Thursday 3Courtney Love’s Hole will fill 4th&B tonight. Let me start again. Nineties alt-radio staples Hole have a new collection out on Mercury Records, Nobody’s Daughter, their first in a decade. Heard a pixilated version …
June 2, 2010
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Stories by Barnaby Monk
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Indie Up!
Canada Bands
Thursday 27Anybody else have a “Canada bands” category in your iTunes? It’s a time-saver for how far that full spectrum flings, from the bubblegum of New Pornographers to the mad-cow meat of Frog Eyes. Fronted …
May 26, 2010
Punk Haiku
Thursday 20Baltimore represents at Tin Can Ale House, where Marylanders Future Islands and Lower Dens (Jana Hunter’s new band) join our own Heavy Hawaii and Rafter for a four-layer cake of indie-pop confection. Baked goods …
May 19, 2010
Your Mileage May Vary
Thursday 13San Diego’s new math-punk supergroup Ghetto Blaster, featuring Ryan Foxe (Fishwife), John Cota (Hostile Combover, Rats Eyes), Greg Sudor (Irradio), and Cole Mears (Combover), will make their world premiere at Bar Pink tonight. Dorian …
May 12, 2010
Spirit Animals Unite
Thursday 29Ska septet the Slackers lollyskank into Casbah tonight. The Brooklyn band’s been touring and recording since the early ‘90s, keeping the ska vibe and skinny tie alive with garage-rock undertones. They’re out to tout …
April 28, 2010
Resistance...Now!
Thursday 22Dark prince pronoun HIM will conjure His Infernal Majesty with metal riffage at House of Blues tonight. The Finnish five-piece just released their seventh studio set for Sire called — set a spell — …
April 21, 2010
Live Fast and Die Beautiful
Thursday 15I’d say you got to go see Los Angelino psych-folk ensemble Edward Sharp and the Magnetic Zeroes up at Belly Up, but the show’s done sold out. I guess you could go stand on …
April 14, 2010
Lend Me a Fiver
Thursday 8The China Invasion tour, featuring garage-pop trio Carsick Cars, hits town tonight. The Beijing band’s ‘07 s/t debut caught the eye, er, ear of Thurston Moore, and the cats played some dates with SY …
April 7, 2010
Welcome to Camp Kill Yourself
Thursday 25His freak-folkness Devendra Banhart and backing band of minstrels the Grogs stumble into Belly Up behind the bearded one’s ‘09 offering What We Will Be, a critic’s pick that inspired the New York Times …
March 24, 2010
Sonic Colonic
Thursday 18Miami’s mad-rappin’ Clarence Reid, aka Blowfly, rolls up on Radio Room. The 64-year-old is the self-described original nasty rapper and claims to have written and recorded the first rap song ever, “Rapp Dirty”: “This …
March 17, 2010
Happy Pi Day!
Thursday 11Bar Pink books a doozie of a double-bill tonight and one of this week’s many sets-to-see, so let’s hop to: U.K. quartet Lovvers will woo you with the blown tones off their art-punk debut …
March 10, 2010
Crisco Disco
Thursday 4Breathy British band the Clientele is touring the world behind late-last-year’s crit hit Bonfire on the Heath, their most pop-defined collection yet. Bonfire steps out of the fuzz, into cleaner, chiming tones. Though front …
March 3, 2010
Goose Your Bum-Bum
Thursday 25Down with Liberty, Up with Chains. D.C. artiste and internet talk-show host Ian Svenonius’s Chain and the Gang will do time at Casbah tonight. Svenonius (Nation of Ulysses) is an interesting cat, and this …
February 24, 2010
Whole Lotta Aping Going On
Thursday 18English goth-rockers the Damned will finish up their two-night stint at Casbah. Sold out, it is.... So go check out Motörhead Lemmy’s new joint the Head Cat at Belly Up. They’re a rockabilly super-trio, …
February 17, 2010
Happy Bloody Valentine's Day
Thursday 11Kick out the jams, brothers and sisters, when Santa Cruz instrumental act Sound Tribe Sector 9 delivers “post-rock dance music” to House of Blues. The electronic quintet shines live with its precision-rhythm-based psychedelic funk …
February 10, 2010
Sonic Assault
Thursday 4The Brooklyn-band hype machine needed something different, a new sound and language to distract from the steady stream of ornate art-pop acts — the TV on the Radios and Dirty Projectors, the Animal Collectives …
February 3, 2010
Technicolor Pogo Punk
Thursday 28He’s got Grammys, he’s got Emmys, he’s got a velvet croon and a watch-out-for-your-girlfriend grin. This renaissance man-about-town is Harry Connick Jr., and he’s bringing Your Songs, his umpteenth collection of fancy-pants jazz as …
January 27, 2010
Big Hair and Big Hearts
Thursday 21Sezio, a local not-for-profit artist’s collective, provides a platform for San Diego artists and musicians. They’ll be hosting a benefit for that cause at Casbah tonight with a remix set by IDM band Jamuel …
January 20, 2010
Joey Harris and the Mentals
San Diego perennial Joey Harris comes from a no-frills school of rock with a strict curriculum of guitar-bass-drum, life-lesson lyricism, and a ’67 Caddy for a school bus. For this summer’s s/t Double Barrel release, …
July 29, 2009
Da Bears
Cleaning out the disc bin on my desk, the Sendak-like pen-and-ink critters on Da Bears’ Classics/Cobra caught my eye. The collection was recorded from 2006 through ought eight. Better late than never, eh? And never …
May 27, 2009
If I'm Any Judge
I judged a battle of the bands last Tuesday night at the Hard Rock Café, home to Mojo’s leathers and Madonna’s bulletproof bra. The event was the San Diego leg of the Ambassadors of Rock …
May 6, 2009
Reader writers' favorite drinks and where they drink them
There are times, sometimes in the midst of otherwise polite conversation, when it comes out that I make my living writing for the Reader. The follow-up to this revelation is almost never “Oh, that’s right, …
April 22, 2009
Modern Rifles
Album: I Was Young, It Was Dark (2009)Artist: Modern RiflesLabel: Self-releasedWhere available/price: ModernRifles.net, $10; CDBaby, $10; Amazon, $11.99Songs: 1) Introplane 2) Terroplane 3) Lie to Me, Ian. Lie to Me 4) Feck Me If I’m …
April 22, 2009
Salty Dogs at Nunu’s
-2 oz. vodka or gin -4 oz. grapefruit juice -Garnish with lime or lemon wedge -Serve in a glass with a salted rim Jimmy’s days behind the bar at Nunu’s are over, but you’ll likely …
April 22, 2009
Give the Kid a Job!
Last Saturday, the San Diego African American Musician Heritage Foundation inducted local jazzman Jesse Davis into its hall of fame. Davis shares this distinction with local luminaries such as Fro Brigham, Hollis Gentry III, Carl …
December 23, 2008