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Rachel Devitt

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65 results
    Music, Ladysmith Black Mambazo Views South Africa Through a Complicated Icon

    Ladysmith Black Mambazo Views South Africa Through a Complicated Icon

    In 1987, Ladysmith Black Mambazo released an album, Shaka Zulu, named after the 19th-century founder of the Zulu empire. The record was both the group's proper international debut (it was produced by Paul Simon, who worked with Mambazo for his…
    by Rachel Devitt February 27, 2008 Tags: , , , , ,
    Music, The Passion of the Pile-Up

    The Passion of the Pile-Up

    "I was going for honesty more than anything else. ... It's oddly satisfying to get onstage and sing lyrics that are really blunt and sometimes very angry." Jim Yoshii Pile-Up frontman Paul Gonzenbach is telling me what it's like to…
    by Rachel Devitt August 31, 2005 Tags: , , , , ,
    Music, Reviewed Alias & Ehren

    Alias & Ehren

    Lillian is like a halfway house for geeky high school band instruments. Beat-maker Alias (Brendon Whitney) and his brother, multi-instrumentalist Ehren, rehabilitate the wind section, remaking timbres that haven't had much pop-cultural cachet since the big-band era into hip, upstanding…
    by Rachel Devitt August 31, 2005 Tags: , , , ,
    Music, Afro-Beefs

    Afro-Beefs

    Afrobeat has its origins in conflict. Using his thrilling musical hybrid of American soul, James Brown-style big-band funk, jazz, and the traditional West African pop genre Highlife to address and resist everything from colonialism to military violence, Fela Anikulapo Kuti,…
    by Rachel Devitt August 24, 2005 Tags: , , , , ,
    Music, All Mixed Up

    All Mixed Up

    Founded by Bay Area Filipino-American musicians Jessie and Ogie Gonzales to highlight the grossly overlooked talents of Asian-American bands, the biennial piNoisepop festival is a commendable, perhaps one-of-a-kind event. But when you're talking about a celebration of "grossly overlooked" artists,…
    by Rachel Devitt August 24, 2005 Tags: , , , , ,
    Music, The Eyes Have It

    The Eyes Have It

    A handful of my friends and acquaintances have a fascination with all things trashy. The fetish includes the obvious, like those scummy Mötley Crüe T-shirts dredged up from the bowels of the local Goodwill, but it also extends to crappy…
    by Rachel Devitt August 10, 2005 Tags: , , , , ,
    Music, Misc. Reviews Misc. Reviews

    Misc. Reviews

    Indie Rock Cribs is a mouthwatering peek into the private life of a scorching-hot indie musician in the style of MTV's voyeuristic look at the homes of various and sundry FOPs (that's Friends of Paris). But instead of the same…
    by Rachel Devitt July 27, 2005 Tags: , , , , ,
    Music, Reviewed Schoolyard Heroes

    Schoolyard Heroes

    Schoolyard Heroes aren't really a rock band -- they are Gothic operettists. Fantastic Wounds, the second album from this young Seattle band, indomitably scales monstrous, bloody themes, nicked out of pulp novels, sci-fi movies, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show,…
    by Rachel Devitt July 27, 2005 Tags: , , , , ,
    Music, Reviewed Last of the Blacksmiths

    Last of the Blacksmiths

    This self-titled debut album from San Francisco band Last of the Blacksmiths has all the makings of a serious altcountry-substance abuse problem. "Saloon Song" surges and subsides like a night at the local watering hole with your equally down-on-his-luck drinking…
    by Rachel Devitt July 20, 2005 Tags: , , , ,
    Music, Go! With the Spirit

    Go! With the Spirit

    The other day I happened, to my great surprise, to walk by a cheerleading camp, a small army of kids with words like "TIGERS" emblazoned across their trim, peppy asses. Sometimes I forget that herkies and the compulsive spelling of…
    by Rachel Devitt July 13, 2005 Tags: , , , , ,
    Music, Reviewed Kinski

    Kinski

    With unprecedented candor for a music critic, I'm going to admit that I don't know much about the kind of music Kinski plays. Those of you well versed in the language of space rock, post-rock, whatever, are undoubtedly already aware…
    by Rachel Devitt July 13, 2005 Tags: , , ,
    Music, Reviewed Missy Elliott

    Missy Elliott

    Up until 2003's lackluster This Is Not a Test, Missy Elliott was like the student body president of hip hop, getting her yearbook signed by everyone via cameos and showing up in the picture for each important moment in recent…
    by Rachel Devitt July 13, 2005 Tags: , , , ,
    Music, Lizard Kings

    Lizard Kings

    With a couple of tours with the Killers under their hot little belts and the release of their new album, The Best Little Secrets Are Kept, the four guys who make up Louis XIV -- singer/guitarists Jason Hill and Brian…
    by Rachel Devitt June 22, 2005 Tags: , , , , ,
    Music, Reviewed Sarah Dougher

    Sarah Dougher

    Harper's Arrow, which was originally conceived as a rumination on Homer's Odyssey, is an exploration of complicated, multiple meanings as seen through the lens of a Homerian metaphor about the connotative overlap of a harp and a bow. If you…
    by Rachel Devitt June 22, 2005 Tags: , , ,
    Music, Reviewed Cloud Cult|Say Hi to Your Mom

