Music In Review

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 […]

Along with the likes of Kyuss, Monster Magnet and Fu Manchu, Nebula helped shape the direction of the ’90s desert/stoner rock movement. They didn’t necessarily enjoy the high profile fanfare and commercial success of their peers, but thanks to impressively consistent recordings and Eddie Glass’ signature guitar style, Nebula quickly established themselves as one of […]

If you’ve been lucky enough to see the local band Absynth Quintet play live, you know they’re amazing. Sometimes the improvisational jams may go on just a tiny bit too long, but the individual band members’ undeniable talent quashes any negative aspects on that front. The collective picking styles presented by Ian Davidson on banjo, […]

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 […]

It’s okay to want to get naked. In fact, I would encourage every one of you to give in to that urge, that natural instinct that Foot Village evokes through their latest release Friendship Nation, in what may be the very nexus of acoustic hardcore and scum-folk, if there has indeed ever been one. There […]

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 […]

Hippies from the hills, turbaned dreads, tattooed party boys, college kids, urban refugees, friends and families — they all gathered by the Eel River once again on the first weekend in August for another round of Reggae. Aside from the split with the Mateel (which seldom came up in conversation), it was the same as […]

The Delta Nationals are a talented quartet of local blues-rooted musicians whose second album, All Over the Map, emerged earlier this year. As the title suggests, the album is a diverse collection of toe-tapping music authored by the band members. The Delta Nationals have created a wonderful boogie sound on this album which should resonate […]

Remember the super catchy popular hit song “Tubthumping” from 1997? Sure you do, you still hear it played at major sporting events: “I get knocked down but I get up again. You’re never gonna keep me down ….” Perhaps the most popular protest song of the decade. Sorry, sports fans: Chumbawamba are a self-described “Anarchist […]

By Girl Talk. Illegal Art. “Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to bear witness to the holy union of these two songs: Do you, Jay Z’s ‘Big Pimpin,’ take this, The Jackson 5’s ‘ABC,’ as your overdubbed remix of a partner for as long as drunken college students think it’s catchy …” A classic […]

July 19 at Benbow State Park In front of an adoring crowd, Culture’s lead singer Kenyatta Hill dedicated his performance at Reggae on the River to his deceased father, the roots star Joseph Hill. The senior Hill helped found the band and penned such esteemed roots classics as “Two Sevens Clash” and “Zion Gate.” Gigantic […]