Story Archives of 'music'

Okay, I get it. Snuggies are funny. We even had a Brookstone catalogue featuring a camel-colored "elegant snuggie" lying around the Word of Mouth cube farm. But does the world really need a Weezer snuggie? Watch this infomercial and help us decide:

The lute brings to mind images of Medieval royalty, slowly promenading across a decadent ballroom floor. For lutenist Ronn McFarlane, this couldn’t be further from reality.

These funk meisters are more than guitar heroes. They’re also soon-to-be doctors and orthodontists from Philadelphia’s most prestigious medical schools. The band Freaks of Nurture pick up their guitars, horns, and electric bass when they’re not learning how to perform surgery or treat hypertension.

Sadly, there was no winner at this year’s Med School Battle of the Bands. The Aerosmith and Black Eyed Peas covers were too compelling to pick just one stand-out band.

Ben Neill is the sole player of an instrument called the mutantrumpet. It has three different bells, two sets of valves, a mini-trombone slide and electronics. Neill deploys this contraption in electronica forays full of morphing rhythms and melodies that shift through timbral voices as if they were injected into a kaleidoscope.

Karda Estra is the recording persona of English composer Richard Wileman. Wileman started out as a rocker but veered into composing classical works for chamber ensembles and electric guitar. His imagery tends toward the gothic and his music to the dramatic.

John Diliberto talked to him about his sound as part of the "Echolocation" series.