Everyone's a Critic
Maybe there's a message here for musicians determinedly gigging, recording, and self-promoting. Something about breaking up — and releasing nothing for 17+ years — has proven a brilliant gambit for Scottish post-punk/garage brats Frances McKee …
Portland's Menomena maneuvered through their musical minefield to a capacity crowd at Casbah. Supported by Tu Fawning and Suckers, the trio of multi-instrumentalists/vocalists highlighted material from their acclaimed 2010 release Mines. Band members Danny Seim …
The vibe at oft-creepy Kava Lounge, home of the Vegan White Russian and kava mixed drinks, is atypically cheery for the Bonobo Benefit. About 25 primate empathizers mill about beneath dangling fliers of factoids from …
It could and probably will be posited once The Inevitable Past Is the Future Forgotten goes under the critical microscope that post-rock trio Three Mile Pilot didn't disband so much as reproduce. A little indie-rock …
I've loved Patty Griffin since 1996's Living With Ghosts, where she premiered a voice that could purr and whisper and insinuate on its own successful terms, but rose to quick, sharp stabs, as if the …
The O.B. Music and Arts Festival emerged from its economically influenced hiatus on September 11, more ambitious than ever with 7 venues and 27 acts. Difficult to pick standouts, but the performance of the Geoffrey …
Tift Merritt sang five or six songs to a relatively empty house, but she sang as if she were performing for a sold-out Madison Square Garden. I recommend you catch her next time she is …
Breaking from his role as lead man for the Killers, Brandon Flowers tests the waters of a solo career. His new album Flamingo has enough floating particles of the Killers' sound to make it appealing …
She's almost an alien in this So-Cal watering hole: no makeup, no push-up bra, no "work done." Pale and gaunt, hers is the only shadow on the stage as she sets up; gracefully, methodically. She …
Synthesizer guru Hadji Bakara could not join Wolf Parade for their third album, Expo 86: "Hadji Bakara's brain got so big that he accidentally got accepted into the University of Chicago to pursue a doctorate …
In addition to one of the most awesome neck-beards in the business, Patrick Stickles possesses one of the sharpest wits in rock and roll. Throughout the 80-minute set at the Belly Up, the Titus Andronicus …
Seattle's Lights opened the show with a cover of Black Flag's "Nervous Breakdown." Their brand of rootsy punk was followed by the similarly compelling electronic krautrock of Jonas Reinhardt, featuring guitarist Phil Manley, who I've …
Singer-songwriter Marc Cohn is best known for his 1991 hit "Walking in Memphis." On his new CD, Cohn takes us back to 1970, the year after Woodstock, and offers his interpretations of some of the …
For 27 years I've wanted to see Meat Loaf in concert. On August 18, I was able to scratch it off my bucket list. The man many of his generation consider the best rock-and-roll singer …
Asia, the ’80s supergroup made up of former Yes, ELP, and King Crimson members, came to the Viejas Dreamcatcher Lounge to promote their new album, Omega. The band, with all four original members, played to …
Seventy-nine-year-old drummer Paul Motian makes his intentions known 15 seconds into the opener, "Mode IV," one brush slap on one drum head repeated, re-repeated, then the whole pseudo-echo empties out into a burbling cymbal brook. …