I share Charles’ disappointment with K’naan’s show, but not because it betrayed hard-line hiphop protocol: no, I just thought the music was fair-to-middling. K’naan undeniably has lyrical skills—especially for an ESL speaker—and a dramatic bio that surely could fi...

Things started slowly at the hiphop weekly Nasty’s. DJ Seancee and another skillful young jock (Soul One) were spinning certified classics, all right, but attendance barely crept into double figures. Still, when is it ever not fantastic to hear out in public tracks by NWA, Ultramagnetic MCs, E...

Pitchfork reviews the Sight Below's Glider. Fainting with damn praise: "Glider's derivativeness and inertia put a cap on its capacity to astonish, but it has a protracted shelf life. It's consummate mood music, which goes a long way toward compensating for its shortcomings." [ Subscribe to the comme...

You know, Wiley Wiggins? The cat who also acted in Richard Linklater's classic Waking Life? He’s playing keyboards in Austin, Texas band Diagonals. They remind me of a less bloated Hold Steady, with more Rolling Stones than Bruce Springsteen in their record collections. (“Wizard DomeR...

But I didn’t know about this gem a friend just brought to my attention: “We Could Be Flying” from the 1973 album Any Day Now, which I’ve never heard, damn it. This video (embedding has been disabled) rules on many levels. First, Scott is one suave motherfucker. Second, his vo...

Midnight Cowboy is showing at the Northwest Film Forum Feb. 27-March 5. In addition to ranking in my all-time top 10 films (and being revered by people who know way more about cinema than I do), Midnight Cowboy boasts the most heartbreaking piece of music ever composed, John Barry’s “Mid...

Quick observations of the night, nabbed from an imperfect memory and bolstered by zero note-taking. Damn this carpal-tunnel… James Blackshaw sat onstage with his 12-string, looking 18, but playing like he was 38, a seasoned veteran of the solo-guitar wars. With little fanfare, he loosed gently...

Fiasco. Spasmodic noise rock with tricky time signatures; somewhere between Hella and Don Caballero. Besides offering good advice, the track “I Figure It’s Better If We Do Something Ridiculous Than Nothing at All” even reminds me of speedy British spazz-jazz goons Big Flame. Pitchf...

Let’s preface this review with an observation: It is nearly impossible for a band to sound their best in Vera’s auxiliary performance space. The hard surfaces and inadequate system render loud rock music nuanceless, murky. That being said, local openers Pillow Fight Fight need some work ...

It’s doubtful that any rapper has begun his/her album the way Detroit hiphop artist Finale has on his excellent debut disc A Pipe Dream and a Promise (out April 7 on Interdependent Media). “Arrival and Departure” is built around a sample of the analog-synth orgy in Edgar Winter Gro...