Mike Mettler

The S&V Interview
Wayne Coyne, King Mouth of The Flaming Lips
Mike Mettler  |  Jul 24, 2019  |  0 comments
We talk with Wayne Coyne of The Flaming Lips about their current concept release, King’s Mouth: Music and Songs, incorporating stereo-friendly elements into a mix, mastering the lost art of the song transition, and why having a great drummer is crucial to a band’s long-term success.
Continue Reading >
Music Disc Reviews
Bob Dylan: The Rolling Thunder Revue – The 1975 Live Recordings
Mike Mettler  |  Jul 17, 2019  |  0 comments
Performance
Sound
Bob Dylan has long seen the value in releasing extensive historical collections befitting his anointed artistic legacy. The latest entry in the Dylan archival canon is a massive 14-CD box set via Columbia/Legacy, The Rolling Thunder Revue: The 1975 Live Recordings, a 148-song, 10-hour collection that focuses on the first, late-1975 leg of the touring Revue. The box contains all five of Dylan’s full first-leg sets that were professionally recorded between November 19 and December 4, 1975 as spread over 10 discs…
Continue Reading >
The S&V Interview
The Alarm’s Mike Peters: A Soul Survivor Among Equals
Mike Mettler  |  Jul 10, 2019  |  0 comments
Mike Peters of The Alarm called us to discuss the band's deeply affecting new album Sigma, how the vinyl revival reconnects you with your music-seeking instincts, how a good producer acts as a creative compass, and how The Alarm’s approach to songwriting and song structure set them apart from the pack.
Continue Reading >
Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Everyone Stares: The Police Inside Out
Mike Mettler  |  Jul 05, 2019  |  0 comments
Picture
Sound
Extras
Capturing zeitgeist moments as they happen are a filmmaker's dream. Lucky for us, drummer/rhythmatist extraordinaire Stewart Copeland picked up a Super 8 film camera when The Police were but budding bleached-blonde young punks, and he filmed, well, practically everything they did both onstage and off.
Continue Reading >
The S&V Interview
Dream Theater’s John Petrucci: Master of Time Signatures & Sonic Space
Mike Mettler  |  Jun 26, 2019  |  0 comments
Dream Theater guitarist/producer John Petrucci got on the line with us to discuss why the music on their fine new album Distance Over Time is so well-suited for surround sound, how new ideas spring from having a band work together in the same room, and why physical packaging remains critical to their success.
Continue Reading >
The S&V Interview
Michael McDonald: Takin’ it to the Seats on a Co-Headlining Summer Tour With Chaka Khan
Mike Mettler  |  Jun 12, 2019  |  1 comments
Keyboardist/vocalist Michael McDonald called us to discuss his upcoming summer tour with Chaka Khan, the true secret to his well-respected background-vocal prowess, the compositionally related reason why he was genuinely surprised at the chart-topping success of The Doobie Brothers classic “What a Fool Believes,” and what his real-time reaction was when he watched Rick Moranis pay, er, homage to him on a vintage episode of SCTV.
Continue Reading >
Music Disc Reviews
Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers: The Best of Everything - The Definitive Career Spanning Hits Collection: 1976-2016
Mike Mettler  |  Jun 07, 2019  |  0 comments
Performance
Sound
When Tom Petty unexpectedly passed away in October 2017 following a triumphant 40th anniversary tour with The Heartbreakers that had wrapped up barely a week earlier in his adopted hometown of Los Angeles, the outpouring of grief on an international scale was beyond palpable. Petty's loss at age 66 was a gut-punch, to be sure, especially considering the successive sonic triple threat of 2010's Mojo, 2014's Hypnotic Eye, and 2016's Mudcrutch 2.
Continue Reading >
The S&V Interview
Keyboard Maestro Howard Jones Transforms Once Again
Mike Mettler  |  May 29, 2019  |  0 comments
Keyboard maestro Howard Jones got on the line with us from his homebase in Somerset, England to discuss the genesis and evolution of his new studio album Transform, his love of vintage gear and surround sound, and why he’s all-in when it comes to mastering his music for vinyl.
Continue Reading >
Music Disc Reviews
Remaster Class: Emerson, Lake & Palmer: Brain Salad Surgery
Mike Mettler  |  May 24, 2019  |  3 comments
Brain Salad Surgery, Emerson, Lake & Palmer's grand progressive opus of November 1973, was the one LP I knew I could play for my fraternal grandparents to show them rock music was as legitimate an aural artform as classical or jazz. When I first cued up the original Manticore/Atlantic vinyl on their stereo console during an early-1980s visit, I began with the one-two tandem of ELP's reimagining
Continue Reading >
Stream On
Discovering New Music on Bandcamp
Mike Mettler  |  May 22, 2019  |  0 comments
If you enjoy discovering new music, you need to check out Bandcamp.
Continue Reading >

Pages

X