Exposé Online

Music for a Crisis of Survival —
A Profile of Mike Johnson and Thinking Plague 1998

While speaking with Mike Johnson, co-founder, guitarist, and principal composer of Denver’s Thinking Plague, it was clear to me that this man knows exactly what he’s doing. Confident but never condescending, amiable but with a sizeable chip on his shoulder, Mike Johnson is proud of what he has accomplished as both a composer and as a guitarist. But he holds no delusions that he will ever make a decent living playing music.  » Read more
(Posted by Steve Robey 1999-04-01)

Baba Jam Band - Kayada

This is only roughly new, I suppose, being a CD from five years back. Probably wouldn't have bothered with the review except that this is a remarkably good album, one that should have gotten...

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(Posted by Mike McLatchey 1999-04-01)

Bassius-O-Phelius - Them No Good Phelius Boys Is Nothin' But Trouble... Trouble I Tells Ya!

Bassius-O-Phelius is a duo not unlike Birdsongs of the Mesozoic in instrumental quirkiness, with a direct lean toward early-70s free jazz and jazz rock. This is not a player's album, but a...

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(Posted by Jeff Melton 1999-04-01)

Bill Nelson - Atom Shop

According to the DGM catalogue, Bill Nelson’s latest release is a product of some "retro-future Frankenstein’s lab." That’s true from the surface that the conceptual...

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(Posted by Jeff Melton 1999-04-01)

Bittová & Václavek - Bílé Inferno

There is something eminently fascinating about East European culture, where the simple human voice in their command becomes a monolith — transmitting the pathos of an entire civilization (one...

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(Posted by Mike Ezzo 1999-04-01)

Black Tape for a Blue Girl - As One Aflame Laid Bare by Desire

The band is Black Tape for a Blue Girl. The CD is As One Aflame Laid Bare by Desire. As indicative of their wordy name and title, they have created a wordy surrealistic narrative about a...

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(Posted by Carol Hammett 1999-04-01)

Boiled in Lead - Alloy

I discovered Boiled in Lead with their second album, Hotheads (1986). I’ve always liked the combination of Celtic music and rock, and this band does it like no other —...

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(Posted by Jon Davis 1999-04-01)

Cast - A Live Experience

While Cast released the limited live single-disc A View of Cast in South America a couple years ago, A Live Experience marks the first time that a live set from this Mexican...

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(Posted by Peter Thelen 1999-04-01)

Dave Russell - Paradox

Paradox is entirely composed and performed by Dave Russell with the exception of a guest drummer on a few of the tracks. Most of the sonic landscape is painted with a variety of keyboard...

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(Posted by Mike Grimes 1999-04-01)

Djabe - Djabe

One thing I enjoy about the current swell of musical activity in Hungary is the way it proves just how deep the well of quality really is. No single person could ever know all that there is to know...

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(Posted by Mike Ezzo 1999-04-01)

Dweller at the Threshold - Generation Transmission Illumination

I was beginning to wonder when or even if DATT would release a follow-up to their superb debut

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(Posted by Peter Thelen 1999-04-01)

Edward Artemiev - The Odyssey

While the musical interpretations of Homer’s engaging tale are too numerous to count, The Odyssey in this case is the soundtrack to a motion picture directed by Andrei Konchalovsky,...

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(Posted by Peter Thelen 1999-04-01)

Evan Ziporyn - Animal Act

Not exactly a household name, this young American composer’s name was previously only known to me as a member of the San Francisco area’s “famous” — relatively...

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(Posted by Mike Ezzo 1999-04-01)

Garmarna - Vittrad

Garmarna is doing its part to bring Swedish traditional music into the modern age, coupling the medieval sound of droning fiddles and folk melodies with energetic drums, electric guitars, and...

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(Posted by Jon Davis 1999-04-01)

Ginger Baker - Do What You Like

You may think this isn’t Exposé material, but let me tell you this is quite surprising music even for today. Ginger Baker has proven he qualifies a progressive drummer /...

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(Posted by Gary Parra 1999-04-01)

Happy Rhodes - Many Worlds Are Born Tonight

Happy Rhodes is now at her eighth studio album, and it is her first to be released on a label other than her own Aural Gratification. Not that signing with Samson is exactly a move to the majors....

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(Posted by Jon Davis 1999-04-01)

Hoppy Kamiyama - Juice & Tremolo (The Works of Chamber Music)

After having released the last real Ruins album in early 1998 (the incredible Vrresto featuring a new...

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(Posted by Jerome Schmidt 1999-04-01)

Hughscore - High Spot Paradox

Ex-Soft Machine bassist and composer Hugh Hopper steps out again in another of his many group collaborations, this time with Portland based Caveman Shoestore (Elaine de Falco, Fred Chanelor). This...

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(Posted by Jeff Melton 1999-04-01)

Jan Akkerman - Pleasure Point, From the Basement & Heartware

Hux records, the offshoot of the extinct BBC archives label Windsong, has now branched off into re-master heaven with a series of 80s releases by ex-Focus master guitarist Jan Akkerman. With each...

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(Posted by Jeff Melton 1999-04-01)

José Luis Fernández Ledesma - Extractos

Expose #12 featured a review with background information of the worthwhile, if a bit patchy, previous outing by Ledesma, Motivos para Perdere. This time around the former (?) Nirgal Vallis...

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(Posted by Mike Ezzo 1999-04-01)