Everyone's a Critic
In the world of Surfer Blood, major-label maturity seems to mean stripping away the reverb that drenched your first album and, lyrically, graduating from middle school to high school. Anybody who bought this album on …
Not a lot of rock bands would take the stage wearing shorts. For a recent gig at the Soda Bar, Massachusetts four-piece Speedy Ortiz did exactly that. Maybe they're hip to the fact that San …
If the line to the men's room was any indicator, there were a lot of old guys at Humphreys reliving their prog-rock heydays. And that goes as well for the old guys onstage, a 60 …
David Bowie’s latest is a testament to his iconic status as a musical and artistic chameleon. The Next Day ranks as one of the most surprising and rewarding efforts produced this year. This album deals …
The first stop of Steve Miller's 2013 summer tour at the San Diego County Fair was everything one could ever wish to witness at a classic-rock concert — bacon-wrapped foodstuffs, random horses, fair-game carnies, nine-dollar …
From the surface details, it may appear She & Him’s latest is a gloomy break-up record. Songsmith/multi-instrumentalist M. Ward incorporates more melodramatic string arrangements while Zooey Deschanel lyrically digs deeper into heartbreak. Compared to its …
Smeary, I was going to say. But smeary implies an overall indifference to control. This stuff, collected from 1969 in Europe, demonstrates control on multiple levels — if it achieves smeariness, it does so if …
The audience waited. The roadies slipped offstage. Finally, the spotlights blazed to reveal...a skinny guy holding an accordion. Weird Al Yankovic came to the San Diego County Fair and with his “polka axe,” he held …
Has it really been 40 years? Well, their eponymous debut album was recorded in 1973 but actually released June 26, 1974. Just one day short of 39 years from the date of their near sell-out …
The band calls it “Brooklyn country.” I call it a revival! I call it another notch in the hipster-folk movement’s belt. I call it a new-age folk masterpiece featuring one of the most impressive male …
For years I had heard the song “Highway Patrol” used as bumper music on the Motor Man car-talk radio show on Sunday mornings on 790 KABC. I had no idea who Junior Brown was... Then …
Early reactions to Kanye West’s provocative sixth album, Yeezus, had some outlets calling him a revolutionary and others an egotistical prick obsessed with material excess and expedient croissant delivery. The reality may lie somewhere in …
Steven Brunner, aka Thundercat, was never one to be nailed to a single genre. Working alongside the likes of Eryka Badu and Suicidal Tendencies in the past, Brunner has melodically displayed dexterity both audibly and …
A decade into the game, the Thermals have become an afterthought, taken for granted by many rock critics and musical outlets. They never had a radio hit or took risks with their sound. And yet …
And you thought Rocket from the Crypt ended abruptly the first time around... Nearly eight years after prematurely bidding its career farewell, Rocket roared back to life as part of the 2013 Ink-N-Iron Festival on …
After three years, Vampire Weekend gives us Modern Vampires of the City. The chamber pop they introduced to us on their debut continues but the band tones down the Paul Simon vibes they developed on …