August | 2025 | burning ambulance
2 posts published by burning ambulance during August 2025| burning ambulance
2 posts published by burning ambulance during August 2025| burning ambulance
Jayne Cortez was born on a US military base in 1934. That wasn’t her name then, but what matters is who we are when we’re making art, so Jayne Cortez she is. She grew up in Los Angeles, steeped in music and art, particularly jazz; she said in an interview, “When a new Charlie Parker record came out, I had … Continue reading →| burning ambulance
I saw James Brown live once. It was in early 1994, at Radio City Music Hall. My father took my wife and me. This was a surprise, because my father was not a big live-music guy (he took me…| burning ambulance
Meshuggah are not an easy band to love. Their music is extremely heavy, discordant and often punishing to listen to. They rarely pursue the easy catharsis of a bluesy riff or a syncopated rhythm. Their guitar riffs sound like a hydraulic press slamming shut over and over again, and their drum patterns are hyper-intricate, but mechanistic, only occasionally syncing up with the guitars. … Continue reading →| burning ambulance
Violinist Darragh Morgan’s work has fascinated me for years. I first connected with him in 2017, when he released For Violin And Electronics, an album featuring six pieces that were, in o…| burning ambulance
One of the great tragedies of the early days of punk was the death of Minutemen guitarist and vocalist D. Boon, who died in an automobile accident in 1985. Minutemen sounded like no one else in the scene; their intelligent lyrics and unusual musical approach set them apart from their contemporaries and set the stage for the wider inclusion of … Continue reading →| burning ambulance
Every fourth Tuesday of a given month, I’ll be reviewing five new albums, sometimes focusing on a single genre and other times grabbing whatever sounds good. This week, we’re all about classical. W…| burning ambulance
Pianist Matthew Shipp has recorded in about every context you can imagine. He’s led multiple trios with some of the most eminent bassists and drummers in the world of avant-garde jazz; has made quartet albums with trumpeters Wadada Leo Smith and Roy Campbell, saxophonist Daniel Carter and Ivo Perelman, and others; has joined horn players, bassists, and drummers in duos; has accompanied poets; and has worked with electronic … Continue reading →| burning ambulance
It seems impossible, given the breadth and depth of his output, but it’s true: Tenor saxophonist James Brandon Lewis has only been “on the scene” for a little over a decade. He’s made mor…| burning ambulance
Nothing ever comes easy, especially if you’re a noisy punk band from Baltimore. Birth (Defects) recorded Deceiver/Mirror in 2017 and it almost didn’t see the light of day, but luckily, Reptilian Records have rescued it from obscurity and are releasing it on this week. There were so many obstacles. One member nearly derailed the session the night before, apparently doubting … Continue reading →| burning ambulance
Kamasi Washington’s The Epic was released 10 years ago this month, on May 5, 2015. For those who don’t know, it’s a 3CD or 3LP set containing nearly three hours of music performed by a la…| burning ambulance
I’m kind of astonished to realize I’ve been listening to composer Anna Thorvaldsdottir’s music for almost a decade. I first heard her work in 2015, when she released two albums within 12 months. Ae…| burning ambulance
Percussionist Steven Schick is a professor of music at the University of California San Diego and the artistic director of the La Jolla Symphony and Chorus and the San Francisco Contemporary Music …| burning ambulance
This interview originally ran in the Burning Ambulance weekly email. You should subscribe. (It’s free.) Cellist Maya Beiser operates in a zone all her own, encompassing classical music, adapt…| burning ambulance
The Sono Luminus label has been documenting the work of Icelandic composers and performers on exquisitely produced CDs (some of which also include Blu-Ray audio) for several years now. In 2019, I h…| burning ambulance
Recently my 160GB iPod Classic started to die. The battery wouldn’t hold a charge, especially not in cold weather. If I selected an artist/album to listen to, then decided to scroll through a…| burning ambulance
Composer Anna Thorvaldsdottir has released two albums in the last 12 months, both of great potential interest to fans of adventurous music, whether they start from a classical, metal, or even elect…| burning ambulance
The five records below might seem to have very little in common. Two of them have shared personnel, but that’s really about it. The unifying factor is a little deeper: Each is the work of a highly …| burning ambulance
