Mark Shikuma

After keyboardist and electronics wizard Brian Eno left Roxy Music in 1973, his output as a solo artist has been enormous. In addition, he has recorded a continuous string of collaborative projects with musicians such as Robert Fripp, David Byrne, John Cale and experimentalist Harold Budd. In that time, he also established an illustrious career […]

Oakland-based drummer, percussionist and composer Scott Amendola belongs to an elite group of contemporary musicians who have paved new avenues for contemporary music and jazz. Amendola’s strength is his constant inventiveness and improvisational skill, or adding subtle touches within the deep pocket of unrelenting groove. The list of musicians he has played and collaborated with […]

It took a little over a decade for the Swedish trio Junip to deliver their first full-length recording, Fields. Singer/songwriter José González, keyboardist Tobias Winterkorn and drummer Elias Araya originally formed Junip in 1989; a self-released EP, Straight Lines, came out in 2000. However, while Araya spent nearly five years in Norway (in art school) […]

The North Carolina-based quartet Superchunk helped carve out a sound informed by power pop, punk and ’70s FM radio that shaped an important aspect of ’90s rock. Along with bands such as Guided By Voices, Bob Mould’s Sugar, Wilco and Redd Kross, Superchunk delivered loud guitars, hook-filled riffs, a pounding rhythm section and pop melodies. […]

Epic. It may be the best word to describe musician, interpreter and composer Nels Cline. Even though Cline, in his 50s, has finally received a wider recognition after joining Wilco, the guitarist has hardly rested on his laurels. If anything, he has multiplied them. His output and dedication to his true roots — contemporary, experimental […]

I must admit that I was led astray in initially dismissing Grinderman as a vehicle for Nick Cave to somehow recapture and upgrade the barrage of cacophony he created with his first band, The Birthday Party. It was more than that, I discovered. Rather than simply a side project, Grinderman has become an extension of […]

Rooted in a mixture of 1960s bubblegum, garage and UK Mersey Beat, power pop’s influence casts an eccentric wide net, from The Ramones (Johnny Ramone used to describe his band’s music as “sick bubblegum”) to Wilco. However, by and large, the musical genre doesn’t sustain longevity for a band’s identity. Even The Beatles, who refined […]

It took a long time for The Vaselines to release their sophomore record, Sex With An X — in fact just over 20 years. The Scottish-based band, essentially a duo, Frances McKee and Eugene Kelly, crafted minimalist Velvet Underground-influenced garage pop predating the recent slew of lo-fi, garage-pop bands, including Vivian Girls, Dum Dum Girls […]

It’s not unusual for a young singer/songwriter to crisscross the U.S. and absorb influences, initially inspired by Jack Kerouac’s On The Road and Woody Guthrie’s Bound For Glory (along with a healthy dose of Bob Dylan) developing chops in numerous coffee shops and folk clubs. But what this UK troubadour did with those experiences is […]

Since Isobel Campbell, vocalist/instrumentalist and founding member of Glasgow-based Belle & Sebastian, left that band in 2002, she has become best known for honing a duet persona in collaboration with former Screaming Trees and Queens of The Stone Age vocalist Mark Lanegan. After a number of solo efforts, including the notable Amorino in 2003, Campbell […]

The 74-year-old Detroit native and R&B soul singer Andre Williams is literally a soul survivor. His life so far is a story that legends are made of. In 1957, before he’d reached 21, Williams had written the top 10 Billboard R&B hit “Bacon Fat.” In the early ’60s, the young songwriter co-wrote Stevie Wonder’s early […]