Swans with Carla Bozulich Sept. 8, 2014 The Independent Better than: Praying, getting an MRI, or praying while getting an MRI. Confessional time: Prior…
Since their humble beginnings playing songs to fellow refugees in a Guinea refugee camp during Sierra Leone's civil war in the '90s, the group…
Most bands started in adolescence have the lifespan of houseflies. Not Fishbone. Created in 1979 by six teenagers — three of whom are still…
Sometime around fifth grade, Dave Burd — now professionally known as Lil Dicky — was sitting in a music class when the teacher played…
Few musical forces can be as genuinely terrifying as Michael Gira, the visionary of Swans. On “Just a Little Boy (For Chester Burnett)” —…
Part of the allure of music is its ability to occasionally whisk you away to someplace new or unfamiliar via sound alone. Bombino is…
If there's any good reason for award shows to exist, it's for the moments of unfiltered passion they're liable to produce: the heartfelt shout-outs,…
Black Sabbath is widely considered the pioneer of heavy metal: the band played blues-influenced music via downtuned guitars and eerie lyrics. When performed by…
Calling a musician “original” in 2014 is a tricky thing. There's so much content and so many variations on existing ideas out there that…
Tales of a Blank Box: The Independent is a room on Divisadero Street with a bar on one side, a stage on the other,…
