Photo by TOM BECK The first time I saw Wolfmother was in 2006, and boy have times changed. What was a rowdy, teenager-infused rock and roll mosh show at the Electric Factory has turned into a stagnant Ed Hardy t-shirt-infused sausage fest full of old-but-wanna-be-young stoner metalheads at the much smaller Trocadero. Back then, voice-beaming front man Andrew Stockdale was joined by Chris Ross and Myles Heskett onstage. Since that time, the band’s gone through a number of different lineup changes, having as many as four members in the band. As evidenced last night at The Troc, the band has […]

Photo by Mary Lynn Dominguez Early Friday morning, I took the blow of a complicated, dramatic break-up. It was another one of those “It’s not you, it’s me,” “No, wait, it’s you, you are afraid of being alone,” “It’s just bad timing,” “I need space”— You know, a gross concoction of blame and excuses to address that it’s just not working out. Later that afternoon, half in preparation for the show and half as a remedy for being dumped, I put on Julia Holter’s 2015 full-length Have You In My Wilderness and took a walk around my neighborhood. Temperatures were […]

Photo by MARY LYNN DOMINGUEZ I arrived at Johnny Brenda’s to meet my blind date — the three-band triumvirate of Jack White’s ‘Third Man’ record label’s Audio Social Dissent Tour. I guess all I had to go on as far as looks and personality is that Jack White is all about and a promise of ‘revolutionary punk rock.’ ??It sort of made sense to me when the first band, Regression 696 took the stage. A dudely duo took the stage behind a guitar and a music stand fitted with a board of switches, and a harmonica. The harmonica was a […]

Photo by MARY LYNN DOMINGUEZ When I climbed into the Uber that would take me to the Fillmore to see Fetty Wap, I had two realistic expectations in mind: getting ‘too turnt,’ and as a result, risking ‘alcohol-exposed’ pregnancy as advised against by the CDC. Ouseman, the Uber driver, had been busy driving degenerates like myself to the sold-out Fillmore all night. He attempted to casually switch his preferred jazz station to a hip hop one that I guess seemed more appropriate for a young trap queen like he assumed I was. Meek Mill began to blare, nearly making us […]

Photo by JOSH PELTA-HELLER When the opening act is a mariachi band, it makes it pretty hard to guess what to expect next. I never bothered to check to see who the opener was, so when four women graced the stage of The Fillmore at about 8:15 pm dressed in spangled vests and concho belts and carrying a trumpet, violin, guitarron and guitarra de golpe (this gringo had to look up those last two), I began to wonder whether I came to an Arcs concert or accidentally stumbled into the wrong venue and was about to watch the San Mateo […]

Photo by MARY LYNN DOMINGUEZ According to a recent unscientific survey I conducted out of sheer boredom while waiting for the show to begin, there were 85% more people rocking denim jackets, punk rock pins and Doc Martens at Johnny Brenda’s last night than then there usually are. Why? Best I can tell it was because Nobunny — a super-catchy, freaky-but-loveable Tuscon collective of garage-rockers who perform in thrift store bunny costumes — was headlining. You see, Nobunny mainman Justin Champlin is known to rock the denim-jacket-with-punk-rock-pins-and-no-pants look. It probably would have bothered me less if the only person from the […]

Photo by DYLAN LONG Odesza is the Seattle-based duo of Harrison Mills and Clayton Knight, who make lush, downtempo EDM. They are also wildly popular, selling out not just one but two shows at Union Transfer last night, where they appeared in support of their latest release, In Return Deluxe, an extended version of 2014’s In Return that includes three live tracks and a new song called “Light (feat. Little Dragon).” After East Coast cats Louis Futon and Jai Wolf warmed up the crowd with stellar beats infused with futuristic synths, wild tempo fluctuations and even some recent hits like […]

Photo by DYLAN LONG Hailing from Lititz, PA (pop. 9,399), four high school homies turned international rock stars known as The Districts made the final stop of their North American tour last night at the Electric Factory. Countless family and friends of the hometown heroes comprised the crowd where sons and daughters and parents openly mingled as if it were one big family Thanksgiving gathering. Philly soft-rock locals Purples kicked off the evening with cool, melodic tunes that graciously complimented the warm and welcoming atmosphere of the show. Although with the venue being nowhere near capacity, bright smiles and loud […]

Photo by HERB GREEN Fear not heads and freaks, it’s totally cool to dig John Mayer. Like you, I harbored some harsh vibes about the dude, who admittedly, we knew only for such crimes against rock n roll as “Your Body Is a Wonderland,” and worried aloud whether his mojo would jive right with former Grateful Dead members Bob Weir, Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann in their latest retread, Dead and Company. Those doubts went up like a puff from a vape pen into the skunky-scented haze that hung heavy over a crowded Wells Fargo Center Thursday as the band […]

Photo by DYLAN LONG Mac DeMarco’s spacy yet genuine personality, well-crafted slacker rock and full-on bozo performance style has led him a long way. The line to get into Mac DeMarco’s way sold out show at Trocadero Theater last night stretched down an entire block of Arch street from 10th to 11th streets and continued around the corner, studded with eager teens rocking tucked in t-shirts, five panel hats and multi-colored denim jackets. Opening act Walter TV (a project consisting of several of Mac’s own band members plus Simon Ankenman) delivered 45 minutes of strange yet enjoyable melodies punctuated by […]

Photo by TOM BECK If you ask me, it wasn’t until the turn of the century when Nashville really started earning it’s stripes as the country’s “Music City.” It really wasn’t until 2000 when the city started pumping out great bands that weren’t country artists. Since that time, Kings of Leon, The Dead Weather, Kopecky, Diarrhea Planet, and a slew of other bands added to the diversity of the Nashville scene, which, up until that point, was mostly just a country scene. Both Jack White and The Black Keys left their respective hometowns of Detroit and Akron, Ohio to move […]