Sannhet sweep Chapel crowd with heavy, measured post-rock Joanna Jiang July 5, 2015 Concerts, Festivals, and Live Reviews Truth is, the three-piece experimental band at the loosely-populated Chapel Tuesday night looked and sounded like they were from Brooklyn. They tore through their repertoire neatly and efficiently within an...
Carlson spins a dizzying loop with solo debut record, Never Easy Never Been Easier Joanna Jiang June 22, 2015 Album Review Last year, Venezuelan producer Arca made waves when he released a solo record after working with the likes of FKA twigs, Kanye West, and Hudson Mohawke. In a similar pattern, Carlson (first name Al) drops hi...
A true spectacle, Purity Ring finish tour with theatrical lightshow at the Fox Joanna Jiang June 20, 2015 Concerts, Festivals, and Live Reviews Regardless of their position in the another eternity / “Purity Ring sound” debate, patrons at Purity Ring’s Fox Oakland debut could agree that Purity Ring’s live show is fully-developed and leaves ...
Lights, camera… A-Trak to return to the Bay on Friday Joanna Jiang June 16, 2015 Concerts, Festivals, and Live Previews Teenagers left, right, and centre are trading guitars for turntables these days in hopes of becoming the next big thing. Having won his first DMC World Championship at age 15, Fool’s Gold founder A-Trak is bo...
Song Exploder hosts dynamic duo Matmos at Megapolis Audio 2015 Joanna Jiang June 11, 2015 Concerts, Festivals, and Live Reviews, News M.C. Schmidt posed an important question last Sunday during a live Song Exploder event at the fourth annual Megapolis Audio Festival. Schmidt, one half of formerly-local-now-Baltimore-based experimental mus...
Prinzhorn Dance School get colourful, comfortable on third LP Joanna Jiang June 10, 2015 Album Review Under normal circumstances, the English language tends to lose regional intonation and rhoticity when singing. But due to their shouty vocals, Prinzhorn Dance School remain distinctly British and angsty. Na...
Q&A: Darryl Holter to perform early Radio Songs by Woody Guthrie Sunday Joanna Jiang June 10, 2015 Album Preview, Interview The legend that is now Woody Guthrie was then, in the late 1930s, in his twenties. When the depression hit, the Oklahoma native headed west. He landed in California, on a specialty show with musical counter...
Porcelain Raft perfects craft, releases Half Awake on new boutique label Joanna Jiang June 6, 2015 Album Review 1 Comment Matching the juxtaposition framed by his moniker, Italian shoegazer Mauro Remiddi writes music that is comfortably bleary-eyed and lyrics that are bluntly precise. “I wonder if you’ll ever know / How it...
In Colour: Jamie xx brings “Good Times” and vibes, vibrant on solo debut Joanna Jiang June 1, 2015 Album Review 3 Comments In more ways than one, In Colour doesn’t feel like a debut. Besides the fact that “Girl” and “Sleep Sound” were released last year, producer Jamie Smith’s tendencies are often described as nost...
Interview: Shy Girls on growing up, moving west, and making The Dream Joanna Jiang May 28, 2015 Concerts, Festivals, and Live Reviews, Interview Dan Vidmar, or Shy Girls as he's better known, seemed a little roadworn when we spoke to him backstage last Friday, but he didn’t show it in his performance two hours later at Rickshaw Stop’s weekly POP...
Unknown Mortal Orchestra return radiantly, glowing with Multi-Love Joanna Jiang May 26, 2015 Album Review 2 Comments With Multi-Love, Unknown Mortal Orchestra mastermind Ruban Nielson is at the top of his game. As usual, Nielson’s not making a fuss about it. Love does wonders in songwriting, and better times are audible...
DOOMSQUAD enable Christmas in July with a two-part dance suite Joanna Jiang May 20, 2015 Album Review With a moniker like DOOMSQUAD, one can be certain the Blumas aren't the type who take themselves too seriously – their backstory is exactly that. “We’re superserious and at the same time we’re not s...
Gacha explores melody, paints a comfortable haze with debut LP Joanna Jiang May 3, 2015 Album Review Georgia-born Gacha Bakradze spent three years collecting his upcoming debut full-length, but Send Two Sunsets sounds stunningly effortless. Central to its nine tracks is instrumental melody. Distinct lines ...
Other Lives’ Jonathon Mooney shares his stance on touring, doughnuts, and new LP Rituals Joanna Jiang May 3, 2015 Concerts, Festivals, and Live Previews Portland-by-way-of-Oklahoma trio Other Lives are due to commence a month-long North American tour next week after releasing third full-length album Rituals, due May 4 via TBD Records. This third record, c...
Martin Gore takes mechanic route with new instrumental record Joanna Jiang April 28, 2015 Album Review I haven’t yet seen that film Ex Machina, but I imagine it could be quite compatible with Martin Gore’s latest endeavour. In March, the English musician, globally renowned for writing much of New Wav...