Search - M Shanghai String Band :: From the Air

From the Air
M Shanghai String Band
From the Air
Genres: Folk, Pop
 
With an adventurous take on Americana, M Shanghai String Band belong with their progressive contemporaries who emphasize strong song-writing over the constraints of genre. "From The Air", the band's second album, captures ...  more »

     
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CD Details

All Artists: M Shanghai String Band
Title: From the Air
Members Wishing: 0
Total Copies: 0
Label: Red Parlor
Original Release Date: 1/1/2007
Re-Release Date: 5/29/2007
Genres: Folk, Pop
Styles: Traditional Folk, Contemporary Folk
Number of Discs: 1
SwapaCD Credits: 1
UPCs: 837101330398, 083710133039

Synopsis

Product Description
With an adventurous take on Americana, M Shanghai String Band belong with their progressive contemporaries who emphasize strong song-writing over the constraints of genre. "From The Air", the band's second album, captures the raw, all acoustic energy, yet this time in a studio setting. Fast becoming known as one of the best live bands around, M Shanghai String Band have bottled their elixir of exuberant roots eclecticism in "From the Air"!

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CD Reviews

More Good, But Not Great, Acoustic Folk/Country Music from B
John Kwok | New York, NY USA | 06/29/2008
(3 out of 5 stars)

"Much to my amazement, a recent Village Voice article failed to cite the M Shanghai String Band as one of the premier bands in the over-hyped, rather mediocre, Brooklyn, New York folk/country music scene:





http://www.villagevoice.com/music/0822,the-grand-ole-opries-of-brooklyn,451775,22.html



M Shanghai String Band is definitely the best band from this scene that I have heard, and one which has garnered some respectable interest regionally in venues ranging from the Berkshires of Massachusetts to the Mohawk River valley of New York. Theirs is a fine mixture of acoustic folk and country music, with a strong undercurrent of bluegrass too, played with the ample earnestness one expects from serious amateur musicians like them. But what of their songwriting craft? Without question, the best song is "From the Riverbed" which is a fine elegy to the generations of tunnel diggers ("sand hogs") who have built vast networks of tunnels for moving traffic and delivering fresh water within New York City, often under perilous conditions. However, the rest of the album doesn't quite match the smart, witty lyrics and fine melodies I've heard from the Wingdale Community Singers - quite possibly Brooklyn's best acoustic country/folk act, period - or from Tucson, AZ-based Nancy McCallion, a founder of the critically acclaimed the Mollys, and often compared favorably to the likes of Iris DeMent and Lucinda Williams. If you are interested in hearing traditional folk music with a contemporary twist, then M Shangahi String Band's latest may be quite all right for you, but if you want to hear great country music made by noted New York City-based musicians, then check out the latest releases from the likes of Roseanne Cash, Mark O'Connor and Chris Thile first."