George Clinton and the latest lineup of Parliament-Funkadelic headlined Friday night’s beginning of Madison’s annual Brat Fest celebration, demonstrating to those who attended why Clinton and his merry band of funkateers are both beloved and essential in the evolution of pop music despite offering a truly conflicting, confusing performance. Continue reading
On stage, Fishbone performs like an aged fighter backed into a corner and down on points. At the High Noon Saloon in Madison on Friday night, the band reinforced their reputation as uncompromising musical pioneers and thick-headed stalwarts even as bar-band doom stares them in the face. Continue reading
Authors and critics might be correct when they write off Detroit-area saxophone player Steve Mackay as simply a sideman to the Iggy Pop-led Stooges in the early ’70s, but doing so sadly undervalues the importance of his contributions. Hired hand or not, any musician would want to be involved in making a musical masterwork. Continue reading
There’s something wonderfully disheveled, maybe even chaotic about this Miles Davis performance from the early 1970s. Continue reading
James Brown’s death last month concluded a career and influence in 20th Century pop music that few figures could equal. But in the rush of eulogies, the truth depth of Brown’s musical legacy was typically waxed over. Soundbytes’ David Hyland remembers Soul Brother No. 1 by examining a few of his overlooked masterworks. Continue reading
Beck Hansen is rock music’s man of a thousand faces. As this week’s release of his new album, “Midnite Vultures,” shows, he is again heading in some surprising new directions. Continue reading
Soundbytes Music Column 