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The Eastern Echo Sunday, May 17, 2026 | Print Archive
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Music

The Eastern Echo

Alum leads Metro Worship band

By Carmen Bojanowski · Sunday, Jan. 27, 2013

About four years ago, Jon Whaley attended Eastern Michigan University, studying arts management. Today, he is the leader of Metro Worship, a collective effort of all of the worship bands at Metro South Church in Taylor, Mich.

Matt on Music: Wussy's 'Bernice Huff and son, Bill sings Popular Favorites'

By Matt Rice · Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2013

I make no secret about Wussy being my favorite band, possibly of all time and definitely right now. Every new release increases my admiration of them, even if it’s something as simple as an acoustic re-recording of their first album or a cover of Dusty Springfield’s “Breakfast in Bed.” They’re just fantastic, and have an almost inhuman ability to make magic happen during every performance.

The Blind Pig will host dual-release party

By Bryan Alfaro · Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2013

The Blind Pig, located at 208 S. First St. in downtown Ann Arbor, is hosting a dual CD release party Saturday for two southeast Michigan emcees, who will be performing their new albums in their entirety. Doors open at 9:30 p.m. and cover is $7 for ages 21 and up and $10 for ages 18-20.

Matt on Music: Pere Ubu's 'Lady from Shanghai'

By Matt Rice · Sunday, Jan. 20, 2013

Listening to “Lady from Shanghai,” the new album from Pere Ubu, one might come to the conclusion that band leader David Thomas doesn’t read a lot of Pitchfork. We should all be this lucky, but if you’re going to try to record weird music, it might be helpful to know what is considered the norm these days.

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Rap doesn’t fit with MLK’s ideals

By Jess Salisbury · Sunday, Jan. 20, 2013

What are the implications of the materialistic lyrics found in today’s hottest hip-hop hits? Eastern Michigan University student Ivory Harris Jr., one of the minds behind “Knowledge, Power, Respect: Hip-Hop Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow,” was eager to find out. After conducting a study in November 2011, Harris discovered that 48 out of 50 songs on the Billboard hip-hop and rhythm and blues charts glorified alcohol or substance abuse, crime and violence and other negative themes.

Matt on Music: Yo La Tengo's 'Fade'

By Matt Rice · Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2013

“Sometimes the bad guys come out on top/Sometimes the good guys lose” is the line that opens “Fade,” the new album from Hoboken-based indie-rockers Yo La Tengo. The line that ends the same song, “Ohm,” is “It’s been fun.”

Matt on Music: Dropkick Murphys' "Signed and Sealed in Blood"

By Matt Rice · Sunday, Jan. 13, 2013

The first and most memorable hook on the new Dropkick Murphys album, “Signed and Sealed in Blood,” goes, “The boys are back, and they’re looking for trouble.” That says it all, really. The album’s only hook that you might be able to remember when the music’s shut off is a cliché line that may or may not be ripping off Thin Lizzy.

Matt on Music: 5 favorite album covers

By Matt Rice · Friday, Dec. 14, 2012

I appreciate album covers in an artistic manner, almost as much as the plastic inside of them. From the minimalism of “Beatles for Sale” to the complexity of Talking Heads’ “More Songs About Buildings and Food,” album covers give every album its own identity before you even put it on. This year has brought many good album covers. Here are my five favorites.

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Matt on Music: 5 best opening and 5 best closing tracks of 2012

By Matt Rice · Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2012

The opening track on an album is intended to get the listener’s attention, and to make them want to listen more. The closing track should insure they finish satisfied, although, as many albums this year showed, artists often cop out when it comes to delivering the finale. Satisfying opening and closing tracks never seem to be celebrated enough, so here are the best of 2012.

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Student choirs perform Christmas show

By Cosette Girardot · Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2012

Radio station WNIC 100.3 has been playing Christmas music since early November, but Eastern Michigan University’s Chamber Choir and University Choir the joined together to share and sing Christmas songs for students to enjoy at the Light and Life concert.

Matt on Music: Favorite lines of 2012

By Matt Rice · Sunday, Dec. 9, 2012

I’ve listened to a few hundred albums this year. That means I’ve listened to thousands of songs which, in turn, means I’ve listened to too many lyrics to count. Therefore, a list of my favorite lines of 2012 can hardly be official. Still, these are just the lines from this year that have hit me the hardest, that I just couldn’t get out of my head, and that made me want to quote them on Facebook.

Matt on Music: Top 5 songs of 2012 from disappointing albums

By Matt Rice · Sunday, Dec. 2, 2012

This year, I was more fascinated with singles and individual songs than I ever have been before. Thankfully, I did this without losing my love of albums as full pieces. But, there is a certain charm to great singles and hidden gems resting in albums that aren’t good as a whole. So, these are the year’s five best choice cuts.

Weekend jamming creates Congress

By Carmen Bojanowski · Sunday, Dec. 2, 2012

It was approximately 10:45 on a gray Saturday morning in January 2011 when Jim Cherewick, Eric Gallippo, Ed Golembiewski and Aaron Quillen met at Ypsilanti’s Hen House and wrote six songs. This was the day that Congress was officially born.

Matt on Music: Donald Fagen's 'Sunken Condos'

By Matt Rice · Wednesday, Nov. 28, 2012

Of all the “greatest bands of all time,” Steely Dan has always been one of the more bizarre ones. Featuring two core members, Donald Fagen and Walter Becker, and backed by studio musicians, Steely Dan is a jazz-rock band that formed in the ’70s. What differentiates them from most jazz-rock bands is Fagen and Becker’s keen understanding of both jazz and rock, as well as their perfectionist recording style (my favorite Steely Dan album, “Katy Lied,” is famously hated by the two due to its supposedly poor sound quality).

Matt on Music: Rhett Miller's 'The Dreamer'

By Matt Rice · Sunday, Nov. 25, 2012

Since this has been such a disappointing year for music, it figures that country music would suffer. There are normally only three or four very good country albums in a good year so, in a year like 2012, it’s practically hopeless.

The Vagrant Symphony celebrates 9th anniversary with show at Blind Pig

By Carmen Bojanowski · Sunday, Nov. 25, 2012

It’s been nine years since the idea for local outfit The Vagrant Symphony was formed on Eastern Michigan University’s campus in 2003. Chris “Chewy” Anderson, the founder, Joe O’Dell, the 12th member, Alexis King, the 13th member and Bennie Phinisee, the 14th member, are the backbone of the giant psychedelic folk band that’ll be celebrating its ninth anniversary in December.

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