Weekly Music News Roundup

Garage a Trois
Garage a Trois

Omar Rodriguez-Lopez announces a new solo album for Stones Throw; Saul Williams speaks about the aftermath of The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of Niggy Tardust; Garage a Trois announces tour dates and posts an album preview; Don Caballero returns to the Northeast, and much more.

Weekly Music News Roundup

Fantômas
Fantômas

Fantômas plays The Director’s Cut in its entirety, Jon Brion posts an instrumental tune, Tim Fite releases a free Halloween EP, MySpace posts the Ben Folds Five performance of The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner, and much more…

Q&A: Jerseyband on Lungcore and the Lives of Unsigned Artists

Photo credit: Theo Wargo
Photo credit: Theo Wargo

With a demolishing dose of horn-heavy chug metal, Jerseyband stands as the logical result of loose forerunners such as John Zorn’s Naked City, Mr. Bungle, and Estradasphere. The seven-piece band’s progressive fusion touches on jazz, groove, big-band flair, and math rock, making a sonic concoction as wild as its live shows.

Q&A: God of Shamisen

Led by Tsugaru-shamisen master Kevin Kmetz, Santa Cruz’s God of Shamisen creates cultural collisions in the form of shredding, Japanese-infused progressive metal. Scott Morrow catches up with Kmetz and bassist/producer Mark Thornton on the heels of the group’s full-length debut release.

Farmers Market: Surfin’ USSR

farmersmarketforweb.jpgFormed in 1991, Farmers Market is a Norwegian quintet that specializes in Balkan-jazz fusion. Led by multi-instrumentalist Stian Carstensen (accordion, guitar, banjo, kaval), the group has sporadically functioned over the last seventeen years, releasing just three albums (one live) before Surfin’ USSR.