Category: Music
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I wasn’t a fan during their heyday–too young–but their hits saturated the ’70s, so they felt familiar when I started to listen to them more seriously a few years ago. And my appreciation for Walter Becker, Donald Fagen and their shuffling cast of bandmates just continues to grow the more I listen to them. I…
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Haywood had an 8-year run, ending in 2000, that culminated with Men Called Him Mister and We Are Amateurs, You and I. I’m mighty sorry they’re gone, but if it had to end, "Amateurs" is a hell of a swansong. I never knew them when, but they’ve been in heavy rotation ever since I first…
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Dr. Frank is the main force behind the Mr. T Experience, an old Berkeley based pop-punk band that still seems to be semi-alive and kicking, and he's one of my favorite pop-and-politics bloggers. To be honest, I've never been a huge fan of the MTX, but the blog kicks ass. Two recent highlights: 1) From…
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I love Latin music. At its best, its frenetic exuberance comes this close to complete insanity–but the band keeps it together for stanza after stanza, inducing a sort of joyful trance state. The jazz-inflected music of master conguero Ray Barreto of the ’50s and ’60s exemplifies this quality, and seven of his tracks–all gems–are on…
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It’s hard–almost impossible–to do Sigur Ros justice in a bloggy little review. It would take a much better writer than the one you have here. Dreamy, to the point of feeling like I’m in a dream. Sorry, but that’s the best I can do.
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Two cultural icons with roots in the 1930s are about to celebrate big birthdays: Dashiell Hammett's The Maltese Falcon turns 75 on Valentine's Day, and the Village Vanguard turns 70 this year and is holding a week-long party Feb. 14-20. "Falcon" is a fine book, certainly Hammett's best-known, and if its 75th anniversary brings him…
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Knapsack was an outstanding little late-’90s band from Davis, CA, and This Conversation is Ending Starting Right Now was their swansong. Too hard to call it emo, too subtle to call it punk, too smart to call it rock, their sound is a little bit of everything. They never rise to Jawbreaker’s angsty, operatic heights,…
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Doctors, Professors, Kings & Queens: the Big Ol’ Box of New Orleans is an incredible listen, even if the title’s too long and all wrong. (The only people who rhyme New Orleans with queens have never been there.) Four discs, a rich riot of styles and time periods all jumbled together, from Sidney Bechet to…
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Need to move your iTunes library from one computer to another? No problem–just use your iPod.
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The Promise Ring put out Nothing Feels Good in ’97 and Very Emergency in ’99. Intentionally or not, they’re a perfectly matched pair of albums–smart pop with a guitar edge and lyrics both wistful and quirky. Make me a Chevy because an old Chevy made me.And a young one makes me a Chevy.Where would I…