Mark Shikuma

It’s a long time a comin’. For decades, John Doe, cornerstone founding member of the seminal LA punk band X, has hinted at his country roots with songs such as "Poor Girl" and "Burning House of Love" from his days with X. Then there was his side project, The Knitters, with X band members Exene […]

Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle is singer/songwriter Bill Callahan’s sophomore release under his own name. His near-20-year nom de plume of "Smog" or "(Smog)" has plainly cleared, leaving Callahan ample breathing room for space, orchestration and clarity to his songs. Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle may be his finest release to […]

Leonard Cohen has the ability to articulate the loneliness of the heart, even if situated in the center of urban bustle. Longing and sadness linger, as if his voice is articulating some form of beauty coming to its end. Having published three books of poetry and a novel before the release of his debut record […]

Chicago has a reputation for being a tough town. A Midwestern ethic infused (or grew from) this city of power and corruption, once the center of the nation’s meat packing industry, where immigrant labor was used to make the machine run. "(Chicago is) the only major city in the country where you can easily buy […]

Percussionist, drummer and composer Alex Cline offers one of the most dynamic and challenging releases to come out so far this year with Continuation, his first recording as a bandleader since 2001’s The Constant Flame. Simple definitions seem inadequate in attempting describe Cline’s compositions — contemporary, orchestral, jazz, Eastern, avant-garde. All of these influences and […]

Marianne Faithfull’s hard, troubled life has hardly been a secret. And her voice seems to directly reflect her long road. There’s a combination of beauty, sadness and pathos in her low delivery that calls to the ghosts of Nico (former Velvet Underground chanteuse), German actress/singer Lotte Lenya and Bessie Smith. So, it’s no wonder that […]

It is no misnomer that singer/songwriter Alela Diane Menig falls into the growing musical community known as "New Weird Americana" or "Freak Folk." What’s interesting about her segment of this developing "scene" or movement are the roots, which derive from British folk traditions, which in turn borrow from earlier Gaelic musical traditions, namely Scotland, Ireland […]

It’s hard to imagine a comparison of the delicate nuances of Antony Hegarty, from Antony and the Johnsons, with the type of brashness offered by singer/songwriter Neko Case. But as Antony had used Japanese Butoh theater (mainly through the legendary performer Kazuo Ohno), in which the performer attempts to embody a non-human form, such as […]

On the occasion of its 20th year, the Red Hot Organization, an AIDS fundraising and awareness group, has released Dark Was the Night, a two-disc (or a three-disc vinyl) compilation with a "who’s-who" of indie rock of the past decade. Aaron and Bryce Dessner from The National worked with Red Hot founder John Carlin to […]

Former Replacements frontman, vocalist and songwriter Paul Westerberg has recounted how he would constantly try to record songs on his own in hopes to record a solo record. Those hopes were usually dashed by curious band members asking Westerberg what he was up to. Eventually the song would become a Replacements song. But if you’re […]

New York-based singer/songwriter Antony Hegarty is an artistic tightrope walker. Musically, he has confidently balanced the fine line between baroque and pop, feminine and masculine, earthly and ethereal. Hegarty, by sheer force of his original style, transcends such categories. As Hegarty explored transgender and identity issues for the inspiration of his previous 2005 release, I […]

It’s a little difficult to differentiate Allan Carl Newman’s solo work from his band’s output, with The New Pornographers. Newman’s influence over his Canadian band has grown, most evident in their 2007 release, Challengers. In fact, Newman has returned to Brooklyn’s Seaside Lounge Studios (with producer Phil Palazzolo and engineer/percussionist Charles Burst in tow) to […]