Everyone's a Critic
So the new Liars album sounds exactly right whilst reading about a 12-year-old Indiana girl tortured and killed by an impromptu gang of female teens. But that's not the surprising part. No, the surprising part …
"PhD-holding members of Glimr make new record in a particle accelerator; drink bourbon from Ankle the Mimic's prosthetic leg" slightly paraphrases the hype with which this blazed into view. While I might not have known …
March is a fatally romantic month at the San Diego Opera, which kicked off its first performance of Gounod's Romeo et Juliette since 1998. Using the beautiful traditional set and costumes from Utah Opera, Cynthia …
The Cave Singers’ Derek Fudesco grabbed his sunburst Gibson hollow-body and took a seat on a stool. Singer Pete Quirk stood at the mic and peered out from under a trucker hat, his face shrouded …
It's a lively night at the Ruby Room. Post-apocalyptic quasi-porn plays on flat screens. Resident artist Alex draws caricatures of unwitting patrons. Vinyl Film plays a generic Get-Up-Kids-grow-a-pair pop punk set. "Yes, I'm wearing a …
Friday's concert at Copley Hall offered music by Dvorak, Bruch, and Tchaikovsky. If many in the audiences weren't familiar with Bruch before, they left the show humming his tunes rather than those of the two …
This album is just one more reason why I'm convinced San Diego is some sort of afterlife. I mean, if it were up to me to choose the post-life house band, it would go something …
Posthumous release American VI: Ain't No Grave is the last of the albums Johnny Cash created with Rick Rubin. Producer Rubin collected songs from various writers, eras, and genres; stripped the arrangements, ditching drums and …
The duo of Sergio Salvatore (piano) and Christo Rafalides (vibes) began with the title cut from their recent release Dark Sand and continued with a funky off-kilter version of Charles Mingus's "Nostalgia in Times Square." …
It's just before ten at the Radio Room and Fkenal’s ending their set. A dude with long hair bums me a Top rolled cigarette. His name is Andy and his band Sugar Sugar Sugar is …
"That one came all the way from the big toe!" Diane Schuur exclaimed after belting her way through the standard "Makin' Whoopee." From her seat at the front of the stage and from her piano, …
Big Echo is the sound of a career synthesizing into a kaleidoscope of sound and imagery. The Morning Benders have delivered on their potential. After a needle drop and a rumbling "2...3...4...," we're launched into …
Marvin Hamlisch and pianist Kevin Cole were in town to jazz up the symphony season with two evening performances of Gershwin tunes. Aside from the listed numbers, Saturday night audiences were treated to many musical …
The Dread Crew of Oddwood played rowdy, ribald tunes to a small but enthusiastic audience. The appeal of their acoustic pirate-metal informed by traditional Celtic music seems to be on the rise: in the crowd …
For his tenth release since Guided by Voices disbanded, singer-songwriter Robert Pollard stays with the formula that made him an indie icon, penning obtuse, albeit infectious lyrics to British invasion-influenced melodies in stripped-down, simple guitar …
I stood listening to openers Wooden Birds, trying to identify exactly what they reminded me of. Tight playing, country-tinged songs with pleasing boy-girl harmonies -- wait -- Fleetwood Mac! While I would have preferred Vetiver, …