AltWeeklies Wire
How Trikont is Saving the World, One Compilation at a Timenew
It's safe to say that Achim Bergmann of Trikont, Germany's oldest independent record label, has an affinity for the underdog. The label's eclectic catalog has been transcending language boundaries and international borders long before "world music" became a Billboard buzzword.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Nicole Gluckstern |
09-22-2009 |
Music
Beyonce: How Much is Enough?new
Entertain a morbid thought: If Knowles were to crash and burn her Thierry Mugler motorcycle breastplate during her current "I Am ... Tour" -- said to out-razzle-dazzle all predecessors with its aerial flips and 70-some costumes -- would she be revered like Michael Jackson?
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Kimberly Chun |
07-08-2009 |
Music
Why My Bloody Valentine Isn't Anything to Dismiss: A Fan's Sonic Memorynew
I don't even know if I'm going to see MBV this week. If I don't, I suspect I'll still hear their noise, or feel it, from across town. If I can touch that instrumental passage of "You Made Me Realise," I'll grab on to a point within it. That point will be my nostalgia. It'll levitate, compress, and then shatter.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Johnny Ray Huston |
09-24-2008 |
Music
My Bloody Valentine's Tour Points to Pitfalls of a Generations's Reunion-Fueled Nostalgianew
Which My Bloody Valentine will reappear this fall when Kevin Shields and company tour the states for the first time since 1992? The feedback scientists who briefly earned the title of "Loudest Band Ever," or the shaggy shoegazers who fans, including myself, know and adore?
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Mosi Reeves |
09-24-2008 |
Music
Why Does the Bay Area Have a Hard Time Harboring Hip-Hop Venues?new
Hip-hop is one of the most popular genres on earth, and San Francisco is a world-class city. Yet this town seems hostile toward this musical nightlife with such revenue-generating potential. Why?
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Garrett Caples |
08-06-2008 |
Music
Two Queer Legends of Indie Rock and Queercore Look Backnew
Pansy Division's Jon Ginoli and Camper Van Beethoven's Victor Krummenacher got together recently to talk about the way it was, coming out in the repressed 1980s and coming into their own experientially, politically, and musically in 1990s San Francisco -- each, as Krummenacher puts it, a "gay guy suddenly in Candyland."
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Kimberly Chun |
06-25-2008 |
Music
Jack Carneal's Yaala Yaala Records Pipelines the Sounds of Malinew
Labels like Yaala Yaala, which is distributed by Drag City, don't play by the outmoded rules of so-called world music production, eschewing both academic empiricism and the major labels' reductive tendency to isolate bankable masters. Meanwhile, kids in Mali listen to dubbed tapes of Led Zeppelin and Jay-Z.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Max Goldberg |
06-11-2008 |
Music
Scramble for Africa 3.0: Indie Bands Lead the Charge in Sonic Imperialismnew
Vampire Weekend and other indie participants in the sonic Scramble for Africa 3.0 obviously see midcentury and postcolonial African pop culture as a cheap date, a provider of organic rock mystery where one can queue for heaping sides of hi-life, soukous, mbaqanga, mbalax, juju, rai, township jive, and Ténéré desert blues.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Kandia Crazy Horse |
06-11-2008 |
Music
How Green is My Music?new
We won't even get into the acres of paper, publications, and CDs surrounding this red-faced, would-be greenster. I'm downloading as fast as I can, but I wonder whether my hard drive can keep up: hells, even MP3s add to my huge, honking footprint. Must I resign myself to daytime acoustic throw-downs within a walkable radius from my berth? Can I get a hand-crank laptop?
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Kimberly Chun |
04-16-2008 |
Music
Metal Mania: The Return of the Kingsnew
Bay Area thrash is on the comeback as Exodus and Testament rouse new fans with new recordings.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Ben Richardson |
04-02-2008 |
Music
South by Cynicnew
South by Southwest underwhelmed -- again -- but a few fab moments shined through the product placement.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Kimberly Chun |
03-19-2008 |
Music
Paid by Pandoranew
How Tim Westergren built the world's smartest jukebox.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Sam Devine |
01-09-2008 |
Music
Parsing the Homophobia of 'UR So Gay'new
It's hard to know what to think or feel or which cheek to plunge one's tongue into while listening to Katy Perry's "UR So Gay" -- amazement or repulsion?
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Kimberly Chun |
01-03-2008 |
Music
Tags: Katy Perry
Can a Jazz Revival Bloom in San Francisco?new
The city's world-renowned jazz club heritage has always been a part of its matchless cultural identity. But there hasn't been a jazz club regularly booking national and international touring musicians into the city for more than 20 years. That all changes this month with the opening of Yoshi's San Francisco.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Marcus Crowder |
11-14-2007 |
Music
Hyphy's Pan-Latin Rosternew
Only a year old, Thizz Latin is the brainchild of Julio "Gold Toes" Sanchez, a Chicano MC and hip-hop impresario hell-bent on highlighting the diversity of the hyphy movement.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Amanda Maria Morrison |
09-12-2007 |
Music
