Email Author Sam Prestianni

2005 Stories by Sam Prestianni

• Lisle Ellis -- Marco Eneidi -- Peter Valsamis

  published June 1, 2005

  The salient power of this debut recording by leading Bay Area improvisers Lisle Ellis (bass), Marco Eneidi (alto sax), and Peter Valsamis (drums)... More >>

• Hear This

  published May 18, 2005

  The beauty of Boredoms is that they're anything but. This 20-year-old experimental brainchild of madcap Japanese vocalist Yamatsuka Eye... More >>

• Patrick Cress' Telepathy

  published May 4, 2005

  Bay Area jazz saxophonist Patrick Cress and clarinetist Aaron Novik -- the dynamic front line of the Telepathy quartet -- draw their compositions... More >>

• Hear This

  published May 4, 2005

  It's easy to love the quasi-folk duo Two Gallants . They're superyoung -- barely of legal drinking age -- but in their own words "ain't... More >>

• Living Legends

  published April 27, 2005

  You can tell by the off-kilter intro beats to the kickoff track, "Blast Your Radio," that indie hip hop collective Living Legends is on to a fresh... More >>

• Jennifer Gentle

  published April 13, 2005

  You're a couple of scruffy long-haired guys growing up in the laid-back northeastern city of Padova, Italy. Restless and bored, you drink lots of... More >>

• Dave Holland Big Band

  published April 6, 2005

  At nearly 60 years old, jazz bassist and composer Dave Holland is taking chances like a man half his age. After earning nearly universal critical... More >>

• Hear This

  published April 6, 2005

  Less a musician than a sound researcher, veteran avant-gardist Ellen Fullman plays a peculiar contrivance of her own design, simply called... More >>

• Brazilian Girls

  published March 30, 2005

  Free association on a supercharged pair of words -- "Brazilian" and "girls" -- yields a wealth of evocative images: the lipstick grins and... More >>

• Hear This

  published March 23, 2005

  Back in my collegiate years, I saw Ida perform at this dingy-ass rock club in Kalamazoo, Mich. The band was crafting a delicate Nick... More >>

• Reeling the Out Sound In

  published March 16, 2005

  On any given night in art houses throughout the city, you'll find some of the 21st century's most dynamic musicians exploring unheard-of sound... More >>

• Yo Miles!

  published March 16, 2005

  This third double-disc homage to Miles Davis' electric fusion period sounds a lot like its inexplicably acclaimed predecessors. But how could it... More >>

• Hear This

  published March 16, 2005

  The Oneida American Indians were one of the original five tribes of the Iroquois Nation, and named in their honor are all kinds of municipalities,... More >>

• Hear This

  published March 2, 2005

  The Bay Area and New York City could have quite the tug o' war between their respective freaky rock acts. On our side you've got bands like Comets... More >>

• Hear This

  published February 23, 2005

  The Talking Heads in their heyday (from, say, "Psycho Killer" to "Once in a Lifetime") would have been exactly the sort of band to thrill the... More >>

• Hear This

  published February 9, 2005

  Unease runs deep in the waters of Saddle Creek Records, whether it's the diaryland fatalism of Bright Eyes, the booze-sodden heartache documented... More >>

• Hear This

  published February 2, 2005

  In this time of great political peril, the music industry is simply not doing its part. Consider the slew of politically minded documentaries that... More >>

• Hear This

  published January 26, 2005

  Standing motionless with your arms crossed at indie rock shows is soooo two years ago. New York's Radio 4 , along with bands like Interpol... More >>

• Lhasa

  published January 19, 2005

  Globe-trotting singer/songwriter Lhasa de Sela's long-awaited second album (following 1998's ear-opening La Llorona) is breathtaking in its... More >>