Chuck Klosterman

Local Musicians Re-Imagine Radiohead's Kid A with Stunning Success, 2/24/13

UnderCover SF presents Kid A February 24, 2013 Rickshaw Shop Better than: That Stereogum Kid A mixtape; reading the Kid A 33 ⅓ book while listening to Kid A. There's an Internet-famous Chuck Klosterman essay about cover bands. The crux of it: if artists become artists to express themselves, why ... More >>

Live Review: Thee Oh Sees, Real Estate, and a Bunch of Cool Kids Relax in the Redwoods at the Woodsist Festival

Woodsist Festival Henry Miller Memorial Library, Big Sur Aug. 4-5, 2012 Better than: A "music festival." An hour south of Carmel along the serpentine path of Highway 1, there's a bend in the road and a fence, behind which lies a lawn of the size that'd fit behind a standard suburban house, and a ... More >>

Shut Up and Play the Hits: Five Quick Thoughts About the LCD Soundsystem Documentary

Like proper mourners of LCD Soundsystem, we went and checked out the new documentary on the band's final show at Madison Square Garden, Shut Up and Play the Hits, at its single-night-only showing yesterday. In lieu of a full review -- we have one that includes an interview with James Murphy over her ... More >>

This Has Happened: James Murphy on the New LCD Soundsystem Doc

LCD Soundsystem Doc Shut Up and Play the Hits Coming to Make You Wistful For One Night Only

So of course you didn't get to go see LCD Soundsystem's final three-hour kiss-off at Madison Square Garden last April, aka the most important music event of your stupid, short lifetime. Okay, maybe it wasn't that important. But if you were a fan, missing out on LCD's farewell probably felt a little ... More >>

Van Halen, Including David Lee Roth, Will Play Oracle Arena and HP Pavilion in June

The incomparable frontman David Lee Roth is on board both for Van Halen's 2012 North American tour -- which stops in the Bay Area in June -- as well as the band's forthcoming album A Different Kind of Truth, the first Van Halen album he's appeared on since the iconic 1984. The tour is set to arrive ... More >>

Don't Kill Lulu: Redeeming Lou Reed and Metallica's New Album

Finding Redemption in the Horrors of Lou Reed and Metallica's Lulu

​Don't Kill Lulu Yet: No, there is not one conventionally good song on Lulu, the 87-minute, hyped-to-infinity, Frankenstein's monster of Lou Reed babble and Metallica chug that came out the day after Halloween. Not really. This is a batch of 10 challenging pieces that average more than eight m ... More >>

Lou Reed and Metallica's Lulu: A First Listen

​ What pisses me off is not that Lou Reed is collaborating with one of the more overrated bands of my lifetime, or doing his batshit Lou Reed thing (I rather enjoy his batshit Lou Reed thing) -- it's that he hasn't made a normal record since Ecstasy, one of my favorites of that year. Animal Se ... More >>

The Visible Smart-Aleck

Starfucker Channels Disco-Pop Forerunners at Rickshaw Stop

Starfucker at Rickshaw Stop last night.​Starfucker Unkown Mortal Orchestra March 9, 2011 @ Rickshaw Stop Better than: Naming a child with an obscenity. Ladies, I'd like to introduce your Passion Pit/MGMT stand-ins. Scream softly, please. But listen up: don't tell Mom and Dad what you're snea ... More >>

Friday Night: Ra Ra Riot & Givers Unleash Sound and Fury at Great American Music Hall

Ra Ra Riot at Great American Music Hall on Friday​Ra Ra RiotGiversJanuary 21, 2011@ Great American Music HallBetter than: The Sound and the Fury, which haunts my forgotten-homework dreams.In the one-for-all, all-for-one spirit that defines the Ra Ra Riot working philosophy, we interrupt this regul ... More >>

Remembering Miserable Major-Label Drones: Rock On

Our guide to readings, spoken word, and other literary events

Death Trip

Chuck Klosterman's latest book tracks his tour of rock star death sites