Email Author Mike Rowell

2006 Stories by Mike Rowell

• California Psychedelia

  published November 22, 2006

  The new CD from San Francisco's Andrew Douglas Rothbard, Abandoned Meander, is one of those captivating, outta-nowhere masterworks.... More >>

• Hank IV

  published November 8, 2006

  Despite the countrified Hank Williams legacy the jokey band name suggests, Hank IV is all about bringing the swaggering, spastically flailing,... More >>

• Bountiful Braintrust

  published September 6, 2006

  Talk about multitasking. When the Japanese New Music Festival hits town this week, all seven groups performing will comprise various... More >>

• Here Come the Mutant Men

  published July 19, 2006

  When Sérgio Dias of legendary Brazilians Os Mutantes attended the Fillmore in 1968, he never dreamed that one day he'd play the venerable San F... More >>

• It's a big fucking deal all over again

  published June 7, 2006

  You can't really call this season we're in "summer" until the city's major radio stations host an outdoor audio orgy to kick things off in style.... More >>

• The Big Bang

  published May 31, 2006

  The concept behind the supergroup is that it's an impressive music personnel package composed of individual heavyweights. Take Crosby, Stills,... More >>

• Wack Attack

  published May 24, 2006

  When Chicago-based performance group the Ritualistic School of Errors made its West Coast debut at Edinburgh Castle recently, it was quite the... More >>

• Garage punks wryly needle religion; jazz stars skewer Orwellian politics

  published May 17, 2006

  Northwest No Wave shakes some well-coiffed plumage at tonight's pairing of Troubleman Unlimited labelmates. Portland's Glass Candy does... More >>

• Indie Dim Sum

  published May 10, 2006

  A decade after its founding, the annual Mission Creek Music & Arts Festival is back to blow your senses, featuring a mix of mediums that includes... More >>

• Juveniles, Drive-Bys, and Melting U.F.O.s

  published May 3, 2006

  With indie-bred insecurities declawing most guitar-based bands these days, there are so few "Damn!" moments left anymore. The Duke Spirit... More >>

• Disco Braniacs

  published April 19, 2006

  Local electronic duo Matmos is notorious for using unusual sound sources — liposuction surgery, amplified crayfish nerves — on its... More >>

• Porest

  published April 5, 2006

  Inflammatory button-pushing at its finest, Tourrorists! is the third full-length from Porest, the longtime recording project of West... More >>

• From the Molecules to the Mekons; genres get scrambled and sanctiomy gets scrapped

  published April 5, 2006

  It's easy to experience the cerebral dry-heaves hearing about extramusical exploits of rock renaissance men like Byrne, Bowie, and Stipe —... More >>

• Some of My Best Friends Are Records

  published March 15, 2006

  Hello, My Name Is: Justin F. Farrar A quick scan of my 10 picks reveals that, yes, I did indeed apply affirmative action when... More >>

• Uncle Jim

  published February 22, 2006

  Uncle Jim is a spoken-word persona of Alan Bishop of the Sun City Girls, based on his real relative; the original Uncle Jim lived in Virginia,... More >>

• Some Girls

  published February 15, 2006

  With the press release accompanying Heaven's Pregnant Teens painting it as an album of "unrelenting musical psychosis" adding "new... More >>

• Roly-Poly Cat Heads

  published January 18, 2006

  Back in the '80s, San Francisco had a vibrant local indie-rock scene, with live bands playing clubs from Haight Street's Nightbreak and I-Beam to... More >>