Warm shower, hot show: Warmduscher with TREASVRE at Cornerstone Berkeley Stanley Quiros October 22, 2023 Concerts, Festivals, and Live Reviews That special mid-October heatwave hit Wednesday night, in time for Warmduscher’s first time playing in Berkeley. A warm evening for a band whose name means “warm showerer.” I was excited to see the band...
Sugar, mice, and everything nice: black midi with Black Country, New Road at the Warfield Stanley Quiros October 13, 2022 Concerts, Festivals, and Live Reviews, Reviews, Rock Everything nice but Isaac Wood, that is. I am at the back of a line. A long line. Hopping off at BART’s Powell Station, I was not expecting this many people; an amused feeling of surprise crawls its way ac...
Pond Hopping with Dry Cleaning and Fake Fruit at the Chapel Stanley Quiros November 24, 2021 Concerts, Festivals, and Live Reviews An appropriate name for a venue. A San Franciscan hole-in-the-wall expanded in shadow, my first concert in the Bay since March of 2020 welcomed me into a secret service. A sacred offering from two spiritually b...
So much more than ripe persimmons: Michelle Zauner is in season Stanley Quiros June 2, 2021 Columns and Opinions, News Michelle Zauner of Japanese Breakfast may be one of the most important rockers to arise in the 2010s. Since 2016’s Psychopomp, Zauner has experienced personal loss and indie success. She now holds a strange, ...
Plastic oh no: A conversation with MANCHO Stanley Quiros April 4, 2021 Interview Chicago-based percussionist Marshall Greenhouse recently released Plastic Oh No (2020), a track-by-track reimagining of John Lennon’s Plastic Ono Band (1970), under his project MANCHO. We had a Zoom interview...
Love music? Try Bandcamp! Stanley Quiros March 5, 2021 Opinion As the COVID-19 pandemic reaches its first anniversary, the music community is still hurting. Workarounds like live streamed concerts and online merch still cannot replace live shows. The ecosystem of music ven...
Inauguration Day 2021 Music Recap: Bucket Hat Reunions, Ruined Harrisongs, and Black Pumas Rising Stanley Quiros February 21, 2021 News We have a new president! When I cast my first ballot ever in the California primary for Bernie Sanders, I was so filled with pride! Then, when I learned that my ballot had been denied I made sure to do everythi...
2020: the year Dua Lipa finally won me over Stanley Quiros February 8, 2021 Blog, Columns and Opinions 2020 was a year of isolation, sure, but in a time where the world shrank to a room, the music of the year became expansive, willing to adventure sonically in ways the listener couldn’t physically. In the new ...
Low-life: New Order face up Stanley Quiros January 7, 2021 Album Review, Columns and Opinions In 1985, New Order had already proven themselves to be one of the biggest musical innovators of the 80s, and absolutely the most successful new wave band in transitioning from post-punks to bona-fide booty-movi...
John Lennon: 40-40 Stanley Quiros December 8, 2020 Creative Writing, News 80 years since October 9, 1940, 40 since December 8, 1980. 40 with John Lennon, 40 without. Saints are often depicted as "holier than thou" impossibilities, people of mythical and dubious origin from a time ...
It’s on! Song machine baby! Stanley Quiros November 12, 2020 Album Review Gorillaz surprised everyone when they got back together in 2017 for their next album, Humanz. Although they’ve now been back for a while and have made two decent records since, the band was seeming a bit los...
Ansel Avenue’s first livestream: streets ahead! Stanley Quiros October 28, 2020 News As the coming end of 2020 approaches faster than expected, there is surprisingly much to look forward to. Musicians have found curious and creative workarounds to get music to people, and in times where ...
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...
BLM! Albums of Perseverance Stanley Quiros, Natalie Gott, Tyler Harding and Amber Ellertson August 22, 2020 Columns and Opinions Keep fighting! Black Lives Matter has gained so much traction these past few months, and the next step is remembering that movements require long term internalization into one’s way of living. Times are gett...
BLM! Albums of Experience Stanley Quiros July 30, 2020 Columns and Opinions, Uncategorized Black lives matter! Black songwriters, musicians, and artists are an integral part of American music history. Jazz, blues, and rock music were all founded by Black people, and all around the world, regardless ...