Everyone's a Critic
Califone's show at the Soda Bar fell on a Sunday night, five days after New Year's Eve. The event was a mellow "last hurrah" for the holiday season. A subtle transition into the standard workweeks …
San Diego’s own, here, live for the fumes. They live for each new spume. Imagine that perpetually smoking RV from Breaking Bad and substitute some stinky green, which at least won’t kill you quite so …
M.I.A. has once again delivered an engrossing platter of ear candy with her latest effort Matangi. From the opening of “Karmageddon” through the closing track “Sexodus,” M.I.A. brings the listener along as she dominates the …
Pop artist Matthew Sweet played a 15-song show and 2-song encore to a partisan, enthusiastic crowd that seemed to know the words to every song. Sweet has been a regular visitor to San Diego since …
At first glance, the three-page set list that Mario Escovedo and friends followed during their annual “Exile on Kettner” show looked like little more than an intimidating list of randomly assorted Rolling Stones songs. But …
Hailing from Seattle, all-girl surf-rock group La Luz conjures images of Washington fog with Dick Dale–era inspirations. The quartet’s debut, It’s Alive, shows off their ability to work the tricks of different eras into their …
Coagulating in 1980s London, the Blood is a unique punk band led by “Cardinal Jesus Hate.” This show did not disappoint, even though the crowd at Brick by Brick maxed out at 25 (including the …
The bassist Scott LaFaro, whom Evans lost to a car crash prior to recording this, was staking out entirely striking counterpoint on his instrument, so anything without him was likely to seem a letdown. Evans …
'Tis the season for pop stars to release Christmas music. Kelly Clarkson, the successful first-season American Idol, has given America a musical gift. Her album Wrapped in Red consists of 14 songs plus two deluxe …
Justin Timberlake and the Tennessee Kids brought "crowd surfing" to a new level. Multi-colored laser beams gleamed throughout the arena as Timberlake and his crew opened the show with "Pusher Love Girl" and danced across …
If you want to put a little skip into Santa's step this holiday season, throw on Bad Religion's new album, Christmas Songs, to greet him as he slides down your chimney. You read correctly, Bad …
The annual holiday event known as Wrex the Halls is a production of alt-rock radio station 91X. Usually composed of a smorgasbord of choice acts, 2013's Wrex was an exceptional bill. One attendee told me …
Not the first time the Besnard Lakes have been to town, but I can say with certainty that it was the best time. The Canadian indie-rock quartet has honed their skills to perform live a …
“Loving Man,” with its ecstatic gender-blurring one minute (“I’m A boy/I’m a girl/Who has everything”), bipolar furor at rejection the next, and frustrating refusal to climax musically, sounds dragged in from another project, matching the …
After several delays, starlet Sky Ferreira has released her debut. Ferreira gained popularity last year with her glossy single “Everything Is Embarrassing,” and the synth-pop singer/model/actress appears to have improved her songcraft with a new …
You know a band is gigantic when they refer to a concert at Viejas Arena as being “intimate.” When Eddie Vedder announced this to an audience of 12,000 fans, he was not joking. Circa 2013, …