Mark Shikuma

D.I.Y. Do-It-Yourself. This was a phrase attached to the ethic from frontier days of punk music, both here and abroad, but it was not so exclusive to the particular musical genre. The “No Wave” movement in New York (and later, Chicago and Los Angeles) also took more experimental forms and performed in a variety of […]

The San Francisco-based group Deerhoof can be a polarizing band. Naysayers can’t stand the cacophony, or bassist Satomi Matsuzaki’s high waif-like falsetto vocals, often mixing Japanese and English lyrics together, creating abstract nonsense. Their songs constantly contain different parts lending to an angular, at times, fragmented sound. Fans love their music for all these reasons. […]

Hailing from Minneapolis, The Replacements were a fatalistic band. Headed by songwriter, vocalist and guitarist Paul Westerberg, the band drew praise from mid-’80s critics, and garnered a dedicated nationwide core of fans, but they couldn’t get enough radio airplay (thought to be too rough-around-the-edges) and thus didn’t sell enough "units." Meanwhile, live they were wildly […]

Underground instrumentalist Phil Spirito has journeyed from one obscure band to another. His membership with rex brought him together with Chicago-based band, Red Red Meat, many of whose members — including leader Tim Rutilli, Ben Massarella and Brian Deck — would later form Califone. The mixture of these two bands would result in an interesting […]

"Prolific" suggests "fruitful" or "productive." Former Guided By Voices bandleader Robert Pollard is beyond prolific. The 51-year-old songwriter from Dayton, Ohio, has been busy. Aside from the 16 full-length records released by his band GBV, Pollard has released 20 solo records under his own name, and he has released 25 additional records of "side projects." […]

From their early stages as Giant Sand and Friends of Dean Martinez, Calexico was a band that strove to hone their own sound — a mix of Ennio Morricone’s spaghetti Western soundtrack music, mariachi horns, experimental treatment flourishes and subtle percussion — while providing backup to various artists such as Michael Hurley, Victoria Williams, Richard […]

The concept of “home” has been a recurring theme in song, literature and art. It conjures up the literal, physical structure, the metaphorical and one’s history. Resident singer/songwriter Lila Nelson uses the various forms of “home,” telling an eclectic assortment of stories in song, for her excellent new record, Letter Home. Nelson displays her gift […]

The merger of Scott McCaughey from Minus 5 and Steve Wynn, former leader of the LA-based ’80s band the Dream Syndicate, makes for a perfect doubleheader. Together, the songwriters have culled baseball folklore, stories and forgotten personalities to inspire a new album that, to borrow baseball verbiage, goes the distance. With the contributions of REM/Minus […]

I’m sick of Canada. I’m tired of hearing about their state-funded schools, National Health, and their music. Canada has the nerve to fund the arts in their country, including partial support of a large number of bands — Arcade Fire, Wolf Parade, Broken Social Scene, The Stars, The New Pornographers, Destroyer, to name a few […]

Timing. In an interview concerning his latest film, My Blueberry Nights, Hong Kong director Wong Kar Wai explained that his film is about relationships and timing. Then again, nearly all of his films revolve around human relationships and timing. Sometimes he draws a winning hand; sometimes he comes up snake eyes. From his first film […]

"To be lonely is a state of mind, something completely other than physical solitude." "The cure for anything is salt water: sweat, tears or the sea." — Danish writer Karen Blixen (Isak Dinesen) There are Scandinavian countries where daylight lasts for days on end, or darkness continues from one day into the next, depending on […]