Mark Shikuma

As a longtime fan of the early ’80s rock outfit The Plimsouls, a band that delivered high-fueled power pop sprinkled with ’60s references, I was initially baffled by the frontman’s decision in 1983 to throw in the towel after only two terrific Plimsouls recordings. Instead, Peter Case returned to his folk-based roots. When T-Bone Burnett […]

At the conclusion of a long conversation with my friend Candace, a music aficionado who lives in Memphis, she recommended checking out Bosco Delrey’s Everybody Wah, which was recorded in her musically-rich city. “Who?” I wondered. She repeated the name in her deep Southern twang, adding, “It’s T. Rex mixed with hip hop.” In fact […]

It would be a disservice to simply state that singer/songwriter/musician Frank Fairfield is an anomaly. Those who have witnessed one of his several astounding local live performances armed with a banjo, parlor guitar, fiddle, his voice and one tube microphone, know he embodies each song with eccentric zeal, providing a glimpse into the raw spirit […]

It is widely known that improvisational music is not exactly popular within the larger listening audience; in short, it’s not everyone’s cup of tea. But for brave souls with a wider palate and patient ear, it can be exhilarating, its immediacy coming in spontaneous blasts and delicate waves. In the hands of some of contemporary […]

For someone as prolific as Sonic Youth guitarist/vocalist Thurston Moore, it’s a bit surprising that his new record, Demolished Thoughts, is only his third solo effort. It’s clear that Moore, who has worked with a wide range of collaborators including NY No Wave figurehead Glenn Branca, Nels Cline, Mike Watt, Christian Marclay and Richard Hell, […]

Shortly before being dismissed from Dinosaur Jr., Lou Barlow, a burgeoning yet insecure singer/songwriter, began teaming up with fellow singer/songwriter Eric Gafney on home recordings, creating Sebadoh. They released the band’s first official full-length recording, Freed Man, in 1989 (the same year Barlow left Dinosaur Jr.) on Gerard Cosloy’s Homestead label. Sebadoh joined Guided By […]

Calgary-based singer/songwriter Chad VanGaalen successfully ascended on his own DIY path. His latest release, Diaper Island, marks a distinct departure from the eccentric folk-pop nuggets of his excellent 2008 album, Soft Airplane. This offering explores new territory inspired by an assortment of garage music as VanGaalen plugs in his electric guitar and creates strong, accessible […]

In a sense, the LA-based band Dengue Fever is a postmodernist’s delight — its music is a hybrid of a hybrid. The band fuses Western rock built upon a foundation of ’60s Cambodian pop, itself a hybrid of traditional Cambodian melodies and U.S. ’60s psychedelic, surf and pop. Keyboardist Ethan Holtzman formed Dengue Fever after […]

Member of the legendary Funk Brothers, Motown’s crack studio band, guitarist Dennis Coffey remains relatively unknown to a larger public unaware of his overwhelming contributions to the Detroit legacy of funk and soul. Coffey’s playing style and inventive use of distortion and effect pedals became a cornerstone of the bridge between Motown’s ’60s-tailored soul and […]

 After nearly two decades, the Duluth, Minn.-based rock band Low, co-led by guitarist Alan Sparkhawk and drummer/percussionist Mimi Parker (husband and wife), has amassed a number of tags to its brand of quiet, slower-paced songs, with plenty of dirge running underneath the engaging hymnal-like melodies. It started as a joke when, asked to describe Low’s […]

Singer/songwriter/musician Merrill Garbus, who operates under the pseudonym tUnE-yArDs, drew tremendous attention at this year’s SXSW Festival in Austin with her bracing live performance. The Montreal native, who moved to Oakland several years ago, created a stir in 2009 with an impressive lo-fi debut, BiRd-BrAiNs, a collection of homespun, solo-performed, multi-layered songs employing an overachieving […]