Music In Review

Former Neutral Milk Hotel drummer/percussionist Jeremy Barnes and his partner violinist/violist Heather Trost are true travelers, nomads. The duo, the core members of A Hawk and A Hacksaw, have carved out a circular route from their point of origin, Albuquerque, N.M., to Devon, England, and on to Budapest, Hungary. Yet this doesn’t seem to really […]

The 2009 Humboldt Crabs showcased a lot of pep and potential in their opening day victory against the Fairfield Indians. The Crabs are a summer ball league, made up of promising university students who commit to play baseball and represent this community. The Crabs had active bats and hustle on the offensive side. It is […]

The French singer/songwriter Serge Gainsbourg created a myth of a poet, rascal, provocateur, lady’s man and maverick, using French pop music as a platform. He redefined the concepts of beauty, cool and sexy. His influence has seeped into a wide variety of contemporary musical genres, from Air and Stereolab to Jarvis Cocker, Luna and Beck. […]

"What if you play guitar the way a girl jerks off?" asks left-handed six string slinger and singer Elisa Ambrogio, one half of the noisy free rock duo Magik Markers. The duo’s most recent release, Balf Quarry displays an alarming, compelling and sultry sound. Relentlessly improvising in all the right ways, M/M have exchanged their […]

Chicago-based reissue label Numero Group has released a number of collections of excellent out-of-print and never-released soul singles from the late 1960s to the early ’70s in their Eccentric Soul series. It begs the question why some of these artists, such as Richard Cook (on the Atlanta-based Tragar/Note label) or Renaldo Domino (on Chicago’s Twinight […]

Sonic Youth provides the bridge between 1970s post-punk experimentations (and noise) and the contemporary noise-core and Black Metal movements, while including an eclectic variety of musical genres flowing beneath its span. So it’s no great surprise to discover that Sonic Youth drew on some of those contemporary influences, within the band’s own evolution, for their […]

Kids’ dance productions are about that: kids dancing. Artistic director Victor Temple’s version of the siblings sent to the woods fairytale gave a lot of kids a lot of chances to dance up a storm. His choreography, appropriate to the abilities of the children, gave them their proper placement in the oeuvre of classical ballet. […]

St. Vincent is an unusual character. Berklee College of Music dropout, Polyphonic Spree alumnus, multi-instrumentalist, singer and songwriter, Annie Clark adopted her stage name, "St. Vincent," from the New York hospital where poet Dylan Thomas died (hours after being carted out of the White Horse Tavern). In 2007, after touring with Sufjan Stevens’ band, Clark […]

It doesn’t get any more Humboldt than Bill Morrill, creator of 101 Milestones. Morrill wasn’t exactly born here in Humboldt County, but he moved here in ’72 so forget about it. He’s been here for days. Some time ago, back in 2004, Morrill came up with the 101 Milestones concept. Morrill recognized how rich the […]

Hailing from Germany, The Monks were an unconventionally timeless band, making their mark with a single record. Originally released in Europe on Polydor in 1965, with only 3,000 records issued, Black Monk Time failed to garner U.S. distribution. And after three-odd years of exhaustive touring, the band dissolved. It would be difficult to imagine then […]

What if a drug existed that gave you energy, inspired you toward happiness, was only addictive in the most positive sense and cost under $20 for a near-lifetime supply? What if all that was true of a particular new CD? Music is just about the cheapest mood-altering substance out there. Let’s say I bought City […]

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 […]