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It's no surprise that Rufus Wainwright should find himself years later to be a consummate showman. The son of folkies Loudon Wainwright III and Kate McGarrigle, Wainwright grew up in a house of music, joining his mother's band at the age of 13. Even his sister, Martha, has a respectable
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Pioneers West's debut album, Move West, was recorded live in the ballroom above The New Frontier Lounge. Released in 2010, it captures a band at its most vital, so confident in the energy that they conjure that they decided to lay their songs out unvarnished, straight to tape. But this
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Saturday's show at the Northern is a showcase of Olympia legends, including K Records founder Calvin Johnson with his Hive Dwellers project, and a supergroup of Karl Blau, Allen Peril, and Jessica Bonin by the name of Lovers Without Borders. Of particular interest is a performance from Lois Maffeo, who
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"For an event that pretty much takes the worst elements you could possibly combine together," says Craig Egan, "we've had surprisingly little amount of trouble." Egan is speaking about his annual take on Oktoberfest, called Maltoberfest. It doesn't take much detective work to figure out that Maltoberfest celebrates that most dubious
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On the surface, Posole bear many of the telltale signs of a surf-rock band, but the San Francisco band folds in elements of mariachi and Latin rhythms. Sometimes, they approach the sort of desert rock of groups like Los Lobos, with horns adorning their cinematic narratives. All the while, the
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Before folk and bluegrass became a vigorously polished commodity with acts like Mumford & Sons and the Lumineers rising to take over the world, these were genres of lowly real people. These were songs of the masses, honest to a fault, and raggedly charming. Ex-Cowboy is a band that lets
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"For an event that pretty much takes the worst elements you could possibly combine together," says Craig Egan, "we've had surprisingly little amount of trouble." Egan is speaking about his annual take on Oktoberfest, called Maltoberfest. It doesn't take much detective work to figure out that Maltoberfest celebrates that most dubious
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Recently, the powers of two bands joined together. The two-piece of Rowhouse became a four-piece with the addition of Aaron Berryhill and Chelsea Reed, of the well-liked but short-lived band, the Nadines. With the change in lineup came a change in name, to Wild Berries. With the incorporation
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Sometimes, when I get a load of laundry done, write a couple of articles for this rag, make some dinner, send out some important emails, and finally relax to have a drink, I'll think, "Boy, did I get an awful lot done today. What a productive and energetic guy I
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From the first resonant chords of piano on Rockwell Powers's and DJ Phinisey's new album, BUILD, it's clear that this is an album that strives to be more than just another album of blustering and posturing. Accompanied by the reading of a poem by Jesse Ann Fouts, opening
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From the first resonant chords of piano on Rockwell Powers's and DJ Phinisey's new album, BUILD, it's clear that this is an album that strives to be more than just another album of blustering and posturing. Accompanied by the reading of a poem by Jesse Ann Fouts, opening track "BuildxPoem1"
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Look, we may as well get this out of the way right now: Fang Chia describe their music as "sex prog." I know some record nerds may disagree but, in my experience, there is just nothing sexy about progressive rock. Bands like King Crimson, Gentle Giant and Yes are certainly
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I don't normally mention stuff like this, but it's worth noting that Dionvox have almost 67,000 "likes" on Facebook, which is by far on the upper end of bands I've covered for this rag. It's a frivolous thing to bring up, of course, but I think it's a nice demonstration
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Over the course of music history, there's been a strong contingent of bands making beautifully melodic pop music with a bit of an edge, but not enough of an edge to ever really get the attention they deserve. If guitars aren't being wrecked, people tend to take the music for
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Big Star, and Alex Chilton in particular, was a band driven to madness by a nation turning a blind eye to some of the purest pop music around. In typical fashion, Big Star were ignored in their time, but later discovered by several generations of power pop acts that valued
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I know next to nothing about Half Kingdom, beyond what I can hear in their two available songs online. What I can tell, just by listening to them, is that they embrace a moody post-punk that teems with energy even as it confounds expectations. Clattering drums and choppy guitars give
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Hailing from Austin, Texas, Crooked Bangs is a band that is quite adept at building expectations and smashing them. Initially reveling in the sounds of '60s garage and '70s punk, Crooked Bangs slowly folds in elements of post-punk. It's compelling enough, but then you hear the vocals of Leda Ginestra
