The complexity of love and loss in the Beatles’ “Now and Then” Gianna Caudillo November 28, 2023 News, Album Review, Reviews, Rock “One, two…,” counts Paul McCartney, but he is not about to launch into a rollicking, “Well, she was just seventeen! You know what I mean!” This McCartney count-in is more methodical, of lower timbre, ...
Why you should be digging Dijon: an Absolutely album review Katie Hulse November 19, 2023 Album Review, Columns and Opinions, indie, R&B The electrically honest debut album titled Absolutely (2021) moves in mysterious ways and pulsates with such raw emotion that it feels like the music is bursting free from Dijon’s safekept psyche. With th...
The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We: A Lyrical Exploration of Mitski’s New Album Michelle Johnson-Wang November 8, 2023 Album Review, Contemporary Folk, Creative Writing You can’t live in this house anymore. There’s more mold than grout between your bathroom tiles. The foundations are rotting and slowly sinking into the earth. You asked your landlord to do something about i...
“Jazz!! is!! back!!:” The release of Laufey’s “Bewitched” and thoughts on the future of the genre Gianna Caudillo October 10, 2023 Album Review, Classical, Columns and Opinions, Cultural Commentary, indie-pop, Jazz, Music Consumption, Opinion, Reviews In early 2021, a friend of mine sent me a link to a TikTok accompanied by an innocuous message somewhere along the lines of, “Thought you’d like this.” Intrigued, I clicked, and a curly-haired girl in a p...
Ultra Q Reunites with Hockey Dad for Rickshaw Nostalgia Nico Chodor September 11, 2023 Album Review, Concerts, Festivals, and Live Reviews, Photos, Reviews Australian surf rock duo Hockey Dad fathered Jakob Armstrong, Chris Malaspina, Enzo Malaspina, and Kevin Judd through their first full US tour when the boys still went by Mt. Eddy in 2018. Five years later, Jak...
From Gay Head to Goldenrod: the first decade of the Women’s Music Movement in song Gianna Caudillo September 5, 2023 Album Review, Berkeley, folk, music, Music History, Oakland, Reviews, Rock, women's music, Women's Music Movement Commercial rock and roll has always been a boys’ club. From the success of songs that glamorized abuse and the gross fetishization of women, such as the Rolling Stones’ “Brown Sugar” or the Beatles’ ...
Contemplating the tenderness of Natalia Lafourcade’s De Todas las Flores Natalia Girolami March 2, 2023 Album Review Natalia Lafourcade’s newest album De Todas las Flores (2022) is Lafourcade’s first full record of original music in seven years. Her last album containing original work was Hasta la Raíz which was released...
A Rockstar Sometimes, A Mommy Forever Brandon Phan December 20, 2022 Berkeley, Concerts, Festivals, and Live Reviews, indie, indie scene, LGBTQ+, music, Oakland, Photos, Reviews “Mommy! Yes, mommy! I love you, mommy!!” the crowd cheers on. It’s pitch black out on a Saturday night, and the crowd is ecstatic to see everyone’s favorite mom perform live at the Fox Theater in Oaklan...
Love Lives in the Bay: Soft Blue Shimmer Debuts Their New Record at Neck of the Woods Nico Chodor November 22, 2022 Concerts, Festivals, and Live Reviews, indie, indie scene, indie-pop, music, Reviews, San Francisco “my dreams always seem concerned with your well-being…i can’t seem to shake…maybe one day we’ll learn to grow separately. maybe one day i’ll grow on my own. maybe one day this piece of you inside of...
Far from a Wayside: Bedouine’s third album displays songwriting brilliance Anahit Hovsepyan November 6, 2022 Album Review, Reviews Azniv Korkejian, also known as singer-songwriter Bedouine, pulls in listeners with her poetic lyricism and elegant style. With her third record released just over a year ago on October 22, 2021, Waysides contin...
From the mind of Björk spawns Fossora Jackie Greene October 31, 2022 Album Review, Columns and Opinions, Reviews, Rock With no choice but to isolate during the pandemic, many of us, in our collective boredom, spent our days coping with various outlets. Some of us took up new hobbies, like baking bread or crocheting. Others look...
An ode to sensitivity: Nilüfer Yanya’s hypnotic sophomore album Painless Liv Bjorgum March 31, 2022 Album Review, Reviews 1 Comment Nilüfer Yanya’s ethereal sophomore album Painless (ATO, 2022) chronicles the complexities of loneliness and uncertainty. The Chelsea artist’s brutal honesty adds an edge to her signature dreamy, pop-rock s...
A Race to my Downloads with Alex G Ally Flygare November 17, 2021 Album Review, Columns and Opinions, Creative Writing, Opinion Alex G’s 2010 self-released album, Race, is an ode to the trials and tribulations of young adulthood. Released when Alex was a mere 17 years old, the pains of being a teenager growing up in suburban Havertown...
I don’t know about you, but both my favorite album and I are turning twenty-two: A love letter to 69 Love Songs Baylie Raddon September 7, 2021 Album Review, Creative Writing On September 7th, 1999, a new life was brought into the world. Though only a newborn, it was filled with complexity, somber observation, cynicism, and underneath it all, a guarded sense of optimism. Two days la...
Lianne La Havas: self-titled, self-possessed Stanley Quiros September 27, 2020 Album Review, Reviews English singer-songwriter Lianne La Havas just released her self-titled album, and though her previous records were filled with soul and rock sensibility, this cohesive record which focuses on the cyclical na...