Articles by Christopher Howard
16 stories found. Showing page 1 of 1.
Key player's disposable heroes
Music Feature | 12/8/1999 | By Christopher Howard
Everyone owned a cheap Casio synthesizer when they were 10 years old. Kids bashed away on the plastic keyboard for two days before the machine broke or they just got bored with it. Upset kids -- and a...[MORE]
Out of the blues
Music Feature | 11/24/1999 | By Christopher Howard
There’s the country blues, and there’s the city blues. And as Daytona Beach-based blues musician Mark Hodgson sang at a recent performance at a DeLand roadhouse, "Sometimes I get the blues I can’t eve...[MORE]
Trans Am: driven to be different
Music Feature | 11/3/1999 | By Christopher Howard
The title of Trans Am's latest CD, "Futureworld," could be an homage to Herbie Hancock's pioneering record "Future Shock," released 16 years ago. Hancock's record exemplifies the high-tech look and so...[MORE]
Chicago-style game of musical chairs
Music Feature | 10/6/1999 | By Christopher Howard
Over the past five years, the Windy City has produced a countless number of a new breed of bands -- Tortoise, Sea & Cake, Brokeback, Directions, Gastr Del Sol, Chicago Underground Orchestra, 5ive Styl...[MORE]
Stringing mad ideas together
Music Feature | 9/29/1999 | By Christopher Howard
Jon Rose isn't just a violinist making wacky noises with effects processors. The European- and Australian-based musician is also an author, curator, festival organizer, television actor, and an invent...[MORE]
Civic Minded Five add up to much more
Music Feature | 9/29/1999 | By Christopher Howard
While rock & roll was still in diapers, jazz cats like Ornette Coleman, Cecil Taylor and John Coltrane were blowing minds with the loud, raw and emotional music known as free jazz. Forty years later, ...[MORE]
Awakening psychic powers
Music Feature | 9/1/1999 | By Christopher Howard
"The music should be louder than any opinion of the music," says Jeff Mueller, guitarist/vocalist for June of 44, a band that usually has the description "post-rock" before its name. Mueller doesn't l...[MORE]
Three strikes from indie metal gods
Music Feature | 8/4/1999 | By Christopher Howard
The Melvins have always been described as heavy metal for those who hate heavy metal. Drummer Dale Crover agrees: "We're too weird for heavy-metal people and too metal for alternative people." And des...[MORE]
Lush melodies rooted in flower-power
Music Feature | 1/13/1999 | By Christopher Howard
Olivia Tremor Control’s new double album, "Black Foliage: Animation Music by the Olivia Tremor Control," is chock full of perfect ’60s pop melodies and noisy psychedelic interludes. And as part of the...[MORE]
They're no gentlemen
Music Feature | 11/4/1998 | By Christopher Howard
Don Caballero follows the "Full House Theory." Invented by drummer Damon Che, the theory states that when this Chicago-based indie-intrumental group performs a concert with a crowd of only 10 to 20 pe...[MORE]
What on earth?
Culture | 11/3/1999 | By Christopher Howard
Pop singer Björk may be Iceland's most famous export, but the aged, timeless art of native Icelander and former UCF art professor Johann Eyfells may prove to be longer lasting in Central Florida ...[MORE]
Small works don't capture the big picture
Art | 9/22/1999 | By Christopher Howard
There's nothing like a group show of unknown artists to place a finger on the pulse of the local arts community. "Art Three By ...," the Maitland Art Center's annual juried art competition, gathers 65...[MORE]
Southern lights frame tradition
Art | 9/16/1999 | By Christopher Howard
At the close of the century, it's somewhat ironic for artists, especially in the photography-saturated '90s, to commit themselves to old-fashioned ideas of truth and reality in their art, but photogra...[MORE]
Sound and vision create 'Emergency'
Art | 5/19/1999 | By Christopher Howard
Since the 1960s, art critics have declared the death and rebirth of painting countless times, but the art form has consistently proven itself relevant to contemporary life. Iran native, graduate of...[MORE]
Artistic endeavor benefits from space exploration
Art | 11/25/1998 | By Christopher Howard
Performance Space Orlando, a new art-and-theater venue on Mills Avenue, successfully eludes all categories: It’s not just a nightclub, a bar, a coffeehouse, an auditorium or a theater company. It has ...[MORE]
Evolutionary exhibit is sensory fiesta
Art | 10/28/1998 | By Christopher Howard
The political and social revolutions that took place in Mexico between 1910 and 1930 produced an explosion of artistic activity. Mexican artists challenged the European influence of academic painting ...[MORE]
16 stories found. Showing page 1 of 1.
81 reviews found. Showing page 1 of 5.
