John Shand Posts

March 9, 2017 / Concert Reviews - Archive

Blue Mountains Theatre, February 17 6.5/10 It’s taken a while, but it is happening. Five years after the London Klezmer Quartet annexed Indra Buraczewska – then of Melbourne, now of Latvia – as a bassist and discovered that the band had acquired a singer at no extra cost, her vocal…

March 5, 2017 / Album Reviews - Archive

WARM (https://spookymen.com/product/warm/) 7/10 The Spooky Men actually made their name by amusing more than spooking. The problem with humour in music is its shelf-life is about the same as bread – unless of course one sees this loopy male choir live. So Spookmeister Stephen Taberner’s decision to ease this fourth…

March 3, 2017 / Concert Reviews - Archive

Sound Lounge, February 11 9/10 If a sense of surprise courses from the heart of much good music, then Phillip Johnston sliced open an artery to flood this work with the stuff. Composition and improvisation have shared a bed since music was born, but often the former has constrained the…