MUSIC
In the anguished, misunderstood lives of adolescents, music is often regarded as an essential element to sustain sanity. For Roger Painter, a fictional teenager unjustly thrown into a psychiatric institution in John Darnielle’s book Black Sabbath’s Master of Reality, there is nothing figurative about it.
May 08, 2008
'33 1/3' spins rock literature
In the anguished, misunderstood lives of adolescents, music is often regarded as an essential element to sustain sanity. For Roger Painter, a fictional teenager unjustly thrown into a psychiatric institution in John Darnielle’s book Black Sabbath’s Master of Reality, there is nothing figurative about it.
May 01, 2008
English rockers turn it down to 10
British Sea Power has always been drawn to innovation. In the British band’s eight-year existence, it has sought venues and studios that few would consider suitable for the recording and performance of music. Its music has resounded through slate mines and 19th-century water towers.
Death metal arrives at The Blue Note
Break out the leather jacket, let your hair down, and prepare for some serious head-banging, fist pumping and moshing. The Black Dahlia Murder is coming to town and is determined to “spread the gospel of metal.” Metalheads rejoice.
April 24, 2008
LGBT bars SoCo and Arch and Column stand alone at night
Columbia has a wide range of bars and restaurants, and finding nightlife activities never seems like too much of a challenge. That’s because, for most, there are an array of nighttime atmospheres to choose from.
Entertainers unite a community
What do Cher, Madonna and Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz all have in common? If you guessed some pretty sweet red-sequined shoes, you could be right. But if you guessed iconic status in the gay community, you’re one better. What is it that makes these straight singers so attractive?
April 17, 2008
From The Bedroom to the stage
Amy Millan is most at peace in bed. Nine pillows cover the cushy queen-size mattress she bought a year ago, and not a single one is for show. Every pillow allows her to fade into sleep in her new house in Montreal, her favorite city in the world. There are no stuffed animals; her sweetheart of three years is teddy bear enough for her. It’s not a bad deal.
Story of the Year rocks Columbia
Under normal circumstances, band members initially connect through the music. For alt-metal rockers Story of the Year, however, that is not the case. Long before this St. Louis-bred band was creating head-banging ballads, they came together for an entirely different purpose: to skateboard.
Sound Advice: Flight of the Conchords
Flight of the Conchords
(Web Exclusive) Comedy albums don’t have the best reputation. Sure, stand-up comic routines are good in album form, but joke rock struggles. “Weird Al” Yankovic’s parodies and Adam Sandler’s “Chanukah Song” are about as popular as musical humor gets. However, a pair of kiwis are trying to change that.
Konk
(Web Exclusive) Konk, the Kooks’ second LP, takes listeners on a journey perfectly described in “Kooks,” the David Bowie song that the band adopted its name from — “Soon you’ll grow so take a chance / With a couple of kooks / Hung up on romancing.” On this album, the band agonizes over lost love and has made an album that can serve as the soundtrack for everyday life.
April 10, 2008
(Web Exclusive) After a decade of major-label woes, Swedish pop star Robyn shows on her self-titled release how right she was to leave Jive Records and set off on her own. On Robyn, which was released in Sweden in 2005 but is just now making its American debut, she affirms that she was never interested in making anything other than pop; she just wanted to make better pop, fused with electronica and rap.
Moving from iPod to iTunes
It’s a lesson for all to learn that boozing and computing should never be combined: “I spilled a glass of wine on my keyboard, and then it was completely dead,” MU student Caitlin Flynn laments. Along with her beverage, Flynn lost her entire iTunes library.
Backyard Tire Fire at The Blue Note
April 03, 2008
Omaha band Cursive brings its mini-tour to Columbia
In a business where packaging and image are everything, the band Cursive has seemingly rejected the idea of being pigeonholed. Even in today’s musical landscape, where pop music is as shallow and unoriginal as ever, Cursive stands defiant as an esoteric anti-pop beacon.
Fireproof
Dawn Landes just seems so nice. And her second album, Fireproof, embodies that simple niceness. With its bouncy music, innocent crooning and rainy day, sore-hearted lyrics, it is perfect for springtime.
Sound Advice: Somebody Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin
Pershing
Boris Yeltsin’s not losing any love yet. The infamously named band from Springfield, Mo., Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin, might be introducing the former Russian president’s name to a whole new generation. Sophomore album Pershing warms listeners with swelling harmonies and sonic edge straight out of the ’60s.
March 27, 2008
Empire Roller Rink keeps the ’80s alive
Rolling into Empire Roller Rink on Thursday nights is like skating down memory lane — the hair is bigger, the spandex is tighter, and the music is cheesier. Take a chill pill, 2008. These people aren’t stuck in the ’80s; they’re dressed that way on purpose. Designated decade nights have been prevalent in the entertainment scene since sock hops became retro, but there’s just something about moonwalking and synthesizers that we can’t seem to get enough of.
March 20, 2008
The Redwalls paint the town
Shaggy hair, trendy vests, catchy hooks and a foursome armed with instruments are invading Columbia. No, it’s not the Beatles. It’s The Redwalls, a British invasion-influenced band that hails from Chicago suburb Deerfield, Ill., performing at Mojo’s March 29.
Music review: Trouble in Dreams
(Web Exclusive) Dan Bejar has big shoes to fill after his 2006 album Destroyer’s Rubies, which was Destroyer’s best work to date — and the Vancouver native has decided to preserve many of the same elements that made the last album so provocative with this month’s release of Trouble in Dreams.
March 13, 2008
Music havens are just a road trip away
Music festivals are the kind of trips that last a lifetime — or at least until the ’shrooms wear off. Festivals are not solely the dreadlocked Birkenstock stomping grounds they once were. Nowadays, there is a festival to fit every fan. These annual shows keep the audience on their toes by keeping their lineup as fresh as the herbs sold on Shakedown Street.
(Web Exclusive)
