, transparency, putting sin taxes on the ballot, increasing the visibility of police officers on weekend nights downtown, and what he means when he says Davis’ problems derive from its success.

Zakir Hussain on The Golden Road, F 3/25

Fri, 03/25/2016 - 6:20pm | Jess Goddésse

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Zakir Hussain photo

Rod Moseanko interviews tabla maestro Zakir Hussain on The Golden Road, Friday evening, March 25th. Playing in the footsteps of his illustrious father, Ustad Allarakha--who with Ravi Shankar introduced the glorious music of India to America--Zakir Hussain has acted as a musical bridge between his birth land and the rest of the world. To that end, every other year since 1996, he has served as curator, producer, and host in bringing the very cream of Indian music to tour America and Europe with his series Zakir Hussain and Masters of Percussion. The 2016 version will be no exception, presenting American audiences with extraordinary and exciting--and often spontaneous--combinations of percussive as well as melodic performers. The Golden Road airs Fridays on KDRT, 7-9pm PT. 

Live DiRT: Lance Canales Live on KDRT, Fri 3/25

Fri, 03/25/2016 - 7:57am | Jess Goddésse

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Lance Canales & The Flood photo

Dug Deep hosts Lance Canales & the Flood live in the KDRT studio on Friday, March 25th, starting at 2:30 pm PT. Lance Canales & The Flood are a roots-blues Americana trio from Fresno, California, where Canales lived the life that so many roots songs represent: hard labor, one-room shacks, and taunting ghosts who whisper of a better life. The Flood comprises stand-up bassist Jake (Cobra) Finney and drummer Daniel (DB) Burt, who support Canales’s guttural vocals and hard-edged storytelling with stripped-down, foot-stomping, acoustic instrumentation. 



Album of the Week (03/24) Protomartyr ~ The Agent Intellect

Thu, 03/24/2016 - 3:43pm | Danny

Lazy Post Warning: I discovered this album late in 2015. It made a ton of "best of the year" lists. They rocked The Blue Lamp a couple of weeks ago. The vinyl is a pretty green marble. It sounds even better than it looks and it looks fantastic. Here's a link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Agent_Intellect

 

Live DiRT: The Brothers Comatose Live on KDRT, Sat 3/19

Sat, 03/19/2016 - 1:16pm | Pieter Pastoor

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Brothers Comatose visit KDRT

Dug Deep hosts San Francisco's own The Brothers Comatose for an in-studio interview and live performance on the March 19th edition of Dinner Bell Roundup, starting at 4 pm Pacific time on KDRT. The segment is part of "Live DiRT," KDRT's pop-up live-music feature. 

The band will likely play songs from their latest release, City Painted Gold, their third studio album. Between a solid couple of releases and a highly energetic live-performance style, The Brothers Comatose have inspired a loyal following of folk fans, who helped to fund this album on Kickstarter. The frontmen for the group are brothers Ben and Alex Morrison, who provide lead vocals for the band, with Ben on guitar and Alex on the banjo.

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