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My Page: Brian Staker

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Doctor, Doctor

Kool Keith's musical expressions can’t be confined to one ‘personality,’ and his Dr. Octagon moniker is the most experimental, futuristic soundscapes supporting his explorations of the surrealist possibilities of language in rap. My Pick of the Week can go from “Our Operators are Masturbating” to “A Gorilla Driving a Pickup Truck,” a metaphor for terrorism urban and cosmic, and it’s the kaleidoscopic range of his body of work that is stunning.

Also this week: Dr. Israel, Munly and the Lee Lewis Harlots, Head Automatica, Meg & Dia, Buckcherry [more]

Heating Things Up

Of all the cinematic musicians in our area this week, Of Montreal, with their wildly imaginative stage sets and costumes to present their outlandish lyrical tales, is the most visually stimulating of them all. A part of the second generation of the Elephant Six collective, my Pick of the Week combine innovative sonic approaches to production with poetic, sometimes surreal lyrics to open the mind’s eye indeed. [more]

Dregs of Society

Unlike his Texan contemporaries visiting this week, Robert Earl Keen takes a much more wistful, folky side of the country spectrum. Look at contemporaries like Nanci Griffith and Lyle Lovett to see where his musical impetus comes from. But far from being a follower, my pick of the week has been in the vanguard of the direction the new and alt-country genres have been motoring towards.

Also this week: Reverend Horton Heat & Junior Brown, Frank Caliendo, Dixie Dregs, the Wailers


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Super Celebrations

I know it’s not terribly original as my weekly pick, as for these parts the Supersuckers are a favorite amongst the punk crowd, but it’s just hard to imagine anything better for a nitro-fueled funny car of a new year, a show to loosen inhibitions and let 2006 go down the hatch.  Tune up your aural intake to a sweet air-to-fuel mixture that’ll provide a smooth, yet earth-shaking hum.

Also this week: Wynonna Judd, First Night [more]

Hark the Bells

Atlanta folky Michelle Malone was first fostered in musical aptitude by Amy Ray and Emily Saliers of the Indigo Girls, but on this year’s Stompin’ Ground, (Sugarfoot) she evidences a Southern drawl in her voice as well as the guitar strings, that is really closest to what my Pick of the Week is all about.

Also this week: Rock the Bells, Trans-Siberian Orchestra, All-American Rejects, Cattle Decapitation, Voodoo Glow Skulls [more]

Paisley Underground

What happens to a teen idol when he hits 30? For that matter, when his idolators aren’t teenagers anymore? Along with the Posies, Evan Dando and the Lemonheads steered ‘alternative rock’ in another direction from the punk-influenced ire of Nirvana and their ilk in the early 90's. The Boston band gave us several albums that are now considered classics of power pop, and the reunion tour of my Pick of the Week makes crystal clear sense.

Also this week: Brad Paisley & Carrie Underwood, Clumsy Lovers, Limbeck, Devotchka, Plus 44, Brian Regan [more]

Queen of the Dancefloor

This week, what do local concertgoers have to be thankful for? If you are like me, you are thankful for musicians that still don’t take themselves too seriously. The Brooklyn band Dirty On Purpose plays songs with all the Anglo-centric melodicism of Belle and the fuzz tunnel of sound of a band like Ride. The comparison has me salivating as much as the choice of dark or white meat, and they emerge as my Pick of the Week.

Also this week: L.A. Guns, Next Step Up Tour, The Acacia Strain, Queensryche, Panic! at the Disco, Death By Decibels [more]

You Drive Us Wild

Through stints with more folky outfits Ida and Retsin, my Pick of the Week Tara Jane O'Neil has evolved into one of the most noteworthy singer/songwriters of the last decade, with emotional lyrics that never descend into melodrama. And this is one of those ‘quiet’ musicians that you have to hear in a miniature venue like Kilby Court, where on occasion you could hear the proverbial pin drop.

Also this week: MTV $2 Concert Tour, Starlight Mints, Wolf Eyes, Cute Is What We Aim For, Howard Jones, Barenaked Ladies, Alice In Chains, Zakk Wilde [more]

Legends of the Fall

My Pick of the Week, Aussie singer/songwriter Ben Lee was celebrated in England years before anyone here took notice. No, Lee didn’t enjoy the huge commercial success of some of his down under contemporaries, largely due to the fact that ‘indie’ anything is still a niche market a good ten years in. But critically, once the ‘enfant terrible’ stain has worn off, discriminating listeners have fallen in line, noting his intelligence and by now, emotional maturity.

Also this week: Circa Survive, Michael Martin Murphey, The Who, Appleseed Cast, Matt Pond PA, Lee 'Scratch' Perry [more]

Boys to Men

In the Indie rock genre, which is no stranger to eccentrics, my Pick of the Week Joanna Newsom stands out as more oddball than most. The combination of her waifish voice and harp playing makes her solo work a little delicacy, both soothing and slightly unsettling.

Also this week: Sparta, Jello Biafra, Pet Shop Boys, Exene Cervenka, GWAR, Ladysmith Black Mambazo. [more]

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