Musicians have been a presence in fiction for years, and are unlikely to depart its pages any time soon. Whether exploring the privileged life of a rock star or focusing on the gritty reality of a struggling drummer or guitarist, men and women making music exert an undeniable pull on the imagination of writers.
We started our own Black Flag reunion. We thought the time was right. We called it Black Flag Reunion (featuring no actual members of Black Flag). We thought that would make things clear. There’s a precedent for this kind of thing. We remembered the Tone Locust. We thought we knew what we were doing.
Advaeta was the first band I booked for my music space when I was living in a loft off the Morgan stop on the L train. Over the past couple of years I’ve seen them play in concert halls and DIY spaces alike, and have always enjoyed their textured, riff-heavy sound and tightly-coordinated performances. With Lani Combier-Kapel on drums, Sara Fantry on multi-instrumental duty with bass, keyboards and guitar and Amanda Salane on lead guitar and vocals, the band has […]
It always irks me when I see The Troggs called a one hit wonder. “Wild Thing” is obviously an anthem for the ages, but they had so many other wonderful songs that you’ve probably heard a few times before. Since the band’s lead singer Reg Presley passed away yesterday at the age of 71, I figured now would be as good time as any for you to go ahead and blast three of those songs as a tribute to Mr. Presley, […]
The Denzels have been playing shows around Brooklyn for the past two years, releasing two EPs in the process: Slow Death and last year’s Easy Tiger. Their membership (David Beegun, Tom Hinga, Aman Ellis, Matthew Degorio and Paul Lizarraga) hails from the South and the West Coast, and have gathered in Brooklyn to produce a garage rock and synth-inflected musical project with overt pop ambitions. I saw them play at the Living Bread deli in Bushwick, and met up with singer Tom Hinga and keyboardist […]
We like to sometimes joke that the Golden Era of Washington, D.C. punk could be identified as the time when many of the scene’s best-known musicians and thinkers had names that were three letters or less. Ian MacKaye, J. Robbins, H.R., Guy Picciotto, etc. Ian Svenonius is part of that group, and like them, he has held our attention for years. From the moment when we first heard 13-Point Plan to Destroy America by his first band Nation of Ulysses […]
Earlier this week, I finished reading Emily Raboteau’s terrific book Searching for Zion: The Quest for Home in the African Diaspora. The book follows trips made by Raboteau to Israel, Jamaica, Ethiopia, Ghana, and the American South; as the title suggests, her goal is to gain an understanding of the concept of Zion. Raboteau’s narrative includes meetings with different factions of Rastafarians, an examination of the organization of Rev. Creflo Dollar, and a visit to Ghana shortly after Barack Obama’s electoral […]
Two zines released in recent months each chronicle the life and times of a beloved band. One takes a historical approach and throws in some artistic history for context; the other takes a more collage-like approach, and in doing so evokes the diverse ways one can dedicate oneself to a particular artist. Black Flag and Neutral Milk Hotel are, admittedly, groups about which much has been written; still, each of the zines covered here brings a unique perspective to the […]