    Cloud Cult|Say Hi to Your Mom

    If Dr. Phil made an album, it might sound something like Advice From the Happy Hippopotamus. Cloud Cult rocks like a motivational speaker on a self-help book tour: Songwriter/mastermind Craig Minowa bathes us in treacly words of encouragement on the…
    by Rachel Devitt June 15, 2005 Tags: , , ,
    Music, Into the Woods

    Into the Woods

    "One trend that I just really kind of can't stand," Sleater-Kinney guitarist/vocalist Carrie Brownstein tells me on the phone from her Portland home, "is when I turn on, like, the radio and hear a band and I honestly don't know…
    by Rachel Devitt June 1, 2005 Tags: , , , , ,
    Music, Reviewed Colleen

    Colleen

    I was getting ready to play the new Colleen album for my friend and blathering on about how delicate and breathtaking her first album, Everyone Alive Wants Answers, was. Then I put on The Golden Morning Breaks and he said,…
    by Rachel Devitt June 1, 2005 Tags: , ,
    Music, Reviewed Epoxies

    Epoxies

    The Epoxies sound like the high school band formed by a gaggle of rough-and-tumble misfits with hearts of gold in a John Hughes movie. Stop the Future, the Portland-based act's second album, is the stuff musical montages dream of: heart-pumping…
    by Rachel Devitt May 25, 2005 Tags: , , , ,
    Music, Reviewed Martha Wainwright

    Martha Wainwright

    I saw Martha Wainwright perform while she was singing backup for her brother Rufus. Working the stage like a wannabe starlet gunning for her first speaking part, Martha, infinitely more self-lionizing than even His Highness Rufus (monumentally big head and…
    by Rachel Devitt May 4, 2005 Tags: , , ,
    Music, Hear This Hear This

    Hear This

    It's easy to love the quasi-folk duo Two Gallants . They're superyoung -- barely of legal drinking age -- but in their own words "ain't good-lookin' from a quarter-mile," which creates a kindred bond among the majority of youngsters who…
    by Sam Prestianni and Rachel Devitt May 4, 2005 Tags: , , , , ,
    Music, Reviewed Regina Spektor

    Regina Spektor

    Regina Spektor is so precious I want to fucking bite her. This is not supposed to be the point. As part of the East Coast's anti-folk movement, Spektor is ostensibly avant-garde and profound, her cutesiness some kind of highbrow, underground…
    by Rachel Devitt April 13, 2005 Tags: , , ,
    Music, Reviewed Fannypack

    Fannypack

    Call off the truant officer, because the school of lo-fi sass is back in session. To kick things off, Brooklyn's Fannypack throws itself a raunchy little pep rally on "Keep It Up," with MCs Jessibel, Belinda, and Cat playing head…
    by Rachel Devitt March 30, 2005 Tags: , , , ,
    Music, I, Shit

    I, Shit

    Critics are full of shit, and we know it. It's actually part of our job description: "Must be able to turn own waste into prettily phrased collection of buzzwords and underused adjectives." It's also in the rock star job description:…
    by Rachel Devitt March 23, 2005 Tags: , , , , ,
    Music, Reviewed Jennifer Lopez

    Jennifer Lopez

    Jennifer Lopez has finally made an album that is as hot as she is. "Cherry Pie" is as lyrically inane as anything she's ever written ("Dear Ben," anyone?), but it's silly like a fox or, more accurately, like Janet Jackson,…
    by Rachel Devitt March 16, 2005 Tags: , , , ,
    Music, The United Colors of M.I.A.

    The United Colors of M.I.A.

    Dangling off the edge of a note, Maya Arulpragasam -- aka M.I.A. -- offers a seemingly innocent salutation on "Amazon," a track from her desperately anticipated debut release, Arular. "Hello/ This is M.I.A./ Could you please/ Come get me," she…
    by Rachel Devitt March 9, 2005 Tags: , , , , ,
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  • Sub Pop recording artists 'clipping.' brought their brand of noise-driven experimental hip hop to the closing night of 2016's San Francisco Electronic Music Fest this past Sunday. The packed Brava Theater hosted an initially seated crowd that ended the night jumping and dancing against the front of the stage. The trio performed a set focused on their recently released Sci-Fi Horror concept album, 'Splendor & Misery', then delved into their dancier and more aggressive back catalogue, and recent single 'Wriggle'. Opening performances included local experimental electronic duo 'Tujurikkuja' and computer music artist 'Madalyn Merkey.'"
    clipping at Brava Theater Sept. 11
    Sub Pop recording artists 'clipping.' brought their brand of noise-driven experimental hip hop to the closing night of 2016's San Francisco Electronic Music Fest this past Sunday. The packed Brava Theater hosted an initially seated crowd that ended the night jumping and dancing against the front of the stage. The trio performed a set focused on their recently released Sci-Fi Horror concept album, 'Splendor & Misery', then delved into their dancier and more aggressive back catalogue, and recent single 'Wriggle'. Opening performances included local experimental electronic duo 'Tujurikkuja' and computer music artist 'Madalyn Merkey.'"
  • Tame Impala at The Greek Theatre, September 3
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