Author: Alec Sugar
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To Rupture or Refine: New Releases from The Mars Volta & Deftones
Some musicians keep reinventing their sound throughout their career, carving a crooked path through new genres and instrumentation, while others continuously improve on a signature sound. The Beatles transformed from the eager pop-rock of Meet the Beatles! to the bouncy psychedelia of Sgt. Pepper’s in just three years. Bruce Springsteen, on the other hand, has… Read more
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Cordâme at the Blue Note, Beijing
Blocks away from Tiananmen Square, so near the seat of China’s government that a pedestrian has to cross two security checkpoints just to get there, lies an institution well-known to Western music lovers. A steep staircase leads you down from an austere courtyard into an expansive cavern where young people dine on burgers and fries… Read more
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Godspeed You! Black Emperor Takes Beijing
The first snowfall of December 2025 kept many Beijingers at home on a Friday night, but some youth instead bundled up and stood in the cold outside Olympic Park, eyes closed and ears straining to catch the sounds coming out of Fulang Livehouse. Inside, a crowd pressed together shoulder-to-shoulder, jackets still on despite the hot… Read more
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Nine Inch Nails Peels It Back
[Author’s note: This is the second of two nearly finished drafts that sat unpublished while I was busy relocating overseas for the past couple months. Better late than never, and who cares?] “Have to say I woke up this morning with a big cloud over my head. Thanks, I needed this.” Trent Reznor’s only words… Read more
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Oasis Live `25 and Forever
[Author’s note: This will be the first of two nearly finished drafts that sat unpublished while I was busy relocating overseas for the past couple months. Better late than never, and who cares?] Late one night in a rural town in Wales, singer Liam Gallagher decided to bring some drunken strangers he’d just met at… Read more
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Sermon of Sound: An Evening with Laraaji + Saapato
It’s Saturday night, and the pews are full at the Ridgewood Presbyterian Church in Queens, redubbed the Stone Circle Theater. The pulpit consists of two tables covered in electronic knobs, keypads, and percussion instruments. Projected behind the pulpit, a screensaver traces a river’s path through an autumn forest canyon, inadvertently making the life-size Jesus figure… Read more
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Live Soundtrack Cinema: JG Thirwell @ The Nitehawk
The house lights dimmed and so did the clinking of glasses and silverware. Ushers scurried across Brooklyn’s Nitehawk Cinema to collect more kitchen and bar orders as King Kong and Godzilla warned the crowd to silence their phones on a homemade reel. Half-hidden behind a rack of keyboards and mixing pads in the corner near… Read more
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Cosmic Music: The Celestial Songs of Alice Coltrane at Carnegie Hall
The harp has the power to unite opposites. It’s large enough to dwarf its player, yet it produces a gentle twinkle. Players pluck a rapid succession of notes by running their hands across the strings, yet the effect is soothing to the ear. You can find one in the hands of angels in religious iconography,… Read more
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Celebrating Time and Tradition at Ron Carter’s 88th Birthday
“My responsibility as a bassist and band leader is using every opportunity to create spectacular music,” writes Ron Carter in his Instagram bio. It’s no surprise, then, that the legend spent his 88th birthday week performing with his Golden Striker Trio at NYC’s Blue Note, a jazz venue famous enough to attract polo-shirted tourists but… Read more
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Magic in the Making: The Met’s Magic Flute as a Living Creation
Standing in the aisle or talking to a neighbor is not where an opera-goer hopes to be caught when the performance begins. But choreographer Simon McBurney’s production of Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute) gave the audience at NYC’s Metropolitan Opera little warning. With house lights still on, audience and cast alike found their places… Read more