Email Author Mark Keresman

2008 Stories by Mark Keresman

• Indigenous

  published December 4, 2008

  The Partridge Family notwithstanding, sometimes music is a "Family Affair" as shown by Sly & the Family Stone, the brothers Avett, Allman, and... More >>

• The Sea and Cake

  published November 6, 2008

  Chicago's The Sea and Cake continues to refine its unique bossa nova-tinged blue-eyed-soul dream-pop with Car Alarm. Though there are few... More >>

• Grampall Jookabox

  published November 6, 2008

  When it comes to avant-garde rock bands, there are usually two distinct routes: noisy cathartic (Sonic Youth, Dead C) and dissonant/drone-y... More >>

• Castanets

  published October 30, 2008

  Yet another band moniker for a solo performer, Castanets is the nom de musique of Raymond Raposa, a San Diego singer/songwriter with a... More >>

• Changing of the avant-garde

  published October 30, 2008

  When it comes to avant-garde rock bands, there are usually two distinct routes: noisy cathartic (Sonic Youth, Dead C) and dissonant/drone-y... More >>

• Blue Sky Black Death

  published October 9, 2008

  Nearly every music genre has an avant-garde wing, an "underground" scene escaping the notice of mainstream press. Hip-hop is no exception. San... More >>

• 31 Knots

  published September 4, 2008

  What was it Roger Daltrey sang on The Who's "Won't Get Fooled Again" — "meet the new boss, same as the old boss"? Maybe it's the curse of... More >>

• The Baseball Project

  published August 28, 2008

  Long before steroids scandals, routine strikes (hey, it's hard living on 175 grand a year), and the high jinks of Pete Rose and Darryl... More >>

• Faun Fables

  published August 14, 2008

  Call it freak folk, acid folk, New Weird America, progressive folk, folk-prog, or the result of too many lysergic brain-ticklers at a Renaissance... More >>

• Tomcat Courtney

  published May 22, 2008

  Not to get all "purist," but it's no secret that blues — along with its bastard child, rock 'n' roll — has been "gentrified" to within... More >>

• The Brother Unconnected: A Tribute to Sun City Girls

  published May 22, 2008

  For many, punk rock was/is an end in itself, an opportunity to rock fast 'n' loud and/or dress up funny. For others, punk was a door to limitless... More >>

• Colin Meloy

  published May 15, 2008

  Best known as the frontman for the Decemberists, Colin Meloy has occasionally gone the solo acoustic route. Sings Live!, compiled from... More >>

• Hot Tuna

  published May 8, 2008

  Nowadays, the concept of a "side project" — a long-term member of a band leading another combo part-time — is fairly common. Back in... More >>

• Various Artists

  published May 1, 2008

  A recurring aspect of pop history is the "hit machine," a moniker bestowed upon creative teams of producers, songwriters, and/or record labels... More >>

• Destroyer

  published April 24, 2008

  For decades, critics have been leveling such denunciations as arch, portentous, heavy-handed, and precious at... More >>

• Enon

  published April 10, 2008

  Noise is a relative concept — for many, it is what interferes with what we'd prefer to hear. For others, noise is a means to an end, a... More >>

• Elf Power

  published April 3, 2008

  Call 'em retro, sans cheesy affectation for 1960s pop/folk-rock classicists, but don't call 'em late for dinner — Elf Power is back with... More >>

• Justin Townes Earle

  published April 3, 2008

  Let's get real here — lots of what makes the "country" charts (in case you haven't noticed) sounds like watered-down power-pop with some... More >>

• Why?

  published March 27, 2008

  Anybody out there remember the '80s U.K. combo Blue Aeroplanes? They're the closest comparison this critic's strained brain can make to the... More >>

• Avett Brothers

  published March 27, 2008

  Naming no names, but after listening to an album by a certain "alt-bluegrass" combo, a mini-epiphany alighted: Why listen to a half-assed,... More >>

• Ida

  published March 6, 2008

  In the past five or 10 years, indie rock's subgenres have been multiplying like bacteria. Dream pop, shoegaze, sadcore, slowcore . . . one has to... More >>

• Adrian Belew

  published February 28, 2008

  There aren't very many guitar-slingers who could consistently work with such exacting taskmasters as Frank Zappa and Robert Fripp, not to mention... More >>

• Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars

  published February 14, 2008

  Rock stars often sing of desperation — touring is hell (fans and groupies want of piece of you, sigh), gimme shelter (in a private... More >>

• Lesley Gore

  published January 31, 2008

  In the underrated Allison Anders movie Grace of My Heart (in which Ileana Douglas starred as a singer/songwriter loosely based on Carole... More >>

• Dionne Warwick

  published January 17, 2008

  For every quote, cliché, or saying, there is something or someone to disprove it. Dionne Warwick has disproved F. Scott Fitzgerald's "no... More >>