The News Review:
- Asian-Americans – Music – New York Times
- PP MUSIC
- Music | projo.com | The Providence Journal
Asian-Americans – Music – New York Times
New York Times – Mar 4, 2007
Christine Joy Villano whose professional name is Christine Joy and who won this local Idol contest four years ago said she tried out for “American Idol” in 2004 with her version of Aretha Franklin’s “Natural Woman” but didn’t make it past the auditions. Last fall she moved to Atlanta to pursue her music career more seriously. A compliment she often hears she said is that “You sing like an African-American woman. ” But she does not want to hear that. “You want people to say: ‘She can sing!’ ” Ms… “You want people to say: ‘She can sing!’ ” Ms. ” ‘Who cares what she is? She needs to be a star!’ ” Phil Chen 23 the lead singer of an all Chinese-American alternative punk rock band 8PAST in the San Francisco Bay area said: “I’ve had a lot of people come up to me after we play and they say ‘I didn’t know what to expect with an Asian band. ‘ But they’re impressed. We’re not just kids who do math very well. “Some artists say so much is percolating in the underground that more Asian-American talent is bound to start bubbling up soon. Natalise a 22-year-old pop singer of Burmese and Chinese descent whose single “Love Goes n” was a local radio hit in 2002 while she attended.
PP MUSIC
Washington Post – Mar 4, 2007
“Though the Portland re. natives already had the crowd’s love they tried to earn it nonetheless. Considered an indie-darling supergroup — Harris and bassist Kathy Foster also perform as the duo Hutch and Kathy and drummer Lorin Coleman hails from Virga — the quartet specializes in lo-fi garage rock with a precious-punk edge. (Their latest album “The Body the Blood the Machine” makes a political-religious statement a la “American Idiot” but sounds created by activists-turned- musicians instead of the other way around. )During their hourlong set the Thermals sped through their repertoire of high-energy lightning-fast tracks characterized by driving rhythms guitar feedback and Harris’s manic vocals — which are something one has to get used to. More speaking than singing Harris delivers the group’s lyrics with the squawked arrhythmic affect of the Mountain Goats’ John Darnielle (or for the less alt-schooled say the B-52s’ Fred Schneider). His nasal high pitch is less pronounced live however and more pleasantly blends in with the band’s boisterousness.
Music | projo.com | The Providence Journal
Providence Journal – Mar 4, 2007
The avant-garde artist and singer has been remixed by dance-conscious producers before. But Witch offers indie kids a shot at whipping up whole new songs with just no’s voice to go on. While “Peaches” “Blow Up” and “Le Tiger” cling to the theology of the electro groove for their big-beat reimaginings some stick to their usual Beatley brand of beautiful melody (The Apples in Stereo) and drone punk musings (Spiritualized). Not surprisingly the eeriest of mixes come from the oddest in the lot: The Flaming Lips and Cat Power. Now there’s a word you never see next to Yoko’s name… ” That translates as “I Hate” and is one of several indications that the 66-year-old singer still supple-voiced has recently suffered a heartbreak that he’s having a tough time getting over. This is by no means the place to start for Veloso novices but it’s pretty frisky and often quite beautiful music from a senior-citizen rocker. — Dan DeLucaThe Philadelphia InquirerLemmy Constantine Meeting Sinatra & Django (Nocturne)Constantine puts a nice new multinational spin on popular music by marrying Frank Sinatra’s songbook with Django Reinhardt’s Gypsy swing. A self-styled “crooner seducer and gentleman” Constantine is the son of that definitive American in Paris the late movie star Eddie Constantine. He is amusing himself and us even though things ain’t what they used to be during the heydays of “The Voice” and the Quintet of the Hot Club of France. — Mike ZwerinBloomberg NewsElana James Elana James (Snarf)Elana James formerly the fiddle player with the Hot Club of Cowtown and Bob Dylan’s band strikes out on her own in her self-titled release.