A few months ago, in my discussion of bootleg albums, I made the distinction between bands who play the same set every night, and bands who mix it up, play a different show for every audience. Now I need to make another distinction, between bands who merely alter which songs they play on given night, and bands who alter how they play their songs. That is, bands who actually improvise on stage. Improvisation is, of course, one of the fundamentals...

While other big-draw names in music have rebelled against the major-label machine recently by releasing their music independently just to prove (maybe even to themselves) that they can (Nine Inch Nails and Radiohead are the biggest names to do so), Raconteurs masterminds Jack White and Brendan Benson chose to flex their muscles and throw their weight around a little in a totally different way: two weeks before its ultimate release, the duo shipped their side project’s new a lbum, Consolers...

I have to admit I didn’t know much going into this show. My friend and resident GC staff photographer Muhammad Asranur has been talking about this show for weeks—he and the fine folks at Anak Negri Productions pulled hard to get White Shoes and the Couples Company all the way here from Jakarta (their first trip to the U.S.!). So after their performance at SXSW a couple weeks ago, their only other U.S. performance besides the SF show, I headed...

I saw a brief preview for this before U23D and was immediately intrigued. Scorsese + Stones? Slam dunk, right? However, I don’t know, it just did not live up to my expectations. First off, when it comes to classic rock, I’m more Bowie than Stones so maybe I was at a disadvantage to begin with. However, I’m not unaware of how mega this band is. If U2 is a brand, the Rolling Stones are like the McDonald's of rock. I...

There were two lines formed at the front of the Mayan entrance for Monday night’s sold-out Justice show: those who were 21 and over and those who were not. The majority of the audience, for lack of a better word, were kids. Piled like sardines in the front of the stage on the floor, the night belonged to them. I can only imagine that many came out of it thinking that it was the best show they’d ever seen. For...

Let’s commence the start of music video reviews with one fantastic song. I’d have to say, the first few times I heard this song, I truly did not get it. What in the shit does "DVNO" stand for? Well, someone out there knows, as the song was featured in the mediocre new movie Hitman. At least people in the music industry know good music when they hear it, because they obviously don’t know good acting when they see it. Justice...

I won’t lie, I expected to be bored. I’m the kind of person who can go see a band I absolutely worship, but if the show gets too long I start to tune out. I love U2 but I knew U23D was a concert flick and those are my least favorite type of music movies. I’m much more of a documentary person. However, this film was edited wonderfully. The 3D isn’t too over the top so it’s not like Bono...

Daniel Lanois’ film Here Is What Is may be not a cinematic masterpiece, but it is a music masterpiece, and one that profoundly enthralled me. Prior to the screening at the Vista Theatre in Silver Lake, there was a brief performance by Lanois alongside his drummer/compatriot Brian Blade, bassist Daryl Johnson and keyboardist Aaron Embry. Special guests included Brian Blade, Sr., who brought the house down with a rousing gospel number, “This May Be The Last Time,” an Argentinean burlesque...

According to a variety of sources, the truth and nature of psychosis is actually simpler than many people like to believe. It is, on many basic and fundamental levels, the act of embarking upon the same course of action repeatedly and reasonably expecting different results each time. With that rationale in hand it makes observing the practices of musicians incredibly fascinating: every couple of years, any given band will release a new album of material and then embark upon the...

For England, 2007 was a year of reunions. Last year saw promoters rake in the dough by bringing acts like the Spice Girls, Take That and Echo & The Bunnymen back to the stage. While nearly fully responsible for disseminating trip hop—the morning-after-pill music for the 90s rave-on generation—Portishead surprised everyone by resurfacing on festival bills for this year's Coachella and last year's ATP. Even more surprising was the talk of a new album since their last release was about...