Email Author Sam Prestianni

1996 Stories by Sam Prestianni

• Recordings

  published December 25, 1996

  Come Near Life Experience (Matador) You are perhaps aware that this record has been available for conspicuous consumption for... More >>

• Hear This

  published December 25, 1996

  Korn Different from the long-hairs next door, Korn is arguably the only new metal band worth listening to. See the kickoff track, "Twist,"... More >>

• Hear This

  published December 25, 1996

  Thurston Moore Back during SST's golden era in the early '80s, Sonic Youth poster boy Thurston Moore likely never envisioned his current... More >>

• Hear This

  published December 18, 1996

  Frank Jackson Trio Most jazz cats argue that you've got to be "down with the changes" (i.e., both the history and the chords) before you... More >>

• Recordings

  published December 11, 1996

  Bush Razorblade Suitcase (Trauma) Instead of making the obvious invocation here -- namely, the indignant, sputtering... More >>

• Hear This

  published December 11, 1996

  Those Darn Accordions! There's something scary, stoopid, and just a little repulsive about a half-dozen accordionists who try to rock out... More >>

• Hear This

  published December 4, 1996

  Soundgarden Arguably the heaviest Seattle group to rise from Sub Pop cult status to major-label stardom, Soundgarden may be one of the few... More >>

• Recordings

  published November 27, 1996

  Star Pimp Docudrama (Kill Rock Stars) Many hipsters relish butt-ugly folk art of the sort that decorates the cover of Star... More >>

• Hear This

  published November 27, 1996

  The Fixtures Perhaps best known as the band Jello Biafra was checking out at Gilman a couple of years back when he was allegedly beat down... More >>

• Hear This

  published November 20, 1996

  Miya Masaoka She's improvised with bees and let giant cockroaches creep across her naked flesh. Early next year she plans to "illuminate... More >>

• Hear This

  published November 20, 1996

  Miss Murgatroid Hellbent on retooling the nerdy reps of the much-maligned squeeze-box and its practitioners, pseudonymous accordionist Miss... More >>

• Wammies 1996

  published November 13, 1996

  SF Weekly's Alternative Music Awards Saturday, November 16, 1996 7:30 p.m. at the Transmission Theater Celebration and... More >>

• Hear This

  published November 13, 1996

  Amiri Baraka As a poet, dramatist, essayist, and one of urban America's foremost revolutionary voices, Amiri Baraka is an essential... More >>

• Recordings

  published November 13, 1996

  NakedMan San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus (KAO Info Systems) I liked opera until I read translations. What before had sounded... More >>

• Hear This

  published November 6, 1996

  Glenn Spearman Double Trio In reference to his incendiary approach toward improvisation, Glenn Spearman once said: "I'm never gonna quit... More >>

• Recordings

  published October 30, 1996

  Mark Snow The Truth and the Light: Music From The X-Files (Warner Bros.) Canoofle Unorganized Flying Objects (Lazy... More >>

• Hear This

  published October 30, 1996

  Max Roach/Leon Parker Max Roach knows that the beat is the backbone of jazz. For half a century, along with fellow bop godfathers Art... More >>

• Hear This

  published October 23, 1996

  Tim Berne Saxophonist Tim Berne's first exposure to jazz came in the early '70s with Julius Hemphill's classic Dogon A.D. The "wildness" of... More >>

• Recordings

  published October 16, 1996

  ZZ Top Rhythmeen (RCA) Nasty is the word on the streets. Old-style is the buzz. Gone back to the Rio Grande mud, they say.... More >>

• Hear This

  published October 9, 1996

  Phillip Greenlief/Scott Amendola duo Attempting sax-traps duets in the improv/jazz arena puts reedist Phillip Greenlief and drummer Scott... More >>

• Out There

  published September 25, 1996

  The Bay Area's full-throttle improvised music community took a hit in the summer of '95 when a firetruck crashed through the front windows of... More >>

• Recordings

  published September 18, 1996

  Various Artists Supernatural Fairy Tales: The Progressive Rock Era, Volume 1 (Rhino) Despite having sunk deeper than the... More >>

• Recordings

  published September 11, 1996

  Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers Songs and Music From the Motion Picture "She's the One" (Warner Bros.) One thing can be said... More >>

• What Wynton Doesn't Hear

  published September 11, 1996

  In a recent Utne Reader article, grandly titled "The Music of Democracy," neo-conservative Wynton Marsalis blows off the last three decades in the... More >>

• Sax Maniacs

  published August 28, 1996

  "That's the strangest thing I've ever heard," remarked a friend in the dazed aftermath of a live performance by the Rova Saxophone Quartet of... More >>