Featured: The Orange Peels

The Orange Peels have been releasing albums for sixteen years; Sun Moon is their fifth album. On all of their earlier albums, the cover art incorporated the color orange. Yet Sun Moon‘s cover art is much more overtly dark-hued. That’s consistent with the subtle change in the music on the new record as well: many of the tunes exhibit less of the sunny, jangly powerpop vibe often associated with the group.

“I didn’t do that on purpose,” insists Allen Clapp, the man who – in addition to singing on, playing on and producing the record, designed the sleeve. (“That’s why I learned graphic design,” he chuckles. “I didn’t want someone else designing my album covers!”) Clapp insists he...

Click for Bill Kopp's full interview with The Orange Peels' Allen Clapp.

About This Archive

In Summer 2009, I (Bill Kopp) began a blog; that blog is updated with new content -- reviews, essays, interviews, features and whatnot -- every business day. And that's been the case for over three years; there you will find ~~nearly~~ more than 1000 written pieces. That blog can be accessed here. Go visit!

But prior to the start of the blog, I wrote quite a bit as well. The site you're currently viewing is the permanent archival home for that content. Here you'll find interviews with Crowded House, Flaming Lips, Robyn Hitchcock, Tommy Keene, Los Straitjackets, Andy Partridge (XTC), Robert Pollard (Guided By Voices), Polyphonic Spree, Joe Satriani, Pete Yorn and many others.

You'll also find reviews of hundreds of releases (CDs and music-related DVDs) from the mid- to late 00's, as well as essays and other relevant items. Lastly, you'll find a list -- no longer updated -- of unofficial/ROIO recordings that may or may not be part of my permanent collection. Nobody's saying.

All told, there are countless hours (mainly because no one's counted 'em) of reading to be found in this archive. But for everything post Summer 2009 -- right up to this very day -- visit the Musoscribe blog. You can always come back here later.

Featured Review

Man or Astro-Man? - Defcon 5...4...3...2...1

I often enjoy what one might call “high concept bands.” Our friends at open-source Wikipedia define the term this way: “…a term used to refer to an artistic work that can be easily pitched with a succinctly stated premise.” Examples might include a band that plays twangy instrumental surf-rock while wearing Mexican wrestling masks, doing tight onstage choreography, and speaking to the audience only in Norteamericano Español (Los Straitjackets), or never speaking to the...

Click for the full review.

Coming Soon to the Blog...

Interviews & Features

Howard Kaylan (The Turtles, Flo & Eddie, Mothers of Invention)
John McLaughlin
Rudi Protrudi of The Fuzztones
Stick Men: Tony Levin, Pat Mastelotto, Markus Reuter
and plenty more. No kidding.

Album Reviews (Reissues etc.)

R.E.M. - Green
Surf Punks - Locals Only
Various - The Dutch Woodstock (CD+DVD)
Big Star - Nothing Can Hurt Me
and plenty more. No kidding.

New Album Reviews

Todd Rundgren - State
The Bottle Kids - s/t
Dave Davies - I Will Be Me
and plenty more. No kidding.

Show Reviews

Bonnaroo 2013
Randall Bramblett (plus interview!)
and plenty more. No kidding.

Twitter Feed

Let me tell you what I think...

Somebody -- we think it was either Elvis Costello or Frank Zappa; recent evidence suggests Martin Mull...nobody's sure -- famously said that "writing about music is like dancing about architecture." Well, so be it. And speaking of ol' Frank, it really was him who defined rock journalism as "people who can't write, interviewing people who can't talk, for people who can't read." With that in mind, I offer musoscribe.com as my own humble addition to that proud tradition.

I've written for Billboard, Shindig!, Trouser Press, jambase.org, Ugly Things, 60sgaragebands.com, WNC Magazine, and many other publications large and small. From 2005 until its demise, I wrote for Skope Magazine; from 2006 until the end, I served as Editor-in-Chief of that national music magazine. And for what it's worth, my music collection numbers in the several thousands. And I'm a musician (though the rewards for my being one are decidedly non-monetary).

I hope you find the site entertaining, and perhaps even useful.

Again, the blog contains my work from mid 2009 to present-day, but my older pieces are here Here's what's on:

Features - In the last few years -- and continuing still -- I have interviewed some of the most fascinating and influential artists on the music scene. Click into this section to read features on (and interviews with) Yoko Ono, Steven Drozd of the Flaming Lips, Jethro Tull's Ian Anderson, Neil Finn of Crowded House, bluesman Johnny Winter, and many, many more.
Reviews - Here you'll find informed reviews and critical assessments of recent music releases. You'll find some undiscovered gems, and get the lowdown on some really awful albums that should never have been released.
Essays - Career-spanning retrospectives on Pink Floyd and Todd Rundgren can be found here, plus interviews and features with important music-related figures. And more, of course, including stories on music-related technology.
The "Blast From the Past" column - Everything old is new again; as Edgard Varèse famously said, "The present-day composer refuses to die!" Read reviews of notable and recent reissues.
(the collection) - If I had a huge collection of unreleased music (not saying I do, you understand) this is where you'd find a current inventory of it.
About - About me, if you care to know a bit more.

Cheers,