Shura shares millennial insecurities, that Nothing’s Real Joanna Jiang July 9, 2016 Album Review Commonly compared to a young Madonna, Aleksandra Denton (as Shura) is, in personality, much more inconspicuous. With a sweet demeanor and dyed ends, Denton blends in with today’s alternative crowd. And her br...
Sixth Annual Phono del Sol set for Saturday Valerie Law July 7, 2016 Concerts, Festivals, and Live Previews Local non-profit indie music and food festival Phono del Sol will take place this Saturday, July 9 at Potrero del Sol Park (25th and Utah) in San Francisco. In its sixth year, the all-ages festival is produce...
Interview: Out for tea with Japanese Breakfast Shino Takahashi July 2, 2016 Blog, Interview, Photos I wait to meet Michelle Zauner of Japanese Breakfast in the darkened game room at the back of Brighton Music Hall. After some time a woman that was unmistakably her walks in the room. She wore a black crop to...
Mitski slays happiness with guitars on Puberty 2 HR Huber-Rodriguez June 26, 2016 Album Review Too often, single female musicians are lumped in with some amorphous singer-songwriter genre that encompasses any female vocalist with some combination of guitars, pianos, and strings sans band. Puberty 2, the ...
TICKET GIVEAWAY: Mitski at Starline Social Club Oakland Valerie Law June 19, 2016 Concerts, Festivals, and Live Previews, Contests If you missed Mitski on Upper Sproul this semester, you're in luck. We're giving away a pair of tickets to her all-ages show at the Starline Social Club in Oakland on Friday, July 8, which also features San Fr...
Weaves’ new self-titled album a weird, indie treat Valerie Law June 16, 2016 Album Review, Reviews Originally from Toronto, art pop band Weaves turns three years old this month. Having only an EP that came out April 2014, this month of June also marks the release of their self-titled debut album -- an enthu...
Chance the Rapper’s Coloring Book is a musical blessing Valerie Law May 31, 2016 Album Review It has been nearly three weeks since Chance the Rapper released Coloring Book (2016), his latest work following Acid Rap (2013), 10 Day (2012), and a variety of singles and side projects, including last year'...
The Hush Sound’s comeback tour comes to the Bay Area Vivian Chen May 29, 2016 Concerts, Festivals, and Live Previews, News, Previews After a five-year long hiatus, indie pop-rock band The Hush Sound continues their comeback tour in San Francisco's Social Hall on June 2nd. Since their last album release Goodbye Blues (2008), band member...
Drake’s Views pedestrian, uninteresting HR Huber-Rodriguez May 15, 2016 Album Review Drake once said that by the time he turned 30, he planned to no longer be rapping. I remember feeling respect for this; he was an artist in his prime recognizing that aging artists rarely come close to their ca...
Down a rabbit hole: the state of critique Joanna Jiang April 18, 2016 Columns and Opinions Three years later, more than 100 critiques penned, and more edited, a founding B-Sider reflects on what compels her to write what she does. Critics -- especially art critics -- get a bad rap. They dabble (or...
Andrew Bird delivers expected consistency on Are You Serious HR Huber-Rodriguez April 9, 2016 Album Review “Do you need a reason we should commit treason and bring into this world a son?” Andrew Bird asks on “Valleys of the Young,” the penultimate track on his newest LP, Are You Serious, out last week via ...
Yeasayer return to the lab, find mixed results with Amen & Goodbye Joanna Jiang April 3, 2016 Album Review Since 2010’s success with sophomore record Odd Blood, Yeasayer have been denounced as consistently underwhelming. Even then, between the trio’s first two albums, there stood a path of thorny critics calling...
Somebody call a doctor Meaghan Allen March 31, 2016 Concerts, Festivals, and Live Reviews, Reviews Next to an overpass of the 101 Freeway in San Francisco is a music venue called the Brick & Mortar Music Hall. It is the evening of Easter Sunday, the day of Jesus’ resurrection, yet in this darkly lit h...
Denzel Curry’s Imperial: Florida Man Spits Fire Adil Siddiqee March 27, 2016 Album Review Florida doesn’t have a whole lot going for it these days. If it did, there would probably be more newsworthy headlines coming out of it than the “Florida man on bath salts robs jungle gym with a balloon”-...
Lucius prove grief can be good on sophomore effort Conner Smith March 16, 2016 Album Review photo by Piper Ferguson After listening through the latest from Brooklyn retro-pop quintet Lucius, we have one prevailing exaltation: Good Grief! Louder, bolder, and more unafraid; this aptly-named soph...