npr.org: "Recorded at Atlanta's historic Fox Theater on July 5 2008, Waits delivers a stunning and epic two-and-a-half hour performance, including songs he says he's never attempted outside of the studio before. Backing Waits is a five-piece group featuring Seth Ford-Young (upright bass), Patrick Warren (keyboards), Omar Torrez (guitars), Vincent Henry (woodwinds) and Casey Waits (drums and percussion). "They play with racecar precision and they are all true conjurers," says Waits. "They are all multi-instrumentalists and they polka like real men." via the NPR Live Concerts Podcast
abc.net.au: "On the eve of the release of his triple CD box set, ZAN takes you through just some of the music of his incredible career spanning more than three decades! You'll hear from his RAIN DOGS, BONE MACHINE and BLOOD MONEY albums, as well as music from his early albums when he was a crooner. Plus a very special triple j LIVE RECORDING. You might even hear him do the HOKEY POKEY!" Listen here
NPR.org: "It's difficult to overstate Tom Waits' importance and impact: With a career that spans more than 20 albums, he blends countless musical and theatrical styles, from classic jazz, blues and polka to rock and folk. Held together with his gravelly rasp, his music is instantly recognizable and endlessly compelling. Waits' visionary songwriting (with a major assist from wife Kathleen Brennan) and experimental nature have kept fans enthralled for decades." Listen here
npr.org: "Waits, who turns 57 in December, has released a new, three-CD set called Orphans. It features songs both old and new, originals and covers (although most of the songs are by Waits and Brennan). Known since the 1970s for his distinctive, gravelly voice, Waits in recent years also has written music for movie soundtracks. He talks about the process of writing songs for film, the music on his new CD, and his ability to sing with the desires of a "crooner or a clown." Listen here
In the 1970s, Tom Waits combined a lyrical focus on desperate, lowlife characters with a persona that seemed to embody the same lifestyle, which he sang about in a raspy, gravelly voice. From the '80s on, his work became increasingly theatrical as he moved into acting and composing. Growing up in Southern California, Waits attracted the attention of manager Herb Cohen, who also handled Frank Zappa, and was signed by him at the beginning of the 1970s, resulting in the material later released as The Early Years and The Early Years, Vol. 2. His formal recording debut came with Closing Time (1973) on Asylum Records, an album that contained "Ol' 55," which was covered by labelmates the Eagles for their On the Border album. More
Cincinnati Multinstrumentalist Bryan Charles Hollon is a highly esteemed deejay, producer and radio presenter who has worked with artists as diverse as Dose One and Four Tet. In 2000, he collaborated with Dose One to create the erratic work of genius that was Circle. Now, Boom Bip is releasing his debut album via Warp's UK subsidiary Lex Records. When an artist chooses to take for himself a name that is the fundamental rhythm of hiphop, he’s setting the stakes excessively high for himself. With this project, he not only proves himself a master producer of quality instrumental hiphop but also arguably succeeds to be the first beatsmith since DJ Shadow to transcend genre on the strength of his music alone. More
An installation artist and electronic music composer based in Stockholm, Sweden, Carl Michael Von Hausswolff has presented his minimalist-leaning audio-visual works in Europe and North-America. An active promoter of avant-garde art in the the 1980s and early 1990s through publications and record labels, since the mid-'90s he has been focusing on his own music, which has become growingly minimalist, a hour-long piece often consisting of the clever use of only a handful of sound sources. More