Email Author Michael Alan Goldberg

2006 Stories by Michael Alan Goldberg

• Unagi emerges from the local hip hop underground

  published November 22, 2006

  "If skills sold, truth be told/ I'd probably be, lyrically, Talib Kweli ," rhymed Jay-Z on his Black Album. It was somewhat of a... More >>

• Mojave 3|Lambchop and Alejandro Escovedo|Supersystem

  published September 27, 2006

  Fans of Mojave 3 who've bemoaned bassist-vocalist Rachel Goswell's gradually diminishing role (particularly when it comes to her angelic... More >>

• Berkeley-Bound

  published August 30, 2006

  In the mid-'60s, the phrase "Berkeley guitar" was essentially synonymous with the late John Fahey — the iconic Takoma Records founder who... More >>

• Hoppin' Up and Down

  published August 23, 2006

  Listening to "Showtape '91," the nearly 12-minute compilation of self-deprecating concert intros that closes the bonus disc of demos, remixes, and... More >>

• Parlez-Vous Faux Français?

  published August 16, 2006

  Denver's DeVotchKa, a self-described "Eastern bloc indie-rock" quartet, is similar to the likes of Gogol Bordello and even Firewater —... More >>

• Hear ThisScientific methods, stoner rock, and Scandinavians

  published August 2, 2006

  Seattle art-rock trio the Dead Science draws a lot of comparisons to bleak postpunk melodramatists Xiu Xiu — mainly due to the... More >>

• Oneida vs. Raconteurs: one big riff deserves another

  published July 19, 2006

  Of all the noisy Brooklyn-based bands making a fractured racket on an indie-rock soundscape, few fly their freak flag as high as veteran outfit... More >>

• On the Rebound

  published June 21, 2006

  Who would've imagined that a poke in the eye would have such a profound effect on a music career? Built to Spill frontman Doug Martsch didn't... More >>

• Lansing-Dreiden

  published June 21, 2006

  Secret society Skull and Bones has nothing on Lansing-Dreiden: The latter, a highly enigmatic New York-based multimedia "company" was founded in... More >>

• Fathers of invention, from Zappa to Radiohead

  published June 21, 2006

  In the nearly 10 years (gasp!) since they had their watershed release OK Computer and officially became The Most Important Band in the... More >>

• Touched in the Hip

  published June 14, 2006

  "I always thought I was making dance music, I just didn't fuckin' know that people couldn't dance to it," laughs Miguel Depedro, aka... More >>

• MSTRKRFT

  published June 14, 2006

  When not causing a dance-rock ruckus with his bass-drums duo Death From Above 1979, mustachioed four-stringer Jesse Keeler likes to team up with... More >>

• Time for Torture

  published June 7, 2006

  The two years since the Walkmen released their critically hailed second album, Bows + Arrows? Pure joy. The New York City band enjoyed... More >>

• Mojave 3

  published June 7, 2006

  Neil Halstead and Rachel Goswell have been down the reinvention road before. Back when they were the core of British shoegazers Slowdive, the pair... More >>

• Young People

  published May 31, 2006

  It's interesting, yet not all that surprising, to learn that when not working with the bicoastal, avant-garde duo Young People, singer Katie... More >>

• Stealing riffs and loser beats

  published May 24, 2006

  Why can British bands get away with doing Americana, but when U.S. bands cop accents and attempt Brit-pop, it's just pretentious? Double standard... More >>

• Slice 'n' Dice

  published April 26, 2006

  At the outset of their music career, nearly 20 years ago, Jonathan More and Matt Black — the now-fortysomething Londoners collectively known... More >>

• Mates of State

  published April 26, 2006

  Nick & Jessica, Eminem & Kim, Lindsay & whomever ... jeepers, isn't there one celebrity couple around that can keep their shit together for... More >>

• Ramblin' Gamblin' Men

  published March 29, 2006

  For the millions who have come to worship its wanderlust sentiments, Jack Kerouac's On the Road is a sacred text. The book is widely... More >>

• Blood, Guts, and Rush

  published March 22, 2006

  "We've got hundreds of friend requests lined up, but I wanna relish this," laughs Steve Moore — bassist, synth wizard, and one-half of... More >>

• Beth Orton

  published March 22, 2006

  For her fourth solo album, British singer Beth Orton — whose early career was all about merging techno and trip hop with Nick Drake-inspired... More >>

• Psyched! Helios has some love for sale!

  published March 22, 2006

  No discussion of the New Zealand jangle-pop scene from the '80s and early '90s — a talk likely dominated by such Flying Nun Records... More >>

• Howling with Hagerty; Scottish indie-pop gets brawny

  published March 15, 2006

  Oh shit, the Howling Hex is playing San Francisco -- which means you and I, we get to stay up superlate and see Drag City recording artist... More >>

• Dark Side of the Songbird

  published March 1, 2006

  Two years ago, Scottish songbird Isobel Campbell hadn't even heard of Mark Lanegan -- the former Screaming Trees and Queens of the Stone Age... More >>

• A tribute to the "James Brown of Nigeria"; Robert Pollard inaugurates the Year of the Liver

  published February 22, 2006

  For almost four years, L.A.'s Afrobeat Down has dedicated itself to celebrating the life of Fela Kuti, the notorious "James Brown of... More >>