Review: Joan of Arc entrancing at the church (Philly.com)

Before the whiney dread of emo became pop fodder, there was Tim Kinsella's band Joan of Arc. Sure, the Chicago singer with the nervous voice and the battery of angry guitars wrote weighty confessional lyrics in his first band, Cap'n Jazz. But that was 1995. Everyone was sour in '95.

Buffy Sainte-Marie is light-years beyond her days as a protest singer (The Kansas City Star)

Buffy Sainte-Marie. If you're a baby boomer, the name surely rings bells. There's probably a picture attached, circa the early-'60s folk music explosion, of a young American Indian girl with an acoustic guitar and a strange, singular vibrato as she performs protest anthems "Universal Soldier" and "Now That the Buffalo's Gone." If you're a pop scholar, you think of her as the writer of "Until ...

Ray Davies strips down the Kinks catalog in Anaheim (Orange County Register)

Review: The frontman of the British invasion band performs well-known songs in a low-key, acoustic style.

Obituary: Artie Traum (Guardian Unlimited)

Obituary: Musician and producer whose tastes covered folk, jazz and rock

Aztec Two Step to offer free concert in Monroe (East Brunswick Sentinel)

The Monroe Township Cultural Arts Commission's 2008 Music in the Park Summer Series of free live musical events will continue 6-8 p.m. July 31 in the opengrove gazebo on the lake at Thompson Park, Monroe, with a performance by Aztec Two Step, featuring Rex Fowler and Neal Shulman.

Free Music: The Morning Benders - The Bedroom Covers (New York Press)

Literally recorded in lead singer Chris Chu's bedroom, San Francisco's The Morning Benders have just released a free new album via their blog. Chu describes The Bedroom Covers , stating "if you want to hear some kids having a lot of fun playing some of their favorite songs ever, check these out."