Leonard Cohen has the ability to articulate the loneliness of the heart, even if situated in the center of urban bustle. Longing and sadness linger, as if his voice is articulating some form of beauty coming to its end. Having published three books of poetry and a novel before the release of his debut record […]
Music
Coverage of the music scene in Humboldt County with upcoming shows from locals and out-of-town acts, reviews, interviews and more.
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Hard Truth
They call it the Hard Truth Soldiers Tour, the all-star collection of independent underground hip hop artists making their way across the U.S. and Canada, starting out on May Day in Eureka. The Soldiers have a bullet-point manifesto with promises to "be strong and irreverent in the face of oppression," "to encourage and support efforts […]
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Bunny Gets Paid (Deluxe Reissue)
Chicago has a reputation for being a tough town. A Midwestern ethic infused (or grew from) this city of power and corruption, once the center of the nation’s meat packing industry, where immigrant labor was used to make the machine run. "(Chicago is) the only major city in the country where you can easily buy […]
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Arcata Sectarian
In the beginning there was music. It was simple at first — grunting, belly-drums — later lutes. As the tribes spread, different groups developed their own traditions, such as Gregorian chants, Tuvan throat singing and elementary explorations into salsa. Today the world of music is an advanced and esoteric state of war, with Humboldt as […]
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Fleet Foxes/Blitzen Trapper
Robin Pecknold, lead singer for Fleet Foxes, summed it up nicely as soon as he hit the stage at the Arcata Community Center last Monday: "I’ve really got a bad case of school-dance anxiety right now. It’s like this is junior high, and we’re the house band for the most uneventful teen-movie ever made. But […]
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Atlantic Ocean
When news of your latest album is prefaced with "recorded in Wilco’s studio on an analog tape machine sold to Swift by Jeff Tweedy and featuring talented guests such as Mark Ronson and Ryan Adams," expectations are raised. Singer-songwriter Richard Swift’s Atlantic Ocean, newly out on indie-stalwart label Secretly Canadian, doesn’t disappoint. This is the […]
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Listen
Continuing our discussion last week about the viability of record stores, well, this Saturday, April 18, is officially Record Store Day. As RSD co-founder Michael Kurtz explains, "Record Store Day is an excuse for record stores to have a party with the artists who love them and who want to celebrate their art with us. […]
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Between Floor and Flight
For those of us who have been attending HSU dance concerts for the past few years, there is no doubt that Sharon Butler has done a great job at the helm. But as I’m not a fan of long program notes, her lengthy pre-performance exposition included in every program drives me bonkers. There is a […]
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Continuation
Percussionist, drummer and composer Alex Cline offers one of the most dynamic and challenging releases to come out so far this year with Continuation, his first recording as a bandleader since 2001’s The Constant Flame. Simple definitions seem inadequate in attempting describe Cline’s compositions — contemporary, orchestral, jazz, Eastern, avant-garde. All of these influences and […]
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Records Are In
Remember records? You know, those flat plastic discs that hold music in their grooves? You might think, in this digital age, that records are dead. And what with the rise of the iPod and cell phones that play music, with even CDs becoming a thing of the past, not to mention music sales moving online, […]
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Beware
Aptly named Beware, Will Oldham’s subtle and mysterious new album is not what it initially seems. Depths of strange light and dark meaning emerge with repeated listening. The cover presents a skull visage against sinister black, a pale orb of the title’s warning hovering above; on the back a surging planetary volcano. The palindromic catalog […]
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Easy Come Easy Go
Marianne Faithfull’s hard, troubled life has hardly been a secret. And her voice seems to directly reflect her long road. There’s a combination of beauty, sadness and pathos in her low delivery that calls to the ghosts of Nico (former Velvet Underground chanteuse), German actress/singer Lotte Lenya and Bessie Smith. So, it’s no wonder that […]