THE SPRING ISSUE
Posts Tagged ‘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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Zaire ’74
Jeffrey Levy-Hinte’s Soul Power releases Zaire ’74 from the vault In its day, Zaire ’74 was in the same league as concerts like Woodstock, Monterrey Pop, and Altamont. Planned by renowned South African musician Hugh Masekela and producer Stewart Levine to accompany the legendary Ali-Foreman boxing match, “Rumble in the Jungle,” was a three-day concert that aimed […]
Eric Copeland
For years, Brooklyn’s Black Dice has made all kinds of racket: minimalist, beat-centric cerebral dance constructs that have led them ahead of the avant-electro rock pack, if there is such a thing. Original Dice roller Eric Copeland has been busy over the last two years, constructing, poaching and recording his seventh studio album. The latest […]
Major Lazer
The influence of classic Jamaican reggae and dub music on contemporary house, electronic and hip hop production is a topic that often slips under the radar of, well, most people. Some would say a groundbreaking moment occurred in the late ‘60s, when legendary Kingston reggae sound engineer King Tubby began to experiment with what a […]
Girls
A tiny practice studio in San Francisco’s seedy Tenderloin District is sweltering from a seven-hour recording stint. Another faultless song has been recorded by JR White and Christopher Owens, the founding members of SF psych-pop band, Girls. Did you choose the name as a homage to girls? I love girls. John loves girls. I’ve seen […]
Genius in the Glitter
ITEMS PURCHASED/CONSTRUCTED FOR THE OF MONTREAL, SKELETAL LAMPING FALL TOUR: One giant foam rock, four ready-made cowboy costumes, 100 cans “Great Stuff” insulating foam sealant, one fake upright piano, one Centaur costume, one custom-fabricated rotating steel riser, 24 breakaway bottles, one gilded roman litter, one 300 pound steel gallows on wheels, one human-sized pig costume, […]
Kid Cudi
Eclipsing the Record Industry’s Preconceptions Scott “Kid” Mescudi’s music doesn’t really fit the profile of rap, at least not in the most common sense of the word, and one should hesitate before simplifying his sound by calling it that. Then again trying to place it into some type of “post-genre genre” that doesn’t even really […]
Jarvis Cocker
Jarvis Cocker’s Un-Ironic, Post Post-modern Rock Moment A rock and roll band took over an art gallery in Paris this May, setting up camp for five days. They rehearsed, provided the background music for yoga classes, and played for a children’s event. In between downward-facing dog poses and puppet shows, they also performed for the gathering masses, […]
Sirens of Rock
Three pop singers get trapped in an elevator. This is fate’s way of creating a supergroup. Here at SOMA we drew names from a lotto at random. The following ladies are our lucky winners. The next Ronettes as dictated by probability… Allison Mosshart, started her first band in the eight grade. Unlike most teenage punk […]
The Strange Boys
The Strange Boys occupy, appropriately enough, a weird space in music. A quick listen and one might label them as just another ramshackle member of the garage rock revival from the early 2000’s. And with such a forgettable name, you might assume they were that band from O Brother Where Art Thou? Even their album […]
Pink Mountaintops
You would never peg Stephen McBean as the sensitive type. While he may be better known as the songwriter behind the theatrical psychedelic revival of Black Mountain, his personality better mirrors the folksy nostalgia of his more personal project, Pink Mountaintops. Outside Love, the latest from the Canadian-based outfit, oozes heartache, pain and hate nearly […]
Helado Negro
From the opening song that is the Tropicalia-infused sweetness of “Venceremos,” Roberto Carlos Lange’s new solo album under the moniker Helado Negro rocks and lulls like a hammock swaying in a cool ocean breeze. As it should—the Prefuse 73 musician has been busy mining the fields of Latin American lullabies for his new album, Awe […]
Rainbow Arabia
Rainbow Arabia are like a pair of musical chemists in this new world. Mix one beaker full of English post-punk, add one vial of traditional Middle Eastern folk, throw in some ‘90s American optimism; then set the resulting concoction to a dance beat. Danny Preston, who started the project with his wife, Tiffany Preston, explains: […]
