Iconic folk rockers Crosby, Stills & Nash played a beautiful midweek set at San Diego’s Civic Theater on October 1. Continue reading…
Live Review & Photos: Crosby, Stills & Nash at Civic Theatre, October 1, 2014
Tag Archives: The Band
Poetic Memory: Birds & Batteries (List)
MP3: Birds & Batteries – “Squeeze Box” (The Who cover)
MP3: Birds & Batteries – “Strange Kind of Mirror”
Last year, San Francisco’s Birds & Batteries released Panorama, quite possibly their best album yet. Continue reading…
A Mighty Wind Blows In
The Wind don’t do anything half-assed. Whereas most bands scramble to amass enough top-shelf material to fill an album, the members of the San Diego/Long Beach four-piece decided to set themselves apart by releasing the double-disc, 23-song Harum-Scarum as their debut, and there isn’t a moment of filler on it. Continue reading…
Review: Dr. Dog – Shame, Shame
Dr. Dog sound like The Beatles. Or wait, no, they sound more like The Beach Boys. No, no, they sound exactly like The Band. That’s it, they sound like The Band. Wait no, that’s not it, now I’m hearing Gram Parsons. Now Pink Floyd? PINK FLOYD? You guys sound like Pink Floyd right now! What the hell?! Goddammit Dr. Dog, who do you sound like? I know it’s someone. You guys sound exactly like somebody, and someday I will figure it out.
In the meantime, I’m going to enjoy the hell out of what you guys do because, when it comes down to it, it’s not who you sound like but what you sound like, and what you guys sound like is pure, feel-good, warm and fuzzy 60s rock.
Dr. Dog make the type of music that is so damn groovy you start to involuntarily squint your eyes, smile, and bob your head, wishing that somehow you could feel like this more often, but all the while grateful to have felt like this at all. Basically, Dr. Dog’s music makes you look and feel like that rare type of pothead who actually knows how to enjoy being stoned. Continue reading…
Review: The Avett Brothers – I and Love and You
The Avett Brothers are all about feeling. On Emotionalism, their last proper full length, the Avetts certainly didn’t shy away from feeling; they celebrated it. The songs from Emotionalism were mostly led by banjo, upright bass, occasional strings and the just-twangy-enough vocals of one or both brothers. Everything about that setup said these guys were playing bluegrass music, but what came out of the speakers felt different.
That element, that unique style of bluegrass that sounded more like an alt-country-influenced indie band, clearly set the Avetts apart from anything I’d ever heard before. But there was more to them than that. There were also those straightforward and heartfelt lyrics, melodies that felt nostalgic and comforting, and an overall sense that these guys grew up loving American music and wanted to make it their own, to take it somewhere new while keeping everything that was great about it intact. Continue reading