Everyone's a Critic
Something burning this white hot, might out-vie language itself. For those joining us late, the Sonics started out in Tacoma, Washington, as teenagers. They invented punk rock — and anyone who doesn’t believe that can …
The last time Lucy’s Fur Coat played at the Casbah, I left in an ambulance. At the time, band members were promising it would be their last-ever show, and an enthusiastic crowd was going to …
A rainy night in North Park failed to keep the punk-rock masses away from the Observatory for Wavves’ San Diego tour stop. After a rollicking set by Chicago rockers Twin Peaks, Nathan Williams unleashed his …
There’s good reason FKA Twigs commands a captive audience. The young British singer, songwriter, and dancer has been winning accolades since her debut, LP1. Her eye-popping music videos are often overtly sexual, without revealing anything, …
Weezer doesn’t need to play non-hits. As the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club closed the shed on 2015, thousands of 18-and-ups amassed before the Weezer “W” hung behind the stage. No stranger to Del Mar, Rivers …
The rap is short! That’s a sop to you “rap-is-crap”-ers out there (God, so tedious). The rap is also funny and over after the first cut, so it’s out of the way quick. More urgent …
One of the best concert experiences is when you catch an artist at that pivotal moment when your gut tells you he or she is on the cusp of going Big Time. That’s how I …
Foals have long departed the skeletal, math-rock sound that filled their 2008 debut Antidotes. On their latest release, the Oxford natives show maturity and growth, as What Went Down displays their current state; an abundance …
Taylor Swift is a genius. Her fans will confirm this, but I am not referring to her music. She deliberately calculates every bit of her career, including her current “1989 World Tour.” Every step, every …
Phora connected with fans, his “family” to use his words, with intimacy in the House of Blues’ Voodoo Room. At a time in hip-hop when artists are preoccupied with describing often fictitious material possessions and …
Warning: listening to Miguel’s Wildheart in mixed company might make you blush. On his third album, the R&B raconteur advances from 2012’s sultry, Grammy-winning “Adorn” to “the valley,” a triple-X homage to SoCal’s porn capital. …
Given his penchant for last-minute show cancellations, the last thing that San Diegans with Morrissey tickets wanted to see four hours before show time was an e-mail with “Event Update” in the subject line. Thankfully, …
A live performance by the Canadian noise-rock trio Metz is a force to be reckoned with; in fact, it’s not something that can be handled by the weak stomached. Metz is a band that plays …
You may wonder, What does a 50-year-old millionaire have to write and rap about? On his first album in 16 years, Compton, Dr. Dre realizes youth is behind him and doesn’t try to portray himself …
When noise-punk band Half Japanese formed in a Maryland bedroom in 1975, Kurt Cobain was just a kid. But by Nirvana’s In Utero tour in 1993, Cobain had sought Half Japanese as openers. Since its …
In an elite atmosphere, bohemia gathered. On a recent Friday at the Del Mar Racetrack the unlikely mélange of horseracing and the anti-fascist world music of Thievery Corporation created a temporal space in which one …