The ABCs of Anarchy
Recording review: by Christopher Howard | 5/26/1999
I've always been a supporter of Negativland's infamous intellectual-property challenges and copyright-infringement battles with U2's record label and the Record Industry Association of America, but th...[MORE]
Peel Session
Recording review: by Christopher Howard | 3/24/1999
Judging from this three-song, 25-minute EP, Autechre’s ever-busy Sean Booth and Rob Brown seem like the type of guys who iron their socks and underwear. The electronica compositions from this Manchest...[MORE]
Baby Got Away
Recording review: by Christopher Howard | 3/10/1999
If you like Liz Phair, you’ll probably enjoy Virginia Dare’s "Baby Got Away." This trio of San Francisco fringe-music scenesters tackles similar day-to-day matters but lacks Phair’s passion and gusto....[MORE]
Reach the Rock
Recording review: by Christopher Howard | 2/3/1999
"Reach the Rock" is the latest flick from John Hughes, the man who transformed teen-sex comedies into intimate, serio-comic dramas. Although I haven’t seen it, I am eager to see how Hughes integrated ...[MORE]
The Oranj Album
Recording review: by Christopher Howard | 1/20/1999
The jazz parodists of Oranj Symphonette have their work cut out for them. This eclectic troupe performs oddball renditions of Henry Mancini film scores, tongue-in-cheek versions of revered jazz standa...[MORE]
Ende Neu
Recording review: by Christopher Howard | 12/23/1998
Since their formation in 1980, German experimental outlaws Einsturzende Neubauten have nullified the division between everyday street noises and music, between art and life, thereby becoming perhaps t...[MORE]
Bang
Recording review: by Christopher Howard | 2/23/2000
The press release for "Bang" touts U.S. underground indie darlings the Jesus Lizard as the '90s greatest live rock & roll band. Having witnessed their monstrous, bourbon-fueled act numerous times, I'd...[MORE]
With Drawn
Recording review: by Christopher Howard | 12/15/1999
Like many inventive jazz groups, drummer EJ Rodriguez, bassist Brad Jones and vibraphonist Bill Ware -- the rhythmic nucleus of the renowned Jazz Passengers -- formed Vibes from late-night jam session...[MORE]
Midnight Vultures
Recording review: by Christopher Howard | 12/15/1999
With a sleazy R&B soundtrack and word-salad lyrics, everyone's favorite loser defies more than "Sexx Laws" (the lead track) on "Midnight Vultures," a collection of flamboyant party tunes. Sporting an ...[MORE]
Errata
Recording review: by Christopher Howard | 11/24/1999
Guitarist Elliott Sharp, a 20-year New York City veteran musician who formed intellectual noise group Carbon amidst the post-punk No Wave scene of the late '70s, has never been short of ideas and expe...[MORE]
Who Do We Think You Are?
Recording review: by Christopher Howard | 11/24/1999
The opening song on Trans Am's tour CD, "Who Do We Think You Are?," mixes vocoder and silly Casio beats as the singer chants "Baby, baby/ what's my name/ I'm the funky guy" in a very unfunky way. This...[MORE]
Viva Wisconsin
Recording review: by Christopher Howard | 11/17/1999
On the first day of junior high, homeroom teachers should hand out copies of the Violent Femmes' first album to every student along with their class schedules. It's required listening for the perpetua...[MORE]
XXX
Recording review: by Christopher Howard | 10/27/1999
Although MTV has long since abandoned music-video vanguards ZZ Top, compare "XXX" to any of the neo-grunge bands the network currently champions and you’ll see who’s the real boss. "XXX" boasts no gim...[MORE]
Cobra and Phases Group Play Voltage in the Milky Night
Recording review: by Christopher Howard | 10/6/1999
Stereolab's new album is both difficult and very likable. Clocking in at a whopping 75 minutes, "Cobra and Phases Group Play Voltage in the Milky Night" accumulates layer upon layer of bubbly space-ag...[MORE]
Pedals
Recording review: by Christopher Howard | 9/29/1999
Please don't call The Aluminum Group's Pedals "lounge," even though the group's brand of sophisticated-feeling music brings out the best elements of Burt Bacharach and The Carpenters with the advanced...[MORE]
Veterans of Disorder
Recording review: by Christopher Howard | 9/22/1999
Self-exiled on their rural Virginia estate, Royal Trux's Neil Hagerty and Jennifer Herrema create music essentially for an audience of two: themselves. The duo's records are almost accidental by-produ...[MORE]
The Bootlicker
Recording review: by Christopher Howard | 9/16/1999
"The Bootlicker" isn't the blissful CD brimming with pop melodies I anticipated, but the promise of unconventional Melvins material still rings true. The second recording of a trilogy, "The Bootlicker...[MORE]
Avenue B
Recording review: by Christopher Howard | 9/8/1999
The one aspect of Iggy Pop's career that has been ignored -- his voice -- is in full force on "Avenue B." That's not necessarily a good thing. The godfather of punk was always more potent as a perform...[MORE]
Black Elvis/Lost in Space
Recording review: by Christopher Howard | 8/18/1999
In "Living Astro," Kool Keith declares, "Every morning I wake up looking in the mirror, I am the original Black Elvis -- I'm for real with this." Hip-hop's schizophrenic is back this time as the Black...[MORE]
Klezmer Festival 1998 -- Live at the Knitting Factory
Recording review: by Christopher Howard | 8/18/1999
As part of the flourishing Jewish Alternative Movement, the reworkings of klezmer, Hasidic and other Eastern European-based musics found on "Klezmer Festival 1998 -- Live at the Knitting Factory" coul...[MORE]