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Oh, Pioneers
Behold - the forgotten history of the Beau Brummels, the true originators of the San Francisco sound of the '60s
March 01, 2006
The Roots of Madness
The Girl in the Chair
June 01, 2005
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Calendar,
Night&Day
The Skygreen Leopards' last album, 2006’s Disciples of California, was a sunny ode to the Golden State. The San Francisco outfit, founded by singer-guitarists Glenn Donaldson and Donovan Quinn, filtered the psychedelic country-rock of the Grateful Dead’s American Beauty and…
by Justin F. Farrar
July 1, 2009
Tags: Night&Day, Highlights, Donovan Quinn, Glenn Donaldson, Jason Quever, The Grateful Dead
Music,
The BBC documentary Hotel California: L.A. from the Byrds to the Eagles includes one particularly awesome (and really quite hilarious) scene with Graham Nash. He's looking back upon the ye olde hippie days when he and his denim-clad pals were…
by Justin F. Farrar
April 1, 2009
Tags: Music, Feature, Graham Nash, Andy Cabic, Vetiver, Allen Toussaint
Music,
Reviewed
Light Poles and Pines isn't the freshest bread in the bakery. Or, the Whale self-released the album in 2007. A year later, the local septet signed to Seany Records, but instead of inaugurating its relationship with a disc of new…
by Justin F. Farrar
January 14, 2009
Tags: Reviewed, CD Review, Or, The Whale, Langhorne Slim, Deer Tick, The Felice Brothers
Music,
Reviewed
Let's set the record straight. Despite a long list of rock writers claiming the contrary, Blitzen Trapper is not an Americana band. Sure, the band tinkers with roots rock: a little Creedence twang here, some Crazy Horse crunch there. But…
by Justin F. Farrar
November 26, 2008
Tags: Reviewed, CD Review, Blitzen Trapper, Crazy Horse, Electric Light Orchestra, Portland (Oregon)
Music,
"Some people call it surreal," says Donovan Quinn, talking about his new solo album. "But it's more about examining all the weirdness that draws me to heartbreak. It's about wondering why I'm a screwed-up, weird little dude." In reality, Quinn…
by Justin F. Farrar
October 29, 2008
Tags: Music, Feature, Donovan Quinn, Walnut Creek, Nebraska, Oklahoma
Music,
Reviewed
Social Registry puts out some righteous jams: Gang Gang Dance, Telepathe, and Psychic Ills are all top-shelf freaks. But the Brooklyn imprint shit the bed when it signed Growing last winter. Despite creating some killer drones in '03 and '04,…
by Justin F. Farrar
October 1, 2008
Tags: Reviewed, CD Review, Joe Denardo, Kevin Doria, Black Dice, Gang Gang Dance
Music,
Hear This
The Bay Area has adored rhinestone-studded country-rocker Gram Parsons since the late '60s. Last year Amoeba Music released the Flying Burrito Brothers' Live at the Avalon Ballroom 1969, an archival recording from one of San Francisco's premier hippie venues. Then…
by Justin F. Farrar
July 16, 2008
Tags: Hear This, Show Preview, Gram Parsons, Oakland, San Francisco, Eric Shea
Music,
On first pass, Georgia's Dark Meat fits snugly into underground rock's current zeitgeist. Like Feathers and Espers and all those other hairy freak-folkies, it's a large quasi-hippie ensemble wrapped in a cultish aura. The 17 or so members are known…
by Justin F. Farrar
May 7, 2008
Tags: Music, Feature, Ben Clack, Dark Meat (Musical Group), Merry Pranksters, Peoples Temple
Music,
Hear This
From his 1988 landmark album Critical Beatdown with Ultramagnetic MCs to the groundbreaking collaboration with S.F. producer Dan the Automator as Dr. Octagon, the rapper Kool Keith has covered new, strange ground at almost every turn. He is known for…
by Toph One, Justin F. Farrar, Ryan Foley, and Mark Sanders
March 12, 2008
Tags: Hear This, Show Preview, Kool Keith, Beach House (Musical Group), Steve Earle, Victoria Legrand
Music,
Since Karen Dalton's death in 1993, her fan base has grown faster than a Colorado mountain town. And folks can thank a retired builder from Indiana named Joe Loop for Cotton Eyed Joe, a batch of previously unheard recordings Dalton…
by Justin F. Farrar
November 21, 2007
Tags: Music, Feature, Joe Loop, Karen Dalton, David Crosby, John Phillips
Music,
Reviewed
On the surface, drawing comparisons between the Motor City Five and Magik Markers seems absurd: The former are proto-punk icons from the Vietnam era; the latter are modern indie upstarts. On the other hand, the two share key strengths and…
by Justin F. Farrar
October 10, 2007
Tags: Reviewed, CD Review, Elisa Ambrogio, Detroit, George H.W. Bush, Lee Renaldo
