Email Author Andy Beta

2007 Stories by Andy Beta

• Punk Royalty Still Reigns Supreme: Naked Raygun and Suicidal Tendencies

  published November 28, 2007

  One day in 1970, Japanese singer Kenji "Damo" Suzuki was heard busking on a Munich street by members of innovative German rockers Can.... More >>

• Folk of the Apocalypse: Six Organs of Admittance

  published November 14, 2007

  Local songwriter Ben Chasny admits that he often creates from the headspace of "Everything is kinda fucked; let's write a song about... More >>

• Celebration

  published November 7, 2007

  The kaleidoscopic cover of Celebration's The Modern Tribe features an image of a chorus line straight out of the notebook of Hollywood... More >>

• Silent Cult Flicks Gain Volume with Live Orchestras: the Valerie Project and the Willem Breuker Kollektief

  published October 31, 2007

  Even before the 1927 premiere of the first "talkie," The Jazz Singer, sound was integral to the flicker of celluloid. Pianists would... More >>

• Thurston Moore

  published October 24, 2007

  It's too bad that the position of "America's Oldest Teenager" is already occupied by Dick Clark, as Thurston Moore could give him a serious run... More >>

• DJ Vadim Ditches Breakbeat for Dub on 'The Soundcatcher'

  published October 17, 2007

  German techno duo Modeselektor (Gernot Bronsert and Sebastian Szary) has one hell of a Rolodex. On their latest release, Happy... More >>

• Tenor Sax Player Pharoah Sanders Lives Large at SF Jazz Fest

  published October 17, 2007

  "Trane was the father, Pharoah was the son, I was the Holy Ghost," tenor saxophonist Albert Ayler said in the mid-'60s. He was speaking of the... More >>

• Liars

  published October 17, 2007

  The itinerant trio of Angus Andrew, Aaron Hemphill, and Julian Gross — collectively known as Liars — has always embraced the music... More >>

• Fiery Furnaces

  published October 17, 2007

  Matthew Friedberger, the songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and chops-abuser of New York sibling duo Fiery Furnaces, recently revealed to the... More >>

• Finntroll; Download Festival; Bill Callahan; Black Crowes; the Go-Gos

  published October 3, 2007

  In the forsaken hinterlands of Finland roams a band of evil trolls who sing in Swedish (one of the country's two national languages), and... More >>

• Paul Van Dyk: hardest working Berliner in showbiz

  published September 26, 2007

  With the passing of James Brown late last year, Berlin's superstar DJ Paul Van Dyk might now assume the title of hardest-working man in... More >>

• No Age

  published September 12, 2007

  Somewhere on No Age's "Loosen This Job," in the thatch of Randy Randall's guitar noise and the spiny drum clicks of Dean Spunt, one can just... More >>

• Andrew Hill

  published August 22, 2007

  In 2006, jazz pianist Andrew Hill recounted to writer Ben Ratliff something Charlie Parker himself had once told the young pianist: "I look at... More >>

• Beat Box

  published August 22, 2007

  Since the early days of her career, Chicago-reared and Los Angeles-based DJ Colette has stood out from the pack by singing live... More >>

• Definition-Defying Display

  published July 25, 2007

  Ask the experts — be they documentarian Ken Burns or Wikipedia — "What is jazz?" and you may come away confounded. No one can quite say.... More >>

• Spoon

  published July 11, 2007

  While its slacker neighbors in Austin were busy making Gordian prog-punk or bluegrass covers of Snoop Dogg tracks, Spoon obsessed with the Pixies,... More >>

• Radioactive Clout

  published July 4, 2007

  The Bay Area rollers in Mushroom have synched up with some impressive outsider iconoclasts over their decade-long ride. Starting from their first... More >>

• SunnO))), Band of Horses, the Court and Spark, Hugh Cornwell

  published July 4, 2007

  SunnO))) is more than merely a collection of skilled purveyors of bilious drop-D drone. Forged by monk-clad metalheads Stephen O'Malley... More >>

• White Stripes

  published June 20, 2007

  With each subsequent White Stripes release, Jack White's psyche tugs at itself, over-correcting previous tendencies, teetering between manic and... More >>

• Global Beat Junkies

  published June 13, 2007

  Gang Gang Dance is one rhythmically attuned band. Live, the New York City act often combusts into percussion jams, using congas, cymbals,... More >>

• Crawdaddy! Rock

  published May 30, 2007

  Current readers of Perez Hilton, Pitchfork, and the like take a pound of salt when perusing the hyperbole that accompanies positive decrees for... More >>

• Guitar God

  published May 23, 2007

  Regardless of whether a kid is ensconced in Brooklyn or Brazil, a certain strain of teenager dreams of rock stardom. Headphones charged with... More >>

• They coulda been OutKasts: Kentucky's CunninLynguists

  published May 23, 2007

  The OutKast comparisons buzzing around Lexington, Ky., duo CunninLynguists might've been louder were it not for the latter's misleading... More >>

• Targeted Delays

  published April 11, 2007

  It's not the easiest task to track down Bradford Cox, the lead singer in Deerhunter (also credited with guitar, keyboards, and a myriad other... More >>

• Bald is booty-ful: The Juan Maclean

  published March 14, 2007

  "Mighty to Miami" is a send-off party for locals getting ready to attend South Florida's annual dance music spring break (aka the Winter Music... More >>