For Foals’ third record, the band of English math/dance rockers settled on a name apparently referencing an annual miracle observed under Greek Orthodoxy in which a flame descends from a church dome. The album Holy Fire is no miracle itself. But pretensions aside, it serves as something of a vibrant Read More…
In today’s musical epoch of auto tune, vocal distortion and studio effects, even the most tone-deaf choir flunkie can be made to sound like a “Roxanne”-era Sting. Therefore it is a rare and unequivocal pleasure to attend a concert and discover that despite all precedents, the artist performing actually sounds Read More…
Fuzzy guitars, explosive drums, harmonicas and a thick-sounding Rhodes are just some of the components that constitute the Stone Foxes’ latest album, Small Fires. While they could have settled with sticking purely to the aforementioned instruments and making another heavy blues rock album like Bears & Bulls, the evolving band Read More…
Few things will more reliably bruise your ego and inspire awe than a sick person doing something better than the healthy you ever could. At Friday night’s sold-out show at The Independent, this person was He’s My Brother She’s My Sister frontwoman Rachel Kolar, who, despite her fever, managed to Read More…
If there’s one thing that wields the power to firmly establish or brutally shatter a band’s creative endurance in a transient music scene, it’s the sophomore release. Colossal amounts of hype tend to build over successful debuts – see The Strokes’ Is This It, Interpol’s Turn On the Bright Lights Read More…
From soul to hip-hop to dubstep and to reggae, vocal sensations Pentatonix effortlessly cross and blend genres, revitalizing a singing style seldom heard outside of churches or choir halls. The five-part a cappella group took the stage at The Warfield in San Francisco on Sunday night, voicing their rallying call, Read More…
What does one expect from a Yo-Yo Ma concert? Most likely a classy experience. It goes without saying that it takes a cultivated ear to find most classical music compelling. The experience could easily be underwhelming — after all, what is a child prodigy when he is an adult? Thursday Read More…
The Cafe du Nord was furnished by the quintessential imagery of a concert circa 1970-something with tight corduroy pants, glorious facial hair and weed emanation. Except with iPhones ever-present. How did this apparent time travel happen? Because classic rock revivalists Rival Sons were in the house this past Friday. Formed Read More…
First, let’s establish something — Bleeding Rainbow is one of the coolest band names ever. After deciding that PBS lawsuits were not worth the trouble, the band formerly known as Reading Rainbow decided to add a simple, clever and slightly morbid twist to their name and avoid awkward questions like, Read More…
It can be hard for a band to tastefully reinvent itself in the middle of an already promising career, seeing as virtually every sub-genre has been all too well-traversed if not beaten past death via retro rehash. Such changes often come across as unnecessary, and unfortunately for Ra Ra Riot, Read More…
