Mark Shikuma

Big Star. Ardent/Rhin. The term, “Memphis Curse,” was bantered around quite a bit amongst musician friends when I resided there for three years in the 1990s. It meant that as soon as a Memphis band reached a plateau, as a unit, it inevitably would soon fall apart, disintegrate. The story of Big Star was often […]

Prolific singer/songwriter/musician Lou Barlow seems to be bringing things together of late, rather than fragmenting further into additional side projects. After his departure from Dinosaur Jr., where he was a founding member, Barlow created Sebadoh with instrumentalist Eric Gaffney. Then came the lo-fi independent side project Sentridoh. Then The Folk Implosion. Having recently rejoined and […]

The San Francisco-based band Girls has been riding a wave of attention recently, making high marks with critics, getting coverage in Pitchfork and a cover story for Fader. This may also cause skeptics (like myself) to raise an eyebrow. The much-publicized early biography of the band’s songwriter/vocalist, Christopher Owens (escaped from a religious cult, kicked […]

Looking toward Biblical passages as inspiration and titles for your songs often rings a death knell for singer/songwriters who reign in the musical fringe sectors of pop, folk, rock and country — i.e. the "alt" world. Even Bob Dylan was initially dismissed for his "Christian" recordings, casting a shadow on the overlooked Slow Train Coming. […]

Based in Mali, the group Tinariwen is not only from the desert, they are the desert. Tinariwen ("empty places") is less of a "band" than a familial collective of Tuareg culture, a nomadic people who inhabit the far regions of the Sahara, spanning from west to east of Northern Africa, connected with the Tamashek language. […]

Califone frontman Tim Rutili has been busy since the band’s 2006 release, Roots & Crowns. Recently involved with a brief summer reunion of his previous band, Red Red Meat (in conjunction with the Sub Pop reissue of their seminal Bunny Gets Paid, which was reviewed here earlier this year), Rutili has also simultaneously directed an […]

New Zealand singer/songwriter, Neil Finn, Crowded House’s frontman, has collected musicians, singer/songwriters and bands from all across the globe — for the second time. Finn’s new 7 Worlds Collide project brings alum members from his first effort — including his brother Tim Finn (Split Enz), Radiohead’s Ed O’Brien and Phil Selway, guitarist Johnny Marr and […]

From the early 1980s, the New Zealand pop scene has flourished, mostly through the Christchurch-based label Flying Nun Records. Bands such as The Clean, The Chills and The Bats emerged from beyond the South Island of New Zealand environs with a distinct type of pop music — often spare, minimal — catching attention of like-minded […]

For over two decades, Yo La Tengo, fronted by the husband/wife duo of vocalist/guitarist Ira Kaplan and vocalist/drummer/percussionist Georgia Hubley, have crafted a wide array of slightly subverted rock songs that leans toward ’60s pop melodies. After the cementing of the group’s core with the addition of bassist James McNew in 1993, the Hoboken, N.J.-based […]

The music community from the Midwest have a deep affection for classic pop: a combination of influences that range from the initial British Invasion of the ’60s, to bubblegum pop (like Edison Lighthouse and 1910 Fruitgum Company), to Memphis’ Big Star. The Midwest cultivated a wide community of pop bands, including The Raspberries, Dwight Twilley, […]

Seattle-based singer/songwriter Jesy Fortino, under the apt nom de guerre of Tiny Vipers, writes and performs music from a place of isolation — like, say, Nova Scotia or Newfoundland — a place, an environment set apart from a larger body. Tiny Vipers’ sophomore release, Life On Earth, evokes an atmosphere both foreign and familiar. Even […]

The SF-based band, Cryptacize, a branch from the Deerhoof family tree, has definitely grown and solidified with its sophomore release, Mythomania. It’s an angular, oddly melodic and engaging piece of work, expanding upon its preceding 2007 release, Dig That Treasure, the band’s spare, more minimal debut. Founded by former Deerhoof guitarist Chris Cohen, Cryptacize bears […]