THE SPRING ISSUE
Music
Jónsi
In every genre of art, the difference between the good and the great is the level of balance one can achieve. The crazy with the restrained, the industrial with the organic, the esoteric with the mainstream: true artistry comes with knowing how to walk that fine line. In his new solo album, Go, Jónsi Birgisson […]
The Black Keys
The Black Keys recorded their latest album, Brothers, at the legendary Muscle Shoals Sound Studios in Alabama. Aretha Franklin, The Rolling Stones, Willie Nelson and Bob Dylan all made records there, but the band wasn’t specifically drawn to the building because of its history. “Muscle Shoals isn’t the holy grail,” says Black Keys guitarist and […]
The XX
Veiled behind a thin layer of white smoke, garbed in head-to-toe black and breathing a cadence of soft vocals is the lovely British trio, The xx. Band members Romy Croft, Oliver Sim and Jamie Smith released their debut album, xx, in 2009 and have since been on a covetable tour that includes a slew of […]
Midnight Juggernauts
The Midnight Juggernauts are constantly on the move, spokesperson for the Australian trio, Vincent Vendetta, perhaps more so than his bandmates. On the eve of the digital release of their second full-length album, The Crystal Axis, the Juggernauts have done a quick run around Europe, come home, only to have Vendetta turn around and fly […]
Nneka
The landscape of contemporary music has been in desperate need of what Nneka is adding to it with her stunning body of work. It is thoughtful music, for a global audience, detailed by one person’s continual journey of self-discovery. A calm sense of urgency is expressed throughout, by insightful, impassioned lyrics delivered seamlessly over instrumentals […]
VV Brown
VV Brown causes ripples of excitement when she walks into a room. She’s beautiful, an inch shy of six feet tall and has a unique fashion sense some call “thrift store meets high couture.” The first single from her debut album, Travelling Like the Light, was iTunes’ Single of the Week in February, and she’s […]
Gogol Bordello
Gogol Bordello doesn’t take the stage; they take over the stage. They dominate crowds with their blistering mix of punk, roots reggae, dub, metal, rap, flamenco, klezmer, salsa and Italian spaghetti western twang, anchoring it all in a muscular Gypsy rhythm that sounds like an Eastern European cousin of ska. “My inspiration comes from Ukrainian […]
Why Everyone’s Talkin’ About Megan Washington
Listening to a Megan Washington album is like turning over the last page of a captivating novel; you’re emotionally satisfied, inspired by raw talent and itching to repeat the process. At just 24, the Melbourne-based singer-songwriter, pianist and guitarist (who fronts the band Washington) has risen to the highest ranks of the Australian independent music […]
Jessica Says: Setting the Night on You
She’s only 22, but Jessica Venables is already an esteemed veteran of the Australian music industry. For the past five years, the multi-instrumentalist has lent her talents for touring and recording to New Buffalo/Sally Seltmann, Crayon Fields, Grand Salvo, Guy Blackman, Jens Lekman, and Micah P. Hinson. Despite these sideline roles, Venables’ striking beauty and […]
My Disco
Abrasive, loud and somewhat repetitive, My Disco’s cacophonous sounds are disarmingly contagious. In a scene swallowed in a sea of band mediocrity, the Melbourne three-man outfit stands out like a musical beacon of shifting and abstract frequencies. They’re a consistent hit with a crowd that’s known for their fickleness, in a city that harbors the […]
Judgement Day
Early Queen albums announced, “No synthesizers.” Judgement Day, the San Francisco Bay Area-based string metal band, echoes that adage with an inscription on Peacocks/Pink Monsters: “There are no guitars on this record.” When the Patzner brothers—Anton plays violin, Lewis, cello—play a shredding metallic solo, it’s hard to believe the shrieking flurries of 32nd notes aren’t […]
Group Bombino
The Poetics of the Sahara There is a war going on in the desert and the primary weapon in the conflict is music. It is a war of land mines, night skies and the Rolling Stones. On the front lines there are many voices, though none so riveting as Omar “Bombino” Mochtar, and his band […]
Breaking Out is Hard to Do
San Francisco’s next wave of music There is a riot happening in San Francisco. Arms flail, bodies thrash about, and feet are airborne. You can’t tell if one emotion has taken them over or if a collection of feelings washed over the mob like waves swelling up and crashing atop a spring break party boat. […]
Githead
A 30 year collision of sound Colin Newman’s been in the music business a long time, so I was relieved that he’s a pleasant guy with a lot to say and zero to prove. “I’ve been doing interviews for 30 years, so I just talk. Stop me if you have any questions.” He’s best known […]
Fuck Buttons
The Catharsis-Release of a band reborn Modern music’s release cycle is a tumultuous affair. Records are created, distributed and processed by listeners at such a quick pace that if you blink, you’re likely to overlook something special. For artists pushed into the spotlight by a breakout debut, this cycle creates a lot of pressure for […]
Daniel Johnston
The last thing I expected was to have Daniel Johnston on the other end of the phone. It’s early in the afternoon, and his voice sounds assured, yet shaky, as if he was accidentally rolling his t’s while trying to dot his i’s. Yet for some reason, all I can think about is how James […]
Neon Indian
Synthpop musicians are often branded with the misnomer of hopeless futurists. The music they make is, after all, the product of meticulous production, inhuman synthesizers, and infallible computer programming. However, there’s one new group of electronic musicians who aim to undermine this label by creating sounds that are much more intimate, fragile, and firmly rooted […]
Grass Widow
It’s beginning to feel as if San Francisco is abandoning its post as the weird little brother to Los Angeles or New York City, and recreating a name for itself as one of the most musically prolific places in the country. Perhaps it’s because the city is lacking a major media presence or a music […]
Fool’s Gold
When Luke Top, Lewis Pesacov, and Orpheo McCord of Fool’s Gold sit down and mull over an Ethiopian menu, the first thing they ask the waitress is, “If we get one meat combo and one veggie-combo, we’ve ordered everything on the menu right?” Right. This is the best way to sample a country’s cuis-ine: put […]
Her Space Holiday
Where over hyped bands sweep in grandly then quickly fade in a sea of indie obscurity, Marc Bianchi has been quietly reinventing himself through his cerebral brand of bittersweet synth-pop for 15 years. As front man and jack-of-all-trades for his band Her Space Holiday, Bianchi’s sweet and shy demeanor is offset by his natural ability […]
Rye Rye
From a studio on 23rd street in Baltimore, rap’s new “it” girl, Rye Rye, told SOMA what she would wear to: ( 1 ) Kurtis Blow’s Harlem Hip Hop Church: “An old school hip hop look… like a lot of gold bangles, bamboo earrings; but I would wear some appropriate slacks, like dressy-type wit street shirt.” ( 2 ) […]
The Raveonettes
You know their faces. The boy-girl duo staring blankly from behind eyeliner-clad eyes, leaning into your gaze like something out of a Vice magazine page or assorted web photo. You assume you know their music through these images. Maybe you assume they’re a punk band from their harsh look or maybe you assume they’re a […]
Hecuba
Something is happening in music studios all across Los Angeles. A new scene of adventurous musicians, perhaps weary from the nonstop attention directed at certain East Coast boroughs pushing the musical envelope, is wooing avant-garde music lovers, demonstrating that experimental pop need not conjure thoughts of cold weather, brownstones, and the Brooklyn Bridge. LA bands […]
Jacob Kirkegaard
Most people wouldn’t consider the “inner” sound of an iron fence musical or think to use low-amplitude frequencies to “play” the elements of a building. Nor would most people find it necessary to record the silence of an empty room, play the recording back into the room whilst recording it again, then repeat the process […]
